Kingdom Hearts III: Graveyard of Memories
A/N: Hey there. I'm Demsa, Taru-chan if you go on Gaia too. This is my first fanfic under this account. I used to have another account back when I was in fifth grade, but I forgot the password. I hope you enjoy this fanfic!
Notes: ITALICS--- Shows flashbacks and memories. I also use them for thoughts but I use ' ' with them for thoughts.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did... Well... Let's just say that shounen-ai fans would love it even more. XD
--Chapter One: Back to Radiant Garden--
"Kairi! Hikari! Come here!" shouted an old woman in a very old-fashoined dress. She was in the private library on the top floor of one Radiant Garden's castles. Unlike the more public library, this one contained many old pictures of past members of the famous Himatsu family. The books stored here were mainly journals of late members. The more older family members knew how important this place was, but to the younger ones, like Kairi, it held nothing of interest. Hikari, on the other hand, was surprised to be called in there. Her family owned a castle in Radiant Garden, and had a private library like Kairi's family did, but no one was allowed, not even Hikari.
They walked inside the room, looking for the old lady.
"What, Grandma?" Kairi asked. She and Hikari walked over to the old woman sitting at a table, with a book in hand. She lifted her head and smiled at the two children.
"I-Is it all right for me to be in here, ma'am?" Hikari asked, a bit nervous. The elder patted Hikari's dark-haired head.
"It's quite all right, my dear. I asked you both becuase...well... I am a bit worried. You know the old saying, 'History repeats itself.'" She moved a wrinkled hand over the book.
"What's this have to do with us, Grandma?" Kairi asked, she'd rather be outside playing, not in an old library.
"Now, now, child... Please be pa- Oh my!" A tremor-like force shook through the castle, making some old books fall off their shelves. Kairi's grandmother rushed to put them back.
"G-Grandma! W-What was that!" Kairi exclaimed, clutching to Hikari, who was doing the same to Kairi.
Another tremor, this one more powerful from the last.
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"Mmm.. Uhh..." Kairi groaned in her sleep. She tossed and turned as she sweated from her nightmare. "N-No..."
"Kairi?"
Kairi sat up in her bed, looking around for the owner of the voice who spoke her name. Brushing her sweat soaked brown hair from her eyes, she saw no one. All she saw was the nicely dressed hotel room in Radiant Garden. It was nice and simple, nothing fancy. The letter King Mickey had sent stated that the three should head to Radiant Garden to meet up there. Donald and Goofy were sent to pick them up and bring them there via Gummi Ship. Yuffie, being her perky self, had greeted them and updated them on what has been going on in Radiant Garden. Though it had only been one year, much had been restored and new places were even added. The hotel Kairi and them were staying in was one of those new additions. Since the hotel wasn't busy, they each got their own room.
"Kairi, you okay?" Kairi finally identified the voice.
"N-Namine?" No wonder she couldn't find the person in her room, the person was in her.
"You were having a bad dream, what was it about? That is, if you don't mind talking about it."
"I... I can't remember it anymore..."
Rising from the bed, she opened the curtain, letting the early morning sunshine in. Over the year, Kairi hadn't grown much. Her bust did grown a bit, but not anything noticable and her hair grew longer too. After taking a quick shower, she brushed and threw on her new attire. She decided to change her outfit a bit, unlike Sora and Riku, they stuck to what they had worn before. Kairi now wore a pink zip-up sleeveless shirt and a pair of white shorts with a blue strip down each side, reaching down around the top of her knees. The only thing that stayed the same were her shoes, her feet didn't grow one millimeter over the year, and she was quite happy about that.
"Hey! Kairi! You awake?" Sora shouted as he knocked on her door.
Kairi smiled.
