Konohana, a Volcanic Duality

by AmaryllisMoth

Reconnect: Kingdom Hearts, unite all scattered worlds and rescue what is lost. Their journey is complete, but adjusting to their new reality leaves many struggles to be sorted. For there are many things yet left unsaid. Life at school may not be as action packed as they're used to, but it certainly can be troublesome. Does every beginning always signify an end?

18. Kairi: A Lonely Shadow

A/N: While normally I dislike interjecting, I felt it important to mention a small warning for those uncomfortable with non-consent situations. This chapter is also the heaviest in terms of sexual themes. While the rest of the story is safely rated T, this chapter may be slightly, ever so slightly, erring on the M side of things. (I'm not sure what exactly crosses the line.) It's not significant, but enough to make me have doubts about potentially upsetting someone. Since I was borderline concerned about it I felt a warning was necessary, just to be safe.

Thanks for your understanding.

The story will likely be concluded with the next chapter, with a possible epilogue to follow. If you've been following the journey so far, I appreciate it and hope it has at least been semi entertaining.

-A. Moth

---

"So...how is this supposed to work, again?" Roxas stared at his racket incredulously.

"It's not." Riku crossed his arms, refusing to even pick his up.

"Aw come on, it'll be fun!" Sora whined desperately, prodding at Ven's shoulder.

Ven scooped his up eagerly. "I dunno what you're trying to convince me for, I already think it'll be great."

It was certainly great, at least, to have everyone together like this. And for a whole weekend away on the Wayward Archipelago, or so we called it. I had really missed our camping trips; we were almost two whole weeks into summer vacation and hadn't been able to go even once! It's too bad I couldn't convince Sora not to bring up his half-baked underwater tennis idea...

Aqua shook her head. "I suppose if you play it a bit like water polo you might have some luck..."

Terra also looked a bit skeptical. "And this is a popular sport here?"

"No..." I corrected, much to Sora's chagrin. "He just came up with it one day but never had a chance to test it out."

"Until today!" He eagerly tossed his racket back and forth between his hands.

Xion came skipping down the beach in the new swimsuit Namine and I had picked out for her. She had been so hesitant about the green color, but it was oh so definitely the right choice. I noticed most of the guys giving her a side glance, especially Riku. Very suspicious. I sneered a little and checked up on Sora. Thankfully, he was far too distracted trying to test if the tennis balls could float to notice. Which is good news for him, it means I don't have to give him a hard time later.

"Wait, what are we doing now?" Xion glanced in confusion at all the tennis rackets lying strewn about on the sand.

"Sora is trying to teach us how to play a game...but I'm afraid most of us think it may be a bad idea..." I was a little glad that Namine can be more blunt than me at times.

"Aw...what's wrong with it?" Sora pouted.

Aqua took it upon herself to try. "It just needs some improvement. To start with, there's no obvious way to score points. Without some kind of metric it would just dissolve into pelting each other with sodden tennis equipment..." She definitely raised a valid point.

"That could still be fun." Lea joked, trying to bounce one of the tennis balls as many times as he could on the edge of the racket. "Come on, let's just wing it."

That sounds like a supremely bad idea. But I knew how much he was looking forward to playing something with everyone…

"Sora, could I suggest something?"

His spirit was looking a little dampened. "Yeah..."

"The point of the game is to make lots of splashes, right? Why don't we fill some of the balloons we brought with water and use them instead of the tennis balls? Then we can play it on land, and instead of hitting them, we can use the rackets to try and deflect incoming attacks."

"Oh, I see!" Namine clapped her hands. "So, we would be throwing water balloons at each other and trying to play defensively in order to not get wet?"

Xion giggled and snatched the racket away from Roxas. "I'm game for that!"

Sora immediately brightened. "Yeah! That...that could work!"

Riku cleared his throat. "Alright, let's form two teams. There's ten of us, so we could do an even split, but we'll have to take a few things into account, here. I'll propose a division—feel free to convince me otherwise when I'm done." I saw Riku doing a quick calculation in his head.

"Roxas and Ven, you need to be on the same team, just so no one has to think twice about which one of you they're aiming at. No offense."

The two of them shrugged and nodded at each other.

"Sora and Roxas should probably be on opposite teams as well, just to make things even." Namine suggested.

"Right..." Riku pulled out a very sneaky smile. "So, final line-ups are going to be: Roxas, Ven, Namine, Kairi, and myself vs Sora, Lea, Xion, Aqua and Terra."

I gave a mock haughty laugh in Sora's direction. "That means I'm targeting yooou."

Sora abruptly spun to face Riku. "Can I contest this for a second?"

Roxas held his arms up in the shape of an X. "Nope! If Kairi's on our team then we have a total advantage over you. There's no way you're not going easy on her and Namine. Kairi'll totally kill you later if you don't."

Xion gave Lea a high five and pointed over to Roxas. "Yeah, well we're coming straight after you!"

Namine backed away hesitantly. "I'm not really sure I'll be too good at this...I'm the only one without any battle experience. Maybe I should just-"

I firmly handed a racket over to her. "Namine, you're going to be our chief strategist. You know Riku and I will protect you. And we have those two for the offense." I jabbed my thumb at the two twins.

"Strategist?"

Riku held up the packet of balloons. "You just need to dart around and make sure that all of us are supplied with the ammo."

"Maybe we should make a few large piles in the sand along a dividing line. No one is allowed to cross it, but either team can take whatever you can reach." Aqua proposed another great idea, and everyone seemed to agree quite quickly.

And then began the task of filling all these balloons up…

---

It ended in a draw, or so we officially decided, because everyone ended up soaking wet by the end. I still think that Namine being the most dry out of all of us should account for something and both Riku and I should have earned extra points for absorbing most of that splash damage. Of course Lea had decided to be a jerk and target me specifically about halfway through because, as he put it, 'there's no way Sora will, but I know he wants to see you all wet'. Ugh, sometimes he's so troublesome…

I stretched out on my beach towel and took in the fresh sea air. It was definitely nice drying off and relaxing at the same time. I checked up on Namine who was still peacefully drawing under the beach umbrella, Xion asleep next to her. Maybe it was getting about time for me to get changed back into some regular clothes and go search around the hills for wherever the boys wandered off to. It had been a while since Sora and Riku chased off after that interesting bird Riku wanted to photograph. But who knows what they're up to now.

I made my way back towards the small beach house to get changed, pulling out that cute sun dress that also wouldn't be a huge pain to go hiking in.

Hmm? I saw what looked like a note tucked just inside my bag. When did that get there? It was on some fairly generic stationary and didn't seem to have any name written on it. I wonder if it was really meant for me or if it accidentally got mixed in with my stuff. I figured maybe I should just take a peek and if it looked like it was for someone else I could just apologize and return it to them. I undid the tape and folded it open.

I found a pretty orchid in the forest clearing I want to show you. Follow the left path past the stump that looks like an owl until you find the tree burnt by lightning. Go further into the woods, straight behind it until you find the clearing. Come alone.

There was no name signed, and it still wasn't clear the message was for me, but the handwriting was Sora's. Albeit, maybe written out in a hurry, but I definitely recognized the little loop he always made over his i's. So, probably. I giggled a little to myself. Whether or not this mystery orchid even exists, I have a feeling Sora just wrote me this note as a handy excuse to give us some private time together today. I suppose I can make up some excuse to get myself over there.

After I get changed let's see if he's actually found something or not…

---

I glanced around the clearing, definitely not spotting where this mystery orchid was supposed to be. Or Sora, for that matter. There was a small boulder in the center of the courtyard, covered with the slightest touch of moss. I managed to find a clear spot on the stone and took a seat, resting my bag down next to me. Closing my eyes, I tried to see if I could feel his presence anywhere nearby.

Riku was always so good at that. Sora too, to an extent. I mostly just sensed changing patterns of light and darkness like shadows shifting beyond a silver veil. But I'd learned both of their patterns pretty well now to be able to pick them out if they are close enough.

All I could hear were some birds and the rustling of the tree leaves in the gentle breeze. Nothing yet.

Oh well. Sora will be around eventually. Until then I just wanted to enjoy the peaceful afternoon silence. I leaned back on my arms, lifting my head up into the very bottom wisps of a sunbeam crossing the meadow.

I felt the rush of a sudden chill and shivered, opening my eyes to quickly check around me. Nothing still.

I sighed, shakily. I wonder what that could have been? Maybe just a rogue cold breeze? I anxiously started playing with the hem of my skirt, checking left and right again to see if Sora had finally come. I was suddenly very aware at how isolated I was from everyone else. I bit my lip in worry. I should have told someone where I was going. What if I had gotten lost? Or...what if it was…

I shook my head. It should be fine. I'm just being paranoid over nothing. He hasn't been to the island in so long I almost forgot about all that stalking nonsense. I tried to relax again, but I was just too on edge now to really sit still. Something kept nagging at the back of my mind and every fiber of my being just wanted to run back to the others. Sora...where are you…

I fidgeted and shivered again.

