Chapter 10

It had been two weeks since the day he let her slip away.

Kairi and Riku had quickly become the school's power couple, most obliviously, since Riku and Kairi were in fact the two most popular students at Strife Academy.

Kairi hadn't been spending much time with Sora lately, but it wasn't on purpose. She was just so busy with Riku and the others that she forgot to hang out with Sora. She didn't go to any of his performances like she said she would, she didn't go back home with him on the bus anymore, none of the group sat with Sora anymore because they were too busy eating lunch in Riku's private room, everything just went back to the way things were before he and Kairi met. Sora couldn't help but ask himself, is this really all for the better? Despite being absolutely miserable, at least Kairi herself had found happiness.

Sora wasn't a complete train wreck however, since Yuffie was constantly coming over Sora's house, as if she truly did in fact, practically live there. Waking up next to Yuffie had almost begun to become a routine. Sora was used to it now. Yuffie was the only person who kept him from completely going down in the dumps, but still, only Kairi has the potential to bring Sora back to his true self.

Sora couldn't contemplate whether or not Kairi despised him, used him, or just didn't want to be associated with him. He wanted to know, but he dared not confront Kairi. Things would just be awkward between them now. He wasn't even sure if Kairi had even remembered him.

At the end of the school day, Sora dragged himself out of class and sat on the bench. He sighed heavily as the sun glistened on his tan face.

"What's wrong?" asked an unfamiliar and squeaky voice.

Sora opened his eyes to see a short, anthropomorphic duck looking at him with a blank face. Sora jumped out of the bench and flipped behind the bench. "Stay away from me!"

"Wak? What's the big idea?!"

"You're a duck! A talking freaking duck!"

"No, you idiot! This is just what my makeup artist did for me! I'm working in a play, just on my break right now."

Sora calmed down and sat back down. "Oh, sorry. It's just really convincing, that's all."

The duck waved it off. "No offense taken, kid. Now could ya tell me what's got you in such a dump?"

Sora slumped onto his palm as he stared at the concrete below. "I lost my best friend...there was this girl that I used to hang out with all the time. I wasn't too keen on her at first, but once I warmed up to her daily hassle of me I began to think she wasn't that bad," Sora chuckled, thinking about all the memories he and Kairi made in such a short time. "She...was the only one I liked. She made me feel...like had a heart." (Reference alert)

The duck sweat dropped, boy was this kid a downer. "Listen, kid, you can't go through life being sad." Sora looked up at the duck curiously. "It's not good for you, you'll just get sick and end up feeling sorry for yourself." The duck put on a warm and friendly grin. "Smile! Be happy!"

Another figure walked up and stood next to the duck, he was a hunch back but skinny anthropomorphic dog. "Hey, uh, who is..." the dog said pointing to Sora.

"Just some kid who I thought looked sad, so I thought I'd say something," the duck answered.

"I see, he seems kinda mechamolic," the dog said.

The duck rolled his eyes, it seemed he was used to this. "That's 'melancholic' you twit!"

Sora couldn't help but crack a chuckle. Something about them seemed oddly familiar, as if he had met these two in a past life or alternate reality.

The duck smiled as he heard Sora's chuckle. "There you go!"

"Gawrsh, you do look like you could use some cheering up," the dog said while in deep thought. "Hey! I know, how about we head over to the top of the Station Tower! The sight up there will be enough to get your mind off of whatever it is you're going through."

"That's actually a good idea," the duck admitted.

Sora thought about it. He had nothing better to do, and he could honestly just take the train over to his house from the Station. These two friendly faces seemed okay enough. What's the harm in it?

(References alert ahead)

"Yeah, I guess..." Sora said, still slightly melancholic.

The duck put his hands on his chubby little hips. "But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning, no sad face, okay?"

The dog hovered down to put his face near the duck's. "Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us! A-hyuk!"

Slightly annoyed, the duck pushed the dog's face away. "If you wanna tag along, you gotta have a happy face!"

"Happy?" Sora asked.

Sora decided he'd give it a try, it's the least he could do for himself anyway is to try and be a little more happy. Sora stood up and dipped down, the duck and dog looking at him intensely. Sora soon popped up with the goofiest grin he's probably ever made. An awkward silence ensued as the duck and dog stared at Sora.

