A/N: As we all know, I suck at updating my stories. However! I have not abandoned any of them. I'm just really critical, and if I'm not in the right mindset, I'll get basically nothing done. I haven't abandoned you!

EDIT:: fixed the line break fail.

"Okay, now, attack me." Sora crouched down, and about ten feet away from him, Selphie put her hands on her hips and stared at him. "What?"

"You're not even armed, Sora!" Selphie said. She swung her nunchaku, and it whistled through the air. "You'll get hurt!"

Sora rolled his eyes and grinned. "Don't worry about me. You wanted to spar, didn't you?" He shifted his stance, and leaned his elbows on his knees. "You're not supposed to worry about your enemy!"

Selphie launched herself at him without another word, and if Sora hadn't been expecting it, they would have wrapped around him. He threw himself to the side and rolled, then bounced to his feet. Selphie skidded to a stop, and stared at him. "How did you move so fast?" she asked. The nunchaku whistled through the air around her hand, and Selphie let them spin to a stop. "You didn't used to be that good."

"I'm skilled. So if I move so fast, what're you going to do to counter that?" Sora grinned, but he'd forgotten that behind the slightly ditzy exterior, Selphie was as smart as Riku, or close.

"Come after you?" Selphie whipped the nunchaku out from behind her back, and Sora backflipped out of his reach. Yeah, he knew it was pretty pointless and he could have easily jumped, but backflipping was fun. And as a plus, it startled Selpie enough that she stopped to stare at him again.

"You'll never win a fight if your opponent keeps confusing you," Sora pointed out. Selphie huffed, and jumped at him, nunchaku screaming.

Sora saw the hose before she did, but before he could say anything, Selphie's boot caught the garden hose stretching across the yard through the grass, and tumbled forward. "Ah!"

"Selphie!" Sora jumped forward, and caught her, but their combined momentum only served to topple Sora over, and by extension Selphie.

Sora landed with a thump that knocked most of the air out of him, and Selphie landed on his chest and knocked the rest of the air out of his chest. "Oof!" Selphie's chin slammed into his ribcage, and Sora let out a tiny groan.

"Sorry, sorry!" Selphie scrambled to her feet, and held out her hand to Sora. "Sorry!"

Sora let out a laugh, and grabbed Selphie's hand. "Don't worry about it, I've had worse," he said. He dusted off his back, and Selphie helped to get the leaves and dirt off of his back. "If we can avoid the hose, let's try again." He took a moment to run his hands through his hair to get rid of the bits of grass.

Selphie retrieved her nunchaku, and after a moment to adjust her stance and let her nunchaku gain momentum, threw herself at Sora.

Sora barely caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and whipped his keyblade up to block the attack.

Her nunchaku whipped around the metal, and Selphie and Sora both stared at it, one surprised, one shocked (and a little bit annoyed at himself). "What's that?"

Sora internally swore. He'd been expecting Selphie to be good, but not good enough that he would have to worry about summoning the keyblade. "It's, uh…"

"it's cool!" Sora watched her uncoil her nunchaku, before dropping them on the ground and reaching up to take the keyblade. "Where'd you get it?" She slipped both hands around the handle, and Sora gently let go of it. It dropped a bit, Selphie not expecting its heavy weight, before she raised it back up to inspect the blade.

"I kinda inherited i- whoa!"

Selphie swung around, keyblade swinging, and Sora fell over in his attempt to avoid getting nailed. "Watch it!" Sora nearly pulled it back to himself, but if she was distracted by the shiny enough to (at least temporarily) forget about where it had come from, Sora would let her have her fun. "Be careful, okay?"

"Alright!" Selphie chirped. Sora backed up to the biggest of the palm trees in the backyard, and watched as Selphie danced around the yard with it. He gathered her nunchaku, and coiled it neatly at his feet. With a thunk, Selphie lodged the keyblade in one of the other palm trees and, laughing, Sora jogged over to help her dislodge it.

"You're supposed to avoid trees, you know," Sora informed her. Selphie tugged at the handle, but the spines of the key were stuck quite firmly in the trunk. "They get in the way when you're playing with weapons. You see," he said, as he wrapped his hands around the handle, "they have this nasty habit of not moving." Sora pulled, but the keyblade didn't even shift. "Good god, Selphie, what did you do?"

"Sorry," she said. Sora shifted to let her between his arms, to help pull the keyblade out. "I didn't mean to. Will it be scratched?"

Sora shook his head, and then realized that Selphie couldn't see him. "Nah, it's been through worse. Trust me, a tree is nothing to it." Selphie braced one booted foot against the tree trunk, and leaned back against him. "Ready?" Sora asked.

"I hope we don't fall over again," Selphie said with a giggle. "Or people might start thinking we're not very graceful."

