Hey, guys. I know it's been ages since the last update and I'm so sorry about that. :( One of the reasons is, as I explained in the previous chapter, there was a major continuity error going on throughout the story which I had to (and have done) fix. In between editing all the chapters that had this mistake, I had to go away on my holiday – and on top of all that, my life has now become much more busier than ever. But don't worry. I have no intention of letting that stop me from continuing to write this story. I will continue to write and write it until I finally post the final chapter – whenever that will be. :P

This chapter itself was another reason why there was such a long wait. I wanted it to be the length of the earlier ones. It did turn out to have something in common with the early chapters: when I thought it was going to be very short, it turned out to be the longest chapter to date. XD Hope the length doesn't put you off.


Kairi gazed up in amazement, taking in the deep orange of the sunset sky above her. She had always loved admiring it from the beach of the smaller island, but had never thought about how far up above her it always was. From the right side of the basket - which the hot air balloon was continuing to carry slowly over the countryside - she was the closest she had ever been to the wonderful sight she always loved watching with Sora that appeared above the islands every summer evening. The white clouds the balloon was passing under had changed to pink ten minutes after they had left behind the field of horses. They looked much more gigantic than they appeared to be from down on the islands, but Kairi thought they were all just as beautiful. The entire sky appeared to be an even deeper shade of orange, due to the fact she was almost flying at its exact level. The only thing that was missing was the sun itself, which could not be seen anywhere in the sky, no matter how hard or far Kairi looked. She knew the reason for this though; at this time of day, it would now be thousands of miles in front of the smaller island, about to sink behind the horizon.

Sora's eyes were not entirely fixed to the orange sky he was under. How close he was to its amazing colour was not enough to distract him from taking glances towards Kairi, just to make sure she was happy and still enjoying the ride. He grinned widely in her direction, knowing that she was taken by the sunset sky which they had never seen from such a fantastic view. "The sky looks really wonderful, doesn't it, Kairi?"

Kairi was able to look away from the sky to turn towards Sora. Her eyes remained as wide as they had been when she had spotted the first pink clouds of the evening coming into view, but the soft grin on her face grew wider. "Whenever we've watched a sunset together, Sora, we've always had to look high up at the sky. Now we don't have so far to look up, since we're right under it and we can see just how beautiful it is from here. We just have to look down at the island we walk on, but the view of it which you've allowed us to experience is just as fantastic being close to the sky."

"It really is beautiful, isn't it?" Nikkou commented agreeably, looking at both of the teenagers and grinning at them. "I haven't taken the time to watch that many sunsets, and I usually see them from the windows of our house. They must look very wonderful from the smaller island, do they?"

Kairi turned away from Sora and looked towards Nikkou. She was still grinning, but was also unable to believe that the boy's mother hardly ever watched the sunsets that could be seen clearly from the smaller island almost every evening, filling the sky with amazing colours that went over all three of the islands. "You should really come over to the smaller island one day and see just how wonderful the sunsets are from there, Nikkou. Sora and I have often told you how much we love sitting down together and watching when the sun go down. You ought to see exactly how beautiful a sunset looks from the islands you live on."

Nikkou let off a chuckle, shaking her head. "I'd be able to see them okay from the main island's beach. That's as far as I'd go, since I only go to the smaller one if Sora's late home – which is what I've done lots of times, as you know. It's you kids who go to the smaller islands, and I pretty much wouldn't want to go there. I wouldn't want to get in the way of the fun you have – or ruin watching the sunset for you."

Sora looked towards his mother, smiling softly without saying a word. He thought she was being a little too hard on herself, making herself sound like a killjoy when, over the years, she had always done her best to take him, Kairi and Riku on many daytrips or just make sure they were always having fun whenever his friends visited his house. At the same time, however, it was possibly a relief that she did not choose to visit the smaller island as often as he did. Given how overprotective she was, she would possibly find something there which was completely normal and harmless, but would send her into a huge, worrying state and make her feel the need to forbid him from ever visiting the island again – which would mean no more watching long-lasting sunsets on the beach with Kairi.

Looking out ahead to take what they were flying over back in, Sora's smile faded as he spotted some sightings that he usually saw in the part of the main island where he and his friends lived. Everything he was looking down at was located in a area on the island which he instantly had trouble taking in, for he did not recognise it from up in the air. He frowned slightly as he tried to work out where he was. "Mom, do we know where we are? I don't recognise this place from up here."

The thick, dark green tops of the tall countryside trees which the balloon had been passing over after they had left the horse pen behind had now been replaced by even taller beach trees. Their leaves were as large as the ones on the trees of the smaller island (as well as the same shade of green), but Sora had never seen such thin tree trunks. They were all standing together on the end of a grassy field that overlooked the sea. As the trees were partly spaced out on the ledge, Sora could easily see the hundreds of miles of salty water, which was reflecting the strong orange colour of the sky.

Immediately becoming interested in what Sora was looking out at, Kairi turned her head to see the thin beach trees and the rippling ocean behind them. Having never travelled with her adoptive father this far into through the countryside, the place they were flying over was completely new to her. She thought it was a really nice sight to look at, but could not help frowning over having no idea where she was. "I don't think I've been here."

"You haven't, either, Sora," Nikkou explained to her puzzled son. "I have, although it's been years since I came here. You weren't even born then. I can still remember how lovely it is here, though. There's a beach near here which I think we'll be able to see."

Having turned to his mother when she had started to tell him why he did not recognise the location they were up above, Sora stared at her while taking in what she had mentioned. How his mother had described the place made it sound like somewhere nice to visit with Kairi.

Feeling a little excited over the mention of the beach, Sora tried to see if he could spot any sign of it by turning back to look out at the view below him, squinting down towards where the ledge above the sea was. "I'd like to go down to that beach, Mom."

"Well, it looks like you're gonna get your chance now, boy," the pilot spoke out unexpectedly to him, having remained silent during their time over the countryside while keeping both eyes on the direction the balloon was flying in. His aching arm was still stretched upwards, but he was no longer gripping the cord that dangled above him from under the burner. He was now holding onto a handle on the side of the steel box that hid the burner, beginning to turn it clockwise. "We'll be landing very soon."

Sora immediately took a quick glance towards the pilot, his excitement growing at the thought of landing somewhere the beach would be near. As a grin grew across his face, he quickly turned to Kairi. "Would you like to visit this beach when we land, Kairi?"

The girl, who had been gazing towards Sora in as much excitement over the beach as he felt when Nikkou had mentioned it, grinned back widely at him and nodded eagerly. She turned away from him to look out at the horizon that could be seen easily from the basket – which she realized was starting to go down slowly. Lowering her head to see the ground far below them, she realized that it seemed to be coming closer, for the balloon was now sinking out of the air. She did not mind that her ride and chance to see an amazing view of the main island was nearly over. There was a beach somewhere below them - different to the one she usually visited - which she was looking forward to seeing. She peered down towards where the ledge above the sea was, trying to catch any sign of the beach.

