And we're finally back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 44!

As no doubt many of you have noticed, I went AWOL for a little while. There were multiple reasons for this. The first was writer's block. The second was no motivation whatsoever to write fanfiction (Not the same thing as writer's block, in my opinion). The third was because I have been working extra hours at my job…every freakin' day of the week. And the fourth is that once you start being lazy, it is really hard to get back into some sort of schedule.

Why am I updating this and not Embers like I was supposed to do next? Because I felt like working on this, not Embers. Following this train of thought, I worked on what I felt like working on.

I'll start going through my PM inbox soon (Tomorrow), I promise. But keep in mind I only immediately respond to the ones that are about stories I'm working on or are important conversations that need an immediate response. If I stopped contacting you in the middle of a conversation, I apologize. Basically, don't be offended if I didn't respond to a PM in the past week or two. It was nothing personal, I'm just an asshole to everyone.

Glad you guys agree with me making Cloud stronger.

The Sith'ari: I am not 100% sure about it, but I'm still pretty sure. Misa as Naruto's Riku? Thereabouts, yeah.

ImagineBreaker7: Kairi's relationship with Sora is the biggest reason for why I wouldn't do that pairing…I put stuff off until the last possible moment, so I haven't made any final decisions about the pairing yet. When I first started, Aqua was my favorite pick. If I decide to later, then I won't have him and Kairi get together.

Kairitrion Cerulean: The Kushina and Erza interaction was going to make an appearance there, but I decided not to for later use (Meaning that it will happen…probably).

guest-bat: Kairi's -hypothetical- weapon…I won't comment on that for now. As for your ideas, I have been considering doing something like a trial, but that won't be for a while yet.

kavell anderson: As it is right now, I don't have a world like that planned. However, it is still possible for me to add one.

redlox2: It isn't much of a spoiler, so I'll answer. Yes, they will make appearances. I've already shown that Orochimaru has a connection to Pete, so it makes sense for that to extend to Maleficent as well (Meaning the rest of the villains too).

iReadWriteType: I won't be answering any questions about Roxas, sorry. As for the pairings, it is tentatively NarutoxKairi right now. When it comes to Ventus, Aqua, and Terra, there is still a bit of planning needed.

Kalbario: Flawless logic! :P

NatNicole: Thanks, but unfortunately, I can't claim that this story is perfect. You might not see any problems with it, but there are flaws and inconsistencies I don't like.

rex4487: No worries, I totally agree. The story did start at a pretty slow pace.

Anyways, on with the story!

I don't own Naruto, Kingdom Hearts or anything else. I'm just a broke college student...

Normal Talking: "Insert witty remark here."

Normal Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'

Biju/Deity Talking: "Insert witty remark here."

Biju/Deity Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'

Scene Change: Insert Place Here

Jutsu/Magic/Technique: Insert Jutsu Here

Gummi Ship

"Exactly like that…It may help to envision the element in your head to make it easier." Kairi's eyes were closed as she frowned in concentration. She tried to filter out the world around her to focus on nothing but Naruto's instructions. Taking a deep breath, she slowly raised a hand so that her palm was facing up. Making sure that the image of fire was firmly in her mind, she spoke.

"Fire." Something warm ran down Kairi's arm towards the tips of her fingers. With baited breath, she opened her eyes to see the result…

Nothing.

Groaning, Kairi's arm dropped and she hung her head in defeat. "Nothing again…" She lamented. Why couldn't she get his right?

Seated across from Kairi, Naruto gave a small smile as a means of reassuring her. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's not like you were going to get this down right away." He said.

Kairi shook her head. "But we've been at this for hours! I still can't even get anything beyond a small feeling of being warm, and you said that this was a basic spell!" The two of them were seated at the table in the kitchen. Earlier that day, Kairi decided to use the free time they had in between worlds and battles with heartless ships to ask Naruto if he could teach her some magic. Because that was the first time he heard of her desire to learn, he was understandably confused, but he happily agreed once Kairi explained the reason for her request. So, leaving Gray to pilot the ship, the two of them moved to the kitchen for some quiet.

