Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters.

xOx

Playing Hard to Get

xOx

Sora leaned back in his chair, looking at his friend with a questioning stare, "Are you sure Kairi feels the same way about me…?"

"Haven't you asked me this a thousand times already? Just tell her how you feel and get it over with." Riku didn't even bother to turn around as he dug through the cabinets, looking for something to eat.

"I'm trying! I really am. But I think she's avoiding me… She keeps making up excuses to leave whenever we're alone." He let the chair plop back down to floor and stared down at the table, disappointment clear on his face.

Riku turned around, intrigued, "Really?" Sora nodded, his eyes still glued to the table.

"Maybe she's playing hard to get." Lea's voice commented from the doorway.

Sora's head snapped up as he asked, "What makes you say that?" He and Lea weren't exactly good friends yet, but he supposed any advice would help.

Lea threw up his hands as he entered the room, "I dunno, just something women are prone to doing. Playing head games and such."

"I don't think Kairi would—" Sora started, only to be interrupted.

"He could be right. I mean, I know we both think she's different because she's our best friend but in the end, she is still a girl." Riku echoed Lea's suggestion.

The brunette slumped his shoulders and hung his head, sighing, "I guess."

"It's not a big deal, Sora. It just means you have to try harder." His friend tried to console him.

He didn't reply, instead stood up and walked out the door, "I'm gonna go get the gummi ship ready."

Riku watched him exit without another word. "You know," He turned back around as Lea began to speak, "I really thought they were already together before I started hanging out around you three."

"How do you think I feel? I grew up with them and this has been going on practically since day one. They pretty much are, Sora just needs to spit it out." He shook his head at his friends.

"Well, he definitely needs to spit it out soon. It won't be long until the real battle's here. What we're doing now is kid stuff. They both need to be at one hundred percent for us to have any chance at defeating Xehanort and…" Lea found himself biting his lip in frustration as he remembered what Isa had become. He tried to play it off as a joke, "You know, the rest of his lackeys."

Riku took note of Lea's delay but kept it to himself, only commenting on his best friends, "Don't worry, they will be." He went back to rummaging through the cabinets for breakfast, eventually deciding on some granola bar type things. He held them out to Lea, "Want some?"

He shrugged but took some anyway, "Not really, but I know there's not anything better in there."

"That's for sure…" Riku muttered in response.

"Good morning." Kairi called out from the doorway. Looking around, she noticed an absence, "Where's Sora?"

"Already on the gummi ship." Riku held out the granola bars again, "Breakfast?"

She nodded, rushing over to Riku and taking one, "Thanks."

Lea pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against, "If you two are ready, let's go ahead and get this mission over with."

"Why do you always call our assignments missions again?" Kairi tilted her head curiously.

"Old habits die hard, I guess." The other red head replied as he made his way for the door.

She looked at Riku who gave a shrug, "Okay… Guess it's time to leave, then." Kairi spun around on her toes before heading down the hall, Riku close behind her.

As everyone entered the gummi ship, Sora looked up from the controls with a small smile and greeted, "Hey guys. Everything's set up, so whenever you're ready we can go."

"Why is everyone in a rush today?" Kairi placed her hands against her hips, a suspecting look on her face.

"No rush, I just wasn't very hungry this morning." Sora looked back to the controls, avoiding eye contact with her since he knew she would probably catch him in his lie if he did, "So, are we ready?"

Lea nodded and took a seat, leaving Riku to reply, "Yeah." He took a seat as well, watching Kairi continue to stare at Sora before she finally sat down as well.

After an uncomfortable silence had washed over the group, Lea was the first to break it, "Where are we going today, anyway?"

"Some place called "Enchanted Dominion". It's the world Maleficent is from and I guess she's up to something; a lot of Heartless have been popping up." Sora kept his eyes forward but replied enthusiastically, glad someone was talking.

"Maleficent, huh? Great." Riku groaned, "She never gives up."

"There's gotta be some good in her somewhere. I mean, she has helped us." The younger boy pointed out.

Riku shrugged, "Yeah, but for all the good things she's done, she's done a thousand bad things. I know you like to see the good in people, but honestly I don't think there's a way to change her permanently. Maybe for a while, but she'd revert back to her old ways over time."

Sora shrugged as well, asking back, "Guess we'll just have to find out, won't we?" The gummi ship slowed to a stop and he jumped out of his seat.

Kairi looked up at him but quickly looked back down at her lap once they had made eye contact, causing her to miss everyone else getting up. Lea waved a hand in front of her face, "Time to get going, Princess."

Her head snapped up, a frown on her face, "I told you not to call me that. I'm not actually a princess…"

"Yeah, yeah. Either way, it's time to go."

"I'm going." Kairi got up and followed after Sora and Riku, Lea tagging along after her. Once they had left the gummi ship, it wasn't long before they found themselves facing a huge swarm of Heartless.

Sora summoned his keyblade, laughing nervously, "Yen Sid definitely underestimated the situation."

"Finally, some action!" Lea ignored Sora and rushed forward, summoning his keyblade and beginning to slash away at multiple Heartless.

