Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Don't you kids worry, we're drawing ever nearer to conflict.


The water was deep. Kairi and Riku were eager to read the letter, but treading water with one hand and trying to read wasn't that fun. Kairi reluctantly shoved the letter back into the bottle and sealed it.

"Come on," she said to Riku before heading off back to land.

They made it back and walked up onto the shore and sat down beside each other in the sand where they opened the bottle once again and took out the letter from Sora.

Kairi & Riku,

Sorry. I thought I would be back by now. I didn't mean to make you guys wait so long, but no worries! Everything is fine. But it looks like I'm going to be here longer...we haven't been fighting, but we discovered some new things inside the Radiant Garden castle that the keyblade is needed for. We've been excavating through all the rubble and such. I sent this to tell you that I won't be back to stay yet, but we want you to come here for a little while. We can get a portal opened and I'll come and get you! Please say yes, I'll be there tomorrow!

Sora

After skimming over the letter, the two sat there in silence.

"He's...coming to get us?" Kairi repeated, to be certain she had read right.

"Looks like it..."

Both were thinking the same thing. They had just gotten home. Did they really want to leave again?

"I guess it would be to see Sora." Riku said, almost reading Kairi's thoughts, "And everyone else too... and this time we don't have to fight."

Kairi smiled a little, "Kinda like a vacation?"

"Kind of. Let's go." Riku offered seriously, looking to her.

She stared back almost hesitantly. Something besides leaving home was bothering her. She had a feeling she knew what it was though. This tension they had, as of late, since Sora left. It might go away if they went to see him. But tension was never a good thing, wouldn't they want it to go away? Or maybe she could take care of it before they left?

"Yeah. Let's go."

"Really?"

She nodded, "Yeah, we can be together again, instead of having to wait for one of us to come home."

Riku smiled and stood up, reaching out his hand to help her to her deet. She took it and lifted herself up off the dirt. They both wiped the wet sand off them and picked up their clothes. They were still wet, so they didn't bother getting dressed yet.

"I'm not tired still. Are you?" Kairi asked him as they were walking back to the fire.

Riku shook his head, "Not really."

"You wanna hang out in the secret place for a while? Until we get tired?"

He shrugged, "Sure."

The two made their way quietly passed the fire, being careful not to wake Tidus or Wakka, who were still snoring loudly.

Kairi peered down at the two sprawled in their sleeping bags, fast asleep and suppressed a giggle. She alsmot gasped when she was tugged away almost roughly.

"What was that for?" she whispered to Riku, who had a hold on her hand.

He motioned for her to be quieter and pointed down to where she had been walking.

"Seashell. Really sharp. You don't have shoes on." he said quietly.

"Thanks." she said back as they continued into the cave, unaware that they had left their hands together.

Kairi trailed her hands along the dark wall of the cave's entrance as Riku led her through. When they reached the inside, Riku dropped her hand and reached into his pants that he was still carrying and pulled out a lighter. They had been in the secret place when it was dark before so there was a previously made fireplace situated in the middle. He knelt down and lit some of the twigs, which caught onto some dry leaves. Before long, there was a nice small fire burning bright enough to light the cave.

Riku noticed Kairi had been starting at the ground for a long time. He looked at her while she was in thought. Her hair was still damp, it hung low on the sides of her face. She appeared to be concentrating, lost in something. Her eyes were blank, and a drop of water fell from her parted lips.

"Kairi?" he spoke softly.

"Riku..."

She sounded serious. He scooted closer to her. She was still looking down, but he moved his face closer to hers to try and catch her eyes. "What is it?"

"Selphie knows...but she won't tell me."

Now he was confused. "Selphie knows what?"

"She heard you and Sora talking once, before he left. She didn't mean to. About...everything that had happened. Everything I was asleep for."

'Uh oh...'

Riku swallowed, but said nothing.

"Please..." she said desperately, looking up to him now, her eyes no longer blank but filled with emotion. "Please, Riku tell me. What did you do that was so bad that you can't tell me?"

