Hey, everybody, GengaJupite here! It seems I can't stay out of the KH fandom, despite my efforts to keep myself writing only two multi-chaps at a time. This will be my second KH story, and for those of you who read All's Fair in Love and War, this is the SoKai I mentioned, though I didn't plan on writing it for quite some time. Well, you can ignore that statement because about a week after I posted the epilogue to that one, I suddenly got hit with inspiration for a new plot. This one should be quite a bit more structured than AFiLaW was, as I don't plan on deviating from my plotline the way I did with that. Anyway, that's enough for now, so let's get started!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. All rights go to Square Enix and Disney as its respective owners.

The Three-Leaf Clover

Prologue: On the Night I Met You…

All was still on the evening that the thick clouds rolled in above the city. The streetlights flickered dimly, illuminating the brick-paved streets in a dull glow. Most houses and apartments kept their lights turned off at this hour, and the city itself seemed to sleep under the blanket of condensation floating overhead. With the chilly weather, it would not be long before the first few snowflakes began to descend upon the sleeping town.

With large headphones covering his ears, Sora paced down the empty streets of Twilight Town. He wore a nondescript expression on his face, keeping his hands in his pockets to warm them. In his right hand he held his trusty music player and in the other a note from his younger brother Roxas, stating that he would be working late. With nothing of particular interest to keep him at home, Sora decided to take a walk through the sleeping city, as he often did at times like this.

The spiky-haired brunet scoffed as he passed by a sign advertising the Clock Tower Hotel. If he had one munny for every time some misinformed tourist took a trip here under the impression that the city was perpetually stuck in one time of day, he would probably be a very rich man. He had no idea where such an absurd urban legend had come about, but rest assured, Twilight Town was named for its beautiful appearance at dusk, not some ridiculous assumption that it could keep the sun in one spot indefinitely.

As a chill wind blew by, Sora shivered slightly and zipped his jacket up to his neck. Sighing from the slight added warmth, he watched a snowflake gently float down through the fog of his breath. Casting his gaze upwards, the snow seemed almost like tiny cottonseeds, floating aimlessly in the wind as they descended upon the land.

Turning at one of the many intersections, Sora found himself traversing through one of Twilight Town's many residential districts. He knew the city well enough that he could wander pretty much wherever he felt like, but because of recent economical expansions in the past few years, there were a number of areas he had yet to explore. On evenings when he had nothing better to do, he usually spent his time wandering through these places, learning the layout of the town and how each section was like or unlike the others.

Suddenly and without warning, something ran into him from behind, and because he was unaware of the oncoming collision, Sora was promptly knocked to the ground. Grunting in discomfort and reaching for the headphones that fell off his head, he angrily looked up to see a redheaded girl catching her balance before running off without a word or even gesture of apology. He had to admit that he didn't stand out much, aside his hairstyle, but that girl acted as if he hadn't even been there.

"Stupid ditz," he muttered under his breath, placing the headphones around his neck and brushing himself down as he stood back up.

As he was about to continue walking, something on the ground caught his attention. Stooping over to pick it up, he realized it was a wallet, most likely dropped by the girl when she crashed into him. Now, normally after being knocked over and left without so much as an apology Sora would simply ignore any problems associated with said person who'd gotten him, but he wasn't vindictive enough to steal a girl's wallet after so small an incident. While he was certainly annoyed, he knew that the right thing to do would be to return it to her while he had the chance. Sighing, he stuffed the wallet in his back pocket and began to chase after the girl, who was now quite a fair distance ahead.

"Where the hell is she running off to in the middle of the night?" he grumbled, panting as he started gaining on her.

He silently hoped that no one would be awake to see them, as it probably looked like he was some shady character trying to get some action from an innocent girl wandering the streets at night. Trying to convince the police that he was simply trying to give back her wallet after she knocked him over would probably be next to impossible. Given his track record of being a delinquent at school, even his police officer uncle would have a hard time believing his story, given the circumstances.

With that thought in mind, he figured that he was probably close enough to call out after the girl without causing too much noise.

"Hey!"

