Disclaimer: (SLC) HALLO!!! OK! I just finished a 500 word essay (which believe it or not, didn't take that long to write) for English. Not Civics! Hollie did not assign that! I know! Hard to believe! For Civics homework, we had to actively read (kill the concept) a handout that he was going to put in our mailboxes. But he never did.

Hehehe. Hollie made a mistake.

Hehehe.

NE way, I know that after you read this, you are going to have a lot of criticism. Especially Princess Meku or whatever. Grrr.

Ok! Don't mean to bore you with my disclaimer. (Though I have read ones that are 2 pages long.)

Here ya go!

~*~

"Hey Kai!" Key shouted from her porch. She was putting on her archery Gii while she had the bag full of arrows on her back.

"Hey," Kai said in a loud but not quite shouting tone. He was still rattled by what Rei had said. He had just walked through the woods to the clearing in which Key's cabin stood. He was going to go to the taki spot to meet her there but because he was early, he decided to wait for her.

When she was finished, they walked up the steep mountain together to the taki spot. They hardly said anything on the walk up. Key was daydreaming and Kai was just thinking about his reputation and what Tyson might say if he saw him now.

When they got to the top Key walked over to the side to put her arrows down on a rock in the shade.

Kai stood in one spot just staring at her, a question aching in the back of his mind. He didn't know quite how to say it or if Key would get offended in anyway if he asked.

Key looked over her shoulder to Kai who was now staring at her. "Um," she began. "Are you ok?"

Kai woke up from his trance. "What? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine."

Key's eyes narrowed. "C'mon. You know me better than that. I can tell when something's wrong. Now tell me!"

Kai looked over to her. He sighed and began to speak. "Well," he paused.

"Yes?" Key said her eyes filled with innocence.

"You know how I never listen to what Tyson says?" Kai said trying to make it as clear as possible what he was saying.

"Yeah," she said chuckling a bit.

"Well, you see," as soon as he said this, a rumble of thunder began to shake the ground. At first, nothing happened. But then little drizzles of rain began to fall from the sky. Very soon after that the drizzles turned into heavy rain.

"We need to go!" Key shouted over the rumbling of the thunder and rain.

"Where?" Kai shouted back.

Key paused looking around then she caught sight of the waterfall. "C'mon!" She began to walk along side the bank. "We can go behind the waterfall and into the dry cave! But we're going to have to swim there!"

"Swim?!" Kai shouted.

"You know how to swim right?!" Key shouted.

"Yeah, but it's lightning out!"

"I know. We're going to have to swim fast. Look, when you get to the waterfall, there will be falling rocks coming from every direction. Wait until a big one hits the water and dive under as fast as you can to the other side." Kai stood in amazement as he listened to Key while his arms covered his face from the rain. "From there, the climb to the cave is about nine feet high. It's not hard you just have to go fast."

Kai nodded as Key dove into the water. He then put his hands above his head and dove in after her.

When they got to the waterfall, the water around them was pushing them out of the way with a strong current. Kai tried as hard as he could to keep afloat and not be caught by the current. Key was staring up to see the rocks that fell down. One of the rocks landed about a foot next to Kai. He decided to look up too and make sure no more would hit him. He waited and waited for a large rock to fall. Key spotted one on her side of the waterfall. "I'll meet you on the other side!" She shouted. The large rock hit the water and Key dove in after it and disappeared.

Kai just floated there waiting for his rock to come. The lightning and rain was pouring now. He couldn't remember ever seeing this bad a storm. Well, except for when he almost killed himself by trying to apologize to Key. But the water around him almost seemed to push him up. It felt like a gun and he was the bullet.

Suddenly a large rock fell from the sky and landed in front of him creating a wave of water over his head. As soon as the wave parted, he dove down into the water and tried as hard as he could to go against the current. He pushed and pushed but finally got to the other side. It was much calmer but there was a rock wall in the way. So, he climbed.

The cave wasn't that far. He would only have to climb the rock about nine or ten feet. And it looked like Key or someone had smashed holes in the rocks so it was easier to climb. When he reached the top, he looked over to the back of the cave where Key was sitting. She was wringing her hair out like she did the other day after swimming. He got up onto the stone platform and looked around.

