Well I'm back after taking forever to update. Sorry about that but I've been a lot busier than I expected. Don't worry though, I think I'll be able to update more frequently now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts: Slave of Love Revised

Ch.10 Lost in Town

Sora dragged his feet with a frown on his face. It wasn't every day that he was the bitter one of a group since he had always been known for being more on the upbeat side which came naturally for him whenever he spent time with his friends. But, of course, this was an entirely different situation. His friends were not with him, the sun shone directly into his neck and the redhead walking ahead of him was starting to get on his nerves.

Just thinking about the situation was enough to make him sigh. "Hey... um, do you know where we're going?"

"Does it look like I know?" Kairi spat as she stopped dead on her tracks and turned towards him with frustration written all over her face. "You know, you're not very helpful. One would think you'd be the one to actually try to do something."

"That's because you kept on complaining when I tried to help..." Sora muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

Shocked, he smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, "Nothing, I was just feeling sorry for myself."

Her eyes glared into his own before she scoffed and turned to resume her walk on the empty street. The buildings, Sora presumed to be homes, were tall enough to keep them from seeing any sort of landmark to help them know where they were, which meant that finding a way back would take a while.

Another sigh escaped his lips. Kairi wasn't helping at all since he had to try to keep himself from yelling back at her whenever she threw an insult his way. He knew tensions were high which is why he opted for keeping his mouth closed, the last thing he wanted was to end up dying electrocuted.

It led him to wonder, just how did he end up like this?

Namine couldn't help but smile as she and Olette stood on the school's gate. Her plan was coming into fruition, Kairi had taken the bait to what she was sure would be the plan to get Sora and Olette together. On top of that the weather was great for a summer morning, just thinking of that made her smile widen. She was sure it would be a great day.

"Why are you smiling in such a horribly dangerous way?"

That had to be the only wrench in her plan. Selphie, the only person that could destroy her plans; not because of dumb luck or because she was clumsy but because she had a way of figuring these kinds of things out and stopping them if she wasn't pleased. Out of all the people Namine knew, Selphie had to be the most dangerous one despite her bubbly personality.

"It's nothing," Namine answered with a smile. "I'm just excited to go out with you and Kairi today."

Selphie gave the blonde a suspicious look, already thinking that she had something planned. Namine had always been the kind to stir up trouble one way or another, it wasn't that she meant bad but her way of going into things was too extreme.

"We're here."

Olette was the first to turn at the sound of the voice and was greeted by the sight of Kairi walking with Sora following behind her. "Sorry we made you wait but someone sprung this trip up out of nowhere."

She said the last part referring to Namine, who smiled in return and clapped her hands together, "Who cares about the small details? Let's get going."

With that, Namine was off and the rest of the group could do nothing but follow after the exited girl while wondering how she managed to be so energetic in the morning.

Sora knew upon reaching their destination that things would not end well. The large plaza filled with all sorts of tents and stalls had hundreds of people walking around, making following the group of girls more difficult than it had to be. He didn't want to think of what would happen if he got lost and ended up breaking the distance barrier between the S.O.R. and his bracelet/shackle.

It had been a concern of his after Kairi had announced the sudden trip. He had been in the belief that he would fry when he was at one hundred meters from the school but it turned out that Leon had just explained it wrong. It wasn't one hundred meters from the school but from the S.O.R. which meant that, as long as Kairi went with him, he could go out.

"Oh! That place looks great!"

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sudden cry of joy of Namine who, with a bright smile, pulled Kairi and Selphie into one of the tents used as shops but not before turning back to Olette and winking, "You and Sora stay here, we won't be long."

From the receiving end of Namine's grasp, a knowing look crossed Selphie's features. "I'll stay out here with them," she released herself from the blonde's hold on her arm and gave an innocent smile, "I'm a bit tired so I'll stay here to rest with them."

'Damn you Selphie…' Namine thought darkly but smiled nonetheless, "Okay then, we'll be out in a sec."

Sora watched the exchanged with his head cocked to the side. That had been… weird to say the least.

"Come one guys, let's go find a place to sit," Selphie spoke up, gaining the attention of the two teens.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kairi asked to the blonde standing next to her.