"Who's gonna see? Pull!"

The keyblade shifted a tiny bit, but Sora pulled as hard as he could manage, and Selphie was pushing herself back against him and off of the tree.

"It's not moving," Selphie complained after a minute. She dropped down her to feet, and Sora relaxed his death grip on the handle. He ran his hand over his forehead, and wiped his palm on his jeans, then stepped around Selphie to investigate the blade, buried in the tree. "Can you just…get it? Like you did before?"

Sora fought his panicked expression down before turning to face Selphie. "It was…in..my…pocket?" he asked. "Yes. It, uh, extends. Really quickly."

Selphie raised her eyebrows and grinned. "How did you hide it so well?"

"I have really deep pockets?"

"What else can you hide in there?" she asked. Her eyes left him to examine the handle of the keyblade.

Sora shrugged noncommittally. "You'd be surprised." It was true; at least with the pants he'd worn on his journeys the pockets were magic, since he could stick just about anything in them and it would be like they were totally empty.

"Sure would!" Selphie chirped. "How're we going to get this out?"

"I have no idea," Sora said. He could get it out, easily, if Selphie left, but until she did, it was stuck. Mina wouldn't exactly be thrilled with him if she came home and discovered that he'd accidentally showed it to somebody who didn't know what was going on, but he didn't think Selphie was planning to stay that long. She'd only come over to spar, and maybe if he tired her out enough, he could claim that they both needed a break and walk her home or something…

"Want to work with your nunchaku for a bit, then?" Sora asked. "I'm sure Mom will have an idea of how to get it out, so let's not worry about it." Or think about it. Or remember that you saw something that you shouldn't have seen.

"If you say so," Selphie said with a shrug. "Do you have another sword hidden in your pants?"

Sora laughed and shook his head. "I'll just be more careful, and I won't need one. C'mon, let's get back to sparring."

Sweat dripped into Sora's eyes and over his cheeks in rivulets, and it didn't matter how much he ran his forehead across his sleeve. "Let's take a break, yeah?" he said, panting. He bent over, trying to slow his erratic breathing. He was really out of shape, and Selphie just wouldn't back down. She was more enthusiastic than Riku, even, though most of his fights with Riku more or less devolved into name-calling and wrestling, weapons forgotten.

"What, are you tired?" Selphie laughed, but sunlight glinted off of her as well, and Sora was sure she was nearly as tired as him. He'd just been dodging attacks and tumbling around; Selphie had actually been doing something. "I'm fine with a break."

"Good," Sora said. "I'm about ready to fall over." He ran his sleeve over his forehead again, but it was damp with sweat and he grimaced. He pulled off his shirt, and scrubbed at his face and neck. "You can clean up a bit if you want, there's washcloths in the bathroom." He grinned at her, and she followed him into the house. He directed her into the bathroom, then headed through the back hallway to his ladder. Sora rested against it for a moment, feeling oddly out of sorts, and unusually tired. He was going to have to ask Riku for plain fighting; it was unpleasant to be as out of shape as he was.

"You okay?"

Sora glanced over his shoulder. Selphie was standing there, with the washcloth in one hand. She smiled, and ran it over her forehead. "I didn't know it was possible to get that worked up in winter," she said.

"Me neither!" Sora climbed up the ladder, and pulled himself up onto the floor with aching arms. "Who've you been practicing against?" He snagged a clean shirt off of a laundry bucket Mina had left by the door, and tugged it on. As soon as he did that, he realized that he probably should have rinsed off or something, but the deed was done and Sora wasn't going to fuss about the shirt as long as nobody else did.

"Tidus, a little bit," Selphie said. She watched Sora slide down the ladder and land lightly on the balls of his feet, and followed him into the kitchen. "How can you be so graceful when you're tired?"

Sora cracked a grin, and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. "My inner show-off never sleeps, according to Riku. Want something to drink?" He pulled open the fridge, and leaned on the door to hold him, up while he perused the contents. "We have milk…cold water…and some weird juice my mom drinks that I think is gross, but you're welcome to try if you want."

"Just water."

Sora poured two cups, glanced at the half-full jug, then shrugged and stuck it back in the fridge. It'd get filled back up sooner or later. Later, if it was Sora who ended up doing it. He handed one of the glasses to Selphie, who accepted it with a quiet "thanks".

"Gonna collapse on the couch for a bit, don't mind me if I fall asleep," he said. He wandered into the living room and flopped into the old, overstuffed recliner.

"Alright!" Selphie curled up on the couch, on the other side of the little sidetable from Sora. "I have a question."

Sora flicked on the TV, and found a music channel, before turning back to her. "Yeah?"

"Why do you have a ladder up to your room?"

