Sora's Trial Begins

Sora watched as Naruto and Hinata shot into the air. Then finally shared a kiss.

Sora smiled, so that was the story of Kairi's parents. Now Sora understood where Kairi it from. Her determination, her desire to better herself and become stronger, her love and passion. It came from both her parents. It just ran in the family.

Sora had a lot of respect for Naruto. He was definitely a real man. Sora once again hoped he could get Naruto to like him. And he hoped Hinata would like him too. He wanted to meet the parents of Kairi.

Suddenly, everything around Sora changed. Everything went black.

"Now what's happening?" Sora asked.

"The time of your reckoning is what is happening," a voice answered. Sora nearly jumped he looked to see a soul in his star form had appeared. Where'd he come from.

"Is there something you want?" Sora asked.

For a moment there was silence. Sora felt a little uncomfortable, he had a feeling the star was staring. He finally spoke, "You remind me so much of Hashirama."

Hashirama?

The way he said that name, Sora knew in an instant.

"Madara!"

"So, you have some intelligence," Madara mocked, "You recognized me."

"Yeah!" Sora snapped, "You're the son of a bitch who nearly destroyed Kairi's world!" This nut job almost destroyed Kairi's world, her parents. Killed Neji! If things went even a little different Kairi would had never been born.

"And you're the buffoon who declared that he'd marry the daughter of a Hokage," Madara scoffed. Sora felt his anger rise, he hated whenever his enemy's used fancy words and fancy tones! It made him feel stupid.

"Buffoon? I'm not the one who was dumb enough to turn the human population of his world into plant food!" Sora reminded. He could feel Madara's gaze harden, "What do you want you psycho?"

"If you must know boy," Madara growled, "You're trials are to face Naruto's fallen enemies."

"That means I get a crack at you?" Sora cracked his knuckles, "Fine by me." He lost count how many times he tried to attack Madara's memory and just phased through.

"I'm not one of your opponents," Madara simply said.

"What?" Sora asked, "You said Naruto's fallen enemies. Well, you're an enemy and you're fallen. Become solid so I can hit you!"

"An absolute buffoon," Madara grumbled, "The enemies you'll face are the ones that forced Naruto to face himself."

"What does that mean?" Sora asked, "If I don't get to fight you, why are you here?"

"To watch," with those final words, the world around Sora changed again.

Sora quickly noticed that water started to perspire on his skin. It wasn't his sweat though, he then realized a fog had formed around him. As Sora looked around he realized he was standing on a bridge… wait, this was the bridge. The bridge from Naruto's first mission. Why Sora seeing this again?

His attention was grabbed by the sound of footsteps. He looked in the distance and saw a figure in the mist. Slowly emerging, wearing the mask, was Haku.

Sora blinked in confusion. What was going on? Why was he seeing this again? But then again, Sora didn't feel the mist the first time. Didn't feel the moisture cling to his skin. It was like he was actually…

"Hello Sora."

Sora froze when Haku spoke to him. Haku spoke to him!

"You talked to me," Sora voiced his concern.

"I did," Haku spoke in a smooth, almost feminine tone (Sora was shocked when he learned Haku was a boy, and he thought Joshua looked like a girl!)

"What's going on?" Sora asked. This didn't feel like with Jiraya and Minato. It felt tense.

"You wish to return to your world, and to Naruto's daughter, Kairi," Haku reminded.

"I do," Sora said, wearily.

Haku raised his hand, fisted with needles, "Then show me just how much you want to return."

Sora barely dodged as the needles zipped by.

"Hang on," Sora tried, "I don't want to fight you."

"Nor I you," Haku admitted, "But you must prove yourself worthy to return to your home. After you chose to leave it."

Haku shot forward, brandishing a needle. Sora quickly summoned his Keyblade and blocked it.

"I chose to save Kairi," Sora said, "I didn't choose to leave."

Haku then used his free hand to form a sign. Sora watched as the water around them rose up. Sora recalled the flashback. He needed to move!

The water split and stretched into several water needles. Sora managed to push Haku off and jumped just as they shot towards him. When Sora landed safely, he shouted, "Just like how you chose to save Zabuza!"

There was a brief silence, "You're right," Haku used both hands to make the sign. Sora knew what it was for, but he was too late to stop it.

Water rose from the ground and froze into sheets of ice. Forming mirrors. Then Haku's reflection appeared in all of them. Sora could feel panic rising in him.

He remembered how this jutsu worked. Haku made it look like that the needles he throws come from all the mirrors. That there are multiple Haku's throwing at the same time; but actually Haku is going from one mirror to the next, really fast and while he was traveling, he threw the needles.

Sora remembered just in time. He quickly started blocking the needles thrown at him. It was hard, it was like deflecting Xemnas's lasers again.

