A/N: Well, I came through, didn't I? I think this might be the first time I've actually gone through with a self-imposed deadline. Am I allowed to pat myself on the back or is that considered arrogant? Ah, who cares? -pats self on back- Anyway, I really like this chapter. It's got a kind of haunting feel to it. That's my opinion anyway. Ok, so enough with this author's note, enjoy the chapter!

-Wildfire37

Chapter 1: Feel the Rhythm

The man in the black jacket passed by few people on his way to the end, and only one recognized him. Another man with blond hair, wavy and flowing to the back of his head, also dressed in appropriate winter attire, squinted his cyan blue eyes at the man. The man in the black jacket hurried his walk, this would be easier if no one knew he was here. However, it was to no avail, for the man in the black jacket heard a voice behind him.

"Hey! I know you!" The blond man exclaimed. Hoping that he was talking to someone else, the man in the black jacket kept walking. A tanned hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, putting him face to face with the blond man. "Sora! Wow, is that really you? Damn, man, it's been... what, three years?"

Sora searched the man's face for a clue as to who he was. The flash of realization hit him like a lightning bolt. It was Tidus, one of his best friends growing up. Sora turned his attention back to Tidus' question, saying, "Five, actually. A few months, too, but who's counting, right?" He put on a playful tone and his infamous grin that had won him hundreds of fans alone.

Tidus didn't buy it, though. "Where have you been, man? No one has seen or heard from you since..." He hesitated, as if wondering if mentioning her would be crossing the line.

It was, and Sora averted his eyes, suddenly finding the bar next to them extremely interesting. He replied, "Traveling."

There was a pause and Tidus backed off the subject, he looked over at the bar Sora was still staring at. Then, he was struck by an idea. Tidus gestured with his hand to the bar, titled Destiny Diner, saying, "You know what? Let me buy you a drink. I can update you on everyone, and maybe you can tell me where you've been these past few years."

Sora hesitated, he wanted as few people as possible to even know he was here, and Tidus had become nothing if not even more popular the past five years. "I actually have some-" Sora started, when he was interrupted by Tidus.

"Sorry to use the cliché, but I won't take 'no' for an answer," He said. Tidus, although shorter than Sora, managed to drape an arm around Sora's shoulder and make it look cool and natural. He proceeded to guide them into Paopu Palace.

"Sora, I'd like to introduce you to my wife, Yuna," Tidus said, gesturing with his hand to the bartender. The woman, also a blonde, heard her husband and greeted them at the end of the bar. She was wearing hot shorts and a black tank top, probably the standard female uniform for the job. Sora noticed that Yuna was strikingly beautiful, but the thing that caught his interest was her eyes. One eye was a dark blue while the other was an emerald green.

She looked him over quickly, before beaming widely, as if he was a member of her own family. She laughed lightly, and said, "So, you're the infamous Sora. Y'know, you're a hero to my Tidus. For the early part of his career, you were all he would talk about. 'Would Sora like this?' and 'I don't know if Sora would do something like that.' My personal favorite was 'I don't think even Sora's girlfriend lets him do that!'"

Yuna broke out in laughter, and Sora even let out a chuckle. Tidus' cheeks were tinted red, and he murmured, "That didn't happen..." After laughing at him some more, Yuna calmed down and Tidus had his second great idea of the night. He said, "Hey, babe. Can you put on track 37?"

She smiled knowingly, almost a smirk but with more innocence, then nodded. She skipped over to a jukebox at the other end of the bar, pressed a few buttons and skipped back to her husband and Sora. Music started playing from a series of speakers set up hanging from the ceiling. Sora instantly recognized the guitar strums at the beginning of the song.

Tidus observed Sora's expression, then commented on the song, "You remember this song? You should, you wrote it."

Sora looked into Tidus' eyes, wondering what the man could possibly want from him. An explanation, the thought came to mind, The question is... do I have one he'll understand? Tidus tried figuring out how Sora was feeling through his eyes as well, but couldn't get anything from them. It was like they had died a long time ago. Sora broke the gaze and turned to Yuna, "Can I get a beer?"

Yuna nodded, then walked into the kitchen behind the bar. Tidus grabbed Sora's arm, "Seriously, man, what's wrong with you?"

Sora hesitated, and then Yuna came back with a beer can and set it down in front of Sora. He opened it up, and took a swig with one quick motion. Thinking hard about his response, Sora replied, "It's nothing important."

