#heartskeyblade

Perhaps he should have said something at the time of his return, otherwise he would never be in this situation. But now it had happened, nothing could be done about it. The only thing that could be done was to have a serious talk with Kairi about the matter.

Sora could still recall the frantic and angry tone of the mayor's voice as he demanded to know where Kairi was. As if Sora could have known! He hadn't done a good job of spending time with her since he came back home, so he didn't know where she had gone off to. But he did know that his Gummi ship was missing. Was it a coincidence that one of his beloved possessions and his beloved --friend, of course. -- would be missing within a small time frame? Of course not. 

Today Sora woke up earlier than usual. The anxious excitement he was feeling made him restless, and he couldn't go back to sleep. Today was the day he would take Kairi to another world: a foreign world to the both of them. It was apparently called the Kingdom of Corona. There was a festival today, and he thought that Kairi would enjoy herself there. This was their first date...and he couldn't be more nervous.

He practically inhaled his breakfast, both out of sheer hunger and anticipation for the day ahead of him. Before his mother could comment on his unusual behavior, he had bolted upstairs and spent the next hour getting ready for the date. 

Soon, he was heading down to the mayor's house, where he would pick up Kairi. He was dressed in black pants and a white shirt, where the sleeves ended above his elbows. He had also brought a blue jacket, which he chose to tie around his waist.

Sora approached the front door of the mayor's house. Somehow, it seemed larger than usual. He didn't understand why he was so scared. He had been there hundreds of times, so why was he suddenly thinking of running away? No...he couldn't be so scared. He was a Keyblade wielder after all. He had saved the worlds, defeated countless Heartless and other bad guys. How hard could this date be? 

Despite what Naminé had told him, Sora didn't feel any better about what happened between him and Riku. With Riku, there was hope. Hope that he would see the error of his ways and not do it again. He could accept that Riku use these powers of the darkness, as long as they were used for what was right. Like saving lives, not ruining them.

He was in the Secret Place, staring at the wooden door that was still there. It was a reminder of what had happened 3 years ago. Sora could recall the night the islands were consumed by the darkness. Riku had changed that night. He thought he was strong enough to get out of it; to stop the darkness from controlling him this way.

He remembered what Riku told him that day. He said he was lonely, and he felt like no one needed him around anymore. Sora thought he had made it clear that Riku was needed; how could he not need his best friend, after all? That seemed to have gotten through to him, but it hadn't stopped Riku from trying to kill him. Or from running away. Why hadn't Sora tried harder to stop him? Why hadn't he done more to stop him, and show Riku that he was in the wrong if he was only going to be hurting people again?