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

Author's Note: I got lots of reviews super quick for the last chapter. And it was worth it, even though I had nightmares about it, needed to listen to Banana Phone thirty times to get it out of my head, and whenever I see blood I feel like screaming. Okay, maybe it wasn't TOTALLY worth it, but thanks anyway, everybody.

Warning: Sad, sad stuff. (Shakes head)

Quick Author Babble: I apologize for the chapter name, it's really quite disgusting, I just couldn't think of anything else.

Chapter 13: Bloody Horror

Sora could hardly piece together what was happening. One second, Kairi had started to cheer up, and the next, she was pushing him aside and a gigantic rock came crashing down on her. Sora watched as she collapsed, feeling horror cascade through his body.

"KAIRI!!!" he shouted. "KAIRI, PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!!!"

Kairi's eyes were still open, but they looked dulled, like she wasn't seeing anything. She reached over and touched the side of her head, and Sora felt his heart leap in terror as he saw blood drip down her fingers. Kairi could clearly see it too, but she seemed too dizzy to take it seriously.

Sora grabbed her hand, which was now wet with crimson liquid. Kairi didn't seem to notice at all. Her eyelids were closing, her violet eyes going pale.

"No!" Sora yelled, squeezing her hand, which was starting to feel lifeless. "Kairi! Kairi, stay with me!"

She couldn't hear him obviously. Sora felt warm tears sliding down his face. He was frightened—so incredibly scared it felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest. He tried to wipe the tears away, leaving Kairi's blood all over his face.

"KAIRI!!!" he shrieked one more time, trying desperately to get her to listen.

Kairi's eyelids snapped shut. Every part of her collapsed. Sora was trembling now, furious with himself for not protecting her like he should've. But the fury was dying down, being replaced by every horrible emotion you could imagine. He put his hand on the huge gash in her head, trying to stop the bleeding. It sank through his fingers.

Sora was now covered with blood, but he didn't care. He cried, feeling like he couldn't do anything else. Kairi was already going pale, her skin going cold.

Even though he was shaking, Sora felt like he had to do something than just sit there sobbing. He stood up and picked her up, biting his lip as she shook like a puppet would.

"Kairi…" he whispered, hoping she would say something back—anything.

All he got back was a deathly silence, and even though silence was supposed to contain no noise, it was screaming in Sora's ears. He tightened his grip on Kairi, not willing to let her go.

Sora needed to get her to a hospital, and quickly. He raced across the beach, ignoring everyone staring at him. It was strange, seeing a teenage boy carrying a teenage girl wedding-style across a beach, but Sora didn't care what people thought. Kairi was the only person he cared about right now, and she was the only person he would pay attention to.

He stopped as he saw Hayner, Pence, Olette, Yuffie, Naminé, and Leon. Yuffie looked up at him. She looked at Kairi in his arms, eyebrows raised.

"Sora, what…?" she began.

Sora walked closer to them, and that's when they noticed the blood—the blood all over Sora's face and hands, the blood dripping from Kairi's head, and the tears quickly racing down Sora's face.

Naminé screamed in terror, racing forward to hug her sister. Yuffie stood, paralyzed, gaping at him like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Olette ran forward to see Kairi as well. Hayner looked like he could've died right on the spot. Pence covered his mouth with his hand, looking like whatever came out of it would've been horrible. Leon was showing more emotion than Sora had ever seen him—he was racing forward, thunderstruck, trying to help clog the gap in Kairi's head. Roxas collapsed, landing on his knees, looking like he didn't know what else to do.

"Kairi!" cried Naminé repeatedly, cradling her sister's head. "Oh, Sora, what happened?"

Tears were blasting out of her pale eyes, landing on Kairi's face.

"She…she…" Sora croaked, but he couldn't get anything else out before he was crying again.

It took Yuffie, Roxas, and Pence a moment to get out of the ocean and join the rest of the group. Yuffie was covering her mouth with her hand, tears rapidly sliding down her face. Roxas was speechless, watching everyone as if they weren't real. Pence's mouth was hanging open.

"Sora, you've got to tell us what happened," Leon said, being the least emotional one of them all.

