Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts (II), Sora, Kairi, Yuffie, etc.

Author's Note: Okay, so I promised you guys the last chapter, but…I DID IT! Last chapter, everybody. Please note that you are all the best people ever for reading this story and helping me go on with it, unlike my past stories that never seem to end. No comments will be responded to today because of this special day. Instead I have something planned out for the end. Also, I have to tell you, this chapter is super, super, duper long and is actually worth two chapters, I just promised you guys this would be the last chapter and I didn't want it to not be.

Warning: Romantic slush ahead.

Quick Author Babble: Now I'm aching for a slushie…

Chapter 28: Like a Romance Movie

"You've got to tell her, Sora!"
"No, Yuffie."
"You promised! You said you would!"
"I said no, Yuffie."
Yuffie crossed her arms and stomped her foot on the floor. She'd stopped by Sora's house first thing in the morning. Mrs. Roma was still upstairs, fast asleep. Sora was really dreading his knack to be an early riser.
"It's Saturday!" she cried. "Saturday! I shouldn't be worrying about your stupid crush on Kairi! I should be at home, watching television, eating milk and cookies! But no, the whole idea has been racking my brains since you promised you would tell her! I barely got any sleep last night! If you're trying to be mysterious, Sora Roma, then you're doing an awful job of it!"
"Why are you even bothering me with this then?" he asked. "It's not like it's your problem!"
"She broke up with Axel!" Yuffie ranted on, ignoring Sora's statement completely. "She is on the market once again! There is no excuse, NO EXCUSE, to not tell her, Sora! Take a risk for once!"
Sora yawned, from boredom or lack of sleep, he couldn't tell. He let Yuffie's words breeze right by him as usual. She never seemed to give up. Some people would call her determined. Other people, like Sora, would call her purely hardheaded. It really depended which side you were on in the situation.
"And may I point out, Sora, that she did, as a matter of fact—"
"Do you want something to drink, Yuffie?" Sora asked, interrupting her halfway through a sentence.
"Oh, yeah, I'd like that, thanks, Sora," she said as Sora chucked a Pepsi can at her. "Where was I? Oh, yeah. She did, as a matter of FACT..."
"Will you give it a rest, Yuff?" Sora said. "You haven't even made any effect on me."
Yuffie looked at him, agape.
"None at all?"
"Nope."
"Dang," she sighed. "I thought if I came around early enough, you'd be too dazed to try not to listen. What is your head made of, stone?"
She knocked hard on the top of head.
"Ow!" Sora said, swiping her arm away. "Quit it!"
"Don't be such a baby, Sora. Honestly, it'll take you years before you can even stutter in front of her."
She leaped up impressively and put on a very sincere, Kairi-like smile.
"This is Kairi...'Oh, hi, Sora, what's up?' Now this is you."
She put a very dumb expression on her face and looked very nervous.
"'I-I...I...I-I...erk...arg...'" she stuttered hopelessly, then she looked back up at Sora, once again Yuffie. "And that's what you'll be like in three years."
"Oh, yeah, like you and Leon are making much progress!" Sora yelled back defensively.
He immediately took a step back. That had not meant to come out. It just had. And he'd seen Yuffie when she was mad, especially on the particularly touchy subject of Leon.
It was better on the other side of the counter.
However, Yuffie didn't look bothered at all. She looked almost...smug.
"Sora, Sora, Sora," she said, shaking her head with a smile. "Of course we're not making much progress. This is Leon we're talking about. Mr. Antisocial? I have an excuse to not be admitting anything. I mean, it took months for me to even get his full name out."
"Oh, yeah." Sora laughed silently. "Squall Leonhart."
It always made him laugh. It was no wonder Leon had changed it.
"Anyway, that just makes what you're arguing even worse, because Kairi isn't antisocial in the least, unlike Leon. Which means you have better chances that she'll accept you immediately."
"Yuffie..." Sora groaned, slamming his head onto the counter.
"And, besides, it's not that hard," Yuffie said. "Watch."
She walked up to the mint green teapot that was sitting on the counter and picked it up. Putting her hand dramatically below her neck and holding the teapot out with her other, she stuck her nose up into the air.
"Mr. Teapot, I love you," she said in a very wistful voice.
