MANDATORY AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another fast update, yaaaaay! This chapter is kinda short, but it's more of like a hump chapter—the chapter that has to happen so we can bridge the gap to the next part. Still, I hope you guys will like it ^_^

DISCLAIMER: This disclaimer applies to the entire story. Kingdom Hearts and any and all things having to do with it do not belong to me. However, the plot and plot events are entirely MINE, along with the band Destiny's Embrace, the use of the word Hikari as a name, and the characters' personalities.

NOTES: This story is rated M. This chapter has an M-rated scene at the beginning and some T-rated fluff in it at the end.

ENJOY!

~x~

Chapter Thirty-Six

~x~

"Come here, Kairi . . ."

The fifteen-year-old redheaded girl looked up from her Math homework. Her older brother was standing in her bedroom doorway, smiling that smile that made her skin itch. She frowned at him.

"I'm doing my homework, Riku."

"It's okay," he said, grinning even wider. "It'll just take a second."

"I can't, Riku, I-"

"You're going to do what the fuck I say." Riku was beside her in seconds, grabbing her wrist hard enough to bruise. Fear filled her veins with ice and her first instinct was to try and push him away. This only served to anger him and incite his rage.

"Riku, please!" Kairi cried when he grabbed her by the throat and pushed her down onto her bed. He climbed on top of her and pinned her wrists down by her head. She tried to fight him off, but he was much stronger and much, much heavier.

"Everyone saw you at that party last night, shaking your ass like the slut you are," he groaned disgustingly into her ear. His silver hair tickled her face and she felt his hardness through his jeans, pressing against her thigh. It made tears fill her eyes. This had been going on for so long . . . Would it ever end? Sora was supposed to be coming over for dinner tonight . . . Maybe . . . Maybe he would show up before Riku could hurt her?

Unfortunately, Kairi wasn't that lucky.

"Riku, st-stop," Kairi hissed, twisting her body to the right as much as she could.

"I don't know why you still fight," he laughed derisively, digging his fingernails into the flesh on her side until she cried out in agony. "It's pathetic, really."

"You're disgusting!" she spat.

"Says the girl who was all over Hayner Thurston last night," Riku smirked, grinding his hips into hers. "You can give it up for him easily, but you fight me like I'm not as good as him?"

"No!"

"Is that what this is about?" He looked angry. "You think he's better than me? Is that what you fucking think?"

"N-No!" Real fear erupted within Kairi and her struggle to escape began anew. She didn't want this to happen to her again. Not again. This happened every night. Would he never tire of her?

Suddenly, Riku hauled back and struck her across the face. He struck her once, twice, thrice. He kept hitting her over and over and over again, until she was sobbing in agony and begging him to let her breathe for just one second. But he didn't seem to hear her. Or rather, he didn't seem to care. It was as if he was gaining strength from her pleas, devouring them and using them to fuel his rage.

"I'll show you," he kept saying as he ripped her panties down her legs from under her skirt and unzipped his jeans. "I'll fucking show you."

"Riku, stop, please," Kairi wailed, shaking her head from side to side as he pushed into her dry canal, tearing her in half. Each thrust caused her head to smack against the headboard, spiraling stars in her eyes. Tears coursed down her cheeks as she wept unashamedly. She knew Riku wouldn't care. He never cared. In fact, he liked it when she cried. He liked it when she was in agony.

He finished quickly, leaving her an aching, bloody, bruised mess on her bed. Her legs were sticky with his fluids and she wanted to sink into the mattress and die. She didn't know how much more of this she could handle before she finally snapped. She didn't know how long she could go on doing what she was doing, masking her pain with partying and promiscuous sex. It was only causing her more problems, wasn't it? Riku had just proved as much. But she didn't know what else to do. It was the only thing that made her feel alive, when the rest of her life made her feel like walking death.

But not Sora. Never Sora. He was the one ray of starlight in her night sky, and without a best friend like him, she might really just keel over. Without him, she would waste away into nothing. He was coming over soon . . . Why couldn't he have shown up earlier? Why was there never anyone there to save her?

Still sniffling and crying, Kairi hauled herself to her feet and limped to the bathroom for her routine shower, where she proceeded to scrub herself for nearly an hour in ice cold water.

Anything to wash away the touch of a silverette thief-a thief who stole away things like purity and innocence.

