EDIT – 6/10 – I decided to edit this and correct the mistakes, and this is so much more meaningful to me now, as only about a month ago, my friend nearly got hit by a truck. I'm so glad she stopped when I yelled her name. God, it was right in front of me and I swear I could feel the air as the truck went past. The damn truck shouldn't have even been turning; the pedestrian light was flashing and everything.

F*****g stupid drivers.

-----Original writers note -----

This wasn't my idea, it just spontaneously came to me, this wasn't even meant to be a fanfiction- it's an assignment for school. BUT I WAS LAZY AND DIDN'T FEEL LIKE USING MY OWN CHARACTERS. So kingdom hearts it is.

But it became such a fanfiction I decided to put it up here. Flame it if you want, I know I'm not happy with it. (It's so rushed- you can notice o.o)

And it's due tomorrow, so this is the final copy =D yay! Freeeedddooommm!

Disclaimer- Kingdom hearts does not belong to me, I will not be continuing this but this may not be my only KH fanfiction. Yay! Disney! Also, AU, bewaaarrreee….of course it's the same place but without the crazy 'OMIGODHEARTLESSKILLIT!1?111!!' so…enjoy?

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It was three years ago now.

Three years ago my two best friends vanished, and I was the only one who remembered them.

I remember all the fun times we used to have together, me, Sora and Riku- we would spend days together on the islands.

But then, they were gone.

That was three years ago, but now, they've found me again.

I can hear his voice, growing more distant as cold washed over me.

I'm glad I met them again, but why did this have to happen??

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"Kairi!"

I spun around to see my best friend, Yuffie, running up to me from the school gates. I smiled at her as she sighed loudly when she caught up.

"You should slow down Kairi! I need to talk to you!" She complained.

"Talk to me about what?" I asked as I started walking again, brushing my shoulder length, red hair out of my eyes.

The brunette poked her tongue out at me. "You know those boys you kept talking about?" I tilted my head.

"Which boys?"

She punched my arm lightly as if it were obvious. "Sora and Riku! How could you forget after all the time you spent trying to make us remember these two?"

Oh, those boys. "What about them?" I asked, Yuffie pouted,

"Well, two boys just came in town to visit the islands, claiming to be looking for you!"

I stopped and whirled to look at her, "Details." I demanded; she understood immediately.

"Well, there was a short-ish brunette boy with these bright blue eyes, and a taller boy with silver hair and aqua eyes, they were dressed pretty strange, and the brunette carried around a star charm made of shells saying you made it," She listed off.

My mind was going in circles. "Where are they now?? When did you hear this??!" I yelled at her questioningly.

Yuffie held up her hands in surrender, "Calm down Kairi! I heard this a few days ago, and according to my sources- they're leaving tomorrow, but they should be at the islands!!" I grabbed her hand and ran in the direction of the boats.

She didn't stop me from going, but she didn't want to come with me.

"Why not?" I asked as I untied my small sailboat from the dock.

She smiled apologetically, "I have homework to do, but have fun; I hope you find them."

As she left I looked toward the islands in the distance, I could see the odd shape of the trees and blanket of green over the orange-brown rocks- I got into the boat and picked up the paddles. Time doesn't last forever.

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It took me nearly half an hour to get there, the water was calm so it made the trip much easier - even if I hadn't been back since the day I believed Sora and Riku never existed.

I was very careful as I docked my boat, noticing the two other rafts bobbing gently in the water. I swallowed as I got up onto the old wooden dock and began my trek onto the island.

It's a weird feeling when you are looking for something but are afraid of what you may find. I climbed the wooden ladders and traveled along the poorly constructed, uneven wooden panels which went around the larger trees. With no luck searching on the front of the island, I tried to remember where the small cubby was which traveled around to the other side.

While I was thinking, I remembered something- on the other side of the island was the place the three of us used to go, I remembered clearly making the raft and catching fish.

