TANGLED UP IN ME

Rated: K-T

SORA + KAIRI

ROXAS + NAMINE

RIKU + FUU

HAYNER + OLETTE

Sora and Riku were back on Destiny Islands and they were on the beach with their childhood friend, Kairi. A slight breeze was blowing Kairi's auburn hair in her face. Riku had brought his portable radio and "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne came on and Kairi squealed with happiness and started singing along.

"Hey! Hey! You! You! I don't like your girlfriend!" She started dancing while Riku laughed and Sora watched in amusement.

'She's so funny,' thought Sora when the song ended and Kairi fell back onto the sand. The radio went to a commercial and started advertising some kind of drink.

"What are we gonna do tomorrow guys since you're back. Oh! They built a new restaurant...I think its called Sebastian's. I've been wanting to try it out but I didn't have the heart to go try it out knowing how much you and Sora like food," said Kairi laughing and looking at the sunset. Riku nodded and Sora laid back onto the sand thinking about how things haven't changed much. There was someone making walking on the beach and Sora could see who it was. Roxas. Someone was with him, it looked like Namine. They made a good couple. Namine was the complete opposite of Roxas in every way. Roxas and Namine started making their way toward the group of friends.

"Hey Roxas!" exclaimed Sora and when Kairi saw who he was waving at, she jumped up and ran to the couple. She hugged Namine and they started chatting.

"When did you and Roxas--?" whispered Kairi and she started giggling. Namine blushed and it looked unnatural on her pale skin but she just smiled. "Since Sora defeated the Organization IIIX. But I knew I would get with Roxas because I dreamed it." Kairi looked at Namine and then to Roxas and then to Sora. When she looked at Sora she caught him looking at her. He didn't look away. They locked eyes and Kairi could see pain in his curerelan colored eyes. She blushed and looked away quickly back at Namine who just smiled kindly. This made Kairi blush harder, "Have you, "she started to ask, "seen anything for me and Sora?" Namine stopped smiling and looked at her friend's eager face and said, "No, I haven't." Kairi sensed coldness in Namine's voice. Kairi nodded and looked down at the sand and drew a heart in the sand with an 'N' and an 'R' in it.

"Come on Namine!" said Roxas grabbing Namine's hand. Namine waved good-bye to Kairi and Kairi waved back.

"Wow, who would've thought those two would get together?" asked Sora putting his hands behind his head and cocking his leg out to the side. "I've got to go, I'll see you guys tomorrow," said Riku after picking up his radio and walking off with his shoulder-length silver hair blowing in the sea breeze. "Later Riku!" Sora yelled after his friend and then turned to Kairi who looked sad. He walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "What's wrong, Kai?" he asked, sort of worried. Kairi looked up at Sora and just stared into his eyes as if looking for some kind of answer. "What's wrong Kairi??" Sora asked again walking in front of the girl and holding her out at arm's lenght. Kairi averted her head so he couldn't look at her face because she felt like she was about to cry.

Sora pulled Kairi into a hug and she started to cry. Sora just stood there not knowing what to or what to think at this point. After a few minutes, Kairi stopped crying and pulled away from Sora's embrace. "Now can you tell me what's wrong?" he asked. "I -I...love...y-you..." she stuttered it out but at least it was out in the open. Now she was afraid that he wouldn't return her feelings. She sighed out some hot air because she thought she was going to explode! Sora stared at her and blushed and relpied, "I love you too, Kai, I'm so glad you said it before I did." Sora sighed in relief and so did Kairi. They walked home from the beach hand in hand with smiles on their faces. 'I can't wait to tell Namine when I see her again!' thought Kairi squeezing Sora's hand. On the way home, they saw Roxas and Namine talking with some of Roxas's friends, Hayner, Pence and Olette. Namine looked back in time to see Kairi looking at her and she winked as if she already knew that it was going to happen. Kairi smiled and continued walking with Sora along the road.

Their houses were directly across the street from each other. They stopped in the middle of the road and kissed, but reluctantly pulled away. Sora watched Kairi walk to her house and open the door and walk in. When she shut the door, Sora felt as if his world was in slow-motion while he was crossing back over to his house. When he got inside he put his back against the door and slid down it, sighing Kairi's name. He picked himself up and went to his bedroom and got undressed and ready for bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was fast asleep.

