For Love

Dream 4

Monday, November 21

Kairi arrived at school nearly a half hour earlier than usual after Axel decided he had to steal Reno's favorite lighter and had to get out of the house. Naturally, he dragged Kairi along with him, taking great joy in waking her up early and making her hurry to get ready. Then again, he did save her from having to talk to Reno.

Because she was so early, there were very few other kids at the school. Axel had run off to find Demyx and interrupt whatever he was doing, leaving Kairi all by herself. She knew for a fact that neither Naminé nor Tidus were there that early, no matter how much they enjoyed school.

Kairi ended up walking through the halls in search of something to do or someone to talk to.

As she walked past the library she couldn't help but glance in to see if anyone was in there. That was when she spotted a very familiar girl with coppery-brown hair and dark blue knee-socks.

"Selphie!" she gasped in surprise. 'But Tidus said he had never heard of her! But that's her right there!'

Without a second thought, Kairi pushed open the library door to go talk to--in her mind--one of her oldest friends. There was no question in her mind that it was Selphie standing there reshelving books. Very, very few girls could actually manage to get their hair like that and then actually wear it like that everyday.

She stopped herself from tackling the brunette in a hug just in time after the thought that she may have no idea who she was crossed her mind.

"Selphie?" she asked hesitantly.

The girl placed one last book back on the shelf before she turned around to face Kairi. She blinked, surprised by who was standing in front of her, before her expression changed to a cold, stony one. "Kairi Sinclair," she said in a clipped tone that was totally unlike her. "What brings you here? What do you want from me this time?"

Kairi's eyes went wide in surprise. "What are you talking about? I just want to say 'hello' and--"

"Like hell you do!" Selphie angrily interrupted. "You're just here to make fun of my hair or the people I spend time with just because I didn't want to hang out with you and your stupid friends!"

Kairi took a step back out of fear. Selphie was a fearsome force when she got angry.

"T-that's not it!" Kairi shouted, trying to convince the girl she wasn't the way she thought she was. "I'm not going to make fun of you! Why would I do that? I've always loved how you do your hair!"

Selphie rolled her eyes and turned back around to pick up new books from the cart and put them back on the shelves. "Whatever. Go find your friends and leave me the hell alone."

Kairi hesitated a moment. Before she turned to walk away, she said, "If you ever want to, you can eat lunch with me. I'll be outside in the courtyard."

Selphie ignored her and continued putting away books.

Lowering her head, Kairi slowly walked out of the library, wondering exactly what happened to cause the rift between her and Selphie. It had to be serious for Selphie to have such a grudge against her.

With her back turned and her head down, Kairi missed the way Selphie looked after her, clearly mystified.


Lunchtime seemed to come even sooner than usual for Kairi. She blamed it on her overactive imagination which insisted upon thinking up the craziest reasons as to why Selphie hated her in the Dream World.

"Ready for lunch?" Tidus asked, tapping his fingers on her desk to get her attention. "He frowned when she didn't react. "Hey!" He tried waving his hand in front of her face and finally grabbed her attention. "Man, you're a total space case today! Are you feeling alright?"

Kairi nodded and stood up, looking to the back corner where Naminé was quietly putting away her things. "Naminé!" she called over to the pale girl. "We're heading to lunch, are you coming?"

Naminé looked up and smiled and nodded, hurrying to put away her last few things so she could join them. Kairi had introduced her to Tidus earlier that morning and the two seemed to get along pretty well.

Carrying their lunch bags, the three made their way out of the classroom and outside to the mostly-empty courtyard. Along the way they passed by Selphie, who was talking to a short-haired Irvine and a boy with blond hair. Kairi looked over at the brunette but said nothing, hoping that Selphie would decide to join them on her own.

Once they were outside, the three settled down under the old oak tree and began to talk. The majority of the conversation was centered around school, since they couldn't very well talk about how Kairi was from a different time-space or about the Dark Ones.

Kairi sighed and set her lunch aside, not feeling very hungry at that moment. All of the talk about school was a little too boring for her. She had already been through all of it once and she had no desire to do it again.

"Kairi! Naminé!"

Kairi broke out of her musings and looked up to see Sora hurrying over to them with a smile on his face. 'What is he doing here?'

"Hello, Sora," Naminé called in greeting. "Would you like some lunch?"

