Chapter 88: Duty to the Heart
Many hours after the wagon incident, Kairi, Jun and Brian sat around the camp fire as the night had settled down with the moon shining above them. Shang was still in a foul mood as he continued to mistrust Jun as they set the camp up, leading to Mulan and Shang to have some disagreements, but luckily the General had set off to bed while Mulan guarded at her post, allowing Jun to regain some form of belief in herself since the accident.
As an attempted to cheer her up, Brian began to try and change himself back, much to the amusement of Kairi as she tried to cheer the student up. "Nope!" Brian changed himself into a monkey. "Nope!" he changed to a small chinese dog. "Nope!" He changed into a rooster. "Nope!" He changed back into his tiger self. "God damn it! I wanna take a wash." He growled with frustration before glaring at Kairi, "This is not funny." He whined.
"Just wash up in the lake, Brian." Kairi giggled.
"I can't. The minute I step out, my paws get muddy and my fur feels uncomfortable when it's wet." He complained before trying again, returning to his original form, much to the girls surprise. "YES! IT WORKED!" He was jumping in joy as his tiger tail magically appeared once more, tripping the teen to the floor as he changed back into his tiger form after jumping for joy for five seconds. "Ohh crud."
"Silly talking tiger." Jun laughed, "Look at your appearance as a clue."
Kairi turned to face Mulan's pupil, "Do you think it has to do with the Chinese zodiac?" She asked her.
"I think so." She smiled before lowering her head down, looking at the glow that the fire gave off. "I just wish that I didn't let people down because of my actions." She sighed.
"The wagon wasn't your fault." Brian pushed himself off the floor slightly, halting as he saw a small dragon pull something behind the tree as he worked with it. "Excuse me, ladies. I have to check something." Brian quickly nodded his friends goodbye as he checked on the guardian dragon.
"Brian's right, Jun." Kairi said to her. "It was an accident, it could have happened to anyone." She assured her.
"I know." She smiled back at the princess of heart before rising from her stall, "I just think that I need to understand the purpose of light and darkness more and how they worked together. Please forgive me for my sudden departure." Jun bowed down to Kairi respectfully before heading to her tent, leaving the princess of heart alone.
Kairi sighed slightly as she stared at the flames, watching the separate flames dance with each other. "I wonder how Riku and Hikari are doing..." She trailed off, laughing at the thought of Riku and Hikari dancing.
BOWBOWBOW
Max remained behind to flipped sofa as he slowly looked over the top, only to duck his head down from the on-coming banana cream pies and the chocolate fudge cake. The battle of the cakes and pies when fine for a while in the battle simulator until one of Hikari's fruit cakes of doom destroyed the control system, leading the battle back into the bridge and the kitchen. "Guys! Stop this!" Max shouted at the two, who were behind protected based formed from pillows, furniture and sharp objects which their customised flags to present their dessert nation. "This is madness!"
"Madness that I have lived in the same ship with this pie demon, you mean." Max heard Hikari's voice from behind her base.
"Your mind is being controlled!" Riku popped his head up slightly, his short silver hair being covered with blueberries and butter icing. "See the truth!"
"I do see the truth!" Hikari shot up, "You're the one being contr-"She was halted as a cherry pie was thrown in her face, the cherry sauce covering most of her face.
Riku laughed at this, watching the sour expression appear on her face as she slowly whipped the contents off of her face with one swipe. "Justice has been served." He laughed, not noticing Hikari coming out of cover and walking over to him with a coconut cake in her hands. As soon as the Wielder of Dawn opened his eyes, his face met four layers of cake.
"Look likes tension is rising." Max said to himself behind his own cover as he grabbed the camera, he needed some evidence that he didn't destroy Brian's gummi with desserts.
BOWBOWBOW
As Kairi relaxed by the fire, gathered in her thoughts as she looked at her lucky charm, Sora, Donald and Goofy popped their heads out of the brushes, to see that Kairi was on her own. As Donald and Goofy re-thought the plan through their heads, chuckling at the scene, Sora bit his lip nervously before pulling his head out of the brushes. "I can't do it guys." Sora said to the two as his voice was filled with doubt. "What if I mess up? What if it is too much? What if the darkness returns while we're alone?"