~x~

Kairi didn't know how long she was washing dishes for, lost in thought as her memories beleaguered her. All she knew was that Vanitas had been screaming in her ear for a good five minutes before she finally came out of her reverie. She looked at him as if awakening from a deep slumber, her hands pruny and covered in dirty dish soap.

"Hm?" she mumbled.

"You have soap on your nose," he chuckled, shaking his head as he used his thumb to wipe her nose clean. "I was yelling your name . . . Are you going deaf, or something?"

Kairi opened her mouth, the tale of her encounter with Axel and Demyx threatening to spill forth. At the last moment, however, she lost her nerve and instead, fixed a smile upon her face.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just tired," she said truthfully. "I've been washing the same dish for the past half hour I think."

Vanitas raised one eyebrow and gingerly took the sopping wet yet infinitely clean plate out of her hand. "Well, how about you go take a nap? I'll finish these."

Kairi nodded and looked at the clock above the stove. "Why are you home so early?" she asked curiously, drying her hands on a towel. "It's only one o clock."

"I thought I'd come home to check on you," Vanitas said thoughtfully, setting the plate on the counter and frowning at her. "Something didn't feel quite right so I took my lunch early. Did anything weird happen today?"

Kairi immediately shook her head. "Uh . . . No." God, she hated lying. Especially to someone she cared about. She knew it would serve her better to just tell Vanitas, but . . . Could she really upset the balance knowingly like that? And honestly, Axel and Demyx were probably just bluffing. Now that the law was involved, they wouldn't dare to offend.

Would they?

"Hm," Vanitas said, eyeing her for just a moment longer. "Well . . . You would tell me if anything did happen, right?"

"Yeah, of course!" Kairi gushed, turning away to leave the room. Somehow, she had a feeling that Vanitas knew she was lying.

Walking into Sora's room to pick his dirty clothes up off of the floor, something caught the corner of Kairi's eye. Dull, shiny, and black, she automatically knew what it was and she was far from happy about it. Tossing the clothing aside, she scrambled to her hands and knees and reached underneath Sora's fallen comforter.

Vanitas walked in just as she was pulling the object free, and his jaw fell open in shock.

"Kairi," he whispered. "Put that down."

"Why does he still have it?" Tears were already flooding her eyes as she gazed in horror upon the pistol in her hand. "Why didn't he get rid of it like I asked him to?"

"Kairi, shh, it's okay," Vanitas soothed, hurrying to grab the gun out of her hands and set it gently on the bed. "He probably has his reasons."

"No!" Kairi wailed, stomping her feet. "There isn't a good reason anymore! You're the one who said he used to be suicidal, Vani . . . What if he . . . What if he has it because . . . Because . . ." She could no longer speak coherently due to her tears and sobs.

Vanitas cupped the back of her head with one hand and pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry, Kairi. I shouldn't have told you all that; I should've known it would only scare you. Look, I'll get rid of it and if he gets mad, then he can be mad at me. Will that make you feel better?"

"Not really," Kairi sobbed. "I know what it's like to want to die, Vani. If we take it away, he'll just find another way to try."

"Well, at least this way we can say we tried to stop him. We can know we tried to help."

Kairi sighed and stepped back. Vanitas was right. It was best to just get rid of the gun themselves since Sora obviously had no intention of doing so himself. Feeling thoroughly rattled, she went back to gathering up Sora's dirty clothes so she could do the laundry.

As she pushed the clothes into the washer, Kairi's mind raced at a thousand miles per minute. Why did Sora still have the gun? And why was it just lying haphazardly on the floor of his bedroom? Did Sora know Axel and Demyx were still a threat? Or did he truly intend to end his own life? Sora had once said that he kept the gun for protection, and that he wouldn't get rid of it unless they were safe. Had he kept it this whole time?

Vanitas poked his head into the laundry room. "I got rid of it."

Kairi raised one eyebrow. "Really? That fast? What'd you do? Throw it in the trash?"

Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it, Road Block. Christ, you can be such a dork. I gotta get to work."

Kairi flushed slightly at the sound of his old nickname for her and threw one of Sora's unwashed tee shirts in his direction. It hit him in the back, prompting him to flip her off over his shoulder just before he rounded the corner of the hall. Kairi smiled and went back to doing her laundry.

She knew he knew that she knew he hadn't completely gotten rid of it. He had probably just hidden it.

"Fine," Kairi muttered to herself. "I'm just going to find where he hid it, and I'm going to throw it into the ocean myself."

