By now, Kairi felt she could safely assume Naminé didn't go to the same school as her.

It wasn't a very big school – it only had a couple hundred pupils – and Kairi knew almost everyone. The school was pretty close-knit, and if she didn't know someone's name she certainly knew their face. Kairi had never seen anyone quite like Naminé before, and in the months after their meeting, she didn't see anyone who even remotely resembled her.

Not that she was looking, or anything stalkerish like that. She'd just be walking along and she'd spot a golden blonde head from the corner of her eye, and once she turned to get a closer look she'd find it belonged to a short-haired boy or someone else who looked nothing like Naminé.

Kairi was fascinated by Naminé. As she came to think of her more often, she realized how painfully little she actually knew about the blonde. All she really knew was that her favorite colour was blue, her least favorite was green, and she liked butterflies. Naminé wasn't an enigmatic person, she was far from it, Kairi just never got the chance to get to know her at all.

The days turned into weeks, and the week turned into months, and Kairi still saw nothing of the other girl. She'd always been very happy with her lifestyle, but now it felt like something was missing. Life went on, much as it had before. Riku and Sora had almost forgotten Naminé, the incident at work was ancient history, and nobody really cared about the broken elevator any more, as it had long since been fixed. Sora's leg was removed from the brace and now had only a thin layer of bandages over it, and the newspaper clipping on the wall became dusty and slightly yellowed with age.

The tiny bottle of blue nail polish went unopened, but Kairi began to let her nails grow out. They got in the way a lot and broke often, but were useful when it came to scratching various itches and picking small objects off the ground. The small butterfly charm could always be seen hanging around her neck or tucked under her school uniform.

However interested Kairi was with Naminé, she couldn't afford to spend every waking second thinking of her. Sure, the blonde was never far from her thoughts, but as life went on Kairi began to slowly accept the fact that she might not see the other girl again, and she got used to the fact that life seemed a little duller now.

Slowly, the months began to cool down, and school broke off for the mid term break at last. Sure, the holiday was only a week long, but after the long term Kairi was happy with any sort of rest.

As Sora now had enough movement in his leg to jog, the three decided it would be good to pay a visit to the play island again, to celebrate the holidays and to make sure none of the buildings had fallen down. However, Sora was still on medication and his energy was quickly spent, so they decided it best for him to ride in Riku's boat.

Riku hadn't slept much the night before, and dark shadows hung under his eyes. Because of this, he rowed slower than usual, and Kairi reached the island before Riku was even halfway there.

The boat was silent for a while. Sora, sitting in the back seat, watched Riku rowing slowly, head cocked slightly to the side.

"Hey, Riku?" He asked after a short while. Riku looked over at him.

"Hmm?" He mumbled.

"Just how much sleep did you get last night?"

Riku thought for a moment. "Um, three hours?" He blinked blearily "Something like that."

Sora nodded, standing up. The boat shook dangerously, and Riku shot a glare at him. "Sora, sit down! You'll capsize us!" He yelled. He'd capsized before, and it was not an easy task to flip the boat back over and clamber in.

Plus, the doctor had ordered Sora to keep his wounds dry.

"Scoot over, I'm going to help you row." Sora pushed at Riku, squeezing down beside him as the boat wobbled. The seat was only big enough for one, so it was quite a tight fit, but they managed somehow. They each took one oar and began to row.

"We're going in circles." Riku grunted after a few minutes. And indeed, the boat had gone in one big circle, and they were now headed away from the island.

Sora pulled harder on his oar, assuming it was his fault, but the boat began to turn even more sharply than before. With a laugh, he turned to Riku "Pull harder, Riku!'

Muttering grumpily under his breath, Riku began to pull his oar harder, and for a moment the boat went in a straight line. However, it began to veer off in the opposite direction, and soon they were again headed away from the island. Sora's face was growing pink from the effort, while Riku's went even paler from exhaustion.

"Sora, you moron! Get back over there; I was doing fine by myself." Riku pushed Sora in the direction of the back seat and taking over the oars.

Before too long, Riku's boat pulled up next to Kairi's. Sora stumbled out of the boat and began to wander up the deck while Riku secured the boat.

"Oh, good, you've finished making out."

Both boys looked up at the same time to see a slightly pissed Kairi standing on the shore, arms folded. Sora's face burned pinker while Riku's went whiter from shock.

"What the hell, Kairi? We weren't making out!" Riku snapped. He was far too tired to deal with any of this crap.

"I could say the same to you! What took you so long, and why is Sora's face as red as a crab?" Kairi gestured to a very pink Sora, who turned around and walked away, coughing.

