A/N: I've been in a pretty good mood so here's the next chapter!

Chapter Twenty-Six: Found You

Gabriel was smiling at the wonders of his intrusion on what had almost been a prefect moment for the two teens. If it wasn't because of Amaterasu, Riku most likely would've killed Gabriel on the spot, or something close to killing him anway. Amaterasu on the other hand was still a bit in a daze from what almost had happened, it was so close, but Gabriel popped up at the right, if not bad, time. She looked back at Gabriel for a moment still trying to figure out what to say.

"Heartless got your tongue?" Gabriel said jokingly as he nudged his head toward Riku's direction. "I saved your ass, girl. Heck, who the hell knows what would've happened…" he cringed at the thought. "Ew tongues all over on teeth…" he made a fake gagging sound, and Amaterasu couldn't help but laugh at his nature.

"You were waiting, weren't you?" she asked in a low whisper. He smirked triumphantly, telling her that was his style, and she sighed for a moment. "Yeah well you could've waited till…"

"You wanted him to…? Amaterasu you sly thing you…" he said laughing at his ex-comrade. "If your brothers heard you…" she covered his mouth quickly shaking her head as they walked. Her face turned to that of disgust as she felt saliva run down on one of her fingers. "I hate when you do that!" he whispered harshly to the girl. "It makes me feel like a kid." She eyed him cautiously, cleaning her hand on his shirt. "Ok… Fine…"

The three of them walked away from Curly Hill, and things seemed to go back into motion once again. Riku was still himself, and so were Amaterasu and Gabriel. Riku was still fuming at the fact of Gabriel's horrible timing. In a way Amaterasu was glad he did show up at that point, she would've felt too awkward if it did happen. Somehow the girl did forgive Gabriel, he was just that kind of person, he didn't really feel the need to express himself with actions like that, he had his own ways.

The three of them stopped at the entrance to the Hinterlands, looking at the decorated doors of the different holidays. The one they needed was with the Christmas tree, but for some reason they couldn't find it. Riku instinctively looked at Gabriel, and Gabriel glared at him slightly, with a look that said 'it's not me'.

"Someone's here…" Amaterasu said feeling chills run down her spin. "I can feel it." The air around the area became cold, and her breathing was visible. Riku looked around slightly, feeling something breathe down the back of his neck. He instinctively looked up but he saw nothing.

Gabriel moved closer to Amaterasu scanning the area with the same scrutiny their Chaser like nature provided. They felt something, but saw nothing, which was a bad sign indeed, someone was sending a type of assassin, or rather a warning if the assassin failed. Gabriel drew out a long breath hoping to lure the creature, or person out of hiding but nothing happened. Amaterasu watched Riku slowly, as he moved forward, but as she tried to warn him he was caught in a trap.

A dark material wrapped around his leg, and hoisted him up into the air, he was suspended in mid air, and most likely the assassin held the chain. Amaterasu tried to move, but Gabriel pushed her slightly. If she got caught then she wouldn't be able to get to Riku, or likely keep Gabriel alive for their plans.

Riku tried desperately to free himself trying to pry the material off of his leg, but at that point he was flung against the trunk of a tree. Amaterasu hissed slightly, but didn't dare move until the assassin showed its face. The two of them were running out of time, and still they did not move an inch. Gabriel's purple eyes looked up clearly seeing a figure materialize before his own eyes. Amaterasu followed his gaze, and noticed a figure sitting up in a tree grinning mischievously, swaying their legs back and forth.

Riku couldn't muster anymore strength feeling the blood rush to his head all quickly. He was going to pas out any second and his vision was coming and going, all he could see were two figures standing very far away from him.

"It's not him you want!" Amaterasu yelled pulling out 'One Winged Angel'. She gripped the handle tightly with both hands, and noticed the figure let out a small laugh. Gabriel growled slightly watching the figure come down gracefully from the top of the bare tree. Once Riku had passed out the figure sat him up with care and turned their gaze back to the other two.

"Then, who should I want? I know this is Riku…" the figure asked with some malicious in their voice. It seemed female from the looks of it, but the outfit made it hard to distinguish the anatomy. The female held on tight to the black material taunting the other two with it. "I take it you're Gabriel." The female said pointing to the chained man. Her arm moved directions to the other girl. "You… You must be… Amaterasu." She laughed slightly. "It's my lucky day then! My orders are to take all three of you back to her ladyship."

Gabriel looked at Amaterasu and shrugged his shoulders. Amaterasu blinked and looked back at the female with a confused look sketched onto her facial features. Amaterasu let her Keyblade linger dangerously close to the binds that prevented Gabriel from escaping. A Keyblade with a key-chain could break binds created by other Keyblades with key-chains. It was common knowledge to any Keyblade wielder. If it was another time other than that time Amaterasu would never have done what she did, but she wanted to protect Riku, and the assassin before them had a very strong nature around her.

Gabriel heard the chains break off from his wrist and ankles and he stretched his aching joints for a second or two. "Luck, lucky day indeed…" he said outstretching his hands, and in an instant a weapon appeared that seemed to hold great pride and power. It had no hilt on it, but the blade was as large as a human body. Amaterasu had seen the weapon while she was young, but now it seemed like a distant thing in her eyes.

"You intend to fight me?" the female asked laughing at the thought of it all. "Surely you must be joking? An ex-Chaser, and a clown." She said pulling out what appeared to be two firearms from her side pockets. She fired her first round with ease, and Amaterasu and Gabriel did acrobatic movements to dodge the deadly bullets. "I've been ordered not to kill you, but it doesn't mean I can't wound you."

