On Crystal Sand Chapter 6: Gravira Falls, a kingdom hearts fanfic

On Crystal Sand.
Chapter 6: Gravira Falls.

Mr. Valentine was passing out pink and yellow sheets out to everyone in the class, but for once, this wasn't for a mandatory class detention. They were sink-through "signing agreements" per se, for the physics project we were to complete. He began explaining it to the sullen-eyed classroom.

"Since we're researching upon the topic of physics in sports, you are going to have to do independent work at some point, on your own, as groups—and no, that does not mean you are just going to play the sport around."

Muffled sighs rose from the class, but I kept my melancholic expression. I still wasn't looking forward to any type of class participation, especially with the involvement of sports and active movement. I glanced slowly towards Sora, who I had been avoiding in front of me, which was a lot harder than it sounded. He sat stiffer than his normal slinky self, figuratively.

"Mr. Valentine, sir," a kid behind me had kept his had in the air for a longer time before the teacher even noticed. "I didn't get to present from yesterday, after we got caught off by the bell—"

"Yes, yes, I know Ventie, please, sit still and let me finish—" He put down his stack on someone's desk, and sighed hesitantly.

"Um, my name's Ventus," the kid said, but Valentine was too busy thinking of a loophole between 'grading presentations'. "Uh, I guess the rest of you get B+ for participation."

That was how it worked in Valentine's class. He didn't want something done, he didn't have it done, not even if the other classes were doing the same. Though, if he wanted something done, it was sure to be done. And that is why we all should've been put into different classes.

He kept going on with his instructions, despite the complaints. He was obviously fairly used to it by now. "For now, what we're going to do is you're going to find another example of physics in real life. It does not have to be related to sports, however, and it'll be due the Wednesday after the Homecoming dance."

The classroom erupted in broken sighs and noises of complaints. "That's not fair, we have Homecoming to worry about, and then we have to do it over Homecoming weekend!" were among the complaints.

Ha, I thought to myself. That's why you should be like me, and let go of such high expectations.

"Well, you didn't hear the homework...and trust me—" he lifted the papers from the desk— "You'll want to have a weekend to do this."

At this point, even I was a little interested. Seemingly, a few months ago, if I had listened to this project I'd want to immediately transfer out of the class. But something held my attention. Something underlying, open to interpretation. I could virtually hear the gears moving around in Mr. Valentine's head.

"What you'll be doing is...looking for change in the scenery. Something...no one else can be looking for, and no one else may be able to see. This isn't completely compliant with your already existing project, but please, treat it as such. Because if you fail the main project, but you don't fail the extra credit...you'll pass.

"Now, I'm giving you leeway for all this, since it is the first real project of the year. But what you'll be required to do, is to find a location where you can study your surroundings peacefully and silently, or, however you want it to be, and be able to formulate theses and hypotheses. Meaning, branch out. Don't just stay in this rusty old town. Go out. See the world. This is your excuse."

When he said that, I swore his eyes were directly fixed on me. I hesitantly averted my gaze, but I still paid close attention.

"Now, class will be dismissed a few minutes, so we might as well finish a lesson..."

—–-

"This...is your excuse..."

"Sounds like Mr. Valentinio to me," the blonde boy had cynically replied. Yesterday Valentine had given us the project descriptions, and I was relaying the directions to the blonde boy. Again, he was sitting across from me, but we were in the senior lounge, pretending to be seniors, and pulling it off pretty well.

"I don't know...there's something ominous in that sentence..." I tried reasoning, but the blonde kid didn't acknowledge that at first.

"He always did that. Psh, I bet he thinks he's so high and mighty for making a project he thinks kids will actually care about..."

"Hey! I actually kind of like the idea of...expanding. Seems like fun—"

"Fun? Look at the circumstances you're in Kairi. I wouldn't say it's completely 'fun'."

I stopped and let myself wonder for a little while. "Wait—" I finally said. "How'd you know my name is Kairi?"

The boy leaned on the back of his chair and stretched. He laughed accusingly, saying, "You forget easily..."

I looked at him with discomfort. What, of course I remember, like everything. Mostly.

He stopped stretching, and looked at me with a deep stare. "I saw your textbook. Of course, it has your name on it! You're so forgetful."

I think I started blushing when he rubbed the top of my hair and patted it like I was a little middle schooler at a younge level than him. I swatted his hand away playfully, but he kept on messing up my hair, so I took this as the time to try and mess up his hair.

"Ha! You will not be able to defeat the strengthy bond sealed by my hair gel!" he proudly proclaimed. He was right; whenever I put my hand even near his hair, spiky tuffs of hair would poke me back.

"No fair! You're a guy!" I laughed, and I watched as the blonde boy stopped touching my hair, and he started looking at me with a distranged look.

Still smiling, I brought my voice to say, "Something wrong?"

With concerning eyes behind stiff rinmed-glasses, he said with pure concern: "I've never ever seen you smile, ever since I've known you."

My eyes grew wide, and simultaneously, I looked away and felt my lips falling back into their stiff one-line position. I couldn't decide if it felt uncomfortable freezing my expression, or smiling broadly and openly.

"Oh—but it's good for you! You should, er,smile more, um..." the boy told me. He seemed to be turning uncomfortable, something I had not been so used to.

Smile a bit more, huh.

"Smile more," I found myself saying.

My heart skipped a single beat.

"It looks good on you."

I looked straight into the eyes of the boy I had just met a a day ago, with whom I had begun to feel so uncomfortably...comfortable. He felt safe, but it wasn't because he liked me or even had anything in common with me. He just seemed like the same lost-case as me, thrown out of the rest of the school census or at least ignored a little by everyone else. I could possibly learn from this boy.

"Hey...um, I didn't catch your name yet—"

People began pouring out into the hallways as the bell boldly declared the end of fourth period. I watched as everyone shouldered their backpacks and carried their personalities around with them—I didn't like to undermine everyone, but they all looked like walking contradictions.

