Kairi didn't seem to fall asleep that night. She turned and rolled and tossed her mat, keeping her eyes closed at all times, as if opening them will make all her current drowsiness go away.

She tried to focus on the silence, on the crackling of the campfire, on the piping of the crickets, on the sound breathing of her two best friends – the three of them had decided to camp on the smallest portion of the islands, the one which they spent their childhood playing in. It didn't work; if something, it made her even more awake.

It had been a few weeks since Sora and Riku came back, and after explaining everything to their parents, along with Mickey, Donald and Goofy, they had some days to adapt back to the quiet, calm life in the islands. Surprisingly, both quickly – and gladly - went back to their routine.

The trio's friends from other worlds had to, of course, eventually go back to where they belonged. Sora in particular seemed sad to bid goodbye to Donald and Goofy – they had been together ever since his adventure started. They assured the boy that they would come back, and after a few days, everything returned to how it once was.

After they returned to the main islands, however, they hadn't visited their usual spot once. Riku, then, suggested they spend a night there; Sora and Kairi agreed and, after a lazy, thankfully normal day, they set up camp in order to sleep. (And she'd probably spent an hour or two wide awake, even after they talked and laughed and yawned to death.)

The girl, once again, tried to listen to the sounds of the island. Cracking, piping, breathing, silence, cracking, piping, breathing- huh?.

There was something odd, something different than before in all the sounds she was focusing on. Gosh, she told herself inwardly, it was probably nothing - go to sleep and forget it. For some even stranger reason, though, she felt uneasiness. She wondered why.

And then, it clicked.

She was hearing only two breathings - and the number included her own. There was no third person present on that moment.

Immediately rising up, she noticed Riku was deep asleep in his couch, while Sora's was empty. Her heart started to race; when did he rise up? She was awake at all times. Had she fallen asleep and dreamt she was awake? Or did he – she gulped – disappear once again?

She tried to make herself calm down before worrying was imagining too much. He was just probably taking a stroll on the islands. Yeah, probably. That was very likely of him – he had been gone from home for more than a year. That, and he liked to explore places when they were little. After all they had been gone through, she guessed his habit didn't go away – he had been to many worlds, in the long run.

Just in case, she quietly exited their tent, hoping Riku wouldn't wake up, and looked around the beach. The sky was quite bright, and thus, she noted it was almost morning already – and there wasn't a sign of him, with the exception of some footprints and markings on the sand, which – she suppressed a giggle – lead to the trio's secret place.

Entering it, she spotted Sora sitting by the wall, probably in deep sleep, just like Riku. Well. At least he was safe. Approaching him, she pressed her hands in his cheeks (quite violently) without warning, making him jump in surprise, going widely awake in a second.

"W-whoa! What the heck, Kairi, you scared me," he relaxed when he saw her, letting out a sigh (and feeling something reminiscent of a déjà vu). Her posture wasn't all that relaxing, though. She looked, in his opinion, quite pissed off.

"That's my line, you doofus! Don't go leaving the tent without warning. I thought you might have been gone again!" she snapped angrily at him, and stopped when he flinched at her outburst. "Sorry. It's just that-"

"I know," he responded serenely. "Don't worry. I'm here. I'm ok."

The redhead sighed, calming down – he really did know her. Sitting beside him, she asked "Why did you go here anyway? Wanted to walk or something?"

"Not really. I couldn't sleep, kept thinking too much. Then I went here," Sora explained, contemplating their drawings on the wall of the cave. "It kind of soothes me, this place. Even though it all started here."

Kairi looked at him and for a second, he looked old, matured – it made her a little sad. Sora had been thrown to a world he had no knowledge of, and had to grow so he could keep up with it. When he returned her gaze, he added:

"…sometimes it feels like we lost our childhood, even though this whole mess hadn't been all bad…"

She nodded. "Yeah. But we met many people, many places… that was worth the experience, don't you think?"

He smiled; yes, it was. While he held many of the people from Destiny Islands deep in his heart, he could not deny others had made their way inside as well. Although all involved on the quest were constantly in danger, both physically and mentally, he thought, it was worth it – they were safe now, at least for a little while. Remembering Mickey's words shortly before he, Donald and Goofy went back to Disney Castle, Sora held some kind of apprehension for what the future held for them. That's what stopped him from sleeping.

"We'll meet again, Sora," the King had said. "Although, it's probably not gonna be in a safe situation."

He looked at Kairi and noticed she left his side. She was examining the drawings on the cave's wall – she, too, had been in danger. Heck, she had lost her heart. And he mistakenly thought she'd be safe at the islands when they were separated, after the mess in Hollow Bastion.

