Chapter 1: Flame Liberator

In the afternoon sun on the grassy fields, Kairi and Lea were lying down on their backs, resting after another day of training. In spite of all the missions he did under Xemnas, it still made him a little uncomfortable to admit to himself that using a Keyblade was far different from using his chakrams, to the point that now he felt like a beginner. That time he saved Sora from becoming Xehanort’s next vessel seemed more like a lucky break than an accomplishment.

Kairi breathed hard and let out a loud woop of satisfaction. “You okay Lea? Sorry! Meant to say Axel!”

“I’ll let it go for now. But you should try and...”

“Get it memorized?”

“That’s it.”

“I think the only thing you need to get memorized is an overhand swing. It shouldn’t be that hard to block.”

“I’m used to fighting with chakrams, dual wielding. I always feel open fighting with this one hand. Even when I go two hands to emphasize all my strength, it’s not the same.”

“Then let’s make this next match special. Whoever wins gets to wear that coat.”

“That’s ... that’ll be kinda awkward.” He turned away. “You know it’s not your size, right?”

“Mickey told me he and Riku got to put those on, and I’m still nowhere near as good as either of them. I just want to feel like I’m one of them. Plus it’ll impress Sora. He’s only ever seen those Organization members in one of these. Maybe he’ll think I beat up one of them and am wearing it like a trophy.”

“But you’re a Princess of Heart! In the old Organization, we wore these to protect ourselves from being contaminated by darkness when going into the corridors. You don’t need to wear something like this. You have natural immunity.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Okay, okay! My shirt got really dirty when I fell into a muddy pond nearby, and I didn’t wanna wear it anymore. I gave it to Merlin to wash, and he was really angry, talking about how he’s a great wizard, not a maid. So I’m ... I’m kinda half naked right now.” A slight grin formed at the corner of her lips.

“That’s fine with me. Gives you all the more reason to take this seriously, huh?” He tried to laugh it off.

“Yeah I guess so...”

“When you wanna start?”

“I was thinking a little later. At least until my clothes are clean.” She frowned at that.

“I’m thinking that gives you an excuse to be rusty.”

She really is getting into this now. Guess I gotta give it my all.

“Alright, enough already! You win, Kairi. We can duel right now.” Her face beamed with delight. She drew Destiny’s Embrace. Lea had to admit to himself that he never thought the weapon looked that intimidating before, but now with actual stakes on the line besides his pride, it looked a lot more vicious. He drew the Flame Liberator. The weapon was nothing if not impressive looking with it’s shining fiery edge, but he didn’t have a lot of confidence in it right now.

In the end, Kairi won out. She came down hard on him and he was able to block it, but she followed up with a quick flurry of strikes knocking his guard down. He found himself on the ground with her weapon in his face.

“Pay up loser.”

“You okay Kairi? This is a side of you I haven’t seen before.”

“I don’t know. It’s been awhile since I’ve felt this free. Back on the islands, me, Sora and Riku would play fight like this. Not one care in the world.”

“You don’t say...”

“But don’t change the subject! You know what we agreed to!”

“Okay,” he said, smiling nervously. He slowly got up and stretched out. He unbuttoned the coat and in one swift movement, tossed it off. Kairi didn’t say anything, but she looked practically googly eyed, looking him all up. She already knew he must have been fit from his life as a Nobody in the old Organization, and then doing missions for Ansem the Wise, but she was still impressed. His chiseled abs pulsed with every breath he took, and his muscular chest and shoulders were covered with a small sheen of sweat from all their training. He was feeling a little self-conscious, and wanted to defuse the situation. “There, you happy?”

She whistled loudly in approval. “Maybe,” she said.

“Come on. This isn’t the first time you’ve seen a guy shirtless is it?”

“No, I saw Sora and Riku shirtless all the time back on the islands but ... well, that was a long time ago.” She giggled. “But this does help you, uh ... how did you put it earlier? Stand out in a crowd?”

Lea rolled his eyes. He tossed her the coat and she almost didn’t catch it she had been so distracted by him. She jumped a little when she had it in her hands. He had thrown it a little harder than she expected and she had been distracted by his naked torso too.

“Don’t you think that was a little rough?” she said.

“That’s for all the times you beat me so far,” he said grinning.

“Okay, you got me there!” He smiled a little. But she still hadn’t stopped staring.

“Aren’t you and Sora a thing? What do you think he’d do if he found you looking at me like that?”

“Yeah, I like Sora. I didn’t know if I liked him or Riku better, but now I’ve decided when this is all over, me and him are gonna settle down back on the islands. I remember we all wanted to leave them way back when out for some adventure, but now nothing seems better than just relaxing on the beach again.”

“Sounds nice. I used to have friends like that but ... eh, they’re all gone now. I don’t know what I’ll do when this is all over.” An image of Xion popped into his head but he still didn’t understand it. He looked away.

“Oh and by the way, thanks for rescuing him. If he really did become that old guy’s heart container I wouldn’t know what to do. It was hard enough almost losing Riku, but then Sora too?”

“I owed him one.”

“Huh?”

“I failed to save Roxas back then. From being defeated by Riku, and from becoming one with Sora. I’ve got no regrets for how things have turned out, don’t get me wrong, but it still bothers me that Roxas is in there. And there’s no way I was going to let him be used by Xemnas.”

“And Xehanort.”

“Xemnas, Xehanort, Ansem...”