The boy was still in some sort of sudden trance, so when the bell rang, he sprang out of his seat and shouldered his own backpack. I almost thought he was going to leave me standing there, before he reached over and wrapped his arms around me, embracing me in one of the warmest hugs I've ever had.

He was the one that said into my ear, "It's Roxas, by the way."

—–-

"Kairi, you okay today?" my mom shouts up to me as I trudge up the stairs to my room. She's always thinking I'm going to drag myself up the stairs and then I'd be hanging off in the closet, which I couldn't even think about.

I mutter loud enough for her to her, but she takes my,"Just fine," as a warning that's she's going to take me to Dr. Hewley soon.

"Oh great, I really missed that guy," I sarcastically shout down to her. The last person I need to see is Angeal. But, something did strike my head as odd.

As I walked through the school hallway, or to the bus after school, or towards my house, or up the stairs—my head was clearer and tidier than usual, the only things I focused on being school or the occasional social event. But, other than that, the trigger for what I had been experiencing was gone. And for once...I felt normal.

I still stared at that blue dress hanging in my closet. Next Friday, huh. I didn't know if I'd be that patched up by then, but I didn't put it in the back of my head. It was totally all possible, I kept telling myself.

That's when I remembered about the project—we had to do it this weekend. And nothing was worse than having to encounter Sora a week before pep rally and homecoming. We'd planned this stuff before, like it was our thing. But in the past I hadn't realized how much I'd taken things for granted.

This time, I did put it in the back of my head, to think about possibly later.

—–-

That Saturday afternoon, I was sitting on the evening train service to Traverse Town, a three hour ride. A placid man sat in the seat across the aisle from me, but an even more distant boy sat next to me on my right. He stared out the window to watch the passing ocean on his side, but all I could see next me was an open field, and a broad, blue sky. I sat silently, not mentioning anything, not even the reason we were on the train in the first place.

I watched everyone else around me, minding their own business, staring out at the windows as well. Sitting on the floor in between my legs was a small bag I had brought with me, where I kept my own notebook and a few pens and pencils. I also brought my wallet for good measure, not because I was planning to go out shopping, but just in case. There wasn't much munny in there, anyways.

We had been sitting on the train for about thirty minutes when Sora had stopped talking to me. The only time he acknowledged me was whenever they had to ask for the tickets at the station or if he needed to get out into the aisle. Other than that, he had completely forgotten I was there, and I didn't tap on his shoulder to even start discussing the project.

For some reason, I decided to replay the events of the second half of the week, something I didn't usually have time to think upon. I always thought of how my week went, because I thought I could find ways to improve the next week, even in circumstances like these.

The first voice I heard was Xion's, not even showing much emotion to even recall if she had said anything to me. She seemed so much farther away, even after I knew so much about her now. I remembered the touch of her hand whenever she'd hold mine, because sometimes, I'd get too scared to do anything. And looking back on it, it looked like I did need someone to hold my hand.

Then I remembered the warm voice of the boy I had just met—he said his name was Roxas. It seemed so far away to me, even though I just seen him yesterday. He said he was going out around the town, and he asked if I wanted to tag along. The funny thing was, I did want to go, but I didn't really know how to say no to that boy. His face was smiling encouragingly, already waiting for me to take his hand to join him. But I told him reminded him about the project homework, and he let the subject subside. But before I could even think of forgetting about him, he took my hand, whipped out some type of permanent marker, and wrote ten digits on my wrist.

"There," he said afterwards. "That'll be hard to scrub off."

I almost smiled when I looked at the fading marker writing on my wrist. The hills began to roll on and on throughout the terrain, and the sun was so high in the sky I couldn't tell what the time of day was. On the train, the loudspeaker came on to notify the passengers that they were approaching the destination in about 45 minutes. I looked towards Sora, who was still facing the window.

We were going to arrive at the station, and then later take a short bus ride to a little out of the city to see the Gravira Falls. Discovered just recently, it was a natural waterfall that ran water down through the Shibuya River, a river Sora said he'd "never actually seen before."

It kind was just a regular waterfall, and it probably was nothing special, but I really wanted to believe there was something about it that we didn't know. I was strangely motivated to get a good grade on a stupid project, no matter how dejected I was about Sora being awkward towards me.

"Hey, Sora," I finally perked up to talk to him. "We kind of need to get started on whatever our hypothesis is supposed to be about," I said really quietly. I didn't want to make it seem like I wanted to talk to him, even though I had been vying for him to just turn around and acknowledge me at least once.

Sora didn't answer; he just continued to stare out the window, his head leaning on the chair. I didn't go to nudge him, but I did see it. I saw that he was asleep, his eyes not even fluttering when I was right in front of his face. His breathing was slow, but he looked more peaceful than he had before.

I didn't know if I should shove him to wake up, or if I was to just sit there and wait for the train bell to do that for me. It had been a long time since I was even this close to Sora, and just because I thought it would be horrible to wake him, I sat back and folded my hands in my lap, trying to close my eyes, but I still didn't fall asleep as easily as Sora did.

—–-

I kept my head faced in the general direction we were supposed to go, and I don't think I even stopped to have Sora catch up to me. He didn't even want to walk at the same pace at me.

This was the first time I had even been to Traverse Town, but I didn't even look around. There were too many people crowding the plazas, and it looked like we could both get lost around here. Tall and austere buildings surrounded the Fifth District, and it was hard to maneuver around without tripping down the narrow steps with people all trying to do so at the same time.

Suddenly, Sora's voice appeared right next to me. "We're supposed to head for the First District, where the buses leave."

"Well, that's kind of unfortunate. Why don't they just have it at the train station?"

"I have no idea; don't ask me," Sora muttered in agreement.

I openly sighed and kept going in the general direction I thought other people were going, and while avoiding the little ponds of water we could've fallen into, we made it to the Fourth District.

