Pre-note: This one-shot is also posted in KHInsider as an entry for the site-organised Halloween contest.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Happy reading!

End of October was drawing nigh, and if one were to take a walk on the main streets of Destiny Islands, he would be able to see many kinds of spooky, yet at the same time elegant, decorations.

On board a bus that happened to pass by one of those streets were three friends, none of them looking more than a mere eight years old. One of them, the oldest of the trio, knelt on his seat facing backward; it was a dangerous position indeed, but it allowed him to converse face-to-face with his other two friends: a cheerful brunet and a gentle, reserved red-haired girl.

While the boys were chatting just about everything that happened to come across their minds, the girl had her attention fully fixed beyond the glass panes of the bus. It was her first time seeing those scary decorations lining the streets; just yesterday, there hadn't been any of those things. She couldn't comprehend why people would set them up, and truth be told, it unnerved her.

Despite that, she couldn't take her gaze off them, and it was only when the bus made a turn to a drive more residential in nature that she finally let out an incomprehensible sigh. "Hey, Sora?" she called out.

Said boy, who had been talking with the other friend, ceased talking and turned to face her. "What's up, Kairi? You're so quiet today," he said back.

"Those things outside…" the girl—Kairi was her name—gestured outside. "They scare me. What do they do?"

Sora tilted his head to the side in the most adorable manner, trying to comprehend what Kairi had meant by her question. His mind started to wonder why anyone would ask about Halloween decorations, but realisation soon dawned upon him.

Kairi was a newcomer to the Islands, and not even a year had passed since she and her family moved over from a faraway place. Halloween, being an annual event celebrated only by the locals of Destiny Islands, would therefore be an unfamiliar concept to her. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that she would be curious about it.

With a smile pasted on his face and eagerness to help, Sora began. "Oh, those decorations? I think you've never seen them before—"

"They're supposedly there to scare off evil spirits, because they're gonna visit the living world and snatch children away."

Having been interrupted by the other friend, Sora's cheerful smile turned into a frown. "Riku, I haven't finished talking," he pouted.

"That's what you get for being so slow," the silver-haired boy, Riku, retorted. Then, ignoring his friend's death glare, he continued. "It's a tradition here. So you see, those decorations are brought out and hung outside houses and buildings so that evil spirits don't come near or break inside."

"These spirits… are they real?" asked Kairi once again, her face now assuming an uneasy expression.

Riku found her display of fear amusing. "Who knows? But it's better to be safe than sorry, if you ask me."

By now, Kairi had become totally unnerved. She began questioning whether it had been a good turn of events for her and her family to have moved to the Islands. It was official that she wouldn't really be happy about walking around the town all by herself, let alone at night. Not that her parents would allow her, but still.

Noticing this, Sora chimed in, not wanting Kairi to be uncomfortable. "You're scaring her. That's just a legend, and legends don't happen anymore… right?" he said. However, he wished he had been more certain with his own delivery.

"You sure about that?" Riku smirked, obviously having something going on in his head. "That's strange… I think I remember someone getting too afraid of leaving the house last year because he forgot to decorate the terrace. You remember who it was, Sora?"

The spiky-haired boy was shocked. He couldn't believe Riku brought it up like right now; doubtless, he did it on purpose, and it was to embarrass him in front of Kairi. "Huh, w-what? Who—I don't remember!" he shook his head fervently in denial.

"Hmm… I think it starts with the letter S…"

"Ah! I know, it's… Selphie! Yeah, you know she's scared easily… hehe…"

Sora's immediate response took Riku by surprise. He hadn't expected the other boy to come up with such an answer that seemed to shift the subject of the conversation to a completely unrelated person. He had to admit, it was so clever of Sora to have used such a sporadic tactic to escape a hairy situation, and decided not to nag him any further.

Finally, Sora managed to calm down and change the topic. "Anyway, Halloween isn't just about scary stuff. We can have a lot of fun, too, and for this year, it's tomorrow."

