Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. T.T If I did, I wouldn't be writing this fanfic.
A/N: The other main character isn't introduced until chapter three…heh, is that okay? ^_^; Anyway, I appreciate reviews. Keep 'em coming!
.oOo. Chapter Three ~ A Date Challenge .oOo.
The girl, Kairi, was late. Mickey was frantic, asking people to try to contact her. "We're behind schedule!" he cried. "Can't anyone find out why she's not here yet?"
Two crewmen, an oversized duck and a tall dog, came up to him. "Uh, gawrsh. We still can't figure out where she is."
Mickey sighed. "Okay, pals. It looks like we're just going to have to go on without her for a little while. Are the cameras ready?"
The duck scowled. "No. Goofy tripped over the wires and knocked the left angle camera over. Again."
Mickey rubbed his temples. "That's okay. We can shoot the next scene without that camera, I guess. Just try to get it working again before the girl gets here."
This place was a madhouse… Sora sighed. He was kind of hoping that this Kairi chick wouldn't show up. Maybe then they'd cancel the show? Somehow, he knew that wouldn't happen. In the worst case scenario, they'd probably just find another girl to do it. Doubtless, it wouldn't be too difficult.
"She's here!" an excited voice called out suddenly. Everyone whirled around hastily, trying to catch a glimpse of the potential girlfriend.
"Hope she's a knockout," Riku muttered under his breath. Sora rolled his eyes.
Sora didn't know Riku's definition of "knockout", but he supposed the girl was pretty. As she walked in the studio, everyone was staring at her. She was skinny with an average height. Her brown-red hair reached her shoulders. Her eyes were big and blue-violet in color. She was wearing a dressy white tank top and a pink skirt, completing the look with makeup. She was a typical girl, in other words. She was into fashion and all those odd things that made no sense to Sora.
"Heh, heh…sorry I'm late, everybody. I, uh, lost track of time." Kairi's voice was girly and innocent. But also tense. She must be nervous, Sora realized. He was willing to bet that was the real reason she was late.
"Now that everyone's here, let's finally begin!" Mickey said with a little relieved laugh. "Hope no one needs to take a bathroom break already, though. Oh, and Donald, Goofy—make sure you conceal the cameras extra well." Sora's face reddened. He knew they were doing that because of him. He felt kind of guilty. But he couldn't help it. Being on camera just put him on edge.
"Okay, pals. Here's how it's going to go." Mickey instructed everyone on where to sit. Kairi was sitting in a pink, fluffy chair, while the four boys sat across from her. Mickey stood between them. "In the next shooting, we're going to introduce you guys. And we're going to tell you your first challenge."
Challenge? That doesn't sound too good… Sora's hands were getting sweaty, with or without the cameras showing. He hated this so much. He was seriously regretting entering that dumb raffle ticket contest now. Maybe he and Kairi could make some sort of a deal? Sora could ask her privately to kick him off the show quickly in turn for something…anything… She seemed like a nice person, so maybe she'd oblige? It was better than doing some challenge. What exactly did that mean, anyway? Well, he'd find out soon enough, he supposed.
They were on the air. Sora snapped out of his thoughts, instead concentrating all his energy on not acting like a moron on camera. On camera that would be showing its video nationwide… Ack! Stop thinking about that!! It'll just make you mess up worse! Sora lectured himself.
"Hello, everyone! Mickey Mouse here, once again. The show is now officially starting, so let's get right to it, shall we?" Mickey sure wasn't shy in front of the cameras. Sora wondered how he did it. "This is the first time the boys get to meet the girl that may soon be their girlfriend. Guys, this is Kairi."
Kairi waved and laughed softly, nervously. Mickey then introduced Sora, Riku, Hayner, and Roxas to her. Then the introductory videos were shown to Kairi. Hayner's video made him come off as a tough guy who could "come to her rescue in any situation." Roxas was far more modest, almost gentlemanly. Riku, on the other hand, was acting like a total flirt in his video. Sora had to stifle a snort when his best friend used some cheap pickup lines. Sora's was nothing to boast about either, though. His was probably the worst, in fact. His video was short and dull. He felt slightly embarrassed, but on the other hand, whatever would kick him off the show faster worked for him.
"So what do you think?" Mickey asked after the videos were all finished.
"Um, they all seem like pretty nice guys," Kairi said politely.
"Do any of them strongly appeal to you already?"
"Er…I don't really know them well enough yet."
"Okay then. Well, don't worry, 'cause you're going to get to know them much better soon."
Gulp.
"You see, the first challenge is for each of them to take you…on a date!"
Double gulp.
"Guys, you pick the place. Kairi goes on four dates, then one of you sadly gets eliminated. So do your best!"
There was a pause, and then, "Anddd…cut!" Mickey faced everyone and said, "We'll get individual interviews on your opinions of the first challenge on the day of your date."
"But when are the dates?" Hayner asked, sitting comfortably in his chair.
"Oh, right," Mickey said. "We figured out the order randomly. First up is Sora. Then Hayner, Roxas, and last but not least, Riku. We'll do them every day for four days starting in three days." (Wow, that's confusing.)
Why the hey did he have to be the one to go first?! Sora wanted to protest, but as usual, he kept his gripes inside. He'd complain to Riku about them later. This was as bad as he'd thought it would be, if not worse. Kairi didn't seem too terrible as far as girls go, but still...this was embarrassing as hell! A few minutes passed as Sora sat there, still trying to shake off his nerves. Even though he was no longer on camera, he couldn't help but feel as though he was. And it wasn't a very comfortable sensation, either. He looked around to see if the other guys were suffering "camera shock" as well, but they were nowhere in sight. Hm, they'd probably already started chasing after Kairi, trying to seduce the poor girl or something.
