A/N: Oh my god! WOW! It's been so long since I've written for this story. I have to sincerely profess my complete gratitude to all my readers who have been loyally reading and waiting for the next chapters to come. I've just been so busy with school and with all my own relationship problems. Grrrr. It sucks so much. I actually had an interesting review that someone wondered how I could be so "graphic"...as if I had ever done any of these things...LOL As ironic as it might sound, at the time when I wrote these chapters I was and actually had never been in a real relationship. By God! I hadn't even been kissed! Lol But that kind of changed (a lot actually ) between August and November. Unfortunately, this guy who I've known for like 4 years and was really interested in me and then "poof" no more, broke up with me but like still wants to be friends...o.O That is horrible, horrible SICK ass torture. You know, I don't understand, I mean I liked him when everyone hated him! And now that he's apparently "good-looking" (which he is...) he wanted to see "what he was missing," o.O WHAT? ME! The girl he was after for 3 FREAKING years! GAHHHHHH! Ok so yes this has been my torment. So it's been hard to write "steamy" or "romantic" scenes because now instead of seeing Sora and Kairi...I see me and him. TT

Besides that, lemme give my comment on Kingdom Hearts II. Personally I found the beginning to be SO long and boring...I didn't think they developed Namine's character or Roxas's for that matter. I didn't care for Seifer's or his posses's role. It was just really random. The Twilight Town episode involving the characters (and not stupid, aimless rumors or preztels and the beach) was so brief and it was a little awkward, especially when Sora shows up, like everyone wants to be his friend and they all act so "buddy-buddy" when he's only there for a few hours...o.O Umm. Let's see. Jesse McCartney does do a very good job voice acting (in my opinion) but I didn't think that the character whom Roxas is suppose to be (strong, rebel, outta place, independent, part of the organization) fit that voice very well. It was hard to take him seriously like the other organization members. I loved the Skateboarding though. That was pretty hot! Seeing all those moves, Sora grinding and doing 360's I was like...drool. Hahaha. I also didn't like how during your first visits to the worlds, the story is almost completely irrelevant. It was confusing too. First you randomly have Maleficient coming out and Pete and then it's like the Organization...I mean I understand how it all falls into place but seriously...what was the point of having "Finny fun" or like...being sucked into Lion King? I didn't care for that. It was a little sloppy though the way the puzzle ended up coming together. I also didn't like how Riku had such a small cameo at the end. I mean he barely comes out and its like doesn't really explain to well why or what the hell he was doing. I didn't like Kairi too much in this either. Hayden tried to make her seem, I don't know, sexy and like mature but I couldn't buy it. She doesn't seem like it. She seems more spunky, emotional sorta, but a strong exterior. Let's see...And then randomly she has a keyblade at the end...That really confused me. I don't know, it seemed like they just wanted to mix all these new disney and SquareEnix characters together without much rhyme or reason, to say in the least. I did however LOVE the battling. That was just so AMAZING. The reaction commands had me wanting to rape Sora with some cookie dough and whipped cream all over again! I mean, c'mon! Especially the ending sequences with Riku! (which was odd...when he hurts himself...so random) And Warp Snipe...droooooool gets napkin OMG! And I LOVED Wisdom Form...twirling that keyblade and freaking gliding on air. Wow...I want that upside twice. You KNOW there's probably someone gay at SquareEnix who is just like, "oh yeah, babii, I like the way you move," lol Here's another thing though: the weak attempt at a romance between Namine and Roxas. I didn't see any chemistry between the characters what so ever and sadly the inspiration I was hoping to find with these characters never emerged so I'm going to have to fix this up from scratch. I also was not too impressed by Chain of Memories (just because I didn't really care for the whole GBA adaptation) and would have liked to have seen more information on the Organization's "dead" members. They had said previously that if you hadn't played COM you could still understand KH2, which apparently didn't seem to be the case. Point and case, I loved Kingdom Hearts II because it expands the story, but I didn't care for the story or the way it was put together as opposed to the first one and thus, it was hard to branch off from there to continue my story.

