A/N: Hugs and kisses to all my readers! You guys rock! Thanks for all the reviews! As promised, here is the next chapter… which is centered around Sora and Kairi…

Just Friends

The Olympus Coliseum, with its monstrous golden gates and larger-than-life statue warriors… its marquees of victory and walls of shame…and its arena of blood-stained dirt where many have triumphed, yet more have fallen. Just being near the ominous structure put a tingle in Sora's fingers and a grin on his face. Fond memories flooded his mind of victorious battles and meaningful friendships, and he suddenly couldn't wait to find Hercules and Phil to let them know that he would once again be fighting in the Olympus Coliseum.

Sora and Kairi walked stiffly beside each other, purposely leaving Riku and Shai several strides ahead of them. An awkward silence accompanied their walk, and Kairi averted her eyes in sideways glances ever so often to find Sora walking with his hands shoved in his pockets and his eyes staring straight ahead of him. However, she couldn't help but notice the goofy grin accompanying his walk and she narrowed her eyes at him and smiled, "Sora… if I didn't know any better, I would think that you were excited about this!" she joked.

"Kairi! I can't help it…" Sora replied eagerly. "I finally get to fight in the Olympus tournaments as a real hero!"

Kairi squinted her eyes in thought and then remembered Sora's tales of 'junior heroes' and Phil's refusal to acknowledge 'a real hero when he saw it' (as Sora and Donald had put it…). "Sora, what are you talking about? You've all been a real hero in my eyes…"

Sora was a little taken back by Kairi's sudden compliment, but he quickly regained his composure, "Oh, uh… T-thanks," he answered before flashing his classic cheesy grin.

"Come on guys!" Shai called out from a few feet ahead of them, "Get the lead out! I don't want to be the last team to sign up!" Sora rolled his eyes as he and Kairi picked up their pace a little to catch up to Shai and Riku.

The Coliseum gates were packed with contestants, each team impatiently awaiting the start of the tournament. Sora instantly recognized some of the teams of heartless that sat around the entry, and he instinctively wrapped his fingers around the back of Kairi's elbow and pulled her closer to him as they made their way past them.

Kairi jumped a little at Sora's sudden impulse and she turned to him questionably, "Sora? What are you doing? Is everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh… yeah," Sora blushed a little and loosened his grip on Kairi's elbow as they neared the sign-up table just inside the battle arena. "Sorry Kai, I just don't trust these heartless teams…" he muttered in response.

Kairi nodded understandingly before focusing her smile on the chocolate brown eyes sitting behind the sign-up table. "Hey guys! Welcome to the Olympus Coliseum. Are you here to sign up for the tournament?"

"Uh… y-yeah," Kairi stuttered softly at the young tan face smiling back at her. She averted her eyes to her friends briefly before meeting his gaze again. Sora grit his teeth as his heart seemed to pound more fiercely in his chest with each pearly white smile the guy behind the counter gave Kairi.

"Cool!" the young man shoved his dirty blond hair out of his eyes and pulled a clip board out from a box under the desk. "I just need to get some information from you," he replied. "And, of course… there's the 500 munny sign-up fee."

"Oh…" Kairi's smile fell a little and she turned to Shai. "Shai, you didn't say anything about a sign-up fee. I'm afraid we don't have any munny."

"Don't worry about it, Kairi!" Shai smiled wildly as she flashed a handful of gold coins. "What do you think I've been working at that crummy old bar for the past four months for?" Shai handed the munny to the worker, "Here, I think this should cover the sign-up fee and our room and board."

"Alright!" the guy replied, taking the munny and putting it in a metal box. "Ok, so I just need you guys to fill out these release forms and we're all set!" He handed them a stack of four clipboards and motioned to a set of tables not far off, "You can sit over there to fill them out. And when you're done, I should have the keys for your rooms ready. Will two rooms be enough?"

"Yeah, that should work fine," Riku answered before nudging Sora in the ribs and raising his eyebrows up and down a few times.

Sora and Kairi rolled their eyes simultaneously, "Don't worry Kai, you and Shai can take one room and Riku and I will take the other." Sora leaned down and whispered assuredly.

"Oh, of course!" Kairi laughed along as the four friends made their way over to the group of tables, but not before one of her smiles found their way across the sign-up table again.

"Hey, Fuck-up… That sure looked like the smile that she used to give you."

Sora cringed, and he felt his face heating up as he clenched his fists at his sides. He glared at the blond behind the counter momentarily before following his friends to the group of tables. "Shut up…" he muttered under his breath when he was out of ear-shot.

"Hey… don't get mad at me, Fuck-up! You're the one who lied to her and broke her heart!"

