Saiyoku awoke, still lying against Riku's chest. He was sound asleep, but she tried to make sure she didn't wake him when she slid out from underneath his arm and sat up, yawning. She rubbed her eyes and pulled on her gloves, now freezing from the closeness of the mountain top.

She sighed and sat with one knee up underneath her arm, "Was that really all a dream? Or… was what they were saying true?" She looked around, the cold wind blowing strongly against her face. She pulled her hood up and over her head to block some of it, but it did nothing. Her hood merely flew off, so she pulled it back over and put her hands on her head to hold it. "Grr… I hate you for this Riku. Make me come out here in the freezing cold on a mountain in China… hate you hate you hate you…"

She stood up when the wind died to a gentle breeze. She sighed again and looked around at the barren rocks and whispered, "Okay Sora… ready to take on the Heartless and Nobodies? 'Cause I think we're going to need you soon." She hopped down off the rock that they had slept on and fell far down onto the path beneath them. There was no way anyone could have seen them from down here, but she wanted to make sure. She looked up. No, no one could have seen them.

She hopped up against some rocks and landed back on the tall cliff where Riku was still sleeping. "Jeez… and I thought I needed sleep…" She jumped back down again, her hopes crushed that he would be awake. Riku wouldn't kill her if she did some recon… so…

Saiyoku ran up the side of the mountain until she reached the village. She pulled her hood up and hoped it would stay put while she maneuvered through the busy people. A cave was nearby, as well as the entrance to the Ridge and the Summit. She decided to explore the cave first, and in doing so found out that it was merely a temple for the Village. Since she had no interest in the rest of the cave, she left and headed up towards the Ridge, where several mounds of dynamite and fireworks were spread across the snow.

"What could they be doing with all of that?" She asked herself, deciding against lighting one in case of an avalanche. She headed up the Summit to see what was there, but was pushed back down when the wind became too fierce. Not a single Heartless was in sight, which surprised her. Usually by now they would be in swarms with this many hearts to prey on. The entire Imperial City lay in the valley beneath her, filled with people, plus the nearby village and the campsite of soldiers on their way.

Suddenly, there was a moist, warm breath on her neck, nearly sending Saiyoku over the cliff. She twisted around and switched places with Riku, her eyes threatening to push him off, "Don't. You. Dare. Do. That. Again." She said through gritted teeth. Her friend merely laughed and pushed her farther up the Ridge until they were safely away from the cliff, "I would have caught you if you had fallen."

"What if you weren't able to?"

"I would've gone after you. Though you'd probably survive the fall. You had no trouble jumping off that roof in Twilight Town just to get some ice cream."

"Shut up. My ice cream was at stake."

"All that for ice cream?" Riku yawned, handing her one.

"Oh my— where did you get this?" She practically screamed, so ecstatic for her favorite treat. She grabbed it from him and stuffed it in her mouth despite the chill from the snow.

"The Moogles have everything, I swear. I was surprised to find that they had this in stock though."

"You're not eating one?"

"Are you nuts? I'm not eating ice cream when it's below freezing." Riku stepped away from the cliff, still nervous about Saiyoku actually pushing him off.

"Suit yourself… Hey, when do you think Sora will actually head off?"

"I should think that he would already be off and ready to go by now. Who knows? Maybe he's already at Hollow Bastion, since the worlds aren't going to let him in that easily."

"Hmm… maybe. But, I think he'd go for a different reason."

"Really? Why?"

Saiyoku stuck her popsicle stick in the snow and looked out over the cliff and the valley below. "He has friends there. Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith. I met them when I went to Traverse Town for the first time with Sora and Kairi. I would think he'd want to see them… if just this once."

Riku sighed and looked at her, his face pained, "I suppose you're right."

"What? Are you STILL jealous of him having other friends? Jeez, it's about time you got over that. He has friends in almost every world now. Mickey, Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Naminè are our friends. So chill, he's not the only one who's made other friends."

"…"

"C'mon, let's head down to the city and see what we can find… or, we can go over to Beast's Castle and see what's going on there." She pried, trying to get him to do something.

"I don't like going to the castle."

"Why not? Oh… I know," Her mouth formed a round 'o' when she figured it out, "Because of what happened in Hollow Bastion, right? With the Beast?"

"How do you know about that? You weren't in my head at the time."

"Sora's memories. Caught my eye, hadn't seen what had happened in Hollow Bastion while I was unconscious, so I took a look at it. Man, why was it I was pulled out of your head the time right before you really needed a good shock to the brain?"

"I will never understand how you did that…"

"Neither will I," She laughed, opening up a portal, "Let's go down to the Imperial City, then, if you don't want to go to the castle."

"Fine."