Anyway, there is good news! (as you can see for there is a new chapter) I've been playing the game again, and listening to some music that inspires the mood. I'm also watching some music videos on KH and reading some other fanfics, watching lots of movies, and TV to get ideas and the like. And most importantly I'm trying to get my mind off this guy who's been tormenting me for so long, acting as if we're going to get back together. So here's to a new chapter and hopefully a renewed justice to the Kingdom Hearts series. Enjoy

( text ) ----- what a person is thinking

Ten: Substitute For Love

When deep in thought, sometimes one can miss out on important external forces; certain external forces that should be taken into account considering the potential harm they can cause. And one would think that having been trained and having experienced certain problematic and life-threatening situations, Sora would have keen enough senses to spot a runaway train a mile away. Unfortunately, regardless of his flawless fighting abilities and skills, when deep in thought about love, all logical reasoning and senses seemed to disappear. Especially, in this case, for Sora.

Sora walked in a rather robotic fashion through the streets of Sunset Avenue, his hands in his pockets, his eyes locked on the ground. He ruffled the change in his pocket as he inhaled deeply. Leave it to life to completely disorientate your once clear thinking. Leave it to the past to come and creep up on you just as you thought everything was set in stone. Sora gave a soft sigh trying to avoid the man next to him.

On a lighter note, Riku was walking tall next to Sora, hands by his sides, a rather relaxed stride in his legs leading him across town. Riku knew what was bothering his friend. He had already known about Namine and in fact, he already knew she was "in the neighborhood" so to speak. When one's as popular as Riku, one can find themselves rather intriguing company. Long story short, that night of the party, Sora might have missed more than just dancing. But, there really wasn't anything he could do now. What's the worse that could happen? She could show up to his house, maybe while Kairi was there, and then Sora would explain that she was just a friend. Namine would probably cry later, but at least that way she'd be out of Sora's hair. That sort of left the whole guilty conscious thing on his mind, though. Breaking another's heart doesn't exactly "not hurt" the other person.

The young brunette felt a light wisp skim the top of his left ear, and he vaguely remembered being in the process of averting his eyes in front of him.

Smack!

Sora winced, holding on to the left side of his head, quickly stretching up before crouching down in pain.

"Holy Sh---OW!"

Riku, however, barely flinched; he merely sighed and caught the body flying toward them next by the hood of his jacket. There was a jolt, and some resistance, but Riku's hold held firm. The victim nearly chocked as there was a sound of a lack of breath. Sora rubbed his injured side and stared in disbelief at the ground. Was that a skateboard?

"What the hell?"

He glanced forward to see an odd spectacle.

"Hey! Lemme go!"

The older teen finally released the young boy who had been in his grasp but couldn't resist tripping him as he dove for his skateboard. He was about a year younger than them, and if he wasn't he sure looked it. A mop of dirty blonde hair was at the top of his head and he was clad in all black lest a white shirt under his jacket. The unknown picked up his skateboard and dusted himself off, although with Riku's quick reflexes, he hadn't even hit the ground. Whether or not it would have hurt more or less than being stopped by Riku's hand was still in question. The boy didn't attempt to say anything, but just walk away.

"Oh, no you don't,"

Riku swiftly latched two fingers to the teen's loose belt and tugged him backwards. He turned around and the look on his face was difficult to decipher. It was a mix between anger and fear, embarrassment and sorrow.

"Look, I don't know what part of the islands you come from, but normally when someone smacks another person with their skateboard, they usually say at least 'I'm sorry'," Riku shrugged for effect, "I mean, the least you could do is be his slave for the day but I'll let that slide, kid,"

"The name's Roxas...and I'm sorry, ok? I was...man you should have seen the headstand I was about to pull, it was coming along so great! Really!"

Roxas moved his hands for effect and attempted to do his own version of a headstand while Riku rolled his eyes and glanced at Sora, who had just come to realize that he was bleeding. He touched the side of his head and examined his fingers dabbed in a crimson liquid that accompanied the ringing in his ears. Guess the hit was harder than he thought.

