Whew! This was a long chapter that literally took my whole week! I'm proud of it though as I got a lot of things that I can use and build off of not only for this story but for the next one as well. I'm experimenting with music in my stories, and I really liked the way that this one came out. There will be a few more songs in this story more than likely. Hopefully I can get the next chapter up by next week, but I get laser surgery on Friday so we shall see.

Square and Disney own all these characters except Yamato and Ankoku, and the new ones in this chapter.

Time after Time is owned by either Cyndi Lauper or Epic Records, this version was performed by Quiet Drive

Enjoy!!!

Chapter 3: Return to Normalcy

BRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!!!!!!

Kairi's eyes fluttered open and she stared at the big red numbers that glared back at her. She groaned and placed her hand on the alarm off switch, effectively ending its annoying beeping. She sat up and shook the cobwebs out of her head, her auburn hair stuck out awkwardly. Suddenly a golden-haired young woman came out of Kairi's body and stood up alongside Kairi's bed. Kairi looked up at her nobody, and gave a half smile. Naminé returned the smile and then brushed her hair to the side. Naminé was wearing her favorite white sundress, which had now become her sleepwear.

"First day back…" Naminé said softly.

Kairi nodded.

"Have you thought about what it's going to be like?" Naminé asked.

Kairi shook her head indicating yes, and looked down into her lap. She realized that this would be the first time that she would have to go to school without Sora. Naminé watched Kairi, and quickly clapped her hands, drawing Kairi back into reality.

"You need to go get a shower; I'll go ahead and let your mom know that you're ready for breakfast." Naminé said. When Kairi didn't stir, she used a more forceful tone.

"Now!"

Kairi slowly got to her feet and walked into the bathroom. Naminé watched her slowly trudge into the bathroom and let out a small sigh. She knew that today would be tough without Sora, and Naminé wanted to make sure that this day went as smoothly as possible for her.

"No matter how I feel…I have to make sure that I always put on a bright face for her…" She said to herself. She floated over to the window and stared out at their island. The sun was just rising up over the island as sea gulls flew lazy circles in the sky.

"Just hurry back soon guys…"

Naminé waited until she heard the shower turn on before she headed downstairs. Naminé found Kairi's mother quietly humming along as she was busy whipping up some breakfast for Kairi. In many ways she looked like a cross between Naminé and Kairi in the facial region. She possessed dirty blonde hair, but there was a determined and worn look on her face, no doubt from having the burden of a child thrust upon her. Her age was beginning to show as well. She looked up from her work and wiped the sweat from her brow. She glanced over and saw Naminé standing in the doorway.

"Good morning dear." She said, smiling.

"Good Morning Mrs. Uchida!" Naminé replied cheerfully.

Kairi's mom rolled her eyes at this. "I told you…" she started; "You can call me mom…or at least Anne…"

"Okay Mrs…I mean…Anne…I will try and do that!" Naminé said with a smile and floated over to the family room where the television had the morning news on.

Anne laughed at this and went back to making breakfast. For some reason Naminé could not say mom to her, as if it didn't seem right. Granted Kairi wasn't her daughter either, but Kairi had taken her last name and had become a daughter to her. Kairi had no qualms about calling her mom, but although she had accepted Naminé as a second daughter, she was still waiting for the reciprocation. She heard the sound of running water coming down through the pipes.

"I take it she's in the shower?" She shouted from the kitchen. Naminé's equally loud "Yeah!" was her response.

Kairi's mom finished up in the kitchen and quickly set the table. She walked over to the staircase and yelled for Kairi to hurry on down. After that she walked over and joined Naminé in the family room.

"How is she?" Anne asked.

Naminé sighed. "Not as well as you might think…she misses him a lot…and I think she's really regretting all those chances that they had to…" Naminé started before she quickly stopped before she revealed too much.

