A/N: So sorry about the late update. Having a job, keeping up with my English papers, and training for my next belt in martial arts has really taken a toll on me. Lots of sleeping. :P But here's chapter 9 for now. Hopefully Havoc will be updated soon as well. Hype is like Skype… I just made up a name for it.

Chapter 9: Face to Face

"Kairi? Are you there?" But Kairi wasn't listening. She had dropped the phone in her lap when her mouth had fallen open.

Sora wanted to chat with her. By video. She thought her heart had stopped.

Hearing the ping of another WS message brought Kairi back. She picked her phone back up and filled in Namine.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Say yes. Duh." Kairi smiled despite the nervous feeling settling in her stomach.

You to Fainn: I would say yes.

Fainn to You: Do you have a Hype?

You to Fainn: Yep. KairiSinclaire.

Fainn to You: Added. Would you like to get on now?

Kairi bit her bottom lip. She was in her pajamas already: a purple tank top and black shorts. Thinking fast, she put on a bra and ran her brush through her hair then double checked her face in a mirror before replying back.

You to Fainn: Sure. Just let me pull it up. I'm signing out of WS though.

Fainn to You: Alright. See ya there then. ;)

Kairi fanned herself to keep from blushing while pulling up Hype, an internet program that allowed live video chat alongside instant messaging. As soon as she had signed in, a pop up informed her that "xSorax" had requested to add her. Her heart racing, Kairi accepted and waited impatiently for him to start a conversation. Luckily she didn't have to wait long.

Sora: You ready?

Kairi: Ready as I'll ever be.

Sora: Don't be nervous.

Kairi: Too late.

xSorax has invited you to a private video chat. Will you accept?

Kairi took a deep breath, adjusted her top, and then clicked "yes".

Back in Sora's room…

Sora fidgeted with his fingers and tapped his foot as he waited for a response. He released a breath he hadn't known he was holding as his screen began loading new video feed from Kairi. He smiled when he saw her beautiful face grace his screen. She was in a purple tank top, the hint of her bra straps showing, and her long auburn hair curled slightly just passed her shoulders. She had a cute blush across her cheeks as she smiled at him shyly.

Pictures did not do Kairi justice. She was even more beautiful staring at him from the computer screen than she was in the picture she sent. He couldn't begin imagining what she would be like in person. Seeing her shy smile just made his heart race. What he would do to keep that smile on her face….

"Hey there," Sora said with half a smile. He was suddenly feeling nervous.

Kairi waved and bit her bottom lip.

"What are you up to?" Sora dug for a subject to talk about. Things weren't so easy now that he was seeing her on screen. WS was much different than that. He just had to come up with something interesting. Something that would keep her interest at least. He would settle for talking about painting nails if it meant he could hear her voice.

Kairi just shrugged her shoulders, turning redder by the minute.

"Are you not going to talk?" Sora almost laughed but restrained himself. She was so damn shy.

She shook her head, looking down and away from the camera.

Sora laughed then. "Come on now. It's not that bad."

He heard her sigh quietly, and then… "I don't know what to say."

She had such a sweet, soft voice. He had to keep her talking.

"Tell me what kind of music you like."

She paused, and then finally looked back up at the camera. "Well, a little bit of everything I suppose."

"Ah. Me too. I've been listening to this new band. Maybe you've heard of them?"

Sora talked to Kairi well into the night and early morning. On his end at least. About midnight Kairi's time, she decided it was time for bed. They said their goodnights and each crawled into bed.

Sora pulled up the covers around him and smiled. At least his heart finally felt at peace. There was no more confusion about where Kairi fit in his life. From now on, his mission was to make Kairi Sinclaire his long distance girlfriend. He grabbed his phone from the side-table and sent Riku a text. Not too long after, he fell fast asleep…

Only to be woken up again a few hours later by his brother and best friend.

"Get your ass up." Riku flipped him off the bed and onto the floor with an audible thud.

"Ughhhh… What?" The half-asleep Sora complained.

"Get. Your. Ass. Up." Riku slowly enunciated.

Roxas pried one of his eyes open. "Rise and shine lover boy."

"Get off me you assholes." Sora flailed about, trying to get back in bed.

"You have someone waiting for you downstairs." Roxas sang in his ear.

Sora shot up out of bed, his mind on one thing. "Kairi?"

Roxas and Riku looked at each other and burst out laughing. Sora scratched his head then finally realized what he had said.

"Not… Kairi…"

Riku wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes. "Quite the opposite really."

"Selphie is downstairs, bro," Roxas said.

Back at Kairi's house…

Kairi tossed and turned in bed. The clock read 4:00 AM, but she couldn't sleep no matter how hard she tried. Sora was on her mind, but so was the mysterious Faeron. Seeing Sora had made her forget that Faeron had ever existed, but was it fair to Faeron for her to forget about him and pursue Sora? Then again, she didn't even know who Faeron really was or where he lived.

She knew Sora lived far, far away. Over oceans, she guessed, because of the time difference. She touched her cellphone and wished she could talk to him again. He had such a nice voice, one she could fall asleep listening to. Kairi knew in her heart that she had feelings for Sora, but did he have feelings for her? Or was it just in his nature to flirt? Did their conversation on Hype mean something to him? She knew more about the real Sora now than she had ever known through WarScape.

So what did she do now?