Author's Note: I must apologize for this. I skipped over a bunch of stuff from Deep Jungle. In my defense, I've already stated I HATE Deep Jungle. And from what I understand, a lot of you disliked it also. So I'm skipping all of the tedious crap and just skipped to the good part—the fight with Clayton and the Stealth Sneak and the butterfly fluff at the end. :D Sorry it took so long. I've been trying to put this off because I hate Deep Jungle, but now I'm making myself do this. I'll try to make sure the next chapter gets out sooner.

Enjoy!

Deep Jungle: Little Butterfly

Leon went through a checklist in his mind, trying to see if there was anything that he had missed. They'd saved the gorillas, had killed Sabor, had sent Jane back to the tent in camp and were currently looking for Clayton. Had he forgotten anything? Oh! Cloud had eventually gotten tired of having coconuts flung at him from the trees and was currently flying through the branches, intending to kill each and every Powerwild and Bouncywild he could get his hands on! That meant they didn't have to worry about surprise Heartless attacking them in a while.

Though he couldn't stop himself from snorting whenever he saw Cloud's cape get stuck and he nearly toppled over.

Coming upon the cliff, he was stunned to find a bunch of Heartless surrounding them, and then he saw Clayton aiming his shotgun at the poor creatures. He frowned in confusion—a shotgun wasn't normally a good weapon—but then he realized that this man was actually planning on killing these poor, innocent creatures. He opened his mouth to call out and distract him, but was beaten to it by his smaller human companion.

Sora darted forward frantically. "Nooooo!"

Leon turned and raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you just flail your arms about while you're at it?"

The teen stuck his tongue out at him, then turned his attention back to the man above, who was giving them a very odd look indeed. The boy looked heartbroken. "Clayton?"

Tarzan was beside himself. "Not Clayton! *&&X%! Not Clayton!"

"Raaaah!"

The older man yipped and grabbed the Keyblade wielder tightly as something rushed past him, only to find a black and red blur circle the base of the cliff, sword tearing through each and every Powerwild that had been cornering the gorillas and allowing them to escape. Once the blur had stopped, he narrowed his eyes in irritation. "Will you not do that please?!"

Cloud paused a moment to breath heavily, shaking with adrenaline and rage, before he turned his glowing blue gaze on the other man, and Leon realized now wasn't a very good time to upset him. The blond let out a snarl and began a dash at the other man, only to get distracted as the cliff suddenly exploded outward.

The brunet threw the teen in his arms behind a rock and ducked behind it, and seconds later, a large boulder hit the ground where they'd been standing only moments before. He trusted Donald and Goofy to get out of the way themselves; Sora really couldn't be trusted to do so, because he was the one that thought being thrown at a giant Heartless that fought with huge bowling pins would be fun. Once he decided no more rocks would kill them, he stood and looked around for Cloud.

He found him a few yards away, lying prone, and he was worried to find a trickle of blood sliding down his cheek from some sort of cut on the back of his head, hidden by his yellow spikes. However, that worry soon gave way to annoyance. 'He's gonna be pissed when he wakes up, I know it.'

Leon squawked as the teen suddenly grabbed onto his arm and pulled. "L-Leon! Clayton's floating!"

And indeed he was. It looked like he was sitting on something, though.

Tarzan, hurt that someone he trusted would betray him, darted forward to attack despite the invisible force that had lifted Clayton into the air. Then there was a squeal, and suddenly Tarzan was sent flying through the air to hit part of the cliff that had gone unscathed. There was a whoosh as the air was knocked out of him. As he struggled to get to his feet again, Leon grabbed Lion Heart and rushed forward as well, to distract whatever it was that was attacking them.

"Sora, Donald! Use lightning or something!" he called out, just barely dodging a swipe from the monster's claws. Of course, he hadn't actually intended on dodging; he'd tripped over one of the rocks strewn about and had felt the air blow past him as its claws just barely brushed the sleeve of his t-shirt. 'Oh, damn, that was too close!'

Of course, it was only after he yelled it that he realized that he'd just put himself in a very, very bad position. Donald may be an expert with magic, but Sora still needed some practice, and he'd just learned thunder. His aim was okay, but he still had some misses.

He had just set himself up to die.

Painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain—

Leon decided that getting belted in the stomach hurt—even more so when he hit one of the cliff walls— and he never wanted it to happen again.

Groaning loudly, he sat up and glared at the air beneath Clayton, eye twitching. 'You and the creature you ride on will die.' He blinked as the creature the other man was riding on suddenly flickered into view. It looked like a chameleon. With a horn. And it infuriated him. Why was something that Yuffie would consider cute currently kicking his ass?!

His attention was suddenly arrested by a gunshot, soon followed by a yelp, and he realized with growing frustration that he had forgotten all about the wayward hunter and his stupid shotgun. And Goofy had just gotten grazed.

