A/N: This is unoriginal to the story, but after going through and editing it some I decided it was necessary to add a chapter. The transition between chapter's nine and ten didn't really read well and I put up this chapter to sort of fill in the gap. So, should you read this now for the first time you won't know the difference. But, if you're re-reading this for some reason I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for understanding. Love, Aerith.

Chapter Nine: The Beach

Kairi stepped out of her bathroom already dressed and ready for the day. There was no competition today so she would have some downtime. She was hoping to spend the day with Selphie and the rest of the girls at the mall, but she didn't mind doing something else. She tugged at her pink tank top as she opened the door to her room. She was surprised to see Riku standing on the other side of it.

"Hey, Riku. What's up?" she asked, "I didn't expect to see you awake this early."

Riku casually shrugged. "Just thought you might like that vanilla ice cream now," Riku replied with a sly smile.

"Oh, sure," Kairi replied with a smile, "Just let me tell Selphie I'm leaving and we can go." Riku nodded and stepped out of her way. He watched her retreating form with a grin on his face. He had to admit she looked nice in both pink and khakis.

Kairi quickly knocked on Selphie's door. Selphie answered it happily. "What's goin' on, Kairi!" she cheered excitedly, "I'm not ready to go to the mall yet."

"Oh, no. This isn't about that. I'm actually going to go grab a bite with Riku so I wanted to let you know I was gone," Kairi explained. She dared to step away from the door.

"A date with Riku!" Selphie practically sang at the top of her lungs, "I CANNOT believe this! I have to tell everyone. You wait here!" She ran out of her room in just her yellow towel and began eagerly knocking on everyone's doors.

Kairi frowned in embarrassment. "We should go," Kairi murmured as she grabbed Riku's arm and pulled him out of the girl's hallway. Out of respect for Selphie, Riku had politely covered his eyes. "I'm so sorry about that," Kairi managed to say as they quickly ran out of the hotel and toward the bus stop.

"It's no big deal," Riku replied coolly, "I sort of expected that reaction from her. I haven't known her long, but she seemed like the type to do that."

Kairi laughed, "Yeah, you'll get used to her antics soon enough, Riku. So where did you want to go get ice cream?"

Riku shrugged. "A place that has ice cream?" he replied.

"Hm, I think I have an idea," Kairi suddenly said, "Follow me?" Riku nodded and followed Kairi away from the bus stop. She led him to a vendor cart near the beach. "Will this do?" Kairi asked.

"This will do just fine," Riku replied, "You can go sit on that bench over there and I'll bring over the ice cream." Kairi nodded and happily walked away.

Sora eagerly walked down the Girl's hallway toward Kairi's door. 'All I gotta do is just ask her, I'm sure she won't mind spending a couple of hours with me,' he thought as he bravely approached the door. He motioned to knock when he heard the strangest noise. He looked to his right and saw Selphie giggling at him from her room.

"She's not there!" Selphie giggled excitedly.

"Where is she?" Sora dared to ask.

"On a date with Riku," Selphie replied childishly, "I imagine they've already kissed by nooow!"

Sora felt flustered. "When did this happen?" he almost demanded.

Selphie shrugged. "She just came to my door and told me she was leaving and then disappeared before I could ask more questions. Guess it's my fault, though. I kind of ran out in a towel trying to tell everyone because I was so excited!" she explained happily.

"Oh," Sora muttered.

Her eyes widened curiously. "Why did you want to see Kairi, anyway?" she asked suspiciously. She edged out of her room a little more revealing her matching yellow shirt, shorts, and shoes.

"I just wanted to check to make sure she was still all right," Sora lied with a fake grin, "Can't be too careful about that kind of thing. Especially after the whole Yuffie incident, I just wanted to make sure she wasn't –uh alienating herself."

"Aww, that's so sweet!" Selphie squealed. She turned into her room and shouted, "Hey guys! Sora wanted to make sure Kairi wasn't alietionating herself! He didn't want a date!"

Sora blushed. "Who is in your room?" he asked. He hurriedly walked over to Selphie's door and she stepped away to reveal the whole gang hanging around in her room. "What are you guys doing in here?" he asked, a little startled.

