*RIKU*

"Hi, Riku!" Kairi yelled, smiling.

I pulled my hand out of my pocket and waved.

Ever morning, Sora and I would meet up and walk to Kairi's house and meet her. From there, the three of us would walk to school together.

Ever since that one night at the beach back in September, things hadn't been the same between the two. Apparently, after I left, Sora lost it and yelled at Kairi. He's been trying to make it up to her since then, but she's been rejecting it.

We walked for some time until Sora broke the silence.

"What are you guys doing for Christmas?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that's only a week away, huh?" I groaned.

"I'm going to visit my parents," Kairi said. Her parents lived in another world, and that was why she had a roommate, so she could stay in Destiny Islands.

"I'll probably stay home and see what happens. Maybe I'll sleep," I said. That's what usually happened in my family. We opened presents in the morning, and then had an entire day to waste.

I noticed that I was standing in the middle of the three of us. Usually, it was Kairi. Since she and Sora were in some sort of argument, I guess they couldn't even stand next to each other.

"Riku, who's that blonde girl you're always with? Is she your sister or something?" Kairi asked, staring up at me.

"Or something," I replied, purposely not looking at her.

"We have to hurry or we're gonna be late!" Sora cried abruptly, running ahead. I jogged after him, silently thanking him for the change of subject.

"Wait for me, Riku!" I heard Kairi call.

"School's finally over!" Kairi cheered, throwing her arms in the air.

"Just one more day until winter vacation!" Sora tried to cheer with Kairi, but she turned away from him, to me.

"Riku, can we meet that little girl today?" she asked, staring up at me.

"Uh…" I looked the other way, hoping to avoid the question.

"Riku, you're getting red," Kairi pointed out.

"So, is she your girlfriend?" Sora teased.

"Fine," I agreed, and we all walked off to go pick up Naminé from school.

Naminé ran up to greet me. "Riku! It's so boring as a…" She trailed off as she saw Kairi and Sora standing by me.

She immediately clutched my shirt and hid behind me.

"Who's this?" Kairi asked.

"This is Nami. She's my, uh, sister, I guess you could say," I struggled for a believable explanation.

"Nami, you're adorable!" Kairi cooed. Naminé slowly stepped from behind me to my side.

To me, "Nami" was a short fifteen-year-old girl, but then I realized how she must appear to everyone else. The black hair dye she had originally had when I found her had faded immensely, and now she was a slightly dirty blonde. It turned out her green eyes had been contacts. I'd gotten her to take them out, and now everyone could see her shining blue eyes. And then, there was the fact that she was stuck inside of a seven-year-old body.

"She actually does kinda look like you, Riku," Sora said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yup. Don't they look alike, Kairi?" Sora patted Kairi's shoulder to get her attention.

Kairi smacked away his hand. "Don't touch me!"

The world seemed to freeze. Sora stood there, staring at his hand, stunned. Naminé's eyes welled up with tears. Kairi looked shocked at what she had done. I stood there, taking it all in, expressionless.

"Please don't hurt him!" Naminé cried, breaking the silence.

Kairi immediately hugged Naminé, repeatedly saying, "I'm so sorry!"

Naminé looked up from Kairi's shoulder, and I gave her a thumbs-up. She's smart, for sure. Naminé smiled at my approval of her.

"We should go. Nami's gonna get cold in this snow," I said.

"Why don't we come to my place?" Kairi offered.

"Or how about mine?" Sora offered too, but I knew he was just trying to get Kairi to acknowledge him positively.

"Like I said, my place would be good," Kairi confirmed. "Let's go!" She took Naminé's hand and the two girls skipped off happily.

Sora frowned, and stared at the ground. I slapped a hand on his back.

"Wake up, Sora. You'll just have to prove to Kairi that you know you did wrong," I said.

"Like how?" he asked, obviously clueless.

I sighed. "Try apologizing," I suggested.

"Okay!" Sora cheered, and ran off after the two girls.

I suddenly realized I was alone, and jogged after Sora.

"Are you okay?" I asked. Kairi was crying, curled up into a ball on her couch in the apartment she shared with her roommate, who wasn't home at the time. Naminé stood next to her, stroking Kairi's hair.

"I'm so mean, Riku!" Kairi finally said.

"Not really. You're pretty nice, Kairi," I said.

"No, I'm not! I'm treating Sora like this over something really stupid!" Somehow, the sobs became harder.

"Yeah, he apologized. Why'd you kick him out?" I asked, honestly confused.

"I…I don't know. I guess I just wanted a reason to be mad at someone…" Kairi said between sobs, which were steadily growing farther apart.

"Why don't you talk to your roommate about this, Kairi? Maybe she'll know how to help you. I have to get Nami home. My parents are probably about to call the cops to come looking for us." It was true. The sun had already gone down, and I hadn't checked in with my parents.

Naminé got up, we collected our stuff, and we were walking out the door when a girl walked up. She was wearing a baseball cap, and was looking at the ground, so I couldn't see her face. Her jacket hood was tucked around the back of her neck, hiding her hair.

There's one thing I could tell, though. That hat wasn't hers.

It belonged to Roxas, Kairi's boyfriend.