All night Sora couldn't sleep. He kept dreaming that he was running through the white corridors in a hospital, looking for Denzel. Every time he opened a door, he would see Kairi inside kissing Briar. The next day he woke up with bloodshot eyes and a pounding headache.

"Sora," his mother called through the door.

"mmghmm," Sora grumbled, too tired to move his mouth.

"We got a call from the hospital," his mother continued. Sora's eyes opened wide and he ran to the door and yanked it open.

"And?" he practically yelled. "Is Denzel alright?"

"Yeah he's okay. He's just really weak. I don't know why he called here though. You must be really good friends." Sora's mum walked away.

He remembered that they had swapped numbers in English the other day.

As Sora got ready, his mother's words echoed inside his head. "You must be really good friends." They'd only just met, but Denzel seemed to have no other friends. A resolution set in Sora's mind and he bolted downstairs.

"Mum!" he called, just as she was opening the front door. "Do you mind if instead of going to school today, I go to see Denzel with a couple of the others?"

"Sure honey, I'll just clear it with the school."

A quarter of an hour later Sora, Namine, Roxas, Selphie and Cloud were on their way to the Destiny Islands Hospital.

"Hey!" Selphie said in a bubbly tone. The secretary just cast her a bored expression.

"What is it?"

"We're here to see our friend Denzel," Selphie said, her smile not drooping one bit.

"Down the hall to the left," and with that the secretary blew a bubble of her gum in Selphie's face. Selphie just grinned.

The moment the group of them walked away, the smile dropped off her face. "What a bitch!" she muttered to them. Sora smiled despite the gloomy atmosphere of the hospital.

The five walked past the hospital gift shop. Cloud stopped them all, suggesting they all pitch in some money to get Denzel something. Inside the shop, they split up looking for a good present. Sora walked past a whole shelf full of Valentine's Day items.

"Hey Selphie!" Sora called to the brunette.

"Yeah?"

"Valentine's Day isn't until the 14th of February is it?"

"Yeah," Selphie said and continued to searching the shelves.

'Hmm…' Sora thought to himself. February 14th was a whole month away! He looked at the items for sale with curiosity. The were the usual cliché things, like the teddy bear that said, "I heart you" or the box of chocolates in the shape of a love heart. However, something at the very far corner of the display caught Sora's eye. He picked it up and peered at it. It was a charm bracelet. There was a charm of a Poupu fruit and there was one of a crown, and one of a sort of key thing. Sora's train of thought lead him to Kairi.

Ten minutes the later they walked out with chocolates, flowers and a get well soon card. Sora pocketed the charm bracelet with a huge grin on his face.

They followed the secretary's directions (which weren't very helpful) and came to a ward. The woman hadn't told them which room Denzel was in, so they walked along the corridor peeking inside the rooms that had their doors open.

"Hey guys! It's this one!" Cloud called out the others.

A passing nurse shushed him. When the others caught up, Cloud muttered, "What is this, a library?"

Sora opened the door and cautiously stepped inside. He hated hospitals, ever since his grandmother had fallen ill with cancer. Everyday he'd visit her in hospital even though he loathed the atmosphere. She had been in the ward with all the other elderly people and everyday he'd sit there with her, while some of the others there never had any visitors. It had filled him with sorrow and once she passed away, he had resolved to never go there again. 'But here I am,' he thought.

"Sora?" A weak voice called from the bed. Sora walked up to Denzel, grinning cheerfully.

"Hey man! How ya doin'?

"Still breathing," Denzel smiled.

Sora felt the others' presence behind him and nudged Cloud who in turn nudged Namine. It was like dominos. Selphie was the last to get nudged and she walked forward holding out the gifts to Denzel. The younger boy's eyes went wide and he looked around at each of them.

"Guys, you really didn't have to," he said in an awed voice. "You've known me all of what, one day, maybe two?"

"Well, kid, we're hoping your planning on sticking around eh?" Cloud said, stepping forward to ruffle Denzel's hair.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing cards and listening to music in Denzel's room. No one asked him why he was there, no one thought it necessary. 'He'll tell us when it feels right,' Sora thought. Another thought struck him simultaneously.

"Hey Denzel, you're coming to Selphie's right?" Sora asked him.

