A/N: (sigh) I give up on trying to get more reviews… (frowns sadly) I guess that means that my story is only mediocre…. Oh well… (sniff sniff) Here's the next chap…

Revelations

"Kai, wait up…" He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. "I… I have to tell you something."

Kairi stared annoyingly at the silver-haired friend in front of her, "Riku, can't it wait? It's pouring out here and I'm really not in the mood for games anymore."

Riku shook his head, causing water to sling from the tips of his hair and spray around him. "Kai this is important and it's something you need to hear…"

"Well can it at least wait until we get to Merlin's?"

Riku sighed and cupped a hand over his eyes and peered up into the looming clouds above them, "Yeah… Come on." He started walking back towards Merlin's and motioned over his shoulder for her to follow.

Silence followed as they made their way towards the Burrough. Riku walked stiffly wringing his hands nervously as he rehearsed in his head how he was going to word what he wanted to say to Kairi.

Kairi walked with a sulk, her arms wrapped around her chest tightly as she tried to conserve body heat and stay dry.

When they finally arrived at Merlin's, the place was empty. A small hand-scribbled note sat on the small end table by the sofa:

Sora, Kairi, Riku…

At a restoration site. Leon has his cell if you need us.

-Aerith-

PS Meet us at the bar at 5pm, its karaoke tonight and we're celebrating Yuffie's birthday tonight!

Riku glanced at his watch, 4:30… Wow, I didn't realize we were gone so long… He slid the note back in its place as Kairi fetched a couple of towels from the bathroom. She handed one to Riku as she ran hers through her dripping crimson hair. "I'm going to go change… I'll be back in a sec."

She headed back to the bathroom as Riku stood in the living room alone. Leaving the World that Never Was in such a hurry, he didn't have a chance to pack his stuff back up. So, he pulled his soggy vest and shirt over his head, peeling the sticky fabric from his chest, and crossed through the hallway past the closed bathroom door to throw the dripping clothes in the dryer.

He returned to the living room, his towel slung around his bare shoulders. A few seconds later, Kairi emerged from the bathroom donning a pair of white cotton pants and an oversized pink sweatshirt with a college logo on the front. Her wet hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and her face was clean of the dripping mascara marks that had stained her cheeks only minutes before.

She blushed at Riku's shirtless physique and quickly averted her attention to her hands as she plopped down on the sofa beside him. "Okay Riku…" she sighed, "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Right… Well, Kairi. You know how much I care about you, right?"

Kairi continued to stare at her hands and nodded stiffly. "Yeah Riku, we've been friends for a long time."

"Yeah… friends…" Riku repeated softly. He shook his head of his thoughts and managed a weak smile. "Anyways… You and Sora…. You guys mean the world to me. I wouldn't trade the friendship we share for anything."

At the mention of Sora's name, Kairi's face fell further, but she managed a smile and faced Riku. "Me too Riku…"

Riku sighed and averted her gaze by staring at his hands awkwardly, "That's why… Despite my promise to Sora… I have to tell you why he's really avoiding you."

Kairi clenched her jaw and glared at the floor in front of her, "I don't want to talk about Sora…"

"Kai look," Riku suddenly grabbed Kairi's hand in between his own and pleaded with her, "He cares a lot about you, he's just trying to do what he thinks is right inside that puny little head of his…"

Kairi turned to face him and placed her other hand on his arm, "Riku, I know you're only trying to help, but…"

"Kairi, listen to me. He lo…" Riku stopped himself before he spilled his best friend's secret and restructured his sentence, "He's trying to protect you… He just doesn't want to see you get hurt."

"PROTECT ME?!" Kairi suddenly pulled her small hand from Riku's grasp and stood up in front of him. "What is it with you two and trying to protect me all the damn time?!"

"Kairi calm down…"

"NO! I will NOT calm down! I am sick and tired of being the damsel in distress! I fought with Sora and WON when he was possessed by darkness, I've fought and killed heartless, and I hold the power of light! Sora is just too damn bent on trying to protect me all the fucking time to realize that I'm the one protecting him!!!!"

Riku's mouth dropped at hearing Kairi drop the F-bomb. He had never heard such a curse escape her sweet lips and he was shocked at her anger. She clenched her hands into small fists at her sides and glared through the tears fogging her cloudy blue eyes. "If Sora cared so much about me… then why… why…" she choked on the lump forming in her throat.

"Why did he break your heart?" Riku finished for her.

She nodded as she fought the tears nagging at her eyelids.

"Because… he…" Riku sighed as he ran his hands through his wet hair, "He cares about you…" he finished lamely.

Kairi rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Right… He cares about me" she repeated sarcastically. At that moment the front door swung open, gaining Riku and Kairi's attention. A very wet and dripping Keyblade Master stood in the open doorway, wringing the water from his clothes as he shook the loose drops out of his chocolate spikes.

Kairi's heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, but she quickly shook the feeling from her chest and sulked back to the sofa, reclaiming her seat next to Riku.

