Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Herutsu no Oukoku ❯ Princess of Heart ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Summary: AU. Mild shonen ai. In a parallel universe, Kairi and Sora are both wielders of the keyblade. Kairi wants to restore her home and Sora is looking for his best friend Riku. Enter Axel, who wants to find his "little buddy", and Demyx, who just wants to go home. And then there's Naminé who is Merlin's apprentice and seems to know more than what she lets on. RikuSora AkuRoku
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any Disney characters. They belong to Square Enix and Disney respectively.
Kairi carefully gathered the books into her arms that were at the main desk. In the dim library, which was where she worked part time, her thin-framed glasses reflected what little light was there. Her long red hair, wrapped up in a single braid, appeared to be a dark brown because of the little light. Her clothes were in neutral shades of gray, white, and black and consisted of loose black cargo pants, a white t-shirt and a gray jacket. Worn-out sneakers covered her feet.
“Kairi!” One of her male co-workers, and best friend, called out. “I’m heading home for the night so don’t forget to lock up when you’re finished!”
Kairi made sure the books were well balanced in her arms before she looked up and nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow, Katsuo.”
The raven-haired boy, clothed in a black t-shirt that had a yellow packman on it and patched blue jeans, saluted Kairi with a smile and then shuffled out of the library to begin his walk home. The two of them both lived in a neighborhood near the library in their little town and often walked to work together. Since Kairi usually stayed at the library longer, they rarely walked home together.
Kairi continued with her evening duty of putting books back on the shelves in the correct places. In twenty-five minutes the last of the books was put on one of the shelves and Kairi breathed a sigh of relief. With a smile on her face she set about locking up the library and turning off the lights. One of her first stops was the backroom where they kept books that needed repairing. She had to put one of the books in there earlier and didn’t have a chance to lock up the room.
She flipped on the light and looked around the room to make sure everything was in the right place. A satisfied smile crossed her face and she flicked off the light and shut the door. Then she took the keys off of her belt loop and locked the door.
A shiver ran down her spine as she turned away from the door. She scanned over the empty library with her blue-violet eyes and wearily noted that the lights seemed dimmer than usual. Figuring it was just because she was in the brightest room of the library, Kairi shrugged off the oddity and continued making her way around the library to lock up rooms and shut down computers.
As she padded through one row of shelves after locking the bathroom door, a creek made her stop in her tracks and look around. When the noise wasn’t repeated after a minute or two she continued on for a few steps before she heard another noise.
“H-hello?” She asks aloud, trying to keep her voice from trembling. It does anyway. “Who’s there?!”
A breeze moved across her neck and the sound of something landing on the floor behind her was heard. Kairi turned around, holding the keys in the air as if they would be a good defense. She saw nothing.
“Katsuo, this isn’t funny!” She yelled, fear entering her voice. Her friend had only done that once and it scared her so badly that he swore on his stack of video games and comics that he would never do it again. She slowly backed up, praying to whatever deity that would listen that there really was nothing there and it was just the building settling.
A solid black shadow leapt out of nowhere and landed on her back. Kairi screamed and swung her arm to knock it away. A warm, tingling feeling flowed through her hand and she turned around to see more of the solid shadow creatures. She slowly backed up, not knowing what to do, and then they all attacked. She immediately threw her arms up defensively and let out a soft cry of fear as she closed her eyes. A light so intense that she could see it behind her closed eyes flooded the area and then she knew no more.
0-0-0
Kairi awoke to a buzzing sound in her ears and felt like her entire body was on fire. With a groan she opened her eyes and looked around. At first her brain didn’t register where she was, but after looking around for a few minutes things clicked into place. Kairi gasped and jumped to her feet, biting back a cry of pain when her spine flamed in protest.
She took a few calming breaths and was relieved to find that the pain ebbed away with each breath until it was just a dull throb. Then she looked around to try and figure out where she was. It was no place she had ever seen before, with tall pale brown buildings and brown cobblestone streets. Twisted iron-wrought lamps lit up the main courtyard and the streets on either side of the courtyard.
“Rarf!”
Kairi jumped, which caused pain to lace up her back momentarily. Fortunately, as soon as it came it was gone. Looking around, Kairi spotted a yellow dog with black ears and a wagging black tail. “Hey there, fellow. Are you lost?” She asked.
The dog barked again and ran circles around Kairi before running off a short distance. Then he stopped and turned around the bark at her again before he ran a few feet and stopped. Kairi figured that the dog wanted her to follow him so she started walking. The dog happily barked and continued to run, stopping every now and then to let Kairi catch up.
Kairi chased after the dog until they reached two large doors at the end of the path. Before Kairi could even get within four feet of the door, the shadow creatures appeared again and blocked the path. Kairi took a step back fearfully, recognizing the creatures as the ones who attacked her at the library. The creatures attacked and she once again closed her eyes and threw her arms up defensively. A strange weight appeared in her hands and there was one flash of light before the creatures backed off.
When she didn’t feel tiny claws ripping at her, Kairi opened her eyes and lowered her arms. She gasped when she saw what she was holding. The first thing that came to her mind was, “Flowers” but then she took a better look at it. Then she noticed it was shaped a lot like a key with a straight pale yellow bar that ran straight through and changed to red at the very tip. At the tip were flowers and vines that stuck out on only one side. The handle was curved and shaped like a heart when held with the tip pointing down. On one side the heart was just pale yellow, but on the other side the pale yellow faded to blue and looked like waves. A key chain hung from the handle and it was in the shape of a yellow star with two leaves coming off one of the points.