Sora looked at her for a second, stunned, before bursting out into laughs, his eyes watering.
"O-Okay," he said, wiping his eyes and looking up at her. "You are so lucky I don't have a video camera right now..."
"Sora, be serious!" Yuffie yelled. "Get over here and propose your love to this teapot!"
"What?" he cried. "No!"
"Come on, how else are you going to be ready?" Yuffie snapped.
Sora thought of Kairi, her shiny, crimson hair fluttering around her angelic face, violet eyes glittering. He heaved a long sigh.
"Fine, but it's Miss Teapot now."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just come."
Sora walked over and took the teapot from Yuffie. He held it out so he was looking straight at it.
"That's it, Sora!" Yuffie chided. "Now look it right in the spout, and say the three, magic words. It needs to be sincere, heart-wrenching, romantic..."
"It's a teapot, Yuffie," Sora said dryly.
"Oh, just do it already!" she snapped.
Sora looked at the teapot. He had a feeling it was watching him though that dreadful, mint-colored spout. It was very awkward.
"Um...Miss Teapot..." he stuttered.
"Down on your knee," Yuffie whispered from the corner of her mouth.
"M-Miss Teapot..." Sora began once more, kneeling down. "I-I...um...I...love you."
Yuffie clapped her hands and grinned.
"You did it, Sora!" she chirped happily.
"It was a teapot, Yuffie," Sora sighed hopelessly, putting down the poor teapot back on the counter. "It's the farthest thing from Kairi possible. Plus, it doesn't talk back."
"Hmm..." Yuffie murmured thoughtfully. "I know! I'll be Kairi! I'm not the farthest thing from Kairi possible, and I talk back!"
"Yeah, but you're still not Kairi."
"Sora, you should be happy that I'm a girl."
Sora sighed heavily. Something told him this would be harder than talking to the teapot. Yuffie collapsed on the couch and made another Kairi-like grin.
"Stop that, you're creeping me out," Sora said as he walked over to Yuffie.
"Gotta look like Kairi or you'll never be able to say it," Yuffie remarked simply.
She closed her eyes and breathed out, sat up straight, and smiled once again.
"Hi, Sora, fancy meeting you here!" she said in a very un-Yuffie sort of way.
"It's my house," Sora replied dryly.
The next thing he knew, he was being whacked over the head.
"Ow!" he shouted.
"Sora, you stupid idiot!"
"What!"
"You don't start with that, that's absolutely...absolutely...immature!"
"What? I would say that to Kairi!"
"Not in this situation!"
"Fine, fine. Sorry."
He breathed out and looked at Yuffie.
"Nice seeing you," he said, sure there was an evil little person laughing at him inside his head.
"You too," Yuffie replied. "What's up?"
"Er...I need to...tell you...something."
The laughing was growing louder in his ears.
"What is it?" Yuffie asked, looking completely oblivious as if she actually was Kairi.
Creepy.
"I...kind of...really..."
"Sora?" Yuffie said with fake innocence.
"I love you."
"VERY GOOD!" Yuffie squealed, clapping her hands.
"Shut up!" Sora hissed. "My mom's still asleep."
Yuffie clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Sorry," she whispered.
"Now, I am never saying that word again," Sora said, panting slightly as the laughter was very loud indeed.
"You mean 'love'?" Yuffie asked, ignoring Sora's cringe. "Well, not to me, of course...to Kairi!"
"Erk."
"Come on, Sora! Don't be such a wimp! You've proven to me that you can say it! Now you just have to prove it to Kairi."
"Uh, how about no?" Sora snapped.
"You mean all this preparation was for nothing?" Yuffie asked.
Sora remembered him and the teapot.
"Fine," Sora said, looking at Yuffie wearily as she squealed. "Maybe."
"A definite maybe?" Yuffie asked him excitedly.
Sora rolled his eyes.
"Yeah...a definite maybe."
Yuffie squealed once more and clapped her hands quietly. Sora sighed. He knew he shouldn't have given her that Pepsi—she'd be sugar high for the rest of the day.
"I guess my mission is done then," Yuffie stated, walking towards the door. "Bye, Sora."
Just as she was closing the door behind her, she turned back around to look at him.
"Don't forget the kiss, Sora!" she chirped mischievously.
"Eh?" Sora said, turning very pale.
"You can't say 'I love you' without a kiss, stupid!" Yuffie said. "Bye!"
"YUFFIE!" Sora yelled, forgetting to keep his voice down and plunging at the door.
She slammed the door shut. Sora stopped moments before his head hit the door. He turned back to face the staircase, his head drooping hopelessly.
He had to kiss Kairi?
Oh, God.

"""

"There's got to be one romantic movie where they don't kiss in the end!"

