Life is even more hectic than before. And that's saying something. But I really don't want to give this story up. So here it is. Enjoy. Review. Or the wait will be long.

[ Of Snow, Winter Wonder, and Relentless Boys ]

Chapter Two

"Wow."

That was all Yuffie and Rikku really said during Kairi's recount of her recent dramatic occurrences. Not that she expected much else. Still, it would have been nice to receive some sort of feedback instead of incessant laughing.

"Man, that is messed up!" Rikku sighed after a long fit of giggles. Yuffie still wasn't done laughing, so Kairi ignored her.

"I know. And I have no idea what to do about it. I mean, to think, he is right next door to me!" Kairi shook her head at this idea and fell back on the couch with a stressful sigh. There was officially no way of avoiding him now. Not only will she be seeing him everyday for several weeks - for several hours at a time - but he lives right next door and she can basically look through his bedroom window. Not that she knew which was his bedroom window. And not that she intended to look through it at all.

Still, this was proving to be a sticky situation.

"I wish I had more advice for you, Kairi. But not going to lie, this situation is truly one of a kind."

"Cool, thanks, Rikku."

"What about Reno? What are you going to do about him?" she asked. Oh god. A whole nother problem within itself. What was she going to do about him? Well, not much considering he's dating Tifa, bad-ass girlfriend extraordinaire. She should have guessed as much. The chances of him being interested in her in the first place were remarkably low as it is. It was just her inflated ego that told her different before she found out they were dating. It tends to do things like that. Just because they hooked up X amount of years ago, did she really expect he wanted to do it again? He was in college, after all. Why linger on the young high school when he could probably move onto cooler, older, more mature girls? Like other college girls. Like Tifa.

Rikku continued, "It really is a bummer. Kinda seems like everything is against you right now, Kai. I mean, not to be sadistic or anything. Just realistic." she veered, noticing the glare in her direction. Yuffie meanwhile had stopped laughing and was now grinning goofily.

"Yeah, and not to mention you have your stalker-boy living in the same house as you for three or some weeks." Yuffie added.

"And that this may be or may not be our last winter all together." Rikku pointed out.

"And if you even touch Reno, Tifa will probably kick your ass."

"And you're house might be burnt down by the end of the season if your brother doesn't quit with the matches."

"And it looks like youre skin is about to break out."

"Wait, really?" Kairi screeched, immediately throwing her fingers to her face to feel around for any tricky blemishes.

"No, not really." Yuffie said, "But that would be the least of your problems."

"You guys really know how to show support." Kairi mused sinking her head forward again so that her sticky and sweaty hair covered her face. She fiddled with the tips of her fingers nervously. Rikku and Yuffie, who were both sitting on the carpeted floor in front of her, looked at each other.

"I mean, at least it makes this all more interesting." Rikku tried.

"And memorable." Yuffie chimed. But to be honest, none of this was really helping. The more Kairi thought about it, the more all the issues seemed to add up. As if an internal list just kept going on and on and on within the confines of her head. Her head was seriously starting to hurt. And she wasn't sure it was altitute sickness.

"I wonder what that kid Sora thinks about all this." Rikku pondered outloud, now standing up for go make herself some popcorn in the kitchen.

"He probably thinks im a stalker, is what he thinks." said Kairi bluntly.

"He's pretty hot though." Yuffie thought out loud. Leave it to Yuffie to let her hormones get in the way of obvious logic.

"Yeah, props to you for tapping that shit." Rikku agreed from the kitchen, the sound of popcorn kernals pouring into the bowl as she spoke.

"Oh, god, guys, he's an asshole." Kairi countered, "I can't believe I even hooked up with him in the first place. Then I wouldn't be in any of this mess."

"Regardless, I bet you would have hooked up with him anyway." Rikku said. Kairi raised her eyebrows and cautiously asked, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. If you hadn't of hooked up with him at the party, the attraction you obviously felt would have spilled over into this trip. I mean, he's your neighbor, he's in our ski class. There would have been about 1,000 chances. Or, will be, I guess if you put it chronologically."

