It was weird for Yuna to be so insistent but she and Kairi had been friends for so long, and she had gotten very good at reading Kairi. It wouldn't be surprising if Yuna could tell something was amiss, and Namine, well she was visibly upset. Things with Riku obviously weren't going well. She wasn't really speaking to Kairi much either. Come to think of it, she hadn't spoken to Kairi at all since the cast recall two days ago. Kairi pouts. Perhaps a girls' day out was exactly what they needed to get back on track. Surely, Yuna had an idea on fixing this mess between them, but she couldn't fix the mess on the outside. Kairi needed an answer, and fast. Thing between Sora and his father were declining quickly and Sora was coming to school with new bruises every day. Kairi only had so much makeup in her arsenal. She couldn't understand why he couldn't just go to the police and get help She closes her eyes and blocks out the boring history lesson she was currently attending.

"Sora, I'm scared" a young Kairi says visibly shaking

"I'm here Kairi" Young Sora replies. A loud banging fills the room and Kairi stares at the door.

"You can't hide forever!" a loud booming voice slurs.

"You have to stay quiet Kairi" Sora whispers. A small whimper emits from Kairi in reply. Sora hugs her tightly as they shift into a nearby closet and close the doors. Just as they shut the panel door completely. The door to the room burst open.

Kairi jumps, goosebumps form on her skin and fear envelopes her entire being. She places a hand on her heart and tries to calm herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Yuna glancing at her, worry clearly written in her heterochromic eyes. It had been years since everything had happened but the reappearance of Sora's father must be triggering flashbacks. She rubs her eyes tiredly, she needs better sleep. A girls' day is exactly what she needs to take things of her mind.

The girls had decided to meet up on Saturday and as Kairi and Namine waits in front of the mall for Yuna, she twirls her hair anxiously and texts Sora.

"We're just waiting for Yuna" She texts

"Yuna can tell that something is up," she adds.

"Are you going to tell her and Namine?" he texts back.

"I don't think we should involve them" she replies.

"Riku already knows" and just as she's about to reply to him Yuna shouts their names, grabbing their attention as she jogs up to the front of the mall.

"You guys ready?" she asks. Namine and Kairi nod and the girls head inside. Things are quiet between the three of them but as they go shopping the Namine and Kairi begin to loosen up and enjoy the girls' day. They go into store after store trying on new clothes and laughing at silly hats and shoes. Shortly after noon they get food from the Mall cafe and sit down together to eat. Yuna obviously felt this was a good time to bring up Kairi's obvious lack of sleep. Try as she might she couldn't the bags under her eyes and she definitely couldn't hide the fact that she'd been falling asleep in class.

"You wanna talk about why you're sleeping in class?" Yuna questions casually.

"It's nothing I've just been up late studying" It wasn't a lie, when she wasn't sleeping she'd just get up and study until she passed out at her desk, best way to fall back asleep if she ever had one, especially since she wasn't able to stay awake in class anymore.

"and you Namine? Are things any better with Riku?" Namine's mood visibly droops, perhaps it wasn't the best time to bring it up?

"Riku won't tell me what's going on" Namine glares at Kairi

"and Kairi hasn't told me either" a confused Kairi scratches her head.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about Nam"

"I overheard you and Riku the other day" she states simply.

"I thought maybe if I gave you some time you might talk to me about it but you and Riku both refuse to tell me what's going on" She crosses her arms indignantly.

"You're being stubborn Namine, if Riku said nothing was going on and I've said nothing is going on, then maybe nothing is actually going on" Kairi replies just as stubbornly.

"Actually, Kairi...I know there is something going on, I'm worried about you and Sora" Yuna pipes in suddenly. The two girls stare at her expectantly.

"What, is this an interrogation now?" Kairi retorts evidently annoyed with the direction of the conversation.

"We're just trying to be here for you Kairi, Namine is worried about you, I'm worried about you" Yuna presses

"Well, I obviously don't want you guys involved" Kairi stands up angrily and leaves the mall leaving the two girls at the table to themselves. She pulls out her phone and dials Sora's number.

"Hey"

"Hey, things aren't going well here. Can you get out?"

"I...can try, I think he's passed out on the couch right now. I could use any excuse to get out of here"

"Meet on the island?"

"Yeah I'll see you there" Kairi hangs up the phone and begins to make her way to the boats they always used to get to the island. It was their place, they used to play there as children all the time and Kairi and Sora used to hide in the cave and draw pictures together. It took no more than thirty minutes to get to the beach and row to the island but Sora was already waiting there when she anchored her rowboat to the dock. Her took her hand and helped lift her out of the boat, making sure to help her tie the boat down before leading her by the hand to the beach of the island. They sit down on a blanket Sora had set up and stare out the water. After a long pause Kairi speaks

"Sora, I can't keep this from them for much longer"

"I know, but my Mom...I can't say anything yet until I know she's safe from him" He replies quietly. Kairi takes his hand.

"We have to do something soon, or he'll kill you" Sora stays quiet after this and Kairi allows him to think through things. She places her head gently on his shoulder and they lie on the beach quietly long after the sun sets. Kairi yawns tiredly, it must have been getting pretty late.

"He's going to be upset that you're not back yet" she says after a long while.

"Honestly, I don't ever want to go back" he mumbles half asleep

"I don't want you to go back" he embraces her tighter.

"I care about you Kai, I've always cared about you" He must have been tired because he'd closed his eyes.

"I care about you too Sora" she says as she herself begins to fall asleep.

A young Kairi shivers in the closet.

"I'll protect you Kairi" a young Sora whispers but his eyes carried fear more than courage.

"I care about you okay? So I'll always protect you" he was definitely trying to convince himself he was brave.

"I'm scared, Sora," she whimpers as she begins to cry. A glint from outside the closet flashes into her eye.

"You have to stay quiet Kairi, I think daddy has a knife" Sora says urgently, but it was already too late, Sora's father had obviously heard her and stopped moving about the room. It wasn't long before his father was making his way toward the closet.

"Sora, where are you?" his father flashes a malicious smile and it chills Kairi to the core. Suddenly, he swings the door open to reveal the two small children.

Kairi jolts awake, she was getting awfully tired of these nightmares. She looks around and realizes they're still on the island and the sun looks like it's just beginning to rise in the distance. They'd spent almost the entire night there. She shakes Sora awake.

"Sora, we fell asleep, we need to get going now" Sora rouses form his slumber begrudgingly.

"What time is it?" he asks sleepily. Kairi checks her phone

"It's almost five" she replies. Sudeenly, Sora jolts awake.

"My father is going to literally kill me" a pang hits her chest when she sees panic fill his large blue ocean eyes

"Maybe we can sneak you in?" It's a rush to get back to Sora's house but they knew they needed to get back as quickly as they could before his father noticed he was missing.

"Listen, you can't come with me, I don't know if he's awake"

"Will I see you again this weekend?"

"I'll try" and with that Sora runs to his bedroom window and climbs through it as quietly as possible leaving Kairi alone hiding in some nearby bushes.

Writer's not: So this one is a bit longer, once again I just want to remind everyone that because this story was stopped and then continued many years later, it may seems like a totally different story, and that's because it kind of is. However, I do want to try to wrap this up in the quickest but best way possible so as of right now I am estimating maybe five more chapters? maybe more? I don't really have anything pre-written or planned out so i'm just going with the creative flow and letting it lead me to where ever it leads me. Please feel free to critique my work as you see fit and please enjoy the story as we both figure out what the hell is going on (because even I don't actually know yet)