Kingdom Hearts; The Dark's Keeper

Chapter XVII; Hidden Plans

Yuki crossed her arms and looked at Naminé. The blonde Nobody sat in a chair drawing in her sketch pad. She hadn't looked up at Yuki since their conversation had begun. It was starting to annoy Yuki a little bit.

"Are you sure you'll be fine if I leave again?" she pressed. Naminé still didn't look up, her hand easily moving the pencil as she sketched the various images. "I've been leaving you on your own a lot. I don't want you to be scared."

"I can't be scared," Naminé said calmly. Yuki narrowed her eyes, her hand gripping her arms tightly.

"You and I both know that's not true," Yuki said quietly. Naminé stopped drawing at this time. She looked up and met Yuki's eyes. "Seriously, are you sure you don't want me to spend the day here?"

"There's no reason to. I'll be fine, honest," Naminé said with a soft smile. Yuki only frowned again.

"I'm leaving Phoenix with you," she decided, turning away from Naminé. Naminé almost jumped up, her surprise clear on her face.

"Huh?"

Yuki didn't reply, bringing her hand to her mouth as she whistled a short series of notes. In a vortex of shadows, the large Heartless bird coated in black and white flames appeared, wrapping itself around Yuki as it landed on the floor.

"I'm not leaving you without protection again. It just freaks me out. Anything could happen. Phoenix will protect you," Yuki explained resting her hand on top of Phoenix's beak. She turned to look in the bird's electric blue eyes. "Got that?" Phoenix chirped.

Of course.

Yuki chuckled briefly turning back to Naminé. She was glad to be getting used to taking to the less elite Heartless. She didn't seem to have to listen so much anymore.

"Good. Anything happens to Nami and I won't be happy," she said. Phoenix chirped again, this time it sounded like laughter.

"Yuki, this isn't necessary," Naminé said, with an exasperated sigh. Yuki smiled at her patting Phoenix's head. Despite the fire, it didn't burn. It only tickled Yuki.

"Yes, it is. I'll see you when I get back," Yuki said opening a dark corridor.

She reappeared in the backstreets of Shibuya. She stared at the mural covering the wall. She didn't really understand the mural. It was brightly colored and something that looked vaguely like a cat was in the center. Yuki reached out and touched the painting, smiling softly. She might not understand it. But it was at the very least cool.

She sighed turning away from the mural. She wandered the streets mindlessly, not even sure where she was going. Though, even if she had been paying attention she probably still wouldn't have known where she was going. Joshua had never done a very good job showing her around.

She wandered aimlessly until she heard a voice behind her.

"Look out!"

Yuki turned around to see a girl with choppy black hair jump kick a group of Noise. The girl skidded to a stop beside Yuki, her green eyes narrowing at the Noise. She wore a black t-shirt with a yellow plaid skirt.

"Thanks," Yuki said pulling her arms tightly to herself.

"No problem. You should be watching yourself better, Noise don't attack normals like you unless something is going on with them," the girl said, brushing her choppy bangs out of her eyes. Just from one look, Yuki swore she used safety scissors to cut her hair.

"Normals?" Yuki asked.

"Ya know, live ones. My special name for our kind anyway," the girl said. Yuki nodded glancing back to the Noise. The frog-like creatures were emitting the high pitched static. They didn't change expressions, but Yuki could tell they were angry.