Kairi's mom noticed this and gave a reassuring smile. "It's alright dear; you don't have to tell me something that you don't want to…I'm pretty sure that I got the idea…"

The sounds of someone slowly walking down the stairs interrupted their conversation. Anne and Naminé turned around to see Kairi walking into the kitchen with her school uniform on. Her hair had not completely dried yet, and was dripping a little. She gave a meek smile, which was met with two big smiles.

"Eat your breakfast sweetheart…you need to be fully fed for your first day back!" Anne said softly.

Kairi walked over and sat down in front of a plate of scrambled eggs and toast. She ate her breakfast quietly, and when she was done, took her plate over to the sink. Anne came over and gave her a kiss on her forehead, and Kairi was able to force a smile for her mom. She grabbed her bag and her purse and walked out the front door. Anne looked at Naminé and smiled. Naminé smiled back and floated out the door after Kairi. Anne watched from the doorway as they walked up to a young man in dark grey slacks, and a school uniform top. The long silver hair told her that it was their friend Riku. She watched them trudge off, but noticed that there was a lack of emotion in the way they walked, with the exception of Naminé. She sighed.

"He was something else that was for sure…" She said to herself.

The trio was silent for the most part as they walked up towards the school house. Naminé tried to break the silence with talk of their first day, but it wasn't really sinking in to either one of them. They had been through a rough few months in which Kairi was incapacitated; Riku was manipulated into hunting down his best friend, and perhaps even worse in the fact one of his darkest moments was brought back in full force, when Selene was brought back into his memory banks. There were still many unanswered questions. Maleficent was weakened, but it was still unknown as to whether or not she was dead. King Mickey had sent Riku on a couple solo missions but nothing turned up. They were too busy trying to restore order to the rest of the worlds, and making sure that something like that would never happen again. The coup de grace however, was the loss of their best friend Sora. That was more than either one of them could fully stomach. Even though Kairi had told people of the promise that Sora had made; no one save Kairi, Naminé, and Riku seemed to really believe them. All these things were weighing on their mind along with the fact that they now had school to worry about as well. Luckily for them the Destiny Island school district went year round, so they only missed a few months. Thankfully, the school had been quite lenient with Kairi and Riku due to the events of the past few months. Rather than having them make up all of their work from the previous months they instead were allowed to start fresh with a clean slate. This made no difference for Kairi as she had straight A's, but Riku was a different story, this gave him a chance to redeem himself.

"We're here!" Naminé said; effectively ending their thought process.

The old school was just how they remembered it. In keeping up with the scenery the school had adopted an island feel to it. Its sand-colored walls seemed warm and inviting. Up on the roof there was a steeple with a bell that was ringing, signifying that it was time for everyone to get to class. Riku and Kairi each took a deep breath and walked up the dirt path to the school. Just when they were about to reach the steps, Kairi was struck in the back of the head by something hard. Tears welled in her eyes and she fell to the ground clutching the back of her head. Riku and Naminé bent down to help her back up and they turned around to find a group of people laughing at them. Kairi looked out and saw three people: two girls and a guy. The girls were twins, both with black hair, which was cut in the same way; short and spiky. Each one though had a pair of pig tails in the back as well. They both had brown eyes, and the only real difference between the two was that they had their hair dyed a different color; one green and the other red. The guy was tall, about the same height as Riku, but had a yellow Mohawk. His green eyes flashed as he saw the anger on Riku's face. His right sleeve was rolled up and there was a skull tattoo on his bicep. They were all very unkempt in their appearance with multiple body piercing in their noses and lips. They all sneered at the trio, most notably Kairi and Riku.

"Well…well…well!" The green haired twin sneered. "Look who's finally come back to school!"

The trio remained stoic. Even Kairi had regained her balance and was standing up in a firm stance. They knew these people; they were Destiny Island's resident thugs. The twins were the red-head Rei and the green-haired Ami, and the guy was Mako; the leader of this band of punks. They had bullied Kairi and Sora for a long time, although as Sora grew they left him alone for the most part. They never messed with Riku, at least not directly. They were notorious for picking on a really good friend of his; named Selene. Mako snickered for a bit as he sized up Riku.

