Author's Note: New chapter of Silent Kingdom. This time, it's Kairi's PoV and will focus on her inner struggle. If you haven't already noticed (because it's less obvious in some characters than others), the theme of this is that all the characters have something secret about themselves that they either hate or feel the need to punish themselves for, and Kurami takes advantage of it. Roxas' was objectifying women and slight sexual addiction. Namine hated herself for her sexuality. Let's see what Kairi's personal Hell is, shall we?

"Sora, does this town ever have an end?" I asked. Sora and I had been wandering around Silent Hill for hours. My ankles were killing me and I could tell Sora was exhausted as well.

"I have no idea," he said. "Want to stop and rest? Maybe we can raid that convenience store next to the truck stop for some supplies."

"Sora, I don't steal," I said.

"It's abandoned anyway," he said. "This town has been abandoned for years."

I thought about it for a while. Could it really be stealing if the town had no inhabitants? "Ok, maybe we can find some food that isn't spoiled."

Sora broke the glass door and we entered the store. No alarm sounded since there was no electricity. Sora combed over one side of the store and I took the other. I collected a few cans of each kind of canned food there was. The shelves must have been restocked just before the town was abandoned. "Kai, after I see if I can turn the water to this place on and get some electricity going, I'm going to go to the gun shop next door," Sora said. "Want a pistol or something?"

"Yeah, a small one," I said. "I can't handle anything too big. I've never shot a gun before." Suddenly, I was thankful that Sora's dad was a plumber. He taught Sora everything he knew about water pipes, sewage, and septic tanks. I continued to pile groceries into a basket. Sora and I were going to camp out in one of the stores for the night. I was scared, but as long as I had him with me, I knew I'd be all right.

I set my basket down and walked into the bathroom of the truck stop that was attached to the store. The mirror was dirty, so I used one of the moist cloths I swiped from the store to clean it. I looked absolutely awful. My hair was a knotted mess, my makeup was almost gone, and I had a moderately deep cut on my face from a run-in with some flying monster. I knew the makeup was a lost cause, so I concentrated on getting the knots out of my hair. It took some time, but eventually, it fell straight again.

"Ok, the water should be back on, Kai," Sora said as he came closer to my location. "I've got a shotgun for myself and a 9mm pistol for you."

"Thanks," I said. "I'm going to take a quick shower while there's still running water."

"Ok, just don't use up all the hot water," he said. "Save some for me."

I smiled and undressed myself outside the shower stall. There was a mirror to my left side and I saw my naked body in the reflection. I sighed as the disappointing sight filled my eyes. I hated the way I looked. I was scrawny, had small breasts, and had about as much muscle mass as a dried stick, no figure to speak of and I couldn't exactly pass off as sexy in anyone's eyes but Sora's. I threw my bra at the mirror out of frustration and stormed into the stall. I felt warm water hit my body and realized I'd been freezing. I took a bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap that I recovered from the store and cleaned my body. As I felt the flat plane that I called my midsection, I wished, more than anything, to at least be able to gain a few pounds, for my ribs to be less visible and my figure a little fuller. It's not like I never tried. I probably ate more than the rest of the group whenever we'd go out, worked out at the gym nearly every day, but I never could seem to gain any weight. I just had to be "that friend" in the group that never gained a pound. Constantly hungry, growing skinnier every day. My body never developed into that of a young woman.

My family tried to convince me that I wasn't really as bad off as I knew in my heart that I was. They took me to many psychiatrists and dieticians. I heard things like "overworking her heart," "Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder," and "she'll have a heart attack and die if she keeps this up," but I knew what was wrong with me. I was too skinny, and would die if I didn't keep it up. I considered steroids, but hadn't reached that level of desperation yet. No matter what I did, though, I was utterly repulsed by my body and wished for nothing more than to look normal, whatever normal was.

I turned off the water and stepped out of the stall. I reached for a towel and dried myself off. When I was completely dry, I picked up my bra and underwear and put my white shirt and jeans back on. "Finally," I thought. I didn't have to look at myself anymore.

Sora walked in as I put my shirt on and wrapped his arms around me from behind. "Kai, I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I said as I turned in his arms and kissed him. As much as I hated my body most of the time, Sora could always make me feel beautiful.

Sora let go of me too quickly and I gave a pout. "I'll be right out after my shower," he said. "Then we can rest for a while and look for everyone else.

I left the room and closed the door. I heard Sora turn on the shower and sat down next to the door. "Namine, Xion, I hope you two are alright," I whispered. Yes, I was worried about my other friends, but those two were like my sisters. Suddenly, I heard a noise from the store. "Sora, I heard something." I hoped he could hear me through the door. "I'm going to check it out."

