A YEAR

ding

A bell of a small local shop rang as a nineteen-year-old girl walked in. She wore short denim shorts, a green tube top with a khaki sleeveless vest and she wore flat-heeled velvet brown boots. She had a belt hanging off her waist as it jingled slightly with its contents. Her hair was of ebony black and it was put up in a high ponytail. She wore a headband to top it off. Her eyes looked cold and longing for something, though it had some sparkle in them as if filled with some hope. Though she looked tired, as if she had been searching for days and had yet to have a peaceful nights sleep.

"Hello, is anyone there?" The girl called out in the tiny shop. It was filled with posters and shelves of potions and other chemical formulas used in battle. It was an item shop obviously. She heard a muffled sound in the room behind the counter. Out emerged a man, an old man with a long white beard and glasses and a cane.

"Yes, how may I help you" He said

"Oh um I was wondering if you have a map of this place or anything?"

"Yes...yes I do in fact. Just wait here and I'll get one for you," He returned to the room behind the counter to retrieve a map.

He came back out with a roll of parchment. He handed it to her and rung it up on the cash register. "That'll be 5 munnie please". She paid the man and walked out holding the map open in front of her. It was a map of Destiny Islands.

She moved her finger on the map to find where she was, occasionally looking up to see a sign of some sort indicating evidence of the location of her position. 'A ha I'm at the main street of Destiny Village. I need to find a hotel which is in Twilight Town so I'll have to....' "Lost?" She looked up to see who could have spoken. The figure standing before her had red hair up to her shoulders she had a blue and white tartan skirt and a white top and white sneakers. She had violet eyes and she looked to be 15.

"....Kairi???" she asked.

"...How'd you- Yuffie?? Is that you?? Oh my God. I haven't seen you in a year at least. Oh my God what are you doing here? You have changed!" She said as she came and hugged Yuffie tightly. She let go and walked away a bit.

"Long story. And yes I sorta am lost do you know where the hotel is?"

"Forget the hotel. You can stay at my place"

"Really. Oh Thanks heaps"

"No prob. Follow me" She began to lead the way back to her house as Yuffie followed. As she walked past Yuffie saw cozy 2 story and 1 story wooden houses with palm trees out the front. Further out she could see the ocean and a small island with what looked like a couple of huts on it.

They stopped at a 2-story house near the shore of a beach and a dock with a couple of boats tied to it. The house was pretty big and it had beautiful flowers and trees in the garden.

"Here we are. This is my house, come in and tell me everything," Kairi had said as she opened the door to her house.

They walked up the stairs and into a corridor and then into a violet room with a big bed and vanity desk and other bedroom accessories. Kairi sat down on the bed and Yuffie followed suit.

"So tell me what brings you here"

"Well.. I'll start from the very beginning. A year ago, we heard that the barriers had fallen. Squall decided that he wanted to travel and find some answers to his questions and find his love. On the day that he left I ... sorta ... called him ... an asshole and I regretted it later. I didn't know it at that very moment but I think I had feelings for him... Ya know" Yuffie stopped there remembering the day he left. Kairi watched her expectedly waiting for her to go on.

"Well, after he left I started to miss him ... A LOT. I didn't know how important he was to me, he wasn't just my fighting partner he was my friend a very close friend. Despite the conversations we would have. In fact I wouldn't call them conversation more like playful arguments. Well anyway after he left I couldn't stand it anymore without someone as close as he was in my life. Squall had left to find his love, Rinoa. On which I think I was and still am jealous of. So I decided to leave on my own journey to find someone that I will proberly fall for. I travelled many worlds including Halloween Town, Neverland, Traverse town again and Deep Jungle. There was no one there that I felt close to as much as Squall. But I made a lot of friends. I decided to just find Squall and hope that he wasn't with Rinoa. Which I know is selfish of me but I just can't help it. I think I love him Kairi" Right then Yuffie started to cry for the first time in months. Kairi hugged her as she lay freely in her lap.