"But this is also the first time that you have ever attempted to learn magic, so it takes a while. Added to that, you also have no experience with channeling an energy source such as light, like I did when I started." Naruto responded. "I'm confident that you will get the hang of it."

A look of worry made its way onto Kairi's face. "When we started, you said I should at least be able to feel the temperature of my hand go up because I wouldn't be able to completely shield myself from the heat, but that hasn't happened beyond the slight heat…What if I can't do magic?" She hesitated. "…What if I can't do it because I don't have my heart…?" Naruto almost didn't hear the whisper.

Unsure of what he could say, Naruto averted his eyes. Truthfully, he had already thought of that possibility a while ago, but he was reluctant to admit it. Shaking his head, he looked back to Kairi. "…I won't lie to you, Kairi…Your current condition might be making it impossible for you to use magic." The redhead grew even more crestfallen. "But I don't think that's it."

Blinking in surprise, Kairi frowned. "You don't?"

"No, I don't…" Naruto responded. "While it's true that there are some spells that need to have light or darkness infused with them, not all of them are like that. So don't worry about not having a heart, it shouldn't stop you. And besides that, you also have access to my light, so it won't matter in the end if your heart isn't there." It was then that another thought came to him, prompting Naruto to smile at her. "Let's try another approach."

Grateful for his words and excited that he might have thought of another way, Kairi returned the smile. "Okay, what do I do this time?"

"Close your eyes and face your palm up again." Naruto instructed. Once she did so, he continued. "This time, I want you to instead focus on yourself, not any specific element. Remember the feeling you got when I pushed some light into you? Try bringing back to the forefront of your mind." Kairi nodded and recalled the warm and comforting feeling, almost wishing she could truly feel it again. "When you have it, think about how it feels to you. Is it wild? Is it calm? Is it invigorating? You need to narrow it down to its core traits."

"Right…" Kairi vividly remembered how Naruto's light felt, so it didn't take her long to imagine it. After a moment, she noticed something inside of her that was somewhat new. Pulling on it, Kairi was flooded with a soothing fooling. Diving deeper, the feeling grew and spread throughout her body. If she had to liken it to something, Kairi would say that it reminded her of the gentle waves that she feels when she is in the ocean. The sensation she had right now was the exact one she got when she closed her eyes and relaxed on a boat, or when she was floating in the water.

Naruto watched Kairi as she followed his instructions, waiting for a sign that she was making progress. Suddenly, he detected a small presence skim across his senses. Zeroing in on it, he noted that the light in Kairi's body was starting to stir. 'There we go…' "Good…Now that you've done that, try directing it towards your palm. Don't command it, just let it flow there. You do this by thinking of where you want it to gather. But keep in mind of the way it feels to you." Taking a breath, Kairi began to picture the light in the form of a liquid, which she then diverted to her palm.

A smile broke out across Naruto's face when he saw how easily she controlled it. "Perfect…I want you to try condensing a portion of that feeling into the center of your palm. If that doesn't make sense, then instead get as much of it as you can." He gave her a moment to do so. "Now for the last step. All at once, drive it out of your hand as if you were expelling it from a cannon. You'll do it on three, alright?" Kairi's expression slowly slipped back into a frown as she gathered as much as she could together. "One…Two…Three!"

A small flash lit up the space above Kairi's hand as the redhead abruptly felt marginally more tired. 'Did it work?'

"Kairi…You should open your eyes." Hesitantly, Kairi cracked an eye open at Naruto's suggestion. The next second, the other one opened as well as she stared at what was floating above her palm. Naruto grinned at her reaction, letting her take it in.

"This…This is…" Kairi said quietly, not completely sure if she was imagining things or not.

Naruto nodded with a chuckle. "Yep, you cast your first spell. Congratulations."

"My first spell…" Floating above Kairi's palm was a bubble that was no bigger than the size of a tennis ball. "A bubble?"

