I'm back and ready to update! If you're interested, my vacation went well, but I'm always upset when we leave. xP

But this gives me the opportunity to write more. Yay! They get to meet the crew in this chapter!

Enjoy, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this or upcoming chapters.

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"Sensei...what is is this place?"

The putrid smell of blood, rotting flesh and charred wood collided head on with the new trainees senses. It attacked their nostrils and lungs, sending them into coughing fits. Namine lowered her head towards the ground, her eyes shut and trying to control her heaving lungs.

Only a few seconds later, cerulean eyes slid open and stared blankly at the ground in disgust and shock. Crimson liquid stained her boots as it did the rest of the area. Namine jumped back. Never in all her life had she seen so much blood in one place.

Kairi, who had been earlier ignored, re-asked her previous question.

"Sensei?"

"We are finally here. Makai...Hopefully, this will be the place where this mayhem ends once and for all. Come. It's time for you all to meet your new teammates."

With a swish of his cloak, Ansem strode away in some random direction. Selphie, Namine, and Kairi exchanged glances before following their teacher. As they trudged through the (almost) demolished town, its impoverished, disgruntled residents eyed their guests wearily as they passed.

Whispers floated in and out of the recruits' ears.

"Those girls...do you think they're vampires?"

"Nah...Maybe Lycans?"(1)

"Hmph! You two fools must be blind. Don't you see whose leading them? It's Ansem the Wise. Those girls must be the new apprentices of the Forest Owls that Shika's been jabbering about."

Once again, the girls shot each other looks. They liked the attention and all, but enough scrutinizing, please. Other began to converse as the small group walked by, causing Selphie to lean in closer to the Yamatas, readying to start a discussion on these so called "Forest Owls.".

"Forest Owls, huh? I wonder if there are any hot guys in this group." The twins slapped their hands to their foreheads.

"My god, Selphie. Do you ever stop?"

"Stop what, Kairi?"

"Every time we go somewhere, you always ogle at the guys. Do us all a favor and control your hormones."

"Aw, you're no fun, Namine. I'll try, but I'm not making any promises." The brunette giggled insanely, gaining a few odd stares from some of the villagers.

Kairi and Namine grabbed Selphie's wrists, bowed in apology to the people, and sped off with a still chuckling Selphie.

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As the gang walked on, the still standing homes disappeared into fog. Suddenly, Namine felt some shivers run up her spine. Where were they? Were they near headquarters or were they going in the wrong direction?

The blond prayed silently to herself, hoping that nothing would attack them. All she needed was that Number XIII to come out again and hurt her this time.

'Strange...I wonder why he didn't just suck my blood.'

Namine was jolted out of her thoughts by a rough tug at her side.

"What's up, Kairi?"

Kairi pointed forward; her eyes widened in amazement.

"Look."

Turning her to the direction of Kairi's finger, beryl eyes dilated in wonderment. Before them stood a colossal building. Sure, it wasn't the most fashionable piece of work Namine had seen, but she could tell that this building had see many glorious battles.

"Wait right here, girls." Ansem marched proudly to small, iron door. He knocked curtly and then waited a few moments later, a gruff voice answer his call.

"Who be out there?"

"It is I, Ansem the Wise."

A few more voices could be heard on the other side of the door before it slowly creaked opened. A woman with silver, average-length hair and amethyst orbs exited the fort and gave a small bow.

"Master Ansem, we didn't expect you return so soon. Please, come in."

Ansem nodded his head in greeting before waving his hand and ushering his pupils in. As soon as the woman re-entered the establishment, the iron door snapped closed, causing Namine jumped into the air in fright.

"My, my, my. Aren't we jumpy tonight?"

Again, the silver-haired woman eased herself from the darkness; a big grin etched on her face.

"Girls, I'd like to introduced my second in command, Shikamaru Toshi." The petite, slightly tanned lady gave a wave and walked closer.

"But please, call me Shika." Each one of the girls shook her hand and introduced themselves.

"I'm Selphie."

"I'm Kairi and this," The auburn-haired girl took her sister hand and moved her closer into the conversation. "Is my twin, Namine."

"Nice to meet you, Shika."

Suddenly with lightning fast speed, Shika gathered the three slayers in her arms.

"Aww! You three are just so cute and polite." She released them from her grip. "Now that you're here, I'm sure you want to meet the others and learn more about the Forest Owls."

The three nodded vigorously causing Shika to erupt into giggles again. Once she was calm, Shika cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled.

"Alright, you bums. Meeting in the conference room. NOW!" Namine could hear some feet scurry quickly towards wherever this conference room was while others took their time. When Namine looked up, Ansem was already gone.

Without warning, Shika popped up behind her new friends and nudged them into a direction.

"I'm sure you'll like everyone. They can be hard asses sometimes, but we're like one, big family."