Sora began to look kind of worried at them. Weren't they going to say something? Before he knew it, the duck and dog busted into hysterical laughter at Sora's weird attempt at a happy face.

"That's one funny face!" the dog cried.

Sora chuckled slightly as well. These guys didn't seem so bad, if anything, they could help him get over the slump he was in. "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys."

The duck and dog stopped laughing, and the duck gave Sora a warm, sympathetic smile. He put his hand out. "Donald Duck."

The dog put his hand out. "Name's Goofy."

Sora looked kind of awkwardly at them. This seemed rather cheesy, didn't it? Oh well, it was in good-nature. "I'm Sora." Sora put his hand out down as well.

"All for one, and one for all," Goofy said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Riku and Kairi were walking down the street to head up to the nearest cafe to get something to eat.

"Oh my god, I'm so hungry," Kairi said as her stomach growled.

"My, my, such an appetite for such a small girl," Riku teased.

Kairi tapped him on the nose. "Oh, quiet," she teased back. "I just couldn't eat at lunch today. Something's been really bugging me..."

"What's that?"

"I feel like I'm forgetting something important. Or someone...I can't remember who or what, though."

Riku had forgotten all about that something as well. He didn't need to remember that certain thing since it was now out of his way. "Do you remember anything about that certain thing...?"

Kairi stopped. "I don't know what it is, but I know it was something very important to me..."

Riku stopped as well, since his girlfriend decided to.

"It's been hurting really bad, I just don't know what I'm going to do."

"I'm sure it couldn't be something that bad, could it?"

Kairi ignored Riku as she continued thinking. "Starts with an 'S'..." (Reference alert)

"It's probably nothing, Kai. Come on, let's go eat. You said you were hungry, right?"

Kairi nodded. Something had been feeling off lately, though. She couldn't shake the feeling of it, either. Someone from her life was missing, and she was feeling awful about it.

In the cafe, Kairi and Riku ordered their food. Riku couldn't help but notice that Kairi seemed a little out of it today. When their food arrived, Kairi hardly touched it. She just stared at it while she was in deep thought. "Starts with an 'S'..." Kairi thought about it long and hard. There was someone who she knew, and cared for that person deeply. To be honest, she liked that person more than Riku if she remembered correctly. But who was it? Wait...she remembered, it was...

"SORA!"

Riku looked at her, confused. "Who's Sora?" he asked. Then the memories came back. "Oh, that loser you used to hang out with all the time."

"He's not a loser!" Kairi spat at him. She then hugged herself, feeling a little sick inside. "Oh my god, I can't believe I forgot about him...I feel like a terrible person..."

"Don't worry about it, Kai, you got me, right?" Riku said with a smirk.

"You think I care about that?!" she asked. She was not in the mood for Riku's arrogance today. "Oh, I need to find Sora, like now."

"Now?"

"NOW!"

Riku was taken aback. Why did she care so much about some loser they didn't even care to remember?

"I have to go!" Kairi said while running out. "I'll call you later!

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all sitting on the Station Tower watching the sunset. They were all licking on sea-salt ice cream bars, and for some reason, they felt very comfortable in each other's presence. Like they had been like this for a long time.

"This is nice, isn't it?" Sora said, his smile shining from the light of the sun.

"It sure is, A-hyuk," Goofy agreed.

Donald took a look at Sora, which Sora began to notice and made him slightly uncomfortable. "What's the matter?" Sora asked.

"Are you...are you sure we haven't met before?" Donald asked with a hand to his chin.

Sora looked back into his memories. "Positive. Why do you ask?"

Donald shook his head and smiled. "I dunno." Sora returned the smile.

The three began eating ice cream again. "So, what play are you guys in?" Sora decided to ask.

"It's a play about a feller who travels to a whole bunch of worlds to keep the darkness from spreading. We play as the boy's two companions," Goofy answered.

"Sounds interesting..." Sora admitted.

"You know what's weird, me and Goofy's names are the exact same names of the character's we play, and have similar personalities."

"That is weird," Sora agreed, licking on his delicious ice cream bar.

"Hey, about that friend of yours, I was wondering...did you like her?" Donald asked.

