Chapter 8: The Pirate that stole Christmas

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom hearts. By the way this begins with a flashback.

Flashback Begins

The silver coin spun in the air and fell a few inches down until it was at level with the young blonde's chest when he promptly shot his hand out to catch it before it went any further. The two looked at it a bit amazed at the speed and a bit unimpressed by the fact that it was a simple coin toss, something that anyone could learn, not the hard stuff that they had been taught before. Their teacher was a mysterious man dressed in black whose wife often made bread for the two boys and their friends when they ran over. Both counted on her to be the shield that took the blunt of the damage when their teacher, Ban, was being hard on them since she could always make him softer for some reason, but they wouldn't do it too much because they wanted to become tough, just like him. Today, however, he seemed to be going soft on them, not being real strict on their exercises and now doing the simple coin tricks.

"Come on pops, those coin tosses are so simple that anyone could get them," complained Leon as he looked at the man who was teaching him and the other kid whom he befriended while training alongside him, Cloud. Never know if he'll start to storm or if he'll keep it cool.

"Leon has a point there, you said we were learning something fundamental," replied Cloud as he looked at the coin that was being tossed up and then noted how there was a slight shift in Ban's eyebrows. It was thought that almost nothing could get past Cloud's, ironically enough, sky blue eyes.

"Don't call me pops, I'm not that old pint size and I'm not your father," said Ban as he tossed the coin up in the air again, this time he flung it up in the air farther than either boy could see and then caught it at its same distance. "I'd never have a son as disappointing as you that's for sure. The coin toss is a demonstration of hand eye coordination and now it will be a measure of when you two will surpass me. If either of you can take this coin form my hand then you will have surpassed me, you both got that?"

"Yes sir," snapped the two as they both went for the coin, but both hands were knocked away by Ban's saber and it was clear that they would only be taking that coin from his hands by force. They tried again, coming up faster at the same time. Unfortunately, they were caught and both boys' hard-as-rock heads were slammed against each other. After being thrown to the side, Leon hopped up with a slightly shaky vision. He signaled to Cloud who nodded in understanding. The pupils separated, drawing their swords as they approached Ban from almost opposite sides.

Cloud came in low with his own short sword that was one sided and had a wide blade for hacking power while Leon cut vertically with his long sword. Ban parried Leon's attack while jumping off of Cloud's blade and kicking Leon in the face, sending the boy back into a trash can. Cloud charged in to avenge his friend, but was smacked on the back of the head by Ban's saber and as he grasped the back of his head in pain, Ban had kicked the ground out from under him. At this time Leon had gotten back onto his feet and was now coming fast with a series of quick cuts, all of which were deflected and then Ban had thrown up a hand that had the coin in the palm. When Leon reached out to snatch it he felt the sensation of flat metal on his skull and his head started ringing out like a gong. The boys fell to the ground in a semi-conscious heap, their ears ringing as their sense started to shut down. The last thing they heard before passing out was a coin being flicked high into the air and almost out of sight...

FLASHBACK ENDS

"That's a memento of the man we have sworn to bring to justice," said Cloud as he looked back at the catalogue and then found something that he circled down with the magic marker that was sitting on the armrest of the seat. Sora held the gcoin in his gloved hand, watching Cloud curiously. He pocketed the gold coin, losing both men's attention completely. "When will we be getting to our next target, Cid?"

"Please don't say it like it like that, Cloud," said Tifa somewhat nervously. "You make it sound like we're invading the world or something like that when you refer to it as our 'target.'"

"Yes I suppose I do," said Cloud as he stroked his chin and thought about it while he began to notice that there was a hand on his shoulder, Tifa's hand. From a chair over by the window, for her access during flight, Yuffie stifled a laugh. She mumbled something about "I do" and "marriage" then giggled, scooting over closer to Cloud and Tifa. Demyx, the finally quiet nobody sitting behind the two with a cd player he got from God knows where, looked up at Yuffie as she moved, but turned his head just as she pointed at Cloud and Tiffa, annoying her slightly. She ventured a glance at Axel, only to see him sleeping with his arms crossed, head back, and drool gathering at the corner of his mouth. Yuffie sighed and turned back to Cloud, who was focusing abnormally hard on a certain item in the catalogue.

He might never have shown it, but he had feelings for the barmaid and he would always find himself becoming a bit nervous when she made such intimate personal contact with him. Normally he was a cool person with a lot of social grace, but right now he was a bit jittery and awkward while her hand rested on his shoulder. As soon as she took it off, he was his normal self. Unfortunately for Cloud, Yuffie noticed this movement and immediately placed Tifa's hand back on Cloud's shoulder to see if the gesture was the stimulus for Cloud's shaking. With a tiny whistle made to sound like a sigh, Yuffie managed to catch Demyx's attention. The rocker grinned slyly, throwing a piece of candy from his pocket at Axel and awakening him. Axel took one look, yawned, and then threw the same piece of candy at a random person up front to get their attention as well. Soon, everyone became aware to Cloud's strange uneasiness to Tifa's touch and Cloud was actually getting angry, not the supreme hate that he felt for Sephiroth, but the urge to hurt Yuffie the next time she put Tifa's hand on him.

"Would you cut that out," asked Cloud, raising his voice more than usual as he gave Yuffie a very nasty look with his eyes and a scowl plastered on his face. Yuffie immediately dropped Tifa's hand but it landed in his lap on top of a very vital part of his anatomy, causing Cloud to shiver and Tifa to remove her hand.

