A/N: KH:3D IS ON THE WAY PEOPLE! It gets me excited that we finally get to know what happens next. Anyway, on with the story.

Chapter 9

Kairi lay in the huge, comfortable be she was assigned for the night, slowly leafing through the small red book Mickey had given to her before bed. They had arrived in the middle of the day, right in the middle of Disney Castle's throne room, much to the surprise and glee of both king and queen. As was expected, the men had mysteriously disappeared, leaving the girls to make introductions and lightning to get over the fact that what was essentially the universe's monarchy was... well, mice.

They had all met up for dinner in the dining hall, where the tables had been heavily laden with food for the very much welcomed visitors. The conversation flowed, firstly on what each group did in the day, and lastly with Mickey and Minnie talking about how Sora and Kairi reminded them of themselves when they were younger, much to the pairs embarrassment. When dinner was over, Mickey led the group to each of their rooms, luckily leaving Kairi's for last. Before she entered her room, she had asked the king for his help in training to be as good as Sora with her keyblade, to which he giggled, praised her, and fetched her his old notebook. The same small red notebook she was currently attempting to read, filled to the brim with his learnings.

But it was no use. She simply couldn't concentrate for long enough to read a full sentence, let alone an entire notebook. It wasn't that she was tired, far from it; she was very much wide awake. It had started out as a passing thought, but had caught an edge and clawed its way into the very front of her mind.

Pictures formed in her thoughts.

Pictures of a certain hero who was lying just across the hall.

She gazed out the window at the brightly shining stars, still thinking of that smile, until deciding that it was a perfectly acceptable thing to fall asleep thinking about, all the while unknowing that her hero was following her train of thought exactly, with the obvious exception that he was thinking of her and not himself.

Knock Knock Knock

Sora's eyes bolted open. If that was Kairi again, he'd be angry.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Okay, so he wouldn't be angry, but he'd definitely hold a grudge...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

…Until he saw her smile...

"Dammit Kairi, just go back to bed for a while!" Sora yelled, pulling his covers ever further up his body.

"Dammit Sora, just get out of bed for once!" She giggled.

"You can't make me!" Sora yelled defiantly.

"Is that a bet?"

"Nope, I'd feel too bad when you inevitably lost".

Before he knew it, she had slammed open the door and pointed her keyblade at him, stopping inches away from his face. He gazed over at her, still wearing her white tank top and shorts, still dressed for bed.

"Do you really want to start this? You've barely practised, and I have been doing this for 2 years now" he mused, expecting her to put it away and give in.

"You're on, Sora" Kairi exclaimed happily, dropping into her battle stance and stepping back a few paces. Sora leapt out of his bed, brandishing his Oathkeeper, thankfully with a t-shirt on this time.

Kairi span a full 360, giving Sora time to respond to the rather powerful attack. He blocked, and pushed her away, out into the corridor. They exchanged a quick glance and a nod, as Sora whirled into action, front-flipping straight over her head and turning to-

Get hit in the calf by Kairi's crouching form.

"You've been practising without me!" Sora noted, a big smile creeping onto his face.

"I thought it'd be a nice surprise when I save you for once" she grinned back, almost turning to jelly at the sight of his smile. 'No, now is not the time' She thought to herself.

Sora got up, and made a beeline for the courtyard, running backwards to defend the barrage of constant attacks the little redhead launched at him. They continued like this for a short while, twisting and whirling in a flurry of attacks and sparks, all the while flying by corridors of rooms, grand archways and vast libraries, until they finally reached the courtyard.

They stopped in the centre, a brief respite amongst heavy but half-hearted blows. They smiled happily at each other, oddly enjoying the interaction. In a split second, they were back to the fight. It was a spectacular sight to behold, two small blurs, dashing around the courtyard, the glow of the early morning sunrise illuminating them just enough for the whole scene to look like some kind of epic final battle.

Kairi unleashed a full speed, spirited attack, only to have Sora block it, and use its force to push himself back, flying over to land on the vertical wall face, and pushing off to propel him through the air for a final attack.

'This is my chance' Kairi thought to herself. She breathed deeply. The world around her seemed to slow significantly.

She leaned back, just enough for Sora to pass over her with a hairs breadth between them.

Her opponent stopped a few meters away.

She immediately back flipped over him and feigned an attack. As he lifted his keyblade for the block, she stretched out a hand to grab it, and relinquished him of his weapon, landing on the ground facing him with keyblades in both hands.

Unfortunately, she hadn't accounted for the extra weight, and upon landing fell backwards into the cool grass.

Sora initially found this hilarious, until she twisted round and took his legs from underneath him. They glanced at each other, and quickly burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, caught between the humour and the breathlessness from the tussle.

This continued for 10 whole minutes, until they regained their composure and calmed down.

Sora looked into Kairi's violet eyes, and lingered there for just a little too long.

"What's wrong Sora?" she asked, worry clearly showing in her voice. Perhaps she had injured him, or overdone it? He still wasn't quite healed from their encounter on Destiny Islands.

"Uh... No- Nothing! I was just, er... Thinking how impressed I am with how well you're doing with your keyblade!" Sora stumbled. 'Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it..' He thought repeatedly.

"Thanks! You're not too bad yourself" she winked back at him, and chuckled at the hurt look he displayed.

Collecting themselves together, they got up and began the long walk to find their rooms again. They searched for an hour, until being pointed in the right direction by a wandering broom. After quickly getting changed (and inspecting the large bruise on Sora's calf), they ran towards the sounds of conversation and laughter drifting from the dining room.

It was only when they were halfway across the room that Kairi noticed an extra face amongst her friends.

One she loathed.

One she hoped to never see again.

He was stood there, a few yards ahead.

Looking right at her.

Mouth wide open.

Perfectly still.

A/N #2: It became apparent to me as i was writing this that i abuse commas. I apologise, i'll try better next time :)