I don't think I described Genkai in any earlier Jiminy's Journal, so I'll do it now: Genkai is Yusuke's mentor, a little old lady who lives in a big shrine and likes to play video games, but don't let that fool you. She's the creator and master of the Spirit Wave technique, and more than once she's kicked Yusuke's stubborn ass to get him to listen to her.

This chapter is UN-BETA'ED, for several reasons. One, this story has been haunting my conscience for quite a while now, and the fact that it hasn't been updated I keeping my awake at night. And two, my beta SyaoranLover-san, is being worked to death at school, and I figured posting this might help her, too. (Please respond to by e-mail, though, Syaoran-san, I'd like to know what's up.) So enjoy it in all of its raw, unread goodness. My conscience is now cleared.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or Kingdom Hearts. Or anything else that appears here.

Kingdom of the Elemental Hearts

Chapter 9: Ningenkai Pt. 3

The House of Genkai was large, spacious and very pretty. Kouji found himself liking it the moment they set foot into the delicate, Fung Shui balanced garden and made their way across the large stone pathway that lead to the main house. It reminded him of a marshal arts dojo he'd trained in one summer in grade school, a kind of camp for training in karate and meditation.

Yusuke and the others had, apparently, arrived before them, as the first sight that greeted them inside the house was a little old woman with faded pink hair sending the Spirit Detective flying across a rather vast room.

"OW! What the hell was that for, you old hag?"

"Pay attention, Dimwit!" Snapped the woman harshly, landing and pulling her hands behind her back as she landed easily on both feet. "The last thing we need is for you to lead those creatures here!"

"So what? We can take them!"

"And destroy our only Ningenkai headquarters in the process?"

Kurama cleared his throat lightly, closing the sliding wooden door behind him as he, Kouji and Sora entered. "Master Genkai, we've located our 'stragglers'."

Yusuke rolled over slightly and blinked at the red-haired demon. "Hey Kurama. When'd you get here?"

The redhead gave his friend a bit of a cryptic smile. Hiei huffed lightly and moved past them into the inner chambers of the mansion-like shrine without a word.

Yusuke watched him go with a slightly sour expression as Sora leaned down to help the Spirit Detective sit up. "I see Hiei's as friendly as ever."

Kouji scowled a bit, for lack of anything more constructive to do as he toed off his shoes in the entryway. The old woman, 'Genkai', turned to the group and eyed the two newcomers with the somewhat suspicious caution of one who has seen quite a lot in their time. To his amusement, Kouji found that she was even shorter than Hiei, the top of her head coming up to just over Kouji's waistline. However, if that kick was any indication, that little body packed an awfully big punch, especially for her age.

Interesting.

"So," Genkai eyed the two newcomers with tight-lipped scrutiny, "I'll take it you two are the ones that mangy duck has been squawking about this whole time."

Sora relaxed visibly. "So they're here? Donald and Goofy, I mean."

"Yes, of course they are, the Dimwit dragged them in." Genkai rattled off calmly, ignoring Yusuke's usual protests to her constantly-insulting nickname. Her faded brown eyes were drawn to the Keyblade, the details of which she took in without much question. "You must be Sora. I've heard of you. Should've known the Keyblade Master would be just another kid."

Sora laughed awkwardly, unsure of whether she was joking or not, but was left hanging as Genkai turned away from him and looked up at Kouji. "And who does that make you?"

"…Minamoto Kouji." The boy muttered, and his body moved into a well-trained bow. "Pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

Genkai smirked. "Nice to see somebody in this world with a little respect." She muttered, with the kind of air that made Kouji wonder if she was teasing him, reprimanding him, or actually being serious.

The old woman turned on her heels smartly, striding past Yusuke and purposefully treading on his ankle. "Get up, Dimwit, there's work to do." She snapped in a tone that Kouji recognized as affectionate. "Inside, all of you. It seems we have a lot of information to sort through, so let's not dilly-dally in here…"

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

A swirling darkness disappeared into the gloomy depths of the night as Beryl set foot on the sparse grass of this world. Her sharp black high heels sank into the soft earth rather unflatteringly, and the self-hailed Dark Goddess wrinkled her nose in disgust.