Feeling very glad that Kairi wanted to go down to the beach, Sora quickly turned to his mother, his blue eyes filling up with hope. "Mom? Please can we go and have a look at the beach? Can you please show us where it is? The sunset is gonna end soon. Can we please go there?"

Nikkou laughed softly at her son's question, having expected it when she had seen how he had looked down from the basket after she had mentioned the beach to him. Knowing that he just wanted to go there to look at the sunset sky with Kairi, she smiled at him. "Okay, Sora. When we land, I'll show you where the beach is. I can remember the way around here – and I can also remember how beautiful it is. It'll be really lovely for me to go and visit it again."

"Thanks, Mom!"

Sora grinned gratefully at Nikkou before turning around to take in the view again. It was only now he learned that the balloon was going down towards the ground, as the sights below him appeared as they were moving up towards him, becoming much easier to see. The balloon was still flying forward as it lowered slowly towards the ground, passing over some fenced-off fields which had grass that was a much brighter green than it appeared in the evening atmosphere. Sora looked out at the direction they were floating down towards, trying to see if he could correctly spot where they were going to land. The same road which the balloon had seemed to follow along through the countryside was below them with a junction ahead. Sora could see that continuing to drive straight ahead would take vehicle drivers over a small, stone bridge that went over a long, narrow river that ran alongside the road that went right. Like the sea, the river reflected the orange colour of the sky. It would have impossible for Sora to notice its colour if the balloon had not yet started to descend. The level they had been flying at for the entire journey through the air would have made the river look like a thin, black line to him.

The pilot was looking past the river, keeping his eyes fixed onto what was beyond it. He turned the handle his sore hand was holding again, letting some more air out of the balloon. The roaring flame above him and his three passengers went out while the balloon continued to sink slowly out of the air, now only being a few metres above the tops of the trees that stood on the left side of the road that ran alongside the river. Behind the trees was a flat, green field that was even bigger than the one which the balloon had taken off from. The trees were more spaced out than the ones on the side of the dirt road that ran through the other field. They were also not as tall, which meant the pilot did not have to worry about hitting the tops of them whilst trying to make a landing.

Kairi and Sora gazed down with huge smiles on their faces as the basket managed to pass over the tops of the trees by a couple of centimetres. Now inside the field, it was sinking towards the grassy ground at a slightly quicker pace. The amount of time the basket had left of being carried in the air only lasted a few quick few seconds as it hit the ground roughly, causing the four people inside to cry out with fright. They looked around at the field to find that the basket was still moving, being dragged across the ground by the envelope. A light gust of wind strong enough to keep the balloon moving at a quick speed had blown swiftly into the field as soon as the basket had hit the ground. The envelope was tilted forward as it was blown across the field by the wind – causing the basket to also tilt as it dragged it along the grass.

Gathering in a quick second what was happening, Kairi looked down in horror at the floor of the basket. As well as shaking violently under her feet, it was starting to lift up at an angle. Feeling her feet starting to slip on the floor, Kairi quickly turned around to face the rear side of the basket. She urgently rose her hands up, trying to grab the top edge of the side to hold onto it and stay inside the basket - but found herself starting to fall backwards, missing the edge with both of her hands. Kairi let off a loud, frightened scream, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt her feet leave the floor. She prepared herself to tumble backwards out of the basket and hit the ground hard – until a hard suddenly grabbed her wrist tightly in mid-air.

Kairi instantly stopped screaming and opened her eyes in confusion, wondering how she had not managed to end up on the ground. The basket was still tilted while being dragged through the field, and she found herself staring up towards the burner with no flame. Some of the blue of the envelope could also be seen above her, although the envelope itself looked a lot thinner due to a lot of the air that had been inside it for hours being let out. Feeling the hand that was tightly but harmlessly gripping her wrist, Kairi realized it was not letting her fall. Having a very good idea who it was that was keeping her safe from harm, she looked up towards where the hand had come from. Her puzzled expression vanished, being replaced by a soft, small smile on her face that was directed to the boy who had managed to stop her from falling.

Sora was keeping a panicked but determined look down towards the girl. He had let out a horrified gasp when he had seen her start to slip while beginning to scream. Not a fraction of his second of fright had been wasted to grab Kairi's wrist and keep her from the painful landing she would have had outside the basket. While his left hand was keeping hold of her wrist, his right one was gripping onto the side of the basket, which meant in both of his hands, he was holding onto Kairi's safety. His slightly shocked mother was watching them both as she gripped onto the side of the basket which they were hanging from.

"Thanks, Sora," Kairi smiled up at him, knowing she did not need to worry about him losing his grip on her wrist and letting her fall. She turned towards the pilot, noticing he had stretched both of his arms across the outside of the basket's side that was on her right. A small frown appeared on her face, which she directed towards the man. "Is the basket supposed to be like this?"

"Yes, this often happens when a hot air balloon lands," the pilot explained without looking back at Kairi. He was facing away from her as he was trying to keep his arms from slipping off the side of the basket he was using to keep him from falling. "We were travelling a lot faster than you think. Don't worry; we aren't going fast enough for the basket to tip over. We'll stop now."

Once the pilot had finished talking, the basket slowed down to a stop. With the envelope no longer pulling across the field, it was unable to balance on the angle it had ended up at, so it fell back down to stand upright. The four people inside all shared a loud, startled cry as they felt the floor they had been trying to stay on hit the ground, but they were all relieved that they were no longer being dragged across the field while almost being forced to fall out of the basket. The envelope rose upwards until was floating over the basket that was able to hold it down to the ground, but it shrunk even thinner in size as the pilot - who had let go of the side he had been holding onto - let more air out of it by turning the handle above him again.

Nikkou let go of the side she had been holding to. Gently tapping her feet on the floor of the basket – taking in how it was now on the firm ground of the earth - she looked up at Sora and Kairi. She smiled at them both, noticing that even though they were standing upright again, Sora was now holding Kairi's hand instead of her wrist while facing her. "That's the end of our flight. It really was fantastic, wasn't it?"

Sora turned away from Kairi and towards his arm that was stretched towards the side he was hanging onto tightly with his other hand. He let go of the side, holding his hand up in front of his face and flexing his sore fingers. It had been painful for him to hold onto the side, for the edge of it had dug into his fingers while he had been using his other hand to hold onto Kairi's wrist. He did not mind though, as he had managed to save the girl from falling out of the basket and going through even worse pain than he had. His fingers quickly felt better with a few flexes and he turned back to Kairi with a smile, taking hold of her other hand in his.

The smile of happiness and appreciation that had been on Kairi's face faded as she looked down at her hands in Sora's. She was back to feeling as puzzled as when her wrist had been caught in mid-air by his one hand without her seeing. While it was nice to have both her hands in the boy's, she could not understand why he was holding them, as she was not falling again. Kairi looked up to face the boy in her confusion - only to see that he had stretched his left leg backwards to balance his foot on the edge of the side he had been holding onto, and was now quickly lifting up his right leg to place his right foot next to his left one.

