Disclaimer: When reading DToF, please keep this in mind. I plotted this story after watching KH (the first game), and seeing a couple of screenshots for the next one. That means: I adopted the new outfits for Sora and Riku and Kairi, and while there is an Axel-looking character in here, it is only what I assumed of him based on screenshots, before I even knew his name. All concepts still belong to Disney/Squaresoft(Enix); all original plot stuffs belong to moi. Any similarities to material I have not seen, like BBS, 358/2 Days or the Final Mixes are completely coincidental.

Thank you.

Chapter 3: I'll Wait For You

I wonder if Kairi knew something...

...

...

"Hey Kairi, c'mon and play 'Blitzer Ball' with us. We can't do two-on- two without four players!"

"You can be on my team. We'll show these two how the game's really done!"

"Please, Kairi needs a good player on her team. Forget him Kairi, but will you come play with us?"

Back on Destiny Islands, the 'seventh princess of pure heart' smiled at her friends' kindness, but gave a polite shake of her head, her carmine hair, now long enough to touch her shoulders, waving back and forth. She turned back to the sky and continued to gaze. The sun was remarkable, a yellow disc hanging in a near cloudless sky. The rays glittered off of the rippling waves like a dream, and Kairi felt quite content where she was.

"Man, I'm really starting to worry about her." Selphie sighed, though her voice was not as quiet as she wanted it to be. "It's been what, five months and she hasn't done anything but sit on that tree and look at the sky."

"I know," Tidus jumped in, waving a stick he had found through the air, giving the impression that he wasn't as concerned as he was. "I swear she wouldn't even eat if we didn't bring her food. She hardly goes home and I'm amazed she allows herself to sleep at night!"

"Hey Kairi, you sure ya don't want to play?" Wakka yelled back over to the island. Kairi smiled, and declined again. "Okay!" Turning back to Tidus and Selphie, he spun the Blitz Ball on his finger, a common habit. "C'mon guys, Kairi's a smart kid, but she's worried about Riku and Sora, ya?"

"Yeah," came two weak responses.

"Ya, so she was the closest to the two of them and she's the only one who knows whut happened out there. Let's leave her alone; if she wants to join us, she'll come." Wakka tossed the ball into the air and butted it with his head in the direction of the cove. Tidus and Selphie didn't like the answer but they followed Wakka's lead, seeing no way to help Kairi if she wouldn't talk to them.

'I'm sorry, everyone, but I'd rather wait here,' Kairi whispered in a voice so soft, she then wondered if she had spoken it. Some of the wind had tousled her hair, and in a delicate motion, she urged the strands behind her ears again. The length was a bit of a nuisance, seated in the between stage of too long and not long enough, depending on what she wanted it to do.

'I wonder if Sora would recognize me with my hair like this?' She wondered as she watched the sky with the same colour as Sora's eyes. 'Would he like it long?' Her thoughts then queried the same about Riku, as she tried to think about what they looked like now too. It had been half a year since she had seen either of them, and even then, her memories were troubling to try and sift through. Her last memory of Riku was merely the reflection of his felled heart giving its final strength to hold back Ansem from harming her, Donald and Goofy. And of Sora…when their hands parted as she returned, helpless, to the island again.

Sometimes, she just wanted to give up hope.

'You'll find Riku and return like you said. I know you will.' Still, Kairi fought against her desire to surrender, wanting to believe in her friends more than anything else. Sora had made so many promises to her, and she was determined to be there when he came back to fulfill them. He promised to bring Riku back. He promised to give her calassa shell charm back to her.

And in the cave, scratched into the stone sometime before the world fell to darkness, Sora promised…

Kairi closed her eyes, listening to the waves crash against the shore, and whispered to the blue sky,

"I'll wait for you."