Me: Hi there, and welcome to Chapter One of my fan-fiction, One-Winged Angel.

Sora: Aren't you gonna put the disclaimer?

Me: Oh, fine...I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Square-Enix or Final Fantasy. I should, though.

Sora: There, that's better. Now I have my freedom!

:escapes from evil clutches:

Me: I do, on the other hand, own all of my own characters.

:gets own characters to attack Sora:

Sora: Dag nam it ¬¬

Kairi walked through the front gate and made her way down the path, steadily approaching the large house. She stood in front of the locked door and began punching in the security code for the combination door lock. As she did, there was a whirring noise, followed by a mechanical click, and then the door sprung open. She cautiously entered the building, shutting the door behind her.

"Guys…?" she said quietly. "…I'm home…"

There was no reply; the house was too quiet. Silently, she began to creep down the hallway. Suddenly, Kairi heard a subdued rustling and quickly spun around -- just in time to see a figure drop down from the ceiling and throw a handful of sharp objects at her.

Before she even had time to think, Kairi ducked to the side with lightning-fast reflexes, and then heard a dull thud as a metal shuriken embedded itself in the wall behind her. Not hesitating for a second, she whipped her hands up over her face and caught the deadly throwing stars in between her fingers as they rocketed towards her. She swiftly swung her leg up, and knocked the remaining shuriken out of the air with her foot.

There was a pause, and then Kairi let go of the shuriken she'd caught and gave a sigh of relief.

"Afternoon, Yuffie." she sighed, as a raven-haired girl walked over to her, nodding thoughtfully.

"Not bad, not bad!" she said approvingly. "That's a 9 out of 10. I'm very impressed…but the first shuriken hit."

Kairi touched her left cheek, and then looked at her fingers. There was blood on her fingers and, true to Yuffie's word, a cut on her face.

"It's only a graze." she shrugged, seeing Kairi frown. She went into the medicine cabinet and threw Kairi a bottle of antiseptic spray and a cloth. Kairi squirted some of the liquid onto the white cloth and dabbed it onto her cheek, wincing slightly as the antiseptic stung the wound and flared like wild fire. Yuffie walked around her and wrenched the small, silver ninja star out of the wall.

"Where're the others?" Kairi asked, holding the cloth to her face.

"In the lounge," she replied, picking up the scattered shuriken and frowning as she examined one with a crooked point. "Keiko's got a job for you."

Great! Thought Kairi. Finally, another assignment!

Kairi wasn't a normal 15 year old. Well, by day, she was. She went to a normal school. She had normal friends. She wore normal clothes. She talked about normal things. On average, she was a normal girl. But…by night, she was a killer. She would regularly slip out in the dead of the night with her comrades and dispatch dangerous criminals and gangsters.

Obviously, she and her partners killed stealthily, as not to alert police attention. Kairi enjoyed having the ability to roam the city and clear the streets of violent drug-dealers and rapists. She absolutely detested rapists. She took pleasure in watching the look of mingled horror and anger cross their faces as they realised they were being killed by a teenage girl.

There was no denying the fact that Kairi was a merciless killer -- and a highly trained professional at that -- but what totally set her apart from the murdering drug addicts she dispatched was one, small fact. She didn't kill for pleasure. She killed for honour.

Kairi walked into the large, warm-coloured lounge and looked around. It seemed like all of her friends were already there.

Sitting in the armchair in the corner was Masami, with long, wavy brown hair. Sprawled out on the settee was 14 year old Yuki, playing the PS2 game Tenchu with her friend Hotaru, who was sat on the floor below her. Rikku and Tifa, however, seemed to be sparring in the large, open area beside the bay windows. Keiko was standing by the fireplace, the roaring flames illuminating her deep fuchsia hair. She was totally engrossed in watching Tifa swing punches at the nimble Rikku, yet seemed to notice Kairi enter the room, as her ears pricked up and she turned her head to look at her.

"Ah, Kairi! Here at last!" she said. "You're rather late.

