Cued Recall

"I don't know anything!" the redheaded girl shrieked. "And if I did, I wouldn't tell it to you anyway!"

"Such defiance from one so young and unaccustomed to negotiating with the enemy," Saïx remarked calmly. In some other existence, he had learned that dealing with irrational children required composure and detachment. Perhaps it would work on teenagers as well.

He offered her a plate of food, which she snubbed with a twist of her neck.

"Don't think you can bribe me either! I may be young, but I've been through a lot!"

Yes, life's been so hard on you, hasn't it? An unbidden smile that strangely lacked cruelty threatened to play upon his lips. Alarmed and unable to suppress it, he knelt down to place the plate on the floor of the cell, bowing his head to hide the expression until it subsided.

"Calm yourself…" he pulled out a sheet of paper from his robe—for once he was thankful for Xemnas and his incessant desire to provide them with notes about everything; he could never get the girl's name straight. "Kairi, is it?… It's not information that we want from you. We already know where Sora is."

Her fear turned into curiosity. "Then what do you want?"

"For you to eat your dinner." If you don't you'll have to go to bed with an empty tummy. He saw his confusion reflected in her wide blue eyes. Then her features hardened into a glare.

"I'm not hungry!"

Subborn, stubborn…well, don't come crying to me when you wake up in the middle of the night with a growling belly. "You will be eventually."

She seemed to reconsider for a second, but then eyed the food on the floor distastefully. "I don't eat potatoes." I don't like potatoes.

"I don't believe you're in a position to be picky." Daddy went through a lot of trouble to make this for you. Won't you show some appreciation?

She knelt down and scooped up a spoonful of potato, sniffing it warily. "This smells funny." I want Mommy's food. This is gross!

"Oh, I'm so sorry that my food isn't up to your standards!" But Mommy's not here anymore, and Daddy works long and hard to make sure you're provided for. Doesn't that mean anything to you?

She narrowed her eyes at him. A bit of tongue slipped out of the little girl's mouth and just barely touched the creamy heap of food. She then tilted her head back and threw the back of her hand to her forehead in a dramatic flourish.

"It's poisoned! You're trying to kill me!"

"It's not funny to joke like that, sweetheart. Not after what happened to Mommy."

The silence that followed drew him back from somewhere far away. The girl was regarding him with a mixture of terror and loathing. Her words were venomous, and she spat out the adjectives.

"You are a strange, sick man."

"And you are an insolent and ungrateful spoiled little brat," he hissed back.

He watched as she placed two hands underneath the plate and lifted it up. Then in one swift motion she launched its contents at him, plastering chunks of food to his face and robe. Juices trickled down his neck.

In a fraction of a second he was over his disbelief and had advanced on her. He grabbed her arm roughly and yanked her to her feet. Then his hands were around her (so delicate) neck. The next thing he knew, he was pressing her up against the wall. He watched her bulging eyes go in and out of focus as her face turned a deep shade of scarlet.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU" he shook her, banging the back of her head against the wall, "THAT THE TABLE IS NOT THE PLACE FOR THAT NONSENSE!"

"Saïx!"

"BRING HER BACK TO ME!"

The girl was desperately trying to gasp for breath, but not succeeding.

"I apologize in advance for this, my friend, but it cannot be helped."

Saïx felt something ram into the back of his skull, and he doubled over, letting go of Kairi in the process. She crumpled to the ground.

When the pain became bearable again, he righted himself and blinked away the blackness. Luxord was staring at him, dumbfounded.

"What in the bloody hell was that about?"

"What was what about?"

Luxord pointed at Kairi, who was curled into a fetal position and sobbing uncontrollably. "Don't you recall? You nearly did the wench in!"

"Did I?" Saïx looked at the overturned plate on the floor and shrugged. "I always hated it when Alanna played with her food."

"Who?"

"My-" Saïx attempted to supply an answer, but he had suddenly lost his grasp on the knowledge of it. "What were we talking about again?"

"Ahh…" Luxord hesitated, giving Saïx an unsure look. "Xemnas wanted me to inform you that Sora is presently in Dark City. And he's right on time, too, it seems—for it's about time that your misery was put to an end."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Luxord shook his head. "Oh, nothing worth fretting about. And Eight's dead now, by the way, so…up for a game of Crazy Sevens?"

Author's Note: Thanks to RunningSnow for the idea to write a Saïx and Kairi interaction, though I don't know how it ended up turning out like this. It works out well though because I originally liked the idea of him having a daughter.

In case you're confused, the dialogue that's in both quotation marks and italics is being spoken and thought at the same time, though not necessarily by the same person.