Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I DO own the OCs. If you'd like to use them in a fic, just tell me.

Am I Heartless?

Part 12

Sora and Riku met sparse resistance from the Heartless. Only upon summoning their Keyblades did the creatures attack. Thankfully these Heartless were nothing new to them nor were they very powerful. Mostly they were just Shadows, Soldiers, and Neo shadows, The Neo shadows were much like their lesser cousins, but walked more up right then the shadows who stayed close to the ground. They had no antennas on their forehead but they had two long trailing zigzag protrusions coming out of the back of their head reminiscent of an old style jester's cap. They were a little stronger than the Shadows but didn't use their melt-into-the-floor trick nearly as much as their lesser counterparts.

Riku and Sora had barely reached the ends of the restoration site past the town when they saw a motorcycle coming towards them from the direction they were heading.

The Heartless scattered and disappeared once Cloud had pulled up to the two teenagers, they knew Cloud very well and had grown to fear him almost as much as the Keyblades themselves.

"Cloud!" Sora exclaimed, happy to see the spiky haired back safe and sound since his disappearing act with Sephiroth. "How are you?"

"We saw your friend out at the Deep depths." Cloud said, brushing off Sora's question and earning a jab in the side from a certain long haired woman who was sitting behind him on his motorcycle.

Cloud looked back at Tifa who waved a finger at him. "Be nice Cloud."

"I've been... okay." The spiky haired man said reluctantly. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was tougher; Cloud Strife or Tifa Lockheart.

"You saw him?" Riku stated, raising an eyebrow at what Cloud has previously said before being abused by Tifa. "What happened?"

"No but Cloud did." Tifa said. "He says Orin disappeared with Maleficent after she offered him... what was it again Cloud?"

"Xehanort's Journal." Cloud stated flatly. "The old witch didn't say what she wanted the kid to do. I think she knew I was listening."

"Xehanort's Journal?" Riku raised an eyebrow. "Now that would be a trip to read. He'd have more information on the Heartless then anyone."

"Yes, among other things." Sora said. "I don't think Orin will like what he finds."

"The truth isn't always pretty." Riku said, speaking from his experience from their first adventure.

Sora quickly caught what Riku was thinking about and gave his white-haired friend a pat on the back and a confident smile. "I'm sure things will turn out okay. After all they did for you didn't it?"

Riku smiled and shook his head. Sora always had to be so optimistic... "Yeah, thankfully. What about Kairi?"

"I'm sure Leon and the others won't mind making sure she's safe." Sora said.

Riku raised an eye brow at that. "They may be okay with taking care of her but do you think Kairi will want to stay here? She's not exactly defenseless anymore."

"Yeah, but it's just I don't want her to get hurt." Sora said. "We'll ask her to stay but if she wants to continue with us to take on Maleficent we'll take her with us."

Riku smirked, in the past year Sora has learned something about girls. If he had just taken off and left Kairi here in town without telling her he would never have heard the end of it. Or if worse came to worse she'd punch him and not talk to him for a long time.

---

"Yuffie? Are you okay?" Kairi asked.

"I've felt better." Yuffie said, who was now well enough to sit on the edge of her bed. "That was downright scary. I thought I was going to be a Heartless for sure."

Become a Heartless? Now Kairi was really worried. "What happened?"

"Well Orin was really down after what we said about him so I thought if I gave him a kiss he might perk up." Yuffie drew her knees up a little tighter at the memory of what happened next. "Next thing I know his hand it all black and it's lodged in my chest trying to get at my heart."

Kairi gave the ninja girl a comforting hug, she felt bad about what had happened to her but she kinda asked for it. Orin had warned her a few times not to touch him because it makes him go crazy. But regardless it confirmed what she feared: her new friend was a Heartless. A Heartless that could be nice and have friends yeah but could never have physical contact with anyone. But why did that happen? Why did Orin go berserk each time he felt a heartbeat? Was it just because the Heartless part of him craves hearts or is it something else?

"Orin can't touch anyone Yuffie. Didn't you think about that before you did that?" Kairi asked.

Yuffie gave Kairi a look of painful realization. Yeah, she had forgotten about that little tidbit of information but she wouldn't tell Kairi that. "I know... It's just that he uh... looked so pathetic ya know?"

Kairi sighed and shook her head. "You should've been more attentive then. Otherwise we'd have another Heartless and another Nobody creeping around here."

'That's really comforting Kairi...' Yuffie thought, 'I really want to think of myself as being like those creepy Organization XIII guys...'

