(A/N…Thank you for all of the reviews everyone has so graciously given, some of them really helped and I also appreciate the positive feedback, I'm hoping I wont receive any bad reviews…cries…I love you guys and you great feedback!)

Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom hearts…cry

Chapter 4

"So Squall, what have you found so far?" grunted Axel, as he walked into the dark room only lit by a computer screen and a small lamp. The desk was littered with newspapers, and photos were posted all over the wall. They depicted a small brown haired boy with bright blue eyes.

"Not much so far, almost all the trails lead to a dead end. Save a few. Other than that I can't find much."

Axel sighed as he pulled out a bag of popcorn and set the microwave to make buttery corny goodness. "It's been so long that any trails that would have been there are long gone. It's like trying to find a damn ghost. What DO you know then?"

"Previous reports suspect abduction. Possibly Jenova."

"Definitely motive there. Getting rid of the heir would be points for there team."

"But no proof so no leads, so no case. There were no signs of a struggle, no signs of a break in, it really is like a GHOST. He just disappeared."

They both sat quietly for a minute, Squall utterly frustrated, then Axel spoke up.

"Well, looks like I'm gonna have a dateless weekend again. Oy you wanna hand me those security camera tapes from the strife mansion over there."

Slowly shoving some tapes into the bag and handing to Axel Leon asked "Yeah sure, what for? I've already checked them."

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

"Well, these tapes have the last moments before that brat disappeared right?" Axel grinned as he pulled out the steaming bag of Popcorn and poured it into a bowl. "Which means if theres a clue it'll be in there. And no one better at watching the tube than I am." he grinned as he plopped down on the coach. "AND no ones better at finding ghost in the background than I am."

"Hmph" Leon closed his eyes with a smile. "Well, I guess I'll leave it to you then." He said as he got up to leave. "oh and by the way Axel…"

"Yeahmph." Replied Axel shoving another handful of popcorn in his mouth.

"Get your damn Microwave out of my office."

Kairi was about ready to die, she had just interrupted a meeting with one of the most important political and economical figures in the area, she would defiantly lose her job for this. Riku stared at her coldly, his icy eyes freezing her body, she couldn't even compile a good reply to his question of why she was there. Then a third voice spoke, it was soft and right she it spoke she felt warmth in her enough so she could move again.

"Miss Kairi?"

Kairi, slowly turned her head to look at the person sitting in the opposite chair to Riku, and when she saw who it was, it was as if time had froze, even the curtains of the great room that were swaying in the wind of the open window seemed to flow slower, then freeze. Then she slowly cooed his name.

"Sora?"

Sora stood up and walked over to her, and time slowly came back into play. He knelt down and helped her sit up straight, he extended a hand to her and helped her up.

"Miss Kairi what are you doing here?" Sora quietly asked.

"I…I," she couldn't say anything, she just kept staring into his eyes, they seemed so caring and thoughtful, she had never felt this innocent feeling coming from a man.

"Sora do you know this person?" Riku interrupted, they both remembered the situation and came back to their senses.

"Uh, yes, I work with her, over at the newspaper." He then looked back at Kairi, "Miss Kairi please tell me, why are you here?"

"What!" Kairi suddenly came to the realization, "'What am I doing here?' What are YOU doing here! How could someone like you possibly know, or even realize who a person like him IS!"

Sora suddenly looked very uncomfortable and glanced over at Riku, searching for some kind of help or relief. Riku, walked over slowly, his dark blue suite seemed to flow along with his movements.

"Sora and I have had previous associations together, that's all you'll need to know." Riku spoke with a voice much calmer as he and Sora continued to look at each other as if speaking telepathically.

Suddenly the door flung open again and this time the blonde secretary was there with two guards. Behind her the guards were holding Yuffie, looking very ruffled and angry as well.

"Master Riku, I found this girl wandering the halls, I believe there is another…" she noticed Kairi being held in Sora's arms, "…ah, I see you found her master Sora." She continued to stare at the two with her face beginning to turn a little red with embarrassment. Sora realized how closely he was holding Kairi and they both jumped back away from each other.

"No no no it's not like that!"

Riku interrupted. "Thank you Namine, please take that one away and I'll leave this one to Sora to escort out."