"So why is it that you two are so damn special that you get to skip school whenever you want to?" Ami demanded to know.

"Shut up!" Riku growled. He was about to do something but Kairi put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go Riku…it's not worth it…" Kairi said as they turned to walk away.

The three were not to be deterred and waited to get the final shot when Riku and Kairi were just about inside the school but still within earshot.

"It's too bad that you two couldn't go off and get wasted like that spike-haired idiot Sora!" Mako called out.

Riku raced back out and pounced on Mako. He let his left and right hands do all the talking. Rei and Ami tried to get him off but he shoved them away. Kairi was finally able to pry him off the now bleeding Mako. Mako's face was a crimson mess as his nose was destroyed. The twins rushed to their leader's side.

"You bastard! You'll all pay for this!!" They screamed after the trio; who ran into the school.

"That son of a bitch!" Riku said slamming his fist into a locker.

"Relax Riku!" Naminé said trying to calm her friend down.

Riku shrugged her off, and then stormed off to class as the second bell rang. Naminé and Kairi watched him go, and then quickly got to class.

Back in the Realm of Darkness:

The intrepid adventurers emerged from the access point into a familiar site for both Sora and Roxas. They had landed in the middle of a large stone bridge, and off in the distance they saw the outline of a large castle.

"This is Prince Adam's place!" Roxas blurted out, as he looked at the mammoth structure that seemed almost intimidating against the yellow moon.

Sora walked to the side of the bridge and looked out into the distance. The silver trees were here as well, and the place was barren. It was just as Yamato had said earlier; this place never changed. He felt a brush against his back and turned to find Yamato behind him, a look of urgency on his face.

"We must move quickly Sora; we don't know what foul beasts could lurk in this dreary place." He warned.

Sora nodded and walked towards the castle. They pulled up in front of the castle and walked through the large doors that led to the foyer of Prince Adam and Belle's mansion. The castle was dark, with the only light coming from the moonlight that crept in through the windows. The set up was the exact same though as far as Sora could tell; as there were knights statues that lined the various hallways. They began their search looking through both wings of the castle, and checking the former bedrooms of both Belle and Prince Adam, and the master bedroom that they now shared; all which turned up nothing. They stuck to their areas that they remembered, but didn't check the area that was added on during the two years between the fall of Organization XIII and Maleficent's plan. Roxas was beginning to grow desperate, as they left the den and were back in the foyer.

"Where do you think the access point is?" Roxas asked.

Sora shrugged his shoulders. "It could be in the ballroom." He offered.

The three walked up the steps and through the large doors that led to the large ballroom. It was dark; save for the giant windows that made up the back wall of the room. The yellow moon was positioned in the dead center of the glass, lighting up most of the room. Roxas could make out the many pillars that circled the floor. Glancing up, he spotted the enormous chandelier that sat in the center of the room. There was a small door in the gigantic window that led to the outside patio and garden of the castle. Roxas entered the room and was followed by Sora and Yamato. They worked their way to the center of the room, but were dismayed to find no access point. Sora groaned. "Where could it be?" He wondered aloud.

Almost as soon as he said that, heartless began springing up at various points in the room, catching them all off guard. Sora and Yamato immediately drew their Keyblades, and stood at the ready. This time it wasn't just shadow heartless that were attacking; fat bodies and soldier heartless were in the hordes of heartless too. Sora looked back towards the double doors that they had used to enter the room, only to find them all but inaccessible. He looked back towards the patio doors, and found that to be no better than the front of the room.

"Roxas!" Sora yelled at his nobody. Roxas turned to Sora. "We'll fight these guys off…you go and find the access point!" Sora screamed. With that said; Sora and Yamato took off and engaged the heartless that had begun filling the room. Roxas looked as they ran off and sighed. He floated past all the heartless, none who paid him any attention; and out the doors to search for the access point.

