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This is a chapter dedicated to romance. For those of you who are getting tired of it, sorry, the action starts up again real soon.

Roxas: "And this chapter is really good for pretty much every ship in this story. And on behalf of all of us here at Kingdom Hearts, thank you, Darth."

Uh, no problem.

Roxas: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else, just plot and O.C.s."

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Chapter 26: Romance on the Castle Grounds

The Unity had just exited warp drive above Disney Castle. The castle had been built on a pleasant, peaceful, green world which had since been named after the castle itself.

Sora was back in the pilot's seat bringing the ship in for a landing. Nehrut walked up next to him and gazed out the window. The world was growing larger by the second, and a twinkle was appearing in his eye.

"This place means a lot to you, huh?" He said to him when he noticed.

"Yeah." Nehrut answered with a strange look in his eyes. "It's like my second home."

"But what about your home world?" Sora asked, "I mean, wasn't it restored when Xehanort was defeated?"

He realized too late that it probably wasn't the most tactfull question, but Nehrut didn't seem too upset.

"It's complicated." His face lowered. "Ask me again some other time."

Kairi walked up beside the two. "So that's Disney Castle?"

"In all it's glory." The two responded in unison. They looked at each other, surprised.

"Okay, that was weird." Sora said.

"Receiving!" Donald announced from the communications console.

Two identical screens appeared on the bridge windows. Each one held a chipmunk inside. They were nearly identical, aside from their noses (one large and red, and the other small and black).

"Chip and Dale here!" The black-nosed one (Chip) said. Then he realized just who was in the ship. "SORA! You're back!"

"Hey guys!" Sora responded cheerily.

"Don't worry," Donald said, "He hasn't crashed this one!" He and Goofy laughed, remembering Deep Jungle, Monstro, and Neverland.

"Now you guys can't really count Neverland!" Sora defended. He noticed that Kairi, Riku and Nehrut were struggling to hold back laughter. "We were captured by Hook."

"Yes, that's preferable." Kairi said, rolling her eyes. Nehrut couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing.

"Captured by pirates." Nehrut said. "Sounds familiar."

He sent Jack a glare.

"Nehrut?" Dale this time. "You're back too?"

"Hey Dale." He said, returning to a normal tone of voice. "Chip. Salus Pax Pacis."

"Safety and peace." They said back in usison. "We'll clear the landing pad for you guys. See you there."

Sora eased the ship toward the large open field that served as a landing site at the south of the castle. The Unity's landing claws extended, and touched down gently onto the grass. After extending the loading ramp, he shut down the ship's various systems and stood up.

The entire crew stepped outside into the remarkable fresh air of the castle grounds.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the blue and white castle seemed to shine in front of them. They stood a few miles away from a pleasant little village that seemed to be entirely populated by beings similar to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. The castle gates stood before them, wide open and welcoming.

This is about as far from the World That Never Was as you can get.

"C'mon guys!" The King said, leading the way inside. Everyone followed suit behind him, (Barret carrying the limp Pete over his shoulder).

They were soon in the castle's garden. There were topiaries everywhere of some of the castle's occupants. They looked around at them, and then started breaking off and going into seperate directions. The majority followed Mickey inside for whatever reason, but some mulled about in the garden.

Goofy had immediately collapsed onto a patch of grass surrounded by flowers. There was already a decent sized rutt in the ground there, suggesting that he had laid there many times before. Sora wouldn't have been surprised.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette were wandering through the garden apart from the others. Hayner picked a few flowers here and there. After a while, he had a rather varied boquet, which he handed to Olette. She blushed.

Nehrut had gone over to greet the enthusiastic chipmunks and dog that had come running into the garden. Sora didn't know how he was able to hold his own in a talk with them, they always seemed to start babbling.

Wait, there it is.

Chip and Dale had started babbling. Nehrut seemed to realize this, and was starting to creep away. But, it was too late, he was caught. Sora chuckled.

Without warning, the transparent images of Roxas and Namine burst from his and Kairi's minds.

"We'd better go help him." Roxas said, also chuckling.

"Won't he be a bit surprised to see you guys?" Kairi pointed out.

"Nah, we got really well aquainted last night." He responded. He then held out his arm to escort Namine. She blushed slightly (which made her face stand out quite a bit) and took it. The two Nobodies walked off arm in arm, leaving a confused Sora and Kairi.

"How did he...?" Sora began, but Kairi cut him off by placing a finger to his lips.

"Probably some hard-to-understand, telepathic thing. Let's not worry about it." She pulled him over to a nice, shady tree away from the activity. It reminded Sora of a certain tree he had seen at the 100 Acre Wood. He laid down against it, and Kairi sat beside him. She leaned into his shoulder and sighed. "This place really is peaceful."

Sora wrapped an arm around her shoulder and relaxed.

They simply sat there for a while, enjoying the other's company and the beauty all around them. It seemed impossible that they had been fighting a very powerful Nobody in a horrible storm less than twenty-four hours ago.

He could see a great deal of the garden from here. Over time, some of the others from their group came back out. Stitch started scrambling through the bushes, laughing and having the time of his life just being free to run around. Donald ended up chasing after him to make sure he didn't damage any of the more fragile plants. Pluto was right behind them.

