Author's Note: Oh man... I bet a lot of you thought that I was dead, yes? Thankfully that wasn't the case: I was just busy with school and family and my computer crashed (with this chapter too). I'm sorry this took so long! I can't promise the next one will be immediate, but I can at least promise that it probably won't take about nine to ten months to finish again. This one's a little long to compensate, so I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, all right? This story wouldn't be up here if I did.

Night Three

Huh? Where am I? Last thing I remember was that computer ringing over and over again. Eleven days, it said. Eleven days, eleven days. I wish I didn't know what it meant. I could've gone on my journey without a single bit of regret.

But I knew. I read the words flashing on that computer. There was only eleven - no, ten now - days left until Kairi and I would become one person again. No offense intended to her, but I had unfinished business to take care of.

I... didn't need this to distract me. It just hurt really, really badly. I thought he'd wait for me; that he wanted to be part of my life like I wanted to be part of his. Then again, he had always looked at her differently. He told me once, "You know how you have that one friend? Who's always supporting you, even if you don't realize it? ... I think those friends are the most amazing people in the world."

At the time, I didn't realize he was talking about her. (Maybe it was wistful thinking on my part - maybe I thought that we had a chance. That his lack of a heart would make him fall in love with me, as ironic as that sounds.) So I was left in the dust. I don't exactly hate her - she had nothing to do with all of this.

But that was what I hated most about her. She just innocently smiled and went on with her life - and ruined mine without even knowing about it.

... Enough of thinking about her. Dark thoughts won't help me gain my sketchbook pages; dark thoughts don't suit me. I don't like hating people - it seems so weird and foreign, as if I need a heart to experience these feelings. (Well, I technically had one now with Kairi, didn't I?)

I still didn't know where I was. Opening my eyes, I stared up at the ceiling. Another hotel room?

I don't remember coming back to a hotel room. Slowly sitting up, my eyes moved to the sleeping figure in the chair. Even as he was sleeping, he still crossed his arms. Riku... you brought me back here?

He was the only one who could've - I knew that. It just seemed so unlike him in theory; he always wanted to be that cool guy who showed off in battle. These were peaceful times, though. He didn't need to brandish his sword and wave it around.

Rising from the bed, I softly placed my sandals on. I'm sorry, Riku, to leave you like this, but there's something I have to do. I knew it from the moment I saw that computer: I have to tell him.

I took the extra room key and slipped it into my pocket; the door wasn't hard to close shut behind me. Leaving this hotel and going out into town wasn't a hard feat: everyone just assumed I was meeting my parents somewhere and left me to my own devices.

The streets weren't too hard to navigate, either: it was just mostly a matter of weaving through the sea of people. I couldn't help noticing the group of three kids heading towards the wealthier part of town. Weren't they... friends of his?

There was Hayner, being loud and boisterous as usual. Pence and that girl hung back; they all laughed and talked about normal things.

"How much further is it to Roxas's house, Hayner," Pence asked with a sigh.

Hayner grinned. "Not much! It's the white house on the corner!"

Roxas? So they were going to visit him. I hung back behind them. If anyone knew where he was staying, it definitely had to be these three. She was becoming fast friends with him, after all. They didn't suspect a thing: I trailed behind them the rest of the way to the house. (Sure, occasionally, they'd look back and see my shadow, but not much else)

Spotting window shutters on the side of the house, I made my way towards it and entered the house through them. I admit, it wasn't a very smart move since I was wearing my old dress at the time, but I somehow made it into the room. There were small red buds in the flower vase. I immediately recognized them as coral bells.

And he was there, staring at those coral bells. Who knew that he suffered from such a bad case of bedhead? I stifled a giggle and sat down in one of those beanbags.

"They're coral bells, Roxas. Telling you that you have a challenge in store for you."

He stared at me. I met his eyes, offering him a reassuring smile.

"N-Naminé..."

Rising from the beanbag, I took out my new sketchbook and stood beside his bed. "It's a shame that we both only have ten days left, Roxas," I began ruefully. "And after ten days, we'll merge with them unless..."

I didn't want to finish that sentence. He gave me a look of disgust - since he obviously wanted to know what I was talking about.

"What do you mean, ten days?"

I turned away from him and faced the door. "You'll figure it out, Roxas... Go to the source..."

And with that, I turned the doorknob and left the room as silently as I had come in. I could hear him mutter, "... What's that supposed to mean?" as I shut the door behind me. Poor guy. He really knew nothing about our situation.

