Welcome to my second Kingdom Hearts fic! You may have seen that I decided to rewrite it. Someone gave me some much needed constructive criticism, so I took the opportunity to properly flesh it out while not changing too much. My AN's are the same, though, for the most part. Consider this the "Final Mix"!

I'd like to start off by saying that Venkai (Ventus and Kairi) is an extremely underrated ship, and I wish more people would give it a chance. I first discovered it from the AO3 story Singularity by septnanis. It's about Sora and Riku getting married (everyone's over 18), and during the reception Sora notices that Kairi and Ven danced together four times. It was a small acknowledgment, but it made me curious about that ship. Then another AO3 author by the name of Anasten27 published a series of stories titled Of Windy Days at the Ocean, which consist of Ventus coming to terms with his growing crush on Kairi despite knowing that he may not get a chance with her because of what happened to Sora (uh, spoiler alert?). It's a pretty bittersweet series that, as I write this, is still ongoing, but this is what made me fully invested in this ship.

Since I hardcore ship Soriku and Terraqua, Venkai completes that little circle. And no, I don't ship Venkai just because they'd be third-wheeling in their respective trios and they "need" to be paired up with someone. I genuinely think that a relationship between them is worth exploring, hence this little one shot.

As Kairi is four years old here, I'm not marking this story under Romance, but it's basically a beginning to their eventual relationship.

This takes place after Aqua saved Kairi and right before Ventus meets Lea and Isa.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Enjoy!

Kairi, hand in hand with her grandmother, skipped towards the plaza square. It was one of her favorite places to visit in Radiant Garden, as it was decorated with large flower beds and a pretty fountain off to one side. Kairi loved to pick flowers on a warm day like this; they smelled sweet and could easily cheer her up if she was sad. Since she had given her bouquet of flowers to that nice Aqua lady, she wanted to pick some more to take home.

As they got closer, Kairi saw a teenage boy with blond hair sitting in a corner in the square. Looking as closely as she could, she saw that he looked quite unhappy. She was a bit confused; how could anyone be sad while surrounded by these flowers?

"Grandma, that boy looks really sad," she pointed out, trying to lead her grandmother down the stairs. "Can I go say hi to him?"

"Kairi, I'm a little worried about letting you run off again..." she replied hesitantly. That blue-haired woman may have driven off those monsters as her granddaughter had claimed, but there was no way of knowing whether this place was safe right now.

"But I'll just be over there!" the child insisted, an odd look of urgency in her eyes. "I'll come right back, I promise!"

The old woman sighed. They had reached the bottom of the stairs anyway. "All right, Kairi, but I'll be right here to make sure I don't lose you again."

Kairi ran off towards the teenager, who she now saw was holding what looked like a giant wooden key.

"Hi there!" she said with the biggest smile she could muster for a four-year-old.

The boy looked up, startled. "Uh, hi."

"My name's Kairi! What's your name?"

The boy chuckled a bit awkwardly. "Ventus, but you can call me Ven."

"Nice to meet you, Ven!" Kairi giggled. Then she looked at the wooden key. "What's that? It looks like something Miss Aqua was holding."

Ven's eyes widened.

"You know Aqua?" he asked.

"Uh-huh!" she chirped. Ven knew Aqua, too? She thought it was great that they were friends. "She saved me from those scary monsters! And then she cast a magic spell on me that would keep me safe!" She patted her necklace.

For some reason, Ven looked sad again.

"Is that what she did?" he asked quietly.

"Why are you sad?" Kairi asked suddenly. She didn't know why, but she couldn't stand seeing this boy looking upset. "Does Miss Aqua make you sad? She shouldn't! She really cared about me, and she made sure I was okay after those monsters chased me! I'm sure she cares about you, too!"

After a pause, Ven smiled. He had such a nice smile...

"You know what? You're right," he agreed. "She does care. She always has..."

Kairi was glad to see him smiling, but she had just thought of one way to truly cheer him up.

"Wait right here!" She turned around towards the patch of flowers and picked some out. Then she turned back to Ven and held a yellow one towards him. "Here! I gave Miss Aqua some flowers...you know, to thank her for saving me. But boys don't like flowers, so I'll give you just one!"

Ven laughed as he took the flower. He had a nice laugh, too!

"I don't mind flowers much, but thank you. You're really sweet."

Kairi blushed, but she was still smiling. She found she liked being around him; he made her feel very happy, even more than flowers ever did.

"Kairi! It's time to go now!" her grandmother called.

"Okay, Grandma!" she called back.

But instead of leaving right away, she turned back and kissed Ven on the cheek.

"I hope you feel better, Ven!" she said happily.

Ven placed a hand on his cheek, his face turning a little red.

"Thank you, Kairi," he said, smiling again as he lightly patted her on the back.

Kairi then ran back to her grandmother, missing the smile drop from Ven's face as he stared at his wooden key again. "I'm ready, Grandma!"

"Was he a nice boy?" she asked as they walked away holding hands.

"Yep!" Kairi beamed. "I helped him feel better and gave him a flower! He said I was really sweet!"

"Aw, does my little princess have a crush?" her grandmother teased fondly. She had seen her give him that kiss.

Kairi, being four years old, didn't really understand what a crush was, but she just said, "I like him, Grandma! Maybe I'll marry him someday!"

Aww, isn't that cute?

Like I said, Kairi isn't at the right age to understand what a crush is, but she's got one! While thinking about this, I started to believe that when people fall in love in Kingdom Hearts, they fall in love with their hearts first. So it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that during the series, Kairi had unknowingly fallen in love with Ventus' heart while it was inside Sora's, which led to some confusing feelings. I've posted the sequel in which sixteen-year-old Kairi discusses this with Ven, which is thankfully much longer and thorough than what this originally started out as!

You might be wondering, how did Kairi know Ven was sad? Well, I believe that Princesses of Heart are highly Empathic, meaning that they could sense how someone's feeling from their heart. Naturally, Kairi doesn't understand this, but she still wanted to cheer him up. I may or may not have retconned my own idea with updating this, but I still want to stick to that idea.

I hope you enjoyed this! Stay safe and sanitized!