Said girl had been pacing back and forth during their stay on the small tent that didn't sell anything very impressive. Kairi had been wondering where Namine's sudden interest in the tent had come from but it didn't look like it interested her in the least once they were alone.

"I'm okay," Namine answered with a twitching right eye.

'You're clearly not okay,' Kairi thought to herself with a nervous grin.

The blonde, for her part, could not be any more annoyed. It didn't take a minute for Selphie to see what she was up to and it took even less for her to destroy the first step of her plan. The one she called 'The Lost in Town Romantic Stroll (Which Hopefully Won't End Bad…).'

Coming up with titles was not her strong fort but that didn't matter at the moment, right now she had to think of ways to keep Selphie from interrupting and safely have Sora and Olette get lost in the crowded streets.

"Should we go?"

Kairi's voice broke Namine out of her thoughts. 'Finally, time to get plan two ready!' A smile spread on her face. "Yeah, let's go," she responded but noticed that Kairi hadn't bought anything, "Eh? Why didn't you buy anything Kairi?"

'You dragged me here…' Kairi complained in her mind. "I just didn't find anything I wanted."

"Okay then."

With that the two exited the shop and were greeted by the large number of people walking around the area with no sign of Selphie and the others.

"Did they say where they were going?" Namine asked, not hiding the annoyance in her voice.

"Selphie said she needed to rest so I guess they went to find somewhere to sit," Kairi spoke up casually.

The blonde nodded fiercely, eyes burning in determination as she glanced at Kairi. "Let's split up and look for them."

"W-what?" Kairi stammered but couldn't stop Namine who had already disappeared into the large masses of people. "Great…" she sighed out.

If there was one thing Kairi truly despised, it was crowded places. Not because she was an introvert that hated being outside but because she, although it hurt to admit, had the worst sense of direction and tended to get lost.

'I should've seen it coming,' her shoulders slumped over as a sign of defeat. All she could to now was hope not to get lost and find Selphie and the others.

"That can't be right…" Sora muttered to himself with a sheepish look on his face, seeing as the street was completely foreign to him.

After finding a place to sit, Selphie had told him to get them a few drinks. He had tried to reason with her, saying that he didn't know the place and didn't have any money but she just waved him off and gave him the cash. So, with the money problem out of the way, he was forced to go get the drinks while she and Olette stayed behind.

He had gotten the drinks with no problem but no sooner than he did, disaster struck. A shop opened up right next to where he stood and it wasn't your everyday shop, this one had many girls dressed up in skimpy maid outfits. It didn't take long for a roar to break out and hundreds of hurried footsteps to follow. Sora watched in panic as a massive crowd of sexually frustrated teenagers ran his way.

A growl escaped his lips, "Why did they have to open exactly after I got the drinks?"

Panic had set in and, in fear of being trampled to death, he had ran for a safe place away from the shop. He had made it safely to a street leading into the plaza but the large crowd blocked his way back so, not in his smartest moment, he decided to just follow the street away from the crowd and find his way back.

"How did I end up here?" He asked himself after reminiscing. A frown etched on his face as he let out a frustrated groan and tightened his grip on the two bottles of juice he had gotten. "Why the hell was I even stuck looking for juice? I don't even know my way around here," he looked down in defeat but looked back up almost immediately after seeing a flash of red that disappeared just off the street. Relief washed over him as he broke into a jog.

Relief washed over him when he turned the corner to find himself on a street divided by a river. "Officer's sister!" he called out as soon as he saw the redheaded girl walking on the other side of the river but, much to his annoyance, she didn't even look his way. "Dammit," his eyes darted about and found a bridge connecting both sides of the street.

Just as he set a foot on the small bridge he saw the girl turn a corner. Sora fought the urge to yell out in frustration and instead focused on getting to her, quickly getting off the dark blue stone bridge and following after her.

"Dammit!"

He heard the loud cry upon turning the corner she had taken. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he watched the usually stoic Kairi with her face flushed and hands balled into fists.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked after a brief pause, being a bit thrown off by her outburst.

Kairi's head snapped towards him, relief showing on her face as soon as she laid eyes on him. "Of course I am," she cleared her throat and crossed her arms, "Where are Namine and the others?"

"I... I thought you knew..."

"..."

