Here's the new chapter! I forgot to mention last chapter that this story is set in a world if the series stopped at the end of KH 2. We all know the series is not over, that is why this story is technically AU. But the nature of the world(s) is still the same as it is in the original stories. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own. Happy now?

Tintinnabulation

[tin-ti-nab-yuh-ley-shuhn]

N. The ringing or sound of bells

Boom!

Another roar of thunder shakes Sora's house as he presses the pillow closer to his head. The room lights up when a bolt of lightning strikes dangerously close to the window. Sora whimpers as he catches sight of the chaotic rain pouring down outside. In the distance, the trees on the islands were almost ripped from the ground.

Dang, there hasn't been a storm this bad since the Heartless- wait. His eyes widen as he throws his pillow in the ground and sits up in his bed. He rushes over to the window and tries to see if there is any suspicious activity on the Island. Unfortunately, the rain blocks his view.

"I'll check it out for myself," he thinks out loud. For some reason, he doesn't see anything wrong with going out in a boat in the middle of a thunderstorm. Oh, well.

Somewhere in another house, Riku lies awake on from the storm also, but unlike his spiky-haired best friend, he seems calm. That is, he was calm until he saw his best friend row out to sea in a thunderstorm.

"That idiot." He jumps out of bed to retrieve his jacket, readying himself to follow Sora. He slides open his bedroom window and leaps out. He runs all the to the dock, calling out to Sora even though he probably can't hear him through the storm. He jumps into a small rowboat and starts rowing as hard he can towards the Island. He's halfway there when a bolt of lightning illuminates the sky, followed by clap of thunder so loud that it was applause. Riku turns around and squints through the rain, just barely making out a spiky-headed figure collapse onto the sand.

"Sora!" He yells even though storm and the fact that the boy is unconscious make it futile. In his panic, he quickly makes it to the island. Speeding faster than a bolt of the ever-present lightning, he makes his way over to his friend on the beach. Sora looks like a fried porcupine. (A/N: Sounds delicious. Mmmm.) If it was even possible, the lightning made his hair stand up even more, despite the rain. The edges of absolutely everything were charred, from his hair to his clothes . . . everything. Riku throws Sora over his shoulder and runs back to his boat and sets him on the floor.

"Come on, buddy, we got to get you inside," Riku says to comfort more of himself than Sora, seeing as he can't hear him. He quickly reaches the main island in almost no time, something only possible in his current adrenaline-fueled state. He flings Sora over his shoulder again and runs to the nearest house of someone he knows - Kairi. He rings the doorbell, praying that his auburn-haired friend will be the one to open the door. Thankfully, the girl quickly answers the door, clad in pajamas and a light pink bathrobe. The two stare at each other silently for a moment, one because the other carried a fried porcupine, the other because of her completely pink attire and unkempt red hair.

"What?" They say simultaneously. Kairi widens her eyes at the sight of the boy that Riku is carrying.

"Oh, my God. Is that Sora?" She asks. Not waiting for a response, she pulls Riku through the door and leads him into the living room. "Put him down on the couch," she directs him. He gently sets him down on the couch.

"I was thinking you might be able to get him a doctor," Riku says. "They might come quicker because your dad is, you know."

"Yeah, they might respond quicker than they would at any other time, but Riku, it's," she glances at the clock, "Three in the morning. I don't think they'll come any time soon."

"That's fine." Riku crosses his arms. "I had a feeling that this would happen."

"Then why did you bring him here?" Kairi angrily whisper-yells, not wanting to alert anyone else in the house.

"Did you learn any magic?" Kairi stares back at Riku blankly. "You know, from any of the princesses, Donald, Aerith . . . Anyone."

"Yeah." She hesitates. "A little." Displaying probably the literal amount of her knowledge between her thumb and index finger.

"Good, I'll need you cast a Cure spell on him."

"What?" Kairi can't help but yell. "Why can't you do it yourself?"

"It's not like I'm asking you to part the sea!" Riku rolls his eyes. "Just a simple Cure spell. Not even Cura."

". . .Fine." She scrunches up her face and kneels down next to Sora on the couch. She hovers her hands over his body.

"You need to touch him," Riku whispers in a slightly suggestive manner.

"Shut up." Kairi turns around and glares at him. Riku is not-so-subtly smirking.

"No, but seriously, you have to touch him," he says, no longer smiling. "It will strengthen the spell's effects a little."

"Yeah, yeah," Kairi tries to sound nonchalant as she lays her hands on Sora's torso, but she can't help but redden at the contact. Focus, Kairi. Behind her, she hears Riku snicker, but she is too fixated on the spell now. "Cure," she whispers, focusing all her energy into healing Sora.

"It's working," Riku says softly, raising his eyebrows as green energy flows from Kairi's palms. "I think you're good." Immediately she relaxes as she falls onto Sora, resting her arms. "It takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." Kairi sluggishly pulls herself up away from the couch. Riku walks over to her picks up Sora.

"He looks much better, but we should still take him to a doctor, just in case."

"Yeah." Kairi struggles to stay awake.

"You should go back to sleep, I'll take Sora home," Riku assures her.

" 'Kay. Thanks, Riku." Kairi yawns as she makes her way to the stairs. Riku nods at her before walking to the door with Sora.

"Come on, let's get you home," He says, not expecting an answer. His eyes widen when he sees Sora's crack open slightly.

"Riku. . ."

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry."

Riku scrunches up his face, conflicted whether to be happy that his friend is awake or annoyed that he wants food at a time like this. "Don't make me knock you out again."

*Cue relaxing morning piano music*

Ding-dong!

"Hello, Mrs. Hikari."

"Riku! How nice to see you," Sora's mom greets him. "I'm sorry, Sora isn't awake yet. You want some breakfast while you wait?"