I also remembered that on that side of the island, Riku had claimed a small, cut off section of island alone on the water, as his own.

I began searching harder for the cubby, nearly crying out in joy when I found the trap door.

I travelled slowly through the small tunnel, I was a little claustrophobic, and the darkness didn't help.

I stumbled out blinking into the light, running along the sand and nearly falling twice, racing towards Riku's island.

Of course though- it was empty. And now I was wet from running through the shallow water to reach the ladder which climbed onto it.

Disappointment rushed through me like lightning. I slumped over to the oddly bent tree we used to sit on, and hauled myself up. The star-shaped fruit had grown again. Oddly, I remembered something from back when we were kids...

"Sora, have you ever heard of the paopu fruit?" the white haired boy asked, tapping his wooden sword along the metal bars of someone's fence while he walked. The shorter blue eyed boy looked up. "Huh? Paopu fruit?" He asked, confused.

The other boy laughed, "They say if two people share a paopu fruit, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what." He looked down at the shorter boy with a smug smile, "I know you two wanna try it."

The short boy blushed while the other laughed and ran off, "what??" He yelled running after him, leaving me, stunned, behind.

I giggled lightly, Riku had always made fun of Sora, but he swore the story of the Paopu was true. Of course, Sora never had the guts to try it and prove him wrong.

I got up as the sky was beginning to turn pink, making my way back to the front of the islands. I was about to get back into my boat when I heard distant laughter.

I slowly walked to where I heard it coming from- it took me up a set of wooden stairs and along cave walls, the laughter was echoing from inside a small cave opening surrounded by bushes. I remembered this- this was Sora's cave.

"Haha! You're such a sap Sora!!"

I hesitantly pushed the bushes aside and walked in.

"Shut up Riku!!" I heard a boy yell at his companion. I hid against the wall and roots when the opening widened. There were drawings all over the rocks of the cave, a wooden door with no handle on one of the walls. Two teenage boys were in the room, one I instantly recognized as Sora, who was backed up against the wall, trying to cover one particular drawing, the other- Riku- laughing at him.

It should have been emotional for me to see them again, but I couldn't bring myself to believe they were real- in fact, all of this, it seemed like a dream- as if I wasn't truly there.

I walked in further, maybe they wouldn't recognize me?

Sora instantly stared at me, and Riku noticing his gaze, looked over his shoulder. The shock on their faces should have matched mine, but I had no idea what I was feeling then.

"Kari!" Sora yelled in joy, running over and giving me a crushing hug, it seemed familiar, but not real.

Riku ran his hands through his hair, "Finally found you," He sighed, smiling lightly as if a heavy weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders. Their voices were just like I remembered them; backing up my blurred, dull memories.

Sora let go of me, grinning wildly. "See Riku! I told you we should look here! I told you she'd come here!!" He accused, Riku waved his hand in dismissal.

They pulled me along the island, telling me about everything that had happened while we were apart. I nodded when I should, but it felt as if I wasn't really there.

"We should take you to see our friends sometime Kairi! You'd like them! Xemmy is kind of weird, but he's friendly- oh yeah! Remember the charm you made me? I kept it all these years! We should get together tomorrow and catch up more! We could totally go out for ice-cream, Roxas got me hooked on seasalt ice-cream, though I didn't like it at first, you just have to try it!" Sora went on and on without as much as a breath.

Riku smiled down at me, "You're quieter than usual Kairi; is something on your mind?" He asked gently, just the way I remembered.

I shook my head, smiling back, "It's just a little too much to take on all at once- I'd been forced to believe you...didn't exist."

Sora froze in his words and even Riku looked surprised, I shouldn't have said anything. Sora grabbed my hand and pressed it to his cheek. "We're real Kairi! See! We're sorry we had to leave! We didn't want to!!"

"What happened all those years ago? Why did you leave?" I asked. Riku beat him to answering.

