Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts (II), Sora, Kairi, Riku, etc.

Author's Note: AAAHH!!! I don't even know what I was THINKING when I wrote this! I had the basic idea and then everything twisted around. Well, for those of you aching for drama since the huge lack of it in my last chapter, then you should be quite happy.

Warning: AAAAHHH!!!

Quick Author Babble: OH MY GOSH!!! My title is FREAKY!!!

Chapter 12: The Day the World Went Black

A day at the beach. That's what Sora suggested on Saturday, a couple of days after Halloween—a day at the beach. He had invited Naminé too. Quite frankly, Kairi didn't understand Sora Roma at all.

Sure, it was always warm in the daytime at Destiny Islands, except during winter. But a day at the beach in the middle of October? It was kind of twisted in Kairi's mind.

And why had he invited Naminé? This was the question that made her blood boil. She thought he didn't love her, and then he invites her to the beach!

Kairi felt betrayed, but Yuffie pushed her so much into going that it was impossible to refuse. However, Kairi wasn't feeling much in a beach mood, so she decided instead of going in her bathing suit, she would just slip into a maroon turtleneck and a pair of brown, cargo pants. It was a rather strange getup to go to the beach with, but Kairi had a feeling she would feel cold there. She wasn't going to go swimming anyway.

Naminé would've contaminated the water.

The doorbell rang and both Naminé and Kairi ran for the door. Naminé had on a black T-shirt and a pair of short-legged jeans. She was wearing her bathing suit underneath it, and when she saw Kairi's very warm outfit, she looked confused.

"Kairi, what are you wearing that for?" she asked. "We're going to the beach, not Antarctica."

Kairi didn't reply. She walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Yuffie. She, too, was wearing fun-in-the-sun clothes—a red tank top and a short-legged pair of black cargo pants. Her expression was filled with confusion as she looked Kairi over.

"Kairi, what are you wearing that for?" she asked, sounding exactly like Naminé. "We're going to the beach, not Antarctica."

"That's what I said!" Naminé cried.

"I'm not going swimming," Kairi remarked.

Yuffie looked surprised.

"What?" she said. "Why? The water's supposed to be nice today!"

"I'm just not!" Kairi remarked.

Yuffie crossed her arms.

"At least bring your bathing suit," she said. "You might change your mind when we get there."

Kairi sighed but agreed. She went upstairs and grabbed her bathing suit, storing it in a bag with her sunscreen and beach blanket. Naminé was carrying the beach umbrella.

Kairi trudged downstairs, bag thrown over her shoulder.

"There, happy?" she asked Yuffie and Naminé.

"Very!" Yuffie chirped. "Now hurry up! Everyone else is waiting outside."

Kairi sighed and slipped into her brown sneakers, Naminé into her black and pink ones. Yuffie waited rather impatiently, and finally they left the house. Everyone was, indeed, waiting outside—Roxas was fighting off Hayner and a sunscreen attack, Olette was trying to hold back Hayner from splashing Roxas with the bottle, Pence was laughing his head off, Leon was shaking his head at the immaturity of it all, and Sora was twirling a beach umbrella around. They stopped as they saw the three girls emerge from the house.

"Hi," Sora said.

"Bonjour," Olette remarked.

"Aloha!" Pence cried.

"Greetings from Mars," Hayner stated, which made everyone look at him strangely.

Kairi shrugged and they started off down the road, Yuffie's flip flops clacking against the pavement. Roxas walked up to Kairi and, just like Yuffie and Naminé, looked her up and down.

"Kairi, what are you…" he began, when Kairi cut him off.

"Finish that sentence and I'll snap your head off," she growled.

Roxas took a couple steps back, laughing nervously.

111

It didn't take long to reach the beach. There weren't many people there, which was sort of relieving and unnerving in a way. Kairi set down her beach blanket almost immediately and lied down. Everyone else changed into their bathing suits.

Sora set up his blanket beside Kairi and lied down beside her.

"I'm going to do it," he said, turning to her. "I'm going to do it today."

