:AN: Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Jeeze. Well, I wrote this chapter without realizing it and, well… It's kind of creepy in my opinion. No guidelines. It's not edited either. Someday… I will edit them. I will. But until I get complaints… or reviewers… I will not edit them. Bwahahahaha! Nevermind. Sick nasty Lei is on vacation this week, so I might just write some more chapters. I doubt I'll finish this anytime soon. We're in for a looooong ride. Tee hee. Your fabulous Jay… I mean Lei. Just read.

Sin's Remorse
Chapter seven

He stood on the beach, allowing the warm sun to spill over him. He watched quietly as his life unfolded before his eyes, bringing back an array of memories that sank too deep to count. The gentle waves lapped against the shore as the shimmering blue water reflected the midday sky. He felt so pure, so innocent. Though the sting of his insolvent soul still sauntered within his heart. His soft brown hair swept gently across his sun kissed face, a face that had not met such daylight in many years. He could almost feel the warm breeze as it caressed his ice-cold skin.

He was not a child anymore, though a seemingly youthful look of depressed enchantment laced his face. He had seen too much in his short-lived life to be considered anything less than a tainted entity. His eyes were dark, faded by years of shallow remorse. His poise was stiff and his thoughts were nothing close to innocent. And his voice… his voice spoke as hollow as the crooked sand beneath his calloused feet. The seagulls called above his head, but they did not make a sound.

"Sora," called a gentle voice, washed away in a distance too far to tell. He stood there silently, unaware of his reality.

Maybe he was young again… Maybe, in time, he would forget all that burdened him. Every memory that lay upon his soul must, at sometime, fade; must it not? His emotions ran too deep, they were too twisted to recall. As a child, he had seen nothing but pure innocence. A life to untainted by the grim world of fate he had been soon destined to endure. It had all happened too soon, too much, too fast for him to realize that it was not destiny he was falling into, it was darkness. There was no way out. Or so he though…

"Sora!" came that unwavering voice once more. Sora turned to his right to see a girl running up before him. He eyed her as her figure became closer. Her short, auburn hair slid before her beaming, violet eyes. A grin splayed across her face as she stopped before him to catch her breath. Something about this girl made him smile. It was a feeling so chaste… so unbelievably clean that he felt his heart skip a beat. She giggled slightly as he was taken aback. He could not feel this way. It was forbidden.

"Sora!" she shouted, though her voice did not match her façade. She sounded urgent and burdensomely sorrowful. He stared at her in compassionate wonder.

"What do want, Kairi?" he questioned softly, as he ran a hand down her face, her skin felt soft. He smiled.

"Open your eyes, Sora…" Kairi insisted. She spoke in a low whisper, grasping his hand tightly in hers.

"You're mad… My eyes are opened," he spoke back as he tried to take his hand away, but she kept it in her grip.

"God, Sora, wake up!" Kairi shouted. She suddenly felt himself jolt up, his eyes bolting open. He found himself sitting up next to and exceedingly worried Kairi, her hand grasping his wrist. He looked over at her and she blushed slightly, throwing her gaze to the bed sheets.

"You… um… were asleep. And…" Kairi trailed off slightly. Sora eyed her curiously and she sighed. "You seemed a wreck… mumbling stuff and tossing about… I-I wondered if I should wake you and then you began to speak of-" Kairi stopped and looked up at him. Sora stared forward, at the dark wall before the foot of the bed, and furrowed his brow slightly.

"…I'm sorry if I said something bad… I-" Sora stopped as well as he heard Kairi giggle slightly. "What's so funny?"

"No, it's nothing you need to apologize for. It's just… You seemed to be speaking to me, as if we were… Like, young again," Kairi laughed. She stopped. She stared up at him with a smile as he looked down at her with a confusing look. "You know. It-it was just, kind of bizarre… that's all," Kairi whispered. Sora grunted and ripped the covers off of himself and began to walk towards the door. Kairi stared at him, slightly confused, and then bolted out after him.

"Wait… Did I say something?" Kairi questioned as she followed him through the door. She wrapped a gray, wool blanket around her for warmth. Sora didn't answer. "Where are you going?" she asked as she hurriedly followed him down a darkened corridor.

"Stop following me," Sora said in an angry whisper as he walked quickly. Kairi struggled to keep up, a lack of strength.

"You're not just going to leave me alone in that room for the rest my life, Sora… Why are you acting like this?" Kairi questioned. He didn't reply and just kept moving. The corridors were dark and cold; similar to the emotions Kairi was feeling from her estranged friend at this time. Was he angry? She hadn't said anything hurtful, had she? No, no she hadn't.

"What's wrong?" she questioned as she began to slow down. Sora turned around into a new hallway as Kairi followed. She was beginning to feel exceedingly ignored and her irrational irritation became overwhelmingly overthrown by a sense of depressed confusion. It was an emotion that seemed to be forever entangled within her shallow heart.

