A/N: Okay people… an avid reviewer of mine, whose name will not be mentioned (cough cough ….kingdomfantasyanime453…cough cough), pointed out to me that in the game Kairi does not learn that she is originally from Radiant Garden… BUT! I figured that Sora and the gang had been home for 6 months before all this started happening and surely he would have told Kairi about Radiant Garden from what he learned in the Ansem Reports…. Don't you think??

Thank you kingdomfantasyanime453, whose penname is very long and hard to remember ; ), for pointing out my inaccuracies and my apologies to my readers for not foreseeing the confusion! Carry on…

Changes

Nothing ever really turns out how you expect it to. Things just always seem to change, morph into something completely different from how it started. It isn't necessarily a bad thing, per say… But every once in a while, it would be nice to be prepared for something… anything…

The changes that had taken place in the eight or nine months since Sora's last departure from Radiant Garden were… for lack of a better word… different. He didn't really know what to expect from the Restoration Committee, but it certainly wasn't this. He guessed the name "Radiant Garden" insinuated there would be… well… gardens! But as he stood under the towering buildings and roaring generators that were anything but radiant he felt… depressed. Disappointed, really… He had hoped, for Kairi's sake, for lush gardens and decorative architecture, something that lived up to the name. What he got was tattered buildings and noisy machinery. Maybe they should have just left the name Hallow Bastion…

Sora sighed as he led Kairi through the market streets, praying she wasn't too disappointed with the town's scenery, or lack thereof. He glanced over at her and chuckled at her wide eyes and child-like expression. Obviously she wasn't too terribly disappointed… As they passed by the shops and stands, her gaze widened.

"Kairi, if you're not careful, your eyes may pop out of your head!" he laughed as she immediately retreated her stare and covered her blushing cheeks.

Sora grinned as they neared the over-sized ice box that was Uncle Scrooge's ice cream parlor. "Hey Kai…" he grabbed her hand and began running towards it.

Kairi giggled as Sora dragged her past the last few shops of the market, "Sora! What are you doing?!"

"Come on!" he called over his shoulder, "I have a surprise for you!"

Kairi eyed him suspiciously as he hugged the small duck-man-thing… that was apparently the owner of the establishment. After being introduced as Donald's uncle, the three exchanged a few pleasantries and Sora ordered two of the "special". They took their ice creams to the nearby steps and sat down in a ledge to enjoy them. "Mmmmm… Salty… But, Sweet…" Kairi smiled wildly as she ran her tongue up and down the blue-green tropical treat.

Sora laughed at her as she eagerly licked at the sticky drips as it melted in her hand. "Not bad, huh?"

She nodded vigorously in response, continuing to lick and bite at her ice-cream. Suddenly her face contorted into a grimace as she yelped and flattened her palm into her forehead.

"Kairi! Are you okay…" Sora asked concerned.

"Brain freeze!" she squealed. Sora stared at her blankly before they both erupted into fits of laughter.

The changes that Kairi had watched take place as Sora had began his battle with darkness faded away as she watched him double over, clutching his sides in laughter. It felt good to see his smile, to hear his laugh, to see the light return to his eyes. She realized that just seeing Sora smile had always been enough to make her happy.

As Sora struggled to regain his composure he suddenly felt a familiar sensation that raised the hairs on the back of his neck. His pupils constricted as he narrowed his focus, his senses alert to the presence of darkness… the presence of heartless.

He grabbed Kairi's hand and leapt from the ledge they were sitting on, causing her to drop her half-eaten ice cream. "Sora? What's wrong…" she trailed off as she too felt the air thin around her and the tightness in her chest. Sora frowned and summoned his keyblades as he was struck in the back of the head by a…

Heartless? Kairi's eyes widened in disbelief. "But… that… that can't be!" she stammered, half above a whisper. The heartless aren't really back… are they?

"Kairi! Snap out of it!" Sora screamed as his keyblades sliced through two Neo Shadows, extinguishing them in two black puffs of smoke. "Get out of here!"

Kairi shook her head, breaking her chain of thoughts. She suddenly realized they were surrounded by a dozen or so Neo Shadows. She vaguely heard Sora growl as he swung his keyblades around him, the number of heartless surrounding them decreasing with each swing.

As his blades sliced through the last Neo Shadow, he grabbed her hand and ran towards Merlin's. "Come on!" More heartless materialized around them, and Kairi summoned her own keyblade in a bright flash of light.