Grinning widely up at Sora as he balanced himself on the side of the basket, Kairi squeezed his hands tightly as she allowed him to carefully pull her up by her own hands off her feet, which she managed to place next to his onto the edge. Now standing and balancing next to him, Kairi turned to face the boy, squeezing his hands again and still grinning at him. She bent her knees slightly, getting ready to jump off the edge of the side with him.

As Sora bent his own knees, he grinned back softly at Kairi and squeezed her hands in return. He sprung his legs upwards quickly, launching himself backwards off the side. Kairi, at the same time, had taken her own jump forwards and was now flying through the air, remaining beside Sora with her hands still in his. The soles of their shoes hit the dirt of the ground, which they had not walked upon for the previous several hours of the day.

Kairi immediately pulled her hands out of Sora's to throw her arms tightly around him. "Thank you, Sora! Thank you so much for taking me on this balloon ride! It was truly wonderful and magical!"

Sora smiled happily down at the girl as he hugged her back. "I'm really glad you liked your surprise, Kairi. I had been wondering if you would like it since I thought it up last night. But I really wanted to do it for you."

Kairi slowly looked up at the boy, grinning softly at him as she felt her heart beating fast. "And I did love it, Sora. I always love everything you do for me. And everything you do for me, I always appreciate. Thank you so much."

Keeping his arms around Kairi, Sora, with the smile still on his face, turned away from her to look towards his mother and the pilot. Nikkou was starting to climb out of the basket, her eyes looking down towards the ground and not taking in her son sharing a hug with Kairi. The pilot was not taking notice of any of them, either. He was looking up towards the even thinner envelope, which no longer had enough air inside it to remain floating. It sunk slowly out of the air, landing softly down onto its side next to the basket.

As Sora and Kairi broke their hug, Nikkou had finished climbing out of the basket and was standing on the firm ground again. She grinned at the two teenagers, about to ask them if they had enjoyed the flight – only to have her attention grabbed by something which seemed to be driving along the nearby road, which she quickly looked towards.

Seeing the direction Nikkou was gazing in and the expression on her face, Sora and Kairi turned to look in puzzlement over their shoulders. A white van was racing along the road, having just driven straight at the junction and now crossing the stone bridge. The teenagers could not tell, at first, what it was about the van which Nikkou was so interested in. It drove a few metres passed the open edge of the field that was next to the road - then suddenly turned to its right and drove along the grass, straight towards where the balloon had landed. Sora and Kairi were now able to see that, sitting behind the windshield, were two of the men in white coats that had been at the field where the balloon had taken off. One of them was driving while the other was sitting in the passenger seat. It was clear that they had both come to take the balloon away.

The van pulled up to a stop a few yards in front of where the woman and two teenagers were standing beside of the balloon. The driver pulled the handbrake up and switched off the engine before pushing the door open to step out of the van. He was older than his passenger, being tall with thick, black hair that was very short and wrinkles at the sides of his brown eyes. He took a few steps along the grass towards the basket, giving a smile towards the pilot. "When we saw you starting to land while chasing after you along the road, we had a feeling it would be here. It's where you usually land after flying for hours, isn't it?"

"Well, at this hour, I'm usually flying over here," the pilot answered braggingly, smiling back and feeling like he knew more than the man who had spoken to him. "The wind is usually calm by now, and if I try to go any further, the air in the balloon will run out. I know how to make a very safe landing here, as I've done that many times."

The man who had been riding in the passenger side of the van pushed his door shut after stepping out. He walked towards Sora and Kairi, a friendly smile on his young-looking face, which had light blue eyes and a very small nose. He stuck his hands into his pockets as he stood in front of the teenagers, a light gust of wind blowing at his short, sandy blond hair. "Did you like your ride in the balloon over the island?"

"Yeah, we loved it," Sora responded with a huge nod and a grin as wide as the one on Kairi's face. "Thanks for setting the balloon up and letting us ride in it."

The younger man smiled back at Sora, glad to hear that he and the girl had enjoyed their trip over the main island in one of the many hot air balloons he looked after. "We're just gonna pack up the balloon. Do you need a lift back? We can give you one."

Nikkou raised a hand and shook it to politely reject the younger man's offer. "No, thanks. We'll walk back to where we live. We're gonna have a look at the beach here."

"Okay," the man replied understandingly, still smiling as he took a glance towards where the envelope was lying. He saw that the pilot had climbed out of the basket and was helping his co-worker start to roll up the envelope, squeezing the remaining air out of it. As he began to walk towards them to help, the younger man looked towards the three people who had just been riding with the pilot inside the basket, giving them a small wave. "Enjoy your walk home."

Sora, Kairi and Nikkou all grinned as they waved back at the man before looking ahead at the straight stretch of road that went past the field. They started to walk together along the grass and away from the basket. Their feet had no trouble getting used to being back on the ground instead of high above it. The three of them passed the white van that was parked in the middle of the field and made their way up to the stretch of road, which they stood on.

As Nikkou looked to their left, which was the direction of the stone bridge and junction, Sora glanced around both ways, trying to see if any traffic was travelling on the road. Kairi was looking down at her feet, which she was tapping gently on the tarmac, trying to take in how solid it was after standing on the wicker floor of the balloon's basket for hours.

"Which way is the beach, Mom?" Sora asked Nikkou, still rapidly turning his head left and right. He felt that the road was safe to walk along - since it was now the evening and not many vehicles would be travelling at this hour - but he was trying to work out which direction he would have to walk along with Kairi to find the beach.

"It's down that road there," Nikkou replied, pointing out to the road that left the junction and ran alongside the river. She took a few steps along the tarmac, which was leading her to go over the bridge. "We'll gonna be following the river for a bit. We'll soon find the beach, as I know where it is."

Sora and Kairi remained where they were standing on the road, turning to face each other with small smiles on their faces. They were both looking forward to visiting a different beach to the one which they usually watched the sunset from. Turning back towards where the bridge was ahead of them, they saw that Nikkou was already walking across it. They took a few quick steps together to keep up with her, but chose to stay a few yards behind her.

As they walked onto the bridge, Sora and Kairi stood together on its left side. They looked out at the distance ahead of them which the river was flowing its way up to. The water was still the same orange colour of the sky, rushing endlessly through the deep channel that was in between the trees that stood on its left side and the tarmac road that ran along its right. Some small, green bushes were growing on the river bed with large rocks sitting nearby. The flow of the river was not strong enough to carry them out of the positions where they had remained in for such a long time, but it was able to wash past them easily without being stopped. Where all the water ended up could be seen in the distance. From the bridge, Sora and Kairi could see the wide ocean up ahead. It appeared to be more calmer than the river, and the shade of orange it was reflecting from the sky had become much darker. There was still no sign of the beach.

"It's a really nice river, isn't it?" Kairi mentioned admiringly to Sora, looking up from the flowing water below them to grin softly at the boy. He was standing on her right - his eyes locked onto the sea that was up ahead of them - so she could see past him that Nikkou had already turned left at the junction and was making her way down the road that ran alongside the river. Kairi stepped away from the side of the bridge and walked at a slightly fast pace down the road. She could hear Sora's footsteps behind her as he followed her down the left road at the junction.