The Heartless flocked around her almost instantly, seeking a sort of affection from their most illustrious mistress. The others were cold, they knew, the other three were harsh and mean and selfish, not like the Lady, they knew. The Lady was nice and kind and her darkness tasted oh so sweet and she offered it so freely and in such abundance. Yes, they'd do anything the Lady asked of them, they would, even face down the Light Beast and the nasty Key-thing, they would…

"That's it, babies. Eat as much as you like." Beryl cooed, a light smirk worming its way over her lips as she released a bit of her own dark aura into the surrounding space, just enough to keep the little devils happy. A lone Green Requiem, attracted to her vast magic as well as her infinite darkness, wandered close enough that she could lay her hand affectionately atop its belled head.

"Mommy has a special job for all of you." She breathed in a soft, succulent whisper. Her lifeless purple eyes looked down the slope of the mountain to the softly glowing manor house nestled not too far below them. "Go get your big brother, my darlings. I've got a special gift just for him, and if he does good neither that horrid Licht Sager nor that nasty little Keyblade will bother you ever again."

The Heartless scattered through the mountain range, clicking and chirping eagerly as they leapt through the foliage.

Beryl's smirk widened as she watched them go, brushing her luxurious red hair behind her shoulder. "Such wonderful assets, when you know how to work them."

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Despite Genkai's somewhat optimistic instructions, their information turned out to be…not much. A basic summery gave way to some disappointing results: the Heartless had originated from somewhere in the mysterious 'Cursed Forest' that made up most of Genkai's property. However, since the world hadn't disappeared yet and the forest was clearly overrun, the chances of the Keyhole being within the forest's boundaries was slim to none. The only hint they had was the swamp-battlefield Kouji had been lead into, the one place where the Heartless wouldn't, or perhaps couldn't, go.

However, Kuwabara (who was less than willing to return to that particular field of battle and death even in broad daylight) stubbornly refused to travel there at night, while Donald refused to go anywhere after dark and Goofy had already fallen asleep. It was decided then that they would wait out the night in Genkai's temple and go as a group the next morning.

"Hah! I win!"

"No fair!"

Which explained why Sora, Kuwabara, Donald and Yusuke were gathered around the nearest table playing some kind of cross between poker and go fish that only Yusuke seemed to know all the rules to. Kurama and Genkai were seated not to far away, watching in considerable amusement as the Keyblade Master and his trusty Mage friend scowled over their respective hands and Kuwabara cursed Yusuke at the top of his massive lungs.

Hiei had disappeared quite a while ago, before the debate was even over, and heaven only knows where he got off to. Kouji, fidgety and not particularly happy with the current situation (not to mention very un-fond of playing cards) borrowed a bokuto from Genkai's supply of training tools and went into the secluded back garden to practice his technique. On a dummy, of course.

The sawdust-filled little man barely moved as Kouji struck it, but that had something to do with it being tied to a thin wooden post protruding from the ground. Kouji took a deep breath and a small step back before he lunged again, the wooden blade jumping back just a minute bit when it hit the wood.

As he paused to catch his breath, a deep voice from behind him suddenly spoke up. "Your technique is sloppy."

Kouji spun around at the sudden presence, the wooden blade in his hand moving to a defensive block position. Hiei was crouched in the branches of a tree not too far behind him, smirking at the boy in a rather cold, yet aggravating, manner.

Kouji scowled at him in annoyance. "What do you want?"

Hiei didn't exactly respond to his question. For a moment, he hovered there in the branches of the half-grown pine, an unreadable expression plastered on his face. Then, quite suddenly, he drew his blade and lunged so quickly the eye could barely follow.

Kouji didn't have time to think about his reaction, but in a sudden state of surprise his instincts took over. He shifted is grip in an instant, raising the bokuto in front of his face to block the thin, silver blade as it came down on him. The metal sliced through the wood, but stopped half-way, and to the well-trained eye it was obvious that the attacker had held back.

