J enova

x

VI

x

Twilight Coastline

Destiny Islands

Present Day.

x

As the sun slowly began to rise, the first thing that hit Sora's head as his eyes slowly opened was a mixture of pain and confusion. As he made to stand up, he found himself unable to even do that, though it wasn't due to pain, rather who was next to him. Sora had to spend a moment fixing his eyes before he realized that the person next to him was Kairi. Not knowing what to do, he slowly edged out of his position, realizing that in her hungover state it might look a little awkward. As he managed to finally get out of the position, he racked his brains as to what had happened the night before.

"Ok," He muttered to himself, "I was at the party...i talked to the DJ...I kissed Xion...and then i was walking...and i found Kairi...oh god, did i tell her...no, no i didn't, i almost did," Sora breathed a sigh of relief as he looked around, before reaching for his phone. Hoping to Yevon that he hadn't tried to call anyone, he was amazed when he saw the amount of text messages on his phone;

Text Message from Axel:
Dude? where are you? Roxas just started doing the worm!

(3) Missed Calls and Text Message From Riku:
Bro? where are you? i'm going home, wanna make sure you are ok.

(5) Missed Calls and Text Message from Dad:
Sora! call me when you get this! I am not happy!

"Oh great," Sora muttered as he ignored the other text messages and hit the 'call back' button on his phone, and only had to wait a few moments before Cloud picked up.

"Sora! where in Yevon's name have you been?" He asked, the sound of relief and anger was clear throughout the phone as Sora scratched the back of his head, "I'm sorry dad, my phone died and I sort of crashed at Selphie's house,"

He could hear Cloud give a sigh of relief as he said, "I am just glad that you are ok...I don't mind if you're going to sleep over at a friends house, just...let me know next time, alright son,"

"Im so sorry dad, i'll never do this again to you," Sora promised, and Cloud let out a small chuckle as he said, "Yes you will son...but its alright, as long as i know before hand it is all ok...are you coming home soon?"

Sora looked to Kairi, wondering what he should do. It would be rude to just leave her on the beach in her state, so instead he said, "If you don't mind, i'm going to look after a friend...unless you want me home?"

But Cloud would hear none of that, "No, you look after your friend, just let me know the next time you plan to give me a heart attack, a little warning is always nice,"

Letting out a soft laugh, because a loud one would cause him extreme pain, Sora responded, "Deal...see you this afternoon dad," and Cloud responded with an "I love you son," Before hanging up.

Sora placed his phone back into his pocket as he heard a groaning sound coming from behind him. Sora turned around to see a tired and confused Kairi looking around. Despite the fact that her hair was covered in sand and her make-up a little smudged, she still looked so beautiful. Shaking his head, he moved over towards her as Kairi looked up and mumbled, "Sora?"

"Hey Kairi...glad to see you're ok," and Kairi slowly managed to get up, but not slowly enough as her hand raced to her head as she felt the blood rush all the way to her already in pain head, "Define the work 'ok' for me Sora, because i am almost sure that i am not ok," Sora let out a very soft chuckle as he held out her hand, and helped her stand up.

Kairi looked around before she reached for her phone, and used the reflection of her phone as a mirror.

"Dear Yevon i look a mess," She muttered as she returned her phone to her pocket and looked around, but Sora shook his head, "You look fine,"

This time it was Kairi's turn to shake her head, "No, no, i need to get to my house as soon as possi-" But Kairi groaned once again as her hand hit her head again, clearly Kairi was not used to having hangovers.

"Alright, how about this, ill help you to your house, and then get a coffee," Sora smiled, and Kairi looked at Sora for a moment, before she gave him a small smile and began to move, "Deal Strife...but you have to help me get to my house," and Sora let out laugh, before they both reached for their heads to nurse their hangovers.

"I really wish i wasn't standing so close to you when you laughed," Kairi said, and Sora nodded his head, "I wish i wasn't standing so close to me either," and together they helped each other off of the beach and onto the road, where Kairi would give him minimal directions towards her house, and spent most of her time pointing and looking this way and that, until finally the reached Kairi's street, and were soon looking at her house.

