Yo, I'm back from the dead to give you guys chapter 6. The reason I couldn't upload this when I said I would was because my laptop actually exploded. Okay not really, it's battery just died and I had to wait two weeks for a replacement. In this chapter… not much happens. Enjoy.

Last time on Stride…

It was the festival.

Not just any Saturday, though, but it's the festival.

Roxas gives me some… advice.

"Her! You sold your soul to the devil, and didn't get anything in return? What the hell is wrong with you, man?"

I'm drafted into hanging out with Kairi for the rest of the day.

"Fine, do what you want." I concede, letting her drag me wherever she wants. Might as well make the best of this.

And… well… maybe this exercise thing isn't that bad.

Kairi dragging me out in the morning to run might just be a good thing after all.

It's something to look forward to.

My alarm's beeping shatters the early morning quiet, and I find myself wondering where to find the motivation to rise. Class is still quite far off, but I agreed to run with Kairi in the mornings. Really, I'm not that interested in running as a hobby, or even a possible life-lengthening exercise. However, I feel obligated to follow through on my promise to her yesterday, which is why I find myself throwing on some running shorts and a light t-shirt. After taking my meds, I open the door into the cold hallway. Slowly, I descend down the stairs into the courtyard.

The cool morning air caresses my face as the morning sunshine causes the dew on the grass to sparkle, nearly blinding me at first. As I make my way down to the track, an ugly thought strikes me.

What if this is some sort of joke that Kairi's playing on me? Would that surprise me, really? Hell, I'd probably do it to the new guy, too.

At the very least, I'm sure Kairi and Yuffie made a bet on whether or not I'd actually show up. I feel a sense of trepidation as the track comes into view.

"You're late!" It would seem that Kairi is already there. What a relief.

"Not according to my watch. We're both early, in fact." I tell her, pointing at my black wristwatch.

"Damn. You've got me there." Kairi replies with a coy grin. She's sitting on the bleachers, decked out in her running gear, waiting somewhat patiently for me.

"I'm glad you're actually here. I was a afraid that this was a joke or something." I confess, hoping inside that this isn't just a really long-standing trick.

"Nah, I'd never make someone get up early for nothing." Oh thank God, "Plus, Yuffie owes me 1000 munny now! She didn't think you'd actually show up."

I knew it!

Well, nice to know that Kairi was on my side, at least.

She hopes off of the bleachers and begins stretching out. She's remarkable lithe, almost like a dancer. I set out to stretch as well, but I don't exactly remember how to stretch properly. It's been ages since I stretched for anything, if you don't count my one stint at running last week. Even then, I don't think I actually stretched beforehand. The specter of my long hospital stay rises up again. I can't say it was all that active before the hospital stay, though, so maybe I'm just being morose. Kairi giggles as she watches me stretch out.

"No no no Sora, you've got to hold it for longer than that!" She scolds me, pushing my back down farther.

"I-I'm trying! It kinda hurts, ya know…" I complain, holding back my squeals of pain.

"Ha! That's just because you're out of shape. You've got to get some flexibility in you, like this!" To demonstrate, Kairi reaches down and puts her head through her legs.

God bless you, Kairi.

"Er… I see. Is that the sort of thing I should strive for?"

"Of course! Flexibility is important for any runner. You'll be able to go faster the more you stretch out." Well, that makes no sense at all, but Kairi seems to believe it's true.

LIFEEXPECTANCY-STRIDE

With her help, I manage to stretch myself out properly. I can't help but notice that when she thinks about how to explain something to me, her mouth scrunches up in concentration.

It's adorable.

"Not bad, Sora. Come on, we'd better start running. We'll start off with just a mile, okay? That's four laps around the track, got it?"

"That sounds fine to me." This shouldn't be too hard, right? A hazy memory of running a mile for gym class surfaces in my mind.

Yeah, it wasn't that bad. Kairi sets a pretty good pace, and I fall in behind her.

