A/N: Thanks a lot for reviewing and adding this story to your alerts and favorites. I hope you continue to like my story.

Through the Test of Fate

Chapter 4

An Unforeseen Enemy

Sora remained still, quietly taking in everything around him in anticipation of the Heartless' attack. The night was cold, a bit too cold in fact but despite him telling Kairi to take it easy and stay home she refused, saying that they couldn't miss a single day of training since they didn't have the time. At least she looked a lot better than before, not that it put his mind at ease about the subject though.

One of the Heartless pounced at him suddenly, breaking him out of his thoughts and causing him to retaliate almost immediately with a horizontal slash that cut the Heartless in two. His eyes narrowed, he watched as what remained of the Heartless faded away as some odd pink energy floated upwards before disappearing. He watched the display oddly before the others pounced at him, almost as if the death of their counterpart had enraged them.

Sora jumped back, dodging a few attacks, before charging in and swing his blade, making contact with a few Heartless that faded to nothingness though this time he didn't have time to admire the odd pink lights. A couple of Heartless were upon him almost immediately but he raised his blade just in time to block before counterattacking with a well placed swing that cut through them both. The others backed away, as if rethinking their strategy while he held the Keyblade in front of him with both hands.

"Those are called Shadows," Kairi spoke up. "These are the weakest type of Heartless, which can be dozens of different types."

He nodded in understanding as his eyes darted between the remaining five Heartless that twitched in an odd manner. The grip on his blade tightened slightly and he decided that this time he should be the one to attack first. With that in mind, he ran forward and stabbed at one of the Shadows, before twirling in place and swinging in a wide arc to cut through the remaining foes that could do nothing as they were struck down.

Sora grinned as he visually relaxed when seeing that there were no more Heartless left. To be honest, he thought that they would be more of a challenge but they mostly just stood there and only attacked occasionally.

"Don't get too comfortable," Kairi scolded when noticing he wasn't paying attention anymore. "Heartless, despite lacking reason, appear in waves as a way of scouting. If the weaker ones are defeated then stronger ones will come. Be on your toes Sora, do not look away for a second. A fight can only be won if you have respect for the opponent, no matter how weak."

He nodded in response, once again holding his Keyblade defensively.

It wasn't long before the next wave of Heartless appeared bearing a striking difference to the others. These were bigger, had arms and legs, and looked more like a kinght-type warrior.

"Those are called Soldiers." Kairi explained before he could ask, "These are stronger than Shadows and are fast."

Almost as if emphasizing the point, one of the Soldiers dashed at him at a fast speed, only giving him enough time to raise his blade to block its incoming clawed hand. Sora pushed against it hard, making the Soldier recoil back, leaving it wide open as the Keyblade tore through it with ease. Once again, a pink light emerged from its fading body before disappearing in the air.

The observation almost cost him as another Heartless was upon him in a manner of seconds. Sora cursed as he blocked the attack but not without receiving a scratch on the back of his hand, drawing blood but not too much. Ignoring the stinging pain in his hand, Sora kicked at the Soldier's chest before cutting through it with the Keyblade, once finished with that one he sidestepped a dashing Soldier before blocking another with a loud 'clang.'

As he prepared to counter, he noticed another one moving towards him at a rapid speed. Without thinking, he knocked the Soldier back before somersaulting over the incoming Heartless. His eyes widened in disbelief when he landed but he quickly regained himself and cut through the two Soldiers and faced the remaining three.

Like the Shadows, Soldiers appeared unable to sit still since they were swinging their arms from side to side in a lazy manner. He would have thought that they weren't interested in fighting but he already knew just how quickly they could reach him. His eyes hardened as he took a defensive stance as one of the Soldiers charged in at him, followed closely by the other two. Time seemed to slow down as Sora ran at them, cutting through the first, the second, and the third in a single movement.

"Very good, you're learning how to use your instincts," Kairi praised with a smile. She couldn't believe just how fast he was grasping everything. If things continued like this then they would have no problem with her pursuers. "We'll call it a day for now and continue with some new training tomorrow."

"Sounds good," he responded in relief.

Before the two could get too comfortable the ground began to shake, making them stumble on their steps.

"Earthquake?!"

"Here? Are you serious?!" Kairi shot back worriedly before her eyes widened in horror when seeing a massive mass of darkness gathering in a single place.

"What's that?" Sora asked as the wind began to get harsh, making the already cold weather much worse.

"That's..." She grit her teeth when seeing the darkness take form. There was nothing they could do to stop it. Sora wasn't ready and she was too weak to fight. "Listen Sora, you have to get out of here. I'll hold it off and give you enough time to get away."

