A/N: I'm SO sorry I haven't even bothered working on this story. My boyfriend broke up with me on our two year anniversary (June 6, 2008) so I kinda went into a major slump. This story won't discontinue because of it though. It's near done (5 or 6 chapters maybe after this, not sure yet). Anyway, thank you for still sticking around if you're reading this. True fans you are!

Chapter 12- Things Have Changed For Me

Winter break went by faster than we hoped it would. Cloud eventually snapped out of his funk and even invited Tifa over to hang out with us. It was nice to see everyone come alive. It was sad to see everyone leave, but we knew we'd see them again at the wedding. Six months seems like a long time, but I knew it'd go by in a flash like everything else.

January brought in a little bit of a chill to Destiny Island, a little cooler than normal. I definitely would have thought it would be slightly warmer but the cool winter air wasn't all that bad. It actually called for some snuggle time with Sora which I really wasn't going to complain about.

The thought of work was a killer. It wasn't too bad though when we got back for the first week. Sora and I worked all the same days which made it more tolerable. Seeing Shawn wasn't. Every time he'd walk by my desk that was placed in front of Sora's office, he'd eye us carefully before moving on. The look was just a clue to him having something up his sleeve- I could tell.

It was our second week back at work when level 58 co-executives and their secretaries were called for a meeting. About twenty people shuffled into the large meeting room that was tucked in the back of our level. Our main boss, along with Shawn, was at the head of the elongated table with us facing them.

"Thank you all for coming in today." Our boss smiled cheerfully. "We have a big work opportunity that some of you may be interested in. I'll let Shawn explain it all."

"Thank you sir." Shawn said watching his boss sit down in a large chair next to him. Shawn tugged on his blue tie a little before placing his hands down on the glossy tabletop with a smile on his face. "I'd like to announce that Destiny Island Foundation is expanding it's headquarters. Since Destiny Islands has been expanding in population and governmental growth, it's time that D.I.F. in Destiny City receives some help from another fast growing city. The city that will be the second headquarters for us will be Star City."

I was quite surprised that we were now going to work together with the town I moved to. Maybe now that we were expanding, my friends there would be able to work for D.I.F. too and we'd have a better chance of getting to see each other more often.

"That's great news and all," Sora spoke up while leaning in casually. "But what does this have to do with us?"

"That's a very good question." Our boss waved happily at one of his best employees. I saw Shawn squirm uncomfortably a little before continuing.

"Well," Shawn said standing up straight. "We're going to need a few employees from Destiny City to help manage those who are going to start working in Star City. We're going to need at least two from this level to move on. There are benefits if you decide to go. You will get a pay raise and you will be in higher management."

"That sounds nice." I whispered into Sora's ear who nodded once without looking my way.

"Do we have any volunteers who would maybe consider this opportunity?" Shawn asked. About seven people raised their hands. I looked at Sora who looked at me.

"Would you want to?" He asked me.

"I'd want to think about it right now. Even though it sounds nice, we have a lot going for us here anyway. Plus, with in a month, you'll be getting your annual pay raise. And within maybe six months, you may be moved to the next level." I reminded him.

Sora smiled softly and patted my leg. "Okay." We both looked back to the front where Shawn was writing down the names of those who had their hands up.

"Alright," He said glancing back at his notepad. "I'll look over these for the next couple days and I'll announce who'll be moving on to bigger and better things when I figure it out."

Everyone stood up and started back to what they were originally doing. As Sora and I were walking back to our work area, we saw Roxas heading back into his office. He looked at everyone walking by.

"What was the meeting about?" He asked opening his office door and holding it open for us.

"Star City is going to start helping D.I.F. by being the second part of Destiny City's business." Sora said leaning against the door as he watched his cousin sit down in front of his computer.

"So you all had to go back there just to hear it? They couldn't just send a memo through the e-mails?" Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"Well," I said, "they need some workers from here to help get the other business on it's feet. There's a pay raise and a better job title."

"And they couldn't offer this to everyone?" His golden blond locks swayed back and forth as he shook his head with annoyance. "I think a lot more people could benefit from this opportunity instead of those who are already high ranked. No offence." He said looking up at Sora.

"No, I agree. They should be offering this to everyone in our level, not just the big shots." Sora said.