"Sora, calm down!" Goofy calmed the nervous teen down as he and Donald pulled their heads out of the brush. "You'll be fine."
"Yeah. There's nothing to be scared off." Donald walked over to the other side of him.
As Sora took deep breathes to try and calm himself down, he didn't notice that his two animal friends pulling him towards the camp. "You guys don't know how much-WOAH!" Donald and Goofy pushed Sora through the brush, making him tumble through the camp. "Owwww..."
"Sora!" Kairi jumped off the ground, snapping out of her thoughts, as she ran over to him. "Are you okay?" she looked down at him.
Sora looked up and smiled at the red beauty that was staring back down at him. "Never better..." He sighed happily, ignoring the grazes and cuts he had gotten from being thrown into the campsite. He pushed himself up and turned back towards Kairi, discovering that he had lost the ability to speak. "Ummm..." he blushed deeply.
"You don't look okay." She looked at him with concern as he felt his forehead, "You feel hot."
"Don't worry, Kai. I'm fine." He held her hand and pulled it away from his forehead. "Actually...I have a surprise for you." He spoke nervously.
"A surprise?" Kairi gasped slightly.
Sora chuckled slightly as he nodded, scratching the back of his head nervously with his shadowed claw. "I wanted to make it up to you. To show that I'm sorry for what happened back on the ship and back at Little Devon." He lowered his head down in shame from the memory, feeling Kairi squeeze his hand for reassurance. He looked back at her with a smile, "There is one thing that I want to share with you, the joy of travelling to other worlds without a care in the world. That's exactly what we are going to do."
Kairi looked at him with confusion, "We're supposed to stay in the campsite and I'm supposed to switch duties with Mulan." Kairi reminded him.
"Goofy said that he'll take the shift and Donald will be taking mine." Sora covered over before letting go off her hand and smiling, "C'mon Kairi. Just the two of us." He said confidently, his nerves washing away.
"The two of us?" Kairi repeated, looking at the Keyblade Master as the moon shone behind him.
"Yeah." He smiled brightly, "Just the two of us." Kairi looked back at the camp for a second, still slightly worried about Jun before smiling back at her friends as the two began to head towards this 'surprise'.
BOWBOWBOW
Brian shook his head as he had come back from one of Mushu's plans to split Mulan and Shang up as the two was thrown into another argument about Mulan leaving her post to gossip about Shang to Jun outside his tent, waking him up in the process. As Goofy took over Mulan's post, breaking the argument up, Mushu followed Mulan back to her tent while the tiger began to wonder why Goofy was taking the post and not Kairi.
He quickly finished his tiger-shaped cookies that he managed to find in his bag while recovering supplies from the lake, he wasn't sure how the cookies got in his bag in the first place but he wasn't going to ask questions. As he finished them off, he returned to the campsite to ask Kairi about switching shifts with Goofy, only to find that she wasn't there. Strange...Maybe she went to her tent. He thought as he headed over to Kairi and Jun's tent. Since losing half of the tents in the lake, everyone apart from Mulan and Shang had to share their tent with another meaning that Brian had yet to experience sharing a tent with Sora, he hoped that the keyblader didn't fight heartless in his sleep.
As he stood outside the tent, he noticed that Donald was on the other post. The Keyblade fool must just be asleep. Brian told himself before looking at the entrance to the girl's tent, "Kairi? Jun? Are you in there?" he called out for them, only to receive no answer. "Girls?" Should he risk pepping his head inside the tent? The tiger shook his head as he reached into his pockets and pulled out the last tiger cookie that he had and threw it in the tent, waiting for some form of movement or a comment about cookies. After a few seconds, the Aversion Endless decided to take the risk and step into the tent, only to see that it was completely empty. Right! Not only Sora and Kairi are missing, Jun is now missing too.