"What are you going to do?" Kairi asked, peering at him curiously.

"I'm going to break up with Naminé!" Sora replied. "I can't take it anymore! It's driving me crazy! I still have nightmares about being married to her and having spiky-haired, blond, blue-eyed kids!"

"You're going to…" Kairi began, but stopped as if she couldn't believe it.

"Yeah," Sora said. "Why do you think I invited her to the beach?"

"Well…I thought…" Kairi remarked.

Kairi stopped and looked at him.

"Er…never mind. It was nothing."

Suddenly, a bucket of water splashed down on her, soaking her completely. Kairi leaped up, noticing Hayner laughing right in front of her.

"Oh, too bad, Kairi," he said in a sing-song voice. "I guess you can't go around in that wet outfit all day. You've got to go change into your bathing suit, eh?"

"Ugh…HAYNER!!!" she yelled, kicking him.

"Ow!" Hayner yelled, rubbing the sore spot on his leg. "It's not my fault! Naminé and Yuffie paid me five bucks to do it!"

"Nice…very nice," Sora said.

Kairi stormed into the change rooms, wishing she'd kicked Hayner harder.

111

Kairi came out in her bright pink one piece and sighed as Hayner ran up to her and started ogling her, but one glare from Sora was enough to send Hayner away running. Sora was still lying on his blanket, looking like he could fall asleep at any moment.

Kairi realized Olette was now sitting beside her blanket as well, sunbathing. Everyone else was in the water, splashing each other and having a good time.

Kairi lied down beside her two friends. Suddenly, Roxas's voice came from the ocean.

"Oh, look!" he yelled. "I think Sora and Kairi are going to do their little cuddle trick again!"

Sora leaped up very suddenly.

"Roxas!" he shouted. "Alright, now I'm going to kill you!"

He dived into the water and splashed after the laughing blond. When Roxas saw Sora swimming his way he let out a little yelp of surprise and was soon swimming for his life. Kairi looked at them and sighed.

"Uh oh," she said. "Roxas better have a will written…"

"Do you think we should go help him?" Olette asked.

Kairi thought about it for a while.

"Nah," she finally decided. "Roxas deserves what's coming to him."

Roxas suddenly rocketed past them.

"AAH!!!" he yelled. "SAVE ME!!!"

Sora followed soon after, looking like he was ready to attack.

"Hold still, Roxas…" he said, a bit of an evil tone to his voice.

Kairi watched as Roxas dived back into the water and tried to swim as far away from Sora as he could. Sora was in hot pursuit, however, and it didn't look like he was giving up anytime soon.

"Maybe…we should help him," Kairi remarked, and Olette nodded in agreement.

They dived into the ocean. They weren't too far from Sora, but he was swimming at a rapid speed. Kairi was suddenly happy that she'd grown up on Destiny Islands—she was a very fast swimmer.

She rocketed after Sora, and after a few seconds, reached him. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back, allowing Roxas to escape.

"Thank you!" Roxas called after he was good ways away from Sora.

"No problem!" Kairi called back.

She let go of Sora's arm and he stayed still, like he had just been given a command.

"You should've let me get him," he said after a few moments of silence.

"And what would you have done when you got him?" Kairi asked. "No offense, Sora, but you don't seem like someone who would provoke violence."

"Oh, really…?" Sora muttered, crossing his arms.

"Yes, really," Olette remarked, paddling up. "Now let's get back to shore. I've had enough water for now."

"Okay…" Sora began, when he stopped. "Oh no! Kairi, hide me!"

Sora dived behind Kairi and Olette. Kairi smiled nervously as Naminé swam up.

"Oh, h-hi, Naminé," Kairi stuttered in a false, sweet voice.

"Hi, Kairi, Olette," Naminé said. "I swear I saw Sora over here…"

"Nope, no one here," Kairi remarked.

"Oh, well, tell him I want to see him," Naminé remarked. "I want us to get dancing lessons together!"

She laughed happily.

"What?" Sora hissed.

"What'd you say?" Naminé asked, looking up.

