A/n: well I would have gotten this up sooner, but I rented Final Fantasy X, a great game! I completely forgot about this and I spent almost all my time playing it! Sorry guys! As usual, notes to those who reviewed are at the bottom!! Otherwise, see what you think of this…It's a bit longer than the last update I think…maybe not, oh well, on with the story!

            Riku put a hand over the one I held to the stinging cut; his fingers grazing over my cheek. I gazed into the depths of my friends eyes thoughtfully, still rather confused as to what was going on.

            "But you can't get hurt in dreams, Riku." I voiced my previous thoughts.

            "I couldn't stop you," he whispered to me as if he hadn't heard what I'd said, almost as if he were in a trance. What's going on! Riku…what are you talking about? "I tried to take the knife from you, but you had a death grip on it…When I was wrestling it," he indicated the gleaming steel in the moonlight with a nod of his head, "away from you, it scratched your face." He dropped his hand from mine and averted his gaze to the floor. I don't understand.  Riku was so…serious and almost…he sounded like he'd lost a fight or something.

            "I don't understand." I stated bluntly. "What are you talking about, what's going on? First I was killing a possessed three headed dog, and now I'm laying here beneath you and you're saying I was playing with a knife? Ugh, it doesn't—I don't get it!" I shook my head trying to clear it or make sense out of everything.

            "You were dreaming, Sora, don't worry about it." He smirked standing up and ruffling my hair. "I wouldn't want your head to burst because you tried to figure this out."

            He climbed into bed and I followed, drifting of to sleep.

            I yawned waking up and rubbed my eyes, trying to see out into the room with the bright shinning sun smiling into the room. I yawned again, slinging my arm over to Riku's side of the bed absentmindedly. Instead of hitting another body, my arm smacked the mattress and rumpled sheets. I snapped my eyes open.

            "Riku?" I don't know why I was so worried—err surprised I mean…yeah. Riku always was an early riser, and he wasn't ever one to stay in bed long…

            With yet another yawn, that may have had a sigh mixed in, I rolled out of bed, slipped into my suit of red and pulled on my jacket. I trudged across the hall, hoping to find Kairi. So what happened last night, it was all a dream? But it seemed so…real…Was it all a coincidence? How did I get a knife anyway? I don't carry one around…did I sleepwalk? This doesn't make sense! I shook my head to clear it again and knocked then opened Kairi's door.

            "Hey Kairi…" I looked into the empty room a little disheartened. Where did she go?

            I wandered the endless hallways of the castle inattentively letting my feet take me where they would till I approached the door to the palace. With a bit of difficulty, I heaved the door open and was greeted by a warm breeze. I could see Kairi and Riku competing with a few other creatures in a volleyball match a little way off. I grinned; looks like Riku could be a one man team…well better go cheer them on, not like I have anything better to do.

            I seated myself on a blanket next to Princess Daisy who was watching her husband play against my friends clapping when either team scored a point… I don't think she really understood the game.

            When the group took a break I walked up to Kairi who was drinking from her water bottle. "Hey, great job out there." I smiled at her and her already happy face lit up.

            "Thanks!" her smile faded to a frown, "but Riku's such a ball hog." She gave an imitation of my pout and I laughed.  She's cute when she pouts…

            A whistle cut through the air signaling the break was over and Kairi jogged back over into the sand of the field.

            Politely I returned to my seat, but my thoughts were elsewhere and the game was lost to me. Was last night just a dream? How did I get that knife, anyway? But it was so real. I decided it was just a dream…there was no other explanation for it. I sighed, things just didn't make sense anymore.

            The game was won with a final score of 21 to 7 in Riku and Kairi's favor. We celebrated the victory over ice cream sundaes provided by the brilliant cooks in the castle.

            "So Riku." I said falling onto the bed and gazing through the window. "When are we gonna leave here? Or….are we leaving?"

            "I haven't really thought about it. I guess we'll know if the time comes."

            I nodded, though I don't think he saw me because when I sat up he was facing the wall, pulling the yellow top off.

            I returned my gaze to the starlit sky. It was nice…being with my friends on this new island. Who'd have thought we'd actually find something this extravagant? I guess Riku did.

            With these thoughts and a smile I settled beneath the covers of the bed for another night's sleep. I had finally accepted the fact that Riku would be with me during the night and there was nothing I could do change that…especially after last nights incident with that knife.

             I shook my head to clear it and closed my eyes willing sleep to come quickly. Riku slipped neatly into bed next to me and his breathing was light and steady, lulling me into sleep.

            I looked around at the ruins I stood in the middle of. Where am I? I walked around till I found an exit out of the crumpled city and into a dense jungle. Birds sang and bees buzzed through the air in search of pollen.

            I continued walking figuring I'd get out of this place eventually right? as long as I keep moving… The scenery was beautiful, plants I had never seen before flourished here and fruits of all types and shapes grew abundantly.

            I closed my eyes inhaling the new aroma the jungle gave off.

Ooph!

I opened my eyes slowly and looked up into the eyes of a grey furry animal.

I yelped and tried to back up to run the other direction only to come face to face with an overly large black cat.

            I reached behind me instinctively for my wooden sword only to have the one that I had chosen the other night appear in my hands.  I smirked. This was going to be no problem.

            "Hey, hey hold on there little britches. There ain't no need to get all violent."

