How (Not) to Kiss a Princess

Riku's eyes had opened, for half a moment, which was basically awake. Sora seized his chance to shuffle to the copilot's seat and flop his head on his friend's shoulder. Riku slowly gave him a sympathetic, albeit mocking, pat on the back. "There, there."

"I have a problem, Riku," he said into his shoulder.

"I noticed."

"I know you said you can't help with relationship troubles—"

"You've been on one date and already have relationship troubles?"

With a groan, Sora pushed himself off his shoulder and paced in a small circle, allowing Riku a stretch and a yawn. "No, not yet. But, at the end of our date, I asked Kairi if I could kiss her." He held up a hand against Riku's forming question. "No, she didn't reject me. Not exactly. She said I can kiss her when she can travel the worlds with us."

"And now you've lost your nerves," Riku concluded.

Sora made a pathetic sound and collapsed against Riku again. "I just stopped us in orbit of Radiant Garden. We see her in less than ten minutes. Save me."

"What can I do?"

"You've kissed people before! How do you do it?"

Riku laughed shortly. "Sorry, preschool doesn't count. You're on your own for this one."

"Can't you just go get them yourself, say I got violently sick or something?"

Riku put his palms against Sora's shoulders, pushed him to stand, then stood himself and walked to the back of the Gummi Ship, singing, "Sha-la-la-la-la-la my oh my, looks like the boy's too shy~!"

Sora stalked after him. "I showed you that song, you don't get to use it against me!"

The two portaled down, arriving at a side entrance of the castle. A path stretched out before them down into the silent town. Above, stars glittered in the black, but on the eastern horizon, the sky tinted blue in preparation for the sun.

"Maybe we can go find the Restoration Committee and say hi," Sora suggested.

Riku shook his head. "They're probably asleep." And so was Merlin, and anyone else he could use to stall. Merlin had already told Yen Sid that Kairi and Lea had finished training, so all that was left to be done was pick them up.

They were asleep too, though. Sora almost suggested they wait until morning, but then remembered his last visit when he had done just that and Kairi had been upset he did not wake her. "The house they're renting is this way," he finally said. His voice cracked twice in that sentence. Riku snickered. "Shut up!"

"You calm down. It's not like she's going to break up with you if it isn't the stuff of fairy tales."

Sora was not listening, though, too busy pouring over ideas, plans, and schemes to make himself not look like a total idiot. The walk into town was too short. He stopped outside their door, wiped his sweaty palms on his pants for the fifth time, and addressed Riku. "Okay, I think I have a plan."

"Shoot."

"Kairi's asleep! And I remembered way back, when this place was still Hollow Bastion, Aurora and Snow White said that their princes woke them with a kiss."

"So you're a prince now?"

"Is it a good idea?"

Riku glanced to the upstairs window that, presumably, belonged to Kairi, then back to Sora. "I have to object for moral reasons, but I don't think Kairi would mind."

Sora leaned forward and raised his eyebrows expectantly. "So it's a good idea? I should go for this?"

"If you think you should, yes," Riku said. Sora sagged a little, so he clarified, "Yes, it's a good idea. You should do it."

Sora sagged again, but this time in relief. Then he snapped to attention, faced the door, and placed his sweaty hand on the doorknob. He couldn't get himself to turn it. His heart seemed to grow louder and faster with each moment he did not open it. It's just Kairi! he tried to tell himself. Yet only with the reminder that she was sound asleep upstairs and that he had all the time in the world to prepare himself when he was actually inside did he at last open the door.

The house was simple, the first floor consisting of a kitchen, table, small sitting area, and stairs that lead up to the two small bedrooms. Sora was halfway to the stairs when he heard it: a door creaking open above. Maybe Lea had woken. Please be Lea. But then he heard the excited, loud whisper. "Sora! Riku!"

Abort! Abort! He tried to back out the door, but Riku was in his way and had already closed it, so instead he stilled, as if the danger would not be able to see him. But halfway down the stairs, her eyes locked with his, and a pretty smile took her face. She was in lavender pajamas, scarlet hair tussled and messy from sleep, but dear Kingdom Hearts she looked adorable and that only made everything so much worse.

