A/N: ALRIGHT! I'm gonna do it! I will FINISH this series! Thank you all for being so darn patient with me… even though some of you haven't but here is the long awaited finale to I Heart You 3!
Chapter 36
Previously:"Kairi,"
"Yes, Sora?"
He came up to her and kissed her, hugging her directly afterwards. A little surprised, Kairi hugged back and held on tightly.
"I love you."
"Sora… this is… I mean… I love you too."
Kairi really wanted to know what happened now, but decided to let it go. They both went into the kitchen, where Kiyori was showing Massu some of her drawings. Kosuke was on the phone, and Akira just sat there and ate.
"Come outside with me." Sora said to her. She followed him out the door.
- + -
Sora walked through the backyard, not letting go of Kairi's hand. He stopped in the middle of the grass near Sunshine's doghouse and just stood there for a moment. Unsure of what to do or say, Kairi remained silent. Sora turned around and smiled. Confused, Kairi gave him a small smirk and raised an eyebrow. He took both of her hands in his.
"Kairi… I don't know… where to start…"
"What do you mean?"
All of a sudden, Sora pulled her forcefully towards him into a hug. A little taken back, Kairi sort of felt herself pulling away at first but once she realized what he was doing she just held onto him.
"Close your eyes…" his tone was low, almost in a whisper. Kairi did so.
"They're closed." She assured him.
"Remember when we first started talking?"
"Huh? Which time?" Kairi tried to think back.
"Um… I believe it was when we were stuck in the woods together. You just simply amazed me when you weren't afraid of that bug crawling up your leg…"
Kairi chuckled a little bit. "Okay…"
"But… I was terrified that day… when you had to be rushed to the hospital…"
After Kairi said nothing, he continued.
"That's when I truly realized how I felt about you, even though we barely knew each other… sure, maybe I finally told you I loved you on prom night, but… I had loved you way before that, Kairi…"
Flashback"I have to go into surgery in about an hour." She sighed. "Again…"
"Again?" Sora questioned.
"I'm too tired to tell you now… I hope you understand. I'm sure the nurse told you what happened?" Sora nodded. "Yeah. I'm sorry…"
"Don't be." She paused. "Stuff like this always happens to me…"
Sora wanted to ask something else, but he stopped himself. She was in no condition to explain anything. The only time Sora ever had to go to the hospital was when he broke his leg a couple of years ago. He never had surgery before…
"Wow…" He noticed she was crying and trying to smile at the same time. "I didn't think something like this would happen again… I hate being here… and I still don't know why you bother to even… oh Nevermind…" Kairi sniffled.
"To even what? Be here?" Sora was confused. Kairi didn't answer for a moment.
"I'm stupid. I have surgery a lot. I don't have the perfect body, or the perfect look. I'm just not normal at all. My friends and I act like idiots most of the time, and we love it. I don't think you would like me if you knew the real me…"
"Kairi…" Sora started, but was interrupted when Selphie, Namine, Riku, and Yuffie walked in. They rushed over to Kairi's bed.
End of flashback"I can't believe you remember that…" Kairi was amazed.
"How could I forget…" Sora said, holding on tighter. "That was the day when I realized, you were the one…"
"How so? I was… crying… and in pain…"
"It made me understand what I truly wanted. I wanted someone I could protect, someone I could take care of through thick and thin… someone that needed me…"
"Sora… I've always nee—"
"No Kairi… I've always needed you…"
He seemed to be crying by the tone of his voice. Kairi tightened her grip on him, rubbing her hand up and down his back to try and make him feel better. She had always known that he needed her, he was just too stubborn to admit it.
"When I said I've liked you since middle school… that was true, but once that day passed, I knew I couldn't live without you…"
"R-really…" Kairi didn't believe it, yet she did.
