Author's Note: It feels spiffy to be writing video game fiction again. :D Just beat KH2 (depending on when you read this… but it was early April 06 WOOT!), had a sudden burst of inspiration, and I figured I should probably write this before I lost my idea… so here goes. :D This story is loosely very loosely based on old Shakespearean plays and… Panic! At The Disco songs. Hence the weird titles and such… so. :D Review if you like… t'will make me feel fantabulous. :D

Disclaimer: I can't even afford chocolate, so… I don't see how I could own anything from Disney or Squenix. ;o;

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Midsummer Panic
Chapter 10
Clever beyond words, to a certain extent

Roxas, who was all but terrified prior to that night, froze the instant he arrived at the doorway to the room. Wakka almost bumped into his back on the way in. There sitting exactly as he had left him, was Sora, tapping his fingers peculiarly on the chair's arm, while flashing nothing short of a glare at poor, poor Roxas. Wakka was pretty buzzed by then, so Sora might as well have been giving him a wide, toothy grin at that time and he wouldn't be able to tell the difference. "What, ya?" Wakka asked, ushering Roxas inside to his seat.

As soon as Roxas sat down, Sora picked up the cards and began to shuffle them, blatantly ignoring Roxas' prying eyes. "Uh…" Roxas began, slowly, causing Sora to stop abruptly at stare at him. Roxas cleared his throat nervously, "Um… Kairi told me you weren't… feeling so well last time…"

"I got better." Sora shrugged. He gave Roxas a slight, weak, not-even-really-there smile—just to eliminate the supposed tension in the room—and then returned to his cards. Not only that, but—listen to me, son, I don't think we fully established why you're acting so weird towards Roxas anyway. So tell me. Huh? Is it because Kairi likes him? Is that it, you jealous prick? My God, isn't this exactly what happened when—Sora slapped himself in the head, which got no weird looks from anyone, as they were all pretty gone to begin with. Besides—isn't it weird how, whenever someone's thinking something slightly forbidden or plot-driven, they always get cut off at "this is what happened when"? Isn't that weird? Think about it, if you can—

Needless to say, Wakka's said definition of ownage took close to five games, all of which were draws. Tidus was purely convinced that 'they were both scammers and this was exactly what happened when scammers played each other'. He scoffed and crossed his arms, "Okay, that's enough scamming from both of you—I wanna play someone." He turned to Sora instantly and gestured towards the doorway. "Get up, I'll beat the new kid."

"Ya, he's not new anymore," Wakka told Tidus, resorting to massaging Roxas on the shoulders to prove his point. Roxas froze, looking up at Wakka and raising a confused eyebrow at him.

"Bring it," Tidus sneered at him. Wakka glared at him and instantly pulled Roxas out of his seat as Tidus began to deal cards. Both Sora and Roxas were slightly confused as to how they got kicked out of their own ownage-fest, but neither of them had the real capacity to think just then.

Halfway down the hall, a disgruntled Marluxia stopped Sora and shoved a drink into his hands. It was safe to say his face was as pink as his hair just then. He grumbled, "From my stupid cousin. If I were you, I wouldn't drink it. She's probably trying to get everyone drunk so they can pass out and she can molest them in their sleep." He rolled his eyes. "You know how weird Selphie is." And off he went to his corner in the kitchen.

Sora hadn't understood a real word he said, but gladly accepted the drink otherwise, as he headed towards Selphie's insanely huge backyard, decked with gnomes and random patches of tomatoes. Her mother loved gardening and designing her garden was a yearly event. This year, it was only tomatoes, and she claimed if you were to fly overhead, you'd notice the tomato patches create some form of Arabic pattern… needless to say, no one believed her.

As soon as Sora took a step outside, he choked and held his chest. His eyes remained wide and shocked as he scanned the backyard in a confused manner. His brain wasn't working as fast as it should've been.

"It's the fresh air." Riku informed him, randomly popping in beside him. He guided him lazily over to the bottom step where Kairi was sipping uneasily on a glass of what seemed like water. Sora dropped down beside her still massaging his chest oddly. "Anyway—" Riku continued, as he took sips of what seemed like water too. Seemed like the drinks were really getting to everyone. "—as we were saying! …his parents probably went somewhere, and I bet they use that whole jail thing to cover it up."

"I doubt it." Kairi shrugged. "It's been a long time. Remember?" At this she nudged Sora in the arm, almost causing him to tip over. She smiled and rolled her eyes, "You're hopeless—anyway. Remember when Marluxia first came to live with Selphie? It was that day we saw her crying on her front step back in… sixth grade. Talking about how she hated him and stuff… well yeah, if you ask him why they're in jail, he'll say they're not and then he'll change his mind and say they are, so he's clearly lying."

"I always figured they died." Sora shrugged, taking another swig of his drink. "I don't know—why are you guys talking about this anyway?"

"Because Selphie just ran out here telling us that 'he should go away and join his parents wherever the hell they are'." Kairi answered, nonchalantly. "Seemed pretty cryptic."