Silence filled the dead-end street. Both looked at one another with a bit of hope still left. Hope that the other was simply joking but seeing as the two had the same expression on their face, they knew for a fact that that wasn't the case.

"You're lost too." Kairi stated with a blank look.

Sora averted his gaze after hearing her voice, "Y-yeah."

Her fists balled into fists once more as she let out a growl before stomping her way out of the street and moving past him without so much as a glance, "You're useless!"

'Oh right, that's how it all happened,' Sora concluded bitterly as he continued to follow after Kairi who had not slowed down after walking past him.

Even though he threw in what he hoped to be a helpful instruction earlier, it had gotten them nowhere and ended up with her calling him useless again. He was sure that his self-confidence would be left in tatters by the end of the day.

Couldn't she see that he was trying to help?

He glared at her back. There was no way that he would try to help again, it wasn't like he had somewhere to go anyway. Screw trying to be nice, she deserved this treatment. He didn't care if he could see her begin to slow down or if her hands trembled ever so slightly…

'Dammit…' Sora scowled as Kairi slowed down enough for him to catch up and walk next to her. It was obvious now. Her yelling at him, her moving away from him, her keeping her face hidden from him; it was so painfully obvious that he fought the urge to sigh.

"You're scared," he concluded, receiving a glare from Kairi. "Listen… K-Kairi," he spoke her name nervously. "We're just not where we're supposed to be… like, we're um… not doing so bad."

He caved in too easily, that he knew. But, despite him wishing the opposite, he couldn't handle seeing people in trouble. It got him yelled at by Roxas countless of times but he couldn't help it. If someone was in trouble then he would try his best to help. Such was the case now. Despite Kairi insulting him earlier, he still felt the need to help her.

"So, yeah! You know, don't worry about a thing, we'll get back in no time," he finished awkwardly while scratching his left cheek with a finger.

"You're pretty bad at trying to cheer people up, aren't you?"

An embarrassed blush spread through his face, "Hey! I was trying to be helpful!"

"Well you weren't," she replied in amusement before walking a bit faster and clasping both hands behind her back. "You should really think about what you're going to say before talking."

"Fine then! Last time I try to cheer you up."

Kairi didn't reply, she just kept on walking forward with a small smile on her face.

"This is horrible!" Namine shouted out to the heavens.

Beside her, Selphie nodded in agreement, "We have to find them quick."

"Let's hurry before they get too far," Olette added with a worried look on her face.

"Of course we should," Namine announced with a determined look on her face. Her eyes sparkled as she pointed a finger at Olette, "It should be you who's lost with him. We can't allow those two to be alone under such romantic circumstances. We have to find them quick!"

Selphie let out a sigh as the blonde girl sped down the plaza with Olette on tow, "There she goes again."

Kairi frowned as she walked next to Sora. Their situation was getting worse by the minute. Somehow the two had ended up on an empty street that didn't appear to be anywhere near the plaza they had been to a few hours ago. The thought of asking for directions had crossed her mind but everyone she had tried to approach was either busy or shady.

Her feet were starting to ache and, glancing back at the teen following after her, she guessed that the two needed a break. His lame attempt at cheering her up had actually managed to get her to calm down a bit so getting him to take a break would be the least she could do to repay the favor.

"Let's go find a place to sit," she spoke up casually, making Sora think that she wasn't worried at all. Her eyes scanned the area and found a couple of benches between two large buildings up ahead. She smiled in relief and pointed at the place, "There's good." Sora rose an eyebrow but followed, not wanting to get her upset.

The two made it to one of the benches and were greeted by a breathtaking view of a large part of town along with a dense forest just outside of the far off gate. Sora was mesmerized by the view, never before having seen anything like it.

"It's beautiful isn't it," Kairi spoke up with a small smile. Something about the way he seemed to entrance himself with the view made her think of a child watching something amazing for the first time. She almost found it cute to see him with his eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

"Yeah," he answered after a long pause as Kairi leaned against the bench, making herself comfortable as the two admired the scenery.

"Sora…"

Said teen glanced at Kairi with a raised brow, "What's up?"

She shook her head in response. "You're name's Sora, right?"

"Yeah, didn't you know already?"