Hiei smirked a bit, pulling his sword back out and dropping to the ground, sliding the blade back into its sheaf as he did. "Hn. Seems Kurama was right."

"What?" Kouji tensed harshly, more than a little put off by the unprovoked attack.

"Not a 'mere' human." Hiei turned away with nothing but a small rustle of his cloak. "But you're still a human."

For some reason, Kouji found himself insulted by the final comment, but before he could think of any kind of comeback, they were cut off by a tremor that shook through the entire building.

Yusuke and Sora were the first to burst out of the door, followed closely by Kuwabara and a bit more calmly by Genkai and Kurama. "What the hell was that?" Yusuke demanded, snapping his head this way and that.

"What makes you think we know?" Kouji snapped, abandoning the bokuto and drawing the Licht Sager from its place. He did not illuminate it quite yet, but held the silver hilt ready to do so if danger presented itself.

Which it did. Rather quickly, too.

The was an almost delicate-sounding shattering noise as the barrier Genkai had erected around her main property was shattered. Seconds later the perpetrator burst through the trees himself with a tremendous roar.

Sora recognized it instantly: A Behemoth-type Heartless, but one grown to a ridiculous extent, expanding evermore on its already gargantuan size. It towered high above the trees, whose tips barely scratched at his belly, and the color scheme was skewed…instead of its normal blue and purple markings, this one was splashed out in dramatic red and black, emphasis on the large, twisted-heart-shaped Mark on its chest. It slammed its huge front paws into the ground hard enough to knock some of the less-coordinated (i.e. - Kuwabara, Goofy, Donald) off their feet, then tossed his head and thrust the huge red horn up at the star-studded sky with an earth-shattering roar.

Yusuke stumbled under the force, covering his ears a bit painfully. "What the hell?" He roared.

"Be careful!" Sora called, whipping the Keyblade from its hiding spot and slipping instantly into an opening stance. "These guys have really tough outer skin! You're not gonna get at them just by hitting them!"

Both Kouji's and Hiei's eyes swiveled around to face the Keyblade Master. Genkai glared up at him as well, a bit more seriously, if that was possible. "You know this thing?"

Sora shifted. "Something…like it…"

"Yeah, we've handled these before!" Donald squawked, throwing his wings out and waving his staff wildly. "So what if it's bigger? We'll take it down!"

"No way." Yusuke slammed one fist into the other hand, a somewhat eager look on his face. "That's my job."

Sora realized what was about to happen two seconds before it did, not near enough time to stop it from going through. Yusuke suddenly burst forward, smallish flames of hot blue fire charging his fists and licking around his ankles for an extra boost as he did.

The Spirit Detective kicked off the ground and shot into the air on small burst of spiritual energy, slamming his fist into the Behemoth's shoulder. The creature stumbled just a bit, moving his legs the most minute distance possible before turning back to swing his front paws at Yusuke and send the black-haired boy flying.

Sora's shout of alarm caught in his throat as Yusuke righted himself in mid-air and landed, a bit roughly, on his feet. He slide back quite a bit before he manage to dig his heels in enough to stop and tossed his head back to throw several loose hairs out of his brown eyes.

"What the hell?" He shouted for no real reason save than massive frustration.

"You can't get them that way…" Sora groaned, shaking his head. After a short moment a determined expression shot across his face. "Just keep 'em busy. I'll get this one!"

Before anyone could object or lodge protests, he shot forward. Kouji rolled his eyes and hissed through his teeth, but dodged nimbly forward to strike at the Behemoth's right foreleg. The white-hot blade passed through the creature, leaving a small red scratch, but otherwise didn't do much more than annoy him.

Kurama slid back into a battle position, bearing his Rose Whip in an instant and moving more defensively that anything else. Hiei vanished occasionally with bursts of speed, re-appearing all around the creature to lunge minute pin-pricks into the thick skin. Kuwabara had a blazing orange Rei Ken in his hands, but was dancing around near the edge of the battle to avoid being crushed by the huge creature's feet, while Yusuke bounced in and out with well-trained street fighting skills, throwing his fastest spirit-powered punches and kicks. Donald was casting thunder magic, focusing on the horn at the top of the Behemoth's head, while Goofy crouched behind his shield and bounded throughout the battle.

