Babysitting in the Monster World

Another day down, many more to come.

That was the mental thought process Kairi was running through her mind, strolling down the streets of the neighbourhood, her feet taking her to Sora's place. After another day of school, where she was reaching graduation day, she was excited to spend the weekend with her boyfriend. Days with him often spelled relaxation and peace, with a touch of cuddles and playfulness.

When it came to school, Sora had sadly spent most of the time trying to catch up with his studies, and for the most part, with some help from Riku and Kairi, he did pick up the pace impeccably, but sadly there was only so much he could retain and cram before it all faded into the blackhole of his brain.

Reaching his home, she was surprised to see him exiting it already by closing his door. He turned to greet her with a smile and wave, then made his way to her. 'Hey you', he said softly, beaming. Kairi returned that wonderous smile with her own, her eyes though fell to the small duffle bag in his hand. Was he off for another quest already?

'Hi', she said smiling.

He must have noticed her eyes on the duffle bag, because he gave her sheepish smile and scratched his head. 'Sorry, this was literally a last second thing', he promised. 'That's ok, does Yen Sid need you for something?', she asked. A part of her felt a tad insulted that only Sora was called if that were the case, she was just as capable as he…to an extent. Yet Sora's face showed a shy smile, like he was hiding a secret.

'Well, no. It wasn't Yen Sid…', he trailed off. He then took a glance around for other witnesses, before he looked back at her. 'See, remember how Donald was lecturing you about the "World Order" thing a while back?'.

Oh yes, she did. On her first mission to a new world, the court wizard was absolutely adamant Kairi wouldn't follow in Sora's steps of breaking the order of the worlds. Granted while she was sure that the rule had lost its credibility thanks to the trio's numerous visits to other worlds, she begrudgingly accepted the rule if it meant she could join Sora and the others.

'What about it?', she asked, tilting her head.

Sora chuckled uneasily, giving her a cheeky smile. 'I…may have told, one world's people about that…I may or may not, be from there', he said. 'And Donald is completely oblivious to this act of rebellion?', Kairi asked with a smirk and raised brow.

'Gee Kairi, I always said you were the smartest girl out there!', he teased. Kairi gave him a flick on the nose, making him laugh in response. 'Sora you butt', she said. 'You know he'll be livid when he finds out'.

'Jokes on him, he's not gonna', he said confidently. 'Oh? And what makes you say that?', she inquired. 'Because, whose gonna tell him?'. Kairi's smirk formed into a more sinister looking one, folded one arm around her and rested her other elbow on it, then tapped her cheek, as if contemplating. Sora must have caught on what she was planning to do, for his confident smirk vanished and was replaced with worry.

'You wouldn't dare', he said.

'Wouldn't I?', she challenged, 'I mean, as a keyblade wielder and princess of light, I should be truthful and report this to the court wizard'.

Sora groaned, then looked at her with eyes showing apprehension. 'Kai, you know he'll flip out if he finds out I broke that rule…again…', he pleaded. 'I do indeed, so what are you gonna do about it?', she said.

Sora looked at his duffle bag, before said: 'Bring you with me?'. Kairi hummed and proceeded to roll her eyes in mock thought, before she shrugged. 'Yup, that'll suffice as a bribe', she said. 'So where are we, or rather, where were you planning to go?'.

'Well, see, there's…well, I'm gonna be, babysitting? If ya wanna call it that', he said. Babysitting? Sora? Something sounded like a recipe for disaster. Not that Kairi believed he was incapable, heck protecting and saving people is somewhat his thing at this point, but what worried her was putting him in charge of small kids…

'See, it's not gonna be that exciting, so if you wanna duck out from that, I can take you to another world another time', he offered. However, she felt about babysitting and Sora, Kairi was still adamant in going with him. After all he could be gone for more than the day, who knows anymore. 'Nope, you're not ditching me Sora, I'm going', she said, mock sternly. Sora raised his hands up in defence, nodding nervously at her. Playful or not, Sora knew better than to argue with Kairi.

After, they brought some of Kairi's own spare clothes, which only furthered her belief they'd be gone longer than a day. In space, he set the system to auto pilot as the distance wasn't that far and at the speed of the ship, they'd be there in less than two hours. Space traveling was still something Kairi had yet to fully adjust to, if constantly feeling like she was going the throw up every time was any indication.

Leaning back into her seat, she looked at Sora doing the same thing. 'So, where are we going anyway?', she asked. 'Well, remember my monster form a week ago?', he asked. Oh how could she ever forget her fluffy heater? She grinned and giggled to herself, already seeing him in that state and hoping for the colder days to come around so she could play with that form again. 'Yes, I do, but why?', she asked.