Tidus didn't believe him, but decided to lay off for now. It's not like Sora was going anywhere, right? He got distracted by Yuna twirling a finger in his hair. Turning to face her, Tidus gave a charming smile then took her hand and brought her out from behind the bar. He clasped her hand with one of his and slipped the other around her waist. She laughed lightly, placing her hand around Tidus' neck. The two began to sway to the song, as the lyrics came on. Sora's voice sounded much smoother and younger in the song than it did now.

C'mon babe, just take it easy.

We don't have anywhere to go,

so let this guitar wash over you.

Just feel the rhythm, feel the rhythm...

- - - REGRET * REGRET * REGRET - - -

Feel the rhythm, baby...

As Sora sung the last line of his new song, the main lights came on in the stadium and the audience erupted in cheering, applause, and catcalls. Sora grinned, life was good. He took the microphone from the stand in front of him.

Sora waited for the applause to die down, then spoke into the mic."Thanks to everyone who came out here tonight!" Another deafening uproar from the crowds of fans arose. Sora waited for them to calm down again, before continuing, "Tonight, as you most of you know, is special to us. On this day, two years ago... the Oathkeepers were formed. As such, I'd like to thank every single person that's helped us out on our journey. First, there's Pence, Hayner, and Olette, our tech crew. Then, there's Yuffie, our publicity manager; Leon, our actual manager; Cloud and Aerith, who have been selling us instruments since our first gig; and Riku Malusian... of course, the C.E.O. of Destiny Records, who took a... special interest in us early on. You guys mind coming out? I think the fans want to thank you!" Yet another outbreak of applause came up, which only increased as their friends came out.

First out was Yuffie, short, black hair bouncing while she did acrobatics on stage; then Leon, who struggled to control his new girlfriend while appearing as cool as possible; Pence, Hayner, and Olette, the 'Triplets' as the band affectionately dubbed them; Cloud and Aerith, always calm and collected; and Riku. Dressed in a complete business suit, with black slacks, jacket, dress shirt, and tie, he fit the role of C.E.O. rather well. His long, silver hair only complimented his above-average looks. The young business prodigy strutted on stage, and seeing his girlfriend, walked over to her and kissed her passionately. This evoked a conflicted response from the audience: some were ecstatic at romance finally being on the stage, others were outraged that said romance wasn't between Sora and Kairi.

The girl Riku was kissing was, of course, Kairi. Sora made the mistake of looking over at them. Instantly horrified that the girl he was in love with was kissing another man, he took off his shoe and threw it at Riku. The shoe flew through the air and hit Riku in the shoulder. He stumbled back a foot, then glared at Sora, to the booming laughter of the audience. Sora shrugged, and said, "No PDA on stage, Riku. Sorry."

Sora pointed at each of them in turn and introduced them to the audience. After finishing, he turned his attention to the rest of the band. "Now, we get to the guys and girls you've been dying to meet. Over there on the electric guitar is Tidus Clearwater, on bass is Xion Kisaragi, on drums is my very own brother Roxas, and on vocals, the girl you all know and love, my best friend in the whole world: Kairi Refay!" The crowd simply erupted at the last name. It was thought all over the world that Sora and Kairi were destined to be together, and they just hadn't figured it out yet. That was part of why the band was so popular. Unable to control the crowd again, Sora resigned with, "And just so you don't forget, I'm Sora Michaels! Good night, Destiny Islands!"

Everybody walked off stage into the exit to the right. While down in the locker room, Roxas shouted out, "Hey guys! Naminé has reserved a couple of booths at Destiny's Diner! Who's up for an after-party?"

General signs of affirmation were made among the group and they headed out to the diner. A few hours later, Sora and Kairi were back in their apartment. As the two were best friends, they decided to roommate with each other. At the current moment, Sora was standing on the balcony overlooking Destiny Islands' main island. He had both hands rested on the rail and was staring off into the moon. Since getting home, he had taken off his jacket and tie, and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the black undershirt he was wearing and the good luck charms he always kept with him: a silver necklace resembling a crown, and another necklace.

This second necklace was a charm made of thalassa shells that Kairi had given him for his birthday. The charm had five different shells arranged like a five-pointed star, tied together with a wooden token resembling a crown in the middle, but the best part was the drawing on it. On the top shell, a simple face was drawn, using only two dots, a curved line, and a couple of jagged lines for the hair. Supposedly, sailors used to wear them to insure safety during their trip.