This entire time, Sora had been gradually working his way up the huge creature's hindquarters, moving with his vast, hopping leaps and keeping his balance throughout the entire mess. With a great twisting bound, he leapt to the very tip-top of the Behemoth's head, slamming the Keyblade down on the ruby-red horn with all of his might. Bright red sparks shot from the strike, the first real damage of the whole fight, and the gigantic Heartless reared back in a pained roar that echoed through the area like cannon fire.

"GAH!" Kuwabara stumbled back, his hands over his ears. "Crap, that's loud!"

Kouji gave a light grunt, covering his own ears against the violent noise, and rolled his eyes. Then he cursed himself for sounding so much like the little swordsman behind him.

Sora nearly fell as the Heartless suddenly turned and ran through the trees. Or, more accurately, ran over the trees, as they were all too easily felled by the massive beast. Sora flailed his arms a moment and grabbed onto the horn steadied himself, belatedly realizing that he wasn't holding the Keyblade seconds before he spotted it tumbling towards the ground. "Oh no!"

"Hang on!" Yusuke shouted. He leapt forward and snatched the Keyblade in mid-air, nearly hitting the ground himself as he did. He pulled himself unsteadily back to his feet, staring at the blade shaking his arm in surprise. "Woah, this thing packs a punch!"

"H-Hey!" Sora shouted as the Behemoth started to vanish in the distance. "I could use a hand here!"

"Just hold on!" Donald shouted, and took off after it with Goofy and Kuwabara on his heels. Yusuke was just ahead of them, still struggling to keep control of the Keyblade, which didn't seem to be too happy without Sora around.

Kouji sighed and put a pained hand on his forehead. "It's not like we could lose them." He mumbled in annoyance, glancing at the huge pathway through the trees carved through the creature's fierce charge.

Kurama paused a moment to offer the boy a light smirk of amusement, then followed after the rest of the group, Hiei flitting along through the trees which were still standing. Kouji gave one last aggravated sigh and took off after, mumbling under his breath.

The pathway seemed shorter than it should have been, but that was only because it was so very wide. The great Heartless broke through the rows and rows of trees with spectacular ease until there were no more trees to break through, charging uncontrollably through the barren, misty lands of the vast, haunting swamp.

"So much for not being able to come here." Muttered Hiei, and Kouji scowled at him.

Yusuke, however, looked excited. "All right." He grinned, increasing his grip on the Keyblade to make sure it didn't dart out of his grip. "Two birds with one stone, right guys?"

"Be cautious, Yusuke." Kurama warned. "We don't know what this field's spiritual powers could do to that creature's strength."

Hiei sniffed in disdain, shooting forward in a ready strike. With all the speed and skills he had trained over his hundred-some-odd years of demon life, he aimed for the easiest route to the creature he could. But before he could quite get to it he slid to a sudden stop and changed direction, just in time to avoid being caught under the creature's massive claws.

"Hey, shrimp, what're you doing?" Kuwabara shouted. "Kurama said to be careful!"

Kouji, of course, had already figured it out by the way Sora was clinging to the creature's palpable head ornament. "The horn is it's weak point. Get something up there and let's get rid of this thing."

"I will once I get a clear shot!" Yusuke shouted back, dancing in range and out of range of the monster's attacks. "Hang on, Sora!"

"I'm t-trying!" The Keyblade Master hollered down, gripping the horn for dear life.

Kurama seemed to think the time was ready for his brand of attack. He dodged forward swiftly and gracefully, bearing his Rose Whip as he moved to wrap the thick vine around the creature's right foreleg. He slid to a stop and pulled the whip taunt, the token measure managing to hold the creature's leg to the ground, the thorns digging painfully into its thick hide.

Hiei darted forward the moment the Heartless's attention was focused on the fox. His blade sunk deep into the left forearm and, unfortunately, stuck, leaving the swordsman's side open to the Behemoth's violent response.

