Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to its rightful owners.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: BE GLAD THAT YOU DID

SASUKE

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were big things."

— Robert Brault

"WILL YOU TWO knock it off already?!"

Sora and I pulled off our sunglasses with a collective sigh. They were accessories we thought would ease Donald's ever-growing stress throughout the past few days of our travel. In fact, it had been a week. An entire week without finding a single world that needed us. He was getting frustrated and, apparently, our choice in attire hadn't helped the situation.

Sora started it first. His lips puckered together as he stared at himself through the rear view mirror. Bring pink sunglasses rested comfortably over his eyes to add to the look. I joined in moments later with my own silly faces. We found it funny. Goofing off was a sure fire way to make anyone feel better. But, our friend thought the opposite.

The brunet tossed his pair of sunglasses onto the seat between us. Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back in his seat, tilting his head to stare out of the window. Like every other time, there was nothing but the voids of space beyond the glass. Not nearly as entertaining as the sunglasses had been.

"We're getting burned out," Sora admitted.

It was the truth. After riding around all week with nothing to do and nowhere to go, boredom had started to set in. Goofy had been asleep for hours because that was all there was to do. He laid slumped in the passenger's seat while Donald steered, frowning like his life depended on it.

Riding around for longer wasn't going to help. The longer we stayed, the more stir-crazy we got. Sora and I had entertained ourselves with many rounds of rock, paper, scissors, hand games, and even napping for long periods. He had even taken up the interest in learning how to braid. Now, my hair rested over my shoulder in one long, neat braid that took him hours to learn.

Pretty impressive if you asked me. He's getting better at doing my hair than I am.

Donald glanced at him through the mirror again. "Then, what should we do?" he asked, almost sarcastically.

Sora shrugged. "Want to stop by Hollow Bastion?"

I grinned wide. Honestly, anything was better than staying inside of the Gummi Ship for another week. There wasn't any action in the passageways that connected the worlds. All we could do was hope to find an adventure lying within one of the worlds we visited. What better place to start with than Hollow Bastion?

Donald turned the steering wheel. "Hollow Bastion it is."

THE FLOWERS WERE starting to bloom into more vibrant colors. Deep purples coated the Town Square as if to go along with the aesthetics of the world's own structure. They grew around the water fountain that danced in the center. Purplish-gray cobblestones led to the many branches of districts and shops that surrounded those beautiful flowers. The Nobody sightings hadn't been enough to stop the foliage.

The breeze was scarce. Thin, white clouds blew around in the blue sky. They did little to cover the sun hanging overhead. The warmer seasons were starting to make themselves known. Perhaps that was why everything was in bloom.

Goofy walked beside me, his nose turning up at the many smells. People offering fresh fruits, vegetables, and breads ran stalls along the walls. A man called out for his fresh produce to which many people stopped by to purchase. A girl begged her mother for one of the man's shiny, red apples. The mother retrieved a pouch of coins, dropping a few into the seller's hand. He handed the girl her desired apple. The grin on her face was almost as sweet as the fruit.

I glanced over at Donald. He hadn't been interested in the Town Square's atmosphere. Rather, he was looking at the ice cream parlor. It was closed for the day; the boys weren't there. He had been looking for them. Probably to avoid them. His face relaxed more once he double checked that they weren't there. I guessed Uncle Donald didn't feel like dealing with his nephews.

An elderly woman pushing a cart nearly passed us. She slowed down, however, to offer her services. Large arrays of flowers sorted and tied up in bouquets made up her inventory. She boasted about her gardening skills when it came to prolonging their freshness. They'd last for a while, she explained, for love always got them a long way. If there was one thing she gave them, it was love.

I nodded and pulled out my own pouch of munny. While I couldn't have done anything with the flowers, I knew someone who could. Aerith had told me many times about her days as a florist. She tended to flowers with a passion that was hard to come by. She had done a lot for me, both as a friend and a caregiver. A bouquet of flowers should somewhat convey how much I appreciated her for it.

She handed me a set of pink and white flowers. Her favorite color. With the exchange settled with, I tucked the flowers under my arm to protect them from harm. Hopefully, she'd like them.

Sora glanced down at the flowers as we crossed into Merlin's district. "What did you buy flowers for?" he asked.

"For Aerith," I explained. "She loves them. She took care of me when I had a tore up arm. I should at least express my gratitude."

The houses in the district were quiet. Few people were out and about. A majority of them were children who had took to hanging out on the cobblestone streets. I quickly reminded myself to visit Trevor before we left. Though we hadn't met on the best of terms, he was a good kid, and as Scrooge's ice cream apprentice, he needed all of the fun he could get.

Donald knocked twice on the wooden door. There was no answer. Instead, the door swung open to reveal the wizard himself. He flashed us a welcoming smile as he moved out of the way to let us in. He wasn't concerned about why we were there or why we'd suddenly decided to stop in. He accepted our presence with open arms like he always did. It was one of the reasons why Hollow Bastion felt like the closest we could get to home.

Leon stood at the foot of the stairs. His arms folded and one leg crossed in front of the other, he leaned against the wooden railing, blue eyes focused on us. His short, brown hair still laid tossed in multiple spikes around his head. Beside him, Aerith trailed down the stairs to find out who had visited. Her warm, green eyes landed on us before a smile rested on his face. She was happy to see us, and I supposed Leon was, too . . . in his own way.

"Hello, everyone," she greeted, touching her fingertips against each other out of habit.

"What brings you back here?" Leon asked.

Sora scratched the back of his neck. "We've gone an entire week without finding anything new. Decided we might as well stop by to see if there was anything going on here."

I held out the flowers toward Aerith. Her eyes went wide at the offer. Smiling, she gently lifted the bouquet out of my hands to smell the flowers. They must have been up to her standards. She gracefully ran her fingertip over one of the pink flower petals.

"These are for you," I told her. "They're a thank you present for all that you've done for me . . . for us."

She blushed the slightest bit. "Thank you. They're lovely."

Sora looked around the house with a raised eyebrow. "It's quiet. Where's Yuffie?"

Goofy didn't bother to quiet his laughter. The teenage ninja was often the source of the house's ruckus. Hell, she was often responsible for Hollow Bastion's ruckus. Whether it be sticking her nose into other people's business or being the brave warrior we knew her to be, there was almost nothing quiet about her.

"She's out on patrol. Cid's spending time with Shera today, so there's not really anyone here," Leon explained, his clear blue eyes falling upon my silvery ones. "How are you holding up? Is your arm bothering you?"

I nodded, barely containing my smirk. "Yeah, I'm doing okay. I heard from Merlin that you were asking about me a while ago."

He looked away. He wasn't big on sentiment, but Leon tried to be a good friend. He cared about us as much as we cared about him. He was sort of like an older brother in that sense. However, if I were to tell him that, a day's worth of brooding was sure to follow.

Merlin walked over to us. "Where have you four been? Surely not at the Disney castle this whole time."

Sora shook his head. "No way. We got ourselves caught up with lions."

"Lions?" Leon raised an eyebrow, interest playing at the edge of his flat voice.

"We went to a world that was full of lions. The King was bullying everyone, so we helped to find the new king. Turns out it was a friend of Sora's," I explained. "Then, we went back to a place called Halloween Town. Sora locked the Keyholes of both places."

Aerith nodded. "Sounds like you've been getting work done."

Sora sighed, linking his hands together behind his head while he glanced at the ceiling. "Maybe, but we've been riding around for days trying to find a new world. We couldn't find any."

"So, you're back here," Leon cleared up.

We nodded. It was as simple as that.

"Why don't you try revisiting worlds they've already been to?" Merlin asked.

He had a good point. The friends that we've already made could need our help, too. I supposed, in that sense, we did have worlds to stop by. We had been looking for somewhere new; we'd thrown out the idea of revisiting. Maybe we should go see how Simba and Nala were doing.

Merlin raised an excited finger. "Ah, that reminds me!" he started. "My spells have found the rest of the missing pages. The book is repaired. You should go back to the Hundred Acre Wood. You said Pooh has been suffering from memory loss, no?"

Leon pushed himself off of the railing. "We have to leave for patrol. Go ahead and visit your friends. We'll be hanging around if you need us."

Donald nodded. "We'll go with you guys, Leon."

The Hundred Acre Woods was a lovely place. Everything was so vibrant and stunning. While going on patrol was rather fun—believe it or not—I was hoping that Sora would extend an invitation to me. I could go on patrol any time I wanted. The Hundred Acre Woods, however, seemed like a rare place to go to.

Sora glanced over in my direction. "Do you want to come with me?" he asked, softly.

Yes!

"Be careful, young ones." Merlin nodded.

THE HUNDRED ACRE Wood was exactly as I remembered it being.

It hadn't been too long since we'd stopped by to visit Sora's friend. The misfortune of knowing his memory had been wiped had set weights onto Sora's shoulders. It was a different kind of hurt—one that was almost like losing a friend. I supposed, in that sense, Sora totally had. With no memories of their time spent together, how could they call themselves close? Only the recollected pages could determine how severe the amnesia was.

The Wood was beautiful; shades of browns, greens, and yellows lingered on the trees. Oak trees hung high to shade the grass trails from the sun's rays. Though, it didn't stop it from peeking through the leaves, shining against the ground in small strings of light. Gentle breezes blew along the scents of sunflowers and fresh earth. It was well into the season of spring, it seemed. Colors this vibrant hardly made themselves known in the colder months of the year.

The sky held its own charm. Clouds tried their best to morph into friendly shapes against the blue backdrop. It was all too inviting. It made sense that there were no Heartless yet to make themselves known in this world. It appeared especially excluded from the darkness within people's hearts.

Sora stepped up to stand at my side, his eyes roaming over the collage of trees. "Well, nothing seems too out of the ordinary," he said.

I nodded. "Yeah, but it's sort of windy, don't you think?"

Sure enough, there was a breeze passing throughout the grass pathway. It blew around discarded leaves that the trees had shed. It wisped my hair around my face, and I struggled to tame it back into place.

Sora had caught the short end of the stick. A honey pot carried by the wind came barreling toward the back of his head. The pottery smacked him so hard that he stumbled forward, clutching where it had connected with his skull. Harsh intakes of air were inhaled from his lips. Thankfully, he didn't look to be too hurt.

"Are you all right?" I gasped.

He stood up straight to shake off the sting. "Yeah, don't worry about me. But, did I just get hit with a . . . honey pot? How random is that? I wonder if that means Pooh's here."

When another breeze blew through, we both flinched in case something else was thrown through the air. And there was. However, this time, it wasn't a pot. It wasn't even an inanimate object. Instead, what looked like a tiny, pink pig sailed through as he rode the wind.

He soared past us in a fit of wails. Obviously, he hadn't joined the leaves voluntarily. His small stature must have made it easy for him to be carried away by the winds.

