"You trusted me, so I'll trust you too. That's what being friends mean doesn't it?" ~Okumura Rin (Ao no Exorcist)
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While we walking down the path of darkness, there was a awkward silence between us. Riku broke the silence by saying something to me. "Hey, one of the reasons why I gave into the darkness was because I was jealous of you and Sora's new friends. But, another reason was, it seemed like you friend-zoned me for Sora. I know you confessed that you liked me at the beach, I just want to know if that is still true."

I didn't know what to say. Then, I did the worst thing I could ever do in a situation like this. I laughed. "W-What's so funny?" He demanded, blushing.

"Oh Riku," I laughed. "Sure, I did go on an adventure with Sora and yeah, he has the qualities that every girl would die for, but even so, I still like you. I always did."

He sighed, "Thanks Saki. I just wanted to know."

We walked down the path some more. "You know, I don't really know how long we're going to be here, and I'm kinda nervous there's no way out." Riku admitted.

"Then take this." I said.

He turned to me and I was holding my necklace in my hand. I place it in his hands. "It's like a good luck charm."

"But, Sakura...don't you need this?"

"I think my journey is ending soon. This necklace will become useless. I think you'll find some use in it."

He smile at me, and I smiled back. After gazing into each other's eyes for a couple of seconds, I blinked and looked away. I saw a huge white door that was partly open. "There!" I shouted. "That must be our way out!"

All the sudden, a mouse silhouette appeared. "Hurry!! It warned. "Close that door! It's the way the Heartless are getting in!"

I realized that the mouse was the same voice we heard from earlier. But, there was no time for questions. Riku and I ran up to the door. As we grabbed the door, Riku peered through the door and said, "Don't give up, Sora! Come on, Sora!"

"We can do it!" I added.

"Sakura! You're okay!" He sighed.

"It's hopeless!" Donald yelled. He was right. The door was barely budging.

"There's still time!" The mouse cried.

"Your Majesty?!" Donald and Goofy yelled.

I turned to see the mouse with his Keyblade in the air. "Now, Sora! Let's close this door for good!"

"But--" Sora stammered.

"Go," Riku said.

"Huh?" I said.

"Go. With them." Riku insisted.

"Sakura, this may be your only chance to leave the darkness!" The mouse yelled.

I thought for a second. "Riku, I'm staying."

"What? Why?"

"I spent this whole journey, looking for you. Now I'm reunited with you, I'm not going it leave you again for who knows how long. If you are going to close this door and trap yourself here, I might as well be here with you."

"Sakura, that's really sweet of you. Knowing you, there's no going back on your decision." He smiled at me. I know I'm not going to regret this decision.

Then, he pulled out his Keyblade and pointed at me. "Aero!" He shouted.

Before I could open my mouth, I was sent flying out the door. Sora caught me. "I know you really want to go with me," He sighed. "But I will never get over if you got hurt down here and you did nothing to deserve it. One of us has to stay to lock this door. You don't deserve to go into the darkness. Like you said before; you chose the path you want and live with the consequences. I chose the path of darkness, so I must live with the consequence of closing the door here and trapping me in the darkness. Sora, take care of Kairi and Sakura for me,"

Sora nodded and put me down. He, Donald and Goofy pushed the door closed. The last I saw of Riku was him smiling at me. A smile of sadness. Memories flooded back to me. Memories of us, together at the beach. Having a good time. I wanted to fall apart and cry, but I have to stay strong. Sora lifted his Keyblade into the air. Yellow stars swirled around the top and light appeared. Then the door of darkness disappeared. We stared at it as it faded away. I turned around to see Kairi on a small sand island. She looked completely confused, as if she just appeared there. "Kairi!" I screamed, running to her.

"Saki!" She pulled me into a hug. "Sora!"

She reached out to grab his hand but the ground shook and she stumbled over, grabbing Sora's hand for leverage. "Kairi, remember what you said before?" He asked. "I'm always with you two. I'll come back for you two! I promise!"

"I know you will!" As she said that, the gap between them got too big and they let go of their hands. The island carried us away from Sora. Suddenly, an orb of light landed in Kairi's hands. I looked up to see it raining orbs of lights on us. I looked behind us to see the island coming back. "Kairi! Look, the island!" I cried.

She looked behind her to see the island being restored. "I guess this is a sign that Sora and you guys saved the universe," She said.

We were in front of the lapping waves on the sand as a huge blue portal was across the ocean. The blue portal exploded to comets which sailed across the island night sky. Kairi smiled, "Well, since our island came back together, do you think it's possible that we'll all be reunited again?"

"Who knows?" I replied. "Seeing this, maybe."

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After resting up at Mayor Hikaru's place, we found out that time stopped when the island came apart, which explained why he acted like we didn't disappear for who knows how long. Kairi was wandering around the island while I was writing a letter and placing it in the decorative wooden box that I began to fill before all this happened. It still felt like it was missing something. As I thought about it, Kairi burst into my room, scaring me. "Saki, I found something," She panted.

I followed her on our boats and onto the island to a cave hidden in the palm trees. Inside the cave were rocks that had carvings on it. The carvings were drawings of various things. "Wait, I've been here before; when I was with Sora while the island was falling into darkness," I remembered.

Kairi smiled and traced her fingers along the drawings. Her fingers suddenly stopped at one drawing. She stared at it for a minute before smiling and shedding a tear. "What's wrong?" I asked, leaning down next to her. The drawing was a horrible sketch of Sora giving Kairi a Paopu Fruit. "Oh, Sora drew this, which means..."

"All these drawings were his and Riku's, which means they discovered and knew about this place but they didn't tell us. Why?"

"Well, this is their secret place, so they have the right to decide to share the location or not. I guess they waited until they can trust us to tell us about this place."

While I was telling Kairi this, she picked up a rock and finished the drawing by drawing her hand giving Sora a Paopu Fruit. When she finished, she brushed the dust off the drawing. "What's this?" She asked.

I turned around to see her digging out a lump from the sand. The lump appeared to be a glass bottle with a letter inside. She uncapped the bottle, pulled out the letter and read it. "What does it say?" I asked, walking up until I was behind her shoulder so I can read the letter over her shoulder.

"Saki, I think this for you," She giggled, handing me the letter.

I took it from her and read what it said.

Dear Sakura,
I gave this letter to Sora to he can give it to you.
I have a feeling Sora is going to do some trick
and hide it for you to find for some reason. But,
onto what this letter is about. I really really REALLY
like you. More than a friend, is what I mean. I'm kinda
scared to tell you this is person, so that's why I'm telling
you on this letter. If you read this, who knows in how
many years, I like to ask you; would you like to go out
with me sometime? You know, like a date.
Your friend,
Riku

I gripped the paper tightly after I finished the letter. I looked up at the opening of the cave where light came in. "Saki?" Kairi said. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Riku," I smiled, shedding a tear. "I like to go out with you sometime. How about when this is all over?"
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And...FINISHED!!! After 4 long months of writing, I have finished this fan fiction! Yes, like I said in the last couple of chapters, I will be releasing I've bonus chapter. It's a surprise on what's it's going to be about...
So, you may or may not be asking, am I you going to release a sequel?
The answer is...no.
Ha ha! I was messing with you guys! Of COURSE I'm going to release a sequel!
AFTER I finish all the major editing in this fan fiction!
Yesterday I was rereading some of the chapters I wrote back in December, and I found a lot of mistakes. Some are so bad, I cringed while reading. So, I'm going to put this fan fiction through MAJOR editing. This will also give me time to think about what the sequel is going to be about.