I CAN BARELY SAY: PROLOGUE

I said I told you everything,
but I left something out
underneath the stairwell.
and I'm under lock and key;
you can probably tell.
Powdered keg in a prison cell.

"What's wrong, Sora?" Kairi looked at him curiously. Everyone else had already gone to bed, but he had pulled her to the side just as she was about to go up the stairs. However, he had yet to say anything. She could tell he wanted to, but it just wasn't coming out.

'I know Yen Sid said not to say anything… that it would distract her and Riku. But…' Sora's eyes flickered around the stairwell, 'How can I just not say that I can't go home with them?'

Kairi waved her hand in his face, calling, "Sora! Hello?"

"I'm just nervous." He let out. It wasn't technically lying, but he knew that she would jump to conclusions and assume that he was talking about the battle with Xehanort. Of course, he was nervous about that too, but that was just one of so many things.

A few days prior, Yen Sid and King Mickey had privately met with him about their concerns about the worlds once Xehanort was hypothetically taken out of the picture. Even once Xehanort was gone, it was likely that there were still people out on other worlds who had met him and may have been inspired or intrigued by his ideas. And of course, there would always be people negative ideas of their own.

They hadn't exactly specifically chosen Sora for the task, but they happened to ask him first. He knew Riku and Kairi both seemed more than ready to return to their regular lives. And Aqua and Ven had been through more than enough struggles to last an eternity, so Sora agreed to take the task upon his shoulders.

"I'm nervous too." She admitted quietly with a sheepish smile, "I mean, I'm sure everyone else is as well. But it's nice to hear someone else say it."

Sora smiled at her briefly before continuing, "It's definitely the biggest battle we've ever done, and there's so many more of them than us. I'm just scared someone's going to get hurt and I'm not going to be able to do anything about it."

Kairi answered in an even quieter voice, "…I didn't think about that."

He quickly reached out to touch her shoulder, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's okay. It's good to be aware of possibilities." She shook her head. His chest tightened as she locked her eyes on his and smiled again, thinking of how it was going to be such a long time before he saw her again. The pain must have shown through his face because she frowned and asked, "Are you sure that's all that's bothering you?"

"Well…" He considered telling her the truth, but he came up with an alternate plan, "There's something I want to do since there's a lot of things that could happen tomorrow."

Kairi raised her eyebrows, curious, "What's that?"

Sora took a few steps forward, not sure if this was going to make the future situation better or worse. She looked up at him curiously as he rested his hands on her shoulders, not fully understanding until he started to lean in towards her and closed his eyes. Once she realized what was going on, she closed her eyes as well and rested her hands on his chest. Though she started out extremely nervous, she melted the moment his lips met hers.

He kept it short and sweet even though that was the last thing he wanted to do, but he didn't want her to catch on that he was essentially trying to say goodbye. Pulling himself away, he suggested, "We should probably go get some sleep."

Kairi stared at him for a moment before his words made it to her brain. "Oh, right." She blushed, following him up the stairs.

As they both turned for the rooms they were staying in, Sora said softly, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She smiled before disappearing behind the door.