This was definitely not right.

The birds had stopped chirping.

I stood up on the rock, deciding I would just head back and if Sora wasn't at the camp I would just wait there until-

CRACK!

I screamed in shock, falling off the rock completely to the sandy dirt below. I saw to my right one of the trees lurching as an old branch continued its noisy crash to the ground. It must have just...broken?

When nothing else happened, I sighed heavily, realizing it was just a mean tree. Such a silly thing to get scared over. I probably fell just as gracefully as that branch did, too. I lifted myself up off the ground a bit tenderly, noticing that my leg had gotten a bit scraped up on the rock on the way down. My ankle definitely didn't feel right either, probably because it had twisted under me after getting caught in one of my bag straps.

I tested it gingerly, and it seemed like it would be alright. Just...probably not the best idea to go on a run anytime soon. It should be fine by tomorrow morning at the latest.

The unmistakable chill of something dark returned quickly and unmistakably from behind me. I inhaled sharply, spinning around to face whatever it was. I barely saw the dark energy coming right for me, but my muscle memory ducked for me and my Keyblade deflected it, dissipating it into the air. Another blast quickly followed the first, but knowing I wasn't in a position to run, I created a magic shell around myself to absorb the impact. The force still sent me reeling a bit, and my back hit the rock sharply. With the third strike, I used the same magic, but pushed forward, knocking the energy back towards whoever was throwing it. Using the brief opening while they either dodged or got hit, I scrambled around the boulder to make a pseudo shield between me and whatever or whoever that was.

I heard nothing from the other side, so I raised my voice. "Whoever you are, you'd better not co-"

Some strange haze blasted across the clearing and my voice caught in my throat. What...what kind of magic was that...? I tried opening my mouth to speak again, but nothing, not even the sound of my breath came out. Why did everything taste...fuzzy? Either something was wrong with my ears, or my voice had been completely taken away. I vaguely remembered these symptoms being explained to me, but I had never experienced it myself before. Magic to render me speechless and unable to cast myself or something like that.

Alarmed, I steadied my hand on my blade. How was I supposed to reverse this condition? Esuna might work, but...

As I tried to cast it quickly, the magic just fizzled out in my hand. This is really really bad. Most of my fighting power is magic based, too.

What else cured this condition? Herbs, right? But I didn't have my bag with me on this side of the rock.

Before I could try rushing out to snag the medicine pouch from my bag, some kind of solid black smoke flew out from behind me, wrapping itself around my wrist, dragging me back with it. I pulled back against it, but my ankle twisted down again and I felt myself gasp out in pain, not that I could hear it. Taking advantage of my vulnerability, I saw another smokey arm grab around my other wrist, leaving me struggling with both hands.

I tried shooting out a quick ice spell with my hand, but it fizzled into nothing and the smoke twisted my arm, sending the sparkling puff of energy shooting uselessly into the bushes. The smoke managed to drag me over to a large dead tree at the edge of the clearing and several other rings of that dark force began tying my body to place despite how much I tried kicking out at them. It seemed to be both solid and not solid in just the wrong ways. As I lashed out at them, my limbs passed straight through, but the minute it wanted to grab me, I couldn't shake it.

In only a moment I was stuck tight, unable to move. I shouted more silence, and tried once more to cast a curative spell. Every time, the spell would fail and the smoke would yank my arms painfully up over my head in punishment until I stopped.

I instead turned my attention across the clearing. I had a feeling I knew who was doing this. Sure enough, stepping out from the shadows towards me was him again. I tried shouting again, forgetting about this stupid curse he must have put on me. He grinned over at me in his typical overconfident way.

"I've gotten a bit better at my penmanship, wouldn't you say? Not too hard to copy his style considering I've got his hand." Vanitas sneered at me, idly rolling his fingers through the air. "I'll admit my first letter was...crude. But I was so surprised at how easily I was able to draw you out somewhere alone."

I glared at him, hoping he would just explain what he wanted already. And how was he even able to attack anyway!? Ven should have sealed him. The only way he would be able to use this power is if he somehow...borrowed it from someone else? Which would certainly make sense. These dark plant-like arms don't really feel like anything he's ever used before. But...who would give him this power? Who could?

"You know, you aren't nearly as charming when you can't sass me back properly. And no tennis balls this time, either, I see." He gripped my chin and waggled my face back and forth to mock me. I tried pulling away from him but he only gripped harder, making me wince. "You've still definitely got that fighting spark in your eyes, though. Perfect."

Would he just get on with it already and tell me what he wants? Probably another pitch to let the darkness in. Ugh. I'm sure he has a reason other than just to taunt me. I think he sensed my impatience and released my face, stepping back a bit to examine me.

"Look at you, all confused. You really haven't figured it out yet?"

I felt some of my frustration slipping into doubt. Figured out…? Well obviously I figured out that he was the one who wrote me that stupid trick letter in my bag. What a stupidly obvious trap and I fell right for it. Come to think of it, he probably wrote that other weird unsigned letter I had gotten a long time ago, right before all this stalking stuff from him started. But something tells me the letters aren't what he's referring to.

Vanitas snapped, and all the strange dark smoke vines shifted, most of it wrapping around my waist as it lifted me up slightly off the ground. The others kept my arms completely useless up over my head. His hand returned to my face, slowly moving up along my cheek before pulling lightly at the ends of my hair. He then traced his fingers down my neck, and across my collarbone. What was he…?

I tried yelling, but he ignored my struggling silence completely. There was such a twisted smile on his face and I hated it. Why won't he just tell-

He fell forward, his face pressed uncomfortably close against the side of my neck. I froze, horrified that he was trying to bite me or something like some kind of vampire. He inhaled deeply into my skin and I shivered in revulsion.

As I waited, trapped, I felt his hand return to my hair, brushing it through his fingers as if he was enjoying playing with it. Lifting his face closer to my ear, I heard him growl in a guttural, almost primal kind of way as he pushed his body into me. I tried desperately to hide my fear; surely that was the response, the thrill he was seeking from me. What was he even doing?

He inhaled again and a sickening shiver of dread passed through me. It couldn't be...was he really smelling my hair? That was just like…

"I can feel your heart beating faster, Princess. Does this excite you a little?"

I desperately tried to answer in the negative, but my voice was utterly useless. I shook my head so hard it smacked against a jutting section of bark on the tree, which seemed to amuse him. I tried to pull myself away but the darkness he controlled held me too tightly. I stared at that face and realized that he might have stolen my voice, but he didn't cover my mouth.

He wiped my saliva off his face, squishing my cheeks so hard together I couldn't move my head away. I couldn't tell he if was angry over what I'd done or not because he just maintained that cold, unfeeling gaze on me, saying nothing. I expected him to scold me, or at least to strike back in some way, but he just...stared for a while longer until he released my face once more.

It was like a silent threat. He knew there was nothing I really could do. And his silence was almost lauding that over my head, as if it was too obvious to even be said aloud. He lowered one hand to my waist and returned his face near to the side of mine, breaking the silence with a dark laugh right in my ear.

I felt his teeth lightly graze my neck and he growled again, kissing it down low, right where my neck and shoulder met. At the same time I felt the hand pressing against my waist slowly start tracing itself down across my hip towards my thigh. And I felt such a wave of fear that he could possibly be wanting something other than my heart this time.

Stop it! Stop it now!

I twisted myself away from his hand, kicking out with my injured leg wanting nothing more than to just scream at him. How dare he do something like this to me. At least my legs weren't as tightly bound as the rest of me.

My knee made contact with his chest and I shoved out with everything I had, pushing him slightly away. He chuckled darkly, grabbing his hand around my ankle and holding my entire leg hostage. With his other hand he traced some lines around the bare skin of my knee.

"You know...it's really not fair how soft your skin is. But I also didn't expect it to taste so good either."

Please stop this.

I knew it would be useless to scream, but I did anyway, shouting everything I could think of at him in desperation, trying to regain control over my own leg. His laugh increased in volume and he lifted it up a little higher.

A horrible smile crept up on his face as I saw his eyes wander.

Ugh! UGH! Creep!

I tried shifting my other leg over to block his view but he just used his stupid smoke arm vine things to pull it to the side again. Why did I have to wear a dress today...

"Little frilly white ones with a pink bow. How predictable."

My face burned and I seethed. I have never felt so absolutely violated before. What made him think he had the right to do any of this?