Even with his speed, Hiei barely had time to glance upward before he suddenly found himself in the air, flung by the force of the monster's sudden strike. His small body slammed into one of the huge trees, causing quite a dent, and he dropped to the ground in a mild stun.

Kurama was the first notice the impending danger of the huge falling tree looming over his partner's muddled head. "HIEI!"

Garnet-red eyes shot up to glare at the huge slab of wood descending on him, sucking in a breath of air and urging his legs to move, but the order was denied. The shadow grew large and a sickening crack filled the air as the tree came down…

Kouji suddenly leapt from the right side and brought the Licht Sager up to meet the wooden trunk with all the strength he could muster. The weapon, as well as being formidable in its own rights, was so well in-tune with its master's personal strength that it splintered the huge trunk right over Hiei's head. One half landed in front of the fire demon and one behind, but all that actually hit him were a few long splinters and pangs of bark.

Kouji landed hard on his feet and, obviously unprepared for the backlash of suck and attack, trembled for a moment before falling backwards to the ground. He gasped for a few good breaths, his eyes crossing in a mild stun, but managed a small smirk when he remember what had just transpired.

Yusuke slid to a stop and glanced around him, finally satisfied that he had a good position. "HEY, SORA!" He roared, twisting his arm back. "CATCH!"

He flung the Keyblade up with all his might. Sora released the horn and leapt straight into the air to grab his weapon, gripping it in both hands as he came down. "Thanks!"

"Don't thank me yet!" Yusuke grinned and pointed a gun-like finger at the Behemoth's two front legs. "Rei Gun!"

The Heartless reared back to avoid the huge blast of blue-white spirit energy, which shot past him and exploded the only dead tree still managing to hang on to some semblance of life here in this barren wasteland. The distraction was just enough to bring the horn within Sora's best range of attack, and he took advantage of it, bringing the Keyblade down with both hands and striking with all of his might.

With an immense roar and a shower of red sparks, the horn shattered into a million pieces of star dusts. The Heartless screamed another deafening scream and twisted as it fell. There was just enough time for Sora to slide down its backside and land on the ground safely before its shadowy body faded in the light of the steadily-rising sun.

"That'll do it." The Keyblade Master grinned, watching the monster vanish. "Good guys one, Heartless zippo."

Kouji sat up, gasping a bit to force the air back into his lungs. He glanced over at Hiei, who was recovered from his own stunned stated and was glaring angrily out into the field.

"…An eye for an eye." Muttered the younger swordsman.

Hiei glanced at him coldly and gave a light grunt in response.

"Hey guys," Kuwabara called, pointing in the direction of Yusuke's last Rei Gun attack. "Check it out. Something freaky's goin' on."

The tree had splintered and most of it gave way, leaving a single piece of wood standing in the middle of the swamp. Engraved in said wood was a black hole of infinite darkness, surrounded by a halo of shining blue light defining its very distinct shape - the Keyhole.

Sora straightened and approached the Keyhole with caution. In his hand, the Keyblade jumped a bit and trembled, ready to seal the pathway to this world's Heart, begging to be used.

Kouji's blue eyes were already scanning the landscape anxiously. They caught sight of a bit of movement beyond the water but, remembering his previous encounter with this particular swamp, was very careful as he made his way slowly to the edge of the bank. He craned his neck and gazed in, careful to keep a certain distance from the murky water's edge.

"Sora." He called softly. "Take a look at this."

The Keyblade Master came at the beckoning call, as did Yusuke, Donald, Goofy and an overly-curious Kuwabara. Sora's blue eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Holy…"

"What the hell is that?" Yusuke asked out loud, leaning down for a better look.

It was a Window, just as they had hoped there would be, but neither Kouichi nor Riku nor the King could be seen through it. What they could see was beyond anything they had ever imagined.

Sora was reminded of the brief glimpse he'd had through the Door of Kingdom Hearts, the pathway he'd seen into the Realm of Darkness. It was gloomy and black, practically impossible to tell what was happening in the mass of moving shadows. Or, rather, the mass of moving Shadows, as the window itself was nearly completely and utterly covered by Heartless.

