And welcome back to another chapter of this story!

We are still in the Sora Childhood Arc of course, cause we need a lot of build up for how Sora acts in this AU with Ven and Vani always in his head and stuff. But I hope you all have been enjoying it!

Thank you again to everyone reading this story, it means a lot!

Now enjoy chapter 8!

Ch.8

Sora and Riku were once more on the Island running and playing around it was summer break and they could relax and enjoy their time off. After the meeting with the teacher Rin no longer constantly insulted him, he only glared at him. The only downside was that even with Rin no longer bullying him none of the other kids would talk with him or be his friend.

Still he had Riku as a friend, and Ven and Vani as his older brother's. He was chasing after Riku when something caught his attention. Stopping he turned towards the beach where he could make out a figure laying on the ground. Curious he walked over and saw it was a girl with dark red hair, who looked like she was sleeping.

"Hey Riku!" Sora called out, getting the attention of his best friend. "There is a girl laying here."

Riku came running back and look at the girl, "Have you ever seen her before?" The curious boy asked noting that the redheaded girl looked to be about the same age as Sora.

Sora shook his head, "Nope, never have."

"I'll go get my dad, you wait here with her," Riku said as he took off running towards his father was.

Sora squatted down next to the girl, she had short redish hair and a white dress. "Ven? Where do you think she came from? Is she maybe from another world? Why would she be just laying here?"

'I don't know, Sora. Maybe we should find out?' Ventus suggested.

'You should question her,' Vanitas spoke with a sneer.

Sora waited a moment before getting bored, he finally deciding to wake up the redheaded girl who looked his age. "Hey are you alright?" He poked her gently in the arm. Slowly her eyes fluttered open.

"Hmm…" the girl hummed as she slowly looked up to see Sora.

"Where did you come from? Who are you?" Sora asked.

"Kairi…" the girl said in a tired voice he eyes dropping to a close once again.

Seconds later Riku came running back with his father. After making sure Kairi was alright, she was brought into the police station to see if they could find any information on who she was. When Kairi was asked about where she was from, she stated that she couldn't remember, which just made the mattered more complicated. After long days of searching and trying to research about Kairi, the police ended up not finding out anything other than her name. Sora and Riku wondered if the girl they found was going to be okay. They waited days and day to hear something about her, but there was nothing to be heard.

It was the weekend now and Sora and Riku were back on the island off from the mainland. It was another day of fun and adventuring. The two ran around for a while and played with their toy swords. They clashed their swords as they play fought with one another, something that had become a regular thing for them to do.

Sora went to try and hit Riku with the wooden sword, but Riku was quick and jumped out of the way. Sora went again to try and attack, but this time Riku block the attack with his own sword. The two held their stances as they tried to push the other back. They seemed to be at a even level at first, but slowly Riku started to push Sora back. Sora tried to hold his ground, but that was rather hard to do in the sand.

In the next moment Sora stumbled back and fell to the ground. Riku pointed his sword at Sora, indicating the end of the battle.

"And I win again," Riku said.

Sora sighed as he sat for a moment, lost in his thoughts. He had tried his best every time, but more than most of the time Riku always won. Though Sora had gotten better at lasting longer in the battle, due to helpful tips and pointers from Vanitas, it still wasn't enough. He still hadn't won against Riku yet.

"Come on Sora, you wanna go another around?" Riku asked as he held out a hand to help Sora back up.

"I don't know…" Sora muttered as he took Riku's hand and was pulled back up to his feet.

"You're getting better at least," Riku added, but Sora just shrugged.

'Don't give up Sora. You can do this,' Ventus encouraged.

'Next time you fight the brat do this…' Vanitas started and told sora of a semi tricky move that would let him be able to disarm Riku.

"Okay. Let's go again," Sora said as he took his stance, ready to fight.

Riku nodded as he positioned himself as well. The two began their next battle, with their wooden swords clashing together. They struck back and forth at each other, while also dodge a few of each other's attacks. Sora thought about how Vanitas had told him to disarm Riku as he dodged another one of Riku's attacks. He then went to implement the attempt, clashing his sword against Riku's again. With all of his might he tried to twist Riku's sword out of his hands, and much to his surprise he was successful!

Riku's sword fell to the sand while Riku gave a confused glance before Sora tripped him to the ground. Sora pointed his sword at Riku as a huge grin across his face.

"I did it! I win this time!"

'Good job mini-me,' Vanitas praised.

'You did it Sora!' Ventus cheered.

Riku smiled at Sora's enthusiasm. "Congrats Sora."

Sora then helped Riku back up to his feet, he couldn't stop smiling though. He never had felt this good in so long. "Let's go again!"

Riku chuckled as he picked up his sword. "All right, let's do it."

Later on after they had play fought a few more times, Sora stopped near the small waterfall. There was a lot of foliage covered the area next to it, and Sora knew something was there, but they never had gone over there before.

"Hey Riku...What do you even think is even in there?" Sora asked.

"I don't know," Riku shrugged.

"Do you wanna go look?" Sora asked as he stepped closer.

"You've always been too scared to go in there, are you not scared now?" Riku asked, the slightest smug look came across his face.

Sora pouted, "I'm not scared anymore! Let's go!"

'Took you long enough to stop being a scaredy cat,' Vanitas grumbled.

'Oh hush, it's a spooky cave who knows what's in there. Could be a fearsome monster' Ventus said teasingly, though that bit was lost on Sora whos eyes widened again.

