Chapter Three
"Alright kid, you're asking for it." Said the man in black with a shrug, "I guess I'll just we'll just have to do this the hard way." With that, the man also raised his gun-like blade and pointed it in Usugi's direction.
She grimaced slightly then ran towards him, the edge of the blade shining in the dim light of the street lamps. The man merely grinned smugly and his blade was instantly turned sideways to parry her wild blow. Usugi tried to manage a smug grin as well, but was unable to as she tried to force back the man's sword. He almost effortlessly held her back as if she was a miniscule insect beneath the mighty paw of a lion. Despite her valiant, but futile efforts, she was pushed backwards, landing on the cobble-stone streets with a light 'thud'. Usugi's eyes opened wide as the next thing she saw was the steel colored blade pointed directly at her neck. She was too stunned to try and crawl away, or even move at all for that matter.
"Good, but not good enough." The man said as he cast a shadow over Usugi. His face had become rather solemn and emotionless as he looked directly at her. Just then, she did something completely different than giving up her blade to this stranger. She instead was able to kick the man's hand, causing him to let go of his blade. The weapon fell and clattered on the street as it fell a few feet away. While the man was paying attention to the state of his sword, Usugi made a swift kick to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. As the stranger reeled backward towards the brick wall of a nearby brick building, clutching his abdomen, she got up as quick as possible and watched him as he tried to regain composure. A rather gleeful look of pride and accomplishment spread across Usugi's face. She had defeated this threat all by herself and felt rather victorious
"Good but not good enough" She said to the man mockingly. Usugi was just about to run away while the man was disarmed, but felt something grip the back of her neck. Her look of self-satisfaction instantly turned to one of confusion as she fell down, unconscious. Just behind where she once stood was a woman with short black hair whom wore a pair of khaki colored shorts and a small, olive green tank top that showed a large portion of her midriff. She had a big smile which made her seem both harmless and innocent. This was quite contrary to the truth.
"You're losing it, Squall." She said in an almost jaunty sing-song tone. The man in black grimaced as she mentioned the name 'Squall' "I told you" he replied, "My name is Leon." He cringed as he stood up straight and took one last look at the unconscious Usugi.
What seemed to be several hours later, seeing as how it's rather hard to measure time when you're out cold, Usugi regained consciousness for the second time that day. She thought that she was now safely in her own room and that everything that had happened before was a dream, a dream that seemed all too real. This idea of hers was soon proven wrong when she realized she was somewhere unfamiliar.
It was a room, sure enough, but was quite different from hers. The carpet was tattered and was an odd shade of orange with a few faded gold designs around the fringes. The surface of the ancient fabric was dotted with foot prints and the occasional splotches of caked mud. The walls of the room were in a much better condition than the floor and were colored a nice, deep shade of forest green.
While Usugi was speculating about where exactly she was, she noticed two things that were, in reality, blatantly obvious. The first one being that she was sitting on the floor of this very room and tied to the top right post of a small and rickety wooden bed. The second was that someone was lying on this bed, sleeping soundly. The sleeping character appeared to be just a boy about the age of fourteen and had a large amount of oddly spiked brown hair on his head. The clothing he wore was just as strange as his hair-do. The top part of the boy's garb was rather complex and consisted of what looked to be a black and white short sleeved hooded jacket, the hood of which was also black and the sleeves fringed with bits of gray. Underneath that was a plain red zip up shirt and he wore, on his hands, a pair of fingerless gloves. The lower part of the outfit was a pair of puffy shorts of a scarlet hue. He also wore an over-sized pair of yellow shoes that were rather similar to those of a clown.
Usugi's attention was almost averted from the boy when she caught a glimmer of something out the corner of her eye. It was a silver chain around his neck. On the end of the ordinary chain was a small silver charm in the shape of a crown. Her interest was held until she heard the creak of a door hinge. Usugi's head spun around and her gaze soon met the man in black. All in just a single moment she recalled the entire battle and the outcome, she just couldn't remember what happened directly after or exactly why she was tied to a bed post.
"You…" said Usugi, her voice dripping with a sense of hatred as she glared at the man. The stranger in black glared back down at her then walked over to one of the walls and leaned against it. A few seconds of silence passed by before another person walked in. It was the woman with short black hair, wearing a rather cheery expression where the man's was rather glum.
"Well, at least one of you is awake." Stated the woman as she looked toward the ceiling. She placed her pointer finger upon her chin and was deep in though with an almost vacant gaze. Then, almost out of the blue, the woman got an idea and began to walk towards the bed. She raised her hand, fanned out her fingers, and smacked the boy across the face. The sound of it frightened Usugi and even gave the shady man in black quite a jolt. "Hey, wake up you lazy bum!" the woman said in an irritated tone.
The boy the moved slightly and gave a slight groan as he began to stir. One of his eyes popped open to stare blankly at the woman. The iris of the eye was an intriguing shade of blue which added to his already peculiar appearance. "Kairi, is that you?" He inquired in a droning voice. "Kairi, I'm so glad you're okay." As the boy said, a small grin came upon his face. He almost seemed drunk, but happy none the less.
"I'm not Kairi!" said the woman sounding insulted "I'm the great ninja, Yuffie!"
At this statement the boy's expression turned to a frown as he came out of a temporary daze. He realized that this was not the person that he both thought and hoped it was. "I think you overdid it, Squall" said Yuffie as she looked back at the man in black.