"Be careful." Riku looked to his two best friends, both nodding silently before he moved towards the battlefield. Kairi and Sora looked at each other for a moment before giving each other awkward smiles and separating to fight.

After defeating various types of Heartless with no clear end in sight, Sora muttered to himself, "When's it gonna end?" He could hear Lea and Riku joking with each other as they took out Heartless, along with the occasional noise from Kairi as she attacked. 'Glad they're having a good time.' Sora thought bitterly, hating whatever was going on between him and Kairi. Defeating a few more Heartless, he started to cheer up a bit as they were finally starting to really thin out. Just as he was defeating one of the last few, he heard a shriek from behind him. "Kairi!"

He whipped around to find her knocked back onto the ground, two Heartless lurking over her. He rushed towards them, swinging his keyblade and yelling, "Back off!" As soon as they were gone, he turned back to Kairi and reached for her shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She swatted his hand away and stood up, "You don't have to always be so protective of me. I was doing just fine by myself."

Sora's mouth fell open in surprise, not sure how to react, "I-it wasn't like that! I just saw you were in trouble; I would have done the same thing for Lea or Riku."

"I might have believed that if this were the first time something like this has happened." Kairi retorted with a cross of her arms.

Lea and Riku had finished off the last of the Heartless on their side and were now standing at a distance, watching Sora and Kairi; unsure of whether they should interfere or not.

"So maybe I am sort of protective." Sora admitted quietly, "It's only because I really care about you."

"I know, and you shouldn't." Kairi looked away and hid her face.

With that, Riku dragged Lea away and announced, "We'll give you two a minute."

Sora hardly noticed their departure, questioning back, "Why would you say that?"

"It was one thing when it was just you with a keyblade. Now it's both of us. We both have responsibilities more important than ourselves and adding a relationship into that would just be crazy. It would never work out." She locked eyes with him as she spoke, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Sora's expression softened and he took a step towards her, "Kairi, just because something seems hard doesn't mean you shouldn't try at all. If there's one thing I've learned in the past two years, it's that nothing's impossible."

She took a few steps backward, shaking her head, "I'm already a guardian of light and a princess of heart. Imagine if Xehanort were to know about us. I already have a huge target on my head and that would pretty much guarantee that he would try to use me against you. I don't want to be the liability; I want to be on the same level as everyone else."

"Whether we're in a relationship or not, these feelings aren't going anywhere. He could still do that and I'd react the same way. If he were to do something like that, I'm sure you'd find a way to get away with or without my or anyone else's help. That's something we can try to plan for before the battle if that will somehow help you to change your mind about this. If you feel the same way as I do, that's all that should matter. We can take everything else as it comes. No one can predict the future, Kairi. Maybe some of the stuff you're worried about will happen, but maybe none of it will. There are a lot of things in life that we can't control, but this is one thing we can. I know it's not the best situation and I'm sorry. But please don't let this slip through our fingers out of fear when it could be one of the greatest things to happen to us." Sora inched over towards her as he spoke, eventually taking her hands in his.

A few tears rolled down her cheeks as he spoke, soon turning into full blown crying. "I'm sorry. I know you're right, but I'm scared." Kairi gripped his hands tightly and collapsed against him, crying on his shoulder.

He gently rubbed her back, speaking quietly, "I know and that's okay. I am too. But I just don't want to be asking "What if?" if we let it go, you know?"

She wiped away tears with the back of her hand, "I know, but… this just isn't how I wanted it to happen. I was hoping that maybe if I pushed my feelings away then we could focus on the battle for now and soon we'd go back to normal life."

Sora held in a laugh, not wanting to hurt her feelings, "Sorry to tell you this, Kairi, but I don't think life is ever really going to go back to 'normal'." He made quotation marks with his fingers as he finished.

"Yeah, I guess I've been in denial about that…" She sniffled.

"It doesn't have to be a bad thing, though. We're doing what we always wanted to do. We're exploring other worlds and we're all doing it together now. No matter what, we'll always be able to go home. That hasn't changed. We may have to leave home again, but we'll always come back." He tried to reassure her, hugging her tightly.

Kairi stayed silent for a moment, unsure if she should push him away. Instead she gave in and wrapped her arms around him in return. Sora smiled to himself, asking quietly, "So, did I change your mind?"

She heaved a sigh, "I—I dunno…"

"One last thing, then. And if you still feel the same way then I'll let it go." Sora pulled away from Kairi, a nervous look on his face.

The red head squinted her eyes in confusion, "What?" He stared at her for a moment, no words coming out of his mouth. Kairi averted her eyes, feeling her face grow warm, "Sora, what are you doing?" She felt his hand touch her face, followed by a gentle nudge, motioning her to look at him. Kairi turned her head, Sora's lips catching hers before she realized what he was doing. Her eyes widened and she debated shoving him away but quickly found herself melting against his touch.

Sora pulled away before she could really return it, asking softly, "So?"

Kairi looked up and smiled shyly, "I could use a little more persuasion." He grinned and quickly leaned back in towards her, this time wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her even closer as she kissed him back.