Riku straightened up and pushed past Kairi "I don't need to explain myself, but I can assure you that nothing happened. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a coconut over there with my name written on it."

Kairi, standing alone on the dock, eyed Sora, who was strolling along the beach slowly, and Riku, who was scrambling up the nearest tree to fetch a coconut. Her gaze shifted between them for a minute, and she couldn't help but believe Riku. Whatever had made them both act so strange was certainly innocent enough, but she had no idea how long things would stay innocent for.

Not that she really cared, mind you. So long as she didn't walk in on them kissing or anything. That would be plain weird.

Kairi had planned to make some more Thyssa charms, and had brought some string from home. Going back to her boat, she grabbed the string and pushed it into her pocket. Glancing about once more, she spotted something that was a little unusual.

Next to her floated her boat, and behind it bobbed Riku's boat. However, on the other side of the jetty, where Sora's boat was usually tied, floated another boat that she had never seen before.

Riku, Sora and her boats were all unpainted, because none of them saw the need to paint them. However, this boat has several colourful swirling designs splashed onto the sides, and only one oar. The interior was completely empty aside a pair of worn-down sandals that she had never seen before. Kairi had no idea whose boat this could be; none of the other kids ever came here anymore, and none of them had boats like this one.

"Hey, guys. There's someone else here!" She called, stepping onto the shore and making after Sora, who was headed for the shack.

Sora turned to look at her "What?"

"You heard me. There's a boat tied to the dock that I've never seen before." She caught up with the baffled-looking Sora.

"Really?" He asked, heading back the way he'd come "I'll go have a look."

Kairi didn't really see the need for it, but she nodded. "Whatever makes you happy, cripple." Sora threw some curses at her and hobbled off.

Feeling a little thirsty, Kairi headed for the small freshwater waterfall nearby. After a moment of inspection, she pulled a plastic cup from a crack in the rock. The cup itself was old and weather-worn, from years of use by all of the kids that used to frequent the island, but it still held water and that was good enough for Kairi.

After drinking her fill, Kairi replaced the cup and looked about. Sora was sitting in the strange boat, and Riku was nowhere to be seen. While she was refreshed from her drink, Kairi still felt the need for some shade. Her eyes came to rest on the entrance to the secret place. The shadows of the entrance seemed very appealing to her, so she made her way over.

She'd grown a lot over the summer, and she had to stoop to get through the tunnel, but once she was inside the roof shot up and she could straighten up. Once her eyes had gotten used to the darkness, Kairi began to wonder about.

As kids, they'd all gotten rocks and scratched pictures into the walls. Most of the drawings were still very visible. Kairi felt like she was walking through a museum of time – this picture was from four years ago, this one from six, this one from nine years ago, and it still looked just as clear as it had done on the day she drew it.

Finally, she came to one from roughly eleven years ago.

It was a picture of Sora's head, and next to it was a picture of her own. She'd been roughly five years old when she drew this one. Sora was sitting next to her, drawing also. She remembered thinking that she'd draw him a picture, as a sort of present. When she looked over she saw that he'd being drawing a picture of her, obviously with the same intention. The two had laughed for a bit and then went off, doing their own things.

However, roughly halfway through the third grade, she'd come in to draw a flower or something, when she'd spotted an update to the drawing – a hand was holding a paopu to Kairi's mouth.

Kairi wasn't sure if Sora had drawn it, but as the years went by any suspicion that Sora had a crush on her faded away. To put it frankly, Kairi was pretty convinced that Sora was now gay for his best friend.

Which she was totally cool with, by the way.

As she let her fingers brush over the drawings lightly, she inwardly sighed over the whole situation. She'd only liked Sora when they were very young, and she couldn't ever recall looking at Riku as anything other than an older brother. They were her best friends, nothing more. And though she'd like them to stay that way, she couldn't deny that the thing Riku and Sora seemed to have for each other had been in the works for quite some time. They would make a good couple, knowing each other so well and all.

A grunt snapped her out of her daydream, and she looked over her shoulder to spot the shadows on the wall moving. Someone was coming down the tunnel, and they didn't seem to know where they were going – Riku and Sora knew the place like the back of their hands.

Kairi scrambled onto her feet just as the mystery person stumbled around the corner. However, they must have tripped over a rock or something, because all Kairi saw was a flash of yellow and the newcomer was on the ground.

Kairi's heart leapt into her mouth as she recognized the fallen girl.

"Naminé!" She rushed over and began to help the other to her feet. Naminé looked up in surprise, and her face cracked into a warm smile that made Kairi week at the knees.