"A bubble." Naruto confirmed. Smirking, he continued. "But don't let its appearance fool you. I'm willing to bet that it isn't a normal bubble…" Taking a short moment to think, put his hands together in a hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." A clone appeared in a puff of smoke. Without having to be asked, the clone walked off to the far wall and stood there. "Try picturing the bubble shooting off towards my clone."

"Uh, okay…" Somewhat unsure of what she was doing, Kairi moved her hand so that her palm was facing the clone. To her surprise, the bubble followed her movements. "So I only need to picture it firing at your clone?"

"Yeah, that should do it."

Shaking off her nervousness, Kairi turned her head back to the clone. "Alright…Here goes nothing…" Steeling herself, Kairi did as instructed. "Go!" Responding to her command, the bubble rocketed at the clone and hit it squarely in the chest. Kairi let out an involuntary yelp of surprise when the bubble exploded upon contact with the clone. It was nothing extreme, but it was definitely more than she had been expecting. The damage from the bubble dispelled the clone. "Whoa…"

Naruto smiled. "Not too shabby."

Her mind finally catching up with what she did, Kairi grinned widely and began to jump up and down. "Yes! Yes! Yes! I cast a spell! I actually cast a spell!" She cheered. Naruto had no problem admitting that he found her reaction amusing. After another minute of cheering, Kairi whirled around and beamed at Naruto. "Thank you so much, Naruto!"

"No problem, I was happy to help." Naruto said. "And by the way, I told you that you would be able to get some results."

Kairi stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah, yeah. You were right and I was wrong." Blinking, Kairi's expression shifted into a thoughtful one. "But why was I able to do that? Wasn't I learning how to cast Fire?"

"You were." Naruto agreed. "But then I realized that you may have an easier time doing something else." He paused to think of the best way to explain it. "You've already seen me cast some spells, so you know that there are different elements, right? Not counting light and darkness?"

"Yeah. I've seen you cast fire, ice, lightning, and wind."

"Exactly. But have you noticed which ones I use the most? Whether it be by choice or out of reflex?" Naruto asked.

"Um…" Kairi thought it over. Soon, she had her answer. "I'm pretty sure that you cast wind and fire spells the most…"

Naruto smiled. "Right again. More often than not, I fall back onto using wind and fire spells. I've been trying to reign in the use of fire since I started travelling with Natsu, but it's still a reflexive thing. The reason I do this is because those two elements are the easiest ones for me to use. It's not because the other elements are necessarily more difficult to learn for everyone, but instead because I personally have less trouble with them. They're also less exhausting for me."

Kairi frowned. "Wait, people can be better at some spells than others?"

"Yes, they can. It all depends on your mindset and your fundamental traits as a person. When you felt the light in your body, how did it feel to you? Did it remind you of something?"

"It reminded me of the ocean…" Kairi said after a few seconds. "It was really soothing." She perked up. "Wait, so does that mean I would do the best with water spells?"

"Judging by the fact that you created a bubble with only some instructions, as opposed to the flame you were working towards for the past few hours, I would say so." Naruto said with an amused tone. However, he didn't voice his other thoughts. 'But seriously, she managed to do that after only a few minutes with the new instructions?' Even if she was better with water spells, that was insanely fast. "This time, you used light to kick start the spell, but it will become less and less necessary to use light as you get more practice in."

Soaking up his words, Kairi nodded. "I understand. So I need to keep practicing…" Now that she thought about it, that bubble didn't really look like it did too much damage anyways. She hung her head in defeat again. "Dang it, I thought I would be good to go once I did the spell…"

Naruto smirked. "Sorry, but it's not that easy. Practice is of course needed, so expect to be here for a while. For now, try making the bubble bigger, while at the same time forming it faster. A heartless won't give you the time you need to concentrate and make it. And after that, you're going to need to learn how to fire multiple ones at a fast pace."

"Great…"

Taking pity on her, Naruto continued. "You know, the sooner you get this down, the sooner you can start learning the next spell." Immediately, an excited gleam entered Kairi's eyes.

