Hey guys, I'm back! ...For about maybe, a day.

Axel: Still on a HIATUS?

Me: Sorta. College, y'know?

Kyrie: *nods and writes* But at least you're getting an education, that's all that matters.

Me: Aw! Thanks!

Axel: *crosses arms* Whatever.

Kyrie (c) Me

Kingdom hearts characters/half of story (c) Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts

Bonded Soul

Chapter 6

Kyrie awoke with a jolt as she sat up, panting heavily. Looking around, she spotted Sora and Goofy asleep in their chairs and Donald manning the controls. Standing up and walking over, she opened her notebook and tapped his shoulder.

"Huh?" he asked when he turned. She wrote in her notebook and held it out for him to see.

Hello, Donald. Donald, how long have we been flying?

"All night. Sora and Goofy went to sleep earlier, after I woke up. You've been asleep all night." he answered. She nodded before looking at the controls, then back to him.

Would you like more rest? I could take the controls, if you want.

Donald stared at her for a moment, not sure what to say.

"Do you know how to fly a Gummi ship?" he asked. She was silent before scratching the back of her head embarrassingly and shaking her head. Donald smiled.

"Well, I guess I can put it on autopilot and you can just watch to make sure nothing's wrong." he sighed. She smiled before the ship jolted, flinging Sora and Goofy out of their chairs and onto the floor.

"Ow!" Sora cried groggily, covering his face with his hands. Goofy was still asleep, his snores loud as he lay sprawled out on the floor. Donald looked at the screen before looking at the startled group behind him.

"We're here!" he called. Kyrie nodded as she helped Sora to his feet, before going over to wake up Goofy. After a few shakes, she decided to get a glass of water and pour it on his face, making him yelp.

"Whahaa!" he cried as he jumped to his feet. Sora and Donald started laughing, while Kyrie giggled silently. After a few minutes, the group approached the screen to see the world they were about to land on.

"It's called "The Land of Dragons"."

-10 Minutes Later-

After everyone had gotten off of the ship, it was time to explore. Kyrie stared at the tall bamboo shoots what surrounded her, turning the forest of bamboo into a grove. There was a dirt path that led into the grove, and the gang decided to follow it and see where it led. But when they neared the path, they could hear voices.

Seeing a rock, Sora, Donald, and Goofy hid behind it as they peeked out. Kyrie joined them, and stared blankly at what she was seeing.

A boy that was wearing the strangest armor she had ever seen, was staring fearfully at the shadow of a large serpent, probably a dragon. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other.

"A heartless?" Donald asked. Sora nodded.

"Let's get the jump on 'em!" Kyrie stared at the scene, the boy didn't look like he was scared of the silhouette, but he looked more…apprehensive about something. And the boy didn't even look like a boy, he looked more feminine…

The next thing she knew, Donald and Sora were rushing in without thinking, like usual. Goofy got to his feet and shouted after them.

"Gawrsh, maybe we better look before we leap." he called. But Donald and Sora just ignored him, while Kyrie placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. Without further ado, the two followed after their rash companions.

The boy had cried out as a small red serpent leaped out from the rock and hid inside the boy's armor as he crouched down, probably scared out of his wits. Sora and Donald stopped as Goofy stared at the boy.

"Is that Mushu?" he asked. Kyrie looked at him curiously, who in the world was Mushu? At that, the small serpent, er…dragon, popped his head out and looked over the boy's shoulder.

"That's right; I know you heard of me! I'm little, lethal, and legendary! Now y'all scram before I get my dragon dander up!" it spoke. Kyrie gasped, it could talk! Sora smiled as he waved at the tiny reptilian.

"Hey, Mushu! We missed you!" he called. The dragon didn't seem to notice as he continued on with his threats. But in reality, he probably wouldn't last five seconds against a shadow. At least, in Kyrie's opinion.

"For such a small creature, he sure has a big mouth." she thought.

"Yeah, well you better HOPE I miss YOU, or else you're… you're…" he paused, getting a good look at the group in front of him.

"… Sora! Donald! Goofy! Oh, and I see you guys have a new girl on the team. Hmm…she looks a little plain, but she's kinda cute." Kyrie felt her eyebrow twitch and her fist clench.