"There will not be any more chances because I will not be hooking up with him again. Regardless of the geographical location of where he sleeps at night."

"Wow, chill. I'm just speaking hypothetically." Rikku defended, leaning against the granite counter of Kairi's kitchen. There was a moment of uneasy silence as this possibility settled. No way would she hook up with him, right? Surely Kairi have felt some sort of intuitive message from Future-Kairi if she were in the situation of hooking up with Sora. Right?

"Yeah, whatever."

But no matter the analysis that curtailed these comments, Kairi really had no answer to any of her amounting problems. So after Rikku and Yuffie left, Kairi sat in her room, stared at the ceiling, and listened to her iPod. Figetting against the softness of her bed, she finally pulled out her phone and looked at the blank screne. After a while of hesitation, she pulled up the text between herself and Sora. The text procured a sickening lurch within her stomach. God, why did she always have to embarrass herself? If she hadn't have sent that text, maybe things wouldn't be so hostile. Awkward, maybe, but not hostile. But really, what did she expect? She was Kairi. And Kairi always messed up in one way or another. It was like it was programmed in her genetic code.

Fuck.

She just couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Just then she heard an odd muffled noise, and, realizing that her eyes had been closed, opened them to see her mother standing over her bed. Kairi pulled the earplugs out and asked what she wanted.

"Just reminding you that we're going out to dinner tonight."

"Okay."

"And that you need to watch your attitude tonight when it comes to Ventus and your brother."

"Will do."

"And…that I love you."

"Okay." Her mom frowned at this.

"I met our neighbors today."

"That's great."

"Yeah. They have a son about your age, and a nephew the same age as well. Lovely kids."

"Cool."

"I invited them to dinner tomorrow."

"HUH?"


The next day Kairi woke up with a sick feeling in her stomach. And it wasn't from the excessive amount of chocolate she anxiously vacuumed the night before.

Wishing that she had at least ten more minutes of blissful sleep, Kairi pushed her quilt off and sighed deeply. She really couldn't believe that these boys were putting her in such a damper mood. Like, it was HER vacation, right? Who the hell did they think they were? This sudden spark of self-confidense fleeted quickly as blend of Sora's and Reno's face diffused into her mind. The feeling vanished as quickly as it came, especially when she pictured what dinner that night was going to look like. Damnit. Why did they have such an effect on her?

Kairi stumbled around the room collecting her ski clothes and descended the spiral stairs as she fumbled into her ski pants. Not even bothering with makeup, she ate her cereal and promptly met Yuffie at the door. Kairi gave her a hesitant look as she opened it. Being the good friend she was, Yuffie notified her ginger friend that Roxas and Sora had already left, and were therefore not in danger of an awkward passing. Pleased that this was the first good news of the day, the two carried their skiis down to the lift and made their way to the meeting spot.

Kairi was overwhelmed with the incessant butterflies that vivaciously bounced within the wall of her stomach as they skied closer to the spot. They could already see the group assembled talking amonst themselves. Kairi felt it necessary to keep her reflector goggles on at all times.

The beginning was pretty run-of-the-mill; Tifa instructed which warm up runs they were going to do, Kairi ignored Sora and Reno, and everyone complained about runs and whatnot. Still, Kairi couldn't help but feel a certain uneasiness within the confines of her stomach. Plus, the nervous glances from Reno's direction were incredibly dstracting in the worst way possible.

The beginning of the day passed by remarkably uneventful. Still, the tension was apparent between the twisted love triangle. At least from Kairi's perspective, because, interestingly enough, the two subjects didn't even know about each other. Not that it was a huge deal or anything. However Kairi still found it unsettling as she watched Sora and Reno in a conversation that consisted of bro punches and exaggerated story telling. How blind they both were to the small, yet awkward connection they had.