With a few more large steps, Kairi was a few yards behind Nikkou again, which was the distance she decided to keep between them. "Is it a nice beach down here, Nikkou?"

"It is pretty nice," Nikkou answered without looking back at the girl. She had not realized that she had almost left her behind on the bridge with her son. "I visited it before I even came to live in the street where we all live. It isn't as big as the beach on this island or the one on the smaller island - but I think you two will like it."

Sora had now caught up with Kairi and was walking alongside her again. Having heard what his mother had just said, he grinned excitedly, looking forward even more to going to the beach they were all about to visit. He shot his grin down at Kairi - who was looking up at him with a soft smile - then rose his head and chuckled at what he was able to see through the trees that were standing on the other side of the river. "Those men are gonna be there for a while."

Wondering what Sora meant, Kairi turned away from him and looked to her left, still walking at the boy's side. As the nearby trees were a lot more spaced out than the ones in the field Sora had led her to that morning, she was able to easily see past them. The hot air balloon, despite lying on the grass and going through deflation, could still be seen as the girl walked along the road. Its basket was lying on its side while a lower fraction of the envelope had been rolled up by the three men, who were all trying to force remaining air that was inside out of it. Although it was no longer as round as it had been when Sora and Kairi had first seen it that morning and while it had been carrying them through the air across the main island, the envelope still contained lots of air, which the three men had to get rid of completely before they could take it back to their headquarters and return to their homes.

Kairi gave a small, sympathetic smile at the sight of the men trying to deflate the balloon. "Aww, they probably worked hard a lot this morning to get it up for us. And now they have to take it down."

"Yeah, but it's a good thing we didn't decide to wait for them to give us a lift home," Sora laughed. "We'd be waiting there for ages, and we'd miss getting to admire the sky from the beach."

Kairi turned back towards the boy and laughed softly along with him - until she heard a noise that had started to race endlessly through her ears. Feeling slightly surprised, she stopped laughing and stood where she was. She listened to the sound, trying to work out what it was.

Sora had seen the surprised expression appear on Kairi's face, so he had stopped walking the same time as she had. He looked down worriedly towards her, about to ask her if something was wrong - when he suddenly heard the sound she was listening to. It was coming from the direction they were walking in, where the river was flowing down towards. It took Sora a shorter amount of time than Kairi to realize what the sound was, but the two of them remained just as confused as when they had first taken it in.

It was the sound of water rushing - which had been in their ears since they had walked behind Nikkou along the road towards the stone bridge. The river, which they were still standing near, had been making a gentle gushing sound which matched the speed it was flowing at. The new flowing sound which filled the teenagers' ears did not match the speed the river was going. It had been quick to completely drown out the gentle noise it was making - but Sora and Kairi were unable to tell how such a level of the sound was being made.

"Look! Here's the waterfall which goes into the sea!" Nikkou called loudly to the two teenagers from several metres ahead of them. She was able to bring her voice up over the new, noisier sound of water. She was standing at the side of a curve in the road, looking over her shoulder with surprise at how far Sora and Kairi were behind her. "So we're nearly at the beach!"

Sora and Kairi were easily able to hear Nikkou's voice over what they now knew was a waterfall. Turning quickly towards each other upon learning that the beach not far, they both grinned widely before starting to run together along the road up towards where Nikkou was standing. Sora chose, however, not to run at his quickest speed, as he knew that Kairi would hardly be able to keep up with him if he did. He stayed at a fairly quick pace which allowed him to take large steps and let the girl stay by his side.

Making their way up to where Nikkou was waiting for them with a smile, Sora and Kairi stopped in front of her. They both stood at each other's sides, taking a few deep breaths and grinning tiredly at each other. The huge sound of rushing water could be heard even closer, now much louder. Looking towards their left, which was where the noise was coming from, Sora and Kairi could see that they were standing right by the sea. The river had reached the part of the island where it ended, and all of its murky water was falling out of the channel to create a very short waterfall that appeared to be just over one metre high. White bubbles could be seen at the bottom as the river entered the salty water of the sea.

Sora could feel a few tiny drops of water that were jumping out from the foot of the waterfall land onto his face. Wiping them away, he turned towards his mother, grinning at her. "This is a really nice waterfall, isn't it, Mom?"

"Yeah, I can remember seeing it years ago on my way to the beach. I don't remember being so small though." Nikkou shook her head with a light laugh before turning around, looking down towards where the road ran alongside the sea. Only a few metres of fresh, green grass were in between the dark tarmac and the short ledge above the salty water. Nikkou walked forward, continuing to make her way down the side of the road. "The beach is down this way. You'll be able to see it from the road."

Sora and Kairi stood where they were on the road for a few seconds to allow Nikkou to be a fair distance ahead of them, before they finally started to follow her, letting her lead them to wherever the beach was. Remaining at each other's sides, the two teenagers looked out at the wavy sea that the road was leading them alongside. The sound of the short waterfall they were leaving behind was getting quieter as their feet led them away from it. They were able to hear the soft, gentle sloshing of the salty water, which they could now see was also reflecting the deep pink of the evening clouds floating high up above it, as well as the strong orange of the sky. Hundreds of thin ripples were in sight, dancing on the surface. Neither Sora nor Kairi could see or hear any large waves that would be just like the ones that they saw endlessly washing one after another onto the beaches they saw nearly everyday of having fun together.

"Here's the beach! Down here!" Nikkou yelled to them from further up the road, which she was now standing beside on the grass. She was facing out towards where the sea was, her arm stretched as far as it would go and pointing downwards. "There's not much of it left to stand on, since the tide's been coming in! But it's as beautiful as I remember it! The sky and the sea look fantastic from down here!"

As soon as they heard every word she had shouted to them, Sora and Kairi turned their heads while still walking to look towards where Nikkou was standing. They immediately saw her stretched out arm - and both of their pairs of blue eyes filled up with excitement when they fell onto what she was pointing at. Amongst the green of the grass next to the road, on a much lower level, was a semi-circle of yellow. The darkness of the evening, which was now beginning to fill the island (even with the bright orange sky above it) partly hid the true shade of yellow the semi-circle really was, but it did not prevent Sora or Kairi from being able to tell it was sand. A new sound had reached their ears, and they could already see what was creating it: small, purple waves that were washing up onto the beach, having covered most of its sand and trying to reach the dry level at the back which always remained dry, every evening. Some grey, stubby rocks were sitting together on the right side of the dry sand while a pair of tall beach trees that were identical to the ones of the smaller island stood on the left side, wobbling slightly in the wind.

"There's the beach, Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, grinning widely as he rolled his eyes away from the beach up ahead to look at the girl walking alongside him. "It looks really lovely from here! Let's see if it's as nice as the one on the smaller island!"

Taking a quick grin back up at Sora, Kairi began to run at her highest speed along the road. She wanted to get up to the beach and admire the evening sky from it before a pitch black night sky could replace it. Facing ahead as the soles of her shoes hit the tarmac with each one of the huge steps she was taking, she could hear Sora racing behind her. She expected him to overtake her, which was something she was rarely ever able to do back to him whenever he would run past her, but he remained behind her as she finally managed to reach where Nikkou was standing.

