Radiant Gardens, it had been two long years since the War of Heartless and Nobodies, and yet the reminders still remained. The castle was still in constructed ruins, the life of the land barely starting to spring back. Yet hoped remained in the hearts of its citizens, for there was someone there to protect them all from the children of darkness that remained here.

The resident named Kin-Kin had been born and raised here, and was one of the city's most well known citizens now. During the height of the shadow's reign, in the peace before the storm, a rabbit-like creature named Oswald had bestowed upon her a sacred key that could best the coming enemies.
She had dwelled in the heart of the city, taking on enemies while the hero named Sora rushed by and returned a few times. The two never crossed paths, the woman was too shy to admit any closeness to him by the weapon they both possessed.

Her skin was a lovely light brown shade, like mocha with creamer, with spiky black hair at her front and neat spaced out dreadlocks running down the edges of her shoulders in the back. Her eyes were a deep chocolate shade of brown, her eyelashes long and dark. Her face was round, and her nose was a bit bent, her form slightly short and her arms and legs heavy with muscle from years of training. She was handsome for a girl, with pierced ears and a slightly crooked smile. She bore a white loose-fitting jacket, a dark black undershirt and long jeans, with light blue shoes, with bangles on her wrists that clacked together when she swung her arms about.

Her parents resided here, proud of the small accomplishments of the Key Bearer in training. They were both bakers who owned a small store in the town square. Her father was light skinned, skinny and tall and her mother was dark skinned, a bit more plump and short. They both knew she had a strong light in her, and wanted her to explore worlds unknown in the near future.
Kin-Kin protected the people, taking more care of them then herself. She had a strong and quick temper, and was not patient with those that planned too meticulously for helping those that needed it.
She was nearing the ripe age of twenty at this time, still trying to discover herself and where and what she wanted to do. No call for her had come otherwise, and there was not much to do in this small world either any longer.

She often would reminiscent about lost friends she had grown with. It had hurt in the past.
Snow…he was near and dear to her. Her parents had a hard time conceiving a child, so she was lucky to even exist. Because she had no siblings, Snow was sort of her adopted brother. He lived alone in a tiny abandoned house and did street shows to get his munny. He was given bread and food from Kin-Kin's family, and often stayed over. He had taught her to fight, and how to be brave. He would tell her every day never to give up, and that she and him would be heroes in the future. But years later when she got the Keyblade around her 17th birthday, he left without a word. The Keyblade she felt was the reason he left. It was a terrible responsibility.

Her other friend had been Emerald, a girl she had a deep interest in for some time during her early years. She felt that they could have been an item together, and often imagined kissing her or holding her hand. She was a pale girl, with deep black hair who liked to laugh and sing and tell jokes. She could grow plants so easily and loved making clocks with her father. But one day her hair had suddenly become a pale purple color, and then dyed over trying to hide it. There wasn't any questioning about it from anyone at the school, but after a few more months she and her father were no longer there. There wasn't even a trace of her house left.

She cursed the weapon she had been given, it made her feel like a threat to others, like they should fear darkness coming when they saw her. She didn't feel like a hero here, though everyone always thanked her and let her have things. It wasn't rewarding…it was like a prison. There was no call for her to be something more and due to her inability to fly a Gummi, she was stuck until she could find a way out. She dreamed big, she would fly airplanes with her father, and watch the stars, imagining all the different worlds in the sky. She would dream of meeting and talking with other Keyblade Masters and Bearers, heroes of other worlds. She dreamed of meeting her old friends, her brother Snow and her crush Emerald again all together in one place. She helped the world look new by planting flowers in the battlefield where there had once been 1000 Heartless.
Each and every day she would recline on a rooftop, watching the clouds lazily drift by and wonder when her life would make a change for the better, when she could prove she was a real, true hero.

That was until the faithful day she met Kosei.
It had been mundane, a day like any other. Evening was falling upon the city, and a small girl bearing flowers was cautiously trying to return home. The Keybearer was chomping away at a crisp, shiny red apple watching the small girl carefully as the lights began to fade away. Following behind the girl was a taller, blonde-haired man with a goatee to match and tan skin with faint freckles across the bridge of his nose. He thought it was odd that such a tiny one was on her own, and gasped as he spotted a few Heartless, just normal Shadows but their tiny claws could easily hurt her.
The girl yelped, flitting back and forth with panic. Kin-Kin smirked and shouted from the top of her lungs, "Finally some action! I've been waiting for this!" She jumped from the roof and sliced one to help save the girl