Unfortunately for me, I came face-to-face with a young woman, possibly in her early thirties.

She amusedly crossed her arms, staring at me. "Hm? Were you here to visit Roxas?"

Oh dear. If I answered the truth here, this certainly wouldn't go well. Come on, think! What would this lady buy as an excuse?

Wait, wasn't she a--

"Acne cream!" I immediately blurted out for lack of anything else to say.

Up went her eyebrows. "Huh?"

"I-I was looking for acne cream! You're a doctor, right? I'd heard from my doctor that you were really good with acne, so maybe..."

To my surprise, she chuckled. "Of course I have some. You didn't have to sneak around for it, you know. I won't bite."

Taking my hand, she led me towards the front door. "Hold on a sec," She smiled as she gently let my hands go. How could someone be so graceful about walking? She seemed to do it all effortlessly - walk, talk, smile; I bet she even cooked gracefully.

It was a shame that I couldn't see her hand medicine elegantly, for I was already out the door by the time she came back with the cream. (I could hear her sigh and mutter, "Kids. They don't seem to have enough time for anything these days!")

Roxas would be in good hands if this woman - no, lady - could do anything without breaking a sweat. (Or well, it just looked like it.) I mechanically walked back to the hotel and slowly made my way inside. To my surprise, Riku was already there and chatting it up with the concierge.

Do all rich kids know how to converse with hired help?

Noticing me, Riku crossed his arms and sighed. "What took you so long? I was afraid that something'd eaten you."

I couldn't help nervously smiling. "I'm sorry. I had some business to attend to."

"Guess it can't be helped," He ran his hand through his hair. Nodding to the clerk, he walked over to me and took my hand. "Come on. Let's head over to Beast's Castle."

"Oh? Is that the world today?"

"Yeah," He replied, moving me out of the way of an incoming luggage cart. "I already bought breakfast and loaded up the gummi ship, so we should be ready to leave any time. Like... oh, I don't know... now?"

"Sounds good to me." Besides, I really didn't want to stay in this world for too long. Roxas would want to ask me more questions, and I didn't know how long I could hold out when that girl was there.

(I had nothing against her, really! It's just hard to be around someone you thought you loved, you know?)

He raised an eyebrow as we walked out of the hotel. "You're really ready? No last minute shopping or anything?"

"Yeah. All ready."

"All right, then. Off to Beast's Castle it is."

#

For a supposedly gloomy, desolate, dark world, the world sure was sunny. I could feel the rays on my skin; the flowers swayed to an unintelligible beat that pulsed throughout the small village.

So this was Belle's home. The cute, gingerbread-like homes all stood along the cobblestone streets. It felt exactly like a fairy tale brought to life, with the people humming songs under their breath as they strolled aimlessly towards their friends and gossiped to their friends.

The women stared at me and Riku as we passed them. (So we were the source of their gossip? This was slightly embarrassing.) Riku didn't even give them a moment's glance, but I felt suddenly naked.

I knew my dress was slightly out of place, but really? Did we look like total strangers? I could feel their eyes poring holes into my body. Please let this end soon...

"Hey, Naminé?"

I blinked, stopping so that I could walk alongside him. "What's up?"

He put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about what they think," He said with a small smile. "I thought the Naminé I knew didn't care about stuff like that."

"I don't, really," I replied, sure that my face was as red as the tulips, "But it just feels awkward being the center of town gossip."

He shrugged. "Don't worry about it. From the looks of it, we're the only visitors this place has seen in a long time. It's only natural that they'd gossip."

I let the words sink in. Only natural... yeah, perhaps that was it. We were complete strangers to this village! They were just curious, and we couldn't really provide them the answers at this point. I clasped my hands together and let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah," I whispered. "You're right. Thanks."

He nodded, his eyes still intently studying the entire town. What was he looking for? A small flyer caught the corner of my eye. Picking it up, I read it (or well, I tried to read it to the best of my knowledge).

"... Mm," I sighed in defeat, nearly ready to crumple the paper.

In that instant, he took it from my hands and smoothened it out. Reading to himself, he let a smile dance across his face. "Looks like we've hit it," He said cheerfully.

I blinked. "What did it say?"

"There's going to be a wedding between Prince Adam and Belle this evening. Everyone in town's invited to their wedding reception - including us."

It didn't take even a minute for the wheels to click. I beamed up at him. "Really? You think they'd be there?"

