This is going to be an unusual fanfic, at least for me. I'm not adding a character to an established story. I'm not tweaking an established story to follow a "what if" question. This isn't even directly alternaverse, but neither is it directly from the game.

This is the result of several minds working together to create a new story. I'm just the one bringing it to you.

The two other individuals who contributed words to this tale, though I have condensed or rearranged or otherwise altered some of them, are the voices behind King Mickey and Riku. I have spoken to both of them and they agreed to allow me to borrow their contributions for this tale.

This is inspired, not by the game itself, but by developments on a role-playing forum dedicated to Kingdom Hearts. I wanted to share some of the stories we are building there and invite others to join us. Storytelling is an entirely different thing entirely when more than one person is involved.

Anyway, let me get on with the story. The website for the forum is linked on my personal webpage. It's called Kingdom Hearts Age, and I play Kairi. I hope you enjoy the story.

Kingdom Hearts: Growing Up

Sometimes, growing up happens when you really would rather it didn't.

Kairi wasn't ready to grow up. She wasn't ready to make a choice that would decide her path for what was probably the rest of her life. She wasn't ready for the moment when it happened, but it happened anyway.

For as long as she could remember, she, and Sora, and Riku had all been friends, good friends. The best of friends. Still, for as long as she could remember, there had been the whispers, and the assumptions.

She'd heard them from the time she was five, and her mother had noticed her playing with Sora. "Oh, how sweet!" her mother had murmured, dabbing lightly at her eyes with a handkerchief. When Riku had joined them, there were whispers about how the two were good for him, with his background. No one ever told her what his background was. She'd never asked.

She'd never questioned the whispers, either, not until lately. She'd felt Sora's and Riku's absence like an ache in her heart, but she hadn't known how to explain it, until she started remembering. She'd gone looking for Sora, half hoping to find Riku with him, and had only gotten herself in more trouble.

Odette had called her tale "romantic". How little she knew. How little anyone knew.

Sora wanted to go on a journey, the three of them together, like they had never done. Their journeys had all been separate, after a fashion. He reminded them of the raft they had been building, then, before the Heartless attacked.

Riku leapt to his feet, a flash of his old grin on his face. "You've got a point there, Sora. We did spend most of our time searching, so a trip of our own seems like a good idea to me. Any suggestions for our first stop?"

Kairi looked out at the ocean. "I remember the raft." She turned silent for a moment, remembering and wishing things had been different, and then made herself smile at both of them, choosing not to be sad at how much time they had spent apart. "Our own story, huh? I think . . . I think I would like that." Her smile turned slightly impish. "Soooo, did you two either settle who was going to be Captain?"

Riku's grin darkened for a minute at Kairi's question as he looked out to sea, watching the waves gently lap the shore, reminding him, once again, of the past they had shared, before he opened that Door. Renewed guilt washed over him. If only he had never opened that door, none of this would have happened, and the three of them would be off on a nice, relaxing adventure, no Organization or Maleficent to get in their way.

Then the smile flashed back, more brilliant than before. He was not going to let old memories get in the way of a good time, not now, not when he had both of them back again. "I've got an idea, guys. How about a quick match? Winner's the captain. It'll be just like old times, eh, Sora? Maybe you can beat me, this time."

With a snap of his fingers, Riku turned back to Sora, an idea forming in his mind. Pulling a Paopu fruit from one of his over-sized pockets Riku tossed it to Sora. "Another old promise we haven't kept; winner take all sound good to you?" He laughed, settling into a ready stance, his eyes sparkling at the prospect of a fight with Sora. It'd been quite a while since the two of them last sparred, and Riku wanted to see how strong Sora had gotten.

Maybe if he had never mentioned the Paopu fruit, then Kairi could have let the question rest for another year, or another two years, or even for another day.

Kairi watched the two boys prepare for their duel and sighed softly. Yep, nothing had changed. Nothing at all. In some ways it was like the last year or so hadn't happened. They were still friends. The best friends in all the worlds.

Ah, but there it was. They had changed.

Before the Heartless had invaded Riku would never have lost his grin so quickly, or so sadly, at an innocent joke by her about their rivalry. Before the Heartless had invaded Sora would not have stood so certain of himself, even against . . . especially against his friend. Before the Heartless . . . she would not have felt this way about both of them.