Obviously surprised by the outburst, the redhead quickly spun around; however, the weight from the large bag slung over her shoulder flung her around harder than she'd intended, and she just so happened to step onto a patch of black ice as she stumbled off balance. Letting out a light squeal, Sora watched as the girl's feet slipped out from under her and she fell to the ground hard, knocking herself unconscious as she did so.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me," Sora groaned as he slowed down beside her. As if the circumstances hadn't been bad enough already, now it looked like he was some kind of mugger or rapist, and all because he was trying to be the good guy to a clumsy ditz.

Unsure of what he should do, Sora looked around and shook her lightly, then a little rougher with each subsequent shake. Luckily she still seemed to be breathing, but he dared not slap her or yell loudly in an attempt to wake her up. At this point, he simply wanted to avoid drawing any more negative attention to himself, though the situation had already reached a fairly dire point of no return.

The easiest thing to do at this point would be to leave her and her wallet, but he wasn't really the type of guy to leave a girl lying out in the cold, especially since it was snowing. Seeing no other option at this point, Sora sighed and slung her weighty bag over his shoulder. Then, after a solid fifteen minutes of struggling to do so, he managed to get her lifted onto his back, though he probably wouldn't be able to hold her up for very long. To make matters worse, this was one of those unfamiliar sections of town, so he had no clue which direction to start walking.

"This bag weighs as much as she does," he grunted, readjusting her as he looked for some place where he could at least lie her down comfortably.

As luck would have it, a small park loomed about a block away, and Sora wasted no time in laying her down on a bench upon reaching it. He rubbed his sore shoulder and gratefully dropped the large bag on the ground next to him. As curious as he was to know what was making the bag so heavy, he knew better than to go through a woman's belongings, even if said woman had caused him no end of grief in the extremely short time he'd become aware of her existence.

Now that he was here, Sora wasn't exactly sure what he should be doing. Would it be okay if he left her now? The gazebo overhead would protect her from any snow, and the bench seemed like it would be more comfortable than anywhere else he could think of leaving her. It wasn't like he had any sort of obligation to stay with her; he could simply leave her wallet and go back to wandering the streets like nothing happened.

While that truly seemed more favourable at the moment, his conscience told him that he should try to wake her up, even if it was the middle of the night and she would probably stay knocked out until morning. He certainly didn't want to stay out all night in the freezing cold and stand guard for this random girl, but if he left, then there was the risk of an actual thug coming along and having his way with her. Considering that she wasn't a particularly ugly girl, he doubted she would get left alone if some goon really did wander by.

Stepping a little closer to her, Sora was able to get a better look at her face. While his initial thought had been simply that she wasn't ugly, he could now see that she was actually quite attractive, cute even. Her shoulder-length, crimson hair rested a bit messily beneath her head, and her creamy, smooth skin seemed almost too perfect to be real. As his gaze wandered downward, he couldn't help but blush at her athletic figure. She most certainly wasn't the most well endowed girl he'd ever seen, but her…womanly features were not lacking by any standards.

Sora jumped when she shifted slightly, groaning as she began to stir. He had planned to stay with her until she woke up or until daybreak, whichever came first, but he hadn't thought far enough ahead to consider what he might do in case she woke up. Now that it was happening, he was in full-blown panic mode.

Unable to decide on what to do, he simply stared as she opened her large, indigo eyes. It seemed to take her a moment, but the moment she locked eyes with him, both individuals simply stared at one another in shock. Sora's hand fidgeted as he tried to reach into his back pocket, but he was afraid that moving too quickly might freak her out. If that happened, she would probably scream and cause a scene.

"U-Uh, 'morning." His mouth almost seemed to move on its own, and he quickly bit onto his tongue to prevent anything else from escaping.

The girl blinked a couple of times, though her nervous expression seemed to fade a bit after she'd properly assessed his words. She obviously didn't seem comfortable with the situation, but Sora was relieved that she appeared to be slightly more at ease.

"Um…where am I?" she asked, quickly glancing around before turning back towards him.

Now, how was he supposed to answer? Saying something like "At a park" seemed a bit too…blunt, but it wasn't like he knew where they were. And should he tell her that he carried her here after she fell over and passed out? Wouldn't she freak out if she found out some random guy picked her up off the ground and brought her to some park in the middle of the night? At the very least, she would get really uncomfortable.

