(Edited: April 9, 2014)

Chapter III

Shinigami and Heartless

Shibusen
Day 1

After ten minutes, Death the Kid regained his composure after collapsing because of Sora's asymmetric spiky hair. He and his two female partners accompanied Sora to see Shibusen's headmaster. After walking for a few minutes, the four stopped in front of a large door that was at the end of one of the passageways in Shibusen, which was marked with a skull and a plate that said 'Death Room'.

The group crossed the door after Kid opened it, and now they were walking through a tunnel of torii gates, which were styled to look like guillotines. Sora was glad that they weren't real guillotines since he already had a bad experience with a certain guillotine in Halloween Town. After crossing all the gates, the four teens arrived at the main part of the Death Room, and Sora saw two people talking there, a black figure and a redhead man. They were Shinigami, the person Sora was looking for, and Spirit.

"Father, Sora is here," Kid said to the black figure.

"Ah, Kid-kun, thank you for bringing him here," said Shinigami, and then he turned his head to look at the Keyblade wielder. "Hello, Sora, I'm glad to meet you. I am Shinigami, the headmaster of Shibusen, and this one here is Spirit, my partner and friend."

"A pleasure," said the redhead man as he pulled his left hand from his pocket to wave it at Sora.

Sora waved his hand at Spirit, but he was more concerned about Shinigami's appearance. He knew that Shinigami stood for 'death god', but he didn't expect him to be a real Shinigami. At least, he looked like a real one to Sora. Anyway, he already treated with the Lord of the Dead, so it shouldn't be too difficult doing it with Kid's father, that's what he thought, at least.

"It's nice to meet you, sir," said Sora. He often unintentionally showed a bit of disrespect towards people of higher authority than himself upon meeting them, so he was trying to change that.

"Now, there's no need to be so formal," said Shinigami. "I suppose my friend, Yen Sid, told you the reason you are here, right?"

Sora nodded. "The Heartless are attacking this city, and he told me that you wanted me to take care of them."

"Correct!" Shinigami said with his usual funny voice.

"Since the last week, they appear all the nights and attack someone," said Kid. "They are a real problem, so it would be great if you could help us."

"We know you just met us," said Liz, "but we would really appreciate if-"

"Whoa, wait a sec," said Sora. "I think there has been a misunderstanding here. If I am here, it's because I am going to help you. I thought you knew that."

Liz blinked. "Wait, just like that?"

"Yeah, just like that," replied Sora with a smile.

"Well, that was unexpected," said Kid. "Father told us that you were possibly the best when it comes to dealing with the Heartless, so I thought it was going to be difficult to convince you to help us. I mean, he never said to us that you were already going to help us."

"Didn't I?" said Shinigami tilting his head a bit.

Sora chuckled. "So, you were expecting me to ask for some kind of reward? That's something I'd never do."

"That's good to know," said Kid relieved as a small smile appeared on his face.

"Sorry about that, Sora," said Liz feeling a bit bad.

"Nah, don't need to apologize," said Sora. "Just leave the Heartless to me. I'll make sure no one in Death City gets hurt because of them."

"We are counting on you, then," said Spirit, who started to feel respect for the Keyblade wielder.

"Oh, there's something else I wanted to tell you, Sora," said Shinigami. "I know that you'll have to stay here since, according to Yen Sid, your mission here is a bit different from what you've been doing lately, so I prepared you an apartment where you can stay.

"Really?" said Sora surprised. "That's awesome, thanks!"

"Here," said Spirit, who approached Sora and handed him a small piece of paper with the address of the apartment.

"Oh, and I also enrolled you in the academy," said Shinigami. "I thought it would be better if the people here think that you're just a new student, and Yen Sid agreed with me."

Sora was stunned since the last thing he expected to do in Death City was to attend class. He even said to that girl called Maka that he wasn't planning on becoming a student of Shibusen, but it looks like now he was going to be one. It's been a while since the last time he attended class, so he was kind of worried; however, according to what Maka told him, there were combatants among the students of Shibusen, so it could be interesting.

"You'll be in the same class as Kid, so he can show you where it is tomorrow," said Shinigami before looking at his son. "Kid, you and the girls should start doing that now."

"Right," Kid said. "Sora, we'll meet you at the entrance of the academy tomorrow to show you where the class is, okay?"

"Sure, I'll see you there," said Sora.

Kid nodded, and then proceeded to leave the Death Room. Liz and Patty followed him after saying goodbye to the Keyblade wielder. Sora wondered what they were going to do, but it had nothing to do with him so he didn't ask.

"You should leave too, Sora," Shinigami said. "Try to get a good sleep tonight, okay? You can start working tomorrow."

"Alright, see you later," Sora said before walking to the room's exit.

"Well, what do you think?" asked Shinigami to Spirit as soon as Sora left the Death Room.

"It was a good first impression," Spirit answered. "But we've still have to see how he deals with the Heartless."

-KHSE-

Death City
Day 1

At this moment, Kid, Liz and Patty were patrolling the streets of Death City to make sure the Heartless don't attacking anybody. It was dark when they left Shibusen, and as Maka said to Sora, the Heartless only attacked during the night in Death City.