"Oh, help, help!" he cried, voice raspy and scared. "Somebody save me!"

"Piglet!" Sora exclaimed.

He knew who the poor guy was. We watched with wide eyes as the little animal was carried toward a large oak tree. A hole was carved out in the trunk of it, replaced with a lighter wooden door. It was small enough for a bird to get through. A sign sat in front to explain who's house it was, but the wind didn't care either way.

It brought Piglet passed the tree branched. His quick thinking had made him grab a hold of one of the higher ones. Luckily, his grip was enough to stop him from flying. Still, that meant that he was stuck in a tree. It was a series of events that had caught me totally off guard.

Piglet's dark eyes lit up when he saw us. "Sora! Help! Please!"

Sora nodded. "Hold on, little guy!"

Sora could be considered a professional when it came to all things climbing trees. He'd bolted into assist the pig as fast as he could. Hands gripping at the tree bark, he used his feet to ascend higher up. He didn't mind the surface of it scratching into the palms of his hands. The occasional hole in the tree worked as footing for him. He forced his arms to carry his weight against gravity. He hadn't even needed to think twice about it.

The muscles in his biceps flexed at the new amount of strain. The veins in his forearms made themselves move visible against his slightly tanned skin. He was trying his best to get up there as fast as he could. The sooner he did, the sooner he could save his friend. Of course, the thought of getting hurt hadn't occurred to him. It was something that I should have expected.

He used the lower branches to pull him higher up, using his arm strength as his main assistant. He'd jumped to grab a high branch and hoisted himself up onto it. It took him a few times of the repeated action to get him to Piglet. Once on the same branch, he offered the scared animal a hand. Piglet looked more than happy to see the brunet.

I watched in anticipation as he helped him down. The descent was far riskier than the ascent. He had only one hand to help steady him against the wood. But, he managed to do it, jumping down as if it had been the easiest thing in the world. Perhaps to him it was.

He set the terrified animal on the ground as softly as he could. Anymore sudden movements were sure to spook Piglet. Still, his pink face lit up with an oncoming smile; he was happy to be helped. The boy beside him looked rather happy to be reunited with his friend. It was a great thing, too, seeing as how Piglet remembered who he was. So far, things were going positively.

He crouched down to get somewhat to the pig's height. Compared to Sora, Piglet reached somewhere around his shin. He was a good foot in height. It didn't stop Sora from trying to make eye contact with the smaller guy.

"There you go," he told him, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

Piglet beamed at him. "Whew! Thank you, Sora. Ah, who's your friend?"

Piglet's dark eyes fitted over to where I was standing. I walked forward, moving into a squat so that he could see my face better, and extended a hand toward him. His tiny, pink arms—very adorably, I might add—gripped onto my hand in a light grip. He shook it up and down before smiling at me.

"I'm Sasuke," I introduced. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Sasuke. My name is Piglet, and this is my home. You have such a soft voice—it reminds me of Kanga's."

I had no idea who Kanga was. I supposed she was a friend of his who lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood. Though, if we were going to be adventuring here for the day, there was no doubt that we'd eventually run into her.

Piglet turned his head. "Oh, here comes Pooh Bear."

Sora and I stood up. Sure enough, walking down the trail from which we came was none other than the yellow bear. His round belly protruded from his red shirt. The fabric rustled around due to the strong winds today. He waddled over to us, all cute and innocent, until he stood in front of Piglet. While his dark eyes held sincerity, they also lacked familiarity. That wasn't a good sign.

Sora's eyes went wide. "Pooh, you're all right!"

"Why, hello. It's nice to meet you. Happy Windsday," Pooh replied.

The way he spoke made it seem like he was speaking to all of us. There was no recognition toward Piglet. He didn't even remember the friends from his own world. Just how bad had the poor bear's memory been tampered with?

Piglet suddenly looked sad. "Nice to m-meet you?" he stuttered. "But, Pooh . . . It's me, Piglet. Don't you remember me?"

"And me, too? We're friends!" Sora tried.

"We are?" Pooh balled up his fist and knocked it on his temple as if it'd help him remember. "Hmm . . . It seems I can't remember."

Piglet whined. "Oh, Pooh . . . That's v-v-very sad!"

He hung his head so low that his ears flopped down. He used his arm to shield his eyes as he began to walk away from the group. What Pooh said had clearly disappointed him. They must have been close; Piglet was too hurt to want to stick around.

Seeing him so down made me want to help out. I didn't know Pooh. The two of us had only met months ago when Sora found out about his memory loss. I didn't blame him for not remembering me. Piglet, on the other hand, was someone who he should remember. Piglet was his friend. I could only imagine how it must've felt for a friend to suddenly forget about you.

I called after him, running to catch up with him. It wasn't good to let his mind fill up with awful scenarios. It'd be better if I explained the situation to him. That way, he wouldn't think that this was all his fault. Pooh hadn't forgot about him because he wanted to. It had been an involuntary action that was beyond anyone's control. All we could do for now was help him remember.

However, it was Windsday, as Pooh put it.

The moment I reached Piglet, the wind picked up. It was the strongest gust that it had ever been. It blew my braid so hard that it nearly whipped me in the face. I stumbled over from how strong it was. Then, unfortunately, I felt one of my feet begin to lift off the ground.

Piglet's small frame was easier to carry than mine. He started to rise far faster than I had; it was going to send him off on another wild ride. I'd grabbed onto him to keep him from leaving, but the wind was too set on taking him with it. It didn't matter if it meant pulling me along. Both of my feet lifted off the ground, and Piglet and I were both sent tumbling in the wind. As long as I kept a hold of him, I could keep us safe.

Sora and Pooh watched us with wide eyes. Never in my life had I seen wind strong enough to carry a teenage girl. But, here in the Hundred Acre Wood, I guessed that anything was possible.

It wouldn't be good if we got too far. Gripping Piglet in one hand, I reached out for anything else to grab onto. The wind had made the mistake of blowing us past one of the trees beside Piglet's house. A perfect opportunity—I clung onto tone of the branches to stop our movement. The wind struggled to snatch us away for a while before giving up. We dropped down onto the tree branch in a fit of sighs. We'd got out of the wind, but now we were stuck several feet up in a tree. Great.

Sora walked over, his arms crossed over his chest, and chuckling at my misfortune. "Are you two okay up there?" he shouted.

I fixed the braid he'd made in my hair, and glared. "Are you trying to be funny?"

"No." He smiled.

Leave it to him to think this situation was funny. Had it been anyone else, he would've been worried out of his mind. Since it was me, he wasn't so afraid. I supposed it was a good thing and a bad thing. It meant that he believed I was strong enough to get myself out of these tough situations. It also meant that I had to do it while he laughed in the background.

I glanced over the side of the branch. It was a long drop from there. While I had made sport of climbing trees back on the islands, never had I climbed on this high. That was more of Sora's thing. One wrong movement would land me back in Hollow Bastion with another fractured arm. I winced; how the hell was I going to get myself out of this one?

Sora shook his head, and extended his arms. "Jump down, Sasuke!" he tried. "I'll catch you!"

"No way!" I cried.

What if he missed? What if he had been a little too far to the right? That'd be setting myself up for failure. All I'd do is slam into the ground if that was the case!

"Oh, d-dear . . ." Piglet stuttered.

Oh, dear, indeed!

"You guys can do it! You just have to be brave!" Sora said.

I could either climb down myself and potentially hurt myself, or trust my friend to not drop me. It was a lose-lose situation, really.

I scooted to the edge of the tree. "Please, don't drop me."

He shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of it."

With a single push, I felt wind. Not wind carrying me higher, but wind carrying me lower. It rushed around my limbs to make me feel the gravity working against me. And it was falling fast. There was only time, wind, and gravity. Whichever caught up with me the first would be my demise.

Though, none of them were. I felt a pair of sturdy arms hit my back and underneath my legs. Sora stumbled, of course, due to the sudden addition in weight. Still, he didn't dare drop me. I'd clutched onto his shoulders with wide eyes, glancing around to see if he'd really managed to do it. He had. I was nowhere near the ground, safe in his arms just like he'd promised.

My voice was breathless. "You really caught me."

"I said I would, didn't I?" he replied, smiling down at me before setting me on my own feet. "Okay, it's your turn, Piglet!"

Piglet nodded. "All right, Sora. I'll t-try . . ."

Piglet covered his eyes, and jumped. My jaw instantly went slack. Not because of how brave he was being, but because he had jumped in the wrong place. Sora had noticed it, too, scrambling around in order to catch the little guy. He was falling too fast, though. There was no way Sora was going to catch him unless . . .

Piglet fell on top of Pooh. The both of the collapsed onto the ground, Pooh breaking his fall. None of them seemed hurt, thankfully. In fact, they looked glad to see each other. It was good that Pooh had been there. If it weren't for him, who knew what would've happened.

"Oh, that was rather frightening. I do hope you're all right, Piglet," Pooh said.

Piglet stared in shock. "Oh, Pooh! You remembered my name? You really, truly remembered?"

Pooh nodded. "Of course, Piglet," he answered. "But today, I think I shall call you "my friend Piglet who is very brave!"

Sora and I shared a look. Pooh had managed to remember his friend. I guessed all that it took was something to job his memory. Piglet looked like a very timid and nervous person; perhaps his bout of bravery had triggered something in Pooh. Or perhaps, maybe just them falling had knocked some sense into him. Either way, it was good to see the two of them talking like long-term pals.

Piglet pointed to his chest. "Me? Very brave? No . . ."

"That was pretty brave of you, Piglet," I added in, bending down to smile at him.

"But, it's easy to be brave when I have a wonderful friend like Pooh Bear!" he replied.

Sora grinned. "I'm happy for you guys."

Pooh stood up to gaze at the boy. "Oh, and thank you for rescuing my friend Piglet . . . Somebody-I-Don't-Know."

Sora's grin instantly faltered. He had been hoping that Pooh would remember him, too. Apparently, that tumble hadn't been enough for him to completely regain his memories. His eyes suddenly held a small tinge of disappointment within them. It was the look one had when they got their hopes up.

"Oh . . ." Sora said, sadly. "Uh, sure. Don't mention it."

The wind picked up again. This time, it was nothing dangerous or extreme. It was a simple blow that forced around the forgotten leaves from the trees. And . . . a blue balloon.

The balloon had caught Pooh's interest. He stood up to reach for the dangling string. Despite our protests for him to not tamper with the angry wind, he still grabbed onto it, and we could do nothing but watch as he got carried away. He soared through the sky on the blue balloon until he disappeared further into the woods. So much for learning a lesson.

"W-we've gotta go get him!" Piglet cried.

Sora nodded his head. "Sure, c'mon!"