"We never introduced ourselves," she answered with a small smile before standing up and looking at the breathtaking view. "After you tried, keyword 'tried,' to cheer me up and since you stopped giving me so much trouble in school, I decided to treat you better as well," she turned to face him and extended a hand, "Let's start being nicer to one another. I'm Kairi, nice to meet you."

Sora felt his cheeks heat up at seeing Kairi look so… so angelic. Her hair swayed with the wind and her eyes seemed to sparkle under the sun's rays. It was as if she was a totally different person from before. He gulped and raised a slightly shaky hand to touch hers.

"I'm Sora," he offered a friendly smile as he took her hand on his and shook. Part of him thought that the whole thing was a bit cheesy but knew that it was her own attempt at being nice. He thought about saying this but didn't want to push his luck.

"Well then, let's get going," Kairi retracted her hand just as she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She glanced at whatever moved and found it to be a couple that had just sat on the bench next to them. A smile formed on her face, thinking that they could help them get back to the plaza.

She prepared to speak but froze when the two started kissing. A blush spread through her cheeks before she turned away, this time to see a couple leaning against a wall and kissing deeply. "Wha…" she let out dumbly whens seeing that there were more couples in the area, "D-don't tell me…"

She looked back at Sora who was looking off in the distance again and was completely oblivious to the whole thing. The two were in one of those date spots where couples liked to make out and do all sorts of lewd things.

"Sora, move," she instructed while taking a hold of Sora's wrist and pulling him away from the area, all the while having an embarrassed blush on her face.

"What's wrong?" Sora had no idea what was going on but Kairi still refused to speak and instead quickened her pace. 'Just what is going on here?' He wondered while still being oblivious to the many couples they had just walked by.

"You can leave now Leon," an officer nodded at said officer who nodded in response before turning on his heels and stepping out of the small office.

A cool breeze greeted him upon leaving the cramped space. It was a small tent that was surrounded by many others in the outskirts of town. He had been stuck with guarding duty once again which meant that he had to be near the gate and prevent any sort of crime from taking place in order to keep appearances with the higher ups. During this time officers would usually set foot on Hollow Bastion since it was closer and cheaper to buy their necessities there.

Leon had been waiting for this opportunity for a while. This situation gave him the perfect opportunity to check in on Sora's friend and help her out with whatever problem she was having. It wouldn't be a walk in the park though, he wanted to do this without attracting the attention of his friends since he was sure that if they found out he was the one to take Sora, they would never leave him alone.

"The things I do for my sister…" he muttered in defeat as he began to make his way towards the southern gate.

Sora smiled a genuine smile for the first time in a while as he and Kairi made their way through one more street. They had finally managed to ask someone for directions and, despite not lacking in the creepy department, the older man showed them in the right direction. He thought it was a bit weird though, they were following the directions to the letter but they saw less and less of people walking on the streets.

"Doesn't this seem a bit weird?" Kairi spoke up with a bit of nervousness on her voice.

After hearing her ask that, his heart began to beat a bit faster, "I thought so too but I've never been here so I didn't know if I was being paranoid."

She frowned in response and stopped dead on her tracks before turning to him, "Let's go ask someone else then. That guy didn't look very trustworthy so he probably led us in the wrong direction."

Sora nodded but, just as he took a step forward he noticed two men blocking the path where they had come from. He swallowed a lump in his throat and turned the other way just to see the man from earlier blocking the other way. They were in a lone street with tall buildings standing next to each other which meant that they were completely trapped.

"Nice to see you again. Looks like you found the place alright," the man they had met earlier spoke. He was dressed in a casual brown shirt and wore old grey pants. His face was scarred and he had short black hair.

The rest of the men laughed as Sora moved closer to Kairi and put on a fighting stance. "Don't worry, I'll try to hold them off," he muttered to her with a deep frown on his face, "Run away when you have the chance."

"B-but you'll get hurt," she reasoned but he didn't listen and instead switched gazes between the three men. Her mouth formed into a thin line, as if deciding on something, before she placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, "Don't move."

He eyed her confusedly before she muttered something and pressed hard on his right shoulder. A rush of energy shot thorough his arm, making him yelp as a bright light burst out of his hand and in its place was an odd-shaped sword with a grey blade shaped like a key and a large yellow handle.

"W-what is this?"

Kairi grinned despite the situation, "That's a Keyblade. A weapon that we Specials can only give to one person. I chose you so put it to good use."