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"Shut up stupid woman!" yelled Olette's father as he threw an ashtray at Olette's mother. "Well I'll stop yelling if you'll just get up off your lazy arse and go find a job!" Olette's dad got angry at this and struck her mom across the face. Her mother fell to the floor but got back up, "You need to support your daughter, James! She's going to be a junior in high school next year and she needs new things! All the money that you make is just for your own greedy self." Olette's mother gritted her teeth, ready for a smack to the face but nothing came, so she looked up to see that her husband was putting on his jacket. "I'm leaving and I don't think I'll come back." With that, he walked out of the house and out of their lives forever.

Olette sat on the staircase and witnessed the whole thing. A single tear ran down her face and she stood up and rushed into her bedroom. She shut the door and kneeled in front of it and started crying. There was a soft ping at her window and it startled her. She got up and opened her window and saw Hayner standing there and she started crying, but not loud enough for him to hear though. "Olette!" he said in a loud whisper, "Come down here! I want to talk to you!" Olette nodded and climbed out of the window and onto a climbing rose frame. Before she got to the bottom, Hayner came and picked her up off of it and put her on her feet again. He kissed her. "I missed you, Olette. I can't live without you now -- have you been crying?" he asked lifting her chin up and looking at her emerald green eyes that were red and puffy from crying. Olette nodded and hugged Hayner and he rubbed her brown hair back. "What happened? Did your parents have another fight?" Olette didn't do anything; she just cried harder and nodded her head into Hayner's chest. "It's okay...I'm here now, you don't need to cry anymore. Sshhh." he said soothingly still stroking her hair.

"Let's run away together," said Hayner to Olette while they were sitting on top of the giant clock tower and eating Salty Sweet ice cream. Olette smiled, "I would love that very much." Hayner's brown eyes looked up at the stars as he thought about a life with Olette and what would happen in later years. Olette smiled while she saw Hayner looking up at the stars. He looked so peaceful and full of life, so with him, her own life would be great. It seems since she started dating him that her life had gotten better with each day that passed by. She reached over and stroked his dark blonde hair in a loving manner. "I love you Olette," said Hayner grabbing her hand and kissed it. Olette giggled, "I love you, too, Hayner." With that, they continued to look out over the city at the stars.

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Namine stood over the stove fixing dinner for her and Roxas when the doorbell rang. She looked over her shoulder at the living room and saw Roxas a sleep on the couch. She smiled and walked to the door and opened it and was surprised to see Hayner and Olette. "And what do we owe the pleasure?" Namine asked as she motioned for the couple to come into the house. "I was wondering if you could perform marriage ceremonies?" asked Hayner as serious as ever. Namine gasped loudly and Roxas woke up. "Huh? What's going on??" he asked groggily as he stretched. Hayner and Olette laughed at their friend's homely manners. Namine sighed, "I knew this was going to happen...I'm afraid to say that I cannot. I'm sorry." Hayner just shrugged, "its okay. Well can we stay here tonight? Olette's parents are fighting again." Roxas sat straight up with a mad expression on his face. "What happened Olette? Did they hurt you at all?" Olette shook her head and sat down on the couch next to Roxas and he hugged her in a brotherly way. Namine sat on the other side of her and hugged her too. Hayner stood at the door and smiled and thought about how lucky he and Olette were to have such good friends like Roxas and Namine.

"Of course you and Olette can stay, Hayner!" said Roxas throwing his hands in the air. Namine laughed and got up and walked to the kitchen to finish dinner.

Thirty minutes later, a wonderful buffet style table was laid out in front of Olette and Hayner. Namine sat down and Roxas looked at her and smiled. Namine blushed slightly and smiled back. Half way into dinner, Roxas bent over to Namine and whispered something in her ear to make her blush. Roxas stood up and grabbed Namine's hand. "Wait, Roxas, let me get them some blankets first," she said and rushed off into her and Roxas's bedroom. She came back out with two big blankets and two pillows dropped them onto the couch and her and Roxas went into their bedroom. The kitchen was in awkward silence as they heard giggles coming from the bedroom. Olette jumped up and started clearing the dishes from the table just to make slight nose to keep her mind busy. Hayner laughed and grabbed Olette by the waist and let her to the living room and spread one on the floor and the other on over it and asked, "How long has it been, Olette, since I last saw you? I mean, really saw you?" Olette blushed as Hayner took her and laid her down on the blankets.

