AN: Wrote most of this while sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's surgery this morning, with someone peering over my shoulder. It's really difficult to concentrate when someone's reading what you're doing. Oh well. Prompt number 15 - "rape". About as pleasant to write as you'd expect, really (ie not at all).

"She's been hiding in there for three days now. See if you can talk any sense into her."

I'd started to get worried about Kairi when she hadn't turned up for her lectures. That just isn't like her at all, so I thought I'd better see how she was. Her housemate, Naminé, let me in and pointed me towards Kairi's room.

I knocked on the door. "Kairi?"

Getting no response, I opened it, just in time to see her trying to shuffle even further into the corner, holding the blanket from her bed over her body, as though for protection.

"Kairi, I don't bite." She mumbled something I didn't quite catch. "Say that again?" This time, she shook her head, reaching for a box of tissues on her bedside table. "You can talk to me, you know. What's wrong?"

That was when she looked at me properly for the first time since I entered the room. It worried me. I have never, in all the time I've known her, seen Kairi look scared. This, however, was way beyond scared – she was terrified. That was enough to tell me what had probably happened, but she'd begun to speak.

"A few days ago, I… Tidus… he wanted to have sex. I didn't…"

"Kairi, did he force you?"

"He told me that if I loved him, I'd do it."

Carefully, I sat down on the bed and took one of her hands in mine. She didn't pull it away, which meant she'd stopped regarding me as a threat. "If he loved you, he would have stopped asking when you said no."

"He just kept saying I didn't love him enough and things like that. I…"

Kairi paused, her eyes streaming with tears. I handed her a tissue, waited for her to continue telling me what had happened.

"It hurt so much, and all he said was that I'd get used to it and all girls think it's painful to start with."

"Heartless bastard." I couldn't help it, the words just slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. She almost smiled.

"What would I do without you, Axel?"

"Sit in here and cry for even longer, probably. Do you want me to go and deal with Tidus for you?"

"No. He already dumped me."

"He's got a nerve."

"Please, don't make a fuss about it."

"If you're sure about that."

"I am."

…………………

She did, eventually, agree to leave the house the next day, but stuck firmly by my side all the time. If I'm honest, I was rather enjoying my new role as Kairi's bodyguard. She clung to my arm all day, and I don't know what she'd have done if we'd seen Tidus. Fortunately, we didn't.

"Thanks for putting up with me, Axel."

"It's no problem."

Tentatively, she wrapped her arms around my waist. Kairi always was physically affectionate towards her friends, so I suppose she was missing it. Carefully, I hugged her back, not wanting to frighten her again.

A few days later, we ran into Tidus with his arms wrapped around some other girl. I barely suppressed the urge to hit him in the face, but I was so proud of Kairi. She called out to the girl, "Watch out for him, he doesn't understand the word no."

We did laugh, then, at the expression on Tidus's face. It was the first time that Kairi had laughed since this happened, so it meant she must be recovering. Good. Being miserable doesn't suit her.

…………………

"Why didn't I just leave him, Axel? I should have done, when he kept pressuring me."

"I'd learned, over the last few weeks, that she wasn't looking for answers from me, she just wanted to talk about it. When she rested her head on my shoulder, I wrapped one arm around her waist. We were sitting in her room, supposedly doing a piece of work for class, but it had been abandoned ages ago.

"It isn't as though I even liked kissing him, let alone anything else."

I hadn't heard that one before. Ruffling her hair, I asked, "Was he that bad at it?"

"Terrible. I can't really describe it, but it was bad." She looked at me as though she'd just had an idea. "I bet you wouldn't be."

"I'm not kissing you just to prove a point, Kairi."

"I'm not asking you to." Somehow, she'd ended up on my lap, running her fingers through my hair. "What if I kissed you?"

"Don't do anything you're going to regret."

"I'm not."

Without giving me time to reply, she kissed me. Tentatively, at first, unsure. My arms wrapped around her as her fingers tangled in my hair, pulling sharply at it. Not that it bothered me in the slightest. I knew I shouldn't be encouraging her, but what was I supposed to do? I wanted this, probably even more than she did, but I wasn't going to push her. Anything that happened would be dictated by her.

"Kairi…"

"Please, Axel. Make me forget him."

How could I refuse a request like that? "If you want me to stop, just tell me, and I'll stop."

I kissed her again, running my hands lightly up her back. She said she wanted this, but I didn't want to take it too far, too soon. If I'd had any doubts about what she wanted, her response reassured me – she tugged at my shirt, trying to undo the buttons quickly.

"Slow down, Kai, there's no rush."

She blushed then, looking absolutely adorable. My hands slid under her top, remaining on her back for the moment. She needed to know that sex didn't always have to be like that – she could enjoy it. Her muscles tensed under my fingers – she was clearly nervous, even though she'd said she wanted this. I kissed her again, wanting her to calm down, to relax.

We began to undress each other, slowly, running hands all over the revealed skin, then following them with lips. Kairi was tentative but interested, which was what I'd hoped she'd be.

She almost leaped off the bed when I slid one hand underneath her skirt. I tried to pull back, thinking I'd gone too far, but she didn't let me.

"No, don't stop."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't think I've ever been more sure."

My fingertips brushed lightly against her; she gasped loudly and clutched at my arms.

"Axel, could you… do that again?" Her voice was quiet and her skin flushed. I smiled, holding her close with one arm while the other hand stroked her softly. I listened to the sounds coming from her mouth – I'm sure she didn't realise she was making them. I kept up the action until she climaxed, crying out and holding me even tighter. When she tried to return the favour, I pulled her hands away, kissing her fingertips.

"Some other time, maybe."

"But you…"

"It's nothing a cold shower won't cure."

"You hate cold water, Axel. In fact, you just hate the cold in general."

"For you, Kairi, I'll deal with it. But not now."

…………………

Naminé found us, several hours later, sleeping. Instead of waking us, she just closed the door again and let us be. I only know this because she later felt the need to tell us, adding that we looked incredibly sweet, even cute, together.

AN: The review button looks all forlorn, because it isn't being clicked often enough. Go on, click it.