Brian's face turned to a panicked expression as the only person that could solve the mystery to his past was missing and that his two friends, who he has to make sure that they don't get together, were missing as well. "Yeaaahhh. I need to find them before the Order does." As he was about to head out the tent, his eyes managed to see a message that was left on Jun's roll mat, "Hmm, what's this?" The tiger picked the message up and tried to read it, only to realise that he cannot read Chinese, "God damn it!" Brian growled as he quickly went to see Mulan, perhaps she knows what the message says.
BOWBOWBOW
Sora had taken Kairi to the festival that was down by the village that they would be passing tomorrow, dancing along to the music that was offered, reminding them of the good ol days when they didn't have a care in the world back on their islands, back when there was no worries about the fate of all worlds and the destiny that one's heart had chosen for them. After a few games at the stalls and grabbing some chicken chow mien, the Keyblade Master pulled the princess aside to show her a cam recorder, "Umm Sora?" Kairi looked at the cam recorder with questioning, "What's with the cam-recorder?" she asked.
"Well." He explained as he looked at the cam-recorder, "So many worlds we have been to yet all we have to tell of our journeys is of Jiminy's Journal, a journal that we cannot take back with us so I thought that we should recorded something, in case we were to lose each other." He looked away from the recorder to look back at Kairi, "I thought that we could tell anyone that's watching our experience on other worlds."
Kairi stood silently in thought before smiling warmly at the spiky brunette, "That's a loving thought, Sora." She said before nodding, "Let's do this."
"Okay." Sora smiled as he set the recorder on.
[Recording...]
Kairi giggled nervously as she stood in front of the camera, "What do I say?"
"Anything you want." Sora said as he tried to hold the camera still, "Say what you have seen." He suggested.
"Right." She breathed in before looking at the camera, "I'm here at the Land of the Dragons with Sora."
Sora quickly turned the camera to face him, "Hiya!" He greeted before pointing back at Kairi.
Kairi giggled slightly as she continued, "There are many worlds out there and all of them give off a new experience but the best experience that I have had so far was coming to realise how much...umm...it is to meet new friends." Kairi shrugged after that. "Sora. I can't think of anything."
"How about a message for the future?" He suggested, "Look. I'll do one now." Sora quickly turned the camera to himself, "Hey there, future. Riku, you better not be hiding out in my garden to get away from Hikari's rage. It's not my fault that you made your wife mad." He said, making Kairi laughed. "Hmmm...Future self! Keep everything you hold dear close to you, especially your light. Never lose sight of it. Hmm...Future Kairi...hmmmm..." The camera shot slowly pulled away from Sora as he thought of what to say.
"You can't think of anything." Kairi laughed, "Point it over here. I've got something." Sora nodded as he pointed to camera back over to Kairi. "To the future Sora, whatever that will or has happened and that fate might have separated us." Sora looked at Kairi as she spoke to the recorder, "Just remember that no matter where you go, I'm always with you as our hearts are connected." She looked at Sora once more, her cheeks brightening.
[Stop]
Sora saved the recording and shut the recorder off, smiling as he done it. "Don't worry." He looked up at her, "I won't forget." He smiled before placing the recorder into his pockets. "Ready for your surprise?" he asked her.
"Wasn't this the surprise?" Kairi pointed back to the festival behind her.
He shook his head as he grabbed her hand, "Come on." He said as he led her out of the village.
BOWBOWBOW
I am sorry to leave without notice but to understand balance
I must face the unbalanced and prove myself
It's the duty to my heart
Ning Jun
Brian replayed the words that Mulan had read off the letter as he looked at Jun's master with worry, "She does realise that Skullo and Link will dispose of her, right?" Brian pointed out.
"I have to stop her." Mulan grabbed her sword, "I'll tell Donald and Goofy to make sure Shang doesn't find out about this. Where are Sora and Kairi?" Mulan asked.
"I don't know." Brian said with slight worry, "All I know is that they were supposed to be on guard duty."
