Chapter 10: New Challenges More Trouble

Part I: Surprise. Surprise.

I missed her already.

With mom and Rikku out of town and dad at work, I was at home all alone. It was an overwhelming feeling; an unsettling feeling. I could be with Sora, but he was at Blitzball practice preparing for the game later on. I couldn't go without seeing Demyx, and to be quite frank I was almost scared to leave the house since that phone call the other night that regarded my ex. I found myself being extra precocious by looking out the windows every few minutes or so just to make sure I wasn't being spied on.

I needed Namine'. I had never been alone before. And even when our parents were barely an influence in our lives, it was never me alone; it was Namine' and me. I wondered where she was. What she was doing. Where had she been planning on going anyway? I wished I could be as daring as her and runaway from home. Luckily my dad believed me when I told him that Namine' was out visiting some college and had simply forgotten to tell him because her mind was so wrapped around Sora. I shouldn't have mentioned Sora because now my dad hates him even more. So even if I did wise up and decide to tell my parents that I was dating Sora, they wouldn't approve.

Silence. I had turned the TV on but there was nothing on so it went back off. Now it was just me in some giant empty house. It didn't even feel like a home. I didn't have to go baby-sit for another six hours. All my friends were out of town. My boyfriend was busy. My sister was gone. And my parents were too busy for me. My mind was about to implode from all the nothingness around me, so I decided to go out.

It was exceptionally warm today being in mid December that is. I looked at the sun as it made its way to the noon position up high in the middle of the sky. I smiled. Maybe Namine' found her a place as well. My feet carried me to the inner city. And before I knew where my destination was, I stopped in front of a store and looked in a window. It was a clothing store and the clothes were name brand and expensive. The little Christmas themed nightgown in the store window caught my eye and I had to admit that it was lovely. Suddenly I wondered if we'd all be home for Christmas. My stomach turned as I guessed that I'd be spending it alone and then I focused back on the store. My mouth dropped when I saw Fujin posing in a sexy, sleek red dress. She didn't notice me, so I went in to get a better look.

"Whoo hoo! Look at you!" I cried. Fujin saw me creep up on her in the mirror and then she turned around to look at me. Her face matched the deep crimson of her gown.

"Wha… What are you doing here?" I've never seen her so flustered, so I reveled in it.

"I think the real question is why are you here and why are you wearing that dress? Me-yow!" Fujin frowned and looked back into the mirror.

"Shut your mouth! It's not like I'm wearing it because I want to." Before I could inquire as to why she was wearing the dress if she didn't want to be wearing it, a tall lady with long silky ebony hair entered and smiled at me.

"Oh! Fujin! Who is this? A friend of yours?" At hearing the lady's voice, Fujin's whole attitude changed and she nodded.

"She's my friend Kairi…" The lady seemed to become even livelier at hearing Fujin's answer and she took one of my hands into her own fair and slender ones.

"Oh how wonderful! It's a pleasure to meet you Kairi! Hm… Kairi. That's a lovely name!"

"Uh… thanks…?" I looked at Fujin for help but Fujin just looked at her feet bashfully. Bashfully? What in the hell? Fujin actually got bashful?

"My, my... The girl is just as lovely as her name… yes…," the woman mumbled to herself as she spun me around, "She would make another good model…"

"Ugh uh! Edea! Don't you have to uh catalog the uh ideal clothing for the uh best looks this holiday season?" Fujin interrupted. The woman, Edea clasped her face in her hands and a look of pure horror filled her elegant facial features.

"I totally forgot about that! Thank you Fujin. You're such a doll!" With that said, the tall lady left us. Fujin and I watched her tall frame disappear into an elevator then out of sight before looking at one another.

"Who was that Fujin?"

"… My godmother…"

"Ruh… really? She's beautiful…"

"Yeah… I know. Anyway, to answer your question, I'm done up like this because this volunteer group I'm in is trying to raise money for the old folk's home and we're doing it through an auction. The girls in the group have agreed to go on dates with the highest bidders. That includes me. So I came to my godmother for help since she runs this shop." I looked at my friend incredulously. Fujin tried to avoid my gaze by playing with some lace on her dress.

"Wow. No wonder you didn't want to tell us what you were doing over break. Who knew you were so kind hearted?"

"I'm not. So if you keep making fun of me, I'll kick your ass as soon as I'm outta this damn dress." I backed up instinctively.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's just kinda a shock. I thought you'd be outta town like everyone else."

