A/N: Soooo… yeah. Here's chapter 9!! I was listening to Bush when I wrote it, so that's where the chap title came from… If you don't like it… I don't really give a rat's ass! Read: )

Love and Hate

The castle interior was dark. Black. But that didn't stop him from tearing through the hallways, an animal hunting its prey. His yellow eyes fixated in front of him as he sped forward on all fours, leaving long smoky trails of darkness behind him. From down the hallway he could hear her heart beating in a melodic rhythm, calling to him. The smell of her was intoxicating and it almost sent him over the edge. Almost. It was all he could do to hold back the saliva accumulating in his black mouth as he neared her door.

The pale moonlight shining through the large picture windows did little to illuminate the dark room. However, he would not be relying on sight, as he could easily hear her clumsy ragged breaths behind him as he entered the room.

"Sora?" He snickered at the upward inflection in her voice. One simple word turned into a thousand questions… Questions that he was sure she already knew the answers to.

His ears twitched with the vibrations of her footsteps along the hardwood floor, causing the corners of his black cold lips to curl into an evil grin. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting…" He spun around slowly, his yellow eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

"You!" Kairi's angry stare amused him as she summoned her keyblade, "What have you done with Sora?!" He could hear the desperation and fear behind the façade of confidence in her voice. Her hands trembled, clutching the keyblade as she aimed it at his chest while she slowly circled around him.

"Spare me the heroics, Princess," he hissed as he locked eyes with her. "This is what has become of me. Take a good long look; this is what happens when you dance with darkness for too long."

"I don't believe you" Kairi responded raggedly, still grasping the hilt of her weapon as she sidestepped around him. "You're lying!" She cringed as his dark laughter filled the room.

"Don't tell me you didn't see this coming. It was long overdue…" He sneered as he stretched out his palm, a black pooling mass morphing into the dark keyblade. "As is this!!" he hissed as he lunged at her.

Kairi back stepped, narrowly dodging his black blade as it pierced the space between them. Immediately, her keyblade collided with his in a shower of sparks as he again lunged an attack at her. She bit her bottom lip in determination as she blocked his advances, which were growing in intensity with each hit.

"Why are you doing this?!" she screamed. Fighting back the tears threatening to blur her already obscure vision, she continued to defensively block his attacks.

"Sooner or later you are going to have to strike back, Princess!" He growled as he ran the blade of his weapon along her keyblade, hot embers cascading to the ground.

She winced as the black blade nicked her arm, leaving a long thin trail of bright red blood. I can't do this! I can't fight Sora… A tiny voice in the back of her head tried to reason with her, whatever that thing is, it is not Sora. Inhaling deeply, she furrowed her brow and charged her keyblade at the silhouette of her best friend.

"Surely a Princess of Heart can do better than that." He cooed as he easily blocked her barrage of attacks.

Her muscles burned with exhaustion and her arm was numb where the blood trickled across her skin, but her resolve was fueled with his provoking and she charged again. Her keyblade dug into the flesh across the side of his shoulder and he howled at the impact as he staggered backwards, clutching his injured appendage, black blood oozing between his claw-like fingers.

She sprinted at him, her keyblade leading her attack as she unleashed a series of powerful combos across the shadow. He awkwardly blocked the first few strikes, but as her hits got more accurate and forceful, he retreated in a blur to the other side of the room to escape her deadly blows.

He stared at her incredulously as she stood on the other side of the room panting, her azure eyes pierced in a penetrating glare. Her strength surprised him, he never expected her to put up such a fight. "I see you've been keeping something from me, Princess," he taunted as he twirled his blade in his fingers. "Don't you know what happens when you keep secrets from your friends…" he hissed as he charged her with his keyblade.

Dark shrouds littered the ground as his blade sliced through hers effortlessly. Darkness pooled around the black keyblade as he emitted violent strikes across her small frame. Her screams of agony numbed his senses as he struck her again across the side of stomach. Strange… he thought he would have actually enjoyed this more…

Kairi growled in determination as she held her keyblade over her head, her eyes fixated on him in a cerulean glare. "Light!" she screamed as a wave of light escaped her keyblade and crashed through the room, illuminating it in a stark white contrast.

A deafening howl surged through the castle as the wave of light coursed through Sora's black body, burning his flesh and taking with it, his strength. He staggered backwards, lowering his blade and loosening his grip on its hilt.

"Don't you know that darkness can not exist in….Light!" she called again, as she took a few bold steps forward, eyes locked on the silhouette.

Sora's keyblade clamored to the ground; he clutched his head in his hands and fell to his knees as another bloodcurdling scream escaped him. The intensity of her spells ate away at the blackness shell encompassing him, and slowly it began to melt from his hands in long sticky streams.

Kairi stood only a few feet away and she shuddered as she stared at the melting mass of blackness oozing from Sora's body. "Light…" Her spells were wearing on her strength, and she knew she had little left to fuel her magic.

Sora threw back his head in another howl as the darkness dripped from his face, mixing with the contrasting bright red blood that was still oozing from three deep gashes cut along his face. His body burned with the brilliance of the light and he collapsed forward so that he was on his hands and knees, panting heavily. His breaths came in irregular puffs and it was all he could do just to fill his lungs with them.

"Light…" Kairi clutched her keyblade with white knuckles, her fingernails digging into the soft flesh of her palm. Her head spun and she fell to her knees in front of him, her legs too weak to support her weight anymore.

He winced in pain as another wave of excruciating light crashed through him, tearing at the darkness that was now dripping from his waist. Sapphire tears began to pool in the corners of his eyes as he hung on to the last bit of darkness left clutching to his legs as he collapsed onto the hard floor. He could feel his heart beating slower, almost not at all… His breaths soft and uneven… His vision foggy… His body numb…

Kairi sat back on her heels as tears streamed down her face in long wet trails. "Light…" her voice barely over a whisper, her last ounce of energy escaped her and surged out of her keyblade, blinding the room and its inhabitants. She fell to his side in a heap of tears and sweat as the last bit of darkness soaked into the floorboards.

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A/N: Oh man… I just love happy endings, don't you?? Haha jk

I know its short!! But I really liked where it ended…

Seriously, I really really really need reviews for this chapter, because it was a bitch to write!! Arg! I need input people! Tell your friends… or people you don't know…I don't really care: )

AND! Don't forget… "Fall Back"… Brightshadow 5… possibly better than my story… possibly… ; ) It's awesome people, just read it!!