Their search yields less results each day. It's beginning to look like Sora is gone for good.

Riku carded a hand through his hair.

Nevermind that thought.

The more time he spends thinking of where Sora is, the more dead ends he hits. His mind feels like a maze, or a box. And it's getting smaller and more suffocating with every visit.

Riku came to the base of the stairs leading up to Ansem's lab at Radiant Garden, and sighed. He looked down the path to his left. Foliage swayed in the breeze, and glimpses of flowers in the distance beckoned his tired mind.

The scenic route sounds nice.

Riku leisurely strolled through the gardens. A variety of flowers greeted him with colorful inspirations of joy. A refreshing change from the task he couldn't let leave his thoughts.

A soft whimpering interrupted the quiet air.

It lured Riku to the source behind a staircase leading up to the gateway before Ansem's lab.

He found the florist he had met days ago, Ikori. She sat curled up and crying behind her knees, hidden between two large bushes.

Another problem.

But not his own. That, and hiding and crying indicates she's not injured physically.

Riku considered leaving her to let the emotions run their course. Yet... maybe it would help if he could solve a problem that's not his own for awhile.

"Hey," Riku greeted. When he had her attention, he asked, "wanna share what's on your mind?"

"Riku." She smeared her tears away with upward palms. "I'm fine."

His returning look dripped with disbelief.

"I'll be fine," she amended.

So she's not up to talk...

Riku nodded and turned to leave. "Take care."

Oh well.

He tried.

"It's just-" Ikori continued when he nearly went out of earshot. "-it's a long story."

Riku took a seat on the garden edging stones. "I've got time." They asked him not to come in today anyway; take a personal day, they said. What's he supposed to do on a personal day?

Ikori sniffled, gesturing her hand forward, she added, "and complicated." She picked at her thumbnail, eyes hooked onto his, gauging his reaction to her warning.

Recounting their first meeting, Riku wondered how long he was in for. Since she felt the need to warn him for this one, when the last was an unwarranted torrent of chatter that had no warnings at all.

But...

Personal day.

Riku shrugged. "I've got all day."

Ikori put her knees down and tucked her legs to her side. To lessen the explanation, and present her problem faster, how much could she omit without losing the integrity of it all?

First of all...

Ikori took a deep breath. Her tears had yet to fully subside. "Do you know anything about... the Dark Realm?"

"Yeah," Riku answered without missing a beat.

Ikori felt her head go for a spin. How common is this world!?

Riku propped his knee up to rest his arm over it, and raised a brow. "How is it you know the Dark Realm?"

Ikori yanked her head back, dumbfounded. "That's what I wanted to ask."

Riku placed a hand to his forehead. There's no easy way to explain that one. Besides, they're not talking about him. "We're getting off topic."

"Right." Ikori blinked. "So this thing happened a while back." She shyly rubbed the back of her neck. "I became a heartless, and for the time I spent as a Shadow, I retained my awareness with nearly no memories of who I once was."

Riku nodded. "Interesting." He's only heard of something similar happening once before. And who knows what tricks Ansem— Xehanort pulled to get there.

Ikori shrugged. "Yeah, and for the time I wandered the Dark Realm, I met someone. A person with a keyblade."

Riku tilted his head forward, searching his memories as he stared off to the side. Did he meet her down there? Did Mickey?

"We became friends."

Not Riku then.

"I can't remember the specifics, but I know I-" fresh tears sprang to her eyes. "I fell in love with her."

Her?

"Aqua?" Riku asked.

Ikori's eyes widened. "You know her?"

Riku summoned his keyblade. "In a way, yes."

Ikori gasped when the keyblade manifested. She tucked her head down toward her shoulder and hugged her elbows. "You're not gonna tell her what I've said, are you?"

Riku dismissed his keyblade. "We're friends, but not that close."

"Okay." Ikori relaxed. "Um..." She hesitated. "So, there came a day I just knew Aqua was free from that Dark Realm." Under her breath she said, "I know I helped but-" She shook her head. "Anyway, that's the reason I ceased becoming a heartless."

"Becoming a heartless?" Riku emphasized. "You returned to heartless form more than once?" He then added, "willingly?"

"Yes." Ikori's shoulders fell. "I've already been scolded. And I thought that's what Aqua came to do when we met." Ikori swiped a finger below her eye. "She was so familiar, but I couldn't remember. And when she didn't say anything about our time together, I thought it couldn't be her, and I told her..." Her breath hitched. "I told her that I fell in love with the one I met in the Dark Realm."

"Ah." Riku shifted uncomfortably. An accidental confession. Problems of the heart.