"Why do you have to keep acting like a child?" Cloud yelled. He glared, hands gripping the arm rest as though his life depended on it. Yuffie's eyes widened, the sound of a tiny gasp coming from her mouth like the air was plucked from her lungs.

"Okay we have landed in Port Royal so it's okay if anybody wants to come out," announced Cid over the intercom even though he could have just turned around and told them that without having to talk into the microphone.

As soon as he said that there was a black streak made right to the door and everyone was just left dumbstruck by the object that had been moving too fast for anyone who was looking to get a clear image. Really, only Donald and Goofy had been looking and they took only a by chance glance at the door and saw the object flying out. The other's just followed the gaze to the door and saw that someone had jumped out of it and was now running directly to a small ship with a bit of the crew, giving them money to take her wherever. No one could make out who it was that was running for the longest, but then they noticed the small black hair with a small black shorts that didn't go with the sweater that the girl, for the legs were too slim and clean shaven to be a boy's.

"Yuffie wait up," shouted Riku as he ran out of the gummy ship, leaving all the others behind him as he made his way there to the ship, knocking the man and a decent portion of the crew off the dock while running on the ship. He didn't know why he was chasing her, but something inside of him just told him to go chasing after her, something he couldn't explain at the moment, it was just the most natural thing for him at the moment.

"Why does that stupid chocobo head have to call me a child," asked Yuffie as she sobbed in the corner of the ship, not noticing the looks and cat calls she was receiving from the sailor's on board. "I'm twenty-one damn it, that's old enough to live under my own roof, but of course I spent all my time in the restoration of Hollow Bastion that I don't have enough munny to live on my own. I could buy beer for Christ's sakes and he has the nerve to call me childish."

The click of footsteps interrupted Yuffie's sniffles, but she didn't bother to look back. Wiping her eyes, she noticed in the reflection of some object nearby, a white head with bright clothes. All was familiar to her, but she still didn't care. At the moment anyways.

"Cloud was just being angry, it's not like he actually meant to say those things to you," assured Riku as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and they didn't notice that the ship was casting off. "You know, you do act a bit immature like Sora sometimes, like the pranks you two play on each other, but in a way that makes you look very cute sometimes."

Yuffie smiled as she looked up, sniffling a bit, and Riku could only think about how cute she looked that. The two started a conversation comparing each other's likes and dislikes, finding they had a great deal in common with each other than they had thought before. Some would find it heartwarming how so absorbed they were in their conversation and others would wonder how that could be when a pirate ship was attacking their ship while they were talking to each other. Riku didn't notice the musket ball that flew over his head and Yuffie didn't notice the cannon ball that was flying over her own head, nor did they notice the bloody combat that was happening around them. Yuffie did however notice how it was a bit hard to hear Riku because of the loud noises that were going around until finally she decided she had had enough of it.

"Could you keep the noise down to a dull roar," shouted Yuffie who then noticed the change in scenery around her as the original crew was either dead, wounded, bleeding, still fighting, or balled up in the corners crying. "Okay I think we might be in trouble Riku."

The two ran to a life boat and broke off from the ship only to be run into another pirate ship along the way with an even more ominous crew that looked like hell had spat them back up. The captain of the ship wore a big admiral hat with a feather in it for a style with two pistols in his coat and a cutlass at his side. Surrounding him was a company of other men armed to the yellow-blackish tooth with guns and swords, all looking like monsters of the sea just arrived.

"I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but I think we're in deep shit now," said Yuffie as she stared at the pirate captain.

"Even deeper shit than you think," said the captain with a raspy voice before he turned to another man dressed in a black eloquent satin coat over a black vest and dress shirt, topped with black trousers and black boots. "Isn't that right, Mr. Bandit?"

Sora paced around the room quietly. He had forgotten when they had gotten to the ship cabin they were in, but he really didn't care. His best friend was missing. That's all that mattered. Sora looked up at the man standing by the table. He had a long beard with beads and many various things on him. He spoke in a rather sarcastic tone to Leon and Cloud, the two that where interrogating him.

"Well yes I did raid that ship, but I don't quite remember taking prisoners of that description or name," said Jack Sparrow, oh excuse me, Captain Jack Sparrow, the famous/infamous captain of the pirate ship The Black Pearl.

"But that's the ship that they set sail on," protested Sora as he slammed his hands down on the table. "You must have noticed that they were on board, there is no explanation since the ship made no stop whatsoever and they are not back at Port Royal."

"Look, I have heard that there were two people matching the descriptions recently capture by the Dauntez that was not that far," said Will Turner, one of the people the crew of the Highwind had come to retrieve. "All we need is your help in telling us what you know about them, you don't even have to take us to the ship or help in the fight."

"No I will help since that ship has been attacking all ships and confrontation between the Dauntez and the Pearl is inevitable," replied Jack as he took another swallow of his favorite drink, rum. "The captain of the ship was once a very respectable man of the English Navy until he seemed to run into a mixed fortune of cursed Aztec gold. It seems it was delivered to him as a gift by some strange man dressed in black named…Sandlot, Sandpit, Landpit, Cranbrit, Madrid, Mandrake, Madrake, Make, Mark, Mugen..."

"Bandit," asked Cloud and Leon at the same time, causing everyone but Jack to look at them.

"Yes, that's the name," said Jack as he snapped his finger at them. "That man is supposedly helping move the curse across the men of his ship, each one having given blood except Bandit and the captain of the Dauntez, Thomas Ashcroft."

"Do you mind taking us to the ship," asked Leon as he put his hand on his gunblade, just in case he ever needed to use it.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I can do that," replied Sparrow as he took a step back.