He bit his lip shifted his eyes. He couldn't avoid it this time. He had been a terrible friend to Sora. He didn't want her to know that, and he didn't want her to know why.

"I..."

She moved closer to him before he continued so that their legs were now touching and she placed a hand lightly on his knee, trying to comfort him, make it easier.

"I...worked with Maleficent."

Kairi's eyes went wide, but she knew he wasn't finished yet. Riku leant into her and continued.

"When the island was destroyed, we were all separated. Maleficent found me. I asked her if she'd seen Sora first. She told me yes. I was ecstatic, but she warned me that he didn't care about me. I didn't buy it. She brought me to him though, and when I found him, he was having fun with Donald and Goofy." he paused and sighed.

"...Go on." she urged.

"I figured not everything she said could be true, so I retreated. I needed time to think. Then Maleficent told me she found you. I didn't think for a moment. I went with her. When she brought me to you, you had already lost your heart. I didn't know what to do. She told me to join her and she could help you. I knew she was bad news...I wasn't stupid. But I wasn't about to leave you alone with her, she must have wanted something with you, I figured, but I was going to fix you. So, I played along. But as I stayed with you, doing everything she told me to do that would help you, I kept watching Sora. He was always smiling when I saw him, never caring when I disappeared again. Never acting like he cared about you. I think it was then that I started to believe Maleficent, only a little, never enough to leave myself defenceless to her." Riku kept his eyes on the ground and was now resting his head on Kairi's shoulder. She didn't think he had this much to get out. It must've felt good and bad all at the same time.

"Sora and I fought...did you know that?"

"No..."

"That was after Ansem possessed me... right before you woke up. After we fought, I watched Sora bring your heart back and I knew I was no longer needed to protect you. I wanted to be needed. Everything I had done before, that was for you, but you were safe then. I met up with the King and we sealed the doors. I thought you and Sora would go back to the island together...now that you had each other. Sora stayed though, but I didn't want to be found. I helped him though. It was the least I could do. Then Axel took you...when we met at the Organization's Headquarters, I had every intention of leaving . I didn't want you to see me, but I couldn't refuse you asking me to stay, and I'm glad I did."

All this time she had no idea. Kairi looked down at him resting on her and he breathed a heavy sigh and looked up into her face.

"...You did that all for me?"

"Yes..."

At this point she really didn't care if what Selphie said about him liking her was true or not, she couldn't stop herself when she brought her hands to the side of his face, bent her head down and kissed him.

He was shocked, she could tell, as he didn't respond right away, but it didn't take long for him to pull back from his leaning position so that he was right beside her and start kissing back.

Riku placed his arm around her stomach and suddenly pulled her closer. Kairi let out a small opened mouth gasp at the quick movement, giving him the opportunity to slide his tongue into her parted lips.

She moaned softly as he sucked and licked along her bottom lip before moving to explore the rest of her mouth. Kairi moved her hand from the side of his face and ran it through his smooth hair, pulling him closer and pressing their lips harder together. Good god, he was a good kisser. It was too bad he suddenly backed off and broke their contact.

He looked back at her with unsure eyes.

"What?" she asked him, with utmost confusion.

"What...about Sora?" he mumbled, almost afraid to ask the question.

Kairi sighed and rolled her eyes. "I told you, I don't like him."

"But you said you needed time to figure things out..."

She smiled warmly at him, "That's very sweet of you for taking my feelings into consideration, but it would appear that I didn't need much time now would it?"

Riku looked aimlessly at one of the cavern walls, "I don't know if it would be fair to him..."

Kairi scoffed, "Riku, a few weeks ago, you thought you were in the same situation and you dealt with it." she pointed out, crawling back over to him, bringing her face close to his, "If I actually liked him, what do you think he would do?"

Riku looked at her. If she liked Sora, which he had thought she did, Sora wouldn't have thought twice about having her. So... why should he?

Well, now that that was settled, Riku didn't want to waste anymore time now did he? He caught her off-guard this time by pressing his lips back onto hers hungrily, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her up on his lap.