Sora's eyes lit up and Kairi knew there was no way he was going to leave anytime soon. She just had to hope he wouldn't let anything slip about her and Naminé being Protectors.

"Sora, this is Tidus," Naminé introduced as she handed over half of her sandwich.

"I know," Sora said before he took a bite. He chewed and swallowed before saying, "I met him the other day when I was out walking around with Kairi. Nice to see you again, Tidus."

"Uh, yeah. Nice to see you again too," Tidus said in confusion. "So, what are you doing here? You don't go to this school, right?"

"Nope," Sora said cheerfully. "I don't go to school. I'm just here to talk to Kairi and Naminé for a bit. And to give them a note. Where did I put that anyway…?" He searched through his pockets for a few seconds before finally pulling out a crumpled up piece of paper. He handed it to Kairi, who took it and unfolded it, doing her best to smooth it out.

She quickly read it over, nodded, and then handed it to Naminé. Naminé read it more slowly, taking in every word, and then nodded to Sora and gave it back to Kairi, who hid it away before Tidus could try and get it from her.

"So, have you learned anything interesting today?" Sora asked before polishing off the last bit of his half of a sandwich.

"Yeah," Kairi said with a cheeky grin. "Tidus fails as a chemistry partner."

Tidus turned beet red. "H-hey! It's not my fault I do it mixed up! And I learned something interesting too; you fail at fire extinguishers."

It was Kairi's turn to blush in embarrassment. "I wouldn't have had to use it if you hadn't lit it on fire!"

"You mean try to use it."

"It's not my fault it didn't have directions on it!"

"They were on the wall right beside it! It was bright red!"

"No they weren't!"

"Yes they were!"

Sora decided it was in his best interest to look to Naminé for the truth of what happened.

"They read the directions incorrectly and Tidus lit something he shouldn't on fire. Then Kairi panicked when she was trying to put it out and didn't notice the directions for the fire extinguisher are posted on the wall beside it," she explained.

Sora sighed. "Some leader she is, to panic in a moment of trouble like that," he said, shaking his head.

"Hey, I hear you over there," Kairi told him. "I just wasn't expecting him to catch himself on fire as well!"

"Well at least I managed to put it out," Tidus replied. "It's a good thing they beat into us the 'stop, drop, and roll' rule."

"Too bad that doesn't apply to magical fire as well," Sora mused. "Then again, maybe that's a good thing…"

"Magical fire?" Tidus asked. "Man, I know what you mean. If you don't know how to use a water spell or if you don't have one, your character is screwed. I know my mage has gotten caught in that a few times."

Kairi relaxed when she heard that Tidus thought Sora was talking about a video game, though she did glare at Sora, warning him to watch what he said around Tidus. She didn't want him to get involved in the mess too, even if he did already know she was a different Kairi who belonged in a different time-space.

"Have either of you heard about the new student who's supposed to be joining out school soon? I heard he's from some big city on Gaia," Tidus said.

"Gaia?" Sora asked, suddenly serious. "Are you sure?"

Tidus was taken aback by the sudden change of personality and slowly nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure. That's what I heard, but it could be just a rumor."

"The rumors around here usually have some truth to them," Kairi said. "And if you heard it from your usual sources then it's most probably true. Do you know when she's going to start school?"

Tidus shook his head. "I don't even know if it's a she or a he. What makes you think the new student will be a girl?"

"Oh, um…" Kairi's mind raced for a quick explanation that made sense but couldn't come up with anything.

"You used 'he' before," Naminé pointed out. "Either one is more correct than using 'it' to describe the new student. Until we find out whether the student is a boy or a girl, either is appropriate." She sighed when she saw Sora eyeing her bad of chips. She handed it over and giggled when he tore into it like a ravenous wolf.

Watching Sora chomp his way through the bag of chips made Kairi think of Selphie and her tendency to beg Irvine for his food. How she stayed so skinny, Kairi would never know. Though it was little wonder why Irvine was so thin.

Feeling a little hungry herself, Kairi finally opened up her lunch and began eating while listening to Naminé and Tidus discuss something about the periodic table.

'Science nerds until the end,' she couldn't help but fondly think. 'What would I do without them?'