After a few deep breaths, with the grin still on her face and her cheeks bright red, Kairi turned to take in how the sea looked from behind the beach. The pink clouds which were still floating high up in the sky above her had changed to purple, since the arriving night was about to replace the day that had just past. Their dark colour was reflected in the sea water, which Kairi thought appeared to look very beautiful. She took a few steps forward, the sand which she had never walked along before crunching under the soles of her shoes. She looked around herself to take in every sight of the beach. She thought it was a very wonderful place to visit on each evening of the summer, but she knew there was one thing missing that stopped it from being as amazing as the beach on the smaller island was during every sunset.

Kairi stood just in front of the edge of the remaining dry sand. The waves continued to slosh up onto the shore, not a drop from them reaching her shoes. She gazed out at all of the dark purple in front of her and up above her - which she thought was very different to the orange atmosphere that was most likely still lasting for as long as it could on the smaller island. "This beach looks really pretty in the sunset."

"It's quite different to the smaller island, isn't it, Kairi?"

Surprised by the voice that had come from beside her, Kairi turned to see Sora standing on her left. She grinned softly at him, knowing he had followed her onto the beach to admire the sea and the sky with her. His eyes were locked up towards the clouds above them, so Kairi turned her head back to look up at them. "Do you like it, Sora?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do, Kairi. It's a very different beach, and how it looks in the evening isn't the same as how the beach on the smaller island looks." Sora turned to look at Kairi, smiling at her. "But it's still a really sweet beach. And I'm glad the two of us could come here to see how nice it looks in the evening."

Kairi looked back at the boy again, grinning widely and softly at him. She was pleased to hear that the change of beach did not matter to Sora. He had still wanted to admire the sky from it as soon as his mother had mentioned it to him - and the fact that he wanted to do it with her and for made Kairi feel very happy. "I really love looking up at the sky from here with you as well, Sora."

"Is it so different here because we can't see the sun?" Nikkou asked the teenagers wonderingly, having just left the road she had been leading them along and stepping off the grass to walk onto the sand. She took a few steps forward to stand a few feet behind Sora and Kairi, looking up at the sky in puzzlement. "It's nowhere up here in the sky."

"No, we won't see it now, Mom," Sora explained, turning his head to look over his shoulder at Nikkou. A small grin was on his face and his cheeks were red from blushing after Kairi had told him she was enjoying looking at the evening sky with him. "Had we come here a bit earlier, we probably would have seen it, but not over the sea. It'll now be going under the horizon Kairi and I look out at from the smaller island. The sky will probably still be orange there."

Nikkou took a glance to her right, which was where north was. The smaller island was a fair distance away from where she and the teenagers were now (although they did not have too far to walk back to the estate where they lived), and it was getting the best of the sunset. She turned back to look towards Sora and Kairi, both of them with their backs to her as they remained standing side by side, gazing up at the darkening sky. Nikkou grinned widely as she pictured the two of them sitting next to each other on the pier or the sand of the smaller island, watching the sun sink down from an even brighter sky above them. It was something Sora would usually tell her that they had done, after coming home from spending an entire day on the smaller island with Kairi. The mother of the boy was very pleased to be able to see something that was at least close to what she was picturing. Her son and the girl who was his best friend, standing together on any shore with an evening sky above them, was the main detail she wanted to see.

Kairi took in the dark-coloured clouds that were floating slowly through the sky and over the sea, managing to send the lighter ones that had been the first to catch her eyes further away from view. The orange sky was no longer as bright. Dark blue traces were beginning to fill it up, giving the islands a different atmosphere which would remain for several hours until the sun came back up. The beach was still just as beautiful in the night to Kairi. She had not stopped loving looking out at the sea - which was still clearly visible in the growing darkness - while standing next to Sora. With a small smile on her face, she listened to the sound of the calm waves washing gently onto the shore and the light breeze rustling the large leaves on the trees - which all became suddenly drowned out by the nearby rumbling noise of a car's engine.

Annoyed by the new sound, which was ruining what a quiet and relaxing place the beach was, Kairi looked over her shoulder and towards the road behind her. As the noise of the car's engine grew louder, two strong, white beams of light shot out from the direction of the road that appeared to be on Kairi's left. The beams were almost blinding as they lit up the tarmac, standing out in the darkness. What they were shooting out from came into view: they turned out to be lights from headlamps at the front of a small-sized car that was driving along the road. It was not going at a fast speed, but its rumbling engine was creating a huge noise that filled the entire beach. The fading orange light that was only just managing to shoot down from the blackening sky and remain in the dark atmosphere for a few more minutes was what allowed Kairi to see the bright green colour of the vehicle. She was hoping it would leave the beach behind quickly so that she could go back to admiring how wonderful it was in the quietness.

The car only went even slower, not even being halfway past the beach. The person driving - who could not be seen through the windshield for the darkness - was clearly braking for a stop, since the red tail lights could now be seen shooting from the rear of the vehicle. It made a slight steer to the right to pull up onto the side of the road, its engine still humming loudly. The door to the driver's seat could be heard opening, which led Kairi to frowning deeply at the vehicle. She assumed whoever was getting out was just going to leave it with the engine still running, allowing the noise it was making to keep her from listening to the beach's natural, calming sounds. She looked towards the front of the car to try to see the person who was annoying her - and her frown instantly faded, being replaced by a surprised expression with her jaw hanging open.

Sora, who was looking back out towards the darkened horizon, heard the sound of the car's engine running and the door that had just opened being pushed shut. The grin and blush that had both remained on his face finally vanished as he wondered who was nearby and leaving their car with its engine still on. Wondering if the person was going to walk down onto the beach, he started to turn his head right to look towards the road - freezing it when he saw the stunned look on Kairi's face. As he already started to panic while noticing she was fixing her expression in the direction of the car, Sora quickly turned his head to see what had alarmed her - and he instantly became very surprised when he easily saw (despite how dark it was) who was standing by the car and staring down towards them.

It was the woman who they had met at the field where the hot air balloon had taken off from.

She seemed to be able to recognise the two teenagers, as she gazed down in their direction, a small amount of surprise visible in her knowing expression. Starting to walk away from her car and towards where Sora, Kairi and Nikkou stood on the shore, she raised her left arm and pointed out at the surprised boy as she stepped out onto the sand. "You're the boy who went in one of our hot air balloons today, aren't you? Is it Sora?"

"Yeah, I'm Sora," the boy smiled up towards the woman. "We've just landed back on the ground in your balloon. We've been flying in it all day."

The woman stood in front of the three people who she had distracted from taking in the sights of the beach. She had spotted them all standing on the shore when she had started to drive her car past, and there had been enough light left in the night to allow her to see how familiar Sora and Kairi looked from her windshield, even with their backs to her. She took in the boy's spiky brown hair and the girl's shoulder-length red hair, recognising them as the two teenagers she had seen that morning, as well as being handed a lot of munny from one.

She turned towards Nikkou, who she had also seen from her car, but did not recognise. A curious expression appeared on her face. "Are you Sora's mother?"

