Chapter 1

Meeting Kairi

I was waiting for Aqua to get back from visiting Yen Sid. She takes FOR-EV-ER! But, then again, it is training. Even though I, too, can use a keyblade I can't train yet. Because, I'm too 'young'. I hate it when people say that to me. It gets really annoying!

"Kurobara, ready to go?" Aqua called coming up to me.

"Yes", I said as I stood up. "Where are we gonna go?"

"Where ever… is that alright with you?"

"Yeah!" I shrieked with enjoyment.

"Okay, come on lets go" Aqua then, called for her vehicle. In a flash it stood before us. "Okay, you know the drill." I nodded and started to sing. Soon I and she were suited up in armor. We hopped on her ride and were cruising through the worlds.

Soon we were off. As we went through the world's we saw another with the same vehicle. It looked like Terra's. "You wanna go after him?" Aqua asked. "SURE!" I replied. We went after Terra, leading us to Radiant Garden.

"Wanna see if he went to the castle?" Aqua asked me.

"Sure", I said smiling.

"Okay then", she smiled back at me.

She took hold of my arm and we were off to the castle. It has been awhile since we were here. It almost seemed like forever. We past a lot of people we knew. Cloud, Yuffie, Leon, Cid, and Donald's Uncle, Lea, Isa, and a lot of other people. But, none of them were Terra.

We were walking up the stairs of the castle, when all of a sudden we saw a girl running by, being chased by unversed's.

"RUN!" Aqua shouted at the girl and quickly sprung into action. That's what I admired about Aqua, always caring about others.

The girl ran behind Aqua scared. She was hold red and yellow flowers. She also had very pretty red hair. I smiled at her. She looked at me funny.

"Kurobara, ready to help me?" Aqua called from behind me.

"Yes!" I replied. I quickly took out my keyblade and through it at the unverseds. My keyblade did multiple flips and came back to me. Destroying most of the unverseds. All of a sudden came a beam of light. It quickly turned into an oversized mouse… also holding a keyblade. The girl next to me was either astonished by my keyblade skills or the oversized mouse.

"You have a keyblade too… how can you have a keyblade", Aqua asked the oversized mouse sounding very confused.

The mouse slightly turned his head and said "No time for that now, get those girls out of here"

"Kurobara… you know what u must do" Aqua said firmly to me. I wanted to say that I wanted to fight, too. But, I didn't dare too. So I took the girls hand and took her where I knew she wouldn't get hurt.

"Umm…" the girl started to speak, once we came to a stop. I turned to look at her. "Thank you for saving me" she smiling.

I smiled back. "No problem."

"So your name is Kurobara?" she asked sounding very curious.

I nodded. Before I could ask her what her name she asked "But, doesn't that mean black rose?"

Again, I nodded. And again, she interrupted me. "Why would your parents name you that?"

"I don't know and I don't want to know or anything about them", I said with a straight face.

"Wh-", she stopped. I think she saw the pain in my eyes.

"So…" I wanted to change to a different topic. "What's your name?"

"My name is Kairi" She smiled.

"Kairi… that's a very pretty name" I smiled as I said her name.

"Thank you" she smiled back.

"Kurobara!" I heard Aqua called from a distance.

"Come on, we'd better go" I started to walk then slowly run to Aqua. Kairi followed. "Yes?" I asked Aqua. I looked around to see where the over sized mouse had gone. But, the mouse was nowhere in sight.

"Are you two alright?" Aqua asked both of us.

"Yes", we both answered at the same time.

"That's good", Aqua smiled with relief.

"Here", Kairi was handing Aqua half of her flowers.

"For me?" Aqua asked.

"Yes, for saving me", Kairi smiled.

"Thank you, their lovely", Aqua grinned as she took them.

"And for you", Kairi turned to me, handing me the other half.

I was astonished, nobody has ever done that to me… "Really?" I looked at her still surprised.

She nodded. "You saved me, too."

I was about to take them when I looked at Aqua, giving her 'do I have permission to' look. Aqua nodded. So I took them. "Thank you" I smiled brightly at Kairi.

"You're welcome" Kairi grinned.

"KAI-RI!" someone called from a distance. Kairi turned around to see who it was, I think. "GRAND-MA!" Kairi shrieked with excitement.

She ran to her, what I'm lead to believe is her grandma. "Come on, Kairi, we're going to be late" Kairi's grandma told her. I wondered what they were gonna be late to. "Okay… just give me a second" Kairi responded to her grandma and turned around. She waved bye to us and took hold of her grandma's hand.

"Grandma, tell me the story again" I heard Kairi from a distance.

"But, I already told you that story countless times Kairi"

"Please Grandma!"

"Ok fine"

"Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then, people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the worlds disappeared. But, small fragments of light survived… In the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost worlds. They're the worlds we live in now. But, the true light still sleeps deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But, someday a door to the innermost darkness will open, and the true light will return. So listen child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. That's why you can't give into darkness. If you believe in the light within the darkness, your heart will shine like a light within dark, and everyone will be happy." (Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep/ YouTube footage)

As Kairi's grandma finished her story, she walked down the staircase. I turned to look at Aqua. I could tell she, too, was paying close attention to the story. I looked back at the staircase. Neither Kairi, nor her grandmother was seen.

"A fascinating story… isn't it…" Aqua turned to look at me. I looked up to her. I nodded. "It sound like as if it were true" I told her. "It probably is true", Aqua said as she turned to look at the stair case.

"Wanna look for Terra now?" Aqua turned to look at me again. I nodded. "Where should we look?" "What about at the central?" I hinted. "Okay let's go." Again, Aqua took my hand and dragged me along to the central.

There we met up with Donald's uncle. "Excuse me, sir…" Aqua was trying to get his attention. "Yes malady?" he asked Aqua. "Have you seen a man around here… dressed kind of like me?" She asked him politely. "Hmmm…. Why I think I have. Last I saw him, he was at the balcony" , he answered. "Thank you very much!" Aqua bowed. "Oh! No need for that, happy to help" He said as he walked off.

"Let's go to the balcony" Aqua said with excitement", and took my hand again.

We got to the balcony and found Terra there… but with Xehanort….