            I blinked, still holding the sword up in defense. "Oh knock it off, Baloo." The black cat shook his head.

            "Where am I?" I demanded.

            "Well, the jungle of course." Laughed the gray bear I had run into.

            "The Jungle?" I repeated…but I was with Riku…I must be dreaming…but you don't think you're dreaming in dreams…so does that mean this is real?

            "That's right, kid" Baloo grinned. "The jungle. The good old jungle."

            "Right…" I lowered my sword. They didn't seem to be the type that would hurt me, and oddly enough, I thought I could trust them. "Alright then," I beamed "where to?"

            Before I knew what was happening, the bear had lifted me up so that I was riding on his shoulders as we took of into the heart of the jungle. I wonder where we're going?

            I closed my eyes letting the wind play in my hair. I didn't have any concept of where I was going anyway, so what did it matter if I had my eyes open or not?

            The song of the jungle seemed to fill my ears, the whisper in the wind singing in accordance to the humming of the bees…or maybe it was the other way around? But then I heard another voice singing…

        "Wherever I wander, wherever I roam, I couldn't be fonder of my big home!
The bees are buzzin' in the tree to make some honey just for me. When you look under the rocks and plants and take a glance at the fancy ants then maybe try a few? The bare necessities of life will come to you!"
               "They'll come to me!" I said, surprising the bear and his feline friend.
               Baloo chuckled and said "That's right, they'll come to you. Hey, kid, what's your name?"
               "Sora"
               "Well, I'm Baloo and this here" he motioned to the black cat, "is Baggy."
               "Baggy?"
               "Bagheera" he muttered and kept walking. "Did you come from the man village, mancub?"
               "Uhh, I guess you could say that, I came from Destiny Islands."
               The cat seemed to repeat the name over and over in his head as we walked along. "Come on, Baloo, let's get him to the man village before you get to attached to him."
               The bear let out another chuckle. "Hehehe, you're a little late Baggy—"
               He was cut off as an orange and black striped cat pounced out of the bushes and the entire jungle seemed to fall silent. 
               The striped cat laughed maliciously as he walked in a circle around us, eyeing me constantly. "So a mancub has come to play in the jungle?" he scoffed. I slid off Baloo's shoulders and held my gleaming sword ready.
               "Come on, I dare you." I challenged as the cat moved in a circle around me and I followed it by turning in a circle.
               The animal laughed again as he continued to circle me. Sword in hand, I got into a defensive stance. All those fights and training sessions with Riku are about to pay off.

            Without warning, the tiger lunged at me, claws extended ready for its next meal. I brought my sword down on its paw slicing through the flesh, but as I did so, the cat made a move I never expected, it flipped the sword so that it was just beyond my grasp. The striped animal landed on top of me, his right paw's claws biting down into my shoulder.

            His left paw, the one I had dug my sword into momentarily, didn't touch me, but blood from it leaked out onto my chest. I gasped as the claws dove deeper into my shoulder.  Pain soared through my body, giving me the realization there was no way this wasn't real.

            I tried to reach out to my sword, but it was just beyond my fingertips. Baloo and Bagheera came to the rescue though as the black cat launched itself at him attacker and Baloo came over and returned my sword to me.

            Bagheera wasn't fairing very well in the fight and I came to his aid. I plunged my sword down on the tip of his tail. The force that the blow carried elicited a scream from the animal and the impact traveled up the blade and into my hands.  It felt like fire had been unleashed on them, and I spoke my thoughts aloud.

            "Fire," I gasped as the pain screamed in my hands. And as if by magic, a flame appeared on the tail of the cat my blade was still imbedded in. I stared at it wide eyed and removed my weapon, but the flame stayed on the animal. With a screech from the orange and black cat it galloped off howling as it went.

            Bagheera and Baloo stared at me. "How'd you do that?"

            "I-I don't know…"

            They turned to look at where the cat had disappeared back into the jungle.

            "Sora!" I was roughly smashed into the ground on my stomach, hands twisted behind me. What--?

A/n: So what do you think? I'm so sorry, Sora is really out of character and well, maybe some of the others too…well, tell me what you think!!!

RIA: like cliffhangers, eh? Well that's sorta a cliffhanger ~.^ hmm the update wasn't that quick, but forgive me please!!!

Silver Angel: well, it's not yaoi now…and at the moment doesn't seem that it will be that way...though it is your decision if you want to read it like it is. What I mean by that is with the interaction between Riku and Sora, sometimes it can be read as yaoi, you know what I mean?

Phantazy: Well at least your computer works now! A dream or not a dream, we'll find out eventually ~.^ and Sora gets the cool sword thing 'cause you're not in the story ~.^ *hands one to Phantazy* you can have your own now though! ^.^

Angel Bliss: Well you'll have to tell me about the quality of this part! I never did get around to the Valentines day thing…I sort of wrote a little ficlet, but decided it wasn't very good and didn't post it… Umm as for keeping the characters in character, I don't know how well I did with that this time, so…tell me, ok? ~.^

Duel Keyblade Master: Hmm yes, unique…thanks! You seem to know about the characters being in character too, so tell me what you think of it this time..

Lily: lol well, for a yaoi fan like you, I'll try to keep putting it so it can be seen either way easily…^.^

Maxine:  Thanks, yeah, walking around with a knife is a little freaky, well, no one's been hurt with it, well, as far as we know ~.^ muhaha Tell me what you think of this chapter!