"Why that little-" she thought angrily as she tried to keep herself from going over and smacking him. Mushu jumped off the boy's shoulder just as the boy turned to look at them.

"Do you know them?" he asked. She paused, even the boy's voice sounded feminine. The dragon nodded as he walked over and leaned against Sora's leg.

"Know them? Man, we used to kick all kinds of bad guys butt together! Yeah, you know, I helped these guys out of a lot of tight spots. 'Cause I'm a mighty dragon! Right?" he gloated. Sora smiled and moved his leg, causing the "mighty dragon" to fall flat on his tail, making Kyrie giggle silently.

"Something like that. And… you are?" he asked. The boy paused before speaking.

"I'm Mulan. Um, no, I-I mean…" the boy's voice changed, dropping an octave as it did so. This made Kyrie even more suspicious of the boy's true gender, even the first name he gave sounded like a girls.

"Well…for now he'll be a girl, until he can prove otherwise. But then again…he might be one of those guys Axel labeled as "gay"." she thought as the boy stammered.

"Ping!" Mushu added from out of nowhere. They raised their eyebrows at the two before Donald spoke up.

"Mulan Ping?" he asked as he crossed his arm, clearly skeptical at the name. The boy, girl, shook his, her, head.

"Just… Ping. I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou." He explained. Sora nodded before continuing the conversation.

"You know Mushu?" he asked. Ping nodded.

"Mushu's one of my family's guardians." He, she, answered. Kyrie wanted to bust a gut, there was no way Mushu could be a family guardian! In an effort to be polite, Goofy walked forward.

"We didn't know we were borrowin' somebody as important as a family guardian." He explained. Mushu popped out from behind Ping's shoulder and smirked at the group.

"Yeah, that's right!" he answered. Then he pointed to Ping.

"And that puts you three up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here." He continued as Ping gave them an awkward smile. Mushu seemed unaware of his companion's expression, and just kept continuing.

"Well. Guess what, kiddies? It's payback time!" he finished. The boy, girl, looked at him warningly.

"Mushu…" Ping muttered. The red dragon turned the him, her, clearly acting as if he were doing anything wrong.

"Ah, they don't mind. Ain't that right?" he spoke, turning to the group again. Sora nodded as he placed a hand to his chin.

"Hmm, sounds fair." He answered. Donald and Goofy nodded as well, while Kyrie just stood there in confusion. How she got caught up in all this, she had no clue. With a silent sigh, she nodded as well, making the boy's, girl's, expression brighten.

"See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial army." Mushu began as he moved to Ping's other shoulder. "We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp."

"Would you join us? It'll be easier to fit in if I'm with guys, like you." Ping asked. Kyrie narrowed her eyes, she knew it.

"He is a girl! I was right!" she thought. Without a second thought, she brought out her notebook and began writing, partly paying attention to what was being said next.

"What do you mean 'fit in'?" Sora asked her in confusion. Mushu cleared his throat as he tried to explain the situation away.

"Well, um, uh, don't…don't worry about that."

Just as Goofy started to speak, she held out her notebook for all to see.

Ping, you're really a girl, aren't you.

"You're pretendin' to be a boy, aren't ya?" Goofy spoke just as she held out her notebook. Ping looked at the notebook as well as Sora and Donald before the two boys jumped back in surprise.

"You're a … girl?" Sora asked, staring at her in disbelief. Ping looked at him sheepishly before she nodded.

"You didn't notice?" she asked. Both boys shook their heads before she turned to Mushu, smiling.

"I think it's working." At this, Mushu rolled his eyes as he crossed his small arms.

"I don't know… those two would fall for anything." At this, Sora spread his arms out indignantly as Donald pouted.

"I'm right here!" he cried as Ping began to walk away. The four began to follow her before she stopped, looking at Kyrie as she did so.

"I'm sorry, but your friend can't come. Girls aren't allowed in the army, that's why I'm dressing up as a boy." she explained. Sora stared at her.

"But we can't leave Kyrie behind, we'll-" before he could continue, a familiar notebook was in his face.

It's alright, Sora. I'll wait here and keep watch. Come for me when you need me.

