I don't particularly care for this chapter, however, it needed to be done, sadly. And thank you for all of those reviews! They made me so happy! . Enjoy!
It took three more visits from Kairi to Halloween Town for the two to decide to meet every Wednesday from there on after, coordinating their schedules since their home towns were beginning the preparations for their separate holidays. Kairi had then asked for a three hour free block which she used to go and visit Sora. She no longer needed to scavenge for rodents, since Sora had been collecting them for her (she never bothered to ask how) and had begun carrying a bag with her every time she goes out as if to say she still is. Not only that, but she has replaced her necklace with a golden chain and watch so that she can keep track of time when she is out so she does not cause another panic attack around the workshop, especially since everyone is so stressed out at the moment.
Either way, the two have found themselves growing extremely close within the last five months, spending their time just chatting away and getting to know one another. They had even eventually resided in a large old willow tree where they would have small picnics. Kairi had made it necessary to bring the food herself, since she had once forgotten to do so and Sora had flown off to get candied apples … dipped in frogs' breath. Needless to say, she would not be forgetting any time soon.
She had also been noticing Sora acting rather strange the last few visits that she had made. For one, he seemed to be rather insistent about carrying her from place to place, claiming it would be giving him a good workout (afterwards reassuring her she wasn't in any way "fat"). Not to mention one time where he kept on saying the strangest things to her.
They had been eating some chocolate dipped strawberries which the two were munching on happily, talking about nosy friends. Sora suddenly cut himself off when describing his friend Riku to Kairi, and had turned quiet. Kairi had perked at his sudden lack of social personality and rested a hand on his shoulder and leaned forward to his level. "Is something bothering you?" He met her gaze then took in a deep breath, puffing out his chest like a toad or frog.
"Kairi, you make mountains fall." Kairi had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean. She stared at him with a confused and surprised expression that seemed to turn the already pink boy a darker shade of red, something she didn't know possible. She opened her mouth to take another bite when he made another statement that had absolutely no meaning to her. "And … and walls ooze, too!" She was starting to feel really uncomfortable about the situation because he seemed really serious about these declarations and she had no idea what they meant. She took a bite of another strawberry to hide her feelings. He then turned to a grim expression as if taking some sort of last resort and then took a deep breath and asked, "would you like me to butter your toast?" Kairi stared at Sora who was now a deep scarlet and seemed to be waiting for some sort of impending doom. She held out the basket full of fruit.
"But we only have strawberries." This seemed to only upset him more as he then turned away from her, after grabbing some strawberries, muttering something about "never taking advice from Riku". Seeing how he was in such an unstable mood, she had decided to change the subject.
And to bring butter and toast for the next visit (for some reason he didn't seem too pleased).
It had been three weeks since then and Kairi was running a little late, having accidentally burnt the apple pie she was baking for the two, she decided to start over. She had ran up the stairs with her basket under her arm, trying to keep it warm, when she heard a loud thump. Alarmed, when she reached the top of the stairs she crept slowly to the outside of her bedroom door, feeling her heartbeat within her head. She reached slowly for the doorknob which suddenly seemed rather ferocious to her. She furrowed her brows then took in a large gulp of air and swung open the door. "Wakka! You better not be in my room-!" She stopped, frozen in the doorway, gaping.
"Hey, Kairi."
She dropped her basket, then slammed the door behind her. Adrenaline pumping within her she asked, "What are you doing here?" Sora apparently didn't seem to recognize the amount of problems he had just caused by appearing in her room of all places. For starters, her father, the elven army, Vixen the reindeer, her grandfather, grandmother, Wakka, Tidus and Selphie among many others would beat him to a pile of goo if they found him in her bedroom. She knew for a fact not many people would react very kindly to his presence in the first place. The sun was exceptionally bright here and she doubted his hood would be shelter enough. He did not know the terrain of the area very well when it comes to flying and he has a poor sense of direction. But most importantly, he was in her room.
She suddenly found herself thankful for her mom's insistent nagging to pick up her dirty clothes.
