I was lying in my bed curled up with a book when my mom quietly opened the door. I had brought two more candles up to my room so I could see where I was going. She stuck her head around the door and smiled at me. "Hi, sweetie. I'm so sorry I got home so late. It was a nightmare at work today, and the power outage sure didn't help anyone. Did you manage all right? No flashlights, right?"

I looked up from my book and smiled. "Yeah. Everything was great here. No problems at all. Other than the lights going out, anyway." My mother grinned happily. "Oh, good. Anyways, I'm going to hit the sack early, so I'm saying goodnight. Good night, honey! Love you!"

I waved and said "Love you too. Night." She gently closed the door behind her and walked down the hallway. I kept pretending to read until I could hear snores emanating from her room.

I let out a breath. I crawled over to the edge of my bed and stuck my head over the side. Hanging upside down, I looked under my bed and said "All right Sora. You can come out now." I quickly pulled back and sat up as Sora rolled out from underneath.

He lay on his back for a few moments, listening to my mom's snoring. After he was positive that she wouldn't be barging in any time soon, he grinned and relaxed. He glanced at me and said "Well, I have to admit, that was a smart idea on your part. I would've just sat in the tree until she was gone." He laughed quietly.

I flopped onto my stomach and smiled. "That would have been a pretty bad idea on your part, I think. The wind is supposed to get up to fifty miles per hour tonight." I couldn't resist giggling. "You would've ended up falling flat on your face, I just know it." I whispered, trying not to wake up my mom.

He sat up and grimaced. "No thanks. I'd prefer to keep from being a pancake for as long as possible." I shook my head and rolled onto my back to stare at the ceiling. "Yeah, I don't think falling two stories would be very fun."

I could hear him shifting around behind me. "No, probably not. Besides, I hear that pancakes are horrible kissers." I sat up very quickly and glanced warily at him. I could see him trying really hard not to laugh in the gloom. He pointed at me and said "You should've seen your face! It was priceless." I rolled my eyes and let myself fall back onto my bed. "Wow, real mature, Sora." I teased. He pretended to look hurt. "I'm mature!" he fake-whined.

His tone sounded so ridiculous that I couldn't keep a straight face. I started cracking up, and I ended up laughing into a pillow to keep quiet. When I had made sure that I wasn't going to laugh any more, I playfully tossed the pillow at Sora, who had his back turned to me. He immediately whipped around and caught it easily, which surprised me. He had good reflexes.

I gave a mock whistle of admiration. "Hey, nice catch. Did you expect it to be a bomb or something?" He grinned, but it was half-hearted. "No, I didn't. It's just that old habits die hard. You never know what people are going to throw at you when your back is turned, particularly in the Organization." he explained. I just nodded, not wanting to talk about the Organization or any of its hazards.

I glanced at the clock. I had totally lost track of time, and I had school tomorrow. And, unfortunately for him, so did Sora. I glanced back at him and said "Hey, its getting late. I don't know about you, but I need to get some sleep. Okay?" He just smiled and shrugged. "Fine by me. It's your house; you make the rules." He stood up and looked around the room. The storm was still raging outside my window.

He looked a bit uncomfortable. "Um, can I stay here tonight? I'll sleep under the bed or in the closet or whatever." For whatever reason, I was totally fine with him staying overnight. Maybe it was because he'd stayed over once already. Hmm.

I shrugged. "Yeah, that's fine. Here, I think I have some extra pillows and blankets in the closet." I quietly got up and left the room. I got the pillows and blankets out of the hallway closet and brought them back to my room. I set them up to resemble a comfy bed on the floor by the closet, angled away from the door so that my mom wouldn't be able to see it if she stuck her head in the door to check on me.

I nodded in satisfaction and looked at Sora. "Well, there you have it." I said grandly. "A bed fit for a . . . golden retriever." I tried to keep a straight face, but it didn't work.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Oh, yeah, thank you. Hey, I got to stay in the nice, normal bed last time." he complained. I raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't mean any harm, but it still was super inappropriate for him to share a bed with me. I shook my head and smiled a bit smugly. "Nope. Not happening. Sorry. It's the dog bed for you. That, or you could sleep outside in the tree, if you prefer."

He seemed to struggle a bit with that one. He glanced out the window at the raging storm and then back at me. He sighed and said "Okay, okay. You got it, princess."

I froze. "What did you just call me?" My sudden reaction seemed to puzzle him. He stared blankly at me and said "What? Oh, you mean 'princess'?"