I struggled harder, trying to kick him again with my leg. He temporarily lost his grip and angrily tried to regain it, pulling back against me sharply, right against my ankle. Pain shot up my body in such a sudden wave that I couldn't hide it. I gasped, silently, as the pain continued its course. My whole leg felt like it was on fire and I noticed a few drops of blood falling down from the cut on the side that he must have irritated. Shakily, I saw that he had almost completely frozen, his eyes transfixed on the blood on my leg. His grip had also significantly loosened, as if he was in shock as well at what happened.

I knew while he was distracted this was my chance. I could lightly feel the bonds on my arms slightly loosen as his concentration broke. It wasn't enough to do anything now, but if I could keep him distracted, I might be able to work with it. I pushed my heel against the bark of the tree to mostly push off my sandal, balancing it on my toes. I really wasn't sure what my plan was, but I had to act. I flicked my foot forward as hard as I could, flinging my shoe out across the clearing. It crashed into some bushes and rattled them.

Alarmed, he spun around with his hands up, I assume to fight off what he thought may be a potential attacker come to rescue me. I felt the bonds around my arms slacken just enough that I could swing my wrist forward. I could barely see the strap of my bag peeking out from behind the stone and I knew I just had the one shot at this...

Summoning my Keyblade again in my hand, I flicked my wrist and directed it to dive forward towards the sand where my bag lay. It wasn't easy to telekinetically spin this thing, and I only had this one chance to make this shot. If it could only clip onto the strap, then...

Yes!

It embedded itself into the sand, the length of the blade running right through the loop of the bag strap. At this point Vanitas had clearly realized he had been tricked after he fished my shoe out of the bushes and he spun around to confront me. But he hadn't seen me throw my Keyblade to the sand. I waited until he fully faced me before calling it back.

It twitched to life, catching my bag as it flipped up to zip back towards me. Both sailed unimpeded right into the back of Vanitas' head, knocking him down to the ground. The dark arms holding me collapsed temporarily and I wiggled out of them, snatching my bag up and ripping the medicine pouch off the side. I felt the dark tendrils reaching back for me but I knocked it away, scurrying as fast as I could behind the nearest tree. The arms continued to chase me, one yanking me back by my leg once more.

I clawed at the ground, grabbing onto some roots to keep myself from being dragged back to the clearing. I knew I couldn't run, I just had to get my magic back. I dug through the pouch. There had to be the right herb in here somewhere...

Aha! I spotted the familiar leaf and jammed it under my tongue, tasting the overwhelming peppermint flavor as it filled my mouth.

I immediately shot a ray of light at the dark arm holding onto me and it almost shrieked, crumbling into a dried husk. More came charging at me and I practically dove away from them, back towards the clearing. Just as another arm threatened to grab me, I planted myself firmly in the sand and braced with a strong reflective shield, glowing strong with light.

Even just lightly brushing against my shield caused the dark arms to crumble into dust. He couldn't touch me here.

Vanitas tutted, crossed his arms and observed me with a frustrated look on his face. So many questions were racing through my head, I didn't even know where to start with them. Knowing him, though, he probably wouldn't answer a single one. I wanted to scream at him, call him a dirty pervert or some other nasty name but I don't think that would help at all.

I decided to try speaking anyway, to at least try to get answers. "This whole time...this whole time that you've been watching me, following me...were you just waiting for a chance to do this!? Why!?"

Like I thought, he said nothing. Something in his eyes looked...so sad. Broken. It was almost exactly like Sora when he had been standing up by the lighthouse that day. There had to be a reason.

You really haven't figured it out yet? That's what he asked me. He must have given me clues, then. I just need to rethink back to what he's told me and try to look past all his dripping sarcasm. He must have said more than I realized...

Hate me so much you can't even stand it when I visit?

Won't you at least listen to me...?
Surely you must know something about emotions and feelings? Hope, happiness...love?

Have you ever considered that maybe it is your light that is blinding you? That's why you never even considered they could love you, desire you!

Don't you want to be closer?

I shivered. Is...something like that even possible!? Could he actually...also...

"Vanitas, do you...do you like me?"

"N-no!" He snarled, his face looking angrier than ever. But he couldn't hide that slight redness in his cheeks.

I suppose that answers the question.

Why does this keep happening to me!? How could he even...? I barely spent any time at all with him!

But I suppose...because of that connection between him and Sora before...could it be that he has feelings for me because of that? Sora's feelings must have been so strong, some of it lingered, even after the connection was broken. And now he's left with a confused infatuation over me, I assume.

I doubt he understands what's going on inside him at all. He was never given a chance to really feel or understand emotions properly, because all the good feelings in him were just forcibly stamped out and replaced with negativity before. Now that he's finally been given the freedom to explore them he...doesn't know how.

I'm not really his biggest fan, to say the least, but I can't condemn him either. He really is like a lost puppy in the wild, abused and left out on the streets, desperately hoping to find a place to be. It isn't surprising that he doesn't understand, and lashes out all the time. He turned, obviously ready to make his escape.

"Wait!" I lowered my shield and tried to stand as well as I was able.

He glanced over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes in confusion, still saying nothing.

"I'm sorry...I didn't realize..."

"What? Didn't realize that I had feelings?" He scoffed. "It's nothing new. I'm used to it."

"No! That's not..." I felt really guilty. Yes, I was still mad about the underwear thing, but I felt like that was a bit of a secondary issue right now. I took a step towards him and reached out, my heart pounding. He still stood, only looking at me over his left shoulder, watching as I grabbed for his left hand.

"Vanitas, I know why you looked upset when you saw the cut on my leg. I saw your face. You didn't want to hurt me."

He let me take his hand and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You really think that's why I...? You think I care about you? I just wanted to use you and be done with it. To get you out of my head!" He snarled, but I could see pause behind those eyes of his.

I knew that wasn't true. It was clear to me now the reason he wanted to 'give me darkness in my heart' was so that I could understand him. Because he cared about having me understand him. He wouldn't have bothered with that otherwise.

I suddenly felt so guilty for throwing those tennis balls at his head, now.

"You obviously care, and that's a really, really good thing."

"...why?" He looked at me, almost like a frightened child. He needed help. He was so unused to good thoughts and feelings he was running from them in fear, retreating back to the dark thoughts he was comfortable with, even though they hurt him and others.

"Because...while it isn't easy now, and I can feel you are full of so many confusing new emotions, it means at the end of it all, if you keep trying to figure things out I really think you'll be okay. It makes me believe in you."

He trembled a little under my grip. I had never seen him this vulnerable before.

"But...you just need help. It's okay for you to want to get close to me, to understand your feelings, but assaulting me like that isn't the right way to-"

He ripped his hand out from mine and grabbed my neck so suddenly I didn't have time to react.

"Why would I want help!?"

I gasped and tried pulling his hand away but he only dug his fingers in further.

"You'd never be mine, anyway! Not until I get rid of him."

I struggled to breathe as he tightened his grip, lifting me up off the ground. It hurt. It hurt so badly. I tried kicking out at him but it only made him clench harder.

"That's why I have to force you!"

Not even a squeak could escape my throat. No...I know he doesn't want to do this, not really...

My vision tunneled as it started to go black but I barely saw something fast flash across my eyes. My feet stumbled as they dropped to the ground and in the same instant I could breathe, I saw Vanitas sprawled out in front of me with Riku on top of him, violently smashing him into the ground. I teetered unsteadily, choking, gasping for air but felt a warm, strong embrace wrap around me tight, keeping me from falling.

I wanted to just melt into Sora's arms, but I pawed my way out enough to hoarsely shout down to the two boys wrestling down at my feet. "S-stop!"

Thankfully he listened to me, pulling Vanitas up to his feet by his jacket and shoving him forcefully away from us. Vanitas spit on the ground, wiping his face.

"I guess your prince and his knight are finally here to protect you."

I felt Sora's arms tense around me and he huddled me closer to him. I could barely breathe properly yet, still coughing into Sora's chest. I felt him lightly rubbing my back and it was wonderfully soothing right now.

Riku shoved Vanitas again, hard. "Shut up and get out of here."

Vanitas turned his eyes to me and he sneered. "Don't think I'm done with you. Just one taste isn't enough."

I shivered and turned away from his eyes, disgusted. The good is in there somewhere. But it's swamped by so much...muck.

I could feel Sora's breathing increase slightly but he kept his voice surprisingly steady. "Leave her alone."

"Make me, loser. You talk big but just moments ago, choking the life out of her would have been so easy."

"Y-you-"

Riku interjected forcefully. "You mess with either of them and you'll regret it. I won't say it again: Go. Now."

He shrugged and gave a lackadaisical wave over his shoulder, starting off into the darkness of the woods. "Thanks for the eye candy, Pink Ribbon. I'll remember it."

Ugh! I hope he doesn't think it's okay to start calling me that.