"Yeah, I am. Have you met him before then?" Nikkou asked the woman, puzzled. Having not seen her before, she could not think how the woman could have met Sora and known that he had been flying in a hot air balloon.

"We met at the field where my workers put up the balloon, and Sora paid me." A small smirk appeared on the woman's face as she turned to look at Sora again. "Did you enjoy riding in the balloon?"

"Yeah! We all loved it!" Sora shot a wide grin towards the woman as he gave her huge nods, not noticing the way she was smiling. "Flying through the air in the balloon was fantastic! And we enjoyed looking far down at lots of the places on the island which we usually see! Thanks for putting the balloon up for us!"

Nikkou smiled softly at her son, due to how polite he was behaving, before turning to look at the woman again. "Yeah, we all enjoyed ourselves up in the balloon."

Kairi was frowning slightly towards the woman without saying anything, knowing exactly what the smirk on her face was over. Although the girl had loved the balloon ride as much as Sora and Nikkou had, she had not liked the way the woman had behaved when she and Sora had met her that morning. She had been very eager to take lots of Sora's munny away from him, and had also been rude to him while he had been making sure he had enough to give. Kairi was beginning to feel bad again, as she knew Sora had only given away so much of his munny to make sure she had a wonderful day of travelling through the air. She could tell that the only thing the woman was bothered about was having a lot of munny given to her by her customers.

"Are you looking for the balloon?" Sora asked the woman, thinking he knew why she had been travelling along the edge of the island at the beginning of the night. "It's over in the field by the river. We've seen your workers and the pilot start to put it away-"

"No, I'm not looking for the balloon," the woman interrupted, still smirking as she started to walk backwards along the sand and away from them. "I'm going to the shopping centre. I'm gonna buy myself loads of really nice things with all the munny I have."

Kairi's frown deepened with growing anger. She knew the munny the woman was talking about was the large amount that Sora had given her that morning. She had made sure the boy had given her every orb that made the total of two-hundred and seventy munny, and now she was already taking it out with her to spend it all on herself. Kairi realized she was right about the woman being someone who thought only about munny and what she could buy with it. She now disliked her even more, and felt even worse about being the reason why Sora had given her so much of his own munny to be spent all on herself.

The woman, having walked backwards as far as the grass in between the sand and the road, turned around and made her way over to her car. She did not think she needed to say goodbye to the people she had just been talking to. Walking around the front of the rumbling parked vehicle, she stood beside the door to the driver's seat, pulling it open and climbing inside. She sat down in the seat, shutting the door behind her before putting her seatbelt on. Feeling ready to carry on driving to the nearby shopping centre, where she would spend all of the money she had been given that morning on many things that she wanted, she took hold of the steering wheel in her right hand and the handbrake in her left hand while placing her right foot onto the gas pedal.

Quickly releasing the handbrake, the woman placed her left hand onto the steering wheel - but as she pressed down with her foot on the gas pedal and started to steer out to the left to be driving on the correct position in the road, the car suddenly jerked fiercely and repeatedly, causing the alarmed woman to jump in her seat. Trying to keep her hands on the steering wheel as she was thrown about, she tried to steer the car slightly to the right to travel forward down the road. The car only managed to take one large jerk forward before finally stopping where it was, its noisy engine no longer running. Recovering from the shaking she had been given, but glaring hard in annoyance, the woman grabbed the ignition key - which had still been in its slot when she had left the car to speak to Sora, Kairi and Nikkou - and turned it to try to start the engine back up. The car remained sitting motionless on the road, not making a sound. The woman gripped the key tighter in her frustration as she looked away from it - and the large glare on her face deepened when she saw that the dial on the gas metre was pointing down to the small 'E'. She would be unable to drive away, for - to her growing frustration - her car had completely run out of gas.

Furious, as she knew she would not be able to go straight to the shopping centre or even to her house, the woman reached over with her right arm to the glove compartment in front of the passenger seat next to her. She pulled open its door and picked up a small cell phone that had been sitting on top of a pile of CD cases. Shutting the glove compartment back up and taking off her seatbelt, the woman opened the car door next to her seat and climbed out. She rested her right elbow onto the car's roof and looked down at the screen of the cell phone as she began to search through her contacts list for a particular telephone number.

The woman did not notice that Sora, Kairi and Nikkou were walking up towards her. From the shore, they had seen - with surprise - the car jerking about before coming to a stop without moving again. It had been enough to tell them that something was wrong with the woman's vehicle, and when they get had seen her get out, Nikkou had started to make her way along the sand towards her to find out what the problem was and see if she could help. Sora and Kairi followed the boy's mother, both interested to know what was wrong with the car, but neither of them really feeling any sympathy for the woman (although Kairi was the only one who felt she had a reason not to be concerned about the woman being unable to drive away).

Nikkou stood on the grass next to where the car's engine had stopped it from moving. She turned to look at the moody woman, noticing she was pressing away at the keys on her cell phone. "Is there something wrong with your car?"

"Yeah, there is!" the woman spat angrily, looking up from her phone to glare at Nikkou. She was even more annoyed now to have been asked about what had just happened that had angered her. Noticing Sora and Kairi had just come up onto the grass to stand next to Nikkou, she gave a quick glance towards them - the glare remaining on her face - before turning back to face the woman who had just asked her the question. "I've run out of gas. You haven't got a can of it, have you?"

"Oh no, sorry. We left my car back at my house," Nikkou chuckled humorously as she shook her head, not noticing how hard the woman was glaring at her. "We're gonna walk back to our street now. Why don't you walk back to where you live?"

The woman glared even more deeply at Nikkou, seemingly baffled by the suggestion she had just been given. "I'm not gonna walk all the way back to my house! I'm gonna-"

"The balloon is over in the field by the river, as I told you earlier," Sora interrupted her, thinking he was being helpful as he pointed out with a grin in the direction of the field where he had landed in the balloon. "But when your workers came along, they started to pack it away. I dunno if they would have finished yet, but you could look there in case you might be able to fly home."

Having heard what Sora had suggested and thinking his idea was stupid, the woman looked away from Nikkou to shoot her glare at the boy. "I'm not gonna fly in that silly balloon, either! I'm gonna phone the nearest gas station and ask them to bring me a can of gas! Then I'll be able to drive away from here!"

She looked back down at her cell phone, taking no notice of the three stunned expressions that were being shot towards her in response to how rude she had just been to the mother and her son. The number she had been looking for in her contact list was displayed on the screen. She pressed the green key and held the phone to her ear, listening to the ringing that was going through to the gas station she was trying to contact.

The woman stood with the phone to her ear in silence for a few seconds, then finally spoke aloud as soon as she heard someone on the other end of the line answer her call. "Hello? Is this Petrolman's Gas Station? Only I've run out of gas by the beach a few miles away from where you are. I need you to bring me a can of gas. How much is that gonna cost me?"

Pausing to allow the information she needed to be passed onto her, the woman suddenly frowned hard. She appeared to be full of shock and disbelief. "What? Your gas can't cost that much! I'm not gonna-" She paused again, letting off a small, defeated grunt. "Alright. You'll be paid when you get over here. Just don't be too long."

