"What a beautiful garden... " Kairi cooed, sitting on her knees in front of a patch of carefully separated rows of flowers of different varieties and colors, some just barely to begin budding and some fully blossomed.

"Must be Rabbit's doing." Sora said, leaning over to admire Rabbit's garden.

"Stay away from my flowers!"

He turned, seeing a very flustered Rabbit running toward them.

"Don't worry, it's just us."

Rabbit took a breath of relief, hunched over as he struggled to catch his breath from his quickened pace.

"Thank... goodness... I... worked so... hard... on these..."

Sora faced Kairi, who still sat on the ground, and held his hand out for her to take. She smiled at him as she grabbed his hand. He lifted her up gently, and she giggled as stood on her feet again.

"Are you alright?" She asked. Rabbit lifted his head up, still trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah... just need... to catch... my breath..."

Rabbit straightened back up, facing Sora and Kairi.

"Sora, how nice to see you. It's been a while. This a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, Rabbit, this is Kairi."

Rabbit held his hand out politely for Kairi to shake. She grinned, taking his hand with hers for a moment.

"Nice to meet you, Rabbit." Kairi's tone was cheerful but soft.

"Same here." Rabbit let go of Kairi's hand, and walked over to the patch of flowers, looking over them.

"These are coming along quite nicely..."

"You planted these all on your own?" Kairi inquired.

"Mostly... I did have some help from my friends though."

"Speaking of, where's Pooh?" Sora asked, putting his hands behind his head.

Rabbit shrugged. "Oh, you know... probably looking for some honey right about now."

The brunette laughed. "Yeah, sounds about right."

"Well, is there anything we can help with in the meantime?" Kairi asked curiously.

"How kind of you to ask... well, now that you mention it... I could use some help with my flowers and my vegetables."

"Tell us what to do and we're on it!" Sora chanted, giving a full tooth smile.

"Sora, can you help me sort out these flowers? Kairi, can you please look over my vegetables and see what's ripe enough to be picked? Anything ripe can you just put it in those baskets over there. I'll take it inside to prepare a night dinner."

"Got it." Kairi gave a thumbs up,, heading over the vegetable patch which was closer to Rabbit's House. Sora smiled at her figure as she walked away, and her eyes stayed on his for a while before she turned around to face the vegetable patch completely. Sora could feel his heartbeat quicken as he turned his gaze back to Rabbit.

"Ready to get started?" Rabbit chimed in.

Sora nodded, holding his arm out, causing his Kingdom Key to appear in his hand after a stream of light flashed next to his extended fingers. Keyblade in hand, Sora stood in a crouched position with his knees bent.

"Ready!"

Rabbit began to hop to different flowers, lightly but swiftly kicking the fully bloomed ones from their roots to Sora. The brunette swung his keyblade, whisking them into separate baskets, each one holding flowers of that color and type. There were purple magnolias, orange tulips, white daisies, blue bellflowers, yellow marigolds, and red lotus flowers.

"More! More!" Rabbit chirped happily as he hopped to a different area of the patch, pushing more flowers toward Sora. This went on for a while until the two cleared out the patch completely of fully bloomed flowers.

"Phew... all done. Thanks a lot, Sora."

Sora smiled, his trusty keyblade disappearing from his hand.

"No problem."

"These will look just beautiful around the house..." Rabbit began to gather flowers into a bouquet.

"If you'd like, feel free to take some flowers with you. I'll tell Kairi to take some too." Rabbit cheerfully offered.

"Hey, Rabbit...?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you... not tell her... and let me give Kairi some flowers instead?"

Rabbit blinked, processing the brunette's words. But he soon nodded his head, smiling.

"Sure thing, Sora. I'm gonna go ahead and put these in the kitchen."

He hopped away, an abundance of flowers in his furry arms, and disappeared into the small house.

Sora peered down at the flowers, and crouched to get a better look at them.

Which one should I give Kairi...?

"Sora... long time, no see."

A familiar voice broke Sora from his concentration. He turned, his eyes instantly lighting up as they met theirs.

"Pooh!" He cooed, reaching his arms out as he came closer for a hug.

As Pooh pulled away, the golden bear sat down on the ground beside Sora.

"What brings you to Rabbit's?" Pooh wondered.

"Me and a really good friend of mine stopped by, and Rabbit needed our help with a few things."

"I see, I see... and may I get to meet this good friend of yours?"

"Course. But first... I need to do something."

"Is it something I can help you with?"

Sora thought for a moment, then laughed a little, shaking my head.

"I appreciate you asking, Pooh... but this... this is something I gotta do on my own. You know?"

Pooh smiled at him, nodding his head in understanding.

"Okay. I'll continue looking for honey while you continue doing... whatever it is that you are doing. See you in a bit, Sora." Pooh gave a little wave goodbye before heading off to search for the beloved nectar he simply couldn't get enough of.

Sora turned his attention back to the flowers. He reached out, grabbing a blue bellflower.

Blue like the Destiny Islands ocean...

He then picked up a yellow marigold.

Yellow like a paopu fruit...

Sora's eyes took in the other flowers around him, then went right back to the blue and yellow flowers cradled in his palms. A smile tugged at his lips.

I think these are perfect for Kairi.

He placed them in his pocket, careful to push them in slowly so he wouldn't crush their delicate petals. Sora stood up, stretching, and then heard footsteps. As he looked to his left, he noticed Kairi walking over his way.

"How'd it go?"

Sora gave a thumbs up, giving a full tooth grin.

"Great. How'd it go with the vegetables?"