"Define 'like'," Sora requested.

"As in, romantically."

Sora breathed in real deep, but decided to maintain his composure. He wasn't in the mood to cry right now. "Yeah. Yeah, I did."

"I see..." Donald said. Goofy felt bad for Sora. Just hearing him say that felt bad.

"She was the most beautiful girl you could ever imagine. Her laugh, her presence...her smile. It's all haunting me."

"Hm..."

"And the day I found out I liked her, was the day I lost her...I told myself when I met her, that this would happen. I knew if I allowed her to hang around me, I was going to end up hurting in the long run...I knew it, but she wouldn't go away. No matter all the mean things I said to her, or all the times I'd ignore her or give her the cold shoulder, she wouldn't leave me alone. So I gave up, and decided I'd let her hang around me for the time being..."

"What happened after that?" asked Goofy.

"She...she was the best friend I could ever imagine. In such a short time, she became my sister. It was weird, but it was so true. I guess, feelings grew, whether I didn't realize them or ignored them, I don't know, but they were there. Me and her, it seemed as if we were inseparable, but of course, everything happens for a reason. She ended up falling for the biggest ego trip in the school, and she went and forgot all about me. I fell into her trap, I knew it would happen. So why didn't I stop it? Why was I such an idiot?!"

Goofy patted Sora on the back, giving him a sympathetic and understanding expression on his face.

"Sorry, I got a little carried away..." Sora apologized.

"It's okay," Goofy responded.

"Boy, I'm really sorry, Sora. I didn't know..." Donald said, looking guilty for making Sora tell the story that was obviously painful for him.

Sora looked at the sun. "It's okay..."

And then, Sora's phone rang. Sora, not even bothering to look at the Caller I.D, answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi..." said a hesitant voice.

"Kairi?"

"Yeah, it's me. Look, Sora, I wanted to meet you. Can you come by the Station?"

Sora was beginning to look around. "I'm already here."

"Oh, well uh, where are you?"

"At the top of the tower..."

"Be right up." Kairi hung the phone.

Sora looked melancholic as he stared at the ground. "That was the friend I was telling you about. She's heading on up."

Donald and Goofy exchanged looks.

"Do you want us to leave?" asked Donald.

Sora gave him a crack of a smile, as if trying to politely say 'yes'. But Donald and Goofy weren't offended, they knew it was nothing personal.

"We understand. I sure do hope things work out between you and yer friend," Goofy said as he stood up.

"Me too," Sora responded.

"We'll see you around," Donald said as he and Goofy went down the stairs to leave the station. Sora sighed as he closed his eyes. He felt the breeze compliment his face and hair. Soon enough, he smelt a familiar fragrance, and found that Kairi was sitting next to him, looking out at the sky.

"Hey," was the first thing she said. Sora ignored her. Serves her right. "So, what have you been up to?"

Sora didn't say anything. He seriously wanted to just leave, but he knew good and well that running away from his problems wasn't healthy, so he had a chance to confront it, and he was going to take it. Well, sort of. Ignoring her was him giving her a taste of her own medicine.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "It just occurred to me, we haven't been spending that much time together, have we?" Sora rolled his eyes, seeing as that was a dumb observation. "I was so caught up in spending time with Riku, I just sort of forgot about anything else. But I'll make it up to you, I swear, we can hang out all the time, just like before."

Sora clenched his fists. If only she knew how bad she was really hurting him. "You wanna know why I didn't want to be friends with you when we first met, Kairi?"

She was getting a little interested. "Why?"

"This is why. Everything that's happened, that's why."

"What do you mean?"

Sora scowled at her. "Are you a fucking idiot?! I knew that if I were to be friends with you, you'd end up tossing me aside for the latest greatest in a heartbeat! That's why I ignored you, that's why I tried getting you away from me, that's why I hated you!"

Kairi was shocked and hurt by his sudden outburst. "Sora..."

"You left me for him, Kai! You didn't give a crap about my feelings! Do you know that I've had to sit at an empty table for the past two weeks? That I've been going home by myself?! I knew you would do this to me, Kai! I knew you would mess me up like this!" Sora calmed himself down a bit. "The only friend I have now...is Yuffie. If it weren't for her..."

