Phew, another tragedy fic. Seems like it's all I ever write lol. As usual, this idea has been in my head for a long time and since rainy days at the beach are no fun, it was finally written. I was also unsure of whether to actually post this on Valentine's Day or not, but I figured that day is meant for happiness and although it would add to the emotional value of this story I decided I wouldn't depress you guys with that haha.

Thank you Linkin Park for writing such an amazing, though tragic song and giving me inspiration yet again.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the song "Valentine's Day" by Linkin Park.

o.x.o

Valentine's Day

o.x.o

X.o.X

I used to be my own protection

but not now

X.o.X

"Perfect." Sora complemented himself as he pocketed a paopu fruit. 'All these weeks of planning are finally going to pay off tonight.' He let out a relieved sigh, closing his eyes and just relaxing for a moment. The past few weeks he had been planning for the most elaborate and perfect Valentine's day date so that he could surprise Kairi and finally confess his feelings. Ever since he returned to Destiny Islands, he had attempted to do something like this every time her birthday or a holiday came around. He was in his senior year of high school and none of his plans had ever gone right.

'This time is for sure, though.' The brunette attempted to boost his own confidence, but the feeling quickly lagged. "Oh, who am I kidding," He sighed to himself with a sad chuckle, "it'll probably turn out to be a disaster again…" Feeling the heat of the sun beat down on his back through his shirt, Sora decided it was time to go back home and relax. And maybe a shower too, considering by the time he made it home after rowing his boat between the islands he would be drenched in sweat.

Walking through his front door, he almost yelled out a hello to his parents but quickly remembered that they were on a cruise for their anniversary. Yes, Sora's parents did the stereotypical move of getting married on Valentine's day. It did not really matter to him, he figured if they loved each other it did not matter if the day they decided to get married was a holiday or not.

Thankfully, Sora's parents had trusted him to be alone in the house or else he would have had to spend a week locked up with one of his relatives. They knew Sora knew better than to hold a big drunken party or sneak a girl over (although technically it would not be sneaking, as he saw it). 'Well, if things go that good with Kairi tonight--' He blushed and cutoff his own thought, 'No, no, no. I respect my parents and Kairi to much to do that, or even think about it.'

Still, now that he had imagined it, the picture would not leave his head. Grabbing a handful of clothes and heading towards to bathroom, Sora commented aloud, "Nothing a cold shower can't help."

No later than Sora had stepped into the shower did the phone start ringing. He groaned out loud, muttering, "Great timing." Deciding it was most likely Riku, his parents, or Kairi he figured they could wait another fifteen minutes for him to call them back. Grabbing the soap and rubbing it against the opposite arm, he came to an even more likely conclusion, 'It was probably just a company trying to sell something.'

Finishing his shower, drying off, and changing into his black t-shirt and khaki shorts, Sora moved down the hall to retrieve the paopu fruit from his other shorts' pocket. Noticing the answer machine's light was blinking, he mashed the play button and continued down the hall. Rummaging through his clothes, the machine began to play it's default voice, "You have one new message. First new message from two-twenty-six p.m. February fourteenth. Beep--"

"Aha!" Sora exclaimed as he pulled out the fruit from the pile of clothes. Hearing a shaky breathing fill the room out of the speakers, he gave a raised eyebrow toward the machine.

"S-Sora," Riku's voice echoed through the room; his tone scared and heavy, causing Sora's eyes to widen in shock, "It's Kairi. She's really screwed up. I--…I don't know what to do. But, she needs you; she hasn't said anything but your name. Please hurry."

He didn't even know what the was doing anymore. In a dazed state, he grabbed his car keys, revved the engine in the car, and was halfway to the hospital before any thoughts managed to register. He was so confused as to what was going on. Was she okay? Was she dying? Riku had been very vague as to what was going on. All he knew was he had to get there.

'Riku seemed pretty shook up, but he said Kairi had been saying my name. If she can talk that means she's mostly okay, right?' He asked himself repeatedly, then the confusion finally took over. The tears started to fall followed by exclamations of, "Damn it!" and "Why wasn't I there?" Plus a few alterations. It seemed to take an hour or more to make it to the hospital even though it was only a few minutes. He did not even know if he walked or ran into the front office; all his decisions were a blur and he was surprised that the security guy at the desk even understood that he asked for Kairi.

Managing to get an elevator right away, Sora could almost hear a clock ticking in his ears as it slowly crept upwards. Clenching his fists, he let out another string of curses. Realizing that he was not alone in his car anymore, he quickly whirled around to say, "I'm sorry…sorry…" His face warmed as he exited on his floor.

Dashing into the waiting room, the younger boy immediately dove towards Riku once he spotted him. "What happened!?" He cried out, grabbing onto the collar of Riku's shirt.

"The driver that hit her car was bending down to get their cell phone…" He spoke softly, but helped Sora in no way in the means of calming down.

"Well, is she okay?" He asked pleadingly, his voice turning hysterical as the older boy looked away, "Is she okay, Riku?"

His aquamarine eyes begging to tear up, he replied, "Sora, they don't think she's--"

The brunette's knees buckled up and he fell to the ground, crying out, "No! Don't tell me that!" Before the other boy could talk again, Sora continued, "Riku, why wasn't I with her? Why isn't it me? Why Kairi?"

The teen shaking with sobs, Riku gently placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know it's not fair, but accidents--"

"Fuck that," Sora quickly replied, earning a gape from Riku. Ignoring it, the brunette muttered, "Today was suppose to perfect. I had everything all planned out and this happens." Then he proceeded to bury his face in his hands, muffling, "I love her."

Eying his friend sadly, Riku replied, "I know."

