Notes: Yes, it's now in the right section, that of Sora/Kairi. You can call off your dogs. Never mind how hurt I was that I really only have three reviews, the other two being complaints, never mind my pain! (smashes head against desk) Sorry, sorry, other personality broke out. I am very thankful for the time you've given me, and I'm glad I'm able to interest you so. Not too much happens in this chapter, but it's pretty long. See, I think all of the days will be divided into Morning/Afternoon/Evening. I'm actually not sure if I'll be able to fit it all into seven days, so sometimes things may seem rushed. As always, ANY feedback is greatly appreciated.

The First Day: Afternoon

Anyone looking in on the scene would have thought it ludicrous. Cloud Strife was bustling about the kitchen, looking for all the world like a housewife as he hummed an upbeat tune to himself and thought aloud. It was a bad habit he had, but one that he had no real intention of breaking.

"We need more peanut butter, gotta remember that next time I'm out. There's that new steakhouse down the street, maybe I should get some filet mignon for dinner, bet Sora would like that. If he comes home at all tonight. He sure seemed intent on doing something special for that girl."

Cloud paused in his pacing for a moment, a look of confusion coming over his face, even though no one was present to actually benefit from his facial expression. This was another effect of the vocalization, but Cloud wasn't even aware if its existence. "I wonder if he likes her? That would, like, suck. I mean, that Riku guy seemed friendly, but what if he gets too close to her? Nah, like that would ever happen. Maybe he'll make it look like she was raped and killed. Oh, or maybe he'll let Larxene help him and make one of those torture things she's always drawing!"

"What about Larxene?"

Cloud, finally awake from his stream of consciousness, stuck his head out of the kitchen to greet the visitor. Yuffie Kisaragi, the sixteen year old who was built like a pornstar, was there, bouncing on the new couch like it had been hers for years. "This new one's really good! It's so soft!"

"Good to see you too, Yuffie," Cloud said, even though he knew that it wouldn't prompt a greeting from Yuffie. She said what she wanted when she wanted, and generally politeness wasn't high on her list of priorities. For example, she might have knocked before coming in. "What brings you here?"

Yuffie leapt off of the couch, ran up to Cloud, and, before he could protest, started hanging off of his arm. "Can I use Sora's bed for about a half an hour?"

"Yuffie! I told you that was the last time!"

"But Cloud!" she begged, drawing out his name and pouting. "There was a half-day today, and I didn't get a chance to do it in school because there were exams, and Larxene won't be home for hours!"

"Then couldn't you just go home?" he asked in exasperation. He knew already that it was futile to argue, because Yuffie usually got her way, especially if Larxene was backing her.

"Because Larxene has the car and she knows that if I'm not at home, I'll be here!"

And, unsurprisingly, it looked like Yuffie would get her way today. Cloud sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, go ahead. Put down some towels or something though."

Yuffie cheered and kissed him on the cheek before thanking him and dashing off to Sora's bedroom. Cloud smiled in spite of himself. As…well, messed up as Yuffie could be at times, he couldn't help but like her. Her parents had kicked her out of the house when they found out that she was bisexual and sleeping with another girl (which was Larxene, and that relationship had lasted for three years now), and so she'd moved in with Larxene, who was the day manager of a playhouse.

Larxene didn't do a whole lot as the day manager of the Badminton Theater, but she was well-paid, and so she could always let herself relax with Yuffie at the end of the day. Of course, that was only her official job, and while the second one paid a lot more, it was sort of a "by request" occupation, and the requests didn't come terribly often. Sora was her main customer, but there was always a trade in illegal weapons even without assassins.

Sora had met Larxene first. His target happened to be in the process of raping her, and in a way, Sora had unwittingly saved her. To show her appreciation, Larxene helped him hide the body, and while Sora wasn't sure he needed the help, he had decided he liked the girl, and got to know her and Yuffie. When he introduced them to Cloud, Sora had mentioned beforehand that they were "sort of nymphomaniacal." After that meeting, Cloud had called Sora's warning "the grossest understatement of all history, ever."

Sexually, both girls were abnormal. Both of their families had abandoned them for it. Neither really cared too much. The girls got by, and to them, that was what counted.

Nevertheless, it did sometimes annoy Cloud that, time after time, Yuffie came to his house to masturbate instead of just going home and waiting for Larxene to come home. She was very loud, and tended to make a serious mess. Plus, he always felt weird whenever she insisted that they have sex, even though he knew Larxene didn't really mind (both because she had said so and because she had brought up the idea of a foursome with Sora), he felt like he was doing something like a disservice to both women. He did it anyway because they were both gorgeous and everyone involved always enjoyed themselves immensely, but there was still a part of his brain that told him that he shouldn't do it, that it wasn't right.

Sora had always told him that that particular part of the mind should be told to go fuck itself on every possible occasion. He went back to talking to himself as he moved his pacing to the living room. After a few minutes, he realized he could hear Yuffie shouting something, incoherent with bliss, and decided to turn on the television and look for a crappy movie. He loved to talk during bad movies, because he loved mocking them.

"So, let me get this straight," Kairi said, her hands gesturing wildly over her ravioli as she spoke, "your roommate Cloud sleeps with this girl pretty consistently, a girl who's already in a relationship with another girl, and yet you say he doesn't have a girlfriend?"