"S-She…got hit…by a rock…" Sora said shakily. "A big one, from the coast…"

His voice caught—more tears flooded his eyes. Hayner was taking one of her arms. Her hand was hanging uselessly.

"She's…she's…"

He stopped, like he couldn't say the last word.

"No, she's not!" Olette shouted stubbornly, even though her emerald eyes were glimmering with worried tears. "She can't be…"

"Olette's right," Roxas said. "We've got to get her to a hospital before she loses too much blood."

"How are we going to do that?" Yuffie asked. "We don't have a car…"

"My house isn't too far away," Naminé remarked, wiping away a fresh batch of tears. "If we hurry, we can explain everything to my parents and they can drive us to the hospital."

"Do you want me to carry her there, Sora?" Leon offered.

"No," Sora replied. "This is my fault…I should be the one who should take her there…"

"How is this your fault?" Pence asked.

"I should've been the one to get hit," Sora answered, shaking his head as more tears fell. "Not Kairi. She pushed me out of the way and got the blow instead…I should've realized what was happening…I should've gotten her out of the way…"

"Sora…" Yuffie said, her voice taking a much softer tone, "nothing's your fault. You shouldn't take this out on yourself…"

"She's right, Sora," Naminé agreed. "We all know you would never hurt Kairi on purpose. It was just fate. You couldn't do anything to stop it."

"I could've pushed her out of the way," Sora retorted. "I could've been hit myself. Not Kairi…Kairi didn't do anything to deserve this."

He started walking across the beach, trying to go as fast as he could with Kairi in his arms. His friends ran after him, all in a hush.

111

It seemed like hours before they reached the Ires' house. They'd walked along the sidewalk in a horrible silence, Sora holding Kairi up, Naminé slowing down the bleeding with a napkin. As they reached the walkway, Sora broke into a run and raced up to the door.

"You should wash up, Sora," Yuffie finally said, her voice lowered so much Sora could barely hear her. "You've got blood all over you."

"I don't care," Sora stated, looking down at Kairi. "It would take too long. Kairi needs to get to the hospital and I'm not holding it up."

Naminé took out her key and unlocked the door, her hands trembling so much she could hardly get it into the lock. Sora burst in, feeling the urge to scream for Mr. and Mrs. Ire, but Naminé beat him to it.

"MOM!!!" she shrieked, almost shaking the whole house. "DAD!!! COME QUICK!!!"

Mrs. Ire came in from the kitchen, Mr. Ire from upstairs.

"My word, Naminé, what's with all the ruckus?" asked Mrs. Ire.

She stopped dead as she saw Sora and Kairi. Mr. Ire still hadn't noticed—he was fumbling around with his tie.

"Aiden," Mrs. Ire whispered to her husband.

"What is it, Riley?" Mr. Ire asked, looking up at her. "Please don't tell me it's another one of Naminé's fashion melodramas again…"

Mrs. Ire slowly shook her head. Mr. Ire turned to look at the group of teenagers in his entrance. When he saw Kairi, lying rather lifelessly in Sora's arms, and Sora, coated in blood, he let out a shout of shock.

"Kairi!" he cried.

They both ran forward to see their daughter. Mrs. Ire burst into tears. Mr. Ire cursed in rage.

"Please, she needs to get to a hospital," Sora said.

"Y-Yes, of course."

Mr. Ire fumbled around for his car keys. Sora could tell the question "what happened?" was on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't say a word as he went into the garage, ushered all the teenagers and Mrs. Ire into the van, and drove off.

111

Sora refused to let go of Kairi the whole drive, and no one was daring enough to reject. The sun was just on the verge of setting. Mr. Ire seemed to be speeding, and his turns were so sharp it made everyone feel like hurling.

Many murmurs were going all across the van, and Sora, thought distracted trying to hold Kairi in one place, heard every one of them.

"Sora's acting so strange."

"I think he's feeling worse than any of us."

"Do you think Kairi's going to be okay?"

"You don't think…she's dead, do you?"

"I wonder who threw the rock at Kairi."

"Must've been some jerk who doesn't care if people live or not."

"Look at him, holding her. It's rather suspicious, if you ask me."

"Don't be ridiculous. They're just friends."