"It's fine, Mrs. Hikari, I already ate. How about I wake up Sora for you?" Riku offers as he steps into the house.

"Oh, really? Thank you, so much!"

"No problem," Riku says as he runs up the stairs. "Sora!" He calls when he reaches his friend's bedroom. "Get up!" He yells as he pounds on the door. There is no answer. "Okay, I'm going in and personally pulling your ass out of bed." He bursts through the door. "Sora, wake up - wha?" Riku quickly runs back out of the room and slams the door when he sees not one, but two unconscious figures in the room, one of which is unfamiliar, female, and very much naked.

"Riku! Is he up yet?" Sora's mom calls from downstairs.

Crap. "Um, not yet. Just a second!" I have to get that girl out of there. . . But first, I need to clothe her. Riku wearily reenters Sora's room, making sure to shield his eyes. He makes his way over to the closet and pulls out Sora's blue bathrobe. He walks over to the girl, trying not to stare, and carefully wraps the robe around, tying it tightly. Though he tries not look at her body, he can't help but feel that he recognizes the short black bob the girl sports. His eyes flicker to the bed where Sora was still sleeping. Good. He lets out a sigh of relief as he pulls out his phone to text Kairi.

Riku Gallagher: Hey, Kai, can you come to Sora's house? Don't go in, though. Go stand outside of the window in Sora's room.

Kairi Winters: Kay. Why?

Riku Gallagher: Um, kinda hard to explain.

Kairi Winters: Try me.

Riku Gallagher: There's a girl here. . . She's unconscious. But I swear, I don't know her.

Kairi Winters: What?

Riku Gallagher: I've never seen her before in my life, but maybe you know her. She has short black hair, a little small, pretty.

Kairi Winters: Pretty?

Riku Gallagher: Pretend I didn't put that last part.

Riku looks up from his phone and down at the girl again. But she is pretty. . . Riku quickly breaks his gaze away from her when his phone vibrates again.

Kairi Winters: Short black hair? Shiki Misaki? Kairi names a girl from school.

Riku Gallagher: No, I know Shiki. This is definitely not her.

Kairi Winters: Well, I'll see for myself soon.

Riku Gallagher: R u here?

Kairi Winters: Yeah.

Riku walks over to the window and sure enough, there is Kairi, standing below in the yard. He makes sure to send her a text of his plans.

Riku Gallagher: K, this could be a little tricky, since I'm on the 2nd floor. I'm going to carry her out the window.

Kairi Winters: What? Are u crazy?

Riku Gallagher: How do you think I got Sora home last night?

Kairi Winters: The front door?

Riku Gallagher: No! We can't have his parents find out that he was hit by lightning! Especially since we healed him with magic.

Kairi Winters: You have a point. Okay, do your thing.

Riku takes one more look at Sora to make sure he is still asleep before he quietly slides the window open and carefully puts the girl in a fireman's lift. He quickly jumps from the window.

"Is this her?" Kairi asks once he reaches the ground.

"Yeah, I -" Riku stops talking when he notices Kairi looking disapprovingly at the girl. "What?"

"You could have at least put actual clothes on her!"

"Well, sorry." Riku rolls his eyes. "Tell you what, why don't you bring her to your house and you can dress her up."

"Seriously?" Kairi's face brightens up at the idea of someone to, ahem, dress up. Being friends with Riku and Sora does have disadvantages, and even when she hung out with Selphie, she was always on the receiving end of any sort of "makeover."

"Yeah, she looks about your size," Riku says hesitantly. "Just don't go overboard, okay?" He looks at Kairi pleadingly.

"I won't!" Kairi is already halfway down the street, dragging the still unconscious girl behind her. Riku tries not to worry too much about the girl as he somehow climbs back in through Sora's window. Immediately, he grabs Sora by his pajama shirt and drags him out of bed and out of his room.

"Ow!"

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" He greets Sora as he tows him down the stairs. "I got him, Mrs. Hikari."

"Thanks, Riku," Sora's mom says after taking a sip of coffee at the table.

"You okay, Sora? You look a little beat up," Sora's dad says as he looks up from the morning paper.

"Yeah, this guy just dragged me down the stairs," Sora says sarcastically as he rubs his slightly injured head.

Riku shrugs. "Hey, extreme situations call for extreme measures."

"And me sleeping is an extreme situation?" Sora yells. Riku flinches before rolling his eyes at Sora's words.

"Go eat some breakfast, idiot. I'm going to text someone about something. And don't forget, we're meeting up with Kairi later."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sora waves his silver-haired friend off, eager to eat. Getting struck by lightning does wonders for your appetite, whether you know you got hit or not. Riku chuckles as he steps out into the Hikari's living room.

Kairi Winters: You know the girl from earlier?

Riku Gallagher: How can I forget?

Kairi Winters: Her name is Xion.

Riku Gallagher: Did she tell you?

Riku widens his eyes at the discovery.

Kairi Winters: Not exactly. . . Namine told me.

Riku Gallagher: Namine? Your Nobody?

Kairi Winters: It's a little hard to explain. I'll tell you more about it later when we meet up. HDL's sound good?

Riku smiles. HDL stands for Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Donald's nephews. The three ducklings started the ice cream franchise around a decade ago and there seem to be at least on every world where anyone likes ice cream, which is, of course, all worlds.

Riku Gallagher: Kay. See u.

So, I'm not going to update until I get a review! Just kidding, I'm not that cruel.

Sora: What are you talking about? You struck me with lightning!

What are you talking about? That was mother nature! Anyways, I'm going to be away from home for, I don't know, two weeks. It will be a little bit of time before I update. Review! I know someone is reading this . . .

But really, I'd love to see your thoughts on this, even though the story isn't too far along.