I continued to pass the large crowds, especially the one gathering in front of the entrance to the district. Massive yells and cheers came from that direction, and there was a large opening in the middle of the crowd—for what, I couldn't tell.

Sora had begun to waver off to look at the crowd and what they were so excited for, and eventually he almost walked right through it. Without thinking about the consequences, I dove in and snatched his wrist, and pulled him out of the crowd.

"Wait—Kai—" I didn't give him time to speak before I pulled him out, and he almost tripped on me. Nearby, there was a little moogle standing off at the side, it's little red pompom eager to make known of itself. I had never seen one in person before, but I headed towards it, my hand still firmly grasped around Sora's wrist.

"What is this competition for?" I almost yelled at it.

With it's usual tender kindness, it answered, "The daily Flick Rush competition! If you want to join, just wait off to the side and watch the rest of the battle first, kupo!"

"Thank you," I said, and I pulled Sora along. We pushed through a crowd, where I even risked losing the bag hanging off my shoulder, and risking losing Sora for the project, of course.

When we finally went through the massive pile of people and found the steps leading to what was supposed to be the Third District, I let go of Sora's hand and let myself breathe a little.

Sora looked up to me, and I saw that he was rubbing his wrists. "You have a crazy grip, Kairi."

I nodded, but I didn't say anything.

"That looked like the freaking freshman hallway," I sarcastically said, to which Sora smiled at, but quickly took back. I stood up straight, and tried not to think about what had just really happened.

When we made it up more stairs and shoved through a smaller crowd, we made it to the entrance to what I thought was the Third District, but instead, we ended up in a slightly different place than I had expected. People were all crowded around a fountain, some even being pushed in accidentally. I watched as some scaled the fountain to get a treasure prize at the top, but he had tried not to get wet. On the other side were some tall buildings, what I'm sure we're large department stores. One, called the 104 building, had kids going in and out at any given moment. Adjacent to the department store was a small walkthrough park with a single statue of what looked like a watch dog. But the single problem with all of this was the large and contested crowds, and I couldn't even see over some of the taller people.

I looked to Sora, who was still looking around, but not in awe or anything. He just pointed straight, in I guess what he thought was the next district, but I couldn't exactly see anything.

Sora sighed noticeably and said, "Do I have to grab your wrist this time?"

My skin got warmer, and I tried not to notice. I had to clear my voice a few times before I went ahead with saying, "No thanks."

"Just follow me," Sora said, and he headed through the large crowd, not checking to see if I actually did follow him.

Repeatedly, we'd try to feather through the crowd without bumping into anyone, but that was completely futile. At one point, a group of three kids that we had to push by all perked up and looked towards Sora. I saw one as a perky girl with wavy redish-pink hair, and she was wearing a hip skirt and a stylish hat to match.

When I passed by her, she stopped whatever conversation she was continuing with her friends, and said among them, "He reminds me of someone...you guys remember, right?"

I heard another guy behind me realize this when he said, "Yo, that's Sora! I totally remember him. Hey, Sora!"

Sora momentarily turned around and waved, and I saw him smile to them also. I didn't look back, but I did accidentally shove into Sora to keep him moving. The crowds seemed to get thicker and thicker, and before long I could barely see out from the people surrounding me. Eventually, I had lost Sora, but I just went ahead and went in the general direction of straight. Nonetheless, I bumped into a lot of people, but hey, that was their fault too.

When I pushed through the crowd and finally found a good opening through, I saw that Sora wasn't behind me, but he also wasn't waiting for me. Chances were that he had already gone ahead, so I just went through to the exit to the crowded district.

—–-

When we made it up more stairs and shoved through a smaller crowd, we made it to the entrance to what I thought was the Third District, but instead, we ended up in a slightly different place than I had expected. People were sprawled all over the place—some crowded around a fountain, some even being pushed in accidentally. I watched as some scaled the fountain to get a treasure prize at the top, but they had tried not to get wet. On the other side were some tall buildings, which I was sure were large department stores. One, with 104 in gold letters, had kids going in and out at any given moment. Adjacent to the department store was a small walkthrough park with a single statue of what looked like a watch dog. But the single problem with all of this was the large and contested crowds, and I couldn't even see over some of the taller people.

I looked to Sora, who was still looking around, but not in awe or anything. He just pointed straight in what he thought was the next district, but I couldn't exactly see anything.

Sora sighed noticeably and said, "Do I have to grab your wrist this time?"

My skin got warmer, and I tried not to notice. I had to clear my voice a few times before I went ahead with saying, "No thanks."

"Just follow me," Sora said, and he headed through the large crowd, not checking to see if I actually did follow him.

Repeatedly, we'd try to feather through the crowd without bumping into anyone, but that was completely futile. At one point, a group of three kids that we had to push by all perked up and looked towards Sora. I saw one of them, and she was a perky girl with wavy redish-pink hair, wearing a hip skirt and a stylish hat to match.

When I passed by her, she stopped whatever conversation she was continuing with her friends, and said among them, "He reminds me of someone...you guys remember, right?"

I heard another guy behind me realize this when he said, "Yo, that's Sora! I totally remember him. Hey, Sora!"

Sora momentarily turned around and waved, and I saw him smile to them also. I didn't look back, but I did accidentally shove into Sora to keep him moving. The crowds seemed to get thicker and thicker, and before long I could barely see out from the people surrounding me. Eventually, I had lost Sora, but I just went ahead and went in the general direction of straight. Nonetheless, I bumped into a lot of people, but hey, that was their fault too.

—–-

What I ended up in was the back streets, which were thankfully less crowded. In fact, there probably wasn't another person walking here. I still didn't see any Sora waiting up for me, so I just kept going on my own, which was a horrible idea since I didn't know where the hell to go. I walked onto the bridge and climbed down the steps, and found what looked like the exit.

Near the exit, a boy was standing in front of a wall, and looking over something on the wall. He didn't move much, but he did flick his wrists once in awhile. He looked my age, and he didn't look as differently dressed as everyone else around here, so I got up the courage to approach the guy.