"You were late so I got worried." He shrugged. He resided on the end of her bed with legs crossed, Leonardo sitting on his lap. He was playing with an unraveled yo-yo of hers. Leonardo was playing with the string that was nearly fully undone from the toy. Kairi gaped at him.
"But! You-you can't just come into my room!" She cried. Sora tilted his head.
"Huh? What's the problem?" Kairi's cheeks turned bright pink, suddenly flustered. Sora blinked, then looked around the space as if seeing it for the first time. He looked down at the bed he was seated on. Kairi's bed. He flushed slightly.
"I just, a girl's room is very personal, alright?!" She fell to her knees and leaned against the door. She groaned and closed her eyes. "Did anyone see you?" She asked, figuring that to be the most important obstacle at the moment. He murmured 'no'. She sighed in relief. "Good …"
"Hey, Kairi, I have a question …" She opened her eyes. He stood up and rustled through his jacket, then, to her surprise, let fall a large assortment of different objects that he had somehow managed to hide. She gaped at the piles of pie, mistletoe, presents, toys, cookies, socks and Christmas ornaments that splay across the carpet. "What's all this?" Kairi felt this to be another "don't ask where he got these" moment and gulped loudly.
"Uh … well," She held up two different ornaments, one being a glass, green ball that was glittered with red and gold, the other was a six pointed star that had a bulb on the inside and a switch that, when turned on, would glow gold. "You know how I told you about Santa Clause-"
"Your grandpa, right?" Sora interrupted to double check, munching on a cookie.
"Right, well, he puts all of the presents under a large pine tree. Often, people will decorate these pine trees with decorations like these." She held out the ball. "These will go on the sides, as well as strings of anything from popcorn to lights." She placed the ball down and turned on the star. "Stars and angels usually go on the top of a Christmas tree, kind of like a center piece." She gave Sora the star to play with since the glow seemed to have caught his attention. Sora flicked the light on and off several times, amusing himself and incredibly interested with the object that Kairi normally would not think twice about.
"Interesting …" Sora murmured to himself. He then flexed his claws and unscrewed the nails that held in the bulb and battery.
"Sora? What are you-?" The ornament fell apart and he let them fall to the ground. He looked up at Kairi with childlike horror.
"I just wanted to see what was in it." Kairi started giggling to herself while Sora searched through the pile again. He held up a stream of colored lights that were not turned on. He held them out to Kairi. "What are these?" He flicked the lights as if expecting them to ring like bells.
Kairi pushed them away. "They're more tree decorations, they wrap around the tree in a spiral pattern. Plug them in and they light up like that star did earlier." This perked Sora up and he quickly found a plug-in and inserted the wires. He cheered at the lights as the flickered on and off in their own patterns, not keeping in sync with one another. He wrapped it around Kairi and himself, laughing. Kairi smiled as well, more so interested in the objects in the pile. "Anything else?" Sora quickly retrieved another item. It was a red sock that had the name "Alex" written on it in blue. The opening was lined with white fuzz. "It's a stocking. They-"
"The socks that your grandpa puts in tiny toys and candies, right?" Sora said, reciting what Kairi had previously told him. He stuck his hand in it. Then his face. "Where are the mini toys?" His muffled voice called. Kairi shook her head, laughing, and took the stocking off.
"He only puts them in stockings on Christmas Eve." She reminded him. She put the stocking to the side and took another item for herself. She held up a reindeer-shaped cookie. "Sora, I know you know what these are …" She dangled the cookie in front of his face.
"Yeah …" He grabbed the cookie from her. "But I was hungry." He chomped noisily.
"Pig!" She teased. She would have taken one for herself, but she had no idea where they came from. Instead, she started on the pie that she was baking earlier. Sora took some for himself, shoveling a large piece in his mouth along with the cookie. He resembled a chipmunk. "A really fat pig …" She muttered mockingly. Sora looked down and unzipped his jumpsuit. Kairi flushed, unsure of his actions. He stopped at the belt, revealing a well developed display of muscle. "Ok, I take it back…" He zipped himself back up, munching, with a smug expression that was rather unSoraish.
He then reached over for another object. He held a doll. He gulped loudly, sending all of the food in his mouth down his esophagus. "What is this?" He then guessed before Kairi could say anything. "A voodoo doll?" She shook her head.