Back on Destiny Island:

The final bell rang, and the students piled out of the school, many of them anxious for the weekend ahead. The week had been hard for Kairi, as it was difficult to adjust back into their regular routine. Every class seemed to plod along at the same slow pace, and her mind would often drift back to Sora, before being pulled back in to reality either by the bell or by the teacher. Lunch was the only bright spot of her school day as she was able to see her friends Tidus, Riku, and Selphie. At night she had difficulty staying focused on her homework, and would try and drift off about Sora, but Naminé was right there to keep her on task. Naminé hated having to do this, but she knew that it was best for Kairi to put it as far from her mind as possible. Kairi slowly got up from her desk, slugging her backpack over her shoulder and getting her purse as well. She slowly trudged through the hallway, towards the front door of the school. She walked outside, and looked around. "That's odd…" She thought; "Where is Riku?"

Naminé popped out of Kairi's body and looked around for their silver-haired friend, but couldn't locate him. "Maybe he's just running late?" Naminé suggested.

The two of them sat and waited for a good twenty minutes, but Riku didn't show up. Kairi sighed. "I guess we should probably get going, Riku can take care of himself."

They began to walk back home, following the path that had led them to the schoolhouse earlier that morning. The walked along for a little while, as the wind whipped the trees around. It was a quiet, peaceful day, but it was beginning to grow colder as September had brought with it the changes of fall. The path was clear with not a soul in sight. Kairi however couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was watching her. She heard the sound of an engine revving lowly. She began to walk a little quicker forcing Naminé to quicken her pace as well. She continued to walk at a brisk pace as she made her way towards a series of houses; where she could see people out in the streets. Whatever was chasing her would not be for very long, if only she could make it to the town. Suddenly; she felt something grab her. She was spun around and came face to face with the snarling face of Mako. His nose was heavily bandaged from where Riku had broken it earlier in the week. Kairi backed up from him and adopted a fighting stance. If Mako wanted a fight she could take care of herself. Mako got a sick smile on his face but said no words. Instead he looked past her, towards the town. Kairi quickly turned her head around, and was greeted with a hard punch to the face.

Kairi staggered back as her face throbbed from the blow. She could hear the laughing twins behind her, and felt something hard hit her in the stomach. Ami lowered her knee and allowed Kairi to attempt a breath. Kairi tried to breathe but could only muster a groan. Ami grabbed the back of Kairi's head. Kairi felt her face driven headfirst into the ground. The twins laughed at Kairi while Naminé watched helplessly. Mako did nothing; he merely stood there and watched the proceedings. The twins picked up Kairi and held her up. Kairi was bleeding from the forehead and had some severe swelling in her eye. Ami placed Kairi in a full nelson, while Rei took a glob of mud and rubbed it in her face. Kairi spit out the mud, as a tear trickled down her face. Rei looked at Mako, as if she was a child that was looking for approval from a parent. Mako was leaning on a motorcycle silently watching this go down. He caught Rei's gaze and gave a low grunt and a quick nod. Rei turned back to Kairi with a gleam in her eye.

"You ain't so tough without your protector around!" She sneered as she held Kairi's battered face up by her chin so she could see eye to eye.

Kairi said nothing, which only seemed to fuel Rei's fire. "Nothing to say huh? That's fine…but I bet you won't be silent when you see what we do next!" She spat out.

Rei clutched the collar of Kairi's uniform and pulled with all her might. There was a loud rip, and Kairi was left standing there in her ripped top, with her pink bra showing. Kairi struggled and tried to cover up, but Ami held her tight. Rei grinned. "I thought that would get you!" She said as she tossed the tattered rag in her hand to the ground.

Rei then looked down at Kairi's skirt, and back up into Kairi's eyes which seemed to plead with her not to go through with it. Rei didn't seem to get the message and with another rip, Kairi was now down to her panties. Rei laughed at this. She then turned to Mako, who nodded approvingly. Rei looked at Kairi, who had tears streaming down her blood soaked face. She looked down at what was left and despite Kairi's soft protests, she moved in closer.

"BACK OFF YOU ROTTEN SON OF A BITCH!!!" came a fiery roar from behind them.