'Well we're going to that world, a friend of mine asked me to babysit their friend', he explained. 'Oh, who?', Kairi inquired. 'Boo!', he said with a grin. The princess blinked at him, lost. 'You do know that doesn't work unless you're trying to jump scare me, right?', Kairi teased. 'No, I mean "Boo". Is her name', he elaborated.

"Boo"? Not a name she'd pick for her child…

They mostly spent talking to pass the time during the whole trip, all the while Kairi was pondering about the child they'd be babysitting, thinking. Boo…it just didn't sound like a name, maybe it was a nickname they gave her? Kairi hasn't exactly been everywhere Sora's been to so far, she could count on one hand the number of places she had visited. So, she was still a bit more ignorant of the worlds, but if Sora's bestial form was any clue to what was in store for her, she had a good guess what the population was gonna be.

Was "Boo" someone's child? Maybe, but if that were the case why would they choose "Boo" for a name. She herself asked if she had a child of her own, what would she name them? Not "Boo" that's for sure, maybe something with meaning behind the name like hers and the others.

'Oh, here we are!', he said, hopping out of his seat. Kairi looked to see the world was right ahead of them, her eyes wide with excitement for what lied in store. Closing in on the world, Sora managed to hit the switches and teleport them down to the world.

Monstropolis

Her vision was no longer surrounded by machines and technology of the gummi ship, but now she found herself standing outside a large factory like place with a giant blue "M" with an eye plastered upon it. To her left she sees Sora, to her absolute delight, back in his monster form. He turned to her, and then smiled. 'Wow, you look pretty scary yourself!', he said with a chuckle. Kairi blinked in realization that if he was turned, surely, she'd be too.

They approached the building's windows and Kairi took in her new form.

Much like Sora, she took a bestial form covered in pale red fur, her ears smaller and more elf like than cat like Sora's, her fingers ended in claws except white. Her legs were canine like him except instead of black stripes they were white stripes with three clawed feet. She also had a long cat like tail that wrapped around her waist like a belt, her hair was clam shaped on the fringe, just above her eyes while the rest just looked like short tuffs of fur.

She also still had a sleeveless jacket around herself like Sora and her wrist bands. She poked her cheek with one claw in awe, impressed by her looks and even made a scary face to test out its effectiveness. 'Pretty cool huh? I was even spooked by Donald and Goofy's looks when we first came here', Sora said, patting her shoulder to gain her attention. Kairi turned to him….and then unashamedly brushed against his fluffy fur again.

'Fluffy', she said.

Sora rolled his eyes, shaking his head. 'You're probably just as fluffy!', he argued, brushing his back hand against her cheek. His eyes widened when he did, whispering a "whoa" beneath his breath. Kairi giggled, she was slowly converting him into her love for the fluff!

Quickly he shook his head and retracted his hand from her cheek. 'C-Come on, we gotta meet up with Sully and Mike!', he said, quickly walking away from her. Kairi just laughed at his bashfulness, not even attempting to hide her joy. 'No wait up! I wanna ruffle your fur more!', she playfully whined, chasing him. 'NO! Stop it!', he sighed.

'Let me fluff you!'.

Running in the building, Sora stopped just Kairi reached him. Puzzled by his sudden cease of all movement, she walked to his side sees what stopped him. A little toddler was being gently shaken in the air by a large furry blue monster, giggling happily away. Kairi's eyes softened with warmth at the child, a swell of joy resonating in her heart.

Sora approached the big monster and said: 'Hey Sully'.

Sully turned around to see his friend, smiling warmly at him. 'Sora, welcome back!', he said kindly. Kairi then joined his side as the little toddler was placed down before them. Sora knelt before her, smiling. 'Hi Boo, been good for Sully?', he asked with a playful smile.

Boo's little brown eyes lit up with happiness when she sees Sora, jumping and pointing at him. 'Worwa!', she cheered. Kairi bit back that squeal, both the name and the little girl were too precious for her. Sora laughed and ruffled her hair. 'Close enough kiddo', he praised. 'Friend of yours? Don't remember you from work', Sully said, looking at Kairi.

Kairi turned to him with a smile. 'Oh no, I'm Kairi, I came with Sora', she explained. Sully's friendly smile grew, and he shook her hand. 'Pleasure to meet you Kairi, I'm James P Sullivan, but please call me "Sully",', he introduced warmly.

Kairi nodded, then turned to Boo, who was now looking at the new monster with wide innocent eyes. Kairi mimicked Sora's action and lowered herself to the girl. 'Hi Boo, I'm Kairi', she said kindly.

