The sun is setting upon the ocean. Light reflects of the waves, sparkling like a sea of diamonds.

It's funny, Sora thought, how when I was little, I never noticed the natural beauty of these islands. It wasn't until I had left on my journey that I truly missed this place. He sighed and rested his head on the smooth trunk of the papou tree. He closed his eyes, and breathed in the salty air.

"Wake up you lazy bum!" A voice said to the left of Sora.

His eyes sprang upon. Sora felt his heartbeat rise and he turned to face a girl with red hair. "Kairi!" He said, rolling off the trunk and landing on his feet.

Kairi caught him in a hug and buried her face into his chest. Sora wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "Shouldn't you be heading back, too?" Kairi asked.

"I kinda want to stay out here tonight," Sora said. "What have you been up to? I haven't seen you all day."

Kairi looked up and gazed into his eyes. Hers were full of love, but Sora could see flickers of excitement within their depths. "Riku's been training me all day. And let me tell you, he doesn't go easy on anyone. But enough about that. Can I…" She looked away, before she finished her question. Redness slowly started to appear in her cheeks.

"What?" Sora asked. He found Kairi's blushing to be cute, and amusing.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" She looked back up at Sora.

"Sure you can," he replied.

"Great!" Kairi exclaimed. She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him softly on the lips. Sora kissed back, and before he knew it, they were leaning up against the papou tree in a make-out session..

"Yo lovebirds! Quit dirtying up the tree. I like to relax there too y'know!"

Sora detached himself from Kairi's face. "Jealous much, Riku?"

Kairi turned around and stuck her tongue out playfully at Riku. She ran towards the bridge from their little hangout back to the beach, giggling. "You know where to find me, Sora"

Sora called back a quick "ok" before turning to Riku. "Hey man. Do you mind telling mom and dad that Kairi and I are staying out here tonight?

Riku eyed Sora suspiciously. "And what makes you think that I would do that?"

"If you don't I'll tell your parents about the magazines you have under your mattress!"

Riku responded angrily, "You do that, and I'll tell your parents about your magazines," but there was a good-natured twinkle in his eye.

"Hate to break it to ya, but I sold them to Pence back in Twilight Town after me and Kairi got together. He's still kinda upset that Hayner and Olette are together." Sora chuckled. "So yeah, good luck with that one."

Riku laughed, too, which is rare thing for him. "Alright, alright. Just make sure you share a papou fruit with her. I've seen the picture in the secret cave beside the door to the heart, and as cute as it was, it wasn't the real thing." He ruffled Sora's hair before turning around. "Catch ya later."

Sora watched him walk away and turned around to face the dying sun. I have a bad feeling about the other worlds. He jumped on top of the tree trunk and reached for a papou fruit. He grabbed one of the star-shaped fruit and jumped down to the sand, before heading to the secret cave, where Kairi was waiting for him.

Meanwhile...

Hayner licked his sea-salt ice cream. The sun was setting, so he, Pence, and Olette were sitting up on the clock tower enjoying each other's company. "Hey Olette," he said.

"Yes sweetie?" Said Olette dreamily.

"Do you think Sora might be coming to see us soon? I get this feeling like he has to come here, but I don't know why."

"Well you know," said Pence, "It's been about a half a year since he defeated Xemnas, and he came here a little bit after that, so I don't see why he would have any reason to go anywhere right now."

"Pence is right," Olette said as she laced Hayner's fingers with hers. "I'm sure everything is just fine."

"I sure hope so," said Hayner. He turned back to the sunset and watched the last of the sun disappear.

*Thanks for reading! New chapters to the story will be released (hopefully) once a week, but that may change to daily or every other day. I also apologize for the short length of this chapter, but I am gathering up what I will provide in later chapters. I promise they will be longer.*

*Reviews mean everything to me, so tell me what you think so far, what you would like to see in the future, etc.*

*I realize that everyone is used to seeing Sora as carefree and goofy, but for this story to work, he had to act more grown up. I do, however, apologize for the lack of humor. I will try my hardest to fix that in future chapters.*

*And for fans of Axel/Roxas yaoi, that specifically won't be present, but there will quite possibly be future yuri/yaoi.*

Until next time!