"Just chilling," Tidus casually replied.

"Wanna chill too?" Selphie offered with a cheeky smile.

Sora sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess," he replied. This was not how he planned on spending his day. He sighed and walked inside.

"I almost thought he was gonna alienation himself," Selphie whispered into Hayner's ear. He simply smirked.

"Selphie, it's alienate," Pence corrected. Olette slapped his arm.

Selphie casually waved her hand at Pence. "You say potato, I say patooto," she replied with a false sense of wit. Pence sighed and held his head in his hands.

Sora took a seat on the floor next to where Naminé and Roxas were seated. They seemed to be really enjoying each other's company. Sora sighed and thought, 'That should be me and Kairi.'

"So, what do you guys want to do today?" Selphie asked curiously as she sat down next to Tidus.

"Pool?" Roxas suggested.

"No, let's go to the beach!" Olette shouted excitedly.

Naminé nervously shifted in her seat. She stared at her creamy skin and sighed. "Does anyone have a sun hat?" she asked hopefully.

"I have one," Roxas suddenly said.

She smiled. "Mind if borrow it for today? My skin will burn if I don't protect it," she explained.

"Sure thing," Roxas replied happily, "Anything for Naminé."

Selphie giggled happily and began to sing, "Roxas and Naminé sitting in a tree!"

Naminé's entire face turned red. "Oh, stop!" she shouted in embarrassment, "It isn't like that!"

"Yeah," Roxas jumped in. The group looked for him to say more words of disagreement, but he had nothing else to say.

Tidus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, Roxas. We know who you're going to spend most of your time with on the beach anyway," he replied slyly, "I'm sure Naminé will need lots of sun tan lotion."

"I will too," Selphie said with a flirty wink. Tidus grinned happily.

Roxas leaned over and whispered in Naminé's ear, "They're the ones that need a song." Naminé chuckled and nodded her head.

Tidus put his hands in the hair. "What?" he exclaimed, "Is it so wrong for me to be attracted to her?" He rolled his eyes and jumped to his feet. "I like Selphie!" he declared proudly. Selphie giggled excitedly.

"Yeah, we know. Come on, guys. No need to tease anymore if he admits it. How boring," Hayner whined. He stood up and pushed open Selphie's door. "We'll see you all at the beach!"

Everyone hurriedly exited the room leaving Tidus and Selphie alone. "Did I say something wrong?" Tidus asked with a slight frown. Selphie only shrugged in response.

Kairi threw her head back and laughed. "Really? I didn't realize Sora was so prone to embarrassment!" she exclaimed through her laughter.

Riku shrugged; a grin was clear on his face. "He's gotten himself into some interesting situations. I could tell you more but I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate it," Riku replied with a small laugh, "But what about you? We've talked about me and about Sora."

Kairi paused. "I thought that part of the offer was just a joke," she replied before she quickly finished off her ice cream cone.

He shook his head. "Nah, I was pretty serious," he answered rather seriously.

"Well, what can I say about myself? You've probably guessed I like pink and that spectrum of colors," she joked as she stared at what she was wearing.

"Anything deeper than that?" Riku asked with amusement dancing in his eyes. He could tell she wasn't one to go on and on about herself. That wasn't necessarily a bad trait, but he did want to know more about her.

"Ah, deeper, huh? What qualifies as deeper?" she dared to ask.

"Fears, feelings, secrets, those sort of things," Riku quickly replied, "I'm just dying to hear all about them."

Kairi blushed. "Really? Well, all right. I hate to admit it but I'm scared of dying or losing the people that are important to me," she began.

"That's a start."

"I guess that's why the thing with Yuffie really bothered me. I mean, I know she has other friends but it just didn't seem right she'd side with the friend that was wrong. Friends don't let their friends beat up their past friends, you know? It's just a horrible thing to let happen. But I guess people change over time," Kairi explained with a frown, "Was it silly of me to think she'd be the same?"

Riku shrugged. "Everyone's different. Some people change drastically over the years while others tend to stay the same. I'm sure she thinks you're different too," he answered, "I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. You'll probably never see her after this competition, anyway. Things will return back to normal."