"Unfortunately no. Unlike everyone else, I've got work to do over vacation. Anyway, to change the subject, I heard you and Demyx split up." I sighed and nodded sadly. I still couldn't dismiss the guilty feeling I had in my gut nor the fear that crawled up my spine whenever I remembered that phone call.

"Yeah… we did…," I mumbled. Fujin smirked.

"So it's true then… I also heard you and Sora slept together. Is that true too?" I gasped and felt my face heat up. I looked at Fujin and she giggled a little seemingly finding my reaction humorous. My heart was beating so fast that I thought the strain would make it explode in my chest. All the extra blood was rushing to my face so I knew I was as red as a tomato and by the look on Fujin's face, the blushing let her know all that she needed to.

"I can't believe it. You dog! You really slept with Sora! How was he? Good?" I was still trying to grasp the fact that Fujin knew about us so when I tried to answer the words came out in a slurred and jumbled up mess.

"Calm down Kairi. You're not the first person to have sex in the entire world," the girl said easily as she gathered her skirts and walked into a nearby dressing room. I followed her and slumped into a chair beside her door.

"How… how did you find out?" I asked hesitantly.

"Olette told me. She said you guys were at it for a good while. I didn't believe her though… but now I see she was telling the truth." I had completely forgotten that Olette and Roxas were there! How embarrassing! To think, I asked that it remained under wraps and already my two best friends knew about it all because I carelessly forgot that there were other people in the house! So who else knows??

"Fujin! Who else did Olette tell?" I cried. Fujin came out dressed in a pure white dress with lacy trim. I liked it.

"No one as far as I know. I think I'm the only one. Why do you sound so flustered Kairi? We're only your friends. We won't use this knowledge to our advantage or anything like that."

"I… I know… it's just… If anyone else finds out…" I didn't want to think about it. I already got one threatening phone call. I could only imagine how everyone else would react to the news. Fujin posed in the mirror and studied herself, but after she heard my weary tone, she focused her attention back on me.

"Kairi. Don't worry. We won't tell anyone else if you don't want us to. We're not blabber mouths. Have a little more faith in your friends. Or don't have sex in a place where other people are present. Especially if one of those people is your friend."

"Okay… okay… Now I feel better… But promise you won't say anything to anyone else anyway. Promise?"

"I guess."

"Fujin!"

"Yeah, yeah. Fine, okay. I promise."

"Thank-you." Fujin went back into the changing room and I heard her shuffle through more clothing. My nerves were still on edge though and I didn't think I would be relaxing any time soon.

"So, what does this mean for you two now?"

"… Well… We're a couple." Fujin poked her head out from behind the door to gape at me.

"How is that possible when he goes out with your sister?"

"They… broke up…" Fujin's mouth dropped and she gasped with surprise.

"No way! Really?? What happened? It was that party wasn't it? A lot of scandalous shit was going on then. It was after you two made out wasn't it?" I nodded.

"Kinda… It had something to do with that…" Fujin shook her head and disappeared behind the door again.

"Wow… Who knew you were such a bad ass Kairi? Coodles to you my friend."

"… Eh… thanks I guess…"

"Anyway, if you're not doing anything, I suggest you get out of here. It's for your own safety cuz believe me, Edea will waste no time in turning you into a humanoid mannequin if you stay here any longer and trust me, it is no fun whatsoever. I'll catch up with you when I'm done here okay?"

"Okay. See you later Fujin."

"Buh-bye buddy." I got up and left the shop. I didn't have anything else to do but walk around some more, but I couldn't do it because I was so distracted by this new development. So many people knew about us already. I didn't know how to handle it. I wanted to see Sora. I needed to talk to him. But I didn't want to see Demyx… My desire to talk with Sora was greater than my fear of seeing Demyx and so I hurried to the stadium where the boys were practicing.

What would I say when I saw him? When my mind drew a blank on the subject I decided that I would find the right words when I was faced with the problem. The stadium smelled like boy. It was musky and humid. I took a seat on the bench nearest the water dome and watched the team run through plays with athletic passion. Sora saw me and he smiled brightly. His smile made my heart race and I smiled back at him. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard after all. That thought was quickly dismissed when Sora called time out and I saw the pissed expression on Demyx's face. All the boys jumped out of the water and Sora wasted no time in running over towards me. He lifted me up and spun me around merrily. I giggled a little, but when I saw the looks his teammates were giving us, I ordered him to put me down. When he did, I took a step away from him embarrassedly.

