I don't really think anyone's even reading this, kind of sad isn't it? Too bad, CAUSE IT IS GOING TO GET GOOD… So yeah, keep on reading, kids.
Disclaimer: Don't own it! Don't own Kingdom Hearts! Just the story, people.
A/N: - Authors Notes.
'thoughts'
"dialog"
emphasis
emphasis
and look! more emphasis
Chapter 1: 96 TearsBeads of sweat formed on the boy's face. His upper lip was moist and drenched bangs hugged around his face. Today there was no breeze; hot, humid, the moisture just hung in the air. The heavy grey clouds marched slowly across the dreary sky, below a boy leaned back against a great oak tree and rested his hands on his knees,
"So she's totally moved in then?" Sora asked breathing heavily, while using the back of his wrist to wipe off his forehead.
"Yep, just moved the last of it Wednesday." She grunted at the end. She balanced herself high up in the tree, Kairi was on all fours with her pink and blue pastel dress was tied in a knot up on her thigh. She had one hand extended out towards a pair of nice dress shoes. Her finger brushed against a black strap, still wasn't close enough. Suddenly a pearly white barrette slipped out of her hair and fell to the ground. She hugged the tree and looked down,
"Sora, my barrette just fell, can you find it?" Sora threw his jacket off his lap, stood up and searched around the wet grass for awhile,
"You should've let me get your shoes, we could've been home by now." Sora spotted the barrette; it was glowing against the grass. He bent down to pick it up and started to examine it, then looked up to Kairi once she spoke,
"Don't give me that, you would've broken this branch and been in the dirt in no time." Sora smirked as placed his hands in his short pockets along with the barrette. He kept looking up at the amusing scene with Kairi who was struggling and cursing at the shoes just out of her reach. She lunged at the shoes again, missed, and then quickly embraced the tree before she lost her balance. She had managed to hit them through because they now swung slowly back and forth, taunting Kairi. She was out of breath, not only because of the exhaust it took to get her shoes, but also because of the humidity and heat that engulfed her. She combed back her sticky bangs and heard Sora,
"You know, now that I think of it, being the most responsible and mature one in the house usually means that you don't run bare foot home from school and then throw your shoes in the air where they get caught in a tree…" Kairi's tongue curled over her upper lip as she reached out again and failed to take the shoes. The branch shook again and she gasped as she bear hugged the limb.
"Hey…" She looked down at Sora, not really knowing how to reply, "…Shut up." Kairi looked back at the shoes that she now loathed. She crawled out a little farther on the branch and once it started to groan she stopped. Very delicately, she reached up and grabbed the shoes. Once Kairi had a firm grip on them, she inch-wormed herself back to the trunk of the tree and started to climb down. She sat where the trunk split and dangled her feet over the edge. Kairi then hopped down but lost her balance and landed on her rear. Sora offered her a hand and lifted her up.
"Well we better get going, Kai, it looks like it's going to rain soon." Sora said as he squinted up at the sky. Kairi looked up and shaded her eyes from what little light pierced through the clouds,
"Yeah, I guess you're right." They both headed down the road.
Sora was now twelve and Kairi would be catching up to his age in about two months. Once Aerith turned eighteen she married Cloud and moved into the city, her father ended up approving the marriage in the end. But even Kairi's father ended up having a happy ending. Him and Sora's 'father', Ansem, combined their property so they could make more money, when it came to selling more crops and goods in Traverse Town. This also caused Ansem to start going a lot easier on Sora, life was starting to turn around for him. School had just been let out for the summer; everything was very normal, very casual..
CRASH! A piece of china shattered against the wall into a million pieces.
"DISGUSTING! ABSOLUTELY, REPOLSIVE PIG!" Marisa tipped over the coffee table causing everything to fly off and collide with the ground, wall, door, hitting anywhere in the room. She was ecstatic with anger, enraged; the whole room was in chaos. The father stood in the doorway dumbfounded and confused about how he managed to be found out.