Before they first walked into the cafeteria lodge, snow was barely falling. Just minimal flurries. By the time they gathered their stuff and wrapped up conversation, however, the weather had progressed into heavy snowfall, making visibility limited. It felt like coming out of a movie theatre to discover darkness, when only a few hours ago is was daylight. And Kairi wasn't a fan of rapid change like that.

They all gathered outside the lodge, bundled up and unrecognizable, when Reno turned around and spoke loudly over the wind, "Okay, we're going to head down Deer Run, take a first left, and then get on the lift there up to Pike Peek. Visibility sucks, but we're still going to do it. Try not to spread out too much."

They skied down in silence, with only the sound of passing snow and the cut of the their ski blades against the powder. The wind was blowing harder now, and it was difficult to hear. Kairi skidded to a stop in front of the lift, barely making out that Yuffie and Rikku were stopped right in front of her in line. Kairi looked over her shoulder for a second, which proved more difficult that she had thought, what with her massive helmet and the many layers of clothing that prevented most forms of motion. But by the time she turned back around, Yuffie and Rikku had already moved ahead and were about to be lifted by the seat. It occurred Kairi that the lift was only for two people. She was next. So, noticing another skiier in her peripheral vision to her left, started to move toward the lift. It was only until she was hurtled forward by the frigid piece of metal that she realized who exactly was sitting next to her.

Kairi broke into a cold sweat. Of course this would happen. And knowing her friends, Kairi was able to gather that this was not pure coincidense, especially as she watched Rikku and Yuffie shaking from laughed in the distance.

To make matters worse, the wind was started to slow in direct proportion to the improving visibility. Less sound meant more awkwardness. Less sound meant no buffer between she and the brunette boy.

To say the least, the lift ride was excruciating. Kairi was painfully aware of any move she made. After shifting her weight once, the result being an unsettling creak arisen from the frosted contraption, she refrained from any further movement. She was as frozen as the snow below. And it was extremely uncomfortable.

The tension of silence was more than obvious between the two. Certainly, he felt it too. It was like a painful electric current.

In reality, the ride only took a couple of minutes, at most. Yet it truelly felt like twenty. When the end of the lift approached, Kairi let out a noticeable breathe. Once off the lift, she skied as far away from Sora as possible. Red in the face and ears from by far the most painful experience of her life, Kairi spotted Yuffie and Rikku and hurtled toward them. They only saw her speeding toward them a second before she made contact, and soon, they were all face down in the snow.

"Hey! What was that for?" Yuffie screeched, lifting her snow-packed helmet from the pile of snow, at the same moment that Rikku whacked Kairi with her gloved hand.

"You guys know what that was for! I don't think I've ever been through that kind of torture in my life!" Kairi retorted, now trying to mirror the other girl's efforts in sitting upward.

"Yeah okay, but you didn't have to knock us off our feet…" Rikku mumbled, finally standing up.

Backing her up, Yuffie mimicked, "Yeah!"

"The pain you felt was nothing compared to what I just went though."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It was just good fun. Plus, we kind of hoped you'd exchange at least a few words…" Rikku said, paused, then, "Did you?"

Kairi glared through her goggles, "Not one." Yuffie started laughing, so Kairi dropped it.

The class ended a little while later, and soon the whole group found themselves huddled in a circle. Hayner was in the middle talking loudly.

"Yo, Pence, lets have a firepit party at my house tonight." As always Hayner was way too animated about whatever he was talking about. Pence looked skeptical.

"I don't know…"

"Aw, come on. It always time for party time! My parents leave today. It's perfect."

Olette shifted her helmet from underneath her arm, "Aren't your parents leaving tomorrow? That's why we're having the group family dinner tonight, remember?" Kairi almost forgot that they were locals, and hence their families knew each other. The three of them seemed like best friends. At least from this point of view.

