~Destiny Island~

Nira opened her eyes and stood up with a jolt. She looked around and saw she was back on the island where she had fallen asleep. She remembered that she and her friends had come to the island to work on the raft they were making in order to sail away from their home; the Destiny Islands. They wanted to see more of the world they lived in and see if there were other worlds out there that needed to be explored. Nira was also happy that she was going to get off the islands because she wanted to go where she was from.

Nira wasn't originally from Destiny Islands she was from another place and she had no remembrance of what her life was like before she came there. She just remembered washing up on the Island that they now played on and being found by Sora and taken back to his family where they raised her as Sora's sister and that was over 9 years ago; she arrived on the same day her friend Kairi showed up and she was adopted by the mayor of the Destiny Islands. They had been friends with each other ever since that day and Nira valued her new friends and family and wouldn't give them up for the world.

"Hey am I the only one working on the raft?" She heard someone say from the side of her.

Nira turned and saw a young man of about 15 standing there holding a log under his right arm and smiling at her. "Riku, I'm sorry." Nira's face went red. She had been crushing on Riku the whole time that they had known each other and she hated acting like a fool in front of him. But she knew that he didn't care.

Riku smiled at his friend and walked over to her. He dropped the log near his foot and helped her up off the ground. She wiped the sand off her light blue dress and out of her long light brown hair and smiled back. "So, now that you're done daydreaming. Do you know where are other no good friends are?" Riku asked.

Nira shrugged. "Nope, I don't remember where they went. They might be on the other side of the island." She suggested.

Riku picked up the log again and then outstretched his hand to his friend. He had a little bit of a crush on her too so this was making his heart beat out of his chest. "Let's go look for them." He said laughing.

Nira took Riku's hand and they walked along the beach together looking for Sora and Kairi. As they walked along the beach they looked at each other and looked away when they noticed they were making eye contact. In the past couple years the feelings they had for each other had escalated into maybe something more. Both of them hoped it was gaining momentum.

But then all of the sudden as they walked Riku stopped. Nira looked at him concerned and asked. "Riku is something wrong?" she asked looking at him.

Riku looked at the beautiful woman standing next to him and said. "Nira, I want to know that after we set sail that when we come back we're still going to be friends." Nira was confused about what he was saying.

"Riku, what do you mean?" she asked.

Riku looked Nira straight in the eyes and then said "Tonight before we all leave meet me at the Islet then I can explain everything. All right?"

Nira nodded in agreement and before she could say anything more she heard the sound of two people talking. "I think we found them." Riku's mood suddenly changed to him being happy and he began to run ahead of her. Nira stood there for a moment thinking about the dream she had and thought that this might be one of the things that were part of the journey she was about to partake in.

Nira then ran to where Riku was and saw her brother Sora sitting on the beach talking with their friend Kairi who had semi-long deep red hair and bright blue eyes. She was always smiling and giggling she had the best personality. Sora was talking about a dream he had just had and how he had been swallowed up by the darkness. He described to Kairi the same thing that happened to Nira. Was Sora the other half that would help Nira open the door? She thought to herself.

"Ow!" Sora said as Kairi conked Sora on the head and both Riku and Nira gave a small laugh.

"There you are you two lazy bums." Riku called out to his two friends.

Riku walked over to Kairi who was laughing at what Riku said. Riku then tossed the log to Sora and he fell back to the ground. Nira laughed at her brother and followed along with Riku.

"And you're just as lazy as he is." Riku said to Kairi who continued laughing.

"So you noticed?" Kairi replied.

"Alright now that we're all together again let's finish this project." Nira made herself known to the group.

"Yeah, let's have a race to the raft." Kairi said a smile on her face.

Everyone looked at their friend and were shocked that she actually said what she said. Sora in the mean time had removed the log off of him and stood up fully. "Let's go." He said with a huff and there was a bit of hesitation that Nira caught.

"What brother, are you afraid I'm going to beat you?" Nira asked.

"No, let's do this." Sora hollered and started off.

Nira, Riku, Kairi and Sora all went off with a sprint and as usual Nira was ahead of everyone with her long athletic legs that looked like they were built for running. She turned around and saw the rest of her friends and her sibling trying to catch up with her but then all of the sudden she felt someone wrap their arms around her and drop her to the sand. She saw Riku's deep blue eyes looking at her and she smiled. "You know you just lost the race right?" She asked him laughing.

"Yeah, I know." Riku said.

"Come guys I want a do over." Sora complained at his best friend and sister. "Why don't you two just get a room already?" he asked teasingly.

Nira and Riku got off each other without a reply both of them blushing and then walked over to their friends still laughing. Nira looked at Riku and could see the seriousness come back into his eyes; something was troubling him. Hopefully she would find out what was wrong tonight when they met at the islet.