"No, just a plain doll that says "momma" when its batteries are in." Seeing Sora open his mouth she added, "No, I don't have any extras batteries for us to test with." Sora closed his mouth in response. "Now do you have-?"
A knock sounded on the door. Kairi and Sora's eyes popped wide open. Kairi whipped around to face Sora. "Hide." She hissed. He pranced around the room, looking for some place to hide, but her bed covers did not reach the ground to hide what was beneath and everything else in the room was either white or purple, not quite matching Sora's coloring so he could blend in.
"Why is everything in you room white?" He asked, slightly cross. The door opened and Kairi flung him into her closet (knowing full well she'd probably regret it later) and slammed the doors shut.
"Come in." Selphie bounded in the room.
"Kairi, I'm so glad I found you!" She cheered, bouncing onto Kairi's bed. "I have some free time cause everyone is taking a break because Yuna is giving birth to twins!" Kairi's eyes widened and she landed next to Selphie on the bed, eyes drawn to the light in that reflected underneath her closet doors turning on and off again. "We're not allowed to go, though."
"Who is it …?" Leonardo slithered under into the closet where a thumping was drumming faintly against the wall.
"I dunno, she's an older mother who is a Working Elf so I have no tabs on her." Selphie shrugged. "I'm sure you'll be able to see her later once she's in the recovery room." She stood up and took both of Kairi's hands in hers, pulling. "You want to go do something or what? I only have so much free time, you know!" Kairi continued glancing at where Sora was hiding.
"I don't know …"
"Pleeeaaase … Kairi?" Selphie puckered her lower lip in a pathetic attempt to do a puppy pout. "I'll even play with Leonardo!"
"I just … I can't …" She really wanted to go play with Selphie, but there is Sora here, too …
"Why not? Is this because of that whole staining your clothes red thing? Cause I am totally sorry about that, I-!"
"Wait, that was you?!"
"Huh, what's that?" Selphie had finally caught on to the light show and thumping in the closet that had been going on since she came into the room. Kairi felt her innards clench in dread as Selphie stood up to go take a peek. "Did you mix together tree lighting and a flashlight again, Kairi?"
"No! It's uh …" Kairi searched in her mind for a lie, but having little experience, drew a blank. "I um … don't look in there!" Kairi screamed as Selphie reached for the handle. Startled, she drew her hand back.
"Eh? Why not?" Selphie smiled coyly. "Is it a birthday present?" Kairi fiddled with her fingers, not sure how to respond to that guess. Selphie took her silence as a yes. "Is it for meeeeee?" She asked even more excited than before. Kairi decided that to be a good point to shake her head. Selphie pouted. "Well I guess it's too early for my birthday, anyways …" Kairi let out a breath of air she didn't know she was holding. "Which means I get to see what's in it!"
"NO!" Kairi leapt into the air to pounce Selphie, but was too slow, the door had already opened, revealing Sora who was playing with some tights and using them as some sort of slingshot, using Leonardo as the ammo. Surprised, he let go of the fabric and the milk snake went flying into Selphie. The female brunette screamed.
"Get him off! Get him off!" The frightened snake had wrapped itself around her waist even tighter as she continued thrashing about. Both Kairi and Sora rushed over to help. She screamed even louder when Sora ran his claws to hold her still so Kairi could pry Leonardo off. "Get away!" The half-demon jerked away and Kairi's grip on the snake loosened.
"Selphie, you need to calm down!" Kairi chastised. She grabbed on to her friend's thin arms and held them firmly until she stopped wriggling in place and stared up at her friend with wide eyes, then at Sora. She gave him a clueless expression that wasn't flattering to either one.
"What is he?"
"Selphie!" Kairi gasped, she turned to Sora apologetically. "She doesn't mean that," she faced Selphie again. "Say you're sorry!"
"Ok, ok … who the hell is he?" She pointed at him as well, adding to her rudeness. Sora shrugged, not fazed by her reaction to him. He pointed at her, copying her movements exactly.