Hayner's animated expression noticeably dropped, "Oh. Right." After a beat of silence, "Well, we'll do it tomorrow! What do you guys think? A little ski group bonding, show you the ropes of this place, show the ladies a good time…" Kairi raised an eyebrow as Hayner's suggestive smile. Pence rolled her eyes and Olette looked away.

"Overkill, mate."

"Thanks, Pence." Hayner gruffed, and then shook it off, "But really, lets do it. With a little booze, you can never lose."

It occurred to Kairi, as the group all agreed with an undertone of excitement, that perhaps they should offer booze money. But then it also occurred to her that Hayner was probably rich, considering he had a house here, skied here year around, and other obvious points of reference. As they broke off, Kairi, Yuffie, and Rikku decided to hang around their favorite hot chocolate café, Coffee Mania. After putting away their skies in the community racks and awkwardly trudging across the plaza toward the café, they sat down in their favorite booth.

"So, can we just talk about how hot Roxas is?" Rikku suddenly brought up. Yuffie and Kairi looked up from their mugs with odd expressions. Rikku stared back, obviously confused.

"Oh, come on guys. Don't tell me your not prejudice enough to notice it: he's gorgeous."

"Eh, I'm not into blondes." Yuffie shrugged and went back to sipping her hot chocolate. Rikku turned to Kairi. She had to be careful how she dealt with this. Roxas was Sora's cousin, so yes, she did have a prejudice, but she didn't want to cock block Rikku either.

"Yeah me neither. But yeah I actually agree." she said, and then fearing it wasn't enough to satiate Rikku's excitement, "Um, his eyes are cool."

Rikku lit up, "Oh my god I know! They're just so blue." Kairi had a flashback of a pair of similar blue eyes, darker in the dim room, inching closer to her, and then close softly just as her did. Kairi shuddered.

"That is a plus." Yuffie agreed. "Oh, do you guys want to hang out in my house tonight and watch a movie or something? My mom said it was okay." Rikku nodded her head energetically. Kairi groaned.

"I can't. I have a dinner tonight."

"Why is that so bad?" Rikku asked.

"Because our favorite retard will be there."


DING DONG.

Kairi's heart leapt in her throat. She shut her eyes tightly, willing this all to be a dream. But sure enough, as she opened her eyes, there she was, in a nice black dress that her mother forced her to wear and the smell of meatloaf tugging at her nose. Oh sweet jesus. This was going to be quite a night.

Her mother insisted that they all be by the door as she welcomed them into their home. Kairi could feel Axel scratch uncomfortable in his little boy suit. Her mother found it adorable. Axel explicitly detailed how exactly he was going to dispose of it when he was done. Kairi agreed with him for the first time since birth.

The door swung open and there was Sora and Roxas' family. Roxas's parents were both blonde and slightly rotund with age, yet obviously very good looking people. They almost looked like siblings, except for his mother's green eyes, and his father's blue eyes. It was a little overwhelming to look at, actually. Way too many goodlooking people in one family. That was when Kairi noticed something, or someone, behind his mother's leg. It was a tiny girl, a little younger than Axel and Ventus, and very odd eyes. She didn't at first realize it, but the girl's eyes were actually two colors.

"Welcome! You can put your coats up right here. I have wine and snacks in the living room." her mother welcomed. A flurry of standard compliments and small talk about the short walk over and the décor of the room followed. As the parents walked away, Kairi allowed herself to look at the distracted Sora. It pained her, but Kairi would have to say that he looked very good. He wore a black, pin-striped button down dress shirt and dark, expensive looking jeans. Why couldn't he just look like a tramp?

While Kairi was busy staring at Sora, she almost didn't hear the voice, "Hey Kairi. What's up." Kairi blinked. It was Roxas. She had totally forgotten about him. Poor kid. She felt a waft of guilt at her past prejudice toward him. He really was very nice, especially since he probably knew about the present situation.

"Oh, hey Roxas. Nothing really. This is my brother Axel and our cousin Ventus. I see you have a sister?" I said as nicely as I could. I could feel Sora's now undivided gaze on me.