When it was over, Sora needed to think. A small part of him was proud that he could block the needles when Sasuke and Naruto couldn't. But they were twelve when it happened, and Sora was sixteen. He didn't have much to brag about in that regard.

There was another thing Sora knew he had over twelve-year-old Sasuke.

"Firaga!" Sora unleashed his most powerful fire spell on the ice. It was way stronger than that fire jutsu, that Sasuke used. It was bound to work.

Or it was supposed to. When the smoke died down, the mirrors were still intact. They only melted a little, but not enough to hinder Haku. Sora grit his teeth. He should have known that this wasn't going to be easy.

"Is that all you got?" Haku asked, "Do you honestly think you're worthy of a Hokage's daughter?"

Sora narrowed his eyes, "Hokage's daughter this, Hokage's daughter that. She has a name, and it's Kairi! And she's more than the daughter of some hotshot ninja! She loves ice cream," Sora declared, "she loves chocolate and sea salt ice cream. She also loves to craft. She makes jewelry and charms. Whenever there was a test Kairi made us good luck charms to help us pass them! She writes. She writes letters, to people or to just get rid of her fears," Sora then shouted, "She fought a war to save all the worlds! Her dad might have saved your world a bunch of times, but Kairi saved all the worlds. To me, she's better than any Hokage!"

%%%%%%

Hinata walked into the Hokage's office. Naruto forgot his lunch again, so she decided to bring it to him. After this she would go check on Hanabi. Even after all these years, she worried about her younger sister.

Sitting at his desk typing away, Naruto focused on his work.

"Hello Hinata," Naruto still noticed her.

"Hello," Hinata said crossing the room, "You forgot your lunch again, so I brought it to you."

Naruto spared her a grateful glance, "Thank you," he always loved Hinata's cooking, even more than Ichiraku's.

As Hinata placed his lunch on the desk, she noticed her husband seemed tense. Was it because of Hanabi being attacked?

She placed a hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright."

"Yeah I…" Naruto sighed. He stopped typing for a moment to place a hand on his forehead, "I just… We just got Kairi back."

Hinata furrowed her brow, "Yes, we did. And I'm so happy she's back."

"I am too," Naruto admitted. Seeing Kairi in the coliseum and in his inner world, was possibly one of the happiest moments of his life, "Is it wrong that I want to keep her safe? To keep her near us?"

Hinata looked at him confuse, "I suppose that depends Naruto," Hinata frowned, "Kairi's… not a little girl anymore. She's a beautiful young woman. One that's strong and independent."

"I know," Naruto admitted, "We were cheated out of so much time with her," Naruto looked down at his desk, "I was going to train her how to be a ninja. I was going to teach her the Shadow Clone Jutsu, the Rasengan, I was going to be the jonin instructor to her three man squad," all the things Naruto wanted to do with Kairi. Now gone.

"And I was going to teach her how to use the Byakugan," Hinata reminded, "I was going teach her the gentle fist, and teach her the twin lion fists. Help her become a Chunin and then Jonin, but that's not happened. That doesn't mean I don't love Kairi as a Keyblade Wielder."

"I feel the same way," Naruto said, he sighed, "Hanabi's team described their attackers as Heartless. Kairi wanted to investigate, but I wouldn't let her."

Hinata nodded. She understood why, "But, this is the path she chose."

"I know," Naruto said, "I just… I'm terrified if I let her walk out of the village, she won't come back. I barely survived her vanishing last time. I can't survive it again."

"Naruto," Hinata said gently, "I feel the same way. I can't stand the thought of losing her again, but," Hinata took in a breath, "I also know, that she'll come back to us. She did it before. It took so long, but she came back to us."

"I know," Naruto gently smiled, he felt so proud of her, "How'd our girl become so brave?"

"She get's it from you," Hinata said, "She certainly has more confidence than I did when I was her age."

Naruto laughed, "Well, I remember when I was her age. I might have gotten into a little trouble and…" Naruto trailed off when he started to piece their conversation together. Kairi took after him… When he was her age, he didn't let anyone stop him from doing what he knew was right… "Oh shit."

"What?"

"Please let me be wrong," Naruto suddenly sat perfectly still. Hinata watched him for a few moments, then the orange markings appeared around his eyes. A minute later Naruto opened his eyes and cursed again, "Dammit!"

"Naruto," Hinata said worried, "What's the matter."

"She snuck out of the village," Naruto roared, "That's the matter. I can't sense Kairi's chakra anywhere in the village!"

"What!"

"Kairi's too much like me," Naruto said, "If she believes she has to do something she'll do it no matter what anyone says. She left the village to investigate; to see if the Heartless are here. After I told her no!"

"Oh no," Hinata said worried.

"And that's not the worse of it," Naruto gritted, "I don't sense Boruto in the village either."