"Hey, by any chance have you seen a brown-haired boy, with blue eyes—" I stopped myself when I realized half the town looked like that. The boy didn't turn around, and he just continued flicking his wrist around. He was also wearing headphones, which was probably why he couldn't hear me.

I tapped his shoulder, and he finally turned around in surprise, and that was probably all my mistake.

He was holding a spray canister, which was probably why he had been staring at the wall for so long. When he turned around, he was still pressing on the spray can, so he sprayed all over myself and my bag. It was kind of surprising, considering I had never even felt what the spray paint felt like, and it actually kind of hurt.

"Oh, damn—I'm so sorry, Shiki! Wait—" The boy took another look at me and his eyes widened, because he had mistook me for someone else. "Oh, you're not Shiki."

"Yeah, uh, I'm Kairi," I mentioned, while trying to touch the paint, which was already starting to dry.

"Hm. Cool. Sorry 'bout the, um, paint." The boy turned around, and resumed spraying the wall, and it kind of hurt just to see another person turn their back on me.

Before I got the chance to rip those headphones off his head, Sora appeared next to me, and almost ignored me when he started talking to the kid.

"Hey, Neku," Sora called him. Neku looked up, and for a moment there was some slight appreciation.

"Hi, Sora," Neku replied, and went back to furiously spraying the wall. He nodded towards me, and said, "This your girl?"

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. I guess." He remembered I was standing right next to him, and he looked over the quick color changes to myself.

"What'd you do, spray her?" he momentarily asked Neku.

Neku didn't turn around again, but he solemnly nodded, to which Sora surpressed a laugh from.

"Shut up, Sora," I tried saying to him, and I continued walking ahead. Sora didn't start following me until he finished talking with Neku, and caught up with me.

"Neku's just...like that," he said quietly, almost apologetically. Almost.

We had finally made it through to the Third District, which meant one more district to go. There were smaller crowds, but they weren't anything to worry about.

Sora stretched and put his arms behind his head. "Now, this is my section. Come on, I know a real shortcut."

"Oh, I'm sure you know," I muttered one-wordedly, but just followed his lead. By now I had become somewhat of an expert at maneuvering crowds, and I made it through the streets pretty fine. Sora lead the way, and we ended up in a quieter and homier section of town, where I could actually breathe and hang onto my bag.

Sora lead me to the smaller outskirts of the town, and that was where the bus station was. We immediately hopped onto the one that said "Gravira Falls", and we got seats right next to each other. The bus slowly began to fill up with people, until the doors closed and we all sped off.

I didn't thank Sora, nor did I try to talk to him on the short bus ride there. My hands were folded in my lap, and I had to stare down at them the entire time. When we got out of the bus, we tried to make it at the front of the line, and thankfully, there wasn't a huge crowd here.

Seeing the falls up close was incredible. It seemed that they were pumping water to make the falls flow faster, because it seemed so impossible that it was natural. I just continued to look up in complete awe.

Sora, on the other hand, didn't do much but stare motionless looking at it, but I didn't think he was calculating stupid formulas for anything. He just stared at it, his eyes scaling the falls up and down, I stared at it, and we continued observing it for about an hour.

I had taken the liberty of taking down all the notes for myself, while Sora didn't even take out his notebook from his backpack. For a moment I watched how he looked at the massive waterfall, and I didn't know what he even thought about it.

It was beginning to get dark, and I was not yet done finishing what I thought was a pretty crude description of how gravity really affected the Gravira Falls, why it was appropriately named, et cetera. I hoped Sora had been taking mental notes instead of physical notes because I was sick and done with all the stupid note taking. His breathing grew a little heavier, but I paid no attention. By the time it was dark enough to not see my own handwriting, I packed up my stuff and decided to call it a day.

I nudged Sora, but not hard enough that he'd get mad at me. "The evening line's gonna leave in an hour, I think we should head back now."

The entire time we had been here, while countless people flooded in and out of the park—some even asking us to take their picture—Sora had not written a single note, or even moved, for that matter. He had stayed stoic and unmoveable, his expression almost the same throughout, and unless he was really contemplating the meaning of gravitational laws, then he shouldn't have a total excuse.

He looked up at me standing over him, and he seemed finally taken out of his state. "Oh, um, right—do you have the tickets?"

I leafed through my bag and produced two ticket stubs. He got up and dusted his pants, stretched again, and started walking towards the exit, like he hadn't done anything wrong. Like he did a lot of the time.

He's always been like that.

—–-

There was a large mob of people at the station, but unlike all the other crowds of Traverse Town, they looked unhappy and worried, some screaming in disappointment. When Sora and I made it there, some people were pushing us out of the station when they left angrily, muttering, "Come on. I'm sure we could stay at an inn for a night."

We made our way through the crowd, and I myself had a bit of a worried expression on my face. It was a Saturday night, of course it was bound to be crowded, but all these people were just standing around doing nothing but yelling madly. Before any of us could go up to the ticket counter to ask what had happened, the four dings of the train station announcement came on.

"The northern line to Destiny Islands, which was previously departing in thirty minutes, has been canceled, due to weather concerns and hazards. The line will not be up until tomorrow afternoon. We apologize for the inconvenience, but wish you a pleasant stay in Twilight Town."

The four dings went down again, and the announcement was repeated in the local language. Sora stopped threading through the crowd, and I stopped moving too, so we both retreated to one of the benches outside the station. A nearby radio was describing the terrible blizzard breezing through the Destiny Islands, which was pretty rare since it was an island...in the fall.

"What're we gonna do now...?" I asked myself, but Sora was listening to me too. We sat on the same bench, but we were almost feet apart from each other.

"Well," he said, getting up from his seat. "We might as well look for a place to stay." He started walking down the steps to the next district.

I stood up and almost yelled at him. "Wha—giving up already?"