"More spells? Just give me a little time and I'll have the bubble of doom mastered!" Her silly name made Naruto sweat drop.

'I'm pretty sure there is already a name…' He only hoped that they didn't do too much damage by doing this in the ship.

Gummi Ship (Orbit of World)

Gray whistled in appreciation. "That tree is huge. It's at least as big as the one back on Tenrou Island."

Naruto sent an incredulous look his way. "You mean that's there's another tree that is this big? Really?"

"Aye! Tenrou Island's tree is massive, like this one!" Happy said. "Now less talking and more landing! I want to explore!"

The crimson blond sighed. "We aren't here to have fun, Happy. And not only that, but I also don't trust you and Natsu without supervision."

"Hey!" Naruto easily ignored Natsu's shout.

"But it's so boring being cooped up in the ship. No one even lets me be the one to fire the guns when we are attacking heartless ships." Happy complained. "So I wanna get out of here and move around!"

Despite his reluctance to agree with anything Happy said, Naruto found himself as somewhat understanding. There wasn't much for Happy to do on the ship in between worlds, so it would make sense if the cat looked forward to getting off. Sighing, Naruto began to input the needed commands for landing. "Everybody strap in." After they did so, he guided the ship toward the world. Suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened when he felt something from the world. "Hey, does anyone else feel that?"

Gray frowned and shook his head. "I don't feel anything. You know that I'm not exactly the sensing type, so that's no surprise."

"Same here." Natsu said.

"Aye."

However, unlike the Fairy Tail members, Kairi slowly nodded. "Y-Yeah…I think I know what you're talking about. It's faint, but there is something about that world that is giving me goosebumps."

"…It's light…" Naruto told her. "…Or at least, it's something similar to it. It might even have light infused with it…And there is a lot." He glanced over to her. "I'm not surprised you can sense it, Kairi. The goosebumps should go away once you're used to sensing things." His attention went back to the world. "Anyways, I'm taking us in now."

"Come on, hurry it up!" A black haired boy called over his shoulder to a boy with red hair. "We gotta get to the good places before there are lines everywhere!"

Smiling, the redheaded boy ran after his friend. "There's no need to rush. This is the first day of the festival!" His eye caught something off to the side. Gasping excitedly, he darted over to it. "A robot dinosaur!" The boy's awe over the mechanized dinosaur was obvious to everyone in the area.

"Tch. Even if he tries to act mature, he can't help but act like a brat…" A girl with orange hair muttered.

The black haired girl next to her simply smiled. "It's fine, isn't it? This is a good chance for him to relax for a change." On her shoulder was a small animal that resembled a white ferret.

The orange haired girl sighed. "I guess you're right…He is pretty serious most of the time, so this should be good for him." Out of nowhere, the two boys' and black haired girl's bodies all tensed. The orange haired girl watched warily as the three of them glanced around with suspicious looks. "What's up with you three?"

"You mean to tell me that you seriously don't feel that, Nee-chan?" The black haired boy asked. "It's hard to miss." The other two nodded in agreement, still attempting to locate the source.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but not everyone has your weird sensing skills!" The orange haired girl yelled irritably. "Now tell me what's going on!"

"Someone has entered the area…Someone strong." The black haired girl said quietly. "And they aren't making any effort to hide their presence, as if they want us to know that they're here…"

Finally understanding the situation, the orange haired girl also became cautious. "Oh, that's what's going on…"

The redheaded boy's eyes snapped to the side. "There!" Without waiting for any response, he dashed away.

"Hey, wait!" The orange haired girl attempted to stop him, but the boy didn't listen. "Damn it, why can't he not rush off to every fight?!" She ran after the boy, the other two falling into step with her right away.

"Alert, unknown energy signatures have entered the vicinity. Threat levels unknown."

A girl with large glasses frowned to herself and began to type rapidly on the terminal she was standing at. "These readings…I don't know who this is." A girl with her hair done into two buns and pigtails stepped up next to the terminal. "Do you know what's happening?" The second girl considered the readings. After a minute, a smile slowly spread across her face.

