Chapter 3: Icing on the Cake

XXX

Nomura Islands. It was said to be a paradise to where your wishes come true. Where your wildest dreams come to reality. One day, I came here, to this small world. With no memory of who or what I was. All I know is that my name is Kiara. And this is my story. Lately, weird things have been happening around me. Weird enemies and this keyblade. Now, I'm having doubts if my dreams are fantasies…maybe they're real….

XXX

"Oh…I'm sorry…." The hooded man turned and walked away, not saying a word. I glared after him. "Jerk." I scoffed. Then a thought came to me. Why is he wearing a black coat in summer? I shrugged and ran outside the town, up the hill to the secret hangout.

"What took you so long, Kiara!?" I walked inside the hangout and smiled.

"Sorry." Snow just handed me a star shaped ice cream bar. I thankfully took it.

"This must be what they mean by simple pleasures…" Bay sighed after a few moments of silence.

"Hmm?" Darlan looked at him, finishing off her ice cream.

"You know, hanging out with friends. Munching on some good ice cream." He grinned. Darlan shook her head.

"You're happy anytime you're eating, Bay." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey! I was trying to say something good!" He yelled. "Like, "I hope we can always be together like this," or something."

'There's no way." Darlan replied. "Circumstances change. When we grow up, of course we're not gonna be able to get together like this everyday like now…."

"Don't say stuff like that! What a drag!" Bay sighed, hanging his head. "What made you turn into such a sinch all the sudden?" Darlan hesitated.

"No! I…." Darlan smiled. "How about this! We all go to the other island! Let's get on the ferry and go!" She waved her fist.

"Today!?" Snow asked. Darlan nodded. I smiled.

"That's a great idea-oh!" I frowned.

"What's up?" Darlan asked. I looked up at her.

"Maybe you forgot…but…we're broke." I told her, crossing my arms.

"Maybe you forgot. I'm smart!" Darlan replied. "Just leave it to me!"

XXX

"You want a job? Now?" A man stared at Darlan with wide eyes. Darlan got on her knees, begging.

"Please! I'm desperate!" Snow, Bay and I all sat on a bench, watching. I grinned in amusement and laughed.

"Well, she said she'd take care of it." Snow said, smiling. Bay and I both nodded in agreement.

"Hey, guys! Get off your lazy butts! We've got work to do!" Darlan dropped stacks of flyers at our feet. Bay picked up a flyer.

"Hey! The Martial Arts cup is on the day after tomorrow!" He waved the paper to me.

"Really?" Snow took the flyer and read it. Darlan and I looked over her shoulders. Darlan looked at me and grinned.

"You and I have to make it to the finals! That way, no matter who wins the four of us split the prize. W can do it! You and me!" Darlan hooked her arm around my neck. I laughed.

"It's a promise!" I vowed.

"Let's do it!" She cheered. She grabbed the flyers and started putting them all on one wall. She spelled: Win! "How's that!?" She grinned. I shook my head at her, laughing.

"I think we're supposed to spread them out." Snow laughed.

XXX

"Nice work, everyone! After all the hard work we did….we made 4,050 munny!" Snow presented my blue shell full of munny. "It's heavy!" She smiled. "Here." She handed my bag back to me.

"Thanks." I smiled and placed it in my pocket, but before I did; A name was sewed on it. Kari… Huh!?

"Kiara! Come on!" I snapped out of my thoughts and ran to my friends, who waited at the ticket booth. I looked at the other island that laid in the distance and smiled.

"Coming! Ahh!" I found myself falling to the ground.

"Kiara!" My friends gasped. I moaned and sat on my knees, finding a stick lying next to me.

"A stick? Huh?!" I was forcefully pulled to my feet. I looked up and gasped. Him! That hooded guy from earlier! He pulled mecloser to him, so that my face was near his. My feet were an inch off the ground.

"Can you feel Kari?" He asked. My eyes widened. How did he know about Kari? His grip softened, and he gently let me go. I stared at him.

"Kiara!" I jumped and looked at my friends. "Hurry up!" Darlan waved. I looked back at the man, but he was gone. Huh? Where'd he go? I looked around for him. "Come on!" She yelled, getting angry.

"C-coming!" I said and ran to them.

"Are you okay?" Snow asked. I nodded.

"Yeah…"

XXX

"Four students!" Darlan smiled at the ticket man. She looked at me. "Kiara, the munny!"

"Kay." I reached into my pockets. No bag. I smiled nervously at her and searched in my other pockets. No bag! "It's gone!"

"You're kidding!" Bay gasped.

"He took it! When I tripped!" I gasped and turned around, looking for the man.

"He?" Snow questioned.

"What are you talking about?" Darlan asked. "There wasn't anyone around when you tripped." She shook her head. I stared at them in disbelief. Then the boat horn went off. The last ferry of the day sailed off.

"It left…" Bay said.

"Guess we can't make it today…" Darlan walked past me, leaving. Snow and Bay followed. I stared at the floor, my eyes wide. No way…

XXX

"Maybe you dropped it when you tripped and someone ran off with it." Snow patted my arm.

"Sorry…" I said for the tenth time. We all were sitting at the cliff, eating ice cream.

"Forget it." Darlan took a bite out of her ice cream.

"Kiara, if you hadn't found any new places for those flyers, we wouldn't have gotten paid anyway." Snow smiled, waving her ice cream.

'She's right." Bay nodded. He finished off his ice cream.

"In the future, we'll look back on this day and laugh. We need more memories, like today! Tons more." Darlan said. "We might not be able to stay together forever…but we'll always have our memories."

"Whoa. That's deep." Bay stared at her, wide eyed. A hint of emotion glinted off his eyes. "Got that from a fortune cookie?" He laughed.

"Shut up!" Darlan yelled, laughing also. I smiled and looked out the sunset. I frowned a little.

Can you feel Kari?

Kari…ever since I started dreaming about you….All sorts of odd things have been happening…who are you?

XXX

"I know you didn't want her leaving the island, but was it necessary?" The hooded man asked, looking at the other man at the computer.

"Get rid of that." The man replied. He ignored him and tossed Kiara's munny bag up and caught it.

"What is Organization XIII's status?" He asked.

"All is quiet. They're probably waiting for us to make a move. Whatever they may be doing…we need Namine` to make haste."

XXX

Meet at the station. Today we hit the island- and don't sweat about the munny! - Darlan

On my way to the station, I met up to Snow and Bay. They smiled when they saw me. "Hey!" I greeted, nodding to them.

"Morning." Snow smiled. "Darlan got munny from her uncle. Today we can really go to the island!" She jumped up and down, excited.

"That's great!" I grinned. "Huh?" I noticed that they were just standing there. Not moving. Or breathing. "Uh…guys?" I reached for Bay. He fell back. "Ah!" I jumped back.

"Hello, Kiara." I looked back. A girl with long blonde hair pulled over her shoulder smiled. She had blue eyes, a white dress to the knees and sandals. "Come to the Tree of Misery. If you come….I'll tell you what you want to know." She walked past me, heading to the forest. She disappeared in the shadows. I gasped and ran after her.