"Try to keep up, okay Sora?"

"Got it."

We round the first curve without incident, though I can already feel my heart rate increasing slightly. By the second curve, I've started to breathe through my nose, but Kairi doesn't seem to be breaking a sweat. As if to punctuate her superiority, she turns around and starts running backwards.

"Are you doing okay, Sora?" She asks me, although I can't tell whether or not she's teasing me or genuinely concerned.

"Never… better." I answer between breaths. My pace has visibly slowed, while Kairi's is unaffected.

"Oh really? Maybe I should speed up then, hmm?" Definitly. Teasing.

"O-Oh… no, … wouldn't want you… to… overex…ert yourself." My heavy panting and wheezing makes the statement less convincing than I had hoped. Kairi simply smiles and turns around again.

"Well, you're the boss, Sora. We'll stay at this pace." She spins back around and enters a slow jog to match my sluggish pace.

I get the feeling I'm being mocked. If I weren't in such terrible shape, I'd probably feel offended. By the third lap, my breath is coming in ragged gasps. I'm also soaked in my own sweat. Gross. We round the curve to start our fourth lap, and Kairi looks back at me with a grin.

"Here we go!" She yells over her shoulder and takes off at a blinding speed while I stubbornly stick to my slower pace. By the time I get to the first turn, she's already rounding the second. As I struggle across the back stretch, Kairi continues running and catches up to me.

"Come on, Sora! You can do it!" Her encouraging words are lost, as I'm too focused on getting air into my lungs and ignoring the burning sensation in my legs. Part of me wants to reply with something like, "Maybe you can, but I'm about to die here!" But then again, I doubt I'm in the state to form words. Kairi keeps pace with me as I round the second turn and cross the finish line. I look to Kairi, and it seems that her sprint has gotten her sweating. It's actually caused her shirt to turn slightly translucent. I can barely see her black sports bra. I feel a vague stab of guilt for being the sort of guy who stares at a girl's chest, but my legs and chest are burning so badly I can't bring myself to care that much.

"Not bad for a first effort, Sora." Her congratulation falls on deaf ears, and her encouraging pat on the back feels more like a club to the spine.

"Ki-…kind of you… to… say so…" Kairi seems to be, if not out of breath, at least breathing a little more heavily than she was before we started running.

"Hey, I've got to get a few sprints in. You should walk around the track to cool down. Then, we can stretch out, and we'll be all done, okay?" The only thing I really pay attention to is the "all done" part, which sounds like a great idea. My legs are on fire, and my breathing is still heavy, but surprisingly my heart seems to be taking the strain well.

Another triumph of medical science, I suppose.

"You should put your hands behind your head. It makes it easier to catch your breath." She tells me as she sprints past me. It seems a little farfetched, but I remember my gym teacher teaching the same thing, so I give it a shot.

Surprisingly, she's right. This position seems really comfortable to me, I should probably do this more often. I begin to stroll around the track, happy to feel my breath coming back to me. There's a blur as Kairi sprints past me a second time. Watching her run is absolutely fascinating. It's not just because she's on prosthetics, though that is interesting. The really interesting thing is the way her face changes. I can only catch glimpses of it as she runs by, but her eyes seem to come alive with a sort of fierce joy. It's as if there's nothing else in the world but her and the track. By the time I've gotten to the final stretch, Kairi has finished her sprinting. She's breathing heavily now, but she's wearing a satisfied grin on her face. She waves to me cheerily as I near her.

"Feeling better, right?"

"Actually, yeah."

"D'you want to take another lap around with me? I've got to cool down too, you know." Part of me would rather sit down, and not move, but something tells me that would be a bad idea. Besides, if I sit down, there may be no getting back up again.

"Sure, why not?" Kairi extends a hand, which I take to help me up from the bench. She's got here hands behind her head now as well, which makes her seem very relaxed. The positioning of her arms also pulls her shirt upwards ever so slightly so that I can see a small strip of her belly. I do my best to act the gentleman and not look, but the contrasts of her skin against her red running shorts is rather arresting. She asks me how I'm feeling, which brings me back to reality. How do I feel?