He ran off with Piglet and I racing behind. We could make out Pooh's yellow fur through the tree tops. Because they were blowing around, it was hard to dictate where he was heading. He'd picked the perfect day to get carried off.

He ran through the paths until we heard the sound of water. It wasn't a good sign. Assuming Pooh didn't know how to swim, him getting closer to water wasn't a good thing. Lakes were usually in woods. Would he land in it before we got to him? It was going downhill so fast, and Sora realized it, too. He picked up his speed in a desperate attempt to get to his friend.

We had approached another house when the balloon started to land. Soft soil planted with an array of vegetables sat in the front yard. A stream ran through the length of it, small wooden bridges arching over it to get to the other side. The house itself was nothing more than a hole inside of a small hill. It was sort of like a burrow . . . perhaps for a smaller animal.

The helium in the balloon was slowly running itself out. Pooh got closer and closer to the ground until his body came close to something in the distance. Upon further inspection, I saw that it was a self-made shelter. It was nothing more than a few twigs leaning against each other. It looked incredibly fragile, and next to it was an even more fragile-looking donkey.

It was a soft gray in color, dark hairs gathering in its mane and tail. Its dark eyes were gloomy; its brows were furrowed. A pink bow rested tied around its tail as it decorating its saddened aura. Hopefully, Pooh didn't tamper with any of its things.

Spoke too soon.

There was a crash before it happened. Pooh's balloon had lowered him too close for comfort; hanging around the frail house. Pooh fell on top of the place's piles of wood, and the balloon went soaring up into the air again by itself. He had managed to break down the makeshift house that undoubtedly belonged to the donkey.

Sora jogged over in urgency. "Eeyore, Pooh," he called out. "Are you okay?"

Pooh sat next to the pile of sticks, tapping his head as if he was trying to remember something. The donkey stood next to him, sad, black eyes gazing over his ruined house. He looked a bit on the gloomier side. I couldn't tell whether it was because of the messed-up construction, or if that was his usual face. Either way, he must have been disappointed to see things come crashing down . . . literally.

Piglet and I walked over to help the situation. Sora was trying to act as a mediator, assessing the situation and what he should do to help everyone out. It was just who he was. These were his friends, after all, and helping them was something he felt obligated to do. Even if Pooh didn't remember who he was.

He bent over to place his hands on his knees so they would be eye level. "Gosh, that's too bad, Eeyore. After all that work . . ." he trailed off.

"No matter. Most likely would have fallen down anyway." The donkey sighed, his voice slow, deep, and saddened.

He didn't seem to be in a bright mood. In fact, he looked like he was on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. He looked as if he had been having a bad day—a bad week. I couldn't figure out if it was because of the events that had just took place, or if it was just the poor guy's personality. Either way, I felt terrible about his house being ruined.

Piglet walked up to him with a polite smile. "Well, I'll help you fix your house, Eeyore."

I nodded. "I will, too," I offered, squatting down to his height. "My name is Sasuke. I'm a friend of Sora's."

"Oh, hello there, Piglet. It's nice to meet you, Sasuke. My name's Eeyore. Any friend of Sora's is a friend of mine," Eeyore introduced, then shook his head. "Thanks for offerin', you two. Wouldn't want to spoil your fun day, though."

Pooh returned back from his own thoughts. He looked over at Eeyore with an unfamiliar glint in his eye. If I had to guess, I would assume that he didn't recognize him, either. It took something to jog his memory about Piglet, after all, and if messing up his house wasn't enough, Eeyore surely wouldn't be too happy about being forgotten on top of that.

Pooh bent at the waist to perform a kind of clumsy bow. "Hello, Somebody-I-Don't-Know."

Sora's brows furrowed in the center. "Pooh, this is Eeyore," he tried. "You know Eeyore, don't you?"

"Um, I do?"

Pooh began to tap his temple as if that would make the memories flood back. It was a fruitless attempt; that simple act wouldn't be enough. He'd forgotten all of his friends. It wasn't just Sora who had escaped him. It was sad to watch, and probably very frustrating to Pooh. I couldn't imagine forgetting all of my friends. It was a scenario I wouldn't wish even on my worst enemy.

Sora glanced over at Eeyore, Piglet, and me. "What could've happened to him?" he wondered.

I shrugged. "I don't know. Seems like the worst case of amnesia I've ever heard of."

Piglet had opened his mouth to say something. However, he was cut off by the deep rumbling of Pooh's stomach. The yellow bear looked around, trying to play it off like it wasn't him. I giggled at the embarrassed look on his face. Looks like someone skipped lunch.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Piglet cheered. "Maybe Pooh's tummy is so rumbly that it's making his forget. If we bring him some honey, he's sure to remember!"

Sora crossed his arms over his chest. "Well . . . um . . . I guess it's worth a try."

He and I both knew that it wouldn't work. There was no logic behind it. One didn't forget everything because they were hungry. I've heard of cases where it changed someone's mood, but not their entire brain. Still, there was no harm in humoring the poor guy. It was always the strange plans that seemed to work somehow.

But, Eeyore voiced his thoughts, unlike us. "Might work. But prob'ly not," the donkey cut in.

I bit off a chuckle. These guys are so full of personality, aren't they?

"First, we gotta find some honey," Sora said.

"If honey's what you're looking for, I know just the place. Follow me."

At Eeyore's command, we followed him over to the tree not too far away. His house itself appeared to have been set up on someone else's property. Much like Piglet's home, the house was crafted out of a tree. There was a hole cut in the center of the trunk that was blocked off by a wooden door. Several potted plants hung around the front of the house for decoration. A white picket fence surrounded the perimeter, the only opening leading into the vegetable garden out front. The metal mailbox by the door marked the words "Rabbit's Howse." Whoever it was, I had a pretty good guess on what kind of animal they'd be.

Eeyore slowly lead us around to the back of the tree. There, a hill covered in grass rose out from the level ground. It looked more like a rabbit's burrow than anything. There was a hole in the center of the hill big enough to crawl through.

In front of it stood a stack of gold and brown pots. Six in total, they were left in the open for anyone to claim. No doubt they were filled with honey like the pots we had saw at Pooh's house. Surely, it'd be enough to fill the bear up.

Eeyore nodded his head toward the pots. "This is the place I told you about," he said.

"Wow, look at that," Sora mused.

I had to agree. That was a lot of honey collected in one spot. It must have taken a while to gather all of it. If Pooh didn't get full off of all this, I'd be shocked.

Pooh instantly swiped one of the pots, sitting down to enjoy his meal. "How yummy for my tummy!"

"But, doesn't t-that honey belong to someone?" Piglet stuttered.

Piglet's concerns were paid no mind. We watched as Pooh indulged himself in the sweet substance. He wasn't worried about where it came from. He voiced his opinions every now and then, them only having to do with how good it tasted to him. It began to calm down the gurgling noises within his stomach. At least it was doing what we set out to do.

I glanced up at Sora. He seemed lost in his own thoughts, either wondering if this plan would actually work, or thinking of legitimate ways to make Pooh remember. Though it looked like it still hurt him, he accepted the fact that his friend didn't remember him a while ago. The least we could do now was make sure he remembered the people in his world. A life without friends was sure to be a lonely one.

"I don't think this is going to work," he had whispered to me, arms crossed as he watched Pooh snack.

I tugged on one of my black earrings. "It was worth a shot, I guess. But, did Eeyore really gather all of this by himself?"

Sora chewed the inside of his mouth. While we weren't sure about the honey's origins, there wasn't anything we could really do about it now. Pooh was already blazing through them. He had tossed aside pot after pot to get to the next one. He made happy sounds as he dunked his paw into his third pot of sugar. How was his stomach not hurting yet?

At that, Sora sighed. "Man, we should've asked first."

Yeah, that would've been the smart thing to do, huh?

The moment Pooh tossed aside the last honey pot, another animal joined our numbers. This time, it was a tall, thin, yellow rabbit. His white puffball of a tail twitched happily as he looked down at the pot of honey in his arms. His long ears rose high to flop in all types of directions. He was much bigger than all of the other animals we'd come across so far, but that didn't mean he was any less adorable.

His facial expression revealed that he was in a good mood. Or, he was in one until he came across the pile of scattered empty pots. His dark eyes went wide, his tail stopped moving, and he completely froze where he was standing. None of it was a good sign. The honey was most likely his, then.

"Oh, no!" he had gasped. "My honey!"

Sora and I exchanged nervous glances. So, it hadn't been Eeyore's to give away. That now left us to explain our plan to the poor rabbit in hopes that he'd understand. Pooh didn't make anything better, either, when he stood up to rub his now full belly. All it did was make the rabbit frown.

"Pooh, did you eat all my honey?!" the rabbit demanded.

Pooh just smiled at him. "Oh, hello. It's nice to meet you."

The rabbit made a face. "What did you say?"

"Is that for me, too?"

I almost found myself gasping at what Pooh did next. He walked up to the rabbit, no guilt on his face as he took the pot from him. He sat down right in front of us to begin dunking his paws into the honey again. The other pots hadn't been enough to lull him over. Now he was outright snatching honey away from people.

The rabbit's head hung in disappointment. I wanted to tell him that it wasn't Pooh's fault. It was our fault for not asking questions before we leaped. Pooh didn't understand anything that was going on due to his memories. If anything, we were the one's who'd taken his honey from him.

"Oh, I was sure I'd found a safe place for it, too . . ." the rabbit said, dejectedly.

"Sorry," Sora apologized. "It's our fault. We brought Pooh here."

The rabbit looked up at us with disheartened eyes. "Oh, hello, Sora . . . It's good to see you again. And she . . . must be a friend of yours."

Sora nodded. "Yeah, this is Sasuke. She came with me today."

"Nice to meet you Sasuke. I'm Rabbit." Rabbit hung his head once more.

"Same here," I said. "We really are sorry, Rabbit."

Rabbit shook his head. "It's quite all right. I know Pooh can't be stopped when he gets this hungry."

This must have been a frequent occurrence. Some kind of honey thief Pooh must have been. Rabbit didn't seem upset with anyone but himself. Perhaps he thought that it was his fault for not hiding his honey better. Maybe he had gotten it stolen so much that he'd been used to it at that point. Regardless, it still felt wrong to sit back and do nothing. There had to be a way for us to help replace it.

Pooh stood up, licking the remains off of his paws. "Pardon me, Somebody-I-Don't-Know," he said. "Is there any more?"

I made a face. Was that not enough?!

Rabbit crossed his arms over his furry, white chest. "Are you feeling all right, Pooh? Could you really have forgotten all about me? What on earth is going on?" he asked.

Of course, Pooh ignored his questions. "Is there more honey? You see, my tummy's rumbly."

"That's it!" Rabbit exclaimed. "He's so hungry, he can't remember a thing!"

