Chapter 4: Ghost of a Good Thing

The sun was high, and it was around noon as Kairi walked leisurely down the street towards Sora's house. She was eating a quick lunch, munching on an apple as she walked. She reached Sora's house and knocked on the door, eating happily away and letting her mind wander. The door opened to reveal a tired looking Sora. His expression went blank when he saw her. She smiled at him.

"Hey Sora! Do you still want to hang out today?" she asked, folding her hands behind her back. Sora bit back a rude comment, instead muttering a vague excuse.

"I'm busy today now." he said slowly. She raised her eyebrows, clearly not believing him.

"Oh, well what are you busy doing? Maybe I can help!" she offered, keeping her smile. Sora's expression didn't change.

"No, I gotta do it by myself," he stated. Kairi let out a sigh, her face falling into a frown.

"Alright, Sora, I have to talk to you about yesterday."

"Well I don't want to talk about it," Sora answered, turning to shut the door. Kairi put her hand out and held it open.

"Don't be stupid Sora. It wasn't what it looked like."

"What else could it have been?" he asked incredulously. She paused, trying to formulate her answer.

"Look, me and Riku were talking, and I got a little overexcited. You know how I get, right? I have a habit of jumping people." She allowed herself to giggle. "Anyway, that's what happened, and Riku fell over because he wasn't expecting it, that's all." She watched him carefully, looking for a sign of his reaction. His face cracked into a smile.

"Alright, I was being dumb. Sorry."

"That's okay! Now hurry up and get dressed! The weather is perfect for a fair!" She ushered him into the house.

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Giggling giddily, Kairi skipped down the park path, Sora chasing after her. The sun was on its way down, and all that was visible through the thick trees of the park was the purple-y sky of the sunset. She skidded to a stop of the gravel, catching her breath. Sora skidded to a stop next to her and grinned.

"I need to sit for a minute," she breathed, grinning back at him, still breathing hard. Sora sat down on the bench not far away and Kairi sat next to him, taking a deep breath. She kicked at the grass, looking up at the sky above her and the dancing colours of the sunset. Sora cleared his throat, looking suddenly nervous.

"Hey Kai..." he said slowly. She turned to look at him, smiling.

"Yep?" she asked innocently. He looked at her, and then cast his eyes to the ground, nervous.

"I…umm…" he started to say, but couldn't seem to get the words out. Kairi's heart sank. She wondered if she might be able to guess what he was trying to say. She frowned, thinking carefully as to how best tell him… her thoughts were cut off when she found his lips pressed against hers. She let out a slight gasp of surprise, and Sora pulled away, looking confused.

"Sora...I'm so sorry..." Kairi began to say, but Sora interrupted her.

"I'm sorry! I've never kissed a girl before, so it was bad, but I promise I'll get better! Just give me a chance!" he said quickly. She smiled sadly.

"No, Sora, you're a fine kisser, it's just that, unless you share feelings with someone, it's not going to feel right, no matter how good a kisser you are," she explained. Sora frowned.

"But I do have those feelings for you!" he argued desperately. He grabbed one of her hands and held it in his. He was acutely aware of how her touch didn't send those little shocks of numbness up his arms like it was supposed to. How all of a sudden, looking at her didn't make him tongue tied. He watched as she gathered her thoughts and started to doubt his emotions.

"I'm sorry, I just don't feel that way…" she said slowly.

"But… but why not?" he asked, hurt written all over his face, now that, mixed with the feelings of rejection, he wasn't even sure how he felt about her anymore. Kairi sighed, looking down at the ground.

"Because, don't get me wrong, I love you, I'm just not in love with you..." she answered awkwardly. Sora kicked the ground, his shoe making a scuffing sound in the dirt.

"But, I mean, I'd always thought...I mean, it's the way things were supposed to be. I went after Xemnas and Ansem so that when I came back I could live happily ever after with my best friend and my girlfriend!"

Why not your best friend and your boyfriend? Kairi found herself wondering, but instead she replied with, "Sora, things never turn out the way they're supposed to. If life was the way it was supposed to be, the Heartless never would have come, and you and Riku never would have had to fight. In fact, I never would have come to the Islands. Lots of stuff would have happened that didn't, and wouldn't have happened that did. I used to return those feelings Sora, but the Heartless attacked, the Islands were rebuilt, and we grew up into different people than we were supposed to, and now I don't feel that same way about you anymore," she explained patiently. Sora was staring at the ground, trying to hold back tears.

"I guess..."

"I used to feel that way about you, but I don't anymore, and-"

"Well why not?!"

"Please! Just hear me out! I don't feel that way about you anymore, and as crazy as it might sound now, I don't think you feel that way about me either."

"What?!" Sora looked up at her, angry that she was trying to tell him how to feel.