"Yes sir." She turned around and went to look at where Yuffie had been.

…

Everyone in the room stared at the empty spot where she had been. Even the guards slowly turned and realized that the person they were 'guarding' was gone. (A/N haha sneaky Yuffie)

"…" Namine turned slowly to face everyone and a rather large blush could be seen on her face. "um…yes…well…if you will all excuse me, I have business to attend to."

She walked out with the guards and as the door shut behind them a large hustling could be heard as well and the frantic 'How could you let her escape!'.

Sora and Kairi just stared blankly at the door as Riku gave a small chuckle from across the room.

"Well Sora I guess since you know her you can escort her home, I have places to be."

"Uh..yeah…sure." Sora said slightly blushing. Then Kairi barked at Riku as he walked to the exit opposite the room.

"Hey you! Wait! I'm scheduled to interview you!" Riku did not pause, he just casually walked out of the room and chuckled.

"I'm sorry then, I'll be more than willing to talk to you the next time you break into my conference hall." Kairi stopped where she was and a sweat drop fell down the back of her head.

"Oh, I see, well, I guess I'll reschedule then…hehehe." She sat down in the closest chair and gave a long sigh as the door Riku went through closed with a loud bang. "Great, there goes my story. Damn."

Sora sat down next to her and just looked at her in the face, he noticed how beautiful her features were. "You know, it's not good for someone like you to curse that much, it causes stress, your too pretty to say bad words like that."

Kairi furiously blushed at this comment.

'What? Am I blushing at Sora? No way. But… he did just call me pretty.'

"What's it to you?" she said trying to maintain her tough attitude."

"I guess it really isn't an of my business, sorry." Sora looked away and stared out through the window. Kairi realized that Sora really wasn't trying to be a jerk like most men, he just tried to show some concern. The silence was very solemn so Kairi decided to lighten it up.

"So Sora, I guess we can't stay here forever, shall we go?" she gave him a rare smile.

"Huh? Uh, yeah I guess. Sure." He was taken back by her sudden change in mood.

"Maybe we can stop and get some coffee? I guess it's been a long day."

Kairi gave him another warm smile, "Sure Sora, that would be nice."

"So Riku, who were you having a meeting with?"

"That's none of your business Kadaj."

Kadaj was the younger brother of Riku, both the sons of the Jenova family. They were in a room, filled with red curtains and couches and an evil fire burned in the fireplace. Kadaj was seated in a small chair next to the fire and Riku stood next to the window staring out onto the passing people. Yet one more figure was in the room, he was seated in the large armchair facing the fire.

"You wouldn't be getting into anything distracting you from our purpose are you?" spoke the figure, his voice smooth yet mocking.

"No, I am still devoted to the cause." Riku had to squeeze through his clenched teeth.

"Good. I spent the day organizing the underground gangs that we will use to take over the Strife family, it's quite ironic that the people that Cloud tries to help are the ones most devoted to his downfall. With the disappearance of his first heir, it will be easy to take down the other."

"How shall we kill him father, quick and easy or painfully slow?" hissed Kadaj, a bloodthirsty smile creeping over his face. His hand twitched at the feeling of his special weapon in his hand.

"I guess it depends on how easy it all goes." Said the figure.

"Tch." Spat Riku, their conversation sickened him, they spoke of killing people as if it were a daily chore, something that was just an errand. 'Of course, with the countless people that have already died, it's no wonder they've become desensitized.'

"You disagree Riku?" The chilling voice of the dark speaker echoed throughout the room. " I feel EVERYTHING that you think, you cannot hide from me your feelings."

Riku cursed himself for showing his emotions to easily, he'd have to be more careful from now on.

"No, of course not, I would ever think of going against you…father."

The dark shadow rose and the fire reflected off his face in a way that made his sharp features look even more devilish.

"Good…Mwahaha" His slow laugh became louder and eventually filled the room to its peak. Riku felt enormous pressure form in his chest and Kadaj gripped his sword tightly from this pain inside. Such was the bloodthirsty power that could be felt….

…from Sephiroth.

Kairi was laughing so hard that tears were forming in her eyes. It was almost nighttime and she and Sora had been there talking for hours. Their coffee cups long empty, their chatter had made them completely forget about the people that were passing them by, giving them weird looks at their mindless laughter.