Next thing Sora knew, Kairi was giving him a hug. Sora felt like he hadn't felt her touch in so long, it was almost foreign. But it felt good, but he dared not hug her back. Not after what she did.

"I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry, Sora..." Kairi looked into his eyes. "I just want you to know, that no one can ever replace you. You will always be my best friend, and the most important person to me-"

"Don't give me that bullshit!" Sora interrupted. "Oh, sure, now I'm the most important person to you, after you finally fucking remembered that I exist! You don't care about me, you just feel sorry for me!" Sora broke out of her hold. "And get the fuck off of me!"

"You asshole," Kairi spat back. "You think I don't care about you?! You think I just left you in the dust on purpose? Sora, you're one of the best people I've ever met! But of course I would be in a trance after getting a boyfriend, who wouldn't? When somebody gets into a relationship, during the first few phases of it, you can't help but only think about that one person, it's almost like poisoning. But did you know that I've been miserable these past two weeks?!"

Sora looked at her shocked.

"That's right, I've been miserable! I was so caught up with Riku, that I ended up forgetting to spend time with you, right? So here's the thing, I was miserable. I didn't know why either. When I was at home, all I could think was that something was missing in my life. I would only use Riku for comfort! I'm not proud of it, but that's how it was...and you know what, I realized that the thing that was missing was you, you idiot! You're my best friend!"

Sora was stunned, he didn't know what to say, or what to feel. Should he be happy? He just found out that Kairi had been subconsciously missing him all along. Sora's anger had faded, only uncertainty remained.

"Yeah, well..." was the only thing Sora could say in response. "You're still a bitch," he said, cracking a slight smile.

Kairi smiled at him as well, feeling relieved. "And you're an asshole." Kairi put a hand on his shoulder. "So, do you forgive me?"

Sora didn't know what to do. Forgiving her seems like it would get her off the hook too easily. "I don't know..." Sora answered.

Kairi was a little disappointed in that answer, but she understood. Hell, she probably wouldn't forgive herself either.

"Can I ask you something?" Sora asked.

"Sure," Kairi responded, beginning to kick out her dangling feet.

"Do you really like Riku? Are you happy with him?"

Kairi had an unreadable expression on her face. The kind of look where you can't really tell what she's thinking. "To be honest...I think I'm just using him."

"Huh?"

"I like Riku. I like him, a lot. The first few days we were officially together, I was infatuated with him, but that was about as far as it went. But then I think I was fooling myself, because now that I actually think about it..." Kairi looked at the sky. "I really don't like Riku, at least not in that way."

"Then why are you going out with him?"

"Because I was tired of waiting for you."

Sora's eyes widen. He blinked a few times.

What...

What the hell did she just say?

Was she implying something?

Damn it, girl! Why must you do this to him?

"Waiting...for what?"

Kairi gave him a smile. "You're so stupid. Can you honestly not tell?"

Sora looked away stubbornly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Sora...I love you."

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!

Wait, wait, wait, 'I love you' could mean anything. She's told him that she loved him before, but it was just as like a best friend 'love' sort of thing. No way could she mean it romantically.

"Define 'love'."

"What do you mean define it? I love you. As in, I love you."

"Like, brotherly sisterly love, or best friend love, or-"

"As in, I'm in-love with you. Romantically. I want to be with you."

He was dreaming right? This was totally a dream. No way could she love him back, there's no way. She loved Riku, right? Yeah, she loved Riku, not Sora. This was all just a cruel joke, right? Right? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! IT'S NOT FUCKING FUNNY!

Sora's head started spinning, so he was grieving over the past two weeks for absolutely nothing?

"No way..." was all he could say.

"Yeah, it's true. I mean, come on, I may have denied it at the time, but you hit the nail on the head whenever you accused me of being jealous of Yuffie. Why would I want her grimy hands all over you? I loved you way before I even gave Riku a second thought, Sora. I was never jealous when he had fan girls swarming around him, but with you, it's different."

"I...I don't even know what the fuck I'm supposed to say..."

Kairi smiled at him. "Tell me how you feel about me...do you feel the same? That's all I need to know..."

