Chapter 1: Just a Day At the Office

"Yuki! Come here, sweetie!" A woman in her mid-twenties kneeled down and clapped as a little red-headed toddler began slowly making steps toward her. "You're doing great! Come here, Yuki! What a big girl!" The baby tottled her way into the woman's arms before being swooped up who was presumed to be her mother. "I'm so proud of you!"

"I'm home, Kairi!" A man around her age came in through the front door. He kissed the woman's cheek before making his way straight towards the kitchen. He opened the fridge and pulled a beer out.

Kairi walked into the kitchen carrying Yuki. "Vanitas," she said smiling widely. "You'll never believe what Yuki did today!"

"Yeah?" Vanitas asked leaning against the counter running a hand through his spiky, black hair. "What happened?"

"She actually walked! Her first steps! Can you believe it?"

Vanitas shrugged and took a sip of his beer. "I guess. She took her first steps yesterday while you were at class."

Kairi sighed, frustrated. "You mean she started walking yesterday and you didn't tell me?"

"God, Kairi, chill! I was messin' with ya!" Vanitas burst into laughter and nudged Kairi in the arm. He brushed past her and walked towards the bedroom sipping his beer.

"Of course you were…" Kairi softly said to herself.

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6 years later...

BZZZZTTT! A smartphone began vibrating and ringing, playing Sanctuary by Utada Hikaru.

Kairi snapped back to reality. I must've started dozing off into a daydream, she thought as she brushed some of her auburn hair that hung halfway down her neck. Kairi looked at the caller ID and saw that a good friend was calling her.

"What's up, Selphie?" Kairi asked answering the phone.

"It's almost time for lunch! You ready?" Selphie asked on the other line.

Kairi looked at her computer screen. "Just let me finish with this email and then I'll be ready to go!"

"Okay! I'll meet you downstairs!"

Kairi shook her head before turning and finishing her email. She loved her best friend Selphie, but sometimes, she was too hyper for her own good. Kairi was a licensed Psychologist down at the Behavior Healthcare Center in Twilight Town. She has only been working for about two years, but she loved it. Kairi had always loved the study when she was a teenager and ended up applying for early acceptance when it came time for her to start college, which was very helpful considering she didn't graduate with her PsyD until almost 9 years after starting on her degree.

After finishing her email, Kairi logged off her computer and locked her office before hustling downstairs to the first floor of the building where she and Selphie both worked at. She had a one hour lunch break every day at noon, which allowed both her and Selphie to walk across the street to the diner that Selphie's father owned. He always fed them free lunch whenever they came by, which was always helpful for Kairi in the mornings when she was always busy trying to get herself and her daughter ready for the day. As Kairi pushed the see-through doors of the building, she accidentally smacked it into a peculiar-looking stranger.

Kairi gasped. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" She apologized. "I should've watched where I was going!"

"Hey, it's alright, no big deal!" The stranger flashed a cheesy grin and shook his head before walking past her with his hands shoved in his pockets.

Selphie sighed and shook her head. "Smooth, Kairi, smooth."

Kairi rolled her eyes before following Selphie across the street towards the diner. She loved coming here when she was younger. It always smelled of homestyle cooking such as fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Her mouth watered as she and Selphie walked into the diner and saw a server skate her way past them with a tower of onion rings.

"Hey, Dad!" Selphie greeted her dad, who was managing the diner that day.

Kairi waved. "Hello, Mr. Tilmitt!"

"Girls! Take a seat!" Mr. Tilmitt flashed a cheesy grandfather-like grin. "The usual?"

Selphie nodded. "Diet coke for me this time, though!"

"Whoa, Selphie, watching your already perfect figure?" Kairi teased as the two girls sat at the bar, their legs dangling from the stools.

"Can't help it! I'm in the market!" Selphie said rolling her eyes.

"So, who is the eligible bachelor this week?"

"Let me tell you! This REALLY cute guy who came in and got his haircut! His name is Demyx!" Selphie pulled out her iPhone and showed her his Facebook profile. He had blonde hair that was styled like mullhawk, somewhat of a cross between a mullet with a mohawk. Kairi couldn't help but be reminded of the frat boys back in college. This guy was older than her and Selphie too, but questioning hairstyle aside, he seemed quite charming. "Whaddaya think?"

"Hmm...a musician, he is a swim coach, and he loves the beach." Kairi said as she browsed through Demyx's profile. "Not bad, not bat at all."

"Now, what about you?"

Kairi laughed and brushed hair behind her ear. "No way! I'm not looking to date anybody right now." She said as she spun her coffee mug in her hand.

Selphie sighed. "Come on, girl! It's been...how many years?"