"Get out of here! Go home and hurry! I'll take care of these jerks." She flexed her muscles and smiled brightly.
The man seemed awful worried, gulping hard until he noticed the Keyblade appear in Kin-Kin's hands. He carefully held his hand on the flower girl's shoulders, "Are you hurt?"
"No! The Breadmaker's daughter, she saved me!"
He glanced to the fight happening, feeling a bit guilty. He pulled out a strange wand-like weapon from his large coat pocket and cast a freezing spell on a few so that they wouldn't swarm the Key Bearer as badly.
Kin-Kin noticed this and smirked, waving to him, "Okay, you freeze em and I'll smack em!"
"I thought that's what we were doing!" The man chuckled back, getting closer to the battle as she chopped through the Shadows.
"So what's your name?" She asked, as she swung gracefully from left to right, trying to prevent any harm from coming to him or the small girl admiring them from afar.
"Let's worry about these Heartless first, eager beaver." He made a gentle motion, which froze three more coming from the sides.
"Sorry, it's just I've never seen you around I don't think. Of course I'm everywhere on this world. Name's Kin-Kin not beaver, promise!" She smiled widely as they had a tiny break from the swarm

"So you know about these things huh?"

"I've seen them around. Never was able to permanently kill one, though."

"Yet you know they're Heartless!" She sliced one and rose an eyebrow to him, "Who are you?"
He froze the last one. "An...observer! A researcher." He wiped his forehead free of sweat and she struck the last one. "At least I wanna be."

She placed a hand on her chin and came in real close towards him, memorizing the details of his face, "Yeah you like your're smart. Here…" She gave him a small towel.

He grabbed the towel, stepping back quickly as he cleared his throat. Her closeness was unnerving. "Heh, kind of out of shape, aren't I?"

"You're a bit tubby. You need to work out more! Join my force to rid the city of Heartless while the first Keybearer is away helping fight for our worlds! I can't fly gummi ships! I have to stay here too...my family needs me!"

"So it is a keyblade..." He stared at her weapon.

Kin-Kin gave a partial smirk, "What else would it be? It's a giant key! I'm here to protect the people of my home while Sora is away!"
"Great thing you have the Key. Who is Sora?"
"He is a pretty big deal. He has one of the purest hearts around. He's searched the galaxies and worlds just to find those he cares about. I wish I had a gummi ship like him so that I could do the same."
"I have a ship myself…" He began but Kin-Kin's thoughts spilled from her mouth again,
"Yeah but I am not really a big shot yet…I hope I will be."
He smiled warmly at her worrisome face, patting her head, "What you did here today was a good thing, no matter how big or small it was in the long run." He finally remembered the girl standing behind them and made a scooting motion with his hands, "Go on, run along home!"
"I..." She gulped with shaky legs and held her basket close, "Kin-Kin can you take me there?" "Yeah!" She beamed and shuffled over, lifting her up onto her strong shoulders, "Cmon I'll show you my neighborhood mister magic guy."

"She knows you?" He seemed perplexed. "You're more of a big shot than you give yourself credit for." He followed her as she began to scuttle down the alleys.
She had a bit of blush about her cheeks, but it wasn't terribly noticeable, "I guess I'm just feeling a bit adventurous. But I've not found my calling either really. Like I wanna stay here but I feel like there's something more..." She stared to him, "Know what I mean?"

He nodded. "Exactly."

"Never got your name mister magic guy." By now the girl was asleep, flopped over onto Kin-Kin's head.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I got distracted." His eyes looked at the sky dreamily. "Yeah...I'm Kosei."

"Kosei. That's a nice name. I'm Kin-Kin. My parents run the bakery here."

"The bakery? I love the sweets there."

"I'm always upstairs, getting supplies if I'm helping them. Or I'm out on patrol like this."

His eyes grew wide, and he licked his mouth with the memory of the pastries he enjoyed so much, "Can you bake?"
"Of course I can! I just got burnt badly a few years ago so dad told me not to anymore." She quickly changed the subject after a few seconds of silence, "What's your favorite sweet there? I like our honey bread the best I think. Of course silk pie is the best!"
"I like the lemon scones. I usually have those with coffee or tea."

"Coffee is good, tea is alright but I feel like I need a ton of sugar to taste it."

She knocked on the girl's door. The parents opened it, thanked her, gave her a few munny and told her goodnight

"Speaking of which, we're open late. Wanna go get something?"

"Sure! I'd like to...talk about things with you." He had a glossed over, serious expression covering his face.
She scrunched his nose and put her hands on her hips, pointing at him with a stern voice, "Okay but cut that face out. This is a happy thing!"
He rolled his eyes a bit at her childish demeanor but he knew she meant no harm in it. "I wonder if I should contact my mother, I hope she's not worried."
"Who is your mom?"
"No one special in particular, though to me she is one of the best mothers in the world…" He blushed a bit, hoping it wouldn't make her think lesser of him.