They were both her friends. She cared about both of them. And she didn't want to lose either of them, no matter what. She was not going to be the prize they fought over any longer. She just didn't know how to say it without changing things even more.

For everything that hadn't changed, one more thing had. Was this what it meant . . . to grow up? She wasn't ready for that yet.

Kairi took a deep breath and willed herself to forget her worries. Tomorrow would take care of itself and yesterday was gone. She smiled as she took a position outside the presumptive dueling circle to watch. "Go, Sora! Go, Riku!"

Some things hadn't changed.

The boys were focused on their duel when Kairi heard the sound of a Corridor open and then close, depositing another visitor on the sands of the island. A sigh sounded, and then was followed by a high pitched, cartoony voice. It was none other than King Mickey himself. "What are they fighting over this time?" the diminutive King said with a chuckle. He found it amusing, no doubt, the way that Sora and Riku were always competing over something, but there were times it was a bit trying. Mickey looked up to her with kind eyes. "It's good to see you again, Kairi. Doing well, I hope?"

Kairi smiled at King Mickey. It was hard not to smile at him, he could look so kind and sweet that no one knew what a warrior hid beneath his exterior. She shrugged eloquently in response to his question. "Oh, what they're always fighting over, which one is better at just about anything."

She flushed a touch at his attention. "I am well, just hoping the battle does not go further than simple competition. Sora suggested a journey of our own, like we had wished for before we discovered keyblades and battles more real than this. They want to decide which of them will be captain."

She looked back at the two battling boys. "I just wish I weren't so helpless." Her words were barely whispered, almost too faint to hear, as if she weren't aware that she had spoken aloud.

She should have known better than to try to whisper around someone with ears the size of dinner plates. Naturally he heard her and he found her words funny. Still, they caused an idle though to run across his mind, the boys were fighting over something so simple as a captainship? "Fighting over who gets to run things . . ." He shook his head in disbelief. ". . . Funny. I'd figured they were fighting over you." Another laugh, this one being the chuckle of someone who'd seen the same old story play out a good few times.

Kairi flushed as she realized that the King had heard her, but then her expression became something not quite so self-conscious. She almost looked . . . frustrated. "It does seem that way, doesn't it? Why do they have to fight? Why do things have to change? Why . . . why does one winning mean that the other must lose?" It was the one thing she didn't like, that one of them would have to lose. She didn't want to lose either of them. She wanted both of them in her life, for the rest of her life.

He couldn't help it. Mickey laughed. He laughed loud and hard, no doubt enough to catch the attention of the Dueling Keymasters. Regaining his composure, he wiped a tear from his eye, and explained himself. "Kairi, they're teenage boys!" Making a square in front of his face with his thumbs and index fingers, he continued. "They see the world through a window about this big!" He said, looking at her through his hands with one eye. "They're going to fight, and make things unnecessarily difficult, and just generally do things that're gonna make you stop and stare in confusion. But, y'know what?"

At this point, his face got serious. Not life-or-death serious, more akin to pearl-of-wisdom serious. "The bond that the three of you share is like nothing I've ever seen. Nothing that strong is ever easy to handle, but it's always worth it." A soft laugh escaped his lips. "Believe me, nothing about it's easy! Minnie'd have a story or two to tell about some of the stunts I pulled in my younger days!" Unfortunately, that was true. He'd had, time and again, some adventures he'd rather forget.

Kairi flushed a bright red all the way to the hairline at the volume of King Mickey's laugh. This was embarrassing enough, did he have to make it worse? For a moment she sincerely wished that she had more hair so that she could hide her burning face behind it. Why did adults never understand keeping their voices down?

She was afraid to look too directly at Sora and Riku, afraid that they would be staring at her, and at the same time she wondered if they were. She wanted to squirm at the attention. She wanted to hit all of them. She wanted to hug all of them.

Why couldn't she just make up her mind?

She forced herself to lift her flaming face and look at her friends. Might as well see what the King's laugh had done.

Riku heard the King's laugh and called a halt to the duel, jogging over to Mickey and Kairi, kicking up sand as he went. He grinned and waved at his friend Mickey, honestly glad to see him. His grin quickly cut off, however, as he turned to Kairi, his face now serene yet grim, a bittersweet half-smile. Riku pulled out the Paopu fruit from earlier, and whispered directly into Kairi's ear, softly enough, hopefully, that not even the King's oversized ears could pick it up.

