Okay, here's the newest and long-awaited chapter!

...Okay, no one's really waited that long for it, but hell, it is important.

Kyrie (c) Me

Kingdom Hearts characters/some of the story (c) Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts

Bonded Soul

Chapter 46

The two men were silent as they sat in the cave, Demyx strumming his sitar and Axel keeping watch over Kyrie as she rested. Her wounds were completely healed and her jacket was back on as she slept, curled against Axel's chest as he held her tightly. While stroking her hair, Axel jumped as she began to stir, her eyes slowly opening as she regained consciousness.

"Ugh…w-what…happened?" she thought as she regained consciousness. At first everything was hazy in her left eye, and completely black in her right. But after a moment, everything began to clear up, and she realized that she was in a cave. Attempting to move, she also realized that someone was holding her. Slowly turning, she caught sight of familiar red hair before a face hovered over her own.

"Hey, sleepyhead. Finally up?" Axel asked as he looked at her. All was silent for a few minutes as Kyrie stared at him in disbelief, before she suddenly lashed out, kicking Axel in the chest as she tried to struggle out of his hold.

"Let me go!" she thought as she struggled, finally breaking free of his hold and landing on the cave floor with a loud thud, causing Demyx to jump as he strung a wrong note on his sitar.

"Gah! What happened?" he cried. But Kyrie ignored him as she glared at Axel, who was rubbing his chest to ease the pain from the bruise she inflicted with her kick. All was quiet for a few moments before Kyrie got to her feet, ready to make a break for it. But Axel wasn't having it.

"Kyrie, wait!" he exclaimed as he got to his feet, reaching out and grabbing her wrist as he did so. But she quickly shook her head and began tugging on her wrist, trying to free it from his grasp.

"No, just let me go! Liar!" she thought as she struggled. But he only tightened his grip and pulled her closer, before she landed against his chest, giving him the opportunity to wrap his arms around her. He quickly lowered his head until his lips were at her ear and tightened his hold on her.

"Kyrie, please listen to me. Sure, I was the one who eliminated half the people sent to castle oblivion, but that was the only thing I didn't tell you about. I swear, I never lied or used you." he whispered harshly. But she shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears.

"No…you're lying!" she thought as she continued to struggle. But he held on tightly, because he knew, if he were to let her go…he'd never see her again. Grasping her chin, he made her look him in the eye as he stared at her intently.

"Kyrie, please just listen. I would never, ever, do anything to hurt you. I would destroy myself before intentionally hurting you!" he shouted. At this she stopped, meeting his gaze. His eyes were alight with emerald embers as he stared at her, pouring his nonexistent heart and soul to her.

"You're important to me, Kyrie. At first, you were just some girl who I rescued from falling to her death. But as time went on, you became much more than that. You became my best friend, someone who supported me and cared for me, even after Roxas left. If something were to happen to you…" he paused, taking a shaky breath at the thought of her getting hurt.

"I…I wouldn't know what to do. So I'm sorry about everything that's happened, but get this straight. I never used you, and what happened back at C.O. was the only thing I ever lied to you about, for good reasons too. I never lied about anything else. Got it memorized?" he continued as he stared at her. All was silent as his words sank in, before she allowed the tears to slip free. With a choked sob, she buried her face into his chest and cried silently as he began to rock her back and forth, holding her tightly as he rubbed soothing circles on her back.

"C'mon Kyrie, don't cry…I hate it when you cry." he whispered soothingly. She nodded as she pressed her cheek against his chest. But she felt awful.

"I can't believe… that I did that to him. And after the promise I made to him…" she thought, burying her head deeper into his chest. But an awkward cough startled them, as they turned to see Demyx as he stared at them awkwardly.

"Um…are you guys finished yet? This is kinda embarrassing…" he chuckled nervously. The two quickly looked back at each other, before blushing brightly and jumping apart. Kyrie twiddled her fingers nervously and wiped her face while he scratched his head.

"Uh…y-yeah, we're finished." he coughed. Demyx sighed as he walked over to Kyrie.