Sora, Riku and I stayed silently waiting until it was clear that his aura had left the area. Sora was the first to speak, wrapping me up in a tight hug for a moment before looking me all over.

"Are you okay!? Did he hurt you!?" He patted my head, and my shoulders, searching for any obvious injury. His eyes spotted my leg and he quickly knelt down to examine it. "Did he do this!?"

I finally felt like my throat was steady enough to speak again. "Sora, calm down, it's okay. I'm...I'll be fine."

I could see Riku eyeing me with the same concern, only a lot less vocally. Sora was working on trying to heal the cut on my leg, but it wasn't really doing much for my ankle which felt a lot more swollen now. I tested out some weight on it but it only made me wince and stumble forward a bit. He jumped up and caught me.

"I-It's okay, really." I felt a few tears welling up and I struggled to keep them down. If I cried I knew it would only make them worry even more. I tried to get over to my bag but my leg absolutely wasn't having it.

"Kairi, do you want me to carry you back? I don't mind."

I knew he would offer something like that but I felt guilty just accepting it. Here I was, just being a helpless damsel again. I hated it. But at the same time I really don't think I could walk very quickly and I would risk hurting myself further. I think he could tell I was wrestling with it in my head because he laid a hand on my shoulder and gave me a little smile.

"It'd make me feel a lot better if I could. Please? For me?"

I tried hiding my smile. Seems like Riku is trying to teach him a thing or two about winning arguments: trying to make it seem like I'm helping him out when he's actually doing it to benefit me. But I can't really argue with those eyes, either. I bit my lower lip and could only nod slowly, brushing a few spare tears away.

He perked up, hastily spinning around and crouching on the ground, offering his back up to me. "When's the last time you had a piggy back ride, huh?"

I really appreciated him trying to lighten the mood, especially since Riku was still silently standing there with a really dour look on his face. I hesitated before grabbing hold, feeling a little embarrassed about it. As a child it was such an innocent thing, but now the idea of wrapping myself around him was...different.

But I'm sure it must still be fun. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned into his back. He lifted himself slowly up off the ground, reaching around with his arms to gently scoop my legs up, being very careful with my left leg in particular. I buried my face in his back, blushing when I felt his fingers on my thighs slide down to just behind my knee.

"Is that feeling okay?" He checked in with me and I nodded. It's feeling more than okay. I'm not sure he's ever touched me there before and it tickled a little, in a really nice way.

"Okay! Up we go!" He stood up as much as he could, hunching just a bit so I could have some balance. He then glanced over at Riku who slipped my bag over his shoulder. "Ready?"

"Yeah..." Riku nodded, following mostly silently next to us.

I buried my face into the back of Sora's neck and sighed into him, appreciating how calm his spirit made me feel. I saw a few goosebumps on his skin and giggled, realizing I could probably tease him pretty badly in this position.

I heard Riku stomping around angrily next to me and I could tell there was something really bothering him.

"Riku, I can tell you're still worried. It's fine."

He hummed and stared back at the clearing, maybe not trusting that Vanitas had really left.

"What is it? Tell me." I pressed.

He glanced at Sora before falling back, moving closer to me and lowering his voice. "What was up with that nickname?"

Nickna…? Oh. That. Pink Ribbon. I really hesitated saying anything, knowing that any explanation would really upset Sora in particular. I think Riku had some idea which is why he probably hadn't wanted to bring it up now. Oops.

Sora tilted his head in confusion. "Nickname? Whose nickname?"

"Oh! Just um...earlier I made up a funny nickname for Riku that he doesn't like. I think he's still a little upset about it. I'll tell you later." I'm glad he couldn't see my face because it would probably be way too obvious I was making that up on the spot. But I suppose it wasn't really a lie, was it, Grumblebee?

I could tell Riku wasn't particularly happy about me bringing that up again, but he didn't interject likely because he realized it was a perfectly valid excuse for right now to keep Sora off our scent.

Sora laughed. "Sure. But you know if you tell me I'm going to have to use it, too."

"You'd better not."

While that somehow that seemed to satisfy Sora's curiosity, I waited a moment before locking eyes with Riku again to try and pass the real answer along to him as stealthily as possible.

Once I was sure he was paying attention, I tried to indicate the downward direction with my head, eyes flicking towards my skirt, hoping he would understand. Judging by his face, I think he did. I saw fury building up in them so in the most hushed voice I could, I tried to alleviate some of his worries.

"Only with these." I pointed to my eyes. "Not these." I waved my hand.

He relaxed a little but still looked incredibly agitated, for good reason. "...Anything else?"

I hesitated again and made sure Sora was still not really paying much mind to me. I reached one hand up to my face and silently mimed out to Riku, touching my lips first with two fingers and resting them on the side of my neck to indicate where he had kissed me.

He kept clenching and opening his fists. "I'm sorry. I should have noticed sooner."

I shook my head and noticed Sora was slowing a bit. "Am I missing something?"

"It's fine, Sora. By the way, how did you two even find me?"

"Namine said she saw you wandering off into the woods. I wasn't quite sure where you were so, uh...Riku volunteered to track you."

"Of course he did." I rolled my eyes over at that little bloodhound of ours.

Riku continued the story from there. "Once we got close we both sensed that dark aura and ran straight towards it. I'm sorry we weren't faster."

"Yeah...I'm really sorry, Kairi. I feel like I let you down pretty badly." Sora sagged a little under me.

"Stop apologizing. Both of you." I bonked them each over the head one after the other. "Also, Sora, you didn't let me down at all. I was the one who made a stupid decision and couldn't handle myself properly. Besides, you certainly aren't letting me down now—quite the opposite in fact."

He laughed sheepishly and smiled back over his shoulder at me. I re-wrapped my arms around his neck and snuggled up closer, giving his earlobe a quick little nibble. He turned bright red and stumbled forward.

"Careful." Riku flicked him in the head. He gave me a little wink, too. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Sora only volunteered to carry you for the benefits and not out of the goodness of his little heart."

"Did not!"

At this point we were basically almost all the way out of the woods. I could see the ground getting more and more sandy. Before we made it much further, I saw most of our friends running over towards us. Xion and Lea were probably still dealing with dinner since they had drawn the straws earlier for that chore.

Aqua immediately noticed my injured leg and fussed over it, trying to heal it a bit more. Riku explained succinctly what happened and Ven's face immediately looked stormy.

"I'll go after him myself. He won't run from me. I have no idea how he broke out of the lock...I'll have to redo it."

I tried telling him not to worry, but he just excused himself with an apology and ran off into the woods. Terra went after him anyway, just to be safe I suppose.

"Now, everyone please stop fussing over me. I'll be fine."

Roxas gestured to my foot. "Yeah, but with your leg hurting let's just get you back to the camp site before it gets dark."

I saw Namine fidgeting nervously as she walked next to Sora and I. She was definitely worried about me, but now wasn't a really good time to vent to her about some of the things that happened. The next time us girls were alone, for sure.

Once we arrived at the camp, Sora gently lowered me down onto one of the stumps we used as chairs and Aqua continued checking my ankle over.

"Do you mind if I use some ice magic on it?"

I shook my head and she began very slightly chilling her hands around it, most likely hoping to help with the swelling. It hurt a little but I tried not to wince too badly. Everyone was already tense enough.

Xion fumbled with the ladle she was using to stir a pot over the fire when she saw me. "Kairi! What's wrong with your foot?"

"Please don't worry, it only hurts because I stupidly tripped over a rock, so...it should be fine in a little bit, really."

Ignoring the cooking fire altogether, Lea wandered over, shaking his head at me disapprovingly. "Doesn't look like it's just from an accident..."

"Vanitas." Riku answered tersely, and I saw Lea clench his fists.

"Lovely...and here I was all happy to just relax by a nice fire with some food and company and now I need to go teach a lesson to that snarky little bas-"

I shouted his name and crossed my arms at him in frustration. "I don't need everyone charging off and ganging up on him. Ven said he would take care of it and I trust him to do that."

Namine gave me a very gentle hug. "What is it that you need, then?"

I returned her cuddle momentarily before offering my answer. "I need for everyone to just calm down and go back to normal. I don't want any more attention."

Sora was pacing around at this point, obviously torn between comforting me or giving me space. That, and he probably also wanted to have a conversation with Vanitas about everything as well. I imagine it cuts harder for him and Ven than anyone else. I didn't want to discuss what happened in detail, not yet, but I did feel like I could at least explain a little to diffuse a few things.

"Listen, if it helps at all, he wasn't antagonizing me just because. It was clear to me that he has a lot of really confused things going on inside and doesn't know how to channel them well. Obviously it doesn't excuse confronting me like that, but it wasn't just pointlessly malicious."

Lea didn't seem comforted by this at all. "I don't care if the guy has a reason. Hell, everyone always thinks they have a good justifiable reason for doing everything, even the most reprehensible stuff..."