"I've always been so pissed off at my family, I never really had time to show you how amazing you really are, Kairi… you're always by my side, trying to tell me what's best for me, trying to… ah, I don't know how to say all of this…"
"Sora… there have been many occasions where I felt amazing in your presence…"
"But…" He looked her in the eyes. "I just don't feel like you know how I truly feel about you… I mean, besides the fact that I love you, you're my wife and I'll do anything… that's just the surface of things… I can't even begin to describe what you mean to me…
"You're always trying to do what no one else has done…" Sora rubbed his head and looked in every direction but hers, but then continued to look back into her eyes. "You… you just know how to make that day more special… and even though we don't agree on the same things sometimes, you work around my stubborn ways… maybe you're not always sure what I'm going to do or say, but you're just so good at going with the flow that everything seems to fall into place in the end…
"We have three wonderful children together… honestly I'm astounded that we've made it this far together… how do you deal with me? That's the question I've always asked myself; I had always felt ashamed of myself for yelling at you… I even swore one day that I'd never hurt you again, after that lie of smoking… however, my bad habits got the worst of me… and yet… you're still here…"
"Sora… of course I am…" Kairi put her hand on his cheek, getting ready to cry.
"Kairi…" he put his hand on top of hers and just held it on his face. A tear rolled down his cheek. Kairi not only felt his pain, but for the first time actually understood him. Tifa was right, if Kairi would've just shut her mouth and listened to him, maybe things would be different now. However, she just cared for him so much that she was always looking for the best way to help him out. All she really wanted was for him to wake up next to her the next morning with a smile on his face. She wanted him to know that he was never alone; that he never had to worry about being alone. Even though he had a terrible past, she wanted him to feel like the best man in the world, just because of her and their loving family. She wanted him to feel like he had a place to call home. She wanted him to never look back and regret anything. Although she was uncertain if he knew these things, they had so much time ahead of them for her to fulfill this.
"Right now… Kairi…" Sora sniffled a little bit. "I just don't know how to say these things to you…"
"Don't worry about that…" Kairi said, slowly lifting her finger so she could wipe his tears away. "Sora… really… all I've ever wanted…" tears were forming in her eyes as well. She just couldn't hold them back. "I just wanted you to be able to go through a day without any pain… to be happy… for once in your life…"
"Kairi… baby… of course I'm happy…" His hands traveled down to his sides, taking her hands with him. "Every time you tell me you love me, every time you look at me with those beautiful eyes… every time our kids come home, even if it's for a split second, I'm freaking happy… because I'm reminded that you guys are still here… with someone like me…
"I never knew how to tell you this… but I feel that without you… without the family I have now, including my father, there would be absolutely no way I would be alive right now… I probably would have committed suicide… but Kairi… you… everyone… you all have kept me alive… and have never given up on me…
"That day I hit Akira across the face… and I was afraid of becoming just like my stepfather… but even though abuse was one thing that you completely cannot tolerate… you stayed with me… I thought for sure that you would've taken the kids and left me by myself, but… you didn't… you stayed… you… stayed… with…me…"
Kairi could not believe Sora would think something like this. He continued speaking.
"Those nightmares of becoming like him… all of those times I screamed and was just ready to rip my hair out… all of those times I've felt like complete shit… you were there… Kairi… I can't say that I'll never hurt you again…" he paused, "The truth is, I've come to realize that all the things people say they won't do these days to their loved ones are the things they end up doing the most… so from now on, I don't want to make anymore promises like that. However, I will promise that…
"That I will work on my stubborn attitude and try to see your perspective more often… but… I can't do it alone, Kairi…" he looked desperately at her.
"Will you stay by my side?"
"I don't even know why you ask…" Kairi pulled him into a kiss. Everything he just told her was felt in the kiss; his sincerity, his love, his passion, his promise was established once his lips touched hers. She finally felt like she truly knew him at this point, like there was nothing left to hide. All the terrible things that happened up to this point were tossed away. This was a new beginning for Sora and Kairi.
Once they parted from each other, Kairi just couldn't take her eyes off of him. It was heaven on earth, being here with her husband; the one man that has been through everything she has; the one man that swore under oath to stay nothing but faithful to her was standing right in front of her very eyes. Imagining life without Sora was like imagining the midnight sky without any stars; it just wasn't the same sky. It was like playing a piano without any sound or painting a picture without any color; it wasn't as soothing or as beautiful as it should be. Life without Sora was like trying to breathe under water or jump off a cliff, expecting to survive. Without Sora, living was simply impossible.