Sora still didn't know what was going on. The 'Keyblade' radiated so much energy that his hand shook uncontrollably but, before he got sidetracked, he remembered why he had the weapon in hand. His jaw clenched as he gripped the Keyblade tightly with both hands.

"Leave us alone or I'll use this thing!" Sora exclaimed as he bent his knees and held the weapon to his side.

"We're not scared of you brat!" A man yelled out as he blindly charged at the teen.

Sora had no idea how but, just as the man lunged at him, he sidestepped the attack, planted his right foot on the ground and finally leapt at the man who could do nothing but watch as Sora swung down on his exposed torso and tore through his shirt. The man let out a yelp as he fell on his butt and looked at the teen in pure fear.

"Sora!"

He turned at the sudden yell and found another man charging in at him. Still not knowing how, Sora ran at the man, ducked under a punch and finally swung the Keyblade upwards, tearing through the man's shirt and leaving a large gash on his skin.

"You bastard!" The final man yelled as he ran at Sora with a small blade in hand.

Sora glared before charging in at the man and, just as he swung the small weapon, stretched out his left hand just at the right time to grip the man's wrist and twisting so that he would drop the knife. The man was left weaponless as Sora let go off his wrist and pointed the Keyblade at his face.

"Leave," he instructed, making the man yell out in fear and run away with his two lackeys following after him. No sooner than they left, Sora fell on his butt and placed both hands on the ground, "What the hell was that?"

"There's people like that in this part of town," Kairi explained with an approving look on her face, "You handled them pretty easily. Have you done this kind of thing before?"

"Not to this extent," Sora answered with a look of shock on his face. He pulled up the Keyblade and watched it with a hint of worry. "I don't know what happened, it was as if this thing was using me to fight instead of me using it," he flopped down on the ground and let out a sigh, "Is that supposed to happen?"

Kairi shook her head. "I don't know. What part of ''can only be given to one person' don't you understand? You're the first person I've seen using a Keyblade," she answered before looking around the area a bit nervously and moving next to him while offering a hand, "We have to get going. I don't want to run into people like that again."

"Yeah," he agreed as he took hold of her hand and pulled himself up. "You seemed pretty calm though, are you used to things like this?"

"I guess I knew that things wouldn't get too bad," she answered with a shrug, "Yeah, I was a bit scared at first but after seeing you take down the first guy, I had faith in you."

"Thanks," he smiled before noticing the Keyblade still on his hand and waving it in front of him, "But how do I get rid of this thing? Am I gonna have to carry it all the time now?"

She grinned slightly and shook her head, "Don't worry, the Keyblade is not your average weapon. It can appear and disappear at your command, all you have to do is relax and it'll surely go away."

Sora nodded in understanding and closed his eyes. He could feel the weight of the Keyblade on his hand but he ignored it as he took in a breath before letting it out and, just like that, the weight disappeared.

He opened his eyes to see that the weapon was gone from his right hand, "Whoa."

"I know," Kairi smiled and, just like that, the two began to walk once again. This time feeling a lot safer and deciding that asking in a store or finding a map would be safer than to ask some random person on the street.

Ch.10 End

KH: Slave of Love Short

"Y'know?"

"Town."

Leon slapped a hand to his forehead. Yes, he had gotten the address from Sora but he still had no idea where the place was. Venturing to Hollow Bastion was not something he had ever done and asking for directions seemed to be the only plausible choice… How wrong he was. Hours had already passed and he still had no idea of where he was.

"I'm going to ask again," Leon let out angrily. He held up a piece of paper and glared at the two teens, "Where is this?"

"Hmm? All you have to do is take a right, y'know? Then go straight, y'know? Then-"

"Alright stop!" Leon yelled out before turning to the other teen, "Can you tell me how to get there?"

"Right."

"Straight."

"Left."

"Right."

"Right."

Leon's whole body shook before, after many years, losing his cool, "You guys are idiots! And fuck you Sora! You're going to pay for getting me into this!"

Sora stopped dead on his tracks, glancing over his shoulder with a confused look on his face, "Did you hear something?"

Next to him, Kairi watched him oddly, "I didn't hear anything."

He crossed his arms and looked down, "Weird…"