Aqua halted the ice treatment and sighed. "I understand what you mean, Kairi."

Roxas nodded. "Everyone just needs to have a little patience, I agree. But that doesn't mean he gets to bully you around."

I smiled and gave Roxas a little boop on the nose. "Look at you, telling everyone to have patience. That's a new one."

He waved me off with a smile and a lot of the tension in the area dissipated with it. Lea also looked like he was about to comment but Riku interrupted him, pointing over towards the pot of dinner on the fire, currently bubbling over.

Lea swore and darted back to grab it off the flames. Smells a bit like burnt curry.

Xion and Sora both rushed over to help and I watched him closely. He was looking much more relaxed now, to my relief.

"I guess your spicy curry will be extra hot tonight, huh?" He prodded at the burning bits with a stick.

Lea clicked his tongue. "Get your stupid puns out of here."

He looked back at me and grinned. "Not if Kairi thinks it's funny."

Riku lowered himself down onto a chair with a sigh. "Then I guess we'd better get used to it."

It was certainly nice to see everyone perk up a bit, and I was also looking forward to a nice evening chatting around the fire. Despite Sora's silly joke, the curry really was fairly spicy. I guess Xion has gotten acclimated to eating Lea's spicy stuff but poor Namine still needed to douse it with some extra honey to make it a bit easier for her to handle.

If everything had gone according to plan today, we would be all hiking up to the top of the dune to look at the stars through Ven's telescope. But since he wasn't here it felt a little wrong breaking it out.

"Well, since we aren't going star gazing..." Xion prodded at the fire with a long stick. "maybe we could try the whole 'ghost stories round the campfire' thing? I've always wanted to."

That certainly sounded fun to me. Anything to keep everyone's mind off of the actual scare we had earlier today.

Sora raised his arm quickly. "Only if I don't have to go first! I need to think of a really good one this time."

Lea got a very eager look on his face. "Oh, I'll gladly go first."

I saw Roxas wince a little. "Uh...maybe we should start off with something a bit more tame. Namine, you want to give it a try?"

"S-something scary? Okay...um..."

Well, this was going to be interesting.

"Once upon a time-"

"It's not supposed to be a fairy tale." Roxas tried to correct her but Xion shot him a look.

"Just let her work."

Namine cleared her throat and started again. "Okay, so um...one day there was...um..." Her eyes searched for something to give her an idea. "There was a...haunted...pen."

Aqua hummed a bit. "And what made it haunted, exactly?"

"Um...a guy used it once. And...he's dead now."

There was a bit of an awkward silence but Sora happily shrugged and dismissed it. "Works for me."

"So, one day a girl found this pen. When she tried to draw with it, she realized that everything she drew started...coming alive. It would jump right up off of the paper!"

"Ooh...interesting..." Xion leaned forward, curiously.

"And...then the drawings...ran away!"

We all sat silently, waiting for her to continue, but she just sat there looking confused.

"T-that's it."

Sora frowned. "...I don't get it."

Everyone else, me included, seemed equally confused. I think I had a vague idea and decided to take a stab at it. "Namine, is it scary because...the girl lost her art?"

She nodded. "I would hate for that to happen! It takes a lot of time to make art and to lose it like that would be horrifying!"

I saw Riku trying hard not to smile and Aqua shook her head gently. "I suppose horror is, after all, subjective." I'm glad she always tried to be so encouraging.

Roxas shoved Lea in the shoulder. "Fine, you can go now."

He cracked his knuckles and gave his neck a stretch. "Perfect. So, picture this: one day, a small child is playing in her room with her dolls. She loves her dolls, but there was one doll she was never supposed to touch. But her mom wasn't home from the store yet so she thought, well, maybe it would be okay to play with this special doll, if only for a few minutes. She gently pulled it down from the shelf in her mother's bedroom and felt her silky hair, wanting to give her some cute little braids or...whatever else girls do when they play with dolls...and took the doll back to her playroom. After a few minutes she suddenly hears the very angry voice of her mother calling out to her from the bedroom. 'Oh what a naughty girl you are! I bet you are playing with my doll! Come here right now, or else!'"

I tried not to laugh at his silly mother impression while he continued his story.

"Scared, but knowing she couldn't disobey her mother, the little girl started walking back towards the mothers bedroom. But as she drew closer, the closet door near the bedroom suddenly slid open, and she saw her mother's face, frightened and trembling, staring at her from inside. 'Don't go in the bedroom, sweetie. I heard her, too! Come hide in here with me...'"

Lea stared at all of us, eagerly awaiting our reactions. Roxas blinked a few times and spoke first. "...was it her nobody?"

Lea glared at him. "No, it wasn't-"

Xion leaned forward. "Or a replica, maybe?"

"No!" Lea shouted, folding his arms across his chest angrily. "For most people it's weird to have multiple...ugh, nevermind."

Sora sighed again. "I don't get this one either. What happened?"

I could tell Riku was steadily getting more and more amused as he watched silently in the corner.

"I assume," Aqua tried to explain "that the horror comes from not knowing which mother is real, and as a result, what the other mother could be."

Namine considered this. "I would go hide in the closet with the second mother. She seemed less angry."

"Yeah, but then you're trapped in a closet with a possible non-nobody, non-replica, scary thing." Sora argued.

"Oh, I don't mind closets too much. DiZ made me sleep in a closet so I've gotten quite used to them." Namine said this so plainly it was almost heartbreaking.

Riku sighed. "I kept telling you just to go to the bedroom anyway..."

Roxas made a loud sound of disgust. "Sorry he did that to you. That's pretty cruddy."

She waved her hand to dismiss it. "It's fine. It was very nice thinking space."

Sora was still trying to puzzle out the story. "Maybe they had a pet myna bird so it only sounded like the mom."

"And the mom just conveniently forgot that they had a pet bird?" Riku gave him a look.

"Uh...maybe it just flew in through an open window?"

Lea shook his head. "I don't think you guys are really understanding the point. It's not supposed to be a mystery. Just a sense of 'woo that's creeepy'. You're overthinking it."

"I'll admit it is a little...creepy. In theory, anyway." Aqua frowned. "The worst fears are those that never fully reveal themselves."

"True. But it doesn't always transfer over to stories so easily." Riku agreed and Lea just huffed.

"Fine, Mr. Big shot, let's see you do any better. Unless Aqua wants to take over."

She took in a deep breath, staring into the flames. "I...think I'd rather not share a ghost story, if that's alright with everyone."

It was painfully clear what she was hesitant about. I'm sure there are far more horrors lingering in the darkness for so long that any story would simply pale in comparison. It certainly wouldn't be a very nice reminder to try and bring those memories back out.

Lea shakily apologized, obviously realizing his mistake.

"I can go." Roxas volunteered quickly, hoping to change the subject. "Pence loves spooky stuff so I think I can remember one of them."

I noticed my body starting to feel a little tired and I snuggled a bit closer to where Sora was sitting. He moved his arms to my waist and I relaxed against him.

Xion sighed. "Aw, but I've heard all of Pence's stories. I want to hear one from you!"

"But I don't really know any of my own..."

"I know one." Riku smiled a bit deviously from the corner. "But I'm not sure you want to hear it."

"Oh? And why's that? Don't think we can handle it?" I stuck out my tongue at him in a little in playful impudence.

"Because it came with a warning."

I heard Sora hum behind me in a rather amused tone. "Really? So like, if we hear the story we are going to be haunted or something?"

"Possibly." Riku said this so seriously it was almost chilling. He came over closer to the fire and sat down. Jeez, he's a good actor sometimes.

Lea gave an audible scoff. "Sure, let's give the cursed story a listen. Besides, it didn't curse you when you heard it, right? Must not be that bad."

Roxas snickered a little. "That, or the curse did affect him and it's only side affect is it turns you into a jerk."

"If that's the case the two of you won't be changed in the slightest." Riku retorted tersely and I could feel Sora trying his best not to laugh behind me.

Xion looked incredibly excited now. "So! What's the story?"

Riku held up a hand. "First, I have to explain something. A few months ago I was poking around the old library in the clubhouse, when I found a very unusual book tucked far in the back. It was stuck flat against the back of the shelf, with several other books pushed up against it to completely hide it from view. I wondered what could be so special about this book to hide it from any visitors. It had no name, no author, nothing identifiable of any kind on the cover. However, when I opened it to the first page, there was one single sentence written down: if anyone reads this book and shares this story with another soul, all will be cursed forever. At that point, I tried to check the spine to see if there was anything written there, or possibly on the back. Nothing at all. When I reopened to the first page, I noticed that even the words I had seen written before had now disappeared, almost like the ink had evaporated altogether."

Xion frowned. "So...did you read it?"

