The guys needed a chance to wind down after the last chapter, so they made me write this new chapter.

Kairi: "THANK YOU! We are exhausted! DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else. Only his plot and O.Cs.

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Chapter 24: A Night Off

Unity was bound for Disney Castle. Having no further leads on Brotherhood activity, they decided to head back to the castle to continue planning. It was ten hours away even in Warp Drive, but that was still closer than Radiant Garden.

The minds and bodies of the crew were telling them that it should be night, so they treated it as such.

Sora and Kairi bid the others good night, and walked off toward their own room. They cracked the door open and stepped inside.

They suddenly stopped when they realized something. What do they wear? The only other time that they had been in a bed together, they were still fully clothed.

After a deliciously akward discussion that anyone else in the ship would have laughed their heads off at, Kairi changed into a white night gown, and Sora put on long red boxers and an undershirt. This way they were still mostly covered.

Sora turned out the lights, leaving only the calming starlight streaming through the only window in the back wall. He idly ran his fingers through the crimson locks, elliciting a contented hum from Kairi.

"What are you thinking about?" Kairi asked out of the blue.

The question surprised Sora, but he didn't show it. He answered truthfully. "That I'll never, ever, ever let anything hurt you."

Kairi scooted over a bit and leaned her forehead against his. "You were thinking about what Xaynew said." It wasn't a question.

"I won't lose you Kairi." He said softly. "If he comes within ten feet of you, I'll tear him apart."

That in itself was unusual. Sora rarely wished harm upon another being, but he had basically just said that he'd kill Xaynew to keep Kairi safe.

"Don't worry Sora." She whispered, leaning in a bit closer. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I'll make sure of it." Sora whispered, leaning closer as well.

"We'll make sure of it." She was so close now that her lips barely brushed his when she spoke.

Finally, the temptation was too much and they kissed, softly, and deeply. They cursed the need for air (not for the first time) and parted after several minutes. Sleep was finally about to take them. Kairi leaned into Sora's chest and said, "I'll never leave you."

--

Back at the bridge, Riku, Nehrut, Jack, Barret, Genie, Donald, and Stitch were playing a game of poker. Their cheerleading section consisted of Yuffie for Riku, Goofy for Donald, and Kiara for Nehrut (she had taken a liking to him).

It was an interesting match considering the players. A pirate who often cheated. A magic genie who might have been cheating. A telepath who also might have been cheating. A blue creature with the IQ of a super computer that might have been cheating anyway. Two skilled players who didn't need to cheat. And a duck that was so angry he was losing he didn't think to cheat.

In short, the game was probably not a fair one.

In the end, it was somehow a tie between Riku and Nehrut with a simple ten munny apiece. Then a fight broke out when Jack accused them of cheating, and Riku reached across the table and punched him. Jack pulled out his saber and stabbed at him, but the sword was grabbed by Barret's arm. So, Stitch lept onto his face and knocked him over.

Eventually Donald joined in for one reason or another with Genie acting as a commentator. Nehrut stood over to the side with Hayner and Hercules.

"I know how we can beat the Brotherhood!" He said. "We'll just invite them over for a friendly game of poker!"

Eventually, they all forgot what the fighting was about, and headed off to bed.

Riku decided to take a leap of faith, and walked Yuffie to her door, which she classified as 'old school, but still enjoyable'.

When they reached her room, something interesting happened.

Yuffie just stared at him for a little while, and finally said, "Good night."

"Good night." He began to turn away, when suddenly she grabbed his hand. Quickly, she spun him around to face her, she stood up on her tip-toes, and pecked him (very quickly) on the lips. Then, with the speed of a master ninja, she opened the door and slipped inside.

The door closed very softly, leaving a very surprised Keybearer standing in front of it.

He stood there in shock for several seconds, hardly believing what had just happened. Then his face broke out into a huge grin, and he walked back to the bridge.

"The heck with sleeping!"

--

Nehrut was in his new quarters on the Unity. While the others were likely sleeping, he had been meditating ever since the fight had stopped a few hours ago, it was now close to midnight (at least that was what the ship's clocks had said). While normal beings slept, he usually meditated at night.

The Corporis Quiesco Meditation allowed his body to sleep, but his mind to wander –in this case, literally. He sat on his bed, and while his body received the equivilant of sleep, his mind was operating normally.

Growing bored, his mind scanned the ship.

He sensed Riku alone in the crew lounge, lying comfortably in one of the couches. He didn't wish to invade his privacy by reading his thoughts, but he could feel the impulses rolling off of it. They were happy, ecstatic even. Nehrut had a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with a certain ninja.

He moved his mind off to Yuffie's quarters, and found her sleeping. Her dreams felt similar to Riku's thoughts. He wondered if something had happened between them. Mentally, he smirked. That seemed to be the case, he couldn't wait to tell the others.

He moved on to the room next to hers; Barret's. His dreams had an air of excitement. Perhaps he dreamt of battle? He didn't know him well enough to tell.

Jack Sparrow was awake, but his thoughts were strange, somewhat confused. He could only asume that he was drinking. Again.

That stuff will kill you before your time! He mentally screamed into Jack's head. He withdrew quickly, laughing. He could feel a bit of Jack's confusion on the other end, and maybe he had given him something to think about. But he doubted it. If he had he wouldn't be Jack Sparrow.

Donald and Goofy were both sleeping soundly in their respective quarters. Donald dreamed of Daisy, who would be waiting for him at the castle tomorrow. Goofy just slept.

