I've found my answer - sweatdropping is that anime sweatdrop thing. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

moving on. Still back to Riku and Kairi because I think the last chapter was too short to give them a proper bit.

"Again."

Clang.

"Again."

Clang. A frustrated scream.

"Again." Riku's voice came cold and hard.

Kairi gripped the metal rod until her knuckles whitened. Without hesitation, she swung at him again with all the strength she had left, but her weapon met feebly with Riku's keyblade with a dull clang; he didn't even move from his spot.

"Ahh!" She dropped the rod as the full shock of the blow reached her end of the weapon. She stood glaring at the rod rolling on the tiles, massaging her numbed fingers, and then glared at Riku. He held his Keyblade passively, almost casually; his grip was loose and the blade sagged in his hand. Yet she couldn't even get him to take a step back.

Some "keyblade training" this was. This wasn't training, this was pointless self-humiliation. Why can't he just teach me?

"Again."

Furious, Kairi bent down, retrieved the rod. It hurt to wrap her fingers around it for the hundredth time, but she didn't care. Just teach me how to summon my goddamn Keyblade.

She took a swing at Riku, but she didn't wait for him to say "again" for another hit. She landed another blow, then another, ignoring the shock of the rod and her building rage. Soon she found herself screaming in fury, beating ceaselessly against Riku's blocks.

Have I ever been this angry before? she thought. A small part of her felt the unnaturalness of the anger, realized it didn't fit within herself. But her mind was already feverish with rage, and she did not relent.

Suddenly, in the midst of another swing, Riku shoved Kairi backward, roughly enough that she stumbled and landed hard on the tiles, and she realized she had crossed a line. Her anger quelled, but she still glared at the older boy, and started to pick up the rod again.

"control yourself!" He roared. Kairi shrank back and instinctively drew her knees up against her body. Riku's brilliant teal eyes glittered with cold disapproval.

Dissaproval. He's like a teacher now. She bit her lip and hugged her legs, and despite herself, she started crying. She immediately squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to soak the tears of frustration back up again before they spilled down her cheeks. That would make her look weak in front of her friend.

Riku roughly pulled her up and awkwardly wiped her tears away. Kairi ducked away, ashamed. It was childish of her to cry because of such a thing, but it was even more so to let somebody else comfort her like an infant. She bent down, wiping her tears where Riku would not see, and picked the worn rod up with numb hands.

When she looked back around, though, Riku was not there; it was Sora, on the other side of the long room. How had he gotten here? Riku had told her that Sora had gone away. As Kairi ran to greet him, she saw there was something wrong; he was on all fours, one hand on his keyblade, trying to fend off a mass of unmistakeable black figures.

The Heartless continued to appear, two for every one that Sora managed to destroy, until they were almost countless. Kairi saw him collapse amidst the swarming Shadows, and screamed.

"Sora!" She found her feet carrying her to his side, and she took a swing, hard as she could, at the Heartless that were consuming him, but instead of passing through the Shadows, the rod connected with something solid.

After a stunned moment, Sora and the heartless disappeared. In their place was Riku in a defensive stance, pushed back several meters, both hands gripping his keyblade to absorb Kairi's blow. She no longer held a metal rod in her hands; in its place was a beautiful, floral Keyblade, the same one that Riku had lent her at the Castle That Never Was.

"It was Sora, wasn't it." Riku walked up to her, his expression unreadable.

"What?" Kairi was still bewildered by what had happened. Where had Sora gone? And the heartless, they had been attacking him...

"This room can make you hallucinate," He replied. "The Master thought of it, as a way to bring out emotions to trigger a Keyblade summon. What did you see?"

"I saw Sora. But he was being attacked by Heartless, and he was dying, and I couldn't just stand there-"

"So Sora is the key to your Keyblade," Riku said. His voice sounded distant, his expression clouded. "Think of him, focus, and you'll summon your Keyblade."

Kairi blushed. She cared for Sora, but had she really been that bonded with him? Trying to distract herself from herself, she asked, "So a keyblade's tied to something important in the user? (epic blush)"

Riku nodded. "And it's different for every person. The Master says it can be anything from an emotion to a memory to a person, but it's always linked to the wielder. You picture it in your mind, and let everything else go blank." He turned around and walked stiffly towards the door. "Enough practice for today. Get some rest. Go explore the tower or something."

Another question found its way into Kairi's mind. "When you're summoning your Keyblade, what do you think of?" she called after Riku.

He stopped walking and Kairi saw his shoulders tense, like he was deciding whether to answer or not.

"The darkness." He gave her a tight smile and walked briskly through the door, leaving her alone in the training room.

muahahahaha, moar short chapters. Please don't hold it against me, I find it easier not to procrastinate this way.