December 2010: Edited all the chapters to fix the missing divider bars that somehow got deleted. And a few spelling errors I found.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Disney and Squaresoft do.
Notes: This story was started and posted on this website years ago. My last update on a few of the old files I found is 7/26/06. So over 3 years ago. I removed all my stories at one point to re-work and type a few. This one never got reposted.
Warnings: Rated M. Contains language, fertility experiment that results in a pregnant male, kid napping, depression, and some light sexual scenes. Nothing too detailed, rated mostly to be safe.
Setting: About 1 year after Kingdom Hearts 2 ended. Sora and Kairi are 17, Riku is 18.

In Life and Death
Prologue

The night sky had long ago settled in on the small island. The only light that would be seen was that from the moon which glowed on the water's calm surface. It wasn't too chilly out that night, even though spring had barely started.

"Sora! Hey Sora!"

The brunette sat on the edge of the beach, the waves lapping at his shoes. At the sound of his name, he turned slightly to look back. "Hey Kairi, Riku." He smiled and waved them over.

"So what are you doing?" Kairi asked as she peered down at him, brushing a stand of reddish-brown hair behind her ear.

Sora shrugged and looked back at the water before him. "Nothing really." It wasn't really a lie. He wasn't doing anything really. Just sitting there, dreading the thought of going to school tomorrow. He wished the weekends could last longer. Although he really didn't want school to be over. Riku was graduating this year, leaving Sora and Kairi to fend for themselves for a year. He sighed softly as he leaned back. Hopefully the next couple months would pass slowly.

Riku plopped down beside him. "Silly boring Sora." He mused.

"I'm not boring!" Sora snapped.

Kairi giggled as she took a seat on Sora's other side. "Just silly then, huh?"

Sora pouted slightly and crossed his arms. "Stop teasing me!"

Riku laughed and pushed against the brunette. "Awe! Come on Sora. Don't be such a wet blanket."

"Oh!" Sora threw up his arms. "So now I'm a blanket!" He tried not to laugh.

"Uh huh." Kairi smiled with a nod. "A wet one!"

"Gee! Thanks!"

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

"Did you HAVE to hit them that many times?"

The aged man turned towards his charge, a smirk on his lips. He was dressed completely in black, the dark color of it contrasted greatly with his pale skin and graying hair. "It was mandatory. I had to make sure that they wouldn't awaken until we were through with them."

His charge turned her back on him and glanced towards the three sleeping bodies. Each was laid gently upon a metal examining table, all in a row. She sighed slightly as she neared the center one. She stared at the young brunette boy's face. She was a good bit older than him but probably half the age of her mentor. She was decked out entirely in white, a contrast as well with her green eyes and red hair. "One shot would have done." She muttered, crossing her arms stubbornly.

He waved her off. "The darts contain a mild sedative mixture, completely harmless. It guarantees that they will feel nothing and remember nothing when they do awaken. An overdose will just leave them a bit feverish and sluggish for a while. No harm done. Now!" He stepped up beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hurry up!"

With a sigh, she nodded. "Okay." She moved out of his reach to the left and stepped up beside the young girl.

"I will go over it one more time, Veera. And no mistakes!" He moved around to the other side of the pedestal. "I will not tolerate any."

She nodded, averting her eyes from his penetrating gaze.

He turned and walked towards the middle. "You extract an egg from the female." He pointed towards the reddish-brunette haired girl. "Engineer the egg to undergo meiosis but extract the DNA before it is transferred into the daughter cell."

"Leaving just an empty shell, right?" She interrupted, not lifting her gaze.

He gave a slight grunt and nodded. "Correct. Next, extract a sperm sample from the brunette. Take an X chromosome and inject it into the egg." He pointed towards the boy that lay on the middle pedestal. "Finally, have a sperm sample from the silver haired boy fertilize the egg."

"Boy or girl?" She interrupted again.

He turned towards her with a questioning look. "What?"

"A boy or girl?" She repeated. "The baby. Do you want a boy or girl?"

"Oh." He thought for a moment and waved the question off. "It doesn't matter to me either way."

She nodded. "Okay then. I'll surprise you." She added sarcastically as she turned back towards the table with the girl. "So then I implant the zygote back in her, where it will attach and grow until you are ready to collect it."