The cave wasn't very big but was a good size for two people to spend the night. He had assumed the floors would be wet and cold but not only were they covered by cloth and animal hide, but the walls we dead dry. He looked around at the cave and only saw two pieces of furnischere. One small bed for one person ((Don't worry! I'm not that sick!)) and a small night stand that held a couple of books, arrows, a lamp on top, and had a rather large bow leaning next to it.

Key was over by the other end of the cave so that she wouldn't drip on the cloth. Kai was still on the ground, examining the cave. She finally spoke up. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. You?" Kai said.

"Fine," Key paused. "Um, Kai?"

"Yes?" He said very plainly.

"You were telling me how you never listen to Tyson," she said smiling as she walked over to the hide and sat down next to the lamp to get warm. "What exactly was your point?"

Kai turned to her. He got himself up with ease, (now that his wounds were pretty much healed) walked over, and plopped himself down next to Key as he got ready to speak. "Well," he said turning to her. The only sound the echoed through the cave was the waterfall and his voice. "You don't have to answer this but I'm going to ask it anyway."

"Well?" She said her smile widning.

Kai paused and then just said it. "What happened to your parents?"

Key's smile disappeared within a second. Her eyes were wider than Kai had ever seen them. Kai realized he had said the wrong thing. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have asked. I'm re-"

He was interrupted. "No," she said quietly. "I knew you would ask it one of these days. Everyone does. But I never tell them."

"Oh. Ok then." Kai said as he realized he would probably never hear it.

"But you're different." Key whispered in the dim light.

Kai paused for a moment. He turned to stare as her as he was only inches away from her innocent face. Then Key pulled a few inches away and began to speak. "You've basically become my friend over these past few weeks. I've never really had a true friend before." She said as she nuzzled her shivering body a little closer to Kai. "I guess I've got to tell someone," she paused. "I couldn't think of a better person to tell it to." She beamed up at him and smiled. Kai blushed but tried with every ounce of his body to control it.

"Um, ok." Kai said as he turned to face Key. They were now facing each other as both of their hands were on their knees.

Key's smile slowly faded as she closed her eyes and breathed in slowly and deeply. A few moments later, she opened them only to stare into Kai's wet yet curious face.

"Ok. Well," she began as she took off her Gii revealing her undershirt that wasn't quite as wet. Kai blushed. She then began to trace back to the day, the time, and the place.

* * * FLASHBACK * * *

"KIKIRAKI! KIKIRAKI, WHERE ARE YOU?!" the drunk man shouted. He plowed through the forest of the small woodsy town destroying anything in his path. He had the recent stench of whiskey on him and the face of a murderer. "KIKIRAKI!!!"

As the three year old girl kneeled quietly in the forest behind an oak tree, she listened to make sure her father was gone.

She had shoulder length black hair that was tussled about her face. Her dirty lavender dress matching her eyes that were filled with fright. She had bruises on her legs and face. Her left eye was beginning to turn black as the bruise began to form. She kneeled down even further and clutched her knees slowly as she began to cry.

'Why,' she thought. 'Why does he have to do that?' She began to get up and walk toward her house that was maybe seconds away. 'First he has that bad smell on him.' She shuddered. 'I hate it!' She spotted the house a few feet away. 'Second, he gets that awful look in his eyes.' She walked in the door and ran down the dusty hallway to her room which had nothing in it but a bed, a bookcase and her closet. 'Then third,' she thought as she sat on her bed and clutched her teddy bear close to her chest. 'He begins to hurt me.' Then she began to cry and weasel in one last thought before falling asleep. 'Doesn't anyone love me?'

* * *

The next morning, the young girl came down the stairs and down the dusty hallway to the kitchen where she made breakfast for herself. It wasn't much, but it was good enough for her.

Then silence came over her as her father walked down the hallway. A great shiver ran up her spine as she heard his footsteps walking closer to the kitchen. She jumped up and ran underneath the table to try and hide herself.

The man walked into the doorway with dirty trousers and a stained shirt on. It was obvious not only by the smell but by the looks that he hadn't taken a bath in days. He had a sad tone in his voice, but began to speak.

"Kikiraki. I know you're here. Stop hiding."

The young girl didn't move.

"Kikiraki, I'm sorry. I do some messed up things once in a while and I don't mean to but," he paused. "Ever since your mother died in labor with you I've lost everything. Everything my life depended on. Every last thing I loved, I either don't love any more or it's gone." He stood there silent. The young girl remained hidden under the table. She didn't move or say a word. "I'm sorry." With that, the large man left the kitchen and went outside.

