"Sora. That's the fourth time in a row that I've beaten you. Would you just give up already?"

"NO! I always win at this! We're gonna play again!" Takara sighed, and held her head in her hands. In order to alleviate their boredom, Sora had dug around the gummi ship looking for something to do, when he found a deck of cards. He had insisted that everyone play Go Fish, but the only willing competitor had been Takara. Much to her dismay, she was beginning to regret her small act of kindness. Sora had insisted he was the all-time champion of the popular card game, but unfortunately for him, Takara had now beaten him four times in a row.

"Sora, when are you gonna get it through your thick head of outrageously spiky hair that you can't beat me? I think you're just a sore loser." Takara crossed her arms over her chest and raised one eyebrow; Sora's face became absolutely livid. He seemed ready to explode with anger when Kairi called him over. "Sora, stop bothering Taki and come here. Teach me how to drive the gummi ship!" Sora had practically jumped out of his chair at her request, and Takara stifled a laugh.

Those two are meant to be...

Which made Takara's mind shift to a subject she didn't want it to be focused on. Riku. She saw him, standing there by the transparent glass window, the light of the faded green stars shining in his equally colored green eyes. The sky was dark now—it was past ten o'clock. Suddenly, Takara found herself rising from her chair and walking over to him. He didn't even turn around to look at her.

The girl swallowed loudly, causing her cheeks to become a slight tinge of red. Well, this is going well....come on you idiot, say something!

"Riku?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I..ask you something?" Riku cast an annoyed glance at Takara, earning a scowl from her. "That is why you're here, isn't it?"

She scoffed. "Stop being so....cynical!" He turned back to the window, a small smile on his lips. Takara took a deep breath and proceeded to ask her question. "Back at the castle...you know, in the library...when I mentioned my 'power'," she illustrated quotation marks with her hands, "...why did you—why did you look so hurt? I haven't done anything, have I?" Takara couldn't believe how childish and submissive she sounded. Riku was right—she had changed.

Riku abruptly looked down at the floor, then straight into Takara's eyes. "I—I had remembered what you said earlier. About me causing all this. And—you were right. If I hadn't—succumbed to the darkness, then this wouldn't have happened. A lot of the stuff in our lives wouldn't have happened..." Riku's mind ran through memories of Kairi, lying cold, still and lifeless, and him nearly killing Sora, his heart overcrowded with darkness...he shuddered.

Suddenly, Takara's voice broke his chain of memories. (1)

"Would I still have met you...if you hadn't succumbed to the darkness?" Her eyes displayed innocence, but as Riku looked deeper into them, he could almost catch a double meaning in her words. "P—probably not." She smiled, and turned to the stars.

"Then I wouldn't have it any other way."

Riku's eyes widened: did she really mean what she just said? "Huh?" Oh, great, Riku, what an intelligent response...

"I said, I'd rather have had you succumb to the darkness, and capture me then me never having met you. I know that sounds twisted, but if you hadn't come along, I don't know what I would have done."

Riku tilted his head to the side, causing Takara to stifle a laugh. For a boy of sixteen, he looked so childish at that moment. "What do you mean?"

"Believe it or not, I was pretty close to choosing darkness myself. Even though I am a princess, and one connected to Kingdom Hearts at that, my heart should be invulnerable to darkness, right? But I'm not like Kairi. I can convert to the darkness if I want to...there's no stopping the creation of my Heartless or Nobody. I felt so alone in Traverse Town...I lived on my own for a couple of months until Leon and everyone showed up. But when I met you, and saw how you would change, I thought better of my actions and decided to choose a better path." A bright light much like the one before emitted from Takara's hand, and Riku expected the Keyblade from before to appear as her weapon. But instead, it was his Keyblade that materialized into the young girl's hand, it was the handle of his weapon that her fingers encircled. "That's—my Keyblade."

Takara smiled. "Yes..."

Both Takara and Riku spoke in unison, "The Road to Dawn." They looked up, smiling at each other, and the legendary weapon dissipated into thin air. Riku cast a questioning glance at the girl. "Why?"

She looked down, her eyes full of speculation. "I don't know. Maybe it's because...it's destiny. Ugh. Who am I kidding? That's the most cheesiest line in the book!" Riku laughed, and Takara soon joined in.

"Haven't you noticed, Taki? Everything in our lives is either impossible, unbelievable, or just plain...strange..."

Takara gasped and looked up at Riku in admiration. "You called me Taki."

Again, the same annoyed glance from before settled on Riku's face, and he reached a hand up to ruffle the top of the girl's head. "Yeah, so?"

Despite her aggravation at Riku's gesture, Takara managed to smile. "Only two people have ever called me that before. Kairi and--" Takara suddenly stopped short, her face falling as she remembered the second person's name.

"Who else, Taki? What's wrong?"

"The second person was...Tai. He was a good friend of mine that lived in Hollow Bastion with me until we got separated. I don't know what happened to him after that..." Takara's eyes became watery, and she raised her hand up to her eyes to catch any stray tears that may have been falling. "Takara, are you—all right?"

The girl smiled faintly. "Yeah. I'm...fine. Riku...don't ever leave me, okay?" She looked up at him with almost adoring eyes and held out her right hand, her pinky finger extended. Riku's breath caught in his throat for a second, and time seemed to stop when she uttered those simple words...

Don't ever leave me, okay?

He smiled back at her, wrapping his pinky around hers. "I promise," he whispered.

...Author's Notes...

(1) No pun intended...XD

Reviews appreciated! :D