Author's Notes: I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor its characters – only my OCs which are Asuka, Hana, Isamu and Shenmi!

Chapter 4 – Welcome to the Resistance.

It took us a while (Shenmi and I) to get over to the HQ that the mysterious ninja commanded since they were a lot of alleyways and streets we had to cross quickly – not to mention constantly looking out for any Heartless. Shenmi did tell me that civilians weren't allowed to leave their homes until the all clear was given… We hadn't seen any Heartless yet so far but there was still time for that.

"Asuka." Shenmi immediately stopped walking and turned to look at me. "We're very close to HQ right now – a couple more streets to pass. Now, here's what will happen – I'm going to drop you off there so you can stay safe while I go and pick Vanessa's children."

"Wait… what? I'm going to be left behind while you go and find your friend's children?" I asked in disbelieve and she nodded. "That's what I said. It's too dangerous for you to remain in the streets right now."

"B-but… I can fight! Back in Twilight Town, I often spared with my using Struggle Bats. I'm sure that if you give me a weapon, I can fight! Please, Miss Shenmi!" I pleaded with her to reconsider but she gave me a firm shook. "I'm sorry, Asuka. But I'm afraid I can't allow you to come with me."

Shenmi's harsh words really made me feel like someone had stabbed me straight through the heart. I can't believe she's refusing to allow me to come and meet the guests… I can fight well! Wait… is she… no way… is Shenmi seeing me as a pacifist right now? I've got to find out!

"Miss Shenmi… why won't you allow me to fight? I can fight well! I promise you!" I pleaded with her to reconsider her offer and to see if my intuition was right.

When I told her this, she was looking at with an uneasy look on her face plus she scratched the back of her head as well. Seems like my theory is turning out to be true…

Finally, after a few seconds had passed:

"No offense, Asuka... But I don't just see you as a fighter type. I see you more in the lines of a pacifist than an action person… Sorry for being so blunt and rude but it's the truth." She told me as she looked at me with eyes of sorrow.

"B-but…" Shenmi had enough and raised her hand. "Enough. My decision is final."

I can't believe she's refusing to allow me to participate in meeting the mysterious guests! I'm not a pacifist! Sure, I sometimes try to avoid fights and whatnot… but most of the times I often practicing with a Struggle Bat in order to defend myself against anyone that harms me or my friends (Like Seifer).

Well… I guess I've got no choice but to obey Miss Shenmi as much as I disliked it… I just wished that people would stop seeing me as a pacifist. "Ugh… fine."

"Good. Believe me, its for the best… But I'll make you a deal." Oh? What kind of deal exactly, Miss 'Oh, I just want to keep you safe, Asuka'?

"When we get to HQ, I'll ask some of my people to set up a little area for you to fight since you claim, 'you can fight'." Why do I have a sudden feeling that's she playing me for a chump?

"And what is the catch for participating in this little area for fighting?" I asked in a slight suspicious tone.

"No catch. It's very simple – participate and show the members at my HQ how well you fight. If you give a well-balanced performance to them and they tell me that the results are perfect, then I'll take my words back and admit that I was wrong. Sounds simple?" I immediately nodded – it was my chance to show her that she was wrong. That I'm not a pacifist… at all.

"Very well… I accept. I'll prove to you that I'm no pacifist." It was going to be an easy task for me – I've spent all my life practicing struggling with my friends and adoptive siblings. No way was I going to lose.

"I sure hope. Anyways, let's move on and get to HQ. The sooner the better…" We started walking – what Shenmi didn't know was that there was a hidden smile plastered on my face due to me being eager to show her that I'm no pacifist. I cannot wait…

All the while we were both unaware that two figures were watching us – mainly Shenmi – from a nearby rooftop.

(Third-Person P.O.V.)

They had been watching for quite a while now – mainly, from the moment that the little girl (Asuka, was it…?) arrived in Pure Heart. To both, it was the most boring task that they ever received from their leader/mother figure.

The individuals that were watching them were both girls at the age of 11 but with different appearances:

The left one was a young girl with pale skin, black hair with side-swept bangs aligned to the left and purple lifeless eyes. Her clothes consisted of a blackish-white jumpsuit with a red-lined heart-like logo on the chest, short black stockings and white boots. One major difference was the left side of her knee that was half-exposed with a band wrapped around in the middle.

The right one had pale skin as well with her hair being long with two braids at each side of her face – it was colored platinum blonde – whilst her eyes were red and lifeless. Her clothes also consisted of a blackish-white jumpsuit with the red lined heart-like logo on the chest like the left girl's uniform, but the upper top was shaped like a dress whilst the lower had light and dark gray stockings. Like her companion, she also had white boots for footwear.