"Sorry." mumbled Kairi, tucking her long, auburn hair behind her ears awkwardly. "I had an after-school detention."

There was a pause.

"Anyway…" she continued. "I heard there was a new assignment."

"Yep, you heard right," replied Keiko. "Tonight we've got to kill a guy called Loz. He's a drug dealer and has allegedly killed 3 teenage girls."

This comment made Kairi's blood boil. She doubted he would have killed 3 young girls without raping them first…and she hated rapists.

"Whereabouts --" she began.

"Hangs out near the junkyard." said Yuffie, cutting into Kairi's sentence. She walked over with a can of beer in her hand; there was a faint hiss as she pulled the ring out.

"Don't…get…dr-drunk!" warned Tifa, in between breaths. She was taking sharp, regular breaths as she jabbed swift punches at Rikku, who was skilfully ducking and blocking the furious onslaught.

"Pfft! Says the one who ones a bar!" scoffed Yuffie. She ignorantly lifted the can to her mouth, but Keiko snatched it from her before a drop of alcohol even touched her lips.

"Tifa's right, Yuffie." said Keiko, placing the can on the mantelpiece behind her. "If you get drunk, you'll be killed tonight."

"B…But…" whined Yuffie pleadingly. "It's only one tiny can! I'm not gonna get pissed by drinking that!"

"Alcohol greatly reduces reaction speed," she counter-argued. Kairi watched Yuffie frown and skulk off back down the corridor, muttering under her breath.

"What time do we leave?" she asked, turning back to Keiko.

"Half past midnight." she replied. "You've probably already gathered we're all going."

"Even the rookies?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, good experience." Keiko nodded. "Anyway, are you gonna prepare?"

Kairi nodded and bolted up the stairs into her bedroom. She closed the door with a swift back-kick, flattened herself to the ground, and crawled under her bed on her stomach. She reached out and fastened her hands around two leather scabbards and the handle of a large case.

Kairi shuffled backwards out from under the bed and drew the swords. There was the distinctive sound of steel cutting air as the blades were unsheathed. Hikari and Hikage. Her two most prized possessions. Made out of hundreds of layers of folded steel, the two katana had taken countless lives and, over time, had become stained a faint red colour with the blood of many foes. Kairi delicately slipped the blades back into the scabbards. She shuddered at the thought of having to use old hand-me-down katana like the rookie Yuki and her friends used. Next she opened the black case. Inside were multiple, neatly folded garments of clothing. Her assassin gear. This consisted of a navy, sleeveless top (sleeves would get in the way) with long, black, leather straps at the shoulders, which hung loosely down to her waist. The wide straps seemed pointless at first glance, but the in fact housed deadly shuriken in hidden pouches, and rarely got in the way as they would trail behind her when she ran.

As well as the dark top she wore jet-black combat pants, which had multiple navy belts dangling from the waist. These, in fact, would fasten Hikari and Hikage at her hips, and also provide a secure place for her grapple hook to sit. And, of course, there was the trademark accessory -- a black mask made of soft material that covered the lower half of her face. This was all standard ninja attire.

Kairi stood up and nudged the case to the side with her foot. She'd get changed later. In the meantime, she'd sleep. She'd need all her energy for tonight. Kairi yawned and collapsed on the soft bed, her auburn hair spilling out across the pillow like fire; her eyes felt as heavy as lead. She yawned and threw the duvet over her body. There wasn't much point in getting undressed -- she'd only have to change into her ninja attire when she woke up in a few hours. As she started to fall asleep her vision blurred and meaningless, unrelated thoughts began to swirl through her mind. Kairi closed her eyes, and almost instantly fell asleep.

''

"Kairi, wake up!" cried a voice. Kairi groaned, and reluctantly opened her eyes to see a girl with mid-length, light brown hair standing by her bed. It was Yuki, one of her younger comrades.

"Wha--?" groaned Kairi, sitting up. Yuki was already dressed in her assassin get-up. It was similar to Kairi's, but everyone's outfit was unique, so that the assassins could tell each other apart in the dark.