"Doesn't matter...I'm happy with my life right now. I have my friends, my family, my job, and my daughter. What else could I want or need?"

"A father for Yuki? Isn't that the reason you married Vanitas in the first place?"

Kairi sighed. "I guess…" She stuck her fork her salad. "I don't really wanna think about it, honestly. I'm too wrapped up in my work and being a mom. That's all that matters."

After finishing her lunch, Kairi looked at her watch and saw that it was time for her to head back to the office. Selphie went back to her job at the salon that was just a few suites down. She was a manager and absolutely loved being in charge. When the two of them were little, Kairi swore that Selphie was going to be a dictator when she grew up. Well, a supervisor is almost the same, right? Despite being power-hungry, Selphie was actually a great supervisor and the stylists that worked there adored her for standing up to customers that treated her stylists like shit.

Kairi walked back into her office and got herself situated at her computer. She pulled up her schedule. She generally would see about 6 patients a day for about an hour each. The rest of her shift was either taking breaks, checking/answering emails, or making phone calls. It didn't sound exciting to the average outsider, but Kairi, being the nurturing person she was, always felt proud when she was making progress with her patients. In fact, the hardest part about her job was trying to keep it professional with her patients and not trying to get personal with them when it came to asking questions or giving advice.

It was 1:00. Kairi had an appointment with someone whose name she had never heard before. He was a new patient. Sora Hikaru, she read the name in her head. Kairi ran a hand through her hair and brushed off the sleeveless burgundy top and black skirt she was wearing. With the heels of her flats clapping on the tile and echoing throughout the hallway, Kairi ducked into the waiting room where she noticed a familiar-looking young man sitting in one of the chairs scrolling through his phone.

"Uh…Sora Hikaru?" Kairi called out.

The young man that had the familiar spiky brown hair from before stood up. "That would be me."

"Oh!" She wanted to smack herself in the forehead. Of all the people she could smack with a door. "Hello again!" She awkwardly smiled and waved. "Hope I didn't cause any harm."

Sora shrugged as he followed Kairi down the hall to her office. "Just a bruise the size of Destiny Islands." Kairi raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm kidding."

Kairi nodded. "Right…" She opened the door to her office. "Well, I'm Kairi Uchida. Once again, I apologize for smacking you earlier, but I can promise you that there won't be any of that here." She sat in her chair while Sora took a seat in the couch that was in her office. "Now, is this your first time at counseling?" Sora nodded while struggling to keep eye contact with her. "Okay, well, since this is our first meeting, I'm just gonna ask you some questions, and you just answer as you see fit, and everything that we will be discussing today will be in strict confidentiality, okay?"

"Okay, thank you, Miss Uchida." Sora said leaning back in the couch.

"Alright, so based on the questionnaire that you answered when you first got here," Kairi said as she looked through Sora's paperwork. "It appears that you are experiencing some depression symptoms. How long have you been experiencing these symptoms?"

"About...a couple years ago…"

Kairi took out her notebook and started writing down notes. "And...what made you decide to reach out and make the appointment?"

Sora sighed. He ran his hand through his spiky brown hair. "Honestly...I don't know." His voice was soft and had a hint of sadness in it. "We had a meeting at work about mental health in the environment and…" He shrugged. "I don't know. I just suddenly realized that there was something wrong with me and I wanted to fix it." Sora stared up at the ceiling. "It was...kind of a spur of the moment thing."

"So...where do you work at?"

"I'm a teacher at Sunset Hills High School."

"Oh? What do you teach?"

Sora took a deep breath. "I teach Biology."

"Do you have potential stressors at work?"

Sora laughed. "What stressors don't I have? I get calls from parents yelling at me why their kid failed their exam. I try to make it fun for a bunch of hormonal teenagers who don't wanna be there. I'm constantly having to replace lab gear out of pocket because the kids keep on either breaking it or stealing it…" He shook his head. "I mean, I love Biology, but teaching it to a bunch of teens is a whole different story."

"Okay, I gotcha…" Kairi said as she wrote down in her notes.

Sora watched as Kairi continued to write. His stomach started to turn. The more she wrote, the worse he felt. Why am I even here? He thought to himself. All I'm doing is paying this woman money I don't have just to rant with her the same shit I rant with my friends about. Over the remainder of the hour, Kairi continued to ask him questions regarding his symptoms. Do you experience feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness? Her words echoed through his mind. Sora crossed his arms as his eyes darted between Kairi and the floor. Worthless? I can barely teach kids basic Biology. Sora looked out the window. Hopeless? What's all of this for? What's the point?

"How often do you experience these feelings?" Kairi asked.