Kairi ended up walking home alone that evening. Axel had run off to do something with Demyx, and Tidus and Naminé were staying after to help with tutoring. There was no way she was going to call Reno for a ride home, which left her with no option but to walk home. Even Sora had gone and vanished, which meant she couldn't ask him anything about the note he gave her earlier.

I caught wind of a new creature in the area. Be on guard. It might go after the next Protector. They seem to go after people with relations to Radiant Garden.

'What does that mean anyway?' Kairi wondered. 'People with relations to Radiant Garden? Does that mean they lived there in a past life? Or does it mean one of their relatives or parents had a past life there? Or maybe it means that they were once Protectors, just like me and Naminé.' She sighed and lowered her eyes to the sidewalk in thought. 'How is it that he always slips away the moment I have questions to ask? Roxas isn't even here to drag him off like always! He's so troublesome sometimes…'

Lost so deeply in her thoughts, Kairi didn't even notice that she was walking straight towards a girl with short black hair who was talking to a guy wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. If one were to look closely they would be able to see strands of golden, straw blond hair sticking out of it.

Naturally, Kairi smacked right into the girl and fell backwards in surprise, landing heavily on her butt.

"Hey, are you alright?" the raven-haired girl asked, turning around to look down at her.

'I cannot believe I did that,' Kairi thought, furious with herself. "I'm fine," she told the girl, refusing to meet her gaze. How embarrassing! How could she have let herself get so lost in thought that she actually walked into someone?!

The girl grinned and held out a hand to help her up, Kairi gratefully took it, but still refused to look her in the eyes.

"Don't worry about it. I do the same thing all the time. Isn't that right, spiky?" she asked her friend, who nodded in response. "See? No big deal! So cheer up. It's not like I'm going to go around telling people."

"No, I'll be the one who has to hear about it all day," her companion said. "And then you'll probably go on about how adorable she is."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Don't be a jerk."

Kairi nervously brushed off the back of her skirt before bending over to pick up her school bag. The guy sounded so familiar to her, but she couldn't place who he was. He was someone she was very familiar with.

"Although…"

Kairi felt a pair of eyes on her and looked up to see the girl looking at her with a thoughtful look on her face. 'Why do I have a bad feeling that something weird is going to happen?'

"…you are awfully cute. And you kind of remind me of…" The girl's gaze feel to the necklace around Kairi's neck and she tapped it with a grin. "…someone," she finished.

"Yuffie," the guy said in warning.

"Oh, fine," Yuffie said as she backed off. "You're such a stick-in-the-mud sometimes, you know that?"

"Yes," he said simply. "This bus is here."

Yuffie looked disappointed by the news. "Already? But since when is is ever on time? Stupid bus," she muttered as it rolled to a stop in front of them and opened its doors. "Well, see you around, Red," she said with a wink as her companion ushered her onto the bus.

"It's Kairi!" she yelled after her, feeling miffed at being called 'Red' by someone she didn't know.

Yuffie glanced back and smiled, but said nothing more.

Kairi watched as the bus pulled away and then shook her head and continued walking. 'Well, I was right about one thing. That was definitely weird. And what kind of girl goes around calling random girls cute?! Well, other than Olette. And sometimes Selphie when she gets in her weird moods.' She sighed and made sure to keep her eyes focused straight ahead so she wouldn't bump into anymore people. 'I have really weird friends,' she realized. 'Most of whom are…not straight. I wonder if being gay is contagious like laughter. I mean, you hang out with gay people and become used to it and see that it's not any different from straight couples and then you find yourself checking out other girls and--…' she stopped that train of thought and shook her head. 'Wow. I think Sora has somehow managed to worm his way into my head.'

A shrill scream pierced trough her thoughts and Kairi looked around, trying to figure out where it came from. If it was a monster she had to act quickly. The scream came again from somewhere up ahead and Kairi took off running in that direction, her heart pounding in her chest. If what Sora's note said was true, the person in trouble could be another Protector!

"Someone help!"

Kairi ducked into the nearest ally and hid behind a trash bin as she clutched her Power Necklace. "Heart Ribbon Power!" She felt the ever-more familiar cool ribbons slide over her body as they transformed her into the soldier of justice, Sailor Heart. Once it came to an end, she began running through the back ally's, not wanting to bee seen by a ton of people.

'Where are you?' she wondered.

"Get away from me, you- you-monster!" a girl screamed from somewhere up ahead.