"Kairi?" She ignored her hand and climbed up by herself. "So you've began to pay a little more attention to the world around you?"

Kairi just laughed. "What brings you here?"

Naminé shrugged "I was out in my boat, just going for a cruise, when I spotted this island with a bunch of wooden buildings on it, so I thought I'd take a look around." She was wearing a blue shirt today, and a purple skirt. The butterfly necklace was again hanging around her neck. As she dusted her front off, Kairi caught a pink glint.

"Yeah, this is our play island. Me and my friends have been coming here since we were really young, and our dads built the buildings and stuff one summer." She smiled "Pink nails today?"

Naminé smiled right back "Pink is curious." Without any warning, she seized Kairi into a big hug, wrapping her thin arms around the other and nuzzling her cheek against Kairi's. "It's good to see you again, Kairi!"

Kairi was a little too stunned to react for a second, but then her heart skipped three gears and went straight into overdrive as she awkwardly put her arms around the other's hips. "I missed you." She whispered with the ghost of a smile.

Kairi wasn't an expert on things like this, but she felt pretty sure they hugged for a moment longer than they were supposed to. Who the hell decided that there should be 'rules' to hugging a person you care for? Bougas. That person needed to be tied up and shot.

She was almost too caught up in her internal rant to catch Naminé's whispered response.

"I missed you, too."

When the time came to reluctantly pull away from each other, Kairi found Naminé's cheeks were a light pink. She was pretty sure her own were also pink, so she kept quiet.

"So, would you like a guided tour of the place? It's a little more interesting when you know the stories behind things." Kairi smiled at Naminé, who smiled right back at her.

"Sounds like a plan."

---

"Wow, that tree looks like it's about to fall out of the earth and into the sea."

Kairi approached said tree, placing a fond hand on the trunk. "This is a paopu tree. It bears the most delicious fruit, all year round." She jumped up and began to pace the length of the trunk, Naminé looking on worriedly "There are only a couple of other paopu trees on the islands, so I'm not sure if they naturally bend this way or if it's just bent from people standing on it all the time." She laughed. "They're pretty rare."

Naminé pointed to a star shaped fruit, hanging next to the leaves. "Is that a paopu fruit?"

Kairi turned and nodded "They grow pretty fast, and they're really hard to get, so there's usually one or two hanging about." She jumped down onto the sand and approached Naminé, excitement glinting in her eyes.

"Did you know that if two people share a paopu fruit their destinies become intertwined?" She sat down on the trunk, her feet kicking at the air "They'll be a part of each other's lives, no matter what."

Naminé awkwardly sat down next to Kairi, unused to sitting on a tree "That sounds like a crock of shit."

Kairi took one look at Naminé's serious expression and burst into laughter. Of all the responses she was expecting, that was certainly not one of them.

"I mean really. Have you ever tried this?" Naminé gestured towards the fruits, ignoring Kairi's laughter.

Kairi thought for a second "I've eaten a couple of the fruits, but I've never shared it with anyone. I forgot my lunch a couple of times." She laughed sheepishly "I don't think any of my friends have tried it either, but I have a couple of suspicions."

Naminé's eyebrow quirked and she turned to Kairi "Suspicions?"

Kairi just laughed. Pink certainly was curious. "I shouldn't say much, because I'm not sure and I have no proof."

"Proof of what?"

Kairi and Naminé turned simultaneously, to see Sora hobbling towards them.

"Oh, hey Sora! This is Naminé; hers is the boat at the jetty." She waved cheerfully at Sora, and turned back to Naminé "This is Sora; he's the one who has surgery."

Naminé jumped from the tree and held a hand out to Sora "It's nice to meet you at last."

Sora, obviously unused to formal greetings in a casual setting, chuckled and awkwardly shook Naminé's hand. "The, um, pleasure's all mine?" He smiled in a confused way.

Naminé and Kairi giggled at the same time, sending chills up Sora's spine. Creepy.

Kairi looked down at the beach to spot Riku strolling along, dragging a long stick behind him, marking a long line in the sand.

"Hey Riku! Get up here and meet our guest!" She called gleefully. Riku dropped his stick dramatically and headed for the shack.

"So you're the one who Kairi force-fed some coins to?" Sora grinned mockingly. Kairi cringed, but Naminé just laughed.

"Yes. It was quite a good shot, actually. I would have laughed if I wasn't in such a foul mood." Naminé shrugged; glad to be accepted by this strange boy. She didn't actually have many friends at home, and it was nice to meet new people.

