Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all affiliated materials are property of Square Enix and Disney. The song Sapphire Night belongs to Alexa Ray Joel.

Sapphire Night
By: Nanaki BH

A sunset. It was incredible how something that had once seemed so common could strike them as being so absolutely beautiful. Perhaps they had become jaded; getting up with the sunrise every morning and going to sleep with the sunset each night. At some point, it's like you know it's there and you stop caring. They realized that must have been how it was because as soon as they returned home they practically worshipped that sun as though it was their God.

Before that sunset, when he was sure no one was looking, Sora had sunk into the sand and allowed himself to bask in its paling light. It was like his own personal time to be alone with it and enjoy it. He'd already had his time with the others. It was time to be with his island.

He folded his hands on his stomach and breathed a relieved sigh. The waves were beautiful like always. His eyes were closed; he didn't need to see them to know that they were the same as they were even years before he was born.

He felt complete, to say the least. The missing pieces of his most precious memories were put back in place; Riku, Kairi, the island, and all of the worlds beyond imagination he had visited in the years since he last saw the island. Perhaps, he thought, that time spent away wasn't as bad as he thought it was. He came back with a new appreciation and it had made all the difference. Or at least now they had something cool to talk about.

"It was like a really long summer vacation, huh?" he heard a voice call from across the beach. "It felt like we all moved away or something. I really missed you, you know."

Sora pushed himself up on his palms with some effort and gazed ahead at the backlit figure of Riku. He stood there on the shore, arms akimbo and staring off into the horizon. Sora didn't respond for a while, but Riku made no note of it. He seemed perfectly comfortable to stand there near him, even if he received no response. He was always like that, actually. Sora had found it odd at first, but he soon came to understand how Riku felt. It didn't matter to Riku if Sora paid him no mind. It wouldn't matter to him if he never even so much as acknowledged his existence. None of that mattered, so long as he could be near him and be a part of him.

"Sorry," he muttered after a while. He brought up his knees to rest his chin atop of them, sand shifting with his weight. It made him feel horrible, really, leaving Riku behind that door, but there felt to be something companionable between them still.

"You've nothing to be sorry for," he said and began walking back up the beach to where Sora sat. How Sora hadn't heard him join him by the shore in the first place, he wasn't certain; especially with the large shoes Riku wore. Despite Riku's reassurance, he still felt that he owed him a bit of his time so he allowed himself to stay.

"I guess… you're right," Sora said quietly. His voice was soft and lost to the wind.

His friend still stood, watching him from above, shadow casting itself over the younger boy. "You guess, huh? That's no way to be, Sora!" He laughed, forced and fake. "I'm breaking my ass over here to be cheerful for you. I'm the one that should feel bad."

"Why's that?" Sora asked, tilting his head up to look at him imploringly.

"Why? That's brilliant, Sora!" His voice, though laced with humor, was still sad and broken. "Don't you remember what I did? I turned my back on you; acted like you were a bad friend. How can you be like that?" He paused. "You act like I never even did anything." He sat down beside him and assumed a position similar to Sora's previous one' arms hugging his knees.

But you didn't do anything, Sora thought. I know you were lonely.

Indeed, Sora had seen him in nights passed, standing by the shoreline, as though he was waiting for something. He often made mention to other worlds but Sora reasoned it to be an obsession with fantasy. Never had he realized that Riku was waiting for the worlds to come to him. He just wanted someone to notice him.

"Riku," he said, "why didn't you just tell me you liked me?"

Sure, he was assuming things. There was no guarantee that he was right, but Riku had always been, without a doubt, vying for his attention.

Riku sighed, finally loosening up. "Well, don't get me wrong. It's not like I thought you'd hate me or something. I just thought that you wouldn't understand it. Or…" He brushed a hand nervously through his hair. "There are a lot of things, really. I guess that one just stands out."

"What are you so worried about, Riku? You saw; back when we were in the darkness. There are other worlds out there, places that we could make our own. It wouldn't matter what anybody else would think, because you… You should have known that's what I've wanted." Somehow, in the dimming light, he found one of his friend's hands and laced their fingers together.

"S-sora," he uttered breathlessly. He was grateful for the coming night, as a blush was quickly climbing to his cheeks. Tentatively, he squeezed his hand back and remained silent.

"We may not have the Gummi Ship, but this world is a big place too, you know. We've got the islands and the mainland and all of the other places here that we haven't even heard about yet! Come on, it's exciting, right?"

"I don't need exciting, I've had enough of exciting. Dreaming big got me in a whole lot of trouble last time."

Sora was taken aback by Riku's sudden about-face in opinion. He'd spent years listening to his wishful talk and there he was, giving it up all of a sudden. At least one little adventure, Riku, come on! Show yourself that you aren't afraid of anything!" He tore away his hand and thrust it enthusiastically in the air.

At the unexpected loss of contact, Riku's face faltered but Sora never saw it. "But… what about Kairi?" he asked.

