She sat next to Kairi, who sat next to Sora, on the Paopu fruit tree. She looked down to her right to see Riku leaning against the tree. She sighed and smiled.

"Do you think will always be together like this?" She asked and everyone looked at her.

"Of course!" Sora grinned, positive about himself. "We'll always be connected in someway!"

"Where did that come from, Mai?" Kairi asked.

She blinked and looked out to the ocean. She did feel like something was off but she shrugged it off and pushed up her glasses. "Eh, just a thought!"

"Well, maybe I can make a seashell wayfinder!" Kairi said.

"What's that?" Mai asked.

"You make Thalassa shells out of it so you won't get lose at sea! ...or, at least that's how legends go."

"Hmm..." She smiled, slightly tilting her head, "I like mythology and legends but the thing that will keep us connected is our hearts!"

They all looked at her like she was crazy. Riku chuckled, "Where did you hear that?"

"Uh..." She sighed and thought long and hard. No matter how hard she tried, however, she couldn't remember, "Is... my memory... still faulty?"

"No, it can't be! It just needs a little bit of a push... Like if we find your home world! Things should help you remember then!" Sora said.

"Sora, you could be on to something!" Mai smiled but then it disappeared, "But... could it be out there somewhere?"

"Could be. We'll never know by staying here on the islands." Riku said.

"But how far can a raft take us?" Sora asked.

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else." The silver-headed boy said.

"Suppose you get to another world," Kairi giggled, "What would you do there?"

"Well... I haven't thought about it..."

"Wait, wait, wait..." The redhead did her best to hold back her laughter, "You mean to tell me you're going to sail across our ocean, find a world, and don't know what you're going to do?"

"Silly, I know." Riku said kind of embrassed, "It's just I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds, Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. We could've just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I don't know..." Sora said, throwing a leg over the side of the tree and leaning back into it.

"Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out." He stopped leaning on the tree and stood straight, looking out to the ocean. "Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked.

"Thanks to you and Mai." Sora looked at him as he said this, "If you two hadn't cane here, I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, Mai... Thanks."

Kairi giggled, "You're welcome, Riku."

Mai grinned and nodded as a 'you're welcome'. Sora rolled his eyes and looked out to the sea. Riku was just being a drama queen.

"Well, I've gotta get home." Kairi jumped off the tree and ran off.

"Hehe, just you and me in a race to the boats, Sora?" Mai said and he groaned, sitting up.

"I'm tired, though..."

She rustled his spikey hair, "But your always tired!"

Sora pouted and swatted her hand away, "Why do you have to be so energetic?"

She huffed and flicked his forehead, "Why do you have to be so lazy?"

As Sora rubbed his forehead, Riku rolled his eyes, "Pipe down you two I can't here myself think."

Mai leaped off and dusted off her clothes, "I suppose we should go..."

Sora jumped up standing on the tree. He balanced himself until he got to were the ground was. He jumped right in front of her and ran to the boats. She smiled as she walks behind him.

"Mai, hold on!" She turned around and Riku tossed a star shaped fruit to her.

She caught it and raised an eyebrow, "A paopu fruit?"

"You wanted one." Riku smirked as he began to walked to her. "If two people share one, their fates will be intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what."

"I know that but who would I share it with?" She asked, blinking several times and wondering were he was going with this.

Riku laughed, "Don't play dumb. I know you want to share it with him."

Sora.

One word, one name, and she knew exactly what he meant. She gulped as her face turned red. "Um... I... can't! I, uh, he's not my boyfriend and I wanna share one with the one I love most..."

Riku smirked and got close to her ear, whispering, "You, my friend, are in love with Sora."

"N-no..." She pushed him and jumped off the bridge and landed with a crouch. She then threw the paopu at Riku and ran to her boat. There, Sora was waiting for her.

He turned to her, "Why is your face red?"

"I rather not talk about it..." She looked at the ground. Sora grabbed her wrist gently and she looked at him.

"Are you okay, Mai? Do you have a fever?" He took his glove off a cupped her cheek. His cool hand sent shivers up and down her spine... but she enjoyed it. "You feel normal."

"Um... maybe it's just to much sun!" She nervously suggested.

He smiled, "You wanna ride in my boat tonight?"

She smiled back, "Sounds fun! Sure!"

Riku saw this from the shore and smiled. He truly wanted her to be with Sora and no one else.

"Sora, you better not hurt her..." He whispered to himself, "I can take her away just as easy as possible."

As Sora rowed the boat, She looked up to the night sky. So clear and the stars were shining bright. A shooting star zoomed past the other stars in a blue light. She closed her eyes. Why did it seem familiar to her? ...Well, other then the fact she's seen the same stars under Destiny Islands' sky. Still, something felt like home when it came to stars.

'Could it be that I've seen this in my home world with someone special?' she looked at her bracelet, 'Maybe with a friend or sibling... whoever that might be.'

"What you thinking about, M?" Sora asked. She smiled as he said that nickname for her. It was given to her by (who else?) Sora when they first became best friends. Of course, Mai had a nickname for him.

"Not that much. Why do you ask?"

"You kinda had me worried. You suddenly went quiet."

She giggled and started to baby talk, "Aww, Sky actually worries about me? Thanks adorable..."

"Hey, I do because we're best friends!"

"Yeah!" She smiled, "Friends need to watch each other's backs."

"There you go!" He grinned as the boat hit the sand of the main islands.

"Land ho!" She giggled and jumped out, "Come on Sora! Let's go home!"

"Yeah! Mom said she would make sea salt ice cream for dessert tonight!" Her mouth salavated at this.

***

A/N Hey everyone! I have a picture in My random drawings if you wanna see Mai and Sora! That drawing, and one of my followers (you know who you are), inspired me to make this fanfic, so thank georgeomalley123 and me of course 😁 I'm glad to have supporting humans!

Okay so I'm going to ask questions. This chapter's question: have you been, or know anyone who has been, in the love thing that Mai and Sora have are going through?