"Keiko says you've got 10 minutes to get changed and organized," she said. The 13 year old then turned around and exited her bedroom.

Kairi silently and obediently stood up from the bed and grabbed the black case by her feet. Throwing her clothes to the side, she stripped to her underwear and began pulling on her dark assassin outfit. She then pulled on her black mask, adjusting it so that it covered her mouth up to the bridge of her nose. She reached out, grabbed Hikari and Hikage, and strapped them to her waist.

Kairi was just about to exit her bedroom when there was a knocking on the window. She spun around to see Hotaru rapping her knuckles on the glass urgently.

"What's up?" asked Kairi, running over and opening the window. As to why Hotaru was perched on the windowsill was beyond her.

"You weren't watching me get changed, were you?" frowned Kairi.

"Don't be stupid!" she groaned. "Come on, we're waiting for you."

"Huh? Wh-what time is it?" she asked.

"12.40, hurry up!" replied Hotaru, and dropped down onto the garage roof.

Damn it! She thought. Who'd have thought it would have taken 20 minutes to get changed… Unless that damned Yuki was telling me a load of crap.

Kairi hopped out of the window and landed silently on the garage roof. In the distance she could vaguely make out figures standing on the rooftops, which she recognised as her comrades.

"Damn, wait up!" she groaned. With one swift leap she jumped from the garage roof onto the building ahead. She felt the wind whip through her hair as she landed softly on the roof, like a cat. Kairi began running along the rooftop, the tiles squeaking beneath her feet. She began to run more light-footedly, so that the squeaking tiles wouldn't alert any foes that happened to be lurking in the shadows below. In a matter of seconds, Kairi had caught up with her friends. Keiko turned to look at her.

"A little late, aren't we?" she asked, frowning. Her voice was muffled slightly by the black mask she wore.

"Sorry." Kairi mumbled, turning red. Luckily, the darkness masked it. She didn't like people seeing her get embarrassed.

"Let's move on ahead," she ordered.

"Hai!" echoed the group dutifully, and dashed along the roof, leaping from building to building. Kairi glanced at Yuki, Hotaru, and Masami. They'd been in the team for almost a year, and even though they weren't the best at moving around, their skill had increased greatly in the short period of time they'd been training. Kairi, however, was extremely agile. She could run along thin beams with perfect balance, fight life-or-death battles on rooftops and jump from building-to-building and land without a sound. She was easily equal to Yuffie, Rikku and Tifa, yet still possessed nowhere near the amount of skill as Keiko.

Kairi's feet flew effortlessly along the tiled rooftops. She was running alongside a masked Rikku, who kept sprinting a few feet ahead of her, only to fall back. Kairi never got out of breath. She loved running. It gave her a chance to release all the energy stored inside her. She loved the feeling of the fresh air whipping against her skin and streaming through her hair. She always came first in PE, and had set many school records in cross-country.

"Whoa!" cried Keiko suddenly, and screeched to a halt. Everyone else stopped, too, skidding on the slippery tiles as they tried to stop.

"What is it?" asked Kairi, scanning the area. Keiko put her hands firmly on Kairi's head and forced her down.

"Wh-what?" she frowned, struggling.

"Stay down!" she hissed. Everyone else heard her, and dropped to their stomachs. Kairi wriggled out of Keiko's grip and shuffled to the edge of the roof on her stomach. Inching forwards, she stared over the edge, onto the ground. There was a figure moving silently along the walls.

"Loz!" she whispered aloud. She quickly shuffled backwards and sat up.

"Keiko, what shall we do?" she asked. Keiko stood up, but stayed low, crouching.

"When I give the signal," she said, waiting until the others had risen. "We ambush."

Kairi's hands fastened around Hikari and Hikage. Keiko glanced around at everyone. Tifa had pulled on her leather fighting gloves, while Yuffie grabbed a few of the shuriken on her belt. Kairi knew that Keiko used a range of weapons. Usually, fights consisted of hand-to-hand combat, but weapons were there in case the situation got a bit sticky.