"She's just overreacting."

"She's just really buzzed."

"Speaking of which," Sora began, setting down his drink by his feet. "Why aren't you drunk and passed out yet?" he asked Kairi, who only raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, what other reason do I have to drive you home if you're drinking water?"

Kairi laughed. "You're still going around telling people that? It's true what they say—if you go around telling yourself pure BS, you start to believe it yourself." She handed him her glass of water. "Drink it. I'm pretty sure you'll pass out soon."

He blinked at her. "What?"

"I'd tell you, but I don't think you have the capacity to think right now." She rolled her eyes and spoke slowly, making sure to enunciate. "You told me if you went around telling people that you had to drive me home, it would be reason enough for you to not get piss drunk. But you gave me your keys anyway. You said I should keep them because you're probably gonna break your promise and be gone by the end of the night, and oh how right you were—"

"Shouldn't bet too much on her still having them, though," Riku mumbled, absently. "Axel probably has them, since he's been in her pants and all—"

Kairi choked. "Riku, shut up!" She snapped at him.

Sora blinked at her. "Axel has my keys?"

Kairi pointed to the glass. "Drink."

---

It was cold that night.

Autumn on an island usually left the evenings blisteringly cold and the mornings scorching and hot. No matter how far away you were from the beach's end, you could feel the magnetic pull of the waves on every side of the island. They were enticing and had the ability to grasp you from any angle, and never let go… or so Sora claimed. Kairi ignored him and continued to direct him on a straight path back to his house when he wandered off the sidewalk or onto the road. She figured it was just his excuse for why he wasn't walking straight to begin with.

I'm going to kill Riku. Kairi told herself repeated times that night. All of a sudden, Sora's house seemed ages away from Selphie's and it felt as if they'd been walking for an hour by then. At around two, Riku overheard a tumultuous Namine singing to herself about 'how much he could drink before he passed out' and she had to 'nurse him' back to health. She wasn't inconspicuous about it either, as she told Selphie she wanted her parents' room for the night. Any idiot, drunk or sober, knew she was talking about Sora. Generally freaked out of his mind for his dear friend's sanity, Riku suggested that Kairi take Sora home, and since Kairi didn't feel much like driving—as she put it—Riku took the car, and she took the Sora. I'm going to kill him the next time I see him. There is no such thing as equal compensation for this. Absolutely none.

"Hey Kairi," Sora began suddenly, amidst his ramble on dragonflies.

She glanced up at him wearily. "Yes?"

He paused for a moment. "… you can let go of my arm now, you know."

She nearly choked and snapped her attention towards her hand clasped firmly on his arm—what the hell? Since when? She dropped her arm quickly, reverted to fixing her hair, and recounting all the ways she'd kill Riku the next day.

"Anyway—" he didn't seem to remember anything he just said, and continued on as if nothing was bothering him and he wasn't drunk past the point of comprehension. "Remember when we were younger and Riku's grandmother was alive?"

"This has nothing to do with dragonflies." Kairi mumbled aloud, flashing him an odd look.

"Dragonflies?" he asked, slowly. "You're zoning out, huh? Focus, okay. Really, this is important."

She couldn't help but laugh—and then pull him back on the sidewalk fervently before he almost walked straight into a light pole. "I'm listening."

"Well yeah, Riku's grandmother was really, really damn old." He told her, bluntly. "And she looked like a man. But she used to bake cookies a lot, even though she was diabetic, and so she gave them to me a lot… before Riku moved in with her. His parents were all 'well, we're getting divorced or something, so go live with your grandmother' or something, so he lived with her. And you know what was weird—when my parents got divorced, I didn't have to go live with my grandmother, because she was old and she lived halfway across the island. I remember I asked my mom why she and dad weren't gonna live together anymore, and she said it was because of money. I was young so I had no idea what she meant and stuff, but if I ask her now, she won't tell me. When you're younger, people tell you things because they know you don't understand. As you get older, they tell you nothing. I still don't know why my parents are divorced anyway; they call each other all the time. … Namine told me, I had no idea."

"And this has what to do with Riku's grandmother again?" Kairi asked with a slight smile.

He narrowed his eyes at her, indignantly and stopped walking for a moment. Kairi stopped abruptly and turned around to face him. "What?" she inquired nervously.

"You like Roxas, don't you?" he asked her.

Usually, the intended reaction would be wide-eyes, dropped-jaw and panicky expression followed by a lot of 'umm's. However, in this case, since Kairi knew Sora was one to ramble especially if he's mentally "not there", she only raised an eyebrow at him, quizzically. "What?" she asked again.

"Just asking." And with a simple shrug, he strolled past her, hands stuffed sluggishly in his pockets.

Just asking? Just asking, my ass! My God—he gets weirder everyday. She rolled her eyes and rushed to catch up with him. "Hey," she poked him in the arm. "We should probably be having this kind of conversation when you're sober and your responses won't be lame-ass answers—but really. Are you okay? Honestly and truthfully, I'm really concerned."