%%%%%

With a yell, Kairi plowed through the Heartless. It was so much easier to fight than the Otsutsuki. The Heartless were mindless, Kairi was used to fighting them. She knew their powers and their habits.

Slash here, jump before the soldier strikes to dodge. Jump over the Large Body to attack it's back.

Kairi didn't know how long it took, but eventually the Heartless finally stopped appearing. Aqua looked around, Pete was gone and so were the Beagles. They must have cut their losses and ran.

Okay, Kairi proved that there were Heartless on her world. Now what?

Going home did not seem like a good option. Dad wasn't listening to her. And if she went home now and told him she snuck out, he'd keep her in the village. She needed to find Pete and Maleficent before they could cause real harm.

But first, she needed to find Boruto and send him home. Even if he did tell their Dad and he sent a team out to drag Kairi home, Kairi would be long gone, going after Maleficent. Kairi sighed when she finished that train of thought.

Why do I have to do this? Why couldn't Dad just let me go on my own in the first place? It was like he forgot she could hold her own against the Otsutsuki. That she wasn't that hopeless five-year-old anymore. That she came back on her own!

Clapping filled the air. Kairi looked behind her and her eyes hardened.

"Well, nice little show you did there Poppet."

"Xigbar," Kairi growled, "What are you doing here?" Standing under a tree was Xigbar, still wearing his black coat.

"Is that anyway to treat an old friend?" Xigbar asked.

"I asked you a question," Kairi snapped, "Why are you here?"

"I told you to visit a friend."

"We're not friends," Kairi reminded, "Now what do you want?"

"Aw," Xigbar feigned being hurt, "That's mean Poppet. Oh, wait, that's not your nickname."

Kairi raised an eyebrow, what was this freak talking about now.

Xigbar snapped his fingers, "It's Kitty."

Kitty, what was…

Hey Kitty.

Kairi felt her blood run cold, when the memory surfaced.

"Luxu, why do you call me kitty?"

"Because you have kitty whiskers."

Kairi trembled in rage when realization hit her. She was so angry she could scream. But somehow she managed to whisper the name she once knew Xigbar by, "… Luxu…"

Xigbar smirked, "See, we are friends."

Kairi shot a Firaga in his direction, in anger. She knew it wouldn't work, but she was too angry to care. Xigbar warped to another position, standing on air. Kairi's Byakugan was active so she could see him.

"You took me from my family…" Kairi gritted out, "Kept me from them… for years… You made me forget them…"

"Aw, come on," Xigbar said, "If it weren't for me you'd never met Sora. Ever. When Maleficent started gathering the princesses, she would never had gotten you if you were here. Your daddy would never let it happen."

"So, you took me, so she could kidnap me?" Kairi asked, "So I could help forge the X-blade?" That was the reason her father nearly killed himself, why her mom almost miscarried her little sister, why her brother didn't have a chance to grow up with her?

"Hey, you got to see them, again didn't you?" Xigbar taunted, "You wanted to become stronger remember? And now here you are, one powerful Keyblade Wielder capable of taking down the Otsutsuki."

"STOP TALKING!" Kairi raised her Keyblade and summoned a storm. The wind swirled around her furiously, taking Kairi's wrath out on everything around her. Xigbar warped away for a moment. When the storm died down, Kairi was breathing heavily. She was tired and so upset, she felt like she was falling to pieces.

"Geez," Xigbar appeared again, "so much for gratitude."

Kairi glared at him, "Leave us alone!" Why was he even doing this? Xehanort was dead!

"Hm… nope sorry Kitty. I'm not done with your family just yet."

Kairi's insides went cold again. What did he mean he wasn't done with her family? Hadn't he tortured them enough! Her thoughts went straight to her younger siblings: Boruto and Hima.

If this freak touched either of them, she was going to tear out his other eyeball out!

"You came out pretty strong, I wonder how your brother will turn out? Maybe he'll be even stronger than you."

"You stay away from him!" Kairi shrieked as she shot forward with her Keyblade, but Xigbar just vanished into a corridor of darkness.

"Be a good girl now," was the last thing he said before vanishing.

Kairi looked around looking for Xigbar. This was bad! This was really bad! Xigbar was more dangerous than Maleficent. And he just hinted that…

Boruto!

Kairi turned towards the direction she saw Boruto and his friends run towards, and sprinted in that direction. She needed to find him before Xigbar did!

She refused to let him tear her family apart again!

I hate to do this to you all, I really do, but Lost Heart, is going to be put on temporary hiatus.

I need a break and I want to work on Protecting Family more.

Besides in this fic, Namine is going to meet Orochimaru, and even though he's... tolerable. I'm not emotionally prepared for Namine to meet him in any timeline. Orochimaru likes to analyze unique things and Namine is as unique as they come. Her existence, her powers, her body... My authors soul is imagining horrible things!