"Ready?" whispered Keiko. She held up 3 fingers and began the steady countdown.

"3..."

This was it, no going back. If she left now, her comrades would be endangered and the killer would live.

"2..."

Man, why was she getting so nervous? She'd done this before. She'd killed gangsters and thugs, just like him. Yet…

"1..."

He was only a gangster…right? Something felt a little off… She had this peculiar feeling in the pit of her stomach…

"Strike!" yelled Keiko. Loz looked up, just in time to see 8 assassins leap from the building and come flying down at him. In the nick of time, he dodged to the side. Kairi landed heavily on the ground. She'd…missed? But she was headed right for him!

Kairi furiously looked around for the gangster.

"Where is he?" she spat. There were confused murmurs and curses.

"There!" cried Hotaru suddenly. 8 heads turned upwards to look at the roof of the building that they'd just been on.

"How did he get up there!" cried Yuki.

"Never mind, let's get him!" ordered Keiko. Kairi grabbed her grapple hook from her belt. She turned and looked at the building, then threw the hook towards it. The metal claw wrapped itself around the gutter pipe along the roof, grabbing the wire with its steely teeth. Kairi gave the wire a tug to make sure it was secure, and then squeezed the trigger on the small contraption on her end of the zip-line. She felt her body jerk forwards and her feet leave the ground as she was pulled up, the black gadget she held coiling the wire into it. As she neared the top, she placed her feet against the side of the building and hoisted herself up onto the roof. The hook disconnected and she quickly strapped it back to her belt.

"Kairi!" cried Yuffie suddenly. She whipped around in time to see a fist fly towards her. She swiftly ducked it and rolled to the side as a foot aimed a hefty kick at her. Scrambling to her feet, she got up and swung her foot at the person in a skilful side-kick. It couldn't be Loz…the gangsters she faced were usually slow and muscular. This one was swift and agile, and about a ¾ of a head taller than her.

Her foot connected and hit the guy in the stomach. Kairi strained to see the face of her foe, but it was masked by darkness and a mass of wild hair. The guy stumbled back and cursed under his breath. Kairi went to punch him again, but a blinding flash of light interrupted her.

"What the--!" she cried, throwing her hands up over her face. She heard the confused cries of her comrade behind her.

"What was that?"

"A flash bomb?"

"Where the heck is he?"

Kairi whipped around to see a flurry of feathers whisk past. She looked up in complete bewilderment and saw a winged figure soar onto the roof above.

"What the--!" she cried. Yuffie cried and Keiko swore violently.

"Is that the same guy?" cried Rikku.

"He's got wings? How the hell did he get wings?"

Kairi gasped. Wings? On…a human? But…how?

"Move!" snapped Keiko. "Don't be caught off guard, whatever the circumstances!"

The 7 other assassins nodded and grapple-hooked onto the building. Kairi hopped up and charged towards the winged assassin. This definitely wasn't Loz! The person (she presumed it was a guy, by the build of the body) zipped to the side and dodged her blow. Thinking one step ahead, Kairi kicked out to the side. To her shock, he grabbed her foot and threw her onto the floor. Kairi grunted as she fell onto the hard metal tiles of the roof, and strained to get up. It was difficult-- she had been winded in the fall. Kairi sensed a shadow fall on her and groaned, rolling over. She saw the foot of her enemy come hurtling down towards her face. She screwed up her face and waited for the blow…but it never came. Instead there was a dull thud and a grunt of pain. She looked up to see Yuffie standing by her floored foe, who was scrambling to his feet, stray feathers fluttering around.

"Cover me!" ordered Yuffie. Kairi nodded, and flew at the assassin again. He ducked her attack easily, and then swung his fist at Yuffie. The punch connected with her jaw, and she went falling backwards.

"Yuffie!" cried Kairi in anguish. She ran over to her, but Rikku blocked her path.

"Watch your back!" she cried. "Don't let him near you!"

