All right, I've managed to find some more time in my schedule to put up a new chapter. Enjoy!

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I woke up the next morning with a sense of serenity that I didn't remember having for a long time. I was still on the couch; I had been so comfortable cuddling with Kairi that I hadn't wanted to return to my bed, so we had just pulled a blanket over ourselves and spent the night there.

I couldn't help but smile as I felt her next to me, breathing slowly. She must have had fallen asleep sometime last night. What I had done—what we had done, affirming our feelings for each other—had made me happier than I had been in a while. I think I finally got what Donald had meant about having a girlfriend; it was worth all the hardships that it might put you through.

I blinked as another sound registered, faint but there, and rather repetitive, too…

Oh, damn. That was my alarm clock. What time was it? Trying not to wake Kairi, I stretched my neck to look at the small digital clock I had in the room. It read eight-thirty-eight.

I started and began to rise; I was late. As I did, however, Kairi stirred, and opened her eyes. "Sorry," I said. "Didn't mean to wake you."

She closed her eyes and exhaled. "Don't worry about it. I can always get some more sleep later today."

The sight of her kept me from getting up for another minute. Who would have thought that I'd be here, curled up next to a vampire who had, three and a half weeks ago, tried to kill me? But we had come a long way, and had developed a deep connection that had, eventually, brought us to this place.

She opened her eyes and smiled at me. "You look happy."

"That's because I am." I kissed her again; it was something I felt that I could never get tired of.

"You certainly seem sure that you want to do this," she commented when I pulled away.

"Are you not?"

"No, but it goes against everything you were saying last night."

"You, too, as I recall." I grinned. "But I decided to ignore the future and focus on the present. And this is what makes me happiest right now."

She smiled. "Me, too."

Eventually, I got up, though it did take some willpower. I went to my room and shut off my alarm, then jumped in the shower, threw on some clothes, and toasted a piece of bread to eat on the way to work. "Almost wish I didn't have to go," I said.

Kairi shrugged. "You do what you have to." A thought struck her. "Are you going to tell Donald and Goofy about…this?"

I hadn't thought about that. "Would you like me to?"

"Well, I'm not sure how they would take it."

"Yeah, I'm still figuring that out for myself."

She grinned. "But, they're your friends. If you feel like you should tell them, go ahead."

"Well, my feelings have done well for me so far."

I checked my phone and found two text messages and a missed call from Donald. "Oh, shoot, they're probably wondering where I am."

I called him back, which he answered rather quickly. "Sora, you're alive," he said dryly.

"Yeah, sorry. I slept in a bit."

"Slept in? That's a little out of character for you, isn't it?"

"Well…" I glanced at Kairi. "There were special circumstances."

"What? What circumstances?"

"I'll tell you when I get there."

I heard him growl lightly. "Damn it, Sora, you have to keep us in suspense, don't you?"

I chuckled. "Patience, my fine friend."

"Patience, shmatience. Get over here quickly." He hung up.

As I put down my phone, I thought of something funny. I had often teased him about reading vampire romance stories, but now, I was in one. Oh, the irony.

My toast popped up, and I grabbed it and buttered it. "Okay, gotta go. See you this afternoon."

She smiled. "Yep."

I arrived at my office feeling almost as lighthearted as I had felt upon waking up this morning. "Morning, guys," I said cheerfully as I walked in.

They turned to me. "Good morning, Sora," said Goofy.

"Yes, good morning," said Donald. "So, what were these mysterious circumstances that made you sleep in today?"

"Well…" I went over to my desk and put my things down. "You remember when I told you that I had a vampire tied up in my apartment?"

"Yeah…" said Donald. "And we've met her. What of it?"

"Well, this news is almost as big."

Donald raised his eyebrows. "What is it?"

I paused. "Well…I may be in love with her."

The pair of them stared at me for a moment. "You what?" said Donald.

"You heard me."

"You're in love with a vampire. The vampire. Kairi."

"Seems like it."

Goofy chuckled. "Like one of Donald's stories."

"Precisely."

Donald turned to him. "You're making jokes? Goofy, this is huge."