“There’s two Ansem’s, remember?”

“They’re all the same in the end, aren’t they? Darkness this, Kingdom Hearts that. Knock off that bald old man, and I’d still have a score to settle with my so-called superior. Who knows, with no one else in his way, maybe he’d take charge like before and become all powerful like he always wanted to be.” Thinking about his Organization XIII days, Kairi’s image was completely gone and now all he saw was Xion.

He turned away, feeling flustered. The last time he turned on the waterworks with Kairi like this was embarrassing enough. He wasn’t going to let her see him get all worked up, half-naked like this.

“You hear any word from Riku lately?” he said, eager to change the subject. “I told him I was gonna become a Keyblade Master and become better than him, but at this rate...”

Kairi smiled. “When I see him again, I’ll be sure to tell him you lost this bet with me.”

He looked back at her. It was just Kairi again, not whoever that stranger was. “Well, when the time comes, at least we won’t have to worry about you, right? Kicking my butt and all like this.”

“You keep it up, I’ll be seeing your butt soon enough.”

“Only other girl that’s seen my butt is Larxene.”

“Who?”

“Back from my Organization XIII days. Absolutely crazy woman. I know if Isa and Xigbar are back rubbing the corns out of the old man’s feet these days, I wouldn’t put it past her to be with them right now.”

“Oh yeah, I think Yen Sid told me something about her.”

“If you think he told you something about her, then he didn’t tell you anything. Trust me, ignorance is bliss.”

“Okay, I get it. I won’t say anything. I’ll just take a look at the scenery.” She put her head in her hands and smiled, staring at him. He had to fight to keep a chuckle from coming on.

“You gonna put that coat on or not? I’m tempted to just take it back right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’ll get it back when you manage to win a fight.”

“You and Sora ever do anything yet? I figured if you’re being like this with me, you haven’t.”

“You ever do anything with this Larxene?”

“A little bit. And that’s all you need to know.”

“Tells me everything. In that case, no, Sora and I haven’t done anything yet. But we’re definitely gonna do something when this is all over.”

“Haven’t done anything, huh? You really are a Princess of Heart. Pure light and no darkness.”

“Don’t say it like that!” she said. She looked away from him, blushing.

“Hey, you demanded me to take my coat off, I only think it’s fair to ask to make things even between us. Though if you and Sora haven’t done anything yet, I think that puts me a step above you. At least when it comes to things other than Keyblade sparring.”

“I didn’t ask about that, but okay, not so blissfully ignorant anymore.”

“Coming from the girl looking at me like this...” he said, his voice trailing off. “So you’re telling me you and Sora haven’t even kissed yet?”

“I mean, on the cheeks a couple times. Riku’s kissed me there too.”

“So you haven’t kissed a guy yet.”

“On the cheeks.” He smiled at that answer, and sighed. “No I guess I haven’t. I always ... I always wanted it to be special. But when the time comes, I’ll know what to do.”

“If you say so.”

“Don’t make me beat you into the ground again.”

“Kiss me and you can keep the coat.”

She was actually taken aback hearing that. “What?”

“I said, you kiss me and you can keep the coat.” Kairi’s face blushed beet red. He was hoping for a reaction but not that. “I was joking!”

“Fine,” she said.

“What?”

“I said, sure, let’s do this. You’ll make good practice for Sora anyway.” But as confident as she wanted to look, her voice still sounded shaky, and her face was still red.

“On one condition. You have to be a good kisser. Otherwise I get my coat back.”

“Uh, um ... okay...”

“Close your eyes, Kairi.” She did as she was told and became still as a statue. He leaned in. He slightly brushed his lips against hers at first. She tried kissing back, but the way she moved her lips against his, it was barely a kiss, she was so shy and inexperienced. He pressed his mouth against her a little stronger for a few seconds before he parted from her.

“Oh ... oh wow,” Kairi said. Her hands awkwardly touched her lips. This time he was sizing her up, and she had to look away.

“That was your first kiss, huh?”

“Yeah...”

“You’re not bad. But you can be better.”

“Al-alright...”

“Close your eyes again.” She did. “Now, lick your lips.” She did as she was told without any hesitation. He leaned forward again. He opened his mouth just a little approaching her, and sensing that, opened hers too. Enough to taste each other’s breath, to feel the heat in each of them, but they didn’t feel each other’s tongues. Yet as much as Kairi tried to match his movements, she was unable to keep up. Lea was practically swallowing her mouth with every kiss, and the moisture on her lips made it so easy for him to overwhelm her.

When he broke the kiss, Kairi didn’t even realize it had stopped, and was still making movements, trying to kiss the air. It took her a moment to realize that, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Lea grinning ear to ear.

“Was I that good?” he said.

“No!” she said, looking away. She put the back of her hand over her mouth, feeling it up. She looked away from him, she knew she was blushing enough already and couldn’t stand to look at his cocky grin any longer.

“I’ll be taking my coat back now if you don’t mind.”

“Wait!”

“Wait? That wasn’t part of the deal. If you’re not a good kisser then I get my coat back. Got it memorized?”

“But I...”

“But you what?”

She immediately sprang at him, knocking him to the ground. She was sprawled on top of him kissing him. She was running her hands all over his muscular body. It was true that seen guys shirtless before, but this was the first time she ever touched another guy like this, let alone someone as dreamy and well built as he was. and he returned her touches, holding her close.