Title: Tears on the Runway

Summary: Best friends aren't supposed to hurt you. Best friends are supposed to be there for you, care about you, and love you. What do you do when your best friend starts to twist the meaning of friendship into something much darker and more twisted? With every bruise, Kairi hopes she can fix him. But some people are too monstrous to be fixed. Can she be saved before he goes too far? SxK ; VxK

Warnings: Abuse, foul language, sexual content. Rated T for now, but rating may go up in later chapters.

Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, and belong entirely to Square-Enix and Tetsuya Nomura. The only thing that belongs to me is the events of the plot, and how I have arranged them. Also, Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Graces characters all belong to Namco Bandai.

Song Used in this Chapter: 'My House' by PVRIS (a few lyrics mentioned in the chapter)

and

'I Still Feel Her (Part I)' by Emarosa

xxx

Now I'm passing every streetlight with ease.

The street signs are much too dark to

Even pretend I've been here before.

Where is your hand to guide me

Close by mine?

Not a dead end, no . . .

Not this.

I glanced down at my phone, checking to see if Vanitas had replied. The school day was almost over and he still hadn't replied to my apology message. I was extremely worried by now. What if Vanitas hurt himself? I didn't want to hear that he had hurt himself or worse. I just wanted things to go back to some sort of semblance of normalcy so I could get back to figuring out how to help him.

Just then, my phone vibrated. I pulled it out of my messenger bag and held it in my lap under the top of my desk, sliding my finger across the touchscreen to open the lock screen. It wasn't from Vanitas, though.

It was from Sora.

Come to my dance class after school!

I couldn't stop myself from blushing. In all the hectic drama from today, I had forgotten all about Sora. I had forgotten about the time I'd promised him to practice dance with him. I had forgotten about our bet! The corners of my lips twitched up into a smile. I hadn't even thought up any sort of dance. I supposed I'd think of something. As awful as I felt about it, maybe Vanitas being angry with me for awhile was a good thing . . . It might free me up to focus on my dancing and hanging out with Sora.

Pushing the fact that hanging out with Sora while I was dating Vanitas (willingly dating him or not) was technically cheating, I tapped out a reply as fast as I could before the teacher noticed I was texting in class.

K . . . But my brother was going 2 b picking me up from school. Idk if I can get a ride to ur studio. I typed.

I set my phone down and looked up at the front of class, where my AP American History teacher was writing notes on the board that we were supposed to be copying down. My notebook page was half full and I was at least two or three sentences behind. Excited about possibly hanging out with Sora, I tried to catch up. Out of the corner of my eye, I felt someone looking at me. I didn't look over, though. I knew it was Namine, probably trying to see if I was ready to change my mind about Vanitas. Truth be told, Vanitas in the picture or not, I wasn't sure I wanted to be friends with Namine in the first place anymore. Her or Olette. If they were so easily able to throw me aside, what kind of friends were they anyway?

Bitch, I got u, Sora finally replied.

I hid a smile and said, Bitch, u gonna pick me up from Reno and Axel's?

Nah, I'll pick u up from school. We can go look at computers like I wanted, and then go to the studio.

Again, I began to blush. He was picking me up from school? What if someone saw us . . . ? Sora was popular but not exactly for the best reasons. If anyone saw me hanging out with him suddenly, it might somehow get back to Vanitas, who would take it the wrong way. I chewed my lower lip worriedly. Perhaps he could pick me up off campus? I sighed. This was so hard.

Just pick me up on Elm st, behind the school, I instructed him, hoping he didn't think I was ashamed to hang out with him, or something crazy like that. Then, I sent him another message: U will have to take me home so I can get some clothes 2 dance in.

K bae.

My heart literally flipped over three times when I read his reply. He was calling me "bae" now? Oh, dear sweet Lord, help me. I slipped my phone back into my back and quickly ducked my head, my hand scrawling the class notes down as fast as I could. I had to remember that no matter how crazy things got with Vanitas drama or Sora stuff, I had to keep up on my studies. I was already behind enough and if my grades started slipping, my parents would be less disappointed in me than I would be of myself.

Y aren't u in school? I asked him.