Sora was about to help her inside the house, when Kairi stopped him, "I think it's best in the interest of your safety if you stand outside," This statement caused Sora to raise his eyebrow, "Kairi, i'm not going to try anything, you know me...despite the fact you've only known me for a week,"

Kairi raised her hands, "I know you're not going to try anything...but my mother doesn't...besides, nobody should have to listen to the storm that she will be brewing once i enter," and nodding his head in understanding, Sora moved to the other side of the street as Kairi took a deep breath and entered the house.

Sora shuffled his feet looking this way and that, before he heard two voices yelling at each others. His eyes widened as the yelling suddenly got louder and louder, until a few minutes, Kairi came storming out of the house, slamming the door shut, and walking over to Sora with a 'huff', grabbing him and saying, "Lets go," as she dragged him down the street.

Sora remained silent for a few moments, not daring to say a word, before they turned a corner to the bus stop and Kairi sat down, still grabbing Sora's arm causing him to crash into the seat. Kairi ignored this as she spent the next couple of moments trying to angrily blow a stand of her hair out of her line of sight. When Sora realized that she would not be calming down, he muttered, "...something wrong Kairi,"

"Oh it's my mother! oh sorry, not my mother, Detective Claire Farron! never a mother but always a damn police woman!" Kairi angrily screamed, and Sora sweat dropped, feeling that Kairi had skipped over something important. Namely her mother was a police detective.

"You're mother i-"

"Oh it was always the same, back when she was an inspector for damn PSICOM in Gran Pulse, never having any time for me unless i were to get into trouble, and then she would feel like wearing her mother hat on top of her PSICOM one, trying to tell me how much of a troublemaker i was," Kairi huffed, and Sora just stayed quiet, not making a sound, not even daring to, for fear that Kairi might take it the wrong way.

As the bus pulled up, Sora and Kairi both got on, Sora not quiet as sure where they were going as Kairi, and had a fear to ask her. He did have to drag her away from the bus driver when she started yelling abuse at him for merely doing his job, and as they sat down, and rode the bus in silence to their destination, Sora waited until a few moments, and watched as Kairi slowly began to calm down, before he softly cleared his throat and said, "So...where are we going Kairi?"

Kairi looked at Sora for a moment like he was an idiot, before her eyes widened and she said, "Oh, i forgot you're still new here are you, Yevon above i'm sorry Sora, i assumed you knew were i was taking you,"

Chuckling, Sora responded, "It's alright Kairi, but if you could let me know now that would be good,"

"Right, well you said we were going to get coffee, and i know this amazing coffee shop in Dawn, so i decided i would take you...sorry, hope you don't mind,"

Sora shook his head, but then another question entered his mind, "What is Dawn?" but Kairi just smiled as she pointed out the window, and Sora looked behind him, his face now in awe.

Dawn in short was a city, but it was huge, not as big as Edge was, but it was still rather large. As the bus made its way into the city, Sora was amazed, every kind of shop imaginable, from clothing to games to sweets to anything, Sora didn't know where to look first, and as the bus stopped at its final destination, Kairi had to drag Sora off the bus as he was too busy looking through the window to notice.

"So, the coffee shop's over here," Kairi smiled, and Sora looked around, saying softly, "Yeah,", not really listening to what she was saying. Rolling her eyes, Kairi took Sora by the arm once again as she began to lead him over to a set of shops, all with clothing and shoes. Even though Sora wasn't much of a fashion person, he was still in awe. How could someone have an entire store just on sneakers? He had no idea.

As the two turned a corner, Kairi's face lit up as they managed to find the small little corner coffee store, called 7th Heaven. Sora was amazed as the entire place was two stories. They walked in, and saw that there were a couple of tables and chair in the store as well as outside. Standing in line, Kairi had made the decision that they would both get a small coffee with ground up Poupu fruit, which Kairi had told him was a delicacy at that specific coffee shop. As they payed the cashier and was handed two small coffees, Kairi led Sora upstairs, and as they walked up, Sora stared around in awe.

