AN :)) Hey everyone! First, I'm sorry for the long wait again. I had some writer's block (icky) so it took me a bit longer to get this one out. I hope it doesn't suck. Second, you guys are amazing! I did not expect to get that many reviews!! Cookies for everyone!!! So now everything is unraveling! I'm excited! Please keep up the awesome reviewing and I hope you enjoy +X+ Livvy +X+

Symbols

Thoughts

Conscience

Flashbacks/ dream sequence

&&&&&&&&&& scene change

"Falling"

Kairi inhaled the smell of damp seawater and earth. She sat up to see she was in a cave, dark except for a few holes in the top through which rays of light leaked. She slowly got up and walked along the cavern, something pulling her on.

At first, nothing seemed abnormal about this cave, but upon further inspection, she found numerous drawings adorning all of the walls. Some looked like meaningless squiggles, while others told stories. As she walked on, one in particular caught her eye.

There was a picture of Sora, drawn skillfully to resemble him in his youth. Then, facing him, was one of Kairi. This one had shaky lines and stray marks, yet somehow seemed equally beautiful to her. A hand extended from the portrait of Sora, holding in its hand a small, star-shaped fruit. A papou fruit?

Sure enough, clasped in the hand of the picture, was the legendary fruit. It was said that when two people shared one, their destinies would be intertwined forever. A wave of emotion caught her by surprise and sent a broad smile to her face. Without really realizing it, she picked up a rock and began to draw another addition to the picture.

Sitting back on her heals, she admired her work. Now there was a matching hand coming from the portrait of Kairi, extending to Sora's and holding another papou. She smiled and ran her hand over the drawing.

Then suddenly, there was a creaking noise. Kairi spun around to her left and found an old looking wooden door. It swung back and forth on its noisy hinges.

What on Earth?

She stood up to examine it closely. Inside was pitch black. She stuck her foot inside, but felt no ground. Then, an unknown source of wind knocked her off balance and sent her tumbling through the door, falling for what seemed like forever.

When she finally landed, she was in what looked like a city. However, there was no one there. She got to her feet, brushing of what ever dust might be on her clothes. She wandered on aimlessly, looking for any sign of life.

"Kairi!" She turned to see Sora running towards her. He stopped in front of her and stared at her in wonder.

"Is it really you?" he asked. Now she was really confused. What was he talking about? And where were they?

"I'm pretty sure it's me... Where are we?" she asked timidly.

"You…don't know?" he asked, now it was his turn to be confused. She shook her head.

"We're in Kingdom Hearts." he said as he extended a finger in the air, pointing to something. There in the sky, where you may expect to see a moon was a giant glowing heart. It cast a light, faintly illuminating the city streets.

"I haven't seen you in 3 years…Don't you remember?" he asked grasping her gently by the shoulders. She shook her head.

"Not…anything? Not even the secret place?" he asked, hoping that maybe she had seen his silent confession. She still looked blank. "In the cave…" he added, slowly loosing faith.

"The cave? The one with all the drawings?" She asked. His eyes brightened and he nodded.

"There was a picture of you and me and…" she trailed off as her cheeks tinged in pink, as did Sora's.

"So you…I…we…" Kairi tried desperately to form a sentence. He grinned. She's so cute when she's all flustered. Then his grip on her arms gently tightened as he brought her closer. Her eyes instinctively closed as did the space between their faces. Barely, she had felt his lips brush hers before they heard a sudden crashing noise and broke away.

"Wha-what? What's going on? Sora?" she stuttered as she looked about for him. However, a dense cloud of dust and debris had formed from the crash, making it impossible to see anything. She felt around blindly, trying desperately to find something…anything.

Then, something grabbed her arm causing her to scream.

"AH! Sora!" she shouted, trying to break the grasp that held her wrists tightly.

"Shhhh! Kairi, it's me!" Sora whispered.

"Sora? What happened?" Kairi asked, squinting and trying to focus on him.

"We were ambushed by heartless." He answered.

"Heartless? Where are they?" She questioned. She wasn't sure of what they were, but she knew they weren't anything good.

"I don't know, but we'd better get moving fast." He said as he steered her through the dust.

Suddenly, a heartless jumped in front of their path. "Just one? Has Maleficent gone soft?" Sora said cockily. Then 9 more heartless came out of nowhere.

"Ok, I take it back." He added, this time sounding a bit worried. "Just stay behind me Kairi." He instructed. She nodded, even though his back was turned. The heartless charged forward, getting sliced almost instantly by Sora's key blade. But the more that he killed, the more that came. They started closing in on all sides.

"Sora…" Kairi whimpered. They were growing close to her. Sora spun about to knock away the impeding heartless, but one broke his defenses, sending him back a few feet.

"Sora!" Kairi started to run to his aid, but was grabbed from behind. Two heartless held her in place while the third reached forward for her heart…

"SORA!" she screamed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kairi shot up in bed. Sweat ran down her forehead and she panted heavily. What. The. Hell. She looked over too see if she had woken Namine. There she lay, still sound asleep. Man, she can sleep through anything! She rolled over to her other side to look at the clock. Holy shit! 3 pm?!! I have to get to work! She thought as she jumped out of bed. Namie will just have to tell me about her little fling with Roxas tonight…

She threw on her clothes from last night. Ok, just a quick stop at home, and then on to work… She staggered as she put on her shoes, and then ran down the stairs. She had almost left when she realized she hadn't left a note.

She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a quick note on the paper:

Namie, went home then to work. Be back at 7. --XOXO Kairi

She smiled, pleased with her work. She added her address at the bottom out of habit. This long and she still doesn't know where I live… She chuckled to herself at her forgetful friend, then realized she was losing time, set the note on the table by the door, and ran out of the house.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kairi quietly pried the door open to her house. So far, so good.