"Ok, but take your gun," he said.

"I'll be right back," I said. I slowly walked to the store with my gun pointed in front of me. I opened the door, but didn't see anything. I stalked the aisles to find nothing was disturbed, except what Sora and I moved while we searched for supplies. "Whoever is here, show yourself!"

I received no answer, so I decided maybe a can of food fell. It was hard to tell due to all the cans Sora and I left scattered. I turned to go back to the showers, but the door was locked. "Strange," I thought. I never remembered Sora locking the door. "Sora, did you lock the door?" No answer. "Sora, are you ok? Sora…Sora!" It was no use. He wasn't answering. I braced myself to try and break down the door. I stepped back, took a deep breath, and charged the door, hearing an eerie siren as I charged. It gave way with me and I came crashing down on the wet floor.

When I looked up, no one was in the room. The floor was wet, but there was no sign of Sora or his clothes. The room looked different from anything I'd seen in the town so far. The walls were rusty metal and the floor was broken in places. Parts of it was steel grating that showed nothing but a black abyss below me. I noticed that the showers were rusty and the water I landed in was cold. I quickly stood up and took a good look at where I was.

The door I just barreled through was somehow closed again, and locked. I tried to force the handle, but it was no use. "Sora, where are you!" I called with tears in my eyes. "No…" I just couldn't handle being separated from him. I dropped to my hands and knees, feeling more alone than I ever had in my life.

"Hello, is someone there," a girl said from behind me. I turned with my gun pointing in front of me. "Hey, easy. Don't shoot me! I'm just as lost as you are. My name is Kurami." She had long blond hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a blue shirt with denim shorts. She also had the very figure I'd have killed for. Her blue shirt showed a bit of her toned stomach, causing a twinge of jealousy to creep into my heart.

"I'm Kairi," I said. I reluctantly lowered my gun and my guard. "Have you seen my boyfriend around? His name is Sora and he's got spikey brown hair."

"Can't say I have," Kurami said. "But maybe we can find him together. I'm looking for someone too. My brother, he got lost here a few days ago and I got stuck here when I tried to find him."

I felt bad she'd lost her brother. "I'm sorry about that," I said. "Let's look for them together. Do you need a weapon?"

"No," she said. "I can take the smaller monsters by myself and usually run from the bigger ones. That's how I'm still alive."

"Well, maybe we can find you something along the way," I said. "We'd better get moving if we want to get out of here."

Kurami and I searched for a door and eventually found one that was still open. We exited the building and what was once the road was now steel grating similar to what was in the shower room. Also, it was pitch black outside and the fog was still thick. I took the flashlight I stole from the store and tried to light the way.

After walking for half an hour and nearly falling off into the abyss a few times, Kurami collapsed in exhaustion. "I can't go on anymore, Kairi," she said. "I've been walking since long before I met you and I haven't slept in three days. I need…I need to rest."

"Yeah, I could use a break too," I said. Kurami started to lie down a few feet away from me, but I crawled over and tapped her on the shoulder. "You don't have to sleep all the way over there. Come on, curl up next to me." I didn't want her to be too far away from me. She was my only company at the time and I didn't want to risk her disappearing too. Kurami and I leaned against a low wall, surrounded by bushes to conceal us from monsters, and she drifted off to sleep in my arms. Her head was resting on my shoulder and it was all I could do to stay awake. I needed to keep watch while she slept, but I eventually gave in to my fatigue.

I was startled awake when Kurami moved. "Oh, I'm sorry, Kairi," she apologized. "I just woke up and was trying to get out of your arms. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's ok," I said. "I've slept more than my fair share, anyway. Let's get moving…if you feel up to it, that is."

Kurami yawned and stretched. "Yeah, I feel better now," she said. We started walking again and I could feel something…something evil. I couldn't quite place it, but I knew it was evil by the presence it gave off.

"Kurami, do you feel that?" I asked. "It feels like we're being watched."

"Yeah, I don't like it," she said. Suddenly, a shadow started to walk toward us in the distance. I couldn't exactly make it out right away, but it was big, had many arms, and a large head. "Oh no, not that thing again!"

"What thing?" I asked. "Have you seen it before?"

"Once," she said. "The other day when I first came here, it tried to kill me. I barely escaped with my life!"

"So, what do you suggest we do? Run?" I asked. She nodded and we took off into an alley, hoping the creature was too large to follow us. After running for about five minutes, Kurami and I decided that maybe the monster had given up. We stopped in a room of a building full of broken mirrors and other garbage. "That was close."