"Oh…nothing," Kairi answered.

She kicked Sora.

"Ow!" Sora shouted.

Naminé turned suddenly.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I didn't hear anything," Olette said innocently.

"I didn't either," Kairi stated.

"Hmm…well…okay then," Naminé remarked, looking a bit suspicious.

She left. Sora waited a second before coming back out. He let out a big groan.

"Dancing lessons?" Sora cried. "Dancing lessons?! She's freaking crazy! If she thinks she's going to get me to dance with her one more time, then forget about it!"

Kairi and Olette smiled apologetically. Sora groaned and let himself sink into the water for a couple of seconds.

"Oh, c'mon, Sora!" Kairi cried. "It won't be that bad. Besides, I thought you said you'd break up with her today."

"And I will!" Sora said, popping out of the water. "I just don't know when…I'm waiting for a good time…"

"There's no good time to break up with someone," Olette remarked. "It's like pulling off a band-aid…you have to do it quick and fast."

Sora sighed.

"Okay, okay," he remarked. "I just…don't want to hurt her feelings…"

"That's impossible, unless she hates you already," Kairi remarked.

Olette elbowed her in the ribs.

"I mean…of course she'll understand!" Kairi quickly added. "Now let's get out of the water before I turn all wrinkly."

"Nah…I'm going to stay out here for awhile," Sora remarked.

Kairi looked at him worriedly.

"Okay…" she said.

She and Olette waded out of the ocean. Kairi sat down on her blanket and watched as Sora closed his eyes and sighed heavily. He was rethinking breaking up with Naminé. Kairi could tell. No. No, he had to. Kairi was starting to worry if Sora would ever be able to build up the courage to tell Naminé he didn't like her.

But the same three words kept ringing in her head—he had to. Kairi was terrified at the thought of sitting lifelessly by her window again.

"Kairi, are you okay?" Olette asked suddenly. "You're so quiet…"

Kairi looked at her and smiled a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" she replied.

Sora came out of the water after half an hour, soaked head to toe. He collapsed beside Kairi. Kairi bit her lip nervously and looked at him.

"So…what's your decision?" she asked.

Sora blinked in confusion.

"What decision?" he questioned innocently.

"You know…are you going to break up with Naminé or not?" Kairi asked.

Olette turned to look at them. Kairi held her breath. Sora nodded.

"Of course," he replied. "It'll be hard, I guess…I don't know what I'd say, but…It would be worse if I kept making her think wrongly…"

Kairi couldn't help it. She smiled, feeling the urge to hug someone. Suddenly, bells rang out through the air. Kairi's eyes widened.

"I can hear wedding bells…?" she murmured. "But…"

"It's the ice cream cart!" Olette chirped.

Kairi laughed at her own mistake.

"Oh."

"Is that ice cream bells I hear?" Hayner asked, running up.

"Hark, the beautiful sound of sea salt ice cream," Roxas said, walking up behind him.

"You two are so ridiculous…" Olette remarked with a giggle.

Kairi stood up and grinned.

"I'm buying," she said.

"You sure?" asked Sora.

Kairi nodded. She, Roxas, Hayner, Olette, Pence, and Sora went up to the ice cream cart. Six sea salt ice cream bars were bought. Kairi sat down in the sand and licked it thoughtfully. Why had her heart jumped when she heard bells?

Kairi shook her head with a light giggle. She was going crazy, obviously. She'd just been surprised when she heard them. Yes, that was it.

"Well, if it isn't the little girlie," said a voice behind her. "I believe we met a couple of years ago, didn't we, Logan?"

"Indeed we did, Landon," replied another voice.

Kairi recognized the voices. She didn't know where they were from, but they certainly triggered her memory. She turned and felt horrified to see the two boys who'd been picking on little kids a couple of years ago. She'd thought Riku had taught them a lesson, but obviously she was wrong, because they were giving her big, evil grins.

"What do you two want?" she snapped, leaping to her feet.

