Dark Surprise

It happened so fast...

Kairi and Sora were visiting their friends in Radiant Garden and it was really nice. They hung out together and ate some ice cream. Then Sora wanted to show her around town and Kairi couldn't help but hope he just looked for an excuse for them to be alone.

But then at some point heartless appeared. And not just the few that always came to bother them, but a gigantic horde! Sora moved quickly to protect her, but she wouldn't let him fight alone and summoned her keyblade as well. "I'll help you!" Sora hesitated, but he didn't have another choice but to accept her help when the heartless attacked.

Kairi became really good at fighting. Of course she wasn't as good as Sora or Riku, but she trained hard enough to not be a liability anymore. But then it happened. One of the bigger ones hit her hard, right against a wall. "Kairi!" She heard Sora scream her name, as she fell to the ground. It hurt really bad and she must've hit her head, because her vision turned hazy.

Before she lost consciousness, she swore she heard Sora scream again and then saw another heartless that attacked...its own kind?

The redhead woke up when she felt something nudging her arm. Her back and head still hurt, but at least she didn't get any severe injuries. It was quiet, so the heartless must be gone by now. She just hoped Sora was okay...

Then something nudged her again. Kairi rubbed her eyes and looked up to see two bright yellow eyes staring back at her. The redhead squealed and backed away from the heartless. She summoned her keyblade and held it up to defend herself, shutting her eyes tightly and waiting for the attack. But it never came. Opening her eyes again, she took a closer look.

It was...smiling at her? And not only that, it looked a lot like Sora. He was pitch black and had yellow eyes. Her heart stopped at this sight. "Sora? Is that you?" The creature grinned brightly at her. She's never seen such a happy heartless before...Letting her keyblade disappear again, she moved closer to him.

"Sora...?" She teared up, obviously thinking he lost his heart to the darkness. The heartless stopped grinning and tilted his head, looking confused now. When he suddenly leaped closer to her —now she noticed that he's standing on 'four legs'— she backed away again, letting out a high pitched squeal.

The dark Sora stared at her for a few seconds, before rubbing his head against her shoulder like a cat. It was so weird, but at least Soras heartless was friendly. Heartless or not, she just couldn't hurt any part of him. And he still seemed to like her. That's good. But she'd rather have the real Sora back.

It was also weird that this one looked so much like Sora and the first time he turned into a heartless he looked like the other little creatures. She patted the heartless' head, surprised that the black hair was soft, while he leaned into her touch. Maybe she could bring him back like the last time? Except she didn't know how she did it exactly.

As she thought about it, some new heartless appeared out of nowhere. Dark Sora noticed her distress and before she had the chance to act, he jumped up abruptly and attacked the little creatures. It was so weird, but very much welcome. Kairi watched the dark Sora fight with his claws. He was extremely fast and the little ones had no chance against him.

Once they were defeated, Dark Sora ran up to her on all fours and rubbed his head against her shoulder again. As if he'd say 'did I do good?'. Kairi couldn't help but think it's cute, imagining the real Sora would do this made her giggle, though. Then yellow eyes stared up at her in wonder, before grinning widely.

Then he skipped happily to her side and rubbed his head against her arm as if to say she should get up. She did so and then he kept pushing her. Right, they needed to get out of here...Dark Sora bounced around her, leading the way. The redhead giggled again, at first he reminded her of a cat and now he's a dog.

On their way to a save place they ran into more heartless but the Dark Sora defeated them all, obviously protecting her from harm.

Once they were in a safe place the adrenaline left Kairis veins and she slumped on the ground, leaning against the wall. Dark Sora noticed this and ran back to her, looking worried. "I'm okay." She mumbled, now feeling the pain in her back and head to the full extent. Kairi held her head, feeling something wet there.

Even though she could guess what it was she was still surprised to see the blood on her hand. Dark Sora saw it and looked panicked. Kairi had no idea heartless could have so many emotions...He moved around nervously, maybe thinking about what he could do. If heartless could think at all...

With obviously nothing else in mind, he just cuddled up to her, burying his face in the crook of her neck. She patted his head again and minutes later was blinded by light. When the light dimmed again, Kairi saw brown hair now instead of black. Looking down, she saw that her Sora was back!

Kairi heard him groan and when he moved away to sit up and looked at her with those blue eyes, she felt herself tearing up again. "Kairi...?" He mumbled, eyes wide and cheeks bright red. "Sora!" The tears spilled as she hugged him tightly, being beyond happy that she didn't lose him to the darkness. "I thought I lost you."

The redhead felt him hugging her back hesitantly. "Huh? What do you mean?" It looked like this time he couldn't quite remember what happened. "A-are you okay?!" He exclaimed suddenly, after he felt the wet spot on her head and saw the blood. "I'm great." She half lied, hugging him tighter. "Right, you were hit...and then..."

"You were a heartless." Sora stiffened at her words, his bloody hand going back to the injury on the back of her head. "I was...?"

"Yes, I thought they...that you're..." Sora tightened his hold on her slightly. "Sorry you had to see it. It...happens sometimes. I don't know why though, maybe because of the darkness in my heart." The redhead broke their embrace to look into his eyes. "Wait, this happened before and you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you. Sorry..." He mumbled looking away. "Do you have any idea how worried I was right now?"

"Sorry..." The spikey haired boy said with a meek voice. "I didn't want you to think I'm a monster. I'm sorry."

"What are you talking about? Why would I think that? Also you were very sweet like that." Sora looked up at her, confused. "Your appearance may have changed, but your heart was the same. You still wanted to protect me. And you were even as clingy as a cuddly cat." Kairi giggled when he blushed a deeper red than before.

"So, I didn't hurt you?" Sora mumbled, looking up at her shyly. "Of course not." In that moment Kairi realized that the pain in her head was gone. Sora must've healed her when he held her head. She was really slow with these things..."I love you no matter what." The boy stiffened again but just for a second, before hugging her back and putting his head on hers. "I love you, too, Kairi."