School is for squares ;p was his reply, and I said nothing after that. Though I did wonder what he could be up to. Maybe he just wasn't very academic? That was a little intriguing for me, since I was so obsessed with academics.

Once the bell rang, I quickly called Reno.

"What's up, sis?" he greeted brightly. "I'm just about to come get you!"

"You don't have to," I said in a rushed tone as I bustled down the halls to where my locker was located. I guiltily hoped Vanitas wasn't there. I didn't want this day to be ruined anymore by him.

"I don't?" He sounded confused, and I heard his keys jangling in the background.

"Anio," I replied. "I have a ride."

"From who?"

"No one," I said. "Just a friend."

Reno sighed. "A friend whose name starts with a 'V'?"

Remembering our argument from the other day, I steeled myself for him to get angry. I had forgotten about how suspicious my family had been acting toward me lately. I knew it was going to get harder to hide what Vanitas was doing to me. If I didn't find a way to help Vanitas return to his former self and fast, I was afraid that my family would break us up and make things worse for him. No matter what, I had to keep that from happening. In my opinion, I was handling things well, I just needed more time.

"No, oppa," I sighed heavily.

"Then who is it?" His tone was clipped now. "Forgive me if I don't really trust you right now."

I stood in front of my locker, glaring angrily at the wall of rectangular metal doors that loomed up in front of me. Trust? What reason did Reno have to not trust me? What had I ever done to break his trust?

"If you must know, nosy, I'm hanging out with Sora."

"With Sora," he stated disbelievingly. "Vanitas's brother. You really expect me to believe that you're going to be getting a ride home from him?"

"Call him if you don't believe me," I complained, placing my hand on the combination lock of my locker door. "Look, I gotta go because he's gonna be here soon."

I hung up to the sound of his protests, hurryingly slamming open my locker and gathering the things I needed. I had to be careful to make sure my studies didn't slip due to all of this drama in my life. I had to make sure that the Vanitas drama and the Sora drama didn't interfere, or else my parents would be less disappointed in me than I would be in myself. It was extremely important that I keep up.

Casting a few last furtive glances around me to ensure that Vanitas wasn't nearby, I slammed my locker door shut and bolted toward the back doors of the school. Once outside, I quickly sprinted across the grass field and sat down at the edge of it beneath a small tree to wait. I set my bag down in my lap and grabbed my phone from inside of it to see if Sora had called. When I saw that he hadn't, I decided to check my Facebook. As soon as I did, I regretted it.

There, staring me directly in the face upon opening the Facebook app, was a recent picture of Vanitas and I. It was taken just before he had snapped and started changing, and it was showing up at the top of my newsfeed because a family member had commented on it.

"Cute couple~!" my second-aunt from Seoul had written in Hangul.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember what it had been like when Vanitas wasn't so . . . So evil . . . Years upon years of good memories were almost completely wiped by the horrors he had done to me, and what was the most sad about it was the fact that Vanitas had always promised to never hurt me. At a stupid middle school dance in eighth grade. Some girl had told me my dress looked bad and Vanitas had stepped in to verbally defend me, and then had comforted me when I cried in the cafeteria, telling me that he would never let anyone make me cry again. Funny that now he was the only one who could make me cry.

My stomach growled, knocking me out of my reverie and I shakily patted my abdomen. I mentally sent it a desperate request to stay quiet during the time I was with Sora. I didn't need him getting all worried and trying to take me out to eat. Not when I was only 3 pounds away from 95.

My phone vibrated again and again, and I realized it was Sora calling. Taking one split second to calm my nerves (which always seemed to present themselves around Sora, no matter how friendly we had gotten with one another), I answered his call.

"Yeoboseyo?" I said chipperly.

"I'm like, right around the corner," he said. It sounded like he had me on speakerphone. I could hear some sort of heavy metal music faintly in the background. "Where are you?"

"Um, I'm just out back of the school. I'll walk out to the sidewalk and wave to you."