"Oh, wait, I know this place," she said as her eyes flicked around a bit more. "I guess I didn't make it very far from home… Damn."

Make it far? That meant she was running away, right? In any case, it was no business of his. Now that she was awake and seemed to be fine, the best thing for him to do would be to return her wallet and be on his way. After all this running around and stressing out, Sora wanted nothing more than to find his way out of this section of town and go home.

"I, uh, found your…well, actually, you dropped this," he stated awkwardly, fumbling around for the wallet in his back pocket. Pulling it out, he held it out to show her.

"My wallet!" she said somewhat enthusiastically, hopping to her feet and retrieving it from him. "Hey, thanks! I don't know what I would have done without this!"

"N-No problem," he answered shakily. Why was he feeling so nervous still? It wasn't like this was the first time he'd ever talked to a hot girl before. "J-Just make sure you don't lose it again…and you should watch where you're going when you're running."

She tilted her head with a confused look on her face before realization suddenly hit her. "Omigosh, you're that guy I knocked over before?" she gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I was in a rush to get away from home and I totally knocked you over without saying anything! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Whoa, whoa, I'm fine," he responded, holding his hands up to stop her from overwhelming him with her concern. "A-Anyway, you seem all right, so I guess I'll be on my way now."

As he turned and began to leave, the girl suddenly called out to him, forcing him to turn around. "Wait!"

"What is it?"

Jogging up to him with the large, heavy bag slung effortlessly over her shoulder, what she ended up saying caught Sora completely off guard. "Can you hang out with me?"

Dumbfounded by her question, he simply stared at her with his mouth partially hanging open. It took a moment before he could actually form any sort of response, though he felt pretty stupid for what he eventually ended up saying.

"Uh…come again?"

"I asked if you could hang out with me." Apparently she didn't find her question to be strange.

"…Not to seem rude, but…why?"

She blew a raspberry like a horse and brushed a few hairs from her face, clearly not wanting to answer his question. "Well…I need to kill some time… I mean, if you're going home, then I guess I can find something else to do…"

This definitely wasn't a regular situation. What kind of girl runs away from home, knocks a guy over, slips on a patch of ice and knocks herself out, and then asks if the guy she knocked over wants to hang out in the middle of the night?! This might happen to some of the crazy people at his school, but Sora was a normal guy; this kind of stuff just didn't happen to people like him! Besides, she was still a complete stranger, so wouldn't killing time be a bit weird? For all either of them knew, the other could be a total creep, not that Sora was, though.

"I guess I could," he answered slowly, shrugging and brushing some snowflakes from his hair. "I probably wouldn't have slept if I went home anyway."

Her face instantly lit up into a big smile and she skipped around him in her enthusiasm. "Yay! Thank you! Oh, I'm Kairi, by the way. Kairi Lea."

"Sora Gainsborough."

"Sora, huh? I like it. Sora. Sooooraaaa. Heehee."

If she weren't so cute, he would probably think she was straight up weird, possibly even a bimbo. Just what kind of girl was this Kairi anyway? He didn't like to generalize, but most girls he knew that were as attractive as Kairi generally had less than favourable personalities. Then again, it was too soon for him to decide whether or not she was actually cute or if this was all some kind of act. After all, not many normal people try to befriend random strangers in the middle of the night.

"So, Sora," Kairi said as they began walking down the street, "where are we headed?"

It hadn't occurred to him that they would need a place to go, and considering she was the one who wanted to hang out, shouldn't she have planned where to go? It wasn't like this was a date or anything where he had to take charge.

"No clue," he answered plainly, putting his hands into his pockets. "I usually just wander around. Is there anywhere you want to go?"

"Mm…" She tapped her chin with her index finger and hummed in thought. "How about the beach?"

"Pardon?"

"The beach. You know, that sandy thing on the edge of the ocean."