"Surprisingly good, actually. I'm sore and tired, but… surprisingly good." As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize that they're true. Sure, part of me wanted to lie down and die, but I feel like I've accomplished something. It's almost like a glow throughout my body that persists despite the soreness.

"Yeah, that's the runner's high." Kairi informs me.

"Runner's high?" I ask, having never heard such a term. It sounds made up, like a word used to substitute the actual name.

"Yeah, it's got something to do with… adrenaline?" Kairi thinks for a moment as we wak, trying to remember. Then she shrugs and grins at me. "I don't actually remember. It's a good feeling though, isn't it? Better than sex, right?"

I open my mouth to respond shortly before processing what she's just said.

Kairi watches my face for a few moments before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter.

"Sorry, sorry! I couldn't resist! You're just too easy!"

"Why did I agree to run with you again?" Kairi just laughs harder. Taking a hold of my forearm, she tilts it, allowing her to get a better view of my watch. Her face changes the moment she sees the time.

"Oh no! We'd better get a move on, Sora! Class is in an hour, and I need to shower!"

"I should probably do that as well…" We've both developed a bit of a smell, although I won't point it out on her side.

"I need to see the nurse, too… maybe she'll write me a note for being late!"

"Why do you need to see the nurse?" I ask, seeing as she didn't look sick when we were running. To answer, Kairi simply points to her prosthetics, as if that would explain everything.

"It's important to check for irritation. You know, from sweat or friction. Normally I only go after practice, but if we're going to be doing these morning runs then I guess I'll see him twice a day."

Wait, so she's only started doing these runs since I showed up?

"If it's more convenient for you to run with me at a later time…" I mean, if she's running in the morning because of me. We can always reschedule it. But she interrupts me with a light laugh.

"Don't be silly, Sora! I've been meaning to start running in the morning for a while now. But if I didn't have a partner to run with, I'd be less likely to keep a routine. It's always harder to blow off a commitment if you're going to let someone else down, you know? So, you're gonna be my running partner! After all, we both need the exercise."

"Yeah, right." Did it have to be me though? I guess I can't complain too much though. Kairi is pretty fun to hang out with. And she's right. I do need the exercise. Doctor's orders even. Kairi waves a quick goodbye to me.

"Right, I'm off! Come have lunch with us, okay?"

"What?"

"Lunch! You know, the meal? In the middle of the day? Come have it with us!"

"Where?"

"The roof top. Rin likes it up there."

"When?"

"Lunchtime, when else? That's a stupid question."

"Yeah, but I sort of felt the need to ask all three for completeness' sake." Kairi laughs and grins. I don't think I've ever seen a girl smile so much before.

"Not bad, Sora. See ya!" With that, Kairi takes off like an animal for the school building. I guess she's going to see the nurse first. I hurry back to my room and hop into the shower, only to find that the water takes a while to heat up.

The shock of the cold water nearly kills me. I manage to warm the water a bit and spend some quality time feeling my muscles loosen. My heart, surprisingly, feels the least bothered by the run. I suppose that's a good thing, even if it does make me feel like a bit of a wuss. I mean, at least I'd have an excuse beyond "I'm out of shape" if my heart were bothering me. Guess I'll have to keep this running thing up, otherwise I'm sure Kairi won't let me hear the end of it. It's only after I get out and dirty myself off that I realize that I've only got ten minutes left to put my clothes on and get to class.

Crap.

LIFEEXPECTANCY-STRIDE

The hands on the clock finally set me free from the tedium of yet another fun-filled class. Getting up from my seat proves to be more of a problem that I anticipated. My legs are killing me from the morning's run. Maybe doing these runs with Kairi isn't such a hot idea after all.

Still, the run's given me a hell of an appetite.