Sora stopped in his place, his head facing towards the ground. I didn't know about him, but I was kind of worried now. I hadn't brought any spare clothes, or enough munny, and I certainly couldn't pay for anything at all now.

Sora's voice had become more distant than before, that I had to strain to hear it. "Come on," he said. "I know a place."

—–-

Thankfully, he hadn't lead us to anyone's house—or even better, he hadn't just barged into someone's house—he brought me to what looked to be a small inn located in the Second District. The square was filled with late night stragglers, musicians playing for fun, and a few people sitting around and chatting. Sora booked a room—or, more precisely, he said his name, and they hurriedly prepared a room—and got the keys. I didn't want to spark any bad reputation, so I strayed slowly behind him.

The room had two separate but alike beds, and I immediately claimed the one closest to the window by plopping my stuff down on the bed. I opened up the little doors to a balcony, and saw beneath me a view of a quiet walkway and more streams of water surrounding it. A few people were wandering around, smiling, laughing, and some held hands and smiled at each other. I quickly shut the doors.

"Well, what do you want to do now?" I turned, asking Sora. "I have nothing to change into, or shampoo, or any shit to do..."

Sora was lying on his bed, his head off the end, looking like he was in deep thought. A thought crossed my mind, and this time I didn't push it back onto the shelf. I walked over to him, and in some sort of unreprised action, I leaned over to peer at him. I could clearly see the tint in his eyes.

"Whoa!" he sat up abruptly, rubbing at his eyes. I didn't hold myself back from laughing at him.

"Give me a break, Kairi," he muttered, a smile still evident on his face.

I jumped back onto my bed, in the same position Sora was laying in. "I used to do that to you all the time when I caught you sleeping on the beach."

I didn't expect Sora to immediately reply to me. "Yeah, I'd think you would've grown up at least a little."

I was the first one to scoff at that idea. "Please. You're never the one to grow up."

Sora sat up on his bed and looked down on me. "You're kidding, right?"

I turned on my side to face him. "Do I look like I'm kidding...?"

When I saw Sora's face, I didn't cringe, or flinch, or do anything out of the ordinary. I just watched him. I was holding back a smile, because I couldn't just not smile when I looked at him. That was it. Sora looked at me in seemingly the same way, his eyes watching how I looked at him. And for just a split second, I didn't see rage, or anger or hatred at me. I saw him. I saw Sora.

He turned onto his side and faced his back at me. "You always look like that," he muttered defensively.

I put my back down to the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. The sheets were becoming warm under my body, but at the same time, I felt like curling up under them. I waited for another voice to start speaking, even if it was mine, but nothing happened for what seemed like the longest time. After a deep breath, Sora was the first to say something after that.

"Do you think Valentine's just pulling our leg with this whole project thing?" he asked.

I was still staring at the ceiling when I answered him after long thought from myself. "No, I think he just wants to work us more."

"Man..." Sora then turned to face the ceiling also. "Third year's turning out to be a drag."

I couldn't agree more.

"Oh, hey, uh, did you write down the notes?" he asked a little cautiously. It had finally hit him that something else was wrong.

It didn't make my blood boil or anger rise in me when I remembered the kid didn't take any notes. I shrugged and said, "Yeah, of course I did," to which he replied with a surprised "Oh."

I was waiting for Sora to start talking to me again, but it was taking longer than I thought. Sora's breathing picked up slowly again, like he was falling asleep, but for some reason, I interrupted him with the most solemn question I could have ever asked him at this point.

Turning towards him, I wanted to see his face when I was going to ask the question. I didn't want underlying tension to separate me from the tension, and for a split second I made sure to keep my hopes down. In an almost quiet whisper, I asked, "How are you, Sora?"

Again, I didn't expect him to answer immediately, and I gave him time. In fact, I wasn't going to be bothered if he had not even answered me at all.

Not much longer later, he sighed and answered, "Not bad, not great."

"Me too," I agreed, almost simultaneous with his answer, and turned to face the ceiling again. That had been a lot of pressure off my chest.

Before I could continue saying anything, Sora had the next word. In short sentences, he started,"Remember last year—

"—When we all thought this was going to be the best year of our lives—even better than senior year...when I couldn't wait to finish school, and get a job, and spend all my time with you two...I missed it. I don't have a second chance anymore. Maybe I can still finish the year, and finish next year, but it's not going to be the same anymore."

He turned to me, but I didn't dare face him. My eyes were plastered to the light fixtures on the ceiling, tracing all the designs that crowned the top. "I don't have anyone anymore."

I was completely silenced at this point. My heart screamed to say the same to him too, because that had been all I had thought about in the past few weeks. I hadn't told him I'd been hurting when I needed to, and he felt the same way, which, was probably all that I had feared earlier on.

I didn't want the conversation to dissipate, but I had to let it go away. It hurt every part of me to disregard it, but I had to do what I was trying to teach myself to do. Like the last sour note stuck in my mouth, I didn't get to have the last word when I had earnestly struggled to let it be free. Be free. Move on.

It took me all the feelings in my gut to sit up on the side of the bed and play off that I had heard Sora talking, but didn't want to talk about it. "So, why is there such a huge department store in such a crowded district?"

Like he hadn't just brought all his emotions out on me, he sat up on the side of his bed and looked at me in complete awe. It was like he was just like me; he had sat up so fast he probably seemed to have forgotten the entire conversation we had. "Don't tell me—you've never been to Traverse Town before this, haven't you?"

"No...why? It's not like you've ever said you've been—"

He grabbed my wrist and stomped toward the door, like a little boy dragging his mom to go out. "Wha–Sora, what do you want?"

"We're going out to see the town!" he yelled defiantly, already putting on his shoes.

—–-

Sora didn't grab me by the wrist or anything, but whenever I did straggle behind, he'd come around and push me forward, and I'd shoo him away.