"Well, Sora seems to be happy." He smiled at me. "And I'm happy for him."

"But…how is this going to work out?" Donald frowned at me. "Does she feel the same about you?"

I nodded. "She does."

"How do you know?"

"Well, we did spend the night together."

His mouth fell open. "You what?"

"Not like that," I said. "We slept together on the couch."

"You slept together?"

"In a strictly literal sense, yes."

He scowled at me. "Damn it, Sora, do you have to mess with me every time you tell us something big about this vampire?"

I shrugged. "No, but it's an added bonus when I can."

"So, you slept in because you slept on the couch?" said Goofy.

"Yeah."

"Wait," said Donald, holding up a hand. "So, what exactly happened?"

So I told them everything, how Kairi had been mad at me for distrusting her the night we found Xemnas, how I had apologized and tried to make it up the following morning, and how it had led to our almost-kiss. "Then we were interrupted, by you texting me," I said pointedly to Donald.

"Sorry. Didn't know you were about to kiss your vampire captive."

"Wait, so this happened yesterday?" said Goofy.

"Uh-huh."

"But you didn't tell us."

"Oh, sorry," I said. "I had resolved to not let it get any further, and I didn't want to trouble you guys with the unnecessary information."

"Trouble us?" said Goofy. "Sora, your troubles are our troubles."

"Yeah, I know." I sighed. "I guess I didn't want to dwell on it, and telling you guys would have been dwelling on it."

"But you ended up dwelling on it, it looks like," said Donald.

I nodded, and continued my story, telling them how I had talked to Kairi that afternoon, and how we had agreed that a relationship would not be a smart idea. Then, how we had played Scrabble and read Harry Potter, and how I had enjoyed it so much that it made me question the sagacity of my decision, and unable to sleep. I told them how, in the night, I had gotten up and gone to Kairi, to try to get her to help convince myself, but how, eventually, I had given in to my feelings, and she to hers. "So, here we are," I concluded. "We're not sure what we're going to do, but we don't really care at the moment."

"Ah, young love," said Goofy, teasingly.

"But…won't it end up being a problem eventually?" said Donald, still looking confused.

I shrugged. "It might. But for now, I'm focused on just enjoying the present, instead of worrying about the future."

Donald opened his mouth, then closed it and sighed. "Well, if you're this certain…"

"Looks like it," said Goofy. "And you know how stubborn Sora can be."

Donald nodded. "And this might not be what I meant when I suggested you get a girlfriend, Sora…but it looks like it's working out nevertheless."

"Yeah, I hope you two keep getting along," said Goofy.

I smiled. "Thanks for the support, guys."

Not too long afterwards, I got a call from Lea. "Sora, did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"Xemnas. He's disappeared. Never got home after he was released."

"Really?" I said, trying to sound surprised.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, we've got to look into it, and guess who was assigned to that oh-so-desirable task?"

"You?"

"Right on." He sighed. "Why do I always get stuck with the icky jobs?"

"What do you think happened to him?" I probed.

"I couldn't say. I'm surprised, actually; we had anticipated this, and provided a fair amount of security for him. Anyone who could get past that would have to be pretty talented."

"Could he have gone off on his own?"

"Where? And why wouldn't he have returned to his house? It's a mystery, but…" He lowered his voice. "I mean, if we can't do anything about it, then we can't do anything about it. We'll try, but there's no guarantee of success."

I felt myself relax a little. So, it didn't seem like the police were going to throw all their efforts into finding him, and they might not find out what had actually happened. "Well, with any luck, he won't turn up again," I said, also in a bit of an undertone.

"Perhaps. Then maybe his kids will be put in a better home."

"That'd be nice."

"No kidding." He sighed. "Well, I have to go back to work. Gotta keep up appearances, you know."

"Yep. Hope it goes well. Or rather, not."

He chuckled. "Right. See ya."

"Bye."

As I hung up, Donald asked, "What was that?"

"Lea. The police have noticed Xemnas's disappearance, and are looking into it."

Donald looked worried. "Do you think they'll find out what happened?"

"I hope not. Fortunately, Lea didn't seem to think that they'd be putting a huge amount of effort into it."