Shivers went down my spine. All I could see when anyone called me princess was Axel's smirking face. "Don't call me that. Ever. Okay?" I felt bad for getting mad at him like that, but I couldn't help it. It had scared me. He looked even more confused, but now the confusion was mingled with concern. "Okay, I won't call you that. I'm sorry. Um, are you all right?"

I forced a smile and nodded. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine. Just call me by my name, okay? Sorry, it just bugs me when people give me nicknames." He knew that there was more to it, but he didn't say anything.

I walked over to my bed and sat down. Without looking at him I said "Well, I gotta get some rest. You should probably do the same, okay?" He shrugged and went to the makeshift bed in the corner. "Okay. Bed time it is." He plopped down and pulled off his shirt, which immediately caused me to blush eight different shades of red and turn away. He let himself fall back into the pillows, pulling the blanket over him.

"All right, then. G'night, Kairi." He yawned once, then stretched out and closed his eyes. Within ten seconds, his breathing evened out, and he was asleep.

My eyebrows were up near my hairline. How could anyone possibly fall asleep so fast? It just wasn't normal. I shook my head and burrowed my way under the covers. When I was comfortable, I smiled sarcastically at myself. Then again, what would I know about normal? The answer is, not much.

After a few minutes of listening to Sora's regular breathing, I felt my entire body relax, and the last thought that crossed my mind was this is really nice.

* * *

The sound of branches hitting my window woke me up. I sleepily opened my eyes and looked at the clock – 2:43 in the morning. Ugh. I swept my gaze over my room, and I saw someone sleeping on the floor. I jolted into consciousness, not remembering what was going on.

I sat bolt upright in my bed and realized that it was Sora. I relaxed, my heart rate coming down a few thousand beats per second. I took a deep breath and lay back in bed, hoping to get quickly back to sleep.

As I was just settling back in, I heard something like whimpering. Feeling slightly annoyed, I sat back up and waited for the sound again. Nothing happened for several moments, but when I heard it again, I realized that it wasn't whimpering. I quietly got to my feet and padded across the floor, trying to see Sora's face. When I looked to se if he was crying or not, I was surprised to see that he was sound asleep.

I stood there for a moment, wondering what had made that sound, when Sora started mumbling in his sleep. "No, no, no. Stop." I froze, thinking he was talking to me at first, but then I realized he was dreaming. Curious, I took a step closer, trying to make out his words more clearly.

"Stop it. Leave her alone. She didn't. . ." the rest of his sentence was a lot of muttering, so quiet that I couldn't make it out. He began to shift around uncomfortably, like he was trying to move around in his dream. "Stop. You can't. No, don't. . ."

He became agitated. He was tossing and turning, and I realized that he was having some kind of horrible nightmare. When he spoke again, he was distressed. "Get away, leave her alone. Stop . . . No!" He was breaking out in a sweat, and his face was contorted pain. His eyebrows were drawn together tightly.

Panicking, I knelt down next to him. I wanted to wake him up quickly and quietly. I was scared of whatever it was that he was seeing that was making him react like this. There wasn't a lot that I knew of that could scare him, so whatever he was dreaming about had to be absolutely horrible.

"Sora, Sora, please wake up!" I whispered frantically. "Sora, please!" When he didn't respond, I reached out to shake his shoulder.

The second my fingers made contact with his skin, his eyes snapped open, and his arm shot up. His strong fingers wrapped tightly around my neck, and I was forced backwards until my head connected with the floor, all in the blink of an eye.

When I opened my eyes, I was shocked to see Sora's animalistic expression. His lips were curled back in a snarl, and his eyes were dangerous blue slits. He looked like he was going to kill somebody – and judging by the way his hand was restricting the air flow to my lungs, he might kill me.

Then his expression suddenly changed from one of pure hatred to one of shock and fear as he realized who he was choking. He immediately released his hold on me and sat back, his eyes wide. I gasped and coughed, feeling extremely lightheaded as I struggled to sit up. I never knew how wonderful breathing could feel. I tried to take a deep breath and nearly inhaled my own tongue, which caused me to cough harder.

Sora came forward on his hands and knees, looking mortified. "Oh my god, are you okay? Oh god I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to – I didn't know--" he stopped, unable to convey his thoughts properly. I still couldn't breathe very well, so I just nodded.

"I-I'm ok—ay," I rasped. I wasn't really telling the truth; my throat was on fire, the back of my head throbbed, and my neck killed. I brought my hand up to feel the area his hand had covered. His hands were much bigger than mine, so his one hand had fit almost all the way around my neck. I could almost feel his fingers crushing my windpipe.