Sora looked at the sky, and for the first time in two weeks, he smiled. Not a fake smile, a real smile in which he genuinely felt something for.

"You want the simple answer?" Sora asked, Kairi looking at him intensely. "Then...yeah. Why do you think I was hurt so bad? Of course I love you, Kai."

Kairi turned his face to hers. "Then why didn't you say anything sooner? We could have avoided this entire mess from the beginning. You and I would be together, not me and Riku."

"I don't know...I guess I really am just an idiot."

She got up real close to his face, looking almost...seductive? "But that's why I love you." And she kissed him.

Sora eventually kissed back after getting his head out of the clouds. It went from a simple kiss, to a serious kiss, and in the end, they just ended up making out with passion and slight lust, but they knew better than to get nasty on top of the Station Tower. They both had wanted this for a while now, even if they tried to deny to themselves before that they didn't. They were in complete heaven.

Kairi had fireworks exploding inside of her. Sora was an even better kisser than Riku.

Funny thing was, this was Sora's first kiss, how lucky of him to have his first kiss with a gorgeous girl. He must have had a natural talent for kissing. Sora was enjoying it just as much as Kairi. Her lips tasted like cherry-flavored candy, and her tongue continuously entered his mouth, but he didn't mind at all, in fact, he returned the favor.

Kairi and Riku never kissed as hot as this, as of matter of fact, the only time she and Riku ever kissed was the night they got together. It made Kairi feel bad for using Riku to try and forget about Sora. But she thought that Sora didn't feel the same, so why should she have even kept fooling herself? Being with Riku put those thoughts aside, and she didn't have to feel the pain. But now they were here, expressing their love and passion for each other. It felt like such an awaited moment.

They pulled apart, not really wanting to, but they needed time to breathe. After catching their breaths they looked at each other, giving the other a smile.

"That was...amazing..." Kairi said.

"I know..." Sora agreed.

"You're an even better kisser than Riku!"

Sora was feeling real good about himself now. Suck it, Riku! He can kiss way better than you on his first try! Kairi cuddled into him, and he held her back. Sora noticed the look in Kairi's eye, it was the same twinkle she had in her eye when she first got together with Riku, but this time she seemed more genuine.

"You don't know how much I've been wanting this...it's like a dream..." Kairi said. "Just being here with you makes me a hundred times more happier than when I was with Riku," Kairi gave him an enthusiastic smile. She gave him a big hug. "Oh, Sora! You don't know how much this means to me, to know that you feel the same way! I was honestly getting worried...that's why I went out with Riku, Sora. Because I thought you would never feel the same way. But you do, and it's just...ugh, oh my god! I'm so happy!"

Sora felt so giddy inside, he could barely hold it back. She loved him! She really did, way more than Riku, if he may add.

"Kairi, I love you just as much, but I can't get something out of my mind...now what do we do?" asked Sora awkwardly.

Good question. Kairi honestly wanted to just dump Riku and go be with Sora, but was that really right? To just dump him like that for someone else? She wanted to be happy, but she didn't want to hurt anyone else's feelings. "I don't know..."

"I wish there was some way we could get Riku to fall for someone else, then you and me could be together, no sweat. It would be terrible for him if you broke up with him just to be with someone else."

Kairi smiled. "You're still thinking about Riku's feelings, even though he stole me away from you? After he threatened you?"

Sora blushed. Perhaps he was too nice.

"Sora, I love you so much. Seriously, I do."

Sora rubbed his nose, it was his trademark for whenever he was embarrassed. Kairi giggled. Then she started thinking about what they could do.

"Let's see...do you wanna just go out secretly? I basically just cheated on Riku anyway..."

"But that's not right. That's so dishonest. I know that if I found out a girl did that to me, lying in my face like that, it would make me want to nearly kill myself."

"Yeah, that's true..."

They were running out of options. What more could they do? Neither of them wanted to hurt Riku, but neither of them wanted Riku to get in their way.

"I guess, we'll just have to wait a little longer..." Kairi admitted.

"This sucks..." Sora said while resting his chin on his palm. "It's all my fault, I should have just told you how I felt a while ago, then none of this would have happened."

"No, I'm at fault too. I shouldn't have accepted Riku's date just to make you jealous."