"Yeah, this is Yuna. And you know my cousin, Sora." Kairi didn't really understand why he was reintroducing Sora to her. Yet, she felt abloaged to glance, and sure enough, he was looking at her too. Their eyes met and Kairi felt immediately uncomfortable and fidgety.

"Right." Kairi said, all that she could muster.

"Do you like rocket ships?" Axel nearly exclaimed, as if he thought the young girl wouldn't hear him. She noticeably jumped and just stared at him, not knowing how to react. Kairi flicked him in the ear.

Axel was getting impatient, "Well, do ya?" We were all looking at her now, and she must have felt it because her eyes got really big. After a moment she just shrugged her shoulders. It occurred to Kairi that maybe she wasn't as young as she thought she was.

Axel shrugged as well, "Eh, good enough for me. Come on Ven, lets show her the goods."

A moment passed as the three teens stood in the foyer. God, how she wished Rikku or Yuffie were here. She decided to pull some hospitable bullshit as an escape.

"Do you guys want something to drink?" she offered, starting to turn around.

"Yeah." they both said at the same time. The sound of Sora's voice unsettled her. She hadn't heard it really since their confrontation a few days back. Which wasn't that long if you thought about it. But, regardless. I had a nice, slight deep tone to it. Kairi inwardly slapped herself. She lead them into the kitchen and pointed to the display of sodas and drinks on the counter.

"You can have what you want. Skip the wine though, not sure my mom would be cool with it."

Roxas laughed, "Yeah, I figured that." Kairi saw the appeal that Rikku explained. She decided she liked him. She smiled back.

As they were fixing drinks, Sora apparently decided that it was his turn to talk, and so asked, "So, uh, are you and your friends going to Hayner's tomorrow?" His voice came out way too controlled. Kairi had a hard time averting her eyes from a bug on the floor.

"Um, yeah. We're planning on going. Havent told the parents yet, though."

"Yeah, us either," Roxas said, "do you know where it is?"

Kairi leaned back on counter, "Yeah, I do. It's in walking distance."

"Cool, maybe we could walk as a group. Sora and I would probably get lost if we gave it a shot on our own." Kairi was confused. Why would he suggest to walk together if he knew about she and Sora's little situation? What was he trying to do? Did Sora possibly suggest is earlier? Judging by his visable sudden tenseness, Kairi didn't think so. Still, her head buzzed with questions.

Realizing that she had to give an answer, and quick, she decided to do the humane thing, "Um yeah, sure. Yuffie and I can walk with you guys. No big deal."

Roxas smiled, "Sweet."

They headed into the living room where the parents were conversing in the way that parents do. They asked her what colleges she was looking at. She replied. Her parents pulled the same questions, so Sora and Roxas replied. That was about the extend of their conversational input.

The next half hour continued like this. It was hopelessly boring.

Kairi mom, after disappearing to check on the food, announced that dinner was read. The parents commented on how hungry they were and how good it smelled, and they all sat down for dinner. Now the thing with her mom and cooking was that she was not all that good. However, when it came to guests, she always, always, cooked meatloaf. It was about the only thing she could do without some sort of out-of-place taste. And this was because it came from her mom, who was for the most part normal, and could cook a wicked meatloaf. Hence, when there were visitors, meatloaf it was. Although she was quite good with finger foods, which was something her friends loved.

Her mom was also really into candles. Part of the whole meditation thing, so her mom was stocked with them. Her dad only spoke when asked a question about either business or sports. The rest he just mumbled and nodded. It was about dessert time, and just as Kairi was spacing out, her mom told her to go fetch the pie, which, shhh, was bought.

She smiled pleasantly and headed for the kitchen. What she wasn't expecting was to see Sora just leaving the bathroom at the exact moment Kairi walked into the kitchen. They both jolted to a stop.

