A/N: Finally we have the last part in Sora's POV. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Well, I do have a copy of the game...but Square-Enix owns all the rights. So there.

After the Race: The Loser

It was too sunny and bright and the breeze was blowing too pleasantly for Riku to have suggested something so absurd.

Then again, the look on his friend's face was completely serious. "Deal? Winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi."

Riku's eyes seemed to flash as he said it, and Sora was even more stunned by that than his words.

"Er?" "He always wins! It's a trap", his brain alerted him.

"Hey wait a minute,"

"Alright, on my count" Kairi had raised her arm, completely unaware that she was the prize in this particular race.

And that had only been seconds, ago.

"Riku likes Kairi?" Since when had he??? But thinking was a liability now. And yet he couldn't stop his mind from racing as he tried to get his legs to do the same thing and blinking had already caused him a disadvantage, as Riku was halfway across the beach in a matter of moments.

He had lost before they even started racing, but one look at Kairi cheering him on was enough motivation to tear down the beach trailing behind the silver hair.

oOoOoOoOo

When Sora reached the finish line, Riku wasn't there. Neither was Kairi.

The race had probably ended ages ago, and the two had probably gone off to look for him. Or maybe Riku had meant what he said…

Sora leaned against the palm tree trying to catch his breath, which was burning in his chest. Exhaustion was creeping all over him now, and he didn't want to think of how sore he'd feel tomorrow.

Tomorrow…they'd be pushing that raft to sea, he'd definitely need his strength. He had been excited about seeing new worlds, of course, but a depressing though suddenly floated over his mind like a storm cloud.

"Maybe Kairi and Riku should go off on their own." The thought was stupid, he knew. He had always believed Kairi wasn't interested in boys. She always had managed to brush off the flirting attempts of all the boys at school. When he had asked her why she had shrugged, "Boys are silly."

He remembered feeling slightly surprised and offended at the same time. "Hey Kairi, I'm a boy if you haven't noticed. And so is Riku!" he added to make the statement a little less personal.

"Yeah," Kairi, had said before turning away. "But you're different."

Before he could ask her if she meant he and Riku, or just him, or something else completely, she had changed the subject. "Bet you can't make it to that tree before I do!"

Now that he thought about it Kairi never seemed reffered to him and Riku as anything but her friends. Something separate from silly boys.

She wasn't going to want to hear about paopu fruits, was she? Besides Riku wasn't really her type, was he? Kairi was always calling him a show off…as for Sora, well, she was always teasing him, so he wasn't her type either.

Right?

He didn't mind it, not really. But he would definitely mind it if Kairi started looking at Riku more than him. He sighed. Not that he could stop her, if that's what she really wanted…

It was his fault for losing anyway. If he had been stronger, faster, more like Riku things might be different.

"But I think it's better, to realize no one's born perfect, and if you want to really be good at something sometimes you have to know what if feels like to be the loser before you get good enough to win." Riku's faraway voiced echoed in his memory. "Not that you're a loser Sora, you just have to try harder. Just keep working at it, and eventually it won't be so hard. But you've gotta work to achieve."

"If that's the case, You must be the hardest worker on the island," Sora had told him.

He had expected a laugh, a grin full of flashing teeth; but Riku had just shrugged.

"I guess…hey race me to that tree! You wanna train hard to beat me, right?"

It was confusing. Riku was arrogant and overflowing with confidence. He was considered the coolest kid in school, and Sora had seen the way the girls stared at him; with stars in their eyes, as he walked by.

But he had never seemed to notice that, or at least he pretended not to. Sure he could be arrogant at times, but he never once tried to make anyone feel as if he was better than them. He never talked down to him, and at the same time Sora felt that overwhelming difference in level hanging over him. Riku didn't say it, but Sora knew it was there.

He wondered if he had asked for this by being friends with him in the first place. But then again, what was he supposed to do, just not talk to him? It wasn't Riku's fault if everyone thought he was cool. If all the girls liked him. If Kairi liked him…

He snapped out of his reverie when he saw the very person he had been thinking about storm past his palm tree, without paying him a single thought.

"What's with the matter Ri-?" he trailed off at the sound silence he received. Always Riku was already on the other side of the beach.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Sora decided to look for Kairi, as she would be able to clear things up. He found her in front of the dock, staring down at something.

He stopped himself from stumbling back when he saw that star shaped fruit in her hands and the look in her violet eyes…

Wait, so had Riku--? He heard her whisper something that he couldn't decipher but he had definitely caught his friends name. So something had happened, were they in a fight?

He didn't think he had ever seen Riku look so angry, as he did when he all but ran him over earlier.

"Uh you say something Kairi?" he asked trying to get her to notice him, and hopefully elaborate.

"Sora," she turned to face him, the thoughtful look in her eyes had vanished and was replaced with something that looked like embarrassment.

"Are you okay?" was what he had planned to say, but he was struck silent when walked up to him and held out her hands as if it was common place practice. "Here." He almost did fall backward when he saw what she was offering him.

"Wha?" He stared at the orange star. Something weird was going on. What the heck had Riku told her? Kairi stood there waiting.

"Are you sure?" he said, taking the fruit, not as relunctant as he should feel.

'Mmm," she smiled and bit into her half of the fruit, then looked up at him. Waiting.

Uh? He had lost the race, so why was she giving it to him, and not Riku. Oh wait, Riku was upset, so she had turned him down…so…

Kairi made a little impatient sound and he bit into it not wanting to upset her. It tasted good. Like a sweet orange-grape apple, if those ever existed.

Kairi smiled in approval and lead the way to the dock. And they sat there just watching the sunset.

Sora was beginning to wonder if he had passed on the water side again. So many questions floated in his mind, threatening to jump onto his tongue. But she wasn't saying anything, and talking might ruin everything, so he kept quiet.

"You know, Riku's changed."

The questions in his mind dissolved to question marks, and he mentally shook his head to trying to find words to answer her randomness.

"Huh, what do you mean?" was all he could come up with.

"Sora let's take the raft and go! Just the two of us!" The questions marks were now threatening to fall on him, What was going on? "Huh?

"Just kidding."

Okay…."What's gotten into you?" He really wanted an answer to that. "You're the one that's changed Kairi."

"Maybe." She looked out past the ocean again. "You know, I was afraid at first. But now I'm ready. I know that no matter where I go, what I see, I can always come back here. Right?"

"Yeah o'course." He told her, still not sure if he was dreaming or not. It was sure strange, but it felt real. The ocean breeze on his face was pleasant and the sand in his clothes made his skin itch. So hopefully he wasn't going to wake up washed up on shore and find he'd been dreaming like last time.

And on that train of thought; what in the world had he dreamt anyway? Water and things falling out of the sky, and then he fell out of sky. It was way too weird.

"Sora,"she said, bringing him back to what he hoped was reality. "Don't ever change."

"Huh?" he blinked.

"I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great." Then she got up and brushed off her skirt, and said "let's call it a day" as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. He got up and followed her, thinking he would never understand girls anyway.

The sun was sinking into the water as if it was being swallowed up and he found he couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight as if he sensed he would never see it again.

Sora shook his head, "what the heck is wrong with me?" He continued on the path home. Kairi was right, too many naps in the sun had fried his brain.

A/N: And that's a wrap. Why was this one so hard to write, I wonder? I didn't stray from the game too much this time. I already bended characterization for Riku and Kairi's stories.

Well, read and review.