"Yeah, yeah, I know what a beach is. It's just…it's the middle of the night…and it's snowing…"

Kairi giggled and began walking backwards in front of him, which made him nervous considering how clumsy she'd already proven herself to be. "No one said anything about swimming, silly. I just like the sound of the waves, and it's far enough away from my house that I'll feel comfortable."

While he couldn't say he followed her logic completely, Sora had no objections to going to the beach. He'd wandered over there enough times that he wasn't exactly in a position to judge her for wanting to go there now. Besides, he, too, liked the sound of the waves, and when there were no people around or birds squawking like they did in the daytime, it made the location that much more peaceful.

As the two unlikely companions made their way down to the waterfront, they engaged in idle chatter, though Sora spent most of the time listening to Kairi rattle on about whatever came to mind. He had honestly never attempted to take part in such a random conversation, but the redhead never seemed to mind his lack of input for her seemingly endless supply of topics. From the way things were going, she seemed happier to have someone simply listen to her than an actual conversation partner.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Sora asked once they reached the water's edge, to which she nodded in response. "I, uh, know it's none of my business, but I was wondering… How come you're running away from home?"

Kairi's bubbly demeanour seemed to deflate, and she puffed up her cheeks in a manner that read 'pissed off'. Afraid that he'd overstepped his boundaries, Sora braced himself for some kind of retaliation, though he was relieved to find that it never came. Instead, Kairi sighed and turned her gaze towards the water.

"You might think it's a dumb reason, but…I got in a fight with my brother."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah," she said, squatting down and gesturing for him to do the same. "My parents' work has them travelling all around the world, so my brother is the one who takes care of me. I won't go into detail, but basically we both got really pissed off with each other and I ran off. He's not the type to give chase because he says that I'll "just come crawling back sooner or later.""

"Will you?"

"Well…I mean, obviously I have to go back at some point, but it won't be as soon as he thinks! I have to prove him wrong somehow, right?"

"Heh, seems pretty reckless if you ask me."

Kairi scrunched her face at Sora, but seemed more amused by his statement than angered by it. "Well, what about you? Does your family know that you're wandering around the streets this late like some shady thug?"

Sora gave her a hard look for a moment before turning his attention to the water. "It doesn't really matter what I do. It's just my younger brother and me sharing an apartment. We sort of do our own thing."

"What about your parents?"

Sora didn't answer, continuing to stare out to at the water as the sound of the waves filled in the awkward silence. Because it had happened such a long time ago, Sora had gotten over the pain of talking about his parents' accident, but regardless of whether it hurt him or not, it wasn't the most pleasant way to continue a conversation. Typically, when given the option, he opted not to speak about it, as doing so would only make the situation more depressing.

"S-Sorry," Kairi spoke quietly when she realized she must have hit a nerve. "If it's a touchy subject, you don't have to talk about it."

Turning back towards her, he gave her a small smile. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, it's not like my brother is the only family I have. My aunt and uncle live here in this town. We used to live with them, but it seemed like a good idea for us to move out and get our own apartment once I was old enough to rent one under my name. They help us with monthly payments and some other financial stuff, but we're basically living on our own and paying most of the rent ourselves."

"Wow, either you have a really cheap apartment or you have a kick-ass job," Kairi chuckled.

"Hey, you're the homeless one right now, so I don't think you have the right to diss my apartment," Sora chuckled as well. Yawning, he stood up from his squatting position and turned his head down to Kairi. "Actually, that reminded me that I have to work tomorrow. I don't have to be up really early or anything, but it is…almost three in the morning. I should probably start heading home."

"Oh…" she responded sadly, also standing to her full height. "We didn't even get to hang out for very long…"

"Yeah, well, that's how life is sometimes."

Kairi didn't say anything, but the way she was eyeing him made it seem like she was trying to imply something. Oblivious to what it was, he simply watched as she bit her lip and twisted her body back and forth with her hands behind her back. With each passing second, she seemed to be making her expression more and more innocent, and Sora was sort of getting an idea for what she was trying to say. However, to be sure, he had to ask her first.

"Did you need something else?" he asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"W-ell…" she dragged out the word, stalling for time as if it might help to persuade him. "It's really cold outside…and I'm kind of homeless at the moment."