Because there were so many crowds earlier, I wasn't able to see Traverse Town at all. But since it was now all nightlife, the regular crowd had went home and were replaced by late night party-goers and couples out for midnight walks. The clock on the massive building outside the inn read that it was around eleven in the evening, so I assumed that everyone should be going home.

Sora didn't let that stop him. First, he dragged me through the back streets so we could go to the Fourth District. Neku, the boy Sora had been talking to and the one that sprayed paint all over me, was gone, but his mark was left on the wall he had been standing in front of. The initials "C A T" were scrawled on the wall in graffiti art style, and I had to suppress the thought of such a cool and collected guy like Neku having a name that means exactly what the wall said—a cute and cuddly cat.

Sora raced up the steps and kept waving me on to follow him into the Fourth District, which was of course, still crowded, but manageable, with lots more open space.

Sora waited for me to catch up with him. "This is the Fourth District. They just opened this place recently, so yes, Kairi, it does smell new."

I saw him beaming at the entire place. He pointed to the water fountain and described the time he once scaled the entire thing and how he could do it again in fifteen seconds; he then mentioned a really good sushi place and the nearby coffee store. Later, he mentioned how big the department store actually is on the inside, and that's when I mentioned I didn't have any spare munny lying around.

Sora assumed his regular thinking patterns, and gave me the best answer he could've. "Well, you gotta have munny with you in a department store. Maybe we'll find some...Let's go—" and with that, he sprinted into the store, which I was surprised, was still open.

Inside were a multitude of different types of stores—restaurants, clothing outlets, designer brands, coffee shops, bookstores—I almost went crosseyed looking everywhere. I couldn't count all the floors, but as we passed more and more stores, I was sure to note all the different types of stores there were.

Sora looked to me, his eyes glowing just like mine were. "That was my first reaction too."

"What? You hate shopping around! And, since when did you even like walking?"

"Shut up, Kairi, I'm not that rude..." he said, and he continued in leading the way. There were more late-night stragglers going making the rounds in the mall, and I saw almost all of the stores were still open with people still sifting through.

I had begun to slow down a bit when we passed by a jewelry store. I couldn't help but eye this pearl necklace that was sitting on one of the shelves. Sora had continued walking, thinking I was following him, but I spent a few lasting moments watching the glass. I envisaged myself wearing it, in some kind of weird alternate universe, and watched as everyone else in the store lined up to pick something out. The necklace, with it's single simple pearl...reminded me of the islands.

When I looked back at Sora, he still didn't realize I was gone, so I caught up with him as he was just about to tell me something.

"I know this really cool place—hey, why you smiling?"

"Ha, none of your business."

He still looked over at me, and I looked to him, but he just nodded it off. "Hey, let's go in here."

I took a seat on the bench and shooed him off, like a mother shooing her kid into the store for his own fun. "Nah, I'll sit this one out."

Sora stayed there for a second, looking out at me, and then back to the store, then back at me. "Alright, suit yourself!"

Sora ran into what looked like a store that sold guys' clothes, and before long, I couldn't even find him among all the hooded sweatshirts and cardigans.

My heart was racing from running around the entire town, and now I really felt relieved enough to take a deep breath. Never have I ever felt that much pressure to do anything right or act a certain way. But somewhere inside, I felt like this was supposed to be normal. At one point, Sora and I had been really close friends, right...?

Really, really close friends.

No, it didn't seem possible anymore.

Throughout all the past weeks, Sora had been thoroughly mad at me and even acted that exact way. And now, when we end up having to have a stupid sleepover in a foreign town, he seemed different, but not totally foreign that I didn't know him again. He reminded me of how he was before this school year even started. And that was enough to make me excited to be around him. It felt like...I was home, when I really was miles from it. I felt...safe.

When I felt like Sora must've died inside the store for him to have taken so long, I decided to check the time on my phone. It read 0:24, so it was a little past midnight. But in the corner of the screen was a little message icon, something I hadn't seen in awhile. I went to my inbox, and there were two texts from a number I hadn't saved.

[Unknown]: How's your weekend in Traverse Town, Kai? Sat. 9/15/12 21:56

[Unknown]: You're not answering me...u ok? Sat. 9/15/12 23:43

I almost forgot that Friday had just been yesterday. I glanced at my wrist, and found the same black numbers Roxas had scrawled on there. I went to go answer his text, and I replied to it like I would normally.

"Hey, I'm fine! Just hanging around Traverse Town hbu" Sun 9/16/12 0:34

I sent the text, and I went back to looking around for Sora. He still hadn't shown up by the time a text came through, which must've taken a good ten minutes.

[Roxas]: ...it's midnight. Don't tell me... Sun 9/16/12 0:45

"Hey don't think that, we're just out—"

I was right in the middle of typing out the text on the keyboard, but I looked up straight away when I saw something fly by in front of me. At that time, Sora rushed out of the store, caught sight of me, and grabbed me by the wrist. For the second time that night, I was being lead around, but this time, it was the entire mall, and I was growing uncomfortable. I shoved my phone in my pocket, and tried not to trip and fumble.

"Hey! Sora, where are we headed to?" I yelled at him while I slipped my hand into his to be more comfortable.

"Don't talk! Just run—casually!" he retorted, and that's when I took notice of the two coats in his hand.

"You stole from the store?!" I said, almost yelling at him.

"No, no, this guy was gonna kill me because I took the ones he wanted—"

I almost dug my heels into the ground. "That's it?!"

"Whadya mean that's it!? This is the bad part of Traverse Town, Shi—"

I thought I heard two gunshots behind me, but that couldn't have been right. I heard one more, and by this time, I was dragging Sora to get out of there. We had reached the statue of the dog outside the 104 building when we finally stopped running. I felt like my lungs were about to give out.

"I thought...you were...a cross country...sprinter," Sora breathed in between words.

"Excuse me! You shouldn't have...pissed off...a guy with a...gun!"

Sora stopped panting, and stood up straight. He brushed his pants, and looked back at the 104 building, before saying, "Well, let's go on."