The gang turned around and saw Riku charging at them, with his Keyblade drawn. Ami quickly dropped Kairi to the ground; and raced over to the motorcycles with Mako and Rei. They hopped on their motorcycles and quickly sped off, flipping Riku off as they sped off. Kairi was lying on the ground in nothing but her bra and panties with her tattered clothes around her and tears streaming down her face. Naminé was huddled around her, tears streaming down her face as well. Riku quickly slid down beside Kairi to check on her. He looked up at the three ruffians that did this, but they were long gone.

"Those bastards…" Riku said as he looked down at the damage.

Riku recalled his Keyblade and helped Kairi up. He looked at her near naked body and turned away out of respect; and out of disgust at how heinous their actions were. He took off his own school uniform; stripping down to his t-shirt. He handed the large shirt to Kairi, who put it on. The shirt was just large enough to cover her exposed parts. Riku turned back to her with an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry Kairi…I got held up by the teacher after class…" Riku said.

Kairi said nothing; she silently collected her tattered clothes and her bags. Riku walked over and grabbed her backpack, and the three made the slow walk to Kairi's house to get her cleaned up. They had to walk through the town, and everyone that saw Kairi ran up and tried to help her out. Kairi refused every time and continued on her way. They approached Kairi's house and Riku helped her up the stairs and into her house. Anne wasn't at home at this point in time, but she would be soon.

"I'm really sorry Kai..." Riku stated again.

Kairi turned and looked at him. Riku was taken aback by the stare that she gave him. He had never seen this kind of fire or anger in her eyes before.

"Riku…I want you…to meet me on the island in one hour…" Kairi said.

Riku said nothing for a few seconds, as he was shocked by the response he got. Kairi still looked at him, as if she was waiting for an answer from him. Riku looked at Naminé, who was just as stunned as he was. He turned back to Kairi, and stared at the battered and bloodied face of his friend. He slowly nodded in agreement. He turned around and left the house. He got down to the bottom step and began to walk off towards his own house.

"Riku."

Riku turned around at the sound of his name. He looked up at the top step and saw Kairi standing there. She wore a solemn expression.

"Bring your battle gear." She said simply and then disappeared back into the house. Riku stared in shock, and then began to walk back to his own house.

Back in the Dark Realm:

Sora and Yamato were valiantly fighting off the heartless that were assaulting them. Sora was having a somewhat easier time then he did in the forest when he first arrived, though having a fellow Keyblade master by his side definitely helped matters. In between putting down heartless, Sora caught glimpses of how Yamato was fighting. Sora was amazed at just how well Yamato was able to fight, even at his advanced age. He witnessed Yamato take out three heartless with one strike, and then leap over a fat body and eliminating him with one blow. Yamato then turned and caught Sora's stare. Yamato chuckled a little bit.

"Not bad for a old timer eh?" He chortled.

Sora shook his head in agreement. This drew another chuckle from Yamato.

"Well thanks for the tips on these big guys here!" Yamato said, as he took off and attacked more heartless.

Sora watched him run off in awe. "Don't mention it…" Sora said, and then quickly turned back to the task at hand.

They battled for a bit while longer, until they had taken out a large number of them. They worked their way back towards the middle of the room and ended up back to back, as a new batch of heartless appeared and advanced on the dual Keyblade masters. Sora looked back at Yamato with a grin on his face.

"Ready for round two?" Sora asked.

Yamato smiled at that statement. "Are you kidding?" He asked, feigning shock; "This is the most fun I've had in years!"

Roxas meanwhile was searching high and low for the access point, seeing as he was unable to fight alongside the two of them, despite how much he wanted too. He longed to be a whole person again, much like he was before he merged with Sora; or at least as normal as a nobody could get. He wanted to be able to fight heartless as well as participate in all the fun activities that they used to do on the island. He actually wanted to play the sports that they played, rather than simply being regulated to being the referee. He thought of these things as he continued to wander the area to find the access point, which had thus far eluded him.