Sora grumbled angrily as he sat on the floor, surrounded by stacks of romance movies. He was determined to prove Yuffie wrong—there had to be a way to tell someone who's not in the family you love them without kissing them. So far, his project was a complete failure. He sadly shook his head.

Suddenly the phone rang. His mom was at work, so he got up, knocking down a stack of videos as he walked towards the phone.

"Hello?" he said dully, not sounding very awake.

"Hi, Sora!"

Kairi's optimistic voice surprised him so much he nearly dropped the phone. Catching it before he hit the floor, he coughed and leaned against the counter.

"Hi," he said, trying to deepen his voice to sound much cooler than he thought I was.

"I hope I didn't disturb you with anything," Kairi stated sweetly.

Sora looked at the pile of romance videos out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't worry, you didn't."

"Great! I was wondering if you could come over and help me with my math homework...if that's all right with you..."

"No, that's fine," Sora replied very quickly, perching the phone expertly between his shoulder and his ear so that he could start putting the videos away. "What lesson are you on?"

"Like it matters," Kairi stated. "You're in the eleventh grade math book already, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Heh, heh..."

"I don't exactly have the most expert family in math, so I almost immediately thought of you."

"Okay, great, I can come over right now."

"Cool! See you soon then!"

And with that, their conversation was over. Sora shoved all the videos into the shelf in no particular order. In fact, most of them collapsed and fell into other shelves. Sure, his mom might not be too happy, but it was better than being late for meeting Kairi.

Leaving the hopelessly messy videos, he ripped off a piece of sticky paper from the pad in the kitchen, reached for a pen and wrote:

At Kairi's house. Be back before six.

Sticking it on the refrigerator, he then turned and exited the house. Despite the beginning of March, it was still as snowy and cold as December. This was highly disappointing , especially to the people of Destiny Islands, who'd always lived with and enjoyed their tropical weather.

Sora couldn't help thinking if when he went over there he should tell Kairi how he felt. Yuffie had seemed pretty determined...

Sora slapped the side of his head as if to get dirt out of there. Since when had he cared about what Yuffie thought? Kairi was his best friend, and only that, and if he told her, he'd risk losing all that.

On the other hand, if he didn't tell her at all, he'd never know what she really thought about him, and he didn't want that either.

It was a full-fledged debate the whole walk to Kairi's house, and by the time he reached her walkway he still hadn't made up his mind. He was hesitant to knock on the door, knowing as soon as he walked into that house he'd have to make up his mind once and for all.

Finally, after only one, tiny knock, Kairi threw open the door. A pencil was tucked behind her ear and a piece of paper covered in mathematical solutions was stuck in her hair.

"Hi, Sora!" she chirped. "I was..."

Sora took the piece of paper out of her hair and held it in front of her.

"Having a little trouble?" he finished her sentence for her, laughing slightly at her embarrassment.

"Well, excuse me!" she said jokingly. "Not everyone has the IQ of Albert Einstein, you know!"

"Uh...Kairi...none of these are right," Sora stated, looking over the paper.

"Gee, I didn't notice," Kairi said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and giggling. "Now come on in before you freeze to death."

Sora walked into the small, cozy house and took off his boots and hung up his jacket. It was quiet. It seemed like they were the only ones there.

"Where is everybody?" Sora asked, feeling his throat tighten.

"My mom's at some café with her friends, my dad's at work, and Naminé's on some date with this guy," Kairi replied, making a face. "So typically Naminé, right? My bet is she'll dump him by next week."

She laughed at her sister's predictable actions and walked into the living room. Sora obediently followed her and sat down beside her as she collapsed in front of her math book.

Kairi sighed and looked at the first question.

"I don't understand it at all!" she cried hopelessly.

Sora's eyes scanned over the question and looked up at Kairi.

"It's easy," he said. "The tuition is $3280.00. You don't know how many fares he'll need, right? Just change it to 'x' since you don't know it. How much does it cost per fare?"

"Seven dollars," Kairi replied in confusion, when suddenly a look of understanding came over her features. "Oh...so I just multiply the gas price by four...plus the tuition...plus the insurance..."

She was scribbling hard in her notebook.

"And divide it by the fare..." Kairi continued to mumble, biting her lip. "The answer's 826 fares! I can't believe I didn't get that! Thanks, Sora!"

"No pro..."

Sora was cut off in mid-sentence as the door burst open and Mrs. Ire came stumbling into the foyer. She was laughing uncontrollably a nd her red hair was rather messy. She walked into the living room and Sora couldn't help but notice she couldn't walk in a straightline.

