Me: sniffs: Okay, I feel really sad now because the theme song for Kingdom hearts 2, is really depressing. Well, the second version is. It's called "passion After The battle" It's like someone died, but is sad yet pretty. Which is likely.

Well, I'll shake the depression and move on. This is a somewhat happy chapter and it will be nothing but happiness till the end. I have one more chapter to post, and then I'm done. Right in time for Christmas and for your enjoyment. This is so much fun to type. Lol.

Plus, KINGDOM HEARTS 2 IS OUT IN JAPAN! LUCKY DUCKS!

NOW READ!

Ch: 7 "Gift?"

The sun had snuck up upon Disney Castle, hidden behind it's veil of puffy snow clouds floating lazily together as if sleeping from their night of snow filled wonder. The clock in the main hall four floors down struck eleven 'o'clock, drifting up into Sora's room and ringing in the sleeping brunet's ears. With a small groan he turned over, clutching at the blanket wrapped around his body shivering. Sunlight spilt across the bed from the glass doors leading out to the snow covered balcony, and across Sora's closed eyelids. He winced, bringing a hand to brush his bangs out of his eyes before opening them. His whole body felt like a wet noodle.

"Nnnn…" he moaned before turning onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. Multi-colored lights danced across the white surface from the icicles melting outside his room on the window-sill. His head ached something fierce.

"What the hell happened to me?" he croaked, breaking into a fit of coughs. His throat felt crusted and dry with a slightly sick taste sticking to his tongue.

"Here, drink this…."

Sora blinked, memories suddenly beginning to sinking into his conscious thoughts. Everything that had happened yesterday was a blur.

"I remember walking out of my room…" he muttered. "And then that sna-"

And then it hit him.

For once, he regretted having a good memory as everything came whirling back at him in order making him fall off the bed with a hiss of annoyance. The pain he had felt, the depression, the hurt, the hopelessness, him stealing the angel, the pain in his friends eyes as they looked at him and the hatred he had felt. And most of all, Kairi's hurt expression as she sat on the edge of his bed last night.

"Just wondering if I've been naughty this year."

Tears slowly began to sting the corners of Sora's eyes, something that he had grown used to when left to himself. Everything was now ruined because of him! Everything would turn out being just like last year.

'Don't think that!' he told himself seriously. 'You can still change things around, just act like your normal self…show them you're not some morally depressed teenager.'

"But Kairi…" his words faltered slightly, reviewing his memories of late last night and reaching the point when he had fallen asleep. His eyes widened in terror. "…stayed with me last night, crap!" He stumbled to his feet and looked at the covers of the bed in horror.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God, PLEASE say I didn't do anything bad! I wasn't myself!" His voice dripping with panic as he looked around for any articles of clothing which would be the painstaking proof of his assumptions. It wasn't until he searched under the bed and noticed that the covers on the mattress had been half made and the pillows set in proper order that nothing had happened. Kairi must of straightened up as much of the bed and the room as she could while he was sleeping.

He gave a sigh of relief. "Well, then, where is she?"

The sound of rattling glass reached his ears, vibrating through the walls of his room from the residence next store. The snow, which was melting steadily outside above his window, gave way and fell out of sight to the courtyard below. A loud yell of surprise came drifting through the glass door leading out to the balcony looking over the courtyard and Sora walked over and stuck his head outside into the chilly mid-morning air to catch drift of the commotion.

Suddenly, none other then Yoshi came storming out onto the balcony of the next room, black hair in a jumbled mess and green eyes seething with fury.

"Stop throwing those damn snow balls up here!" he roared. "If I wanted to play, I would! But since some good-for-nothing maids wont do there jobs, I guess I HAVE TO!"

" Stop your blubbering, Yoshi, and get your ass down here!" a faint voice yelled from below, which sounded like Wish.

A sneer played on the teens lips in reply. "Hell no! I'm enjoying the fact that I'm going to get extra pay while your all down there beating the Hell out of each oth- AUGH!" But his words were cut short as snowballs were shot upon him from all sides, all with the driven force of a hockey puck.

Yoshi scrambled back inside with a groan and Sora had to stifle a laugh. He peered down into the courtyard below and recognized several of the bundled up figures below. Such as Fire, Wish, Donald, Goofy, Huey, Duey, Louie, Pluto, Max, and Riku. But he couldn't recognize Kairi.

Suddenly an idea struck him.

As soon as he heard Yoshi's mumbling outside in the hall he peeled open his door and carefully stepped outside, leaning against the doorframe casually with his trademark grin in place.

"Hey."

The teen stopped dead in his tracks, turning and staring at Sora as if he were a ghost. "Y-you!"