Riku nodded and smiled as if he knew or cared about what Roxas was talking about. The kid didn't seem so bad. Judging from his black attire and style of hair, he was probably just annoying and emotional, like any other teen their age. He approached him and gently took the skateboard from his grasp.

"Maybe I should hold on to this until you learn how to stand on your own two feet first. Next time, you never know, it could be a lady you hurt. And then I'd really have to kick your ass,"

Roxas was taken aback and frankly a bit scared at Riku's joke. Compared to him, Roxas was 5 inches smaller than him and no where near as built. He was blonde but he wasn't stupid; he could tell when a match was already won. Riku chuckled. The poor boy looked as if they had taken away his Christmas present. He tried his best to muffle his laughter when Roxas hung his head low. Summoning the small amount of sympathy he had, Riku examined the skateboard, came to the conclusion it was barely worth the effort, and casually threw it back at him.

"So scram, kid. Just be careful next time, ok?"

Taking into account the height discrepancy, Roxas had to leap to get a hold of his skateboard. He dusted off the imaginary imperfections caused by Riku's handling and gave a melodramatic salute.

"Aye aye!"

He gave Sora a concerned look.

"And sorry about your head, eh? You might want to check that out; it looks like it's swelling."

Sora inhaled deeply and held the breath in his mouth, his cheeks inflating like little balloons on the side of his face. To think that a skateboard would be responsible for such an injury. In his years of fighting relentless monsters, never had he once stepped into a hospital for recovery. A little bit of Cure to make it heal quicker, some of Aerith's potions for the pain, and a touch of Donald's poor attempt at bandaging and one was set for interplanetary travel. Now, he had a scratch on the side of his temple and he was taken to a public facility. Patience Sora had, but not if it was just lying down on a hospital bed. Uncomfortable to say in the least.

His companion, sitting on a chair beside him, had propped his legs up onto the hospital bed, his hands stretched behind his head. The things Riku did for Sora were sometimes unjustified. Saving him from the dark and all that mumbo-jumbo was all in good fun and even consoling his poor virgin friend on his newly discovered sexuality was one for the book, but being his chaperone for what to him was a lame injury was passing the line. He'd much rather be on the beach checking out the menu. With the thought, Riku's eyes closed envisioning such a scenario.

The hosptial door was opened wider with a small creek, distracting Sora from his very entertaining and time consuming count of the dots on the ceiling. In some point in the fantasies of men and perhaps women as well, the role of a sexy nurse in a tight white labcoat barely reaching the thighs, with revealing red linguerie in all aspects, comes to mind. Now the picture before the young men was not that of such but enough to inspire the memory. Sora tried to keep his mouth closed. Honestly, he wasn't trying to be rude although Riku felt it necessary to bump his chin up to close the gaping drool.

The nurse who emerged from the door was recognized after a double take on Sora's part yet she neither wore a tight lab coat or revealing undergarments much to the boys' dismay. She was in pink scrubs, her figure, however, clearly pressed against the fabric. Voluptuous was too grand a word to describe her but she did posses a "nice" figure with appealing curves. Her blond hair was tied up in a bun behind her head, a strand of her golden locks tucked behind her pierced ears. In her shirt pocket there was a pen and in her hands a clipboard with a folder. She certainly played the part well, even if she wasn't in playboy uniform.

The young woman looked up from analyzing the papers in her hands and gave a grin to the two in the room.

"Hello, boys,"

Sora cocked his head to the side.

"Oh my god, Namine!"

He looked at Riku for reassurance as a cold sweat swept over him but saw his friend give her what would be described later as a friendly hug even though Riku's hands ventured to less than decent places. Namine let out a giggle that deafened Sora more than the ringing in his brain. Her eyes lingered on him as if anticipating this reaction and somehow loving how shocked he was. Sora kept on staring, oblivious but it wasn't out of adoration or lust, but pure dumbfoundedness. Namine was his nurse...Riku was "making nice" with her...Kairi was...well, he didn't know where Kairi was, but he really didn't want her to be here.