"Poor Kairi…I wish Sora would say more."

"Yeah, well, he's been through a horrible experience. Look at him! He's practically covered with Kairi's blood."

Sora closed his eyes. He wished they would all go away. Kairi needed a doctor, not a bunch of gossipers. He didn't care what they said—he wasn't going to let Kairi go until she got proper care. It was true that Kairi was bleeding all over his torso, but he couldn't care less about what shape he was in.

"Hey, Sora, you okay, man?" Roxas asked tentatively.

"I'm fine," Sora replied, even though he was feeling worse than he'd ever been in his life.

The hospital finally came into view. Mr. Ire screeched to a stop, leaped out of the van, pushed all the teenagers out, and made sure Sora was okay with carrying Kairi inside.

Sora wanted to carry Kairi in—he knew it was his fault this had happened in the first place. But it was so unnerving, seeing how lifeless she looked, how cold and clammy she was. And what if she really was dead? Sora didn't want to believe it. He couldn't. He wouldn't let her.

They rushed into the ER. Mr. Ire was practically screaming at the nurse at the desk, saying they needed a doctor immediately. The nurse asked what shape she was in, and Sora stepped forward, showing the huge gash in her head and all the blood that had already escaped.

That was more than enough to convince the nurse. She basically ran down the hallways to a vacant room.

"Dr. Ryan will be with you in a moment," she said.

Sora looked all around the white room they were in. It was so spirit draining—it practically screamed death. Mrs. Ire was sobbing; she was stroking her daughter's hair as if that alone would bring her back to life. Sora cradled Kairi's head, hoping any moment she would open her eyes and smile at him.

She didn't.

111

It didn't take more than a minute for Dr. Ryan to come into the room. He was relatively young, curly, red locks sticking up awkwardly around his head, and his amethyst eyes twinkled with comfort. He sat down beside Sora, and looked up at everyone in the room.

"My, my, this girl has a lot of friends, I see," he said, attempting a smile. "Kairi Ire, I presume?"

Sora nodded. Dr. Ryan reached for her and paused at Sora's reluctance.

"May I?" he asked politely.

Sora passed him Kairi, feeling suddenly empty as she left his arms. Dr. Ryan put a stethoscope to her chest. Everyone held their breath.

"She isn't…dead, is she?" Hayner finally asked.

"Hayner!" hissed Olette.

"What?" Hayner snapped. "We all want to know."

Dr. Ryan looked at them, his face stony.

"Yes, she's alive," he said rather gravely.

Everyone smiled, relieved, but Dr. Ryan's face didn't move.

"Her heart is beating rather abnormally, though," he remarked. "It is probably from blood loss. I'm sorry, but we need to take her to the examination room to check if her brain has been affected. I suggest you all go."

"I'm staying," Sora said.

Everyone looked at him, their expressions rather worried. He looked at them stubbornly.

"Are you sure?" Dr. Ryan asked. "This is a pretty complicated examination. It could take hours."

Sora nodded.

"I'll wait. If she wakes up, I don't want her to be alone."

Dr. Ryan looked at everybody else.

"Is anyone else staying?" he asked.

"We will," Mrs. Ire volunteered. "Me and Aiden, I mean. She's our daughter, and Sora's right. We can't leave her alone. She'll be traumatized, the poor thing. Naminé…"

She turned to look at her other daughter.

"You can go home if you want."

Naminé looked at Sora and her parents and shook her head.

"I'm staying. She's my sister, and…and I won't be able to sleep at night if I don't know she's okay."

Naminé smiled a little.

"She's important to me…"

Sora smiled back at her. So Naminé was more than she showed to the world. Yuffie took a step forward.

"Me too," she said. "She's a good friend. She's the one who wanted to be my friend. I want to be there for her."

"Yeah," Roxas remarked, straightening up. "Me too."

And soon the whole room was echoing with "me too" and "and me". Dr. Ryan smiled, obviously touched by everyone's care.

"Okay. You can wait outside the examination room."

111

It was very dark by the time Dr. Ryan came back out. Sora was looking down at the floor, thinking of Kairi and if she was okay. He looked up; he was hoping to see a bright, happy smile on Dr. Ryan's face—or at least some sort of triumph—but there was none. He was frowning, looking at everyone with a deep scowl.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Sora's heart skipped a beat.