"Grown up quite a lot, haven't you?" Landon stated, looking at her. "Shame you haven't changed much in personality, otherwise I wouldn't believe some punishment is needed. But, you see, after what you got your little boyfriend to do a couple years ago…"

"Hurt your egos, eh?" Kairi said.

"More than just my ego," Logan said, wincing. "I still have a bruise where he kicked me."

"I think all you need, Red, is a bit of a personality tune up," Landon remarked.

He grabbed her ice cream bar and chucked it into the ocean. Logan grabbed her wrist.

"Hey!" Kairi cried. "Let go!"

Logan squeezed harder. Kairi could feel her wrist being compressed.

"You have some nerve, showing at this part of the beach again," Logan stated.

"You don't own this place, you know!" Kairi shouted stubbornly, trying to kick Logan but missing as he pushed her back.

Logan squeezed her wrist as hard as he could, and Kairi could hear something crack. She let out a loud wail as pain cascaded all through her arm. Tears were quickly cascading down her face. She looked around for someone to help her, but everyone was in the ocean. They couldn't see her at all.

Logan pushed her into the sand. Landon looked like he was about to stomp on her, but Kairi quickly dragged herself away with one arm. It was clear her wrist was broken. Kairi staggered to her feet, only to be pushed down by Landon. Kairi's foot caught in a block of rocks, and as she tumbled to the ground, her ankle snapped. More pain flew through her body. More tears were blurring her vision.

Logan raised a fist.

"Where's your boyfriend now, eh?" he asked, with a sick sort of laughter.

"I'm sorry. Her boyfriend couldn't come to the appointment today, so he sent his replacement instead."

Logan let out a yelp of surprise as a fist came crashing into his face. He staggered backwards as Sora stomped in front of Kairi, an enraged glare on his face.

"Get away from Kairi," he snarled, threat in his voice.

Logan and Landon backed away slowly. Neither Sora nor Kairi noticed Landon picked up one of the big rocks as he was doing this. Sora knelt down beside Kairi, looking more apologetic and worried than ever as he wiped tears from her face.

"Are you okay?" he said, his voice barely higher than a whisper.

Kairi nodded. She felt like she couldn't see a thing or move a muscle. Her ankle and her wrist were broken. She picked up her arm and her hand hung in a weird way. Sora took it gently in his hands and Kairi winced.

"I'm sorry."

This time his voice was so choked it wasn't even a whisper—more like a breath. Kairi burst into tears, wondering how she'd ever lived without him, and collapsed into his arms.

Sora was so warm, so welcoming. Kairi never wanted to leave. She wrapped her arms around him; she was scared he would disappear and be back with Naminé right before her very eyes.

Kairi never wanted to lose him again.

Kairi felt so ridiculous, clinging onto him like a five-year-old would, but she also felt comforted at the fact that he didn't move. He didn't disappear either. He was there—hers—and no one, not even Naminé, could take him away.

Sora didn't say a word as she cried. He just let her cry into his shoulder, squeezing her when it got too bad.

Kairi wasn't crying because she'd been hurt. She wasn't crying because she'd relived painful memories of how Riku used to be. She was crying because it seemed like Sora had been gone too long, like she'd waited forever for him to do exactly this.

He was such a beautiful person and Kairi was just a person who was there, who followed her sister like a weakling who couldn't do anything by herself. She didn't deserve him. She didn't deserve everything he did for her. And yet his arms around her felt so right.

Kairi knew she would have to let him go sometime. By now she was probably choking him to death. Her sobs increased as she thought of letting him go, letting him go back to Naminé. Even though he'd promised to break up with her, Kairi didn't know if he had the heart to do it.

And even though she was still crying as hard as she could, she loosened her grip on him. And as she did this, Sora's grip suddenly tightened around her.

"You're still crying," he whispered. "I'm not letting go until you stop."

He was just doing this to be nice. Kairi knew this. She tried to make the tears stop, but she couldn't. She didn't know if she could. It seemed impossible. Every time she thought about letting Sora go, she cried.

"I'm here," Sora said softly, as if reading her mind. "I'm not going anywhere."