Genie streaked all over the sky, enjoying the wide open space and the fresh air. It wasn't long before he dove directly into a large area of plants. Which somehow reacted as if they were really water.

But the most interesting sight was Riku and Yuffie.

Yuffie was looking at a beautiful rose bush, and Riku was looking at her.

Subtly, to where the girl woudn't notice, Riku picked one of the roses, and carefully rid it of the thorns on the stem. He took a brief sniff, and turned back to the girl. From behind, he reached over and moved a lock of hair by her ear aside. He slipped it in between her ear and hair, and let it settle into place. He did it all carefully, and with a gentleness that niether had ever known he possessed.

Yuffie looked very surprised, but not in a bad way at all. When he placed the rose in her hair, she smiled widely and her eyes began to sparkle. When he stopped, her hand reached up to touch the spot where his hand had been. Her fingers brushed across the rose's petals, and she twisted around to look him in the eye.

She smiled at him for what felt like a long, long time, totally unaware that Sora, Kairi, Roxas, Namine, and Nehrut were all watching them intently.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, she stood on her tip-toes. She cupped his face in her hands, and kissed him.

He responded by placing one hand on the small of her back, and the other in her hair. She smiled into the kiss, and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer. It seemed that they couldn't get close enough, they kept trying to get closer despite the fact that they appeared stuck together. And all the while, their lips stayed connected.

"Two months?" Kairi asked Sora, grinning.

"Or two days..." He responded just as Riku fell over backwards, breathless. Yuffie just plopped down on top of him and continued kissing him. "Woah..."

He turned his head a fraction, and saw Kairi turn toward him as well. She had that same mischievious twinkle in her eye as she did when she had stolen his clothes.

"Kairi, what are you- mphfff!" he was cut off by her lips being pressed firmly against his. His eyes buldged, but he melted into the kiss immediately. She scooted over and positioned herself comfortably on his lap. His senses were dim right about now, but he reached up and gently cupped her face in his right hand. His left reached out and ran through the sea of red that was Kairi's hair.

Roxas and Namine were now looking at them. Roxas looked slyly and Namine, and she took the hint. She wrapped her arms firmly around his shoulders and they brought their lips together in a gentle kiss. The two transparent blondes leaned back against a topiary of a certain cow and continued their kiss.

To continue along with this trend of senseless romance, Donald's sweetheart Daisy chose that moment to run out of the castle as fast as her dress would allow. "Donald!" She cried and threw herself at the unsuspecting duck, crushing him in a hug that he was eager to return once he got over his surprise.

So that left poor, girl-less Nehrut alone in the garden sitting next to Stitch. The little blue creature looked at Nehrut.

"Don't even think about it." He said, but Stitch giggled at him anyway, and ran back off into the foliage. Nehrut looked over at Sora and Kairi kissing passionately, leaning against the tree. Riku and Yuffie rolling over and over with each other in the grass, laughing. Roxas and Namine's gentle kisses near the castle gate. And Donald and Daisy embracing on the garden path.

When he noticed the King and his Queen getting non-verbally re-aquainted at the balcony overlooking the garden, he let out a grunt of frustration and pounded his fist on the ground. He dearly wished that he had what they all did.

"Got the hots for one of them?" Came a voice to his right.

He turned his head and saw Axel, who took a seat next to him on the grass.

"No." He answered. "And I'm happy for all of them. I just wish that I had somebody like that." He gestured over to Sora and Kairi, whom by now had mirrored Riku and Yuffie's actions and were lying on the ground, kissing.

Axel nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Kind of makes you feel left out, right?"

They sat in silence for a moment.

"We'll just have to keep faith, I guess." Nehrut finally said. "I mean, there's hundreds of worlds out there right?"

"There's got to be some girl out there who wants a bit of this!" Axel flexed his arm muscle and then engulfed in in fire. "Am I right?"

Nehrut laughed and snuffed the flames out with a blast from his mind. "Yeah, you might not want to do that... 'Got it memorized?'"

"Hey!"

Nehrut laughed, gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, and stood up. "We'll keep faith." And with that, he walked away toward the castle entrance.

--

They'll find their girls eventually. And I'm sorry if it seems like I'm rushing into the whole Riku/Yuffie thing, but I just couldn't help myself! You know what that's like, right? Reviews are always welcome.

My second favorite O.C. appears next chapter.

Shinku Ryuuga: Rewrote that scene I mentioned to you a bit, to go with what you sent me (wink).

Sailor Winx: Thanks! Took me five-million tries.

DaemonArts: Nothing gets by you, huh? Ah well. Figured they wouldn't be that hard to figure out.

Krystal Lily Potter: If it makes you feel better, I never got the Ultima myself... Anyway thanks, and call off your squirrels, I update pretty regularly.

Craxuan: (Evil laughter)

SamuraiJedi: You are correct!

Garuto: Isn't it sad?

Disneytiger: Crucion? You know, I just now realized that! I thought he looked familiar in my head!

ConfederateofZ: You're right about the first two, but the others are incorrect. Anyway, thank you very much.