All Characters Copyright Disney and Square Enix, respectively.

Chapter Two

'She's Got the Moves'

"Haa…"

Shuriken split the cold, still air. The ninja star hit its target, which exploded with thick black smoke, and disappeared.

Yuffie Kisaragi bent over to retrieve her weapon, keeping a wary eye on her surroundings. She knew she'd pushed her luck coming out on her own, but she was more than enough for the Heartless. Stupid oafish Heartless, stumbling around like the blind, groping in desperation for the hearts of the living.

Yuffie was certainly living. She jumped up and performed a brief twirl in mid-air, tossing her head back with a grin. Her shuriken was back in its belt holster. Just around the corner and she was home free. The soft lights of the town's security system flickered around her like attentive admirers. She ran towards Merlin's house, feeling the wind resist her, pounced on the door and leapt through it to an altogether confusing sight.

Leon was sat at Merlin's table, one leg crossed neatly-and-civilised over the other, and he was laughing. A proper laugh, with his eyes closed and his hair flinging about as though it were alive. There were three impish little girls sat on and about the table. The foursome were nattering as though they had known each other for a lifetime.

Yuffie was in such shock that she dislodged one of her throwing stars. It clattered to the floor. Leon looked up, and the girls gasped. One hid underneath an upturned teacup. "Yuffie!" cried Leon, beckoning his friend. "Come and meet the Gullwings!"

Yuffie hesitated. What in the world was up with Leon? This wasn't the normal, slightly sullen exterior that she had come to know. He was actually laughing. And these little things – where had they come from?

"It's OK," said the orange one, flitting over to her. She was wrapped in a long orange scarf that appeared to bestow her with levitational power. "Say, do you know Sora, Donald and Goofy too?"

"Yes…" began Yuffie. Reluctantly, she moved across to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat herself down, not daring to take her eyes off of the little girl. "Why...do you know them?"

Leon picked up a tea plate and twirled it absent-mindedly in his generous hands. "It seems these three were sent to me on a fool's errand by Sora." Yuffie looked at him, then at the orange girl, then at the black-winged one who was perched upon a stack of books, then finally at the other one, who had an explosion of hair that ended in a little winged braid. "So…" she began. "Who are you again?"

The girls leapt into the air, spinning together. "Paine…" drawled the bat-winged one, inspecting her fingernails.

"Rikku!" cried the orange-scarved one, performing a cartwheel.

"And Yuna!" She span on her toes in the air, her half-skirt billowing out at the knee. "We are the Gullwings!" The three paused for dramatic effect, before forming a triad and striking poses. Yuffie giggled very tentatively.

"We were on a mission…" began Yuna.

"A mission from Maleficent!" squealed Rikku, spinning so that her scarf draped itself almost around her thin shoulders.

Yuffie gasped. "Maleficent? But you…" she stood up, fists on the table, leaning towards Leon. "Don't you realise…" Leon looked at her with mild amusement.

"Oh, we know who she is." Paine seemed satisfied with the state of her fingers and instead gazed at Yuffie from under a lowered brow. "Or at least, we thought we did."

"Biiiiiig trouble," trilled Rikku happily, sliding bottom-first into a teacup.

"But we are Gullwings. Treasure comes first!" trilled Yuna. Her team-mates made noises of consummation. "We have our own agenda."

"We just happened to bump into this Sora character," said Paine, "And he redirected us here."

Yuffie was still as confused as ever. These three, however diminutive, seemed dangerous: cohorts of Maleficent's on a quest for treasure? Having found none on a seemingly defenceless young boy, they come here? What was Leon thinking…

Leon himself spoke. "I was just in the middle of telling these girls about Sora."

Yuffie looked at them all. "You want to know?" she asked. "Firstly, he doesn't have any treasure. And neither do I, come to think of it." She stood up, emptied her pockets, and spun around for the benefit of the three sprites.

"Aw, we know," said Rikku matter-of-factly, waving her hands about coolly. "He told us." She pointed at Leon. Yuna joined Paine on top of the books and turned to face Leon. "So, this Sora…"

"He comes from a faraway land!" Rikku egged him on.

"Quite," said Leon, setting down the tea plate. "Nothing but the clothes on his back left of his home world. Someone…or something's taken his friends away, so he goes looking for them." It was quite a picture. The three girls were quite enthralled by Leon, and as he spoke Yuffie got the feeling he was enjoying the company of three visitors clinging to his every word. This may be just what Leon needed.

She decided to take a chance. She sat down slowly, as if she were afraid of dislodging something. "But he helps everyone he meets," she said, recalling the boy who was never too busy to help a friend. "He'd never say no to someone in need."