"Shh Yuffie. It's all right. I think its great that you're looking for someone that you love. Even though it may seem hopeless, its good to keep up your will ... no matter what" Yuffie looked up to see that Kairi had a far off emotion in her eyes. She must have been thinking of Sora.

After crying, Yuffie asked Kairi what had happened "So what's been happening with your life lately. Where's ... Sora" Yuffie was afraid to ask. Yuffie didn't know what happened to him after the closing of the door of darkness. Yuffie figured that he went back home but since the barriers have fallen again, she didn't think he would have rested until he solved this problem.

"Oh, you know everything ... is ... fine. Peaceful. ...Too peaceful" she muttered that last part under her breath. Something was wrong and Yuffie knew what it was but just had to ask.

"What's wrong Kairi? You seem I dunno, distant"

"Oh its just. sigh. After Sora closed that door and the worlds were returning, I met up with Sora, he told me that he will always be with me, that he'll come back and he promised. After that, we were separated I dunno what he said after that but I just felt soo, I dunno alone. I know that he's always with me but I just can't help but feel that one part of me is missing. It also doesn't help that Riku is gone too. A whole year and they still didn't return. I miss them so much" Kairi started to cry as Yuffie just listened and had her cry her heart out in her lap.

After a few hours Kairi wept herself asleep. Yuffie tried ever so gently to put the girl in bed and to sleep comfortably. Kairi stirred for a moment but then went back to her dreams. Yuffie looked down at her and then walked out of the room and into the kitchen to fix herself something to eat seeing as she hadn't eaten all day. She took out a yogurt tub and looked for a spoon to eat it with. After going through many drawers she found a spoon and went into the living room and turned on the news channel, World's news.

"More reports of deaths today as the heartless grow more intense to take hearts. Rumors have it that the keybearer from a year ago has been seen as with many other mysterious characters have too. Wearing black cloaks and walking the streets, one was seen with a similar weapon as the keyblade.

Lately there have been organisations in helping the people of many worlds in protecting them from the treacherous beings, the Heartless who have returned more powerful. People have reported in hearing slashing, gunshots, fighting, whipping or sounds of arrows or boomerangs in the streets after screams of civilians being victimised by the heartless. People have sent in letters describing these heroes. One, who is the leader, is a tall man holding a sword but also has what appears to be a-" BANG

Before Yuffie could hear the rest of the description of the leader, a flash of lightning had interrupted sending the whole neighbourhood in darkness. She went to look out the window, it was pouring with heavy rain with slight lighting and thunder. Yuffie looked over to the city side of the island. It seemed to be unaffected by the blackout as the buildings still had they're windows lit up.

She moved back onto the couch ' nothing to do if its dark as in here. Might as well get some rest' she thought and yawning and stretching before falling asleep.

Meanwhile in the bright pouring city of Twighlight Town

Footsteps............

Dripping............

Thunder............

FLASH

In the city of Twighlight town, footsteps were heard through the streets along with the few drops of water and the puddles rippling in rhythm of the drips. A tall-cloaked man walked through the streets.

Meanwhile on the roof of a building holding a billboard of a young girl with auburn hair, stood another cloaked man, though with his hood down he instead had a black blindfold. He looked down at the man in the streets. Suddenly, familiar noises were heard as there, surrounding the man in the streets, he takes out his weapons. Two, both looking similar to those that the Keybearer uses. He looks at his opponents, the heartless.

On the roof, the mysterious stranger smirks as he pulls of his blindfold. A flash of light erupts and the hooded man on the ground summons a pink flame to surround him in the shape of a heart before the heartless, as he fights them off one by one while the man on the roof, covered by darkness watches. After the hooded stranger finishes the last heartless he says... "Where's Sora?"

A/n: I know. Not entirely the romance chappie but its getting there. And thanks for the review guys they mean a lot to me THANKU. And RnR. Sorry if its not all that up to scratch but I have writers block at the moment so it's a bit hard. And I'm sry for its serious lateness.