Sora grabbed an unlit torch off of the wall and muttered fira beneath his breath, setting the passageway alit with a modest flame. Kairi struggled to keep up with him. Her lack of food began to kick in. "Go back!" Sora yelled as he used the fire to find his way down the right corridor. He suddenly took a sharp right and Kairi fell against the corner, holding herself up as she slammed a hand upon the rough wall.

"It's not an unfamiliar phrase," Kairi spoke, slightly out of breathe. She watched as Sora's form stopped a few feet away from her. Kairi sighed with a laugh of depressed reminiscence. "Ever since I met you, Sora, you were always telling me to go back… That I was too weak or too timid," Kairi continued in a hushed voice. "You never let me go with you… You never did!" Kairi shouted slightly as she felt tears surface at the rims of her eyes.

"I never said that," Sora whispered lightly.

"No, it was always you and Riku, you and Tidus," she took a breath. "I was always the captive, Sora, never the savior!" she shouted slightly. A few tears slipped from her eyes and her body shook within the blanket. She bit her quivering lip lightly. "But you were right… I was too weak," she let out. "I was too weak,"

"You're not weak," Sora spoke. Kairi furrowed her brow sharply.

"Then why can't I know? Why the hell must my life be one big secret to me?" Kairi exclaimed as she took no care to the tears that poured down her face. She stared sharply at his back. "For one damn moment I want you to treat me like you-you would Riku, or Tidus!" Kairi shouted. She let out a light sob and whipped short strands of hair away from her face. "Why can't it just be you and me."

Sora stood silently, barely breathing. He was completely still. Kairi kept her gaze plastered on his form, though her eyes slowly drifted from his back to the opposite wall. She leaned her back against the corner and attempted to calm her sobs.

Suddenly, Kairi felt an overwhelming sensation take over her body. It was as if someone had just dumped a full ocean of sorrow above her head and she found herself drowning in a sea of remorse. She couldn't breath. She struggled within a meaningless darkness; so unexpected, so unexplainable.

She clawed her head as she felt it pound through her skull. It felt like something was uncontrollably tearing her apart bit by bit. Her knees gave out before her and she sank to the ground. She struggled to breath, still sobbing. What's going on? She tried to ask, but her words came out as a twisted scream. Her voice shattered the silence of the corridor and Sora felt himself shift around. He gaped at her as she struggled in pain.

"Oh God," he mumbled softly as he quickly raced over to her. He kneeled before her tense form and held the torch above her head. She pressed her hand up against the large cut on her face, feeling fresh blood ooze through her fingers. Her eyes were shut intensely; the lids pressed so tightly together that it looked painful. Her eyes felt like they were being cut open with jagged knives. She dug her fingernails into her temple, cutting into her flesh. She let out another jagged scream that ripped through the cold, heavy air.

Sora grabbed her arms, setting the torch into a holder. She jolted back, trying to control this feeling of insane distortion. All she felt was pain.

"Calm down, it's okay," Sora spoke gently as he intensely tried to steady her. Tears poured from her shut eyes and ran rapid down her red cheeks. Her reality washed away as painful recollections of her past stormed back before her eyes. Every jagged emotion she had ever once felt cam thundering like a whirlwind of remorse. She felt as though she was being torn down into the fiery depths of hell.

Sora rubbed her arms gently, trying with all of his power to ease her trembling. "Damn it Kairi, it won't go away unless you calm down," Sora whispered gently. She shook violently as one last scream escaped her lips. She sobbed, falling into Sora's arms. She held her head in her hands, not able to rid her thoughts of this tormented agony. It hit her out of nowhere. This was exactly how she felt when she first entered this world, with Riku.

Kairi gasped, fighting for air, but able to see. She slowly opened her eyes as the sea of anguish suddenly washed away. She was left daunted by what had just happened. It felt like a weight had just been lifted from her heavy heart. She sat there, in a state of calmed panic. She felt her heart racing, tearing through her chest. She grasped Sora, twisting her fingers around the fabric of his shirt. She trembled, pressing her head against his chest. Tears flowed from her eyes like rain, never ceasing to fall. Her face was pale and she sobbed loudly, her whole body shaking within his strong grasp. He wrapped his arms around her back and held her against him.

"W-wh-" Kairi stuttered, but couldn't force the words.

"Shhhh," Sora hushed as he rocked her in his arms. "You're okay," he assured affectionately.

"Is… is it o-over?" Kairi struggled, shivering in the cold. Sora bit his lip and wrapped the stiff blanket around her bare arms.

"No," he shook his head lightly as he held her closer. He stared ahead at the shady wall, the light of the flame casting an eerie glow over its dark surface. "It's just beginning."

Kairi let her eyelids close gently over her weary eyes. She loosened her grip on him and let her arms fall before her. She drifted slowly out of painful consciousness as a depressed sleep took over her. One last tear slid down her chapped face.

"I'm sorry…" Sora whispered as he held her against him. "… It's me and you now, forever this time…" Sora whispered softly into thin air. He laid his chin atop her head and closed his own eyes gently. "…I promise."