"Really good. Rabbit has some carrots and turnips that were all ready to be picked. So I put those in the baskets for him. How did it go with Rabbit's flowers?"

"Pretty quick. We got it done."

Kairi giggled.

"Well, I'm gonna go inside and see if Rabbit needs help with dinner. You coming?"

Sora extended his hand for her to take. Kairi shook her head.

"You go ahead. I'll catch up with you."

Sora raised a curious eyebrow, staring at her as he silently wondered what she wanted to stay out here for.

"Go. I'll be there in a second."

She assured him. Sora nodded, looking at Kairi for a moment more before turning and and heading down to Rabbit's front door and disappearing inside.

Kairi waited until the door closed completely before kneeling before the baskets of flowers, assorted by color and type, thanks to all Sora and Rabbit's hard work earlier.

So many choices... I wonder which one Sora would like...

Her eyes moved from flower to flower, feeling just as unsure as the first time she'd set eyes upon the beautiful variety of petals and hues laid out before her. A voice ended up pulling me from my thoughts.

"Oh, hello... you must be Sora's friend, I presume."

Kairi faced a yellow short bear walking up beside her, whose smile was friendly and kind as he stared at her curiously. He had a distinctive red cropped sweater and a round golden belly.

"I am. My name's Kairi. What's yours?"

"Pooh. Winnie the Pooh."

"Nice to meet you." I grinned.

"Having trouble picking a flower?"

Kairi couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Well... it's just that I notice you've been sitting here like this for a while... "

"But... the thing about flowers is... they all hold different meanings."

Pooh sat beside me, and glanced over the flowers.

"Purple represents enchantment... orange means to be fascinated by... white symbolizes youthfulness... blue signifies the impossible... yellow is associated with friendship... and last not least, red is tied with the idea of true love."

Kairi smiled.

"Wow... that's so... sweet... where did you learn that, Pooh?"

"From my dear friend, Owl."

"Owl seems like they know a thing or two. Well, thank you for sharing Pooh. I think I know exactly which flower to pick now." Kairi's tone held a newfound confidence.

"Ohh, am I glad to hear it, Kairi. That's wonderful."

Kairi wasted no time in picking up her flower of choice with Pooh's words of wisdom, gently stuffing it into one of the pockets of her pink and black plaid dress. Sora came out a couple of minutes later, smiling from ear to ear as he greeted the two who stood up as he made his way over.

"I see you've already met Kairi." Sora said.

"I sure have, Sora." Pooh said with a smile.

All three friends could clearly hear Rabbit's front door swing open and soon Rabbit hopped his way over to us.

"Hello Pooh. How nice to see you."

"Hello Rabbit." Pooh waved.

"Sora, Kairi, I wanted to let you two know dinner is ready if you'd like to eat. Pooh, you're more than welcome to join us. Piglet, Tigger, and Eeyore are also on their way. Kanga, Roo, and Owl will also join us a bit later."

"Sounds like a plan." Sora said cheerfully.

"Thank you so much, Rabbit." Kairi added gratefully.

"I hope you have some hunny. I'm afraid I couldn't find any in my search..." Pooh hopefully cooed.

Rabbit laughed. "I do have some just for you, Pooh, don't you worry."

Rabbit began to head toward the house, Pooh following behind him.

"Rabbit - Kairi and I will be in, in a sec."

"Okay. Don't take too long. Don't want the food to get cold."

As the front door closed, Sora turned to face Kairi.

"Kairi... I wanted to give you something."

She raised a curious eyebrow, smiling.

"Okay..."

"Close your eyes."

Her smile grew as she did as she was told, holding her hands out. Soon, she could feel Sora's hands place something soft in her palms.

"You can open them now."

As her vision returned, she saw a blue bellflower and a yellow marigold resting against her fingers.

...blue signifies the impossible... yellow is associated with friendship.

Kairi gave a sweet smile.

"Thank you, Sora. They're beautiful."

She put both flowers in the side of her hair, tucking them away securely behind the swooped end of her side bang.

"You're beautiful..." Sora murmured. Kairi blushed instantly as his words fully struck her.

"Aww. You mean it?"

"Of course." She could see the sincerity in his eyes, which made her heart thump in her chest like a beating drum.

"Sora... I have something for you too, you know."

"R-Really?"

She nodded.

"Alright, you know the drill... close your eyes... and no peeking!"

Sora smiled, doing as she'd instructed, his open palms extended. I placed the flower in his hand.

"Okay, you can open them now."

He stared down at the flower residing in his hands.

"Different color flowers hold different meanings, Pooh told me... and red means... true love." Kairi said softly.

Sora gazed down at the flower, his face beginning to turn scarlet, then looked back up at her.

"Kairi..."

She placed her hands on his shoulders, staring straight into his eyes with her own.

"I just wanted you to know... in case we ever get separated again."

She leaned in, kissing his cheek, and letting her lips linger there for a moment. As she pulled away, she could see Sora's face, stunned but still reddened ever so slightly.

"You ready to go inside now?" Kairi asked. He nodded.

Kairi began to walk toward Rabbit's house, and turned around midway to make sure he was following behind her. He was still standing there, his hand now holding the cheek I had kissed. She walked over so she could be closer to him.

"Are you okay?" She asked with concern.

"Kairi... I love you too. You know that, right?" Sora spoke softly but clearly.

A smile tugged at her lips. Kairi extended her hand to him, and as he took it, she gently pulled him closer to her into a hug.

"I do now..." Kairi whispered, nuzzling her face into the crook of his shoulder. Sora wrapped his arms around her, caressed her red hair with his fingers.