"No!"

She spun around and gave him a perplexed look. "Umm… I don't understand. The baby cannot grow without a host."

He nodded. "Yes, Veera. I am not the complete idiot you take me for. I know that."

"That is not what I meant…" She said slowly, then crossed her arms and glared at him. "Well I'm certainly not carrying it!"

The comment brought a smile to his lips. "I actually hadn't thought of that. It would be a lot simpler of a plan… but no." He shook his head. "That would not be in the best interest of the baby. And the baby is in my best interest."

"Then what do I do with it?"

He waited a moment before moving towards the middle pedestal where the brunette boy lay. "Put it in him."

Her eyes widened slightly as she realized that he was serious. "Zing! You cannot be serious!"

He lowered his eyes, his face growing deadly serious. "Veera, you will do as I say."

She threw up her arms, consenting. "Fine. Will you at least tell me why?"

"No. You know all you need to know." He answered with a curt smile and turned.

"Just how is this going to help you get control over the keyblade?" She demanded.

He waved the question off as he headed towards the exit. "You will know when I want you to."

"Wait!" She called after him. "Where are you going? You can't just leave me alone here with them! What if something goes wrong?"

"I have other business to attend to." He answered smoothly. "I have faith in you, my dear. I suggest you get to work before they wake up. You have two hours before I return. At that time, they will need to be taken back to the island."

She nodded again after he left and let out a suppressed sigh. She turned back towards the still bodies. Her eyes rested on the spiky-haired brunette. "You're going to be one confused young man when you find out." She tilted her head to the side, studying him a moment. "Broken hearted too, I imagine." She shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry."

Chapter 1: Out of It

The air was still as the dew settled on the leaves of the trees. The wind was calm, as were the waves. It was steadily approaching dawn on the quiet, shadowed island. Sleep still captured the island, keeping it captive as the sun touched the water's surface to vanquish the lightless shadows.

Three shadows lingered on the sandy beach even as the sun continued to rise into the morning sky. Three shadows that shouldn't have been there at that hour. Three shadows that didn't belong there.

White... white walls... stale air... voices... poking and prodding…

"Sora?"

Someone gripped his shoulders and shook him lightly. In response, he pushed hard against the body and rolled over, hugging his knees against him and refusing to wake up.

"Sora! Wake up!"

Kairi? Is that you? His head swam as he slowly became aware of the sand beneath him. "Hmm…" His blue eyes fluttered open, catching the glare of the sun off the sand.

"You lazy bum! Get up!"

"Kairi?"

"Sora!" The voice squealed in a close to annoying pitch and then giggled. "See Riku? I told you he was okay. And you were worried for nothing!"

"He won't be if he hits me again!" Another voice retorted. "And I wasn't worried!"

Slowly, Sora rolled over and sat up, the simple movement making his head spin worse, if that was possible. He lifted his hand to his head and groaned. "What happened?"

"Seems like we fell asleep."

Sora glanced over at the silver haired teen as he spoke. Then tilting his head to the side, Sora snorted. "We fell asleep? All three of us? On the beach?"

Riku rolled his eyes slightly and crossed his arms. "Sora, where are we?"

"Uh… the beach?" He answered, stating the obvious as he glanced around.

"What did Kairi and I just do?"

"Wake me up, I guess."

"And where is the sun at this moment?" Riku cocked his head to the side.

"Uh… the sky…" Sora paused and then nodded slowly as it sunk in. "Okay… I get it…" He raised his arms and threw Riku a glare. "You don't have to be so snappy about it."

He shrugged at that. "Ask a stupid question and get a stupid answer."

Kairi giggled and placed her hands on her cocked hips. "Don't mind him Sora. He's just sore at you for pushing him."

"Am not!" Riku snapped, uncrossing his arms. He raised a finger to wag it in Kairi's direction.

"I did?" Sora glanced at Riku and smiled awkwardly as he ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry if I hurt you."

Riku's eyes widened for a moment then shrank into a glare. "You couldn't hurt me!" He turned to the side and crossed his arms once again.

Sora smiled as he watched the wind play with is friend's long, silver hair.