I'm halfway down the hallway to the cafeteria when I remember that I've got my lunch with me. My parents saw fit to provide me with some prepackaged stuff when I moved in, and a good thing too. The hallway is packed with students headed for the cafeteria. Going back is like swimming upstream, but I've got an appointment to keep on the roof. It takes me a moment to find the staircase leading up to the rooftop, but I'm willing to bet that Kairi and Yuffie aren't up there by now anyway. In fact, I think I saw Kairi among the bodies in the hallway headed for the cafeteria. I step out of the door to the roof and take a deep breath. The fresh air blowing against my face and body almost makes my legs hurt less.

"Maybe if I'm upside down…" Some part of me wants to be surprised that Yuffie's already here, but the other half knew better.

"What's that going to accomplish?" I ask her.

"Things in the clouds." She answers plainly.

"Couldn't you just… look at them right-side up?" Yuffie rolls her eyes in something approaching exasperation.

"If I were to that, I wouldn't get a new perspective."

"Is upside down really a new perspective?" Rin looks pensive. Ah ha! That caught her off guard.

"You may have a point."

"Maybe sideways." With that, she gets up and lies down on the bench to look at the sky.

I give up.

Fortunately, Kairi chooses that moment to burst through the door carrying two bags, nearly taking the door off its hinges.

"Sorry it took me so long! There were a ton of people in line." She drops the first bag in front of Yuffie and takes a seat on the bench next to her.

"Do you buy Yuffie's lunch for her?" I ask, making conversation as she opens the contents of the plastic bag.

"Sometimes, yeah. I'd have Yuffie buy my lunch for me in return, but I'm not sure how she'd carry it." Kairi answers with a slight shrug.

"Plus, I'd never buy her lunch." Yuffie adds, with a coy smile.

If Yuffie's offended by Kairi's comment, she doesn't show it. Kairi sniffs indignantly.

"How ungrateful of you."

I'm not sure whether the two are joking with one another or if I'm witnessing the beginnings of a catfight. The two girls stare at one another for a few tense moments before breaking into smiles.

"Hey Kairi," Yuffie asks, "do you think being upside down is a new perspective on things?"

Didn't we already have this conversation? Kairi looks thoughtful, apparently giving the question some thought. After a deep and profound pause, she speaks.

"I have no idea."

Well, at least she's as lost as I am.

"Hey Sora, you're coming to the track meet, right?" Kairi's question comes out of the blue and catches me off guard.

"Um… I don't know yet?" It's the safest answer you can give, but Kairi looks unconvinced.

"Honestly, Sora, after I went through all the trouble of letting you run with me in the morning, you won't even show up at my track meet?" Wasn't she the one that asked me to run with her? Actually, she didn't even give me a choice in the matter.

"Wait, no, I didn't say that…" She beams at me as if I'd just agreed to give her a million dollars.

"So you will come after all! That's great!"

"I didn't say that either!"

"I'll be going too," Yuffie points out, "so I'll make sure he comes, Kairi."

"Good idea, Yuffie! Maybe we can get some food or something after the meet's over?"

I feel like I've just been conned, but not by these two. More like some outside force, pushing me irrevocably towards my destiny.

… Or maybe I shouldn't read books that feature conspiracy theories so heavily. Otherwise I might wind up talking like Roxas. Still, I suppose that I've got to show up now. I don't think that I could stand against both of them being disappointed. I'd never hear the end of it.

"When's the meet, again?" I ask her, but she just gives me a confused look.

"Next week, silly! I just told you a few days ago."

"No you didn't."

"I forgot? Well, you won't forget to come though, will you?" She starts pouting, so I hastily reply.

"Of course I won't! I'll even make a note on a calendar or something!" Yuffie nods sagely.

"That's probably a good idea, you know. Unless time changes its course." Kairi's eyes suddenly widen and she turns to Yuffie.

"Can it do that?"

"It hasn't yet, but you never know…" Yuffie answers with a noncommittal shrug.