"I don't like this one bit…" said Liz pale-faced while walking behind Patty. The tall blonde girl, unlike her younger sister, was easily frightened, especially when it came to paranormal things or dark places.

"It's okay, Big sis, this is fun!" Patty said happily.

"How can this be fun!?" asked Liz. "Those creepy monsters could be anywhere…"

Kid sighed. "That's exactly why we're here, Liz. We can't let the Heartless to attack more people. Besides this will be our last patrol now that Sora is here."

"Perhaps we should have asked him to start patrolling tonight," said a nervous Liz as she and her sister continued following Kid. "He looks really kind, so surely he would have done it."

"Yes, he is totally different from what I expected," said Kid touching his chin. "And it surprised me to see that his soul was just like a normal human soul."

"Hey, you shouldn't use your Soul Perception ability on people you just met," said Liz. "That's privacy violation."

"Sorry, but I was very curious to see how the soul of a Keyblade wielder was," the son of Shinigami said. "You two also expected him to be different, right? That's what you told him at the entrance of the academy, if I remember correctly."

"Yes, it surprised us when we saw how young he was," said Liz. "Right, Patty?"

Patty nodded. "He looks the same age as you, Kid."

"Oh, now I realize that we didn't see it," said Liz.

"See what?" asked Kid.

"That Keyblade your father told us about," said the tall blonde teen. "Aren't you curious to see how it looks like? A sword with the shape of a key is not something you see every day."

"You're right," said Kid. "We should ask him to show it to us tomorrow. Now, let's continue patrolling."

-KHSE-

Death City
Day 1

There was a young woman walking down the streets of Death City, trying to arrive at her home as fast as she could. She knew that if you were on the streets at night, the risk of being attacked by the Heartless was very high. Unfortunately for her, she was being followed by a Heartless at the moment and it was waiting for the right moment to steal her heart.

"I have to hurry," thought the woman, and then she heard a noise and turned around. "Who's there?"

The young woman looked around, but didn't see anything. Her heart was pounding and she was cold sweating. Then she heard the noise again and this time she saw the Heartless, three Neoshadows to be more precise. She panicked and let out a scream and started running really fast, but unfortunately, she fell. The Heartless approached her and were in front of her now, staring at the woman with their yellow eyes. One Neoshadow raised its claw to attack the woman and she clenched her eyes and covered her ears out of fear.

The woman expected to get killed by them, but nothing happened. She wondered why she didn't feel anything, so she opened her eyes slowly. Much to her surprise, the three dark monsters that were around her were gone, and in their place there was a spiky brown-haired boy with a very strange sword in his hand. It seemed that Sora heard the woman's scream and went to her aid.

"Don't worry, I took care of them," he said giving the woman a reassuring smile. "Are you okay, miss?"

The woman was shocked, but when she realized that the boy in front of her was the one who destroyed the three monsters and saved her, she quickly stood up and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you! Thank you very much!" she said in the verge of tears. "I don't know what would've happened to me if it wasn't for you!"

"It's nothing, really," he said embarrassed while rubbing the back of his head. "You should go home before more of them appear."

"Right, and thank you again!" said the woman really grateful before leaving.

Sora looked at the person he just saved to make sure there wasn't any Heartless following her. He stayed in the same spot where he defeated the Neoshadows, waiting for more Heartless to appear. The Keyblade wielder knew that the Heartless would try to attack him because of the weapon he wielded, so he expected more to appear.

"That was impressive."

Sora turned around to see who said that and saw the boy he met at the entrance of Shibusen with his two partners.

"Kid, Liz, Patty," said Sora when he saw the three people behind him. "What are you doing here?"

"Patrolling the city like superheroes!" replied Patty, and this made Sora laugh.

"It's our turn to watch over the city tonight," said Kid. "We heard a scream, so we ran to see what was going on, but it seems that you were faster than us. Did you hear the scream from your apartment?"

"Well, actually I haven't gone to my apartment yet," said Sora, and this surprised Kid and the sisters. "When I arrived in the city, I met a girl that told me that the Heartless attacked only at night, and at the Death Room you said it too, so I decided to walk around the city to defeat the Heartless that appeared. Why didn't you tell me that you were patrolling this night? I would have gone with you."

"Told you," said Liz looking at Kid.

"Well, my father thought that it'd be better to let you rest today, you must be tired after the trip," Kid said. "Although, after seeing you defeating those Heartless, I guess you aren't very tired."

"Lead the way, then," Sora said smiling.

"All right, let's go!" said Patty raising her fist to the air.

-TLG-

Sora, Kid and the Thompson Sisters walked around Death City for an hour. They walked through many streets, but they didn't encounter any Heartless. After the incident with the Neoshadows, the rest of the city looked very quiet, and Sora found this really strange.

"Hey Kid, can I ask you something?" said Sora.

"Sure, go ahead," replied Kid.

"What kind of academy is Shibusen?" asked Sora with curiosity. "The girl I mentioned before told me about the NOT Class and the EAT Class, and how the students of the EAT Class are the combatants of the academy."