And after she finished the laundry, she did just that. She searched the house high and low, near and far, looking for the thing she hated the most. As soon as she found it (hiding behind the books on the living room bookshelf), she tucked it into the waistband of her pants and covered the hilt with her shirt. Smiling to herself, she turned to go.

"That's really stupid of you, Kairi," came a familiar voice.

Kairi went bright red as she gazed up into the piercing blue eyes of her boyfriend and best friend, Sora. She gulped and put her hands behind her back in order to appear innocent.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said haughtily.

Surprising her, Sora grabbed onto her left hip and yanked her forward, causing her to stumble and fall against his chest. She gasped and looked up at him with widened eyes.

"What are . . . What are you doing home?" she breathed anxiously. She could feel his fingers searing hot through the fabric of her shirt.

His eyes were cold as he reached into the front of her pants and pulled the pistol out and dropped it onto the couch behind them.

"Why did you have that?" Kairi asked accusatorily, trying to hide the fact that she was terrified of him having it in his possession again. And what the heck was he doing home early, too?

"Does it matter?" He was eyeing her almost hungrily, and somehow Kairi knew he was going to try to use his powers of attractiveness to distract her. But it wouldn't work on her! It couldn't. She needed to make sure she got that stupid gun and threw it in the God damn sea.

Kairi placed a palm flat upon his chest and firmly pushed him away. She frowned at him and made a big show of reaching around him to make a grab for the weapon. He merely rose his brows again and grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Are we really going to fight over this?" Kairi asked shortly. "Because I'm pretty sure I remember asking you more then once to get rid of this thing."

"And you think I should do whatever you say, whenever you say it?" he challenged, his spiky hair falling into his eyes.

"No," she shot back, "but you should want to listen to what I say when it involves your safety."

"And why would I need to be worried about my safety?" he said, raising his voice, still gripping her wrist.

Kairi held his gaze with her own glare. He knew Vanitas had given up his secret about his previous suicide attempts, didn't he? She stood her ground. There was no way she was throwing Vanitas into the fire.

"Sora," she said slowly. "Let go of my hand . . . Let me take that stupid thing . . . And throw it out."

"You're just going to throw it away, are you?" Sora scoffed incredulously. "Really? A gun? You're just going to throw it in the trash can?"

"No!" Kairi protested. "I'm going to take it and throw it in the ocean, where you can't get to it!"

Sora grinned wolfishly, the first smile Kairi had seen him show in months. "Which brings us back to: why would I have use for it in the first place?"

Kairi had had enough of this. Taking him by surprise as he had taken her, she pushed him to the side and made a stage dive for the couch. Sora was quick on his feet though—literally. He swept one foot outward to trip her and she crashed to the carpet on her elbows and chin. Groaning in pain at the serious rug burn she had just received, she rolled on her back and prepared to play the game better.

She put on the fake waterworks.

"K-Kairi?" Sora hurried to kneel beside her. "Are you okay? I didn't . . . I was just . . ."

Peeking between her fingers, Kairi smirked. "Being a total idiot! Hah HA!" With that, she launched herself up, over, and onto the couch. Grabbing the gun in her hands, she held it up triumphantly.

Sora glowered up at her from his place on the floor. "It's not a toy, Kai. Be careful with that."

"I will. I will be careful with it . . . All the way to the beach, when I throw it as far as I can into the water." She wrinkled her nose playfully.

"Fine," he said indifferently, leaning back on his elbows on the floor. "Just make sure you put the safety on. Otherwise, you might shoot yourself in the foot."

Kairi blanched. "Wh-What?"

Sora smirked and drawled lazily, "Oh? Don't know where it is?"

"Um . . . Does it matter? I just won't put it in my pants. I'll carry it carefully."

"You're going to walk down the street—due to the fact that you don't have a car—and carry a gun out in the open the entire way?" Sora laughed.

Kairi blushed in embarrassment, but drew her shoulders back indignantly anyway. "Yeah. I am. I'll wear a coat or something. Whatever. I just want to get rid of it. I don't want it in the house."

Sora passed a hand across his face wearily. "Kairi. Are you hearing yourself? You cannot just walk down the street with a loaded weapon. You can't. You need to unload all of the bullets out of the barrel. If you don't know how to do that, then you need to put the safety on. Either way, it's not like that is my only gun."

Kairi stared at him in alarm. "What? There's more?!"

"Oh, my God, Kai," Sora exclaimed in irritation. "I'm a guy! Guys hunt, they have guns, it's a man thing! You can't seriously be surprised by this . . . ?"

