This author note will be a bit sappy so feel free to jump right at the story if you want to :D

I wanted to thank you guys so much. If you yourself write fanfictions, you probably also know that incredible feeling whenever someone favourites your story or you, follows the story/you, or leaves a review. My heart literally jumps in my chest whenever I check my mails and see a new mail from this website. 12 people are following this story. 7 have favourited it. And to this day, it has collected 18 reviews on 8 chapters. To some, it may not look like to much. To me, it's more than what I would have ever dreamt of. Your kind words make my day, whether I was having a good or a bad day, reading one of your reviews brings a smile to my face, I have that stupid grin that won't go away, and I am so incredibly happy that someone found my work worth a review. So thank you, Koyuki, for being my beta-reader (or beta-fangirl), also for bringing me in the KH fandom and for basically being awesome, Taliax, for all your kindness and support, and for being the reason I love Vanitas so much, but also thank you to you guys, Landarma, Vigriff, SoKaiRokuShi, Halogirl, Kiomori, you anonymous person, thank you so much for taking some time to read and leave a review, and thank you, reader, if your name wasn't in the list, for having read this far (both in the story and in that fluffy stuff), because you are the reason I keep on writing. Your support means the world to me. Anyway, I really love you guys, and I am sending you a virtual hug right now.

Back to the story now, shall we? ;)

"Where are we going?"

He had insisted to blindfold her before leading her through his corridor.

"Shut up. It's a surprise."

Although she couldn't see, she knew as soon as they arrived in that new world. The air was dry and quite hot, and the ground wasn't really firm, like... sand?

"Is this... a beach?"

"Nope! But that's okay, you can remove the blindfold now."

She did, and discovered she was in the middle of a desert. Vanitas was lying on the sand, staring at the sky. She looked up, and the sky was sparkling with so many stars she couldn't help but smile.

"Afar from any source of artificial light, stars appear to shine brighter. That was written in the book. So when I first came to this place, away from any civilisation, I thought they would shine like they never did before. Plus, it's a new world for you, isn't it?"

Aqua sat next to him, unable to look away from the sky.

"It is. I've never been there, it's... beautiful." Suddenly, she took her eyes off the stars to look at Vanitas. "That was written in the... You read that on your own?"

He nodded, a big grin on his face. "Yup! I can read on my own now! I'm a bit slow, and writing still is a tough job, but you are now talking to a fully literate man! I'm sure Ventus took so much longer than me!"

Aqua chuckled. If only he knew how much he looked like Ven at that point, with his victorious face... But of course, telling him would probably ruin this moment, so she let go of that thought.

"It took him a bit longer, indeed. But he was never able to focus on anything for too long so I wouldn't really call him an attentive student."

Vanitas's grin grew bigger as he nodded, obviously proud of beating Ven. Aqua turned her head back to the starry sky, a huge smile drawn across her face.

"Thank you, Aqua."

Keeping her eyes on the new constellations she was seeing, she chuckled. "It's nothing. I'm glad I was able to teach you something."

"Not for that. Well, yes, thank you for teaching me how to read, but more importantly, thank you for... trusting me. Defending me in front of your friends. For never judging me, no matter the terrible things I did and the ones I'll probably do one day. For everything."

Aqua felt tears prickling the corner of her eyes, but she fought them back. Instead, she tenderly ruffled his hair. "You don't have to thank me for that. I'm having a lot of fun with you. We don't see the world the same way, but you still deserve to be respected. I'm sad I'm the only one to apparently notice that."

She looked away, feeling the tears coming back. She felt his hand grabbing hers, and suddenly his face was in front of her, and their lips connected. She closed her eyes and waited for a couple of seconds before pulling her head back.

"Vanitas, I... I'm sorry, I don't..." She was at a loss for words, thoughts violently crashing in her brain so quickly she couldn't sort them out.

"No worries. I know. It's no big deal." He was still smiling at her, his cheeks perhaps a bit redder than usual. Aqua's face, on the other hand, was probably crimson by now.

Vanitas let out a sigh and lied down on the sand.

"I know I'd never win. I saw how Terra looks at you. I really dislike him and he's so overprotecting I want to strangle him, but you'd look good together. But I can't wait to see his face, the day he discovers I kissed you before he could."

"You think this is a game? You think this is fun, Vanitas?" Aqua didn't know whether she should feel hurt or not.

"Well, I'm being rejected right now. Don't you think it's better to laugh it off?"

His tone was sarcastic, but Aqua could hear the hurt in his words. She lowered her eyes.

"Vanitas, it's... It's not like that. Life is... I just don't know. I wish I could give you an answer, a proper one. And I know Terra would like me to give him one as well, one day. But... I've never really thought of anyone that way. I'm just so focused on my training, on everything! Love is... it's not a feeling I'm familiar with. I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you something else."

He laughed and kindly punched her arm.

"Told you. It's no big deal. I wasn't really expecting for an answer, let alone a positive one anyway. Don't you lose sleep because of that. I'm not really familiar with feelings that are not negative either, quite frankly."

She smiled at him, letting the tears run freely.

"Will things be awkward between us now?" he finally asked.

"Of course not!" she said without thinking. Then, at his sceptical face, "Maybe. Yes, I think it might be a bit... strange for a while."

He smirked and shrugged. "Good. That way, Terra will know something happened, and he's going to be so mad... Good times! But enough with that now!"

He grabbed her hand, forcing her to lie down on the sand as well.

"We were here to look at the stars, right? So tell me all you know about these ones."

Aqua kindly obeyed, her voice becoming steadier as she spoke, her tears drying up. And as she pointed at the stars with her right hand, Vanitas had not let go of her left one and she did nothing to get it back.

Is this story a TerrAqua story? Is that a VanAqua story? Is this a story where Aqua doesn't chose? It took me quite a while to figure it out... and it should take you a while as well :p

(The fact that I turned all sappy on a SappyVani chapter wasn't on purpose, I just realised that now XD )