"Heart Ribbon!" Sailor Heart whispered, drawing out her power into a shimmering pink ribbon of energy. It flowed around her as she ran towards the source of the commotion. "Ethereal Eclipse!" she yelled the second she saw the monster, directing the ribbon towards it.

The monster went flying back into a trash bin, bending it in with a loud, grating noise. Sailor Heart took the chance to hurry forward to help the poor girl who was attacked. Her eyes went wide behind her pink mask when she saw who it was.

"Selphie!" she gasped.

The skinny brunette girl looked up in fear. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" she demanded.

"I'm Sailor Heart. I'm here to save you from that monster," the pink-suited warrior explained. "You should get out of here. It looks like it's getting back up."

'Where's Peace when I need her?' Sailor Heart wondered. 'I don't think I can do this on my own.'

"Are you kidding?" Selphie asked incredulously. "That thing's huge and all your powers did was knock it back! I can't leave you to fight this thing alone. No way! Let me help!" Sailor Heart shook her head, not for the first time wishing that Selphie wasn't so damn stubborn. "You'll get hurt. Get out of here!" she ordered.

Selphie shook her head and then stared at something over Sailor Heart's shoulder. "W-watch out!" she screamed.

"Light!"

"Peaceful Waters! Glacial Surge!"

A beam of light surrounded by freezing water crashed into the monster, sending it reeling back. Right after that, Sora and Sailor Peace jumped down off of the rooftops and landed in the ally to help fight.

"Hope we're not too late," Sailor Peace said. "I had to make up an excuse to get away from Tidus."

Sailor Heart smiled at her gratefully. "You're just in time. But since when do you have powers, Sora?"

"Since forever," Sora replied. "Any idea how to beat this thing? It doesn't really look like our powers are working very well."

"How about fire?" Selphie asked, clenching her fists, her head bowed so her hair covered her face.

"Fire, huh?" Sora murmured, strangely unfazed by the question. "I guess it's worth a try, Passion."

Selphie lifted her head, her eyes glowing red. "Sounds good to me," she growled before fire erupted around her, burning away her clothing and swirling through her hair and over her skin, leaving a red and yellow sailor suit in its wake. "Passionate Flames! Burning embers!" she exclaimed , building up a ball of fire before throwing it at the monster.

It screeched in anger as it burst into flames and then fizzled away into a pile pf ash and blew away on the wind.

"Whoa, trippy."

Sora and the two other Protectors turned to look at Sailor Passion, who was examining her new clothes in great interest.

"How do you feel?" Sailor Peace asked.

"Fine, I think," Sailor Passion replied. "I'm guessing this isn't some kind of ulta-bizarre dream. It's too weird for even one of my dreams." She looked at where the monster had last been at and let her arms fall to her sides. "So, what now?"

"We need to find a good meeting place so we can fill in Sailor Passion," Sora said. "Peace, can we use your place again?"

Sailor Peace nodded. "Of course. Follow me."

'Things are getting complicated… Now Selphie's Sailor Passion? What's next? Cloud as Sailor Strength?' She snorted and shook her head at the thought. 'No way. That's too ridiculous. It'll probably be Roxas.'

"Heart, you should call your parents! It looks like another long night," Sailor Peace said.

Sailor Heart nodded. She'd make sure to call her mom once they got to Peace's house. It wasn't like she had a cell phone to use to call them. She wouldn't get that until she got her drivers license.

Right then all she had to worry about was Selphie's reaction to finding out who she was. It would be interesting for sure.


End Chapter


I meant to have this up over the weekend, but my muses didn't want to cooperate with that. But I finished it up today, so it's all good, right? And I even got Yuffie to come out of hiding for a nice appearance with a mysterious friend! Although it's fairly obvious who he is. At least I think it is.

Now there are only two Protector's left. Sailor Strength and Sailor Love, as well as three Guardians who have yet to be found.

Okay, I take that back. There are more Protectors who have yet to be introduced, but Strength and Love will be the last of the main Protectors. Kind of. I haven't planned very far ahead yet.

Next Time: Reality 5 - Wednesday, March 25

Yuffie makes another appearance while Kairi stresses over how to corner Sora to talk to him about everything going on. Meanwhile, Namine is worried about what Olette will have to say about the Mysterious Warrior kissing her.