Chapter 26 A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

Sora sits with his back against the gummi ship's hull, listening to the sounds of Cid tinkering with the engine. He fiddles with the wrench in his hand, toying with it in an attempt to keep his mind from going places he didn't want to think about. It has been a week since he got back to Traverse Town with the others and it is the first time he has been allowed out of the house for anything except his shifts with the Defense Militia. Tifa had threatened to keep him grounded until he was thirty for running off like he did, but it seems her resolve is wavering as Cid was able to convince her to let him come help in the workshop.

"Wrench." Cid's hand reaches out from under the engine and Sora gives him the tool, taking the screwdriver Cid is handing him. Cid grunts his thanks and Sora returns to staring blankly at the ceiling, rolling the screwdriver in his fingers.

"Alright," Cid's muffled voice says. "Spit it out. What's eatin' ya?"

"What?" Sora says, looking at Cid's legs which are the only part of him that is visible.

"What's bothering you? You're never this quiet. Usually talk my ear off when I'm workin'."

Sora hesitates. "It's nothing," he finally says, knowing he isn't anywhere sincere enough to convince Cid. The older man has quite the knack for reading people.

Not even missing a beat, Cid says, "Might want to try that again. I don't think you even convinced yourself."

Sora turns the screwdriver on its point and attempts to balance it there while he searches for the right words. "Cid," he says hesitantly. "Have you ever...messed up really bad, but you didn't mean to. Like, you were trying really hard to do the right thing, but you might have ruined everything."

"I can think of a couple times like that, kid," Cid says.

"Really?" Sora asks hopefully.

Cid slides out from under the Gummi ship's engine and fixes Sora with a hard stare. "Everyone makes mistakes, kid."

"I bet nobody's made as dumb of a mistake as me," Sora says lowering his head. Nobody else would be dumb enough to lose the heart of a friend he had been holding onto for ten years in less than a day after learning about it.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Sora looks up. "Tell me," Cid says and Sora knows the gruffness of his voice conveys his caring.

After a pause Sora nods and, taking a deep breath, he tells Cid everything Zack had said. Everything about how Ven's heart was his to protect

"I thought I was doing the right thing," Sora says with a sigh. "Going after Ansem, saving Kairi, but what if I saved one friend only to lose another? What if, because of me, Ven won't ever come back?"

For a long moment Cid is quiet and feeling ashamed Sora ducks his head. He looks back up when Cid says, "Nah. That feisty blond ain't going away that easy." He slides back under the engine as he speaks. "Ven has more fight in him than you give him credit for. You held onto his damaged heart for ten years, healing its broken pieces just by being you. If he left your heart, it was because he was strong enough to make it on his own. Strong enough, because of everything you did for him."

"Do you...do you really think that?" Sora asks, looking up.

"I do," Cid replies. "Ven's heart had to get out of your's sometime, Sora. And don't think too much about what Zack said. He's been grieving for the past ten years, but at the same time he hasn't been able to let Ven go. He's just got a lot of bottled up emotions and you were standing too close when he exploded."

"I know," Sora says softly. He hadn't been mad at Zack for what he said. He had been mad at himself and he still is, but Cid is right, he shouldn't give up hope. Ven could still be out there and despite all the promises he had made to Tifa and Cloud, Sora knows he will leave to look for Ven again. He owes him that for losing his heart.

But if he is going to run off again to search for Ven, there is one thing he has to do first. Something he's been thinking about doing for a long time.

"Cid, can I ask you about something?" Sora asks, nervously playing the screwdriver again

"Shoot, kid."

"It's about Kairi," Sora says quietly, already reddening.

The sounds of Cid's tinkering under the engine pause and in a quick motion, Cid slides back out from underneath the Gummi ship, grinning. "This I got to hear."

…

Riku sits on his bed leafing through the heartless reports from his time away. He is relieved to see sightings had been lower than normal, giving the Defense Militia an easier time with him, Sora, and Kairi gone.

He's just starting a report from Cloud on a Large Body in the second district when Sora walks into the room with a loud and long groan. Riku raises an eyebrow at him, but Sora doesn't say a word, instead falling face first on his own bed across from Riku.

Not bothering to stifle his laugh, Riku asks, "What's up?"