As they fought their way through the heartless, Kairi's mind was far from the black puffs of smoke that littered the sky above them. One word was spinning around in her thoughts in continuous circles, How?

The cycle was finally broken with the slamming of the door as they barged into Merlin's house, a.k.a. headquarters for the Restoration Committee. Sora panted as he stood in the small entry, scanning the room around him. It looked just as he remembered it… very small… very cramped… but very homey. He frowned as he suddenly realized that it was also… very empty.

"Where… where is everybody?" Kairi gasped between breaths.

"I don't know…" Sora replied softly as he handed her a bottle of potion. "Come on. Wherever they went, they haven't been gone long… There's still a fire in the fireplace. I'm sure they'll be back soon. "

Kairi nodded agreeably as she swallowed a few mouthfuls of the pungent liquid and followed him to the far side of the room. They each silently took their seats on opposite sides of the room. Kairi sighed as she relaxed into the soft fabric of the sofa. What is going on?… Heartless?... Here?... In Radiant Garden?...

Sweat dripped down the skin under Sora's nose and rested on his upper lip in salty beads. The heat radiating from the nearby fire burning in the furnace was harsh. He turned his head to look at the fire, and soon became mesmerized by the colorful flames. He was awestruck at how the flames lapped at the wood and slowly consumed it. He realized that fire was relentless, and that it will continue to devour everything in its path until nothing is left to incinerate. Just like darkness…

Sora smiled involuntarily as he watched Kairi mulling over her own thoughts. She looks so cute with her lips pursed like that… But why does she look so surprised? According to what she said happened the other night at Disney Castle, this is the second time we've been ambushed by heartless since leaving Destiny Islands… "Kairi, are you okay?" he asked softly, looking at her quizzically.

"Hm? Oh, yeah…sorry…I'm, I'm fine." She blushed, realizing he had been staring at her. "I was just thinking…"

He continued to question her with his gaze; but when she didn't respond, he asked "What were you thinking about?"

"N-nothing. Um, I'm just glad we're okay…" she stammered. And wondering how the hell this happened. There aren't actually supposed to be heartless! She was so busy cursing herself for ever telling Sora that they had been attacked by heartless, she didn't even notice him sit down beside her on the sofa, concern hanging in the short distance between them. Her face softened at the worried expression her was wearing. Her gaze landed on the three healing scars across his face as she remembered why she had even lied in the first place… Sora must never know what happened… It would tear him apart…

"Kai, are you sure you're okay?"

She didn't answer as she continued to stare at the thin lines scarring the face that had filled her dreams since as long as she could remember. "Sora, I just don't want you to get hurt…" she mentally kicked herself as the words fell out of her mouth without her intending for them to. She immediately buried her blushing cheeks in her palms. "I mean… I just… I… I'm just tired. That's all." Her brow wrinkled as she struggled to regain her composure, not noticing a stray wisp of crimson hair fall across her face, getting caught in her long dark eyelashes. "You know, a few more potions, and I think those scars will be healed completely." Before she knew what she was doing, she lifted her hand to his face and traced her fingers along the scratches, tilting her head in thoughtfulness.

Sora smiled warmly as he felt heat rising in his own cheeks. Without even thinking, he gently reached up and brushed the hair out of her eyes. His fingers lingered at the patch of skin just behind her ear as he tucked the stray hair there. "Kairi, you know that I would never let anything happen to you… I promise…" His fingers seemed to have a mind of their own as they slowly traced the outline of her jaw to her chin. He couldn't believe what he was doing, but he couldn't help himself, her skin was so soft and warm. He let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding as he moved his thumb around her chin and ran it along the crevice just under her bottom lip. Her hand was stationary at his brow line, her fingers resting lightly on the scratch over his eye as she bent her head down, leaning into his touch.

He slowly raised her chin so their gaze met. Her azure eyes were wide and the fire light danced across her face, casting shadows and enhancing her already stunning features. He felt himself leaning into her and realized that she was doing the same. Her hand gracefully fell from his forehead as she wrapped her arm across his shoulder and lightly rested her fingertips on the back of his neck. He closed his eyes and could feel the warmth of her breath on his lips as his heart raced with anticipation…

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A/N: What? Huh? A kiss? Can it be?

OK, so I hurt my back at work yesterday lifting a patient like three times my size (I know… Not smart…) So I am currently laid up in bed with a heating pad, a beer, and my laptop… And this is what that culminated into! Sooooo… REVIEW!!!!!