"Oh, right...forgot about that, it is your fault," Sora teased with a smirk on his face. She playfully hit him on the shoulder.

"Hey, when did you first start having feelings for me?" asked Kairi. "I want to know..."

Sora thought back into his memories. "The first time I started truly considering that I might actually like you was about a month ago, when I told you about my past the day you found out about my job. You kissed me on the cheek, remember?"

Kairi giggled. "That's right, I remember."

"Now you tell me when you started liking me."

"Honestly, I started liking you around when I first saw you play basketball, and you saved me from that guy..."

"Oh yeah, Xigbar."

"But when I first started really liking you was when I first saw you perform. You are so hot when you're on stage, seriously."

"So we both started having feelings for each other around the same time, huh?" Sora chuckled. "It's too bad we can't just be with each other, though. Now we have to wait for Riku to grow bored of you or something, and who knows how long that'll take..."

Kairi nodded. But she gave him another smile. "Wanna make out one more time then?"

"I was thinking the same thing..."

And they did it again. They kissed each other with so much passion, so much love, it was hardly bearable.

...

After many moments of making out, the two finally broke apart and looked up into the sky, realizing it was dark out.

"Damn, what time is it?" Kairi asked.

Sora looked at his phone, a goofy smile on his face. He was love struck. "7:34."

"Whoa, we've been kissing for four hours!" Kairi said with shock.

"I know..." Sora said. The melancholy and sadness he once had had disappeared. Even though he and Kairi weren't together, they at least became friends again. And they knew that one day they would be together, when the time was right. Sora now regretted to having ever doubted his feelings before, if he had just told her, things would be a lot different right now.

"This is terrible. We can't even be together..." Kairi brought up.

"I know..." Sora agreed. "Where do we go from here?"

"Well, one day we really will be together, I promise. Nothing else in the world would make me happier, but it just seems that it isn't in either of us to hurt Riku. When the day comes, I know we'll be happy with each other. But until that day comes..." she gave Sora a warm smile. "You want to just stick to being friends?"

Being friends with Kairi would be a break of fresh air. Not being able to be with Kairi at the moment was bad, but not having her in his life at all was worse. Besides, he just found out that she loved him way more than she ever did Riku. That alone was enough to get him to sleep at night.

"Of course we can still be friends," answered Sora.

"Best friends?"

"Best friends."

Kairi gave Sora a warm smile. "I have something to give you." She went into her pocket and pulled something out, it was a star-shaped charm woven out of thalassa shells, drawn on it was a simple sketch of Sora's determined face. "Have you ever heard about the legend of the paopu fruit?"

Sora shook his head.

"Well, back when I was homeless as a little kid, me, Nam, and Axel stayed at Destiny City, and there was this Island I used to always play at. Me, Naminé, and Riku would go there all the time as kids, and we would always sit by this tree that had a bunch of paopu fruit on it. The legend says that if two people share one, their destinies become intertwined, and they'll remain apart of each other's lives, no matter what."

"So, what? Did you want to share a paopu fruit?"

"Can't. Destiny Islands is a long train ride from here. But there is something else...they say if you have a good luck charm shaped like it, the connection of the paopu fruit maintains, and you'll have an unbreakable connection. I made this good luck charm when I was four years old, and I was saving it for that one special someone. You're that special someone, Sora. I want you to hold onto it, so that if you have a bad day or something, you won't forget about me, and our friendship."

Kairi handed Sora the good luck charm. Sora looked at it, already cherishing it. He was flattered that Kairi would give him a trinket so special to her like this. He held it to his heart. "Thanks, Kai."

Kairi gave him a playfully scolding look, "It's my lucky charm, be sure to not lose it."

"Don't worry, I won't."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

They hugged each other. Sora felt so safe in her reassuring warmth. He knew that everything would be okay. They broke apart. She placed her hand on his.

"Don't ever forget, wherever you go, I'm always with you."

Yeah, I was going to say reference alert for that last line but I figured it would have just ruined the moment I was trying to create.

I hope you like this chap, leave a review. I would like to say sorry to SiChri about that last chapter. I had no intention of making you relive a past experience :( I felt bad when I read that. I hope this chap did a little something to cheer you up!

You too, Sweeney1999 ;)