Riku sensed the awkwardness and removed himself from Namine's side and leaned over on the bed with Sora. He gestured a hand to the lady.

"Sora, this is Namine. I would assume you two have met?"

The brunette death-glared his friend who maintained a cheerful countenance.

"Yea, we've met."

Namine saved him from having to say anything else, set down her notes on the nearby counter, and examined Sora's head injury in a cursory fashion. She did not move her eyes from the reddened bandage by his temple and passed her fingers through his hair looking for more damage. Sora winced a bit when she began to clean the cut with some disinfectant and replace the bandaging.

"Well, your X-rays are normal," she set his hair back to it's messy originality, "and besides wounded pride," her hands went to her hips, "I think you're just fine, my friend."

Sora gave an odd, half-hearted smile. The blonde noticed the icy silence between the two of them and tried to remedy it by leaving the room. She didn't expect him to be all ga-ga over her, or try to win her over being over taken by the unforseen attraction, but she didn't anticipate such a cold reception. He barely said a word to her. Actually, none his speech hadn't been directed towards her at all. It was as if him and Riku were the only ones in the room and frankly it made her uneasy. Namine gave Riku a curt smile and then picked up her equipment, heading towards the door.

"So, you're all set to go," she stopped at the door frame, "I'll see you two around,"

She made her leave and Riku added an, "Of course!" before she disappeared. He then turned his attention to Sora who had gotten the pillow behind him, pressed it against his face and muffled a desparate scream.

"Be more rude, Sora!"

Sora's eyes widened when he lifted his face from the pillow slightly and looked at Riku incredulously.

"Are you kidding me! Do you know who that was?"

"I introduced you to her if I recall that horrid display of etiquette," the eldest gave Sora a reprimanding scold, but coming from Riku it was just as much for show as acting to be surprised or bothered by Sora's social skills was indeed a comical facade.

Sora laid back against the bed and rubbed his face with his hands, slapping it once or twice.

"I can not believe this is happening!" He looked over at Riku, "Do you understand that me and her have a history? This is not good, Riku! Did you know about this!"

Riku didn't say anything at first. He propped his legs back up to the bed, interwined his fingers, and placed them on his lips as if he was in deep concetration and analysis of the situation.

"Alright, short-termed memory-boy, lemme recap for you. The night of the party, Namine was there. She was looking for you," The silver-haired narrator raised his eyebrows at Sora who was still looking at him anxiously, "and we both know very well that if she would have found you, that would have been a messy situation."

Riku tilted his head back and lifted his hands matter-of-factly.

"I mean, I'm not a perverted peepinng Tom but what you guys had going on there was a major porn flick if I've ever seen one!"

"RIKU!" Sora interjected.

The 19-year-old gave an outburst of laughter and then, after wiping his eyes of the joyful tears from seeing his friend go pale in embarrassment, explained.

"I'm kidding. Relax. C'mon, Sora, I knew you were with Kairi...but geez do you really think I want to see you guys getting it on? Bro, that's gross. Nah-uh."

He stuck out his tongue in disgust and gave a dramatic shiver, cracking his neck from side to side as a finale. Sora saw Riku going off topic so he sought the chance to regain integrity.

"Hahaha, ADD-boy," He kicked Riku's feet off their comfortable station on his bed, "What about Namine? She didn't find me so I'm supposing you...?"

He stuck out his hand as if waiting to serve Riku's response. The older teen shrugged.

"Well, I couldn't tell her where you were and if I told her I didn't know she'd go looking anyway. So, I gave her your number and said you had been 'busy' for the night. Then we danced, had a few drinks, you know, all in good fun. You gotta admit she's a fine ass pix. And no I did not know she worked at the hospital; she told me she was working just not where. This was pure luck,"

It clicked in Sora's mind that "pix" had been short for "pixie" and the thought of her in a fairy costume almost gave him a nosebleed. The second thing that clicked was that Riku found her sexy, which in a way was wrong because Riku and his girlfriend hadn't broken up. They should though, considering they basically are just friends with benefits. Riku had the emotional capacity of sustaining a meaningful relationship; really, he did. Sora knew him well enough to know this promiscuous lifestyle was his idea of "fun". But perhaps the thing that irked Sora the most was that he felt a tinge of jealousy when he saw Riku flirting with her. Why would he be jealous? She's not his and he doesn't want her. He had Kairi...Right?