I gathered my things, holding the phone between my ear and shoulder. I scrambled to my feet and walked out to the curb of the sidewalk, peering down the street to see if I saw his car. I spotted it coming toward me and a big smile spread across my face. I waved my hand eagerly. I couldn't believe after all this time, Sora was suddenly paying attention to me and I was finally getting to know him. I couldn't believe that we were going to be hanging out all of the rest of the day, even dancing together! This had to be one of the most exciting days of my life, even though it was shadowed by the inevitable anger on Vanitas's part when I saw him again.

Sora zoomed up to the sidewalk, his windows down and screaming music blasting out of the speakers. He didn't bother to turn it down as he rolled the windows down and signaled for me to get in. I did so, smiling nervously at him as I buckled on my seatbelt.

The spiky-haired brunette merely smirked and nodded at me as he pulled back out into the street. He was wearing a pair of black Raybans and a black V-neck paired with black skinny jeans and red boxers, which for some reason I found extremely attractive. I blushed (yes, again) and looked pointedly down at my phone, scrolling through my Newsfeed again. Sora leaned forward and turned up his music, beginning to drum out the music on his steering wheel and relaxing back in his seat.

We drove for awhile, hopping onto the freeway to get to wherever we were going. I wanted to ask him if we were going to drop by my house first, but I got too embarrassed and didn't want to sound whiny, so I stayed quiet. I pulled my knees up to my chest, placing my feet on the seat with me, and continued to play with my phone.

Suddenly, the music changed to a song that was completely unlike the brutal death metal that had played before—a song that I just so happened to know. "My House" by PVRIS began to play, and out of instinct, I began to absentmindedly sing along.

"I feel you in these walls," I sang as I opened a game of Solitaire. "You're a cold air creeping in, chill me to my bones and skin."

Sora took off his sunglasses and glanced at me while I looked at him sidelong. We both smiled slightly and he turned it up a few notches. Much to my surprise, Sora began to sing along as well.

"I heard you down the hall," he sang, still drumming out the tune on the wheel. "But it's vacant when I'm looking in. Oh, who let you in?"

Then, my heart beating wildly with nerves and excitement, we sang the next part together.

"You walk around like you own the place, but you never say anything. I caught you walking straight through my walls. Guess it was all my fault. I think I let you in."

I giggled and tried not to overthink the fact that Sora and I were actually singing together in his car. The more I fantasized about the situation, the more I wished we were going on a date or that we were already dating. I mean, how cute would it be if we were the kind of couple that sings songs together in the car on long road trips? My entire face and neck darkened with my bazillionth blush as the thoughts crossed my mind. Jeez, could I be any more of a creep?

Sora sang along with the rest of the song, but I stayed quiet because I felt so nervous. I was having a hard time not screaming joyously out the window at how free and happy I felt. Honestly, it was so surreal, the fact that I was even in this car with him. I literally felt like I was sitting next to a K-pop star or a celebrity.

He . . . Was . . . So . . . Hot . . .

As the next song came on, he finally turned it down, grabbing his phone and putting it on speaker when he got a phone call. He drove with one hand on the wheel while he talked, and I couldn't stop myself from listening in even though I kept my eyes on my phone screen.

"Duuuuude," a guy's voice came in from the phone speaker.

"What's up, bruh?" Sora laughed, his shockingly blue eyes viewing the road.

"Just wondering what you were up to. You still in for that party this weekened? I got you down for a keg or two."

Sora sighed. "Ugh, I guess so. I was supposed to move in to my new place this weekend, but I guess it can wait."

"Dude. Bro," his friend said. "This is the party of the year," he said. "You can't miss it. Like, everyone wants you there."

"I know, I know!" Sora exclaimed, scratching the side of his nose. I stared in shock as he literally drove with no hands on the wheel for at least thirty full seconds before finally placing his fingers around the lower curve of it. "I'll be there. But like, is Estelle going to be there?"

"Um, duh. Estelle is at every party. She has a boyfriend now, though, I heard."

I didn't miss the shadow that crossed Sora's face before he replaced it with another smirk. "Really? Who is she dating?"

"Estelle doesn't date, dude, so idk," his friend chuckled. "I bet he's not even her boyfriend. But whatever—she's old news. Just promise me you'll come out and hang this weekend, bring the kegs, maybe bring yourself a chick, and we'll throw down. It'll be rad."