"Who the hell is she?" If Kairi weren't as emotionally stressed as she was at the moment, she probably would have laughed. He gestured to himself, bowing low to the ground. "I am Sora Daemon, Pumpkin Prince, at your service." He lifted his head and gave her a toothy grin. Selphie shrieked at the sight of his fangs. Sora scowled. "Kairi's a much better screamer than you are." He informed her. Selphie gaped.
"Rude or not, who is he and why is he here?" Selphie placed her hands on her hips, trying to appear brave. "There is no way Saint Nicholas knows…" Kairi then dropped to the ground in front of Selphie and hugged her legs desperately.
"Selphie, best friend, please, you cannot, I repeat, cannot tell grandpa about Sora! He'll forbid me to see him ever again!" Kairi wailed. Sora's eyes widened; he had not known about this little detail.
"And with good reason!" She eyed his wings distastefully. "Have you checked him out lately? There is no way he's from around here, and you know that only those who are from a Christmas Lineage are permitted to come here." Kairi buried her face in her friend's dress.
"Please….?" She murmured. Selphie stayed firm with clenched teeth and hands, darkened eyes flickering between the two teens. Her gaze then lingered to Sora who actually appeared lost, a blank expression spread across his bright blue eyes. Selphie's over worn hands loosened and then fell flat against her sides. She was just too nice sometimes.
"Well, would you mind telling me what in the world he is doing here? Nothing dirty I hope…" Kairi ignored that last comment and beamed, hugging both Selphie and Sora together, both returning the hug.
"You may want to conjure up some snacks, this is going to take a bit to explain, Sora, feel free to jump in if I've missed anything …."
`'
"Well, sheesh, I was always wondering where it was you ran off to." Selphie sighed leaning against Kairi's bed. "No offense, but I could never picture you going out of your way to strangle rodents for Leonardo to eat." Sora was near the brink of a full stomach as he continued to sneak small bits of the pie that had shrunken considerably ever since he had gotten his claws into it. Kairi sat in her swivel chair, swinging it from side to side, keeping herself occupied, not used to staying in one place for so long.
"None taken," Kairi shrugged. She then rounded on Selphie. "You do realize you cannot tell anyone about this, as I said before." Selphie sighed, then nodded. "Good, because this is way more important than the spitting up on Wakka incident, time we skipped classes for sky diving and that time when you--." Selphie shushed her with a glare, eyes glancing at Sora. "My point is that this is a serious do not tell no matter what moment!"
Sora held out his hand. "Pinky swear?" Selphie gave Kairi a reproachable look and Kairi tilted her head, telling her to go for it. Selphie nodded then reached up cautiously and shook his gloved hand. Selphie then froze suddenly.
"Me telling won't be a problem anymore …" She whispered, looking very alarmed. Kairi, who had been facing her back to them to check on Leonardo who was on the computer monitor whirled around, wide-eyed.
"What-?" The door swung open and there stood a very disgruntled Santa Claus, dressed in red suspenders and a white, collared shirt. His worried expression quickly turned livid once he noticed Sora in the room.
"Kairi Namine Claus," Kairi shrunk in her seat where she sat. She was making a rather pathetic attempt to hide behind the back seat of her chair. "Who is this boy in your bedroom and why is he not back in Halloween Town and the rest of those … those hooligans from that insane asylum?" Kairi perked slightly.
"You know about Halloween To-?"
"What's your name, boy?" The old man rounded on Sora who stared back with a slight defiance to his eye. The demon stood.
"Sora Daemon," noticing how this didn't appear to make the man any happier he added a timid, "sir."
"Why are you here?" Saint Nicholas stood firm and his round hands curled into fists. Kairi was scared of her grandfather for the first time. "You, Selphie, why didn't you inform me of this?!" Selphie looked down at her shoes.
"Ah… I …"
"She only just found out like you-!" Kairi butted in, stepping in front of her friend. She hunched over when his glare turned to her.
"You've been seeing him for a while, haven't you." It wasn't a question. Kairi bowed her head, not completely sure why she felt ashamed.