One of the creatures lunged for her, but before Kairi could so much as try and bat it away with her new weapon, a loud bang was heard and the creature dissolved into nothing. The rest of the creatures, as well as Kairi, turned their attention to whom it was who shot the creature.
“Damn Heartless!” The man yelled as he shot at a few more. He briskly walked forward, slicing at Heartless who got in his way. His black clothes helped him blend in with the shadows before, but when he got out into the light he was more noticeable. The red on his sleeve and on the back of his jacket stuck out in particular. He charged past Kairi to fight the Heartless.
Kairi started edging away when a few of the Heartless nearly escaped the man’s wrath, but before they could get too close a young woman in bright green, yellow, and orange clothing leapt from the roof of one of the buildings with a fierce battle cry. She slashed at the Heartless nearing Kairi with a large wooden throwing star. “Can you fight with that thing?” She asked Kairi, gesturing to the flowery thing the redhead was holding.
Kairi forcefully swallowed, her throat almost painfully dry from fear. “I- I don’t know.” She stuttered.
“It’s worth a shot, right?” The raven-haired girl asked before she turned around and slung the large throwing star at the Heartless. “Alright there, Squall?” She asked the man.
“It’s Leon, Yuffie.” He growled back.
Yuffie just laughed. “Whatever you say.” A Heartless got close to her and she punched it away before throwing smaller throwing stars at it. She glanced back to check on Kairi and saw a Heartless sneaking up on the newcomer. “Behind you!” She yelled out. “Swing at it or something!” A Heartless attacked her from behind and she angrily threw it off before pelting it with her throwing stars.
Kairi turned around at Yuffie’s yell and backed up about a foot before remembering Yuffie’s suggestion. She tightened her grip on her flowery weapon and swung it at the Heartless twice before the creature disappeared.
“Leon, I’m taking her to Aerith!” Yuffie yelled to her companion. “Can you handle things here?” The only thing she got in response was a grunt. She rolled her eyes and then ran over to Kairi and grabbed her hand. “Come on! We’re getting out of here.”
Kairi didn’t have the energy to argue, so she let Yuffie drag her to the door and then through it. On the other side Yuffie breathed a sigh of relief. “Glad that’s over.” She gave Kairi a smile. “I’m Yuffie, by the way. The Great Ninja Yuffie!” She punched a fist into the air with a triumphant yell. A few people stared at her for a moment before going about with their own business. “So,” Yuffie put all of her attention on Kairi. “What’s your name?”
“Kairi.”
“Well, Kairi, I take it you’re new here to Traverse Town.” Yuffie said. “You probably don’t even know what that is.” She pointed to the flowery weapon. “Of course, I don’t really know either, but you can bet Squall does!” She laughed. “Don’t tell him I called him that though.” She said with a wink. “He doesn’t like it when I call him by his-- Hi Leon!”
Leon glared at Yuffie, knowing that she was talking about him. “You were taking her to Aerith.” He reminded her.
Yuffie happily saluted Leon. “Yes, sir!” With a giggle she took Kairi’s hand and began leading the girl through 1st district to a small shop with a lit up neon ‘Accessory’ sign on the very front. She tugged Kairi through the front door and happily greeted the brown-haired woman in pink sitting behind the counter. “Aerith, we’ve got another one!” She cheerfully said as she let go of Kairi’s hand. “Kairi, this is Aerith, our resident healer. Aerith, this is Kairi!”
Aerith gave Kairi a soft smile and then her hands flew to her mouth and she gasped when she saw the weapon Kairi was holding. “Another keyblade!”
Kairi looked down at the weapon with a puzzled look on her face. Then she looked back up at Aerith. “A what?” She politely asked.
“A keyblade.” Aerith repeated, lowering her hands. “It’s odd, you’re the second keyblade wielder to show up here today.”
“Where is here?” Kairi asked. “I’m not even sure where I’m at anymore. I was at the library closing up for the night and those… things attacked me and I blacked out. When I woke up I was here.” She looked to Aerith, hoping the older woman would have answers.
“You’re in Traverse Town.” Yuffie cheerfully reminds her. “So that’s another one of those keyblades, huh.” She edged a little closer to the flowery weapon to get a better look. “It doesn’t look very threatening.”
As if trying to defend itself, the keyblade sent a small lighting bolt to strike Yuffie’s hand. Yuffie yelped and pulled her hand away and Kairi looked at her in concern and let go of the keyblade. Once she let go of it, the keyblade disappeared, but Kairi didn’t even notice because she was busy making sure Yuffie wasn’t hurt badly.
“I’m fine, Kairi.” Yuffie said. “It’s just a little shock, that’s all.”
Kairi looked relieved. “That’s good.”
A groan was heard from the other room and attracted the attention of the three girls. Aerith immediately hurried to the room, which left Yuffie alone with Kairi.
“Who’s that?” Kairi asked.
“Must be the boy we found earlier.” Yuffie responded as she walked over to the counter. She put her back to the counter and then hopped up on it, happily taking a seat. “He’s the other keyblade wielder Aerith mentioned. Maybe you two will get along.”
“Maybe…” Kairi murmured unsurely.
0-0-0
End Chapter
0-0-0
Shiro: So how do you like the first chapter? You know, putting Kairi in a good role in these fanfictions makes me like her a whole lot more. The only time she really annoys me is... throughout all of the first Kingdom Hearts. Yeah. She's pretty cool in KH2 though. And Kairi's friend, Katsuo, he won't show up until the very end of the fanfiction and then he'll be reintroduced. I'm not really sure what purpose he serves right now other than just being a friend to Kairi.
NEXT: Chapter 2: The Keyblade Master