Right now, the two were currently examining Shenmi and Asuka who were no doubt heading for the Pure Heart HQ. In fact, they were memorizing the route that they took – it was all part of their objective after all.

"Ugh… I'll be honest, sis. This is the most boring assignment I've ever had the privilege of receiving from Mother."

The black-haired one looked at the blonde who spoke those words. "Don't be pessimistic, Lillie. I'm bored as well but you don't see me complaining, do you?"

"Easy for you to say… We're both commanders but you are the serious and mature one."

"Hmph. Wrong, sis… I'm just better at paying attention than you are." The blonde felt offended by those words. "Hey! I can pay attention… whenever I want to."

The black-haired girl grinned and replied. "Sure, you do." In response to that, the blonde called Lillie stuck her tongue out and pouted. This made her subordinate sigh. 'We're both 11 and yet she still pouts like a little kid. Damn shame we aren't blood related even though we're adopted…'

It was true – they weren't biologically related. A couple of years ago, they were both 4 when they found themselves on an unknown world due to their home being destroyed by an unknown force. That's all they could remember… the rest of their past life was a blur.

A young woman that was the ruler of the world they landed on took both girls in and gave them fresh clothes along with cleaning them up a little bit. When they were 7, they both received strange ranks of 'Commander' along with an explanation of what exactly their roles would be.

According to the woman that adopted them, their world was previously destroyed by unknown force being commanded by the darkness. She offered them redemption in exchange for helping her with her mysterious goals. They readily agreed seeing as this was a way to learn exactly why their home was destroyed.

In addition to the 'Commander' ranks they received the honor of leading strange mysterious creatures known as the Heartless. As for the mysterious goals that their mother refused to comment on, she did mention one thing – if enough 'hearts' were gathered, the door leading to the heart of all worlds would open.

The place where the heart of all worlds was located was said to have housed knowledge, treasure and more importantly – the ability to grant wishes. Both girls saw this as an opportunity to restore their destroyed world to its former glory. However… they had to gather the most important ingredients which were 'hearts'. The only way to do that was to extract them from the darkness in people's hearts. Their mother explained that it was a barbaric method of reaching the goal, but sacrifices were necessary.

So, both commanders of the Heartless armies began searching and extracting hearts using the Heartless in order to push them forward to the goal of reaching the heart of all worlds. Unfortunately, both girls had caught the eye of the local resistance group in Pure Heart – mainly, their leader Shenmi. When spoken about the situation to their mother, she simply stated that she was to be eliminated since she was a threat to their goals. Unfortunately, it was not the time to do such a thing… for now she was to be observed and wait for an opportunity. One last thing that their mother mentioned was the mysterious wielder of the 'Keyblade' – it is said that this weapon could be useful in extracting hearts.

And thus… here we were – two girls watching and waiting for Shenmi and Asuka to head straight to the Pure Heart HQ so they can learn exactly where it is and then return home to inform their mother.

The grin that the black-haired girl made disappeared as she noticed Shenmi and Asuka moving onward – away from their views. They needed to catch up to them and quickly. "Sis, we gotta move. Right now."

Lillie stopped pouting and looked at her adoptive sibling seriously. "Are they close to HQ, Selene?"

"Possibly. We gotta catch and memorize the place… quickly." The black-haired girl called Selene stated.

"Then let us get moving." Selene nodded at Lillie's suggestion and the two began to jump from rooftop to rooftop whilst maintaining stealth and making sure that they were quiet whilst spying on Shenmi. Luckily for them, their clothes were designed with materials that predicated stealth and deceptions – for example, the boots were created by a fabric that made their every step muffled to the ordinary ear.

It was an easy task – jumping from roof to roof and keeping on eye on their targets. Eventually, two or three minutes later – they stopped at a rooftop overlooking an alley down in the empty street. "Let's see what Shenmi will do now." Selene told her adoptive sibling whilst she nodded.

Both girls were wondering why Shenmi and Asuka had stopped in a nearby alley – were they going to talk? Were they going to do something important? Were they- Wait! What was the ninja doing…?

From the looks of things, it seems that Shenmi placed a hand on one of the bricks and pushed it back. Why was she…?

They soon got their answer in the form of a trap-door in the ground at the end of the alleyway opening and an elevator descending up. That must be the secret entrance leading to the Pure Heart HQ – they had found it!

Both women stepped into the elevator and it descended into the ground leading to the HQ. Soon, the trap door closed and the alleyway became quiet… until the two 11-year old children jumped from the rooftop and landed on the empty street.

"Well… it seems that we've accomplished our objective and learned the location of the Pure Heart Resistance against the Heartless, sis."