"B-But…" began Kairi.

"I'll see to her! You keep that guy off me!" she ordered.

"Me? Why can't I…?"

"Kairi, I kinda don't like to admit it, but you're more skilled than me." said Rikku, crouching down by Yuffie, who seemed to be semi-conscious. "If anyone can take him, it's you. Now go! Before you get killed!"

Kairi nodded and turned around. The person was standing a few metres away, wings spread.

"What do you want?" cried Kairi. Her fists clenched around Hikari and Hikage. Rain started to drip from the sky.

"You're…an assassin…" he growled. She could just make out a pair of eerie, shining eyes through the darkness.

"Wh-why would you want to know?" she stammered.

"I am under strict orders to kill every one of your kind." he spat.

"By who?" she stammered, fear slowly flooding through her. Her adversary gave a cocky grin.

"If I told you that, I'd have to kill you." he smirked. "Unluckily for you, I'm gonna kill you anyway."

Before Kairi had a chance to protest, he charged towards her. Kairi's heart leapt into her mouth, then she executed a skilled back flip and somersaulted past his attack. She unsheathed Hikari and Hikage. As mysterious and awe-inspiring as this person was, he was dangerous, and would have to die.

Kairi sprinted towards the winged assassin, clutching Hikari and Hikage firmly. There was the unmistakable song of steel as the swords swooped through the air towards him. Suddenly, she felt the swords rebound off something, and was knocked back a few feet by a sudden gust of air. She looked up and found that her adversary had wrapped his large, white wings around his body, and they seemed to have shielded the blow. She suddenly gave a gasp of pain as a fist flew at her and caught her in the stomach.

"How the hell…!" Kairi gasped, winded. She stumbled backwards, hesitating only for a split-second. She leapt forwards and swung her foot up, catching him in the jaw. As he staggered backwards she leapt and landed a heavy punch on his chest, but then he grabbed her wrist before her fist connected. He twisted her arm around painfully and swung his leg up, slamming his knee into her gut. She groaned and he landed another violent punch on her, smacking her straight in the face. Searing pain shot through her, and she wondered if her nose had been broken, and she felt warm blood trickled down her lip.. She gave a hard tug and broke free of his grip, and then heard a cry in the distance.

"Kairi! Pull out!" cried Keiko. "We've gotta retreat! He's way too strong!"

"But…" began Kairi, glancing at her foe, who was advancing on her again. She realised that there was no point in arguing with Keiko. She leapt back onto the other building and, seeing her flee, the winged assassin dropped into the shady alleyway below.

"Hurry!" cried Keiko, beckoning for her to move. Kairi ran as hard as she could, her legs pounding as fast as her heart. She reached the gang of killers, where she was pleased to see Yuffie had recovered.

"Wait…" started Masami. "Where's Hotaru?"

"Crap!" cried Yuki. Hotaru was one of her best friends. Kairi nudged the younger girl with her elbow and gestured further ahead. Hotaru was stumbling along the roof.

"Hotaru!" she cried. "Wh…What are you doing?"

Kairi squinted through the darkness. It seemed that Hotaru had her mask pulled up too high…It was covering her eyes, and now she couldn't see.

"Oh my god…" she groaned.

"Hotaru!" snapped Keiko. "No time for foolery! We have to flee! He could fly up any minute! He's an extremely powerful foe!"

"I'm not messing!" groaned Hotaru, fumbling with the mask. "I can't see, dammit!"

"Watch the hell out!" cried Rikku, as she stumbled towards the edge of the roof. With one final tug, Hotaru managed to get the mask off, but toppled off the edge of the building as she did so.

"HOTARU!" yelled Masami. The 14 year old courageously leapt off the edge of the building to help Hotaru. Everyone dashed over to the edge of the roof and peered down. There were cries of terror, then the scampering and pounding off footsteps. Two assassins and a winged hunter ran out into the nearby parking lot, which was illuminated by streetlights. The 6 ninjas watched in horror as the killed caught up with Masami and grabbed her in a headlock.