Gabriel jumped into the air, brought the weapon high into the air and as the dust cleared from the impact of the attack that assassin cocked the gun and Gabriel felt something dangerously close to his head, within moments he seemed to re-appear in back of the assassin humming a little tune. Amaterasu moved slowly at first studying the assassins movement's, she would dodge then fire, and use any means of magic to trap the opponent.

Amaterasu got close to the assassin as she displayed a perfect Sonic Blade attack, moments from the impact, a kick landed her back onto the ground. Gabriel took it from there and the assassin moved back a bit as she blocked the attack with some strain. Melee attacks weren't Amaterasu's specialty even if she knew how to block, she didn't assume the assassin knew from that point, but that's what got her on the ground.

She recovered and Gabriel jumped back protecting himself from a bullet, it ricocheted off the surface, and it narrowly avoided direct impact with Amaterasu's head. The girl panted a bit at the sudden fright, and the assassin moved in on her. Amaterasu did a back flip, and as she landed on the ground a gun shot was heard. Luckily Amaterasu used Reflect to protect herself for that small instance in time. The assassin laughed at the choice of spell and complimented her on the quick reflex.

"Who sent you?" Amaterasu asked blocking a high kick from the assassin. The assassin chuckled for a moment and jumped back. Her gun had no more ammunition left, and personally they weren't her style of weapon. She brought out a pair of kunai and got into a defensive stance. "Who sent you?" Amaterasu asked again stepping back for a moment. The assassin jumped into the air, and threw a kunai hoping for Amaterasu to block it.

Amaterasu jumped back and placed a Thunder spell on the kunai in her hands. It didn't do that much damage to her, but it was enough to catch her off guard. Amaterasu was an inch away, and the assassin felt a painful jab on her stomach, and she groaned in pain. The Keyblade had broken the surface of skin on her stomach and the girl grinned slightly. It was then that Amaterasu noticed something about the assassin, there was a familiar marking on her cheek.

Gabriel moved in and jabbed his weapon deep within in the assassin's shoulder rendering her right arm useless. Amaterasu jumped back and noticed that the figure wasn't bleeding, but rather disappearing. The assassin gave a pained smile and her voice was still as clear as it had been when she found them.

"Maleficent sent me…" the Heartless said looking up for a moment. "There will be more like me again and again." She was created artificially as that was the symbol she carried on her. "I just wanted to get it over with…" she started to laugh for a moment feeling her body disappear. "The Princesses of Heart… That's what she told me to tell you, Gabriel."

With that the Heartless disappeared and so did the black material that held Riku. The Heartless looking teen was still unconscious. Gabriel and Amaterasu looked at one another in a rather confused manner. A Heartless with a human appearance, that action had not been done in years. Amaterasu scratched the back of her head and looked at Gabriel for a moment trying to figure out what the Heartless meant by the 'Princesses of Heart'. As if he read her mind he shook his head and withdrew his weapon back to where ever it came from.

"Seven maidens with the purest hearts…" Amaterasu said withdrawing her Keyblade. "What the heck does that witch want with them?" she looked back at Gabriel and he knew nothing. "Well I know Kairi's one of them…"

"Anyway…" Gabriel was just glad to be free from those chains. "It's a good thing you let me go. Those things were killing me…" he hugged her tightly and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you!" he said squeezing her again. She made a little sound and he ignored it for a moment. "Oh… We should probably get your boyfriend and take him back…"

"Yeah…" Amaterasu said finally being able to breathe again. She walked to the tree and looked at Riku, he wasn't bleeding or anything he was just unconscious. Amaterasu looked back at Gabriel who pointed out that the door to Christmas Town reappeared out of thin air. "Help me pick him up." The girl said looking back at her ex-comrade.

"So then, you agree that he's your boyfriend?" Gabriel said helping his younger ex-comrade with the boy. "Because if I'm not mistaken you did agree when I said that." Amaterasu rolled her eyes and shook her head. Gabriel had Riku on his back now and walked alongside Amaterasu sighing in relief. "At least he doesn't smell like a Heartless. Those things reek really bad… I can't believe they found us." He said in a tone that was rather surprising. "You know though, pretty soon you're going to have to come back, whether you want to or not. Your nature will take over…"

The girl looked away and didn't say anything. The three of them walked through the door of Christmas Town. Snow was still falling, and their clothing changed back into its appropriate attire so that they could blend in with the town. The snow beneath their feet crunched slowly with each step they took back to that small home where the others were at. To the two of them it brought back a sense of nostalgia watching the snow fall down like that. Gabriel looked back at Amaterasu and smiled slightly. She returned the smile with one of her own.

When they were still comrades the two of them would get stuck with Lucifer on missions. Lucifer would end up getting knocked out just like Riku had gotten knocked out and Gabriel then would end up carrying him back. Amaterasu would always end up getting stuck with infirmary duty, addressing wounds and concussions, but those days were far behind her mind and Gabriel's mind now.

"They're not going to like what you did." Gabriel said as the two navigated through the snow. She didn't care whether or not they liked it, all that mattered was that Riku and him were safe. "Sora might put me back on those chains though, or I could just leave after that… I don't want to leave you guys now. I'd rather keep running away from that witch."

"The Princesses…" Amaterasu said tuning her hearing in and out. "I think she wants you to taint their hearts… Creating those fabled Dark Princesses, you know the ones that were mentioned around the time of that Dark Master."

"Great… I have to taint that little runt's girlfriend…" he said with some disgust in his voice. "I hate my job…" Amaterasu arched an eyebrow.

"I've been thinking…" Amaterasu said before they reached the steps of home. "I want to… I, uh…"

"You want to go back?" Gabriel asked softly. "You can feel it can't you?" she didn't say anything but looked down at the snow that covered her feet. For now she was glad Riku didn't hear the conversation.

A/N: You know what to do one review please!