"So you're Naminé?" A deep voice behind her stated. Naminé turned to spot a blank-faced silver haired boy who looked at least three years older than her. His piercing green eyes sent shivers up her spine – it felt like he was looking straight through her.

"Yes. Riku, I presume?" She smiled, offering her hand. Riku just ignored it as he pushed past to learn against the tree trunk, next to Kairi. Naminé, feeling a little embarrassed, lowered her hand.

"Don't worry about him; he just doesn't like strangers." Sora said calmly, and Naminé nodded slowly.

"Naminé, whereabouts do you live?" Kairi asked her. Naminé pointed to the south.

"I live on Fate Island." Kairi and Sora nodded. Destiny was the biggest island in the chain of islands, and the closest and second-largest was Fate Island. "I live with my mum on Fate Island, and during the holidays I live with my dad on Destiny."

Ah. That's why Kairi hadn't seen Naminé for so long.

"Your parents are divorced?" Sora gaped. Divorce wasn't a common thing on the Islands, and it was particularly unusual for a couple to divorce after having kids. Most people just stuck it out until their kids were old enough to fend for themselves.

"Since I was three." Naminé shrugged. "I don't know why, but I guess it's better than them fighting all of the time." Everyone nodded. It made sense.

"Look at the sun; we should probably head home now." Riku said quietly, eyes on the sunset.

Naminé stepped forward, staring at the sunset "That's the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen."

Kairi giggled. When you saw it so often you began to forget just how perfect it was. Sora jumped up onto the tree trunk to sit next to Kairi, leaving Naminé standing alone, several feet behind. As she watched the silhouette of the three friends against the sunset, she was struck by how right the scene felt.

Shortly after, she felt that she was intruding, and probably shouldn't be there. After a few uncertain seconds, she turned around and began to slink away.

---

"Where'd you go yesterday?" Naminé looked up from her coffee and into the deep violet eyes of Kairi, who was frowning down at her.

"There was someplace I had to be." Naminé lied calmly, licking the froth from her spoon and looking about. Destiny café wasn't particularly busy today. Only a couple of the booths were taken, and she was the only person sitting at a table.

Kairi nodded and took the seat opposite Naminé. "Still, you could have said goodbye or something. We weren't trying to exclude you." Truth be told, Kairi was a little hurt when she realized Naminé was gone. She mentally lashed herself with a whip when she realized how uncomfortable Naminé would have felt.

Naminé shrugged "Whatever. How are you today, Kairi?" Kairi noticed Naminé's nails – they were a light turquoise.

"I'm fine. And you are… happy in a sad way? Or sad in a happy way?" Kairi smiled at Naminé, fiddling with one of the sugar packets.

"I'd describe it as 'whatever'." Naminé sipped at her coffee thoughtfully.

"I see. What do you have planned for today?" A glance at the wall clock revealed 8 AM.

Naminé shrugged "I need some stuff for school, so I figured I'd go shopping. Why, do you want to come?"

Kairi sighed "I can't, as much as I'd love to. I'm working until 12, and I can't just walk out and keep my job."

Naminé smiled, stirring her coffee slowly. "Meet you at 12, then?"

Kairi smiled right back "Sounds like a plan."

---

Naminé re-appeared in the café at exactly noon, just as Kairi was pulling off her apron. Kairi had been out of it all day, so looking forward to her outing was she. She'd show Naminé some of her favorite shops, and if they were lucky they might bump into more of Kairi's friends and she could introduce them to Naminé.

Kairi still hadn't forgotten her dream from months ago, and her irrational thoughts when she woke up. Her? Crushing on Naminé? Please. She wasn't a lesbian, and she couldn't just like someone after only seeing them twice, briefly. These things took time. Kairi was simply fascinated by Naminé, and wanted to get to know her better. That was all.

These conclusions only half satisfied Kairi. It didn't explain how her heart leapt every time she saw the other girl, and it didn't even mention the weakening of the knees when she smiled at her.

Which is exactly what happened when she strolled out of the kitchen and saw Naminé chatting cheerfully to one of the other girls who worked with Kairi. Nope. No crush. Just fascination. That's all.

"Ready to go?" Naminé asked as Kairi approached. She nodded, and the two made their way out of the café.

"What did you need first? There's a newsagency just over there." Kairi pointed to the newsagency, next to the drugstore.

"Yeah, some stationary would be good. When I shop I tend to go overboard so I have to get the essentials first." Naminé made a silly face at her weakness, sending Kairi's heart fluttering.

"I'm like that too." Kairi laughed "You probably picked the wrong person to go shopping with."

Naminé shrugged like it wasn't a big deal "I'd pick you even if you were the wrong person."