Charmed by Sora's interesting reply earlier on, Kairi eased up, as demonstrated by the smile that had made its way to her lips. "What's going on tomorrow?" she inquired.

"Well, you see…"

Over the course of the next few minutes, Sora and Riku took turns explaining the local custom around this time of the year. The apex of Halloween would take place at the last day of the month, which happened to be only a day to go. On that date, a major evening festival would take place at the town square, and people were bound to crowd the place.

In the festival, stands selling food and snacks would be set up, and so would a stage for people to perform on. There would be stalls where people could try their hands on some games, too. However, those weren't the focal point; no, there was another aspect of the festival that just about everyone—young and old, boys and girls—would enjoy all the same.

It was the dressing-up part.

Most, if not all, of the visitors would dress up in every possible, imaginable way. This practice was best known among the circle of children, who for this occasion would brag about their costumes and see whose would be the best of the batch. Sora and Riku regularly dressed up, but they had been doing it for the fun and not for the competition; their parents always believed that the money could be saved for something more important.

Riku found himself recalling the events of the last Halloween. "Last year Sora and me dressed up as superheroes. We fought to decide the strongest hero, and I won."

"But that was last time! You won't be so lucky next time," Sora challenged.

"We'll see about that," Riku only shrugged in reply. "Anyway, have you decided on a costume, Sora?"

Sora crossed his hands over his chest. "Hmm… not yet, actually. But mom's gonna take me to the store tonight to see the costumes, so I think I'll just decide later."

"Hey, I'm going tonight, too. I think we can meet some of our friends too."

"Yup, that sounds like fun!"

The boys were so engrossed in their conversation they had all but forgotten about Kairi. The little girl just sat there, observing the glee radiating from Sora's ever-cheerful face, and smiled. However, the smile wasn't a usual one; there was this peculiar mix of envy and sadness in there.

This Halloween festival sounded really fun. Kairi wanted so much to be a part of it and have fun with her friends, but she didn't have any costume to dress up in. No matter how hard she tried, there was no way she could talk her parents into buying her one in such a short notice. Nope, she just didn't have a chance, that she believed.

It wasn't long until the bus made its stop in front of Kairi's house. Emulating a gentleman, Sora yielded and allowed Kairi to pass, gaining him a nod of gratitude from her. Just as usual, she exchanged good-byes with the two boys, wished them a good remainder of the day, and parted, all while making sure that they wouldn't notice a thing about the current state of her heart.

"I wish I had a costume…" she whispered sadly as she made her way down the aisle.

Once out of the bus, Kairi thanked the driver, a kind gesture which was reciprocated. As the bus went past, she saw Sora peering through the window by his seat; she waved at him, but strangely, he didn't wave back. Instead, he just looked at her with this inscrutable expression on his face, one that she didn't know the meaning of.

Finally, after the bus was out of sight, she seemed to regain the power to move. "Oh well… I'd better go in now," she said, making her way toward the front door.

Unbeknownst to her, Sora had heard her remark.

"Sora! Over here!" a group of three children, all boys, shouted collectively.

Said boy expected nothing less from his friends. They seemed to always be able to beat him to a punch in anything where gathering was involved. He was always the last person to show up, and why that was so, he simply had no idea. Not that it mattered, though, because at least he had never been late.

"There they are, mom!" he said to his mother gleefully. "Can I go together with them? I promise we won't make any trouble."

Seeing the other children, Sora's mother gave a kind smile. "Of course, honey. Now here's what you need to buy your stuff," she said as she handed some amount of money to her son, which he received with gratitude. "Spend wisely, alright? And don't forget the change."

After that, Sora immediately darted toward his friends, and they immediately headed toward the clothing section of the store. The mother could only shake her head in amusement before joining the other parents who had gathered nearby and exchanging greetings; it was already decided that the band of parents would spend some time together while watching over their children.

"This one looks cool on me," someone in Sora's group exclaimed, admiring himself in front of a full-length mirror.

"That makes you look fat," another retorted, obviously jealous of his friend's claim. "I'm cooler than you in this one. Look!"

"No, you're not."

"Am too."