"Well, I suppose it can't be helped if it happens." Kairi proclaims, with a shrug of her own.

"Well, not unless you're a time traveler or something." Yuffie points out.

"Hey… you don't actually think that could happen, do you?" I ask them both. I'm actually not sure if they're telling the truth, or if they're keeping up a really long joke. To answer, Yuffie just shrugs again. That seems to be her default response to anything.

"I suppose not. But I reserve the right to change my opinion at a moment's notice." For Yuffie's standards, this statement makes a disturbing amount of sense. The fact that I realize this now frightens me a bit. I wonder if Kairi gets this feeling too. If she does, she's certainly not showing it. She just merely nods.

"As expected."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yuffie asks the redhead, who dons another shrug. It's like she's using Yuffie's weapons against her.

"Your response is the sort of thing I'd expect from you, that's all."

"Am I really that predictable?" Kairi's smile seems to border on gloating.

"Nah, it's just that your unpredictability is pretty predicable."

"Well that's all right then."

I don't get the chance to see whether Yuffie's being serious or not, as the bell rings. I didn't notice the lunch period slipping by at all. Hanging out with these two was far too interesting. Kairi jumps, a look of panic painted on her face.

"Oh no! I needed to stop by my room to pick up my notebook for the next class!"

"Don't you wish you had a time machine now?" Yuffie asks, a gloating smirk on her face. Her tone of voice is smug, like she's just won the argument with that line alone, but Kairi ignores her comment and turns to me.

"Sorry Sora, but could you make sure our garbage gets thrown away? I usually clean up myself, but I've gotta run!"

"Uh… yeah, no problem." Kairi darts away with an urgency I'm starting to expect from her.

I don't bother asking Yuffie why she couldn't help. She already seems to be preoccupied with something else entirely as she wanders off. She's probably used to Kairi taking care of the cleanup, and for some reason I doubt Kair's ever raise the issue with her. Cleaning up from lunch doesn't take long, so I have plenty of time to toss our garbage and get to class.

LIFEEXPECTANCY-STRIDE6-3

Selphie greets me with a wave and a devious grin as I walk through the door.

"Didn't see you in the cafeteria, Sora-chan…" Oddly perceptive of the airhead brunette, but I ignore that.

"Uh… yeah, I decided it was too crowded there." Her grin gets even wider.

"Oh really? Are you sure you weren't participating in an illicit ren-dez-vous?" Each syllable of the last word is said with more stress than the last, her eyes smug with knowing.

"W…what? What are you talking about?" She points an accusing finger at me.

"You! You were on the roof, right? With both Yuffie and Kairi, no less! You Casanova, you!" Ugh, so that's what this is about.

"All we did was have lunch!" Selphie bursts into laughter, drawing the attention of several classmates.

"Wahaha~! You're so adorable when you blush like that, Sora-chan!" She gives me a conspiratorial wink, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

"There's no secret!"

"Oh?" Selphie seems disappointed and then brightens up again. "Well, time will tell~!"

I don't know what the hell she's taking about, but blessedly, our teacher comes in, and the class starts.

LIFEEXPECTANCY-STRIDE

Another day of class has finally dragged itself to a close.

Unexpectedly, I managed to stay awake for the whole day.

I'm pretty sure that counts as a miracle.

I pack up my bag, but my legs seem unwilling to stand up for a moment.

I guess the run took a lot out of me.

I head down the hallway and make my way to my room.

I sit down and half-heartedly chip away at my homework for a while, feeling like a vulture picking at a particularly unsavory carcass. It knows this is what it eats, but it's not sure that it shouldn't be ordering take out instead, and this is where the analogy breaks down.

...

Ugh!

I don't think I can take this, but it's important to get my work done.

"Now… let's see… what was I supposed to be looking over again?"

I know it's a losing battle, but I fight it anyway. Halfway through my math homework, I put my pencil down.

This isn't working. I need a distraction. Unfortunately, my options are rather slim.