On Destiny Island:

Riku stood at a ready stance with his fists drawn, but the apprehension was clearly evident on his face. Kairi meanwhile, had a look of pure determination behind her swollen eye and the bandage that covered the gash on her head. It had taken her an hour to get herself cleaned up, and another hour to calm her mother down, who was livid at the situation. They had both switched to their traditional battle clothes, which felt rather chilly on this rather cool early fall day. Naminé was there as well, decked out in a pair of ripped jeans and a long sleeved white shirt with a splash of blue thrown in for color. This was nothing new for the two teens that squared off against each other; they had fought plenty of times before with their Keyblades. In fact, Riku and Sora had been responsible for Kairi's continued Keyblade training, which had been put on hold due to the fact that neither Riku nor Kairi felt like training after what they had just went through. This was different however, as now they were training in hand to hand combat, something that Riku was not too thrilled about.

"Kairi…are you sure you want to do this? I mean…what if I hurt you? Sora would kill me!" Riku said, thinking of any reason to dissuade Kairi from this course of action.

Kairi remained undeterred. "Riku…all my life I have had to let you and Sora fight my battles…and I'm sick of it. I can't use my Keyblade against them, so I have no other way to get back at them." She said with a fiery passion.

Riku thought about this for a second, as if he was weighing the consequences. He then finally relented, and began to instruct Kairi. Naminé watched the two spar but then slowly drifted her gaze towards the waves that crashed against the sand. The sun was slowly working its way back down behind the horizon, and upon glancing up she noticed some of the stars started to peak out from behind the cover of the night sky. She turned back to the two sparring and watched them with casual interest. The waves kept drawing her attention away though. One thing that she always wanted to do was to jump in the waves and feel the water around her. She had been able to float over them while the others were in…but never had been able to herself. She thought about how all the others were able to enjoy it…except for her and Roxas.

They were always left out of the fun activities. Not because they weren't liked, but because they simply couldn't. This shared experience helped them to develop a very close relationship, which had blossomed into a romance. She sighed as she thought of Roxas. All this talk of Sora and trying to keep Kairi from thinking about him had inadvertently suppressed her thoughts of Roxas. She missed him terribly, the way that he would always have a joke to make her laugh; no matter her mood. Suddenly; she was alone in the world. Granted Kairi was there, but it just wasn't the same. Kairi couldn't understand her condition and she never would. Roxas did though…and without him her life seemed incomplete.

"Roxas…I hoe you come home soon…" She whispered as she stared out to see.

Back in the Realm of Darkness:

Roxas continued to wander aimlessly looking for any sign of the access point. The search was becoming a real problem as he was back inside the castle looking for anything that pointed to the access point.

"God… this is hopeless!" Roxas cried out.

Almost as soon as he said that he heard a faint giggle behind him. He whirled around and his jaw nearly hit the floor. There standing before him was Naminé, floating in her white sundress.

"N…Naminé!?" Roxas choked out.

Naminé smiled, and motioned for her to follow him. She quickly darted down a hallway, forcing Roxas to follow her.

"Naminé!! Slow down!!" Roxas yelled out as the figure seemed to pull away from him.

They darted around corners and down hallways for a good ten minutes, before Naminé turned down a corner and Roxas lost sight of her. He turned down the corner and looked at the empty hallway. There was a dead end, and only one door.

"NAMINÉ!!" Roxas yelled out. He continued to call out but the name of his girlfriend as he raced towards the door, which was already open. He burst into the room, but found no sign of Naminé.

"NAMINÉ!!" He called again, but still no answer came.

Suddenly, he heard another giggle; this time from up above him. He looked up and had to shield his eyes from the bright green glow the burned his eyes. He rubbed them and slowly looked up again. He was stunned by what he saw.

"The access point!!" He blurted out.

He looked around the room, and then back out in the hallway for any sign of Naminé, but didn't find a trace of her.

"NAMINÉ!!" He called out, hoping for another glimpse of his sweetheart.

He screamed her name a few more times, but heard no more girlish giggles.

"NAMINÉ!!" He tried one last time, hoping to hear something.