Squirm, writhing Heartless climbed over and around each other like a massive plague of ants, their antenna twitching and their legs leaping with every single spasm-like motion. Now, Sora did not pride himself as an expert on Heartless, simply because he knew better - they were creatures that could never be truly understood by those of the light - but he has seen enough of their motions and life to realize what was happening in startling realization.

They were dancing.

They bounced, they hopped, they spun and twirled with and around each other like some twisted Danse Macabre. There was probably music playing, why, their movements were so rhythmic that Sora could almost imagine the twisted strains and piercing notes curving around his mind…

Goofy cocked his head to one side in confusion. "Gawrsh, what's going on?"

"They're celebrating something." Kouji muttered, and Sora glanced at him in surprise.

"Okay…" Kuwabara straightened and crossed his arms over his chest. "But what would those freaky bugs have to celebrate about? We just creamed 'em."

"Whatever it is," Kurama's soft voice managed to startle everyone, as no one had quite realized when he'd slipped up behind them. "It is probably not in the best interests of the Worlds in Light."

There was a long moment of silence as the group mulled this over. Finally, Kouji sighed and straightened, turning his back to the pool and moving away. "Seal the Keyhole, Sora."

"Kouji…" Sora straightened as well, noticing the undertones of disappointment in his companion's voice.

"The Window's useless." Snapped the Light-warrior, cocking the Licht Sager over his shoulder in a somewhat comfortable manner. "And the sooner you close that stupid hole, the sooner we can get out of here."

Sora nodded quietly in understanding, turning towards the single piece of tree still standing in this dead field. The Keyhole twinkled and seemed to wink at him brightly. It knew who he was, they always did, they were waiting for him to lock them closed and expel the Heartless from deep within their bowels…

Sora lifted the Keyblade and lined it up with the center of the Keyhole. A beam of light shot from the edge of the blade and penetrated deep into the darkness of the very world's center. There was a small sound of a lock clicking into place, followed by the gentle tone of a single bell, and the Keyhole slowly faded away.

"That's it." Sora grinned, spinning the Keyblade around and stowing it away. "All done here. Think it's time to get going, guys?"

"There's just one problem." Donald squawked, waving his Staff angrily. "We don't know where the ship is!"

"Oh yeah." Goofy hyuk'ed, rubbed his head awkwardly. "I wonder what happened to it after we crashed…"

"Yoo-hoo, Yuuuuusukeeeee!"

The perky voice dropped out of the sky with a sort of rolling tone, a proper announcement for its speaker as she soared down in mid-barrel roll, riding an oar that seam. She righted herself properly just before she reached them, her pale blue ponytail bobbing with curls as her pink kimono ruffled around her in the wind.

"Well, it looks like you've gotten most of this taken care of, have you?" She giggled brightly, her pink eyes sparkling brightly. "That's good. Another mission well taken care of!"

"Botan…" Yusuke mumbled in a mildly threatening manner, happy enough to see the girl but obviously a bit annoyed with her perky attitude.

"Aren't we grumpy?" The girl leapt nimbly off the oar, tossing her head as she did so. Scanning the group, her rosy eyes fell on Sora, Kouji, Donald and Goofy. "Oh? And who's this? I haven't met you before, have I?'

"Uh…no." Sora took a step back, slightly unnerved, and Kouji raised an eyebrow in scrutiny.

Botan stared at them a moment longer, then tossed her head lightly with a giggle. "Oh well. It's not like a fair amount of odd things haven't been happening lately. Why, after those nasty little bugs showed up, Koenma had to put up that special barrier to keep their ships from coming in. And then we accidentally pulled in the strangest looking craft I've ever seen, no pilot, no crew, no…"

"What kind of craft?" Kouji demanded instantly.

"Like I said, it's kinda weird." Botan smiled brightly, not pausing for a breath. "Really brightly painted and it bounces, too. Our technicians in the Spirit World have been trying to figure out how it ticks, but they can't take it apart because they can't find any screws or anything to undo! All the pieces stick onto each other like super glue or something…"

The effect was instantaneous and a bit shocking, as Sora, Donald and Kouji all reacted with an instant chorus: "THAT'S OUR SHIP!"