She started smiling all of a sudden, and that trailed him off his thoughts. "What are you grinning for?" he questioned.

The answer was behind her, in the cave wall. She moved out of his line of sight, and then he saw their drawing of each other. The one that pictured the two of them sharing a paopu fruit.

Well.

"O…Oh," he looked everywhere but her face, absolutely sure he was red (he was also sure he was smirking, though.)

"Don't be embarrassed," she chuckled. Gosh, he missed her laugh. And then, "Wanna share one? A paopu?"

He would be lying if he said he didn't. However…

"Do you think we really need one?"

"What do you mean?" she replied, confused.

"I – uh – I would love to, but I think that after everything we've been through, I think we don't need to share one," he went beet red. Oh, man. "I mean, our destinies are already intertwined, right?"

There was no response. The boy looked up to see Kairi with a face he'd rarely seen her wear – frowning, tears in her eyes. Panicking, he started to rise up.

"Oh my gosh, no, no, no, Kairi, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

He never finished that sentence; she had hugged him, interrupting his blabbering. He relaxed in her arms, holding her tightly.

Something in the way she was embracing him made him remember when they were reunited at the Organization XIII's headquarters. When she had done that back then, he felt as if he was going to cry – but even if he held his tears, the moment Riku had revealed himself, he couldn't stop them anymore. He was deeply glad they were safe – and yet, they weren't. They both had suffered in the time he was asleep, waiting for him.

He started to sob.

"Sora," she called, as if trying to comfort him.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out erratically. "I'm sorry for leaving you, for making you wait for us, for making you feel worried and lonely and sad, for putting everyone into danger, I'm sorry, I'm so sorr-"

"No one blames you, you know," she interrupted him, grasping him even tighter. "Come on, cheer up. We're safe now. You're here now. That's what counts."

"But… I'll eventually have to leave again. This is not over, Kairi. This is not. And I don't think it will be easy-"

"Yes, but you guys'll come back, so why worry?"

He pushed her back, slowly. "I don't want to leave you behind."

"Well, I don't either, but you're not really leaving me behind, whether I go with you guys or not," she giggled. "Remember? I'm always with you, and you're always with me. No matter how far you go, as long as you still remember me and I still remember you, it'll be ok. And even if we forget, we will remember it. Got it?"

She kept smiling when he started crying for a second time, leaning on her shoulder; her arms went around him again, consoling him. After a few seconds, he mumbled something she couldn't quite hear.

"What?"

"I missed you so much, Kairi," his voice cracked with sobs. The redhead felt a wave of affection for him – he was always so sincere, so honest with himself and with others. "After the islands were destroyed, I literally had daydreams about you. All the time. As if you were with me, as if you had left the islands with me, and ironically enough, that was what happened – you had never left. You were with me all along."

"Sora-"

"I constantly looked at your charm. And every time, it made me think of here, of the islands, of Riku, of you. It hurt, because back then I didn't know if you were alright or not – you had lost your heart. And after the worlds were restored", he paused, took a deep, shaky breath, and continued. "A year had passed, and I didn't even notice, and I was so sure you'd be safe on the islands, but then they got you and I was so afraid, Kairi, that they would hurt you, that you wouldn't come back to us, that you would disappear-"

"-Sora-"

"-and then when I thought Riku and I were going to be trapped at the Realm of Darkness, your letter arrived. You saved us. And we were back at the islands, and I thought I'd never be happier-"

"Sora!" she called, pinching his cheeks and effectively shutting him up. "You don't need to tell me that – I know how you feel, because I feel the same. I spent an entire year worrying for you guys. I didn't know how you were doing. I was just sure you would come back. And see, you did."

"But- but-"

"No buts!" she insisted, shaking her head. "Stop blaming yourself! Believe in us, and in your strength – you're not alone. We will face the future together."

Finally, words seemed to reach his ears. He relaxed, smiling. Truth was, he was thinking about the subject ever since they returned to the islands, but with a simple set of words, she lifted the weight from his shoulders, just like that. Probably, it was more than words - when she embraced him, it meant that he could feel her presence was there with him, that she was ok, that she was in front of him, safe and sound, an arm's length away and not in the distance of entire worlds, and he could touch her and she wouldn't disappear, and he could hold her in his arms without being afraid she wouldn't be there anymore.