I didn't take his hand or even ask him anything. I just took my hand, and punched his arm.

He turned around, and I at least tried to explain how I felt. "I was really...worried."

"Geez, I'm sorry, I won't leave you by yourself next time, then," Sora replied hesitantly.

"But—" He cut me off when he slipped his hand forcibly with mine, and I could feel the same warmth he did. He wasn't looking at me, but all he looked at was the ground shifting beneath his feet. Unnoticeably, he was shaking, and I watched as he looked down at the ground. "Let's go elsewhere."

I nodded, knowing that my voice would've gone nowhere with him.

—–-

He continued to show me around, even when the clock struck 2 in the early morning. By this time there were smaller crowds, but the lights were still going strong. After the incident, he had continued to show me almost anything he could've possibly showed me, like the massive graffiti art his friends helped do, as well as the place to enter the Flick Rush competition. He loved watching what was going on, he said, and he had only been here a few times. Lastly, he brought me to the outskirts of the city, far enough that the glaring lights weren't in sight, but not too far that we'd get lost. Then, he stopped walking, dropped himself down on the ground, and told me to do the same.

I scoffed at him, and watched how he was just lying on the ground so carefree."You do the stupidest things..." I muttered under my breath, but Sora just took my wrist and pulled me down. I was lying right on the grass next to him, but when my eyes adjusted, I clearly saw something I hadn't seen in the longest time.

"Man, showing people around sure is tiring," he said, folding his arms behind his head to prop up his head. I could feel him looking at my expression, but I couldn't dare peel my eyes from the most beautiful thing I had seen in a while. I felt my senses brighten up under the cold sky.

"How many times...exactly...have you been here before?" I said while keeping my gaze fixed ahead.

Sora took his time with answering me. I didn't feel he had much to say on anything. I couldn't hear his once audible breathing, which had reduced to inconsistent sighs which brought out little clouds of mist from this breath. At one point, I had almost forgotten of his presence; it was just me, and the—

He cleared his throat, and I knew why he felt that way. He didn't know how to word his sentence, so he coughed, and continued, saying, "I, uh, helped people around the town oftentimes. I'm surprised they all remembered me."

I didn't want to hesitate for my sentences anymore. "You're kind of hard to forget, Sora."

The other side of me was silent. I accepted this silence, and continued looking towards the sky. My eyes would blink again and again when I realized that this was real, and not some kind of holograph.

"You can't really see them from the city," Sora interrupted, like he really wanted to get his sentence in before the moment disintegrated. "Or even Destiny Islands anymore. It's like...they move to wherever you're meant to be, whether it's somewhere new, or somewhere you were all along."

By this time, I had to blink again to keep my vision clear, and I hugged my arms to my chest. "It's beautiful, it really is, but—"

"I've been going every weekend since...you know. It's because of Riku...he once told me that they were...other worlds...and other people...and we're all—"

Sora didn't finish his sentence. I didn't have to ask him to. I just continued looking up in what was one of the first times I had felt happy in a long time.

Sora finally began talking again. "I don't know how you were able to cope, but this is me. This is what I hold onto."

I almost did sit up to look at him. "You know how I cope?" I openly said. I was actually talking to him about it now. This seemed to surreal: speaking about something I had held inside for so long. When I was sure Sora was listening, I took a deep breath, and said breathlessly, "I see someone for it."

"No way—" he replied, and this time he looked towards me. "Like a...psych—"

"Yes, of course, don't make fun of me," I told him.

"Oh."

My skin was turning warm. It was all out in the open now. He thought about it, I thought about it just as much, but now we were just two people, with the same problems hovering over our heads, under the same sky. Every once in awhile, the sky would twinkle again and again, and I would have to blink once...twice...a third time, but I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

It hurt thinking I wouldn't be able to see the stars again.

—–-

"Oh, what happened to her?"

I feel like I'm floating on air.

"Just sleepy, it's alright."

Where are the stars?

"Oh, put her in bed now. It's good you—"

I feel a slight lessening of being suspended in air, and these familiar comfy coverings are put over me. I rub my bare feet together, and I hug the sheets closer to myself, almost covering my entire head.

I don't know how much time passes, but a little later my eyes open a little, but it's completely dark, except for a light coming from the bathroom. I don't open my eyes completely, but I see the figure of Sora coming from the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist and another towel in his hands, while he tried drying his hair.

My cheeks turned red, and subtly, I turned to face the other side, trying to make it like I was just shifting in my sleep. Sora stopped drying his hair, but he continued when he thought I had fallen back asleep.

Pretty soon, Sora had gotten into bed and fallen asleep just as soon as he had gotten under the sheets. So I left the wondering of how I got there for the morning.

—–-

When I woke up, the clock said it was two in the afternoon. I hadn't really overslept like that before, and I was sure Sora had never done that before. I looked over to his bed, and it was already neatly made up. I immediately sat up, and saw no sign for Sora, except his backpack sitting on the table. I looked to the doors leading out to the balcony.

I kicked off the covers of the bed and found that I was still wearing the same zip-up dress and cami I had worn yesterday, but I didn't even anticipate the weather outside. I pushed away the curtains and saw a flurry of snowflakes falling heavily, again shocking me, as it was fall.

I was about to push open the door and feel the snowflakes myself, but on the glass, I saw breathed onto the glass:

"I suggest taking a warm shower... Sora was here"

Touching the cold glass, I felt the warmth of his breath on glass, and I wiped it away. I approached the shower, and actually took Sora's suggestion.

By the time I had all lathered, rinsed, and repeated, I put on my old clothes, which was probably wrong, since I'd have to go out in that snowstorm. I put on the clothes, but I had the idea where or when to go out and buy a pair of sweatpants.

When I opened the bathroom door, Sora was sitting on his bed, apparently waiting for me to get out of the shower. He looked up when he heard me come out, and he in a mellow voice, "Good afternoon."

