Sora couldn't believe his eyes. How could the door have been getting close and him not notice it? His mind went back to the dreams he'd been having recently and gave a nervous laugh. How could he not have noticed that those must have been warning him?

What was he supposed to do now? It wasn't safe to open the Door at all, but he had to if he wanted to save Riku and the King. There was a tiny thought in the back of his mind that was bugging him terribly, but he didn't want to admit it; what if they were already consumed by the darkness?

He had to talk to someone that would understand the situation, and it certainly couldn't be Goofy or Donald. They had no idea what was going on, and there was no way for them to get here in time. "I need help," he sighed weakly and folded to the ground with his legs crossed, eyes staring up at the Door. It'd been so long, but the thing still scared him. Sora went through all the people he'd met in his travels all those years ago. Who had the most knowledge of what lay in Kingdom Hearts?

"Ugh," he groaned and stood up, his hand balling into a fist. There was a strange clink and he felt his fingers wrap around a handle. The brunette looked down at the keyblade in his hands and smiled. It'd been a while since he'd felt it in his hands. Sora knew, however, that the key wanted to open the Door, and it was not to be opened now. If he were going to have to do this on his own, he'd have to train for what might be lying on the other side.

He prayed he'd have enough time.

"Where've you been all day?" Kairi asked coolly as they sat down to dinner. The sun was setting against the water and the sight was breathtaking. Sora's eyes were straying towards the sky more than his food tonight. This was saying something, as his appetite was about the size of a horse's. Kairi noticed his absentmindedness and asked again, "Sora, what've you been doing today?"

Sora snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at Kairi. "Oh, I got the mail, talked to a few people in town." Kairi raised an eyebrow. He'd been back by noon; she'd seen him get out of the boat.

"Oh, anything else?"

Sora pushed some of the food around his plate with his fork, looking like an awkward teenager again. "I did a lot of thinking," he said quietly. "And I decided that you're right; we should have the wedding on the Paopu Island."

Kairi's eyes sparkled and she jumped up with a wide smile on her face. "Sora!" she cried, wrapping her arms around the startled boy. "Oh, Sora, I'm so sorry for all this fighting! I just… I want this to be perfect."

"Yeah," Sora said, glad that he didn't have to smile for her as she was hugging him too tightly. "Me too."

Sora woke up early again the next morning, but this time for a reason. He showered quietly, pulled on his clothes and went down to the kitchen. He wrote a note to Kairi saying he was going for a jog. He grabbed an apple and headed out of the house. He liked the early morning. Birds were beginning to call back and forth, even though the sun had not yet rose. He went to the old tree house he'd spent a lot of time with Riku and Kairi in. The wooden swords were waiting there, and Sora picked up the one Riku had carved for him. Sora was always clumsy with that sort of thing.

He jumped down from the tree house and walked silently along the beach to the rickety old bridge that led to Paopu Island. He walked out to the tiny island and closed his eyes. He imagined the heartless surrounding him, and this time he was alone—like the first time he summoned the key as the island was being swallowed.

Sora began to practice the moves he'd learned all that time ago. The lunges, the thrashing, the stabs, all with his eyes closed tightly, destroying enemies in the darkness of his own mind. He didn't stop till the sun had rose and the tide had changed. The brunette leaned against the Paopu tree, panting from exhaustion. He looked up at the ripe fruit and reached up, grabbed one of the strangely star shaped fruits. He smiled softly and said, "Riku, I'm going to find you. I promise." He took a bite of the fruit, and imagined his friend standing beside him, looking out onto the horizon for another world to explore, for another adventure to be found. And this time, they'd do it together.

"Wow, Sora, you must have been sprinting the island, you look exhausted!" Kairi giggled and took her fiancé's hand. She sat him down at the couch and got him a glass of lemonade. The tired out keyblade master had walked through the front door while Kairi had been slicing up fruit for a fruit salad. She now sat on the edge of the couch beside him, giving him a loving smile.

"I'm sick of just sitting around," Sora stated simply, downing the glass with one swift motion. Kairi nodded and smoothed out the brunette's hair. She knew it was a lost cause, considering how much of it just stuck out everywhere. Secretly, she had always preferred Riku's hair; it always behaved better.