Riku noticed Sora deep in thought again and decided he had enough of his attention to continue.

"She, and you actually, told me that she had called last night,"

"Yea, but I thought it was one of those things I can push away and avoid! Like if I just kept postponing a meeting she'd like, I don't know, leave or something!"

Riku was taken aback slightly.

"Hey, hey, hey. You're acting like a dick, Sora. You can't expect her to not have any more feelings for you. I mean, you did kinda lead her on,"

Sora groaned, "Oh my gosh, no I did not! It was a circumstantial mishap! And ok so yes she's very pretty but, geez Riku, did you forget I'm in love with Kairi?"

The eldest smirked, "So why are you're knickers all tied up in a knot then?"

He raised his eyebrows at him, and Sora sighed. Truth be told at one point he had liked Namine, a lot in fact. When he was away from Kairi, she, in more ways than one, took her place. He didn't know if he'd ever see Kairi again, and he found familiarity with Namine. She made him feel the way Kairi did, strong and free-willed. However, the blonde was not easily decieved. After hearing Sora's stories and tales of Kairi she knew she had lost the battle for his heart. Namine knew she would be the replacement, and never close to his real love. That's what stopped what would have been a compromising situation 2 years ago. Sora loved Kairi, he knew this without a doubt, but he felt a sudden curiousity seeing Namine standing before him again. Him and Kairi seemed set in stone, no more surprises. Did Namine feel that things between them were over? Did he feel that? Or maybe things weren't really given a chance? Was it really over?

This time, Riku had a difficult deciphering Sora's feelings, but he had a hunch about where it led to.

"Look, Sora, I really can't give you good advice in this situation. Someone is going to get hurt. But in my opinion, as great as Namine is, and I'm not saying this because I want a piece, but seriously, as great as she is and probably could be, I don't think it's worth it. I've known you and Kairi forever, I think you should give each other all you've got than ruining something great by playing both sides. I've cheated before," He exhaled and grinned slightly,"it's not a pretty picture; she'll never trust you again. Don't get caught up in the moment, okay? Think about what's really important,"

He shrugged again and walked out of the room, leaving Sora alone, staring off into the white halls. The keyblade weilder let his gaze fall down to the sheets and he swung his legs over the side of the bed, thinking whether or not he should go and find Namine, talk to her, try to see what this feeling was. He stuck his hands back into his pockets, releasing a deep breath, and walked out of the room.

As Sora passed through the corridors of the hospital, he kept a absent-minded watch out for a particular nurse, telling himself not to do anything he'd regret later, something that would hurt Kairi. His eyes were fixed on the floor, watching his reflection on the clean tile, when he heard a voice among all the muffled sounds of the facility. Sora looked up and rested on the wall to the side of the cafeteria door, as to not be noticed. His eyes closed and he took a deep breath. (Why are you doing this?)

Namine smiled and waved her goodbye to a fellow worker nonchalantly, in the somewhat fake happiness she always showed to everyone. A mask that covered deep thought and nostalgia. She sat back down in her chair, taking her fork in hand and playing with the meal in front of her with little effort. Her appetite was faltering and after seeing Sora, she didn't feel much like doing anything at all. Maybe this was all a big mistake. Namine wanted to see him, but she had no real motive. The thought of interfering in his life was not in her place. The despondecy of knowing what to do next gnawed at her heart painfully. She sighed, putting down her utensil and starred off in contemplation.

Sora watched her, and tried not to let the ball in his throat bother him. He didn't understand why, but he hated to see her distressed because of him. The urge to accompany her to lunch tugged at him. He closed his eyes trying not to think of what that would entail, where it would all lead.