"Yes, sir." He veered towards Sora and grabbed him by the ear. Kairi gasped and stood up, expecting Sora to attack, but he fell almost limp. She guessed that her grandfather probably used some magic to drain some of his strength. He then roughly pulled on Sora's ear and stormed out of the room at a determined pace. Kairi padded along, leaving a stunned Selphie and Leonardo by themselves. The old man looked over his shoulder, not faltering in his strut down the stairs.
"You should probably come, too, Kairi." Kairi, terrified of her grandfather, nodded and scampered after him. She found that she had lost her voice and felt embarrassed as eyes from all of those working in the shop were staring curiously. Some seemed to think unholy thoughts of the situation and giggle behind hands. Kairi was too stunned to correct anyone.
Santa continued to half drag the poor boy who was stumbling, not used to this sudden lack of strength, occasionally tripping as he half ran to keep up with his captor's pace. Kairi had to resist from holding on to Sora's hand to reassure him; she didn't want Santa Claus to do something that they both would regret. Her grandmother had gasped in horror when she saw the male adolescent and hurried away. Kairi was starting to feel suspicious of something that no one was telling her.
Like, how did her grandfather know about Halloween Town, anyways? And where was he taking Sora? At first she thought he was going to take him to his office, but he then stepped outside, not bothering to help the boy with his hood when he started hissing from the sun's rays. Sora flailed his arms pathetically, trying to reach for his hood. Kairi took pity and lifted his hood up for him, making sure it covered him properly. She shrunk away when her grandfather stared down at her disapprovingly. Kairi kept her gaze on the footprints made in the snow, one set half dragged, the other hard and firm. She looked up to notice they were heading toward the woods.
"Where are we going?" She asked tentatively. Her grandfather grunted.
"Halloween Town, I have a bone to pick." She didn't quite understand what her grandfather had meant by that, but if he was planning to go to Halloween Town, there was no way it was a good thing. She nodded and continued walking. The trees did not seem as inviting as before and almost seemed to be laughing at her from over head. Some appeared more bent over and ominous than before, resembling Halloween Town's trees, except that these are alive and coated with fresh snow.
They entered the clearing where the grouping of hallowed trees were circled. Her grandfather finally let go of Sora's ear. The demon fell to the ground from the release of tension to his head and rubbed his ear to ease the ache as it was now bright red. Santa Claus stepped up to the tree with the Jack' lantern. "This the tree?" Both teens nodded, not using words because Kairi was too frightened and Sora too weak. "Good." He then grabbed both teens by their arms and opened the door to the other world. The familiar winds of Halloween Town pulled them in and they fell through blackness as ghosts chortled at their arrival.
They landed in the graveyard, something neither of the teens were used to. Kairi wondered what had changed their landing. Was it the added weight, perhaps? Saint Nicolas did not wait for them to get back on their feet and began to storm through, vaguely careful to not step on any graves. Kairi and Sora hurried after him, exchanging worried looks.
Zero appeared, apparently waiting for Sora to return and yipped at the old man's feet, but was brushed away. The puppy disappeared, looking deeply hurt. He pressed through the gates that Kairi had never gone through, passing by some old beggars who were playing instruments previously, stopped to stare at them, bowing slightly at Sora. Sora seemed embarrassed for some reason. They followed the angry man through the streets, creatures all staring at them with confusion and curiosity. One actually jumped out to greet them.
"Sora!" A werewolf with silver hair appeared. His clothes fell in loose rags around his strong frame. Kairi recognized the boy as 'Riku' from Sora's descriptions. "Where've you been? You promised to go sparring later." He eyed Santa and Kairi. "Who's the old geezer – and was that the chick you were – ?"
"I'll explain later …" He replied in a hurried whisper, as the old man turned to him, threatening to grab a hold of his ear again. Kairi held on to Sora's hand, frightened of her grandfather. Sora did not pull away.
Kairi then realized they were headed to the winding tower that she had seen the skeletal man appear from when she had first arrived so many months ago. Others around her seemed to notice their direction as well, for their eyes would flutter from the trio to the mini castle. The gathering crowd was whispering amongst itself, wondering who she was, what Sora was doing with them and why "Sandy Claws" was back. "Sandy Claws?" Kairi murmured to herself. Sora turned to her and shrugged. Apparently he didn't know any "Sandy Claws" either. A ragdoll woman ran out of the castle, expecting only to see Sora, she dropped the basket she was carrying in surprise. Then nervously walked over to us.