"Get the hell outta there!" screamed Keiko. Masami struggled against her capturer's grip, but before she could escape he grabbed her jaw and twisted her head. There was a sickening crack as he broke her jaw and let the body drop to the ground. The murderer then spread his wings and soared along the ground.

"Nobody leave until we've got Hotaru!" cried Keiko furiously. She dropped off the roof, followed by Kairi, Yuki, Tifa, Rikku and Yuffie. The 6 ran towards where the winged person was headed, then, to their horror, saw Hotaru huddled against a wall.

"Get outta there!" snapped Keiko.

"Shut up!" hissed Hotaru. "I'm hiding in the shadows, he'll find us if you don't shut up!"

Kairi felt the blood drain from her face as the winged killer walked slowly around the corner.

"Baka! It's a white-wash wall!" snapped Rikku. Hotaru gulped and looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, she was crouching against a white wall.

"K…Keiko…" said Kairi quietly, not trying to raise attention. She made a slight gesture towards the wall. The guy was standing over Hotaru.

"Hotaru!" she yelled. Hotaru looked behind her and cried out loud. He suddenly dashed forwards and grabbed her around the neck, pinning her up against the wall.

"HOTARU!" cried Yuki in despair. Keiko grabbed her by the back of her shirt as she tried to run forwards.

"Get out! Now!" she ordered. Yuki tried to protest, but Keiko dragged her back. Yuffie and Rikku fled, while Tifa tried to persuade a desperate Yuki to stay back. She finally managed to drag the girl away, and Kairi turned to Keiko desperately as Hotaru struggled for air.

"Wh-what should we do?" she cried. She gasped as she saw the guy raise his fist. Just then, Keiko ran out and charged at him, grabbing his wrist and kicking him in the stomach. He furiously lashed out at her, but she ducked his attack and punched him in the gut. Winded, he stumbled backwards, but then swung his leg up and kicked Keiko under her jaw. She groaned and fell backwards, landing heavily on the concrete ground.

"Keiko!" cried Kairi in alarm. Keiko groaned and rolled over. There was blood was trickling from her mouth. The winged guy began advancing on her, but then heard Hotaru's scampering footsteps as she began to run off. He whisked around and spread his wings, blocking Kairi's view. She felt her stomach turn as there was a terrified scream and a sickening crunch. There was a flurry of feathers and the person suddenly took off into the air, and vanished from sight as he disappeared into the night sky. Kairi glanced down at the ground where he had just been standing, and quickly turned away as she saw Hotaru's maimed body. At her feet, Keiko stirred.

"What the…?" she groaned. Kairi heard her fall silent as she saw Hotaru's bloody corpse.

"How the hell?" she gasped silently. She looked to the side and saw Kairi's pale face illuminated by the orange streetlights. Keiko shifted awkwardly.

"Maybe we should go." she suggested. Kairi nodded, her stomach doing flips. She tried to block out the images of Hotaru's corpse as they drifted back into her head. She grappled back onto the building and moved silently through the shadows as she began to make her way home. This wasn't a night she was going to easily forget…

Well, there's Chapter One! Don't forget to rate and review, because I will get very upset if there are no reviews...and absolutely NO FLAMES! All flamers shall die! Muwahahaha!

INTERESTING NOTE 1.
I got the idea for this story when I was playing Tenchu on my PS2. I'd previously been playing Kingdom Hearts, so I thought, 'Hey! I can make a story about Kingdom Hearts and assassins!"

So I did.

The other ideas for later chapters came when I was reading various mangas, and I decided to throw them into the plot.

And here's something you didn't know. The character Hotaru is my best friend, though that isn't her name in real life. The reason I killed off Hotaru was because, in real life (I won't mention any names, just in case) she broke my digital camera. My expensive digital camera. She says it wasn't her, but when I went to her house she was the only one using it, and funnily enough when I got home it had stopped working. Anyway, I got mad and decided to kill her in my story. Masami is also someone I know, and I killed her simply because I got bored.