"How could I ever bring myself to marry a piece of garbage like you?" She kicked the coffee table again, out of pure red anger and looked up to him, furry in her usually beautiful, bright, emerald eyes. Mascara ran down to her chin, her hair looked as though someone had tried to pull it out but instead was satisfied with rubbing it against two balloons. She lifted a coffee mug and starred towards her husband in the doorway. She choked on her tears for some time and then scrunched up her face in disgust. She started out soft and calm but firm,
"Who do you think you are," Marisa took small and slow steps towards him and took a shaky deep breath, "you bastard, 'going to town for errands', YOU SICK BASTARD!" She hurled the mug towards her spouse where it smash into smithereens upon the wood frame of the door. He flinched and then started towards her, he wasn't going to put up with this anymore; after all, she was destroying the house and acting totally mental. Marisa began backing up repeating quietly, almost to herself, 'don't touch me, don't touch me…' He restrained her by grabbing her wrists,
"You are gonna start calming down right now, fucking lunatic!" He yelled at her, she couldn't escape from his grasp so she just kept shaking her head back and forth. "Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me…" She muttered over and over again.
"Are you fucking hearing me?" Marisa started softly crying again and then stopped muttering so she could push him away.
The wooden and screen doors at the front of the house slammed behind them. Sora and Kairi removed their soaked jackets they were holding above their heads and looked around the house; shards of glass china, vases and other pottery or fragile adornments coated the floor. Her fathers desk had been opened and ransacked, papers scattered everywhere on and around the desk. Kairi dropped her jacket and bag and looked towards her tousled and distraught looking mother and her furious father. She scanned the room again,
"…What happened…?" Kairi asked softy and confused. Sora stood by the door, unsure of what to do in this kind of position. Marisa starred at the kids worriedly, not sure of what to say. The father looked at Kairi and Sora as well, but then started to smile,
"Don't worry about it, it was jus—"
"I'm leaving, and I am taking all the children with me!" Marisa starred coldly at the father of the household, she started to cough,
"Kairi, your father has just proven his disloyalty towards me," Marisa tried to stop crying, but the words were just so painful for her.
"…What?" Kairi was beginning to look really worried though. Her mother saw this and just started to think of what could happen next.
Kairi stood there shaking her head, her violet glossy eyes quivered as well. She was so confused, 'how could this happen?' She closed her eyes and gulped, taking it all in, and then took deep breaths. 'I don't understand…' Warmth gingerly touched her shoulders. Sora didn't know what to do other than just comfort Kairi, it felt so awkward for him to be in the middle of all of this.
He softly spoke, "Kairi—"
"Kairi!" Her step mother interrupted, both mauve and sapphire eyes looked up, "Meet your brother and sister on their way home and go back to Sora's house." Marisa then turned and fixed her angry eyes on her ex-husband, "Cause we'll be leaving soon."
XXX
Marisa ended up leaving Ptolemor, but not with all of her children; Kairi was left behind. Marisa fought and fought to win her in court but the judge decided on her own that it was only fair that the father got to keep one child to take care of him and the house. Everyone cried the day Marisa, Rikku and Tidus left. The two little blondes latched onto the redhead and wept, no one wanted to see anyone being left behind. Marisa brought Kairi and Sora together in front of her, she knelt down and looked both of them in the eyes,
"Remember, you two; if you ever need anything, you can come to me."
Kairi took deep breaths and Sora's expression was one in deep thought, but both answered nodding their heads. Sora and Kairi watched their train depart, they stood on the platform until the train disappeared.
"I'm not going to cry anymore." Sora turned to Kairi, a little confused, but she kept starring down the empty tracks.
"What are you saying?" Sora transferred all of his attention to her but she kept her eyes fixed on the tracks, "Kairi?" She didn't answer though.
'What's happening?' Sora asked himself as he fiddled with the little white barrette inside his pocket.
XXX
A couple of weeks later…
Sora took the hose and doused his head. He was around the back of the house, and it was another hot day, and it was especially hot now at noon. He blindly reached for a towel he rested on the porch rail. He groped around the rail and then gave up and threw down the hose.
