Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters or anything, etc. etc. All I did was write the story, blah, blah, blah, on to the fiction!

"This must be what they mean by simple pleasures…"

"What?" Axel gave him a look.
"I mean… even if we can't exactly feel happiness or anything… It's still nice to have days like this, you know?"
"Yeah."
"I guess."

Roxas sighed, knowing that neither of his friends was really getting it. Her stared out at the horizon and stuck the remnants of his ice cream into his mouth.
"You're gonna get brain freeze," Xion warned, but Roxas wasn't listening.

Strange… How moments like these gave him that strange feeling, from down in his stomach to the empty chasm where his heart should be. It was moments like these that gave him a reason to stay in the Organization... But also a reason to fear it. What if there came a day when they couldn't be together anymore?

"Mm–!" Roxas was feeling that brain freeze, and ended up gripping his head and coughing up his ice cream.

Axel laughed, despite himself, and Xion's face resumed an expression that clearly stated, "I told you so."

Roxas looked annoyed. "Oh, shut up, you two!"
Axel smirked, then went on eating his ice cream, even though Roxas knew he didn't like it much.
Xion stared at the clouds, eating her ice cream slowly, as if trying to enjoy every bite. She smiled a little, staring at the rose-and-violet colored puffs, high above. "They're beautiful…"
Roxas leaned back on his hands, watching. "Yeah…"
"Hey, you two, do you know why red is the color you see most when you look at the–"
"Axel, shut up," Roxas interrupted, having heard it before.

Axel mockingly imitated a hurt expression. "You guys are no fun…"

"Xion, why don't you come back with us?" Axel asked as they sat on the crooked tree, staring off into the distance.
"I can't," she said. "I'm not even supposed to exist, nobody even knows who my other is, I can't use the Keyblade anymore–"
"I don't know who my somebody is either," Roxas pointed out, but Xion only sighed.
"It's not like that…"
Roxas was confused. "Then what?"
She was silent for a moment before she responded.
"What do you think happens after we regain our hearts?"
"We'll be able to feel again, and we can have real lives, right?"
"Didn't you ever have morals as humans? If you remembered your time as a Nobody, how would you feel about this?" She paused for a moment, looking worried. "Or worse… what if we forget? Would we really be able to stay friends?"
Axel glanced at her. "You're thinking way too far ahead. It doesn't matter what happens after we get our hearts back. But we can't go on living when we're incomplete."
Xion stared at the ground, then smiled a little and looked at the two of them.
"Yeah… I guess you're right," she said.

Reaching up into the tree, she picked a paopu fruit. "Just promise that when we do get out hearts back, we'll still remember each other." She split the fruit into three big chucks and threw one to each of the boys.
"Promise," Roxas and Axel said together.
Xion looked at them with an expression of what would have been pure happiness for any normal person.

"Then let's take the time we have together and treasure it until then… I want these simple pleasures to last."
Roxas bit into his chunk of paopu, staring at the horizon. Axel leaned back on one hand, watching the waves go back and forth upon the sand. Xion let out a contented sigh before biting into her fruit, her eyes raised to the sky and its pink and violet clouds.

"So your mind's made up?" Axel asked, staring at the ground before him, trying to act like he didn't care.

"Why did the Keyblade choose me? I have to know."
"You can't turn on the Organization!" Axel yelled, his mask vanishing. "You get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!"
Roxas was quiet – it was obvious that he was thinking of Xion. "No one would miss me."

Damn it Xion… You're the one that wanted us to stay together…

"Roxas… How do I appear now?"

Roxas walked away. The promise was already broken. It wouldn't matter now.
"That's not true!" Axel exclaimed as he watched Roxas go.
"I would…"

"This must be what they mean by simple pleasures…"
"Hmm?"
"You know, hanging out together, munching on ice cream…"
"Pence, you're happy anytime you're eating."
"Hey! I was trying to say something really good! Like… 'I hope we can always be together like this,' or something."

"There's no way."
"Huh?!"
"Circumstances change. When we grow up, there's no way we can be together all the time like this."
Roxas suddenly felt sad… But he didn't know why two strange faces came into his mind when Pence said that. One had bright, red, spiky hair that reminded him of fire. The other was a black haired girl that looked like Kairi, the girl from those dreams.

"I want these simple pleasures to last…"