Struggle

For Day 4 of SoKai Week. Enjoy!

"Kairi's here?!" Sora asked, his heart pounding. He looked from Donald to Goofy to the Twilight Town gang lounging around the Usual Spot. "I mean, she's really here?"

He remembered the time he'd come here only to find out he'd just missed Kairi. He wasn't about to get his hopes up again till he was sure.

"Yup!" Hayner said, grinning. "Really really." He closed one eye and aimed, and the dart landed right on the bullseye.

"She's excited to see you, too," Olette said, clasping her hands together. "You should see her new outfit. She looks great!"

"Yeah! She kicked some serious butt when she took on those Nobodies!" Pence swung his arm around and made the appropriate thwacks and booms and whooshes.

So her training was coming along well, just like her letter had said. Sora wondered if things were going okay with Lea, too. He still wasn't sure how he felt about the two of them training together, but if she was okay with it, who was he to argue?

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Oh, she'll be right back," Pence said. "Said she was gonna buy more potions and stuff."

Sora frowned. "She's alone?" He didn't like the sound of that, not one bit.

"She can take care of herself, trust me." Hayner gave him a sly smile. "I think you're in for a real surprise when you see her again."

Sora turned to Donald and Goofy. "I'm gonna go find her."

"You heard Pence, she'll be right back," Donald quacked. "It's better if you wait here with us."

Goofy put his hand on Sora's shoulder. "Awww, Donald, let him go. Can't you see how badly he wants to see her?"

With that Sora took off. He pushed aside the old canvas that kept the Usual Spot Hidden, running through alleyways and past buildings and up and down slopes.

If she was buying potions, he knew exactly which shop to look at. His heart pounded in his chest, and not just because he was running.

He reached the Tram Common, searching everywhere for her. Not by the accessory shop, or the armor shop, or—

There. She was standing by the sea-salt ice cream stall. Sora skidded to a halt and stared.

Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a pink dress with black lining, her white tank top peeking out from underneath and drawing attention to her chest and the necklace resting on it. The skirt and sleeves of her dress even had plaid on them, much like the lapels on his jacket.

Matching. They were matching. He grinned at the thought. The fairies must have designed her outfit with his in mind.

His gaze continued to wander. Her training had paid off, because even though she was just standing there, he could see the tone and muscle to her arms and legs. And her black boots looked like they could do some serious damage if she wanted to kick someone.

Olette was right. She looked great.

He took a deep breath and was about to call out to her when he noticed she wasn't alone. A guy wearing a beanie and jacket and sweatpants was talking to her. With a shock Sora realized who it was. Seifer.

Seifer handed her a stick of sea-salt ice cream. She waved it away, but he grinned and insisted she take it.

"It's my treat. Think of it as a thank you for helping me back there."

"Really, I shouldn't," she said, even though she was smiling like she wanted to.

That's the way she always smiles at me.

Sora felt like he'd been punched in the gut, because he'd just had one of those moments of clarity where everything sort of clicks into place.

He'd taken her for granted. He'd taken whatever it was between them for granted. He'd thought that once Riku had backed off, he didn't have to worry about someone else winning her heart and sweeping her off her feet and whisking her away from him.

How wrong he'd been, and here was the proof right in front of him. He couldn't blame her, either. He was always leaving her behind, always asking her to wait for him instead of inviting her to join him on his adventures like he could have. Like he should have.

"C'mon, it's the least I can do," Seifer said. She hesitated, and he smiled even bigger. "You know you want it."

She chewed her lip and stared at the ice cream, which was starting to melt. "Thank you, but I really should be getting back," she finally said. Relief washed over Sora. At least she wasn't going to take the ice cream.

But Seifer was not so easily deterred. Sora watched as he cracked some stupid joke that made her laugh. At least it wasn't her real laugh, just her polite laugh, but Seifer didn't know her well enough to tell the difference. He took it as his cue and put his hand on her arm, and the yellow-eyed monster inside of Sora came roaring awake.

Seifer saw him first. He looked from Sora to Kairi, and he knew. His stupid smirk made Sora want to punch him in the face. But then Kairi turned around, and a smile lit up her face that stopped him from giving in to the monster, which currently wanted to beat Seifer to a pulp.

"Sora!" she cried, running over and throwing her arms around him. He brought her as close as possible, one hand firmly on her back and the other wrapped around her waist so he could guide her chest and hips to his.

"S-Sora?" she sputtered, probably not expecting the full body hug she was getting right now.

He shot Seifer a look over Kairi's shoulder, and Seifer crossed his arms, just barely avoiding smearing ice cream all over himself.

"I'm glad you're here," Sora said, giving his full attention back to her. "I couldn't wait to see you."