Groaning, Leon struggled to his feet; he was sure he'd gotten a few cracked ribs, and he figured he was lucky he hadn't bunged his head like Cloud had, or was currently crawling, like Tarzan was trying to do. However, even injured, he had two things on his side that neither man had; eighteen years of experience in battle and a mean streak that made even Yuffie cower in her boots. He did not go through puberty twice to be some pansy ass who couldn't think on his feet even with injuries and lay out like a rug to be walked on. Besides, he'd had worse than a few cracked ribs in a fight with a Heartless.

After another few bullets nearly harmed his companions, he growled and darted forward, ignoring the Stealth Sneak's screech of surprise and anger as he used its tail as a launch pad onto its back and then used the sharp spines on its back as stepping stones up to where Clayton sat. And, like the sneaky, stealthy former-SeeD he had been trained to be, he lunged forward, bashing the hunter in the head with the flat of his sword much like he had Sabor earlier in the day.

He figured Cloud would be angry if he just outright killed him without letting him have a try.

Clayton let out a grunt as he flew to the ground. Leon flipped around so he'd land on his feet, stumbled, then fell. How terribly graceful of him. He glared at the Stealth Sneak as it screeched again, flexing its claws to plunge into him. He was so not in the mood.

Lifting Lion Heart, he pulled the trigger. "Fuck off and die."

The lizard-like Heartless let out a squeal as it was blown backward from the force of the bullet, and the brunet was pleased. Tired, sore, and extremely pissed off, but pleased.

Until a loud gunshot resounded and he felt a sharp pain in his sword arm.

Sighing loudly, Leon turned a glare on the hunter, who was currently bleeding from a wound above his eye and was pointing his shotgun at him. It had only hit his arm, but shotgun wounds hurt (true story). …Though how it had only managed to hit his arm, he wasn't sure. Either way, he was in pain, and now he couldn't lift his sword, and he had a gun trained on him, and the Stealth Sneak was making its way toward him again.

Peachy.

The brunet squeaked as a bolt of lightning flew past his head to strike the stealth sneak. …He hated to say it, but he'd actually prefer the fire coming at his head. It was easier to counter fire than electricity.

The Stealth Sneak let out a whine, a rasp, and then it was falling forward to land on both Clayton and him. Leon felt his eye twitch. Now he could add being crushed under a giant Heartless to his list of injuries. He wished he could pull a Cid without it getting to Aerith; letting out a string of curses would make him feel better right now.

Still, the human instinct to survive sent a surge of adrenaline through his blood stream, and he hurriedly rolled to the side, just barely dodging getting crushed beneath the Heartless's heavy head. Clayton wasn't as lucky.

Watching the two enemies disappear and the crystalline heart float into the sky, Leon sighed, then groaned loudly. "Someone come heal me please…"

"Gawrsh, Leon! You look terrible!" Goofy exclaimed, helping him sit up.

The brunet scowled, then sighed again and rolled his eyes, deciding it didn't really matter. "Thanks, Goofy."

Sora handed him a mega-potion anxiously. "Here. Clayton must have dropped this."

"Hmm… Give this one to Tarzan. He needs it more," the older man replied, handing it back. "I'll take a hi-potion. Aerith can fix me up when we get back." He turned his head as he heard a soft grunt, then a groan of pain, then smirked. "Well, I see Sleeping Beauty has finally awoken. Have a nice nap?"

Cloud squinted at him for a second, then glared. "Fuck you. I did more work than any of you."

"Uh, not our fault. We're not the ones taking Heartless attacks personally," Leon retorted, then offered a small nod of thanks when Donald finally pulled a hi-potion from… somewhere. He couldn't really tell where the duck kept his items. He supposed someplace magical. The bitter taste of hi-potion had never been so welcome, and he was glad when the pressure of his cracked ribs and the numbness in his arm began to fade.

The blond looked annoyed. "They attacked my dick!"

"…I think their aim just sucks," Sora answered, walking back over to them with Tarzan in tow. "It's not like their purpose in life is to keep you from having babies. It's to steal your heart!"

Leon nodded his agreement. "I second that." He blinked in surprise as a few gorillas walked out to them. "Um… hello?" He couldn't help a yelp as one grabbed the collar of his shirt, and then he was being flung upward and over its head. 'Bwah!'

He landed on something firm, which was a relief, until he felt someone land on top of him. But then Sora was scrambling to get off, so he supposed that was okay. He was just glad his ribs had been healed before it had occurred, or else he would have cursed until the air turned blue, Aerith be damned.

Standing up, Leon looked around in confusion, gazing at the various gorillas that were staring down at them. "Well, I wasn't expecting this."

Cloud and Tarzan were soon to follow, one climbing, and the other flying. The blond was kind enough to grab Lion Heart and bring it back to the gunblader. Leon took it with a nod of acknowledgement, then turned to look at Tarzan, whom was looking down at the leader of their group of gorillas. Once whatever silent conversation they were having was over, he turned and began walking away, so after a few shared looks of confusion, they followed him over to the other side of the small plateau to gaze out over a lake to a set of pristine waterfalls.

