Most know the beginning of the tale of Kingdom Hearts. In it, it had classic elements of the perfect story: a hero, comical, yet loyal sidekicks, villians, and the best friend who became one of the deadliest rivals, yet eventually helped the hero at the end. And there is, of course, the loyal, lovely, fair-hearted maiden that the hero manages to rescue. Weak physically, but strong in will, she is a 'princess of heart.'

The tale of Kingdom Hearts is a wonderful tale, where the greater good, friendship, loyalty, and love triumph over evil. Even as we await the next chronicle in the hero's tale, we know that he is out there, doing everything he can to defeat evil and find his lost friend, so that the two may return to his fair maiden.

As for the fair maiden, she awaits the day that her two friends returns, and thus... has to wait.

She must be a very patient princess.

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Lucky Stars

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Kairi was used to waking up now without screaming from nightmares or crying for her friends. They were gone. Not forever, of course. They were just gone for now.

Before, she would cry in self-pity as she awaited Sora and Riku to return to the Destiny Islands. Several of the islanders told her that they were gone forever, that they couldn't return. But she knew that one day they would.

Everyday, she woke up, ready to go through the day like nothing happened, yet still honoring the precious memories of her two best friends by making sure she wasn't too casual. She had continued going to school, walking with Selphie now instead of the two boys. She remembered how much they hated school. Sora would sleep through the classes, asking her to take notes for him while Riku managed to skip some of the classes anyway. It was hilarious seeing the two get into so much trouble. And they absolutely hated their uniforms.

Nowadays, she didn't pay as much attention as before, but still managed to keep her grades up. During her freetime, when Selphie wasn't around for that girl could talk for hours, the redhead glanced out the window at the distant islands. It seemed like an eternity since the last time she saw Sora's face whenever he got caught sleeping in class and she would chuckle to herself at the thought.

During lunch, she sat under the giant oak tree in the courtyard where the trio used to eat their lunches and eat by herself in silence, thinking of past conversations and arguements. She packed their favorite lunches in her lunchbox everyday and as she ate each part, she remembered the boy's reactions to the food.

"This is really good! Did you ever think of being a chef, Kairi? Yup! I need this after a day of studying!"

"Tastes great. Hey, have you two tried this? It's pretty good."

Sora was the enthusiatic one while Riku was the collected one. She'd give anything just to hear them say those words again.

After school, she would go home, back to the mayor's house, and dress herself in regular clothing, occasionally glancing in the mirror. The boys would be surprised to see how much she grew. And at the length of her hair too. It had gotten a little darker as well.

By the afternoon, she would be on the children's playground on the island with the Paopu tree on it, the last to get there. Tidus and Wakka would be sparring as Selphie greeted her eagerly. The other kids had recovered more quickly, as they didn't remember anything after the incident. Tidus and Wakka even joked around about not having to have their asses handed back to them by Sora and Riku. Multiple times.

Kairi and Selphie would then look around the island for their own amusement, even though there was never anything new. Sometimes, Kairi even went to stand on the raft that she and her dear friends had made just to remember their last days together. The last few days of peace. She wondered if Riku would still want to use it to see other worlds, now that they had the experience with it all. Probably in a few years he might.

Sometimes, she would even visit the secret place, tapping the mysterious door lightly and observing their drawings. She never noticed before, but they had managed to draw pictures of things from other worlds. Sora's duck friend, Donald was sketched on the walls for instance. She remembered being told about a type of giant chicken by the adults at Traverse Town. Some nights, she even dreamt about riding on a yellow Chocobo as a young child. The image in her dream matched a drawing of a chicken in that cave. She swore on it.

There was one picture she never noticed before at the very topmost corner of the cave. It was of a spiky haired hero defending a shorted hair girl from a monster. It was cute, but slightly offending once you thought about it deeply. Boys. And apparently, someone found the picture before she did and added a longer haired boy over the spiky haired one, also fighting the monster. What a rivalry.

The one picture that she looked at the most was the one she and Sora drew ages ago. It was funny how she could still remember the moment, yet was starting to forget the boys' appearences. And of course, the added part with the two sharing a paopu fruit. Her drawing skills had improved drastically, if she must say so herself.

She had started drawing pictures of a faceless Sora fighting the Heartless, and Riku, who was also faceless, glowing, just like when he tried to aid her, Donald, and Goofy. It hurt to not be able add their faces on. Not being able to see their smiles or determination.

At sunset, when everyone else left, she remained on the pier, where she and Sora had their last conversation on the island. It was bittersweet. He was right though. She had changed.

During the hour that she remained, she pulled out thin strips of paper and worked on folding them neatly. After they formed a pentagon, she poked her nail into the sides of the flat object so that she would have made a paper star. They were called lucky stars, giving luck to the person who made them. As her last few minutes came, she counted the number of stars.

There were always six red stars, five yellow stars, and five lavendar stars.

She would pull out five tiny jars from her bag that she had collected over the day. In each, she would put one star of each group. She would put the purple one in first, blowing on it for good luck. Then a yellow one, which she would examine in the fading light, would be dropped in carefully. Finally, a red star would be placed in the bottle. Right before it was dropped, she kissed it lightly.

She repeated her actions five times. After every bottle had three stars in it, she walked down the pier and to the shore, where she threw two of the bottles into the water. She would watch quietly as the waves carried them away to distant lands that she didn't know about. That was the plan.

Then she would approach the other side of the island and stand on their raft and throw two more bottles in that direction. The waves carried them away as well. She would squint at horizon and try to see if anything was out there.

There was always nothing. But she accepted that.

Finally, she would take the last bottle, which always contained a note, and walk back to the tiny island, where the paopu tree was planted. From there, she would throw it as far as she could in the ocean. It always got the furthest.

After her business was done, she would carry the remaining red star carefully in her pocket and return to her boat. As rowed back to the main island, she would occasionally notice the glint of one of the bottles and smiled. there must have been hundreds traveling right now. There had to be a possiblity of one of them reaching either Riku or Sora.

By the time she reached her house, it was dark. She would walk in and eat dinner with the mayor and his wife, who knew not to ask of her activities. They were used to it by now. After dinner, she would rush to her room and finish any homework she had, as well as get ready for bed.

Before she went ot sleep, she would kiss the last red star and drop it into a large, star shaped star. Every star in that jar had the same wish on it.

"Bring him back to me. "

Somehow, she knew that one day... her wish would come true.

owari.

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my second oneshot... still feels like my first... i wrote this in... two hours? that's good. and over 1000 words too! i'm so proud... sorry if it seems a bit rushed.. the idea just came to me while i was folding my own paper stars... they're cute. of course, this has slight SxK... and i loved that little intro at the beginning.. is this a short oneshot tho? ... :shruggs: be a nice person and review. thank you!

anime-azn-angel