"Oh, we thought that, too!" Piglet added in.

Rabbit nodded. "Then let's stuff this bear full of honey!"

"I wouldn't get my hopes up . . ." Eeyore mumbled, hardly loud enough for anyone to hear.

"But, I thought Pooh ate all your honey, Rabbit," Sora said.

"Oh, I've got more," Rabbit explained. "Must have emergency rations. But, I hid them a bit too well. They're in my house. Wait here and I'll go get them."

We nodded. With that said, Rabbit left us to retreat into the tree trunk. Now, all that was left was to entertain Pooh while we waited for him to come back.

Sora made use of that time by telling me and Pooh how they had met. He had been fourteen at the time, wondering the Hundred Acre Wood alone. I had long since been gone due to reasons beyond any of our control, and when he needed a friend to raise his spirits, he found Pooh. He recalled the bear had been thinking very hard about something. When he asked what he was thinking about, Pooh didn't even know. He had been thinking for the sake of thinking. It was perhaps there did Sora know they'd become friends; it was a habit that he used to do himself.

Turns out Pooh was lonely, too. The pages in his book had been ripped out, too, at that time, and all of his friends were gone. But, he still remembered him. Sora made it his mission to help restore Pooh's friends where they belonged. One by one, he met Piglet, Eeyore, Rabbit, and Pooh's other friend. He explained how good it felt to make friends after he thought he'd lost so many . . . How glad he was to have met Pooh.

There were a lot of other people in the Hundred Acre Woods that I had yet to meet. A tiger, a gopher, an owl, kangaroos, a lot of people who Sora recalled spending his time with.

Whenever I found myself "aww-ing" at his childish antics, he'd only look at Pooh, making sure to avoid eye contact with me. I supposed I was embarrassing him. But, Sora was quite adorable when he wanted to be, and there was nothing like seeing him talk about something he was passionate about. Helping out friends was something that brought out the best in him.

He'd finished telling about his adventures with Piglet when Rabbit began heaving pots out of his house. There were about eight new pots that he brought out for his friend. That coupled with the ones he'd already ate should be enough to get him by. I wasn't sure that it'd bring back his memories, but if anything, it'd fill up his stomach.

Rabbit stood proudly in front of the pots, motioning to them with a thin arm. "There now, Pooh. Have just as much as you'd like," he said.

"Why, thank you!" Pooh smiled.

He waddled over to the pots and began to dig in. I could do nothing but cross my fingers as we watched him. Hopefully the new amount of honey was enough. If it wasn't, we'd be back to square one. There was no reason as to why Pooh had lost his memories. If he'd remembered his friends last time the pages were torn out—according to Sora—why was it different this time?

The only explanation I could think of is if the pages had been ripped out in a traumatic way. There were not Heartless in this world, but that didn't mean they weren't involved. They could've tampered with the book and had something to do with Pooh's memory loss.

Just like I feared, once Pooh had cleared all the pots out, he asked, "Pardon me, Kind Somebody, but do you know where I might find another smackeral or two of honey?"

We all let out a collective sigh. So much for that plan. It hadn't done anything but set Rabbit back a few months' worth of honey.

Pooh walked over to the opening in the hill. "My tummy seems to be telling me there's some honey right in here."

The hole was big enough for someone small to fit through. Pooh was a different story. He didn't care that it was Rabbit's place—or rather, he didn't know. He climbed up the hill to fit himself into the hole, only to get stuck halfway. His rump jutted out on full display while his legs flailed around in attempt to squeeze free.

"Bother. I'm stuck."

Rabbit turned to us with a shake of his head. "He still doesn't remember," he grumbled. "What in the world has gotten into Pooh Bear?"

"Whatever it is, we'd better help him." Sora chuckled.

"Oh, stuff and fluff," Pooh whined.

He was right. It wasn't right to just leave him there. Sora grabbed onto Pooh's legs, and we followed in his lead. Rabbit grabbed onto Sora, I grabbed onto Rabbit, Eeyore held onto my shirt, and Piglet struggled to keep hold of Eeyore's tail. On Sora's count, we all yanked backward.

It had been a bit too much force. Pooh went flying into the air while we were sent crashing back into each other. The poor bear did a few flips before landing several feet away on his bottom. Not that he seemed phased. He stood with the same happy expression that he'd had the entire time. Apparently, being stuck in a hole and flying across the air wasn't as bad as we thought it'd be.

Sora rushed over to him. "You're okay now, Pooh."

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you," Rabbit added in. "Why, just—just look at him! He doesn't even remember who I am. Perhaps it's all this blustery wind, or—or maybe he actually needs more honey! Or, he's—he's sleepwalking and—and dreaming!"

Rabbit was at his wit's end. That was obvious enough for anyone to see. Pooh's memory loss was starting to affect him more and more now that things weren't going our way. It was a sad sight to see. He was rambling about all types of possibilities and things that could be wrong with his friend.

Pooh shook his head. "Well, if I am dreaming—which I suppose I could be—I hope I get to the part where you invite me to lunch again very soon, Rabbit."

Our eyes went wide. He remembered?!

"That's right, you're always stopping by for lunch!" Rabbit ranted, then froze. "Wait, Pooh! You called me Rabbit!"

"Well, of course, Rabbit."

Piglet smiled at Pooh. "What about Eeyore?" he asked. "Do you remember Eeyore, too, Pooh?"

Pooh nodded, looking down at his donkey friend with kind eyes. "Oh, hello there, Eeyore. It's ever so nice to see you today."

"Thanks for noticing me, Pooh Bear," Eeyore replied.

It was good to see everyone in high spirits again. Being forgotten had made them sort of down in the dumps. Everyone now had a new aura about them—an aura of thankfulness. They were appreciative of their friendship in a new way. There was something about potentially losing a friend that made you not want to take them for granted again.

Believe me, I was a living example.

Sora bent down to get into Pooh's line of sight. He wanted to see if he was remembered this time, too. Unfortunately for him, the glint in Pooh's eyes wasn't a familiar one. It was the same look he gave to people he didn't know. Albeit kind, it wasn't the same warmth he showed his friends.

"Yes, hello there, Somebody-I-Don't-Know!" Pooh greeted.

Sora sighed in disappointment. I walked over to him, patting him on the shoulder as if it'd ease the blow for him. I knew that it wouldn't. The only thing that could make it better was Pooh memory coming back. It was something that we were still going to have to work towards . . . one step at a time.

He sent me a thankful smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, at least you remember Rabbit and Eeyore now," he tried.

Rabbit's ears perked up. "Oh! I sent a bird to deliver a letter explaining the situation to Kanga while I was inside. Perhaps you could go over there and see if she has any medicine that will help him remember you, Sora."

I nodded. "Medicine is the most practical thing I've heard all day."

Me agreeing was all that it took for Sora to brighten up. "If you think so," he told me. "Kanga's house isn't too far from here, if I remember right."

"And if you don't?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I'll come with you guys so you don't get lost!" Piglet volunteered.

Great. At least we'd have Piglet with us. He was a Hundred Acre Wood resident; he wouldn't get lost.

We exchanged goodbyes with Rabbit and Eeyore. Eeyore looked sad to see us go. Or, perhaps that was his usual expression. Sora promised to tell them a proper goodbye before we completely left their world. With that in order, we began our trek to the next destination.

The trails of the woods winded in many different directions. If it were not for Piglet, we surely would've gotten lost. He warned us each time we strayed from the right path. When we went right, he swore to the left. Sora had nearly tripped a few times from the pig's frantic directions. As long as he got us there without running into the gust of wind again.

Kanga was one of the friends that Sora told about in his story. Like he said, her home wasn't too far from Rabbits. A sign that we had reached it was a large tree with a similar door carved into the trunk. A mail box with two different boxes on the post stood beside the tree. The front yard was decorated with multiple obstacles that led me to believe that there was someone a bit more on the active side who lived there. Clotheslines drying little shirts perched themselves not too far from the home. Perhaps someone young lived there.

Sora bent down to Piglet's height. "Do you think Kanga is even home?" he asked him.

Piglet shrugged. "I think so. I haven't seen her out and about today."

The blue door leading into the tree swung open. There, it revealed a brown kangaroo. She was pretty tall with lovely brown eyes. She sent us a smile as she hopped out of her house at fast speeds. She was quick on her toes. It was then did I notice the smaller kangaroo peeking out from her pouch. This one was a boy, adorned in a blue long-sleeved shirt and pink round ears. Everyone who lived here was just so cute.

She was carrying a brown bottle in her hand. She must have already gotten Rabbit's letter about Pooh's condition. Hopefully, this could at least help him out a little bit. Seeing Sora's face every time Pooh referred to him as a stranger was beginning to hurt me, too.

"Rabbit told me Pooh wasn't quite himself," she explained, urgently. "I thought this might be just what the poor dear needed."

The smaller kangaroo in her pouch—her son—sent us a wave. "Yeah, I hope it'll make Pooh better!"

But, things never really went according to plan.

The sound of singing had reached my ears before I saw it. A tiger bouncing around on his tail had emerged from the trees to meet up with us in Kanga's yard. Yes. It was a bouncing tiger; it was the very one that Sora had told me about. Still, it had caught me by surprise. Never in my life had I seen a bouncing tiger.

His eyes brightened up when he saw the bottle in Kanga's hand. Jumping up onto his own two feet, he spun around to show how excited he was. I had a dreadful feeling that none of that was good news.

His voice was raspy and singsong-y. "A present?! For me?!" he cheered. "Why, presents are what Tiggers like best! And it's not even my birthday!"

The tiger snatched up the bottle from her before bouncing away. We all stared after him incredulously. Where had he even came from? No, scratch that. Where was he going?!

"But, Tigger, that's not for you!" Kanga called after him.

Her son crawled out of her pouch. Straightening out his blue shirt, he bounced after the tiger in attempt to catch up to him. It wasn't doing much. The tiger was bigger and faster than him. We were going to have to help him if we wanted to get Pooh's medicine back.

Piglet shook his head. "Oh, dear."

"It's okay. I'll go after them," Sora assured.

He left to go chase after Tigger and the small kangaroo. That left Pooh, Piglet, Kanga, and me to watch them from the front yard. In attempt to squash out the silence, I offered Kanga a polite smile. We had yet to introduce each other, after all. I only knew about her through Sora's adventures. It was the first time that we were meeting in person.

"Sorry about all this. I'm Sasuke," I told her.

She waved me off with a smile. "Oh, I know. It's great to finally meet you. My name is Kanga, and that was my son, Roo. He'll introduce himself when he comes back, don't worry. He's just a bit hyper—especially when Tigger is involved."

I couldn't stop my brows from raising. "Did Sora tell you we were coming today?"

