Hi, all!

I can't believe it I ever got around to it, but this is my first fan-fic ever! I haven't practiced creative writing like this in a while, so I apologize in advance for any suckiness. I know that I'll definitely be editing this and reworking it once I've gotten back into the swing of things, so please point out any errors and give me your suggestions if you have the time!

Also, I couldn't think of any other way to distinguish Sora's thoughts from his interactions with Roxas, so all of Roxas's thoughts appear like this and Sora's like this.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy

Disclaimer: Sadly, no.

Better Late Than Never

Bright pink and purple flashing lights blinded Sora as he entered the school gym with his friends. A fast-paced pop song blared from the speakers, piercing his ears while he took note of the different colored ribbons and balloons. It was the big "Welcome Back" blowout dance, declaring the first month of the school year over, and welcoming the next wonderfully torturous seven. The entire school attended.

Sora hadn't been to a school dance in who-knows-how-long. It felt surreal being here now. So this was what was considered the norm? Sora smirked to himself at the irony. After being gone for so long, something as average as a school dance seemed foreign to him. 'Average' had taken a new meaning of fighting heartless and escaping near death. It was what he was used to. But this? It would take some time to adjust.

Regardless, Sora was happy to be spending time with his friends, again, after being away for so long. One friend in particular he'd been thinking about quite a bit recently. The redhead standing on his right smiled up at him, encouragingly, as if she'd been reading his mind. Sora grinned at her, unable to compose himself.

Selphie's high-pitched giggle interrupted his thoughts.

"Well, come on everyone!" She squealed. "Are we going to lean against the wall all night?" She turned toward Tidus, bouncing on the balls of her feet, ready to take off dancing at any second.

Tidus rolled his eyes and grinned. "Let's go, guys. Guess we'd better start searching if we want to find some girls who'll actually dance with us by the end of the night."

Sora chuckled at Tidus's inability to see that Selphie clearly wanted to dance with him.

Wakka suddenly stepped between him and Riku, throwing his arms around their shoulders. "These two won't have any trouble, ya? These chicks are just dying to dance with the all-mighty hero's of the worlds." He teased.

The rest of the group laughed, save Kairi who merely folded her arms across her chest, not seeming to like the idea of girls throwing themselves at Sora.

Wakka realized his mistake and quickly released Sora and Riku. Everyone on the Island had known by now that the two had an unofficial 'thing' to say the least. It was obvious to everyone who knew them that they were head-over-heels in love with each other. The problem was, both were too shy to do anything about it.

Sora looked out to the dance floor wearily. Being harassed by girls who only seemed to notice him now that he was a hero didn't interest him. If there was any girl he wanted to dance with tonight, it was Kairi. He blushed at the thought. It seemed easy enough. And who said that you couldn't just dance with one of your friends without it meaning something more? It wasn't as if he planned on kissing her. That idea was enough to send shivers down his spine.

"Ooh! I love this song!" Selphie broke the silence again, bouncing on her heel with excitement. "Come on, Tidus!" She begged.

"Alright, alright!" Tidus surrendered. "Let's go, guys."

Selphie, Wakka and Tidus ventured out onto the dance floor, but the three friends remained behind.

"You guys coming with?" Riku asked.

"I'll catch up with you," Kairi said. "I have to put my jacket in my locker." She flashed them a smile before taking off out the doors and down the hallway, leaving Riku and Sora alone.

Sora looked around the gym for a second time. He had to admit, the set up was pretty impressive. He settled on the thought that had entered his mind before: It was the perfect setting to have just one dance with Kairi. Besides, it'd been more than three months since he'd returned to the island. He needed to do something that could at least give her a hint about his feelings for her.

"What?" Sora asked irritably when he noticed Riku smirking at him. This was the signature I-have-dirt-on-you-so-now-I'm-going-to-make-fun-of-you-until-you-beg-me-to-stop look. (Specific, yes. And all too accurate.)