"Yeah," she said as she breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath.

"Oh, my chest," I said, in pain. I grabbed the left side of my chest just above my breast.

"Are you ok, Kairi?" Kurami asked. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," I said. "It's just a little chest pain." Truthfully, it was almost unbearable. I felt like I was having a heart attack. "I eat a lot of greasy food. I have some minor heart problems because of it."

"There's nothing minor about heart problems," Kurami said. "And you're in amazing shape to eat that much junk."

"Great shape? I'm a toothpick," I said. "I'm trying to gain weight because I'm too scrawny. You're the one in good shape."

"You are not a toothpick, Kairi," she said. "You have an amazing body." Kurami started to grin. "But if you want to change yourself, I can help you."

I didn't like the way she was looking at me, but she'd never given me a reason not to trust her. Then again, she never gave me a reason to trust her either. I didn't realize earlier, but I had just taken off with a girl I didn't know and fell asleep next to her. But, if she were someone I couldn't trust, she would have killed me earlier, right? "You can? How?"

"Just close your eyes," she said. I tried to resist, but there was something hypnotic about her eyes. I just couldn't stop myself. "When you open them, you'll have the figure you always wanted."

I closed my eyes as she said and felt something change in me. "Ok, open them," she said. I opened my eyes to see something I'd always longed for in the mirror Kurami was holding.

I no longer appeared as a skeleton in my eyes. My body had become full, lush, and beautiful! I had curves in all the places I'd wanted them, my legs no longer looked like those of a chicken, and my face was more full. I lifted my shirt and saw my toned abdomen, just like I'd always wanted. I was absolutely gorgeous. "Kurami, how did you…?"

"I have my ways," she said. "But I don't do anything for free." She set the mirror against the wall and slowly walked closer to me until she was inches from my face.

"I'll do anything," I blurted. "I can never repay you for this!"

"Kiss me," she said.

"What?" I asked. "I'm straight, and I have a boyfriend!"

"It's not for your pleasure, just mine," she said. "You don't have to be a lesbian, I'm not asking for sex. Just a kiss with those beautiful lips I gave you." It seemed like there was no backing out. And I knew it wouldn't kill me. What Sora didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Alright, just one," I said. I closed my eyes as Kurami pressed her lips to mine. The feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant, but I still didn't enjoy it much. I was just about to pull away, but Kurami grabbed the back of my head and pulled me closer. She parted my lips and started to inhale. I felt weaker by the second. I was choking for the oxygen she was stealing, but it wasn't just that. I felt like she was draining my very essence. I was kicking and trying to scream, but it was no use. Her grip was like a vice, and I couldn't escape.

She grabbed my hair and slammed me down to the ground—nearly breaking all my bones—when she was finished with me. "That was awesome, beautiful," she said as she transformed into the woman Xion described just before she blacked out. Her eyes were a glowing yellow with cat-like slits for pupils. "But not good enough, so I repossessed my gift to you with interest. Now, you're as you've always seen yourself, but for real this time! Night, gorgeous."

I sat up weakly and crawled to the mirror. I nearly gasped as I saw what could only be me in the mirror. "No!"

I was completely emaciated. My ribs poked through my shirt, my jeans and bra both threatened to fall off, and my cheeks were hollow. My eyes bugged out of their sockets due to no body fat or muscle mass. I knew I would never survive like that. I touched the mirror with my bony hand and breathed heavily. All those years of trying to prevent this, and I was reduced to it in less than a minute after gaining my dream body! "Sora…" I tried to say in a dry, scratchy voice. My hand fell to the ground and so did I. Kurami absorbed all of my much-needed fats and muscle until I was nothing more than a living skeleton covered with dried skin. I was dying, and I was so afraid.

The last thing I ever saw in my life was Sora running toward me and scooping me in his arms. I couldn't hear all of what he was saying, but I could still hear him cry and call my name. I wished so badly to respond, but I was out of time. I died in the arms of my lover…

Author's Note: I think this is the third time I've had Kairi die either in Sora's arms or around him. And yes, Muscle Dysmorphic Syndrome exists. I researched it because I wanted to know what the opposite of anorexia was. Kairi was never as bad off as she thought she was, but she couldn't help it. It was a constant struggle that ended up killing her in the end. I hope I protrayed it well, and if I got anything wrong, let me know. I'm always open for constructive criticism. It helps me develop as a writer.

Next chapter is Sora, then Xion. Who will survive to the end and defeat Kurami along with their personal demons? That will be revealed eventually. Until next time, friends...