"Of course. That's why I wanted to warn all of you—if this story is really meant to never be shared, I could be cursing us all." His mouth curled into a smile again. "Still want me to go on?"

There was a hesitant silence across the campfire and he cleared his throat.

"So...it turns out the book was actually the diary of a young girl who used to live in that mansion long, long ago."

Namine gave a sigh of relief. "Oh! So...that warning must have just been something the girl wrote to keep people from reading her diary."

"That's what I thought. But the more I read, the more I realized that simply wasn't the case. You see, that mansion has had quite a variety of uses over the years. They say a family once lived there who did some demonic things, but all of it was based off of hearsay and no one could really confirm any of that. But the reputation for it being a bad place stuck and no one wanted to use it. At some point, after it had been abandoned for some time, a family with nowhere else to go decided to use the space. The girl explains that her father was once quite a wealthy man, but with the advent of the brand new tram system that had just been invented at the time, his father's business was no longer profitable and they lost everything."

"That's so sad..." Namine clutched her hands together. "I suppose that is one problem with forward progress. Sometimes it forces lots of people to have to change their livelihoods."

Roxas chewed on his lip a little, thinking. "She must have lived there a long time ago then. Those trams are really old."

Riku agreed and continued. "In her diary, she wrote a lot about how unhappy she was living in an old, dusty mansion so far from her friends. But then she said one day, her father began acting quite strangely. She said he had always been so angry about losing his wealth, spending every day cooking up plans to earn it back, but one day he seemed...madder than usual. He claimed it was a curse. A curse he could only break by making the right...sacrifices. A way to have him be famous forever, even if it was in infamy."

Everyone sat in silence again, and Riku spoke on, his voice still just as serious as ever.

"The last thing the girl wrote in her diary, was her deepest, darkest fear: that her father was going to do something unspeakably horrible to try and break the curse on his family. She was so frightened she locked herself in her room, and she tried her own hand at magic, endlessly repeating that if her father should indeed do as she feared, she wanted the curse to forever follow him. To bury her father's name into obscurity so no one would ever know of him—the exact thing he would hate the most. She also said she would put a curse upon the words in her own diary, so that any who shared this story with another would forever be haunted by her vengeful ghost for keeping the memory of her father alive."

Xion pulled her knees closer to her body. "S-so...what happened to her?"

Riku just shrugged. "Nothing else was written. Maybe it was all a lie, or maybe the girl's curse really did work and buried all knowledge of her family. But that means...something very bad must have happened to her in that house...and now all of us may be cursed, too."

He surveyed all of our horrified faces very seriously, then broke into wild laughter. "Wow, I didn't think you would all fall for it that easily."

"Augh, Riku you jerk! Now I'm going to have nightmares going back to our clubhouse!" Sora reached over and smacked his friend in the arm, grumbling.

Namine frowned. "So...the girl never did live there?"

Riku held up a hand. "Actually, she did. And I did find her dairy in the bookshelf, but it was pretty obviously standard girl stuff so I just left it alone."

Xion tutted at him. "Wait, so you found a girl's diary and you read it!?"

Roxas shook his head at him. "Man, that's pretty low..."

"I just said I put it back!"

I was glad to see Aqua laughing a bit along with everyone. So at least she wasn't taking what happened before to heart.

I started feeling a bit more sleepy, my eyes a bit sore. I rubbed them and yawned, trying to pay attention, but I felt my attention drifting into my own head more and more. I felt Sora's hands tighten around my waist and I slumped back into him a little further, letting him be my back rest. He was always so comfortable…

I wonder if Ven will get back tonight. I bet Aqua is still worried about those two, too. I really should tell him about what Vanitas said to me. It might make a big difference in helping him recover. But I really didn't want to dwell on those thoughts any more tonight. I heard some laughter and my eyes blinked open slightly to try and see what was going on. I saw Aqua again smiling pretty brightly next to me and I relaxed once more. This is why I love camping trips…

It is so wonderful to see everyone so happy...

---

When I opened my eyes again, it was already early dawn. I could see some light pouring in through a small crack of the tent. But...when had I even gotten into the tent in the first place? I sat up, noticing two things: first, that I was very neatly tucked into my bed and second, that Sora was in here with me. He was sitting somewhat slumped to the side against a massive pile of pillows, facing out towards the entrance of the tent.

I said his name gently, as softly as possible, but he didn't respond. Someone, probably him, probably carried me back to bed sometime last night then he decided to sit there like a night watchman trying to keep me safe. He probably still felt guilty about what happened in the forest.

Slipping out from the sleeping bag, I slowly crawled over to him, leaning around his shoulder to get a glimpse at his face.

He was so cute, snoozing up against that pile he had undoubtedly stacked up to keep himself upright and awake as long as possible. I didn't really want to wake him, especially since he probably didn't sleep much at all, but if I don't wake him up he'll probably feel a bit embarrassed knowing he fell asleep while watching me. I backed up even more carefully than before and returned back to the bed.

Time to get clever and try my acting again.

I found a loose sock lying near my bag and balled it up, aiming it carefully at his back. Just as I let it fly, I pulled the blanket back up over me and pretended to be asleep. I heard Sora mumble a bit in surprise and heard him turn quickly around to check on me. Once I heard him rustling a little I gave an exaggerated stretch and yawn, opening my eyes.

"Oh, good morning, Sora! How long have you been awake?"

He rubbed his eyes blearily. "Mnnuh...I dunno..."

I giggled. "And what are you doing in my tent? Watching me sleep?"

This seemed to startle him awake and he pawed back at the entrance, trying to grab hold of the flap. "N-no! I was just making sure you were okay and not in trouble and uh...not, uh...I-I'll just go..."

"Don't be silly, I enjoy your company."

He fidgeted, clearly not sure what to do with himself. "U-um it's a bit chilly this morning, right? Maybe I'll go get a morning fire started..."

"Thanks, but you'd better not be running away."

"Nope, I'll come back!" He assured me quickly, slipping outside.

Okay, time to quickly take this opportunity and get some fresh clothes put on...though there was no telling exactly when he would come back, so I had to be a bit surreptitious about it.

With a little bit of finagling, I managed to pull some fresh underclothes on from under the blankets. I heard the curtain moving a bit and Sora slipped back in, plopping himself down onto his pillow throne.

He gave me a sleepy salute. "Fire's ready..."

I could tell he was likely to drift back to sleep soon and I glanced back and forth between him and my bag. I still wasn't finished changing, but with him sitting right here...I suppose I could kick him out of the tent again for a minute, but that felt a bit rude and he was already looking so comfortable slumped up against those pillows…

I guess there's no harm in it.

I unzipped my bag and fished out a few fresh tank tops. Once I had my outfit ready, I quickly glanced back over at him. I couldn't quite tell if he had already fallen back asleep or not, but he was breathing quite steadily, not moving very much. Well...I decided that even if he was awake I didn't care. Vanitas might have stolen a look at my underclothes without my permission, but that didn't kill me. Besides, if someone is going to see them, I'd happily choose for it to be this slumbering bum over here.

I grabbed my shirt around the bottom and swiftly slipped it up over my head. Sora immediately fell over with a thump, scrambling back up while at the same time trying to cover his eyes. Oops, guess he was awake after all.

"Ka-Ka—yo—you-"

Poor thing couldn't even form a full sentence. I giggled and lowered my arms. I'm...kind of glad I chose my cute bra for today. He was scrambling, trying to get out of the tent but his foot was all wrapped up in the blanket now and in his panic he was just trapping himself further.

"Sora, relax, I don't care if you look."

It took him a moment to fully process what I had just said.

"...what?" He stopped his war against the blanket and stared uncomfortably at his feet.

"I said, I don't mind if you watch me change."

"But, uh..." I could tell he was having a lot of conflicting thoughts racing through his head right now. He quickly flicked his eyes over in my direction before firmly twisting to stare at the side of the tent.

"It's okay."

His eyes flicked over really quickly again. "That feels...k-kinda rude."

I giggled again. He was trying really hard not to look. He was holding his head in his hands, rocking a little bit. Geez, I feel pretty bad, now. I didn't want to torture the poor guy.

"Rule 5? About clothes? I'm in charge, remember? What if I give you super special permission?"

"Y...yeah? Really?" I couldn't help but smile at how hopeful his voice sounded.

"Really, really. Special boyfriend permission for you only."

I saw his face brighten up, but he quickly smacked his cheeks and tried to dim his smile a bit before he let himself look over in my direction. His face, tinted red, was filled with such pure elation it was almost making me a little bit self conscious.

"It's just a bra, silly. It's basically like a swimsuit-"

He shook his head, his eyes sparkling. "No, it's not that. I just...I'm really happy."