"You didn't see?" Mushu balanced a nut on his nose before breaking its shell by burning it, "I saw them heading to the town." He said as he ate the nut.
"That's just great!" Brian growled at this before closing his eyes as he felt as slight burn come from his claw, something that Mushu and Mulan didn't notice.
"We need to go now before Shang notices. Are you coming Brian?" Mulan asked him at the entrance of her tent.
"Yeah." Brian nodded, watching Mulan left her tent. As soon as she was gone, the tiger shot a glare at the relaxing tiger, "Don't you dare do anything while we're gone." He warned him before going after Mulan.
"You can count on me!" Mushu said happily before smirking with mischief, "You can count on me!"
BOWBOWBOW
"Can I open them?" Kairi asked as Sora covered her eyes with his hands, guiding her to their destination.
"Not yet." He whispered to her, leading her to where the moon shined brightly. "Okay. Open." Sora removed his hands away from her face as she slowly opened to the sight that she was given. The two stood on a bridge that was just off the village that stood over a small stream; above them was the full moon with the light coming from the moon reflecting in the stream. "It's so beautiful." Kairi awed, welcoming the embrace that she received from behind.
"Yeah..." Sora awed at the sight as the two looked down at the reflection of the moon as well as the reflection of the two enjoying the moment together. "There's something that I wanted to tell you, Kairi." He said to her.
She turned around to face him, not realising how close the two were, making the two inches from each other, their noses barely touching, their hearts racing from the close contact of the hug, their breathe blowing against the other's face. The two have been in this position before, many times have their friends interrupted a moment like this but Riku was back at the ship, Brian, Donald and Goofy remained at the camp, no Order patrols have been spotted near the village, it was just the two of them.
"Sora...I..." She blushed deeply, feeling is breathe against her skin made her body tingle, the hug quicken the pace of her heart, his arms around her that touched at her back made her feel secure, she felt safe in his arms. She felt...like she was in his heart once more.
"I wanted to say something I've been trying to tell you since me and Riku returned home that day." Sora started, looking deeply into her eyes, feeling the slow unconscious pull that slowly pulled him closer to her. He may be unable to say it but maybe he can try and show her what he meant.
"We're not ruining anything. Are we?" A familiar voice spoke with amusement.
The Keyblade Master halted his actions, sighing with annoyance as he looked back at Kairi with a apologising expression before pulling himself away, no matter how much his heart screamed for the embrace once more. He turned to the source of the voice to see Brian and Mulan looking at the two with amusement. "Hi guys." Sora grinned nervously, feeling the blush on his face.
"Have you guys seen Jun?" Mulan asked the two with concern, ignoring the discovery that she had found for the moment.
"Isn't she at the camp?" Kairi stepped forward, full with concern.
Brian shook his head, "We came to find you two before we went to find Jun, we could use your help." He explained.
"Where is everyone else?" Sora asked.
Mulan began to explain, "I didn't want Shang to find out-"
"That Jun has gone missing?" A deep voice finished.
The four of them looked down the stone path to see General Shang, Donald and Goofy standing behind them. Donald and Goofy looked at Sora, seeing that he was acting nervously next to Kairi, meaning that Brian and Mulan must have interrupted their moment. However, Shang looked darkly at the four that stood in front of him. "I'm sorry to break your little party." Shang growled at Sora and Kairi.
"Sorry Mulan." Goofy sighed sadly.
"We didn't know how he found out." Donald said to her.
"I'll tell you how." Shang said as he pulled out a letter..Jun's letter. "I am sorry to leave without notice but to understand balance." Shang read the letter out loud, "I must face the unbalanced and prove myself. It's the duty to my heart." Shang turned his vision to Mulan, "Now who does that sound like?"
"As soon as we found out, we came to get Sora and Kairi and get ready to search for her." Brian explained, holding his breath back as his anger began to build as he hid his claw behind his back.
"And get yourself lost like Jun?" Shang shouted at the tiger. Kairi managed to notice Brian's shadowed claw and quickly ran up to him to calm him down, noticing that his claws were metal. "We need to concentrate on the mission, we lose soldiers every day."