"Hi, honey, I've got back from the caf," she said, sounding very wobbly, when her eyes suddenly fell on Sora. "Oh, helloo, Sora! What are you doing here?"

"He's helping me with my math homework," Kairi explained calmly, as if her mother wasn't threatening to fall over.

"Oh, that's won-derful, Sora, dear, you get right back on that!" cried Mrs. Ire, and she hobbled into the kitchen.

"Is she okay?" Sora asked, turning to Kairi as soon as she was out of earshot.

"Yeah, she just gets a little tipsy after she's met with her friends," Kairi replied. "I've been to one of them before. They talk about their husbands and laugh about the things their kids do, and then talk a little bit about work, and where they wish they were living right then, and in all the excitement, they order a little more alcohol than recommended."

"Oh," was all Sora could think of saying.

"She'll be alright. She sleeps right after she gets home, and since it's not tons of alcohol she's usually over it by nighttime."

Sora couldn't help but laugh at how natural Kairi seemed while explaining about her mother when she was drunk.

"It doesn't happen a lot!" Kairi cried defensively. "Only annually. It's not like my mother's an alcoholic!"

"I know, I know. My parents do it too. It's just...you talk about it like you're expecting it."

"Yes, well...when I know my mom's 'going out with her friends', I do expect it."

Then she turned back to her math book and went back to work.

"""

A few hours later, Kairi's mother walked in from the kitchen with a pack of ice on her head, groaning.

"Why don't you two go to the park?" she said in a pained voice. "You've been working for a long time."

"Well..." Kairi said, looking down at her math book, "okay. I don't have that much left, and I'm sure I can do the rest without Sora's help tomorrow. Want to go to the park?"

"Sure, why not?" Sora replied, shrugging.

Exiting the house warmth of the house, Sora immediately regretted leaving his gloves at home. The cold wind was beating against him, almost asking him to freeze to death. They walked the short distance to the park, Kairi talking excitedly about the upcoming March Break, saying she hoped it would warm up soon so she could down to the beach during that time. Sora half-listened, still thinking if he should tell her. He was sort of a park person. And he didn't want his "magical moment" with Kairi to be during a Spin the Bottle game...which was still very embarrassing to think about.

Walking towards the bench, the snow crunching beneath their feet, it began to snow lightly, giving the park a picture perfect scene—not so far away, children were building snowmen and chucking snow at each other, their laughter making Sora feel like he was in one of the many romance movies he had watched to prove Yuffie wrong. Kairi fell onto the bench seat, pulled her pink hat down over her ears, and watched the snowball fight.

Sora sat down beside her, humming some tune that was stuck in his head, admitting to himself that this was just a little awkward.

Kairi quickly lost interest in the snowball fight and looked up. Above them, shimmering on the branches of the leafless tree, were icicles. Big, shiny icicles that glimmered in the sunlight that didn't seem to give off any heat.

"Wow, they're gorgeous," Kairi stated in a sort of breathless voice.

"They're nice," Sora agreed.

Kairi stood up in her seat and took a step up onto the actual table part, reaching out towards the lowest icicle.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked.

"Getting an icicle, of course," Kairi responded.

She wrapped her fingers around the icicle and tugged. It cracked only a bit.

"Almost...got it..." Kairi remarked.

She took a step back. Her heel was hanging over the edge of the table.

"Kairi, be careful..." Sora warned, rather nervous.

"Oh, please, Sora, you're acting like my moth–"

There was a cracking sound. The icicle broke off and Kairi's unexpected foot, still hanging over the edge, slipped from underneath her. Letting out a surprised scream, Kairi waved her arms frantically to stay balanced. Instinctively, Sora jumped up as Kairi fell backwards, and collapsed right onto him.

Sora's cerulean eyes were looking right into hers, which were barely six inches away. Both were bright red, but neither moved. Feeling rather confused as to what was happening, he felt like he had to say it—the words he and Yuffie had been practicing that morning. This certainly wasn't how he'd expected it to be—it was far off from what Yuffie had thought as well, he was pretty sure—but it was the right moment, he could feel it.

"Kairi..." he began, saying it slowly as if that was going to make it any easier news to take, "I..."

Thunk.

At the noise, the two teens turned their heads to look at the chunk of ice hat had just landed beside them. Scrambling to her feet and helping Sora up, still beet red, she looked at the sky. It was dark, and the snow was starting to fall a lot harder. The wind started to pick up. More ice chunks began to fall.