'Sora... You really don't change, do you? I'm glad...' Kairi quickly brushed her hair and tied it in a sloppy ponytail with a green hairband. After putting on the necklace she had even before she had arrived on Destiny Island, she opened the door to see a familar face with a more familar dumb smile on his face. He had grown too, but Kairi wasn't sure if it was his actual height or his hair height that had grown. Since Sora had been away from Destiny Island, he had dedicated himself to the many beaches on the islands, missing that nice sand against your skin feeling. He had gotten a very good tan, but now it had faded a bit.
"Hey, Sora. Is Riku up yet?" Kairi asked as she walked down to the stairs with Sora. Their rooms were a bit spaced out, Kairi's on the top fifth floor, Riku's on the third floor and Sora on the second.
"Well, let's go see!" Sora answered. Kairi and Sora headed toward the elevator and Kairi pressed the 'down' button. Once it opened and they both entered, Kairi and Sora laughed, remembering their first time on the elevator. Riku had almost got caught in the door, Sora got a bit too button happy, and Kairi held onto the bar as if her life depended on it when it had started to move.
Ding. They had arrived on the third floor and got off the elevator.
"Hey, Kairi? Which room is Riku's again?"
"I'm pretty sure it's the third one on the left side..." Kairi answered unsurely.
"I'll go knock." Sora headed toward the third door on the left side and knocked. "Hey! Riku! You awa-?" But was interupted by the door slamming him in the face. A tall, silver-haired teen stepped out, looking behind the door to find a red-faced Sora. Riku had gotten taller and a bit more muscular, he had a slight tan too for the same reason Sora did. His silver, slightly unruly hair grew longer and now reached down to the middle of his back. Riku got tired of having his hair blow everywhere, so he now kept it in a tight ponytail.
"Whoops, gotta be more careful, Sora." Riku said jokingly. Like Sora, he kept his same outfit, not bothering to change it. Kairi had asked them once why they didn't want to change it and their answer was, "Eh... Didn't feel like looking for more clothes...".
"Ha ha... Very funny, Riku." Sora said as Riku helped him up.
Kairi giggled, she loved when they were together, just hanging out and not needing to worry about anything. Though, she knew that it wouldn't last for long.
'If King Mickey wanted all three of us to come here, then something must be going on...'
The trio walked out of the hotel and headed towards the new Restoration headquarters, a large building located near the Bailey. As they made their way to the headquarters, they stopped by a stand and bought some food to eat. They each ordered and payed for some sandwiches and ate them as they walked.
"This place sure has changed... And for the better!" Sora said, looking at Radiant Garden's improvements and additions and comparing it to Hollow Bastion from a year ago. The destruction the mass of Heartless had left was now gone and rebuilt.
"Hey, guys!" shouted a cheerful voice. The young ninja leaped down from the top of one of the stores and landed right next to Sora.
"Hey, Yuffie!" Sora greeted. Yuffie hadn't changed much either. She grew about a couple of centimeters and her hair now reached down to her shoulders. Her outfit had a few changes. She still wore her short shorts, though black now instead of brown. Her old sleeveless vest was traded in for a pale green vest with sleeves. Her shirt was black with white chinese looking characters on them. Other than those changes, her boots, stockings and heaband stayed the exact same.
"Hey, Sora, these the friends you were looking for?" Yuffie asked.
Sora nodded and introduced them. He first pointed to the silver-haired teen.
"This is Riku," and then pointed to the brunette, "And this is Kairi."
Yuffie nodded in acknowledgement. "Pleasure to meet you two! I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!"
"Great Ninja Yuffie?" Kairi and Riku said in unison.
Sora laughed, remembering that was how she had first introduced herself to him back in Traverse Town. "Yup. The Great Ninja Yuffie. So, Great Ninja Yuffie," Sora added in there jokingly, " what's been going on here since the last time I was here?"
