Author's Notes: No...there's absolutely NO space between these updates. lol. Even I'm surprised at myself, but unfortunately, that's what you get when you're writing such short chapters. My apologies.

WOW, we've cleared TWO-HUNDRED reviews! Amazing. I'm so happy everyone's enjoying this. Let's see this through!

I wonder what Kairi's thinking?

Chapter 28

"Concerns"

By late afternoon on Tuesday night, Kairi and Naminé had actually driven down to Bastion County onto Sora's street. Their father got out of the car, and Lisa came up to him and they shared a brief hug.

"Daniel, thank you for coming to visit."

"Much obliged." said Daniel. He turned to face Sora's father as he approached, and they locked hands and patted each other's backs.

"Glad you could make it, Dan."

"Not at all, John. You look like you ain't slept in days."

"Lisa hasn't, either. We're worried."

"Selphie is out cold in her room." Lisa filled in. "She came straight home from school, and she was so tired that she just went up to take a nap. It's like her spunkyness suddenly got zapped out of her."

Kairi looked up at Lisa. "Mrs. Tilmitt, is Sora going to be okay?"

Naminé squeezed her sister's hand reassuringly as Lisa forced a smile.

"Don't worry, Kairi. He'll be back soon. I promise."

"You know, I hear Hayner's folks are gonna come down soon, too, for a little while. Said they'd come give support soon as Hayner's caught up with his schoolwork."

Lisa frowned. "I thought Hayner was looking forward to being a Marine."

Daniel paused at this, and coughed into his hand. "Er, there were a few complications, and he was refused entry." Kairi leered up at her father—everyone in the neighborhood now knew Hayner was gay. But some (like Daniel) were put off by it and tried to keep it under lock and key, like it was some sort of forbidden secret. Kairi just couldn't understand why people hated gays so much. She never found anything wrong against them.

"What happened?" asked John.

"He tried to lie about his age—you can't apply until you're eighteen, and Hayner's still got a year to tick off before he can re-enter the tests." Which was true, but even Naminé still frowned at the way her father seemed so uneasy about mentioning it, since it hadn't been the only reason. Sadly, the last part would never come true. The rumor was that Hayner was informed he would be refused any re-entries because of his sexual orientation. Naminé recalled how upset he had been, sulking on his front porch, scowling like a stinkbug.

Lisa shrugged her shoulders. "You have to give it to him, he was determined." She looked down at the twin girls then, and gasped.

"Oh, Naminé, you dyed your hair!"

"Do you like it?" She asked, flipping it over her shoulder with a smile. "I guess I never did see y'all before ya left. I was down with the nastiest cold. But I did this right before y'all moved."

"It looks adorable, Naminé."

Kairi grinned. "Yeah, she makes a great blond." She emphasized the word in such a way that Naminé ended up sending her a deadly glare, pouting.

"Well, why don't we all go inside?" John suggested. "There's milk, tea, juice, snacks—we should settle in and talk. We're not going to do much just standing around out here."

But that's mostly what Kairi did—sit outside. As evening fell, she found herself staring out into the cul-de-sac with a gloomy look on her face. One of worry. After she had spent a half hour gazing at nothing, her fraternal twin sister sat beside her on the porch.

"What's wrong, sis?" asked Naminé.

"I'm worried," Kairi sighed. "I hope that Sora's okay."

"Awww, poor girrl." she cooed, hugging her auburn-haired twin. "Don't worry. Sora can take care of himself. He'll be okay—you'll see!" She grinned. "Maybe when he comes back, he'll give you a big hug and a kiss, like in the movies!"

Kairi knew how people kissed in the movies. The thought made her blush. Would she really have to use her tongue like that? Hmmm, she pondered, I wonder how Sora will like that. Her mind began to trail off, and she thought of how she could properly kiss Sora upon his safe return, and she got a dreamy smile on her face. Naminé giggled.

"See? You're already off in Fantasy Land."

"You hush up," Kairi giggled, pushing her sister, who pushed back playfully.

"Naw, you hush up! I don't wanna hear nuthin' of what's goin' on in that pretty head of yours..."

"Uh-huh, right." Kairi stuck her tongue out. "Let me remind you that you're the one who had a crush on Hayner..."

Naminé squealed and blushed. "I didn't know! I didn't know, okay! Good Gawd!"

Kairi and Naminé laughed at the memories for a time, and then they both eventually sighed and settled down.

"Poor Hayner," said Naminé. "He wanted so bad to be a Marine."

"I'm sure he'll recover." Kairi nodded. "Yeah—you know that popular tournament thing spreadin' around? The whatchamacallits..."

"Y'mean the Struggle Battles?"

"Right, those," Kairi snapped her fingers and pointed at Naminé, thankful for the help. "I'll bet he'll love those. Seems like it'd be right up his alley."

"But tournaments don't count as a job," Naminé pointed out.

"There's big prize money. It's a start. Besides, if you're a long-reigning champion, you always get the prize money."

They went silent again. Kairi looked up at the stars, and thought she saw Sora's face in them. She frowned. I must have the Frets real bad if I'm seein' him in the sky, she thought. But I can't help it. I'm so scared. They said they found his blood down there, too... Kairi's face turned grim and she looked down. Her sister frowned.

"Hey..." she hugged Kairi and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, girl, it'll all work out."

"They said they found his blood in that...that...place." Kairi shook his head. "Nami...my poor Sora...what if he got...?" She swallowed, looking up. "I mean...what if he got raped?"

Naminé stared at her for a minute, then drew back and stood up. "Hey, here's a good idea! Mrs. Tilmitt's got Edy's Double-Fudge Chocolate ice cream in the house. Let's go grab the scoopers and eat it until we get fat!"

Kairi joined her sister in standing. "I don't wanna get fat," she complained. "Sora might not like me then."

"Nonsense! Yer gorgeous no matter what, Kairi. Rolls of flesh or not." her sister insisted. "Now come on! Ice cream is Mother Nature's Zoloft!"

Kairi sighed, smiled tranquilly with a shake of her head, and followed Naminé inside. She thanked her for cheering her up as they took out the ice cream scoopers and the tub of chocolate goodness, and ate it straight from the container together.

Author's Notes: Nami's the kind of sister I'd wanna have when I'm feeling this blue.