The entire place looked looked extremely comfortable. Although there were chairs and tables where people could sit and drink, there were also bean bags and smaller areas were mostly teenagers could chill out and have fun. Towards the corner was a stage, where Sora assumed a musical number could take place with the drum set, guitar and mic. Sora stared in awe, as Kairi merely looked at him and took a sip of her coffee, "Impressed?" Sora could not muster words as he merely nodded his head, and Kairi just laughed as they made their way towards one of the chairs closest to the staircase, Kairi and Sora both sat down as they enjoyed their coffee, their silence only lasting a few moments as Sora said, "This has to be the best coffee i've ever tasted,"

"It's the poupu in it i'm telling you," Kairi told him, and Sora nodded his head, completely relaxed. He could feel his former pounding head returning to the same state as before, and he sighed as he leaned back into his chair, and smiled. Nothing could ruin this perfect moment.

"So, you and Xion huh?"

Well, except that.

Sora was lucky that he hadn't been drinking anything, for if he had he might have accidentally spat it out onto Kairi. He could feel in anxiety growing quickly, and he had no idea why. Maybe it was because it had been a drunken encounter, maybe it had been because he didn't feel like talking about women with Kairi. Either way he could feel his face heating up and distracted himself by taking another sip of coffee. When it was apparent that Sora was not going to say anything, Kairi continued.

"I mean, that looked like some Kiss," Kairi muttered as she took another sip of coffee, and Sora looked at her, "You saw?"

Rolling her eyes, Kairi continued, "Of course i saw, it was pretty hard to miss," and Sora looked at her, he began to wonder why Kairi had suddenly grown so defensive as the situation caused his anxiety to grow higher and higher, when his thoughts began to speak, in that calm chilly tone that Sora hated.

"Why does she even care what you and Xion did? She doesn't like you,"

"Why do you even care?" Sora asked her, and Kairi looked back at him, "I'm not, just...don't wanna see you get hurt is all,"

"It's none of her business what you and Xion do,"

Sora took a sip of coffee, and told her, "It's none of your business Kairi," and Kairi looked at him with her eyes wide opened, and her face a little ajar, "I'm just trying to be a friend Sora,"

"She's trying to ensure you have no fun,"

"I think you're trying to ensure i have no fun..."

"She want's you to end up alone,"

"...Do you want me to end up alone?..."

"She should stop telling you how to live your life,"

"Personally, I think you should stop telling me how to live my life,"

Sora had no idea where these thoughts were coming from, he wasn't even sure he agreed to what he was saying, but he knew that he could not think of anything on his own, and maybe the voice in his head was right this time. It was obvious that Kairi didn't care about him, so why shouldn't he have a good time.

Kairi looked extremely hurt, and said softly, not wanting to make a scene in her favorite coffee shop, "You know, i think you're right, do whatever the hell you want Sora, i couldn't care less," and she got up from her chair and stormed down the stairs. As Sora watched her leaving, A part of him wanted to go after her and apologize, but the more controlling part of him wanted nothing to do with Kairi at the moment. Sighing, and feeling a headache coming on that was not connected to the hangover he had recently gotten over, he drained the last few drops of his coffee, now the taste he had enjoyed before completely gone as he tossed the cup into the nearest bin.

Not know what to do next, he got up and decided that he would explore a bit, although all he really wanted to do was crawl into bed and never see anyone again. As he exited the shop, he turned down a street, which was full of different kinds of clothing stores, gaming stores, and every other kind of store under the sun. As he looked around, not concentrating on the many people who were around him, he suddenly found himself bumping into someone who was equally distracted, and both tumbled down.

"Oh, Yevon i'm sorry," Sora quickly managed to bend up, and began to pick up the items that had fallen. Sora noticed that a lot of these things were art supplies, and as he gathered most of them, he looked up to who he had managed to knock over, almost dropping the items once again as he realized who he had accidentally knocked over.

"Namine?" Sora said quite shocked, and the blonde haired girl looked up, a look of surprise covering herself, "Sora? What are you doing here?"