"Does it look weird?" Sora flew up his head to see a blurry figure,
"Oh, Here." The figure held out something white, Sora took the towel and started wiping his face,
"What's up, Kai?--" He removed the cloth from his face and examined her,
"Wow" Sora said shakily and a bit shocked, "Your hair! It's--"
"Does it really look that bad," She lightly touched the sides of her head, "Aerith cut it too short…" Kairi stood dressed in a pair of new baby blue kaprees and a frilly white shirt with a bow in the back, her hair, not a shoulder length cut but now a short shag that stopped just below her chin.
"It's not too short." Sora commented as he finished wiping the last of his face, "I think it looks good like that, actually." Sora grinned his famous grin. Kairi's eyes grew a little wide, "Really? It looks good?"
"Yeah," Sora walked over to Kairi but before he could continue Kairi interrupted, "Wow, Sora. You're getting tall!" Sora stopped in front of her and gave a look of confusion, as to how the subject changed from her hair to his height.
"Look," Kairi's hand followed an imaginary line, leading from the top of her head to his. You could see the dramatic angle the hand drew as she compared heights; it was between two to three inches, "Man, you're going to be getting tall… I swear at the beginning of the year we were the exact height." She used her hand to comb through her hair, and Sora proudly smiled.
"But don't get too cocky, the hair probably adds a couple inches." She said smirking.
The first couple of weeks after Marisa left Aerith would visit the house and teach Kairi various chores a woman would have to do. She taught her how to cook meals and how to properly take care of the livestock and crops. Since Ansem was going so easy on Sora lately, whenever Sora finished his chores he would go over to Kairi's to help. Kairi's father though, seemed to get more and more depressed, and who could blame him after Marisa left.
A year and some months later passed and it was that time of the year again. Every fall, traders would come from all sorts of different districts to buy the crops and livestock goods Ptolemor harvested. Sora was asked to drive the sheep into town so they could be professionally sheared and have their coats sold. Why shouldn't Ansem send him? After all he was old enough now. He would be staying at Aerith and Cloud's for the weekend while it was done.
He woke up at six in the morning to start his walk into town; it would take at least half of the day to get there and pay to have the sheep separately marked and pinned for shearing.
Sora started his journey on the dusty trail, kind of looking forward for a weekend off in Traverse Town. The long walk was very tiresome and hot though. There was a breeze, but it wasn't very strong. The outskirts of the town started to come into vision. From now on, Sora stood on the side of the dirt road, while more cars whizzed by.
Sora was now inside the ends of the messy little town and started to ask directions towards the Wool Works Company of Ptolemor (A/N: Yeah, I know 'Wool Works Company', I am just super creative, right?)
Sora could see that most of the pins were filling up, so he quickly herded the sheep into a corner pin. He counted the sheep again, just to be sure, and called to the collie that came trotting happily out of the pin. Sora looked at the black and white collie, poor thing hadn't had a drink all day.
"Filled out the paperwork yet?" Sora turned around, a large bearded white man with a bit of a potbelly stood in front of him. He had a big red pickle shaped nose, it grew red at the tip. He also had the rosiest cheeks with a grin from ear to ear. Sora looked him examined him, his eyes scanned his body up and down.
"Sir?" Sora asked, his voice cracked at the end and he quickly grabbed the sore throat, 'Damn it, I hate it when that happens!'
"Filled out the paperwork yet?" The man kept grinning and even added a chuckle at the end. Now he was starting to remind Sora of Santa clause,
"Uh, no sir I haven't yet…" Sora was still rubbing his throat, trying to give a grin.
"Oh, well then just fill this out here, and put your information and your company or family name, you are registered in Traverse Town, right?" The large red-nosed man handed a clipboard to Sora along with a pen. Sora took it and smiled thanking him, "Yeah our name is." The red man chuckled again and peeked down on the form Sora was scribbling on.
"So how old are you, young man?" His chipper attitude clashed with his low and raspy voice. Sora didn't look up from the clip board,7
77"Fourteen."