Sora frowned, "Are you crazy? The reason I'm training is to help you! There's no way I'm leaving you alone!"

"You don't understand, that's not a normal Heartless. It's a Darkside," Kairi stated dryly, "They are one of the strongest type of Heartless, only numbered Keyblade Wielders can fight them and win. I have no idea why it appeared here but you need to leave right now!"

The Darkside raised one of its fists which became shrouded in a dark swirling aura.

Kairi watched the display in panic before quickly grabbing Sora by the arm and jumping high in the air.

"Whoa! How can you jump so high?!" Sora yelled in surprise but his attention was redirected from the impressive jump to the Darkside that punched at the ground. He flinched, expecting a loud crashing noise but nothing came, the arm instead went through the ground without so much as a sound. The giant Heartless lowered to the ground, as if reaching for something much to Sora's amazement, "What is that thing doing?"

"I don't really know," Kairi answered truthfully as the two landed safely on the ground though she felt weak after her jump. How she hated feeling like this, it made her feel frail and useless. Just standing took effort, what the hell had Number Six shot her with during their fight?

She was brought out of her thoughts as the Darkside actually pulled something out of the ground, a massive ball of swirling black and purple matter. Sora gasped at her side and she caught herself before doing the same, if she were to act scared it would make him nervous.

If only she had even a quarter of her strength back... That would be more than enough to take care of that dumb hulking thing.

The dark side raised the orb of darkness over its head before it shot at the air and exploded. Sora and Kairi watched the 'attack' oddly but were forced to move as a smaller version of the ball descended towards them from the ground. The small attack exploded against the ground, leaving behind a small crater as more of the same balls descended upon them.

"Get behind me!" Kairi cried out as she summoned her Keyblade and held it protectively in front of them. "Reflect!"

A type of shield made up of transparent energy went up around them, taking on the small orbs of darkness aimed at them. Sora must have counted around ten before the shield exploded outwards, not causing even a scratch on them.

"Whoa." Sora admired the spell but sobered up when seeing Kairi fall on the ground breathing harshly. "Kairi!" He kneeled at her side unsure of what to do. The girl was covered in sweat and looked quite feverish.

"Sora... You have to get out of here," she repeated her earlier words while fighting off the urge to give in and lose consciousness.

"I can't leave you."

"You h-have to," she stammered weakly as her eyes closed.

"Kairi!" He shouted in panic and tried to shake her awake. "Damn... What am I supposed to do?" A sense of panic set in. Kairi was unconscious and was in bad shape, he didn't want to think of what would happen if he actually left like some ungrateful coward.

Against his better judgment he summoned his Keyblade and ran at the Heartless to draw its attention. The small moment of inspiration seemed to work as the Darkside followed after him with its eyes and moved away from the unconscious Kairi.

'Good, now I have to find a way to hurt it,' his mouth formed into a thin line as he came to a halt and held the blade at his side, eyes darting about in an attempt to find something that could help him. Of course there was nothing on the empty field. That meant that he had nothing but his Keyblade and quick-wit, the latter being something he'd never really used though not for lack of trying.

As the Darkside raised its fist Sora was on the move, expecting it to reach into the ground gain but it proved to be a wrong assumption as its fists headed straight for him. He yelped in surprise but managed to roll away just in time and, not stopping to think twice, he charged in at the hand and brought the Keyblade down on it, causing the Darkside to screech in pain as its whole right hand came off before dissolving on the ground.

"I can do this!" Sora told himself and charged in once again, this time planning on attacking the large feet but he was stopped by a deafening roar coming from the creature. His ears rang as the Darkside raised its right leg and brought if down on the ground, causing a powerful tremor.

The teen stumbled before watching in horror as the Darkside's massive fist came down on him. Without time to get away or think, he could do little more than raise his Keyblade to block but was ultimately sent hurling back like a rag doll. He was unconscious before crashing on the ground.

The Darkside's eyes lingered on the defeated teen before moving to Kairi. A soft silence settled in the area before the giant Heartless moved towards the unconscious girl. Its footsteps boomed in the empty field before stopping once it reached Kairi.

At the same time Sora slowly regained consciousness. His head was killing him, where had that thing hit him? Slowly pushing himself off the ground he froze when seeing the Darkside standing over Kairi.

The massive Heartless raised its left fist with killing intent glinting in its eyes before punching at the girl.

But the fist was stopped.

Sora, gritting his teeth and grunting loudly, held the Keyblade with both hands, one on the hilt and the other on the blade. His whole body was under harsh strain but he managed to hang on and hold the massive fist in place.

