Hello again! Thank you guys so much for the reviews, favorites, and followers for this story. It really makes me happy that you guys like this story cause when I first started it not that many people liked it, so it's kinda why I stopped working on it for a long, long, long, LONG time. So I'm like really happy right now and stuff! :D :3 lol!

OK! Anyways, here is Ch. 4 hope you guys like it! Enjoy! :3

Chapter 4

Inside of the castle, Saix was walking back and forth in a pace very upset while Axel just watched his friend. After the event of the day nobody within the castle was really in a good mood; especially Saix. He was like the leader of the group and apparently he thought it was job to take care of everything while the master was busy up in his room.

"Couldn't keep quiet could you?" Saix said as he walked over to Axel with his arms crossed. "You just had to invite him in, didn't you? Give him tea, let him sit in the Master's chair, let him pet the pooch!" The blue clock stated while finally giving a death glare towards the red candlestick's way.

"I was trying to be hospitable." Axel said trying to reason with his friend as best he could. It wasn't his fault that the guy got caught. What was he supposed to do let the poor man freeze to death! Apparently Saix thought he should've.

Not too far away from where the two figures were, the sound of a door cracking open could be heard throughout the whole castle. Kairi slowly opened the front door to the foyer as she nervously looked around the dark room.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" the red head called out. There was no response as she cautiously made her way down the hallway towards the stairs. "Hello! Father! Father? Are you here?"

Unknown of the sudden intruder of the castle, the yellow teapot, whose name is Larxene, was busy setting up a little bath tub for her son. She was almost done when her son came hopping towards her with a huge smile on his face.

"Mama! There's a girl in the castle!" the little teacup announced, cheerfully.

Larxene couldn't help but shake her head in annoyance at her son. They've already had a bad enough day with the Master taking a poor old man into his dungeon, and now her son was going around tell stories that weren't even real.

"Now, Roxas, I will not have you making up such rash stories!"

"Really, Mama," Roxas whined as he hopped up closer to her. "I saw her!"

"Not another word!" the teapot said as she carefully picked up her son and threw him inside the tub. "Now into the tub."

Suddenly, a white feather duster with blue eyes came sweeping in as if she wanted to share something with the group and just couldn't hold back her excitement.

"Larxene, I just saw a girl in the castle!" exclaimed Namine, excited.

"See? I told ya," Roxas said as he popped his head out of the water chuckling.

"You irresponsible, idiotic, wax-for-brained –" Saix yelled as he started to call off names at Axel while the candle need nothing but make a hand puppet and mocked his friend as he talked. The clock, however; wasn't able to get all of his anger out because he was suddenly interrupted by a questioning voice.

"Father?"

The sudden voice made the two figures stop as they quickly turned around to see a figure walking through the halls of the castle.

"Did you see that?" Axel asked as he made his way over towards the door. The figure they were see was none other than Kairi as she was slowly walking through the halls while checking every corner and room for her Father. Axel couldn't help but grin as excitement started running through his body. "It's a girl."

"I know it's a girl." Saix exclaimed while rolling his eyes, annoyed.

"Don't you see? She's the one! The girl we've been waiting for! She has come to break the spell!" the red candlestick announced as she grabbed Saix's hands and started spinning each other in a circle all happily as he finally let go of his friend and made a dash towards Kairi.

Hey, wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Saix yelled as he tried to balance himself from after Axel's little childish game. Nothing he did seemed to care for the red figure did nothing but run even faster towards the girl while Saix tried his best to catch up with his friend.

"Father? Father, are you here?" Kairi called out again for what seemed like the hundredth time to her. She had been walking for hours in this castle and still had no sign of her Father anywhere; not to mention anyone at all. It was almost as if the castle was abandoned for years, and yet the place was still clean and not dirty like she thought it would be.

Suddenly, the sound of clatter reached the young girl's ears as she slowly turned around to see light coming through an opened door. "Hello? Is someone here?" Kairi asked as she cautiously made her way over towards the door. She stepped inside to see it was nothing but a staircase that led up to probably a tower.

At first, she saw nothing except for the stairs, but then a flicker of light showed upon the wall as if someone was running up the stairs. The sudden movement was more than enough proof for Kairi to try and get some answers.

"Wait! I'm looking for my Father I –"she announced as she ran up the stairs in flash. But instead of meeting a person for answers she was only met with more stairs and a red candlestick that flickered its flame on the wall.

"That's funny…I'm sure there was someone." Kairi mumbled to herself as she continued to make her way up the stairs. "Is anyone here?"

"Kairi?"

"Father!" Kairi exclaimed as she heard the faint cry of her father's voice. She ran towards him without a thought in the world as she saw he was stuck in a cage. Horror and hope filled the young girl's eyes as she quickly bent down to her father's level and cupped her warm hands over his.

"H-how did you find me?" Xehanort asked as he tried to hold back a cough, but sadly it didn't happen. The sound was more than enough information for Kairi to know that her Father was sick and needed help, now.

