Follow Me Home

Part Two

Chapter Seventeen

o.o.o

Tagline:

"Don't fall in love; goodbye will always come."

o.o.o

Four, long months have gone by. Roxas and Kairi were back at the Islands. He rented an apartment on the other side of town called Sun Valley Apartments. They lived in a two bedroom condo up on the fifth floor. It had beautiful views of the ocean. Roxas figured that this would be good for Kairi; she needed a place to calm her nerves. Sometimes he left the sliding door that led out onto the balcony cracked open so they could hear the waves; it really put Kairi's mind and his at ease and set a romantic atmosphere... at least for him.

Roxas had finally decided to send Kairi to a therapist. She has been seeing Mrs. Lee for two and a half months now. Kairi used to have nightmares every single time she fell asleep; but ever since she started going to therapy they decreased substantially. She was also a little more used to Roxas touching her again; for the longest time she had been afraid of physical contact because of what happened to her. Roxas finally felt like he was helping her. Currently, he was waiting for her to come out of her session at any moment with a slight smile on her face as she kept her eyes planted on the ground in front of her.

She actually let him hold her last night.

It was a step in the right direction; one Roxas had been waiting for for a very long time. He knew that he could never replace Kairi's feelings for Sora; but maybe he could be just as special to her, if not more. He's been through everything with her up until this point. If she doesn't see how much he cares about her now, she probably never will understand the intensity of his devotion to her. There were times where he just wanted to give up, but then he remembered how much he fought for her and struggled just to keep her alive. It had to be worth it in the end, right? His mind was wrapped around this concept—that good will come out of this eventually. Someday he will get his redemption. Someday she will see him for who he really was. Someday she will love him too.

Someday...

Speaking of Sora, Roxas of course never told her about that day. (Not like she wanted to be reminded of it, anyway). If she found out that Sora was alive, she would leave him.

He couldn't handle that.

He has worked so hard for this.

Being back on the Islands did make Roxas a little paranoid; what if Sora just randomly showed up? What if she ran into him on the street?

Because of that, they didn't get out much. Kairi didn't really want to go anywhere, anyway.

However, her birthday was coming up. Roxas wanted to do something special for her.

Kairi was definitely happy with the warmer weather that she was used to. Even after Roxas found out that Sora was alive, this was one of the factors that convinced him to bring her back home. She had stopped arguing with him shortly after. It was like she became completely submissive and went along with whatever he said. (Touching was another story, however). This made Roxas feel a little guilty; this wasn't how Kairi used to be. They have barely argued about anything in the last four months. It was good, but at the same time it was a little weird.

Besides all of Kairi's nightmares and touching phobias, things have been pretty good between them.

But he knew that she would never forget what happened to her.

o.o.o

Roxas waited outside for her. Checking his watch, he noticed that it was already ten minutes past the time that her session was supposed to end. Roxas was about to get out of the car to check on her when he heard the door open and she came walking out. He sighed in relief and smiled.

"There you are." He said as she got inside. He leaned over to kiss her cheek, but she shyly pulled away; something he expected. Roxas wanted to do so many things with her—not just sexual—but he wanted to be able to kiss her and hold her hand. He needed that physical contact, but for now he would just have to be patient and cherish his time with her. The fact that she let him hold her the night before was nice, so he went with that and just started driving.

He wanted to ask her about the session, but he also didn't want to intrude. He really had no idea what went on during those meetings with Mrs. Lee; all he knew was that Kairi came out each time as a better person than before. That was enough confirmation for him.

"Hello?"

He saw Kairi answering her cell phone.

"Hey, Selphie. How are you?"

Roxas stopped at a red light and just listened to their conversation.

"Come down to the mall? Why?" She looked over at Roxas, who also looked confused. "Oh... Selphie, that's nice of you, but I don't know if I-"

"What is it?" Roxas interrupted.

"She said that she could get me a job at that Build a Bear place..."Kairi gave Roxas an expectant look. "She wants me to come and apply while her manager is there."

'Is Kairi ready to start another job...?' Roxas thought to himself.

"I'll think about it, Selphie." Kairi said and hung up the phone. "We don't have to go."

Roxas pondered on this for a while; maybe it would be good for her to get out of the house. Besides, he figured that she wouldn't run into Sora at a place like that, so maybe it was worth a try. He got into the other lane and turned towards the mall.