"Come on, Sora!" Riku punched his arm playfully. "You love Kairi, and to be completely honest with you, the whole Island is waiting for you to do something about it."

Sora blushed. He decided to act clueless. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, Sora! I'm your best friend. I see the way you two look at each other, I've seen the drawings in the secret place, I know you still have her lucky charm. It's over, dude," Riku folded his arms, triumphantly. "I know everything."

Sora had two options. He could admit to everything and risk the humiliation, or he could run frantically screaming in the other direction and never look back. Ever. Again.

Sora seriously considered both options.

But who was he kidding… It was pointless to lie to his best friend. Especially when he'd caught him red handed. As much as he hated it, Sora couldn't deny the truth.

"Okay!" Sora sighed in defeat. "So you know." He looked bashfully at the floor, unable to maintain eye contact. Knowing Riku, it'd be years before he let Sora live it down, if he ever did. But then, Riku was a good friend. They'd been through everything together. Maybe, just maybe, Riku wouldn't tease him. If he were lucky, maybe his suave friend would even shed some light on the situation and help him figure it out. But he wasn't thinking about that. A new worry occupied his mind: he couldn't believe how obvious his affections for Kairi had become. Did this mean that she knew, too?

"Hey, The point wasn't to embarrass you" Riku consoled him.

Sora looked hopefully up at his best friend until he noticed a familiar glint in his eye.

"…Although I think it's just adorable that you're so completely mushy over our dear friend." Riku's voice took a mocking tone, and Sora groaned in protest. Why didn't he take the scream-and-run option when he had the chance?

"Come on, Riku!" Sora wiped his face with his hands, suddenly feeling like the temperature had risen twenty degrees.

Riku laughed before taking a more serious tone. "I just wanted to let you know that if you were planning on making a move anytime soon, tonight would be your best bet."

Before Sora had the chance to ask Riku for a more specific explanation (a detailed handbook called How To Win Kairi's Heart for Complete Dummies would have been nice), Kairi had made her way back to the gym and was walking toward them.

"Hello, Boys!" Kairi greeted. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing!" Sora blurted before Riku had a chance to so much as open his mouth.

Riku shook his head, smiling at his two hopeless friends. He turned and disappeared into the crowd on the dance floor before Sora could stop him. The two needed to be alone. Maybe tonight they would figure it out.

Sora stole a quick glance at Kairi, unable to shake Riku's words.

He was right, you know.

Roxas?

No, it's actually just Uncle Mike stopping in to say Hello. Of course it's Roxas, who else would it be?

Sora frowned. Why was his nobody always so irritable?

Maybe it's because my somebody is a clueless dope who's lousy with girls?

Not to mention a pain in the ass.

I heard that!

Good.

Fine, if you're gunna be that way, you can handle this situation all by yourself.

What situation? I'm just standing here…

Yeah. And you've been standing there like an idiot for the two minutes, totally ignoring Kairi!

Sora panicked. He lifted his head, realizing Kairi had been waiting for him to say something. Unfortunately, as soon as he met Kairi's gaze he forgot how to breathe. For a moment, everything else just faded away. Her lips had formed a shy smile, lighting up her whole face.

He took a minute to admire her in her black halter dress. She was beautiful. He still couldn't believe how much she had changed. She wasn't a kid anymore, rather, a young woman. Her hair had grown longer, falling gracefully on ivory shoulders. Her features seemed to have matured, too. Her eyes had lost that childish innocence, but they still shined when she looked at him, making every glance from her more threatening than a thousand keyblades. One glace was all it took to make Sora weak in the knees.

She looks beautiful.

Kairi's smile grew as she tilted her head inquisitively.

He blushed, having been caught. "So…" Sora bit his lip. He was at a loss for words. His mind raced. "Having fun so far?"

Kairi giggled. "We just got here, silly!"

If he was blushing before, it was nothing compared to now. He mentally kicked himself.

Smooth, Sora. Real smooth. Why don't you just go ahead and say, "Excuse me, Kairi, I was just momentarily lost in your heavenly eyes…" It's not as if you haven't already made a big enough fool of yourself!