"It would seem so… what now, sis? Go back and report our findings to Mother?" Selene nodded in response to Lillie's suggestion. "Yes. Our mother is no doubt awaiting to see results from our little 'expedition' on Pure Heart. Summon the corridor, sister."

"Yes, sister." Lillie did as she was told and raised her hand – darkness appeared around it and soon she fired a dark fireball at a nearby brick wall.

The fireball began to morph and shape into an unknown substance which soon ended with a strange corridor-like portal being formed. Selene looked at Lillie and pulled out both hands whilst beckoning her adoptive sibling to enter. "After you."

Lillie pouted and stuck her tongue out before walking inside the corridor while Selene in response rolled her eyes before following her adoptive sibling. Both entered and soon the portal closed completely…

(Asuka's P.O.V – Inside the Elevator.)

"So… when exactly did you all had the chance to build this place underground?" I asked since I was still curious on why the Pure Heart resistance group was hiding underground.

"Oh, we didn't build this place. I accidentally discovered it the moment I came to Pure Heart… I set up shop down here and invited people who were willing to stand up to the Heartless menace."

"How many members are there so far?"

Shenmi placed a finger to her chin and began to think an answer to my question – did she remember how many members…? "Hmmm… 16/17 – that's all the members of our little resistance group. Most of them are out right now but the important ones are staying in Pure Heart – you'll have a chance to meet them while I'm out."

"Are they cool?" I asked with a slight suspicion in my voice but Shenmi nodded her head. "Yep. Don't worry about them being hostile – they aren't. Just ordinary people whom have lost their worlds to the Heartless."

"I see… can't wait to meet them."

The elevator suddenly stopped as the blinking red exit button stopped. "And… we have arrived." The doors opened as Shenmi ushered me to step forward. "Don't worry – you're safe here." I nodded but was still a bit worried on being led into a trap.

Stepping out from the elevator alongside Shenmi, I had a quick look-see around the area where we landed – hmmm… seems like a hotel reception room for some reason.

It had a desk with a computer on it, some bookcases, chairs with coffee tables, armchairs… actually, scratch what I said – it looked like a lounge area.

"Well, here we are – the Pure Heart Resistance HQ against the Heartless. This area is known as the 'Entrance Hall' – beyond those doors…" Shenmi pointed at the two doors before resuming her speech. "…lies the rest of our little hideout along with its members."

"I'll be honest, Shenmi… this 'Entrance Hall' looks just like a hotel/reception area, no offense." The ninja in response to my sentence made a small chuckle. "It definitely looks like it. We still have to find some time to repaint and check to see if there is anything broken."

"Is this place… in need of repairs by chance?"

Shenmi made some twisting moves with her right arm while looking at me. "In a sense… but this place isn't in the worst of shapes. Just needs a little… fixing up."

"Ah, I s-" I was cut off by the doors opening gently as a teenager walked inside the 'Entrance Hall'. "Hello…? I thought I heard- Oh, Miss Shenmi – you are back!" She stated upon seeing Shenmi.

"Flora. Glad to see everything is going well in HQ… nothing bad has happened, I take it?"

The teenager called Flora shook her head with a gentle smile. "No, Miss… aside from a few technical difficulties involving Dawn and Tecna's equipment. Nothing so far – which is a good thing."

"Alright, that's good. The last thing we need is anything else getting broken… speaking of which…" From this I kinda of zoned out a bit due to the conversation becoming repetitive.

I decided to keep my mouth shut until I had the opportunity to speak again – in that time, I began to examine the girl known as Flora from top to bottom:

From the looks of things, she was somewhat 1 or 2 years older than me. Her appearance was somewhat that of a princess like in the books that Mom used to read to me when I was younger – she had tan skin with narrow jade eyes while her honey-brown hair with blonde within her bangs was long.

As for her attire, it consisted of a usual green midriff, off-the-shoulder top with puffy sleeves and fuchsia colored faux wrap short skirt decorated with strawberries. On her hands, there were two sets of yellow bangle bracelets on each arm while fuchsia colored platform sandals adorned her feet.

In a sense and I didn't want to admit it in real life, she was very beautiful and cute. Flora… I think that is related to flowers if I'm not mistaken.

"Oh! I don't believe we have met before… And you are?" I was snapped out of my thoughts due Flora kneeling next to me and smiling gently. Damn it… my head must have been in the clouds – I had no idea when she had even noticed me.

Lucky for me, Shenmi spoke up to save my skin. "I found this girl in an alleyway – her name is Asuka Kizaki. Another poor unfortunate soul that has lost her world to the Heartless."