"That's unfortunate. You picked a bad time to run away."

"Right… A-Anyway…I don't really have anywhere to stay right now…"

"Bummer, maybe you could call up a friend. Though I would assume all your friends are sleeping right now."

"I think they are… So, I was wondering…and I know we just met, so I'll understand if you say no…could I maybe…you know…if it isn't too much trouble… I know you said you live with your brother, so you can totally turn me down…but, if it's okay… I don't mean to impose…"

Figuring that he'd had enough fun toying with her, Sora just laughed at her roundabout methods of trying to ask him if she could stay at his place. In any other situation, he likely would have turned her down in the lightest way possible, but for some reason, he simply couldn't say no to Kairi. There was something about the pretty redhead that made him unable to turn her away, even though she was basically still a stranger to him. He wanted to believe he wasn't shallow enough to do it simply because she was cute and attractive, but seeing as he still hardly knew her, it wasn't completely implausible.

"Come on," he chuckled when she still hadn't managed to say what she needed to. "You can stay for one night, all right? After tonight you'll have to find somewhere else to go."

Her oddly innocent expression instantly changed into a huge, relieved grin, and before he knew it, Sora found himself wrapped in a tight embrace from Kairi. He was thankful for the cover of darkness, as it hid his very prominent blushing from Kairi's sights.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Sora! I promise I'll find a place to stay by tomorrow. I'll just call up one of my friends and then I'll be out of your hair!"

"Y-Yeah, make sure that you do," he stuttered, slowly leading the way as he tried to cool down his face, which, admittedly, wasn't very hard considering the frigid temperature outside.

When they reached his apartment building, Sora suddenly began to feel embarrassed. It wasn't as though his place was run-down or cheap; rather, it was the very definition of average. Stepping through the entrance and heading up the stairs to his floor, he realized that neither he nor Roxas had ever brought a girl back to their apartment, let alone having a complete stranger stay overnight. What would she think when she saw it? Would she be unimpressed? What if she was expecting something cool? He didn't really have anything he could call 'cool' in the apartment.

"H-Here we are," Sora said shakily, pulling out his key and unlocking the door once they'd arrived. Flicking on the lights, he cringed at the clothes lying around and the unwashed dishes in the sink. "Sorry if it's messy, but…well, there are two teenage guys living here."

"Heehee, it's fine," she giggled, unfazed by the relatively small mess around the room. "My brother is the biggest slob in the world. Compared to his room, this place looks like a Swiffer commercial."

Sora chuckled nervously and gestured for her to take a seat on the couch. "Uh, d-do you want anything?"

"Mm, were you going to have something?" she asked, plopping herself comfortably onto the couch.

In all honesty, he had no idea if he was going to; it just seemed like a polite thing to ask, since she was a guest. He didn't usually eat or drink anything right before bed, but then it wasn't like he'd be falling asleep anytime soon at this rate.

"Well…I was thinking of making some…tea?"

"I'll have some too, please," she said sweetly, looking around the living space and its ordinary décor.

Unable to stop his hands from shaking, Sora started filling a kettle with water and placed it on the stove. Why he had suggested tea was beyond him, as he had never really been much of a tea drinker. In fact, the only times he ever drank tea were when Roxas made too much and didn't want to waste it. On that note, Sora became even more nervous, wondering how Roxas might react if he came home and saw Kairi here.

"So," Kairi said as Sora sat down next to her on the couch, "where's your brother? The only pairs of shoes by the door are ours. Does he wander the streets at night like some hooligan, too?"

"H-Heh, no, it's nothing like that," Sora chuckled shakily, failing in his attempts to keep his composure. "He works as a kitchen aid at some twenty-four hour restaurant. Since it's open all the time, he gets work hours pretty much whenever they need him."

"I see," she said, leaning back and relaxing a little bit more. "And what about you? You have a job too, right?"

"Yeah, though it's not as interesting as you're probably hoping," he answered plainly, getting up as the kettle began to whistle. "I'm working at a temp agency. They don't usually hire eighteen-year-olds, but I still managed to get the job somehow. I suppose I should thank my boss for being so laid-back."

"So you do office work and stuff like that?"