"Oh, no," she answered. "The poor dear told me all about you the last time he was here. He said he'd bring you the next time he came, and once Rabbit told me he was back in the Hundred Acre Wood, I figured I'd take him up on it."

A small smile ghosted my face. Sora spoke about me the same way I spoke about him, Riku, and Kairi. Like he was proud to be my friend. Maybe that was why he wanted me to come to the Hundred Acre Wood with him in the first place: to put a face to the name.

It was good to know that people were spreading good things about me. The King, who I yet to even meet, had nothing but positive traits to explain to his Queen. Donald and Goofy were very protective when it came to things involving me . . . though the former would deny it. I was glad that I had been doing enough things right to give off that impression to others. Being a friend surely paid off.

Sora managed to calm the bouncing tiger down. Pooh, Piglet, and I approached where they were talking besides Kanga's fence. Conversations explaining Pooh's predicament instantly filled my ears. He must have been telling Tigger why the medicine wasn't a present for him. Pooh needed it more than anyone right now. Especially since he more than likely forgot about them, too.

Tigger's face turned up into a grimace. "You're saying Pooh even forgot about me?"

"Yes, Tigger." Sora nodded. "That bottle you thought was a present was medicine to make Pooh better."

Anyone else would've gladly handed the bottle over. But, I was learning that Tigger was stubborn in his own right. Things weren't going to be that easy when it came to him.

"Aw, who needs medicine?! Why, some tigger-iffic bouncing will jog his memory for sure!" the tiger argued.

He made work of bouncing around us in a circle. What that was supposed to accomplish, I didn't know. Piglet and I shared confused glances. None of us knew where Tigger was getting at. Maybe a bump on the head could remind Pooh, but plain ol' jumping wasn't going to get us anywhere.

He turned to smile at Pooh mid-jump. "Well, Pooh?" he asked.

"That looks like fun, Somebody-I-Don't-Know," the bear replied.

"Nothing, huh? Hmm . . . Of course! We all gotta bounce together! That'll do the trick!"

Roo bounced over to me. Grabbing my hands, he encouraged me to jump along with him. The happiness on his face was contagious; I found myself playing along with their plan. He cheered when I bounced with him, and spun us around in a circle. A bit away, Tigger had pulled Pooh along into jumping. Though the bear looked a lot less excited about it.

Piglet joined in not too long later. So did Sora, humoring the tiger for his efforts. It was better than doing nothing. However, quickly, the two of them found themselves having fun. The energy radiating off of Roo and Tigger was enough to supply a crowd. Never had bouncing look as enjoyable as it did then.

Tigger let out a lighthearted laugh. It had swelled him up with pride to see everyone having fun doing his exercising. Jumping had been a good way to get everyone pumped up and interested in each other again. Dealing with Pooh's memory had probably been growing frustrating for some of them—Tigger in particular—so doing something to take our minds off of it was that morale boost that we needed. Surprisingly, jumping was a wonderful thing.

I let go of Roo's hand with a smile. A grin that looked like it hurt had split across his adorable face. No doubt jumping had been a hobby of his, too. Just like that, I felt like I was a tiny bit closer to the animals that had befriended my friend.

Tigger jutted a proud thumb to the center of his chest. "I bet you remember me now, don't you, buddy bear!" he boasted.

"Well, I remember that bouncing always makes me hungry," Pooh responded.

Hungry? He was hungry again? He'd eaten about a month's worth of supplies already!

Tiger's face looked crestfallen. Jumping had been something he thought would for sure bring back his friend. Apparently, they engaged in the activity whenever Tigger could convince him to join along. It was his special trait, and if that didn't remind him of him, nothing would.

"All that bouncin' and he still doesn't remember me?" the now saddened Tigger mumbled to himself. "Well then, I guess bouncin's not the answer. It makes a Tigger almost never wanna bounce again . . . "

Shoulders slumping, he tossed the bottle of medicine onto the ground in front of Pooh. It bounced a few times before rolling at his feet. How sad the poor guy must have been. He'd been springing around the moment he came into Kanga's yard. Now, he had no enthusiasm for it.

Piglet picked up the bottle as he stuttered, "Oh, p-please be careful with that."

"Aw, sorry little Piglet . . . but Pooh not rememberin' me has me confuzled. I don't even feel like bouncin'!"

Pooh's head tilted a bit to the side. "Oh, but Tigger, I always thought that bouncing was what Tiggers did best?" he tried.

My eyebrows shot up as high as they could. That was something he would only say if he remembered. Did that mean—

"Oh, Pooh Boy!" Tigger cried. "You remember me! You do remember your ol' buddy Tigger after all!"

Pooh nodded. "Yes, of course I do. Hello, Kanga. Hello, Roo."

With a cheer, Tigger and Roo began to bounce around on their tails again. It had jogged the yellow bear's memory. He was going to be just fine. However, he didn't seem to show any signs of remembering Sora. This time, the brunet didn't even bother to ask. It seemed like Pooh would remember everyone else before he remembered him.

I walked over to where Sora was standing a bit away from the group. His arms were crossed as he studied the ground beneath his feet. His brows were furrowed in a way that displayed that he was thinking—wondering why everyone was returning to Pooh's memory but him. He'd considered him a good friend in the past. Thoughts of how it wasn't fair and perhaps even jealousy had flashed through his expressions once or twice.

Sighing, I placed a comforting hand on his arm. "Are you okay, Sora?" I asked.

He nodded, still finding the ground interesting. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"It's okay to be frustrated," I told him.

He let out a sigh all his own. It told me everything that I needed to go. I had been right in my assumptions of him. The situation was only proving to make him more and more upset as Pooh remembered his friends. For some reason, he just refused to remember Sora. The pain of someone forgetting you was something that must have bothered him to no end.

If we were going to set things right, we would have to do it now . . . before it spiraled out of control. There was only so much that the people involved could take, and because I had joined Sora on this small journey, I felt like it was my job to help. Whatever contributions I could make would be better than nothing.

I bent down into his line of sight, my face ducking into the spot on the ground that had him so transfixed. "Maybe you should go ask Kanga for advice?" I suggested. "In the meantime, I'll go talk to Pooh . . . see if I can figure something out."

He met my eyes for a brief moment, then nodded. He brought his hand to the top of my head to ruffle my hair before walking away into Kanga's direction. Frustrated, perhaps, but his spirit wasn't broken. He wasn't going to give up just because the odds weren't currently in his favor. For that, I wondered how someone could forget someone so determined that easily.

My next target was Pooh. I walked over to where he was talking with Piglet. Piglet had already been going through their list of other friends to see if Pooh had forgotten them as well. So far, no name came up on the list that Pooh didn't remember. So, that just left Sora out of the loop. Well, at least the long part was over with.

Pooh's eyes followed me as I approached them. I crouched down into a squat so that I would be eye-level with them. Or, more like so they would be a little taller than me. Either way, it granted me more access to eye contact. If I was going to talk things out with the bear, eye contact was a must.

"Pooh," I started. "Do you really not remember Sora? He's worried about you, you know."

His brows furrowed in the center. "Who? I don't believe I know anyone by that name."

I motioned a hand to where Sora was talking with Kanga. He nodded a few times while she explained different things on him. When I looked back at Pooh, he did nothing more than shake his head. Visuals weren't enough to jog his mind.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Just what was I going to do?

Piglet piped up, "Have you been home today? Maybe there's something in there that'll remind you of him. Maybe you need a nap."

A nap? That wasn't such a bad idea.

"A nap does sound great," Pooh agreed. "Maybe I will go home."

I smiled at him. "Sure. We'll be around when you wake up, Pooh."

"Okay, Sasuke."

With a wave of his hand, he spun around on one foot, and began his trek down the forest path. I stood back up to my full height. Hopefully a rest would make him feel better. I always felt better after one. Maybe he was just a little tired from thinking all day. Surely, that had to be it. It wasn't his memory, but sleepiness that blocked everything off.

Piglet looked into my eyes as if wondering if it was really going to work. There was only one way to find out. We were just going to have to wait.

We joined Sora and Kanga. She was going on about how Roo had bumped his head a few years ago and forgotten things. Apparently, it took a little encouragement to bring her son's memories back. She suggested that he continue to jog Pooh's memory with things that they did and talked about together. It had worked for everyone else. Why wouldn't it work for him?

"Pooh went home," I explained to them, including myself in the conversation. "He's going to take a nap. Maybe it'll help him think straight when he gets up."

Sora nodded. "All right, but what do we do until he does?"

My stomach chose that moment to rubble. It had been a few hours since I'd eaten anything, and running around wasn't helping my situation. My cheeks burned in embarrassment; everyone was looking at my now. Though, instead of teasing my like I thought he was going to, Sora sent me a small smile.

"Lunch time?" he offered.

I glanced down at my finger nails. "Was it really that loud?"

He chuckled, turning to Kanga with the same gentle smile he showed me. "We're gonna head back for a while. Just to grab something to eat," he told her. "We'll be back in an hour or two when Pooh Bear wakes up."

She returned the smile. "You two be careful."

I guessed it was a good idea to take a break. We exchanged goodbyes with everyone before starting down the path ourselves. Sora's hands linked together behind his head as he walked. I made work of fiddling with the necklace around my neck. It was a nervous tick stemmed from not knowing how things would play out. Hope only got you so far.

Since we were going back to Hollow Bastion, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I had promised Yue and Akiba that I would stop by whenever we came back. For some reason, they seemed very happy to be in my company. It went both ways; they had helped me out in more ways than one. Perhaps I'd grab something quick before stopping by over there? If I didn't, Yue was going to cook a grand meal again.

Sora glanced around the trees. "What do you want to eat?" he asked.

"I don't know. Actually, I was planning on stopping by Yue and Akiba's shop. You know, just to say hi."

He nodded in understanding. "Want me to go with you?"

I shook my head. "You don't have to. But, if you want to, I don't mind."

"I'll take that as a yes." He chuckled.

HARDLY EVER MAKING a promise that he couldn't fulfill, Sora bought the two of us sandwiches for lunch before we went to the shop. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until he had passed mine to me. No mayo, I know you hate mayo, he'd said, making my stomach rumble again. It was the first time in my life that I had finished my food before him. Of course, he found it funny, picking on me about it as we walked through the cobblestone streets of Hallow Bastion.

Donald and Goofy had long since ran off with the Restoration Committee. They were off on patrol through the many districts that they'd neglected to check this morning. I knew because I was going to extend an invitation to them. They knew the shop owners just as much as we had. Unfortunately, I could do nothing but pass along a greeting in their name.

I was shocked that Sora himself wanted to tag along. I figured that he would've joined everyone else and let me go by myself. Not that I was complaining about it. I was actually glad that he'd decided to come. Yue had already showed her interest in him when they'd last saw each other. Hopefully, the couple could grow to like him, too.