Kairi, still wearing the black dress she had worn for their performance, walked down the stairs of their luxury two-story apartment and saw Sora out on the balcony. She smiled wistfully at him, and then walked out there to join him. She opened the glass sliding door, to the alarm of Sora, who turned around quickly. Seeing who it was, his body calmed down and his heart sped up.

"Mind if I join you? It's a beautiful night," she asked, in the sweet tone that Sora loved.

Sora grinned back at her, the same grin that Kairi loved, "Sure. Better to share it with someone you care about, right?"

Kairi smiled and nodded, then walked over next to him. They both put their hands on the rail and stared into the night sky. Kairi noticed the charm around his neck, "You still have the charm I gave you for your birthday?"

Sora looked at her, then down at the charm. He played with it a little, then nodded. "I never go anywhere without it," Sora replied, "What's the use of a good luck charm if I'm not wearing it?"

Kairi smiled softly, then returned her gaze to the moon. Soon, she nudged Sora with her elbow, "Do you mind cuddling with me? It's kinda cold out here." Sora shook his head in response and placed his arm around her waist, and Kairi snuggled up closer to his body, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around his stomach. "Mm, this is nice. Can we stay like this for a while?"

Sora smiled at her and replied, "I don't mind."

They stayed like that for a few minutes, then Kairi broke the silence, "I really liked that last song you sang. Feel the Rhythm, was it?" Sora nodded in response. "It was really good. Who was it for?"

"Ah, so you saw through my ruse?" Sora answered with another question.

"I've known you long enough to know about these kinds of things. So, tell me. Who did you write that song for?" Kairi asked, secretly wishing beyond anything else that it was for her.

Sora's expression darkened a little, and he replied, "Someone that I really care for."

"Oh? Does she know it?"

"I don't think so."

"That's a shame."

"Huh?" Sora turned his head and looked at her. Kairi met his gaze with her amethyst eyes.

"You're a really great guy. Handsome, charming, talented, smart... I can't imagine a girl not falling for you," she explained, searching his eyes for something that would tell her if he felt the same towards her. At the same time, Sora was looking for something similar in her eyes. Both of them found it.

She's so beautiful right now, in the moonlight, Sora thought. Kairi placed her hand on his cheek, and Sora placed his hand atop hers. Without realizing it, they found their heads inching closer towards each other. They maintained eye contact, letting their gazes tell each other what they couldn't with words. Kairi felt his warm breath on her cheek. As their lips neared each other, they felt their eyes closing, allowing themselves to be sucked into the moment. They allotted themselves this one sin, and their faces got closer and closer...

RING! RING! RING!

Sora and Kairi snapped away from each other instantly. After getting over the shock that she had almost kissed her best friend, Kairi realized that her phone was ringing from inside her purse. She kneeled down and got her phone out of it. The caller id told her that it was her boyfriend. She struggled to find the words, switching her gaze from Sora to the phone rapidly.

Finally, Sora found them for her, "You should take that call, if that is who I think it is." With that, Sora turned and faced the moon again.

Kairi was heartbroken, and tried to plead with him, "Sora..." Yet Sora wouldn't even look at her. "Sora!" she yelled. Sora turned his head to look at her, but all Kairi found in his eyes was a cold, hard, stony wall.

Sora's voice was just as cold and distant. "Go. Accept the call." Sora turned towards the horizon.

Wrestling with tears coming from her eyes, Kairi pressed a button on her phone and answered with a shaky voice, "Hello?... Oh, hey, Riku..." One last look at Sora told her all she needed to know, "Yeah, I have time to talk..." Kairi walked inside the apartment, wiping a tear from her cheek.

- - - REVENGE * REVENGE * REVENGE - - -

The song died down in the bar, and Tidus twirled Yuna one more time. After kissing her for a moment, he turned his gaze towards where he had left Sora. Startled, Tidus walked over to where Sora used to be sitting. All he found was an empty can of beer and a twenty-dollar bill. Tidus hurriedly got out his phone and sent a mass text to some friends.

From: Tidus Clearwater

Text: You'll never believe who I just ran into...

A/N: Pretty good, right? I think I've outdone myself on this chapter. So, what do you think? Is the story getting the tragic feel yet? Does anyone have a guess as to what happened? Tell me about in a review or message!

In other story news: The next chapter of Mistakes should be up soon, so if you're a fan of my work, look forward to that. I'm thinking one week, maybe, before the next chapter of it is up. Hopefully shorter, but you never know.

Special thanks to Rivendell101 for being the first person to review on this story! I really do appreciate every review I get. Again, thanks to you, if you're reading this.

Have a nice day, everyone!

-Wildfire37