I don't appreciate the sarcasm, Roxas.

Sora laughed, nervously. "Sorry. I was just thinking about…"

Kairi gazed at him, listening intently.

"…About how nice it is… being home, and all."

Kairi seemed to accept his answer. Her smile broadened. "It really is great to have you back, Sora. I really missed you."

"I missed you, too, Kai."

Sora, even someone as dense as you must be able to grasp what's going down right now

Uh…

I stand corrected.

Hey!

Remember what Riku said? This is your moment! Ask her to dance!

Sora took a deep breath. It was now or never, and it couldn't be that hard. He grinned that same goofy grin, looking at Kairi with newfound confidence. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Kairi, do you want to—"

"Kairi!" One of Kairi's friends that Sora didn't recognize had come running toward them. "What are you doing standing around? Everyone wants to know where you are! Get out on the floor and dance with us!"

"Actually, I was just talking to Sor—"

"Come on!" The girl pressed as she grabbed Kairi's arm and started pulling her away. Kairi looked back and offered Sora a sympathetic look. She mouthed, 'I'm sorry!' before she was lost in a sea of people.

Sora exhaled.

Well that went well.

Before Sora could protest, Riku had appeared by his side.

"What happened?" He demanded. "What did you say to her?"

"I didn't say anything to her." Sora shook his head in disappointment. "I was going to ask her to dance… but one of her friends came over and beat me to it."

Riku chuckled. "It's okay, man." He grabbed Sora's shoulder and shook it, encouragingly "I'm sure she'll be running back to you before you know it."

Sora waited for Kairi to return. He had talked with some friends, walked two laps around the gym, and, of course, raided the snack table with the guys. But still, no sign of Kairi. His worries started to get the best of him. She was probably out there dancing with another guy. Maybe two, or even three! His imagination took over. She was probably out there dancing with three older, more attractive, more muscular guys who could actually grow facial hair. Sora groaned.

You want her? Then what are you standing around waiting for? Go out there and find her!

Despite his better judgment, Sora decided that Roxas was right. Wow. He never thought he'd see the day when he came to that crazy conclusion.

Roxas was right about something? What?

But he couldn't afford to argue with Roxas, now. In all the time he'd spent waiting around, the dance was almost over! Sora exhaled as the feeling of desperation washed over him. He realized that he couldn't afford to lose another minute. He'd spent the past three months feeling nervous around Kairi, who knows how long this confidence thing would last? Sora took off into the sea of people.

Sora pushed, shoved, squeezed past and stepped in between people for what seemed like an hour. He'd never said, "'Scuse me", "Sorry", "Have you seen Kairi", or "Sorry about stepping on your foot… It was an accident, I swear!" so many times before in his life. But all to no avail. The crowd became smaller and smaller until the purple and pink lights were shut off, and the music stopped playing.

Students were saying goodbye to one another and slowly filing out of the gym.

Sora stood by himself in the center of the gym completely dumbfounded. He hadn't even noticed that all of his friends had told him goodbye and left. He could only keep repeating it over and over in his mind: Where had she gone?

"Sora?"

He whipped around.

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, a smile creeping onto his face. "There you are!"

Kairi giggled. "Were you looking for me?" She quirked an eyebrow.

Sora laughed nervously. "Uh… well. Sort of." Ha. As if that wasn't the understatement of the century. "Where were you?"

"After Amanda pulled me away, I danced for all of two minutes before Selphie ran up to me in tears about some Tidus related drama." Kairi shook her head and laughed. "I spent at least an hour in the bathroom with her, trying to comfort her. Then I came back and you were gone!" Kairi looked angry now.

"I was looking for you!" Sora threw his arms out to his sides in exasperation. He looked around the gym, reliving his antics to find her. "I swear, Kairi, I must have been around this room at least twenty times before I—"

"Aha!"

Sora turned his gaze to Kairi, who had rested her hands on her hips.

