I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix/Disney.

To the Beach!

It was morning in the Land of Departure, and the air was filled with the sound of screaming kids – of course, 'kids' really meant 'Terra'. Master Eraqus and Xehanort had departed by this time to investigate the Fountain of Youth, leaving Ven and Vanitas alone with their charges. Earlier, Eraqus had suggested that they take the kids to the beach at Destiny Islands for the day, something that Ven had agreed heartily with.

Terra and Aqua, too, loved that idea. Unfortunately, that didn't mean they were going to cooperate.

"You're not putting that on me!" Terra screeched as he ran down the hall. Apart from his regular clothes, he was wearing what appeared to be a red harness, better suited for dogs (which were in fact, whom it was originally designed for). Following close behind him was Ven, who had clasped in his hand a short leash.

"Come on, Terra!" Ven cried, panting. He may have had a gigantic stockpile of energy, but Terra was a kid. "I'll take it off once we actually get to the beach!"

Terra raced down the hall and around the corner, passing by Vanitas who merely watched. Ven ran up to where Vanitas was, then stopped to catch his breath, hands on his legs.

"Having fun?" Vanitas asked, not bothering to conceal his smirk.

Ven glared at him. "You're supposed to be helping, you know."

"Am I?" Vanitas stepped back, arms crossed behind his head. "But why deprive you of all the fun?"

"Because if you don't, we'll never get to the beach . . . and you should care." He pointed his finger at Vanitas as the black-haired boy rolled his eyes. "You do realize that you're the only thing from off-world in the castle. You're interesting to them. If we don't get them to the beach, they'll spend the entire day bothering you."

The smirk slipped from Vanitas' face as the truth of Ven's statement sunk in.

"So?" Ven held out a leash.

Vanitas didn't take it. "Give me ten minutes," he said, storming off in the same direction Terra had gone.

Exactly ten minutes later, Vanitas arrived in the castle's foyer, a child tucked beneath each arm. Terra was pouting, his body turned away from Vanitas as much as it was able. Aqua was squirming, though it seemed to be more out of discomfort than a desire to escape.

"Okay, hold still . . ." Concentrating fiercely, Ven attached a leash to each of the children's harnesses. "Great! You can put them down."

Vanitas did so. Kind of. He just moved his arms and let them drop.

Ven chose not to comment on that. "Do we have everything?" he asked Vanitas.

Vanitas shrugged. "According to your list we do . . ."

While the two older boys were going over that, Terra crept over to Aqua and tapped her on the shoulder. Without a sound, he pointed at Ven's hand, which was holding their leashes, and then raised his eyebrows. Aqua nodded.

Still talking to Vanitas, Ven didn't notice as the kids braced themselves.

They took off as one, the combined force yanking the surprised Ven off his feet. He landed on his back hard, air whooshing out of his lungs and his grip on the leashes weakening. Terra and Aqua pulled free, and then they were running of the castle and into the blinding light.

Ven thought he was going to cry.

"Just a few more . . . steps . . ." Ven grunted as he pulled his friends along. Terra had not taken kindly to being ensnared like this, and was fighting against Ven every second. Aqua was more sporadic, sometimes following along politely, other times helping Terra to make Ven's day difficult. And Vanitas, being the jerk he was, was just watching.

"I could buy a couple of dog treats," he said. "Maybe then they'll listen."

Ven glared at his fellow babysitter. "Ha ha. Hey, Terra, Aqua, look: it's the beach!"

The leash slackened as Terra stopped pulling. Carefully, Ven reached behind him, his fingers grazing the metal clip that kept Terra tethered.

"I'm going to let you and Aqua go now, but you guys have to stay on the beach. One, two . . ."

On three, he took off the leash and Terra took off – but in the direction of the beach, at least. He was still wearing his clothes and harness, causing Ven to facepalm when the boy promptly dove into the ocean.

"He's going to be freezing on the way home," Ven remarked, as he freed Aqua from her harness. He also managed to get off her shoes before she ran after Terra.

Vanitas glanced sideways at Ven. "Now we ditch them, right?"

Ven laughed . . . until he realized Vanitas was serious.

"Are you joking?" he hissed. "We leave them alone, and they'll probably blow up the town!"

"Well, then have fun, Ventus." Vanitas slapped him on the back and casually made his way back towards the town, only to be stopped by Ven.

"You know," Ven said offhandedly, "I bet the Masters wouldn't be happy to hear that you were shirking your responsibilities. I mean, I don't tattle, but you know kids; they just can't keep their mouths shut."

If stares could kill, Ven would have died five times over.

Ven shook his head, and brushed some sand off his shoulder. When yet another clump flew through the air and landed on his hair though, he gave up, turning instead to Terra, who was busy digging a giant hole.