The woman held the phone she was holding away from her ear and pressed the red key. She let her arm fall, feeling annoyed as she frowned into space.

"You can get a can of gas then?" Sora asked her quietly as he stared up at her. He was still slightly offended over the way she had rejected his suggestion of how she could travel without her car, but wanted to know if she would be able to drive away.

The woman had instantly turned to Sora as soon as she heard him speak to her. Her hardening frown was now being shot straight at him. "Yeah, I can get a can of gas - but I've gotta pay a lot of munny for it! I can't believe how expensive gas from that station is! It's gonna cost me nearly all the munny I've got right now!"

Kairi was finally able to give a wide grin, which she directed straight at the woman. She let off a few small laughs, feeling a little better to hear the munny Sora had given away was not going to be completely wasted. "Well, it's lucky for you that you have plenty of munny, don't you?"

The woman looked away from Sora to shoot her frown towards Kairi. She felt highly insulted by what the girl had told her, as if the munny she had to hand over in a short while had been hers all along. "And that's good that I'm giving it away now on a bunch of gas, is it?"

"Yeah, because you've been given a lot of munny today, which you've obviously brought with you since you wanted to waste it all on things for yourself." Kairi gave a small frown back at the woman before turning away from her to look up at Sora with eyes that were filling with admiration. "Sora's the one who gave you all that munny. Even if you had enough gas to drive yourself to the shopping centre, you would have been spending all the munny that he gave you - and then you'd have no gas or munny to be able to get yourself home. So at least buying gas will get you home - but you would not have been able to if not for Sora."

Sora was now gazing back down at Kairi, feeling very moved about what she just had explained about his doing. Blushing hard, he looked up from her, smiling softly towards the woman. He felt glad that he had been able to help her, which he happily knew had made Kairi very proud of him.

Nikkou grinned knowingly towards her son, able to easily tell how he was feeling after hearing what Kairi had said about him, then started to walk away from the car and along the side of the road. "Come on, kids. It'll be very late when we get back. We have to start walking home."

Sora and Kairi were looking down the road in the direction Nikkou was walking away from them, but they both quickly turned their heads towards the beach to take in one last quick look of it. Up in the pitch black sky, a large full moon had risen, its shining light piercing through the darkness and allowing the two teenagers to see the beach easier. The moon's rays lit up some traces of yellow which could be seen on the remaining sand that had not been covered by the salty water. The two beach trees were just a pair of black silhouettes, although they could still be seen wobbling slightly in the calm wind. Quivering ripples were spread out all over the sea that stretched out to the horizon while back on the shore was the white of waves that had all become smaller, continuing to splash onto the sand, but unable to soak any part of the dry area which it had never been able to cover.

Having taken in enough of the beach, Sora and Kairi turned to look in the direction which Nikkou had walked down. They were both very surprised to see how far ahead of them she already was. The brightness of the moonlight which was filling up the island did not stop Nikkou from almost vanishing amongst the darkness ahead. Not wanting to lose her or be left behind, the two teenagers quickly jogged together along the stretch of grass beside the road (neither of them saying goodbye to the woman, who was feeling even more annoyed as she watched the two of them leave her).

They managed to catch up with Nikkou, but they both decided to stay behind her as they stopped their jogging to walk together at each other's sides. They found they now only just had enough room on the grass to walk along - for on each side of the road, long wooden fences had been built. They had been painted white, and from how far they could be seen up ahead, they seemed to go on for quite a distance. Behind the two fences were large and long, hilly fields, which had their shade of green mostly hidden away by how dark the night was. The sound of gentle waves from the sea returned to the teenagers' ears, heard from beyond the fields on their left.

"Mom, do you know the way home from here?" Sora asked his mother with slight urgency. He looked away from the fields he was passing and towards Nikkou as he followed her alongside of the road. "'Cause you said you didn't live there when you came to visit this place."

"Yeah, but I know this road, Sora," Nikkou answered confidently, not looking back at her son or the girl who had joined them as she continued to walk forward. "It will lead us back home. It's gonna be quite a fair walk, but you'll be able to recognise where we are once we're near our estate."

Nikkou started to walk slowly to her right, which the teenagers saw the grass on the side of the road was now leading them to. Remaining beside each other and behind the boy's mother, they followed her around the curve, which they noticed had the same white fences on each side of the tarmac. They were able to see through the darkness that the straight stretch of road they had to walk alongside was the length of about three miles before going around a tight bend that led to the left. On each side of the road, behind the two wooden fences that they were continuing to walk in between, were even more long fields that were all made up of large, grassy hills. Sora and Kairi were both feeling sure they were going to see a lot of the fields during most of their walk back to their houses.

With a small grin on her face, Kairi turned her head from side to side as she walked along the grass with Sora. She was taking in the fields they were passing with a lot of awe. "This place is really pretty. I didn't notice it while we were up in the air. I bet it looks really beautiful during the daytime."

Nikkou, still making her way along the ground next to the long, wide line of tarmac and keeping a small distance ahead of the teenagers, looked over her shoulder to smile towards Kairi. She had heard what the girl had said about their surroundings, which had reminded her of when she had once visited them. "They are really beautiful in the daytime. I remember when I visited this place years ago. I took a very nice walk along those fields, and I was looking right down at the sea. The view was really amazing, and the whole place was one of the most wonderful parts of the island I had ever visited."

Sora stared towards his mother as he continued to follow her alongside the road, feeling suddenly interested by how she had described the area they were walking through. He looked around at the fields that were on his left. He was able to take in the many green hills through the dark, and he was already trying to picture how they would appear during bright daylight, which he knew would allow him to see how lovely they really were. He turned his head to gaze over his shoulder towards the hills where the sound of waves of the sea had been heard from behind them. The soft, gentle splashing sounds were no longer able to reach his ears, but Sora knew if he and Kairi were to stand on top of the hills, they would be able to look out at the beautiful view of the sea his mother had mentioned.

The sight of the fields they were walking past and the way they had been described by his mother had helped Sora to decide what he wanted to do for Kairi for the following day.


Familiar sights had returned to Sora and Kairi's eyes when they were finally walking along the side of the road that ran past their estate. They had spent twenty-five minutes following Nikkou along the country road which had led them past the many hilly fields on each of its sides before they had finally spotted the large, purple houses that stood near the beach of the main island. As soon as they had realized where they were, the three of them had stopped for a moment to look out towards the estate. They had been able to look up the full moon from there. It had been high up in the sky, shining down towards the smaller island, which the woman and two teenagers had easily seen standing in the darkness that filled up the air all over the sea. Tiny, silver dots had also been twinkling around the paths that led through the large housing estate and towards the main's island's beach. They had looked like little stars on the earth - but Sora, Kairi and Nikkou knew well that they were just the lights that were given off from the wooden streetlamps. How bright they had appeared from looking down above the estate was not comparable to the strong yellow light that was shooting out from all of the modern streetlamps in the lines of streets that made the estate where Sora, Kairi and Nikkou lived. They were able to make their way steadily past the rows of houses which were all standing on their right. The light that was filling the entire estate allowed them to see which end would be the entrance to the street where they lived.