He was also wearing the same clothes as yesterday, but there was a pile of coats next to him, and he was holding something else. He handed it towards me, and I took it. Just by feeling it, I knew it was some kind of warm fabric.

"Uh...thank you, Sora," I offered, and he half-heartedly smiled and walked to the balcony doors. "I called your mom this morning and told her we're coming home today."

Again, I just stared at Sora, and offered another, "Thank you," before turning back into the bathroom. I closed the door, and I almost slid down onto the floor to realize what had just happened.

I had put on the sweatpants, which fit perfectly, and looked at myself in the mirror. What kind of stretch of luck I had this weekend was some kind of magic, because Sora was nice to me, and I didn't know how I was supposed to act when we got home—as before, hating each other's presence, or the same as this weekend, when we were friends again.

I left the bathroom after brushing through my hair with my fingers and washing my face. I took a deep breath, and Sora was waiting by the front door for me, his backpack already slung on his shoulder.

I grabbed my bag, my phone on the nightstand, and put on the snug winter coat before heading to put on my shoes. I leaned over to tie them completely, and when I stood up, Sora stood in front of me. He was wearing a similar coat to mine, and a scarf was wrapped around his neck. He held a similar one in his hands, and before I could interject, he wrapped it snugly around my neck, better than I could've done by myself.

"I want to go around a little first,"

We both said at the same time.

—–-

The blizzard had begun to let up, and we were able to walk around in the snow for a bit longer before the only train to the islands was going to leave. We passed by the 104 building, where there were only a few brave souls wandering around in the snow. The fountain in the middle had become solid ice, and some kids were still slipping around on it. The dog statue, who I had read was named Hachikō, still stayed in the same position with snow being clumped on the bottom.

Then we passed the Fourth District, where the lights were still on and the moogle was sitting by the entrance to the train station. It looked at us, and stood up to see us.

"Kupo! What're you doing?" it asked.

"We're leaving today to go back home," I answered it.

"No—" It came up to both of us, and reached up to take Sora's hand, and my hand, and made us hold them together.

My body instantaneously grew warmer than before, and I had to adjust the scarf itching at my neck. "You'll get cold staying separately! Have a good trip, kupo!" and with that, it flew off to talk to another moogle on the other side of the square.

I looked to Sora, who was also a little red, and I decided to lead him along, almost forgetting our hands were to be stuck to each other for awhile.

—–-

The train ran a little slower than I wanted, but I passed the time by being able to watch the ocean that Sora had watched when we were coming into the town. I sat by the window, which faced the beautiful colors of the ocean. Some parts were freezing over from the unexpected snowstorm, but still, farther out, I could see the bluest parts of the ocean, just waiting for warmer times.

It had already gotten dark, and we still weren't home. The train had to stop multiple times to avoid overheating the engine, but the snow storm was beginning to clear out and dwindle into just a little drizzle of snowflakes. Sora sat up straight the entire time, silently looking ahead into the seat in front of him.

I watched the snowflakes decrease in number, and pretty soon, the sky was now completely black, no snow floating to the ground. At this time, I closed my eyes, and leaned into the back of my chair. Lightly, I felt my head leaning over to the right, until it rested on what I thought was the chair's headrest.

Eventually, I felt movement, but I didn't lift my head from the headrest. Then, I felt something new...the slight weight of someone else leaning onto the headrest. I didn't open my eyes, but through my eyes, a tear escaped, one which I hadn't known why. I felt steady breathing, whether it was mine, or the person next to me.

Is this a mistake?

—–-

When I woke, the breathing was gone, the weight of someone else, the pillow I had, was all gone. I looked to my right, and no one was there. A man in his early twenties sitting next to us got up when I did, and chuckled to me, saying, "You two were so silent."

He showed me his phone, and there was a photo from his seat that looked a lot like me, sleeping on Sora's shoulder, while he slept on my head lightly. I had barely felt it, and this was what happened. I looked up to the man with a puzzled look on my face, but the man beat me to it.

"There," he said when he deleted the photo. "It's okay."

He left the train car, and I was left looking at the seat where Sora was sitting. My bag was on it, even though I hadn't remembered putting it there. I put it on my side...

The train station was quiet, and seemed like I was the last one out, because afterwards, they closed all the doors and turned off the lights. When I opened my phone, it read 0:17, a little past midnight, September 17.

I shut my phone, and put it in the pocket of my sweatpants. In the other pocket, however, I felt something was weighing it down. I dug around, and pulled out what looked like a tiny box with a piece of paper on top.

When I opened the box up, it was something I had almost forgotten about. All shiny and new, like it was bought this morning, was the necklace I had eyed last night when Sora wasn't looking. The pearl looked shinier than I thought, even under the dark and crisp sky. I breathed heavily, the moist from my breath forming a tiny cloud that disappeared later.

I ripped off the paper, and in the dim light, I was able to read the childish handwriting of a boy I once knew—one I thought I had lost just recently. But after this weekend, I felt his presence, his heart being exactly where it was supposed to be. Never has my hope been that restored.

"'Happy birthday, Kairi.'"

I put the box and note in my bag, and continued walking home. Nothing said a happy birthday like you forgetting the very day you were born, and your best friend remembering it for you.

"'Love, Sora.'

Don't really want to spoil the moment with a stupid author's note, but I just wanted to let you know three things: One, this took me about 8 hours. Straight. 9 am to 5 pm. And it seemed a lot longer in my head, but it just came out to 10,000 words. That's a record! *High five*

Second: I finished KH3D, and I have to say it is quite perfect :) I'm sure all of you will like it...(that means go out and buy it. Now.) Third: I posted a oneshot for today, September 17, for the Kingdom Hearts 10th anniversary...there's spoilers but what the hell it's ok hahaha Thanks for reading this I put a lot of work into it~

x HAPPY SOKAI DAY 2012 & 10TH ANNIVERSARY x