She entered in to find her father asleep on the couch. Phew. She mentally sighed and snuck into her room. She quickly changed and headed back to the door. She had just opened it when…

"Hey! Where do you think you're going, you little slut?!" Her father boomed. Shit.

"To work. Isn't that where you want me?" She spat back, then immediately regretted it.

"You ungrateful little shit! You don't come home, then think you can just walk around like you own the place?!"

"I basically do. It's my money that pays all the bills." She snapped. Bad move.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sora had been up all night tossing and turning. He stared at the clock in front of him. It flashed 2:45 in annoying bright red numbers. I feel like shit. That's because you were a total jerk. No way! Kairi is just too sensitive. You forcefully made-out with her. She kissed back! How is it my fault? Were you the one who ran out crying? Good point.

"Urgh! I can't take this! I'll just go apologize!" he exclaimed to no one. He got up out of bed and got dressed. Then he ran downstairs and out to his car. He knew the way to Kairi's house by heart. He pulled up outside of the big mansion, and walked to the door. He knocked on it three times, then waited…

Three more knocks, more waiting. Urgh! Why won't she answer?! Duh, she doesn't like you.

"Kairi!" he shouted, feeling quite stupid. No one could hear him. He tried the knob and was surprised to find it open. He slipped inside of the house, feeling quite intrusive for obvious reasons, but this was important.

"Hello?" He called out. No answer. He looked around and then saw a small note on the table by the door. He read it out loud:

"Namie, went home, then to work. Be back at 7. From Kairi. Wait a minute… home?" he wondered out loud. He checked the address that was scribbled at the bottom. What the hell? This isn't Kairi's house? Then… where does she live? He tore the address off of the note and went back out to his car and sped off towards the location on the paper.

After a bit of driving, Sora ended up in a shabby neighborhood. This can't possibly… he trailed off as he spotted the address on the sheet. He pulled off to the side of the road and walked towards the broken-down building. As he drew closer, he heard shouting and loud curses.

"…. Isn't that where you want me?" said a voice that sounded like Kairi's. Sora snuck around to a window and peeked in. There was a large man that looked a lot like Kairi. Kairi's dad? ... He was shouting angrily at her and looked like he was about to tare her apart.

"You ungrateful little shit! You don't come home, then think you can just walk around like you own the place?!" He heard the man shout. Sora didn't like the looks of this.

"I basically do. It's my money that pays all the bills." Kairi shouted back. Then her father looked livid. He grabbed a lamp sitting close by and threw it towards her. It hit her square in the stomach and she crumpled to the floor in pain, tears leaking from her eyes. OH MY GOD KAIRI! Sora thought in panic. He scrambled to the door.

He entered just in time to see Kairi's father approach her with what looked like a vase.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted, distracting the man and causing him to miss Kairi's head. However, it shattered and shards of ceramics sliced at her arms and face.

"HOW DARE YOU TRESPASS ON MY PROPERTY!" The man bellowed. Shit.

Sora scrambled for the lamp that Kairi's father had previously thrown and held it up in defense.

"Kairi! Are you ok?!" Sora shouted frantically to her. She moaned loudly. She was in bad shape. I have to get her out of here! He thought. Kairi's father approached him with a deadly scowl and another lamp in hand.

He flung it down towards Sora, who blocked it with his own. The man pressed down hard on his lamp, attempting to over power Sora, but he withdrew, and Jecht stumbled forward, knocked off balance. Sora took this opportunity to deal a sharp blow to the back of the man's head, knocking him out cold on the floor.

Sora spun around to face Kairi. She looked bad. She had bruises all over and cuts, some with pieces of ceramic still intact. He cringed and knelt down.

"Kairi, are you ok?" Of course not idiot. Her eyes were drawn tightly together and her breathing was irregular. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach where the lamp had made contact.

He peeled them back gently, then carefully lifted her shirt just enough to see a large black bruise forming, stretching across her entire front and about 4 inches tall. Kairi hiccupped quietly, this in turn hurting her and causing her to cry more.

"Do you think you can walk?" he asked, receiving a shake from her head in return. Sora heard a quiet groan immerge from Jecht, a signal of his coming to.

"Ok, Kairi. I'm going to pick you up. This'll hurt a bit, but I have to get you out of here now." Kairi nodded weakly.

Sora delicately wrapped his arms behind her shoulders and under her knees, and slowly lifted her up. He heard her whimper, but he had to keep going. She wrapped her arms around his neck for support as he pressed on through the house and outside.

Gently, he laid her down in the backseat, then closed the door and ran around to his side. He quickly started the car and sped off to his house. Thank god his father wasn't home.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

When they got to his house, Sora carried Kairi inside and laid her on a couch. Right. Now what? ... I've got to clean her up first I guess. Running around in a haze, he retrieved some old towels, some water, antibiotics, and band-aids.

"Kai? Are you still awake?" he asked quietly. She nodded slightly.

"I'm just gonna clean up your cuts, ok?" Another nod.

First he tended to her cuts. He pulled out the last few pieces of pottery that had managed to stay lodged in her skin, and then rinsed them all with water, but not without a few winces from Kairi. There wasn't much he could do for the bruise except put some ice on it. He got a big bag of it and had Kairi hold it to her stomach. Then he put some antibiotics on her cuts.

He noticed her breathing slow down as he rubbed antibiotic on the last cut on her face. She was asleep. He smiled as he stared down at her sleeping features. He placed a gentle hand on the side of her face. For a while he just watched her, then he grabbed a pillow and lay down on the floor to sleep.

AN :)) I thought about going on, but I liked it ending on that note. Aw, they are so sweet! Now make me happy and click that pretty little purple button +X+Livvy+X+