Sora continued to pout, "Cut it out Ven!"

Riku tilted his head for a moment, "What did he say?"

Sora shook his head, "Nothing! He is just trying to mess with me. Let's go check out the cave now!"

The two boys walked closer to the cave entrance, a strange howling sound could be heard coming from within the cave. Riku had started to take a few steps in, but Sora stayed at the entrance.

"What's wrong Sora?" Riku said turning back to look at Sora.

"What do you think that sound is? Maybe we shouldn't go! It could be a monster!" Sora said.

'Really? A monster? It's just the wind howling.' Vanitas growled.

'Ignore Vani-boy, what kind of cave would be complete without a monster guarding the treasure it holds.' Ventus said with a chuckle. 'Of course nothing could be as scary as our precious Vani!'

"Heh, don't tell me you are scared again," Riku teased.

Sora frowned childishly, scrunching up his nose, "You and Ven are both being meanies!"

'It's a sad day when Ventus is classified as the mean one between the both of us' Vanitas muttered slightly disparagingly.

Riku laughed, "So he knows you are scared too."

"I am not scared! I can do this!" Sora shouted as he held out his wooden sword in front of him, slowly progressing further into the cave.

The two made their way through the cave tunnel until they reached a large opening. Now they were inside a cave empty cave with a little sunlight coming in from a hole at the ceiling.

"Whoa…" Riku said in awe as he looked around.

"Cool!" Sora commented.

The strange howling came through the cave again and Sora held up his sword in defense. "Where's that coming from?!"

'Ugh oh you made the monster angry! Now it's coming to get you…'

"There," Riku said as he pointed up at the hole in the top of the cave. "It's the wind. That's what is making those weird monster sounds."

"Oooh. So Vani was right then!" Sora cheered, happy that it really wasn't a monster. "We can see the sky all the way from in here!"

'I told you it was the wind, maybe now you'll be a bit smarter and listen to me more.'

'Hey! I was only joking around, Sora will still listen to me more than you! Right Sora?'

"I listen to both of you guys! Both you and Vani always know what to say!" Sora said as he smiled.

"Sometimes I really wonder what they are saying to you," Riku commented as he looked around the cave more, his eyes focusing on the strange wooden door in the far end of the cave.

"Hey Riku do you know what that is?" Sora asked.

"I don't know… looks like a door…" Riku said as he placed a hand on it, "But I don't see how to open it."

"Well this place is still cool! We should make this out secret hideout!" Sora suggested as he bounced on the balls of his heels and started running around the cave.

"You really think so?"

"Yeah! And we are the only ones who can play in here! Okay?" Sora said, not wanting anyone else here. If this was their secret hideout then he could talk to Vanitas and Ventus without fear of anybody seeing him so the only one who was allowed had to be Riku.

Riku nodded, "Yeah, okay."

Ventus thought about the door Sora had just looked at, it gave him a weird feeling that he didn't know how to explain. He thought about asking Vanitas, but he figured Vanitas wouldn't know either and also even if he did he wouldn't bother telling him.

"This is great! We have our own secret hideout!" Sora cheered as he continued to run around the room of the cave.

"We should probably be heading back though," Riku said.

"Okay, let's go!" Sora said as they started to walk out. As they did though Riku looked back at the door once more.

"Hey Sora," Riku said as they continued to walk.

"Hm? What is it?"

"When we are older, let's get away from here and see new places. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"

"Okay Riku! But there is still a lot we can do here now though. We still gotta find out what happened with Kairi."

Later that evening the boys finally did find out what had happened to Kairi. There was no information on here anywhere, but she needed a home. So, much to a lot of people's surprise, the mayor of Destiny Islands actually adopted her into his family. Before Riku and Sora knew it they saw Kairi at their school. Not only that, but she was in Sora's class as well.

Sora sat in his usual seat next to the window, he had a few empty seats around him as the classroom was only about halfway filled even when all the kids were there. He was finally in first grade, and he was five years old. He heard the students start talking louder than usual and turned to see what had gotten their attention.

It was then he saw that it was the girl he had found on the beach, Kairi. She looked around the room at all the students before she saw him and smiled as she quickly made her way over to him.

Sora was shocked to see that she should sit next to him, "Why are you sitting next to the loser?" Rin shouted across the room seeing as that the teacher wasn't in the room.

"Because I want too," Kairi said with a smile. She then turned to Sora, "I never got your name before, what is it?"

"Oh… Um…" Sora fumbled over his words for a moment, before finally finding the right ones, "I'm Sora."

"Nice to meet you Sora," Kairi smiled

'Ugh, she is way to… bright' Vanitas said a note of pain in his voice.

'Hey Sora, This could be your chance to make another friend!'

'Why does he need yet another person, he has that Riku brat as his friend already.'

"Nice to meet you too Kairi," Sora said, ignoring Vanitas last comment.

The teacher came in and smiled as he saw the students he would be teaching throughout this next year. His eyes scanned the room and he saw that the brown haired boy, Sora, was sitting next to a girl. Last year he had been some of the biggest news, that another child, a kid named Rin who he would have to keep an eye on. It looked as though now Sora had another friend his own age. Still he had better keep an eye on them, just in case.

And that wraps up that chapter

Now a Note for the next chapters and stuff. I will now be posting a little more sparsely, as I will be going on vacation and have little wifi time. So chapters will appear when I can get the chance.

But we hope you have enjoyed this chapter and we will see you next time!