"Shibusen is a training facility for Meisters, people with exceptional soul wavelengths who are paired with Demon Weapons, human beings who have the ability to transform into a weapon," Kid explained. "The main goal of the Academy is to protect the world from evil and preserve peace."

"Wow," said Sora impressed. "What kind of weapons?"

"Swords, halberds, hammers, scythes, guns and many more," Kid answered. "Together, Meisters and Weapons can achieve a greater amount of power than they would on their own. However, in practice, the wielder's soul must be able to align with that of the Weapon or a rejection reaction effect will occur. This reaction is derived from a misalignment in the users' Soul Wavelengths, resulting from incompatible personalities, and appears to differ depending upon the individuals involved."

"I see…" said Sora. "What do a Weapon and a Meister need to be compatible?"

"They have to be able to accept and understand each others' personalities," replied Kid. "Most compatible Weapon and Meister pairs seem to be opposites in personalities."

Sora crossed his arms as a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. He felt as if he just received his first lesson, and he didn't even attend his first class. He had to admit that he wouldn't have minded being a student of Shibusen after hearing Maka's and Kid's explanations, but he wasn't sure if he would be a good fighter without the Keyblade.

Kid smiled. "Sorry, I guess it was too much information for someone who had never heard about Shibusen before."

"It's all right," said Sora returning the smile. "Say, you three are a team, right?"

"That's right," answered Kid. "I'm a Meister, and Liz and Patty are my Weapons. As a Shinigami, I shouldn't be collecting souls, but I wanted to make a weapon of my specifications."

"So he's a Shinigami too…well, he's the son of one, so it's normal…I guess," thought Sora before looking at Liz and Patty. "What kind of weapons are you, girls?"

"We're twin pistols," Liz replied.

"Yup!" said Patty.

"Yes," said Kid nodding approvingly. "They are perfectly symmetrical in their weapon form. It's perfect."

"The symmetry again…" thought Sora.

Then the Keyblade wielder realized that Kid mentioned something about collecting souls, so he decided to ask him about that, but something happened before he could do it. Dark creatures started to emerge from the floor and surrounded the group.

"We've got company," Sora said as he summoned the Kingdom Key, much to the surprise of the other three.

"Liz, Patty!" Kid said as soon as he saw the Heartless that were around him and the others.

"Right!" said the Thompson Sisters before transforming into pistols. Kid grabbed them and aimed the two weapons at the dark creatures.

"Are you ready?" asked Sora smiling confidently.

"Let's do this," answered Kid returning the smile.

"Let's kick their asses!" exclaimed Patty.

Sora and Kid were back to back, the two of them prepared for the upcoming attack of their enemies. One of the Neoshadows jumped to attack them and Sora gripped his Keyblade tightly and jumped to the Heartless, slashing it before it could attack. Then more Heartless tried to attack Sora from behind, but he quickly turned around and defeated them.

"Sanzu River Shot!" exclaimed Kid before shooting three purple bullets that destroyed three Heartless that were about to attack him.

A Neoshadow emerged from the floor with an insane speed and charged to Sora. He crouched and hit the Heartless, sending it very high into the air, and then jumped above the Neoshadow and slashed it. As he descended, several Darkballs appeared in front of him.

"Judgment Triad!" the Keyblade wielder exclaimed before throwing three Keyblades created with light that pursued and destroyed all the Darkballs.

He landed and saw Kid dealing with the other Heartless. The Shinigami used a Heartless' head to take impulse and dodge the attacks of the other Heartless. He looked at them and aimed his pistols down. Then a rain of bullets destroyed the remaining dark monsters. Sora and Kid started to look around, trying to find more Heartless, but they didn't see any.

"It's over?" asked Liz, hoping that there weren't more Heartless around.

"I think so," answered Sora. "That would teach them for today."

"Good," said Kid, and then Liz and Patty turned back to their human form. The Shinigami and the two Demon Weapons noticed that Sora still had his weapon in his right hand, so they approached him to take a look at it.

"So, that's a Keyblade," said Kid as he looked at the weapon.

The Keyblade Sora used looked like a classic skeleton key with a long silver Keychain extending from the hilt. The blade and teeth of the Keyblade were silver, the cross-guard was blue, and the guard was bright gold. The teeth of the Keyblade formed the outline of a crown which matched the crown necklace Sora was wearing.

"It sure does look like a key," said Liz.

"So cool," said Patty, looking at the Keyblade in awe. "And you were awesome too, Sora!"

"True," Kid agreed. "We finished much sooner than I expected."

"Yeah, I feel more relaxed knowing that you will be here to lend us a hand now," added Liz. "Thank you again, Sora."

"C'mon, you don't need to thank me," said Sora smiling, and then he yawned. "Well, I think I should go to my apartment now that we took care of the Heartless."

"I second that," said Liz raising her hand a little. "Kid, let's go home and sleep, we need to rest after all this patrolling. Besides, we have to get up early for school tomorrow."

Kid nodded in agreement. "You're right. Sora, we'll see you at the academy's entrance tomorrow."

"Right, see you tomorrow," said Sora, and then the he started heading to his new apartment while Kid and the girls went to theirs.

-KHSE-