"But…" Donald lowered his voice, "did we cover our tracks well enough? Should we make sure there wasn't anything we missed?"

"Like what?" I asked. "I don't see why there would be fingerprints or anything on Xemnas that they could use to identify us."

"What about hair?"

"He'll be in a dumpster. I doubt our hair, if it did get on him, is the only hair that will be there."

"You don't think we should return and check?"

I thought for a second, then said, "No. The less association we have with that place, the better. I'm confident that we'll be fine."

That afternoon, though, I had another encounter with the police. When I returned to my apartment, I found a couple of police officers in my hallway. "What's going on?" I asked, terrified that they had found Kairi.

One of the officers turned to me, and I recognized him as Isa, the officer who had been with Lea at Donald's house. Given the darkening of his expression, I guessed that he recognized me, too. "A man who lives here has gone missing," he said. "We're looking around for anything that might help our investigation." He took a step towards me. "Maybe you'll do."

I frowned. Someone who lived on my floor was missing?

Isa took out a notebook and pen and looked at me. "First off, could I have your full name?"

"Sora Parker."

He wrote it down. "Where do you live?"

"Here. Apartment 8H."

"Mm-hm. Do you know Will Turner or Elizabeth Swann?"

The names sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place them. "I don't believe so."

He raised an eyebrow. "They only live in apartment 8C. You're not too far away."

Oh…was that the young man who had moved in with his girlfriend recently? I had met them…once. "Oh, I might know them. I think I've met them only once, though."

"Oh, have you? So you didn't know them very well."

"No."

He took down some more notes. "Where were you two nights ago?"

What? Did he suspect me? I was taken aback before realizing that police officers questioned and suspected everyone in the early stages of an investigation. "In my apartment."

"Can anyone verify that?"

Kairi can. "No."

He wrote something else. "Have you noticed or heard anything strange in the past couple of days, Mr. Parker?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Hm." He narrowed his eyes in thought, seeming to decide whether or not he wanted to ask me something else. "Do you have any idea where Mr. Turner might be, if not at his home, at work, or traveling?"

"No, I don't."

He raised his eyebrows, a slightly smug look on his face. "No? But are you not an investigator yourself?"

"I am, but I'm not involved in this case, and I don't keep tabs on all of my neighbors," I replied.

"But is the pursuit of knowledge not the main goal in your career?"

"I could say the same thing about you."

His expression quickly soured. "My job is none of your business."

"Then we can agree that that is mutual." I was beginning to not like this guy.

"I am a police officer, Mr. Parker. If I ask you something, it is your civic duty to answer, and aid my investigation." He kept his pen and notebook raised. "Now, would you please go over the events of the past two days for me, starting with the night of the third?"

I glowered at him. Not only did I not appreciate his intrusiveness, but this was putting me in a bit of a bad spot, since I had to conceal the both the vampire in my apartment and the death of Xemnas. Fortunately, however, I had had plenty of experience in omitting and bending the truth, and so I was able to weave a convincing story for him.

Of course, the bastard insisted on questioning me about nearly every other aspect of my life, and I was only given a reprieve when the other officer in the hallway told him that he had questioned me enough, and should get back to being helpful. And so, with a scowl, Isa released me, and I went to my apartment, mentally vowing to avoid him as much as possible from then on.

But I brightened as I came in and saw Kairi, reading Great Expectations on the couch. "Hi," I said cheerfully as I came in.

She looked up and smiled broadly back at me. "Hi."

She got up and I kissed her. "Anything interesting happen today?" she asked.

"Well, Lea called and—"

"Lea?"

"A good friend of mine. He's a police officer."

"Oh, okay. What'd he say?"

"They've noticed Xemnas's disappearance and are looking into it."

A concerned look spread over her face. "That's not good. Do you think they'll find him?"

"I'm hoping they won't," I said, "but, then again, a dumpster isn't the best place to hide a body. But even if they do find him, I can't see how they'll be able to connect it to us."

"I hope not."

I gave her a reassuring smile. "It'll be fine, don't worry."