77"Really? Fourteen?" He bellowed, and straightened his stance placing his hands across his chest or more like resting them on his protruding stomach. He was wearing a sweat stained wife beater, with a pair of tan trousers.7 His suspenders lied limp on each side. Sora had on a pair of raggedy old cargo shorts, and scuffed up sneakers. His dirty white t-shirt fell over his lean frame. His skin was very tan, and his body; very toned.
"Brings me back…" The man's eyes drifted out of focus for a moment as he trailed off. Sora looked up once or twice, and then continued filling out the form. With his eyes still looking off into space the man kept talking,
"You know, you are about to live the best years of your life,"
'The best years of your life…'
Sora ignored the last comment and kept writing, the man was very friendly and everything, it's just that Sora really wanted to check out the town.
"How much do think it's going to for a head?" Sora completed the form and handed the clipboard back to the large man. The large man hesitated answering his question and read over the form, flipping sheets to see if everything was correctly filled out. Then his eyes grew wide, and he looked back at Sora,
"We're thinkin' this year's gonna be about four dollars a single," Sora looked disappointed, 'thought at least it would go to five…', "but seeing how your Ansem's boy, how about eight per head?" Sora's face lightened up, he choked,
"Ei-eight?" Sora asked, maybe he heard differently… but no! The man replied with a slight nod! Eight dollars? Is he serious? With about thirty-five sheep that's like two hundred and eighty right there! We're rich, totally rich!
"Thank you sir, thank you very much!" Sora shook the man's great palm with two hands,
"That's no trouble at all, you can come in here, in about two days and we should have everything ready for you… Alright?" Yes, there is a plus to being Ansem's slave for such a long time. Oh thank God.
He then nodded his head, anxious to leave and go into town, "Well, thank you for getting me set—"
"Look at those two, discusting… Doesn't a pair of perverts have anything better to do?" His microscopic eyes peered over his rosy cheeks and past Sora, and locked onto some traders standing across the street against small wooden building, they were eying and calling out to local women who walked by. Sora turned around to look, he could only place them as the lowest of the low, just a bunch of morons and losers with nothing better to do then fondle and make crude remarks to girls. That's not just coming from a 'good heart', he does live with three girls, and a man who refused to speak and even thought it was dishonorable to look at other women after his first spouse died.
"One thing bad about this time of the year, outsiders come in and start causing a muck in town, thinkin' they're on vacation or somethin'." He could only agree with the middle-aged man standing next to him.
Suddenly a hand jumped out from by his side and one of the men chassed after a woman's ass. She shrieked and turned around to the man puckering up his lips, giving imaginary kisses and smooches to the air in front of her.
"Hey!" The large man that stood next to Sora moved in on the scene and started criticizing and yelling at the traders. Sora could see from where he was standing that the traders were walking towards him too, yelling back. Sora saw all of this but decided it was best to stay out of it. He and his collie started off down the dirt road into the heart of Traverse Town.
XXX
The next two days were spent in total bliss. Sora got lost downtown and used a bit of spending money he saved up to but some new clothing and sneakers. He might not have gotten the new hot styles imported from the urban districts but these threads would keep him clothed for the next year at least. He stayed at Aerith Cloud's for the weekend, eating the most exquisite food; he could taste Marisa's recipes and tricks in the cooking. He also had a room all to himself: it was fantastic! After collecting the money on the third day, he asked the workers there if he could just keep the sheep here for another night. Other than the total crowded streets from the traders and such, this weekend was just the kind of vacation Sora needed.
Sora walking with Cloud downtown when something shimmered out of the corner of his eye. It was a jewel glittering in a store window. His eyes moved up to read the store name, Rebecca Originals. The glare of the jewel pulled Sora across the street towards the window. He gazed into the glass, upon a small, shiny yellow orb that hung on a single. It glowed. It was sitting in the middle of the display, next to it a small folded card read, "The Yellow Canary Island Pearl… Imported… $xxx.xx" He starred into his reflection on the pearl,
"Who's it for?" Cloud spoke behind him, hands in pockets. Sora looked back at him and then at the pearl. The one person that entered his thoughts when he saw it was Kairi. Her birthday is in a couple of months anyways, this would make the perfect gift. He fiddled with the small barrette in his shorts pocket, should he buy it? 'Of course' He thought, 'she's worth every penny and more…' His best friend would flip after she saw this.