Sora had to use all his self control to keep from rolling his eyes. "Yes me. I'm better now, the nasty medicine did the trick."

'And a certain special someone, but that's nothing he needs to know,' he thought.
Yoshi's look of shock faded and was replaced by a very grim frown. "Well, all your friends are outside starting another damn snowball fight." He began to turn around. "You can go join them."

"Thanks," Sora took a step forward, "but I've got a better idea."

The teen turned back to face him with a look of puzzlement which he was trying to hide. Sora caught this making him grin all the wider.

"And what might that be?" Yoshi asked.

"Something you can find to your advantage," Sora explained. "And to mine, if I want to make a good comeback. So, you in?"

They stood in silence, the shouts and cries of the raging war below dimming in there ears as the teen considered the offer.

Yoshi crossed his arms slowly over his chest. "All right, lets hear it."

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The fresh snow from the night before had made Donald's nephews wide awake and boiling with anticipation as the sun rose at eight A.M. that morning. Their goal was to gather up as many people as possible that morning and divide them up into teams for an all out snowball war. Riku had been there first pick, unlocking his door with their Uncle Donald's key they had "barrowed" and pounced on the poor teen until he staggered out of bed with a sleepy look of annoyance.

That had been one down.

Their second victim was going to be Sora, until Riku told them to let him sleep for awhile. All three nephews whined sadly, but with one sharp look from Riku they decided it was best to move on to the others.

Not everything went as planned though.

Many of the best players were either too tired, to busy, or, in Yuffie, Leon, and Cloud's case, too drunk and suffering from a hangover to participate.

"This is one battle," Yuffie moaned from underneath her covers, "that I must pass."

"Aww…but Yuffie!"

The figure from underneath the blankets froze, and suddenly a green blur flew from beneath them and darted into the bathroom, shutting the door with a snap.

The three ran out before they could hear any effects of Yuffie's sickness.

In the end, they had gathered up members of the staff who had gotten up early to start cooking breakfast for the guests and cleaning up after the party last night. Fire and Wish had been the first to join, followed by Goofy and Donald who had forced Max to join.

The group was small, but it would do. Wish and Fire seemed to be cooking up a strategy as they were heading out to the courtyard. The teams were as followed:

Team 1: Wish, Fire, Huey, Duey, Louie.

Team 2: Riku, Max, Donald, Goofy.

They were one short, but their uncle's and Goofy's weapons gave them a bigger advantage. So they decided it was fair for the moment.

And now they all stood. Nothing but the sound of clinking pots and pans echoing out from the kitchen back door which was cracked open an inch or two to let in some air. Riku and his team were practically drooling a river as the smell of bacon, eggs, and French toast came traveling into there nostrils.

Wish's team, which was positioned on the far end in front of the back room door to the maids lounge, simply prepared their strategy with the sound of washers and dryers rumbling muffled through the closed doorway.

They glared each other down in steady silence.

Wish licked her lips with a smirk. "On my count!"

Riku and Max stood there ground behind there large barriers built of snow; giant, icy snowballs clasped in there hands.

" One…two…three, GO!"

The impact, this time, wasn't as exciting as it was the first. But that didn't mean both teams weren't serious. Snow balls flew through the air like missiles, many coming from Huey, Duey, and Louie in a type of rhythm only brothers could master. Riku was flinging ammunition with both hands in a sprint relay fashion while Donald, Goofy, and Max flung snow balls of there own whenever Riku stopped to catch his breath.

Wish and Fire sat behind the wall smirking.

Huey turned and frowned at the two. "Hey! What's the big idea?"

Duey turned away from his current shot and glared in annoyance. "You said you would pla-ACK!" he spat as his beak was filled with snow.

Riku laughed loudly from the other side.

"We need more help!" Louie called from atop the snow wall where he was being shot at from all sides.

Fire and Wish looked at each other.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Wish smiled.

Fire nodded, adjusting her scarf around her neck as if it were a tie. "Time for the reinforcements."

The three nephews looked at each other quizzically. "Reinforcements? But we don't have any reinforcements."

"Sure we do!" Wish cried happily. She reached her hand into her jacket and pulled out a small, silver whistle which hung around her neck on thin platinum chain. She put it to her lips and blew, causing a loud shrill to echo across the courtyard; waking up half the population of the castle who were still in bed.

Riku and the others stopped throwing ammo to look over at Wish with puzzled expressions. What was she doing? Calling time out?

Oh, how wrong they were.

For awhile it seemed like nothing had happened, but when a small trail of snow started forming its way over to Wish from the door behind her they knew she had done something.