"I know what you mean, but there's so much planning to do!" Kairi gushed, standing up. "So you want to keep those jogs shorter, or we won't have any time in the day. I started writing out invitations, and I wanted to ask you if it was all right if Selphie could be the bride's maid?"

Sora sometimes wished that Kairi would go back to being just sweet and quiet. At least that way he didn't have to feel like he was always out of the loop on things. "Um, yes, of course," he said, not sure how he could say no to that one. Was there anyone else that could be the bride's maid?

"So," Kairi said seriously, her tone slowing as her excitement went from frothing to a steady boil. "Who's going to be the best man?"

Silence filled the room.

"I still… haven't decided," Sora finally choked out. "I mean Goofy and Donald will want to fight over it. So, I have to figure out which will want to more. It'd be nice if the two of them could walk you down the isle." He hoped it all sounded casual. He had only wanted one person to be the best man, but that man was sealed in a place of complete darkness. Not for long, Sora vowed.

"Oh," Kairi said, taking the bait. "I see. Well, personally I'd choose Goofy. Donald's a little short, no offense, and he doesn't seem like the type who'd do a very good speech at the reception."

Sora laughed long and hard. She had a very good point. "Yeah, but Goofy's the kind that would trip easily down the isle." Kairi laughed too, and the two engaged young adults held each other for a moment, allowing an intimacy to pass between them that hadn't been there for a while.

Sora kissed Kairi innocently, his gloved hand gently cupping her cheek. The girl's eyes slid close as he kissed him back, unaware of the mixed feelings behind that kiss.

When the two broke away, Kairi smiled a soft, slight smile with her eyes still tightly shut. It was one of pure joy, but not in an overly abundant way. Sora knew this was why he loved Kairi; the way she could take an emotion that usually was hard to express, and turn it into something so simple and clean.

"Can I tell you something, Sora?" Kairi whispered softly, letting her chin rest on his shoulder. Sora placed a hand gently between her shoulder blades, holding her to him.

"Of course, Kairi."

"I was… sort of always jealous of Riku." Sora's arms around the girl's frame tightened at the name. "I mean, before all of that stuff… happened. When I showed up here, you two were already best friends. He got to know you so much more than I did. I always thought that if you had to choose between us you'd choose him."

Sora released Kairi and stared at the ground. "Kairi, I did have to choose… I tried to get both of you, but I couldn't. I had to choose… and I choose you."

Kairi looked at the ground too, staring at the patterns in the woodwork. "Do you ever think… you made the wrong choice?"

"No!" Sora said instantly. "Riku was too confident. He… he thought he could beat the darkness with his strong heart. What he didn't realize was that by ignoring us as his friends, he was making it weaker and more susceptible."

"Yeah, I guess… but they took my heart too," Kairi said, her voice shaky as she remembered that terrible time.

"That's different, Kairi," Sora insisted. "You didn't open yourself up. They took you…"

The room fell to an uncomfortable silence. Both felt as if they were teenagers again, reliving those hard years of their loosing each other and Riku. It really hadn't been as long ago as the phrase "five years" made it feel.

"I love you, Sora," came Kairi's timid voice after a long stretch of silence. She gave him a broad smile and giggled, "You've got the key to my heart."

Sora forced a smile out and hugged Kairi lovingly as she began to cry. He didn't ask why she was. Sometimes you just needed to cry over memories.

((N/A: Behold! I am the Queen of Choppiness. This chapter was sort of one of those you just have to get through to get to the good parts. Yes, I know it's short. I'm sorry. I'm trying harder. Next one's going to be fun... I can promise you.-wink- Thanks to Moonyasha for the review, I really appreciate it. Also, thank you Gurei-Chan for the favorite (already?! I'm touched!). And namikun masaki, thank you for the alert. It gives me hope that what I'm writing gives people the feeling it's going someplace instead of just babbling. :D That's all I have for now, and yes, someday I will make these comments shorter.
Jaqueline Out.))