Um…here's the next chapter. I hope more people start reading…not that I don't appreciate Rikku's reviews! I love you very much, of course.

Hope readers are enjoying it.

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Chapter 3

Invincible

Seifer rushed forward, dipping slightly at the last moment and lashing out with the struggle bat. He flicked his wrist, a trick he had picked up after countless hours of practice, and the bat came up hard right against the shadow-creature's chest. For a second time, the thing went stumbling backwards, tripping over the hedge this time and falling to the ground.

"That's right, stay down, would ya?"

He could feel his blood pumping, the adrenaline making his senses sharper and his reactions faster. He was on his toes, more alive than he had been in ages. The beast lifted itself to its feel and in moments Seifer was upon it, thrusting forward and burying the tip of the bat into the monster's stomach. It stumbled backwards, bumping into the wall of the sandlot.

"How's that? Huh! How's that!"

Leaping forward, Seifer spun and unfurled a leg, kicking hard into the shadow. His foot connected, driving into the dark flesh and pressing it further toward the wall. Anyone else would have their breath driven from them.

Instead, the creature just blinked and opened its mouth wide, jet-black fangs appearing. With a jolt of fear, Seifer pulled his leg away, hopping backwards and bringing up the struggle bat once again. The shadow looked perplexed but pushed away from the wall and began advancing on Seifer.

"Oh, you want some of this, huh?" he whispered softly. "Well come get some!"

Darting forward, his trench coat fluttering out behind him like grey wings, Seifer flung the struggle bat forward, aiming for the creature's head. The bat flew true, heading right for the monster's big yellow eye. Seifer let out a little smile of smug victory. Then, at the last moment, the shadow's head split open, large jaws appearing once again and stretching forward. The dark teeth stretched down the length of the bat, a shadowy tongue latching onto the toy and pulling Seifer in.

"Crap!"

Hurriedly, Seifer let go of the bat and watched as the monster pulled into its dark maw and closed its awful jaws over the toy. When it opened its mouth again, Seifer couldn't see the bat at all.

"Fair enough…mano a mano, huh?" Seifer hopped up and down on his toes. "Fine by me."

The creature blinked and leaned forward slightly, as if inspecting Seifer. He could see the antennae shivering dangerously. After a moment, a toothy grin split across the shadow's face. It sent shivers down Seifer's spine.

The monster lurched forward, swiping at Seifer with large black claws. He ducked under the attack and stepped in, striking a quick blow with his undamaged left hand and then hopping away. The creature hardly seemed to notice the counterattack and quickly followed him. It swiped again with its claws, narrowly missing Seifer as he spun around the attacks and kicked out at one of the shadowy legs. He hit just above the knee and felt the dark flesh bend under his attack like rubber.

Whatever this thing was, it wasn't made of regular human parts.

Retracting his foot, Seifer moved just in time to avoid another clawed swipe. He gracefully dodged a second attempt and then moved in again, this time punching the monster in the stomach. Unphased, the beast took the opportunity to slash forward with its own hand.

"Agh!"

The clawed fingers bit into his shoulder and raked down the length of his entire arm as Seifer jumped away. Bright lines of blood began to form and although the cuts were shallow, they hurt like hell.

"Seifer!" It was Rai, shouting from across the lot. What was he still doing here?

"Rai!" Seifer turned to find the big boy standing at the edge of the steps. He had come back, for some reason. "Rai get out of here you damn idiot!"

"Seifer! Look out!" Rai's hand raised in alarm and Seifer whirled around to see a large upraised claw lifting above him. The shadowy hand started coming down fast and Seifer knew he wasn't going to be able to get out of the way. The best he could hope for was to leave himself bleeding heavily.

"Stop it!"

There was a blur of pink and red as someone barreled into the shadow from the side. The monster, taken by surprise, lost its footing and tumbled to the ground, rolling across the dusty lot. Seifer watched the creature crash to a halt several feet away before shaking himself out of shock and looking down at the person who had saved him.

"Princess?"

Kairi shakily pushed herself to her feet, wincing slightly and trying to wipe the dust from her clothing. "That thing is called a Heartless. It tries to take people's hearts. He was going to take yours."

Seifer was dumbstruck. He didn't know what to say to that. It sounded absurd, first of all, and secondly, he had just been saved by a girl. "What are you still doing here?! I told you to go with Rai!"

"No, you told Rai to take me."

Her stubbornness really pissed him off. "Look, I got this, ok? So why don't you just step back and let me handle this before you get hurt."

