Summary: Sora is the Keyblade master, and he has Heartless attacking him left and right. But what if one took a liking to him and refused to believe she is as evil as everyone thinks? Based off the manga, so there are some differences to the game.
Disclaimer: I do not, I repeat DO NOT own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or Heartless. Well, maybe this specific Heartless...

Chapter 3 - The Big One

Sora didn't know how long he had been sleeping, but his head was pounding. At first he thought he was dead, because of how bright it was. A shadow then loomed over him, blocking some of the light. Wait, that shadow looked like... "Ah, Kairi..?" He asked, still spaced out.

"...Kairi? Who's that?" 'Kairi' said, but it sounded weird to him.

He jolted up, realizing it wasn't Kairi's voice. Heck, it wasn't even Kairi. It was more like a strange young girl in an outfit that resembled a ninja.

"The name's Yuffie!" She turned toward the man from before. "I think you gave him a concussion or something, Squall. I thought you said your were gonna go easy on him." Yuffie said.

"My name is Leon!!" He answered, kind of glaring at her.

"Kali... W-Where's Kali?" Sora asked jumping up. He frantically scanned the room to find her.

Leon smirked. "Relax, that Heartless woke up before you did and ran to hide in a corner. I'm guessing it doesn't like strangers."

Sora calmed down now that he found her laying in a corner watching the action. "Here Kali!" He called.

She lazily got up, then ran over to him and hopped on the bed. 'I guess Yuffie's not so bad, but that Leon..' She bitterly thought, staring at the man.

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"Mister Leon!" A voice called out.

"Where are you?" A second voice shouted.

"It's like he ain't anywhere, it seems." The first voice, belonging to a tall, lanky dog, said. He scratched his head in puzzlement, not really knowing where else to look.

"This city's way too big!" Cried out the second voice, belonging to a duck much shorter than the dog. He was quickly getting tired all the walking and searching in this town.

The dog looked at him and smiled. "We better hurry, or we won't find the key."

That got the duck all steamed up. The dog was somewhat amused someone could get angry so fast. "I know that, quit reminding me!" The duck shouted out. "Let's check over there!"

The dog quickly followed. Sure he was tired too, but the sooner they find the "key", the better.

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"This 'keyblade' that you hold... The Heartless are seeking it as we speak. I'm surprised that one hasn't attacked you." Leon said.

Kali cocked her head at him, a bit surprised herself. Sure, she was attracted to that key, but attacking an innocent kid? She just figured she shouldn't. Besides, he looked like he didn't know a clue about what was going on.

"We'll have to hide the presence of you heart to keep any other Heartless from finding you." Leon calmly said.

Sora perked up, but not in a very happy way. "You're not making much sense sir. What is it that they-" He was cut short by a loud crash in the next room.

Leon whirled around towards the noise, glaring. "Crap, they know where you are. You go ahead, Yuffie!" He shouted out.

Yuffie was reluctant to leave them, but left anyway. Kali knew it had to be other Heartless and started growling, while Sora was somewhat shaking in fear. "Wait! What's going-"

"There's no time to explain! Grab that Heartless and come on!" Leon commanded. He ran out to the patio and jumped down, much to Sora's surprise.

Sora was almost afraid to follow him, but if Leon could do it... "Ready Kali?" She squeaked a yes as she hopped up on his shoulders and prepared to go.

Sora took a deep breath and jumped down, Kali squealing during the entire fall. As soon as he landed, the two were ambushed by four Heartless much like the one that attacked that woman. 'They sure look a lot like soldiers...' Kali thought, sweatdropping at their constant twitching.

Sora saw Leon already running off somewhere. "Hey, wait up!!" He called out and tried to follow. Two Soldiers blocked him from escaping and lashed out at him. Kali hissed at them as Sora barely blocked the attacks with the Keyblade. He pushed them off and quickly swung at them before they could attack again. They were immediately turned into black smoke. She was about to jump down and follow Leon herself, but stopped when they heard someone shouting.

"SAVE MEEEE!!" It sure was loud. She and Sora whirled around and looked up towards a balcony above them.

"...Talking animals?" Sora asked, sweatdropping. He then noticed they were under attack.

"You have to fight, Goofy!" The duck screamed out.

"I'm already tryin' Donald, ahyuk!" Goofy grunted back. He lost his footing when a Soldier rammed into his shield and he fell over the edge. Donald was practically thrown over the edge.

"Yikes!" Sora saw they were going to land right on top of him and Kali and started to run. Kali managed to jump out of the way, barely, but poor Sora ended up at the bottom of the pile of animals. All three were in a daze, but Kali was only worried about Sora. After all, he was the only one Kali tried waking up.

"The Key!!" The two animals cried out, startling Kali, who ran back a few feet. "And a Heartless!" The duck cried out, jumping to his feet.

Kali was squeaking for mercy from the advancing duck when Sora finally got back up. "Hey, leave Kali alone!!" He cried out. Kali ran back to Sora, hoping she would be well hidden in his hair. She wasn't.

"Uh, what's with the Heartless?" The dog asked.

"Er, she's trained..." Sora said, picking Kali off his head. As soon as she felt ground, she ran behind Sora, giving the duck a fearful stare.

The two gave him a skeptical look. "I don't buy that. Kill it!" The duck quacked.

Kali was again about to make a run for it, when the group heard a rumble. 'Oh God, what now?' She thought. She witnessed walls rising up around the four.

A twinkle in the sky caught everyone's attention. "What now...?" Sora groaned.

Something big, very big, came falling out of the sky and landed in front of the group with a loud clang. Kali was almost startled enough to faint, but instead, ran towards a far corner when the large pieces put themselves together to make a very large Heartless.

"Look out!" Sora yelled out, and just in time too. The Heartless raised its hand to try and punch him out, but the dog-man jumped in the way to guard him with his shield. "No. Way." was all Sora had to say at that moment.

"We got your back! We'll beat him together!" The duck quacked out.

Sora nodded and rushed forward to hit it. The Heartless was charging a beam and fired so quickly, Sora didn't even dodge it, but it hurt like crazy. Before he could even see how badly injured he was, he was surrounded by some greenish magic and it was healing him. He looked towards the source. "Thanks!" He shouted towards the duck.

By then, Kali gathered enough courage to join the fray, but what could she do? She was probably too weak to fight this thing so she just settled for hissing and growling at it. Maybe occasionally running up to swipe at it.

Sora thought they were about to win, when a big fist suddenly came in and punched the three into the air. They landed hard, especially Sora. He was about to give up when he heard a loud squeal, and his blood ran cold. 'No, not Kali!!'

Sora forced himself to get up to beat this thing once and for all. He managed to hit it harder than he had before. "How! Dare! You! Hurt! Kali! She's! Just! A! Little! Heartless!" He cried out in anger with every hit. He struck it one more time for good measure. Sure enough, that one more hit did it. The beast suddenly collapsed on itself, releasing a rather large heart.

The two animals were cheering as they got back up, but Kali... "KALI!!" Sora screamed out. He heard a squeak and saw Kali running out from the shadows in 2-D form. She looked pretty surprised she was able to do that when she risen up from the ground.

"Well, I guess she's okay, hyuk!" The dog smiled. The duck still didn't seem to believe she was harmless.

"Oh yeah, i was supposed to follow Leon..." Sora said.

Kali nodded. She looked towards the direction she was sure Leon was, and Sora and the gang took the hint, letting her lead the way.

Sorry for taking so long to update! I was on vacation. I thank everyone who's enjoying the story far and reviewed, it means a lot to me!