"Never go to Cid for advice on girls," Sora says, his response muffled by the mattress.

With little care, Riku drops the reports and walks over to Sora with a wide grin on his face. "What did you ask him?" He asks, sitting down on the corner of Sora's bed.

Sora groans again and mutters something indistinct. "What was that?" Riku asks, amused.

Sitting up with a glare, Sora says in a low voice, "I wanted to know how to ask Kairi out, okay?"

"You're going to ask Kairi out?" Riku repeats in a loud voice causing Sora to lunge across the bed at him, trying to cover his mouth.

"Shhh!"

"Dude, she's not here," Riku says with a laugh, pushing Sora away from him. "She offered to take Yuffie's shift today."

Sora stares at him, blinking, and sits back grumbling about Riku doing that on purpose.

"So, I have to know," Riku says. "What did Cid say?"

The way Sora's face instantly turns red only makes Riku more curious. "He...uh…" Sora says, rubbing a hand through his hair. "He said, 'Tell her she's pretty. Take her someplace pretty. And don't forget a condom.'"

"He said that?" Riku asks, holding back a laugh as Sora's face turns an even deeper shade of scarlet.

Sora nods. "Yeah and...and then he gave me these." He pulls a handful of condoms out of his pocket and tosses them on the floor before groaning and falling back on his bed.

Riku laughs again, poking one of the packages with his foot that's hanging off the side of the bed. "I guess that serves you right for going to Cid of all people for advice."

Sora grumbles and runs a hand over his face with a sigh. "Can I do it, Riku?" He asks, lifting his head up to look at him. "I've thought about telling Kairi that I like her so many times, but I haven't be able to make myself go through with it. What if she doesn't feel the same? What if she says no? What if I tell her and she says yes, but then it doesn't work out and it gets weird and awkward and we stop being friends and we -"

"Sora," Riku says, interrupting him. "Stop thinking so much. You've liked her forever so give it a shot. And there is no better time to ask her. You're her knight in shining armor right now. You just saved her from Ansem."

"We saved each other," Sora whispers, remembering the way Kairi's warm light had lead him back from the darkness that had consumed him during his time as a heartless. And she had pulled him away from the battle, putting him some place safe. He had been slowly losing his battle to stay awake and as unconsciousness had finally taken him, he had felt her kiss his forehead. He had been wondering if that had been real or something he had imagined, but maybe, just maybe, that soft kiss had been real and it had meant as much to Kairi as it had meant to him.

"Riku," Sora says hesitantly. "Do you think there is a chance that she likes me back?"

Riku grins broadly. "I think there it is a good bet that she does."

They both look up as a voice from the doorway to their room calls, "Knock, knock." Marlene is standing there and takes a step in as Riku jumps to his feet.

"Marlene!" he says, surprised. Sora, wide eyed looks and him and then at the floor. "I thought you had to work today," Riku continues, kicking the scattered condoms under Sora's bed before Marlene notices.

Marlene looks at him curiously and he smiles. "I got off early," she says slowly. "We don't have many guests and Mom said she could handle it alone tonight."

"Oh," Riku says, glancing down to see with relief that Cid's embarrassing gift is hidden. He looks back up at Marlene who is still watching him with a confused expression and he glances at Sora.

"I'm, uh," Sora says getting to his feet. "I'm gonna go find Kairi." He starts to walk out, but pauses at the door, looking back at Riku with the expression of a deer in headlights. "But what if -"

"Just go, you idiot," Riku says a grin spreading across his face. He makes a shooing motion at Sora who runs his fingers through his spiky hair awkwardly before nodding and hurrying away down the hallway.

Still grinning, Riku turns to Marlene. "Do you have your camera?"

"Uh, yeah," Marlene says, raising her eyebrows questioningly. She reaches into the purse slung over her shoulder. "Why do you want it?" She asks as she hands the small silver camera to Riku.

Riku takes it from her saying, "To capture the moment when two idiots stop being such big idiots and realize they are both head over heels for each other."

"You mean…" Marlene says, looking towards the door where Sora had disappeared. "Sora is going to go find Kairi to...oh...Riku!" She turns back to him, angry.

"What?" He asks taking a step back.

"Give me back my camera," she says trying to take it, but he bats away her hand. "Riku, give it. I'm not helping you spy on them."