The Darkside growled as it applied more force against the blade but the teen's blade would not give out. With strength he did not know he had, Sora pushed against the fist with all his might until he took a step forward. His sweaty brow furrowed in concentration as he took another step forward while ignoring how stiff and heavy his whole body felt.

"I...won't let you...hurt..."

Kairi woke up in a panic just in time to see what was happening. Sora was standing in front of her while pushing the Darkside back. Even though she should have been cheering for him, the fact that it should be nearly impossible for a green Keyblade Wielder to accomplish such a feat made it hard to be anything but shocked beyond words.

She watched the scene in fascination before her eyes widened when noticing a blue aura slowly surrounding his body and glowing in the darkness, "No way."

Sora grunted as he continued to push against the fist and felt the task getting easier, probably because the Darkside had lost its footing or something. Even so, he took advantage of whatever happened and pushed with all he had, finally managing to knock the whole arm aside, making the creature flinch in surprise.

"I won't let you hurt Kairi!" He exclaimed as he charged in and jumped at the Darkside's chest, unaware of the fact that he had ascended several feet, and swung downwards in a vertical slice.

The Darkside howled in pain as a deep wound was inflicted around the hole on its chest.

Sora crashed on the ground but managed to shakily get on his feet. Breathing heavily, he held the Keyblade in front of him before relaxing his stance when seeing the Heartless backing away. The giant dark creature slowly lost its shape before disappearing into the ground leaving no trace of it behind.

No sooner than it disappeared Sora collapsed on the ground, exhausted.

"Sora!" Kairi cried out and slowly rose to her feet, taking a few steps forward before stumbling and falling at his side. She groaned in pain before pushing herself to a kneeling position and looking over his condition. "Good. It doesn't look like you're badly hurt," she let out a sigh of relief and collapsed at his side, staring up at the starlit sky, "How am I supposed to get us home now?"

'How did he manage to make it flee?'

Now that the initial shock was gone she was left with a lot of questions. While she had never fought a Darkside before, she knew for a fact that only the numbered members of her club/organization were capable of accomplishing such a feat. This meant that Sora was already as strong, if not stronger, than say, Number Twenty. Either way his progress was nothing short of amazing. At the rate in which he was growing, they would have nothing to be afraid of.

Putting that aside for now her thoughts turned to her condition. Now that she had used a strong spell such as Reflect, it would take longer for her to heal. This wasn't the case normally but Number Six had shot her with some weird thing. Right after that she fought with Number Five and what was supposed to be a fight she could handle without too much problem, ended up as a really close fight. Whatever the case she hoped to get better soon. It wasn't fair to let Sora handle everything.

She snapped back to reality due to the teen stirring on the ground before opening his eyes.

"You okay?" Kairi asked in concern.

"Yeah..." Sora sat up to look around the area, "The Darkside. It disappeared right?"

She nodded, "You managed to wound it. That's why it left, unlike other Heartless, Darksides value their well-being."

"I see."

"In any case we have to get out of here," Kairi decided as she and Sora stood up, the latter stretching his arms over his head with a yawn. "More Heartless are bound to show up if we stay here. Let's go, the train should arrive at the station sooner or later."

Too tired to respond with words, Sora just nodded and followed after her.

Sora was not a morning person. It didn't matter how many times he was abruptly torn away from his sleep by an annoyed Kairi, he would not get any better at it and he could tell it was starting to get on her nerves.

How could he tell?

Well, as he ducked under one of her swings before getting his feet kicked out from under him, he had a rough idea. He fell on his backside with a thud but was forced to roll away almost immediately as her Keyblade touched down on the spot where he had just been.

"I'll try to wake up early, alright? Just stop being so serious!"

"What are you talking about? This is all for your sake. Wouldn't you say I'm a good person for pushing you to the limit?"

"No way! You're just insane!"

Kairi scoffed and stopped her attack. "I think now's a good time to stop. We've been training for a good three hours," she wiped some sweat away from her forehead as the space around them returned to its normal color.

"Really? It didn't feel like three hours," Sora crossed his arms in thought. "I don't even feel as tired as before. Are you sure you're not just losing your touch for telling time?"

"I'm sure," she responded in annoyance, "You're just getting used to training this much. I might have to push you even harder if we want to continue getting results."

He'd heard something like that before. How people needed to push themselves harder and harder if they wanted to improve at something. A frown etched on his face when he thought of the last thing.

"Hey, I know that my training has to grow in intensity and all but you should really be resting," he pointed out with his arms crossed, "Otherwise you'll never get better. I don't plan on fighting all of your battles, in case you were wondering."

"I know that but someone has to watch over you. Who knows if you'll slack off once I leave!"