Sora stared at her words and reluctantly nodded.

"Okay, if you're okay with that…" the group started to walk again, as Kyrie stood alone in the clearing. Sora, Donald, and Goofy turned to look at her once more, sad that their new friend couldn't come with them.

"Bye Kyrie." they called in unison. She nodded and waved as she watched them go. Once she was alone, she stood there and contemplated what she should do. After a moment, she heaved a quiet sigh.

"Well, might as well gather firewood and catch something to eat."

-Later that evening-

Kyrie sat in the middle of the bamboo grove, exhausted and irritated. She had no match to light the firewood she had found, and she couldn't catch any of the fish in the river. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't seem to catch any fish.

"Ugh…so hungry…" she thought as she heard her stomach rumble in protest. Suddenly the sound of a dark corridor opening startled her, making her turn and watch as a hooded figure stepped out from the corridor. She stared in disbelief as the figure lowered their hood to be none other than…Axel!

"Axel!" Kyrie thought as she scrambled to her feet. Axel stared at her, giving a relieved sigh in the process.

"Thank kingdom hearts…she's alive." he thought in relief. Suddenly though, he was propelled backwards as Kyrie tackled him, hugging him around the waist tightly as the two fell to the ground. Stunned, he stared at her as she buried her face into his abdomen.

"Jeez, Kyrie! You could've killed me!" he scolded teasingly. She sat up and glared at him, how could he joke like that? Grabbing her notebook and pen, she started to write.

Axel you…jerk! I thought I was never going to see you again! You just went and dumped me at Yen Sid's and just took off, without even saying "Goodbye" or "I'll see you soon"! I thought…

Axel noticed the tears in her eyes as he read her words, and nodded.

"Sorry. But I didn't have a choice, you were bleeding to death and if I hadn't dropped you off where that guy told me to, you would've died." he explained softly. She simply rested her head on his chest, completely ignoring that she was on top of him hugging the living daylights out of him.

But he noticed, and his face blushed brightly as he looked at their…compromising position.

"Uh…you mind getting off? Not that I mind, but I don't think you'd want anyone to catch us like this." confused at what he meant, she looked down, and her cheeks flared bright red. With a gasp, she scrambled off of him and got to her feet, trying to calm her pacing heart. Axel looked away and caught sight of the pile of wood, raising his eyebrow.

"You can't start the fire? Don't you know any fire magic, or at least have a match?" he asked. She looked down and shook her head, she didn't know any magic, period. He sighed, and with a snap of his fingers, the wood caught fire. She stared at him, wide-eyed.

"I knew Axel could control fire…but not like this!" she thought in amazement as she stared. He smirked at her reaction, and sat against one of the boulders.

"So, how long do you think you'll be here?" he asked. She shrugged and walked over, taking her seat next to him. Without realizing it, he had his arm around her shoulders as he pulled her against him. She leaned into him for warmth, grateful for the gesture.

All was quiet for a few minutes before he started again.

"I'm on thin ice with the organization, they're starting to think that I'm a traitor." Axel spoke, almost out of the blue. This made her flinch, but she also remembered her deal with Xemnas. As long as she was still working for them, he would be safe.

At least, she hoped he would still be safe.

With that on her mind, she began to drift off, her head resting against his chest as she did so. Axel, not realizing that she had fallen asleep, waited patiently for her response. But when he got none, he looked down and gave a small smile.

"She's asleep! …Oh well, might as well join her." and with that he closed his eyes and rested his head against hers, allowing sleep to take them.

Yay! Axel's back! *fangirls scream* Yes yes, I know you've all been waiting for their reunion, but at first I was going to have them meet up at Beast's Castle...then I decided otherwise. I mean, this is the perfect oppertunity for him to show up, since Kyrie's a girl and not allowed into camp.

And yes, I do know that a lot of other people have followed this principle with their female OC, self-inserts, and whatnot. And NO! Neither Demyx or any other member is going to show up, just telling you guys now. THAT principle IS overused, and I'm trying to obtain and keep SOME originality. And before I go, I am still on a sort of...HIATUS because of college. So see you...whenever!

And please, read and review.