Still peering around, he spotted one of the contestants, Roxas, nearby. "Good luck, man," he told Sora, approaching him with a friendly smile. "You don't seem too enthusiastic about all this, though."
"Are you kidding me? I never wanted to be a part of this shenanigan in the first place," Sora said, suppressing the majority of his aggravation. Oops…should he have admitted that so openly?
"Thank god I'm not the only one," Roxas said. Sora was taken aback.
"You mean…you don't want to do this either?" Was someone truly on his side? Oh, thank the heavenly light of Kingdom Hearts!!
"Eh, sort of. I didn't really want to at first. Hayner just dragged me into it. I guess having a girlfriend wouldn't be so bad, though. It's not quite as awful as I thought it would be. So far, at least."
Y'know, Roxas isn't that bad, Sora decided. At least someone in this place was somewhat sane.
"Hey, have you seen Hayner?" Roxas asked, changing the subject. "We only finished, like, two minutes ago, and he already wandered off."
"So did Riku. Why don't we go look for them?"
That ended up being a smart idea. As Sora had predicted, they were already trying to impress Kairi, who was backed into a wall and trying to politely find an excuse to leave.
"Would you leave her alone?" Sora said. "You're not even on camera right now. Sheesh. Are you that desperate?"
Riku gave Sora a dirty look. "I'm just talking with her. Jeez, you jealous or something?"
Sora raised an eyebrow. As if.
"I…really do need to go, though," Kairi cut in. "But I'll be seeing you guys soon again anyway, right?" She smiled lightly and tried to get around Riku and Hayner.
"Kairiiiii! Hey!" A familiar voice called out. Sora saw the girl from earlier, Namine, jogging towards them. She seemed enthused.
"Who's that?" Hayner asked.
"Oh, she's my best friend. Everyone, meet Namine."
Namine giggled and clutched onto a sketchbook in her hand tighter. "Hi, guys. Nice to meet you. You better be good to my best friend, got it?" She said the last statement more jokingly than threateningly.
Kairi's cheeks flushed. "Quit teasing me," she laughed.
"So…what's in the sketchbook? Do you draw?" Roxas said, changing the topic spontaneously. He seemed to be taking a lot of interest in Namine for some reason. Sora noticed that he'd really only been paying attention to her since she made her entrance. That was odd.
"Yeah, a little bit. I'm not very good though," Namine admitted.
She showed him her sketchbook, and in that time, Sora managed to peel Riku away from Kairi and drag him out of the building. It was a long haul, and although Riku wasn't physically fighting back much, it was still a struggle.
"Why can't we stay longer? Hayner and Roxas are! They're going to have the advantage over her!" he whined.
"Would you quit being a baby?" Sora said, annoyed. "You'll have plenty of opportunities to make her go ga-ga over your macho-ness…or whatever it is you're trying to do."
Riku scowled. "Just 'cause you're a sourpuss about this whole thing doesn't mean you get to ruin my fun. 'Sides, you haven't even given the girlfriend thing a chance."
"And I'm not going to," Sora assured his scowling friend.
Riku rolled his eyes. "Jeez. With your opinion on chicks, you've gotta be gay. Either that, or you're not a male."
Sora punched Riku in the arm—not hard enough to bruise, but he was sure it still stung. This was just a light argument, but it still made Sora's mood even more sour than it was before. In his mind, everything about this torturous reality show sucked big time.
"Where are you going to take Kairi for the date, anyway?" Riku asked.
Sora shrugged. "I dunno. I haven't really thought about it. Maybe McDonalds or something."
Riku's jaw dropped. "McDonalds? I know you don't like this girlfriend thing much, but still. That's harsh."
"Well, I like McDonalds, so what's the problem with it? It's cheap, fatty, and completely artificial. What's wrong with that?"
Riku shook his head. "You are so hopeless. Are you really that dense?"
"Fine," Sora snapped defensively. "Can you come up with somewhere better?" Immediately after saying those words, he regretted it.
"As a matter of fact, I can. Leave it to me, oh-clueless-one," Riku said with a smirk. "I'm thinking of someplace with romantic potential, but not too prototypical. Someplace with good scenery and music. Girls like that sort of stuff, and it helps set the mood. Hmm…how about…oh! I've got it! There's this really good restaraunt I know called Italiano. Even you can't screw up in a place like that."
"I am not going to some fancy-schmansy restaurant where you have to eat with fifty different forks and put your napkin in your lap," Sora said stubbornly.
"Oh, yes you are," Riku said with a distinct leer. "If you don't, I won't give you that autographed blitzball poster for your birthday."
Damn you, Riku! Looks like he was headed for Italiano.
A/N: What'd ya think? Still kinda slow-moving, right? -_- 'Italiano' is a pretty lame name, but I don't know how to say anything in Italian and I suck at coming up with names for stuff. So that's that. =P
Also, I apologize to the people who expected it to be a "love at first sight" situation between Sora and Kairi. I don't like stuff like that; it seems too unrealistic to me. So if they do fall in love, it will happen gradually.
Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Preview: Chapter Four is called "Meatball Surprise". Sora forgot one crucial thing when he was preparing to go to the Italian restaurant—pasta can get messy!