"I really don't see what's so hard about it," Sora replied, smiling. "They're basically friends that really like to have sex. Yuffie and Larxene are lovers. Yuffie and Larxene are friends with Cloud and myself."

"Friends that like to have sex?"

"Exactly."

There was a pause, before an important question. "Have you ever had sex with either of them?"

Sora knew that this was an important question, and thought very quickly before he lied. "Once when Larxene and I were drunk one night, we went pretty far, but not all the way." Kairi visibly relaxed, and Sora knew that he had made a good choice. That was bull: he had slept with Larxene just last week.

"Why not, though? I mean, if you were both drunk."

He shrugged. "I guess we just didn't feel right with it. Haven't you ever been in a relationship which you could just tell wasn't going to work?"

She gave a short, somewhat bitter laugh. "Sometimes I think all of my relationships have been like that."

Sensing that he should move away from this topic, Sora introduced a newer one that Kairi had mentioned earlier in the day. "You said you'd be seeing something at the Badminton tomorrow. What is it?"

"Oh," she seemed startled by the question. "Roxas got two tickets to see 'Phantom of the Opera.' Have you seen it?"

"A few years ago, yes," he answered. In truth, he had seen it, many times, as a matter of fact. He almost knew the thing by heart. And he also knew that a chandelier fell from the center of the theater at the end of the first act. Some…collateral damage, maybe, but he could be certain that Miss Yamato would be dead after that. "It's a great show."

Sora was shocked. Completely shocked. He found that…how could this be? He didn't want to kill Kairi. She went on talking, and Sora found his attention wrenched to her, focusing on every word that came out of her mouth. "I've heard that the singing is just incredible! Oh, I was wondering, could I come see your apartment sometime? You said it wasn't too far from here, right?" Her eyes sparkled, and Sora's own locked onto hers and stubbornly refused to leave. "Unless the den of iniquity is a bit too dirty with girl-juices for me to see?"

He laughed, a real laugh. It wasn't even terribly funny, but he found himself laughing just because he thought it might make her laugh too, and it did. Just a short giggle, but that brief sound made Sora's heart skip a beat. What's happening to me? "No, no, you can come over, but…" Wait. She'll be dead by tomorrow evening, so if she comes over, she'll have to do it tonight.

But you won't kill her.

Preposterous! She's just some girl. I almost killed Larxene before she said she'd help me out. Kairi's a target, and I never miss a target.

But you can't kill her.

I can do anything. Anyone can. The only laws are those of physics.

But if you killed her, then she'd be dead.

Well, yeah. That's how it works.

If she died, then part of you would die too.

This inner dialogue took place in less than a second, but Sora had made his decision long before it had finished. "Yeah, you can come over tonight, if you want. You want anything special for dinner?"

Is this a "last meal" sort of thing?

Maybe you just want to do something nice for her?

"Oh, you don't need to anything special for me. What would you usually have?"

"Oh, probably a steak. Do you mind that?"

"Not at all."

She was about to say more, but a ring pierced the conversation, that of a cell phone playing a watered-down version of "Ave Maria." Sora grinned apologetically and took his phone of his pocket. "Sorry, this is probably Cloud."

"I don't mind," said Kairi, smiling back at him. Sora excused himself from the table. He went into the men's room, checked that no one else was there, and then flicked open his phone.

"You busy?" came the smooth and silky voice on the other end of the line. It was a voice that could make men bend down in worship, or women green with envy.

"Having lunch with a friend," Sora replied, knowing that Larxene would correctly interpret the euphemism, "so keep it brief, if you don't mind."

"Yuffie's over at your place with Cloud, and I think she'll be wanting to spend the night, on account of today was her last day of school."

"Which means you'll be wanting to stay over too."

"You don't miss a beat. As long as it's not too much trouble, yeah. And I've got some new merchandise I think you might really like. Interested?"

"Yeah…but I'm going to be having company over tonight, so save business until after she's left."

The shock was evident in Larxene's voice as she stuttered, "C…company? You mean…you mean the target? That's a first, isn't it? You inviting them to your place?"

"I guess it is," answered Sora. "But listen, try not to freak her out, okay?"
"Hmph!" growled Larxene in mock hurt. "The nerve! But yeah, I'll behave. Anything I can do to help?"

"Actually," Sora thought for a second. Larxene ran the Badminton Theater. If she could seat Kairi properly (and he knew that she could, and would, if he asked) in position for a tragic accident. But…was that really what he wanted? After only knowing her for a day? "There is, but I'll tell you about it after my friend's gone for the night. You can help me make this one vanish."

"Deal. Unless, of course," Larxene purred seductively, "you'd like to add a little something extra to spice it up?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Sora said passionlessly. Larxene was sexy as hell, there was no doubt about that, but he just didn't feel in the mood for, well, for her. Still, if sex would let her focus on her assignment a bit more, than they'd have sex, and, dammit, they'd enjoy it. "See you tonight. Tell Cloud to get steak."

"Will do."

Sora tucked his phone back into his pocket as he made his way back to the table where he and Kairi were sitting. He smiled and apologized for talking so long.

"It's okay," she said. "Who was it?"

"Larxene. She said that she and Yuffie would be having dinner at my place tonight. You mind? 'Cause if you do, we could go out." The hell? Why am I nervous?

You don't want her to refuse. You're afraid.

"No, no, I'd like to meet them," Kairi responded, blocking out Sora's inner monologue.

Wasn't there, at one instant, a point in time where I had this situation under control?