"Kairi… take this from me… we are not perfect. I know that. We aren't always going to be happy with our kids, or even ourselves, but from now on, we'll just have to work extra hard to make the rest of this journey… the best one ever, right?"
Kairi nodded her head, resting her head on her husband's chest. "We only get one journey… whatever happens, happens…"
"Mom, dad! Come here! Quick!" Kosuke and Kiyori called from the door, sliding it back shut. Sora and Kairi exchanged curious looks. Sora put out his hand and smiled. However, before they went anywhere, Kairi had to ask him one last question.
"Sora?"
"Yes, my love?"
"What did your father say to you?"
"Some of the best advice anyone could ever get: just go with what your heart tells you."
- + -
Sora and Kairi entered the house. All the lights were off and the twins, Kiyori or Massu weren't anywhere to be found. Confused but hands still locked tight, Sora and Kairi headed into the TV room. Sunshine came out of nowhere, jumping on Sora and nearly knocking him over. While they were distracted, the lights came on and a million voices came practically out of nowhere.
"SURPRISE!"
Sora and Kairi looked over and saw an entire crowd of people they knew. Selphie, Riku, Namine, Tifa, their children, along with Massu, Mrs. Kiyamoto (Sora's mother) and even his brother Saito were standing there. Kyon, Kairi's oldest brother along with the rest of her family were in their very own TV room.
"How in the—" Sora couldn't even finish his sentence.
"MOM!" Kairi ran and hugged her mother. She hadn't seen her in years.
"How did everyone get here so quickly?" Sora finally was able to say.
"I planned this. That's another reason why I wouldn't leave." Massu smiled.
"You… what?"
"These little rascals right here helped me, of course." Massu patted Kiyori's head and obviously was talking about Akira and Kosuke as well, since they gave sort of embarrassed looks.
"PARTY TIME! We brought some food!" Selphie said in her normal, sugar high voice.
"Even though I'm still depressed, I want to have fun today…" Namine said.
"It could be just like old times." Riku added.
"Just like old times…" Kairi repeated, still completely shocked that everyone was here.
"It turned out the officer that night was drunk and had no idea what he was talking about… plus, I was proven innocent. I would never kill anyone." Saito mentioned, really confusing his brother.
"So why did you—" Sora didn't have to finish.
"Because I thought I was done for. Our father here bailed me out."
Sora had so much respect for Massu now that he just wanted to start over completely. Kairi went over to him and hugged him tightly, knowing how happy he was at the moment.
"Well, what are we waiting for? CRANK UP THE MUSIC!" Selphie yelled, turning up the stereo. Everyone cheered. Kairi and Sora just held each other.
"It can't get any better than this…" Kairi said, hugging Sora once again.
"Of course it can… and it will… that's a promise." Sora kissed her forehead.
"I love you…"
Sora kissed her once again, not letting go. Selphie came up and shook Kairi's shoulders, seeming like she was completely drunk but wasn't. Kairi and Sora laughed.
"Dance?" Sora held out his hand, trying to speak over the loud music.
"Of course!" Kairi felt like a schoolgirl saying that, but it didn't matter.
"Oh my gosh, we're leaving!" Kosuke and Akira joked, seeing their parents dancing. They all laughed it off and just danced together. Sora put his arms around Kairi's stomach and kissed her neck a few times, trying his best to keep it PG.
"I love you too, Kairi…"
Nothing was better than this.
- + - + -
ENDI Heart You
A/N: FINALLY! IT'S FINISHED! YAY! You loved it, and you know it! Again, I am SOO SORRY for not updating in such a long time! Thank you EVERYONE! Thank you for sticking with this series for the past two years!! (yes, it's been THAT long!!) I am so glad I didn't give up even though I had a HUGE writer's block! But since you all were there supporting me, I felt like writing once again!! Thank you, review, and have a nice day!