"I do believe that the final players have entered the stage-ne."

A man with mostly grey hair sighed and took a long drag of his cigarette. "…Why can't things ever go smoothly?"

He was certain that the headmaster would be observing the following events as some form of entertainment.

A blue eye cracked open as its owner lounged lazily on a rooftop. "This feeling…" Where had she felt this? 'Was it recently…No, not too recently. Maybe a century or two ago?' She shook her head. 'No, not that long ago either…Then perhaps within the last century?' That sounded about right. 'But what is it?' Frowning, she tried to put a name to the feeling. '…Something about a key?' The other eye snapped open once she finally remembered where she had felt this before. A wide grin made its way onto her face.

"A keyblade wielder? This may be just the thing I need…" Standing up, the girl dusted her skirt off. "Come on, let's go meet our new guests, Chach-" She cut herself off when she remembered that her servant was on loan to someone else at the moment. Heaving an aggravated sigh, the girl walked towards the door that led back into the building.

"Never mind…"

An extremely overgrown eyebrow raised as the person attached to it picked up a new presence entering the area. After assessing what it was, the eyebrow lowered and a smile stretched across the person's lips. "Oh? This should be interesting. Ohohoho~" A small part of the old man wondered if it would be a good idea to tell the others that the newcomers weren't a threat…

But a bigger part wanted to see what kind of entertainment this would bring.

The off-worlders took in their surrounding with great interest, along with poorly contained glee on Natsu and Happy's parts. "This is a pretty big festival." Kairi commented. The world they had entered was a large city that was full of activity.

"As far as I can tell, it seems like it spans the entire city." Gray added. "And with this amount of people, it needs to be that big." The four humans and cat were working their way through the crowd as they headed deeper into the city. No one paid the normal looking people any thought, but Happy did get some strange glances. Naruto would have thought it to be a problem if the people didn't quickly shrug and continue walking. Suddenly, the group's attention was caught by the sound of something flying overhead. They and the crowd watched as multiple planes flew in formation before careening off in different directions at the same time, leaving multicolored trails of smoke behind.

"Good morning, everybody! The moment you have all been waiting for is here! I now announce that the Seventy-eighth Mahora Festival is a go!" Explosions in the sky announced the presence of fireworks.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the display. "They are going all out with this, aren't they?"

"Natsu, look! They have games!"

"Oh, you're right…And they have food!"

"I wonder if they have fish?"

"I'm sure they do! Let's go find some!" The fire dragon slayer only managed to take two steps.

"Hold the hell up-ttebayo!" Naruto lashed out and grabbed him by the scarf. "You're not going anywhere. Didn't I already tell you that I don't trust you two on your own?"

Natsu gaped at him. "But Naruto, it's a festival! What kind of trouble could I get into here?"

Naruto glared. "There are a lot of things that could happen when you're surrounded by strangers, but the fact that it's you makes it way worse." Off to the side, Gray had an amused smirk on his face while Kairi giggled. "So with that in mind, you are not wandering off on your own. Got it?"

"But…" Naruto's glare darkened, prompting Natsu to break out into a cold sweat and avert his eyes when he was reminded of the boy's mother, as well as another redhead. "…Fine…"

Nodding in satisfaction, Naruto released Natsu's scarf. "Good, and the same goes for you, Happy. Do you understand as well?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Oh, Kami damn it."

With Happy

"Fishy, fishy. Fishy for Happy~" Happy easily glided above the heads of the crowd as he scanned the nearby booths for one that sold some type of fish. "Where's the fish…?" It should have been easy to find!

A loud squeal from nearby pulled Happy from his thoughts. "Guys, look! He's so cute!" Turning to the direction of the voice, Happy found himself getting wrapped in a hug by a girl with pink hair. Happy considered protesting, but the euphoric petting convinced him otherwise.

"A blue flying cat?" A girl with her dark hair done into a side ponytail asked. "Is it some kind of mascot for the festival?"