Ikori's voice wavered as she continued, "then last night, she told me the truth, and the reason she didn't tell me sooner." Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. "Aqua said it was because of my confession." She sniffed. "She said she's not interested in dating." Ikori wiped uselessly at the tears. "Aqua just wants to be friends, and it shouldn't, but it feels like my heart broke in two. Like half went with her." Her face pinched as she tried to breathe normally and failed. "This feels worse than being a heartless. I must've made her so uncomfortable." Ikori cupped her hands above her head. "How am I going to face her again?"

Riku watched the clouds above with a piercing gaze. "Who says you have to face her again?"

Suddenly, her waterworks ceased. "Huh?"

"You don't have to have anything to do with her ever again," Riku paraphrased. "If you can't imagine any other relationship with Aqua, then why bother?"

Ikori concentrated. She knew she needed to justify herself, not only for him, but herself. "Because... I love her. If I could never see her again, what I'm feeling-" Ikori touched her chest. "-would feel ten times worse..."

Riku nodded. "Then maybe having her at arms length is better than not having her at all."

Ikori sighed through her nose, defeated. "You're right, I know." With some waning coherence she's aware how ridiculous it is that she broke down, as the simplicity of putting her emotions into words, was enough to quiet the severity of what she felt. "It hurts is all."

Riku smiled sympathetically. "I wish I could tell you not to worry."

Ikori crawled out of her hideaway.

"If you really care about Aqua, you'll figure it out." Riku handed Ikori a tissue, and patted down her stray hairs. "Let your friendship rekindle with her naturally. There's a reason you two were so close in the first place. Find that, and work from there."

Ikori cracked a little smile. "Thank you."

Kairi came across Aqua, who sat with her elbow resting on the table to prop her head up sideways with her hand. She absently twirled between the fingers of her other hand, a blue rose.

Aqua felt more lost than she did in the Dark Realm. Why a rose, when she asked to be friends?

"That's gorgeous," Kairi commented, leaning in with her arms crossed behind her back. She came to the Land of Departure for Ventus, but the fog shrouding Aqua's eyes was something Kairi couldn't ignore in good spirits.

"It is," Aqua agreed.

She took a seat across the table. "Did someone give that to you?"

"Yes." Aqua's tone broached a question. "It's odd. Roses are meant for displays of affection, and..." and I told her we wouldn't cross that road, Aqua thought.

Kairi shook her head, bemused. "Roses are special."

Aqua set the flower down.

So Kairi accepted her silent invitation to go on, "all flowers have their own meaning, but roses can mean many things based on their color." She pressed her index finger to the table. "Red is the color for love." She followed with her thumb. "Yellow signifies friendship." Then her middle finger. "Lavender is love at first sight." Next her ring finger. "White is purity." And finally, her pinky. "As for blue..." Kairi frowned then abruptly smiled. "Oh." She laughed bashfully. "Sorry, they probably gave you that to match your hair."

Aqua smiled. "Humor me. What does a blue rose symbolize?"

Kairi tucked her shoulders in as she drew back to stand. "Unrequited love."

"Oh." Aqua's heart sank. Why unrequited? She... likes Ikori— in a different way of course, and Ikori can still love her, it's just that Aqua doesn't wish to date.

Sensing a shift, Kairi worried she somehow made things worse. She had stood to go, but couldn't move a step.

"Blue," Kairi tacked on, "isn't a natural color found in roses. So without the context of love, a blue rose means desired, yet unobtainable."

"Oh..."

Aqua's fog thickened, and Kairi could feel herself sweating. This is not helping. If anything, she is definitely making things worse.

An intense desire to fix this gripped her, but due to the previous outcomes, Kairi thought it best to leave.

"It's really beautiful though." Kairi backed away slowly.

Aqua hummed in agreement.

Oh.

Curse it all.

Kairi relented, sitting back at the table with renewed vigor. "What's on your mind?"

Aqua sat up abruptly, as if only now realizing Kairi was there. "Nothing."

Aqua's wide doe eyes almost convinced Kairi, but,

"Who gave you the rose?"

"A friend," although her tone bordered a question. Were they friends? Aqua wondered. The word didn't fit between their relationship correctly. Considering their history, it should be something closer. Add that to their current situation, and Aqua could smell her brain begin to smoke. "She's important," Aqua corrected with a finalty like solving an equation with an answer that isn't quite right, but is a part of A, B, or C.

"I see." Sympathy touched Kairi. She reached across the table to cover Aqua's hand with her own. "She's in love with you, but you don't quite feel the same."

Aqua wondered, with how tightly she held her cards to her chest, when did she show her hand.

Kairi read those thoughts plainly on Aqua's face and answered, "the rose." Then quoted helpfully, "flowers have meaning?"