The shop was just like I remembered it. Shelves containing the items they so proudly displayed sat around the room in abundance. The tiled floors were nice and polished as if someone had just got done cleaning them for the day. Light from the windows glinted off the display weapons in golden shines. It hadn't changed in the slightest.

Yue was reading a book behind the counter. It was thick and old; it had to be a good six hundred or so pages long. Behind her, Akiba was mopping the rest of the tiled floor. He was the one who had cleaned everything up. It was great timing, too, for the moment we entered, a few customers followed in after us.

Yue's silvery gaze landed on me first. It then shifted to Sora before a smile tugged at her lips. Today, her hair was let down, cascading down her back in straight, black strands. A tanned hand had pushed some of it behind her ear to reveal a small pearl earring. She looked just as lovely as she always had. Which was to be expected. Yue was a sight to behold, as her doting husband put it.

She waved a small hand at us. I sent her a smile while Sora sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. Akiba let out a whistle, leaned the mop against the wall, and came the assess the customers. The second he saw us, his dark eyes twinkled with familiarity. They were happy to see that we returned . . . unharmed, no less.

He leaned against the counter to give a dimple-ridden smirk. "Well, well, well . . . If it isn't Sasuke and Sora. I was starting to wonder when you two were coming back. Where are your friends?"

"They're out with the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee," I answered with my own dimpled smile. "How are you guys doing?"

Yue used a bookmark to mark her page. She closed the book, and slid it across the counter so it wouldn't be in the way. Now that we had her full attention, she moved all of her hair over one shoulder to look at us. Her genetics had allowed her hair to grow down to her thighs in a beautiful, even length. I found myself wondering how heavy it must have been for her. My own hip-length hair was often a struggle.

She put her elbow on the counter and used her hand to pup her cheek against. "As good as you can get on a Wednesday."

That made Sora snicker. Her gaze flickered up to him to give him a smile.

"You're getting bigger, kid," Akiba thought aloud.

Sora's eyes went wide as he pointed to himself. "Am I really? No way."

Akiba nodded a few times. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"Really? And you're already that big?" Akiba's eyebrows shot up. "You're going to be at least six feet when you're done growing. Maybe even as tall as me."

Akiba himself was a bit above six feet. Being the runt throughout his whole lie, that was something that Sora had always set his sights on. He had even consumed several glasses of milk a day at one point to force himself to grow. He was already taller than his father, if I remembered correctly. The extra calcium must have done wonders for him.

His lips pulled up into a dazzling grin. "You really think so?!" He turned to smile at me. "Did you hear that?! I could be over six feet!"

I sighed. "Oh, don't go telling him that. I'll never hear the end of it."

Yue laughed as the boys went on into a conversation about growth spurts. Akiba told him about how he had woke up one day when he was sixteen and was suddenly taller than everyone. Though it excited my friend, I doubted that was the truth. Things like that didn't happen.

Yue looked over at me to have our own conversation. "So, how are you really doing, sweetie? Have you eaten already?"

I should've known that question was coming.

"I'm . . . doing great. It's been nice adventuring. We already ate on the way here," I answered.

"You know that wasn't what I was talking about."

Her eyes shifted from me, to Sora, then back to me. He and Akiba were off in their own world of smoldering masculinity. She had told me several times that all of her friends were married with children, thus, boring. Hearing about my life interested her because it had been a while since she heard actual boy problems. Not that I minded, usually. But, now that he was only a few feet away, I could feel the embarrassment shooting through my nerves like a wave.

My eyes went wide and my jaw dropped. There was no doubt that my face had gone red again. In an attempt to collect myself, I glanced at the book she was reading. A romance novel. Figures.

"All right, I guess." I swallowed.

"You guess?" She leaned closer to whisper, "Did he ask you out again yet?"

I nodded. "A few times."

She broke into a grin that reached from ear to ear. She was such a gossip.

"Don't get me wrong," I tried. "We spend ever single minute of every day together. I don't really feel any different when we're dating than when we're not."

She sighed. "Oh, wow, only fifteen and the romance is already dying out. That's not a good sign."

My eyes went wide. "It's not?"

I couldn't tell if she was kidding or being serious. She'd been married for over twenty years—longer than I'd been alive—so I guessed her advice was closer to law than lies. I hadn't exactly been concerned about Sora and my relationship right now, but now that she put it like that, I felt my body go cold. Was he getting bored? We were showing symptoms of dying out? We'd only been going out for a few months now!

She giggled at the startled look on my face. I probably looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"It's not a bad thing," she added in. "You know, you kind of remind me of my daughter when she was your age. She was young when she started developing a crush on my friend's son. Poor thing was terrified that she was doing everything wrong."

She never talked about their daughter. I knew that she had one, and that she wasn't around for some reason, but never knew more than that. I wasn't going to interrupt her now that she was offering information.

"The boy was this confident kid that everyone knew because he was that obnoxious. He had a kind heart, thought. I think they were a bit younger than you when they started dating. They were inseparable ever since, but that didn't bother them. I'd come home to see him on the couch, eating all my food with her and their other friend. Poor Akiba used to get so annoyed." She smiled fondly. "Anyway, they were together for a long time. Maybe they still are. Just because you spend every waking moment with someone doesn't mean it's going to get old fast. It just means that you're connected to them."

I fiddled with my necklace, nervous to ask my next question. "What happened to them, Yue?"

Her smile shifted into a sad one. "Who knows? They went missing years ago. We haven't seen them since."

"Do you miss them?"

"Of course. All of them . . . even her friends . . . they were like our children. We'd watched them grow up until the very end."

"What was her name?" I asked.

She looked over to where Akiba was talking to Sora. They were smiling at each other, even laughing here and there. Her eyes closed as she basked in the memory of her only child. It was obvious that she had come to terms with her daughter's disappearance for a long time now. In fact, she seemed almost . . . happy to relive that memory.

"Azalea. Her name was Azalea," she answered. "Be glad that you spend every day together, Sasuke. You never know when Sora's going to be taken away from you. Be grateful for what you have now. One day, you're going to look back on it and be glad that you did."

I glanced over at my friend. Probably feeling the heat of my gaze, he turned to meet my eyes. The moment they met, he sent me a warm smile that lit all the way up to his eyes. I returned it the best that I could.

You never know when Sora's going to be taken away from you.

WHEN WE RETURNED to the Hundred Acre Wood, it wasn't anywhere that I recognized.

It had transported us to a cave of some sorts. The rocks had bound together to create pillars that rose from the floor to the ceiling. Small light from outside shined in, giving everything a gray tone. Breezes blew in from the depths of the cave as it howled warnings to stay away. It was the last thing I'd expected from a friendly place like the Hundred Acre Wood.

My eyes widened in surprise to see everyone standing inside. Rabbit, Roo, Kanga, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, everyone stood there glancing around in silence. Sora and I had exchanged confused looks before approaching them. Why were they all standing around in this place like that?

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Hey, everyone. We're back . . ." he trailed off, then frowned. "Uh-oh . . . Where's Pooh?"

Piglet pointed deeper into the cave. "He went in there."

Of course he did.

"Do you think there might be a jagular hiding inside?" Rabbit shivered.

A what? I assumed it had something to do with a jaguar. Still, why would it have been in a mountain cave?

Sora tilted his head. "Say, why are you all sitting around here? If you're worried about that bear, let's go find him!"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Tigger cheered, pointing to his chest.

"Yeah, let's go!" Roo added in.

Rabbit frowned. "But, if there really is a jagular, we'd better think this through."

"What do you think we should do, Sora?" Kanga asked.

Sora tapped his fingers across his chin a few times in thought. "Of course we should. Let's go."

On Sora's command, everyone followed him deeper into the cave. It was beyond me why Pooh was even in there in the first place. Regardless, we had to rescue him. While there may not have been "jagulars," there could have been other things that lurked within the cave. It wasn't a safe place to leave our friend in.

Crystals grew out of the ground and ceilings the further in we went. They shined a radiant blue to light up the paths for us. This must have been a crystal mine of some sort. They were larger than we all were and looked rarer than any of the crystals I'd ever seen Maybe that was why Pooh was drawn to this place.

The rocks above us gave out a groan of warning. Sora commanded everyone to stop where they were. The moment we came to a halt, a large chunk of rock fell to the ground, splitting to pieces right where we would have been. That was a great call on his part. We could do a rescue mission while injured.

Ahead was a puddle of frozen water. There must have been a leak somewhere and the cold winds caused it to freeze over. Unfortunately, Sora hadn't noticed it as fast as I had. He sped across the ice, only to slip and fall. As did Tigger and Rabbit, sliding across the frozen water with a groan. I tried not to laugh as I helped them up.

We found Pooh sitting on a pile of rocks. He was in a secluded area of the cave surrounded by crystals that constructed the walls. Tapping his hand against his temple, he looked as if he were in deep thought. About what, I didn't know. Nor did I know why he had to do it in a cave.

Sora was the first to approach him. His steps were soft and cautious as to not startle the bear. Then, he threw that tactic out of the window. He bent down to the bear's height with a caring smile. So much for not startling him.

"Pooh! There you are!" he called, and when Pooh ignored him, he continued, "Hey . . . we looked everywhere for you."

Pooh made a face. "I was looking for a very dear friend that I remember I made a very important promise to."

I felt my own smile pulling at my cheeks. Was this it? Was he going to remember Sora? The animals and I watched in anticipation or the scene to unfold in front of us.

"So, did you find him?" Sora asked.

"No." Pooh sighed. "I looked and looked, but he doesn't seem to be anywhere."

He glanced up at Sora for the first time since our jumping session. And, of course, Tigger chose that time to pick up where it had left off. He had jumped onto Pooh so suddenly that both of them tumbled to the ground. I dashed forward to help Pooh up, but he didn't need it. He rubbed where he had bumped his head as if he couldn't understand what had just happened.

"Oh, Pooh Boy! So there you are!" Tigger cheered.

Pooh frowned. "But, Tigger, did you have to bounce me so . . . bounce-ily?"

"Gosh, I thought a jagular had gotten ya!" Tigger replied.

At the mention of the creature, Pooh's eyes went wide. "Oh, dear! I hadn't thought of that! I do hope a jagular hasn't gone and gobbled up my friend!"

I bent down to the bear's height. "C'mon, Pooh. You have to remember. Is the friend that you're looking for Sora?"

We all glanced up at him. His eyes had went wide at the newfound attention, but then grew sad. He didn't want to get his hopes up in case he wasn't the one Pooh was searching for. He had been let down so many times today that it would've been cruel to experience it again. He didn't want to go through that. I understood where he was coming from. However, the problem was the only way of solving it.

A grumbled echoed through the area. It had startled Pooh, causing the poor bear to take a few steps back. He cried about an incoming jagular that was sure to come after us. I wanted to laugh; it definitely wasn't a creature that made that noise.