Kairi's sobs lessened. Her breathing softened. Sora was starting to loosen his grip on her. He was gentle. He let her slide out of his arms, letting her take her time. Finally, Sora completely unraveled himself from her.

His blue eyes were twinkling with both concern and comfort. Kairi's breathing was still a bit fast, but she felt fine.

Sora seemed to notice this, because he smiled. And right at that moment, a giant rock flew through the sky, aimed right at Sora.

"SORA!!!" screamed Kairi, and she pushed him out of the way.

As the rock collided with her head, Kairi fell backwards. She was dizzy. She felt something on her head and she touched it. She looked at her hand. It was now coated with blood. Her head was bleeding.

"KAIRI!!! KAIRI, PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!!!"

Sora's frantic screams seemed very far away. It was strange, because Kairi could see him right in front of her. Was she going deaf?

It was like going blind. First, Kairi saw everything—Sora's horrorstricken face; the blood dripping down her face; the sand and shells scattered everywhere. And then everything seemed to darken—things started to fade. Kairi shut her eyes, and her world went black.

- d a y j u a n a: Oh, okay. Good. I thought it was already obvious that I'm totally with Roxette when I made Say Those Words. They're my second favorite couple, and my first is…well, I guess you already know by now. Yeah, I'm going to get started on What If sometime this week probably.

Rahi-1: Thanks! I made DiZ all dark on purpose. I know he's not in the game—well, he does have the evil laughter—but I couldn't help it. Still, leaving students trapped in a maze? I say that's pretty moronic.

Bexmar: Oh, yeah, no one would. I just had a kick making the costumes. Thanks! Yeah, but in that maze someone got killed, and Voldemort was there. But here there's just innocent nothingness…and two teenagers. Silence can be kind of creepy and unnerving, but…I made it silent on purpose to make Sora and Kairi closer (evil laughter). Really close guesses, but her actual name is Alaina. Thanks for reviewing!

Brindlegone: Make that a VERY moody DiZ. Thanks so much!

Midnight's Falling Star: I know, I was surprised I let nothing happen too. You know, besides the holding hands and cuddling bit. I took the "Do the Sora and Kairi with me" from one of my friends, Jamie. (He's a guy.) I made Hayner slightly like him, as you can plainly see. Yeah, I started cracking up yesterday at the name George for no apparent reason. She never found out… (Grins widely)

Valor999: Thanks!

Cheychey41: They were, weren't they? Of course, they always are. Naminé didn't care, I suppose. It's like "Banana phone! Ding dong, ding dong, DANANA PHONE!!!" It's so weird…I can't get it out of my head. I'm sorry I put it in yours.

Isler: Thanks! Here's your update!

Jesus Rocks!!!: Yeah, it was kind of gay, now that I think about it…but to add it all up, it wasn't MEANT to be gay, I just wanted Hayner to make fun of Sora. He is going crazy…literally. And, sorry, I don't know what OOC means. I haven't been around this site too long.

LOTRchic: Ha, ha! Yeah, neither do I…

Zestychicken2: Thanks! DiZ IS creepy…especially his laugh. It's like "MWA, HA, HA!!! MWA, HA, HA, HA!!!" Creepy. (Sorry, I'm very hyper today.) Yeah, it was pretty funny. What can you say? Sora's smart. Here's your update!

Inspire-Illuminate: Thanks! I'm glad I made your day! You like Sora, do you? Most people laughed at Hayner, didn't they? Jeez, I put that line in just to make myself laugh, but it seems everyone else agrees it's funny. (I thought I was just being retarded.) Thanks for reviewing!

Kyla-is-da-name: It's okay. I review fast…or so people say. Thanks so much!

KiaraFay: Thanks! Here's your update!

Oh my gosh, you guys. That was so random, yet somehow I feel relieved that I got all that drama off my chest. The bad thing is…now it's kind of on your chests. Well, I hope you enjoyed, I'm going to go listen to Banana Phone one more time to lift my spirit…

Read and review!