I'm not in the mood to read right now.

If I got to the student council room, I'll just end up doing work.

I refuse to go to Roxas's room. I'm bored, not in a masochistic mood.

And god only knows where everyone else is, except for…

Well, I suppose that's an option.

I grab my shoes and head for the track. Kairi's probably down there.

LIFEEXPECTANCY-STRIDE

Track practice is ending as I arrive at the track. The sun's beginning to dip low in the sky. Has it really gotten that late already? I can see a familiar figure run towards me at a breakneck pace, before the small redhead stops in front of me.

"What are you doing down here, Sora?" She asks with a confused look on her face, one that is swiftly replaced with an all-knowing smirk. "Come to spy on me, have you?" I shrug in response. To be honest, I'm not sure why I'm down here.

"Eh, I didn't have anything better to do."

I figure that's the most honest answer I can give. At the moment, Kairi's the only person I can think of who I could hang out with.

"So… I'm your last resort, am I? Nobody cool around, so I'll just go see Kairi, is that what you thought?" She actually looks angry. A chance for some teasing of my own presents itself.

"Yeah, pretty much." I reply nonchalantly. Kairi pouts, widening her eyes to give the maximum amount of puppy dog resemblance. "Kidding! I was kidding!" I hastily add, hoping not to concur her wrath.

"So you are down here to stalk me!" Wait, what?

"Why would I bother stalking you anyway? It's not like you require stalking. If you're not asleep or in class, you're down here, right?"

Kairi laughs at this comment. "Well, you're not all wrong, I suppose. But you forgot about eating. I do that too, you know. Plus, I hang out with Yuffie sometimes… so really I might take some effort to stalk."

"What do you two do together anyway? You don't seem to have a lot in common." Kairi puts her hands on her hips and assumes a superior air.

"That's what you think. I've got all sorts of hidden hobbies, you know."

"Oh really, like what?" She puts her head to one side, as if she's trying to remember what it is she does in her free time.

"Well… Yuffie and I go out shopping sometimes." Well, I guess that makes sense. Kairi is a girl, but Yuffie?

"Yuffie comes with you?"

"We usually swing by the art supply store." Oh, well that explains it. "Plus, she likes this music store that sells all kinds of weird sounding stuff. She says it helps focus her."

"Hm… I see. Any other hidden hobbies?" Kairi wags a finger at me.

"Now now, why would I go and reveal all my dark secrets to you? We hardly know one another!" Somehow, I think that's all that Kairi has in the way of hobbies. Still, I don't think my question's been answered.

"Even if you do have a few hobbies, I still don't see why you hang out with Yuffie so much. I mean, she's kind of weird, isn't she?" This comment causes her to burst into peals of loud laughter.

"Ha! That's the understatement of the year!"

"Then why? I mean, you're a lot better at conversation and stuff, so I figure you'd hang out with a lot of people, but I think I've only ever seen you with Yuffie."

"Hey, I hang out with plenty of people that aren't Yuffie! You just don't see me doing it because I'm not in your classes." She seems unusually defensive.

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why you hang out with Yuffie."

I'm not even sure hwy I want to know this. I guess it's because lunch was just so strange. Kairi shrugs, looking very "Yuffie-ish".

"It's because we have similar outlooks." If you were to ask me the least likely answer to my question, that would be it.

"What do you mean?"

"It's like…" She pauses for a moment to figure out how to word her answer, "okay, Yuffie paints and stuff, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I run." I don't see where this is going.

"And?"

"And… that's why we're similar."

That makes absolutely no sense.

"You lost me." Kairi frowns, as if trying to figure out her answer.

"Well… maybe it's that we do things for the same reasons." Huh? "You know, we follow our passions."

"So, you're passionate about running and Yuffie's passionate about art, is that it?

"Well, sort of. Well, Yuffie explained it to me once, but I don't know how much of it I followed." She admits with a bashful grin. I don't blame her. I think any explanation from Yuffie would probably confuse and disorient.

