Hey there folks! Did you miss me?

Well, anyway, I'm back with a new story and I don't own any of the characters in this chapter except for Mari.

So, enjoy!

And remember, comments are lovely!

Tell Me a Story

Just as the sun was setting, Mari made her way out of one of the small houses that lines the streets of the residential area of Radiant Garden. She'd lived in this small home for a while now. It'd been nearly a year since there was any talk of the heartless or darkness or Ansem or anything exciting. And she hadn't seen Sora, who she had just recently started thinking more about, in about the same time span. The last time she saw him, he was sealing the door to Kingdom hearts and restoring peace to multiple worlds at once. What a kid, apparently the keyblade chose right.

With a quiet sigh, she pushed her thoughts of the cheery brunette boy from the front of her mind and focused on something more immediate, like what she should do right now. As she thought, her feet instinctively started to carry her towards the town square. That wasn't much of a problem at all though, seeing as Mari frequented the square and had managed to make friends with some of the shop owners. Not to mention that she sometimes run into Yuffie or Leon or one of those lot.

Back when Sora and the heartless were running around everywhere, Mari had spent quite a lot of time with Cid and the gang. But, for some reason, she could help but feel that her frequent visits as of late were bothering them just a little bit. Though, that probably wasn't the case. They were all probably just as bored as she was.

Probably.

Again, Mari pushed thoughts of more exciting times from her mind and pushed open the door to the small accesories shop, which was one of the first shops the square opened with. Her green eyes quickly glanced around, seeing if anything caught their attention. When nothing struck her fancy, she walked up the the finely craved wooden counter.

"Hello?" She called out, leaning over and resting her elbows on the counter.

The pastel blue curtain that spereated the front room from the storage area fluttered with movement as a yellow haired woman made her way through. "Mari?" She asked in smooth voice. "Mari is that you?"

The teenager nodded slightly. "At your service." She answered with a smile. "How's business been today Delia?"

The older woman sighed a bit and gestured vaguely around the empty shop. "This is about as exciting as it's been."

"I expected as much, I'm sorry. Have you been keeping busy?"

"Oh yes, I've been working on a new set of charms with fire enhancing properties. I may not be selling much right now, but I do just to work on making new items." Delia answer, wringing one corner of her apron.

"I hope those turn out." Mari said with an absentminded nod. "I'm sorry to have such a short visit, but I think I might go by some ice cream."

"Oh, no, it's alright Dear, think nothing of it." Delia said, waving away Mari's apology as the younger girl started to walk away. "Just... do be careful, alright?" She added, sounding genuinely concerned.

Mari looked over her shoulder at the older woman. "Sure thing, you don't have to worry about me." She answered brightly, just as she slipped out the door.

Since she wasn't paying much attention to where she was going when she stepped out onto the street, Mari nearly ran into someone, who gave an annoyed 'Hey!' in response to the girl's lack of attention.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Mari said, shutting the door and snapping her attention to the person she had almost barged into. She set her eyes on a girl with short, dark hair whose arms were laiden with several heavy looking paper bags. "Oh! Yuffie!" Mari said, instantly stepping forward to take some of the bags. "Here, you look like you could use some help.".

"Thanks." Yuffie said as Mari took the two paper bags that were balanced delicately between the two that she had a better grip on. She readjusted her grip so that she wasn'y holding the bags awkwardly anymore.

"Why do so have so much stuff Yuffie?"

"Because I put off stopping by the potions shop for too long and then I needed to get some groceries from the market. So I figured I'd just do it all at once, but I guess I underestimated how much stuff I was going to get."

"Oh." Mari said, smirking a bit. "Well, atleast you got your shopping done. Here, I'll carry these home with you." She said, lifted up the bags a bit.

"Thanks." Yuffie repeated with a smile before the two set off to Merlin's new house.

Well, there you go guys, until next time!

Merr, over and out.