"Hey, Kairi!" Riku said, casually, calmly, as if the entire world were not on the verge of falling into a sweaty, panicky hell.

She stopped just in front of them, bouncing onto her toes and giggling in excitement. Sora's heart vacated his chest to suffocate his throat. "What are you two doing here?"

She was there, she was asking. Do or die. Do and die. Riku started to speak, but Sora jolted forward, put one hand to her shoulder and the other to the side of her face, and aimed for her mouth. His lips ended up sloppily against the side of her nose, his own nose almost stabbing the corner of her eye. Kairi jumped in alarm, and as one they both stepped away.

Kairi looked shocked. Horrified? Sora's heart felt to disappear completely.

Then she laughed.

Heat swamped his face. Despite their cries to wait, Sora ducked around a snickering Riku, threw open the door, and ran.

He saw her when she first climbed over the wall, and though he chose to ignore her, her presence constantly pricked and poked at his awareness. Sora could not help but dare occasionally look over his shoulder as she walked to join him in the canyon. Fortunately, the horde of Heartless that fell under his keyblade were a good excuse to pretend she was not slowly getting closer.

Fifteen feet away, she stopped. No Heartless appeared to attack her, which meant his time was short. He had already been fighting them for too long, if the risen sun meant anything. Within moments the last of the Heartless were vanquished, and he had no more excuse. Still, he made a ceremony of dismissing his keyblade, and took a good extra ten seconds to work up the courage to turn around. Even then it was slow, a cringe on the verge of appearance.

She was smiling at him, sweetly, humored, and yet he had never felt more mocked in his life. His stance was indignant, but the rest of him didn't want to cooperate and he sheepishly cowered. "Sorry."

Hands clasped behind her back, she sauntered to him, and stood so close he had to stop himself from stepping away. "What for?"

His face was warm again. He rubbed the back of his head and avoided her eye. "For messing that up. I tried to be smooth and I was everything but."

"You were pretty adorable though," she said, and laughed softly when Sora's hand moved to cover his face. Her fingers wrapped around his wrist and gingerly pulled it away. His face scrunched, as if that could somehow hide him from her bright blue gaze. "Anyway, you just went too fast. First you have to lean in slowly."

She did so, until her face was close enough for loose strands of her hair to tickle his skin. He was petrified, mind running marathons from her proximity, yet the only thought he could make out was that he felt sick and would throw up on her and she would never talk to him again. "Then one of us tilts our head to the left, the other to the right."

His word vomit might be worse. "That's technically the same direction and we'll just run into each other again."

She paused, then her shoulders lightly rose and fell in a shrug. "Both of us to the right then."

Kairi did just that, and was so close he could feel her breathing. His own breath strangled. "You shouldn't be so confident," he rasped out. "That's not fair."

"I only am because I know you'll like me anyway." Then her soft lips were on his, and just as he registered them, they were gone, and he saw her shyly smiling at him with a faint pink on her cheeks. About time, he knew she couldn't be invincible while he was a husk full of butterflies and adrenaline. "Was that so bad?"

Not quite the magic that he had always been told to expect of a first kiss, but far from bad. No, he liked it. He shook his head.

She smiled. "Good. And you didn't even have to be perfect! I already like you, y'know." Then she kissed him again, and after the initial flutters in his chest, his heart calmed to something pleasant and warm. His hands decided to stop being entirely useless and one gently caressed the side of her head.

Just when he was beginning to understand the fabled magic, she stepped away. "Now let's go! We have to get Riku and Lea!"

She laughed as her hands arrested his and tugged, trying to pull him back to the town. He stared at her, a fog on his mind struggling to understand the meaning of her actions. "But. . . that was nice! Priorities!"

"Seeing the worlds with you and Riku has been my priority since we started on that raft," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Then her smile turned to mischief. "I'll race you."

That cleared the fog. He laughed and shot past her, fingers unwinding from hers. But for the first time she was able to keep up with him, and had nearly gained the lead by the time they made it back to the wall. Not that he minded.