Sora chuckled, getting down on one knee to poke him in the stomach. "No, it's just your tummy grumbling. You must be hungry. C'mon, let's head home and see if we can find you some honey."

Pooh beamed at him. "I'd like that, Sora."

The look on the boy's face was priceless. His eyebrows nearly shot up into his hairline, his eyes went wide, his body tensed up, and his jaw went slack. None of us could believe our ears. Had Pooh finally remembered who he was? It was a goal that we had been working all day towards, and now that it was here, we were in disbelief.

"Pooh! You—you finally remembered!" Sora cried.

Pooh tilted his head. "Remembered what, Sora?"

I smiled both because Pooh was comedy if there ever was any, and because the smile Sora adorned was so genuine. It made the wild goose chase worth it. He was happy all the way down to his core. It was a great sight when it decided to show itself. It was the feeling of being reunited with a friend. He'd finally gotten what he wanted.

"I like it ever so much when you're cheerful, Sora," Pooh said.

Sora stood up to his full height. "Me, too, Pooh. Let's go home."

He held his hand out for Pooh to take. Smiling wide, the bear placed his smaller one into his larger one. Our business in the cave was over with. We could return so that Pooh could have something to eat. I never could figure out how he was able to eat so much.

Sora had shot me a smile, too. I didn't know what for. Right now was all about him and Pooh—two friends came together after being separated.

"Thank you," he had told me.

One of my eyebrows rose high. "For what?"

"For helping me. For coming here with me. For encouraging me. The list goes on."

I shook my head. "I'm always a player on your team, Sora. You don't have to thank me for it. It's in the job description. We're a team."

He looked down to where Pooh and his hands were connected. "Yeah, maybe," he agreed.

The walk out of the cave was less dangerous than the walk in. We had already covered everything that posed as a threat. In fact, the walk out was shorter now that we knew where we were going. Along the way, they decided to meet back at Kanga's house since she had a few honey pots to spare.

She explained that she was low on honey pots, though. Rabbit had offered to give her a few of his empty ones to make up for the ones she was short on. It was me who volunteered to go get them with Rabbit. It wasn't fair for him to walk all the way back by himself. With the game plan established, we all went our separate ways, off to help our friend Pooh.

The sun was beginning to set in the distance. Shades of pink, orange, and blues danced across the darkening sky. The rays of sun danced off the slightly rustling trees to bask everything in a golden glow. It was slowly sinking into the short hours of the evening. Perhaps a few more and the moon would make itself known.

I took the time to get to know Rabbit on our walk. I learned that he was rather into gardening. He ate healthy—more or less because he was a rabbit—and growing his own stock made things easier on him. He was a fiend for carrots more than he was for honey. The main reason he kept the sticky substance was because Pooh was prone to random visits. It was easier to feed him than to let him go hungry.

Rabbit's house was the most memorable. He had a garden in the front that was easy to spot beyond the cluster of trees. A small stream of water passed through his garden to act as a small water source. Following the water would lead you right to Rabbit's house. It was how he met some of his friends, he explained, for they had been interested in where the water ended up.

The honey pots that Pooh ate out of earlier were cleaned and stacked up in his house. While he went to take some out for us to bring to Kanga, I busied myself with rebuilding Eeyore's stick house. He'd seemed upset in knowing he'd have to rebuild it again, and it was probably difficult since he didn't have hands. I leaned the sticks against each other until they formed the triangle-shaped structure he'd been trying to achieve. At least when he came back home, he'd have a home to return to.

Rabbit placed three pots on the ground. Closing the door behind him, he motioned for me to grab one. Though I didn't want to admit it, Rabbit was only a bit smaller than me. He grabbed two pots while I grabbed one. I couldn't be upset since we had the same amount of arm space. Hey, Akiba, when was my growth spurt going to hit?

He asked me about the things that I liked to do on our way to Kanga's. I explained how I had always been the curious type, poking my nose in things that I didn't need to. He gave my curiosity a new name: inquisitive. He thought that I was smart for wanting to know the things I didn't know about. He also claimed that I was kind for helping people that I had just met. I didn't think that it was kindness at all. It was just something that felt right to do.

Piglet was pacing around outside when we walked up Kanga's path. He perked up at the sight of us, waving around a piece of red cloth in his little, pink hands. I quirked an eyebrow at the sight. Why was he walking around outside by himself? Everyone should have been inside already.

"What's going on, Piglet?" I asked, putting down the honey pot.

He waved the piece of cloth at me. "Y-you have to p-put this on!" he stuttered. "They have a surprise for you."

"For me?"

It wasn't my birthday. No, my birthday wasn't for a few more months. I thought back to all the holidays that I could have been. Did I do something to deserve a surprise? Or was this all some kind of joke? Surely, it was. There was no way they were in there surprising me when I didn't do anything. They were probably trying to scare me.

Sighing, I nodded, taking the cloth from him. I tied it around my head and made sure that my ponytail wasn't in the way. If they wanted to scare me, I could go along with it. I just hoped they knew that I was going to get them back. No one pranked me without revenge heading their way.

"Can you see?" Piglet asked me, slightly nervous for some reason.

I shook my head. "Not a thing."

I followed the sound of his footsteps toward the house. I was started to get nervous myself. What were they up to? Was it going to hurt? I didn't think I could handle any surprises right now. The anticipation was probably going to kill me before the scare did.

"Be careful, Sasuke!" Piglet said as I walked through the door.

I used my arms to feel around. "I'm trying!" I chuckled.

There was the sound of shuffling throughout the room. Then, nothing but silence followed. I stood there waiting for something to charge at me, but nothing ever did. Instead, Piglet cleared his throat. It sounded like he was further into the room, leaving me by myself at the door.

"Okay, you can take it off now," he instructed.

Unsure, I slid the blindfold off. There wasn't a spooky scare waiting for me. Rather, everyone was huddled together wearing colorful party hats. There were a handful of balloons floating around the room. Above them, a white banner with the words "BE SORA'S GIRLFRIEND?" in messy, red paint hung from one side of the room to the other. Paint was still running as if they had just finished it, and the R's were backward, but that wasn't the main concern. It was what it said that had made my eyes go wide.

What the hell was going on here?

"Surprise!" Everyone shouted in unison.

Sora was in the middle crouched down next to Pooh. Both of them were shaking their hands in a form of jazz hands. Rabbit walked in carrying the pots with a sigh. He'd clearly been out of the loop as much as me. Though, I kind of figured he was upset because he was given the task of distracting me instead of helping.

I wanted to laugh. Had they set all of this up in fifteen minutes? How was that even possible? When had they had time to discuss all of this? Where did they get balloons and hats from? Why were they treating this like it was my birthday or something? This was the first time I'd ever seen an "ask out party."

Wait until Kairi hears about this one . . .

Roo, who stood on the other side of Sora, turned to give everyone a look. "Why are we saying surprise? It's not her birthday or anything," he wondered.

Kanga gave him a playful look while Sora shrugged, trying not to break his jazz hands. "I don't know. It was a force of habit."

Rabbit put down the pots. "Well, what's her answer, then? We don't have all day."

"The worst thing she can do is say no . . . which we might since we scared her," Eeyore grumbled.

All of the different personalities in the room was making it that much funnier. From Eeyore's cynical comments, Rabbit's impatience, to Roo's confusion, everyone had their own little tid-bit to add in. I now knew why Sora had chosen this way to ask. It was lighthearted, meant to make me laugh rather than it be so serious. Yet, it was a serious question at the same time. Had this been his intention the entire time we were in the Hundred Acre Wood?

Since I wasn't saying anything, Pooh interrupted the silence. "Surprise!" he repeated.

I put my hands over my face to hide my embarrassment. My entire frame was shaking with laughter. While I had been totally caught off guard, I knew one thing for sure: Sora meant what he was trying to say.

I nodded. "All right."

The animals burst into rounds of cheers. Well, all except Eeyore who just nodded in acceptance. Tigger bounced around the room despite Kanga's warnings not to. He'd been far too wrapped up in enjoying his party hat than to listen. Sora stood up to receive Pooh's praises.

Roo smiled at me. "Happy birthday!"

"Oh, it's her birthday?" Tigger asked, his bouncing coming to a stop. "Why didn't you guys say anything? I could've got her a present!"

Kanga chuckled. "It's not her birthday, boys."

I walked over to Sora. I supposed he'd been expecting a hug since his arms parted wide. However, that wasn't what I was going to do. I balled up my fist before punching him in the arm. I wasn't trying to harm him, but he still flinched away at the sudden contact. A sharp hiss had escaped his lips while he narrowed his eyes at me. No doubt that was the last thing he'd been expecting after I just agreed to be his girlfriend.

"Ow, what was that for?" he snapped, half-jokingly.

I glared playfully. "That's for setting this up! I'm so embarrassed! I told you not to do this anymore!"

He made a scrunched-up face. "Well, sorry for wanting it to be memorable!"

"Memorable . . ." I trailed off, raising my fist again.

He twisted out of the way to put some distance between us. It was a smart move because he for sure would've felt my wrath. I was happy, embarrassed, upset, and so much more all at once. Which feeling did I act on, though?

"Be grateful for what you have now. One day, you're going to look back on it and be glad that you did."

I'd give him the benefit of the doubt for now. I could be happy. I could be thrilled like my heart told me to be. And later, when we were alone, I'd nag his ears off about how I didn't do good with embarrassment. Though, considering what I'd just agreed to, I'd signed myself up for a whole bunch of embarrassment to come. Gods, what did I just do?

Pooh raised his hand high. "Do you know what would make this party even better?" he asked. "Honey."

We all laughed. This time, mine wasn't to cover my emotions. It was to bask in it like Yue said I should.

Pooh walked over to the dining table where a pot of honey was resting. Beside it, a circular cake sat on display. It was white with frosted balloons doodled with multicolored icing. Had they really got a cake just for this? It was no wonder people were confusing it with a party.

I stepped away from Sora to look the cake over. "Where did you guys get the cake from?" I asked.

Kanga smiled. "I made the cake before Sora told me his plans for all of this. Most of the decorations or leftovers from Roo's last birthday party."

"Yup!" Roo nodded in agreement.

That made sense. He must have come to her with the idea, and she suggested using her party supplies. Most of it was geared toward that sort of party, anyway. Not that it took away from the meaning behind the small festivities. It had probably taken him a lot of courage to ask me, and having help must have eased his nerves.

How cute.

Kanga began to distribute slices of cake. I took mine happily, never having been able to turn down sugary treats. Sora's slice was larger than everyone else's. His mouth practically drooled at the sight of the chocolate interior. He was a bigger sugar junky than I was. He'd bit into it was a smile that resembled pure ecstasy. I supposed food really was the way to a man's heart.