"You mean she's going to…?" Olette asked, obviously fighting back tears.

"No, no," Dr. Ryan remarked, shaking his head. "But there's a great amount of blood loss in her brain and her skull is completely cracked open. She'll be in here for a while."

Sora took a deep breath in.

"How long?" he asked.

"I'd be surprised if she woke up after a month," Dr. Ryan said, then he turned to face Mr. and Mrs. Ire. "And the crack in her skull is big. If the blood drains out through it, she might lose more blood, maybe even water. Kairi's already dehydrated and the amount of blood she's already lost is tremendous. There's not a hundred percent chance she'll survive…"

"What?!" cried Mrs. Ire. "Oh no, please…please don't say that…"

"She can't!" Yuffie cried.

"No, Kairi doesn't deserve it!" Naminé shouted.

"You've got to do something!" Roxas yelled.

"You're lying!" Hayner shouted. "You're lying!"

"This can't be happening…" Olette whispered.

"You're wrong!" Leon shouted.

"Don't let her die!" Pence whimpered.

"How can you say these things?" Mr. Ire snapped. "Can't you see children are around?"

Sora jumped up from his chair, silencing everybody.

"Let me see her," he said.

"I don't know if you should see her like this…" Dr. Ryan remarked.

"Let me see her," Sora repeated, his voice lowering in a threatening way.

Dr. Ryan and Sora stood there for a while, staring at each other. Finally, with a heavy sigh, Dr. Ryan nodded and moved aside.

"Go in," he said.

Sora opened the door and stepped in. He heard everyone talking behind him.

"Why is he so determined?" Yuffie asked.

"Ah…young love makes you do crazy things," Dr. Ryan replied.

"Oh, they're not in love," Naminé said quickly. "They're just friends…"

"Best friends," Roxas added.

"Hmm…" Dr. Ryan murmured. "I don't know if I'm too sure about that…"

Sora shut the door behind him and looked at the examination table. Kairi was there, attached to long tubes pumping blood and water into her. The gap in her head was wider than before, even though Dr. Ryan had stopped the blood, and pictures of her brain were all over the place. She was hooked up to a machine, an oxygen mask over her face. She looked so ill and pale Sora was a bit scared for a second, but he reminded himself she was still Kairi.

He walked over to her and took her hand. She was warming up a little, but not so much that made her feel as alive as she was several hours ago.

When his dad had been in the hospital a couple of years ago after a slight concussion with a small accident with a table, Sora had seen his mom talking to him in the hospital even though he was unconscious. She explained to Sora that even though people are unconscious, they can still hear you in their hearts.

"Hey," he said, eyes filling up with tears. "I'm…I'm kind of scared, you know? Seeing you like this…it's…it's hard."

He looked at Kairi's face. She didn't move a bit. He laughed a little, two tears sliding down his face.

"I lied," he remarked. "I'm more than kind of scared. I'm more scared than you would ever believe. If you…if you died…I don't know what I'd do. I don't want you to die, Kairi. I really don't."

Sora trembled a bit.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I should've been the one to get hit by that rock, not you. Why'd you push me out of the way? I don't care if I get hurt. It's you that I worry about. You should've known that by now…"

Sora laughed a little.

"Who am I kidding? Even if you were conscious right now, you wouldn't even listen to me. You'd probably tell me that I'm an idiot…that I should be more careful. Maybe I am an idiot, and maybe I should be more careful. Honestly, Kairi, I don't care…"

Sora felt more tears blur his vision.

"Because right now, it would've been better if I was stupid and got hit by the rock. Anything…anything but this…"

Sora burst into tears, the water multiplying by the second.

"I hate you! I hate what you did, just to protect me! I hate you!"

He was screaming, and even though anger was coursing through his veins, he couldn't find it in his heart to be mad at her. He put his head in his hands and cried.

Zestychicken2: Who cares if Riku was there?! I can't believe people still want him in there. DIDN'T I GIVE YOU PEOPLE ENOUGH??? Okay, fine, I'll put him in the next chapter. (Defeated sigh) Thanks...I know...scared me more than saddened me, actually. There hasn't been blood in Kingdom Hearts ever, so...yeah. Weird. Well, here's your update!