Tarzan sighed softly, then stated, "Tarzan, home."

"It's very beautiful," Cloud commented softly, and the others nodded their agreement.

"Peaceful," Goofy added.

Leon took a moment to hang his gunblade at his hip, then looked at Tarzan. He had a feeling that this wasn't all the ape-man wanted to show them. And, when Tarzan started away again, he knew he was right. So they followed.

-x-x-x-

Leon eyed the blue light around them skeptically. Where was it coming from? And how? This peculiar thing needed to be investigated…

But at that moment, Tarzan began to speak. …Well, he spoke in gorilla anyway. "*&&X%."

Sora looked confused, and a little disappointed. "This is your home? But that means…"

The older brunet sighed and filled in the rest for him. 'Your friends aren't here.'

Goofy merely looked confused. "Huh?"

"The waterfalls…" Jane commented softly, looking around. "They're echoing all the way here."

Tarzan nodded. "*&&%. Friends there," he explained, looking back at the blue light. "See friends."

This information (as broken as it was) was only received with blank or confused stares. He seemed frustrated by this.

Finally, Jane exclaimed, "Oh, now I've got it!" She smiled as the others turned to her for an explanation. "*&&X% means heart. Friends in our hearts."

"H-heart…" the ape-man repeated slowly, as if testing out the new word.

"Oh." Sora sighed. "So that's what it meant."

Leon nodded slightly. That made sense. But he could see the boy getting even more disappointed with the information, so he reached over and gently punched him in the shoulder. "Hey, cheer up. We'll find them."

"Yeah…" the teen sighed, looking down at his feet.

Tarzan looked back at the blue light. "Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart." He frowned. "No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

At this, both the teen and the duck flinched, and then the Keyblade bearer turned toward him. "…Sorry about what I said," he murmured, then looked down at his shoes.

Donald frowned, then nodded. "I'm sorry, too."

"Yeah." Goofy seemed pleased with this, and rested a hand on either of their shoulders. "All for one, huh?"

Cloud blinked, then leaned toward the other man, frowning as he whispered, "What are they talking about?"

Leon shrugged and replied, "I don't know. I think we missed something, because they were at odds with each other when we got there, remember?"

"Oh. Yeah."

Then suddenly the light was glowing brighter, drawing their attention back to it. Sora stepped toward it, gazing at it thoughtfully, before pulling out his Keyblade and pointing it toward the light that the butterflies were gathered around. Light collected at the tip of the key-like sword before shooting out at the other one. After a few seconds, the light disconnected, and the one in the tree disappeared. Something popped out from where it had been and fell to the ground at their feet.

"A gummi!" Donald cried in surprise.

Goofy sighed forlornly. "But it's sure not the king's."

Leon bent down to pick it up and looked it over. "…It's a navigation gummi. I'll see if I can get Cid to install it when he fixes up the ship." He grimaced. "But if it's as bad as Cloud says, it's going to take maybe two or three days." He raised an eyebrow as one of the gorillas sidled over to Donald, then snorted and hurriedly turned away to shove the gummi in his pocket. Then, he crossed his arms, appearing indifferent once again.

Jane giggled as well. "Looks like someone has an admirer!"

"Huh? No, no, no, no! Daisy would kill me!" Donald exclaimed, looking horrified at the prospect.

Leon understood that. Girls were exceptionally frightening creatures.

The iridescent butterflies, after realizing that the light was not going to come back, chose that moment to leave their perches and made for the light up above in the tree tops to escape. …Well, all but a few. One fluttered over to land on Jane's shoulder; she looked at it in surprised. It stayed there for a moment, then took off after its friends to the freedom above. Another butterfly took the time to flap elegantly around Sora's head before it also ascended.

The third and final butterfly, however, fluttered over and landed delicately on Leon's nose. The brunet blinked for a moment in surprise, then wrinkled his nose, hoping to dislodge it. Unfortunately, the insect was stubborn, and refused to be budged. He growled in frustration but didn't move to uncross his arms. He didn't really care enough to make it move if it really didn't want to.

Cloud chuckled, then reached up and gently brushed the butterfly from the brunet's nose onto his finger. "Come on, little guy. Don't you know that little kitties eat butterflies like you?"

Leon blushed as the other man walked out and turned to try and glare at him, but any act of irritation was foiled by the dusting of red across his cheeks. Why did he have to go do something so damn sweet, huh?! It was hard to be angry when someone was being sweet!

…Oh well. He'd probably say something in the gummi ship that would easily make him angry again, and he wouldn't have to worry about feeling bad because Cloud was being sweet. Besides, they were going to Traverse Town, anyway, so he'd be able to get away from everyone at least for a little while.

But on to more important matters.

"Sora! I'm teaching you 'cure' on the way back!" Leon stated as he began the long walk back to the gummi ship.

It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to cast it during the fight; he'd just been focusing on using his magic on Clayton, and had forgotten to use it. …He had a bad habit of doing that. Aerith was going to rail him when they got back. But at least they'd get to rest.