"So you were looking for me." She smirked.

"Wait a second." He took a step toward her. "So you were never mad? That whole little story was just a trick to get me to admit that I spent the entire night in a desperate search?" He couldn't hide his smile even as he feigned anger at her. This felt very familiar to him, their playful teasing.

"A desperate search, eh?" Kairi said slyly. She giggled before taking another step forward. "And why finding me so urgent?"

Sora looked around. These weren't quite the ideal settings he'd planned for. They were alone, now. The only other person there was the school Janitor, cleaning up the mess from around the food table. He knew it was completely crazy, but he had made his mind up much earlier that he would ask her to dance tonight.

"Kairi," the goofy grin appeared on his face once again. He spoke slowly, his voice just above a whisper. "Would you…do you want to dance?"

Kairi was taken back. The dance was over. Everyone was gone. There was no music; the only sound remaining was a man's low voice from the Janitors radio, speaking about some sports event or another. Sora had asked her to dance, now, of all times? Part of her wanted to hit him over the head.

But part of her wanted to throw her arms around him and never let go. The boy she loved had just asked her to dance. Her lips slowly blossomed into a smile. She slipped her hand into the one that was outstretched in front of her.

Sora's eyes lit up, hopefully. "Better late than never, right?"

"Yeah," She breathed, a smile making its way onto her face.

Keeping his eyes glued to hers, Sora pulled Kairi close to him, letting her body lean on his. Her hand came up to meet his shoulder, and his rested on her waist. The other hands joined together, lingering in the air.

The janitor who had been cleaning smiled at the young couple. He decided that he would take a break and give them some privacy. He turned the radio dial. Claire de Lune began playing softly.

Neither of them spoke. Just soaked up the feeling of having the other so close. Kairi closed her eyes and rested her head against Sora's chest. She heard his heart beating like a drum and smiled to herself. It was why she loved him. They swayed slowly for a while, but the piano began to pick up, and Kairi lifted her chin to meet Sora's gaze. They began to dance. All around the gym, back and forth, round and round. Kairi felt as though the floor had disappeared from beneath her feet, and they were gliding through the air.

The piano slowed down again, and Sora dipped Kairi. He was amazed that he hadn't screwed anything up yet. Especially since his brain was as good as mush at the moment. All he could do was stare at the girl in his arms, and how beautiful she looked, how warm she felt, how sweet she smelled. This moment was perfect. They stayed like that until the piano picked up once again. He pulled his arm back in, bringing her up to meet him. They stood in front of each other. The song was ending, even though Sora felt like it had only just begun. He could hold Kairi like this forever. The last notes rung out. It couldn't be over, he thought. Not yet. Sora didn't know what to do. His mind was still in a cloud, and so he let his instincts take over. He leaned in and kissed her.

It only lasted a moment, but it was enough to knock the wind out of Sora. Her lips were soft, and they tasted like candy. Sora was thrilled at what he'd done, but he was even more shocked when she kissed him back. It seemed too good to be true.

Reluctantly, Sora pulled away and opened his eyes. Kairi was looking up at him with a huge grin on her face.

Sora laughed lightly. "What?"

"Oh, I was just thinking…"

"And?"

Kairi grinned even wider. "Better late than never, huh?"

But before he could respond, she had kissed him again. Sora's hands cupped her cheek, and Kairi wrapped her arms around his neck. He smiled into the kiss.

Definitely better.

-end-

Haha, wow, this ended up being pretty long, right? I kept feeling like it needed more detail, and then I wanted to make sure that all of the characters, especially Sora, were developed properly. I think that there are some places where I need to add more, and other unnecessary spots, but like I said, I'll be editing this at some point.

Their love is so incredibly timid in this fic. It's sweet, but really hard to write, personally. I think that I've gone through this entire story editing about 20 times. Fiction where their relationship is already established is definitely something I'll be exploring later

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this fic, and thanks so much for reading! Leave a review if you wish

--rosebud909