"More or less."

"…Ew."

He chuckled at her response, as he somehow expected her to find his job unimpressive. "Yeah, it's boring but it pays pretty well. I'd rather be financially stable than be picky about where I work, at least for now, anyway."

Bringing over two mugs of tea, he carefully handed one to Kairi, praying that his shaking hand didn't let any of the hot liquid spill onto her hands. Once she'd safely taken it from him, he let out the breath he'd been holding and sat down beside her once again.

"I guess we should figure out a place for you to sleep," Sora mused and took a sip of his tea.

"How about your bed?"

Sora had to physically restrain himself from spitting out his tea in a cartoonish fashion, though in doing so he ended up choking on the hot liquid instead. When he managed to catch his breath, Kairi's laughter stole his attention. She'd obviously meant to do that, though he didn't really see the humour in it.

"Hehe, that was way too easy," she laughed, somehow managing to keep her own drink from spilling.

Sora grumbled and coughed a bit as he extracted the last drops of tea from his windpipe. "In all seriousness, though, we'll need to find you a place where Roxas won't see you when he comes home." Stopping to think for a moment, Sora made a screwed up face when he came to a somewhat ironic conclusion. "Actually, now that I think about it, my bed is probably the best place, since we have separate bedrooms."

This time it was Kairi's turn to choke on her tea, though her coughing wasn't followed up by any laughter from Sora.

"W-What are you saying, S-Sora?" she questioned nervously, completely losing her playful tone from before. "I-I was only joking with what I said… B-Besides, we hardly even know each other–"

"That isn't what I meant," Sora explained before she got the wrong idea. "I mean I'll sleep out here on the couch or something and you can sleep in my room. You'll have to take your shoes in there too, but that way you won't get spotted when he comes home."

"O-Oh, that makes sense," she said, slowly calming down and taking a sip of her tea. "Is it really all right? If I steal your bed from you, I mean."

"I don't really mind," Sora said with a shrug. "It'll be easier for me to make up an excuse for why I'm sleeping on the couch as opposed to why I have a random girl staying overnight. But really, we should get to bed soon. Roxas will probably be home by four at the latest. I'll show you where my room is."

Standing up, he helped Kairi to her feet and led the way to his bedroom. Oddly enough, the idea of having a pretty girl sleeping in his bed didn't seem all that nerve-wracking when there was a reason behind it. He wasn't about to crawl into bed with her or anything, so any embarrassing mishaps would be avoided, assuming she didn't bump into Roxas on her way out.

"Oh, I'll grab your shoes," Sora said after he'd opened the door to his room.

"Thanks," she spoke quietly, lightly stepping through the doorway. "Hey, um…"

"What is it?" Sora asked, returning with her shoes in hand.

"This might sound kind of…weird…" she said slowly, a slight hesitation in her voice, "but…can I…can I…"

"Can you what?"

"Can I kiss you?"

As one might expect, Sora's mind instantly went blank, creating an atmosphere that almost demanded cricket chirping. Considering the small amount he had learned about Kairi in this short period of time, he was waiting for her to suddenly say "Just kidding" or "Too easy" but with each moment that her expression remained serious, he became less sure that she was playing around like she had been earlier.

"Hehe, o-of course," he answered jokingly, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "W-What girl wouldn't want to k-k-kiss some guy she basically begged to freeload off of?"

"So, you really don't mind?"

"N-Nope," he responded. While he was obviously nervous, Sora knew that playing along would be the best way to go about this. He didn't need to give her the satisfaction of teasing him again. Besides, being the average guy in life meant rolling with the punches, so playing along was a pretty natural recurrence for him. If he went along with the joke far enough, she would back down before he gave in. Though none had ever involved kissing, he knew from past experiences that this was how to deal with these kinds of situations.

Of course, his plan would have gone smoothly had it actually been a joke.

The last thing Sora expected was to feel the soft, warm squish of something pressing against his lips. Unable to move, speak, or react in any sort of way, his eyes shot wide open and he simply stared at the redhead whose lips were now pressed against his. What was he supposed to do now? Should he kiss her back? Maybe he should push her off of him. How was he supposed to know; what kind of experience could have prepared him for this?!