"Oh, your hands are like ice. We need to get you out of here."

"Kairi, I want you to leave this place." Xehanort said as he placed one of his hands on his daughter's shoulder. The feel of his hand sent chills down Kairi's back as the ice cold touch made the girl want nothing more than a warm blanket wrapped around her right about now.

"Who's done this to you?" Kairi demanded as she fought the unpleasant feeling away from her mind.

"There's no time to explain! You must go, now!" the man exclaimed as he tried to shove his daughter away from him before the monster returned.

"I won't leave you!"

Suddenly, a black claw grabbed Kairi by the hood of her dress and pulled her away from the cell's door. "What are you doing here?!" the sudden figure hissed with rage.

"RUN KAIRI!" Xehanort yelled as a warning for his daughter to get out of there now. But the only problem about that was it was pitch black in the room. Kairi couldn't see an inch in front of her nose for the only light sores was from a hole that was in the ceiling.

"Who's there? Who are you?" Kairi exclaimed with fear in her voice.

"Sora, the master of this castle!" Sora hissed in a voice that made the young girl's body crawl with fear.

"I've come for my Father." The girl said as she tried to steady her breathing. There was no reason to fear the person if you couldn't see them, plus, if she was going to get her and her Father out of her she was going to have to be brave and smart about the situation at hand. "Please, let him out. Can't you see he's sick?"

"Then he shouldn't have trespassed here!" the voice came again with rage.

"But he'll die! Please I'll do anything!" Kairi pleaded.

"There's nothing you can do." Sora hissed as he started to make his way towards the door. "He's my prisoner."

"Oh, there must be some way I can…" Kairi mumbles to herself as it looks as if she's about to give up. She knew talking wasn't going to get her anywhere, for it seemed the person was a little bit of a hot-head it seemed. But maybe he would be willing to make a trade? It was a risky thing to choose but if it meant saving her Father's life then it had to be done.

"Wait!"

Sora stopped from within his tracks as he slowly turned around to look at the red head.

The girl quickly looks back at Xehanort then, with a shaky voice, says, "Take me instead."

"You?" Sora hissed as he quickly turns away about to forget the offer, but then stops. The girl would take the man's place in order to live with him? A monster? It seemed as if he was only hearing things that weren't true, but the idea toyed with his mind a little. "You would…take his place?"

"Kairi, no! You don't know what you're doing!" Xehanort's voice cried as he tried his best to change his daughter's mind. But Kairi wasn't going to listen.

"If I did…would you let him go?" Kairi asked.

Ah, there was the catch! Sora knew the girl would never stay unless it meant for the man to be free. If she could only deal with seeing him as he is then she would stay, but he already knew the answer was simple. No. She would never stay with a monster like him his appearance was more than enough frightening to him when he looked himself in the mirror; which was why almost every mirror in the castle was broken, especially the ones in his room.

"Yes, but…you must promise to stay here forever." Sora said as he balanced the bet even more. If she even dared tried to stay here she wouldn't have a choice to leave here even if she tried.

Kairi paused for a moment. The thought of never leaving this place scared her. She would never see her Father again or the people from her village, but then again, the only people who did care for her was her Father. No one in the village would miss her so why should she worry about them? Besides, she's been wanting an adventure in her life, so why not agree?

But the only problem about this situation was that she couldn't see her speaker. Unless she could see what he looked like she was not going to give him a simple answer.

"Come into the light."

At first, it seemed as if Sora wasn't going to. But eventually, he came out of the darkness to only reveal himself to the girl finally. Kairi couldn't help but hold but a frightened gasp as the figure in front of her was nothing but human. The teen's body was covered in black as smoke of ashes flowed all around him. His eyes were nothing but bright yellow that Kairi was surprised she didn't even notice the eyes staring at her from within the darkness.

Horror shown in Kairi's eyes as she turned away from the sight and gripped onto the bars of Xehanort's cell.

"No, Kairi! I won't let you do this!" Xehanort begged as he watched his daughter bit her lip. No matter how much the sight of the boy frightened her, she knew she had no choice but to agree in order to save her Father's life.

Slowly, the red head sat back up on her feet and turned towards Sora. The boy had nothing but an emotionless stare on her that it was impossible for you to figure out what he was thinking. With her eyes closed, Kairi said, "You have my word."

"Done!"

The words jumped through Kairi's mind as she fell to her knees in shame. She knew she shouldn't be upset that she just saved her Father's life, but for some reason, she was.

Sora had unlocked Xehanort's cell as the man quickly crawled over to his daughter. He took the young girl's hands and held them with care as he looked into his daughter's eyes with concern.

"Kairi, please listen to me! I'm old, I've lived my life!"

But the two didn't have time to talk much with each other for Sora had then grabbed Xehanort and started to drag him away.

"Wait!" Kairi yelled, alarmed.

"Kairi!" cried Xehanort as he tried to reach out his hand towards his daughter, knowing it was probably going to be the last time he saw her.