Sora took a deep breath, a slight shake vibrating his chest. "All...the time." Did he really want to share this with a woman he had just met? She's a professional, she knows what she's doing.

Kairi looked at the time and saw that the hour-long session was coming to an end. "Well Sora, based on what you have told me. Right now, we want to take things one step at a time. From now, up until your next appointment, I want you to really pay attention to what triggers these feelings before we decide whether or not medication is necessary." She moved over to her computer and pulled up her schedule. The current date was September 21. "Okay...I have an opening for October 12 at 2:00pm. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great." He replied simply.

After handing Sora some paperwork regarding his next appointment along with some pamphlets on mental health that she felt would be useful during his time away from her, Kairi said goodbye to her patient and guided him back out of her office. She couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity with him. It was almost as if her counseling sessions weren't satisfying enough. She wanted to know more about him. As curious as Kairi was, she shook off the thoughts and went back to her computer. The rest of the day was pretty average for her. She had two more patients, both of them were regulars whom had both made significant progress since they first started seeing her within the past year.

Once Kairi finished seeing her final patient, her "free hour" had finally arrived. As much as she loved seeing her patients, it only made Kairi appreciate this free hour all the more, and she loved it when were computer workload was light, like this particular day. Kairi finished typing her last email before pulling a book out from her bag. She had started reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy once again. With it being her favorite book, Kairi often brought it as a time waster or if she needed to distract her mind from anything, which was also quite often.

Five o'clock came, which mean it was time for Kairi to check out for the day. She locked up her office and scurried out of the building down to the silver Volvo that sat in the parking lot. As she adjusted her rearview mirror, Kairi focused and noticed Sora walking in the background. It looked like he was walking with a cup of coffee. What's he doing out here all by himself? She asked herself. His appointment ended three hours ago. Kairi started the car and kept an eye on Sora as she started backing out of her parking spot, until…

Crash!

"Shit…" Kairi cursed. "I just had this car polished too…" She got out and examined the damage. Her left bumper had a dent, almost like a dimple. The other car had a headlight that was cracked as a result. "Great...whoever the owner of this car is, they need to get out here now because I just wanna go home…" Kairi vented pacing back and forth.

"Miss Uchida?" Kairi looked behind and saw Sora walking briskly towards her. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Sora! Hello there!" She greeted him trying to be as professional as possible despite not being on the clock at the moment. "Yeah, I'm alright. I just...accidentally backed into this car…" Kairi scoffed and crossed her arms. "I hope this car's owner hurries out here because I have to get home."

Sora chuckled. "That shouldn't be a problem." He rested his arms behind his head. "Because he's right here."

Kairi's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "This is your car?" Sora nodded. "Oh my god…" She put a hand to her forehead. "I am...so...sorry...first, I smack you in the face with a door and now, I back into your car. Is there anything else I can do to damage you?"

"Probably not." Sora shrugged. "In all fairness, today was…a good counseling session."

"Thanks, but that's not gonna pay for the damage on your car."

Sora sighed. "You know what…the car is old. I've had this car for 10 years and it was on its last legs. I'm...trying to save up for a new car."

"No, I can't just not pay for the damages." Kairi shook her head. She took out her wallet and searched for her insurance card and driver's license. "Here, I'll give you my-"

"-Dr. Uchida," Sora rested his hand on top of hers. "Really, don't worry about it. It's not a big deal."

Kairi sighed. "Can I make it up to you at least somehow?"

Sora sighed and leaned against his car. "I don't know, honestly." He crossed his arms.

"How about I offer you a free counseling session?"

"Now that sounds pretty good to me."

"Okay, the next session is on me. I'll take care of it." Kairi smiled before sighing hopelessly and looking at her car's bumper. "My car has a dimple on its butt…"

Sora laughed. "Hey, that's kinda cute."

Kairi blushed and brushed some hair behind her ear. "Well, I gotta get home now, but I'll see you next month!"

"Yeah, I'll see you then, Miss Uchida." Sora smiled warmly and waved back at her.

Kairi smiled and waved as she watched Sora get into the old, beat up Toyota Camry. There was a part of her that questioned why he was so nonchalant about the whole affair. Granted, Kairi never made a big deal about a fender bender, but at the same time, she always made sure to get the information of the other driver just in case her car started having problems following it. Strange...she thought before getting back into her own car.

Author's Note: I know! I know! I already have another fic in progress! I couldn't help it though! I got this idea in my head and really don't wanna wait on it! I'm gonna work on this AND Don't Think Twice at the same time. If I don't update both fics on the same day, one will be updated most likely one or two days later after the other. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and leave a review, please!