They spent the rest of the day working on the raft and collecting things for Kairi so she could put it together and also they collected supplies which they would need for sustenance when they were travelling and by the next day it would be all done. Then they all went to the islet to watch the sunset. Sora and Kairi were sitting on the bent over Paopu tree trunk while Nira and Riku were leaning on it and looking forward.

Sora leaned forward and asked. "So Nira and Kairi's homes are out there somewhere, right?"

"They could be." Riku said looking to his friend and Nira looked at him. "We'll never know by staying here."

"But do you know how far the raft can take us?" Nira asked.

Riku turned to Nira. "Who knows? If we have to we'll think of something else."

"So suppose we get to another world. What would you do there?" Kairi asked her friend.

"Well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just…I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds…Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" Nira looked at Riku and wondered why his attitude had changed all of the sudden. It was like he actually wanted to leave the island.

Sora lied down on the tree trunk and put his hands behind his head. "I don't know." He said looking up at the sky.

"Exactly." Riku agreed.

"That's why we need to go out there and find out."

"Just sitting here won't change a thing." Riku stepped away from Nira to the edge of the islet. "It's the same old stuff."

"So let's go. Day after tomorrow we set sail." Nira smiled and wanted to get her brother and friends to be happier. She hated when they seemed depressed. Kairi smiled in response to Nira's being so happy.

The ended the conversation and Sora and Kairi got off the trunk of the tree. Sora turned to his sister who was still standing with Riku and asked. "Hey, Nira are you coming back with me?"

Nira shook her head. "No, I'm not I'm going to go home with Riku. See you in a couple minutes." With that Sora took off and left his sister and best friend standing on the islet.

When Sora and Kairi were gone Nira turned towards Riku who was looking away from her and she asked. "You've been thinking about this a lot haven't you?" She walked closer to him.

She watched as he turned around to face her. His bright blue eyes shimmering in the dimming light. "I wouldn't have thought about it if it wasn't for you Nira. If you hadn't come here then I would never have thought of going to other worlds." Nira knew he wasn't being sarcastic that what he was saying was true.

"Why?" She asked.

Riku went closer to Nira and touched her arm. Nira smiled brightly. She felt like she was going to faint; she had never been this close to Riku before. "Because I want to see where you're from; I mean you've been here for most of your life but don't you ever wonder who your family was if they're still alive…I want to know because I care about you a lot. Nira I just want to ask you if you will be my girlfriend because I want us to be together when we set sail the day after tomorrow. I love you Nira." Nira nearly fainted when she heard those three words come out of his mouth. It was like her dreams were coming true.

"I love you too Riku. I have loved you ever since we were kids." She then moved in and kissed him gently on the lips. He kissed her back and it made their hearts flutter inside their chests. When they removed their lips they smiled and laughed happily.

Then Riku looked through his pocket and showed her a Paopu Fruit. "I heard that if someone eats half of the Paopu fruit and another person eats the other half then they will be connected forever." He broke the fruit in half and handed it to Nira. "This is so no matter where we are we know our love will burn strong."

Nira took the other half in her hands and ate it and watched Riku eat his half. They were connected now through all time no matter what happens. Then they kissed each other lightly smiling brightly then they ever had in their entire lives. Even though Nira knew from the dream she had she would be going on a journey she was glad that she had someone to come back to who loved her more than just friends and a sibling.

"I think we should get home before our parents wonder where we've been." Riku suggested after their third kiss.

Nira nodded and she took Riku's hand and they walked down the bridge to the beach and then to the dock where their boats were. There was only one left because Sora and Nira shared a boat. Riku got down into his boat and stretched his hand to her. "Madam, you're ship awaits." He was being very romantic.

Nira took Riku's hand and she went into his boat and they sailed to the main island where they lived. Nira leaned onto Riku as he paddled and felt him kiss the top of her head gently. She was so happy that she was with him right now but she didn't know how she was going to tell her brother that Riku and she had started dating. But they knew they had time before that came and also hoped that Sora would understand.

When they landed on the shore and docked the boat Nira kissed Riku goodnight and then they walked back to their houses. They lived on the other sides of the island. As Nira walked along the path to her house she thought about how soon they were going to be sailing off into the sunset and be free from the island but there was something down in Nira's soul that she didn't want to leave the island. But also she wanted to find out where she was and who her family was and if they were dead or alive. Also if they were alive she wanted to ask them why they abandoned her and she wondered if they still even loved her.

"Nira, you're home." She saw her mother Ayame Hikari standing on the front steps of the house smiling. "It's late you should go to bed."

Nira smiled at her mother and walked inside the house and upstairs to her room which was across the hall from Sora's. She assumed he had already gone to bed. Nira that night slept like a baby because she was so happy of the days to come. But still that thought lingered in her head the dream she had on the island and whether it was going to be coming true or not and she also wondered why her brother had gotten the same dream also. He must be the other half of opening the door.