They all watched in silence as she lowered her hand to the snow covered ground, lifting up a small shivering mouse clad in nothing but a red hat and vest. She placed him down gently on the top of their barrier of snow and took a step back.

"Go ahead Gus, call them out," Fire smirked.

Max raised an eyebrow. "Who's 'them'?"

Turning to Fire and giving her a small thumbs up sign, Gus turned back to the opposite side of the field and drew in a deep breath.

"ON MY COUNT MEN!" he squeaked.

The door to the maids lounge flew open with a slam.

"THREE, TWO, ONE, CCCCHHAARRGGEEE!"

Riku and the others aloud themselves only a small glimpse of the horror that swiftly, and steadily began to emerge from the depths of the doorway on the other end of the court. The millions of wooden hands and straw bristles were enough to send chills down a man's spine.

" I-it's…" Riku's eyes widened in horror. "IT'S AN ARMY OF BROOMS!"

Donald pulled down the disturbed teen as snowballs began whistling like bullets in their direction from all sides. Fire and Wish's laughs of triumph reached there's ears and anger burned deep within there defeated souls. They were completely out numbered.

But Max wasn't about to give up.

"I'm going to take a shot at them," he growled, packing a snowball in his hand.

"Don't do it Max! You're the only son I have!" Goofy cried, pulling him down by his ears. "I don't want to lose my one and only son to a bunch of broomsticks. Shucks, that's just too terrible!"

Max frowned at his father. "I'll be fine Dad, It's just one shot," he assured. Carefully he raised his head above the protection of the barrier and what he saw made his ears stick out in horror.

The whole entire length of the courtyard was gated off by a line of brooms. All packing snowballs into there wooden hands and turning toward Max from all sides.

The dog dropped his snowball. "Um, Merry Christmas?…Heh."

But his plea was useless as millions of snowballs plummeted toward him and his vision was blurred as he fell back onto the snow with snowballs covering his eye sockets giving him a very comical look.

Goofy let out a cry of despair and Donald looked at Riku worriedly and for the first time in awhile, Riku was fresh out of ideas.

They were in a real jam.

And then the kitchen door flew open.

Heads turned, snowballs ceased there flight, and broomsticks froze in there act of war to stare at the figure who had intruded upon there territory.

Yoshi smirked, leaning against the door frame casually. "Nice job Wish, never knew you had such good war tactics."

The red heads eyes flared.

"But it's a little bit one-sided don't you think?" He stared down at Riku and the others, giving a small wink.

Donald and Goofy glanced at each other.

"No reply? Okay, then lets make it even." Removing a black glove from his right hand, he stuck two fingers in his mouth and let out a long, high whistle. Black and white blurs began sliding out into the snow, lining up horizontally across the whole courtyard mirroring the formation of the brooms.

Wish stuttered as she looked open and down wide eyed at Yoshi's troops. "P-penguins?"
The raven haired teen nodded. " Breakfast doesn't start till 10:30. Thought I'd use them to my advantage for the time being. They seemed up to it, right guys?"

All the penguins nodded in unison, packing snowballs into there flippers and taking aim. Wish, growling from the other side, wrenched herself from Fire's grip and taking her spot in front of the line of brooms with Gus holding on to the top of her hat. Yoshi did the same, staring the girl down with the look of a general crazy for war.

"This is gonna be good," Louie whispered to Huey.

"CCHHHAARRRGGGEEE!"

The air was suddenly filled with balls of snow, colliding with each other and bursting into sprays of white. Brooms fell with a crack to the ground while penguins were slammed against the wall from the impact, struggling dizzily to there feet before falling back down again.

The commotion woke up the remainder of the castle and people were seen peaking out of there windows curiously. Yuffie's face was one of these, an elixir in her left hand and a pair of earmuffs in her other, dangling from her wrist as she organized her clothing. But she quickly forgot about this as the site below met her wide, brown eyes.

Quickly she chugged the elixir, throwing on her earmuffs and winter coat and boots. It was only seconds before the ninja arrived downstairs with a very woozy looking Cloud and Leon behind her.

"Come on guys, lets go!" she cried, packing a snowball in her hand and running into the large mob. They fallowed despite there pounding headaches, feeling the rush of battle coming to them once again. Oh, how they missed that feeling.

Within 10 minutes, 85 percent of the castles staff and guests were out in the courtyard having the time of there lives. The cook and several others stayed inside preparing breakfast that would be highly appreciated after the war was over. But at the moment it looked as if it would never end.

Riku had regained his tactful fighting spirit and was recruiting teams and fallen counterparts from all sides. It wasn't until Yoshi shouted him an order, that he stopped.
"Go try and sneak up on Wish!" he shouted over the din. "If you can capture her, we've got this game in the bag."