Valor999: Aw...it's okay. I think. I still don't know what the heck I'm going to do with Kairi, so...when I run out of ideas, I resort to Riku. It's just the way I do things. I guess I wasn't supposed to tell you that...oh well. Thanks for reviewing!

Wings of Water- SKYE: Thanks! Yeah, I just wanted people to have an idea of what happened. It seemed kind of stupid to have this giant rock randomly fall from the sky, so...I hope everyone understands. Thanks for reviewing!

- d a y j u a n a: I wonder what you would've said if I discontinued this story right last chapter? Oh my gosh, I think everyone would come after me with pitchforks. Don't send people to come and never shut up! I already have enough of those here...Thanks so much for reviewing and here's your update!

Spam Hearts Zexion: Thanks, and here's your update!

SimplySarah1221: Yeah, I know. Needed to get some drama off me. SORA CAN'T REPLACE ROXAS!!! (Gasps at the idea) And I think Sora was already a beautiful person...Well, he should've been, with all the reviews I got saying "Sora's awesome!" and "Whoa, Sora's smart" and "How could he skateboard so well?" Well, thanks for reviewing!

Rahi-1: True. I know what good evil is...I think. Okay, no, I don't. But in some way, I understand what you're saying. Can't answer your question, but thanks so much for reviewing!

LOTRchic: Ha, ha...maybe I should send Riku or Sora to beat the crap out of those two guys. I'm evil that way. Thanks!

KiaraFay: Thanks! I like my drama unseen...(Looks around mysteriously) Thanks for reviewing!

Kyla-is-da-name: I know. The worst day EVER, more like. Thanks for reviewing!

Jesus Rocks!!!: Er...well...honestly...I have no idea. What, before Kairi dies you want Sora to randomly come in and kiss her? Uh...thanks, but I like things a little more romantic than that. Thanks so much!

Bexmar: Thanks! Everyone keeps asking me if Kairi's going to die and I really do not know. I'll measure things up. No, I don't know someone named Landon. I don't know anyone named Logan, either. Or Riley. Okay, I know someone named Aiden, but that's beside the point. Thanks a lot!!! (Ugh...if I WILL kill Kairi, it won't be anytime soon, so...you won't have to scowl for a couple chapters.)

MOOnlite-dUSk: That was my plan, but I thought it would be more interesting...Well, just for once...if Kairi was the hero, not the other way around...because it seems...Sora happens to be heroic too often...Of course, I guess that's his job, being the hero and all. (Laughs a little) Here's your update!

Kinotolian: It WAS a little odd. No, make that very odd. I was feeling like writing something super dramatic so it all just came out. I'm sorry if it was a bit too fast. Thanks for reviewing!

KeiraLoveKH: Okay...I'm going to answer this all at once: I don't know. I KNOW. And...I KNOW!!! Sora wasn't meant to be so nice...Logan and Landon weren't even supposed to exist...and what the heck?! DR. RYAN??? Who am I trying to fool?! (Laughs at ridiculous names) Well, thanks so much for reviewing and here's your update!

Cheychey41: Um...I'll tell you what I said to the other people...I DON'T KNOW IF KAIRI'S GOING TO DIE OR NOT. However...(coughs and straightens up) I'm glad you liked my chapter! (Grins) Thanks! Here's your update (really soon).

Inspire-Illuminate: You bet! Look all the way down the reviews and every single one (well, maybe not EVERY single one, but most of them) says "I hope Kairi's okay" or "please don't kill Kairi off, PLEASE". But I'm really happy they're actually thinking about this story, so...I don't mind. Thanks! I'm glad you liked her heroism. Thanks, I threw that in because I was being retarded. Thanks and here's your chapter!

Well, thanks. Really. All of you. I've got all these reviews—really quickly, too—and I'm happy. Really. Thanks, guys. But now...(cries a little) I've depressed myself writing this, and I bet even listening to Banana Phone a hundred times won't...wait, my melancholy's gone. (Grins) THANKS, EVERYONE!!!

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