The tallest girl nodded. "Probably, but I am surprised by how real it looks."

"I wonder how they made it fly like that…" The fourth girl had light blue hair that was cut relatively short. "It has to be a robot or something, right? So maybe Professor or Chao-san made it?"

"Hey, I'm not an 'it'! I'm Happy!" Happy's words surprised all four of the girls, but the pink haired one was the first to recover.

"And he even speaks?! This is the greatest thing ever!" She gushed.

The tall girl sweat dropped. "Um, Makie? I agree that he is very cute, but we were kind of in a hurry, remember? We need to get back to the classroom."

The pink haired girl, Makie, shook her head with a happy expression. "It's fine! They already have more than enough people, so what does it matter if we aren't there to help?" She pouted. "It was already bad enough that class rep made us work overtime last night, so I say we earned a little break! I want to spend some time with this little guy~"

Happy gave her a hopeful look. "Will you help me find some fish? I'm really hungry!"

Makie easily nodded to the request. "Sure, I don't mind!"

'The robot eats? It eats fish?' The girl with the side ponytail wondered. Shrugging, she grinned. "Sounds good to me. I kind of wanted to explore for a bit anyways."

"You'll both help me? Thanks!" Happy turned towards the direction he came from. "Natsu, isn't it great? They're gonna help us find some fish!" It was then that Happy finally noticed that the others weren't there. "Huh? Where'd they go?"

"Where'd who go?" The light blue haired girl asked.

"My friends. They were right behind me!" Happy sighed and shook his head. "They must have gotten lost. They're stupid like that sometimes…"

The tall girl frowned. "Should we look for them?"

"Nah, they'll be fine. Fish is more important!"

With the Others

Naruto had a scowl plastered across his face as he scanned the crowd again for any sign of the stupid cat that was giving him another headache. Whenever Naruto saw a flash of blue, he thought he found Happy, only to become more irritated upon realizing that he was mistaken. "When I get my hands on that damn fur ball…" He muttered.

"Happy! Where are you, buddy?!" Natsu shouted, but was met with the same results. "Happy!"

Kairi had a worried expression on her face. "Where could he have gone? He couldn't have gotten too far, right?"

Gray snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised. Not only can Happy fly, but he also gets easily distracted by fish. It's been a few minutes, so he could be anywhere by now." His apathetic answer only served to increase the read head's worry.

"I hope he is okay…"

"I'm willing to bet he is, but he won't be once I get my hands on him…" Naruto muttered. Suddenly, he paused when he caught sight of someone ducking around a corner ahead of them. Normally, Naruto would have dismissed it, but this was the third time in just ten minutes that he has seen the same person doing that. Coming to a possible conclusion, Naruto was careful to not show any signs that he had noticed the person while he turned down a different corner, the others following him as they searched for Happy. A moment later, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw another person duck their head out of the way ahead of them. 'I've seen that person more than once too…We're definitely being followed…And they're somewhat bad at hiding themselves…' Deciding on the next course of action, Naruto sighed. "Guys, get ready for a fight." He said quietly.

Immediately, Gray's bored expression faded into neutrality, while Kairi's took on a nervous one. As opposed to the reactions of the rest of the group, Natsu appeared to grow excited at the prospect. "Why do you say that?" Gray asked.

"There's a small group of people following us." Naruto answered. "I don't think they know that I've spotted them, so we should act natural, for now. I doubt they want to start anything in such a crowded area-That means don't go shouting challenges at them, Natsu!" He hissed at the dragon slayer, who had taken a deep breath in order to do exactly that.

"Ehehehe…My bad…"

After glaring at the pink haired teen, Naruto turned his gaze to Kairi and noticed how tense she was. "Kairi, relax. This could very well be your first fight, but the three of us are here to help. We won't let anything happen. And you've been practicing spells for a couple of days now, so I know you aren't defenseless. Just relax and leave most of the fighting to us…If it comes to it."

Reassured by his words, Kairi smiled and slowly nodded. "Right…I'm sorry about that. I won't let you guys down." Naruto returned the smile.