For a moment he was about to tell her the truth, that he had come here from Selphie's party with Kairi and that they had had an argument and stormed off, but he stopped himself as he realized how bad this sounded, and quickly decided that he didn't need to tell her the whole truth, and only bits would sound a lot better, "I was just recovering from a hangover, so i decided to get some fresh air,"

"In the city?" Namine asked, and Sora stopped dead in his tracks as he realized how stupid it sounded.

"Yeah, i'm starting to regret that decision now though," Sora chuckled a little bit as he began to scratch the back of his head, "So what about you? what are you doing?" and Namine looked at him for a moment before she raised her arms up, showing him the art supplies, "I ran out, needed to get some more art stuff,"

Sora realized that he was not going at all well with this conversation, so he decided to try one more conversation starter, "So, how did you enjoy the party last night?"

"...I didn't go to the party,"

Strike three, Sora was out.

"Oh, Im sorry Namine, i thought that you were invited, Yevon i'm a bit of an idiot right now," he muttered, mentally slapping himself in the head, when he saw that Namine was shaking her head.

"No, no, i was invited, i just don't go to parties a lot of the time, i'm not much of a party person," Namine told him, and Sora nodded his head in response, glad that he hadn't said anything too stupid to her.

"So, what are your plans now?" Sora asked, knowing that this was a safe question to ask, and Namine shrugged, "Well, I should be getting home to get these things here, but i was hoping to hang around Dawn for a couple of hours at least, hoping to run into someone," She looked at him and smiled.

"Anyone in particular?" Sora asked, and Namine just shook her head, saying as she did, "Nope, anyone would be good enough," She smiled, and Sora looked around as he placed his hands into his pockets, "I don't suppose you want to see a movie...with me?"

Namine was taken aback from the comment, as was Sora. He had not spent a lot of time with Namine throughout the first week of school. Maybe that was why he was asking if he could accompany Namine to the movies, that he was trying to make up for the fact that he had not spent a lot of time with her as the others.

Sora wasn't sure how she was going to react, but let out a sigh of relief as she nodded her head and smiled, "You know, i would love to," and Sora nodded with a smile as he looked around, the obvious problem becoming clearer the more he had looked around, "Ah...you wouldn't happen to know where the movie is," and Namine couldn't help but let out a small giggle as she nodded her head and said, "Here, follow me," and together, the two with bags in both their hands made their way through the streets, passing by the numerous buildings, until the two turned a corner, and Sora gazed in awe.

The Movie cinema was a truly spectacular area, off to the right side was where one could get their tickets, while to the left was a staircase leading where Sora assumed was the many cinemas. In the middle of the two areas was a food shop, where Sora could see containers upon containers of different sweets, popcorn, drinks and other delicious delectables. In the centre of the area was a large holographic projector, that seemed to be projecting a large screen with movie previews as well as movie times and deals that the cinema had.

While he was in deep concentration of the movie trailer they were playing, Namine took Sora and dragged him over to the ticket area. All the booths were auto-selling machines with touch screens, Namine placed her bags down and folded her arms, looking at the choices, before saying, "Well, theres always AVALANCHE IV if you want to see that," and Sora turned to Namine, clearly surprised, "You watch action movies?" and Namine looked at him with a smile on her face.

"Surprised that a quiet artist likes watching action movies?" and Sora placed his arms in his pocket as he nodded his head, saying, "Yeah, little bit of shock," and Namine gave a small laugh as she pressed one student ticket and paid the machine, before her small ticket stub rolled out, and Namine grabbed it as she stepped to the side as Sora did the exact same thing. The two smiled as they both moved over to the food area. Both chose different sweets and drinks, laughing and chuckling at jokes as they paid for their food, and made their way up the stairs, there stubs being scanned as they were directed to the cinema that they were looking for.

As Sora and Namine entered, they noticed that they had been directed to a rather comfortable area, with a large screen towards the front, and a reclining seating area. Finding a few spare seats at the very back, they bounded up the stares until they had reached the very back, and took a seat as close to the middle as they could.

"I've heard good things about this movie," Sora whispered, and Namine nodded as she said, "I just liked the first one so much better, back when Zack Fair did his own stunts," Namine opened the bag of snakes and popped one in her mouth, referencing one of the former action heroes who had once done his own stunts.