"Who says we have to take Kairi anywhere?"

"Sora! You're the only one here talking about going places. I'm scared of walking back home with you even. How can you not be worried…? A guy just said he likes you." Riku's shame-filled words brought a stinging reminder back to Sora.

A soft, drawn-out sigh passed Sora's lips. "Oh," he said quietly, almost to himself, "Kairi." He hadn't even thought about it. He'd just been so overjoyed to hear that Riku's supposed affections were true. Kairi, of all the people they knew, would care the most; more than Sora, even, but in a different way. Her own affections seemed more real than Riku's and he'd been trying everything to get her off his case without breaking her heart.

"She might hate us if she finds out. We're everything to her," Riku said, lost in worried thought.

Sora wasn't a quiet person though, and he was sure he knew what Riku was thinking. When he was happy, he wanted the entire world to hear about it and Riku was bound to suggest keeping it quiet. "I know what you want to do," he told him, "and I'm not going to do it. I think it's best if we just tell her. It'll save us all a lot of grief." Pushing himself up by his knees, he grabbed Riku's hand and tugged him into standing. "How about telling her now?"

"Are you crazy, Sora?" he cried desperately, as he was dragged through the sand. "That's a bad idea! A really bad idea! We can't tell her that now, Sora!"

From away from the beach came a somewhat curious, if not agitated voice. "Tell me what?" Sora involuntarily dropped Riku's hand and stared ahead in horror at the darkened silhouette of Kairi. She may have been a foot shorter than him, but with her hands on her hips and her foot tapping like that, she appeared more than intimidating.

Riku's supposed suggestion was beginning to sound very appealing. Through the dark, he could make out a devilish gleam in her eyes and Sora certainly didn't want to face her like that. What were they going to tell her? How much had she even seen? The possibilities scared him. Looking at her face, he got the feeling she wouldn't be quite as accepting as he'd hoped.

So he decided to play opossum. Faking worked for the rest of the animal kingdom, so why couldn't it work for Sora? He put a hand behind his head and laughed good naturedly. He had to hope she was stupid enough if he was to expect her to fall for such a fake laugh, though. He could already sense Riku tensing up behind him.

"We were just… um… talking about a party! It's been so long since we've been home, right? Everybody's missed us, so a party would be great. We were going to ask you upfront so you could help us!" It was a quick and rather convincing lie if Sora had ever heard one. But as the saying goes, how can you expect others to believe you if you don't believe yourself?

He hoped that wouldn't be the case, because if it was then he would be completely and hopelessly stuck in a grave he would have trouble getting out of. Unfortunately, that grave was getting dug and fast.

"I don't believe you," she said, her voice dropping. Sora's heard sunk. He looked behind himself quickly to make sure Riku hadn't fainted yet. "Sora, don't you remember that one time…?" She pointed to the paupu tree off in the distance. "I think it was over there. I told you that you should just be yourself, to never change. Obviously, you have."

She turned around so he wouldn't see her tears.

"The Sora I knew would have never lied to me."

He couldn't stop her when she started running away. His limbs suddenly weren't strong enough to reach out and hold her still. His voice failed him and fled just when he needed it the most to tell her to stop. Just wait a second! he wanted to yell.

He had done nothing more than follow her request; to be himself and never change. Why did he have to lie?

"Sora." Riku put a comforting hand upon his shoulder. "Don't worry just yet, Sora. You don't know exactly what she heard yet."

He wrenched himself away, balling his fists. "Do you think she acted like that for no reason? She saw something for sure." His eyes wouldn't leave the retreating Kairi, even when she had gone completely; disappeared into their secret place. The crickets of the night played the soundtrack to their unfortunate parting. To Sora, their chirps sounded like nothing less than laughter.

Despite Riku's immediate objections, he began to follow her footsteps up the beach. It was about then that Sora realized what a coward his friend had become. Even if you looked, talked, and fought just like Ansem's Heartless, that didn't mean you were as brave or as audacious as him.

Not one step. Riku didn't even take one step to stop him from talking to her.

Although at first that made him seem cowardly, as he wasn't joining him, Sora realized that he was in fact displaying some of the toughest bravery and self-restraint he'd ever seen.

Riku wanted him to tell her because he couldn't do it himself. Stopping Sora would have meant keeping them a secret and he had decided to let Sora walk on.

He grinned a little, feeling almost proud of Riku after the realization. "I've got this taken care of," he called over his shoulder. "If you need me, you know where I'll be."

Yeah, Riku thought sadly, putting a hand to his heart. With Kairi in your secret place. Just like always. Never with me.

The sand sunk beneath his shoes with every step he made on his run to their secret place. He was far from it, but his feet knew where to take him like they had been designed to do so. For a brief moment, he closed his eyes and remembered how things used to be. Behind his eyelids it was sunny, the beach was white, and the gulls called overhead. In his hand, the wooden sword he always fought Riku with when they played. A small laugh escaped him when he noticed that not much had changed.