A doctor then came out of the surgical room, diverting both of the boys' heads to his direction. Sora quickly jumped up, repeating the question, "How is she?" Though he already knew the answer.

The man frowned, "Not too good," and continued with all sorts of medical terms that made no sense to Sora and only made him feel worse. "You can see her now." He finished.

"Thank you," Sora replied before ducking into the other room, Riku following suit. Spotting her covered in various tubes and dressed in a hospital gown, they rushed to her side. Clutching her one of her hands in both of his, Sora lowered his head and spoke softly, "Kairi…"

Though her eyes were closed, her lips cracked a smile. Giving a smile back for a second, Sora re-surveyed the various gashes, bruises, and scrapes that covered her body. Eyes beginning to fill with tears again and his voice cracking, he stated, "I'm so sorry, Kairi. I should have been with you. I should have--"

"Just ignore him, Kairi. He's just trying to be typical Sora and put all the blame on himself." Riku cutoff the younger boys rant, earning another smile from Kairi but a glare from Sora.

"He's right, you know." Kairi spoke very quietly, her sapphire eyes now open but did not hold their usual brightness.

Laughing a little, Sora replied, "I can't help it." Gripping her hand a little tighter, he added, "You know I'd do anything to switch places with you right now, right?"

Nodding, she replied, "Yeah, but I'd rather not; I'd be losing my mind."

Laughing again, he replied, "I am, really…I guess I'm hiding it pretty well. Though I can't see how I am when you had even Mr. Tough guy over there tearing up."

"Hey!" The other boy exclaimed in protest of his newly acclaimed nickname, causing Kairi to laugh and have a small coughing fit.

"I'm sorry," Sora automatically apologized.

"It's okay." She replied, a moment of silence passing by before she spoke again, "Riku, could you leave for a minute or two? I wanna talk to Sora alone for a bit."

Taking a minute to comprehend her words, he exclaimed, "Oh! Of course."

"Thanks." The appreciation shone through her eyes as she watched him leave the room. Blinking her eyes and redirecting them back to Sora, she began to open her mouth to talk but was interrupted by Sora.

"Before you talk, there's something I gotta say." Kairi felt Sora's hand grip tighten again on hers and gave a small nod. He looked away, his face beginning to turn a shade of red, "I was planning all this stuff for you today and everything was suppose to be so perfect. I can show you once you get out of here, but it won't be the same, I guess."

Ignoring his statement of 'out-of-the-hospital', Kairi asked, "Why do you always try so hard?"

"I don't know," He blurted out, still not facing her, "It's just what happens. I always want everything to be perfect for you but something always manages to backfire on me."

"It's funny to watch. But you know, you never really had to try." He looked up at Kairi with his confused sapphire eyes; she closing her own eyes and stating softly, "I always knew."

"When?" He was speechless. All these years he had been trying so hard to make the first move and she knew all along how he felt.

She smiled, "I figured it had to be love if you sacrificed yourself for me. Not to mention traveled the worlds twice to rescue me."

Scratching the back of his neck with a free hand, he replied sheepishly, "Heh, yeah." Pausing for a moment, he then asked, "But, why didn't you say anything, or give me hints or something?"

"Just being the typical girl," She gave a soft laugh, "waiting for the classic confession, true loves first kiss, and all that sort of stuff."

"Then I'm sorry I made you wait so long," Sora leaned forward to her lips, kissing her ever so gently to make sure he did not hurt her at all. After a few minutes, he finally decided Kairi should save her strength, so he broke away and made his confession, "I love you, Kairi."

"Just like I imagined," She stifled another laugh, her voice beginning to crack with tears as she finished, "I almost forgot where I was…"

"Shh, Kairi; it's okay." He raised a hand to her face.

"No, it's not," She shook her head as the tears came down faster, "You heard what the doctor said, Sora."

"Forget what he said," The brunette's voice was now unsteady, continuing, "Miracles happen all the time. You've fought so hard before, you brought me back from being a heartless; you can do this, Kai."

Still sobbing, she coughed, "I wish I could."

Wiping away her tears with his thumb, Sora replied in a desperate voice, "Stop saying that; you can do it. You're gonna be okay and we'll finish our senior year and maybe I'll re-do that whole dinner thing I had planned for tonight. Then we'll go to college, graduate, eventually get married, have kids and get old together, okay?"

Tears leaking out of her tightly shut eyes, she cried, "You're too perfect, Sora. I'm gonna miss you…"

"Don't," He wiped a tear from his own eyes on his sleeve, then moving bother of their hands over her heart, he whispered, "I'm always right here. And you're always with me."

With the tears stopped, but her eyes still closed, she replied weakly, "That's right."

A minute of silence passing by and her breathing growing slower, Sora called out to her, "Kairi?"

"Still here." She muttered in reply, her hand giving the smallest squeeze to show the effort. Letting a few more minutes of silence pass by with Sora gently stroking her hand with his thumb, she then called for him, "Sora?"

"Yeah?" His eyes diverted up to hers.

Her eyes open and holding the smallest glimmer of what they usually did, she finally answered, "I love you, too." And with that her eyes closed and her pulse sank to nothing.

"Kairi?" Sora called out desperately in attempt to make her conscious again, "Kairi! Kai…Oh, God, no…" Despite the fact that the smile on her face could not be any lovelier and she died happy, Sora wept for hours on end.

A few days later as he lay a rose atop Kairi's casket, he concluded, 'I never really knew what it was like to be alone on a Valentine's day.'

X.o.X

And now you're gone

And I was wrong

I never knew what it was like

To be alone

On a Valentine's Day

X.o.X