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The sunlight streamed through the window into Sora's bedroom and woke him up earlier than he wanted. He just lay in the bed and thought about Kairi's face. Her purple-blue eyes and her soft auburn hair. She was beautiful and she was his. He popped up and looked out the window over to Kairi's house and saw her looking back at him. He waved at her and she waved back and she rushed away from the window. Sora looked at her window but then realized that he should get dressed and met her. So, he did just that. After that, he rushed down outside and across that street to Kairi's house. He walked up and knocked on the door but nobody came. Sora got worried and knocked a little harder and the door opened by itself. It was dark inside the house.

When he walked in, he yelled her name and then he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "Sshh!!" Kairi shushed Sora and grabbed his hand to lead him back up to her room. "Look what I found Sora!" she exclaimed and pulled back a sheet of her bed to reveal a baby. A baby girl. Sora gasped and just looked at the infant as she wiggled in her sleep. Then, she started whimpering and crying out. Kairi sat down beside the babe and picked her up and rocked her back and forth. Sora was suprised at how good Kairi was with the child and he sat down beside her. Kairi looked up at him and smiled. She handed the infant over to him and he was surprised. Kairi laughed and got up and went down stairs to get the baby a bottle. While she was gone the newborn squirmed around in Sora's arms and yawned. She opened her eyes to expose two cerulean irises to match Sora's. He just looked into them until Kairi came back with a bottle in hand and took the child from him.

Kairi sat back on her bed and lulled the child back to sleep. She started singing "Goodnight" by Evanescence and the baby cooed and gurrgeled. Soon the babe was fast asleep and Kairi laid her down on the bed and put a wall of pillows around her to protect her from falling off the edge. Kairi took hold of Sora's hand and stood in the doorway of her bedroom. "Are you going to explain what's going on?" asked Sora looking at Kairi. She smiled back up at him and led him back down into the living room and sat with him on the couch.

"Okay, I was walking to take the trash out to the dumpster and when I put it in, I heard a noise," Kairi looked at Sora who looked back at her with such concentration in his eyes it made her blush to just think that he was paying that much attention to her story. "So, uh, I turned around but didn't see anything so I ignored it and walked on. As I was walking away. I heard a loud scream coming from a child, so I turned and ran to look through the dumpster because I was scared that there would've been a baby in there. Then, I found the baby girl you just saw in just a diaper and a sheet around her little body. I cried, Sora. Who would do that to such a cute baby? How could they?" Kairi looked into Sora's eyes for some kind of answer but all Sora did was look back. Kairi burst into tears and Sora held her until she stopped and he thought, 'That's so like her to cry for someone.'

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Riku walked around little town where he, Sora, and Kairi all grew up together. Memories rained down on him like a flood but he had to dam it up like he always did. When he entered into The Darkness, he thought he would've forgotten them, but he didn't, they stayed glued to his memory weather he liked it or not. He turned the corner to their old meeting place where he and Sora first met Kairi.

It was back when Sora was 10 and Riku was 11 and they were just entering the phase where they didn't want any girls as friends. So, they made a hideout for themselves only. One day Riku was cleaning up around the small hideout when Sora busted in saying, "Riku! Riku! Some girl is following me!" This made Riku worry a bit when the curtain opened to reveal and young auburn-haired girl. Riku stopped in mid picking-up-the-trash stance and just looked at her. She was out of breath and gasping. Sora looked over his shoulder at her then back to Riku. Riku looked at his friend and gave him a stern look. Sora just smiled and went to the mini-fridge to get the girl a bottle of water. She took it gratefully and sat down on a near- by cooler and introduced herself, "Hi, my name is Kairi! Nice to meet you!" "Hi Kairi! I'm Sora and this is my friend Riku!" Kairi smiled and nodded.