"I told you the, the names Leon." in an angry and agitated tone.
"Hey! That's mine!" The boy instantly yelled as he pointed to something located in a nearby corner. Usugi's gaze followed the extended finger and came to a gigantic key in the corner. The thing that separated it from the normal look of a key, besides the fact it was obviously much bigger than normal, was that it seemed more like a weapon than anything. The object began with a square's outline, no bigger than a person's head, and had a silver colored shaft of metal going through it horizontally. In the same direction on the outside of the square there was a longer pole of the same metal, except it ended in three prongs that were shaped like the crown that hung around the boys neck.
"The Keyblade...Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures." Explained Yuffie to Sora. "It turns out that's how they were tracking you."
"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them." said Leon as he stood up straight and took a single step forward. "But it won't work for long. It's still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." At this, he grabbed the Keyblade and swung it. The weapon instantly disappeared in a small flash of light and reappeared in the boy's gloved hands. The boy ran his hand along the smooth metal, a combination of awe and bewilderment on his face. His face then jerked towards Leon and Yuffie.
"Why don't you start making sense?" He questioned in a slightly annoyed tone "What's going on here?" The boy still sat on the bed, ready and waiting for an answer to come.
"That might not be a good idea." Said Usugi. She made the boy jump slightly, seeing as how he wasn't aware of her presence until just now. "People who randomly tie other people to bedposts aren't exactly the common definition of friendly, don't ya' think?" The boy then looked up at Yuffie and Leon. Yuffie was grinning sheepishly and Leon rolled his eyes.
"We'll get to that later." said Leon blandly as he lazily motioned towards Usugi with a small sweep of his hand. She quickly stuck her tongue out at him while he wasn't looking.
"Anyway," began Yuffie as she now sat down on the bed a few inches away from the boy "As you now undoubtedly know, there are many worlds out there, including this town of course. The worlds are connected and their existences are now threatened because of the Heartless."
The boy now interrupted the lecture-like conversation with a question. "The Heartless?" he inquired, dumbfounded. He now stared at Yuffie with a blank expression that only emphasized the fact that he was clueless.
"The ones who attacked you, remember?" Yuffie stated. She sounded rather cheerful when she explained this, unlike an exasperated adult that had to explain a new concept to a child.
"The heartless, those without hearts." Said Leon, suddenly interjecting "They are attracted to the darkness within the heats of people, and there is darkness within every heart. They are also the creatures that she is in league with." Leon's index finger pointed at Usugi whom didn't seem all too happy. "She is just another puppet of the darkness, trying to stop the wielder of the Keyblade."
"That's a pack of lies!" Declared Usugi angrily, her voice at a half shout "I have complete control of my own mind, thank you very much, and I don't even have the slightest idea of what the hell I'm doing here! I've suddenly plopped down in this loony bin and am being persecuted by a bunch of psychos!" After Usugi's pseudo-rant, the room grew silent. Leon looked down at her, looking rather calm, but fuming on the inside.
"Well, then" he began "I suppose you can explain why you have this in your possession." And with that, he lifted Usugi's blade for all to see. The silver hilt looked almost sinister as a few rays of light were caught by the material that was expertly crafted to resemble like a set of lupine claws. The handle looking equally menacing, decorated with fragments of ebon cloth. "This was a blade forged long ago, around the time of the Keyblade. Its purpose is to serve the darkness and kill those of the light. It can also only be used in battle by someone with a dark heart." Leon's eyes moved back towards Usugi and were now narrowed in hatred.
Usugi gritted her teeth and squinted her eyes, trying to prevent a verbal outbreak. After a few moments of silence, she succeeded in speaking without insulting someone. "Look, I just got here," she said, drawing her words out as if she were explaining something to an imbecile. "I don't know who anyone here is, I don't know where I am, and I certainly don't fully understand why I'm tied to a bed post. Furthermore-" Usugi was about to continue when there was the earsplitting sound of glass being shattered. The large window in the room had been broken, and among the translucent shards stood a shadow creature with long red claws and an oddly crafted metal helm. It was one of the heartless.
"Leon!" Yuffie screamed as she pointed at the intruder. A cringe appeared on Leon's face as he disposed of the heartless and headed towards the now empty window frame.
"Sora, let's go!" He yelled back, then jumped out the window in what most would think to be the manner of a lunatic. Yuffie simply ran into the other room and shut the door behind her. Usugi was now left alone, silently fuming. She grumbled and muttered, wishing she were simply somewhere else. During her complaining, a small shadow heartless came in through the window, searching about with its antennae. Ususgi hardly even noticed it as it stared at her with large yellow eyes. As soon as she did notice, she gave a sharp yelp of surprise and tried to inch away from the shadow. It merely turned its head to one side and gave what could be guessed as an inquisitive look. The shadow raised its claws and Usugi prepared herself for a brutal maiming. But, to her surprise, no pain came. The shadow didn't hurt her, but instead sliced the ropes that had bound her. The heartless chirruped like a cricket and scuttled away as quickly as it came.
Usugi was still sitting on the floor, her mouth slightly agape and a look of utter bewilderment upon her face. She slapped herself across the face to make sure she wasn't in some sort of dream again, then, reassured of her wakefulness, grabbed her sword and walked out of hotel room and towards the streets once again.