Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any other junk.

Dinner for Kairi and Riku went by fast enough before they headed outside in the backyard.

"Oh man, I missed this island weather." Riku commented, closing his eyes and taking in the mild breeze.

"I can imagine."

"Let's head up on the roof." he suggested.

Kairi thought for a moment, "I dunno, my mom doesn't like me up there...ah fine!" she gave in and hoisted herself up onto the nearest window sill and continued to make her way up the building with Riku following not far behind.

"You better not be peeking down there!" she called down to him.

He shook his head and sighed, "Yeah, I'm totally staring right up your skirt!"

"Get outta here!"

"Relax, I'm kidding."

"You better be." she warned.

"It's too dark out here anyway."

Kairi ignored him and pulled herself up onto the top of the roof, scrambling near the center of it and sitting down. She giggled when Riku let out an, "Oof!" noise as his stomach rubbed roughly against the side of the roof.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, fine." he said, sitting down next to her, his shoes making odd scraping noises on the shingles as he got comfy.

The mild breeze was even stronger higher up. They could only see with the help of the bright moon in the clear sky. Neither of them talked, the only sounds were the gentle waves not far in the distance and the sound of crickets chirping.

"Hmm, I'm not to sure what to say..." Kairi admitted, looking to Riku's serene and content face as he relaxed, "I mean...everything going back to normal after all of this is kinda weird."

"I know what you mean, but, that doesn't mean we have to change the way we live now."

"Yeah, I kind of feel like I have to though..." she said, crinkling her nose with discomfort.

"What do you mean?" he asked, throwing his arms over his head and laying down.

"I'm not quite sure. Maybe because everything isn't normal yet."

"You mean because of Sora still being gone?"

"Yeah."

"Well..." Riku started, gazing intently into the sky, "What do you feel you have to do that is different that involves him?"

Kairi buried her face in her hands and grumbled, "I don't know. I don't even know if I'm supposed to do anything. Maybe I'm just being stupid." she laughed.

"Do you want to do something?"

"Quit asking me questions!" she whined and poked him in the stomach.

"Ah! Okay, okay."

It was silent again after that, but it wasn't long before Kairi joined Riku and laid down on the roof as they both gazed at the stars.

Riku tilted his head over and glanced at her. She was thinking too much. Oh well, thinking or not, either way she looked beautiful in the moonlight.

He turned his head back the other way when he realized he was staring. He had told himself not to do that. She wasn't for him.

Then she dropped a bombshell.

"Riku?"

"Uh huh?"

"...Does Sora like me?"

A year and a half in the depths of darkness and fighting for his life hadn't numbed or stopped his body from speaking or moving. This did.

Didn't she know? Was she really going to make him say it? Wait...if he didn't tell her...then would anything even happen between her and Sora? But then again...if she doesn't know that Sora likes her, then there's still the possibility that Kairi could like him! But then...that wasn't fair to Sora was it? Having Kairi like himself and having a relationship. No; it was fair! Sora was willing to have something with her and disregard his feelings so why couldn't he return that action?

'All she asked you was if Sora liked her, not a hard question.' his mind told him.

"Riku? Did you hear me?"

Riku bit his lip and let out a deep sigh before answering, "...Yeah...I think he does. ...Did you not know that?"

He watched with curiosity at how she would react.

Kairi shrugged, "I kind of had an idea."

Ah ha...now to ask her his own question.

"Well," he cleared his throat, "do you like him?"

"I dunno." she answered with genuine confusion littering her voice.

"I mean the whole thing with our hearts, and being heartless and Roxas and Namine...and there's always that little picture in the secret place of us giving each other the paupu fruit. I wasn't sure of his intentions with that one." she finished, giggling.

Riku cringed, ah, yes, there were all those things.

"Why did you draw the picture then? I mean, if you're not sure?"

"C'mon Riku, the paupu means that if two people share it, their destinies are intertwined. That doesn't mean they have to be in love. I mean if you asked me if I'd want Sora to still be my friend in like, twenty years then of course I'd say yes. Why wouldn't I want him in my "destiny" somewhere? I'd do the same for you."

She had a good point. A good comforting point.

Riku looked at her; she was already looking at him.

"Is this what you meant by you thought you needed to do something, or change something?" he asked curiously.

"I think so. But, I really have no idea what to do."

"You could try giving him a chance." Riku blurted out before he could hold his tongue.

'Stupid stupid stupid! Why would you say that?'

'Cause you were thinking of yourself, not Sora. That's why.'

"Really?" she said skeptically, as if she never expected him to say anything like that.

"Um, well, I dunno. I think I'd want you to give me a chance."

Kairi looked at him with surprise. It was then that Riku realized how that must have sounded.

"I...I meant...if I were him..." he trailed off and looked away.

"Oh...I see." she said quietly and stared back up at the stars. "I think I'd rather sort a lot of things out first before I do anything."

'That's good." he said dully. "It's getting late. I should go."

Riku sat up and placed a hand on his knee for support before attempting to stand before Kairi sat up quickly and put a hand on his arm.

"Stay."

"What?"

"C'mon, like we used to do."

"With Sora."

She shrugged, "I'm sure he's having more fun than we are anyways. Please?" she begged, grabbing onto his hand.