"They'll thank me for it later if I get a picture of their first kiss," Riku says, making a break for the door.

"No, they'll think you are creepy for doing it," Marlene says, rushing in front of him. She tries again to take the camera again, but he holds it up too high for her to reach. "Really?" She says, tugging at his arm but to no avail. "How childish, Riku."

"I'm just trying to have a little fun, Mar," Riku says. He keeps the camera out of Marlene's reach as he lowers his head and presses his lips to hers. She struggles one more time for the camera in his hand before relaxing against him.

After a long moment, he pulls away, keeping her close with a hand on her waist. "Come with me?" He asks, but Marlene shakes her head.

"I'm giving them their privacy like a good friend would do," she says with one last attempt to grab the camera.

Riku jumps back out of her reach, walking backwards out of the room with a grin. "Well as Sora's best friend I have to make sure he doesn't screw this up. And of course," he says as an afterthought, "get a picture of their awkward first kiss to use as blackmail on him forever."

Marlene starts towards him a scowl on her face, but Riku hurries off, calling over his shoulder as he goes down the stairs, "I'll be back with the evidence in fifteen minutes!"

Ignoring Marlene calling him back, and Tifa's surprised expression as he sprints past her in the kitchen to go out through the front doors of the bar, Riku runs out into the main square of the first district. Right away he spots Donald and Goofy sitting by one of the lampposts with a map of the worlds Cid had lent them.

"Hey," Riku says, jogging over. "Narrowed it down any more?"

With the problems with Ansem solved and everyone returned home safely, Donald and Goofy have put their focus back on finding their missing king. Using the map, they are trying to figure out which worlds Mickey most likely would be at, but the process is slow going.

"While I don't think he'd go to Atlantica," Donald says in a cross voice to match his crossed arms. "Who'd want to be a fish?"

"I dunno, Donald," Goofy says, scratching his head as he peers at the map. "King Mickey's got his steamboat back home. He coulda gone to Atlantica to see the ships."

"Ugh." Donald leans back and lets his head hit the lamppost. "This is impossible. We're going to have to search everywhere to find him."

"I'm sorry, guys," Riku says sincerely. "I know he's a good friend of yours." Both nod gloomily and Riku grins knowing just what will cheer them up. "If you're interested though, Sora's on his way to tell Kairi about his head-over-heels crush."

Like he'd been hit with a thunder spell, Donald is on feet in a flash, speaking so fast Riku almost can't make out what he's saying. "Sora's gonna ask Kairi out?"

Riku holds up the camera. "I'm hoping for a kiss."

Donald looks at the camera and a mischievous smile crosses his face. "What are we waiting for then?"

Riku leads the way, headed for the third district and the secret passageway he knows will take him to the rooftops of the second district. Donald is right at his heels, but Goofy trails behind.

"Gwarsh. Don't ya think this an invasion of privacy?"

"This is Sora we're talking about," Donald says over his shoulder. "We're going."

Goofy hesitates, looking back at the map of worlds. They really should be searching for King Mickey, but they had been at it forever and getting nowhere. A short break isn't a bad idea.

Still a little guilty to be spying on Sora, Goofy hurries after Donald and Riku before they can get too far ahead.

…

Sora spots Kairi in the lower area of the second district when he enters and he pauses, watching her. Around her are a group of shadow heartless, five or six in number, but Kairi seems unworried by being surrounded. Instead, as he watches, it looks like Kairi is toying with the heartless. Each time one leaps forward at her she fights it off just enough to knock it back, but lets them scramble back to their feet instead of going for the kill shot.

From the battered state of the heartless and the way Kairi's hair is falling out of its ponytail, Sora guesses she's been at this game for awhile. As she blocks two heartless coming at her at the same time, he starts towards her. He can feel the butterflies in his stomach already urging him to turn tail and run the way he came, but just when he hesitates at the top of the steps, Kairi looks up and smiles, seeing him.

Caught and unable to slink away now, he walks down the steps, feeling like his heart is bobbing in his throat on every step. With ease, Kairi works on killing the heartless around her and by the time Sora reaches her, they're all gone. She turns to him and he forces a smile on his face.

"Hey, Sora," she says. "I thought Tifa was keeping you grounded till you were twenty. How'd you get out?"