"Are not!"

"Am too!"

Riku was made wide-eyed by this exchange. Being the oldest in the group could be taxing sometimes, and right now he wasn't really in the mood to dissuade his friends from continuing with their petty argument. Sometimes, they could get even more childish than even Sora himself, and according to him, it was no mean feat since the brunet was one of the most childish people he had ever met in his life, if not the most.

Speaking of Sora… since their arrival at the clothing section, Riku hadn't seen him. "Great, now I gotta look for a missing kid, too," he sighed, but still set off in his search anyway. "Sora? Where are you, Sora?"

A few minutes of searching yielded nothing, and truth be told, Riku was starting to get worried—not that he would admit it, though. He slowly lost his cool, and soon enough, he found himself frantically looking for his best friend before any of the adults could notice. He was well aware that if they did, this little outing that was supposed to be fun would turn into a major disaster.

Fortunately, it didn't need to happen.

Just before he let out a frustrated shout of his friend's name, Riku spotted him. Sora was carefully treading toward the check-out counter, a bundle of black cloth he held tightly in his hand. He was acting strangely; judging from the way he checked his surroundings with each step he took, it was evident that he was trying to avoid being seen by people.

Alas, Riku decided that he wouldn't allow Sora that privilege for having worried him to death. With sneaky steps he caught up with him, placed his hand on his nape, and greeted him with a friendly "boo".

"Aaaahh! W-who…?" Sora jumped away, letting out a scream loud enough to attract the attention of those nearby. Upon seeing that it was only Riku, he let out a truly exasperated sigh while clutching his chest with both hands. "Don't scare me like that! It's not funny, you know!"

"Heh, and you said Selphie got scared easily," Riku snorted. Noticing the bundle on the floor that had been in Sora's hand, he took it and began to unfold it. "What's this, anyway?"

It took Sora a few seconds to register that he had dropped his item, and when he finally did, he reached out to Riku in an attempt to stop him. "Ah! No, don't—"

But he was too late.

The cloth had been unfurled, and its form was revealed. It was a witch's robe that was evidently a size or two smaller than Sora's own size, and to make everything more interesting, the costume was meant for girls.

"Oh, no…" Sora gulped nervously. For all he knew, his plan might have been foiled, and it was up to him to convince Riku to stay quiet about it.

"This is your costume?" Riku questioned while flipping the costume back and forth, still not believing what he saw before him. "Are you seriously gonna wear this to the festival?"

Under pressure, Sora found it hard to even string words into a sentence. "I, uh, I thought I could pass it to my mom without anyone seeing…"

"But that's not an answer. I'm asking if you're gonna dress up as a witch. Like a girl."

"N-no, it's not—I'm not wearing this, of course!" replied Sora indignantly. A blush made its way to his cheeks without him knowing.

"You know that, but you're still gonna buy this one? I don't believe it. Explain to me, Sora."

"Sorry, Riku… I can't say anything yet. Just let me… let me pay for this, okay? And don't tell anyone about it."

Silence followed. Sora couldn't find anything else to say as his defence, and neither could Riku to force his case. He knew that once the brunet had said something, not even the end of the world would make him go back against his own words; yes, he was that stubborn. That simply meant that forcing Sora to talk now would be a waste of time, and Riku might as well save his energy for something more important than this.

With that in mind, Riku decided to stop here and let Sora have his way, at least for now. "Fine, go ahead. But you still owe me an explanation, and you'd better promise me you'll tell me everything," he demanded.

Feeling pressured, the younger boy had no choice but to play along and make a promise. Riku was partly satisfied with this, so he tossed the robe back to Sora and watched in a mix of irritation and amusement as he made his hasty dash toward the check-out counter. Shaking his head, Riku returned to the men's sub-section of the clothing section to reunite with his other friends, hoping that they had stopped bickering by now.

Still, he couldn't help pondering Sora's unorthodox choice of costume. "Dressing up as a witch? I don't understand why Sora would do that…" he thought endlessly.

Finally, the most anticipated day of the season came about.