"I guess you're right," Kairi agreed, "It was nice while it lasted, though."

"So, do you have a boyfriend back home?" Riku dared to ask.

Kairi felt flustered. "A boyfriend? Is that part of your deep line of questioning?" Kairi asked curiously.

He shook his head and dared to put his arm around her again. "No, just wondering if I'll get a second date with you," Riku confessed with another one of his sly smiles.

She blushed. "No, I don't have a boyfriend," she answered, "Do you really think it's a good idea that we go on a second date? After this competition, I probably won't see you again."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. I wouldn't mind visiting you," Riku replied, "You're worth the plane ticket. Besides, I would really like to get to know you."

She smiled. "That's really sweet of you," she whispered, "I didn't expect you to be so nice."

He shrugged. "Shouldn't judge someone before you know them. I didn't judge you," he replied with fake frown.

"Whatever! I saw your list!" Kairi exclaimed. She laughed and shook her head. "Fine, fine. You can have a second date if you promise to toss that list."

"Already done," Riku replied.

Kairi blinked. "Really?"

"Lost it somewhere between the plane ride and the bus ride," he confessed. Kairi laughed. "What? It's not funny. That was some really important stuff."

She rolled her eyes. "Right, important," she muttered playfully.

"You know what else is important?" Riku asked nonchalantly. Kairi shook her head. Riku scooted closer to her and looked her in the eyes. "How I feel when I'm with you," he whispered. Kairi felt faint underneath his powerful stare.

"Hey guys!"

Riku and Kairi quickly stumbled away from each other. Sora grinned cheekily at them. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked with a false curiosity. Riku grunted and stood up. He looked behind Sora and saw that the rest of the group was already heading toward the beach.

"Looks like our date's over," Riku announced.

Kairi smiled. "It was nice while it lasted, no reason why we can't enjoy the beach still, though," she suggested.

"Right, should probably get a swim suit, though," he replied.

"Good idea, we'll be back," Kairi said as she waved bye to Sora.

Sora frowned. "Hook, line, and sinker," he muttered as he watched Riku and Kairi leave hand in hand. He sighed and watched as Tidus, Selphie, Olette, Hayner, and Pence ran across the sand toward the water all screaming and laughing. "Might as well join," he thought out loud, "Wait for me!"

Roxas and Naminé cautiously walked toward the beach. Naminé frowned with every step. "A baseball hat isn't a sun hat," she lamented.

"I'm sorry! I thought a hat was a hat!" Roxas exclaimed. He had to admit she did look cute in his blue baseball hat, though. He secretly smiled.

Naminé sighed. "Luckily, I already put my pre-layer sunblock on inside so the damage shouldn't be so bad. Could you reach into my bag and get my sunscreen? It's the SPF 2,000 bottle," she requested sweetly.

'I didn't even know that existed,' Roxas thought as he rummaged through her belongings. He pulled out the white bottle and handed it to her. "Do you really need it if you're going to wear that?" Roxas asked curiously.

Naminé nodded. "I'm not going in the water with this," she replied as though it was obvious. Naminé was wearing a long, white dress with long sleeves. It covered her feet as she walked and practically covered all of her body. She handed the useless hat to Roxas and then slipped the dress over her head.

Roxas watched in awe as she tossed it to the sand. She was now wearing a white, string bikini. Roxas couldn't help but internally drool. "Would you mind putting some sunscreen on my back?" she requested. She pulled her hair over her shoulder so it wouldn't get in the way.

"Uh, sure," Roxas muttered as he fumbled with the bottle she handed him. He nervously opened it and squirted some of it into his hand. He quickly began to rub it into her back.

She smiled. "Do you need me to do you?" Naminé asked quickly.

"W-What?" Roxas stammered.

"Do you need me to put sunscreen on your back," Naminé repeated.

"O-Oh, sure!" Roxas nervously chirped, "That'd be great."

Lucky for Naminé, Roxas couldn't see her face while he rubbed in the sunscreen. It was so red it contrasted with the rest of her fair body. She now wished she had asked Olette or Selphie to help her. 'This is going to be a long vacation, isn't it?' she thought shyly.