When he opened his eyes, things felt the same again. It was dark, the moon the only light on the sand, and the seagulls rested in their nests. He was older, braver, and he knew that the Keyblade would return to his commanding hands whenever he called for it to come.

He was the Keybearer for a reason; to protect the ones he loved at all costs. And even if he wasn't using it to free hearts, he'd learned a sort of compassion from its steel that was indispensable.

Through his travels, he'd made amends with some of the most unlikely folks; people he'd never even met before in his life. Making friends and maintaining friendships had been what Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all about and he wasn't about to lose a friend over something so trivial.

Sora stopped just short of the waterfall, slightly winded. He glanced back at the beach once more where he'd left Riku and found him strangely missing. He scratched his head and shrugged, reasoning that it was best that he'd left. Sora had no idea how long it would take for him to get Kairi to come out, after all.

He started forward once more and stopped just short of the cave's mouth. Reverently, he touched the vines that colored the walls. As he brushed his fingers against the one leaf's smooth surface and breathed in the familiar scent of the waterfall, memories of his younger self invaded his mind again. His heart filled with the excitement he'd always felt whenever he knew that Kairi was waiting for him inside.

Shaking himself from the momentary reverie, he pushed aside the veil of leaves and vines and entered the cave. It was a short walk from the entrance of the cave to its inner sanctum, but the way there was completely blind in the dark. He found himself groping the damp walls, the cloth of his gloves becoming soaked with the water that constantly dripped down from the cracks.

When he found Kairi, she was sitting at the far right wall of the circular room, a small lamp burning at her side. His heart broke upon seeing her. One of her delicate hands reached out and touched their cave drawing, her fingers lingering on the paupu fruit between them.

"Sora. Did you ever really want to eat the paupu fruit with me?" Her voice was soft and lilting when she spoke. He hated seeing her so sad.

Now, as legend states, if two people share the fruit, their destinies will become entwined. Although one could say that it's "cute" and perfect for "best friends", the legend had been warped into a much more romantic connotation. If Sora were to ask someone to eat one with him, that would be asking them to make a big commitment.

"Not really," he said, "but it's not because I didn't like you." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, biting his lip. "When you first came to the islands, Riku and I both tried to be your best friend. We were always really competitive, so it was like we ended up fighting for your attention. We both love you very much, Kairi, but I think we've been giving you the wrong impression somehow."

"Somehow?" she cried. Her voice was loud, agitated, but she stayed sitting. "What's a girl supposed to expect when she's got two boys fighting for her attention?"

Sora lowered his head, realizing that sometimes he just wasn't good with words. Whereas he had intended to explain their predicament, he was only making things worse. Steeling his nerves, he turned to her and grabbed her wrist. She was surprised initially, even tried to get him off. He pushed her palm flushed against the drawing of the fruit and covered her hand with his own.

"Kairi," he muttered; voice soft yet commanding. "We are… nakama. We three share one destiny, as proven by Kingdom Hearts. You are the seventh princess and so we will treat you as such. If we've ever done anything to make you…"

"No," she insisted. "You've never… done anything, Sora. I just wish you hadn't left."

"We did what we had to. We left you back on the islands so you would be safe. I would have wanted it no other way. There's no way you could have joined me in Castle Oblivion."

"Why's that? Because I'm a girl?"

"Not because of that."

"Then because I don't have a Keyblade? Is that why Riku's so important to you?"

She was making him want to scream. He knew for a fact, as he had seen it himself, that she could wield a Keyblade just as well as Riku or himself. He wasn't discriminating against her in the least. It sounded as though she was searching for things to explain his attraction to their best friend.

Back in The World That Never Was, when she threw her arms around him, he returned her embrace because he had very honestly missed her. When he saw Riku's, no, Ansem's face and touched his hand… he understood what he'd really been missing. He fell on his knees and cried, he was so overjoyed to see him again. So Kairi, he supposed, had some reason to feel neglected.

But she was the one who put their hands together, as if she had known. She was the one who reunited them. He firmly decided that she had no place to talk.

"I don't think you realize just how important you are, Kairi. Shouldn't it be enough for you to know that you're wanted; that you're appreciated?"

"I think I'm going home now," she said solemnly. Her hand remained beneath his for a little longer before she slid it down the slick wall, spreading wet moss and dirt over their drawing. She didn't have to leave, Sora knew. Kairi's parents knew where she was, most likely.

Soon, he felt awful; like he'd accomplished absolutely nothing at all. When she stood, clapping the dirt from her hands, he didn't bother to get up. He didn't follow her. Instead, he stayed there just a little bit longer to make sure she understood.

He fixed their picture.

Author's Notes: This entire thing is being made for an English project. It's supposed to be 28ish pages typed when it's finished, so there's still a lot more. Feel free to offer suggestions in regard to the plotline, because I may eventually run into a veritable wall. I hope you've enjoyed it thus far. Can't wait to see what he's done to the drawing, right? Feedback is appreciated!