"Just let me finish, please! You're chasing the ghost of a good thing, just haunting yourself as the real thing is slipping away from you. It used to be that both of us felt this way about each other and it was a beautiful thing, but we don't feel like that anymore. I don't, and I don't think you do either. You just want so badly for the fairy tale ending to be real. It should be, because if anyone deserves the happily ever after, it's you. But things just don't turn out that way..." She sighed, seeing that Sora didn't want to hear what she was saying. "Just think about it, okay? I really am sorry. Just try and think about it, and make sure that these feelings are real, and not just what you think you should be feeling to make that happily ever after real," she said, getting up and walking away, disappearing down the path. Sora was left alone in the park, letting sink in the fact that he'd been rejected by the only love he'd ever wanted.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Riku pushed the glass doors at the mall entrance open and was greeted by a blast of cool air from outside. It was dusk, and he'd just gotten off work. He had a bag slung over one shoulder and found himself wondering whether Kairi had spoken to Sora yet. He shrugged and tried not to think about it, cutting across the parking lot and through the park. It didn't really cut any time off his walk going this way, but it was certainly a nicer walk. It was early evening, and most families had gone home for dinner, so the park was nearly deserted. All except for the lone, spikey haired figure sitting on a bench with his eyes staring down as his shoes. Riku walked up to him, confused.

"Sora? What are you doing here?" he asked. Sora shrugged miserably.

"I was on my way to visit your house to see if you were home yet," he answered quietly. Riku stared at him.

"My house is in the other direction." He paused, leaning forward so he could see Sora's face. "…Are you crying?"

"No."

"Sora! What's wrong?" Riku asked worriedly, sitting down next to his younger crush.

"I...I asked Kairi..." Sora stuttered, too upset and hurt to finish the sentence.

"Oh no..." Riku murmured, knowing what happened. "It's going to be okay. What did she say?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Sora answered flatly, turning so that his back was to Riku. Riku touched Sora's shoulder.

"Sometimes it helps to talk you know." He said slowly. There was a long silence, and just as Riku decided that Sora wasn't going to tell him anything, the spiky haired boy twisted around, looked up at Riku with tear-filled eyes, and then flung himself at the elder. Riku caught him, surprised and just barely able to keep himself from tumbling off the bench. He was entirely unsure of how to react, but Sora clung to him and began to spew out his story.

"I kissed her!" Sora said quickly. "I've never kissed a girl before, so it was really bad, but I only need practice!" he spewed out his explanation so quickly and Riku wasn't entirely sure what he was trying to say, but before he could ask, Sora continued. "Then she started telling me that she used to like me like that, but that things change, and that I'm chasing the ghost of a good thing because I want a happily ever after."

"What did she mean by a ghost of a good thing?"

"I told her that I'd always thought that after beating Ansem and Xemnas, I'd come back to the Islands and spend the rest of my life with you and her, my best friend and my girlfriend, and we'd live happily ever after... and she said that it used to be a good thing, but that it wasn't there anymore and that I was chasing the ghost of it. That I thought I still liked her just because I wanted that happily ever after to be real..." There was a long silence.

"You know...maybe she's right. Things don't turn out the way their supposed to, and no one gets their happily ever after, but you'll get an even better ending. There's a perfect person out there somewhere for each of us."

"How do you know?"

"Well, there'd better be. It's not like we don't deserve it." Riku answered, talking both to himself and Sora. He earned a smile from the other.

"Thanks Riku, you're right. I want a girlfriend who's just like you. Except, I mean, you know, that she's a girl..." Sora said thoughtfully, looking much more cheerful. Riku blinked. How dense can he possibly be? he found himself wondering.

"Umm, well, how about you and me hang out tomorrow. We don't get a chance to hang out, just you and me, very often anymore."

"Hey yeh!" Sora agreed. "And we can go hunting for a girlfriend for me who's just like you except a girl!"

"Umm, actually, it's uhhh... it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I figure we should stay inside..."

"Then lets go to the mall!" Sora said, grinning from ear to ear despite his cheeks still being streaked with tears from earlier. Riku shook his head awkwardly.

"Don't, I mean, don't you think it's kind of early? Considering that you just kind of got rejected..." He said slowly, regretting his words immediately as the look of hurt reappeared fresh on Sora's face. He search for a way to patch up his mishap. "I didn't mean...Sorry, I just... I mean... I, I..." He began to say, getting flustered and upset that Sora was getting upset. Sora straightened up and looked Riku in the

eye.

"It's okay, you're right. You don't have to be sorry." He said firmly, hugging the elder tightly. Riku froze, shocked, and then slowly returned the hug, blushing bright red as he did so. Sora let go and sat back. "I'll see you tomorrow then. I'll come over just before lunch. Hopefully you'll be awake by then, because last time I woke you, that didn't turn out well." He said with a grin, before leaving Riku collecting his thoughts on the park bench.