Members of the event committee had been busy preparing the town square since the morning. Thanks to their all-day-long hard work, everything had been set up three hours ahead of the commencement of the festival, giving the stall and stand operators ample time for their own set up and decoration. In just a few hours, the previously bland square had been transformed into a lively, cheerful bazaar of fiesta to commemorate the local tradition.

By now, virtually all children living in the Islands had gotten their hands on a costume. They were ready for the excitement and enjoyment the festival had to offer. When the clock struck six in the evening, all of them would flock to the town square to show off their wonderful costumes and pose in it.

All, but Kairi.

The little girl was lost in her mind, facing this giant of a quandary of her own. She was happy that her parents were interested to take part in the activities. However, at the same time, she was afraid for not being taken seriously by her friends due to not dressing up as one of those superheroes, villains, or other fictional characters or beings.

As a result, she only put on the best dress that she could find in her wardrobe, and truth be told, she looked nothing short of stunningly beautiful in it. The subtle contrast between her red hair and the purple fabric of the dress was very pleasant to look at, and thanks to it, she sported this elegant, regal air around her. She genuinely looked like a princess that had been pulled out of a fairy tale.

"Kairi? Are you done?"

The voice of her mother yanked Kairi back to reality. "I'm done, mom," she responded.

The door opened inward, and Kairi's mother entered. She was pleased to see her daughter in such a wonderful state of dress. The last time she had seen her in that dress was when celebrating her seventh birthday nearly one year ago, and how she was glad that the it still fit her just fine.

"You look gorgeous darling, but hold on. Let me fix some stuff for you," said the lady. She tightened some loose ribbons at the back that Kairi couldn't have done by herself. "There you go, all set. I'm sure that good friend of you, the boy with brown hair… Sora, was it? He'll be amazed when he sees you."

"Amazed? What do you mean?" asked Kairi. The tone of her voice indicated that her confusion was genuine.

The mother replied with a slight giggle. "You know, the two of you look very cute together."

A blush crept to Kairi's face. It was true that she felt truly comfortable with Sora, but why did she feel like this when teased about it? "Mom, stop it…!"

"Oh, is someone blushing, now? Does it—"

Ding-dong.

The posh sound of the doorbell interrupted Kairi's mother in the middle of her sentence, causing the little girl to cheer exuberantly in her head. Feigning exasperation, the mother grumbled about being stopped from getting to the juicy part of the story; she then got up, kissed Kairi on the forehead, and went to welcome the guest.

Kairi took a look at herself again in the mirror, and finally decided that dressing up normally like this wasn't at all bad. But still, it probably would have been great if she could dress up rather differently, considering how much fun it had to be judging from Sora and Riku's stories. With that, she made a mental note to save her plan for next year, and in the meantime, she might be able to save to buy a really good one.

Now feeling slightly more confident, Kairi stepped out to the living room… but that sight that had awaited her, she wasn't expecting it.

"So-Sora!?"

The little girl knew that she shouldn't have. but she just couldn't help getting embarrassed. She didn't want to be seen in her dress by any of his friends, let alone Sora… at least not yet. But alas, truth was cruel, and here they were, standing face to face, the boy completely transfixed by the beauty standing across him.

"Um, hi there… Kairi," was all he said.

To the parents, the sight of the shy children was nothing short of adorable. It was made even more so now that both of them were looking at the ground—they seemed to be trying to hide the obvious blushes on their face—as they fiddle with their fingers. Unbeknownst to Sora and Kairi, they had actually elicited a collective "aww" from their mothers.

Unfortunately, if this kept up, they wouldn't get anywhere until nightfall and would only miss the festival, so Kairi's mother took the initiative. "Well, Kairi. Sora has something to give you. Would you like to show it to Kairi?"

As though the lady's voice had the power to snap people out of their trance, Sora stumbled over toward his mother who gave him a neat-looking brown paper shopping bag. He had done this for the millionth time today, but again, he peered into the bag to make sure that it still had its contents, and was relieved to see that it did.