The brunette exhaled and walked out of the hospital doors.

Kairi inserted the disk into the player under Sora's television where all his entertainment paraphernalia resided. Her finger pushed the triangle next to the eject button and proceeded to tip toe back to the couch where Sora lay comfortably in beige shorts and a green tee. She let a smile play on her lips as she scooped up the popcorn bowl from the center table and found a snug spot laying against his back, whispering, "Shhhhh! It's starting!" before stuffing ever so gracefully small kernels into her mouth.

Sora, on the other hand, cleared his throat as she got so close to his body, feeling suddenly awkward and ashamed that he had been, and actually still was thinking about Namine. However, it wasn't like a fantasy, like he preferred to have her pressed against him instead of his red-haired angel; it was a form of twisted torture he found flashing before his mind's eye. All throughout the movie he saw visions of her dancing in his head, kissing him, touching him, doing things that he'd never think of doing with Kairi. Sora didn't think he wanted these things to happen but regardless they appeared as abruptly cut filmstrips before his eyes. He hadn't cheated on Kairi, and he hoped he never would, but even just the thoughts made him feel extremely guilty.

The oblivious young woman ate joyfully the contents of the bowl, watching intently the movie, all the while thinking why Sora hadn't tried to touch her yet. She was aware that with them being in his house and Kristine being in her room, that consequently was very close, there would be some hesitation between them. Even then, she still gave a small frown. The movie was moving along at a slow pace and no matter how much she tried to intrigue herself in its plot, the more minutes that passed and Sora did nothing but reach over to eat some popcorn made her anxious and restless. Kairi decided to add a little spice to the recipe and pushed her back against his body sensually. She turned her head to look up at his who was watching the movie as if nothing had happened. Her grinning lips turned into a playful pout.

"Aw, Sora. You haven't tried to kiss me yet,"

He barely moved his eyes from the screen as they just barely glanced down at her form. Talk about crummy timing. The one moment where he found his dream girl pressed up against him and wanting to kiss him was when Sora freaked out and felt bad. He couldn't believe his horrible luck. Maybe if he played along this plague would subside and he'd forget all about Namine and this spell she'd put him under. He threw a popcorn down her shirt.

"What ever happened to 'shhh! it's starting!'?"

"Well..." Kairi began contemplatively until she was seized by Sora's hands and engulfed in a fit of giggles that ultimately ended with a light yet loving kiss from their lips. She let her hand reach up and play with the long strands of his hair behind his neck in attempt to deepen their display of affection but unfortunately, although she did not notice, her hands grazed over his bandaged wound and caused him to wince. The kiss was ended with sloppy abruptness.

"hmmOw.."

Kairi tittered a bit and winced along with him, passing her hand gently near the injured area.

"Aww...I'm sorry!"

Sora gave a weak smile which caused her to smile even wider and sit up clumsily on the couch. She proceeded to straddle his hips and lean into him, her eyes half closed.

"Don't worry..." Kairi's fingers went behind her head and held her hair to the side as to not disturb her lover's face, "I'll try not to hurt you."

Her lips grazed over his, softly kissing the corners of his mouth before suckling on his lower lip slowly. As if by instinct, her hips rocked gently in a wave-like motion over his body and naturally Sora's hands found no difficultly in stationing themselves on her bare thighs. He let his head fall back, relieved that Kairi's physical remedy was beginning to take effect on his psychological anxiety. The brunette let his girlfriend lead in opening his mouth aggressively and sucking passionately on his tongue, a technique he had never expereienced but he nonetheless found intoxicating to all his senses. Surprisingly, he found it hard to keep up and even to breathe. It felt like he was suffocating but if she stopped, he'd need more of her air.

Unfortunately, all things for a price.

Just as her thrusts into him became rougher and his rubs higher up her thighs, the visions started to come back. Sora's breathing became uneasy for every time a vision of her intruded upon him, he tried to cure it by forcefully responding to Kairi, but alas, it only intensified hallucinations. He shut his eyes tightly, pressing his lips hard against Kairi's outpacing her tongue's slow dance. Kairi's heart beat faster seeing how willfully he responded. She moaned into his mouth as he began to sit up as well, but was left gasping for breath when Sora pushed her away unexpectedly.

