Kingdom Hearts; The Heartless Keeper

Chapter XVI; Charms of Friends

Yuki scanned the paper stuck up on the window of the common room. It had a list of each members mission for the day. A few names were put side by side marking they had to work together. It wasn't the usual method of assigning work. The usual was Aysui ordering everyone about, but this worked just as well. If not better.

Yuki's name was beside number five's, Rimyei. Yuki had rarely spoken to her. And from what Yuki had heard, she barely spoke at all. Yuki sighed and turned looking to locate number five.

Rimyei was a short woman with a cold look always present in her eyes. She looked to be in her late teens, 18 at the most. Her hair was short and a very light brown that looked pink. Her eyes were a more obvious pink than her hair. Her Heartless emblem was pink outlined in purple. Yuki approached her cautiously. She was unsure of the older member she barely knew. Something about her made Yuki tentative.

"Are you prepared?" Rimyei asked noticing Yuki. Yuki nodded rather than speak aloud. "Good," Rimyei said. She summoned a dark corridor and walked through it not waiting for Yuki. Yuki sighed then followed her.

They ended up in Twilight Town, where a large majority of Yuki's missions seemed to take her. Rimyei was already several paces ahead of Yuki looking around the town for their target. A Heartless known as a Lurk Lizard. Yuki jogged a bit to catch up with her. Rimyei didn't say a word.

"So, um, what's a Lurk Lizard?" Yuki asked glancing at Rimyei as they looked around. Rimyei was silent making Yuki wonder if she had even heard her.

"It's a large lizard-like Heartless that can blend into its surroundings." Rimyei explained. Her voice was perfectly even. It sounded robotic with an absence of something. What that something was Yuki couldn't tell.

"Oh, that'll make it harder to find won't it?" Yuki asked. Rimyei didn't reply. Yuki sighed. This was going to be an interesting mission.

They searched most of Twilight Town without finding a trace of the Lurk Lizard. The world seemed to be completely peaceful with very few Heartless around at all. No sign of any trouble within the town's walls. The only place left to check was the forest outside of the town.

"It appears the Heartless isn't here." Rimyei said calmly. "We should return to the castle and report." She turned to look at Yuki. Yuki raised an eyebrow in question.

"What about the forest outside of town? Couldn't it be out there?" Yuki asked.

"I've been ordered to avoid taking you out there at all cost." Rimyei answered. Yuki tipped her head to the side confused.

"What do you mean? Why can't I go out there?" Yuki asked. She pouted crossing her arms and glaring at Rimyei. Rimyei shrugged.

"I don't know. But it's orders." She said calmly. Her voice remained firm as if it was final and Yuki should have known that. Yuki studied her looking for any sign she might be lying. There was nothing to give it away if she was. Her face was expressionless and her body language didn't change. Yuki sighed looking down thinking. She glanced back up again after a minute ready to accept defeat and return to the castle. But her attention was caught suddenly by the chain that hung from Rimyei's coat. All Heartless had two chains that hung off their coats around their hoods. On these chains were charms of some kind. One was a Heartless emblem. The other Yuki had assumed was a star like her own. But that wasn't the case with Rimyei. Her second charm was a sky blue star-shaped flower with yellow at the center.

"What's your charm?" Yuki blurted out the question without thinking about it. Not that she ever thought about what she asked. She always said the first thing that came to mind.

Rimyei looked at her then lifted up the charm in question. "This is a forget me not." She said simply.

"What's it mean?" Yuki asked. Rimyei was silent for a while before responding. She, unlike Yuki, thought things through before replying.