Aqua deflated, holding her cheek as if it would help her understand what her face was broadcasting. "Am I that obvious?"

Kairi giggled. "Not usually, if that makes you feel any better." She pulled back, folding her arms on the table. "My friend Riku is a lot like you when it comes to emotions. He's plain as day on matters of the heart. Otherwise, he'd beat the best at poker."

Aqua picked the flower and the topic back up. "Her name is Ikori."

Kairi considered the flower and, ignoring the improbability, asked with growing excitement, "she's a florist? Purple hair, magic flowers?"

"Yes?" Aqua felt on the fence.

"No way!" Kairi laughed. "Ikori lived on the islands with us. Riku and Sora didn't like the girly flowers so they never bothered, but it was amazing. There's this trick she would do out on the boats where she sent a wave of flowers drifting across the waters to shore. I miss her. I know she said living there was temporary." Kairi pouted. "But Ikori also said she'd show me her home one day, and she never did."

"Did she?" Aqua asked, unamused. How old was Kairi?

"Oh my god," Kairi abruptly gasped. "Ikori's in love with you," she realized belatedly. Then, rather bluntly, she added with a hint of approval, "yeah, you seem her type."

Her type?

"Kairi." Aqua pressed two fingers to her temple. She wanted to send her away or change the topic, but felt the nagging of that word settle on her concentration.

She shouldn't ask.

But the silence stretched long enough that Aqua had to say something... and the only thing she wanted to ask was... "did Ikori date anyone on the island?"

"No."

A weight on Aqua's chest lifted. Good.

"I dunno." Kairi tilted her head, reconsidering. "There was this woman."

Aqua hunched closer, intent on Kairi's next words.

Kairi held up her hands in surrender. "They spent a lot of time together toward the end of her stay, that's all I know."

Aqua sat back, discontent with this new information. So Ikori had a girlfriend on Destiny Islands. Is that why she wants to return? To rekindle an old flame? They couldn't have known each other long, besides, they definitely don't have as deep a history and she does with Ikori. Not to mention, Ikori loves Aqua now, why would she still love whoever this person is? It's impossible... right?

...

How does love work in the first place?

Kairi watched in idle fascination as the emotions played across Aqua's face in rapid succession. It's something she's sure she'll only witness once in her lifetime.

So when Aqua asked, "can someone love two people at once?"

Kairi jumped, as if caught. "Huh?" Aqua repeated the question and Kairi blinked. "I suppose."

That didn't give her much hope. Slightly irritated by the supposed nature of love, Aqua asked, "how?"

Oh wow, this is not going how Kairi imagined this going. "Uh..." Is she making this better? Worse? More importantly, how did this turn into an interrogation? "I'll use my friend Anna as an example..." Kairi sent a silent apology to Anna, and said, "when Anna met Prince Hans, it was love at first sight." Kairi frowned. "He was charming, funny, and their personalities mixed like long lost friends."

Aqua listened patiently, nodding along.

"Then when Anna left on a journey, she met Kristoff." Kairi threaded her hands together. "They didn't get along, per se, but as they got to know one another, confided secrets, and faced challenges together, they found a connection growing stronger between them. They became close friends, and maybe more... but Anna promised to marry Hans. And she still loved him -maybe not as much as Kristoff- but she returned to Hans thinking they were meant to be." Kairi rushed through the rest, "Hans then betrayed Anna. So she returned to Kristoff in the end when she discovered what she had with Hans was an act, and he never loved her in the first place."

Aqua's brows raised.

This is what love can be?

Anna fell in love with this Hans when he never loved her to begin with.

One can fake love and others will believe and reciprocate it?

Kairi inhaled deeply to recover her breath. "But for your hypothetical situation, let's say Hans actually loved Anna back. When she returned to him, they would've fostered that love. And maybe she would miss Kristoff, maybe they would have remained friends, but it's who she chose to foster that love with that helped it blossom." Kairi shrugged from shoulder to shoulder. "I mean, yeah maybe she would've been happy with Hans, if he wasn't a deceitful dirt-wad. But at the end of the day, Kristoff is able to look Anna eye to eye. They understand each other, and aren't afraid to call each other out when the other is wrong." Kairi smiled. "And that's true love to me."

"True love," Aqua murmured, enlightened. "So there's a difference between love and true love?"

"Of course," Kairi asserted.

Aqua smiled, feeling better already. "Thank you."

Kairi brightened. "Anytime!"

A/N

Hi,

It's been awhile.

A days shy of a year.

And I still haven't beaten all the data battles :')

I'm just gonna leave this here and disappear for awhile again.