"You two should get back to work." Shawn suddenly appeared next to Sora in the doorway before leaving.

Sora rolled his eyes. "You heard the boss."

"We'll see you later, Roxas." I said following Sora out to our area.

--

"Let's go." An 11-year-old, blond, blue-eyed boy smiled eagerly. I stared at my first friend here in Star City. He was charming and seemed to have many friends. I was a new student here at Star Middle and it was 6th grade, big year for a 10, almost 11-year old. Our parents had started working together at Destiny Island Foundation about a month ago when they introduced Cloud to me.

"I don't think I'm ready." I looked from Cloud to the huge middle school in front of me.

"Kairi," Cloud laughed taking my hand. "I'm here. We can do it together. I'll show you around and introduce you to all of my friends. You'll love it here."

"Thanks, Cloud." I smiled shyly as we walked together up the front of the school. As soon as we walked through the entrance, my head became numb with the sudden chatter of the other students. "Wow."

"Hey!" Cloud called over to five people huddled together near some lockers ahead. We walked forward as they all turned their attention to us. "You guys, this is Kairi; she just moved here. Our parents work together and introduced us. Kairi, this is Jenna, Casey, Josh, Kyle, and Chris."

"Nice to meet you." I said hardly above a whisper.

"Where did you move here from?" Jenna, a girl with short blonde hair asked smiling happily.

"Destiny City." I replied a little more relaxed.

"Oh! I heard it's beautiful there!" The girl, known as Casey, with semi-long, light brown haired girl nodded.

"It is. I miss it a lot."

"So why did you move here?" Kyle, who had gray-brown eyes and light brown hair, asked as he leaned against the set of lockers behind him.

"My parents got the job at D.I.F. here in Star City from Destiny City and we had to move here." I answered looking out the clear windows of the front doors. It was such a different scene, and I still wasn't quite used to the new feeling.

"Don't be scared," Josh, a tall black haired boy, smiled. "We'll take good care of you."

I smiled shyly. It was comforting to know I was getting new friends, but it was killing me inside knowing I left the ones who had always been there for me. Without warning, I felt all of the emotions hit me inside like a hurricane. Tears began to stream to the rims of my eyes and I suddenly felt embarrassed, sad, horrified, and numb all at once.

"Woah," Chris, the other blond in the group besides Cloud, leaned in with a worried look. "Are you okay?"

"I just miss home really bad." Shivers made their way down my spine. "Don't get me wrong, it's nice here and you guys seem like great people. I just miss what I had back home." And the uncontrollable tears began. I felt two people press up against me in a hug which I noticed were Cloud and Jenna. The others quickly joined in. I wanted to go home.

I sat up in bed to see the light glow of the moon shining through the blinds of my bedroom, hardly illuminating anything. Precious was sound asleep at the end of the bed while Princess was curled on the floor by me. I crossed my arms and put them on the top of my knees that were still covered by the sheets. A silent sigh escaped my mouth while I put my forehead into my arms. The feelings I felt from that first day at Star Middle were mingling inside of me as if the dream was me completely reliving my memory.

I felt a light tug on the sheets and I looked over to see Sora turning toward me still asleep. He subconsciously tried to cover himself which he must of consciously knew wasn't happening. Sora's blue eyes started to open with some struggle.

"Kairi..." His voice was hardly audible. "Is there something wrong? Why are you awake?"

"I just woke up from a dream, that's all." I said scooting back to lean against the wall. Sora's hand found it's way to my stomach and rubbed it lightly for comfort.

"What was it about." He asked starting to wake up a little more.

"It was more of a memory. It was the first day of 6th grade at Star City. I forgot how much I missed home and how scared I was to be so far away from everyone." I looked down at my hand that found its way to Sora's. He sat up and pulled me to him.

"Is this you telling me that you don't want to go to Star City?" Sora asked moving his hand to caress my cheek.

I shrugged. "Maybe. I'm not even sure. I mean, it was nice meeting everyone at Star City and we'd actually be with each other this time, but I don't think I could bare to leave Destiny City again."

"Then we won't." He said pulling me toward him. "We didn't even raise our hands, so we'll be fine. We're staying where we belong."

