Chapter 1

The whispering rain fell over his head as he felt the water slide down his body. The boy stood up with his brown, spiky hair drooping slightly from the weight it held. His bright blue eyes shone in the darkness as his gaze was targeted outwards into the horizon, his feet dangling off the edge of a branch on the island he grew up in. The island where he found her. A slight laugh came out the length of a break as he recalled the events that had transpired only weeks ago. After finally returning home, he realized that everyone had moved on. Everyone but the people who went through the journey with him. He didn't mind much, he was too busy with coping with the drastic change from near death experiences and lightning fast decisions, to the more relaxed laid back form his life had encountered.

Since everyone moved on without them, Sora and Riku were left to fend for themselves. Their parents long since left their homes, forgetting why they stayed there so long in the first place. After that, the two keyblade wielders decided to make their home on Destiny Islands, away from all of the people and distractions the mainland had so they could just relax in peace. Kairi was conflicted as well, for she knew that they would be all alone and she felt guilty for leaving them like that and had been trying to convince the boys to let her stay with them. The boys adamantly declined saying they were fine alone and they couldn't make her leave her family for them. Since then, every day Kairi came to see them and the more and more times she came, the less time she spent with Sora and was off with Riku. Sora found this a little odd, and it hurt him knowing that the one who held his heart (both literally and figuratively) was being so distant from him.

He flung himself off the tree and slowly glided down til his feet gently touched the ground. With his right hand outstretched, a beam of light shone and was quickly replaced with the ultima keyblade. It had taken him weeks of searching for the items to synthesize the keyblade, and took every last drop of patience he had but once he got it, he knew it was worth. He took his stance with the keyblade pointing diagonally to the ground on his right side and quickly went into a flurry of parries and blows that sliced through invisible shadows, each blow heavier and sharper than the last. But no matter how much he put it off, his mind always drifted back to the shimmering red head's recent attitude towards him. A particularly unorthodox slash caused him to fall face first on the ground and he refused to get up.

Why? Did I do something wrong? He thought as he stared into the starry heavens.

"There you are you lazy bum!" a voice exclaimed from the distance. Speak of the devil. He quickly stood up as his keyblade dissipated into the air and put on his ear to ear smile as she approached him.

She was wearing a light blue spaghetti top, with a thin white jacket over it and regular old jeans which he felt oddly contrasted with her outfit. She was panting slightly with her hands on her knees for a second before she smirked and smacked his arm playfully, "Where have you been? Riku and I have been looking everywhere for you!"

"I was just practicing" he lied. I can't tell her about my worries, she's so happy. Kairi squinted her eyes, to which Sora uncomfortably shifted his weight before saying "Well then, time to go back!" he exclaimed as he made his way back to the house they built on the extreme corner of the island, near the docks where their boats were tied up. Kairi reluctantly let the topic drop as she chased after Sora on their way back

She noticed that he had been looking down lately but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why. Did his parents leaving really hurt him that much...? she thought as she struggled to keep up with Sora's pace. She was always the one who was behind, never in front. At times this frustrated her, especially when the guys wouldn't let her stand by them when they were in trouble. But right now she was too worried about Sora to care. I wish I could help him...

They slowed down as they approached the make-shift shack of wood and nails they had built when they first got back from traveling the worlds. Sora opened the creaky door and sheepishly put his hand behind his head as he saw Riku glaring at him jokingly.

"Well I heard you were looking for me" he said with a chuckle. Riku grinned and put a hand on his back

"I wasn't the one who was worried" he said with a smirk, as he saw Kairi blush. Sora shrugged it off and made his way to his room "I'm tired, gonna hit the sack. Night guys!" he said before shutting the door behind him. Kairi's gaze lingered on his door for a moment before she shook her head and sat down on the couch. A sigh escaped her lips as she stared at the ceiling.

"Love troubles?" the silver haired teenager asked as a sad smile showed on his face.

"I wish... He's been so distant since he's gotten back. I feel like his heart never really recovered from everything he's been through" Kairi answered with a bow of her head, her face obscured by her hair. "I... I feel so useless."

Riku grimly nodded and crossed his arms across his chest, then leaned on the wall behind him. "We might have brought him back, but his heart was always with you, you know that right?"

Kairi's face tilted away from Riku as a blush painted her face bright red, a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips.

"Yeah..." she stared at Sora's door "You're right, we can still bring him back"