I glanced down at my slice. Should I learn how to make cake? I'll ask Aerith about it.

Tigger turned down his slice. He hopped around the room singing songs in upbeat tempos. Roo was quick to join in the bouncing fest. They paid no attention to Kanga's warnings not to bounce in the house. She gave up after the fifth attempt to calm the boys down. Apparently, it was a frequent occurrence in her house. She had gotten used to all of the jumping.

Pooh dug into the honey pot, and nibbled at the sugary substance covering his hands. "Ah, Sora," he started. "What is a girlfriend?"

I froze with the fork of cake halfway to my mouth. My mouth fell open; that was the last thing I had expected him to ask. Sora hadn't, either, for his brows furrowed in almost embarrassment. He placed his plate down on the table as he folded his arms over his chest. Eyes squinted in thought, he went over every way to explain romantic relationships to the innocent bear.

How did you go about explaining that to someone like him? I didn't know what he should know, and what he shouldn't. His eyes were filled with so much childishness that it was like talking to a young kid.

Sora and I shared a look. We were asking each other for help. Neither of us knew what to do about the situation. So, he did the first thing that came to mind.

He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. "A girlfriend is a . . . very special friend . . . that is a girl," he tried.

Pooh tilted his head in confusion. "So, does that mean that you are my boyfriend?"

I pursed my lips in attempt to keep from laughing. The look on Sora's face was just priceless. The color had drained from it before being replaced by a red that conveyed how embarrassed he was. His eyes darted around the room in search of something to help him out. Eventually, they fell on me, narrowing when he saw that I thought it was funny. He hadn't been the best at explaining. I didn't blame Pooh for being confused.

"No, Pooh. A boyfriend and girlfriend have a different . . . bond than friendship?" He said the end like it was a question rather than a statement.

"Why?" Pooh asked.

"They . . . do different things."

"Like what?"

Sora scratched his neck out of both frustration and regret. This was all going down hill so fast. I didn't want to be the one to explain dating to Pooh. I kept eating my cake, wondering how he was going to get himself out of this one.

Sora shook his head. "A girlfriend is just someone that you spend a lot of time with. Like . . . an adventure buddy."

"Oh, an adventure buddy. You two do adventure a lot, right?" Pooh nodded, as if everything was starting to make sense. "I understand now."

Sora looked over to me. I smiled, looking down at my cake to avoiding laughing. Pooh thought that we were adventure buddies. Hey, as long as it got him to stop asking questions. Letting out a relieved breath, Sora returned to enjoying his dessert. However, the conversation had managed to take away a bit of the sweetness.

"Hey, adventure buddy." I snickered, holding out my plate. "Do you want the rest?"

He rolled his eyes and took the plate out of my hands. "Do you even have to ask?"

There was about half of a slice left. He finished off his cake before moving onto mine. I didn't question how he could stomach all of it after only eating a sandwich today. But, then again, he was Sora, and food should've never been a concern when it came to him. That guy could eat a whole building without getting a stomach ache.

I went on to helping Rabbit take care of his pots. Sora went on to further explain things to Pooh. Rabbit thanked me for all of my help today. I had waved him off; that was what friends did. It was my job to help those who needed me.

It was about an hour later did I start to look for Sora again. He and Pooh were nowhere to be seen. I had asked Kanga where they went in hopes of us returning back to Hollow Bastion in time. No one knew where they had fled to. It was Piglet who'd suggested they went to their special hill once the sun went away. It was where they went last time Sora left the Hundred Acre Wood.

We left Kanga's house to find them. The sun had long since departed from the sky. It left behind the dark blue sky that littered itself with twinkling stars. They danced in millions of lights shining down on the darkened woods. The moon was full and large, appearing close enough for me to grab it if I so wished. It was one of the clearest night skies that I had ever seen. Though, considering how gorgeous it had been in the daytime, nighttime was but a reflection of that.

They led me to a field of green grass. Flowers blew softly in the night wind, dusting the green in random spots of color. Further along the grass, the earth began to form upwards into a hill. A large oak tree rested at the top of the hill. It must have been the special place that they were talking about. I could instantly see why they liked it. From there, the sky looked even closer.

We walked up the hill quietly as to not interrupt anything. Piglet stood behind the oak tree to avoid their line of sight. We all followed in his lead; the rest of us squeezed in behind the tree. How silly we must have looked. A bunch of people hiding from a boy and a bear.

I peeked around the tree as to not be spotted by them. Sure enough, Pooh and Sora were sitting on a tree log that overlooked the edge of the hill. It gave a beautiful view to the woods beyond. The sky was clearer to see along with the millions of stars that twinkled overhead. The breeze had died down to a subtle blow that challenged the leaves on the trees.

Their backs were turned to us. Yet, I could tell that they were engaged in conversation. I strained my ears to listen in on them. My curiosity often got the best of me; this was one of those time. At least I wasn't doing it by myself. Everyone else leaned forward to listen, too, just as guilty as I was.

"So, what are you doing here?" I heard Sora ask, his voice mixing in with the soft winds.

"I was thinking perhaps there's a way to make it so you won't go away," Pooh answered.

My breath hitched. He sounded so . . . sad that Sora had to leave. It wouldn't be the first time that Sora had left him there. Watching a friend go not once, but twice must have been something hard to deal with.

Sora's tone grew softer. "You mean, a way to make me stay?"

"Yes. Would there be such a thing as a way to make it so you don't go away again?" Pooh asked.

"Pooh . . ." Sora sighed as his head tilted up toward the sky. "I wish I could, but my place is with Sasuke."

Pooh smiled. "Perhaps she could stay, too."

At that, Sora let out a light chuckle. "I'm sure she'd like that, but we can't. There are still things out there that we have to do. Don't worry. I promise I'll come back and visit you now and then."

"Could you make it "now and now" instead? That seems a bit better to me."

The longer the conversation went on, the more I felt for the bear. I would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes. Was this what Yue meant? Enjoy what you had now? I was glad that Pooh thought so highly of us, so much so that he wanted us to stay. However, things didn't work like that. Our journey wasn't done. There were people to see and save out there. Though it hurt to see him so sad, it was something that had to happen.

Pooh looked up to the brunet, the full moon ahead coating them in a moonlit glow. "Sora," he started. "If I go looking for you, will I find you?"

Sora nodded. "I'll always be with you—right here." He lightly pointed to where Pooh's heart was, and said, "You don't have to go anywhere. Just stay here, and you can see me anytime you want."

Pooh placed his right hand over his heart. "You mean I just have to stay right here?"

"Yup. That's all." Sora grinned.

"Would you promise?"

"Promise."

Piglet ran from around the tree to wave his arms around. "I promise, too!"

There goes our cover.

Now that we were found out, it made no sense to hide. We all stepped out from around the tree. Sora's eyes went wide as he discovered that we were eavesdropping. Still, he huddled around the tree stump to join the conversation. I, in particular, climbed up to stand on it so that I'd get a better look at the view. It sure was beautiful up here.

"And so do Roo and I," Kanga added in.

"We sure do!" Roo piped.

Rabbit looked over to Sora with a smile. "You're welcome to visit us anytime, Sora. And make sure you bring Sasuke along with you."

He chuckled. "Thanks, and sure thing."

Tigger gave him a salute. "If you ever get lonely, just start bouncin' and think of your pal Tigger!"

"Great advice." I laughed.

Sora nodded. "I will, Tigger."

He stood up from his spot on the log. Pooh's eyes suddenly went wide. We all knew what was going to happen next. This was the part where we parted ways. This was where the goodbyes kicked in, and the fun times ended.

I was glad that he'd brought me along. It gave me the chance to meet all of these wonderful people. They were all so unique in their own right. And now, after spending all day with them and their shenanigans, I considered them friends. Friends that I wouldn't mind coming back to see. In fact, I couldn't wait for it.

"You're leaving?" Pooh asked.

Sora nodded slowly. "Yes. We really have to go."

"Well, I won't be sad because you'll always be right here forever and ever." Pooh pointed to his heart. "You and Sasuke. Right, Sora?"

I pointed to myself with wide eyes. "Me, too?"

"Yes." Pooh giggled. "You're our friend, too."

I smiled brightly at them. I was so thankful. They had accepted me with open arms. It was all that I could ask for. It was all that I could ever want. They had granted me friendship.

Sora place his hand over his heart as well. "And all of you . . . are right here, too," he said.

He held out a hand for me to take. I accepted it, allowing him to help me down from the log. With quick goodbyes, the two of us hopped off of the hill to the path below. They all waved their own goodbyes. Their waving images were the last thing I saw before we began to walk down the path. Onto new worlds like always. We'd left with bigger hearts, and left them with promises of our return.

It was crazy to think that this was all because of Sora. He was the sole reason as to why I got to meet the people I did. None of this would have happened without him. I had spent most of my childhood thinking how amazing he was. Not a day passed where he didn't remind me of it.

He looked down at me, having caught me staring. "What?" he asked.

I shook my head to smile at the ground. "It's nothing. You're just . . . cared about by a lot of people."

He buried his hands in his pockets. He'd slowed down his pace so that I could walk comfortably beside him. That, and so he could busy himself with studying the stars. They responded by twinkling next to the full moon. A sight to behold—both of them.

"Hmm . . . seems to be that way," he agreed, still focused on the stars. "You are, too, you know."

"That's not what I was getting at."

I stopped walking to look up at him. To fully look at him. I turned in his direction, my eyes searching for his. Offering my most sincere smile, I gave him a look that displayed all of the honesty I had within me. Because at that moment, that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be honest with him.

"You've managed to do so much in so little time. Sora, I don't think there's anyone . . . that I'm more proud of than you."

All that the boy could do was smile.

"Be glad that you spend every day together, Sasuke. Be grateful for what you have now. One day, you're going to look back on it and be glad that you did."

Sort of a filler chapter, but I've been going through so much indecision with this story. At first I was debating if I wanted to incorporate Mulan 2 into this story or save it for Kingdom Hearts 3. I already feel like this one is going too long (We have about 9 to 11 more chapters to go!). But, I decided I may as well add it since I plan on adding two entirely new never before seen worlds in KH3. Having Mulan 2 along with the new worlds and what already goes down in that story . . . it'll never end.

Then, I was debating what to do once I'm finished with Sea Salt Ice Cream. I have a surprise for everyone! Drum roll please . . . Riku is getting his own story! It was a toss up on whether I wanted to jump straight into Sora and Sasuke's next part or start with Riku's. Of course, they'll be two completely separate stories with nothing to do with each other, but I feel like I want to take a break from Sora for a bit to get some new perspective.

Thank you all for bearing with me! I appreciate every single one of you!

Fun Fact of the Chapter: Sasuke was supposed to have an older brother. Whew, what a wreck that would've been.