I started coughing again. When he reached out with one hand, I involuntarily flinched. He quickly withdrew his arm, guilt written all over his face. I carefully took some deep breaths, trying to regain control over myself. Sora pulled back and sat with his back against the wall. He kept murmuring "I'm so sorry," over and over again.

When I was sure I was all right, I turned to look at him. Even in the dim light, I could see the pain in his eyes. He hated the fact that he had hurt me.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want him to beat himself up over it, but I wasn't all right with the fact that he had nearly strangled me. So I just sat there for a while, staring at anything but him. He was hyper aware of my every movement, trying to see what I would do. I was kinda hoping that I would figure out what I would do, too.

Finally, I couldn't take the silence. I made myself look right at him. "Um, I know that you didn't mean to do that. But, uh, why did you do that? Do you always wake up that way?" I was only half kidding. He stared at his hands, as if willing them to disappear.

"No, I don't. I didn't. I mean, it's like a reflex. I would never try to hurt you." He sounded so sincere, like he genuinely hated himself for hurting me. I know it was stupid, but I felt a bit bad for him. "No, I know you didn't try to hurt me. But, honestly, what made you do that? What were you dreaming about?"

He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the floor. "It was nothing." He muttered.

I didn't know whether I wanted to hit him or not. I made myself scoot closer to him, so that I was looking him in the eyes. "Sora. You looked and acted like you were gonna kill someone. I want to know what made you so upset. Please tell me?"

He looked torn, like he wanted to tell me out of guilt or just shrug it off at the same time. "I . . . it was just this nightmare that I get sometimes. That's all," he said quietly.

That didn't cut it. I tentatively raised my hand to his face and touched his cheek. His eyes closed, and I thought he had gone back to sleep when he opened them again and looked right at me. I half smiled and said "I'm not angry at you, Sora. I want to help you."

He took a deep breath. All was silent for a minute, and then he said "This dream, it isn't something you want to hear." I studied him for a moment and drew back my hand. "Yeah, I do." I said softly. "Please."

He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. "Fine." He muttered. "I'll tell you. But tell me if you want me to stop or whatever, okay?" I nodded. "Okay."

"Okay. So I'm out in the street, by the hangout. Someone's lit it on fire. The gang is outside, and they don't care about the hangout. They're bored and looking for something to do. There are a lot of people near them from town, but they don't notice them. Then they see, well, you, and everything changes. They go crazy and blame you for burning the house, and they all rush at you at once. I'm there, and so is Riku, but the people from town are holding us back, and we can't help you.

"We try to get past them, but they're too strong. We yell at the others, but they don't listen. You disappear, and I know that bad stuff is happening to you. Then it's like the people from town form a circle around us, and they turn into big glass windows. Riku disappears, and I'm stuck inside the wall of glass. Then I'm trying to look for you, but I can't see you. And then I can see Roxas and Namine on the other side of the wall. They see me, they know you're in trouble, and Namine is crying, but they tell me sorry, we can't do anything.

"So I yell and beg and swear, but they just shake their heads and fade away. Then I'm alone in this big white room, and Namine is there. And she just says . . . she . . ." he had to stop for a second before continuing. "She says 'You let it happen again.' That's all she can say. Then she's gone and I see myself in this mirror, and I hate it, and then I always wake up."

He looked at the floor. "You woke me up at the part where I yell at Namine and Roxas." He looked me in the eyes, and I saw tears forming. "I'm so sorry, Kairi. I'm so sorry."

I sat back in astonishment. He had nightmares about me? And Namine and Roxas? I regarded him quietly as he tried to hide the tears that were rolling down his cheeks.

I shifted closer to him so that I could put my arms around him. It was a bit strange, me comforting him. He was the six foot tall, always cheerful, fun guy who always made me feel better. I was the five foot six, unlucky, new girl who needed all the help she could get. When I had comforted Riku, it had been different; when someone dies, anybody could give you a hug and say sorry. This seemed more personal.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. But after a while, he had stopped crying and was running his fingers through my hair. I was just sitting there, not wanting to leave him there, but also feeling really tired.

He must have noticed, because at around four in the morning he steered me in the direction of my bed and pulled the blankets over me. Then he went back to his makeshift bed on the floor and went to sleep. I didn't take long to do the same.

* * *

A/N:

Hey everyone. Here it is.

Sorry to take so long – again. XD

In the next chapter, there will be thickening of plots, evil scheming, and a side of high school romance.

Review if you want it up fast!!!