"WAIT!" Kairi yelled even louder but to only be ignored once more.

Outside of the castle, a carriage was waiting outside the gate. The sound of Xehanort's pleading voice could be heard throughout the forest as he tried to reason with the heartless as best he could.

"Please spare my daughter! Please!"

"She's no longer your concern!" Sora finally snapped as his claw like hands opened the door to the carriage and threw Xehanort inside while breaking the lock from outside. "Take him to the village." The heartless hissed as the carriage started to move on its own by its Master's command while cries, yells, and shouts could be heard from inside by Xehanort trying to escape.

The sight of her Father being taken away from her made Kairi's heart swell with guilt. She knew what she was doing was probably selfish in her Father's eyes, but she knew she made the right choice. Tears started flow down the young girl's face as she hugged her knees close to her chest and started to cry heavily.

After dealing with Xehanort, Sora started making his way back up towards the tower. He wasn't really in a good mood that when Axel spoke to him, he wasn't really surprised when he almost got a claw to the face again by the teen.

"Uh…Master?"

"What?!"

"Since the girl is going to be with us for quite some time. Perhaps maybe you could offer her a more comfortable room." The candlestick suggested, but to only get a fierce snarl for a reply. Axel did nothing but wait until his master was half way up the stairs before saying, "Then again, maybe not."

Once Sora was back up into the tower, he saw that Kairi was on the floor crying. The sound of footsteps made the red head look up slightly as she saw it was only Sora. Anger swelled up into Kairi's heart as she glared up at the heartless as tears fell from her eyes still.

"You didn't let me say goodbye! I'll never see him again!" she yelled at the teen as she finally just put her hands over her eyes and continued to cry even more. "I didn't even get to say goodbye." She mumbled quietly to herself as the boy just watched her.

Hearing this, Sora felt guilty. He let his anger once again get the best of him. It happened the day the enchantress cursed him and turned him what he is today. He should've at least allowed Kairi to say goodbye to her Father. If anything he really was heartless especially after seeing he just made a girl he barely knew start to cry.

Maybe Axel was right? Maybe he should give her a better room to live in especially to repay for what he just did to her.

"I'll…show you to your room." He mumbled to himself, but the hissing that came with his voice was more than enough for Kairi to hear him.

"My room?" Kairi asked, surprised. "But I thought –"

"Do you want to stay in the tower?" the heartless snapped, annoyed about ready to just forget about the whole thing.

"No," she said.

"Then follow me."

Sora led Kairi out of the tower and through the castle. The girl was so amazed by everything that the first time she ever came inside she didn't really get a good look at everything. The walls for lined with gold bricks while other walls were made out of wire that sparked electricity out of them.

A gasp soon escaped Kairi's mouth which alarmed Sora's ears. He swiftly moved his head back a little to make sure the girl was still following him. When he saw that she still was he couldn't help but look back again when he saw a single tear start to slide down the girl's face.

Axel, who was guiding them with his light, frowned. Throughout the whole walk, it was silence. The man just couldn't take it anymore as he looked down at his master.

"Say something to her." He whispered to Sora as the teen looks surprised. What was he supposed to say to her without freaking yelling or snapping at her?

For a moment, he said nothing. Until finally, with a sigh, he said, "I…hope you like it here." He says as softly as he could without trying to scare the girl with his hissing voice. Sora then looked back at Axel for help when he saw that the girl didn't even look up at him. The candlestick did nothing but make gesture movements with his hands to say, 'go on.'

With a nod, he continues, "The castle is your home now, so you can go wherever you like. Except the West Wing."

The last thing the heartless said made the girl curious as she suddenly looked up at him without horror showing in her eyes as she looked up Sora. "What's in the West –"

"IT'S FORBIDDEN!" warned Sora as he turned around while glaring at her. He then let's out a little hiss as if he was saying something to himself as he quickly turned back around and started walking again.

Soon they arrived at a guest room which despite not being used in years is very nice. Sora opens the door as he let Kairi adventure in.

"Now, if you need anything, my servants will attend you." Sora said.

"Dinner. Invite her to dinner." Axel suggested to Sora in a whisper.

After hearing about that, shyness and nervousness soon sprout out through Sora's entire body. He was never good with woman especially when it came to inviting them to something.

Shaking slightly he said, "You will…join me for dinner." Suddenly frustration took over his body as he suddenly yells, "THAT'S NOT A REQUEST!"

The sound of the door slamming on her made Kairi jump slightly. Without trying to be tough anymore, she runs over to her bed and jumps right on it over her stomach to only cry herself to sleep.

Well there you have it, Ch. 4 is done! Please review or PM me if you guys want more of this, or if you guys have other ideas for stories like this I will most happily do it for you. :)

For an update of "Tangled" the next chapter is almost done I'm just having a little with trying to write Sora as Flynn that's all. Hopefully I'll have it up soon, I promise. So keep looking out for it! ;)

Until next time!

Neow~ :3