"I said, shut up!" Sora growled…

…only to get three startled expressions from his friends as he sat down at the table. He bit his tongue as he realized how loud he had retaliated against the shadow's voice. A voice, that he reminded himself, only he could hear…

"Uh, Sora?" Kairi asked, he forehead wrinkling in concern. "Who are you talking to?"

"Oh… um…" Sora stammered as he darted his eyes towards Riku helplessly. "I was uh… talking to…"

"M-me!" Riku answered eagerly. "He was uh… talking to me. Right Sora?"

"Yeah," Sora smiled sheepishly. "Riku and I were just, uh, joking around. That's all!"

Kairi narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the two boys before sighing and handing out the clip boards. "Here… just… fill these out, would ya?"

"Sure thing!" Sora replied as he grabbed the clipboard out of her hand and began scribbling his name across the top of the sheet. As he marked his initials down a long column of boxes he paused, "Hey… what the hell does 'dismemberment' mean?"

"It means that, during the course of battle, you might get… disfigured," Kairi answered without looking up from her clipboard.

"Disfigured?"

"Sora… just sign the damn form so we can get out of here!" Riku scowled.

After a few minutes, the four friends were finished with their release forms and Kairi collected them before they made their way back over to the sandy blond crop-top at the sign-up table.

"Here," she smiled sweetly as she handed him the forms, again causing Sora's heart to beat furiously.

"Oh! Thanks," he said taking the forms. "Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Shai…" he muttered to himself as he scribbled their names on the master roster. "Alright guys, you're all set. Here's the keys to your two rooms, and I even managed to get you adjoining rooms… so there will be a door connecting them." He responded as he handed Sora and Kairi each two keys. "The preliminary rounds start tonight at six, but your first round is tomorrow morning at nine. Here's a copy of the schedule and there will be a completed roster available tonight after five. My name is Tetsu, and I'm the tournament coordinator. So, if you guys need anything," he smiled another pearly grin at Kairi before handing her a card, "…here's my card. Feel free to call any time."

Sora growled in his throat and glared daggers at the chocolate brown eyes twinkling at Kairi as he suddenly found himself wishing very much that he would get a round against Tetsu tomorrow in the preliminaries…

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Sora stood in front of the hotel door, pacing back and forth, hands shoved in his back pocket in an attempt to keep them at bay. On his way over, he had rehearsed a hundred times what he was going to say when he got here, now the words were jumbled up in his head and none of them made any sense anymore. He glanced back down at his watch 5:30, he only had 30 minutes before the first round of the preliminaries started. He sighed… Ok, here it goes… He pulled his hand out of pocket tentatively…

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"So… Kairi, mind if I ask you a question?" Shai asked as she spread herself out on one of the double beds, her fingers interlaced behind her head and her feet dangling loosely off the edge of the sheets.

Kairi stopped what she was doing and poked his head around the wall separating the vanity from the rest of the room, "Sure Shai. What's on your mind?"

Shai turned to her side to face Kairi and propped her head up with her elbow, her long blond bangs hanging loosely in her emerald green eyes. "What's up with you and that Sora guy? Are you guys dating, or friends, or what?"

"Oh um…" Kairi stepped around the corner and sat down on the end of the bed opposite of Shai. "We're just friends…" she answered slowly, not noticing the melancholy intonation laced in her words.

Shai raised her eyebrows questionably, as if she were going to object, but then just shrugged her shoulders and rolled back onto her back, "Could've fooled me…" she mumbled under her breath as a light knock came from the front door.

Kairi quickly got up and crossed the room to answer the door, grateful for the interruption of the conversation she wasn't really sure she wanted to have with someone that she barely knew. The only one I really want to talk about my problems with just happens to be the one that my problems are currently centered around… she thought as she pulled open the door.

…and speak of the devil… "Hey Sora," she greeted the tall brunette standing in the doorway. "What's up?"

"Hey Kai…" Sora answered nervously. "I was just wondering… I mean, if you aren't doing anything right now… which if you are, don't feel like you have to come… but the preliminary rounds start in a little while… and I was bored… and I thought maybe you were bored, too… and…"

"Sora?" Kairi crossed her arms across her chest and smiled playfully at his stuttering, "Are you trying to ask me if I want to go watch the preliminaries with you?"

"Uh… y-yeah…" Sora answered, warm crimson rising in his cheeks as he smiled sheepishly. "I mean if you don't already have plans…"

Kairi shook her head, "Nope. No plans… I'd love to go with you. Just let me tell Shai that I'm leaving. Meet me in the lobby in five?"

Sora grinned, "Yeah Kai! See ya in five!"

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A/N: Ohhh Sora… He's just too darn cute for his own good! Lol

So yeah, we are slowly building back up with Sora and Kairi, and it's starting with a date!… so what did you guys think?? I'm having some issues with how to start up the actual tournament, so if you guys have any suggestions of who they should fight in the battles or whatever… let me know!!

Thanks! AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW: )