"Well, what else is important in this town? I don't even think they have an art store."

I giggled softly to myself. "Sounds great. Where do you think we can look for a dress?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten, Riku! We have to dress nicely for tonight. And that means wearing something comfortable so that we can dance, and finding a corsage... not to mention--"

"Naminé, it's not a high school prom."

I blushed, immediately looking up to the sky. "But it'll be fun, nevertheless." Even if the town would stare at us, I couldn't help skipping in the direction of the nearest formal wear store. It would be easy to forget Roxas admist all this activity! And even if we didn't find that sketchbook page (but I tried not to think about it. I really did!), we would be all right.

If nothing else, an evening of fun would suit my suddenly sullen companion. He wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the afternoon: only nod and slightly acknowledge me as I took charge and rented our outfits for the evening. The rest of the town was more than happy to help us out - no doubt they mistook us for an eloping couple - attend, and we received directions multiple times.

The carriage ride to the castle was equally silent. Instead of the usual conversation that had multiple silences, Riku just stared out the window, occasionally muttering, "Huh," to himself. I don't mind silences.

They make it easier for me to think. But! Wasn't tonight supposed to be fun? (I'm not going to lie. I really wanted this experience to be like the high school proms Kairi had fond memories of. She seemed to enjoy herself so much at these dances... I just wanted a little piece of it.)

And then we were escorted into the top of the ballroom. I couldn't help it anymore. I needed to talk to Riku.

I marched over to him, immediately putting my arms around his. "Riku? Is there something wrong with this wedding?"

He plastered on a grin as he replied, "No. I'm fine." I could tell that he was lying. If he were so calm about all of this, he wouldn't be staring all around the room.

I sighed. Was he ever going to tell me what was going on in that head of his?

Unfortunately, that's when I spotted him. "Riku," I hissed.

He blinked. "Naminé...?"

I pointed to the slow-moving blur of brown, black, and white down below. "Isn't that... Sora...?"

Riku's face paled. "So it is. I didn't think he'd be here... this must've been the wedding he was talking about attending..."

"You knew, and you didn't tell me?"

"I-it's not like that," He insisted. "It's more like I thought he was going to his aunt's wedding. Not Belle's!"

O-oh, this was a pickle. Not because of the sketchbook pages, but because Sora was here: neither of us thought that he still would be traveling to other worlds. (Well, it was summer vacation, after all) That, and we had.. sorta kinda... left without informing either him or Kairi.

Thus, they still thought that Riku had left to go attend some boring seminar, and I was stll part of Kairi.

We were doomed, weren't we?

"Not so fast," Riku grinned. "Isn't this guy estranged from other royalty?"

I blinked. "I suppose so--"

"Good. Then we'll just be Count and Countess Kingsford for the evening."

Countess Kingsford... wait, did that mean that I'd have to be Riku's ... wife? I could feel the blood rushing to my face already.

Ignoring my red face, he whispered something into the doorman's ear. Confidently taking me to the edge of the stairs, he grinned as we slowly descended the stairs.

"Presenting Count and Countess Kingsford!"

All eyes were on us. I couldn't help that nervous smile that flashed across my face; I was so sure that Sora and Kairi were immediately going to expose us for who we really were.

However, that wasn't the case. The keyblade bearer immediately ran up to us, a grin on his face as he brought his girlfriend beside him.

"Hey," He said.

I could feel Riku shaking, even as he confidently replied, "Good evening," in a flawless foreign accent to the keyblade bearer. (We didn't bother to even disguise our hair color! Surely we'd be exposed--)

"Are you... related to someone named Riku?" Kairi questioned, smiling as brightly as her escort. "We just noticed that you looked a lot like him."

The shaking stopped immediately. Riku nodded, flashing a smile back at her. "Why yes. Would you two happen to be Monsieur Sora and Mademoiselle Kairi? I've heard so much about you from him."

Sora and Kairi exchanged excited glances, then eagerly nodded.

"What kind of stories," Sora crossed his arms, though that eager smile couldn't be wiped off his face. "Cause if he told you anything embarrassing about me, I've got plenty to tell you--"

I couldn't help it. I laughed.

Kairi confusedly looked over at me. "You're... Count Kingsford's wife, right?"

"Yes," I replied, trying to sound a little higher-pitched than normal. "It's just that... Monsieur Riku said nothing but positive stories about you, Monsieur Sora."

Wow, I didn't think his grin could get even brighter. "Seriously? I'm glad that he thinks of me in that way."