"So what's the plan?"

"This is their world, so they know the area better than us. That means that it won't matter where we fight, but we may as well try to get a place that has more room to do it, along with less people who can get hurt…But I doubt we will find a single place that doesn't have at least some people around. I would also prefer talking to them, instead of resorting to a fight." His eyes swept over the area again and landed on something nearby. "There. That plaza is pretty empty, so that would be a good spot. We'll stay there for a bit and give them a chance to confront us. If they don't, then we will continue searching for Happy." Seeing that they agreed, Naruto led them over to the plaza. When they neared the center of the plaza, Naruto noticed a strange sensation that had filled the air, somewhat reminding him of a genjutsu. A quick glance around informed him what had happened. "I guess they will be confronting us…They emptied the plaza." Exactly as he had said, all signs of people in the immediate vicinity had vanished without any of them noticing.

Natsu grinned widely and cracked his knuckles. "So they want to fight too? Sounds good to me!"

'Fighting isn't our first choice…'

"Ha! Looks like this guy speaks my language!" The unknown voice sounded as excited as Natsu to be fighting. A pool of something dark appeared in front of them. When he first saw it, Naruto thought it to be darkness, but he then decided it was something else. The off-worlders watched as a boy rose out from it. "I hope you can back that up!"

Once the boy fully emerged, Naruto noticed that the boy seemed to be slightly younger than him. He had spiky black hair that fell in front of his face and down the sides of his cheeks, along with brown eyes. His outfit was made up of dark pants, a white t-shirt, and a dark jacket. Naruto found himself momentarily staring at two of the boy's features.

Namely the wolf ears and tail.

'…They're twitching…So they're real…?' The boy's grin reminded Naruto of Natsu, and he couldn't help but compare the two. 'Great, someone else who jumps at the chance of a fight…' Footstep from behind prompted Naruto to look over his shoulder at the next person.

Standing nearby was a girl who was slightly older than Naruto. The girl had black hair and brown eyes. Like the boy, she was wearing an outfit similar to some kind of school uniform, but hers was a sailor uniform. Hung over her shoulder was the case of a sword. Unlike her companion, she didn't seem to be looking forward to a fight, instead opting to have a neutral countenance.

The sound of something chiming encouraged Naruto to turn his head and spot yet another new person. This time, it was a girl who was the same age as the first girl, but she had orange hair done into two long ponytails with bells tied to the start of the tails. Like Naruto, she had heterochromatic eyes, but her left eye was blue while the right one was green. She wore the same outfit as the previous girl, but unlike the first, this girl was glaring at them.

Taking one last glance between the three, Naruto spoke up. "Can we help you with something?"

"Yes, would you please tell us what you want here?" Naruto blinked at the voice coming from their other side before he saw who had spoken.

It was another boy who was younger than Naruto, but this one had spiky, reddish-brown hair and eyes of the same color. This boy was wearing an entirely green suit, which was slightly odd on someone so young. Clutched in one hand was a long staff that was partially wrapped in bandages. Naruto could tell that this boy was apprehensive due to the situation, but he was also determined.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Naruto responded. "We arrived in town and were taking a look around. You're the ones that confronted us, remember? Why don't you tell us what you want? Why have you surrounded us?"

The orange haired girl's glare darkened. "Don't try acting innocent, you stupid brat! We know you're up to something!"

Naruto frowned at her. "And how do you figure that?" His question startled the girl a bit, but she soon recovered.

"Um, well…We just do!" She declared and glanced to the other girl. "Right, Setsuna-san?"

The black haired girl, Setsuna, nodded. "If you were truly not up to anything, then you wouldn't be exuding so much power at once."

'Wait, what?' Naruto frowned. 'They sensed us and assumed that we were plotting something?' "Why does us not suppressing our presence mean that we are doing something wrong?"

"Because such displays of power run the risk of exposing the magical world to those who are unaware of its existence, as you no doubt know." The redheaded boy said seriously.