I leaned over and kissed him. He smiled back before we made ourselves comfortable back in bed to go back to sleep.

The following morning, Sora showed more affection toward me than he had in a while. I felt like I was in high school all over again. He cooked me breakfast before we went to work. Once we arrived, there was a very notable change in how everyone was acting.

"Is it just me," Roxas had appeared right behind Sora and myself. We turned to look at him. "Or is everyone extremely hard working today?"

"It definitely isn't just you." I said watching everyone with a title hurry around transferring papers or typing rapidly at their computers.

"I guess they're trying to prove that they can be the one to take the job in Star City." Sora said as he headed toward his office. I followed him as Roxas shook his head and went his own way.

Nearly two hours had passed and I had never felt so swamped with work. With everyone walking on eggshells but doing it quickly, I became congested with paperwork. I stared at my computer at disbelief at how much I needed to do. There was suddenly sitting in front of me. I looked up to see Shawn. It caught me off guard.

"How's work going?" He asked glancing around my desk.

"Busy." I sighed irritably.

"Well," Shawn leaned forward and crossed his fingers. "I've decided who will be going to Star City."

"Really?" I asked with no expression of even caring as I continued on with my work.

"Yep." He leaned back casually. "You and Sora will be set to leave next week."

I immediately stopped doing what I was doing and looked up. "What?" My voice was firm and irritable.

"You and Sora will be the two to go to Star City." Shawn said. By this time, Sora walked out of his office and heard what Shawn had said.

"Excuse us, but we never volunteered to leave." He said standing next to my desk.

"We're not leaving." I said standing up.

"You do what I say Kairi, I am the boss over you and Sora, both." Shawn said standing up and crossing his arms. Sora glared a deadly glare at our boss while he stood next to me. Employee's near by started to gather interest in what was going on in their work place.

"We're not going to go to Star City for a year to work." I answered. "This is my home and people are willing to go and transfer to Star City, so why don't you go and let them have the job and leave us alone."

"You're familiar to Star City. You and Sora would be best for the job." He replied.

"So are Johnny, Jake, and Anna! Let them take the job! I'm not moving away from home!" I yelled. Shawn stood closer with a deep glare. Sora backed me up and stood in between us.

"You two are taking the job."

"Why don't you shut up, Shawn." Sora told our old high school enemy.

"Hikaru, I can fire you on the spot. Don't make me do it."

"This doesn't have anything to do with work. You know you're holding a grudge from high school. You're still jealous that everyone actually likes me and I don't have to try. You're jealous that my life will always be better then yours." Sora hissed.

"There is one thing I have against you." Shawn said in a low and quiet voice. "I had everyone on my side in high school, including your girlfriend. That just proves that my authority will always be higher then you, asshole." Before any of us saw it coming, Sora punched Shawn in the face. My eyes went wide as Shawn yelled in pain, clenching his nose and falling back into the chair. Shawn looked up at Sora with narrow eyes. He quickly stood up and got right in Sora's face. I quickly stood in front of both of them with my hand straight in the air.

"That's what you deserve for all the shit you put us through in our senior year!" Sora said from behind me.

"Stop it!" I yelled at Shawn. "Don't you touch him!" The elevator door opened. My hand closed into a fist once I noticed our boss for level 58 enter. Shawn dropped his hands from his face. Blood was over his hands and around his nose. It was clear that Sora had broken it.

"What's going on here!" Our boss yelled. "Kairi, did you punch Mr. Johnson!"

"No, it wasn't Kairi, it was me." Sora tried to say before I stopped him.

"Yes, it was me, sir. Sora just doesn't want me to take the blame. Shawn was pushing me over the limit by trying to send Sora and I to Star City. He's been holding a grudge since day one of meeting Sora." I told our boss. Shawn and Sora both looked at me shocked. The boss shook his head and sighed.

"You're behavior was unnecessary Miss Hikari." The boss said sternly. "I'm afraid assault on a higher authority figure will result in dismissal from Destiny Island Foundation. I'm sorry. Will you and Mr. Johnson please follow me. The rest of you, get back to work." Shawn and I both followed the boss into the back of our department, into his office where we both sat down.