"Thank kingdom hearts! I thought you two were gonna start making out from the way you were looking at each other! Then that would've been really awkward." he said exasperatedly. Axel jumped and clenched his fist while Kyrie looked at him curiously, not understanding what he was talking about.

"Demyx, you…!" he thought as he clenched his fist, his cheeks bright red as Demyx patted Kyrie's head.

"It's good to see you back on your feet, Kyrie! I was worried, especially after you got hit by Sora's keyblade. I thought you were done for!" he spoke as he patted her head, making her smile as she tried to get him to stop. But Axel let this go as he joined them, ruffling her hair as she struggled, trying to get the two to stop messing with her hair.

-Later-

All was quiet in the caves as a fire flickered, keeping the three warm as snow fell just outside. Demyx was sound asleep as he curled up next to the fire, exhausted after everything that happened that day. But Axel and Kyrie were wide awake as they watched the fire dance, not once speaking to each other. After a little while, Kyrie gave a soft yawn as she rubbed her eyes, trying to keep herself awake. But Axel caught this.

"Tired? You should rest." he spoke as he stood, pulling the zipper down on his cloak. Her cheeks flared bright red at this and she quickly looked away and covered her eyes, before hearing him chuckle from behind her.

"What are you so embarrassed about? I'm just taking off my cloak, no big deal." turning slowly, she blushed brighter at the sight of his exposed chest. Axel was standing there in nothing but pants as he slung his cloak over his shoulder, staring at her with an eyebrow raised. Shaking his head, he sat down beside her and draped the cloak over her shoulders, making her stare at him in confusion.

"Here, this'll keep you warm." he spoke. But he smirked when she looked at him worriedly.

"And I'll be fine. I'm the flurry of dancing flames, remember? I can make my own heat." he added, winking at her. She giggled silently and nodded, before laying down and curling into a ball next to him. All was silent for a few minutes, before she raised her head to look at him. She quickly pulled out her notebook and pen from her back and tugged on his arm, making him turn to look at her.

"Huh? What's up?" he asked. She quickly wrote before flipping it over so he could see.

Axel, back at Hollow Bastion when you told Sora that you were sorry about Kairi…what did you do to her? Did you destroy her?

He blinked owlishly at this before shaking his head.

"No, I didn't harm a single hair on her little red head. Saix took her from me, that's why I was so beat up when we met up again at Hollow Bastion before the heartless attacked." he explained. She nodded, believing his words. The two were silent for a few minutes before she wrote more.

But Axel, there's something I don't understand. Why did you kidnap Kairi? She had nothing to do with any of this…so why?

Axel turned away, he didn't know what to tell her. Now that he was back on her good side, he didn't dare lie to her. But he knew that if he told her the truth, she would react in two ways. One would be that she would be 100 percent with it, and the other would be that she would be 100 percent against it. Sighing, he placed a hand on her head as he turned to look at her.

"I'll tell you later. For now, just got to sleep." he answered. She crossed her arms and pouted, but obeyed as she curled back up, pulling out her plush as she tucked her notebook and pen back into her backpack. With that she closed her eyes and was out within minutes, sleeping quietly curled up by Axel, who began stroking her hair as she slept. His eyes softened as he watched her sleep, almost entranced by how much at ease she looked, despite all of the stress today had caused.

"Hopefully things start to look up by tomorrow. I don't want to have to keep running from world to world, not knowing if I'll live to see the next day. But considering what's happened today, I doubt that'll happen anytime soon." he was snapped out of his thoughts as she snuggled closer to him, burying her face into his chest as she cradled the plush in her arms. He gave her a small smile, as he leaned forward and rested his head on top of hers.

"G'night, Kyrie. See you tomorrow morning."

-The Next Day-

Kyrie groaned silently as she stirred from her slumber. Cracking an eye open, her eyes immediately popped open as she cheeks flushed crimson. Axel's face was inches away from her own as he slept peacefully, his arm draped over her shoulders as one of his legs wrapped around hers, effectively pinning her there. What was worse was that he was shirtless and holding her as close as possible. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Demyx still asleep by what remained of the fire they had started the night before, and she sighed.