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The meeting room was quite large and in the center sat a long table with about twenty chairs around it. When Namine and the crew entered, the room was already filled up. There were a few women, but mostly men populated.

Out of the corner of her eye, a glint of silver caught her attention. Upon further inspection, it appeared to be a boy who perhaps was a year or two older than herself. As if he know she was watching him, he turned around and gave a charming smirk.

Namine felt her heart begin to pounded against her ribcage and a warm feeling rising up her cheeks.

"Who's that?"

Shika, Selphie, and Kairi turned their head to see who Namine was talking about. Shika chuckled.

"You'll find out some enough."

"Now, I'd like to make an announcement."

All chattering immediately stop and all head turned towards the front where Ansem stood.

"I would like to introduce you new comrades. Kairi is the auburn-haired girl, Selphie is the brunette, and Namine is the blond." Namine felt very eye upon them and it made her current blush deepen. "Watch over them and give encouraging advice. Go on...introduce yourselves."

But instead of the group introducing themselves, Shika took the honors of doing it.

"Okay! Let's start on the right side of the table, shall we. The blond, spiky-haired dude is Cloud. The woman next to him is Tifa. Then there's Vincent, who's all dressed in red. After Vincent, there's Cid. He's the weapon master here, so after the meeting go to him, so he can measure you up and give you appropriate weapons."

After the right side was complete, the silver-haired lady moved to the left.

"In the front, is Goofy the guy is the black hair and dog nose. He's half Lycan, but he's a really nice and understanding. Next to him is Donald, the one in the blue cap. This quaker has a temper, but is very nice when he wants to be. The next to people are Leon and Yuffie, the "dynamic duo" of the squad. Then we have Aerith, who's the healer."

Shika took a deep breath.

"Last, but certainly not least, we have Riku, the guy with the turquoise eyes and silver hair, is our very own information gather."

A few people waved while others nodded their heads in greeting towards the newbies. Ansem cleared his throat and beckoned Riku forward.

"Now that we 're finished with that, onto more pressing matters. Riku what do you have for us."

Withdrawing a sheet of paper from his pants, Riku began to read off the information off the sheet.

"Well, we all obviously know that Organization XIII is made up of thirteen members, but during their hunt three nights ago, villagers claimed to have seen one more person among their ranks."

As Riku continued on about something else, Namine dazed out, swooning over Riku's suave voice. Kairi witnessed the affection and elbowed her sister in the gut. After Namine regained her breath, she was about to give Kairi a piece of her mind when Riku interrupted her.

"From a valuable source of information, we finally have the names of both the Organization and its few followers." The whole table leaned forward in anticipation. "The list is as follows:

I – Xemnas aka the "Superior"

II – Xigbar

III – Xaldin

IV – Vexen

V – Leaxeus (A/N: No Idea how to spell that name.)

VI – Zexion

VII – Saix

VIII – Axel

IX – Demyx

X – Luxord

XI – Marluxia

XII – Larxene

XIII – Roxas"

Namine felt her heart beat faster.

'So that's number XIII, huh?'

"Next is a kid named Sora. The only reason he's apart of their group is because is older twin brother, Roxas is there."

Kairi suddenly found herself interested. If Namine said, that this Roxas was a year older than them then that would Sora was the same. She found herself thinking about what he looked like.

"Also, as I've said earlier, it's been about three days since the Order's last feeding. Leon estimated that it would be between now and two days from now that the Organization will strike again, so be prepared. This meeting is adjourned."

The occupants of the room began to file out of the room, but some stopped to say their welcomes.

"Hey! Welcome to the Owls! I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie." A girl with short, black hair introduced herself. A girl in a pink dress followed suite with . "I'm Aerith. A pleasure to finally meet you all."

They all shook hands. Selphie, Kairi, and Shika followed them out talking about girl stuff, Namine was about to leave when a hand gripped her wrist. Startled, the blond was about to beat the hell out of the person who touched her.

"Don't touch...me?"

Riku just laughed hardily. "Namine, right?"

"Y-yeah and you're Riku?"

"The one and only."

The two exchanged a handshake. Namine could feel the sweat starting to grow at her brow. Riku still held her hand a bit longer than necessary, but quickly dropped it, blushing.

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have held your h-hand that long." Namine giggled at Riku's stuttering. He looked so cute when he blushed.

"Don't worry about it, Riku. Now, could you be a gentleman and take me to Mr. Cid, so I can get my weapon?"

"Sure. Just follow me."

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1 – If you didn't know – A Lycan is another name for a werewolf.

Sorry for the long wait. I just couldn't come up with any ideas. So they met the Forest Owls and the Organization's plan is begin to unravel next chapter. I know you guys are going hate me for making Riku and Namine get close, but it's all gonna end soon.

I would also like to thank Minni for the idea of Riku being in here.

Stay tuned!