Yuffie grinned. "I'm glad you asked, Sora! As you can see, Radiant Garden's restoration has been going along very smoothly. The destruction the Heartless had left, we all worked hard to fix it and we sure did! After rebuilding almost everything, we decided to add some new additions. Some of the most recent are the hotel you guys stayed in and we added a few more stores. We even restored Ansem the Wise's old castle. Though, some of the more older books were destroyed beyond even Merlin's magical repair. Cid's been working in his Gummi Ship workshop ever since he built it. Leon's just going around to see what he can do to make Radiant Garden recover. If I remember correctly, Tifa, you remember her, right? The girl with the long hair, fights with her fists, and was searching for Cloud?"
Sora remembered who Yuffie was talking about. The girl who had punched the wall in Ansem's study. He nodded. "Yeah, I remember her."
"Well, she opened a bar somewhere. I haven't looked for it yet. Cid sometimes goes and helps Tifa if she's having a busy night. Oh yeah, Aerith opened up a nice little flower shop where Cloud spends most of his time. That's all I can think of at the moment." Yuffie finished.
"Wow, so much has happened..." Sora said as they kept walking. Yuffie kept rambaling on about this and that and next thing you know, they were already at the headquarters. It was a tall building and could easily be mistaken for some big-shot business building. It was about five stories high and a shade of silver painted on the
outside of it. Kept bushes lined the walkway leading toward the door, making it look almost professional. Yuffie went up to the door and typed in the password into the small keyboard next to the door.
"Leon said that this place was more than just a restoration headquarters, that's why he made us all know the password to get in." She pressed the enter button and the doors slided open. The first thing they saw was a reception area. There was a desk with a lady talking on the phone, chairs and tables with magazines and TVs on the news. Potted plants were scattered to make it look nice and the tile was nice and polished. It was a bit cold though, Kairi rubbed her arms a bit to keep the goosebumps down. Riku, Kairi and Sora all glanced at each other.
"Yeah, I know," Yuffie said as she lead them to the elevator. " it looks like a doctor's office ot something, right?" She pressed the up button and waited. "This place has a dual purpose." The elevator opened and they all stepped inside once a few people got off. Yuffie pressed the buttom with the number four on it. "Besides being the restoration headquarters, it's also the Information Center, where you can get maps of Radiant Garden and stuff like that."
Ding, went the elevator. They had arrived on the fourth floor. Walking out of the elevator, they saw three doors, each with a symbol on them. One had a red circle on it with a gold outline. The second one had a blue lion's head and the third was a pair of googles in green. Yuffie lead them into the second door.
"Leon!" Sora shouted as he spotted the tall, brown haired man sitting in front of a large computer. He turned around, revealing a scar on his face and sharp eyes. He stood up.
"Hey, Sora." he said. Leon still had his old outfit, nothing changed except that his hair grew about a centimeter longer. He glanced at the two unfamilar faces standing next to Sora. "Hey, are those the two you were looking for?"
Sora nodded and introduced them again to Leon. "Hey, Leon? Where's the King? He said that he wanted to see us, but he never told us where to meet him here in Radiant Garden."
"Yeah, the King is with Donald and Goofy in Ansem's study." answered Leon.
"Really? All right then! Let's go you guys!" Sora exclaimed. He grabbed Riku and Kairi's hands and dragged them out.
Leon sighed as he heard the door shut. "That Sora... Lively as ever..."
"Yup!" Yuffie said in agreement. "What do you think the King wanted with all three of them though?"
Leon shook his head. "I don't know, but it's probably important. If you're really that curious, ask Sora after the King tells them."
Now Yuffie took her turn of head shaking. "Nah. If it's really important, we'll all find out. Well, I'm gonna go see if Tifa will need any extra hands. Later! Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask you... Those buildings in the west, what's the deal with them? What're you gonna use them for?"
Leon smiled, as if he had a secret. "Those buildings... I have a plan for them, but I'm not ready to say what yet."
Yuffie tilted her head to the left in confusion, but then shrugged it off. "Whatever, later, Leon!"
"Later." Leon said as he went back to his computer.
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A/N: Pretty short, eh? Sorry! I'll try to have longer chapters as the story progresses! I hope you stick around for future chapters! Please review!