"Yeah! Denzel, you gotta!" Selphie enthused.

"Oh, I'd like to," Denzel began. 'There's no reason for me not to go now that they all know. "But, I don't' know if I'll be well before you have it."

"I'm postponing it till you get well, then!" Selphie said stoutly.

Denzel laughed. "Then I guess I have to come!"

Sora arrived home in a good mood. The afternoon hadn't been all that horrible. He had spent it with his friends, even though it was a hospital. 'Maybe hospitals aren't that bad?' he thought. 'I wonder what the other's got up to at school.'

When Sora got home, he ran upstairs and logged onto his computer. He signed onto the instant messenger and five conversations appeared at once.

Princess Peach says:

Sora! You missed it! Did you hear what happened at school yet? You won't believe it!

Rikuisdaman says:

Sora! You're going to want to punch someone when you hear this so can I bring my lil bro over and tell u in person?

Aerith:

Heaps of people must be asking you this right now, but did you hear what happened at school?

The rest of the conversations ran along the same lines as, "Did you hear what happened at school?" Sora just logged out without chatting to anyone and sprinted over to Riku's house, which was just down the road. Sora hammered on the front door, his heart filling with dread. The only reason why people would be asking him is he knew what happened is if it involved him. Sora hated conflict almost as much as he hated Briar Thorn. Riku opened the door just as Sora was about to knock.

"Woah, watch it there bud!" Riku exclaimed as Sora narrowly avoided accidentally knocking on Riku's face instead of the door.

"Whathappenedatschool?" Sora said in one breath, anxious to just hear it and get it over with.

"Hang on just let me get the little brat so you can use him an anger vent," Riku tried to retreat back inside while calling "Brat get out here!" when Sora grabbed his sleeve.

"Tell me NOW!" Sora said in a frustrated voice.

"Okay, okay. Well. Word on the school hall is that Briar and Kairi are going steady."

Boy was Sora going to kick that guy's arse.

After bidding farewell to Riku, Sora decided he was too angry to go home and bum around. Instead, he jogged down to the beach, thinking things over.

'Kairi wouldn't do that. She wouldn't kiss me and then go out with Briar Thorn, just because of one fight. The fight wasn't even that sensible! How could she do that to me!' The only reasonable answer was that she didn't.

Sora resolved to get the full story from Kairi the next day.

That night Sora dreamt that the tree house was full of strangers. They were ripping apart all the photos of Sora and Kairi. Sora woke up just as they were tearing the last one. The spiky haired boy walked into his bathroom and had a shower. He got out and put on his school uniform. A few of his clothes from yesterday's trip to the hospital lay strewn about, so Sora did a little cleaning. He picked up the pants he had worn and as he did the charm bracelet he bought for Kairi fell out. Smiling, he picked it up. 'If words don't work as an apology, I'm sure this will,' Sora thought.

He met up with Riku on the way to school. Sora grinned cheerfully to the silver haired boy.

"Hey Riku!" he called. Riku stopped and peered closely at Sora's face, inspecting him as if there were something wrong with him.

"You're taking this surprisingly well," Riku said suspiciously. "What have you got up your sleeve?"

Sora looked surprised. "Nothing! I just figure that Kairi wouldn't do that to me. I have faith in her."

"All right man, but if it were me I would have murdered Briar in his sleep," Riku said, only half jokingly.

The minute Sora walked through the school gates everyone started whispering to each other inaudibly.

"What are they whispering about?" Sora asked curiously.

"About you, Kairi and Briar, der brain!" Riku said.

"Wah! Why would they? It's not as if Kairi and me posted bulletins about us!" Sora exclaimed and then suddenly held his hand over his mouth, realising that he had just told Riku about his relationship with Kairi.

"Get over it Sora, I knew you two'd end up together years ago," Riku said flippantly, waving a hand at Sora. "And I'm guessing they all did too," he gestured to the school students.

"Well," Sora said huffily. He had thought that he had been keeping that secret well, but obviously not.

Riku ruffled his hair, sensing his friend's oncoming bad mood. "Don't get in a bad mood yet will ya? Save it for Briar."

"Oh yeah! I have to go see Kai-" The bell signalling the beginning of lessons rang and Sora had no time to finish his sentence, let alone act upon it.