"Hailstorm," she stated.

"Whatever kind of storm it is, I think we should get inside," Sora said, noticing the chunks seemed far bigger than the little, annoying hail Destiny Islands usually got.

The snow poured down on them, obscuring Sora's vision so that everyone else who was running past them looked like snowmen.

"Aah!" Kairi shrieked and grabbed Sora's arm as a hail chunk the size of a grapefruit crashed down beside her.

They ran to Kairi's house since it was closer and Sora would rather not go to the hospital with a head injury from a piece of hail. Kairi's fingers were too frozen to scramble through her key chain to find her house key so they rang the doorbell like crazy people. Mr. Ire opened the door and ushered them inside.

Naminé was already there, wringing her long, blond hair to get the frozen water out. Sora shook snow out of his hair while Kairi rubbed her hands for warmth.

"Terrible weather, isn't it?" Mr. Ire asked.

The three teenagers all glared at him for stating the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm sorry, I didn't watch the weather channel since it was such a clear day," Mr. Ire said, "otherwise I would've warned you."

Sora looked at the television sitting in the living room. On it was the weather channel. Scanning it over very quickly, it said the hail would go on until late evening, and then snow squalls would begin.

"Oh, no..." Sora muttered, looking at his watch, where the time read 5:30p.m. "I promised my mom I'd be home before six."

"I'm afraid with this weather, Sora," Mrs. Ire stated, looking at him apologetically, "you're not going anywhere."

"Yeah, Sora, you're even lucky you got here alive!" Naminé exclaimed. "Did you see the size of that hail? One piece nearly shattered Marly's windshield!"

Sora guessed that "Marly" was the guy Naminé had gone out with.

"But I have to get home...my mom will worry, and you know she gets," Sora remarked, rolling his eyes.

"You should call her and explain you're at our house safe and sound," Mr. Ire suggested. "It's for the best, Sora. I think you should sleep here tonight."

"""

"Here you go," Mrs. Ire said, walking in with a pair of blue-and-white striped pajamas. "Aiden's old pajamas all washed and clean. Surely they'd fit you."

Sora watched as she laid them down on the bed in the guest bedroom. He felt kind of embarrassed at the thought of staying the night at Kairi's house.

"I feel ridiculous, intruding like this," he commented, looking at Mrs. Ire stubbornly. "All I came here to do was help Kairi with her homework. Sleeping here is…"

"A pleasure," Mrs. Ire finished for him. "You're never a bother, Sora. Everyone likes having you around."

She looked at him sharply. Sora sighed. It looked like Mrs. Ire was just as stubborn as him—maybe more so.

"My house is only a ten minute walk from here," he continued hopefully. "It won't take long to walk there. Besides, I haven't even called my mom yet. She'll be worried…"

"Sora, stop being so silly," Mrs. Ire said, walking towards the door and turning to look at him. "I would never let you walk home in this weather. I assure you I've already called your mother and she agrees with me that you should stay here tonight."

Talk about prepared. Sora had not expected Mrs. Ire to already have expected this argument and couldn't believe that for a woman who was so drunk just a few hours ago she had such a sharp mind. She reminded him very much of her daughter in some ways.

Mrs. Ire smiled, recognizing the defeated look on Sora's face.

"Now wash up and come have dinner."

"""

What a weird family, Sora couldn't help thinking as he walked up the stairs. Maybe not weird—that was too harsh—but it was certainly…colorful. There was Mr. Ire, the hardworking, news watching man, informing everyone about things that happened at work and whatever news he thought was important. Then there was Mrs. Ire, the loving, stay-at-home mom who was purely interested in everyone else's news. Then there was Naminé, the girly shopaholic, who spent most of her time at the dinner table trying to get Kairi excited about the newest gossip. And finally there was Kairi, the girl who laughed along with what everyone said, and enjoyed kicking Naminé under the table when she got too out of hand with talking about makeup and hairstyles that would look good on her.

It had certainly been an experience, and Sora actually wished he had a bigger family than just him and his mom—he still missed his dad a lot, and had no siblings whatsoever.

Sora turned down the hallway, Kairi's cat, Truda, following him around loyally. He turned to face the bright orange cat.

"Okay, you've got to stop following me around," he said sternly. "Go visit Kairi or something."

"Having fun yelling at my cat, Sora?" Kairi asked, giggling, as she walked out of her room and scooped up Truda.

"I wasn't yelling!"

Sora's face flushed red from embarrassment.

"Close enough."