"Me either." She melted in his embrace, and for a moment he forgot all about Seifer and focused completely on her, on her scent and warmth and how perfectly they fit together, like two halves of one whole.

But Seifer didn't like being forgotten or ignored. As soon as the hug had ended and before Sora had the chance to ask Kairi anything about her training, he strode over, one hand holding the dripping sea-salt ice cream and the other stuck in his pocket.

"Sora, long time no see," he said, taking a big bite of the ice cream. "I thought I told you to come back ten years from now."

Sora put his arm around Kairi and forced a laugh. "I thought you were joking."

Seifer shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." He took another bite of the ice cream. "I can see now why you wouldn't accept my gift, Kairi. Clingy guys are the worst. You could do a lot better than this loser."

Sora's eyes narrowed, and the dark, shadowy creature inside of him snarled. "What did you say?"

Kairi put her hand on his chest and shot him a warning look before plastering on a smile and turning back to Seifer. "Don't mind Sora. He just wants to keep me safe. I've… been through a lot lately, and that… brings out his… protective instincts."

Protective instincts, sure.

"Safe?" Seifer scoffed. "You don't need some loser to keep you safe. Not with the way you fought back there."

"Sora…" Kairi warned. The darkness inside of him was hissing and growling, waiting for his brain to give his body the signal to give in to it and—

But he couldn't. Not with the way Kairi was looking at him. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax.

"C'mon, Kairi, let's go," he managed, and she looked relieved. They turned to leave when Seifer just had to get in one last potshot.

"She's got you whipped."

Sora froze, vaguely aware of Kairi saying his name. But he whirled around and faced Seifer one last time.

"This isn't the time or the place, Seifer," he said, his voice warping and darkness oozing off of him. Seifer's face went pale and he dropped his ice cream. Good.

But Kairi was looking at him with a mixture of horror and concern, and he used every ounce of self-control left in his body to keep Anti-Form from coming out.

"Meet me tomorrow at the Sandlot," he managed, his voice returning to normal. "We'll settle this once and for all there."

Seifer stared at him for a moment before recovering his composure. "R-right. You better not chicken out, loser."

With that, Sora stalked off with Kairi right at his heels. Or at least that was how things started, but she soon grabbed his arm and pulled him into a side alley covered in old Struggle Tournament posters.

"What was that all about?" she demanded, pushing him against the wall. Several of the posters fell to the ground and were carried off by the breeze, and she put her hands right by his head so he was pinned there.

A kabe-don. Trying to pull one off on someone bigger and taller than you took guts, but he had to give it to her. She'd succeeded.

"K-Kairi?" He looked from the posters scrunched up underneath her trembling fingers to her face. She was glaring at him and he didn't know what to say or do.

"The darkness, the possessiveness!" she said, her eyes flashing. "That was creepy, Sora!"

Sora couldn't believe his ears. "Creepy? Creepy?! Seifer was the one who wouldn't leave you alone! You kept telling him you didn't want his stupid ice cream, but he just wouldn't take the hint! He's the one who was creepy!"

He stared her down, but she just stared right back at him.

"If he really was a problem," she said, "I would have done something about it. I can take care of myself just fine now, thank you very much."

Several tense seconds passed between the two of them, the only sound the tattered posters bumping against the walls and the loud breaths he and Kairi were taking.

Then she released him. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she sighed deeply. "Just what were you trying to prove? You really freaked him out the way you acted, oozing darkness and threatening him and acting like you own me. Well guess what, you don't."

"I don't think I own you!" Sora protested, swatting away a poster that flew into his face. "I just… I saw you talking to him, and then you smiled and I—"

"Oh, so now I'm not allowed to even smile at other guys because it might make you jealous?"

"No! That's not what I meant!" He caught one of the dratted posters and crumpled it into a ball. "Just listen to me for a second, will you?"

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. He didn't have much time to explain himself. Best to get to the point.

"I took you for granted," he said, dropping the balled up poster to the ground. "After you gave me your lucky charm, I just… I thought I could go off and do whatever, and you'd always be waiting for me when I came back. But then I got your letter about your training, and I realized I was wrong. It wasn't fair of me to ask you to wait, and I'm sorry."

She didn't say anything, so he continued. The words came tumbling out all at once, faster than he could control them.

"I was scared. I was scared I might lose you. I saw you with Seifer, and I realized that there was nothing stopping you from dumping me and finding someone else. I would have deserved it, too, the way I kept leaving you behind."

Kairi raised her eyebrow. "You really think I'd go for a guy like Seifer? He's not my type at all."

"But… you do have a type." Sora had never asked her what it was, and he was almost afraid to know.