"Heh," Riku leaned over and ruffled Sora's hair. "You two are best friends, right? Of course he'd speak of you positively."

"Yeah," Kairi agreed. Noticing the sudden increase in dancers, she turned to Sora. "Looks like they're all dancing? Shall we, Sora?"

Embarrassingly nodding, Sora apologized before walking to the other side of the dance floor with his date. He took her hand, and they began to dance. I can't really explain how he did it, but it was magical. I didn't think that he could dance! He seemed like such a klutz.

Riku couldn't help grinning as he watched. "Seems like he's the same old Sora as always."

"Yeah."

Silence threatened to break our conversation into pieces. I immediately seized our chance as I pointed to some of the servants nearby. "Come on, let's ask them to show us around."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"It'll be fine," I insisted, already dragging him over to the side of the ballroom. "They'll agree to it if we say we're friends of Sora's."

I felt bad taking advantage of Sora's name like this, but it had to be done. I mean, it was for a good cause, right? So there really wasn't much room for disagreement.

I tapped a servant on the shoulder and started to speak. "Excuse me--"

"Countess Kingsford?"

Argh, why did Sora have to be there? I nervously nodded, turning to face him.

"Are you looking for something," He said, giving the servant (he was pretty young to be a servant, really - I mean, he couldn't be more than eight!) a look. "I can help."

"I want to see the library," I admitted, clutching Riku's hand even tighter. "I'm looking for something."

Sora grinned. "That'll be easy! What're you looking for?"

Just like that, he started to ascend the long staircase, taking us by our hands. He may seem like he was asking just to make sure, but... really? He was just asking for the sake of asking. At times like this, I couldn't help feeling even more flushed.

He was incredibly sweet. No wonder Kairi loved him.

"Some artwork," Riku cut in for us, nearly forgetting that foreign accent. "My wife's quite interested in this castle's huge collection of literature, and would love to take a look at some."

"Ohhh," Sora nodded knowingly. "That makes sense. I didn't think that people were so into art."

Riku and I exchanged glances. Sora couldn't help smiling at us (I wonder why? We just looked at each other) as he led us into the rather large room. Almost immediately, a large wrapped present caught my eye. Running over to it, I kneeled and stared at the tag.

"For Naminé?"

Sora nodded as he leaned against the wall. "You guys are decent at making yourself look different, but I think I'd know my best friend when I see him."

Putting his arms around my shoulder, Riku sighed. "I'm sorry, Naminé. I wanted to surprise you... and it backfired, huh?"

"I'll admit," Sora replied. "It was weird watching you freak out, Naminé. Riku had said that you were a really calm person."

I flushed, not daring to look anywhere else but the blue wrapping paper. "S-surprise me?"

"Yeah. You've always wanted to attend a wedding, right?" Riku questioned, letting me fall into his arms. "And Sora called this morning to tell me that he had run into some of your pages."

"You... told Sora?"

I must've been seething, because Sora immediately cut in with a nervous, "I asked him! He didn't spill the beans on purpose, Naminé!"

"I see."

"In any case... you've got all your art from Beast's Castle. Good luck finding the rest." With that, he waved as he headed back towards the party.

"Sora?"

He blinked, turning back to face me.

"Thank you."

Grinning, he motioned towards Riku. "Don't thank me. This was all Riku's idea! I just helped put it into motion."

"Mm. Thank you both, then."

I got up, set the present aside, and held my hand out towards Riku. "Well then? Count Kingsford?"

"What?"

"Do you want to dance? If we hurry, we'll be in time for the last one."

He rose, taking my hand, and escorted me out of the empty room. "I'll try," He muttered as we descended down the stairs again.

The wheels started clicking; I couldn't help laughing as he let go of my hand. "Don't tell me... you can't dance?"

He didn't reply, instead choosing to head to the drinks table. I took that as a 'yes'. Poor thing... no matter how hard he tried to help me find his pages, he forgot that he couldn't dance.

Running so that I was beside him, I smiled. "It's all right. I can't dance either."

"Then you don't mind having four left feet?"

"Not at all," I said as I took his hand and walked to the middle of the ballroom floor. "It's more fun that way. Try to look like you know what you're doing, okay?"

He grumbled, but gave in as we twirled across the floor. This was our first - and last - dance, but I didn't want it to end anytime soon. For when it did, our search - and my time - would soon come to an end.

10 Nights Left.