"Sora's mum was in a car accident- and my family was planning to leave anyway, I just didn't want to tell you, or Sora, at the time- but Sora had no other relatives. We adopted him...we didn't want to go Kairi, but it wasn't our choice."

I nodded absentmindedly and Sora looked towards the pink sky, "there's still time! Kairi, you wanna get something to eat? It's on us!" He proposed.

So an hour later, we were walking along the roads of twilight town, reminiscing about our childhoods, eating 'seasalt' ice cream.

"This is Roxas' favourite flavour," Sora muttered as he finished his, throwing the stick in a side bin. Riku chewed on his stick instead of throwing it out, I was still only halfway through, something about the unnaturally salty taste seemed odd in ice-cream.

"Really Kairi, is everything alright? Oh- your ice-cream is melting," Sora pointed out. I snapped out of my daze, but my mind still felt bottled, caged- as if I was watching from the outside of my body.

"Hey, are you thirsty!?" Sora blurted, Riku chuckled.

"Shut up Sora," he grinned.

Sora pouted childishly, "I'll go get some drinks!!" He yelled at Riku before heading to the pedestrian crossing, Riku jogged after him, and I slowly followed.

I was only halfway across the road when Riku turned back to me from the curve, but his happy go lucky expression quickly turned to horror; then he screamed my name

I snapped my head up, turning towards the speeding car- Everything seemed to go in slow motion- I couldn't run, my body wouldn't respond, and I watched helplessly, more disconnected then ever.

I saw a blur, and was shoved out of the way of the car, but my savior now stood in my place, the car was coming ever closer.

I screamed, also accompanied by other people's screaming; before I saw the car connect with his frozen form, I could remember feeling more connected to myself than ever before.

"SORA!!!"

Riku lunged out but wasn't fast enough, "SORA!!! JUMP!!" He screamed, and in the few seconds before the black car hit Sora, that's what he did.

A loud thud and Sora rolled over the car onto the road, the car speeding off into the distance.

Prior to a few minutes before, now everything seemed to be going in double speed.

"SORA!!" I heard Riku yell, running to his motionless friend. I sat there, unmoving. "SORA!! SORA!! SPEAK TO ME!"

I slowly, shakily stood, stumbling over. Sora was shallowly gasping; he was bleeding from his nose, and also from a large cut on his forehead from where his head connected with the glass. His leg was bent at an odd angle and his chest was struggling to rise and fall.

I fell to my knees next to him, his dull cerulean eyes following mine. His lips slowly moved in silent words.

"Shhh! don't talk dammit!" Riku scolded, his voice breaking as he fought back tears. I could hear everyone around me yelling for someone to call an ambulance, but I could also hear the extremely far off sirens of one someone had called already.

When Sora kept murmuring against Riku's protests, Riku finally bent down to listen; He was shaking when he leant back out, Sora had paused for the moment, taking in shallow breaths.

Riku paused for a moment, struggling with himself before he slowly reached down into Sora's hand and took something, gasping out to me, "H-he...you..." I bent down slowly.

"...I.....lo..ve.....yo...u...kai..." Sora gasped in little more than a whisper which grew more and more distant before one last sigh interrupted his words and he was still.

My mind was blank. None of this felt real, none of it. But as time went by and the words around me faded to a dull buzzing in my ears, I still couldn't bring myself to believe it.

I felt someone pulling me up. The ambulance had arrived and the men in white were taking Sora up into a stretcher.

Riku was holding me close, shaking as his tears spilled over. I was numb, my brain wasn't working properly.

The ambulance had gone off before Riku turned me around to face him.

"S-sora...loved you, he waned to come find you...h-he wanted you to h-have...this..." He choked out, his voice breaking and strangled as he shakily held out his hand.

Loosely clenched between his fingers was the shell charm I had made Sora, I remembered the promise he made- that he would return it to me one day.

Then the full force of it hit me, I would never hear his voice again, I would never run with him, or laugh with him ever again. He was gone-

That's when I stopped feeling like I was watching from the outside, and started to cry.