Smiling at him and balancing Truda out in her arms, she gave another tinkling laugh.

"So, couldn't convince my mom to let you go, huh?" she said.

"No," Sora sighed. "She's very stubborn, you know. Yes, very hardheaded when she wants to be…reminds me of you."

Kairi gasped, pretending to be shocked, and hit him as he started laughing.

"Well, whatever, as long as you're here, let's watch a movie!" she exclaimed.

"Action film?" asked Sora hopefully.

"Nice try," Kairi said. "Romantic comedy, thanks. You know how I am with those kinds of movies. Remember The Godfather?"

"Yeah, I remember…" Sora remarked. "But you've got to admit, it gave me a laugh."

"Sora!"

"Sorry, sorry. Fine, romantic comedy it is."

He made a face, but Kairi ignored it and dragged him downstairs. She didn't even know how many romance movies he'd watched that morning.

"""

Soon, they were watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which wasn't so bad, and wasn't one of the hundred romance movies Sora had forced himself to watch. Naminé was sitting in front of the couch Sora and Kairi were sitting on, who Kairi had invited to watch it with them.

They were laughing constantly. The movie was truly hilarious.

"You're that waitress."

"Seating hostess, actually."

"Aw…" Kairi said. "You can already tell they're meant to be together."

"Romantic movies are so predictable…yet for some reason, absolutely enjoyable!" Naminé agreed.

As the movie continued on, Sora was slowly starting to doze off.

"Why?...Why do you love me?"

"Because I came alive when I met you."

Fully awoken as Kairi grabbed his hand, he turned to look at her as she and Naminé let out a breathless "aw".

"I could watch this movie over and over again," Naminé sighed.

"Yeah, but nothing like this would ever happen in real life," Kairi said. "I wish it would though. Can you imagine?"

She turned her attention to Sora.

"He looks me in the eyes, honestly and truly," she said dreamily, "and says something romantic, like…'I wish I could stay here forever with you…'"

Naminé paused the movie to watch her redheaded sister leap up and pull Sora along with her, and started to waltz.

"And we could dance to romantic music," she continued. "And then, we'll lean in closer to each other…"

She leaned in closer to the cherry red Sora.

"And meet in a passionate, long lasting kiss," Kairi finished breathlessly.

She came so close to him that their noses were in danger of touching, when she stopped and looked up at him.

"And that's what I want to happen when I meet the boy I'm destined to be with," she said wistfully.

Backing away slowly, cheeks slightly pink she turned to look at Naminé.

"Good demonstrating, Kai," Naminé giggled, "but you still sound like one of those hopeless romantics."

Sora's heart was beating a hundred times faster than healthy. Adrenaline was running through his veins, heat racing through his body.

"You okay, Sora?" Naminé asked, peering over Kairi's shoulder.

"Yeah…yeah…I just need to…sit down," he stuttered, falling backwards onto the sofa.

"Looks like you shook up Sora quite a bit with your fantasy," Naminé giggled.

Kairi sat down beside Sora, who was still breathing hard. As Naminé turned the movie back on, Kairi soon grabbed his hand again as Ian and Toula kissed.

"""

As the movie ended and the credits started rolling, Mrs. Ire walked in.

"Sorry to ruin your fun, but you three should go to bed," she stated. "It's late, and we wouldn't want Sora's mother to call tomorrow complaining that he looks like a raccoon, would we?"

"No, Mom," Kairi sighed, turning off the DVD player.

"Come on, a little later?" begged Naminé.

"No," Mrs. Ire said sternly. "To bed, all of you!"

Kairi and Naminé exchanged she-is-so-bossy looks before following through with their mother's commands. As Sora left, however, he gave her a little smile, which Mrs. Ire happily returned, apparently not used to this treatment.

As they approached the staircase, Mrs. Ire following close behind, the two girls turned on their heels. Kairi hugged her mom and kissed her dad before running up the stairs.

"Goodnight!" she called, when she'd probably already reached her room.

"Goodnight!" Mrs. Ire responded.

Naminé simply ran up the staircase, giving a little mutter that sounded like "'Night."

"Sweet dreams, sweetie," Mr. Ire said.

Sora stood there, feeling very awkward. Was he supposed to say something, or just run up the stairs like Naminé?

"Er…'night," he finally decided to say.

"Have a good rest, Sora, dear," Mrs. Ire stated kindly.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite!" Mr. Ire called as Sora hesitantly made his way to the stairs.

Sora chuckled as he heard what they said to each other as he walked up the stairs.