Riku's eyes were glazed over from the sudden flashback that he hadn't noticed the rain starting to drizzle over the empty, lonely street. He cursed under his breath as the rain started falling harder and made his silver hair stick to his face and in front of his eyes. He moved his bangs in order to see where there might be some shelter from the suddenly heavy downpour. He ran until he saw a porch with a small roof covering it so he walked under it and shook his head to get rid of the rain droplet's. That's when she walked onto the porch.

Her calm eyes went wide with shock as she saw the wet boy on the front porch of her house. Riku spun around around and came face-to-face with a pretty girl with short silver hair that fell to the base of her jawline and exotic cool, calm and collected purple eyes. She thought the young man was handsome but she didn't want to let that mess up her reputation for being a tough person. It was going to be hard.

"What are you doing on my front steps?" she said and her voice sounded mean like it normally did. Riku would notice that harsh, quite hush of a voice anywhere.

"Fuu?" he asked as he watched her unchanging purple eyes. 'She doesn't remember me,' he thought sadly but still he looked him straight in the eyes. "Fuu?" he asked a second time and this time her eyes went soft. "Riku? Riku is that you?" Riku gave her a sideward smirk and she returned it. "Wow, it's been a while, has it not?" she asked and gestured him to follow her into the house where he could dry off. Her house hadn't changed much since he left. She had no parents just like him so they struck a quick, fast friendship when they were still just children.

Riku sat down on the small couch and watched Fuu as she walked to the bathroom to get him a towel to dry off with. He was suddenly hit with the thought that he loved her. 'I don't like her...much less love her. Where did that come from?' he was thinking on that just as soon as she walked back in. He didn't look at her directly as she walked up next to him so she could give him the towel, but he saw that she had a small red tinge in her cheeks.

"It really has been a while hasn't it, Riku?" Fuu asked as she sat down beside him on the couch. HIs name sounded awkward coming off of her lips and it made Riku' s lips slightly twitch. "Yeah, Fuu, it has," he agreed with her. Then, suddenly, Fuu embraced Riku and started crying. "I've missed you! I didn't know when you'd come back or even if you wanted to come back." She sniffled as Riku looked down at her violet eyes that were flooded with tears. 'She's...crying for me,' he thought, 'No one's ever done that...well, besides Sora and Kairi, but they're my best friends, so they're entitled to do that.'

Riku took Fuu's chin in his hand and lifted her face so he could kiss her lips. After a few seconds, which seemed like minutes, they separated. Riku stood up and walked to the door. He looked back at Fuu and gave her a sideways smirk, an affect ional smirk. They locked eyes and he walked out the door.

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"That was a wonderful breakfast, Namine," said Roxas rubbing his stomach and stretching his arms over his head. "Oh yes! It was very wonderful! I can't remember the last time I had such a great breakfast," agreed Olette holding Hayner's hand. Hayner nodded and smiled, "I hate to eat and run you guys, but I'm sure Olette's mom is probably wondering where Olette is. Thanks for breakfast." He got up and kissed Namine on the cheek and saw Roxas glaring so, Hayner went and kissed Roxas on the cheek too just to make him mad. Namine and Olette laughed. Then when Hayner and Olette left, Namine and Roxas were the only two in the house and it seemed empty.

The couple walked to the living room and Namine crashed onto the couch. Roxas panicked. "Namine! Namine what's wrong??" Namine looked up at Roxas through clouded blue eyes and smiled, "Roxas, you're going to be a daddy." Roxas stepped back and gawked at the woman he loved as she laid on the couch. "W-What?" Namine's smile dropped a little but it stayed, "Roxas, you're going to be a daddy. I found out this morning and I told Olette."

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Kairi and Sora were sitting on the couch in Kairi's house when they heard a crying noise coming from up stairs. Kairi stood up and grabbed Sora's hand. When they got to the bedroom, Sora opened the door and smiled when he saw the infant sitting up and blowing spit bubbles. Kairi went and sat beside the little girl and wipped the spit off the babe's face.

"Well, I think it's time we get this little girl a bathing," said Kairi pick up the baby girl and toting her to the bathroom. Sora watched her taking of the girl and felt his heart melting beneath his rib cage. Wait! He was only 16. How could he feel what love really felt like? But, it was just something he felt and deep inside himself, he knew it was right.