"Here, Kairi. In case you ever decide to make your choice; I'm not going to force you to do something you're against; you're not some prize to fight over. You're more important to me, to us, than that. I'm not going to give up, and neither is Sora. So, the choice is yours to make. We've gone through too much to stay 'just friends', Kairi, so you have to make your choice, and make it soon." He turned then to talk to Mickey, but Kairi couldn't hear him.

Kairi felt like her heart simultaneously stopped beating entirely and yet pounded in her ears so loudly that she couldn't hear. She looked down at her hands, at the fruit that sat within them, teasing her, tormenting her. All of her frustration at both of the boys vanished before the truth that rung louder in her ears than the deafening heartbeat.

Riku was right. She had to choose. They would continue to fight and they would continue to challenge each other until it tore their friendship apart and they became enemies instead of the best friends in all the worlds.

But how could the friendship survive making that choice? She didn't want to lose her friends, either of them.

She had to choose. She didn't want to choose.

She . . . didn't know how to choose.

She clutched the fruit in one hand as she pushed herself to her feet and took off running away from the beach, her eyes blinded by sudden tears. There was a room, a little room in the top of a tree. She would go there when she needed to think. It was still there. Still waiting for her.

She reached the room and dropped the fruit on the floor as she fell beside it, dissolving into tears.

The King sighed heavily. "I've really gone and done it now, haven't I?" He half-asked, half-berated himself as Kairi ran off. He'd forgotten how sensitive people were at this age. Normally, he'd be happy to see Riku, especially since there was nothing going on (that he couldn't handle alone). But, of course, with these three? There's always something happening. "It'd be easier if there were two of her, wouldn't it?" He sighed heavily. He'd intended to be of help to the poor girl. He didn't know what Riku'd said, he couldn't quite make it out. But the paopu fruit made it pretty much clear. And, with Kairi as strung out emotionally as she was, that was the absolute worst thing he could have done.

"Sora? Riku? As much as I'd like to catch up? I think Kairi needs someone to talk to, and you two would make it worse right now." It was nothing short of vexing. Sora, Riku, and Kairi, all emotionally invested in each other, and damned if Mickey didn't get stuck in the middle of it all. "I'll go talk to Kairi. Please try not to beat each other senseless while I'm gone." The Corridor opened around his body, and just as quickly vanished. When you can sense the hearts of others, it's not hard to find someone. The Corridor dropped him off in the room and he spoke. "Gosh, Kairi... I didn't mean to embarrass you like that. I'm sorry."

Kairi was a sodden, sobbing mess in the small room at the top of the tree. She looked up at the King as he spoke and a fresh wave of tears crashed from her. "I - I have to choose, I know it. B - but I don't know how to choose." She hiccuped twice. "I don't want to lose either of them. B - but they're gonna keep fighting if I don't choose."

The tears were fading, but slowly. "Why do I have to grow up at all? Why do things have to change? I - I have to choose, and I have to choose soon." She looked at the paopu fruit, where it lay on the wooden floor, and stifled the urge to throw it against a wall and watch it smash onto the wood, sending rivulets of juice dripping to the floor.

Instead she picked it up and held it in her hands. It wasn't the paopu's fault that it was what it was. It wasn't the fruit's fault that she had to make a choice that somehow seemed to mark the end of one life and the beginning of another. Even if it was a choice she wasn't ready to make.

She looked up and met the King's eyes. "I'm scared of choosing. Scared that I'll lose the one I don't choose. What do I do? Please, tell me what to do."

---

Riku, after watching Kairi flee, sobbing, to their hideout, was positively stunned. He had never wanted anything like that to happen to her. The very last thing he wanted was for her to feel more pain. He had done it; it was his fault. Pain . . . So much pain . . . All he caused, it seemed, was pain. Pain for Sora, when he fought against him with Maleficent. Pain for himself, when he watched Sora turn himself into a Heartless, for Kairi's sake. Pain for Kairi, when he had left her. Pain for everyone, when he had started it all, that fateful night, the night he had originally planned to confess to Kairi. That stupid door . . .