"That's awful sweet…"

They entered the bakers shop, and it was mostly quiet. Her mom was at the counter, going through the register. "Hey sweetheart, who's the new guy?"
"MOM. I just met him jeez. This is Kosei, he helped me out today!" She hid her heating face, strongly pouting.
Kosei chuckled softly and waved. "Hello. I come here a lot, but I've never really stopped to talk. Too busy, I guess. The food here's good, though."
Kin-Kin's mother sighed deeply as she scrubbed down the counters, "Well thank you. My husband's retired for the day. Probably snoring away already. I'll be with him in a bit, but I'll help you crazy kids out. What can I get you."

Kin-kin felt so flustered, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks, "Just get me something good mom yeesh."

He knelt by the glass counter, peering at the food. "Hmmmmm...How about this coffee cake? And coffee, of course."
"I'll leave you two alone for a bit." Kin-Kin grabbed the plate her mom made her and the two stuck tongues out at each other. "Yeah...mom and I apparently look alike. I don't see it much myself."

"Your skin is a little lighter. You give the same...impression, though." They sat down at a table by the window.
Kin-Kin gave a giant smile, kicking her legs softly with glee. "My dad's...lighter skinned. There aren't a lot of people like me around, but I know it doesn't matter. People like me." She tilted her head, "What did you wanna talk about?"

"Oh." He cleared his throat. "Well...there's something you may be able to help me with. You and that keyblade."

"What is that?" She was concerned about his tone, but tried to keep a straight face. She bit into the cake when her mother brought it over, leaning in to hear his story.
"I've got a dream." He turned red, feeling a little silly. "When I was little I admired a man who did experiments. But his experiments turned dark suddenly, and he put people's lives at risk. I...I can't remember, exactly. I was really little. But I do remember seeing these people walking after the experiments. I think they might still be alive, and I want to find them, and see if I can reverse whatever he did to them."
"Wow!" She seemed excited, as crumbs flew from her face. "Experiments! That's so cool! Can you do that stuff? Is that why you can do magic?"

He blinked. "Ummm...I'm not too advanced yet. I don't know as much as I should about the darkness, because I've been to afraid to get near the heartless. But if you come with me then you could fight them if things got risky."

"Which, let's face it, they probably always will be."

"You think?" She stared to her hand, "You think I'll be doing this for the rest of my life?"

"I hope so! I think you want to, and it's a gift. Not many people have keyblades. You're the first I've seen in my 20 years."
She puffed her cheeks up, "I feel like a baby compared to you…"
Kosei kept a serious expression, "But I need your help either way."

Kin-kin gulped hard and waved her hands rapidly in front of her face,
"Dude chillax I'll help you out! I'm just not sure where we could start! I'm a bit overwhelmed!"

"Yes, sorry." He dipped the coffee cake in his drink absent-mindedly. "Well, let's start with the parents. Would it be a yay or nay with them?"

"My parents are welcome to anything I decide. They know I've been thinking about this for a while."

"Oh, really? Great! So you're with me?" His face finally contorted into a smile, cocking his head with curiousity.

"When can you leave?" She remembered him having concerns about his own mother.

"As soon as possible. Maybe in a month. I have a lot to do..." He rubbed his head. "Wow, this is a little stressful, heh."
"Can you drive?" She rose an eyebrow, squinting.
"Of course! Wouldn't have a ship if I couldn't!" He chuckled, brushing her tone off.

A glimmer shattered through her eyes, and she stared at him with deep interest, "I think I love you." He took a double take, trying to take a sip from his cup.
She cleared her throat, "I mean lovely weather today right? So tell me more about this..." She came real close, "Shiiip."

He sat, wide eyed and completely red in the face. Coffee dripped from his chin.

"Uhhhh…"It flies." He scooted chair back. "And, y'know, can travel to other worlds."

"THE SHIP MAN WHAT IS THE SHIP LIKE?" She grabbed his collar, her face shoved into his cheek as her nostrils flared and impatience boiled in her fists. She blinked at his uncomfortable expression and let him go, biting her lip, "Sorry I just get really excited about stuff like that. Could you teach me?"
Kosei stared at her, then down at his wrinkled shirt. He took a second to brush them out. "You mean to drive? Yeah."
"Great!" She bounced a bit then settled down, "Thanks Kosei, you're pretty cool so far. No pun intended." She snickered, recalling his incredible handling of ice magic earlier. It made her feel tingly and warm, and she swung her legs about in the chair which was a little too tall for her.

He relaxed. "Right, thanks. You too, if you're willing to go on a crazy trip with a stranger like me."

"Well even if you're a stranger I have a weird feeling. Like we've met before, but not as who we are now. Isn't that crazy?"
He just nodded, half-heartedly as he attempted to eat the rest of his late-night snack.
She crossed her arms, eyebrows crossed in deep thought," "You're not secretly that girl I liked in middle school are you?"