"This is so embarrassing…but…why am I liking this?" she thought as she turned her attention back to the sleeping pyro. For some reason, she felt the butterflies in her stomach again as she stared at his sleeping face, her cheeks flushing a darker shade of red as she stared. Her heart was thrumming wildly inside her chest, and her hands were becoming cold and clammy. Why was she reacting this way?

"Why? We're just friends…" she thought as she stared. What else could they be? Was there more to their relationship than just friendship? If so, how could she term it? After a few minutes of staring, she found herself moving her face closer to his, unaware of what she was doing. Just as her lips were about to touch his-

"Mrg…shut up, Demyx. Another five more minutes…" she heard him mumble, causing her to jump back and out of his arms, holding her hand over her chest as she tried to calm her pacing heart. She heard him groan again as he slowly opened his eyes, before sitting up and scratching the back of his head as he yawned loudly. Looking around, he spotted Kyrie a few feet away, her cheeks flushed bright red with her hand over her heart. He grinned at her.

"Morning, Kyrie. Why's your face all red?" but her blushed darkened and she looked away, causing him to cock his head to the side at her in curiosity. Then he looked over at Demyx and rolled his eyes as the melodious nocturne mumbled and groaned in his sleep.

"Demyx still isn't up yet? Damn…" he quickly got to his feet and walked over, looking down at the sleeping man as he crossed his arms. "Yo, Demmy, wake up." he spoke as he nudged the man with his foot. The man snorted and mumbled a few incoherent words before blinking his eyes open blearily.

"C'mon Saix, just five more minutes…" he mumbled as he rolled over, trying to get back to sleep. Axel growled.

"Either you get up now or I set your ass on fire, what's it gonna be?" he growled. That got him up quickly as he cried out, afraid that the pyro would actually carry out the threat. Axel smirked at him.

"Finally…" Kyrie giggled silently as Demyx blushed brightly, scratching the back of his head embarrassingly. With the melodious nocturne now awake, Axel turned to her.

"Alright, now let's get some breakfast."

-Later-

After they finished eating the fish Demyx and Axel had caught, the group began wandering the burned out village, seeing if there were any villagers that could help them. But the village was deserted, no surprise since none of the buildings had been left standing.

"I can't believe no one even bothered to come and fix things. Especially now that Shan Yu is gone." she thought with a shake of her head. Suddenly a noise stopped her, causing her to stiffen as she slowly turned. At the entrance of the burned village stood someone in a black cloak, causing her to gasp and grab both Axel and Demyx, causing them to stop as well.

"Huh? What's wrong Ky-" Demyx started as they turned, before spotting the man. Axel growled as he summoned his chakrams, immediately stepping in front of Kyrie to hide her from view.

"Who are you? Are you from the organization?" he called. The man shook his head.

"No. But I'm surprised that you don't recognize me." he called back. Kyrie raised her eyebrows, this man is the one who works for DiZ. But Axel didn't seem to care about this as he glared at the man.

"Okay, so what do you want?"

"Her." the man answered, pointing to Kyrie. Within seconds Axel pushed her towards Demyx and turned to them.

"Dem, get Kyrie out of here, now!"

"But what about you-"

"Don't worry about me. Just get her out of here and keep her safe!" but before either party could move, another voice called out.

"You- stop!" the man looked over his shoulder and ran off, causing the three to relax. But without a moment's hesitation, Axel pulled Kyrie and Demyx behind one of the piles of debris, and watched as a woman with short, black hair ran into the village. Kyrie recognized her immediately.

"Mulan!" she thought as she took a step towards the girl, but stopped and looked back at Axel and Demyx. He nodded, before smirking.

"Go. We'll come and check up on you later. Let's go, Demyx." he spoke as he opened a dark corridor. Kyrie nodded and ran out to meet the girl as the two men vanished into the darkness.

*ducks from a chair thrown at her* Hey, stop that!

Axel: You almost had Kyrie kiss me! Why the hell did you stop it?

Me: Because! That's why!

Kyrie: *rolls eyes and writes* Please review so these two can stop trying to kill each other. I would like to have my best friend in one piece, thank you.