"What's up with you Kairi?" He asked. I heard a little edge in his tone meaning that he wasn't oblivious to the fact that I was trying to create some distance between us. I was too ashamed to make eye contact with him.

"Uh… I… I wanted to talk to you…," I stuttered.

"Well. Okay. Let's talk. Come on." He took me by the hand but I pulled away from him.

"Uh… no… you're busy… I'll talk to you later…"

"… You mean to tell me that you came all the way here just to tell me that you wanted to talk to me… later?" I could hear the frustration in his sarcastic response and I couldn't blame him for getting frustrated. I was getting irritated at myself really. I had come to talk hadn't I? Why couldn't we talk? When I felt the other five pairs of eyes on me, I remembered why I couldn't talk to him.

"Sora…," I started, but I stopped. I couldn't think of anything to say. I managed to pull my eyes away from the ground long enough to look into my boyfriend's face. His expression wasn't one of anger to match his tone. It was a look of remorse.

"Kairi. It's okay. We can talk later if that's what you want." I felt my heart shatter.

"Sora… I'm… sorry…" He nodded but then shook his head slowly like he didn't completely agree with what he was agreeing to. Flashing me a quick reassuring grin, he turned his back to me and returned to his team. As the distance grew between us, my heart seemed to sink lower and lower into the bowels of my body until finally it felt like it dropped to the ground. I sat back in my seat on the verge of tears. The team still watched me curiously, but none of them said anything to me and no one asked Sora about what they had just seen. Demyx looked back and forth between us angrily. I couldn't stand being there anymore, so I got up and began to leave. On my way back up the stands, I looked back at Sora and saw that he was watching me too. Our eyes stayed locked for what seemed like a long time and then Sora returned his attention to his team. I exited the stadium but waited outside for him.

I couldn't believe how foolish I was. I had gotten cold feet just because a couple of people were watching us. I was so consumed with fear about what they were thinking that I didn't even want to be seen with Sora. He had been so happy to see me too and I just disregarded his feelings without the slightest compunction. My poor Sora. Maybe I didn't deserve him after all.

When the team finally came out, I heard them talking loudly in excited voices. They were fully dress and banded together so tightly I could barely see Sora in the midst of them. But when I did, I saw how happy he was and lost the nerve to call out to him. He was happy with them. All I did was hurt him. I turned away from the group and then started to walk away. I was so stupid. I mean I was really stupid. Why couldn't I do anything right? Sora deserved better. So much better. I hadn't notice anyone come up behind me, and when I had, it was too late. The person had me by the waist and his or her grip was tight around my abdomen.

"Hey!" I yelled. The person's grip loosened and I whirled around and saw Sora smiling at me playfully. I blushed and looked away from him.

"Oh. I didn't know it was you…"

"Surprised you didn't I? Anyway, come on Kairi." He took me by the hand and I didn't pull away from him even when I saw some of the team looking at us curiously. This time I let him lead me away from the prying eyes.

He took me to the park where a lot of other couples were hanging out. I even saw a couple of families there. I felt happy as we walked the chrysanthemum bordered trail of the park hand in hand. A part of me felt foolish though for being embarrassed to be seen with Sora earlier. What was the matter with me? Sora tightened his grip on my hand and took me into a secret surrounding. There was a solitary bench surrounded by a bunch of trees that still had their leaves on them and the bench was unoccupied. And out of sight. Sora sat down, pulling me down next to him. The space was lovely with the sun's rays shining through the opening in the trees' branches which created star-like patterns on the ground. It was kinda chilly though since the trees provided shade and it wasn't a sizzly hot day. So I cuddled closer to Sora and let him wrap an arm around me to pull me into a warm embrace.

"I'm glad you waited for me… What is it you want to talk about?" I hugged him back and rested my head on his chest. I heard his heart pumping there. I listened to it and smiled happily when I realized it was beating in sync with my own. I couldn't tell him that I was embarrassed that people had found out about us. I couldn't tell him that one of Demyx's affiliates was threatening me. I couldn't tell him that I was scared. Not now. Not in this perfect moment. Why couldn't everything stay this wonderful?

"…I'm sorry Sora… about earlier… I just… panicked," I offered lamely. I heard him sigh and he pulled away from me as though I had offended him.

"Oh… yeah… Don't worry about it. I forgot that you don't want anyone else to know…" I gripped his shirt forcefully within my fist subconsciously when I heard the distinct sound of pain oozing from his words. He must've thought that I didn't want people knowing about us because I was ashamed or something. And I was… but… It wasn't because of him or anything. In all actuality, there really was no reason to be ashamed. After all, he made me happy. So very happy...