"Sure, Luke," Sora said. "Did you call Asbel and make sure him and the others are going?"

"Sora. Bro. I know how to throw a party. Everyone is going to be there. And I mean everyone."

"All right," Sora said begrudgingly. "See you this weekend."

"Bye, honeybear," Luke teased.

"Fuck off." Sora hung up and gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry, Red. That was one of my other friends."

"It's okay," I told him, setting my phone down.

"Man, I hate parties," Sora said. "Such a drag. Especially college parties. It's all the same shit: sex, drugs, alcohol. It's dumb."

I couldn't think of anything to say. All I wanted to do was ask him who Estelle was and why he had looked so upset when Luke had mentioned that she had a new boyfriend, but I had a feeling it wasn't something Sora would want to talk about. I wondered with a bit of dismay whether or not Estelle was someone he liked or had a crush on, and I wished that it was me that he had feelings for.

Even though I technically had a boyfriend.

Jesus Christ.

"Say, you wouldn't want to go with me, would you?" Sora piped up, sounding like he was trying to contain a burst of laughter. "Like, I know I just said parties are stupid, but like . . . I already promised him, and I'd hate to go alone."

My eyes went wide and I stared down at my phone, internally screaming bloody murder. Out loud, I calmly said, "Sure. Why not?"

Sora smiled satisfactorily. "Sweet. It's a college party, so just try to stick near me. Otherwise, you'll have frat guys all over you trying to get you plastered."

I gave him a weird, amused look. "Why would they be all over me?"

Sora looked over me, an expression of alarm on his face. He looked at me as though I had just sprouted wings and then shook his head. "Okay," he said sarcastically.

"What?" I protested, laughing. "What did I say?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "I'll never understand girls." He pulled into the parking lot of a Best Buy and searched for a spot to park the car. "Just trust me—it's better if you stick with me. And sheesh, we might not go. We'll see. I'd rather go see a movie or some shit than go to that party."

Without thinking about the repercussions of doing such a thing (party, movie, or both), I eagerly said, "That sounds like fun."

Sora grinned at me and then parked the car close to the doors. We both got out and started walking toward the doors. In my mind, I congratulated myself on making myself look like a freak for agreeing to go hang out with him and do whatever he wanted. Like, wow, way to make yourself seem overenthusiastic. He was going to think I was weird.

Not that it matter since I had a boyfriend.

I mentally slapped myself. I had to stop forgetting about the huge, major problem that was keeping me from fully and completely putting my whole heart and soul into thing friendship/hang-out thing with Sora. I had to stop forgetting about the fact that Vanitas was possessive and jealous, and would most likely push me off of a cliff when or if he found out that I was not only hanging out with Sora today, but this weekend as well. And where, oh where was my homework time supposed to fit in with all of this?

"Gotta look for a computer I can use for Elder Scrolls," Sora said as we walked into the busy, slightly crowded building. We ignored the sales associates (rude, I know) and headed straight for the computer section, where Sora began to pore over the makes and models and their labels while I stood there awkwardly staring at things I had no idea about. Sora was completely absorbed and talking mostly to himself, so I just kept quiet and didn't move.

"Can I help you and your boyfriend find anything?" a girl in blue and khaki asked sweetly.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Boyfriend? Yes, please. Cheeks tinging vermillion, I shook my head rapidly.

"N-No," I squeaked out. "Th-Thanks, though."

The girl smiled again. "Okay, let me know if you need anything." She walked away.

I watched her go but when I turned around, Sora was standing right there in the walkway with me, muscular arms crossed over his toned chest and smirking down at me. For some reason, it felt like he was looking past my eyes and deep down into my mind where he could see how long my schoolgirl crush had gone on for. How embarrassing. It was bad enough that I'd had a crush on him before I even saw him in person, but for him to know just how much I liked him now even though I was dating his brother would be mortifying.

"I heard that," he accused.

"Heard what?" I gazed up at him with wide-eyed innocence, hands clasped behind my back.

His smile became even more devilishly white and he raised his eyebrows. "That lack of a correction."