Sora stood in the doorway oblivious to the two teens' presence at the opposite side of the small room. He still wore the goofy grin on his face and he murmured to himself as he pulled his soggy wet shirt from his torso as he passed through the room towards the hallway leading to the bathroom, his shirt over his head obscuring his view of the sofa as he passed by. Kairi blushed wildly at his toned chest and buried her face in palms to hide it from Riku.

As he vanished behind the bathroom door, Riku turned his attention to the redhead beside him and whispered, "Kai, I think I need to go… you guys… you need to talk."

"Riku!" Kairi hissed as she grabbed for his arm but Riku was already walking across the room towards the bedrooms in the back. He turned around and mouthed, "You'll be fine…" before disappearing down the narrow hallway.

Kairi shifted in her seat uncomfortably as she pondered what to do. She definitely did not want to talk to Sora, but a quick glance out the window revealed the storm still surging outside. She sighed as she sank into the couch cushions, trying her best to make herself invisible before Sora emerged from the bathroom. She closed her eyes, pulled her knees to her chest and buried her head in her arms across her kneecaps as the bathroom door creaked open.

She peered over her arms to find Sora walking into the room, his head bent over with a towel over his head as he rubbed vigorously at his wet hair.

She rolled her eyes and averted her gaze to the couch cushion beside her.

As Sora pulled the towel off his head and let it rest around his bare shoulders, he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of a certain redhead curled up on the sofa in front of him. He darted his eyes around the room, not sure at first whether she was asleep or just ignoring him.

"Kairi?" he asked softly.

"Hmpf…" Kairi tightened her grip around her knees resituated her head on her arms.

Satisfied that she was indeed awake… and apparently was indeed ignoring him… he relaxed into a chair across the room and stared at her, trying to decide whether or not he should try to start a conversation. The last conversation ended with words that still rang in his head at night when he was trying to go to sleep and soured his stomach… I. Don't. Love you.

As he opened his mouth to say something, Kairi ended the silence first, "Sora… Why?" she demanded without looking at him.

He snapped his mouth shut as he pondered her simple question, "Why what?"

"You know what I'm talking about…" she mumbled.

Sora sighed as he tried to word his next sentence carefully, "Kairi… Sometimes you have to make sacrifices. And even though they're hard to make… Sometimes they're necessary."

"So, you're saying that it was necessary to break my heart?!" she demanded as she popped her head from its resting place and glared at him.

Sora winced at her words, "Kairi… I never wanted to break your heart. I just didn't want to see you get hurt."

"You didn't want to see me get hurt…" she repeated, her words laced with sarcasm.

Sora rubbed at his neck nervously as he stood up and closed some of the distance between them as he kneeled down in front of her. "That's right."

"Don't you get it…" she mumbled as she averted her glare from his sapphire eyes.

"What?" he asked cluelessly.

"Nothing," she answered curtly as she stood up and started walking towards the hallway.

"Kai!" he called after her, raising his hand up in front of him as if stopping her, "I just didn't want you to get hurt!" he repeated lamely.

Suddenly she stopped in her tracks and clenched her jaw in frustration. Sora watched from his kneeled position in front of the couch as she spun around to face him, her face red with anger, "SORA! YOU DID HURT ME!"

Sora swallowed his guilt and stood up, "Kairi… I mean physically."

He didn't get a chance to finish as Kairi stormed over, "Is that any worse than emotionally?!" she yelled.

"If anything happened to you because of my selfishness…"

"What?! What IF something happened Sora?! We wouldn't know because you never even gave it a chance! You never gave me a chance! Did you even ONCE think about what I wanted??!!"

Suddenly Sora had one of those 'a-ha!' moments as a proverbial light bulb clicked on his head, "No…" he said lamely, barely above a whisper, "I guess I didn't."

"Well then… at least you were right about one thing…"

"And what's that?"

"You are selfish…." She said bitterly. "But why?? Why didn't you just tell me what was going on??"

"Because I couldn't Kairi… If I did, the darkness would have swallowed you too."

She rolled her eyes and clenched her fists at her sides again, "There you go again with your damn 'knight in shining armor' bullshit!" she yelled.

"Kairi! I couldn't because I… I…" Sora stuttered, unsure of what he was going to say.

"WHAT SORA??! BECAUSE YOU CARE ABOUT ME???!!!" she yelled as she inched closer to him, he face red and only inches from his as she screamed at the top of lungs at him.

"No!" he retaliated as he grabbed her forcefully by the shoulders and met her piercing gaze with his own sapphire glare.

"No?" she questioned angrily, "Then what Sora?"

"Because I love you!"

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A/N: (laughs devilishly) I am sooooo evil!! But!! Don't fret!! I do plan on updating again today, because my next chapter is going to be the gang at the bar, drinking, and singing karaoke!! Woo hoo!! But… gasp! Sora told Kairi he loves her!! What will become of our lovebirds??!!! PLEASE REVIEW!! I crave feedback!!