"Miss Hikari, I'm sad to see you go. You were such a good worker. Like I said; however, any physical action toward another employee does result in dismissal. I want you to please gather your belongings and your last check will be sent at the end of the week." Our boss said. I looked down at my hands in my lap and nodded slowly.

"Okay, sir." I said quietly.

"As for you Mr. Johnson, I think you may need to take a week off from work to cool yourself down. You've been over working yourself. By the time you return to work, you are to leave Mr. Hikaru alone. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." Shawn answered with a nod.

"You two may go now." Shawn and I both stood up and walked out. I walked out in a faster pace, avoiding Shawn by all means. I headed back to my desk where Sora was just walking out of his office. He ran up to me and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry I got you fired! You should have let me take the blame. It was my fault. You don't know how bad I feel!" Sora said.

"Sora," I pulled away from the hug. "It's okay. I didn't want to work here anymore. Yeah, I love being able to work with you but the atmosphere here is killing me." I started to gather my things. After I got all that I needed, I turned to my fiancé, kissed him and smiled. "I'll see you at home." With that said, I walked into the elevator and watched everyone disappear behind the closing doors for the last time.

I walked outside with a renewed feeling. Life wasn't going to be all that bad away from D.I.F. My life was only looking up. I was now away from the drama and busy lifestyle. I got into my car and smiled. There was no turning back to my past. It's all future from here.

I drove down the street toward The Wave at Town Square where I knew Amanda was at work. I parked in the nearest parking spot before walking confidently into the store. No one was in sight when I first walked in, but I knew the jingling bells would reveal someone. Amanda walked through the back curtain to the front counter. She looked up at me before looking at the nearest clock in the store then looked at me with a confused expression.

"Um, shouldn't you be working right now?" Amanda asked walking forward. I continued to smile which I could tell made her slightly more confused.

"I got fired." I admitted.

Amanda's expression when from confused to extremely confused. "You seem awfully happy about that. You do know that's not normal, right?"

"Sora punched Shawn in the face." I decided to tell her. "I took the blame. I'm finally free from the drama I had from high school."

Even though she seemed slightly lost, Amanda nodded with a smile. "Finally. Hopefully..."

I laughed. "Yeah, seriously. You should come over later to celebrate."

"That's a first. Celebrating someone getting fired."

"There's a first time for everything." I grinned.

--

I was sitting on the little step in front of my apartment, drinking some iced tea and reading a book. It was near five- about the time Sora should be arriving home from work. Princess was laying next to me, enjoying the winter, evening air. I was reading to get inspired for the next Speak write-in. I was already in the top 50 choices and I was trying to decide on what to enter for the decision of the top 25 entries.

Princess lifted her head when she heard someone nearing the door. I looked up as she jumped to her feet. "Hey," Sora said loosening his tie from his neck.

"Hey." I smiled as I closed my book and stood up. Sora caught me off guard when he rushed to pull me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry that you got fired." He whispered in my ear.

"Sora," I laughed, "I told you that it was fine. I needed to get out of that place." I separated myself from him but kept him in arms length. "First off, it's a good thing to have a little separation between us. Working and living together can be too much for a couple. Second, the drama and atmosphere was suffocating me. I needed to get out of there. Third, working for D.I.F. is your future. Not mine. Everything is just going to get better from here."

Sora pulled me into a hug again. "God I love you." He said into my neck before kissing that spot gently. "Your optimism is what we need in our lives."

"I know." I smiled before leaning back to kiss his lips.

"Well I have a surprise for you." Sora said resting his forehead against mine.

"And that surprise would be?" I asked quite interested.

"My parents invited us to come for a week. It'll be from February 13th through the 20th. And you have a very special valentine surprise." He grinned mysteriously.

"Oh," I smirked. "I'm looking forward to this vacation."

He stood straight up and kissed my forehead. "Good, cause I am too." Sora winked at me before walking passing by to enter our apartment.

A/N: (Start: July 2, 2008- End: August 3, 2008) About freaking time, I know. Again, I'm super sorry! My ex and I are working things out slowly so that's the good news. I have a job now and school is starting up again soon so I don't know how often updates will happen (bad, bad, bad, I know. I'm sorry!). I'm trying. I do have quite a few ideas for the next chapter so hopefully it won't take me 5 months this time to update. For all of you who are still sticking by my side, I love you!