And 'afraid' wasn't quite the right word to describe what he felt towards the future – he was insecure. Even though their adventure had been dangerous and somewhat hard, it didn't guarantee any safeness or happiness for others involved – and that was what he truly feared. He remembered when Goofy had been hit on his head; when Riku had been possessed by Xehanort's heartless (and spent most of his time fighting against its darkness); when King Mickey had spent most of his time out of his world helping them both indirectly and directly. Even the heartless and nobodies had come from people – even though he didn't know them - from people who felt, who were alive, but all the circumstances of their quest (which Sora was absolutely sure that had deep, deep roots within the history of the worlds and of the keyblade) had led them to this point. Roxas, too – Sora could feel his pain; he felt he wanted to become his own person; he didn't want to be lonely and used. And, after some pondering, he noticed Axel was suffering too, despite his many facades.

Kairi, too – he met her eyes when he raised his head. It hurt to see that the three of them were too involved with this whole plot – and even if she could use a keyblade now, she wasn't sure herself she could defend herself if the time comes (and it would come). And seeing her engaged in battles would be hard; maybe they should train her, he thought.

Trailing out of his meditations, he was suddenly aware that the redhead hadn't taken her hands from his face ever since she pinched him, and she was carefully eyeing him, as if she could read his mind. He found out his hand was over hers ("When did I put it?" He thought) – and he returned her stare, assuring her that he was feeling better now.

Seconds passed and many unspoken words had been exchanged with their eyes. Suddenly, Sora averted his eyes, a bit self-conscious; he soon looked back again, confusing her.

He opened his mouth.

"-how would you like to taste some paopu? From my lips, I mean. I ate some earlier," Riku's voice echoed in the cave, his tone faked to resemble Sora's. The other two, in turn, quickly broke their moment – the brunet just covered his flushing face with his hand, while Kairi rose up and started to energetically kick Riku's butt while he was laughing his face off.

"No, really, I'm sorry – but you reap what you sow!" the older teen mumbled, in middle of his snickers and her kicks. "I woke up all alone and you two were gone from the tent, so I got my revenge. I hope you two didn't get really far, though, you're like, twelve-"

"Shut up, Riku," she kicked him for the last time, half laughing, half annoyed, making him stumble. "Sora here was the one who left first. I just went after him! And we're not twelve!"

"I already apologized, geez," the brunet mumbled in response. "I was planning to go back before you woke up, but I ended up sleeping-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Riku shook it off, smiling; the reason didn't matter. What did matter was the fact that they were both safe (plus, he pointed out mentally, they really looked like they were about to make out, which amused him to infinite levels). "It's morning already, and we all woke up, so I'm gonna go fishing or something. Unless…"

"What?" both Sora and Kairi asked in unison.

"Unless you two would rather eat some paopu instead. That'd save me from the hard work-"

"-shut up, Riku," Sora blushed again. The older teen made a considerable effort to avoid laughing, but his face betrayed him, so he just dozed off before Kairi kicked him more times.

After he left from their field of vision (he probably went fishing after all), the redhead laughed. "Don't let him get the satisfaction of getting under your nerves," she stated.

"Too late," he answered, snickering, "But that's Riku for you."

"And that means he's probably going to get a small fry again. Let's go help him," she joked, and they proceeded to walk back towards the entrance of the cave. Before they went out, she stopped him.

"Kairi?"

"Don't forget to enjoy yourself. Don't let it bother you anymore, ok?" she frowned; Sora was mildly taken aback. Then, he smiled at her concern.

"Sure thing, I'll try," and he gave her his trademark silly smile. She smiled back, and before he could have any potential reaction, she, out of sheer affection, leaned in and gave him a peck on his cheek, effectively shutting his brain off while he went red for the nth time on the day, mumbling incoherent babbles.

A few seconds later (or maybe a minute or more, he admitted), he came back to his senses and realized she was holding her laughter at him. And, seeing his half flustered, half offended face, she bolted out of the cave, and he yelled, running after her:

"You did that on purpose, didn't you? Why are you both picking on me today?!"

Approximately an hour later, they remembered that all three of them couldn't fish to save their lives, and they ended up eating paopus anyway, much to Riku's entertainment.

And that was my first KH fanfiction. I hope I wasn't too ooc.

I really really like Sora x Kairi, but admittedly, I appreciate in higher levels the platonic, mutual, trustful sides of the relationships in this game, and I couldn't help but try and put it here. If anything, they all have a deep bond engraved in their hearts. I'm a complete and utter sucker for this kind of stuff on games.

In case you were wondering, this is before they receive Mickey's letter.

Hope you enjoyed it! And please, do point out any kind of mistakes. Thank you!

(many thanks to T3rran, who pointed out the many slips and made me learn new stuff!)