"Terra, can you please toss your sand the other way."

Terra appeared not to have heard him, and so Ven narrowly dodged another airborne pile of sand. Vanitas, however, wasn't so lucky.

"Quit it, brat!" he snarled, whipping his sunglasses off in a needlessly dramatic fashion. He was currently sitting on a lawn chair that he had liberated from some person's backyard, and holding a refreshing beverage in one hand. "What in Hades are you doing anyways?"

"Digging a hole," Terra said. His head poked out from inside. "And when I'm done, you can't sit in it."

"Tragic," Vanitas said.

Ven leaned over the hole. "What about me?" he asked.

Terra said, "You can."

Ven nodded absently, looking away from Terra and in the direction of the ocean where Aqua was. She was sitting on the ground not far from them, watching the waves with awe.

Ven lay back on his towel. "I think things are going well . . ."

It was at that moment that he was trampled by two stampeding kids. He recovered just in time for Aqua to run over him.

The two intruding kids leapt into the hole, falling on either side of Terra. "Hi!" Sora said, grinning widely.

Groaning, Ven sat up, while Vanitas had leaned forwards on his chair with interest. "Who are these two?" he demanded.

"Sora and Riku," Aqua said. She was kneeling at the side of the hole, jumping slightly when Sora hopped out of the hole. He took one glance at Vanitas, and then dove back in with a squeal, whispering furiously to Riku.

As one, Riku and Sora peered out of the hole at Vanitas, Terra copying suit a moment after. "He looks like you," Riku hissed.

Sora nodded. "Yeah, but his eyes are scary." With a shiver, he hid behind the combined bulk of Riku and Terra.

"Hey, mister," Riku said, "why are your eyes weird?"

Vanitas ground his teeth together. "There's nothing wrong with my eyes."

"Yes, there is. They're yellow."

Before Vanitas did anything rash, Ven leapt to his feet and pointed wildly. "Hey, look, a convenient beach ball. I'm going to get it before you guys!"

Crisis successfully adverted, Ven and the kids took off after the beach ball, leaving a sulking Vanitas behind.

"Oh, just you wait," he muttered. "Someday, I won't be the only one with yellow eyes around here . . ."

There was a shadow beneath the waves. It moved silently, as swiftly as a ghost. Inch by inch, it crept upon the two small figures of Riku and Aqua, who were steadily making their way towards shore. If one looked to the left of them where Ven stood, they would see that the water was only up to his waist, though that did not deter the shadow.

The world darkened suddenly as clouds blocked out the sun. It was the perfect cover for the shadow, which had circled around the two children so that it was directly behind them.

Surrounded by bubbles, a dark fin broke the surface.

Aqua and Riku continued to wade their way back to land, Riku lagging a little behind. Ven had looked away from them as he shouted for Terra to start making his way towards shore. The brown-haired boy ceased swimming and turned to obey, eyes widening as he saw the dark fin just an arm's length away from his friends.

He shouted. Riku and Aqua turned, and the water exploded as the shadow burst out of the ocean, teeth flashing . . .

. . . and Sora wrapped his arms around Riku's neck as he unsuccessfully tried to chomp down on his shoulder.

"I got you!" Sora shrieked. "I told you I would! Now, you're dead."

He bounced with excitement, making the fin strapped to his back bob up and down. That same fin slid even further down his back when Ven made his way over the group and scooped Sora up.

"Don't worry Riku, I'll save you." Ven had Sora slung over his shoulder, stomach up and Riku immediately took advantage of that to splash Sora's face.

From shore, Vanitas hollered, "Are you done yet?"

Ven sighed, and set Sora down. The group waited for Terra to catch up, and then headed back to shore.

Vanitas was waiting at the water's edge, tapping his foot impatiently. "You said you'd be in ten minutes ago!" He said that with his arms crossed, giving him the surreal appearance of an impatient housewife.

"Aw, come on." Ven shrugged as the kids ran past him (Sora and Riku staying far, far away from Vanitas). "Let them have a little fun."

Vanitas said, "I'm not going to sit here and starve because you want a little fun."

"You don't have to just stand there," Ven pointed out. "You could have always joined us."

It seemed that for a moment, Vanitas didn't know what to say. Eventually he settled on "whatever", and stormed away, his boots leaving huge prints in the sand. Ven watched him, feeling a little sorry for the other apprentice for some reason he couldn't quite place, before running to catch up with his friends.

Yes, Ven was not kidding about those leashes.

Next Chapter: The apprentices continue to enjoy their day at the beach as on the sidelines, Vanitas finds himself feeling a little lonely.