Slowly and nervously, Sora handed the bag to Kairi, which she accepted. "This is for you, Kairi. You can open it… if you want to."

And so she did. She took out a bundle of black cloth from the bag and unfolded it… and gasped in surprise upon learning what it was. She was at a complete loss of words; this was the most unexpected present that she had ever received in her life, and certainly, it was unexpected in a very positive way.

In her hands, Kairi was holding a witch robe.

"Isn't that sweet, Kairi? Sora gave up buying a new costume so he could get this for you," the red-haired lady cooed. "He's such a kind boy. Thank you, dear, for keeping Kairi in mind."

Kairi struggled to form a coherent sentence. It took everything in her to refrain from shedding tears, even though they were tears of joy. "But… but why? You didn't have to do this."

"Yesterday I heard you in the bus… you said you wanted to have a costume," replied Sora. He was rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner, a telltale gesture displayed whenever he felt nervous or awkward. "So, uh, you know. I kind of found a good one at the store yesterday, and, uh, I—"

The boy never had a chance to finish his sentence. Before he knew it, Kairi had hugged him, almost cutting his airflow in the process. "Thank you, Sora," she said weakly. "You're the greatest friend I've ever had. Thank you…"

Not knowing what to do, Sora did the most natural thing that crossed his mind and reciprocated the hug. This exchange lingered for a few moments until one of the mothers, who was Sora's, interrupted them by intentionally clearing her throat. At the sound, Kairi, still smiling shyly, released her hold and muttered one final thank-you to Sora.

"Alright, little princess, so now you've got a choice," said Kairi's mother. "You can choose which
one to wear, the dress or the robe. It's your call."

Did that question really need to be asked? For Kairi, it was a rhetorical question, but if she had to come up with an answer, that would be a solid "no". From the time she felt the robe with her own hands, she already knew which outfit she should—and would—wear to the festival. Her conviction was indubitable.

Not that she didn't like the dress, but the fact that it was thanks to Sora that she had it in the first place, the robe felt infinitely more special to her.

"I'll take the robe."

"Where's Sora?" one of the friends inquired to Riku.

"He usually comes the latest," replied the silver-haired boy. However, it was already five minutes past the commencement, and still Sora had yet to show up. "But he's never actually late. I hope he's alright…"

Not even five seconds later, another friend pointed at someone in the distance. With that brown hair that stuck up in all directions, it was doubtless, unmistakably Sora. "Look! Isn't that him?"

A female friend nodded in agreement. "Hey, you're right. And I think he's with Kairi."

Feeling a sudden, sharp sensation in his chest, Riku asked them to move away. From their position, he squinted to see the faraway figures, and true enough, in his vision, Sora and Kairi were resolved into focus. However, to his surprise, there was something that had caught his attention more than the mere fact that the two of them were together: their costumes.

Sora was wearing the costume he had worn last year. Riku could tell, because they had bought their costumes together that day. And as for why he didn't wear a new one, one glance at Kairi was all it took for Riku to put two and two together. It had been really obvious that yesterday, at the store, Sora had been looking for a costume to be given to Kairi, which was that witch robe he had actually managed to snatch from him. How could he have failed to realise it sooner?

"Oh, I see now, Sora…" he said while walking away from his friends toward the attraction grounds. He seemed to be grinning, but who knew what was behind that smile of his. "That's what the robe is all about, huh? That's clever."

One of the male friends have never seen this side of Riku, and he was visibly unnerved. "Um. what's wrong with Riku, Selphie?"

"Aah, I know what's wrong…" replied the female friend, Selphie, in a singsong way of speaking. There was this malicious glint in her eye; she seemed to understand very well the affliction that had befallen Riku. "But don't you think it's more exciting to ask the person himself?"

And so, the Halloween festival went on. People proceeded to mix and mingle with one another; they sang, ate, and played to their hearts' content, turning the already lively atmosphere into an even more exuberant one. At the end of the day, it was safe to say that the event was a huge success, and that everybody had enjoyed themselves thoroughly…

Everybody, except perhaps poor Riku.