She tapped her cheek. "Hmmm, yes. I like guys with spiky brown hair, blue eyes, cute smiles, maybe just a little too much confidence, enough sass for three and a half people, sacrificial tendencies that make me wonder if they have any sense of self-preservation…"

Sora didn't say anything, so she playfully swatted his arm. "You, silly! You're my type! Geez, you're dense. There's not even any competition. You're so far ahead of all the other guys you're on a different planet!"

Sora's face flushed at this, a warm feeling spreading through his chest.

"You don't have to prove anything because there isn't anything to prove," she continued. "Seifer was the one following mearound like a lost puppy. All I did was fight a couple of Nobodies for him, and he wouldn't leave me alone after that."

Sora sighed, relieved to hear that was why she'd been talking to him. Still, he wasn't happy that Seifer couldn't read a social situation to save his life and had borderline harassed her.

He thought of Jafar and his creepy obsession with Jasmine and shuddered. "Trust me, I know his type," he said. "He won't leave you alone till I've beaten him."

"I don't like that," Kairi said, frowning. "Why won't he accept that I'm not interested? Why do you have to get involved?"

"Because some guys are just like that."

"Well, those guys are jerks," she said, and Sora couldn't help but chuckle, because she wasn't wrong.

"Yeah, real jerks," he said, and she smiled back. But then she chewed her lip and looked at him like he was growing a second head or a third eye.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"You. Are you okay?" She put her hand on his arm. "With the darkness back there, I thought that…"

"I'm fine," he said. "You helped me stay in control. It's mainly just a problem when I'm fighting, and even when it does come out it's not all bad. I get a pretty sweet strength boost, for one."

She gnawed on her lip some more, a heavy look in her eyes. "If you say so."

He put his hand on her face, and she searched his eyes.

"You're thinking this wouldn't be a problem if I hadn't ever turned into a Heartless, right?" he asked.

She nodded, and he ran his thumb across her cheek. Her skin was soft and smooth, very different from his dry, sun-weathered face.

"But then you wouldn't be standing here beside me," he said. "I'd say I got a pretty good deal, all things considered. Most people just die when they stab themselves in the heart, but I got you back and I—"

"That's not funny," she said, her eyes dark.

"Sometimes it's the stuff that isn't funny at all that you have to joke about," he said softly, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. She just looked at him, and he smiled sadly at her. "It really is good to see you, Kairi."

She thought for a moment, then lifted first one of his arms in the air, and then the other.

He looked from his outstretched arms to her, not really sure what to make of this. "Kairi?"

"I want a proper hug," she explained.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "Like this?"

"Yes."

He laughed softly. "Sorry about the hug earlier. You were right to call me out on that."

"Well, if we're apologizing for things we shouldn't have done, then sorry about the kabe-don," she muttered. "That was crossing a line."

"Mmmmm, I was mainly just impressed you pulled it off."

"Impressed, huh? I could always do it again," she teased, her voice sending a thrill down his spine.

"If you do, I might not be able to hold myself back anymore," he murmured into her ear.

"S-Sora!" She pulled back, her face bright red, and he just grinned.

"Kidding." He offered his hand and she took it. "What do you say we continue this conversation someplace else? Not that a sketchy alley and a bunch of old Struggle Tournament posters aren't nice, but—"

She picked one up off the ground. "Hang on, I've got an idea. You were the one who challenged Seifer to a match, but there's no rule that says I can't join too, right?"

She had that spark in her eyes she always got when she'd come up with some grand plan.

"Not that I know of," he said.

She clutched the poster in her hand. "Then I'm going to enter the tournament with you and Seifer. I want to show you how far I've come in my training."

He smiled. "I can't wait. The Twilight Town gang told me all about what you've been up to."

She flushed pink. "Really?"

"Really really."

And that was how Kairi beat Seifer in the Struggle Tournament. Sora didn't even get the chance to fight him, because she knocked him out in the preliminary round. Once the townspeople had heard there was going to be a fight, several more people had asked to sign up. The Struggle tournament organizer was thrilled for any excuse to have another match, especially one with Seifer involved, so it had soon became a full blown tournament in its own right.

And Kairi's training really had paid off. She'd moved beyond the basics and was coming into her own fighting style, with lots of rapid attacks and sleights of hand and quick dodges.

Oh, and kicks. So many kicks. Her skirt and boots had been designed the way they were for a reason. She fought with her legs as much as her arms in a graceful, deadly dance. Sora could have watched her for hours on end and never gotten bored.

They both fought other people, their names moving up the bracket, till at long last it was the final round. She faced him now, bat in hand, a big smile on her face. Their friends, torn in their loyalty, alternated between shouting her name and his.

"Don't hold back now," she said and winked.

He smiled back. "I wouldn't dream of it."