Kairi slowed her laughing enough to fit in a couple words. "haha…Sora…that's hilarious…haha…you never told me you had…ha…a brother." She wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah we had some fun times, wow, there was this one time we were playing hide and seek and I told him to count to twenty, so I went and hid," Sora's face began to chuckle a bit from remembering the rest of the story, "but I hid for like an hour, because my brother didn't know how to count past ten so he went and played somewhere else."

They both continued to laugh as more stories were told.

"So where do you think Yuffie is?" asked Sora after they had calmed down.

"I don't know, probably still causing trouble in the mansion trying to take as many snapshots as possible." They laughed at the thought of her widely running around being chased by two burly men. "So why WERE you there Sora?"

Sora suddenly became very quite and Kairi realized he had tried to avoid talking about THAT.

"I…I was…" he stopped for a while before speaking, "I needed some advice and possibly some help from Riku."

Kairi didn't want to press the subject, she knew he would not tell her EVERYTHING, so she changed the subject.

"Well, I still need an interview with him." She sighed turning her head away.

Sora suddenly shot up, "Well I could get you one this week!"

"What? Really you could?"

"Yeah, I'll go with you!"

"Wow, thanks Sora, I really appreciate it." She gazed at her watch slightly. "Ohmagawd! It's late, I better get back to my apartment."

"Here, I'll walk you there, it can't be far."

In fact it WAS far, but neither cared, it took them an hour to walk to her apartment and on the way they conversed even more, Sora learned a lot about Kairi, and her dreams ever since she was a child to become a reporter. Sora likewise told her what his goal in life was. They were walking down the sidewalk with the dim glow of the street lam beaming down on them when he told her.

"What I've found in life, is that a lot of the time, people are so serious about petty things in their futile attempt to BUY happiness, when true happiness is something every individual person needs to find, the way I find it is by trying to bring a smile to someone's face, even if it's only one person. It makes me feel as if I have a purpose, instead of just wandering around in life."

Kairi absorbed his thoughts, "So that's why you became a cartoonist?"

"Haha, no, but this is one way for me to hopefully cheer people up."

"Are you any good?"

"What? You never saw any of them?"

"Well, I never really read the comic section."

"Gah! How is that possible! It's like, only the best part OF the paper! Why else would you possibly read a piece of scrap paper that tells you depressing things in life?" Kairi and Sora laughed again, they continued talking for a while, when they finally came to Kairi's apartment complex.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She softly spoke as she headed towards the door. As her hand gripped the doorknob…

"Wait! Miss Kairi…" Sora reached over and grabbed her hand, she turned around and they both were caught in each other's gaze.

"Yes…Sora…" She cooed as they both continued to blush. This moment staring into each other's eyes, seemed to last forever as they inched closer to one another. Kairi's auburn hair brushed to one side as she looked up at him with a helpless look. Sora's messy hazel hair spiked in ever direction falling over his eyes.

"I…I…"

WHAM!

"That's it I'm going to go look for Kairi she's been out for WAY too late!" yelled Yuffie as she exited the complex with Tidus yelling behind her.

"No, come on, she's a big girl she can…" both Yuffie and Tidus stared in front of them on the doorstep.

"…Take care…of herself." Tidus finished rather confused.

There on the doorstep was Sora and lying on top of him was Kairi in a very sexual position. Both had their eyes closed from the force that the door had knocked them over with. When their eyes cracked open, they realized what they were doing and both shot apart.

"Kairi…" Yuffie dragged her name on, with an evil grin growing on her face.

Kairi tried to protest, "Yuffie, its not what it looked like, you opened the door and…"

Tidus interrupted, "YOU AND THE NEW GUY WERE JUST LOCKING LIPS!" his mouth fell open as he pointed at her with an accusing finger.

"You naughty girl!" Yuffie smirked.

Both Kairi and Sora looked at each other a brief moment than quickly turned away, a mad blush on both of their faces.

"I can't wait till Cid hears this one." Kairi pouted.

Leon burst through the door a little frustrated. Not exactly the happiest camper at 3:00 AM in the Morning.

"What! What is it? Axel you better have found something or be dying... because I swear if you haven't found anything you WILL be dying."