"TAKE IT APART?" Donald screeched.

"Gawrsh, we can't get home without that!" Goofy added hastily. "We need that ship in one piece or we're stuck here, hyuk!"

Botan, who apparently hadn't been ready for such an explosive outburst, toppled backwards over her oar and had to right herself before she could answer. "Goodness, that would be a problem, wouldn't it?" She laughed awkwardly, rubbing her head. "We better get back to Spirit World real quick then, and tell those techno-geeks not to…do anything…"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kouji asked sourly, crossing his arms.

"Er…right…" Botan gulped a bit, feeling intimidated, and mounted her oar once again. "I suppose that means…all aboard?"

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Beryl would have spat, had the action not been so distastefully un-ladylike.

However, the action would have been much more satisfying than sitting in her private quarters, arms crossed over her chest angrily and scowling at everything that moved, squirmed, buzzed or just sat there inanimately, which is what she was doing at the moment.

That Behemoth, she decided, had been a waste of her magic, why, even with its power multiplied ten fold he couldn't make a dent on those miserable little bugs. As a matter of fact, it had done exactly the opposite - leading those little brats straight to the Keyhole! And the Window! If they figured out what was going on in the other half of the Worlds…

No. She couldn't think of that now.

And why was she? A new ray of confidence cut through the shadowy doubt that had fallen over her. She had nothing to fear! Already, thanks to her, they had five of the Legendary Items in their possession…six, if Myotismon's claims about the Gravigra Bow and its wielder were to be believed. Compared to that, the Keyblade and the Licht Sager were of little consequence.

There was, of course, the problem of what the others would say…Just thinking about the look on Anubis's face when he discovered her latest 'disappointment' made her want to throw something. It wasn't like he could do any better, if he ever got off his lazy butt and tried…

Maybe that was the way to do things. After all, that stupid 'pride' he held as a 'gamer' would never let the blowhard back down from a challenge…

A slight laugh bubbled out of her throat as she stood, setting out to find the fur-laced wild man and issue her challenge. This, she decided, could actually be fun…this could be a lot of fun indeed…

( - ) ( - ) ( - )

Donald dropped down from the hatch of the red-and-yellow ship, landing on his webbed feet with a rather vocal sigh. "Everything looks like it's in one piece." He reported nasally, waving his wand at Sora impatiently. "Which means we're ready to go. Come on, get a move on!"

"Keep your feathers on." Yusuke rolled his eyes at the wizard in annoyance. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned back to the smaller group gathered in front of him. "So, you really headin' out?"

"We can't stay here." Sora shrugged, a light grin on his face. "I've got to find my friends, Donald and Goofy are looking for their king, and Kouji has to find his…"

Kouji not-so-discretely stomped down on Sora's foot as hard as he could. The brown haired boy choked on his words and nearly bit his tongue, giving his companion an annoyed glare as the pain subsided. The message, however, was clear enough: "My business. Shut up."

Yusuke, used to such 'subtle' hints from people like Genkai and Keiko, just laughed. "Okay, got it, you've got your own problems to take care of." He grinned brightly, holding out a hand to Sora. "Just make sure to stop by sometime and see us, okay?"

"Yeah…sure." Sora shook the offered hand. "You got it!"

There was a wild sound from not too far down the hall, something like a high-pitched yelling echoing off metal shelves and accompanied by a rather stressed-out, deepen tone begging for a little control. The noises ushered in a small purple projectile which, on closer examination, turned out to be a baby wrapped in purple clothes.

"Outta my way! Coming through!" Called the toddler as he came barreling through the air. He screeched to a stop in mid-air right in front of Sora and Yusuke.

"Yo!" He proclaimed in a nasally little voice, raising one hand and grinning sheepishly. "Nice job on that last case, Yusuke. Another apocalypse aversion down on your record, huh?"

Yusuke scowled. "Yeah, no thanks to you, you little brat."