He laughed nervously. "I...hope not? No offense, I'd just like to know if I was a girl previously in my life, that's all."

"Were you? That would be so cool!" She wiggled a bit, "I always wondered what that would be like! To be a boy! How neat!"

"I mean, I guess it's just about as cool as being a girl is." He shook his head with a deep sigh, not trying to think of all the trouble this girl would bring him.
. "Personally I think it's just nice being alive, gender put aside."

"Yeah. Gender is dumb. Dumb and stupid." She sipped her coffee, "Hey you like airplanes? Sky? Clouds?" Her hands slammed down on the table, making him flinch. He didn't want to ruin her spunky nature, but he almost wish he could ask her to stop. If it weren't for her big deep brown eyes he might have had the gall to say something.
Kosei nodded. "Of course. All three. We'll see 'em in other worlds too."

"They say the skies are connected." She opened her arms slowly with an amazed sigh,
"How awesome would that be? Just to be able to look up and see friends and people from other worlds? They say those stars are worlds!"

"Yes, I've heard! There's so many, and that'll take a while to explore!" He winked. "You better get packing."
"Ohhh but there's so much to pack! My keyblade, my other clothes...my..." She blinked and thought for a moment, chuckling, "Actually its not much."

"Hmmm? You, a teenage girl, and not much to pack? No magazines? Shoes? Makeup? No boys to say goodbye to?" There was astounding bewilderment set in his gaze, he scratched his head trying to think of her without all those things.
"No I never was really interested in those things. And boys? I...hmmm..." She thought, pressing her fingers to her chin, "I'm not sure. I don't think anyone likes me."

"Please, if I was your age and there was a girl with a keyblade, I would be all over her. I'm sure you have someone! I bet if you tell people you're leaving you'll find someone will be motivated to confess." He shrugged, feeling almost sorry for her. It was always nice to see those who were young be in love, but he thought that might make him sound like a hypocrite…he was still barely 21!
"The only other boy who's even close to my age is the kid who's parents run the item shop."

"Hmmmm...well maybe you'll find someone in one of the other worlds. Maybe I will too."

"I hope so. You seem like a nice guy."

Kosei laughed. "Heh, thanks. I just wish girls had more of a thing for us magicians than for the big, strong fighter types. That's obviously NOT me."

"You're pretty good looking! I mean...I'm not sure what other girls expect. But I don't care if you're a bit...thin and not so buff." She prodded her fingers together, giving a gentle yet shin smile.
"Yes, thanks...Do you have anywhere you would like to go first? When we leave that is."
She made a straight face, realizing what he had asked, "No…I don't really know of any worlds!"
"Maybe we'll just stop at the first one we see..." He rubbed his chin. "How familiar are you with research and the process?"

"What research?"

He opened his hands, making obvious gestures,"Y'know just...research in general. Science, doing experiments, recording data..."

Her face had terrified written across it as clear as a map,"I have no idea what any of that entails."

His eyebrows reflected his disappointment "That's okay, I guess. I can do most of that..."

"Sorry...my parents bake bread what did you expect?" She chuckled nervously, shrugging it off.

"A little more from the school systems, honestly." She puffed her cheeks a bit, a bit flustered at his tone,"I guess we all have our weak points."

She hid her head between her shoulders, "Math was never really my strong suit...I like art?"
"Art? I was never too great. I like to draw diagrams and graphs, though."

"I liked to do piloting stuff! Dad homeschooled me."

"You should show me these planes sometime."

"They're all in for repair right now, maybe they'll be okay when we're done."

"Right. That's a shame." He finished his coffee. "Whatever happened to them?"
"My uhh…" She seemed to be holding in something she didn't want to reveal, so brushed off what she was going to say, "Friend kinda crashed our planes by accident. He didn't mean anything by it."

"I thought you said you didn't have anyone that was interested in you…is it a sibling?"

"No I'm an only child…the guy is well…" She rubbed the back of her head, "Tall. I'll show you him later…maybe…"
"it's getting late." He looked outside. "It'll be dangerous going home."

"You...uhh...can stay here. There's a futon in my room you can use."

"Ummm..." He blushed, twiddling his fingers. "I'll have to decline. My mom wouldn't like that..."

She nodded and followed him as he stood, left a few munny on the table and departed. She watched him carefully as he began walking down the street that was lit with tiny lanterns. He noticed this, and turned around, "Thanks for the conversation. I'll see you in a few days."

"Okay!"

"You know where I live?"

"No but I can find you! I know the streets well." She stuck a thumb up in his direction, winking, "Be safe getting home!"
He could not think of words to respond, anything that came from his mouth sounded so empty and strange. He could only give a gentle smile, telling her back, "I will…Promise."