He couldn't take it any more. Striding quickly over to the nearby paopu tree whose fruit he had handed to Kairi. So much like "his" paopu tree, where they had played and laughed together, so long ago . . . It was all his fault. His. Riku rammed his fist against the tree, causing it to tremble violently, much like himself, trembling with rage. No one could hate him as much as he hated himself right now. Sora. Kairi. Mickey. Tidus. Selphie. Wakka. Everyone. With each person, he punched the tree again, shaking it harder and harder as the blows rained down against its barked side.

Never again, he vowed to himself. Never again would he hurt his friends. Riku trembled again, not with rage, this time, but Darkness; his inner Darkness was trying to take over, again. Riku wasn't fit to be her friend, let alone feel anything more for her. He was too tainted, too Dark. But, he couldn't leave. Not again. That would be too much. Kairi was his light; the only thing that kept him going, kept him fighting against the Dark within himself. Without her, he would lose himself in the Dark, and become a heartless monster, and cause only more pain. With a howl of frustration, sorrow, and anger, Riku punched the tree once more, and the poor, abused tree couldn't take any more; With a loud, creaking CRACK! the tree toppled, and with it, Riku, who leaned against its trunk, nursing his bruised knuckles and wallowing in despair.

---

Mickey did some of his best work on impulse. Acting on impulse, he hugged the torn girl. He didn't have any idea how he could help, though. There WAS one she cared for more, of that he was sure, but he couldn't tell which. She'd live and die for both boys. She knew it, Riku knew it, and Sora knew it. The answer lay in the deepest reaches of her heart, somewhere he couldn't Reach. Mickey paused the thought. He couldn't reach that deep. But, maybe, just maybe, she could!

So he made a suggestion. A Ritual, a Dive to the Heart. It would be dangerous, but it would help her, and she couldn't tell Sora or Riku about it.

Kairi thought about it for several minutes. "I just . . . I don't want to lose either of them." She sighed and sat back against the wall, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand, leaving smudges on both her cheeks. Finally she shook her head. "No, I'm not strong enough to face anything dangerous. Not on my own."

She sniffled absently. "I - I know what I have to do. I just . . . I don't want to do it. I don't want things to change. I want the three of us to be best friends forever. I don't want to lose either of them." She looked up at the King. "They both mean so much to me. Both of them."

She sighed. "Does growing up mean I have to lose one of my best friends?"

Mickey shared her frustration. But his anger was focused on the one who had made the silly legend about the paopu fruit. It might not have been the wisest thing he ever did, but he summoned his keyblade and stabbed at the fruit, and watched as it split into two equal pieces, except for the hard stone pit in the center. The pit alone was left unharmed by the division of the fruit.

After a moment, Kairi picked up the two pieces of the paopu fruit, one in each hand. "I think . . . I think it's time I made this choice." Her eyes were dry, at last, but there was a stillness to her voice, a sorrow that hadn't been there before. "Thank you, King Mickey, for helping me. If you will tell them . . ." she paused for a moment, swallowing carefully, "tell them I'll be down after a while. I need to think."

She stayed in the room for several hours, the two pieces of the fruit in her hands, simply looking at them silently. She very carefully pulled the star-shaped stone pit from the one as she turned the issue over and over and over again in her mind.

No one is ever really ready for the moment they must make their first adult decision.

Kairi was not ready to grow up. No one ever really is. But the choice had to be made, and she had to make it. Sora . . . or Riku? She loved them both. Loved them with a strength that made her tremble. She would fight for either of them, die for either of them. Sora had carried her heart for her. Riku had given up his soul for her.

For as long as she could remember her mother and those around her had looked at her and looked at Sora and smiled. They had whispered and presumed and thought to write her life for her.

She loved Sora, she truly did . . . but not in the way they thought she did. He was like the other half of her soul. They were so much alike . . . too much alike, really. He was her brother, her twin, her sibling match. She loved him, but it was not the love that she knew everyone seemed to assume it was.

And she had seen enough of the other Princesses, and the ones to whom they had bound their lives, to know the difference between loves.

Her eyes were dry, but her steps were slow and silent as she walked down to the beach, to where Riku and Sora waited for her, and waited for her decision. The sun was going down over the water. She looked around for a moment to find the poor tree which had taken such abuse, and saw Riku sitting beside it. She walked over and sank into a sitting position in front of him.

She tried to smile as she held out one of the pieces to him. "W-would you share this with me?" The words were simple, but the decision was made.

It was time for Kairi to grow up. Ready or not.