He bolted to his locker and then to his home class. Mr Olde's was guarding the door like an old man guards his teeth.

"You're late Mr. Hikaru," he said nastily to Sora. (A/N: Sorry I couldn't come up with a better last name for Sora)

"Yeah, well whatever," Sora said, not in the mood to deal with this teacher.

"Detention," Mr Olde's said viciously.

"What? I don't want to be under your "supervision", or rather lack of."

Mr Olde's went red and just pointed to Sora's seat. The brunette sat down, noticing that the teacher had written up a tally of the detentions Sora owed. He was up to 6. Sora's mood worsened.

First up in the morning was double English, which cheered Sora up measurably. Sora walked into the English classroom, hoping to see Kairi there but oddly enough she wasn't. Sora took a seat next to his friend Meg. There was barely enough time to exchange a greeting before the lesson started. An hour and a half later the bell rang, signalling recess. Sora got up and stretched before heading out to the oval with the rest of his friends.

Sora was chatting away to Roxas and Namine and noticed that Kairi still wasn't at school.

"Has anyone seen Kairi?" Sora asked the group.

"Oh she's at the dentist, she's coming soon though," Namine told him.

"Oh, okay…so who're people going to Selphie's with?" Sora asked glancing at Namine and Roxas slyly. They pretended not to notice him.

"Yuna and I are going together," Tidus grinned while Yuna smiled shyly.

"Aw!" the other's chorused.

"You two make a great couple!" Selphie squealed. This time Tidus blushed while Yuna grinned.

Selphie turned to Cloud. "Who're you going with Cloudey?" she asked.

"Oh wouldn't YOU like to know," Cloud said teasingly.

"C'mon you have to tell me!"

"You'll find out soon enough," Cloud said, and then he got up and walked over to where Wakka was playing blitz ball.

Sora thought he had a good idea who Cloud was taking, but decided not to say anything and ruin it. Just as he was about to ask Roxas who he was taking, he saw Kairi walking down the pavement that ran alongside the oval.

"Guys, I'll be right back," Sora called to the others as he made his way over to her.

"Hey Kai!" Sora said, jumping in front of her to surprise her.

"Oh! Hey Sora," Kairi said, looking a little guilty.

"So, what happened while I was away?" Sora said, seeking to give her an opportunity to explain.

"Sora! I'm sorry! It's not true. Don't believe what people are saying!"

"Kai-" Sora began.

"No let me explain!" Kairi cut him off. "Okay well after English I went to talk to Briar to tell him there was no way in hell I was going to go with him to Selphie's, and that I was going with you. And then he said, okay. And I was like, well he's taking this well, but I didn't worry about it. Then five minutes later there's this rumour going around that we're going out!" Kairi finished, red faced. "Please believe me Sora," She said pleadingly.

"Of course I believe you Kairi! I gave you the benefit of the doubt as soon as I heard it! I knew you would never do that."

Kairi looked relieved. "Oh! And I'm sorry about yelling at you. I know you don't think I'm your property and all that."

"Don't give it another thought Kai. Now I want you to close your eyes and hold out your hands."

Kairi looked surprised but did as Sora bid. He dug into his pocket and produced the charm bracelet. He dropped it into her hands and said "Okay now you can look!"

Kairi's mouth dropped open. "Sora!" She squealed, in a tone so high Sora winced. She hugged him, squeezing all of his breath out of his body. "I love it!"

"Does this mean you'll go with me to Selphie's?" Sora asked teasingly, already knowing the answer.

"It's a date!" Kairi said cheerfully.

All right all right, I know not very good but hey I finally updated! Wooot. I'm really sorry bout not updating but I got soooo busy with schoolwork it's not funny. But hey, just to make it up to you guys, it was extra long. I think it's the longest chapter I've ever written! Although it might not be very good. Anyway, any thoughts as to who Cloud's taking?

Oh and when he's like talking about apologising with the charm bracelet, I know that's a bit of a loophole there cause Kairi should be apologising but if you remember, Kairi was angry at Sora for saying she was his "possession" even though Sora didn't say that. Anyway yes I'm sure you understand what I'm rambling about.

Sora: Ooh ooh I know I know!

Me: Hush now pet we'll let them find out for themselves

Sora: Hey I'm not your pet