"I can see that." I pulled my new tank top over my head and adjusted it properly, turning to look back at him. I expected him to look a bit disappointed now that my shirt was back on again, but to my surprise he was still sitting there just as content as before. With that contagious smile of his…

"What are you so happy about, then?"

"I dunno. I was just thinking...you must trust me a lot to be okay with that, so...I'm happy."

Aw...he's so sappy. But I love it every time.

"Hey, come over here." I waved him closer to me and he shuffled over. Once he was adjusted I tapped him on the nose. "Now close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you to."

He tilted his head slowly, unsure of what I was planning. "Okay..." He shrugged and smiled at me one more time quickly before closing his eyes.

I took a deep breath. I wasn't quite sure why I felt like this was a good idea right now, but it just popped into my head and I couldn't really think of a reason not to. In fact...I kind of really wanted to. At least, judging by how much my heart was racing. I swallowed a bit.

I pulled my shirt back off over my head and took another steadying breath before reaching out and grabbing his hands in mine. He shifted a little, still clearly not knowing what was going on.

"Don't be too loud, okay?"

"...loud? About what?" He lowered his voice, his eyes still closed.

I moved his hands over towards me and set them gently against my chest. His face twisted a little bit in confusion as he tried to figure out what he was touching.

I leaned in a bit closer, keeping his hands held against my chest with my own. Judging by the slight color on his cheeks, I think he was starting to get an idea where they were now.

"Okay, open."

His face immediately flushed and he nearly yelled, but quickly clamped his mouth down to stay quiet. His hands started shaking beneath mine, but I didn't let go.

He breathed in and out a few times in rapid succession and then grinned at me. "I'm...this is..."

I think the shock was starting to be replaced now with sheer, childish glee. I released my hands and he looked up at me a bit unsure if he should take his away as well.

I giggled and made sure to clarify my intentions with him. "You have special permission to touch them, too."

Smiling ear to ear, he immediately and intently focused on his hands. He seemed almost afraid to press down.

"You won't hurt me."

He nodded and pushed in a little bit with his palms and fingers, his eyes widening, watching their movement. "Wow...this is so awesome!"

I hushed him hastily, worried he might wake the others. He winced and apologized softly, returning his attention back to his hands again.

"It's...different than I thought it would be."

"Is it?"

"Yeah, but it's totally better. How do you not sit around and play with these all day?"

I laughed out of sheer surprise at the somewhat juvenile nature of his question. "They seem that fun to you? I guess I'm just used to them."

"But it's so jiggly and-" He noticed his voice getting louder and quickly corrected himself. "...soft and stuff, it feels like they're made out of pudding."

"Well sorry to disappoint you, but they're not pudding."

He contemplated something, reddened again and cleared his throat a little. I...think I have an idea what was just going through that head of his. I narrowed my eyes at him sarcastically.

"No, I don't think they'll taste like pudding, either. If that's what you were thinking of asking."

I definitely caught him. His face made that pretty clear.

He still looked pretty flushed though, maybe there is something else he was considering now.

"C-can...c-could I..."

"Hmm?" I'm not quite sure what he's trying to ask this time.

He bit his lip then leaned over to whisper his request in my ear.

What!?

I felt my own face burn red and I blinked back at him, my mouth agape.

"S-sorry...I shouldn't have asked..."

"N-no, Sora, it's okay I just...I wasn't expecting..."

"I'm sorry..."

I giggled and smiled back at him. Well, why not.

"Go ahead."

He paused for a moment so I leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss to assure him I was serious. He smiled back at me and focused his attention back down at his hands. It was almost funny how serious he looked. His fingers traced down along the edges of my bra and he squeezed them gently a few times before lowering his face to my neck. He nuzzled up against me, kissing me softly. I shivered and closed my eyes, realizing that this was almost the same place I had been forcibly kissed yesterday. However, the difference between the two of them was absolutely palpable. Yesterday I had been filled with such dread, that horrid growling making me fear every thought and intention that he was contemplating for me.

When I heard Sora's voice utter something vaguely similar, it was so much softer, warmer, and I knew it was because he was so positively overflowing with good feelings a few just unintentionally slipped out now and again in the form of sound. It made me feel loved and safe.

He continued kissing down my skin, pausing slightly when he reached my collar bones. His hair tickled a little as it brushed under my chin and I giggled. I think my voice prompted him to continue and he leaned closer, moving his face further down until he reached this special previously inaccessible area to him. His lips trembled a little as he lined my chest with really gentle nudges. He paused a bit when he found my heartbeat, smiling into my skin. No doubt he could feel how much my heart was racing. I knew he liked resting his head on my chest to listen, but I suppose this was the first time he had been able to do it straight against me without a shirt in the way. He breathed out slowly and gave this space an extra long kiss before changing direction to his current goal.

He shifted his hands slightly out of the way and slowly kissed at the small parts of exposed skin he could reach around the fabric. Warmth rushed up to my head and I felt my breath quicken slightly. He kissed me a few more times before glancing back up at me.

"Nope, not like pudding at all."

I brushed my hand through his hair, pulling at a few of his spikes playfully. "Disappointed?"

"No way! This is..."

I could tell he was struggling to search for any word better than his typical "awesome" but was having some trouble. I waited for him patiently.

"This is better than awesome."

I could only laugh and flick my fingers at his hair again, enjoying its bounce.

"Now, I don't mean to rush you, but I did still intend to cook breakfast today for everyone. Think you can wrap up in a little bit?"

He pursed his lips, obviously frustrated. "I guess so, just...gimme a few more minutes, at least."

I nodded and his joy re-materialized. He quickly returned to showering me with kisses everywhere he could reach.

Suddenly, he brushed over one part of me and I inhaled sharply with surprise as a wave of warm shivers traveled up my spine. Startled, he immediately released me and pushed himself back, apologizing profusely.

"D-did I hurt you?"

I felt breathless for a moment and just shook my head at him. "N-no, not at all. It was...it felt..."

What was that? I could feel my heart, racing even faster now, thumping in my ears. It was embarrassing, and I almost didn't want to admit it, but I really wanted him to do it again. His eyes widened and he leaned forward, examining me closely.

"Wait...did you like that?"

I didn't even have to answer; he could see it on my face. He immediately grinned and dove back in.

It didn't take him long to find that spot again. Every touch sent another one of those wonderful trembling rushes up my body. Each one making me gasp for breath and I nearly tipped over. He caught me by placing his left hand against the small of my back and lifting me towards him. My hands fumbled for something to grab onto and wrapped around his head. I could feel him practically beaming against me. Or at least I just somehow knew he was.

I've never felt something like this before and it was starting to really get to me. With his mouth and his right hand, he somehow managed to find a place equally as nice on both sides of me. The feelings only intensified to the point it almost became unbearable and I squirmed under his grasp.

"S-Sora, it's..."

He pushed forward against me and a rattle of a moan suddenly slipped out of my throat. I blushed, shocked at myself. He pulled back, his face also a little red. He cleared his throat a little, trying really hard not to smile up at me.

"Should I...stop?" His eyes were unsure, still catching glances down at my chest.

I bit my lower lip and wasn't sure how to answer. "I...I don't know."

He twiddled his fingers a little along the straps of my bra and looked like he was debating asking me something. The one hand he had on my back toyed a little bit with the clasp behind me and he furrowed his brow.

"Um...what if I..."

Obviously he wanted to take it off and wasn't quite sure how to ask for permission. A huge part of me really wanted him to. After all, if it felt this good now I bet him touching my skin directly would be even nicer. But at the same time, I felt like if he did that I might not be able to tell him to stop at all. Things had already progressed so unexpectedly quickly this morning I felt like I needed to slow it back down.

I gave him a gentle kiss just above his lips. "Maybe it would be best to stop for now..."

He took a deep breath, obviously a bit sad but he seemed to understand. I honestly wasn't expecting it to feel that...good. Maybe I should have, considering I how much love it when he kisses me along my neck. But still...that was something very different. And now I could tell he was practically bouncing off the walls with energy after all his new discoveries. If I hadn't inflated his ego before, now I had certainly done it...

I lifted his reluctant hands off of me and started putting my shirt back on. He frowned for a moment.

"Can I do that again soon?"

I grinned. "We'll see."

"Please?"

"...we'll see."

"You liked it too, right? You were definitely happy. In fact, I think maybe you were enjoying it more than me."

I hummed noncommittally to tease him. He tried pouting, but his smile got in the way. "So...what is the rule about this, then?"

"Anything you just did is fine so long as we have privacy. Oh, and...my bra stays on for now."

"Right!" He saluted with a cheery grin.

"Besides, I need to test the same out on you sometime."

He frowned a bit, glancing down at his own chest. "But...mine are really boring and stupid."

I laughed. "Does that mean I'm not allowed to?"

