Chapter 2

"What's in a name?"

Boy's p.o.v.

I stood in the middle of a room. It was much lit, the large windows in front of me showed a beautiful sunset. The scent of pine filled the air, water was audible from here. I was about seventeen, if not less. A wood stave lay across my hands, I knew someone was about to attack me. I jumped to the side, avoiding the hard blow. The smooth wood under my feet quivered slightly. I turned around slowly and there she was. Kairi was taunting me with her stave, I attacked, and missed her head by an inch.

"C'mon, kiddo! You know better than that!" She yelled with a beautiful smile.

"I'm no kid, Kairi." I objected with a glare.

"Then if you're no kid, why d'you hit like one?" She was definitely taunting me.

"Maybe it's because the instructor hits like one too, or maybe because you haven't seen me at full strength." I jumped to her side and my stave collided with her ankle and her knee. She fell backwards gracefully but I caught her in mid-air.

"I see your reflexes are getting better...Sora." She admitted trying to get away from my strong arms, I held her even closer.

"I know." Sora, she called me Sora…is that my name? She shifted slowly in my arms. I loosened my grip around her and helped her get on her feet. She looked at me, the blazing sun in her eyes. She was about to attack me again.

I woke up with a strange feeling. I felt sad for a reason unknown. I sat on my bed replaying the scene again and again and again. She called me 'Sora'. I know my name…I know. Hope filled me as I got up and out of the room and ran through the wood pillars until I got to the stairs. When I got to the top, I found a long corridor. The moon shone brightly over the cherry blossom trees. I ran till I got to the other building. This one was way neater than mine; this one didn't have dust at all. I looked around but no one was there.

"Kairi…Kairi, where are you?" I called.

No answer.

"Kairi...Kai--" Someone covered my mouth with her hands. The person brought her lips close to my ear.

"Silence, you'll wake everyone." It was Kairi's hushed voice. She put her hand down and spun me around. "What are you doing here?" Her clothes were dark and long.

"I know my name." I said innocently. Her face was suddenly lit by her beautiful smile.

"What is it then?"

"Sora...I had a dream and you said so."

"I said so?" Intrigue engulfed her thoughts.

"Yeah, we were training and you said my name."

"Sora...What were we training for?"

"We were fighting with that stave you have. It was a very pretty room. It had a view to the pine tops and the river. It had big, clear windows, I liked it." Kairi pondered some time, suddenly realizing something.

All of a sudden she grabbed my hand and led me into an empty, candle-lit room. This one was very dusty, cobwebs hung from the doorway. She passed carefully, not touching the webs, and let go of my hand when we were in front of the wood sliding door.

"Don't touch a thing, Sora." She warned me with pleading eyes. She took a deep breath and opened the door hesitantly. What I saw inside shocked me in such way, I can almost feel the horror I felt inside that room now. Kairi stared at the floor with shame and disgust.

The room was some kind of prison or place of torture. The walls were stained and made of stone…wait, wasn't the house made of wood? Horrible instruments of painful torture were stained with both dry blood and rust. Some broken bones lay on the floor, forming a small mound. It had a putrid smell, it made me grow nauseous. She took my hand and led me into another room. This one had a window in which the moon looked five times its normal size. There were hundreds of dusty books in three bookshelves, most of them about alchemy or astrology. From the ceiling hung a little mobile that had all the planets aligned with their moons. At the end of the room was a plain brick wall, Kairi stopped and released my hand .The girl murmured something and a white glow came from her chest. The faint light emerged from a glass angel that dangled from her neck to her chest on a leather string. She took the glass figure in her hands and closed her eyes, I felt dizzy all of a sudden. Wind blew her hair gently, she looked like a porcelain doll, so perfect, so perfect with her eyes closed.

As soon as it started, it ended. Kairi opened her purple eyes in a dreamy way and let go of the glass angel. Suddenly a doorknob came in sight, she grabbed it and turned it slowly. She was scared, I could tell.

A door opened revealing a moonlit room. It had large windows where you could see the pine tops and hear the low torrent of water…this place…it's the place I dreamed about tonight! The wood floor was shiny and smooth, yet the place looked abandoned. Kairi looked down at me.

"Was this the place you described?" She asked me impatiently.

"Yes…it's beautiful. Look at that view!" I said pointing the window. I wanted to ask her about the previous rooms, but she looked too exhausted to answer those questions. The room was filled with the scent of peppermint; a rare spice to have, maybe too rare…nah, I'll ask her later, I want to enjoy this moment as much as I can, you'll never now how much it would last, I thought taking the wonderful scent in.

As if on cue, a powerful thud echoed throughout the room. Kairi took my hand, we heard the sound again. Her hands were sweating cold and her knees trembled slightly. This couldn't be good.

"What's tha--" I was stopped by Kairi's hand that immediately covered my mouth. The sound came closer. She searched frantically for another exit besides the door. All of a sudden another noise emerged. The doorknob turned slowly. Kairi's heavy breaths were desperate as she ran to the opposite side of the room. The door opened slowly. We saw nothing behind it. Kairi was inhumanly still, I barely noticed her chest rising and falling.

I felt a horrible chill running through my spine as I heard a metallic scrape, now I was worried. Tears were racing on her cheeks. A dense fog filled the room, it smelled like rotting flesh and the nauseas were back again. Kairi hid me behind her as if shielding me. I grabbed the black fabric of my robe and covered my face with it, trying to stop the smell.

A creature walked in from the shadows and stood in front of Kairi. It had a long grayish black gown with a hood. His features looked human; he had blue eyes, a long pointy nose, very thin lips and he had his head shaved. I could tell he was on his late-twenties. He walked toward us and stopped when his face was merely five centimeter. I could hear her low whimpers as his breath collided with her face.

"Ah, dear Kairi, its you. You know, every time I see you, you look even lovelier than the time before." The man said. He started playing with her red hair. "Oh, I see you brought me a present, huh?" He asked taking notice of me. "It is always nice to see that you brought him just the way I wanted him. I'm so glad to be your fiancé." What's going on? Is this Kairi's future husband? A creature who scared the hell out of her and smelled of rotting meat? And what about me being a gift! What the hell was he talking about! I looked down at Kairi and her face was in pain, as if his touch made her suffer.

"I-I I'm so so-sorry…" She stammered with a whisper. The creature, man, whatever, stepped back.

"What is it, sweetheart? Has this boy hurt you?" He asked with sarcasm.

"N-no, Sora…" The words sank deep and hard...