"I'm not… ashamed of us Sora… I'm not… Besides it's not like people don't already know. I bet your team is already gossiping about us by now. And Olette told Fujin about us because she… heard us… in your room…" I heard Sora chuckle a little and my tenseness melted slightly.

"Right. Roxas was giving me hell about it. No doubt that he's said something already. I knew it wouldn't matter if we told people or not. They're bound to find out. Especially since I don't plan on keeping it a secret… unless… you want me to…" It wasn't hard to miss the continual pain in his voice as he spoke. My idea seemed to be hurting him more than any of the people who knew about us were hurting our relationship (which they weren't). I couldn't stand it. There was no reason why I shouldn't brag about the fact that Sora and I were together. After all, he was so happy to have me in his life now and he didn't care who knew it, but I was actually ashamed… embarrassed. No. I couldn't hurt him anymore. There was nothing wrong with us being together so why did it matter if others knew about it?

"I don't want to hurt you anymore Sora. So I don't care. As long as it doesn't affect our relationship, I don't care about what other people think about us…" I heard Sora's breathing hitch in its steady pace and I looked at him then. A red tinge stained his tanned cheeks and he looked at me with such a sweet expression on his face. It was a mixture of surprise and happiness. Smiling, I cupped his face lovingly before bringing it down to meet mine. Then I used my tongue to part his lips and I tongued him passionately in a sweet kiss. Sora moaned and pulled me closer. I felt his body quiver beneath me in his want for closeness, and I decided to slip into his lap by placing both legs on either side of his hips. Sora stroked my body with roaming hands and I bristled when his fingers found delicate parts. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pushed myself up against him tauntingly, daring him to take as much of me as he wanted. Sora grunted a little in his throat and he held me tightly by the waist, sinking his finger tips into my flesh hungrily. I took my tongue out of his mouth and bit his bottom lip temptingly.

"Kairi…," he breathed against my mouth as he spoke, "I love you…" I smiled and pulled away from him in order to study his face which was slightly flushed a soft red color. His lips had turned rosy as well from my assault. I imagined that I shared the same details on my features.

"I know…," I said gently and I kissed his swollen lips one more time. Then I brought my forehead down to meet his and rested my hands on his chest. Sora took my hands into his own and cradled them lovingly as he nuzzled my neck sweetly.

We stayed like that for a while and I know countless passersby had seen us from the gaps in the small cove of trees, but I didn't care. I was with Sora and I was happy.

"Hey… Kairi. I just realized something," Sora said in a raspy voice like he had nearly fallen asleep. I pulled away to look into his face.

"What?" His cerulean eyes were concentrated on my neck and I looked down. Demyx's necklace was hanging there, glittering eerily in the sun's light. A feeling of disbelief filled me.

"Oh shit…," I cussed before removing the necklace forcefully from my neck by yanking the chain. Sora's eyes locked with mine and he paused to take a moment to form his words.

"… You've been wearing that thing for a while now. Was it a present from someone?" I almost regretted having to answer him.

"Yeah… Demyx…" An angry scowl flickered across Sora's face and I guiltily stuffed the jewelry in my coat pocket.

"Why do you still have that thing?"

"I forgot about it honestly… Don't worry. I'm not keeping it around because I miss him or anything… In fact, I'll… return it to him…" Now how to exactly go about doing so? I had no idea.

"… You were never embarrassed to be seen with him… or wear whatever he gave you…"

"It was one thing Sora and I forgot about it that's all. It's not important. Not anymore…" To reassure him, I leaned forward and kissed him again then I took his hands and placed them on my heart. I broke away from him to whisper, "I'm yours… and yours alone…" Sora looked back at me with those big blue eyes that seemed to see into the deepest depths of my soul. Good thing to because he'd see that I was sincere to the edges of my being. He smiled a little and hugged me close, squeezing me tightly.

When we finally got up, Sora and I walked back to the stadium to get Sora's car. From afar it looked fine. The same luxurious black BMW that Sora cruised around in proudly for the last year and a half. The car that drove Namine' and sometimes me back forth to school or anywhere else we wanted to go. But up close, a nasty scratch that ran along the driver's side of the vehicle. Sora's mouth dropped and he hesitantly touched a finger to the ruined paint job. I covered my mouth with both hands since it was wide open and I didn't want anything to fly in.