Sora nodded his head in sadness, Zack Fair was well known as one of the great action movie actors, but he was getting a little too old to do his own stunts. Sora was about to make a comment about how he had still managed to capture the action hero essence, when the entire cinema went dark and trailers for future movies came on.

Sora and Namine in short both enjoyed the movie immensely. They had laughed at all the small funny bits, gasped in awe as the main character jumped from train to train to catch the bad guy, and were satisfied as the movie came to an ending, and Sora and Namine both waited to see whether there would be some sort of small clip after the credits. Sadly disappointed, they both got up from their seats, Sora once again helping Namine with her bag of art supplies as they made their way towards the exit of the cinema.

"I thoroughly enjoyed the movie," Namine smiled, and Sora shrugged, "It was alright, though i really didn't buy the whole snowboarding over the volcano, i mean, even with the small jetpacks on it, he would have to be extremely fortunate,"

Namine rolled her eyes as she said, "You don't understand the point of an action movie Sora, it's meant to be...action-y"

"There can be action and have it believable," Sora stated, and Namine chuckled as she rolled her eyes, "Men, you'll love those action movies, but god forbid if it doesn't fit the laws of physics-"

"Hey, if I have to follow the laws of physics, why can't they?" Sora pointed back to the cinema, and both let out laughter as they looked around and found that they had reached the bus stop. Namine looked ahead, and let out a small sigh as she said, "Well, hate to say it but my bus is currently making its way towards us...do you know which bus you need to get?"

Sora racked his brains, and a small memory of the number '422' popped into his mind, and he realized that that had been the number on the front of the bus. Nodding his head happily, they exchanged goodbyes. Sora going in for a hug which surprised Namine. As he withdrew, he saw that her face had gone a little red and she was using her blonde hair as a curtain.

"Im sorry? did i do something-" But Sora stopped his apology as the girl shook her head, as she muttered, "Not used to being hugged is all..."

Sora was about to say something else, but Namine's bus appeared in front of them. She nodded a goodbye as she took the bags Sora had helped carry of of his hand and turned around, paid the bus driver and quickly made her way to a seat. Sora just stood where he was confused as he watched her bus pull away, and scratched the back of his head as it turned a corner and was out of his sight.

Sora sighed as he made his way towards the bus timetable, glad that he did not have to wait long for his bus. As he sat down, his thoughts traveled through the day, about what had happened, from waking up on a beach to the argument with Kairi, to movies and what Sora had believed was a fun time with Namine, to her look of embarrassment and distance as she had gotten on the bus and not even looked back. Truly this had been a very confusing not to mention an emotional day.

Sora was in such deep thought that he had almost missed his bus coming towards him. Looking up, he noticed the bus just pulling in front of him, and he jumped up as he reached for his pocket, giving the more friendlier bus driver a couple of coins as he made his way towards the back of the bus. He took his seat, noticing that there were only a few people there. As the bus started off, Sora sighed as he closed his eyes and pressed his head against the cold glass, sighing as he lost track of time.

When he finally opened his eyes again, Sora was not sure exactly where he was, as the darkness caused him only to see a clear reflection of his panicking self. Thoughts of whether he had missed his stop began to form in his mind as he cupped his hands towards his eyes and pressing them against the glass, he was just able to make out the park that he had been at, and pressed the 'Stop bus' button, making his way towards the front of the bus as it stopped at the nearest bus shelter. Thanking the man, he jumped off and looked around, only taking a few moments before he had gotten his bearings and knew that he only had a few streets to walk before he was home. Zipping his jacket up and stuffing them into his pocket, he made his way through the different streets, until he had finally come across his house. He took a deep breath as he opened the door into his house.

The first thing he could smell was some sort of rice dish. Caught in its heavenly scent, he made his way towards the kitchen, where Cloud could be seen wearing an apron and whistling some olden tune as he turned around and noticed his son standing at the doorway.