"It was funny, though." Kairi said, smiling as he knelt down by Sora and whispered, "He landed flat on his butt in the sand!" She giggled and lifted a hand to cover her mouth. "Sand flew everywhere!"

"Kairi…" There was a warning tone to Riku's voice.

"And then he kind of rolled back, sprawled out." She tilted her head to the side and smiled sweetly as she raised her gaze to Riku. "You were very graceful Riku."

"Shut it Kairi."

Kairi poked Sora and scooted closer to him. "He was covered in sand! It was pretty much pouring off him when he stood up. He's still probably got a ton in his hair.

Sora stole a glance at the fuming Riku and tried, but failed, to suppress a laugh. "And I missed it?" He glanced back to Kairi. "You should have woken me up sooner."

Kairi giggled as she ruffled his cinnamon hair. "If you had been awake, it wouldn't have happened."

"Can we please stop talking about it?"

"Awe come on, Riku." Kairi got to her feet and cocked her hips once again. "Just poking fun."

"Yeah! At my expense."

Sora laughed as he listened to his two friends bicker back and forth. He yawned slightly as he stood up. The headache was gone, just he still felt a bit dizzy and unsteady on his feet. He wavered slightly before regaining his balance and turned towards the still arguing friends. He missed what they had been saying. "Both of you should shut up." He said with a smile as they turned to look at him. "Now, I don't know about you two, but I'm going home."

Forgetting about the argument she had been engaged in, Kairi turned and sprang towards Sora. "Yeah. I think it's time for a bubble bath."

"A bubble bath?" Riku popped up behind them and put an arm around each. "That's so girly."

Kairi tugged slightly on his arm and scoffed. "I am a girl, in case you haven't noticed.

Sora smiled and let himself be pulled along as they headed for their houses. He just wanted to lie down for a bit.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Inside an unknown white room; 2 days later

"So Veera… how long?" He closed the distance between them and peered over her shoulder.

She leaned back in her chair, dropping the pen she had been writing with. "How long what?"

"How long until we know if the experiment was successful?"

She leaned forward again, looking at the notes she had scribbled on her pad of paper. "At least a month."

"A month?" He moved to the opposite side of the desk she sat at and placed his balled fists on it.

Lifting her gaze, she met his with a defiant stare. "Yes. Possibly longer." Her voice was calm.

"Why?"

Smiling slightly, she tilted her head to the side. "You must not know much about pregnancies."

"That's your job, Veera. You're the doctor."

"Actually, no." She said slowly, lacing her fingers together on top of her desk. "I'm not."

Zing waved her off and grunted. "Technicalities." He turned and began pacing.

"Technicalities or not, I'm not an actual doctor."

"Veera…" His voice had a warning tone.

"My diploma says Veronica Verse." She lifted her gaze to watch his pacing form. "The door to my office says Dr. Veronica Verse. The people at the hospital usually call me Veronica or Dr. Verse. My name plate says Veronica Verse; my papers say Veronica Verse; my paychecks are made out to a Veronica Verse…"

"Veera!" He stopped pacing and turned to face her.

"The name tag I wear says Veera but I usually give up asking people to call me that."

"Okay Veera, point taken." He sighed deeply and shook his head. "Explain to me why it's going to take so long."

With a smile, she nodded. "Certainly. All you had to do was ask!" Her voice was overly sweet and mocking. "It's been two day, correct? Let's say for the sake of the explanation that your crazy idea worked. So the baby is inside, for lack of a better term, the mother. At this point, it's just started to shift and is probably finding an anchoring spot. Once it does that, it will slowly begin to shift and change, though it will be a long while before it resembles anything other than an alien. Morning sickness and fatigue usually starts around week 5. So mommy will get sick. But since mommy just happens to be a male in this case, pregnancy will not pop into his mind. So my guess would be that it will be closer to two months, if everything moves along fine."

Slowly, Zing nodded and slunk into the chair to his left. "Fine. In the mean time, you will be working at the hospital."

With a sigh, she nodded. "Of course. It would be odd for the new doctor to skip work for a couple of months."

"Don't get cocky with me, Veera. I'm in no mood."

She rolled her eyes as she picked up her pen.

End of Chapter 1. Stay tuned for Chapter 2: Not Feeling so Well