Boo pointed at her and said: 'Kaiwry!'.

Kairi giggled profusely, this was so precious she almost scooped the girl up and hugged her. Sora snickered at the name before standing up to face Sully. 'So, what's going on?', he asked. Sully let a sigh and turned to him. 'Well see, I've been trying to get a few meetings done and over with to help with the fiancé of this place', he said. 'Sadly, its kinda of an uphill battle, and I don't have time to go and watch Boo at the same time'.

'What about Mike? Can't he go for you?', Sora asked. 'He would, if he wasn't swamped in paper work', Sully said a shake of his head. 'So, me and him are literally up to our eyeballs in work now'. Sora nodded, giving him a sympathetic smile. 'So, you were the next best thing, I do appreciate that Sora', he promised.

'Hey, what are friends for yeah? Sides after you saving me and my friends from Vanitas, I owe ya one', he said cheerfully. Kairi made a mental note to ask him about that, but then turned her attention back to Boo, who was looking at her new monster friend's looks, eyes widened with childish innocence. Kairi decided to pull a "Sora" and made a funny face, pressing against her cheeks with her hands and making a aghast face.

Boo giggled profusely at her, pointing at her ridiculous face. Unaware of the two other monsters looking at them with smiles. 'I think Boo will be in good hands', Sully said with confidence.

'Sully!'. They all turned around to see Mike rushing towards him with two arms full of paper work. 'The board's waiting for ya! Can we hurry up and get this over with before my arms snap!?', he asked pleadingly. With thin stick arms like that Kairi could only imagine the agony. Sully chuckled and gave his friend a small wave, signalling he was on the way. 'Alright, guess that's my cue', he said. He looked at Boo, who pouted that he had to leave.

'Sorry Boo, but Kitty's gotta go for a bit. Be good for Sora and Kairi for me, ok?', he said. Boo whimpered, but she seemed to get the message. Sully proceeded down the hall to Mike, now rushing back to where the board meeting was taking place.

Sensing Boo's disappointment, Sora poked her shoulder and knelt before her as she turned to him. 'Don't worry yourself kiddo, they'll be back before you know it', he promised. He ruffled her hair again, softly. Boo giggled, he must have tickled her with the claws. 'So, what can we do to pass the time?', Sora asked to no one in particular. Boo then placed her hands against her eyes and begun to make sounds like she was trying to count.

Sora immediately got the idea. 'Hide and seek it is!', he declared. He stood up and looked at the two girls and nodded. 'Ok, you two hide and I'll seek, yeah?', he offered. Seeing as she wouldn't have a clue where to look first, Kairi nodded in agreement. Boo cheered happily as Sora winked and placed his hands against his eyes and began to count loudly to ten.

Before Kairi could even ponder where to hide, her hand was caught by the little girl. She bounced and pointed at the desk before her, in her own little language suggesting they hide there. Kairi gave her a bright smile and nodded, allowing herself to be dragged by Boo. They both scampered behind the desk, ducking under the table with Kairi on her knees and Boo bent down to hide. They both giggled, Kairi putting a finger to her lip to tell the little toddler to remain silent despite her giggles.

'Nineteen, twenty! Ready or Not, here I come!', Sora announced loudly. They giggled softly as through Kairi's stronger sense of hearing she could hear the soft steps of Sora's feet. Despite there only being just the desk, Kairi knew he was just prolonging their game for Boo's sake, often coming close to the desk but then turning away dramatically saying things like "too easy" or "or they could", then heading off to look around more.

They peeked from the side of the desk to see him looking behind a large plant, being super thorough with his search, which came across ridiculous but hilarious for the girls. When his ears twitched though (Kairi almost gave their position away with a squeal), he turned to see them returning to their hiding spots. Boo was giggling madly while Kairi gave her wink, signalling to return to watch. She peered out to see Sora, laughing quietly at them with a fun smile on his face.

Kairi mouthed "go ahead" to him and hided herself once more. Sora dramatically snuck up to the desk, almost like a cartoon character sneaking up on someone, long stretches of his legs and hands up. Boo was still giggling while Kairi smiled away, hearing him get closer and closer to their spot, then his claws touching the wooden desk. Kairi slowly looked up as did Boo, and then, Sora's head popped up with a toothy smile.

'RAWR!', he yelled. They both squealed and scampered away, laughing away as Sora jumped on the desk, roaring playfully at the running girls. 'Run Boo! The kitty is gonna get us!', Kairi said dramatically, as she mocked sprinted away from Sora with Boo by her side. The toddler laughed but only screamed in laughter when Sora swept in and caught her, throwing her up in his arms. 'Got ya!', he declared, tickling the little girl's sides.

