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"What are you doing? Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
Kairi had to yell so her voice would carry through the Third District. She gestured with her thin, bare arms. Her bracelets clinked.
Finally he noticed. Sora spun around with a whoosh as his Keyblade cut the air. When he saw it was only her, his weapon came down. "What?"
Kairi leaned over the ledge, still flapping her arms. "Sora, what are you doing? It's the middle of the night! Where's Donald and Goofy?"
Sora jogged over, the giant key slung over his right shoulder. The keychain equipped to it clunked back and forth. Was he going to hurt himself?
Out of breath, the teen started answering her endless slew of questions. "Donald and Goofy are resting in the hotel. I'm training, although…" He looked around him. "I think I've cleared all the Heartless out of here. And," he added, matter-of-factly, "if you hadn't noticed, it's always the middle of the night here."
Kairi made a face at him. "Don't insult my intelligence."
"I wouldn't dare!" he retorted, hopping up on a bench and then taking to the air.
The girl let her mouth fall open as he flew towards her. She still couldn't get over it. He could fly. Really, honestly, fly. "Sora, isn't that dangerous…?"
He landed on the ledge beside her, leaning on the Keyblade.
"Stop trying to act so cool. Get down from there."
Sora offered her a smirk in reply. His Keyblade disappeared due to lack of enemies. He reached down and took hold of her slim wrists.
"Sor—ahh!!"
Before Kairi knew it, he was falling backwards, and her with him. They almost hit the ground when, suddenly, they jerked up, riding on the cool air. They kept ascending until they could look down on the rooftops.
Sora straightened out so that the two stood face to face. The only thing unusual about just standing was that they must have been a thousand feet above solid ground. He was still gripping her wrists.
Kairi was glaring at him, but Sora was wearing this happy, expectant look on his face, almost like a small child ready to be rewarded. She couldn't scold him now—especially since he was the only one around to get her back to earth.
Sora shifted his grip so that his fingers were entangled in Kairi's. "Isn't it beautiful up here?" He laughed.
Kairi looked around. Up, right, left—everywhere around her lay the shimmering jewels of the sky, stars that shone eternally. She made the mistake of looking down, and her stomach rose in her throat—
"Kairi, are you okay?" He asked when he found that she had collapsed into his arms and was hugging him tightly. It reminded him of what had happened at Hollow Bastion a few weeks earlier—when they had finally found each again.
Kairi's face was pink. "I just felt a little dizzy. Could we go a little farther down, please?"
They drifted gently downward until they were perched on the ledge of the bell tower in the Second District. Kairi took a deep breath and silently thanked the ground for being so much closer.
Her cheeks cooling, she turned to her friend. "I could see everything in Traverse Town from up there…"
He nodded at her. Kairi noticed he hadn't let go of one of her hands, and was still gripping it tightly. Her face threatened to change color again.
"I'm not usually afraid of heights, you know," Kairi said, groping for her lost dignity, "but that was really high up. This is much better." She swung her legs back and forth.
Sora just nodded. "I'm sorry. I forgot you never flew before."
"Oh, Sora, you've done so many spectacular things on your journey! I…" She was getting overexcited. She had shared in his adventures a little, too, but her heart had been asleep inside of him. If only she could have been by his side… "I…" She wasn't going with him this time, either. To the final battle.
"It's all right," he said with assumed confidence. "You and me and Riku will have all sorts of adventures again soon."
"After we go home…?"
"Of course. We'll all be together soon."
Kairi wondered why he sounded so unsure. She knew he had been training hard since they returned from Hollow Bastion. He spent his nights patrolling Traverse Town and his days challenging friend and foe alike at the Coliseum. She had hardly seen him.
Kairi watched him. His eyes were on something else than what physically lay before him. He wasn't seeing her, or Traverse Town, or even the stars. She wondered when Sora had become so mature. He and Riku both. Was she left behind, the lone child? She was younger than those two, if only by a few months. Now she felt leagues behind them.
"Things won't be like before though, will they?" She placed her head closer to his, trying to cast her eyes toward whatever his were on. She saw nothing.
Sora stirred as if from sleep. He turned his head, accidentally bumping his face into hers.
Or was it an accident that Kairi had felt his lips move across her cheek, even for the briefest moment?
Sora stood, hesitated, and then offered his arm. "I'll take you…home."
Kairi felt a premonition run through her as his words escaped tensed lips. What if they would never come home together? She grabbed him and held on tight. Tears welled up in her eyes. She breathed his name more than once.
What if…what if he would leave her behind?
"Kairi…" His voice was choked. "Don't worry…"
There was nothing more to say.
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