'Oh…That explains it…' Now how to get out of this one? "Sorry about that, we'll be more careful form now on." Naruto told them with a reassuring smile. "If that was all, then we will continue on our way…"

"Like hell we're gonna let you walk away like that!" The orange haired girl growled irritably. "You're going to tell us who you are, or we're going to beat it out of you!"

The redheaded boy appeared to be startled by his companion's words. "Asuna-san! He has already agreed to show more caution in the future, so there is no reason for us to pursue the matter!"

"You can't just believe them because they said so, Negi!"

The black haired boy nodded, never having lost his grin. "I agree with Nee-chan this time, Neg. You're too trusting." He locked eyes with Natsu. "Besides, pinky over here looks like he wants a fight as much as I do."

Natsu's grin somehow widened further. "So you're game then? Great!" He crouched and ignited his fists. "Then let's go!" In response to the flames, each of the four strangers tensed and prepared themselves for a fight. Setsuna pulled out her sword, Negi gripped his staff tighter, the black haired boy created more of the dark stuff at his feet, and Asuna pulled out a…card?

'Probably used to summon something like my cards do…'

Negi quickly called out in an attempt to salvage the situation. "W-Wait! There is still no reason for us to fight!" The black haired boy scoffed.

"Reason? I'll give you a reason. We'll fight to figure out who's stronger!"

"That's not a good reason!"

"It's good enough for me!" With that last shout, the black haired boy launched himself forward.

Seeing this as the signal to get started, Natsu rushed to meet him partway. "Sounds like a good reason to me, too!" Once they were close enough to each other, Natsu and the boy both hurled a fist forward, making a small explosion from the fire and dark stuff colliding.

"You see! They are here for a fight!" Asuna declared. Not wasting another moment, she held her card up. "Adeat!" In a flash of light, a large fan materialized in her hand. Naruto would have questioned her weapon choice, if not for the fact that the girl was seriously treating it like a weapon.

Naruto groaned quietly as the situation fell apart. "I blame Happy for this…" Refocusing on the matter at hand, Naruto raised a hand and summoned his keyblade. "Kairi, we haven't practiced in any spars yet, so I would rather you sit this one out." Seeing her expression at the suggestion, he continued with a small smile. "But I know you don't want to do that, so keep your distance and use ranged attacks, okay? I've got your back." Kairi smiled at the instructions.

"Got it!"

Chancing one last glance to the side, Naruto noted that Gray was already engaged against Setsuna. Returning his gaze to the front, he saw that Asuna was charging him. "Here we go!"

There we go! All done with Chapter 44!

I pushed a little Naruto logic into the Kingdom Hearts magic thing. I'm not dedicating to any specific type advantage format yet (If at all), but I don't see a problem with giving people a natural element that they are better at. The name Kairi literally means "sea", so it makes sense for me to have her start with a water spell. Added to that, I can't help but want to give her some similar abilities to Aqua, whom Kairi has met and gained the ability to wield a keyblade from.

What the hell powers the spells? I don't think it's light or darkness, or else there wouldn't be any "neutral" spells (Some types of heartless cast spells, so it can be done without light at least, but that doesn't disprove darkness as a source…). Or am I just wrong and it is light and/or darkness? And for the love of god, don't tell me it's MP, because I need something that I can actually use. Mana is an option, I guess, but I would rather not.

Wow. A lot of people actually guessed the world.

Okay, if you've read Negima, then you know that there are a lot of characters that I would need to introduce/describe in a short time span, so I'm only going to do that for the important ones. Usually, I have no problem describing how a character looks so that the people who don't know the series have something to go off of, but there are simply too many that I would need to put in a single chapter. You wanna know what any of them look like? Look it up.

That wasn't a typo when I had Kotarou say "Neg" instead of "Negi". If you see that, then it's just a nickname. I'm not sure if I needed to explain that, but I thought I should anyways.

When is the next chapter going to come out?

…I'm honestly not sure. I would like to keep working on this, but I would hate to put my other two stories on hold.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!

Until next time,

Kog6943