The teen liked the sound of this, and he saluted in acknowledgment. Carefully, and with stealth, he zigzagged throughout the battle field littered with bodies and many still in combat. He could just make out Wish's red hair from out in front of the barrier of snow. She was an easy target from where he was standing and a quick snow ball to the head would send her to the ground. Then he could move in.

Liking the strategy, he packed a ball of snow into his hand snickering under his breath at the thought of nailing the leader of the apposing team with one clear shot. But his hopes were shattered when a cry of "HEADS UP!" rang from all around him.

With a shattering spark of pain Riku felt cold, wet snow collide with his nose, leaking into his eyes and into his mouth where it's bitter taste hung onto his taste buds and numbed his tongue. But what really shocked him was the body that collided with his own from above, as if the person had fallen from the sky. He fell to the ground, trying desperately to throw the mystery person off of him while trying to avoid getting himself soaked to the bone from the wet snow. But the person wouldn't give and within seconds he found himself laying on his stomach with his legs trapped beneath his attackers and his head in a very tight head lock.

"Let go of me!" he choked. "What the fuck's your problem?"

A small laugh met his ears in reply, a laugh he recognized yet hadn't heard in some time.
His heart leaped.

"Say Uncle!" Sora ordered grinning mischievously from ear to ear.

The teen growled, eyes blazing. "Sora!"

" Not my name, you moron, I said UNCLE!"

By now, those who were still standing across the battlefield had wandered over to see what all the commotion was about. Yoshi was dragging a very sour and beaten looking Wish by the back of her jacket, smiling happily and with pride. If Riku hadn't been turning blue from lack of air, he would of laughed.

Sora pouted. "Pu-lease Riku? If you died I would be lonesome. Even if I did inherit all your nifty weapons and clothing and-"

"All right already, UNCLE!" he gasped. "Now let go."

"Woot!" Sora released his friend and fell back into the snow laughing uncontrollably. Max, Donald, and Goofy watched with mouths wide open with shock at the change in the brunette over the night. Looking around at the crowd, everyone was thinking the same thing they were.

Who had worked this miracle?

It took Riku several minutes to catch his breath, brushing the snow out of his hair and eyes. With a growl, he grabbed Sora by the neck of his coat and picked him up off the ground, raising him to his eye level (which wasn't that far up off the ground, since Riku was only about an inch taller then his friend).

Sora shut up and blinked at his friend.

"You even THINK about sticking out that lower lip," Riku hissed, "I'll stick two candy canes up each one of your nostrils and tie your hands back with liquorices so you wont be able to get them out."

"I'd still be able to talk though," Sora reminded him, smirking playfully.

"All right then, we'd paste taffy over your mouth. Does that sound good to you?"

Sora considered this for a moment, getting a nice mental picture of himself in his head. It wasn't until both of them had collapsed back onto the ground laughing that they realized they had been picturing the same thing.

"Okay people, here's the deal," Fire shouted, motioning toward the lobby doors. "All of you can go clean up in your rooms if you want before breakfast, or stay out here. Your choice. Breakfast is going to be running a little late due to the…decreasing in waiters," she added looking around at the fallen penguins and brooms that were being dragged inside by several volunteers of the staff.

Several people began to head inside, desperate to get into some dry, warm clothes along with the staff (except for Fire and Wish who were having fun watching Sora and Riku).
The other quarter of the population of the castle chose to stay outside.

"Well that was fun," Sora sighed laying back in the snow and looking up at the partly cloudy sky. The sun was peaking through here and there at times, checking in on what was happening below. Riku plopped down next to Sora, ripping off his hat and tugging on a few wet strands of his silver hair.

"Great…" Riku mumbled. "I'm going to smell like wet snow all day."

"You and half the castle," Sora reminded him.

The teen held out his hat and wrung it between his hands, watching the water disappear into the snow. He glanced at Sora, looking him over carefully. It was almost as if last night never even happened. As if it was one big nightmare that turned into a dream before he woke up.

He knew it was more then just that red liquid that Mickey had given Kairi that must of healed him. He knew it was Kairi herself that did most of the healing. Something that was triggered by her love for him. Something only she could of done. A gift. A power of some sort.

Or maybe it was just something girls excelled in.

"Hey Riku."

The teen glanced down at his lazy friend. "What?"

"Where's Kairi?" he asked frowning. "She um, wasn't there when I woke up."

A smirk plastered itself on Riku's lips and Sora's eyes narrowed. "Don't even go there Riku, nothing happened," he warned.

"Sure, Sora. Whatever you say," he lied.