"Oh, my… that sounds awful. You're very lucky that Miss Shenmi found you in the nick of time before the Heartless could get to you… you'll find no place safer than the Pure Heart Resistance HQ. As for me, I'm Flora – my role in this place is the caretaker. I mostly keep an eye on things while Miss Shenmi is gone – in short, I'm her second-in-command. Pleased to meet you, Asuka."

I gave her a nod and smiled back. "Likewise, Miss Flora."

"Oh, no need to be formal – Miss makes me feel old. Just call me Flora." I gave another nod – her first name, huh.

"Flora, I have a little errand to run outside of HQ… but first – I need to entrust you with something. Asuka, please wait here for a moment…" Shenmi told me as I gave a confusing nod. What was she up to…?

"Miss Shenmi?" Flora asked as Shenmi took her hand and led her through the doors leading to the rest of HQ. I was all alone in the 'Entrance Hall'.

"Guess I should wait for them to return…" I decided to take a seat on one of the armchairs and wait. Maybe they'll be back soon, who knows…

So, what to do… what to do… what to do… I looked around the area once more and learned one thing – it was super boring… having to wait for two people who were discussing things.

"Ah, don't be like that – they aren't that boring… well, Flora isn't at least." Huh!? What the…!?

I got up and looked around – who was the person that spoke that feminine voice… and more importantly, did the mystery ghost read my thoughts…?

"Nada, not a ghost! But…. dear old ME!" Someone yelled from behind me as I jumped back and landed forward onto my front side. Getting up and dusting myself off, I turned to yell at my mysterious attack only to have my eyes widened at what I saw:

It was the strangest girl I had ever met in my entire life - very long, pale-blonde hair and light skin along with lush blue-green eyes and pointed ears. As for her attire, it consisted of the following:

A black ruffled-like neck-piece and a three-pointed jester hat, which was an inverted pink and patterned with purple and black-layered diamond shapes. Her top consisted of a torso of half pink and half black with purple diamond layers embroidered above. On the back, there was a black-pink and pink-purple diamond print. Coming out of the lower-back of her corset was a purple-velvet tail with a fold at the end. The arm-warmers were of equal length and both use pink and black in opposition to each arm, with a lace tied to her left arm-warmer.

Her pants consisted of shorts with a belt; the belt had small hooks which held five of her locked-books. Connected to her belt is also a strap which connected each side to a long sock, altogether being a part of her shorts, which was then finished off with magenta-lilac jester shoes.

Okay… this is either a jester girl or… something else. Neither answer is comforting. I was about to say something when she placed a finger to my lips and grinned. "Nope-nope-nope! Don't say a word – your face says it all! You are wondering who she and what her role in this is!"

Nope, mysterious jester – I literally didn't ask that. Yet, she didn't bother reading my thoughts and went on. "Prepare to have your mind and eyes blown… presenting to you: the amazing, marvelous, one-time, splendid and grand magician appearing in front of your eyes for only 50 munny an hour – the incredible and powerful Magigigika Mirdin Do Din Nolurun Dou or… Magilou for short!" She made a pose of some-kind as stars appeared from somewhere around her.

In the meantime, I was like:

"Huh…?" I was at a loss for words.

Magi- something or Magilou wasn't impressed at all and faked an insulted look on her face. "Ack! How could you not recognize me…? I feel hurt…" Her fist hit the area where her heart was.

"Umm…" I was still at a loss for words on what was going on. Luckily, the jester or magician's fake hurt pride disappeared and she looked at me with the grin still on her face. "Guess I can't blame you fully… not everyone knows the greatest of Magilou herself."

"Well… I…" She placed another finger to my lips – I was beginning to get a little annoyed of her doing that to be honest…

"Nope… Don't tell me your name. I already know who you are and where you came from: Asuka Kizaki, orphaned at age 4 and adopted by the Noir family." My eyes widened in shock – how did she…?

"How did I know who you are… easy, sweetie! I'm a magician – with a secret to boot!" She declared with a grin.

I was still at a loss for words on what was going and getting a little annoyed for not being able to speak up. "Aww, come on! Don't be mad in me! I had to fetch you after all!"

Fetch me…? What did she- Unfortunately, another finger to my lips didn't allow me to speak. "No time! We gotta go and meet up with your trainer!"

My trainer… what on earth was she- But I didn't get to say anything… again. Instead, she just grabbed my hand and grinned once more. "Hang on tight!"

"Hang on tight!? From what!?" Instead of an answer, she just went. "You'll see." Afterwards, she snapped her fingers and in an instant – Poof! We were both gone via magic.

I really wish I had opened my mouth to speak… I really do.