"Of course I'm okay." He shrugged nonchalantly. "… well my head hurts a bit, and it feels like I'm not even walking." He gave a slight smirk. "Really weird."

"Well, uh, I mean these past few weeks and everything." She added. "You remember? How you're always randomly getting sick and we never go anywhere anymore—remember, we didn't even go backend shopping this year." A pained expression swept over her face for a moment, but it was gone before he looked at her. "Really. If anything's wrong, you'll tell me, won't you?"

He nodded quickly and continued to walk without saying another word to her.

She sighed and followed beside him, her hands clasped tightly around her bag and her eyes staring pointedly at the ground. She was relieved that Sora was finally beginning to regain some of his composure and began to walk somewhat straight, because she no longer had the motivation to pull him back on the sidewalk. She let out a heavy sigh and glanced up at the sky momentarily. This is weird. She looked at him through the corner of her eyes, biting down on her bottom lip with certain anxiety. She hadn't been so aware of when the glint in his eyes began to vanish, but it surely was gone. His usual bright blue eyes were now glazed over with an uneasiness that, for some reason, wasn't there before. It bothered her to think that out of everyone they knew, she wouldn't tell him if anything was bothering him. Think, Kairi. She sighed again, and tapped her lip with her finger eloquently. It probably has something to do with his parents, doesn't it? Wouldn't that make sense? Why else would he be going on about Riku's grandmother and… whatever else he was saying?

"Good God, where the hell is my house?" his voice interrupted her train of thought, as he paused for a moment looking up and down the street. "It's… that way, isn't it?" he mumbled, his speech slurred. He glanced at Kairi, and then over her head, "Where do you remember… it is?"

"Uh—over there." She pointed towards the first street somewhere in front of them. Before he could walk by her again, she quickly grabbed his arms and stood directly in front of him, peering wholly into his impassive, cobalt eyes. He didn't say anything, nor did he find anything weird with the situation itself. A while or two, he glanced over her head into the distance towards the supposed street he lived on and suddenly, he could feel her arms snaking around his waist to his back and her head pressed gently on his chest.

He nearly stumbled back from shock, but managed to regain his balance when Kairi tightened her grasp around him, and clung on to him like a child would to a teddy bear.

It seemed as if for a moment everything had completely stopped. The waves were frozen in a timeless still and what used to seem wispy to Sora, seemed much more concrete than it had just a while ago. What…? Was he dreaming or something?

Her voice was sharp when she spoke. "I hope to God you haven't been on drugs or anything for the past few weeks, or I'll thrash you."

Everything unfroze, time resumed as normal, Sora was still as drunk as hell.

She looked up at him. He shook his head slowly. She sighed, only somewhat content with his answer. Gently resting her head on his chest once more, she asked him, "Are you okay?"

Truthfully, Kairi's grasp around his waist was most uncomfortable. It didn't help that he was much too tense for his own good, but he definitely felt as if he just wanted to run home, drop down on his bed and sleep. So of course, not really understanding exactly what she meant, he told her, "Not really", and nothing more.

"Really?" she sounded defeated. She let go of his waist, grasped his hands in hers and peered up at him with wide, prying eyes. Sora was afraid; tipsy, light-headed, and afraid. She continued, "You know… if anything's wrong, you can tell me, right? I mean, I know I asked you that before—like just now, actually—but I'm serious, I'm really, really worried about you. You're the closest I've ever had to a brother, you know. So I care about you a lot."

"I know." He answered, hurriedly. For all that his willpower was worth, he couldn't seem to seethe his hands out from Kairi's grasp. Her concern outweighed his desire to get home, any day. "Uh—it's… yeah, I know."

She let go of his hands quickly and flung her arms around his neck. Dearest Sora was intoxicated beyond belief, so this all seemed quite bizarre to him. The general concern Kairi had for his well-being seemed to rush right over his head like a brief gust of wind, and he just assumed she was secretly wasted and incredibly horny. Which is why it came as no surprise when he felt her lips against his.

For someone whose mind was generally blabbering in jibberish the whole night, it was a severe change of pace to find himself actually, and quite suddenly, thinking. And while he was thinking, and while his arms found their way to her back—somewhere in between—he kissed her back.

… what the hell—didn't we just establish the fact that you were THINKING? … are you even listening to yourself? You realize this doesn't make any sense at all right? Right? … my God, you horny bastard.

There was what seemed like a flash of light, and for a moment, the whole world lit up. And then off it plunged again, into the depths of darkness. It was like euphoria… but it was weird, kissing your "brother". …

Kairi's eyes snapped open and she nearly jumped back, jaw dropped, eyes wide—the general reaction. She didn't bother to waste another moment attempting to comprehend what just happened. Her heart was racing, her palms were sweaty, her fingers were growing numb—did that—there's no way—that actually happened…?

She screamed. As loud as she could.

And she ran. As far away as possible…

…just so that he wouldn't be able to see her face light up.

Canon for the win. :D