Sora swallows hard and prays his voice won't crack on him. "Thirty actually. But I guess she got tired of playing my jail keeper. What about you? I didn't know you had duty today. What are you doing out here?"

"Yeah," Kairi says, toeing a loose rock on the ground with the tip of her shoe. "I offered to take Yuffie's shift. I've been training extra since we got back because -" She pauses, ducking her head and continues in a quieter voice, "I need to be stronger. I need to be a better fighter. I don't want to be useless."

"What? Kairi, you're not useless," Sora says, putting a hand on her shoulder without thinking. She looks at him with big blue eyes and he finds himself stumbling over his words. "You...uh you're not useless. Wh-where is this coming from?"

"Ansem kidnapped me so easily," Kairi says, looking to the side to avoid meeting Sora's gaze. "And then I tried to escape and I couldn't. I fought him and he beat me and if it hadn't been for you I wouldn't have ever gotten away."

Riku's words echo in Sora's head. You're her knight in shining armor. He would love to be that for Kairi, but not if it was going to make her feel like a burden. "I'll always be there to save you," he says with a smile. "But I doubt you'll need that." That catches Kairi's attention and she looks at him confused. Feeling his heart double its already hammering pace, Sora steps a bit closer. "You're strong Kairi. Like, really strong. You're a great fighter and you're always getting better," he says gesturing to where the heartless used to be. "Don't ever feel useless."

A small smile replaces the frown that had been on Kairi's lips. "Thanks, Sora," she says, her ears red like her hair.

"Anytime," Sora says feeling his cheeks heat up and he puts his hands behind his head, leaning back. "But...uh...that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?" Kairi asks.

"Yeah...uh." Sora laughs nervously and wonders if she can tell how fast his heart is beating. "I just wanted to say...thought I should tell you...the thing is...you're really...great."

"Oh?" Kairi repeats, more confused this time.

"Really great," Sora continues, mentally kicking himself for sounding like such an idiot. "And funny, and nice, and pretty."

"Pretty?" Kairi asks, blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Yeah...uh...yeah," Sora says. He takes a deep breath. "When I see you I smile. Just being around you makes me happier and I just wanted to tell you, in case, maybe, you felt the same, that I really like you.

"You…" Kairi says and Sora holds his breath, unable to read the expression on her face, then she smiles wide. "I really like you too."

"You do?" Sora says, feeling himself relax only to tense up a bit again. "Wait, like like me? Like like me like someone who might be more than a friend?"

Kairi giggles. "Like someone who might be more than a friend," she says, taking a step closer to Sora so they are only a few inches apart.

For a long moment they just stand there staring at each other, each grinning and too caught up in their happiness to notice the time passing. Simultaneously, they both move closer only to pull back, blushing and laughing nervously. Their eyes meet again and they find themselves leaning closer in.

Kairi hand touches Sora's side lightly and his arms embrace her as they pull each other closer. Watching Kairi's eyes slide close, Sora copies her, lowering his head to do what he has been dreaming of for years.

The first touch of her lips on his, hesitant and unsure, is the most electrifying feeling and he is so consumed by it he doesn't notice the faint sound of the shutter of a camera clicking or the whooshing of a dark corridor opening behind him.

…

Riku, Donald, and a slightly reluctant Goofy are perched on the rooftop near Cid's house watching as Sora and Kairi lean in for their first kiss. Through the little window on Marlene's camera, Riku watches his two best friends kiss and snaps the picture, smiling to himself as he looks down at the screen on the camera displaying his picture.

Sora and Kairi with their arms around each other and lips locked are at the center, but Riku blinks, his smiling gone in an instant, to see what's in the background.

A oval of black that Riku recognizes as an all too familiar dark corridor is beside his friends and coming though is a man in a black coat whose yellow eyes almost seem to glow in the picture. "What?" Riku says, looking down to where Sora and Kairi are just pulling apart, still red faced. The man in the black coat is standing with his arms crossed with his eyes set on Sora.

Riku is on his feet, jumping down from the roof as Sora and Kairi both stiffen, noticing the strange man's sudden arrival. The shock on the hard landing shoots up Riku's shins and he drops the camera, but he barely notices that as he rushes to his friends' side with Donald and Goofy half a second behind him.