We spent the evening together, not needing to do much other than enjoy each other's company. (I did have to eat, though, but I made that a quick affair.) I hadn't realized how nice the feeling of intimacy was with someone that you could draw close and just be together with. Unfortunately, I was interrupted, by the ringing of my phone. "It's Riku," I said, after pulling away from Kairi and checking it.

"What does he want?"

"Let's find out." I answered the call. "Hey, Riku."

"Sora, how's it going?"

"Quite well, actually." I hadn't told him about my new relationship with Kairi, and was debating whether to do so now or not. On the one hand, he was the most averse of my friends to developing a close relationship of any sort with her. On the other hand, he was my best friend, and I was talking to him right now.

"Good to hear," he said before I could finalize a decision. "I'm calling with some news."

"Oh? What is it?"

"I've taken a case, a pretty big one, that requires me to go to England. I'm leaving tomorrow and I'll be gone for a couple of weeks."

"Oh. That's great! That is, that you've got a big case."

"Yeah, and going to England isn't such a bad thing, either. But in my absence, I've decided to give you all of my cases. So if someone wants to come to me, they'll have to deal with you for the time being."

I blinked. "Really? Wow, thanks, Riku. Business has been pretty slow lately, so I could use the extra work." Although, would extra work mean less time with Kairi?

"Glad to hear it. Some people might just wait until I come back, but I'm sure you'll get some of my clients. You may have to turn some of them down, too, if you get too many and can't work on them all at once."

"Gotcha."

By then, I had decided not to tell him about Kairi and me; the news would only distract him, and with a big case coming up, I didn't want to give him any distractions.

"I'll be reachable by email or phone if you need to contact me," he went on. "But don't expect me to respond right away."

"Yeah, okay."

"All right? Well, I need to prepare, so best of luck with everything, and stay safe."

"You too."

"Thanks. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and turned to Kairi. "Riku's leaving for England tomorrow, and he's giving his cases—"

"To you, I heard," she said.

"You did?"

She grinned and pointed to her ears. "Vampire hearing. A bit better than human hearing."

"So it is. Well, I might be a bit busier these next couple of weeks, then. Hopefully we'll still get to spend time together, but it just might not be as much."

"Uh-huh."

"So, sorry about that. But I do need more business; it's been pretty slow lately."

"Right." She put her head on my shoulder. "Well, we'll just need to make up for any future time lost together now."

I smiled. "That we will."

Having fond memories of the night before, I decided to sleep on the couch with Kairi again that night. So, after finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (and taking a moment to absorb the monumental events that happened at the end), we curled up together and fell asleep. At least, I did; I'm not sure if Kairi needed any more sleep that night.

But as I slept, the most unexpected thing happened: the nightmare returned. The one where I was in a dungeon, faced with corpses and a hooded figure that had turned out to be Kairi. I recognized it as soon as I found myself in the familiar setting. But why was I having the nightmare again? What reason did I have to fear Kairi? I trusted her entirely by this point, and wouldn't think of considering her as a dangerous creature again.

And yet, I was still afraid. But what of?

As I tried to answer this question, Kairi turned around and lowered her hood. "I never asked for this," she said, speaking for the first time in my dream.

"I know," I responded.

But something wasn't quite right; she was not looking at me, but at a point behind me. Frowning, I turned around…and there was an immense shadow. It seemed to have a human form, but only loosely so. Its size was so great that it filled the entire space behind me.

And in its head were two bright, glowing red eyes.

I jerked awake, and felt Kairi's gentle arms around me. "Sora?" she said, looking at me. "What's the matter?"

I looked at her. Was she in danger from some unforeseen dark force? Was I? What did my dream mean? "Just…just a nightmare," I said.

"Haven't had one of those in a while." She shifted slightly, and her hold around me became more firm. "It's all right, Sora. Your dream's over. There's just you and me, and you should get back to sleep."

Gradually, I managed to slow my breathing. "Yeah…" She was right. The nightmare was probably a manifestation of some deep-seated fear that would probably never come to pass. I was safe here, in her arms.

Such thoughts comforted me as I drifted back off to sleep.

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Hm...not everything is well here. Something else is threatening Sora and Kairi's happiness...but what? Review with your thoughts and speculations!