She pauses a bit before continuing.

"She says… that we both chase after an extreme. Like, she's always trying to find a new way to show a particular feeling or something. And I run because of the feeling I get from it. And since we don't allow ourselves to be slowed down by anything, we make a connection based on that."

"What do you mean 'slowed down by anything?'" Kairi looks surprised and points to her legs.

Oh, duh.

"You know, because I'm a runner. And Yuffie's a painter even without arms. So we respect each other's determination, and that's why we hang out. I think."

"Honestly, it's not something I think much about," After a slight pause, Kairi continues, "We just get along. I think that's really all that matters."

Well, I suppose she's got a point there. Another question strikes me, and since I've got nothing better to do, I ask it.

"So what got you so into running, anyway?"

"Oh, I've been running since I was really little! My dad was a runner, and so as soon as I could walk, he started teaching me how to run. It was our father/daughter thing, you know? Our own… mutual… hobby…" A shadow crosses her face, and I'm shocked to see her looking so…sad.

Did something happen between them?

"Oh man, I don't have that much time left!" Her expression goes back to normal in an instant, as if that shadow had never been there. "Sorry, but I've gotta get a few more laps in before I go see the nurse!" She races off around the track, hair streaming in the wind. It seems to me she's going a lot faster than she was this morning.

As she rounds the track, I catch a glimpse of her face. It's much the same as it was this morning, but her eyes seem to have taken on a harder edge.

I guess she's right.

I don't really know much about her.

I watch her run for a little while, and then stand up to head back to my room.

"Hey!" She spots me leaving and waves to catch my attention. "Don't forget! Same time tomorrow morning, got it?"

I nod in response, and I head back to my room.

Homework beckons.

LIFEEXPECTANCY-STRIDE

I can't sleep.

My body's tired, but my mind is kept awake, staring at the ceiling in the hollow darkness of my room. I grasp desperately for a thread of thought, hoping that I can run my brain into the ground. All I can think of is how I can't think of anything.

This isn't productive at all.

I wonder if this is a side effect of my medication, though it seems odd for it to take so long to show up. Then again, maybe I'm just not as used to my new surroundings as I'd like to think.

I don't know, but for whatever reason, I'm awake and I shouldn't be.

This is ridiculous.

Ignoring my body's stiffness, I get out of bed and look at my clock.

Four in the morning. Last time I checked it was only one, so maybe I slept a little.

I don't know.

I throw on some clothes and head out of my room.

A walk might do me some good.

As I push open the big double doors to enter the courtyard, I'm surprised at how chill the air is compared to the relative warmth of the day. I can almost see my breath as I wander the campus, waiting for the sun to come up or for me to fall asleep.

At this point, either option works for me.

I find myself at the track – where for the first time, Kairi's not out running.

I suppose that makes sense; it's way too early, even for her.

The bleacher seats are cold, but at this point I welcome the sensation. The sun is starting to show its face over the horizon, and I know with an awful certainty that I'll get no more sleep tonight. The sun's steadily strengthening rays start to warm me up, and I watch the dew on the ground begin to steam slightly.

My mind calms down, just a little, as my eyes do the same, shutting away the deserted track before me.

There's chapter six, done and out. Now, I've learned not to open my big cake hole and make promises I probably won't keep, so don't expect the next chapter to be out in a week. But since it's summer break, I might be able to update a bit more quickly. Here are some lines from the next chapter to hold you over.

"Huh? Where? Wha?"

"You know Sora, it's not polite to stare."

I'm in mud, or molasses, or tar.

She looks beautiful.

"You're an asshole."

"We had to amputate her legs after a really nasty car wreck. It nearly killed her, and succeeded-"

"I was just seducing Sora, that's all."

Um yeah, so you can try to guess who says what, and you'll probably be wrong. Except from anything without quotes, since that's always Sora. Welp, peace out.

~Breaking Barriers