"Oh, uh, dear …" Her large eyes flickered to Kairi's grandfather. "Is there a problem of some sort …?" She already knew the answer without the old man telling her.
"I would like to speak with the … director of this … town." Kairi didn't appreciate her grandfather's tone with that last word. The woman nodded, ushering him in through the large doors. He nodded, and strutted through, seeming to know his way up the stairs. The strange woman glanced at the viewers, then escorted Kairi and Sora inside the house and shut the doors hastily.
"I'm assuming you disappearing all the time has something to do with this young girl?" She asked gently. Sora looked away so his face was not in view to Kairi and nodded. Her eyes widened then turned to Kairi with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, I have not yet introduced myself, have I? I am Sally Skellington." She extended her hand to shake. Kairi took it.
"Kairi Claus," Kairi introduced herself. "Pleasure to meet you." It actually was, dealing with all of the cold stares and her grandfather's cold shoulder it was nice to see a friendly face. Sally's large eyes widened at the use of her last name.
"Oh, I understand now …" She looked between the two teens then back up the stairs where Sants Claus had stormed up not too long ago. "You two have been dating each other for a while, is that what this is all about?" Kairi felt herself freeze up at that and when Sora was about to say something, she beat him to it.
"No! We're friends!" She could feel her cheeks heating up. "That's all…" Sally cast a knowing look to Sora then stood back, a bemused expression on her face.
"I see …" A crash from upstairs caused them all to jump, startled, angry yells that were muffled were evident. "I think we had better intervene." Kairi could tell she meant more so herself than Sora or her, but the two followed her up, anyways. Sally gave them both a warning look, then opened the door that shouts were coming from.
In the room stood the two leaders of the two favorite holidays of children all over the world; Santa Claus and Jack Skellington, both looking livid. Whatever it was they were going to say to each other, slipped their minds as their eyes fell to the two teenagers whom the squabble was about. "Sora, have you been bringing that girl here?" He asked it a dangerously low tone that frightened Kairi. She was too scared to be offended by his rude tone. Sally stared at her husband disapprovingly.
"Yes … sir," Sora used the same politeness he had used on her grandfather earlier. The Pumpkin King strutted up to the girl with a scowl. Kairi stiffened under his glare and he rounded around her, thinking hard to himself. He then suddenly jerked very close to her face, spread his mouth open and wide and with his fingers in his mouth to stretch it even further, roared. Kairi screamed. The three habitants of Halloween Town blinked, inwardly praising her gifted scream, while her grandfather pushed between the two and glared at the Pumpkin King.
"I won't be having that, now." He stated gruffly, shaking a tiny finger. The skeleton glowered back. "You leave my granddaughter alone, now." The skeleton's expression changed to a haughty one.
"Granddaughter?" He repeated. He turned to Sora. "You will be having no interaction with her anymore, understand!" Sora and Kairi's eyes widened in horror.
"Jack!" Sally cried. The man in the red suit grew angrier still.
"Kairi, he is not good enough for you to visit, he will not be in your room, he will not be in Christmas Town and you certainly shall not be visiting this insane asylum!" Kairi fell to her knees in shock as if the wind was just knocked out of her. Sora looked ready to do the same.
"Not good enough for Sora?! Sora is too good for that wench!" Jack roared. Sally gasped and Kairi looked ready to burst into tears. Sora was a cross between crushed and anger. Kairi's grandfather then began with a fixed stare that the skeleton matched. Sora then turned to Kairi, holding her hands and leaning close to her. Her eyes widened, hoping he was going to do what she hoped he was. He then stopped, inches from her face, then flew away. Kairi could have sworn she heard faint sobs. She then sent a furious look to her grandfather.
"I hate you!" She screamed. The room quieted and her voice seemed to echo. Her grandfather turned to her with a sad expression that was extremely hurt. She then swelled her chest high and with her index finger, touched the tip of her nose, and using a Claus magic, whisked herself away where she soon found herself sobbing into a fluffed pillow with a confused Selphie at hand.