Riku was near shocked. He had always thought Kairi was more comfortable around Sora than around him and that she saw him as a better friend. Maybe that wasn't true.

"Riku, I haven't slept in the tree house since you guys were last here. I miss it!"

He smiled warmly, "Alright, I'll stay."

Standing up and wrapping her arms around him, Kairi leaned in and hugged him, "Thanks, Riku."

"...Not a problem." he said, returning the hug - which surprisingly, wasn't quick, or awkward.


"What are you doing?" Kairi's mother asked when she saw her trot through the house with a massive pile of blankets in her arms.

"Riku's staying over." she said simply, not stopping.

"...Are you staying in the house?" her mother questioned with a little bit of a hint in her voice.

"Nope."

"Oh."

"Night mom."

"...Night."

"We can just stay in the house if she wants us too." Riku suggested when Kairi walked out the patio door.

"Nah. It's not like we haven't slept out here before. Not like its unsafe or anything."

He chuckled and followed her toward their tree house.

"I don't think that's what she's worried about."

Kairi turned to him after she heaved the blankets up inside the fort. "What do you mean...?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, we've never had a sleepover without Sora. She's probably wondering where he is, or why we'd choose to have one alone."

"...Ohhhh!..." she exclaimed with realization and felt her cheeks burn. "Well it's not like we're choosing to have it alone."

"Yeah," he smirked, "but she doesn't know that."

"True." Kairi agreed, climbing up the ladder.

Riku was about to follow when he realized the tree house wasn't very high, so he bent his knees and gave himself a good push that sent him flying up high enough into the air. He landed inside before Kairi.

'At least I can still do that.'

"Now how the hell did you do that?"

"When you fight for your life everyday, you learn a few things I guess." he confessed, picking up the blankets at spreading them out on the floor while Kairi completed her journey up the ladder.

Hearing him talk like that reminded her once again that she really had no idea what he had been through while they were separated.

"Kairi? What's wrong?" Riku pried when he noticed the unsettling look that had appeared on her face.

"It's just that, you brought up about you being alone, and in the darkness and I still have no idea what happened." she told him, brushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes.

Riku sighed and sat down in front of her, crossing his legs so they were face to face.

"Kairi, look." he said seriously, "I don't have the problem of telling you what happened, it's the explaining I'm going to have to do about a question that I know for a fact you're going to ask."

She continued to look at him with the same disappointed expression on her face. Seeing her like that had started to make his face drop as well, "and... I'm really not ready to answer it yet."

"But, I am going to get to know eventually...right?" she said hopefully.

Riku looked to the side and rubbed his arm awkwardly, "It really depends...I'm not sure."

"Well what if I promise not to ask any questions and just listen?"

Riku looked up and thought for a moment. It could possibly work.

"That...isn't a bad idea. But I'm still not sure."

"I'll settle for that then." she said.

"Good." he smiled.

Kairi stood up and flung her bangs out of her eyes, "Well, I'll be right back. I need to go put some pajamas on."

"Sure thing."


When Kairi left, Riku took the time to arrange his pillows and kick off his shoes. He jumped into his sleeping bag and threw off his vests and tossed them into the corner. Riku then decided to get comfy so he flopped down on his stomach and tucked his arms under his pillow.

Not too long after, he heard Kairi coming back up the ladder. He felt his eyes widened when she came into view.

Since when did she wear that as pajamas?

Last Riku had checked, Kairi had always come to sleepovers dressed in flannel pants and an oversized t-shirt; not a spaghetti strap top that looks just a tiny bit too small or a pair of extremely short sleeping...shorts? If they could even be called that.

Luckily she was too busy setting up her pillows and putting her things in the corner to notice him staring at her legs.

Riku kicked mentally kicked himself and turned his face away.

"Oh!" she spoke up.

He was forced to turn back around.

"You didn't say anything when I came in, I thought you were sleeping." she said.

"Nope."

Kairi smiled at him and huddled up in her own sleeping bag, "Good cause I wanna talk some more." she said, rolling on her side to face him.

"I hope it better be about fun things this time." Riku told her as he pushed himself off of his stomach and turned to mirror her position.

"Don't worry, we can talk about whatever...you want..." she trailed off when she realized that he wasn't wearing any shirt.

She could swear a line of drool formed at the edge of her mouth and quickly took her eyes away. Unfortunately her staring didn't go unnoticed.

Riku gave her a very questionable look and grinned at her.

"W-what?" she blushed.

He shrugged, "Nothin'." he said with satisfaction.

"Well alright then." Kairi answered, gaining back her composure and rolling onto her back so she couldn't see him.

"So what do you think we're gonna be doing this summer. It's going to be weird..." Riku asked.

"I can honestly say that I don't have a clue." she answered with a laugh.

"Well when Sora gets back and tells us about all the fun he had roaming the now peaceful worlds...we'll just tell him we both won the lottery or something, and that he gets no money."

Kairi laughed, "Too bad we'll have nothing to show for it."

Riku shrugged, "That's easy, we just say we spent it all on booze and gambling."

"Sounds good."

They continued to talk for a few more hours, each catching up on what the other had missed and wondering how all three of them had stood being separated for so long.


Hmmm two reviews eh? Tough crowd I see :P Oh well, I'm enjoying writing this, and if you do read it and like it, please please please review so I can know!