Sora and Kairi were walking together beside Nikkou, following her across the road that led down through their street. As the three of them stepped onto the sidewalk, they all turned right and started to pace past the houses that stood on their left. The street was filled with parked cars, which Sora and Kairi were quite surprise to see, although mainly because not one vehicle had driven past them while they had been journeying on foot along the country road. A lot of the cars were parked on their owners' driveways while the rest were sitting on the sidewalks in front of some of the houses. The only house which did not have a car parked in front of it or on its driveway was the one which the woman, the boy and the girl looked up towards as they made their way through the street, getting closer to it. It was Kairi's house.

The girl looked away from the house she was making her way towards, grinning softly up at the boy who was walking alongside her. "Thanks for taking me on another wonderful, fun-filled day out, Sora."

Turning to look down at Kairi while treading beside her along the sidewalk, Sora grinned back widely at her. "You already thanked me when we got out of the basket, Kairi. But it's okay. I'm really glad you enjoyed your day - and I already know what we're gonna do, tomorrow."

Kairi blinked in amazement as she gazed up at Sora, surprised by what he had just told her. They had only just returned from spending a fantastic day of gazing down at lots of places on the main island while flying high up in a hot air balloon, and the two of them had ended it by standing together on a different beach to the one they usually visited to look up at the evening sky. It had been a very long day, but Kairi had really loved everything they had done to enjoy it - and she could not believe that by the end of it, Sora had already planned and decided what they were going to do during the next day.

The grin that had been on Kairi's face when she had thanked Sora had temporarily faded away, but she managed to bring it back and shoot it up at the boy again. "What have you planned for tomorrow then?"

"Another surprise," Sora informed the girl in a voice that was filled with secrecy. He was still grinning down at her, not having any intention of giving her a hint of what the two of them were going to do for the upcoming day. "I'll come to your house when it's ready for you, then I'll be spending the whole day making sure you enjoy yourself and have fun."

Kairi's cheeks went a light shade of pink as she smiled up at the boy. She felt completely excited and thankful for the early effort he had made to plan out what he wanted to do for her as soon as the new day arrived. She saw that the grin on the boy's face - which she knew was directed at her - was still just as wide, and she could also see something which Sora had not noticed. Nikkou - who was walking along Sora's other side - was smiling down at the two of them, seemingly just as amazed as Kairi had been when she had heard that Sora had made plans for the next day. Kairi did not know if Nikkou was aware what her surprise was going to be, as during the day, she had not seen her go off alone with Sora as if to talk with him privately. The smile on the woman's face did not make Kairi feel uneasy, but there was something about it which made her feel a little confused.

As the girl took a few more steps forward along the sidewalk, her house came into her view behind the two people she was walking with and looking up at. Kairi stopped where she was, taking a quick glance towards her house before pulling Sora into a tight hug. She smiled softly as she rested her head onto his shoulder, closing her eyes. "Bye, Sora. Thanks again for taking me on that amazing hot air balloon ride."

Sora was a little surprised at the sudden hug the girl was giving him and the words she was whispering to him, until he glanced over his shoulder and saw that they were standing in front of her house. Looking back down at Kairi, he smiled softly at her as he hugged her back. "It's alright, Kairi. I'll knock on your door tomorrow when your surprise is ready for you."

Her cheeks still light pink, Kairi opened her eyes and carefully broke the hug, lifting her head back off Sora's shoulder. The smile was still on her face as she turned away from the boy to face Nikkou, raising her hand to wave at her. "Goodnight, Nikkou."

"Goodnight, Kairi," Nikkou answered quietly, smiling back as she returned a wave to the girl. She had also enjoyed her day in the hot air balloon, and seeing how much her son and the girl who had joined them had enjoyed it was one of the things that had really made it very wonderful for her.

Kairi stepped away from Sora and passed Nikkou to walk through the gateway and along her garden path. There was not much light shining from the streetlamps onto her house's brickwork, and nothing but blackness could be seen through the front windows. Opening up her pouch, Kairi reached into it and pulled out her house key, which was still joined by the one which would let her into Sora's house. The girl stepped onto her doorstep and inserted the key into the keyhole, unlocking the front door before pushing its handle down to open it.

After stepping into the dark interior of the house, Kairi pulled the key out of the lock. She turned around to look out beyond her gateway, grinning upon seeing that Sora and Nikkou were still standing out on the sidewalk in front of her house. She raised a hand and began to wave out towards them. "Bye!"

"Bye, Kairi!" Sora grinned as he waved wildly back towards Kairi, his entire lower arm managing to shake from one side to another in less than seconds. It did not stop moving madly around in the air until the boy finally saw that the front door of the house had been pushed shut and the girl had disappeared from sight.

Nikkou instantly turned her head away from the house to face her son. The certain smile that she had shot towards him and Kairi when she had heard them talking about the upcoming day had returned to her face. "So then, Sora - you've already decided what you and Kairi are doing tomorrow, have you?"

"Yeah, Mom," Sora answered, starting to walk along the sidewalk to make his way from Kairi's house and towards his. He looked up wonderingly at his mother as she treaded slowly alongside him. "Do you wanna hear what I'm gonna do for Kairi tomorrow?"

"Well, I'm gonna have to hear it, aren't I?" Nikkou laughed softly, no longer looking down at her son, but interested to learn what he had planned to surprise Kairi once again. "Let me know what it is when we get in. Then you're gonna have to go on up to bed."

The woman turned to her left as she made her way through the gateway that led to her house, leading her son along the short garden path. Her car was standing completely still on the driveway, having not been used throughout the whole day while its owner had been travelling over the main island by a way she thought was much more wonderful and better. The blue paintwork of the car was difficult to see in the darkness, looking instead like a shiny black with a few bright yellow dots that happened to be reflections of the lights given off by the streetlamps.

Already holding her set of keys in her hand, Nikkou stepped up onto her doorstep. Sora remained standing on the path, watching his mother as she held out the key to the front door and placed it into the lock. The keys could be heard rattling as Nikkou turned them in her hand, then Sora looked past her to see the door being slowly pushed open. He could not see much of the inside of the house, since it was so dark and the lights were not turned on - but as Nikkou stepped onto the wooden floor of the lounge, she flipped a switch on the wall and the single lamp that was hanging from the white ceiling turned on. Light immediately filled up the entire lounge, allowing everything that was inside it to be seen and making the room itself look more welcoming to Sora as he stepped into the house.

Nikkou gently pushed the door shut behind her son - ready to hear what he was going to do to make the next day fun for Kairi.


That's this really long chapter over. Again, I'm really sorry for the long wait and I hope it wasn't a bad chapter. :(

Because my life has now become busier, I am gonna try and make quicker updates by using much more of my free time to write, and I'm no longer gonna take quite a fair gap between when I upload a new chapter and start to write a new one. I pretty much know how the next few chapters are gonna work out, so I'm sure I can start work on them soon without many problems. :)