Kairi laughed "I'm flattered."

They made their way into the newsagency, and Naminé bought a case of coloured pencils and some pens. Once that was done, they headed to the nearest clothes shop and began looking through the clothes.

After much looking, Kairi tried on a short pink dress with a black hood. Naminé said she looked cute and snapped a picture with her phone. Kairi bought the dress, even though it was worth a month's pay from Destiny.

Naminé didn't try anything on from that shop, but the next shop they went into found her in a tight black shirt that read "My destiny is with Destiny Island". Kairi just laughed at her when she bought it. She also bought a white shirt with a paopu fruit on it.

"I'd share it with you, Kairi, but I don't want to flash anyone." She winked when she tried it on. A dirty thought crossed Kairi's mind and she mentally smacked herself. She got out her phone and took a picture of Naminé in her paopu shirt, pulling a silly gangster pose in front of the mirror.

The next shop they went into was an accessory shop. Kairi bought a chunky heart pendant that hung to her belly button, and Naminé bought a pair of sunglasses that covered half her face because she thought they looked funny. They took some more photos of themselves and looked about for another shop to raid.

Their next shop was a bookstore, where they both spent a good fifteen minutes just standing there and reading a book, until a snappy sales assistant got angry with them for 'treating her bookstore like a library'. Kairi and Naminé just laughed and moved along.

After accidentally stumbling across a costume shop, they both tried on the silliest costumes they could find. Naminé put on an Elvis outfit, while Kairi went for a chicken suit. They both tried on feather boas and masks, shoes and silly hats. They took a lot of photos of each other and laughed a lot.

Kairi couldn't remember ever having this much fun. Sure, her male friends were good fun and she liked hanging out with them, but quite often she found herself judging sparring matches and races, or making small trinkets with sea shells by herself. It was safe to say Kairi enjoyed having another female friend.

After a couple more shops, they were getting a little hungry. Kairi pointed out a good sandwich bar, and they made for it, getting a sandwich and a bottle of water each.

"This has been a lot of fun." Naminé said happily, munching into her lettuce and egg sandwich.

Kairi nodded "I wish we could do this sort of thing more often."

Naminé shrugged "We could, you know. The only reason I come to Destiny is to see my dad. My friends and my mum are all on Fate, so I guess it makes sense if I spend most of my time there. I could make a couple of weekend trips – it only takes 15 minutes to get here by ferry."

Kairi gaped at her. "Really?"

Naminé giggled and nodded "I could do it, but we wouldn't be able to go shopping every time. I've spent way too much today."

Kairi nodded. She had too, but it was all worth it in the end. "It would be so cool if you come more often. You could meet all of my other friends, and Riku might actually warm up to you with time." Kairi internally squealed with delight at the thought of seeing Naminé every other weekend.

Naminé laughed. "What your favorite movie, Kairi?"

Kairi laughed "Why?"

Naminé shrugged as she took a swig from her water bottle.

"I like the Shawshank Redemption." Kairi smiled "It's an awesome movie."

Naminé nodded "I think I saw that one. Wasn't it about a prison escapade?"

Kairi nodded, biting her sandwich "It talks a lot about friendships and hope and, well, redemption. What's your favorite movie?"

"Pocahontas."

"Really? I've never seen it."

Naminé stared at her like she'd just asked her to take off her clothes and run around naked. Kairi cringed.

"What?"

"You've never seen Pocah—that's it, you are coming to my house and we are watching it and there is nothing you can do to stop it." Naminé banged her fist on the table triumphantly. Kairi laughed.

"Okay then, fine. Shall I bring the Shawshank Redemption?"

"Bring a couple of your other favorites as well – we'll have a marathon." Naminé paused "Oh, and bring a pillow too."

Kairi laughed, delighted at the thought of spending a night at Naminé's, as they scribbled down each other's details.

Checking the time on her phone, Naminé stood up "Well, this has been great, but I have to get going now. I'll see you at eight, yeah?" Kairi nodded as she waved to Naminé.

And before she knew it, the crowd had swallowed Naminé, and Kairi was alone again.

---

Author's Notes: I'd have loved to go into more detail about the shopping scene, but shopping is also a foreign concept to me and I had to go with what I've seen from my friends dragging me around.

I'm the type of person who wears whatever the hell happens to be floating at the top of her draws, you see. Do not ask me about coordinating outfits – my brain will explode.

My sister actually dragged me shopping when I was halfway through this chapter, and I just stood about making nasty comments about the clothes she looked at. xD In the end she gave up and took me home.

The Shawshank Redemption is actually a pretty good movie. You should go see it. :)