"'Don't let the bed bugs bite'!" Mrs. Ire scolded. "That is not proper in the least, Aiden! When guests come over you should pay them at least a little 'goodnight'!"

"Sorry I let you down with my farewell to Kairi's little friend," Mr. Ire snorted.

"Aiden! Don't you ignore me!"

As Sora walked down the hallway to the guest bedroom, he passed by Kairi's bedroom, noticing that she was by her pinup board. Knocking on the already open door, Sora smiled as Kairi turned around to face him with a look of shock on her face.

Kairi was already in her pajamas. They were a soft blue and covered in white hearts, stars, and crescent moons.

"Oh, it's only you, Sora," she said, breathing out. "For a second I thought it was Naminé…She kind of makes fun of my obsession with photography…"

"There could be a lot worse things to be obsessed with," Sora commented, walking over to the pinup board. "New additions?"

"Yeah!" cried Kairi, clearly excited. "I finally got them all printed!"

She swung her arms out toward the pinup board, which was now completely covered in pictures so it looked more like a collage than anything.

"Look, there's you, me, and Yuffie at the semiformal!" she said, pointing at a rather large picture.

To Sora's amusement, they all had sort of goofy faces on—Sora was rolling his eyes with his mouth dropping in a very strange way. Kairi had just been bringing her hands up to the back of her head so she looked sort of like she was making antlers and her eyes were closed and breathing out. Yuffie seemed to be the only one trying to look stupid. She had crossed her eyes and had stuck her tongue out, stretching the sides of her mouth out with her fingers.

"And there's Christmas time!"

A grand picture of glittering gold, green, and red, Naminé, Roxas, Olette, Hayner, Pence, Yuffie, Sora and Kairi all seemed to be gathered around Kairi's Christmas tree, with Yuffie opening her present from Roxas with excitement sparking from her eyes.

"And there's me and Roxas in the photo booth."

There were four square pictures all in a row. The first one seemed very natural, with Roxas and Kairi sitting there, smiling. The second one they'd both stuck out their tongues and pulled up their eyelids. The third one they both did bunny ears on each other. The fourth one they'd come so close to the camera that only one of each of their eyes were visible.

"And…er…that was taken at my birthday party by Naminé."

She pointed at an average-sized picture of Sora and Kairi slow-dancing.

"You…you put it up?" Sora asked.

"Well…yeah…" Kairi murmured. "It's still a nice memory…"

Both teenagers turned very red and Sora actually had to avert his eyes from the picture before talking again.

"They're all great."

"Thanks!" Kairi chirped. "The semiformal one's my favorite! There are still more…but…um…"

Sora waited for her to continue, but since she couldn't seem to bring the words out, clearly still thinking about the picture as vividly as he was, he decided he would fill them in for her.

"You're mom told us to go to bed," he said. "You can show me in the morning."

"Yeah…" Kairi agreed slowly then nodded her head vigorously. "Yeah, okay!"

He made his way to the door, and was stopped once again by Kairi's voice.

"Sora…earlier today, when we were watching the movie…" she remarked, "when I was saying all that mushy stuff that I wished would come true…"

Sora turned to face Kairi, whose face was three shades of red.

"Do you think it was stupid?"

"No," Sora said flatly. "Of course it wasn't. If this is about what Naminé said, she was just trying to keep her pride. I bet she has a wish like that too."

There was a very long pause. Kairi finally smiled.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

She sat down on her bed.

"Do you think it'll come true?" she asked.

"Absolutely."

"You're just saying that to be nice."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yeah, you are!"

They both moved closer to each other. Shooting glares that seemed to almost electrocute the other person.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

Still moving closer…

"NO, I'M NOT!"

"YES, YOU ARE!"

Their faces were so close now they were only an inch apart.

"NO, I'M NOT!"

"PROVE IT!"

Sora grabbed the sides of her face and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Kairi, I love you."

Kairi looked at him for a long moment before leaping up and covering her mouth with her hand, letting out a gasp in hopefully surprise. Sora's eyes widened. Well, that's not how he expected that to happen…If Yuffie were here, she'd probably hit him over the head hard with a frying pan.

"I'm sorry!" he cried hastily. "I'm so sorry…I…I know you don't have feelings for me…I was…I was just… "

Heat was rushing through his blood again. It felt like he'd just been hit with a bolt of lightning…but it didn't hurt at all. Before he could figure out an excuse for his actions, Kairi pulled him up and kissed him back.

"I love you too."