Kairi's face tightened into an angry scowl. "You have no idea how tired I am of hearing that."

"Well," Seifer was surprised to see her react so harshly but knew that if she stuck around she was going to get in the way. She would probably get killed. "If you don't want to hear it again, you could always just do what I say."

And before she could say anything else, he darted past her, picking up speed as the Heartless creature finally regained its footing. His feet left the ground and met with the dark flesh of the monsters face, knocking it off balance and backwards. The Heartless hit the ground with a thud and Seifer followed, rolling to his feet and turning back to the shadow.

"I really..."

Seifer leapt back at the Heartless, raising one leg high over the ground until it pointed straight into the sky.

"Didn't want…"

His leg whipped downwards, the heel dropping like an anvil down right between the two glowing yellow eyes.

"To mess up my shoes today!"

The black flesh held for a moment and then flattened, the sides of the shadowy skull bulging until they burst, dark goo exploding out over the dusty sandlot. Seifer stood over the twitching body of the Heartless, panting heavily and looking down with disgust at the puddle of black goo that his foot was sitting in.

"Gross," he said with a sneer as he pulled his foot away, shaking it to remove some of the tar-like substance.

"Wow!" Rai's heavy voice echoed over the sandlot. "That was awesome, ya know?"

Seifer smiled. It had been pretty cool. He wasn't the best fighter in Twilight Town for nothing. He glanced down at the Heartless which, to his surprise, was now evaporating into nothingness, the black flesh slowly disappearing. Weird, he thought.

"You're a pretty good fighter."

Seifer glanced upwards again. Kairi was watching the place where the Heartless had been lying.

"Not as good as Riku or Sora…but better than Tidus or Wakka."

Seifer grimaced. This girl was beyond irritating. Here he had just obliterated a shadow monster that ate hearts and she goes and gives him this backhanded compliment? Oh, you were good, just not as good as two of the people I know. Sure, that made him feel really great.

"Oh yeah?" His voice dripped annoyance. "Well I'm glad I'm better than two of your alien guy friends." Every word that came out of her mouth made him want to scream.

"Hey, Princess?" His voice lowered. "You believe in fate?"

Kairi blinked, confused by the strange change of expression. She looked up to the twilit sky and thought back over the past few years. Her adventures with Riku and Sora. How they had come to her rescue. It all seemed fated to happen, didn't it?

"Yes. I think I do."

Seifer smiled and scoffed. "Figures." He shook his head and began pacing, making a wide circle around the red-headed girl. "I believe in fate. And you know what I think? I think you and I were fated to be enemies. Cause everything you do makes my brain hurt, and I don't even know you that well."

Kairi frowned.

"But you know what else?" Seifer stopped pacing, coming to a halt and looking up at the clock tower. "I ain't nobody's pawn. Not your's, not my parent's, and sure as hell not fate's." He turned to look at Kairi. "So let's be friends." Seifer reached out with his hand, offering it to the red-headed girl. "Whaddya say, Princess?"

Kairi blinked again in confusion. This guy was certainly a weird one. Very different from Riku or Sora. Even so, her hand lifted and met with Seifer's, grasping his calloused palm and shaking vigorously with a smile.

"Sounds good to me, but my name is Kairi."

They're hands separated and Seifer smiled. "You're gonna have to earn your name, Princess, just like everyone else here."

Kairi scowled comically and stuck her hands on her hips. "Body-slamming that Heartless wasn't enough?"

"Nope."

Kairi sighed. "Fine then, King."

Seifer winced. "I think I've more than earned my name, what with heel dropping that beasts face into nothing."

"Nope."

Through gritted teeth, Seifer smiled an angry smile. "Seems like the start of a beautiful friendship."

"Uh…" Rai's deep voice broke into the tense moment and Seifer turned.

"What is it, big guy?"

"We got trouble, ya know?" Rai pointed with a large tan finger across the dusty lot. Five shadows were rising from the ground, one of which wore sharp metallic armor. It clanked loudly. None of them looked friendly.

"Ah…yeah." Seifer said blankly. He stared at the Heartless as they began stumbling toward them. After a moments thought, Seifer cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Run!"

In seconds, the three of them were dashing up the steps leading out of the sandlot. Seifer took the lead, sprinting headlong to the top step before scrabbling on the dusty cobblestones and making a sharp right turn. Kairi followed closely behind him, taking the turn slightly wider than Seifer had. Behind Kairi, Rai puffed his way to the top step and tripped, rolling once before regaining his footing and taking off down the alley in pursuit of Seifer.

