Welcome one, welcome all! I hope you've enjoyed the story so far and thank you for continuing to read! It really means a lot to me, so thank you everyone. I realize that we're 6 chapters in and Manami is still in the Land of Departure... I blame it on the short chapter lengths x( On average now, my chapters are about 1100 words and most long fic have a 2-3000+words per chapter. And I have this feeling that my chapters are getting longer too... But I'm rambling by this point. Enjoy! ~KB

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to T. Nomura.

Ch 6: Problems

Manami stepped heavily into the clearing. After tomorrow Master Eraqus would be back and things would return to normal. Hopefully all this "training" she's done for the past two weeks have been worth it.

A slight breeze blew past and all was quite. Each step forward felt like Manami was walking to her own funeral. Her heart was heavy and burned in her chest. Can I really do this again?

Knowing she was about to fight Heartless again, Manami took a deep breath and summoned her Keyblade. But something was off. It took a bit longer to appear than normal, she thought.

Manami didn't have time to question things as the usual hoard of Heartless appeared. She crouched down in a fighting stance and prepared for the oncoming attack. Today there were more Neoshadows than normal, so she needed to be careful.

The Heartless began their assault and Manami flew into action. Remnants of her dream lingered in her mind as she swung her Keyblade. The helplessness she felt before fueled her desire to do better. But there was a problem. The Heartless weren't disappearing as fast as before. Usually it only took a few hits on a Shadow for it to disappear, now it took at least twice that much. The Neoshadows were even worse. It was like they didn't even feel any of her hits!

Fear arose in Manami and she began to worry. What was going on? Why was it harder to defeat the Heartless? She had been doing this for days now, why was today any different?

Manami swung her Keyblade over her head from behind to hit the Shadow in front of her. On contact the Shadow burst into a puff of darkness. And her Keyblade shattered. It freaking shattered into a hundred tiny fragments of light.

Manami's eye's widened, I am so screwed.

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Up in the tower, Master Xehanort watched the events below unfold. He had two days to finish stirring up the darkness in Manami's heart. Once he accomplished that, his plans could be set in motion.

A bright flash below caught his eye.

Glancing down into the courtyard, Xehanort saw Manami standing in the middle if a mass of Pureblood Heartless without her Keyblade. He could see the terror in her eyes as she stood in shock.

This was an interesting development, but not what he wanted. Xehanort wanted the darkness in her heart to manifest and that couldn't happen if she couldn't fight.

He summoned a Corridor of Darkness and walked through.

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Manami was frozen in place. Her Keyblade disappeared. It disappeared. Poof. Gone. Bye-bye. How am I supposed to fight now?! she mentally screamed. Only a Keyblade could make the Heartless disappear for good. Anything else would just make them return to the Realm of Darkness where they could reform.

Manami stumbled forward after a scratch to her back. She had been so shocked she didn't think about all the Heartless around her and one had attacked from behind.

She tried to summon her Keyblade again. Nothing.

Again.

Again.

DARN IT.

Manami scanned around for something to use, a branch, a pebble, something. Nothing; there was absolutely nothing she could use. Why do they have to do such a good job cleaning the place? she whined in her head.

A black portal emerged in front of Manami out of nowhere. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Master Xehanort step out of it. What was he doing here?!

Manami gasped when Master Xehanort summoned his Keyblade. His was broader than the basic Kingdom Key Manami had, with two decorated black bars leading to the teeth* at the end. Multiple curved spikes protruded from it and there was a blue stone toward the teeth. It looked nasty and menacing, much like its master.

Xehanort swung his Keyblade and destroyed a whole line of Shadows in front of him.

So this is a true master's power. Manami was awestruck.

Manami sat back and watched Master Xehanort expertly defeat the Heartless that appeared. Left and right he swung his Keyblade, only needing a couple of hits each before they disappeared.

When the last Heartless was gone, Xehanort dismissed his Keyblade and turned to Manami. "What happened?" he asked.

Manami stared at him. "I- I uh," her voice left her. There was no way he would believe her.

"Spit it out, girl!"

"I- The Keyblade, it just… disappeared."

"Explain."

"When I first summoned it, I noticed a delay in its appearance. I also noticed that it took more hits to defeat each Heartless today. As I finished off a Shadow, my Keyblade shattered and wouldn't come back when I tried to summon it again."

Master Xehanort stared at her for a minute, analyzing her. Why would the Keyblade suddenly abandon its wielder?

"I see," he finally replied, "Well, there's no point in continuing this if you can't wield you're Keyblade. I will discuss this with Master Eraqus when he returns."

With that, Master Xehanort walked passed Manami and left the courtyard.

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Manami closed the door to her room and leaned her back against it. What was going to happen now that she couldn't wield her Keyblade?

She sighed deeply and flopped on her bed. Chocolate didn't even sound appealing to her, that's how upset Manami was.

On the bright side, I have tomorrow off, she thought.

Yeah, and what are you gonna do all day if you can't train? she countered herself.

I could, uhh-

That's right. You're so focused on training, you have no hobbies!

Shut up.

Manami's mental arguments were always interesting. She had a tendency to over analyze problems she confronted. And this was a heck of a problem. No matter how she looked at it, there was nothing else she could do. The Keyblade wouldn't come to her, plain and simple. So much for becoming a Keyblade Master.

Sitting up, Manami walked over to her desk and pulled out pen and paper. Taking a deep breath, she began to write. Well, she tried anyway. Manami's hand was shaking so bad, she had to put the pen down.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. This was it. So many years of training, wasted. How would she face her parents? What was she going to do when she returned home?

I have no special skills. I can't do anything right. I'm such a failure.

Manami sobbed on her desk, warping the paper. Oh no, she thought, what will Master Eraqus think of me?! He'll probably hate me for wasting his time when he could've been mentoring someone else. At the thought, Manami cried even harder.

How did things turn out so badly?

FIN

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*The teeth is the part that sticks out at the end of the Keyblade.

Uh oh, what will Manami do now?! Well, you're gonna have to wait a little longer than normal to find out. I'm going on vacation for a little while and won't be able to post anything. But that doesn't mean you can't leave a comment or review! I promise to read them when I get back ~KunoichiBlade