Axel stood up from his comfy couch he had obviously dragged into the office so he could watch the television in his own comfortable style. "Aw don't get your cowboy britches in a knot. I have ACTUALLY found our GHOST." he exclaimed proudly. Taking a triumphant stance and bowing proudly. Motioning to the stack of 8 Tv's he had piled one on top of another

"Ugh…where did you get all those TV's…you know what I change my mind don't tell me." Slowly drudging over to the couch Leon took a seat. "Have you really been watching since earlier?" Squinty eye of amazement filled Leon's face.

"Don't look surprised man, I once watched all 3 Lord of the Rings AND the Harry Potter movies in one day."

"Is..Is that possible? Whatever get on with it. What did you find?"

"Okay you see buddy-pal, you and everyone else made the mistake of watching each camera individually! OR maybe last time they had teams because watching so many seemed a pain. BUT NO! That my friend is not how you find a clue."

Axel fumbled the 4 remotes to coordinate certain camera angle shots to the same time.

"Ok, this is the last video footage we have of Sora right…" On camera 4 a small boy was seen walking the halls with a bag, "As you can see he goes into his room, and then 10 minutes later his brother Roxas follows." as if on cue a little blonde boy runs past the camera into theta room. "Then after that no one is able to find Sora…Get it?"

"…Axel I don't see where this is going."

"Ugh, c'mon bro," he replied now rewinding back to the whole scenario again, except this time one TV had gone back 10 minutes earlier. "The clue that really tipped me off was when cameras 1-3 and 8-27 all ended at the same time. But 4-7 ended ten minutes later. That should't unless this videos had been tampered I looked back to 10 minutes before the last appearance of Sora and we get this…"

Sora walks by the camera holding a bag and a small blonde brother trailing behind.

"Brother whats the game this time?"

"I'll tell you in a second Roxas, just hold on I promise it'll be lots of fun."

"Ok stop, down that next hall to the left is the security room where, currently the night shift guard should be in, However, chances are he's probably asleep. cause he'll I know I would be."

"Please get on with it…" Leon mumbled rubbing his eyes.

"Ok well, After that, if you look here Sora comes back but Roxas, stays behind, Sora enters room stage right," He pointed to the camera on 4 again. "and no movement till 10 minutes later when Roxas enters as well. Soon to exit the room with a confused look on his face and the go back in again."

"So that confused look, probably means Sora wasn't there right, ok I get that part but what is this discovery you've made? I'm still waiting to hear it."

Axel stands up and walks over to the TV resting his hand on it with a big grin on his face, "Ok pal, I'll place all cameras infest motion this time between that 10 minute gap, and tell me what you see."

CLICK. In fast motion all cameras begin to display.

A minute goes by, intent staring is done but Mr. Leonheart. His eyes glancing back and forth squinting from all the images. And then…

"Stop it there!" Axel does accordingly.

"Hehe, so you caught it after all." he said as he sat back down.

"The shadows, and the light, in all other camera views the moons light is dimmed for a second, a passing cloud, but these four stay the same. These four would have been a straight shoot to an outside exit."

"Yessiree. Leon what we have here isn't a ghost, but a miniature Houdini."

"No," Leon said a little more grave, "What we have here isn't an abduction or disappearance," he looks at Axel "…it's a runaway!"

...

The room fell silent for a little both seemed to be thinking of there next move then suddenly like two cogs in a machine working in harmony.

"Axel if he were to leave on foot how long would it take to get to the train or bus station"

"Probably like 20 minutes, but all buses and trains are closed at this time he would have had to wait till morning."

"Go back and check the records for all outgoing tickets purchased that morning going out of town. FAR out of town, judging from his bag he was planning on heading somewhere pretty distanced from here. get me names, numbers, if children tickets were purchased, anything that could get us a lead."

"Got it boss. But I doubt anyone will be there this early…" Axel rushed up from the coach to get his coat. "Hey and what about you, you ain't just gonna stay HERE are you?"

"No, I'm going to go check and see what security camera recordings i can find of that time."

"(sigh)" Axel breathed looking a little depressed, "So I gotta watch MORE. Man this blows." He said before he shut the door.

SLAM

(A/N… haha, sre this was so long, I tried to put a little bit more romance in it, so please tell me how I did. R&R)