He felt her lips tug upward into a grin as she moved her hands down off of his shoulder and trailed it all along his bare chest, lightly exploring every exposed part of his skin.

Riku breathed heavily at the feeling of her curious hands. Even if he hadn't been kissing her, just having her body so close to his was intoxicating. Never, had he thought he would be this near to her. Sometimes it was good to be wrong.

"I'm sure they're probably around here somewhere."

Kairi jumped at the voice they heard drawing nearer.

"Well, we did go to sleep kinda early."

The two picked themselved up of the cavern floor and straightened themselves up. They looked at each other, both knowing for some reason, that what had just happened was not getting out... not just yet.

"See! I told ya they was here!" Wakka boasted as he and Tidus rounded the last corner and came into sight.

"Hey guys," Riku greeted.

"Hey yourself." Tidus said back, crossing his arms, "What are you guys doing in here?"

"You lazy bums went to bed early, and we had no where to talk, and no fire to keep us warm, so we had to come in here." Kairi answered.

"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Wakka questioned.

She rolled her eyes, "We were swimming."

"Oh." Wakka said sheephishly, noticing their wet hair. "My bad..."

"Well," Riku piped up, "I'm kind tired anyway. And we're leaving tomorrow, so we best get some sleep."

"Leaving? Where are you going?" Tidus inquired.

"We got a letter from Sora, he's coming to get us."

"You mean he's not coming back yet? Man, that sucks." Wakka commented as they headed out of the secret place.

"Yeah, said he had some more things to take care of." Kairi said.

"Well at least you guys'll get to see him." Tidus stated.

"Yeah, and everyone else too." she said excitedly, crawling back into her sleeping bag, as did everyone else.

"Night guys." Riku said.

"Night."

"Night."

"Night guys, sweet dreams."


The rest of the night came and went, and the next day Kairi stood out on the beach waiting for Sora. She was chewing on her lip and fidgeting nervously. When and how were they going to tell him. She knew he wouldn't take it well.

Riku startled her by walking up behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Hey," he said. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm trying not too."

"Relax." he demanded.

Kairi fell back into him when he started massaging her shoulders.

"Mmm, that feels nice." she mumbled.

"Let's go wait on the dock." he suggested.

"Mm kay..."

Riku slid his hands off of her and she let out an annoyed grumble and walked after him.

"How long do you think we'll be gone?" Kairi asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Dunno, but long enough to have a party for you."

"Party? Oh! My birthday!" she said with slight embarrassment, "Well I suppose it's good that one of us remembered."

She had completely forgotten that it was going to be her sixteenth birthday in a little over a week. All the stuff that had gone on must have dismissed it from her mind.

"Wait, that means... You already had your birthday."

Riku nodded. It was about a month ago, while they were gone.

"Wow, you're seventeen already. It doesn't seem like that long ago we had just gotten out of elementary school."

"Yeah, it's weird." He agreed.

Kairi grabbed his hand as they made their last steps toward the dock, "Well that means we have to have a party for you too."

He smiled but shook his head, "You don't have to."

"Ah shut up, you can share my party." she offered.

"If you want."

"I do."

"Okay then."

"Alright."

And with that settled, they both sighed and sat down on the end of the dock, hanging their feet off the edge. Kairi dipped her toes into the water and swished them around, scaring away the nearby fish. Riku leant back and rested himself on his palms and looked up into the sky. The two remained contently quiet, just listening to the sounds of the waves, until Kairi noticed a small glimmer in the water not too far away from them. It resembled the light she had seen when Riku and Sora first returned. Riku noticed it to and they both stood, backing up along the dock as the light shone brighter.

It continued to grow on the surface of the water, so much that it came to the point where they had to shield there eyes. After a few moments of holding their arms up, Kairi and Riku heard an all too familiar voice.

"Hey guys."

It was Sora, just as he promised.


There we go! Now it'll get interesting! I hope you guys keep reviewing, and more of them would certainly be appreciated so I can get a wide range of opnions! Thanks guys!