Boo squealed with laughter, kicking her legs in glee as Sora tickled her. Kairi watched the scene before her fall, smiling gently at the interaction with Sora and Boo. She knew he was good with people, but he had a certain, magic, with kids she's starting to notice. 'So, what do you wanna play next Boo?', he asked, putting her back to her feet.

Again, with her lack of vocabulary, Boo demonstrated her choice of activity by using a finger and traced it on his leg. Kairi caught on immediately and joined her side. 'You wanna draw something?', Kairi asked, smiling. The girl nodded and took both their hands to lead them to the desk. Sora found a few blank sheets of paper along with a box of crayons, probably left by Sully.

They all were sprawled on the floor drawing, though Sora was just imitating Boo and just making scribbles while Kairi was attempting to do something more artistic. She would often spot Boo peeking at her and Sora occasionally then feverishly resume her drawing.

Kairi smiled softly at her, but then giggled when Sora would often make silly faces to the girl to distract her, working sometimes and most times Boo would ignore his attempts, though she still giggled at the noises.

Once they were all quote unquote finished, the two monsters showed their drawings. Kairi's was just a drawing of the moon and numerous planets and starts, very detailed for the use of crayon. Boo's eyes were widened with awe, pointing and calling the stars "lights". They both burst into giggles when Sora showed his own drawing, just a poor mans drawing of Mike and Sully with poorly coloured in spots and for some reason Mike's mouth was bigger than his eye.

Drawing was never Sora's forte…

'So, Boo? What did you draw?', Kairi asked, on her knees and looking at the toddler.

Boo suddenly clutched the picture to her small frame, smiling and shaking her head. 'Aww that's no fair, we showed ours', Sora pouted playfully. Boo shook her head, regardless. 'Cheater', Sora teased, sticking his tongue out.

For the next hour or so, they played all sorts of games together, from more hide and seek, to tag, blindman's buff, truth or dare, and red-light green light.

Kairi hadn't had so much fun like this since she was a kid herself and having Boo around was a perfect excuse to allow herself to act like a child again. She still found herself making "scary" faces at the child, tickling her or joining in her laughter when Sora did one of his stunts or jester style of humour. By god, he had the worst balance when it came to red light green light, often standing one leg before he fell or he would find himself in such an awkward position he'd have no chance to stay still, and Boo was rather ruthless in that game.

By the time the sun went down, the little girl had fallen asleep in Sora's arms, which was a relief for the two needed a break themselves for all the moving and playing they did with her. Sully and Mike came back sooner than they expected but were quiet enough to join them. They all decided it was time to take Boo back home, which allowed Kairi to see how this world functioned with its doors, which she was wondering if that could ever be used for other means of traveling.

The toddler did wake up in time with some prodding from Kairi to say bye to everyone for now. One cuddles from Sully and Mike, she was enveloped in a warm hug from the two keyblade users, with Sora patting her head. 'Hope you had fun with us, Boo', Sora said.

'Have a good sleep, sweet heart', Kairi said warmly.

'Bye, Worwa, Kaiwry', she said, tiredly. Sully then put her to bed, and closed the door once he tucked her in. Once he was out, the door was then lifted and hung along the shelves with all the other doors. 'Thanks for coming all the way out here, you two', Sully said turning to them.

'Yeah, really helped out today', Mike agreed.

'No worries guys, happy to help any time', Sora said warmly. 'Well, we'd better get going fore someone finds out we're meddling again'.

Kairi rolled her eyes at that but smiled. 'Hold on', Sully said. He handed them a rolled-up piece of paper. 'Boo handed me this, I think she wants you two to have it'.

Curious, Kairi looked at Sora who shrugged. They bid the two monsters farewell and returned to their ship. Once Sora set the ship to auto-pilot, he joined Kairi and she opened the roll of paper. The sight made her heart melt.

It was a drawing of them with Boo between them, holding their hands, their names poorly spelt below their feet. Kairi placed a hand over her heart while Sora blushed and scratched his cheek, smiling shyly.

'Ya know…you'd make a good mom', he said.

Kairi beamed at him despite her flushed cheeks, kissing him on the cheek. 'You'd be a good dad toom ya know', she said warmly…

And those playdates became a regular afterwords…

A/N: Okay I think I've written enough to fix the hole in my heart! Thanks for reading this one shot, hope you all enjoyed it!

Stay awesome but more importantly stay safe!