"No-I mean—yes? Uh, wait a second..." He shook his head. "I'm a bit mixed up but what I mean is if you want to do something like that, that's fine by me. Same rules apply, I guess. Minus the...bra...thing. Since I don't have one."

I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. He is such a goof.

But now it was time to get the day started.

"Well! I volunteered to make breakfast for everyone so off I go."

I started to stand, but Sora quickly reached out and pulled me into a kiss before I could escape him. His lips pulled at mine as he sank into me eagerly.

"Sora, are you trying to stop me?"

He hummed, not giving me a direct answer, instead trying to just kiss me more. I laughed and gave him a light shove.

"There will be time later for this, you know."

"No..." He shook his head childishly and continued, more passionate and far more intense than usual.

I really wanted to just stay here with him as well. In fact, I would be perfectly content just staying in this tent here with him all day, but there were some responsibilities to be done.

"Did you want to come help me?"

"What are you making?"

"Just some easy hotcakes. I even brought a few chocolate chips for-"

He cheered and I had to hush him again, hoping he wouldn't wake anyone up. After apologizing sheepishly again, he pounced on me one last time.

His kisses were always so purely full of joy I loved every moment of them. Maybe because he was just so unafraid to express himself once he had the window the do it. I squeezed his hand and he pulled away slowly, clearly savoring it.

"Hotcake time?"

I nodded to him, ruffling his hair and heading out towards the morning light. He stood up to follow me, but abruptly stumbled and dropped back down to the ground, his face a little red.

"Uh...I'll just be a second..." He sighed a bit in embarrassment. Despite still smiling, I rolled my eyes at him. Guy problems, I assume…

I took a step outside and nearly tripped over Riku, who was slumped against the tree just outside our tent, sleeping. Of course Riku would be keeping watch in his own way out here, too. I was about to rouse him, but he clearly looked like he needed the rest. It looked like Sora had thrown a blanket on him when he came out to light the campfire, because it was draped so awkwardly and slightly crooked over him I doubt he did it himself.

It was rare to catch him sleeping. Just like Sora, he probably stayed awake as long as possible until he crashed. I stood in the morning light, stretching and adjusting my eyes until I saw Sora coming out of the tent finally, stretching with a yawn. Losing sleep like that... Seriously, these two...

I pointed Riku out and lowered my voice. "Maybe you could go bring him into our tent so he can get some better sleep?"

Sora agreed, gently shaking our friend by the shoulder. He jerked awake with a gasp and groaned, falling backwards against the tree, rubbing at his eyes.

"Morning, grumblebee." Sora chuckled at him as Riku shoved a sleepy hand out in retaliation.

"Ugh, its morning, huh?"

Sora caught his hand and used it to help him up to his feet, pulling him back towards the tent. "Why don't you go lay down for a bit. I can keep an eye on things okay."

Riku barely resisted, obviously still needing the rest.

I whispered out to Sora before he got too far. "If you still need some rest too that's okay."

He shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine. This morning, uh...woke me up enough."

Riku mumbled something I couldn't hear and Sora laughed at it, pulling him under the tent flap.

I then started rummaging around for the supplies to start cooking. After a few minutes Sora came snuggling up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin down on the top of my head. I giggled and moved my hips a little back and forth, wobbling him with me to the beat as I started singing about the shark that lost his toothbrush. Sora rocked back and forth with me, easily remembering the words to that song from the elementary school play.

I finished the batter and gestured over to the frying pan nearby. "Can you be a sweetheart and set that over the fire for me?"

"Yep!" He grabbed the pan and jogged to go put it on the small cooking ledge over the fire, slowing for a moment to wave over to the left. "Good morning!"

I looked up to see Roxas approaching us with a huge yawn. "You two are ridiculous. Musicals in the morning? It's sickeningly sweet. Besides, he's usually the last to sleep in. I'm surprised to see him so chipper..." He gestured over to Sora with his thumb and yawned again.

While I had a feeling I knew why Sora was extra bouncy, I definitely wasn't going to confess to anything. "Roxas, you sleep okay?"

He gave me a wave, still yawning. "Yeah, not too bad. Are you making breakfast?"

"Mm. Hotcakes okay?"

He nodded eagerly, and jumped up on one of the little folding stools by the table, scanning some of the bags I had laid out. "Ooh! Are those toppings? The few times I got hotcakes before they were always just plain."

I pushed the bag of goodies over towards him to riffle through and he started scrambling through like a small child unwrapping a Christmas present. I guess those two were similar in a lot of little ways. "Could you really put milk tea powder in a hotcake?"

"Why not?"

"...and coconut flakes!?"

Sora came back over to the table, glancing through the bag as well. "You mean you've never had one with chocolate chips before?"

"No..."

Sora gasped and bounced back and forth. "You need to. It's the only way to eat them for sure."

"I prefer mine with blueberries." Aqua gracefully sat down at the table next to me.

I showed her the box of teas that I had brought with me. "Did you want to try some earl grey powder in it, too?"

She considered it for a moment but ultimately shook her head. "I'll pass. I'd much rather drink my tea, I think. Speaking of that, though, I'll go get the teapot ready."

I pointed out its location to her and went over to the hot pan to start the cooking. Still no sign of Xion, Lea or Namine yet. Or...Ven and Terra. I wondered if they managed to make it back last night after I fell asleep, but it seemed a bit hard to bring up right now.

Riku would probably be alseep for some time, but I can always set his food aside for when he gets up. He's always liked them super plain with just the tiniest amount of green tea powder mixed in.

"Can you make a chocolate one first?" Sora bounced over and stared into the batter bowl eagerly.

I pushed his nose away from the raw food. "Greedy, aren't you?"

"Not for me! I just wanted Roxas to be able to try it right away!"

I smiled and reached for the bag of chocolate. "Alright, let's give him one with a big chocolate smile, and...anything else?" I questioned him.

"Can I try it with the coconut, too? Does that go together?"

"Sure." I gave his little hotcake face some wispy hair with the coconut shavings.

"By the way, Kairi, how is your foot today? Any better?" Aqua leaned over to check up on my leg.

"To be honest, I didn't even think about it. I guess it's all patched up."

Roxas sighed and prodded at the table with a fork. "So...about that stuff yesterday..."

I saw Sora stiffen a little bit and I knew it definitely wasn't the right time to talk about this. I had a lot I wanted to talk to Ven about, privately, but I still wasn't sure if he was here.

"Did...Ven and Terra not make it back yet?"

Aqua sighed and popped a few stray blueberries into her mouth. "No...and if they aren't back soon I'm going out to look for them. But maybe we should at least have a nice breakfast before getting too concerned, okay?"

I think she noticed my apprehension and I appreciated her nipping things in the bud.

"Hey, Kairi...Sora didn't get too fresh with you last night, did he?" Lea half-yawned, approaching the breakfast table, somehow still able to tease me this early in the morning.

"No, of course not."

Roxas glanced between the two of us, probably noticing Sora's obvious attempts to avoid eye contact. "What do you mean?"

Lea started fiddling with the coffee machine. "Oh, Sora slept in her tent last night."

Roxas nearly spit out his tea. "What!?"

Sora stopped prodding the fire uselessly with a stick and threw his hands into the air. "I-I didn't do anyth-"

"Yeah, sure you didn't buddy." Lea snickered, selecting a coffee mug from our eclectic collection.

"I really didn't! I carried her back but after I tucked her in she..." He glanced hesitantly over to me and sighed. "She made this really sad whimpering sound like she was having a bad dream and I was just worried and wanted to be there if she woke up scared or something..."

Aqua relaxed and patted him softly on the arm, offering him a cup of tea. "I see...I'm surprised to see you looking so awake then. You must have been up half the night."

"I'm fine..." Sora mumbled into the teacup, clearly embarrassed.

Aqua hummed a bit to herself then smiled, but kept silent.

I feel really guilty for making him feel like he had to do that. Especially because I don't remember any particularly bad dreams. Maybe he chased them away for me.

Lea tipped his coffee mug in Sora's direction. "Well, no matter what you say, now I can finally claim you two have slept together."

"Man, he's got you!" Roxas snorted at the look on Sora's face and I felt a bit bad.

"Lea, keep this up and I won't make you anything." I waved my spatula in his direction and he immediately shut his mouth. "If he was up all night watching me he wasn't exactly sleeping, was he? After all, what he did was incredibly sweet. "

Xion approached from behind, tackling Sora and shoving his hood up over his head. "Isn't that just like him."

He laughed a little hesitantly and struggled his way out of his hood and her grasp. "I can't tell if that's a good thing or not..."

I waited for him to break free and handed him his breakfast plate. "It is, at least I think so."

And there's that excited smile of his that tells me today is definitely going to his head.

I ruffled his hair; what a silly bum. But I wouldn't trade him for anything.