"""

Sora woke up, looking around the bland, guest bedroom in bewilderment. What had happened? He'd had a great dream…where he and Kairi...

Oh, God!

He sat up in bed. That hadn't been a dream! They'd actually kissed! He'd actually said it! It wasn't anything like the romance movies had led him to believe, but who the heck cared? He'd kissed KairiIre, and she actually kissed him back.

Feeling as light and happy as the air itself, Sora almost floated down the stairs. Kairi was the only one awake, eating cereal in the kitchen, humming a happy tune. Suddenly paralyzed, Sora felt himself crash back down to Earth. What was he supposed to say now? Did this worry never end?

"Um…morning," he stated simply, making her look up.

"Morning!" she chirped happily back.

There was a silence, but not awkward like usual. It was actually…comfortable.

"Coffee?" she said, standing up to pour herself a mug.

"Yeah, thanks," he replied.

"Cream? Sugar?"

"Both."

Sora was not a drink-coffee-black sort of person. As Kairi passed him his mug and sat down with her own, she gave a little smile.

"Um…about yesterday…" she began.

Sora squeezed his eyes shut. He knew it was too good to be true.

"I wanted to tell you…" Here it comes… "That I'm really happy."

Sora opened one eye to look at her sincere expression. Kairi started laughing at his shocked face.

"You know…I never really understood what I felt towards you…" she continued, placing both hands on her mug. "It was always confusing. Even when I was dating Axel, I couldn't help but think of you. You're the one who made me rethink about things."

Kairi smiled thoughtfully.

"Though I s'pose Yuffie helped too…"

Sora continued to remain silent.

"When did you know you had feelings for me?" Kairi asked.

"W-Why?" stuttered Sora.

"Because I'm interested!"

Sora was a little embarrassed about the truth.

"Um…awhile."

"How long awhile?"

"S-Six months ago."

Kairi's jaw dropped.

"Six months ago?" she cried. "Oh my God! I'm an oblivious FREAK!"

"No, you're not," Sora said, shaking his head. "Six months really isn't that long…"

"It's half a YEAR!" she shouted. "It's when I first MET you! I'm an IDIOT!"

"Well, can't argue with that logic…" Sora remarked.

"Sora!"

"Sorry, sorry."

He breathed out.

"Listen, it doesn't matter when I started liking you," Sora stated. "It just matters that I do. Okay?"

"Okay," Kairi sighed.

He stood up to wash out his now empty coffee mug. Kairi started to kiss him as he was about to walk past her.

"WHAT THE HECK!"

Turning suddenly, Naminé's shocked face came into view. She looked so surprised she might've fallen right over.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS DOING?" she shouted.

"Naminé, listen…" Kairi began, but could not finish her sentence as Naminé put her hand to her forehead and collapsed on the floor.

Sora turned to look at Kairi.

"Shouldn't we do something?" he asked.

"Nah," Kairi said. "I prefer her that way. We can tell her when she wakes up."

And they lived happily ever after…

THE END

Okay, so, for the whole corny "happily ever after" bit, that was supposed to be symbolic for the chapter with Donald in it.

Also, today I am handing out Sora and Kairi plushies to everyone who has participated in reviewing.

For the first people who reviewed this story…

mOOnlite-duskk, you get a GIANT SORA PLUSHIE!

Valor999, GIANT KAIRI PLUSHIE!

Isler, GIANT SORA PLUSHIE!

cheychey41, GIANT KAIRI PLUSHIE!

To people who especially supported me and had hilarious conversations with me…

Muffin, GIANT SORA PLUSHIE!

Zestychicken2, GIANT KAIRI PLUSHIE!

Bexmar, GIANT SORA PLUSHIE!

For Final Fantasy X tips…

Malcolm Yuy, GIANT KAIRI PLUSHIE!

To people I need to apologize to for thinking they were girls...

Rahi-1, GIANT SORA PLUSHIE!

And to Micah, who is probably still reading this…

I'll give you anything you want! Just DON'T TELL SARAH ABOUT THE ENDING TO THIS!

And to everyone else who read and reviewed, MINIATURE SORA AND KAIRI PLUSHIES FOR EVERYONE! (Cannon shoots out random plushies)

Sorry, the cannon was my personal touch.

Continuing on…

In honor of this occasion, I am allowing you to ask absolutely any question you want me to answer in your reviews….along with your personal statements on the final chapter, of course. I will answer them all in the epilogue, which will be coming soon!

Read and review, and happy I Finished My Story Day!

Au revoir!