After taking another sharp turn, the trio exited into large open space that was the center of town. Glancing quickly behind himself, Seifer cursed as he saw the black figures still rushing after them, armor clanking with every menacing step.

"Alright!" he shouted, turning back to Rai. "Split up! We'll meet by the weapon's store!" Rai threw a hasty salute and turned, sticking close to the wall of a large house. Seifer watched him go for another minute before turning and taking off in the other direction.

"Wait!" Seifer didn't stop, but he did turn to look over his shoulder. Kairi was running after him, hard on his heels. "I don't know where that is!"

Seifer let out a sigh between his panting breaths. "Fine then, follow me!"

The pair rushed through the streets, leaping into tight alleys and up onto rooftops, taking every shortcut Seifer could remember in his haste. Gradually, Seifer could hear the sound of clanking armor growing softer in the distance behind them.

Jumping down from a convenient overhang of one of the buildings, Seifer hit the ground, rolled and jumped to his feet. In front of him, the large neon sign that read "Weapon's Shop" shone brightly in the misty morning air. A rotund man peered out from behind the shop window with a kind, if somewhat confused smile on his face.

"Playing one of your games again, Seifer?" he asked with a chuckle that made Seifer wince.

"Hardly," Seifer said quickly. "Look, you know that sword that I've been saving up for? The one that I told you to keep on ho-"

"Ah!" The shopkeeper smiled a wider smile and leaned out of the window, beaming at something past Seifer. "And who's your friend?"

Kairi slowly stood up, wincing slightly from the drop from the last house. "Kairi, she's from out of town." Seifer said quickly. "Now look, about that swo-"

The shop keeper leaned forward, eyebrows rising suggestively. "She's quite the looker, eh?" Seifer's jaw dropped. "But this is some tour you're giving her. Not fit for such a lady as herself." Unable to respond in a coherent way to the shopkeeper's absurd insinuation, Seifer stared blankly at him. "You should take her to Sunset Hill. The ladies love that. It's how I met my wife, actually."

"Would you shut up!" Seifer finally shouted. The shopkeeper smiled a knowing smile and winked before withdrawing back into the store.

"What can I do for you?"

"Finally," Seifer sighed. In the distance, he thought he could hear the sound of clanking metal. "That sword, the one I asked you to put on hold," Seifer hesitated. What could he say? Monsters are coming, I need to go slay them? No. With a sigh, Seifer decided to go with the simplest plan. "I was wondering if I could take another look at it?"

"Sure thing, Seifer! You're my best customer after all." The shopkeeper ducked out of the window and back into his shop.

"What are you doing?" Kairi sidled up to the window.

"Hush."

"Are you going to…"

"I said, hush."

"The Heartless are coming."

"I know." Then he thought of something. Turning to look at the red-headed girl, he asked, "Hey, how do you know so much about those things?"

"Well…" Kairi fidgeted slightly. "Sora fights them…a lot. It's sort of his job."

At the mention of Sora's name, Seifer's fists clenched and his jaw clamped shut angrily. Here, he had killed one of those monsters and felt proud as hell, but Sora…fucking Sora had a job fighting these things? It seemed that everyone was stealing his thunder today.

"Here we are…" the shopkeeper's voice emanated from behind the counter, his head soon appearing. "This is it, right?" The fat man smiled and motioned forward with his hands. In his chubby arms, a long, thin blade rested. It was, for the most part black. The middle of the blade was dark as the night and only the edges shone silver. The edge itself looked painfully sharp. It was long, maybe a foot longer than Seifer's arm.

"Yeah," Seifer smiled. He was shaking slightly. The sound of clanking metal grew louder still in the distance. "Can I…" he smiled an embarrassed smile. "Can I hold it? For a moment?"

The shopkeeper blinked and then smiled, glancing briefly at Kairi as if to say, "I see." Sure enough, the man nodded and held the blade out for Seifer to take. Seifer nodded and took the blade carefully. It weighed a good amount more than any struggle bat, but that was to be expected.

"Thank you very much," he said with a wide smile. "I'll be sure to get it back to you as soon as I can."

"What?"

But he was already off and running, the dark blade held tightly in his clenched hand. He felt invincible, holding that sword. He rushed around the corner, breaking out into the light of the town center.

Before him stood a mass of bobbing shadowy heads. Armor clanged loudly against itself as they advanced toward him.

"I can't believe you stole something." Kairi's voice was low with shock and hinted at disgust.

"Quiet now," Seifer said under his breath. "This is my time. Don't go ruining it."