"You're sure you're okay?" Kairi asked as she tilted her head, concerned for the ninja girl's health.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little shook up." Yuffie said as she stood up. "I've got to go. I'm sure Leon and Aerith are worried."

"Be careful Yuffie. Don't overexert yourself." Kairi advised.

"Yes mother..." Yuffie mouthed as she left Kairi alone in the room.

Kairi flopped back on her bed. Things were sure spinning out of control, Orin turned out to really be a Heartless and he attacked Yuffie. Leon would ring his neck if he ever set foot back in town. Kairi sighed and closed her eyes. How did she, Sora, and Riku have to get involved in these things? Were they going to be fighting the Heartless when they're old and gray? She seriously hoped not.

Kairi was shaken from her thoughts by a soft knock at the door.

"Kairi?"

Kairi instantly knew the voice on the other side of the door and got up to open it. "Yes Sora?"

"We're going to go look for Maleficent." Sora said, a little concern showing in his tone of voice. "We just want to know what you want to do. Stay here or go with us."

Kairi shook her head. "I'm going with you. I want to be of some use this time."

"Okay." Sora acknowledged. But one thing still bothered him, he had no idea what to do now. "Well what now? I mean if Orin isn't here, where would he be?"

"Wherever Maleficent is I guess." Riku said, then added mentally; 'Typical nest head... he knows what to do but has no idea how to do it...'

"And whatever the witch wants with him is no doubt going to be bad new for us." Sora stated, remembering just how much trouble Maleficent had caused when she worked with Xehanort and again when she was working against them AND the Organization.

Riku nodded. "Right. Us and everyone else that isn't on her side."

"Riku, do you know where she's camped out?" Sora asked. He hoped he did or else it meant a whole lot of searching.

Riku gritted his teeth. The thought of the old witch brought back some bad memories from when she had convinced him to betray and attack Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He would like nothing more than to see that this was the final time they would run into her. But he shook his head. He had no idea where Maleficent was held up.

Sora hung his head. "So we have to start at square one."

"Well, I guess this means we'll have to go out and look." Kairi said, hoping to cheer her friends up. "How many times have we gotten to travel together?"

Riku and Sora smirked. It was true, they had never actually traveled together as a group in any of their adventures.

"Hey guys," Yuffie said, appearing out of nowhere in classic ninja style via a smoke bomb. Almost instantly after she appeared Yuffie dropped down to one knee. She was clearly exhausted, she was sweating, breathing hard, and covered in scratches.

"Yuffie are you okay?" Kairi cried as she ran over to Yuffie.

After taking a second to catch her breath she continued. "Remember all the Heartless that were just harmlessly looking around and not hurting anyone?"

"Yeah... What's wrong?" Riku said slowly, not understanding what Yuffie was getting at.

"They're going nuts! That's what's going on!" Yuffie responded, tapping her foot impatiently. She wanted to be out there helping defend the town. The town's defenses could only do so much on their own.

"Hold on Yuffie, what do you mean 'going nuts'?" Kairi asked.

"They're trashing everything from barrels to buildings, looking for whatever it is they've been looking for. That's what!" Yuffie wasted no more time and ran off with her shuriken in hand.

The three young teens from the Destiny Islands looked at each other and followed Yuffie outside.

---

"The Heartless in town are going bonkers Maleficent!" Pete whined, looking utterly pathetic at the old witch, hoping that she could sooth his nerves. "What if the ones we have start acting the same way?"

"Pete cease your sniveling." Maleficent thundered, turning to look down at her servant with a hard glare. "The Heartless under my control will remain so as long as I do not expend too much power and my hold on them lessens. I simply have to take care in what I do."

Pete nodded, his resolve returning to him. He glanced over at Orin who was sitting on the floor reading the journal Maleficent had promised him.

"So what about the kid? How can we use him?" Pete asked gruffly.

Maleficent smirked evilly, glad to see that Pete was his boastful self again. She knew he was only useful when he had someone to hide behind, namely her. "Patience Pete... All things in due time."

"But those brats with the Keyblades are going to be looking for him." Pete whined, once more showing just how cowardly he was.

Maleficent snorted and turned to look out the window towards the town. "Those pests cannot access this tower. I made sure the all floors connecting this tower to the main gate were destroyed. The only way up they could get to this room is to climb."

Orin looked through the pages of the journal, reading every page in earnest. Not caring for what was going around him. What he was discovering about his origins were all he cared about right now.

To be continued...