"Don't tell anyone about this, Cloud…" Sora turned to him after the man gave Sora the now gift wrapped necklace.
"I won't," Cloud pushed the store bell open, the bells on the handle softly jingled,
"I'm really serious about this, if my 'dad' finds out he will have my head for it." Cloud promised again that he wouldn't tell a soul and then turned to Sora and added,
"You deserve giving this gift. You've done a lot, this is also your reward."
But all vacations must come to an end, and on the fourth day Sora left for home. Aerith hugged him and told him to greet Yuffie and the other children for her, Cloud placed a hand on a shoulder and sarcastically said to him to get a job and stop freeloading off of other people; all three of them laughed.
He walked alongside the road with the pink-naked sheep and the black and white collie. Cars whizzed by and by again. Some just coming in and others leaving Ptolemor with truckloads of goods.
Sora arrived at the house at about three o' clock in the afternoon. He was first greeted by Rinoa who ran up and hug him, asking if he brought anything back for her. Second was Yuffie, wanting to know how much money he managed to bargain for. And last was Ansem who Sora directly went to.
For the past two years Sora was safe from Ansem's beatings. Well, there were the occasional punches to the back of the head, but it's DEFINITELY way better than what it used to be. Even though it's been a long time since a beating, Sora's heart would still pound rapidly over and over when Ansem was near.
It was doing that now; thumping, beating, thrashing about inside. He approached the small wooden house with the wrap-around porch and trotted up the steps. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded envelope, extended his hand and waited for Ansem to take it. The man had not smiled or greeted Sora or even say hello, he just took the envelope and Sora's greeting would depend on what lied inside.
Ansem poked a finger inside the top of the replacement envelope. Sora's mind raced as his finger slid slowly across, tearing the envelope's 'skull' right open. His hand went in for the dissection and he slowly pulled out some small bills, twenties to be exact. Sora held his breath as he flipped through the bills and counted to himself. Without wrecking his count Ansem spoke,
"How much did you manage to get?" Ansem's voice seemed more cruel and mean than usual. Sora started to stumble over his words,
"Uh, t-two hundred, yeah…" Yuffie's gasp sounded in the backround, she admired the money from the bottom of the steps. Sora wiped off his hands on his shirt while still counting the money with Ansem; the whole scene and process seemed to travel in slow motion. Ansem's eyes flickered up at Sora's, Sora quickly shifted weight back and forth,
"Oh, uh, I mean sir." Ansem flipped through the last bill, and starred down at the wad of money.
Slowly,
Ansem
nodded,
in approval.
He took one last look at Sora and then turned and walked inside the house, letting the screen door slam behind him. Sora let out a huge exhale. Yuffie and Rinoa paraded around Sora,
"Two hundred bucks! We're rich! How did you manage to get all that money off of our crappy sheep!" Yuffie excitedly asked.
"Don' know, just luck I guess!" Sora was so relieved that Ansem had not found out about the money, thank God…
XXX
"Where's Tifa?" Sora asked Yuffie as they walked back from the sheep pins. They rounded the corner of the house, picked up Sora's bags from town and started walking down the porch towards his room.
"Oh she's in here," Sora entered his room and was about to start another, "I have to have a room by my self now, you need to stay in yours. Respect…" ect. ect..
But before he could start, she grinned and dramatically motioned towards him, "Sora!" but something held her back.
"Hi Sora." Kairi spoke she was sitting on his bed, braiding Tifa's hair.
"Stop moving so much, Tifa!" Kairi giggled, "You're messing up your braid!" Sora walked into his room and dropped his bags near the other, unoccupied, bed.