Kairi breathed in and out and sat down onto Sora's thighs, adjusting her shorts and replacing her brastrap that had fallen off her shoulder during the sway of her body. This was really a first. Sora pushing her off? Not trying to kiss her? He knew he would be apprehensive about being in his house, so she really didn't suspect anything too wrong. It was probably best to apologize. She did go a little too far. The young woman bit her bottom lip nervously.

"Sorry..."

In the same fashion, Sora tried to regulate his breathing and not look Kairi in the eye. How could this happen! Why was Namine affecting him so? He hated not being the way he used to with Kairi. He hated having doubt. He hated not wanting to ravish her right then and there. He hated thinking about what might have happened if things were different between him and Namine. And most of all, he hated lying.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry. It's just...I have this headache,"

Sora addressed the patch on the side of his head as if the reason was legitimate.

"I should have told you; it's been bothering me all day,"

He looked down. God, how he hated acting.

"...I guess I didn't want to disappoint you,"

Kairi sent him a lopsided smile and wrapped her arms around his stomach, looking up at him and kissed his cheek in acceptance of his apology.

"Yea, you should have told me!" She playfully scolded, "But you don't have to worry. It's not like I'm going to bite your head off if you tell me you don't feel like making out,"

Even as the words escaped her lips, Kairi didn't like the ring in them. She didn't expect them to be always making out, but not wanting to? It made her feel as if something had been lost or that something would be. It made her turn inside slightly and she felt uneasy pursuing the topic. She let her disontent fade into her own paranoia hoping it would fade from existence entirely. Her arms tightened around Sora and her eyes closed optimistically. Kairi hoped desparately that wasn't the case.

Sora wrapped his arms around her waist, reassuringly; for her and for himself as well.

"No way! I've...just had a busy day," He let his voice trail off but did his best to remain in character, "Plus ma's here. Don't want her thinking you're indecent,"

The comment made Kairi smirk, and she teasingly turned and punched his stomach. After receiving his exaggerated expression of pain and anguish, she turned back triumphantly and curled up beside him, turning her attention back to the movie. How he responded to her gave her satisfaction that everything would be okay. It was just one of those "testing" moments, when things in a relationship aren't all hot and steamy or lovey-dovey romantic.

"Ok, then, but seeing as though you're not going to keep me awake, don't be surprised if you find me sleeping!"

Kairi closed her eyes before she thought of something else to add.

"And no fishy ideas while I'm unconscious! That's against the rules if you get to have fun when I'm asleep,"

Sora exhaled a gentle laugh as Kairi leaned her head onto Sora, using his chest as a pillow. She was beautiful, in every way, and the thought of not deserving her was eating away at his carefree exterior. As her breathing slowed and confirmed that she was preparing for a deep slumber, Sora let his fingers pass through her hair, his contenance exerting sadness and pity over the situation he tried to conceal.

"Sleep tight, Kai,"

A/N: OMIGOSH! Before I do my author's commentary, I must say something about what happened to Haley Joel Osment! I was going online and on my homepage there was news that he had been hospitalized in a car accident on Thursday July 20th! o.O He apparently collided with a brick pillar and his car flipped. Oh my GOD! SORA! tear Well, I hope he's alright, that's mighty unfortunate. Alrighties. DO NOT KILL ME! This is the chapter you have all been waiting for! Yes I have finally uploaded a new chapter and now this story is back on track. No, I have not gone crazy that suddenly this story becomes a Sora x Namine. NEVER! I just need to have this in there to add the despair of doubt that I'm sure fills even the most moral individuals. Don't think badly of Sora! He loves Kairi. Namine is just the antagonist of this set up issues. Anyway, the next chapter should make you all feel better about it and not think she's a total slut. Hokay, I shall see you all soon since I am almost certain the next chapter will not take a year to develop. Much love guys. Thank you so much for your support!