"Are you saying that we should just leave her?" Mulan stepped forward, "She's my pupil."
"Then as her master, you should have seen that she wasn't ready." Shang raged at her, "You place your own feelings above everything. Duty, obligation, tradition, it all means nothing to you."
"It means everything to me!" Mulan told him.
"If it did then you would have known that the girl wasn't ready for combat." He shouted, "Because of your judgement and misleading, she's gone missing and with the day limit that we need to reach the keyhole, I am not going to waste it correcting your mistake."
"You never trusted her. That's why you won't go." Brian growled, being held back by Kairi.
"Sir." Sora stepped forward, "We can't just leave Jun out there to get attacked by Unbirth."
Shang turned away from Mulan and faced the others, "This talk is for me and Mulan only."
"The hell it is!" Brian tried to escape Kairi's hold, quickly gaining help from Donald and Goofy as the three of them pulled him away.
Sora stayed behind through as he stepped forward, "You need to follow your heart, General. Following the rules is a good thing but following the heart is a good thing as well."
Shang immediately turned back towards, "Are you siding with Mulan?" he demanded as he stood over Sora dangerous.
"What Sora is trying to say is that you don't trust your heart." Mulan looked at Shang darkly, "Sometimes I wonder even if you have one." Sora looked sadly at the two, he didn't want to see this happen between his two friends but there was nothing that he could do something about it either.
A/N: Awwww this chapter was nice. Hopefully, I can get to 90 chapters soon ^^ Messages..
Future Keyblader: Nah! That answer won't be coming hehehehe
LozzyBoo93: I'm just know the KH story soooo well that I can easily guess what will happen ^^. YEP all UK and I was thinking the same thing with Birth By Sleep. I've just finished college myself and was hoping to play the game but oh well...I needed to get back on track anyways ^^. I do love the CGI on the final fantasy games, love to piece but to be honestly, I'm just hoping that the story would be just as good but it just seem to lose it on XIII. I can't wait for KH3 to come out with its CGI cutscenes, it will make things more magically ^^. You have to come to London expo! It's mega fun and I go there all the time, as a KH cosplay, there are many KH fans, its where I have meet one of my bestest friends there and everyone is the same so there is no problems with talking with each other...unless they are just plain anime fans. If you plan to go, I'll wear a cardboard sign with an orgy coat saying I'm just mad for free hugs ^^. He's quite selfish in the film so it matches ^^ I'm a Disney loser =P
Kisdota- The Freak Gamer: There's a reason for him turning into a tiger. I'm not gonna say what. Hehehe. Hmmm now that I think about it, Brian and Enigma (If that is who you meant) are similar in a way expect that Brian seem to want to know the past while Enigma wants to forget it. That and Enigma is more on the scientist side while Brian was just bored one day. Perhaps we are alike Kisdota.
Grey vs Ale: Moving does suck. I decided to...make less stuff to move by using the keyblade to make it disappear. O.o I was annoyed. ANYWAY! Awwww why watch the videos! The endings for the game has been ruined for me anyways...damn brothers!
Celtickyedancer: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^
Soragirl4ever: Nah, I'm not mad. Just Kingdommad ^^ YAY! People are starting to like my main OC. My job is complete. Yeah, many SoKai use those two words as first, that's what creates the tension. Hoped you liked that Brian ate your cookies in the chapter and I just said some random poem that Sora might say and was like 'ohhhhhhhh that's cool'. I've read fanmail, which I am still waiting payment on, but I still need to check new story.
Shadow Sylph: Remember...bring stuff back ^^ I actually have no idea about the disappearance. I just thought it be funny to say that Jun's parents randomally disappear like Sora did went he lost his heart. Please tell me this theory. PRINGLES PLEASE! Prawn cocktail YUM! I'll try my best ^^ See ya after your holiday Shadow.
Right, that's it for me. Goodnight guys ^^
Kingdommad