"Kai, what are you doing here?" Kairi finished braiding Tifa's hair, Tifa jumped off of the bed and ran over to Sora, tackling him in the stomach. An 'Ugh' sound followed from Sora but he gently hugged her back,
"My dad was tired and has been sleeping all day…" Kairi turned to face Sora and dangled her legs over the side of the bed, she was wearing dark blue jeans, a pink shirt and a small fitting black jacket, even if it was lightweight, Sora still wondered how she could ever bare to wear such an outfit in this heat.
"So I thought I would skip my chores and hang out with Yuffie until you came back." The nineteen year old called over to Tifa and they both left the room giggling. Kairi hopped off the bed,
"There better be something for me in all of those shopping bags." She tried t ask serious.
"Oh c'mon, it's like three bags…" Sora argued, ignoring the 'buy me something' part of the comment.
XXX
The rest of the day was spent mostly in the kitchen. Yuffie and Kairi washed dishes and after that started to prepare supper. They did this while listening to what Sora did in Traverse Town, and during that Sora was playing cards with Rinoa. Tifa fell asleep on the couch. It was a day of relaxation over all. Sora asked Kairi if she needed to go home many times, but she insisted that she wasn't needed there yet and that she have fun here, even if it was washing dishes…
XXX
Sora's P.O.V.After supper Kairi and I decided to go outside on the porch and talk some more. We rambled on about pointless things, and that's when I noticed how late it was getting.
"Hey the sun is starting to go down…" I noticed and then turned my vision from the sun to Kairi, she wasn't smiling anymore,"Do you want me to walk you home?" When I asked her she looked disappointed, like she didn't want to leave or something. But she had to go; her father needed her, he couldn't bare another woman walking out of his life.
"Yeah, okay.." She was unsure…
We walked back around the porch so I could grab a jacket, and I swear, there was so much tension surrounding us. I felt like I couldn't breath, it was such a gloomy and depressing atmosphere surrounding us. Where did all this come from? Was it coming from her? Kairi?
We stepped and Kairi sat on my bed a minute. I rustled through a bag I had brought into town and grabbed my black jacket. I turned around and saw Kairi biting on her nails starring at the ground. Her eyes were glazed over, her body tensed up for a minute and she scrunched up her face to the floor.
"Kairi?" I grabbed her attention, she innocently looked up to me and then back at the ground, before tears started escaping her eyes.
"What's up with you?" A warm question. She glanced back at me once and then had to look away. She choked on her words,
"N-nothing's wrong." She sniffed after her sentence, and her heavy breathing became shaky and weak, trying to hold back the tears. I slowly walked over to the bad and sat down facing her. I was so confused everything was going fine, what was up? She was still looking the other way,
"I'm just really missing my mom right now.." She said maybe a little too fast. Deep in thought, I hesitated a moment longer than necessary,
"Really, what is it?" I lightly touched her arm and she flinched. She then turned to me with wet violet eyes and shaky breathing. I starred back at her until she broke down, "Sora," She sad sobbing helplessly, she continued with sniffing and coughing on her sobs. She continued with those three words I would never ever want to slip out of her lips,
"I was raped."
Chapter 1: 96 Tears… End.
XXX
DUN, DUN, DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN….
YEAH! ON WITH THE TRAGEDY AND ANGST! I bet you guys liked this chapter better than the last, no? Well the next one is even better! So keep on reading and such… Oh and during this chapter I listened to a lot of Pilotdirft – great band, no wait… AN AWESOME BAND, if I had to describe it, it would be like a cross between David Bowie and the White Stripes. They aren't very big yet, I think their first album came out last September; so they are pretty new. I was also listening mostly to The Strokes – Another terrific band, way more known than Pilotdrift. Ahem, Fabrizio is sexy…. ANYWAYS, check them out, they were my muses for this chapter. Good bands, good bands.
The next chapter opens up the whole story, all the way. Well, either that one or the one after it. So please, keep reading.
OH! And I want to thank everyone that reviewed the first chapter. YOU ARE GOOD PEOPLE! You don't know how much one little review from a person does for me, IT BRINGS SUCH HAPPINESS!
So I'll stop talking now, BE SAFE KIDS AND KEEP READING!
Later Days!