"Roxas, we really-"

"Just apply. It can't hurt, right?" He said, smiling at her.

"...okay."

'Okay? Okay...?'

This was all she ever said.

Five minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot in front of the mall entrance. Kairi looked decent enough to apply for a job; she wore nice, dark wash jeans and a dressy-looking top (in Roxas' opinion). They walked together to the door. Kairi went to reach for it, but Roxas opened it for her and let her in first.

Chivalry wasn't dead.

Roxas refrained from wrapping his arm around her, even if it took all of his might to do so. She seemed placid and innocent; she looked so beautiful.

"Build a Bear is... this way." Roxas trotted off to his left with Kairi close behind. Kairi felt a little nervous; she was actually going through with this?

'If Roxas thinks it's best, then I will try...'

Kairi didn't really like large crowds anymore. They kid of scared her. She slightly touched Roxas' arm so that she could stay close to him. He looked down at her; he could tell that she was getting a little afraid. He leaned a little closer to her and said, "You can hold onto me. It's okay."

'Maybe she's not ready... not for a job like this...' Roxas thought to himself, but just as he was about to change his mind about the whole thing, they were already in front of the store.

"Kairi!" Selphie exclaimed, "Come on in!"

Kairi looked up at Roxas, as if she was waiting for his approval. He urged her to go inside and just stood by the door and waited.

"It's been so long since I've seen you! Where have you been? How are you and-"

Roxas knew what she was about to ask, so he intervened immediately. "Everything has been great. Where's the application?"

Kairi put her head down. Selphie had no idea about anything that happened over the past year and a half.

"Here it is." Selphie handed it to her and gave her a pen. Children and their parents were all over the store. All of a sudden, Kairi felt terrible.

'Why didn't I think more about this...? I can't be around kids...'

'No... I have to move on...'

Roxas also felt a little bad about seeing parents with their children.

'That could have been us...'

This was a terrible idea.

Right before Roxas was about to stop her, Kairi was already filling out the application.

'I can't put my most recent job history...' Kairi thought, knowing that her job as a hostess wouldn't fly over well in a place like this, so instead, she wrote that she was a hostess at a restaurant so that she didn't have to come up with a reason for a year long gap between jobs.

It was a lie, but she knew that she could get Aqua to cover for her.

After she was done, she gave her application back to Selphie. "I'll give this to my manager and put in a good word for you!"

"T-Thanks..."

"Want to meet her?"

"Umm..." Kairi really wasn't in the mood to act pleasant; she had forgotten how to use those skills from her previous job.

"Thanks, Selphie, but we should get going." Roxas told her, taking Kairi's hand in his.

Come on, this wouldn't hurt, right?

"When did you two start going out?" Selphie gave them a confused look.

"Bye now!" Roxas hurried Kairi out of the store so that she didn't have to face anymore uncomfortable questions. Once they got to the entrance of the mall, she faced him.

"Do you think I'll get the job...?"

"Of course." Roxas assured her; she almost sounded as if she wanted to work there.

'But I don't know if you would be able to keep the job...'

o.o.o

It was the morning of Kairi's birthday. Roxas woke up next to her, excited for what he had planned for the day. He hoped that Kairi would enjoy it as well, but right now she was still asleep. Roxas slowly crawled out of bed and got dressed.

'Please let today go well...'

He couldn't wait for her to wake up.

o.o.o

Namine knocked on the basement door; it was already the afternoon and she hadn't seen Sora at all that day. She had a few items on back order and had a lot of work to do and she needed him to watch Ken for her. After she didn't get a response, Namine walked down the stairs. She turned on the light. His bed was made, the TV was off and he was nowhere to be found.

"I wonder where he went..." Namine turned off the light and went back upstairs. Riku was still asleep from a long night before at the host club. Namine sighed and sat in her desk chair. Ken was watching TV, so maybe she could still get some things done.

Sora sat on the beach and looked out into the ocean. The waves brushed up against his feet. He knew that he probably should have told someone that he was going out, but he didn't think he would be out long. He just needed some fresh air. Today was particularly difficult for him.

'Happy Birthday, Kairi...'

He fell back in the sand and looked up at the sky. It was going to be a long day.

o.o.o

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