"Lack of a . . . ?" I covered my mouth as I giggled. "What does that even mean?"

He leaned down, causing me to lean back a little. He murmured, "She said I was your boyfriend, and you didn't correct her."

"A mistake that anyone could make," I challenged, placing a hand on his chest (So firm, oh my . . .) and pushing him back. Smiling coyly, I walked around him and went over to the computer. I looked at one tower as though I knew what the heck it was for.

Sora stepped up bside me, his body brushing up against my arm and causing me to tense up. "A mistake? Or did you let it slide on purpose?"

"Definitely a mistake, Sora," I said, turning to face him and patting his cheek fondly. "Don't flatter yourself, darling."

"Maybe you're the one that's flattering me, Red," he said, following me as I went to look at another computer tower. I squealed as he tickled my sides a little bit, earning more than a few curious looks from customers and sales associates alike. Bright red, I shoved his hands away and glowered up at him playfully.

"Or maybe I was just too lazy to correct her, you asshole," I said, desperate to change the subject before I got so embarrassed that I ran away to hide. "Now, are you gonna get a computer today, or not?"

Sora placed his hand on the shelf and his other hand on his hip, leaning nonchalantly against the display. He eyed me smugly for a moment, like he had won some sort of a game that I hadn't even known that we were playing. I turned and stared pointedly back at him, silently challenging him to a game of my own. I had no idea what we were doing, but if you looked it up in the dictionary, you'd probably find it under the entry "Flirting."

Finally, Sora seemed to find that he wanted to win this imaginary game we were currently playing, and he raised his hands again. He wriggled his fingers suggestively and I knew he was going to tickle me again. An exhilarating thrill of fear ran through me and I turned around to run away from him. He caught up to me, tickling me until I was shrieking with laughter and practically trapped in his arms as he grinned deviously down at me. We unfortunately almost knocked over a display of discount DVDs, and out obnoxious laughter caught the attention of more than a number of workers.

"Hey! No running in here!" a manager said, pointing at us and heading over in our direction from the PS4 display.

"Uh-oh," Sora grinned. "Time to go."

I gasped when he grabbed my hand tightly in his and dragged me toward the door.

"But what about your computer?" I asked him.

"I just wanted to look," he told me, pulling me out to the parking lot before the angry old manager could stop us and reprimand us for horsing around. As we walked, I could feel my entire arm tingling all the way down to my fingertips.

Sora still hadn't let go of my hand.

I lowered my gaze shyly when we finally got to his car. He pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his skinny jeans and checked the time, his hand still wrapped around mine. I could only stare at the asphalt below us, still screaming and hollering happily inwardly like I had been doing all day, and waited for him to finally realize what he had been doing.

"My class starts in like, and hour-and-a-half," he said absentmindedly. "Let get you back to your house so you can grab some dance clothes, and then we'll head over to the studio."

"Ne," I said in assent.

He looked down at our hands, smiling faintly at something I had no clue about. "I hope you haven't forgotten our double bet. I've been working on my dance, so get ready to be smoked like a joint on April 20th."

I burst out laughing at his cheesy joke and nodded. Of course I remembered. Of course I hadn't been working on a dance. Of course he was totally going to win and I was totally going to lose. I hoped I could pull something together last minute. Maybe I'd cheat and pull together some old cheer routines and make them a little dance-y. Shaking my head to myself, I made the first move and pulled my hand out of his. I placed my hand on the car door and smiled at him, prepared to bluff my way out of this fiasco.

"Well? Are we gonna go to the studio so I can dance you into the floor, or what?"

Her touch still moves my hair.

The smell is so faint, but it must be the one.

Her touch still moves my hair.

My bones ache from the cold.

No one could ever predict that I would ever get this far (for so long).

She's waiting . . .

I feel her . . .

She's waiting . . .

xxx

Author's Note: All right, I hope you guys thoroughly enjoyed that chapter with the fluff! Sorry it was so short after so long of a wait T.T Next chapter will have the flashback of how their friendship began, more SoKai fluff, and some more VanKai drama (though it's pretty much way worse than drama). Okay, see you all next time for Part Two of this chapter!