How excruciating this was! They couldn't seem to look away from each other, no matter how much Kairi wished they would. It was almost like a game; who-would-look-away-first. What a twisted game.

Finally, Sora broke, "Hey."

Kairi responded with a "Hello" before she remembered that she was supposed to be mad at him. However, the awkwardness wouldn't allow it. So she just continued to stare dumbly. Why do I suck so much?

"Um, you're mom's meatloaf was awesome." Kairi stared. God, was the only topic relatively acceptable to approach only her mother's meatloaf?

"Oh, yeah, its her specialty." There was silence after this in which Kairi looked away. But once she looked back a moment later, Sora looked like he wanted to say something.

"So do you hate me or something?"

Kairi was struck by these words. His expression had an honest curiousness that made her heart thump. She suddenly felt guilty for a reason she couldn't really put her finger on, yet she couldn't look away from him. He was a very direct person. Or so Kairi was finding out. Still, she wasn't sure how to answer his question. Because, no, she didn't hate him. Not really.

"I-" she started, but was then cut off.

"Because it sucks being ignored by someone who has the wrong impression of you." Kairi swallowed. Why wasn't she flaring up? Why wasn't she getting red in the face like usual? Where the hell has her defense gone? It was eroded. Eroded so easily by his honest words. Kairi had the feeling that maybe she had been too hard on him. Part of her mind was yelling at her to stop being such a softy; that he was the one who hurt her. But she couldn't ignore the thought that maybe she had gotten him wrong.

Kairi inwardly shook her head. Now she was getting hopeful. And if Kairi knew anything, it was that hope dies. Quickly. Hope leads to disappointment. It was a common fact.

He was waiting for a response. Kairi took in a breathe. He deserved an honest reply.

"I don't hate you. I'm just…embarrassed. I guess." Kairi bit her lip. Sora nodded like he knew exactly what she meant. Or tried to, anyway.

"Yeah. I did sort of humiliate you. Sorry, I really didn't mean to." Kairi tried to mimic the way he nodded at her. "So, uh, can we have a truce or something?" He looked sort of embarrassed by this proposition.

"Sure." Kairi said, and then after an afterthought, "But this doesn't mean we're friends." She couldn't let him off that easy.

His eyebrows rose slightly and then nodded fervently, "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say." He then smiled uncomfortably and stuck out his hand. The handshake wasn't much of a handshake. Once she put her hand in his, he didn't grip it or make any shaking motion whatsoever. They just sort of hung there, gentle and timid. Kairi had a flash of his eyes coming toward her again. It shook her up inside enough to release her hand from his electric one, smile quickly, and then follow Sora back into the dining room after grabbing the dessert, the doors swinging back and forth as they passed through, her hand tingling.


Kairi learned a few things that night.

Sora, she decided, wasn't half bad. He seemed to take this truce seriously, because instead of the tense awkwardness that was present before, there was an amount of conversation that had never existed. He acted like nothing happened. Not their fight. Not their hookup. It was something Kairi was sure she would never be able to do. And this resilience slightly annoyed her.

He still made her uncomfortable. A lot. And 7 out of 10 times she found herself grumbling about him in her head. Like, he was still the kid who humiliated her. Truce or not. She was more civil now though.

She also learned that he and Roxas were cousins, and that Sora was traveling with Roxas and his family for the winter because his were at the beach. The little sister was extremely cute, and the parents were very helpful.

For some twisted reason, Kairi found it extremely annoying how good and thorough their family was. It made it hard to validify her reasons for hating him in the first place. Fuck, she was complicated. Not exactly new news, but of well.

So Kairi called up her two best friends and filled them in on the dinner. When she finally lay herself down to sleep, she thought of Sora and his stupid spiky hair, and his stupid blue eyes, and his stupid smile, and how she loved to hate him. She thought of the feel of his hand on hers. Kairi groaned as realization dawned.

Kairi Hirazora had a sick, twisted crush on Sora Hikari; whether she liked it or not.

review. or die. :)