The young girl waited for a minute until she heard the screen door slam shut followed by a roll of thunder. She then appeared out from under the table. She got herself up and threw herself up onto her table chair. She buried her face in her hands and began to cry as the rain began to pour outside. His words rang in her head.

'Every last thing I loved, I either don't love any more or it's gone.'

'I'm not gone.' She thought as her tears fell to the ground. 'That must mean he doesn't love me any more.' She paused for a moment.

"I hate him." She whispered to herself.

* * *

Around two hours later she ran outside as she heard the doorbell ring. She opened the screen door to the porch.

Her neighbor Mrs. Connofield was at the door with her shawl over her head to protect herself from the rain. She had a sad look on her face as she let herself into the house. "Hello dear." She whispered as her voice trailed off.

"Is there something you want Mrs. Connfeld?" ((She's only three! She can't pronounce things very well!))

"Yes, dear. I'm afraid there is." She said as her old face began to sag.

"Well, what is it?" the young girl said with curiosity.

"Well Kikiraki dear, you see," she began as she kneeled down next to the young girl. "Your father has done some pretty bad things." She paused as she didn't quite know how to put it. "His life got a little out of order when your mother died and he got mixed in with the wrong type of people."

The girl was trying to follow but was having a hard time. The woman spoke again. "These bad people were selling him some stuff to help him try to get 'better' so to speak. And well, when he didn't pay them," she began to fill up with tears. "They got the best of him, dear."

The young girl stood as the old woman clutched her tight. "So," she said. "Is he," her eyes began to fill up with tears also. "Dead?" she whispered.

"I'm afraid so, dear."

The three-year old girl stood there without saying anything realizing that she was all alone. "No," she whispered but then screamed. "NO!" She ran out of the woman's grasp and ran outside into the pouring rain. She kneeled down into the rain as the east wind blew by and began to cry as her dress began to soak with water and tears.

* * *END OF FLASHBACK* * *

Kai sat there still having a lot of questions in his mind but stunned at the fact of Key's hard life. He couldn't believe it. He began to speak.

"So your real name is Kikiraki?"

"Yes," she responded quietly.

"And your father died from being in touch with the mafia?"

"Yes," she said again in the same tone.

Kai gulped. "And he beat you when he got drunk?"

Key shuddered as she turned her head away. "Yes."

"I'm sorry Key. I didn't know."

Key paused. She spoke up quietly. "That's right. You didn't know. How could you have?"

Kai began slowly making sure he didn't invade on her privacy. "What happened after that?"

"Well," she said while breathing in deeply. "I ran away from my house shortly after that. I came to this town and decided to stay."

Kai breathed in heavily as he tried to absorb all of the information. He looked up at Key as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She moved closer until she finally broke down and sobbed right into Kai's chest. Her arms were wrapped around him and he slowly rocked her back and forth trying to calm her down.

"Ssshh," he whispered as she continued to cry more and more. She eventually calmed down a bit and pulled back to look up at Kai as her arms were still wrapped around his chest. "I'm sorry." She whispered as her tear stained face began to form a smile. "You must think I'm weird."

"That was the last thing I was thinking." He said smiling down at her.

"It's just," she began as they were both wrapped around each other. "After my father died, I've been afraid to love anyone. No one I even remotely liked was even close to me loving them."

Kai paused and then whispered as he beamed down at her. "No one?"

Key looked up at him. They sat there staring at each other. Their faces were only inches away moving closer and closer together as their eyes began to close.

Their lips touched as they held each other in an embrace. Kai felt as if he reputation was no where to be found. All he could think about was the beautiful girl he was so close too at this very second.

Their kiss deepened for a moment and then they slowly broke apart only to stare into each other's eyes.

"I love you, Key." Kai whispered.

"I love you too, Kai." Key replied.

Their kiss rejoined as the lamp began to dim and the rain outside began to disappear and all that was left was the moonlight shining down through the glow of the waterfall.

~*~

MUAHAHA!!! That was for you CARO!!!

Ok. I know you people are going to have a lot of criticism so just bare with me. It was my first real fluff fic.

And I just have to say to Myrmyr: Did you find it disturbing that the guys were like dancing tango in our Civics class today?

*shudders*

Hope ya liked! R+R!

o(^-^)o

Thanx a many!

Kitsune Ria