"Who are you?" Riku demands, his hand clenched into a fist, ready to summon his keyblade. Last time a strange man had come to Traverse Town it was to kidnap Kairi and the gray hair of this new man is not helping Riku feel at ease. He looks too similar to Ansem.

"Riku!" Kairi almost squeaks looking from Riku to the stranger and back. "What…?"

Sora is gaping at Riku, his cheeks bright red, but he blinks and turns his attention to the man in the black coat. He can yell at Riku later for following him, but right now there is a more pressing issue at him. "You heard him," he says, jerking a finger at Riku. "Who are you?"

The gray haired man lets his gaze sweep over the five of them, each in battle stances, one wrong move away from summoning weapons. "My name is not important," he says his voice deep and slow. "I came not for an exchange of pleasantries, but to pass on information."

Riku steps forward, moving just a bit to be in front of Sora and Kairi. "Information about what?" he asks, warily.

"What it is you're seeking," the yellow eyed man says. "Old friends and what befel them lie closer than you know."

"You…" Sora says, struggling to find words. Beside him Riku and Kairi are frozen in shock, eyes wide and glued to the stranger. "You know where they are? Master Eraqus, Terra, Aqua, and Ven?"

At Terra's name, the man in the black coat looks away briefly. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing," he says quietly and the condescending words make Sora frown hard.

"Then tell us," Sora says, trying to sound commanding. "What don't we know?"

The man in the black coat turns away, and gestures to the dark corridor behind him. "The answers you seek await you. Proceed if you believe you're strong enough."

He doesn't wait for a response, stepping back into the darkness he had come through, but just before the darkness engulfs him he glances back. Whether it's from that angle or if it is a trick of the shadows Sora doesn't know, but for a brief second he doesn't see the man as a stranger. He sees him as Terra. An older, sadder, but still the Terra he once knew.

"Wait!" Sora shouts, but the man in the black coat is gone, leaving the swirling black corridor for them to follow through. Sora starts to step forward only for Riku to grab his arm and hold him back.

"No, Sora," Riku says, eyes darting to the dark corridor. "This has to be a trap."

"But he knows something," Sora says, urgently. The dark corridor won't be there forever. They have to choose now whether or not to take the leap and go through. "We can't let him get away."

"But what if -" Riku starts to say, but Kairi interrupts.

"I agree with Sora. This might be our chance to find them."

Riku looks between the two of them and Donald and Goofy who are watching the the dark corridor with apprehensive looks. He turns to face the dark corridor himself and stares into it, wishing he could tell where it led. But his friends are right. Even if the chance is small and dangerous, if it is at all possible that this could lead them to their lost friends they have to give it a shot.

"We can't let fear stop us," he whispers to himself and takes a deep breath. "Okay," he says at a normal volume. "Let's follow him."

Sora nods and steps forward first. He pauses a moment of the threshold of darkness and the coldness of the corridor makes him shiver.

Rikus steps up beside him and the two exchange a look. In both their eyes in a fear of where they are headed, but the resolve of facing it to get back their family. Together, they enter, fighting to step through the darkness and make it out the other side.

The cold tendrils on their skin vanish and they step out of the corridor with the others behind them. Sora looks up and gasps, a response echoed by Riku and Kairi. There, in front of them like it had come out of a dream is their old home, broken and falling apart, but real enough to make them weak at the knees.

"...MEKA…" Sora finally says, breaking the shocked silence and the other two can only nod in agreement.

For a long moment more they stand there, staring, then Riku clears his throat. "C'mon," he says, casting his eyes down to the path at their feet that leads to the front doors of the castle. "We should get going." He moves first and the others for automatically, still too stunned to know what else to do.

Sora starts to feel Kairi slip her hand into his, but quickly squeezes her back, finding comfort and knowing she is there with him. Maybe together with Rik, Donald, and Goofy they will finally be able to figure out what happened all those years ago.

I'M NOT DEAD I SWEAR!

I know it's been like a month since I updated, but I am very much alive under all this work I'm buried in. I'll do everything I can to do better with updating, but I really really can't promise anything.

Hope you liked Sora and Kairi's kiss! And look! Its that line that I put in the summary finally being said. It only took, *checks story*, 26 chapters to get here.

Again sorry for how long this update took hopefully next will be better, but until then review!