"Roxas!!? Where are you at?" He heard a low masculine voice call out.

Roxas immediately recognized the voice as his friend Sora.

"I'm over here Sora!" Roxas answered back.

A few seconds later; Sora and Yamato emerged in the hallway looking no worse for wear. Sora looked at Roxas with a puzzling look, and Roxas did the same.

"How did you get away?" Roxas asked the duo.

"Well, we took out a great deal of them, and then we kinda got bored and started searching for you, we killed off the remaining heartless as we walked around." Sora said nonchalantly.

"Oh…well I found the access point…it's in this room." Roxas told them, trying to ignore Sora's cockiness.

"Excellent! Let's be off then!" Yamato said. Sora still looked at Roxas with some confusion.

"Why were you calling out for Naminé?" He asked.

"Because I saw her! She led me to this room and the access point!" Roxas said quickly.

"Are you serious!?" Sora cried out excitedly. His expression quickly changed however once he thought about it for a few seconds more. "Wait a minute…how is that even possible?" Sora wondered.

"It was merely the darkness son; it plays tricks on you like that. Just be thankful that it worked out in your favor." Yamato said in an attempt to explain it.

Roxas nodded as if to say that he agreed, but he wasn't completely sure that he fully believed it. Yamato meanwhile had made his way into the room, and Sora followed. Roxas was the last to come in the room, as he took one more look around the hallway; only to find nothing. Yamato quickly took his Keyblade out and placed it on the green access point which allowed him to pass through it. Roxas then floated up and touched it, disappearing as well. Sora took one last look around and then followed suit.

Back in Destiny City:

"Thanks for the training Riku…we'll do it again tomorrow!" Kairi said as she walked into her house.

It was late, the stars were out in full and her mother was fast asleep. Kairi was very sore from the training, and had a few bruises. They had been training for a couple weeks now, and fall was in full swing. Kairi was becoming a very fast learner, and had improved tremendously in her fighting skills. Better yet, she had started to feel better about her situation, even though she would still think about Sora a lot. Much to her chagrin; she had been unable to utilize her skills against those thugs, as they had all but vanished following the incident. This was largely because they were hated in the town for their actions, and for their desecration of the Sora monument. Kairi walked into the bathroom and hopped into the shower. Naminé meanwhile floated over into Kairi's room, and was joined by Kairi in short order. Kairi got dressed in her pajamas, while Naminé slipped on her nightgown. Kairi pulled back the covers and laid her head down on the pillow. Naminé meanwhile took a seat on a small chair that was in her room.

"Halloween is next week!" Naminé said suddenly.

"That's right!" Kairi said, with a small smile.

"We need to think of a costume!" Naminé said.

"We can do that in the morning Naminé." Kairi said to her friend.

Kairi rolled over and flipped on the radio that was next to her bed. She heard the opening rifts of a song that she liked and settled in for the night. Naminé gently floated into Kairi, obviously tired from such a long and trying day. Kairi listened as the vocalist began to sing.

Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick and think of you
Caught up in circles confusion is nothing new
You say go slow; I fall behind
The second hand unwinds

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you; I'll be waiting
Time after time

Kairi listened to the lyrics and drifted off to thoughts of Sora, and how she missed him almost every day. While she was feeling better, she still thought of him constantly. She thought of all the times that she had a chance to tell him how she felt, but she never did.

Sometimes you picture me I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me I can't hear just what you've said
You say go slow; I fall behind
The second hand unwinds

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time

If you fall I will catch you; I'll be waiting
Time after time

After my picture fades and darkness has turned to grey
Watching through windows, you're wondering if I'm ok
You say go slow; I fall behind
The drum beats out of time

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting
Time after time

Kairi's eyes began to feel very heavy. She had a long day, with two exams and a two hour training session with Riku. Her mind drifted off to Sora, and the warm smile that he always wore for her. She thought of that image and nothing else.

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting
Time after time

The song began to wind down, and Kairi drifted off into sleep with the thought of Sora and his smile in her head.

Time after time…

End of Chapter 3