He found the King in his quarters, he was awake, as usual. His thoughts were clear, and focused on a single goal. He seemed to be studying something. But that was King Mickey for you, he always gave it his all when he was on the job.

He felt Hayner and Pence in the kitchen, grabbing a mid-night snack. They had had trouble sleeping earlier, so their natural solution to a bad night's sleep was to eat it off. Olette seemed the exact opposite, she slept peacefully back in her quarters. He touched her mind briefly and saw lots of orange sky. She dreamt of her home.

The Genie of the lamp was very hard to read. He had so much bizarre energy surrounding him at all times that it was hard to read him. He didn't even know if he needed to sleep at all, he was so full of life that he just couldn't picture it.

In the training room, he felt the minds of Stitch, Axel and Hercules. Understandably, their minds were very busy, this made them harder to see. From what he could gather, they were both having a good time. They were in their element: fighting.

Pete was in the brig. He was wide awake, and seemed to be pacing back and forth across his cell. He was clearly scared out of his life at the prospect of returning to his inter-dimensional prison.

And as for the small lioness at the foot of his bed, she slept soundly. She was so content that she was purring in her sleep (though he had always heard that big cats didn't purr). Briefly, he peaked into her dream and saw wide open green savannas, and an oddly-shaped rock formation in the distance.

So she dreamed of her home, just as Olette did. He wished that he could do that without the nightmares that came with it.

He realized that there were two minds that he hadn't seen yet. His curiosity got the better of him, and he sent his mind into their room. They were close together, snuggled in bed. As far as Nehrut could tell, they hadn't done anything... carnal. It didn't take a psychic to tell that the two were dreaming of each other.

But here was something interesting.

The two seemed to be sleeping, but upon closer inspection, it seemed like small parts of them were still wide awake. He had never seen anything like that before. He took another look, and there seemed to be a ...link of some kind. It connected Sora and Kairi's hearts, souls, and minds.

The temptation proved too great, and Nehrut focused all his might on that connection.

There was a flash of light, and suddenly Nehrut found himself standing in total blackness. Well, not total blackness.

Looking around he saw black clouds all over the place, he looked down. He was standing on a giant platform with a mosaic, stained-glass image on it. It depicted a young woman with pale blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing white and blue robes. She stood in the center of the image, her left hand was over her heart, while the right held a silver and gold Keyblade. The whole image was tinted silver, and the outer ring was dotted with yellow star-like objects.

In rings around her image featured Sora, Kairi, Riku, Axel, and –surprisingly- himself. A heart-shaped picture held the image of a young man.

He thought for a moment, and realized who the girl was (and the boy in the heart), and where he was standing.

Jiminy's report had described this place as a kind of alternate dimension. It could only be entered through the mind or heart, and during certain events experienced by certain people. Sometimes involuntarily. It was extremely complicated, and nobody knew what it's purpose was.

The girl was the Nobody of Kairi. Namine –the 'Memory Witch'. And the young man in her heart was Sora's Nobody Roxas –the 'Key of Destiny'.

"Hello." Came a feminine voice from behind him. He spun around.

Those very two people were sitting at the edge of the platform with their legs dangling over the edge. Their bodies were twisted around a bit to get a better look at their visitor. He noticed that the boy's hand was over hers.

"So we have a guest?" The boy said, he smiled.

"Roxas and Namine?" Nehrut said, not totally sure what he was seeing.

"It's nice to meet you in person, Nehrut." Namine said, smiling as well. She and Roxas got up and walked over to shake his hand.

"What am I doing here?" He asked. "I was following the link I saw between Sora and Kairi, and I ended up here."

"This is where we live." Roxas explained. "You see, this isn't really the Station. This is just the appearance that some people's minds take on in their conciousness."

"The platforms show whose mind we're in." Namine said. She pointed to her face on the platform. "Right now, we're in the section of Kairi's mind where I reside."

"But I wasn't focusing on Kairi's mind." Nehrut said, confused. "I was looking at this link that I found in between her mind and Sora's."

Suddenly there was a flash of light, and they were on a completely different platform. This one was predominantly orange, and featured Roxas.

"Sora and Kairi's hearts, souls and minds are tied to each other's, and have been since their islands were destroyed." Namine said as if nothing had happened. "And Roxas and I utilize that link to see each other."

"When you followed it," Roxas said, "You must have been pulled toward us into Kairi's thoughts."

Nehrut let this sink in for a moment. This was unlike anything he had ever heard of before, evan on his homeworld where his parents had deeply studied the mysteries of the mind.

"Wow." Was all he could say. Then he realized that he was probably intruding on their privacy. "Oh! Well, it was great meeting you, I hope I'm not interrupting anything..."

"No!" They responded almost immediately.

"Well, if you'll miss me that much..." He said.

"We'd like to get to know you a bit better." Roxas said.

"You're welcome here any time." Namine added. "We'd like a bit of company."

Nehrut smiled widely. "Roxas, Namine, I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship."

And so, they spent the rest of their night chatting companionably in the Station.

--

Sappiness, friendship, light humor. The next chapter is a LOT different. Review please!

SamuraiJedi: Anything for a laugh, right?

Shinku Ryuuga: That 'Ultima' will only appear near the end of my story, hope you'll like it. And I've never actually played CoM, sadly enough. And you're right about Scarlett and Giselle. I may include a cameo for your O.C., but I'd have to know more about him/her, send me a message.

ConfederateofZ: Feel free to ramble if you want. And it's spelled 'critic'. Anyway, thanks a lot!

Garuto: Glad to hear it. Thanks!

Disneytiger: Good to have that cleared up. Kibbles and Bits!