The brunet pushed down his rage to strangle his best friend, and concentrated on the question. "Well? Where is she?"

"Christmas shopping," the teen told him, hopping to his feet. "She left early this mor-" he stopped, looking down at the brunet who had suddenly gone rigid. "What's wrong?"

Sora didn't reply. His voice had gotten caught somewhere between his Adams apple and the middle of his chest. His whole body was completely numb yet he could feel cold shivers running up and down his spine as the wind around him picked up and the sun was covered by a layer of dark, gray clouds.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Sora?"

"Riku," he squeaked. " I-I haven't bought Kairi anything for Christmas yet."

Riku couldn't stop the "What?" from popping out of his mouth in time and it sent Sora scrambling to his feet and through the double doors into the lobby, leaving a very confused Wish and Fire to stare at Riku who was kicking the snow covered ground with his boot in frustration.

"Damn it! I blew it…" Riku growled. He knew it wasn't really his fault, but he felt like he needed to take the blame for once this time.

But how was he supposed to have known Sora hadn't got Kairi a gift yet? He had gone shopping the week before they had came. Why hadn't he of bought one then?

"Hey Riku!"

The teen looked up to find Wish and Fire glaring him down with flames of fury in there eyes and shovels in each hand. "What's going on?"

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No one had gone looking for Sora this time and he was thankful for that. He had to be alone for a little while and plan. But the place he had chosen to think and rest his head was a bit out of the ordinary, but it called to him.

He had ran all the way up to the middle of the stairwell where the light from the lobby below still reached; stretching its warmth to its limits to reach the brunet perched on the large part of the railing where the staircase stuck out in a large carpeted square where people could look down at the floor below and stop to catch there breath. Sora's head was resting right where the railing began to incline and swirl down to the tile floor several feet below, so he felt as if he were going downhill. Despite the fact all the blood was rushing to his head he kept still trying to figure out what had happened. He had gone shopping the week before he came to Disney Castle and bought everyone's gifts. But he had wanted Kairi's to be extra special.

Money was scarce for teenagers at that particular time of the year. The local mall had been shut down and was being remodeled so work was just about out of the question. The closing had effected many of the adults to, and since they were older they had had first dibs in the job department.

But Sora had been smart. He had saved up his money and got far with it. But even after searching all the local shops and super stores he couldn't find anything that was suitable for Kairi. She never really liked jewelry, she had clothes, make-up, everything but candy and Sora wasn't about to go out and buy his girlfriend a box of chocolates for such a special holiday. No way. So he had decided, that he would buy her something in Disney village.

But yesterdays tragedy had set him back.

And now he couldn't go out shopping. Kairi was out there and if they met and he seen his present, it would ruin everything. Shopping was best done alone. By tomorrow, everything would be sold out with nothing but wrapping paper as usual at this time before Christmas.

Sora put his hand to his head, rubbing his temples in frustration. " I'm screwed…" he mumbled.

He lay there for awhile, thinking over his possibilities. After what Kairi had done to help him last night, she deserved something extremely special now. But Sora, now with tears of frustration dripping from the corners of his eyes, admitted defeat. He was up the river without a paddle.

Far up.

Sora was so caught up in his growing depression that he didn't notice the small shudder that ran through the railing of the staircase like a nerve twanged on a human spine. He closed his eyes with a sigh, crossing his arms over his chest lightly, ignoring it. But when he felt the wooden rail beneath him give his body a small push forward like a ripple through calm water, he found himself speeding and spinning down the staircase rail at top speed with no way of stopping.

"Hey!"

Sora opened his eyes at the cry coming from below and it was only a matter of seconds before he felt the stair railing suddenly dip down and send Sora sliding spread eagled across the marble floor of the lobby and stop at Wish's and Fire's feet with there faces sliding in and out of focus.

"Sorry about that," Fire laughed clapping her hands and watching as the staircase immediately straightened up and put its railing back into place.

"The staircase is alive, but it doesn't really show much activity," Wish explained. "Unless of course you lay on it like SOME people."

"Well that explains a lot," Sora mumbled, rubbing his head and frowning up at the two maids. They were smirking at him with an air of pride.

Or at least, he thought it was pride.

"Glad you came down though." the red head told him cheerfully. " We were looking for you everywhere."

The brunet blinked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "Why?"

" We know of your present dilemma with Kairi," Fire explained, grabbing the brunet's left arm and Wish his right. "And we're happy to tell you we got just the thing for you to give her."

Sora opened his mouth to reply, but both girls hauled him to his feet and dragged him out of the lobby with determination in there eyes. "We'll show you Sora. She wont be disappointed."

"We promise."