I just noticed my chapters are pretty short. I'm so sorry. So start getting use to longer ones!

Sleepless Chapter 3

"What did you just say?" Her eyes showed hurt and anger towards the boy that just saved her life.

"Whoa, Kairi. Chill, I didn't know it'd be that embarrassing for you. I mean, Selphie falls out of her boat all the time." He says defensively.

"What? I'm not talking about me drowning, Tidus." She felt the anger rise in her; she felt the venom that came out of her mouth. "I'm talking about them. Don't you know that they're-" She choked on the word gone. How could she say that? It would have been like throwing lemon juice on a fresh cut. It would break her to pieces.

He stopped rowing. "Where's…." He was about to say their names but remembered she'd probably get more upset. "Where are…they, Kairi?"

She looked into his eyes helplessly and shook her head as she whispered, "I don't know."

"Weren't they with-"

"I really don't know, Tidus. I'm sorry." She looked down at her hands and tried to control her breathing.

Tidus thought aloud to himself, but stayed quiet while doing so, "They just ran off? To where? And why with only…" No, he didn't want to ask those questions…not in front of Kairi.

Hesitantly, he put his hand to hers and tried to soothe her, "They'll come back. They're not the type to just forget about their friends, Kairi. You know that, don't you?" Tidus said trying to sound as reassuring as possible. He hated seeing her like this, Kairi is his childhood friend too. He gripped her hands a little tighter and she picked her head up in response. She smiled cautiously once the words finally sunk in. He was right, he had to be right. Those words and Sora's promise would be the things that kept her hopeful, ones that will keep her waiting.

"Thank you, Tidus." She chuckled at herself for a second, "I'm sorry, you had to see me like that."

He grinned and took his hand back, "Just don't get sad again for me, ok?" He asked and continued to row again.

"I'll try!" She said cheerfully. She remembered it felt good to be this way; cheerful. "Hey, Tidus…how long have I been gone?" She questioned with a smile still on her face, once he answered that more than one question will be answered.

"How long were you under water for, Kairi?" He chuckled to himself, but then noticed she seriously wanted to know. "Wow, you must have fell unconscious. Are you ok?" Tidus asked, getting quickly concerned again.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine!" She reassured and nodded with a smile.

He could tell she was still waiting for an answer. "Well, we were told you weren't in bed this morning. So we kind of figured you were back at the island." Tidus answered with a nod.

So…it's like everything that happened never did happen. But it happened to me. I know what happened to them. Why is this happening? Why am I the only one who knows? It's like a dream with the unexplained consequences.

He turned behind him to see that Kairi's boat was only a few feet away. With one more stroke of the paddles, he was close enough to grab it. He placed his paddles in the center of the boat and pulled Kairi's close. "Where's your other paddle?" He asked looking into the boat, then at Kairi. She broke away from her daze and looked at him with a smile.

She chuckled lightly and scratched the back of her head, "That's kind of why I jumped out. It sunk before I could get it." She nodded with an embarrass blush on her cheeks.

"Tell me you're joking." He sighed a laugh and shook his head. "Here, I'll tie your boat to mine and we'll try rowing it there. If that doesn't work…you could always catch a ride with me for the rest of our lives."

"Did you just propose to me with that?" Kairi pouted in a playful manner and tilted her head to the side.

He waved his hands in the air, "What? No! It was a joke…we'll get it home." he quickly replied. He heard Kairi chuckling as he looked at the center of the boat. Tidus took the rope in the center and tied it to bench in Kairi's boat. "Kairi…can you help me? I don't want to move around in the boat or we'll both be under water."

"Sure! What do you need help with?"

"Push your boat behind ours, I'll hold the rope."

Kairi nodded in reply and began moving her boat behind her. "Ok, is that fine?" She turned towards Tidus again to see if she did it right.

"Yup." He said while he tied the other end of the rope to the bench she sat on. "Alright, let's go home." He picked up the paddles and started to row again.

When they reached the main island, they quickly informed Kairi was fine. No one was very worried because she's gone to the island without telling anyone before today. But when everyone asked about them, they got worried after she told them that they were gone. There it was, she just smashed lemon juice onto her cuts, and she was starting to break. Their parents were frantic about where they could have gone and begged for more information out of her. She tried to assure that they'd come back, but she couldn't because the tears welled up in her eyes again and no one would believe her like this.

"Sora is…no! Why would he do something so stupid?"

"Riku would never do that!"

"They're not dead." She whimpered, "They just left. They promised that they would come back!" She yelled, it was more like her yelling was directed to her and not the parents.

"Kairi…" She heard Tidus whisper from behind her.

"No…" She looked down to the ground and then up again. She started running as fast as she could away from the group. Kairi knew she was the only one that even has the vaguest idea of where Sora and Riku were…but who would really believe her? They'd lock her up somewhere. "I'm sorry." She kept whispering through breaths. She finally reached her home, her parents, and her room. She flopped on the bed and dug her face into her pillow.

"Kairi…" It was her mother. Kairi felt her mom sit near her on the bed.

"Mom…I-"

"They really just ran away?"

"Yes. But they had to go."

"Go where?" Her mother placed her hand on Kairi's back and tried to soothe her.

"I don't know, mom. To a different world or something." She mumbled the last part. But to her surprise her mom tensed. "Mom…" She turned her head to finally face her.

"You're serious…about them going to another world?" Her mother questioned, but her face showed understanding and not disbelief.

Kairi sat up and nodded, "You believe me?"

Her mother looked away and started to gaze around Kairi's room, towards a painting. Kairi followed her mother's eyes and gasped once she saw it. It showed a beautiful landscape with an amazing castle in the center.

"Hollow Bastion." The words escaped Kairi's lips. She remembered it from when she was with Sora.

"You know? It was originally called Radiant Garden." Her mother stated and stood up. "You need some sleep, sweetie. In the morning we'll talk more." After that was spoken her mother was out of the room and Kairi's door was closed.

Someone actually believed her? But of course, her mom would...she wasn't born on Destiny Islands either.

Kairi got up and decided to take a shower first since she still smelt like salt water. After she was done she turned on the television and crawled under her blankets to try and get comfortable.

Nothing seemed to be on so she flipped to the news and noticed there would be storms tonight. She sighed and turned it off.

A storm…like before all this happened.

No, don't think about that. Let it go. They'll come back, like Tidus said. Tidus…I'm sorry.

She stared at the ceiling through the darkness, wondering what she could do to make it up to him and how she'd get through this mess. She had to talk to him tomorrow, to apologize for running off like that. But…no answer came to her last thought. She didn't know what she could do.