"I am, though!" Kairi whined. "I don't like it. It . . . It scares me. Why can't you understand that?"

"Oh, jeez . . ." He scowled and stood up, taking her by the elbows and pulling her close. "You have nothing to worry about. I don't know what the fuck Vanitas told you about me, but you seriously have nothing to worry about. If you really, truly want me to get rid of it, then I will. But I'm keeping the others. My dad gave them to me."

"Fine," Kairi pouted, grabbing all of her long crimson hair and pulling it over the front of one shoulder. "I can't say I'm happy about it, though."

"Well, in everything else but this subject, I aim to make you happy," he said quietly, kissing her on the forehead and gently taking the pistol away from her. "Now, I need to get back to work."

"Why did you even come home early?" Kairi asked, feeling miserable. No matter what Sora said, she didn't think she could believe him. Oh, she wanted to believe that he wasn't going to possibly use that gun to hurt himself . . . But how could she believe that when the circumstances were correct? He wasn't acting all depressed and mopey like he usually was, but it could all just be a careful façade, much like the façade Kairi had put up when she was depressed and suicidal.

"Sora?" Kairi said, watching him inspecting the pistol with ease and care.

"Hm?" he said absentmindedly, pulling open the barrel so he could unload the unshot bullets into his hand.

"Can you promise me you're not going to hurt yourself?"

Her words caused Sora to look at her sharply.

Kairi took a deep breath and continued, "Can you promise me that? If you can't, then . . . Then at least promise me you'll come to me and tell me how sad you're feeling first?" Her voice was meek and unsure, but she hoped he would hear her love for him in the shaky tenor.

". . . I promise," he said seriously. "If you promise me to be there when I come calling."

Kairi smiled hesitantly. "I promise."

"Look, I . . . I'm sorry about telling you to leave last night," Sora murmured, his eyes deep pools of endless blue. "I was just really overwhelmed."

"I know," Kairi said. She still couldn't shake the feeling that Sora was in danger of himself. "It's okay."

"I can't shake the feeling that you don't really think it's okay."

Kairi looked away but remained silent. She couldn't say it aloud. She couldn't tell him how rejected and worried she'd felt. She couldn't tell him about her encounter with Axel and Demyx. She couldn't tell him what Vanitas had told her about his suicide attempts. She couldn't tell him about her being scared that he was going to attempt it again. She couldn't tell him anything, and it was starting to tear her up inside.

Sora sighed heavily, "I wasn't rejecting you, if that's what you think." He took a step closer to her, taking her chin and forcing her to look up at him. "I won't ever reject you. You know that, right?"

Kairi still said nothing.

Sora tilted his head to the side, his voice a whisper upon the wind. "I could never turn you away, Kairi. You're beautiful."

A chill went rippling down her spine and Kairi took it upon herself to close the distance between their lips. When their mouths met, Kairi felt a flower in the depths of her stomach unfurling into full bloom. Sora dropped the empty gun and the unused bullets to the carpet at their feet, sliding his arms around her waist and deepening the kiss all at the same time. Kairi's moaned in spite of how she was feeling and kissed him back with fervor, every part of skin that his fingertips grazed feeling as though it were on fire.

Kairi remembered their first real kiss, all the way back in her old apartment, the night of the thunder storm. That kiss had marked the start of something wonderful, something ferocious—a love that Kairi never wanted to lose sight of. Sora touched her with such possessiveness and zeal that Kairi didn't think she could or would ever feel this yearned for again.

They broke the kiss simultaneously, gently touching each other's hair and faces. Sora touched his forehead to hers and closed his eyes, his hands still gripping her tiny hips tightly.

"You are so beautiful," he repeated. "So beautiful to me."

"I love you," she said in a small voice, nearly whimpering as she pulled him down onto the couch with her.

He smiled. "I have to go back to work, babe."

"No," Kairi smiled back, shaking her head. She was enjoying the weight of his body upon hers. "How much longer do you have left in your lunch break?"

Sora cocked his head to the side again, grinning mischievously. "About twenty minutes."

Kairi grabbed a handful of his button-up shirt and smirked.

"I only need ten."

~x~

A/N: Ah, yes. We needed some fluff. I wanted it to be clear that Sora wasn't going to treat her like shit again. He was just dealing with his grief. I don't know if he's ever going to be able to get over Roxas, but as long as he's trying to be happy, I think we can all be happy. Anyway, next chapter I think things will start heating up again! See you next time!