"Glad you could join me for dinner Sora, i wasn't looking forward to eating in a house all alone," He smiled at his son, taking a small notice of his quite attitude as he watched him make his way towards one of the seats and softly place himself down. Cloud remained quiet as he put the finishing spices into his dish, before serving it into two bowls and handing one to Sora, along with a fork. Barely muttering a "thank you," Sora began to dig in, Cloud noticing that he was not eating as fast as he knew his son could.

Trying to make some sort of conversation with his son, he swallowed the bit of rice he had eaten as he said, "So, how was the party?" But his hope for a conversation did not reach high as Sora merely shrugged his shoulders and continued eating. Hoping to get something more then a motion from his son, he asked, "How was the girl you were looking after,"

This seemed to work as Sora swallowed his food before asking his own question, "Dad, why are women so confusing?" and Cloud merely chuckled at a statement that had been asked many times before, looking at his son, "There are lots of reasons why males think females are confusing, and vice versa...but what exactly happened to make them seem confusing to you Sora?"

At this Sora went a bit red, as he tried to phrase his response in a way that wouldn't be too embarrassing, "Well, at Selphie's party...some things happened..." and Sora looked up to see a smirk on Clouds face. Knowing better then to probe his son for a meaning behind 'some things' he responded with a nod and said, "Go on,"

"And then today me and this girl...a different girl..." Sora clarified, and Cloud nodded his head in understanding, "Well, me and this girl are talking, and she wants to know all about me and the first girl kissing, and i tell her it's none of her business, and she storms off...i mean why would she care? she already has stated that she is not interested,"

Cloud smiled as he took a few more bites out of his dinner, before placing his fork down and smiling at his son, "I could give you an answer, but you would probably not understand it and I would be leaving you with more questions than you wanted, so i'll just say that women always have a reason for doing everything, and it is your job as a man to figure it out...just don't leave it too late, otherwise they will not be too happy with you,"

"Well, i think that she's already not too happy with me," Sora muttered, and Cloud merely smiled as he finished his dinner, "Well, these things will aways work out in the end Sora,"

Raising his eyebrow, Sora stated, "You know you are just terrible at giving advice dad," and both father and son laughed as Sora finished his dinner, he realized something else that had happened the previous day, he suddenly went solemn, which Cloud could not fail to notice.

"Im assuming there is something else you want to tell me Sora," Cloud smiled, and Sora looked up, still with the same look on his face as he slowly said, "I almost told her about...well, the thing,"

Cloud looked at his son for a moment, seriousness plastered all over it. Looking at him for a moment, he asked, "What do you mean almost,"

"Well," Sora said slowly, "I got as far as telling her that i wasn't from Edge State Orphanage, when i looked over and realized that she was out," and Cloud looked at him for a moment, before he let out a sigh of relief, "Well, hopefully she was about before you said anything,"

Sora nodded his head in agreement, before Cloud walked over and bent down, looking at his son, "Look, i know that as a 17 year old, you'll always want to drink when you're at a party, but Sora, you have to remember what you are, and you cannot let that information out...If people found out about-"

"Yes dad! I know," Sora growled, and Cloud sighed as he patted his sons knees, looking up and him as he took a breath, "Look, i just want you to have a normal life, after what you have been through, you deserve one,"

Sora sighed as he got up and made his way out of the room, stopping before he said, "Sometimes i wonder whether i deserve a normal life," Sora sighed, and left the room, leaving Cloud to look at his son, sighing as he stood up, and although he wished that his adopted son could have a normal life like every other person, he knew that he couldn't, no matter how hard he tired, no matter how much Sora tried to repress, he would always be who he was, and no body could change that.

x

So, that was a very interesting chapter, a lot going on and information flying this way and that, but only time will tell as to what is going to happen.

So i might not post for a bit, mainly because i have three straight days of working, but i will try to update as soon as possible for all you wonderful people.

A huge thanks for those who have subscribed, and a special thanks to Steph, 13shiroyami, DestinyKeyblader28, Keyblades of Oblivion, Random Reader 17, Kairiangel035, EthanFlux and Craxuan.

So, i hope that all of you had a great read, and look out in the next couple of days for a new chapter, until then, Read, Subscribe and Review.

Jared Someone.