"And that means you must be the Keyblade Master!" Pointedly ignoring Yusuke's sarcastic remarks, the toddler swung around and lowered himself to hover at Sora's eye level. He offered up a pudgy hand and drew himself up as regally as a baby could. "I am Koenma, supreme ruler of the Spirit World, and I thank you for your assistance."

"No problem." Sora shook the tiny hand, sending the Prince of the Spirit World bobbing up and down.

Koenma quickly recovered from this ungraceful act and brushed himself off, still managing to keep an ever-diplomatic smile on his lips. "I don't want to keep you too long." He laughed awkwardly, hovering a bit further from the group. "Just wanted to apologize for the inconvenience, but I don't have time. Botan, apologize for me! I've got papers to do."

With that, he took off down the hall again at top speed, the blue ogre in the tiger-print loincloth who had only just caught up with him having to turn around and follow the hyperactive toddler back down the long halls.

There was a bit of stunned silence in the group, then Donald spoke. "Well, that was weird."

Kouji held back a rather sarcastic comment and turned towards the ship with a very light smirk on his lips. The expression disappeared rather quickly, however, as a sudden presence behind him made the boy turn around.

Hiei was standing there, his body completely hidden by the long cloak and white scarf. He was scowling and his red eyes gazed off to one side in an awkward manner.

"Good luck." He muttered, pointedly refusing to make eye contact with Kouji. "With your…twin."

Kouji blinked at him, especially since he didn't recall mentioning that Kouichi was his twin to the smaller figure. But then he caught a glimpse of the third eye across the other's forehead, glowing lightly beyond the white headband, and noticed the small, pale blue sphere dangling around his neck contemplatively.

A slight smirk worked its way onto his face in understanding. "Thanks." He sighed, brushing his hair back. "You too."

Then he turned and followed Sora up the gangplank and into the Gummi Ship.

TBC…

If you think Kouji sounds a little formal when he's introducing himself, there's a reason for that. What he said in Japanese would be, "Minamoto Kouji desu. Douzo yuroshiku." (May or may not be misspelled, give me a break…remembering Hiragana/Katakana spelling translation is a pain in the arse) The last two words are just trying to be polite, since Genkai is obviously his elder. I told you he has an honor code.

Behemoths are huge Heartless that only appear in the very lowest level of "Hollow Bastion" and in "The End of the World". They are very annoying, but easy enough to beat. You just have to climb up their hindquarters to the back of their head, where they can't get you (always easier using the Double Jump and Glide techniques) and whack the heck out of their horn. It takes a long time, though…they've got around five or six bars of health to work through.

Note that, since this story is mostly written from Sora's and Kouji's P.o.V., we see things the way they see them. Since both have a bit of Spirit Awareness, a.k.a. 'Sixth Sense', they can see Kuwabara's Rei Ken, Yusuke's Rei Gun, and the subtle bursts of spirit energy behind their various punches that make them so powerful. Donald and Goofy, who don't have that kind of Awareness, can't see any of it.

"another apocalypse aversion…" - Yusuke and co. have saved the world from destruction no less than three times: Against the Four Saint Beasts who wanted to take control, against Toguro and Sakkyo's plot to open a tunnel into the Demon World, and against Sensui's plot to do the same in order to try to kill all humans.

Dammit that fight scene was horrible…I worked on it for two weeks and it was still horrible, This whole world has just been a disaster…too many characters to juggle, it was just a nightmare.

The next world is…interesting. It's not an anime world, it's from the original Kingdom Hearts, and trust me, some old faces are going to turn up. Oh, and we get to see what Takuya and Taichi are up to, so I get to screw with their heads a bit by doing something completely random. Stay tuned!

Oh, and just for fun and to keep you busy until the next chapter: What do you think 'Puusuke's special skill would be as a summoning monster? I think he'd use 'Aero' type magic by either (in muscular-type phoenix mode) flapping his wings to create a tornado or (cutesy little 'baby penguin' mode) blowing a beam of wind and spirit energy out his beak like a cannon. What do you think?