Sora wanted to argue about the insult but knew that she was right. Yeah, he'd probably train but in the end he would end up slacking off or just finding something else to do. A sigh escaped his lips at the thought, his will was anything but strong.

"Alright then. Since our training is over, you can go home while I go buy some stuff at the store," Sora decided. When seeing that she was about to argue he held up his hands to stop her from interrupting, "I'm serious Kairi. You need to rest. Not so you can fight but to be healthy." He gave her a small smile as the wind ruffled his hair, "I promised myself that I would protect you and that includes watching over your health. So please rest, do it for me."

'W-What?!' A bewildered Kairi thought as a blush spread across her face.

Just now...her heart skipped a beat. She didn't even think it was an actual thing until this very moment. Why did it do that though?

Could it maybe have something to do with how the wind caressed Sora's slightly damp hair? Or how his skin seemed to shine against the sun's rays due to his workout?

"See I told you," Sora scolded with a pout. "Now you look a little red," he got a bit closer and studied her face, making the girl back away and blush even deeper.

"F-Fine! I'll go!"

Satisfied, Sora smiled as he watched her leave before calling out to her, "Do you want me to buy you something from the store?"

"Yeah. Buy me something sweet!"

He chuckled, "Got it!"

Sora hummed to himself as he walked through the streets with a plastic bag on hand. Last time he went to buy groceries he forgot all about needing new detergent since he was running low. Now with that settled he could wash his school uniform and have it ready for tomorrow.

He caught sight of something and stopped walking. Standing outside the display window of a store was Xion with her cat resting comfortably in her arms.

"Hmm...Which do you think I should buy?" She said to no one in particular as her eyes scanned the various items on display.

"What are you looking for Xion?"

Xion looked at him in surprise before smiling, "Ah. Sora, great timing. I need your help again."

"Are you going to buy stuff for your cat?" Sora wondered as he glanced at the various items meant for pets.

"Sometimes I'm not home and I want her to be okay without me."

He nodded, "So you're looking for toys and stuff? Oh. Did you buy the things for your cat that we talked about yesterday?" At her puzzled expression he guessed she didn't, "Fine. Let's go inside and I'll help you find what you need."

Xion nodded and followed him inside.

It wasn't long before the two emerged from the store with various bags on hand. As they began to walk Sora couldn't help but be amused by how content Xion looked and the amount of childlike wonder glimmering in her eyes. He smiled to himself and didn't notice that she had slowed down until he heard a thud right behind him.

Turning around in surprise he let out a gasp when seeing Xion laying on the ground breathing heavily with her bag's contents scattered on the ground. Sora was at her side in an instant, looking over her in worry as the cat meowed next to her, as if it were worried about her as well.

"Xion! Come on wake up! What happened?!" Sora held her in his arms before picking her up and looking around in panic. He should find a hospital or something but they were pretty far. He'd need a car and-

"I'm okay," Xion interrupted.

His eyes widened as he looked at the girl in his arms to see that she appeared to be perfectly healthy, "W-What?"

"Don't worry, these attacks happen from time to time. A doctor has already looked into it and told me that while a bit dangerous, their not life-threatening ," she explained. Sora nodded absently and put her on the ground. The girl walked over to the stuff scattered across the ground and sighed, "Aww. Now Claire's toys are all dirty."

Rendered speechless over the sudden shift in health, Sora watched quietly as Xion picked up the toys and placed them in the plastic bags from the store. Once finished, she turned to him and bowed.

"Thank you and I'm sorry for making you worry."

"Don't mention it..."

With that said she began to walk away. He was about to call out to her but stopped when spotting Kairi in the distance.

"Sora! You forgot to give me the key to the apartment you idiot!"

He growled before shouting back, "You should have asked! Don't expect me to remember everything Kairi!"

"I asked you to give me a spare key just yesterday but no, you said that we didn't need one," she rolled her eyes as the teen walked up to her.

"Considering the fact that I have to pay for it, I'd rather we make due with one than get another one," he argued.

The two continued their argument as they walked home, unaware of the fact that they were being watched.

A hooded man stood before a large monitor playing a clip of Sora and Kairi walking together. The man smiled as he sat down on an office chair and chuckled.

"Trusting people is not your style, Number Four. Now you've made it easy for me to capture you." He grinned and typed a command on his keyboard.

'Bring the boy to me. You may use force but do not kill him. We'll need him to lure Number Four to us.'

The command sounded from the earpiece of a hooded figure standing on a tall building overlooking the majority of Twilight Town. With it being nighttime, finding them would be a bit difficult but not impossible.

"I understand Master." The figure spoke before dropping off the building, planning on carrying out the command.