His nerves felt like they were on fire as they stood there kissing in the doorway to his room. She was too close for him to actually look at her, but the very fact that she was so close was reason enough to feel anxious. He was no expert on girls, but Sora could almost assuredly say that most girls did not usually kiss people they'd just met out of the blue. Then again, Kairi didn't seem to be like most girls; after all, everything that happened put her on the other end of the spectrum from the typical female in his age range.

By the time his brain began to function again, he realized that Kairi had already pulled away from him. Continuing to stare at her in disbelief, Sora slowly raised a trembling hand to his tingling lips, wondering if what just happened had been real or not. His face felt like it was cooking, and the amount of sweat that had accumulated on his palms was enough to fill a lake. However, judging from Kairi's lack of flushed cheeks or any sort of distinct expression, it seemed that she had not been nearly as affected by it as he had, assuming that kiss had affected her at all.

"Well…goodnight, Sora," she said quickly, taking her shoes from him and closing the door in his face before he had a chance to do anything.

He couldn't be sure how long he stood with his nose pressed against the door and jaw hanging agape, but when Sora finally managed to move away from that spot, he felt as though he had just finished running a marathon. Exhausted from the stress of everything that had happened in this one night, the brunet had no trouble shuffling his way over to the couch and passing out. Maybe he would wake up to discover that everything to do with Kairi had been a dream, though he somehow hoped that it had been real – at least, everything before the kiss, anyway.

The next morning, Sora awoke in an uncomfortable position. Groaning as he stretched out his sore muscles, he rubbed his eyes and saw what appeared to be a note sitting on the coffee table beside his head. Seeing that it clearly wasn't Roxas' handwriting, he quickly snatched up the piece of paper and read what it said.

Sora,

Thanks for hanging out with me last night. I had a lot of fun playing around with you! I would have left you my number, but I don't have a cell at the moment. Too bad, but maybe I'll see you wandering around the streets again sometime. If you ever see me, don't be shy!

Kairi

Slowly placing the note back down, Sora sighed and relaxed into the couch cushions. Apparently, everything that occurred last night with Kairi had been more than just a dream. Considering he wasn't one to go out of his way to do crazy things, the events of last night seemed almost surreal. Did things like this happen frequently for adventurous people? Maybe a better question would be: How many people are as weirdly upbeat and spontaneous as Kairi?

The sound of someone clearing their throat across the living space caught Sora's attention, and he quickly glanced over to see Roxas leaning against the wall by his room with an amused smirk on his face.

"I take it you had a fun night?" the blond half-chuckled.

"I don't know if 'fun' is exactly the right word to use," Sora responded and laid his head back down. "I'd go with…stressful…or confusing."

"Seeing how you ended up sleeping on the couch instead of in bed with that hot redhead, one of those words is probably better than 'fun.' Kairi, was it?"

Had it been any other person, Sora would have been annoyed that Roxas spotted Kairi on her way out, but considering how clumsy she proved herself to be, all he could do was laugh. He wasn't exactly confident that she would make it out without getting spotted, so the fact that she was seen only served to amuse him. Slapping a hand over his eyes, he smiled widely.

"Yeah, Kairi," he exhaled, peeking through his fingers to glance at the heart she'd drawn beside her name. "I hope…I get to meet her again."

It's a little long for a prologue, but once I started writing, I couldn't stop going. I already knew exactly how this prologue was going to play out, so all the ideas I had for embellishing what I wanted just started flying out of my head. I think that out of the three multi-chaps I'm writing at the moment, this one is going to be my favourite (at least, it feels that way right now). Oh and in case anyone was curious, my inspiration for writing this came about after I finished watching ef: a tale of memories, though I don't plan on using anything too much as direct references.

Hopefully this gives you a good idea of what Sora and Kairi are like. Obviously there will be some more detail on their characters, relationships, and whatnot in future chapters, but this should give a little taste of their personalities, at least for the time being.

I have high expectations for myself for this story, so hopefully you'll all stick around to see how it all plays out! Thanks for reading and please review!

-GengaJupite