Sora laughed, and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Oh, I haven't thought about that in years. Let's see if I can even remember why…" He trailed off, and chewed his lip for a moment. Selphie set her drink down, and rested her chin on her arm to watch him while he thought. "Hm…"

"How old were you?" she prompted. Sora opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Uh…I think I was about seven. Yeah, must have been, because right after that I fractured my arm and couldn't actually use it."

"So how did you get to your room?" Selphie sipped at her water, and reached across the table to move Sora's away from the edge, where he had set it.

"Oh, I have a door," he said. He shifted, and slung his legs over the armrest to face her. "There's stairs behind a door in the laundry room, that's how my mom gets to her room. I never use it, and half the time you can't get through it because I leave stuff in the way, but I do have one."

"Why'd you get a ladder?"

Sora shrugged. "I wanted one and Mom didn't really see any reason why I couldn't have one. She probably regrets that now, because I can get down it quieter than I can get down the stairs and unless I trip over something, she won't know if I leave."

"Why doesn't she get an alarm system?"

Sora snorted. "I don't know, ask her. She probably should, it would be easier to keep me from leaving that way, but I guess it never occurred to her or she doesn't want to spend the money or something." He sat up, and handed the remote to Selphie. "You can pick whatever, I don't care."

She took it, and was about to ask if he actually meant that he didn't care, when the phone rang.

Sora grumbled under his breath, but clambered to his feet and wandered into the kitchen to answer the phone.

"Hullo?"

Mina smiled. Even through the phone, she could tell that Sora didn't really care who'd called. His tone of voice said it all, and she just smiled and rolled her eyes at him, even though he was at home. "Hi, honey."

"Hey, Mom! What's up?"

Mina tilted her head, and balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear while she shuffled paperwork on her desk into some semblance of order. "David and I are going out to dinner tonight, and-"

"I don't want to go," Sora said, petulance spilling into his voice.

"If you'd let me finish," Mina said, "you'll probably change your mind. David extended the invitation to one or two of your friends. He thought you'd like that." The line went silent, and she could almost see Sora mulling it over.

"Which friend?"

"Whoever you want, Sora. Riku, Kairi, whoever."

"Hold on a minute." A clack came over the line, and Mina figured Sora had put it down on the counter. She switched the phone to her other ear, and opened a drawer of her desk to file some papers.

Sora returned to the phone. "Can Selphie come?"

Selphie? Why Selphie? Mina's forehead creased, but there wasn't any reason to say no. Selphie and Sora were friends; Sora probably just didn't want David around Riku or Kairi. Both of them had the unique ability to put Sora in a reasonable state of mind, and there was no doubt in her mind that that was exactly what Sora was trying to avoid. After all, neither of her boys managed to hide their dislike of each other from her as well as they thought they did. "Of course Selphie can come, if her parents are okay with it."

"They are. Right, Selphie?"

Distantly, Mina heard "Who are what?", and it took her a second to remember that Selphie and Sora had planned to spend the morning sparring.

"Your parents?"

"Oh, yeah, they won't care. Mom trusts you!"

Should I be worried that girls' parents are trusting him that much…? Mina wondered, while the teens conversed. Sora was a good boy, of course, and he wouldn't do anything to maliciously hurt a fly (unless it was intent on stealing his heart, or something along those lines) but he was still a boy. If Sora were a girl, would she trust teen boys that much?

"It's all good, Mom. Are you going to pick us up or what?"

"I don't know yet; I'll talk to David and call you back later. Alright?"

"Kay, Mom. Bye!"

"Bye, honey."

The line went dead, and Mina replaced her phone on the base.

She fiddled with the pens on her desk, and looked at the clock. Six hours until she was off, and to her surprise, she realized she was a little bit apprehensive. David had come over for dinner a number of times, and they had gone out a number of times as well, but Sora had always stayed home or gone to Riku's while she and David were out. It was unlikely that Sora would do anything damaging, physically or emotionally, but she wouldn't put it past him to be less than mature.

However, Selphie would be there. Sora was positive she was only a friend, but she was still a girl, and teen boys still liked to impress girls. Perhaps she could use that to her advantage. Kairi could keep him playing nice, most of the time, simply by Sora respecting her, but maybe Selphie could do the same, just by being there.

Mina snorted. It was a nice thought, but Sora wasn't a stereotypical boy; she supposed it was possible he might be on his best (or at the least, decent) behavior so Selphie wouldn't think less of him, but it was also possible that Sora wouldn't care and would react however he saw fit regardless of appropriateness.

Oh, it was hard to second-guess Sora…

Mina pushed the matter aside, and returned to organizing paperwork and attempting to make some sense of the mess on her desk. She'd deal with her boys when the time came.