Follow Me Home

Chapter Thirty-One

o.o.o

Kairi faced Sora in complete shock; their eyes locked on each other and the confusion setting in as she noticed his suitcase nestled beside him. Sora's face went scarlet red as he stepped into the apartment, pulling his bag behind him and taking off his shoes.

"W-What are you doing here...?" Kairi didn't mean to sound rude, but the astounding aspect was overwhelming.

"I'm... if it's okay... can I stay here...?"

These words were like music to her ears. Kairi proceeded to take his suitcase from him, much to his disapproval and dragged it off to the side. Sora stepped onto the wooden floor and the silence between them had never been louder. Sora's heart was beating out of his chest; he came here purely on impulse with the determination to protect her from harm. Remembering that little detail, Sora quickly went over and shut every curtain he could find, locked all the doors and secured the area to his liking. Kairi watched in bewilderment, yet Sora didn't want her to know why he was doing this. If Kairi find out that Vanitas was lurking out there somewhere, she would probably have a panic attack.

"Are you... hungry?" Sora asked.

"We just ate not long ago... remember?" Kairi chuckled.

"Oh... I forgot..."

"If you want... we could watch a movie?" Kairi suggested; her eyes glistened with hope. Axel had a large DVD collection that they could choose from; Kairi was sure that he wouldn't mind. Easing the tension was her main priority.

Sora spotted Kairi's phone on the table by the couch. For a strange reason, he felt obligated to let Roxas know the news, if he didn't already.

"Could I use your phone? I need... to call my mom for a second. My phone died." Sora fibbed, "Don't worry, she won't know that it's yours."

"Oh... um... sure..." Kairi handed it to him.

"I'll be right back. Pick any movie that you want." Sora smiled at her and for the first time in a very long time, it felt genuine. Sora went back into Kairi's room and closed the door, then went into the master bathroom. He went through and found Roxas' number. He had no idea why he felt like he had to warn him when he was still really mad at him.

'Am I just... too nice?'

o.o.o

The baby shower was finally over. Roxas, his brother, Anna and Mrs. Yonehara all went towards the car. All of a sudden, Roxas had a strange feeling that he was being watched. He spun around and scanned the area. The sound of his phone surprised him and he was even more surprised when he saw who it was. Roxas got into the back of the car, sat next to his mother and answered.

"Kairi?"

"No. It's... me."

Disappointment.

"Is something wrong?" Roxas' tone changed dramatically.

"Actually, yes. Look, I don't have a lot of time and I don't know if you've heard... but..."

"But what? Spit it out."

"Vanitas is on the loose. It happened this morning."

"WHAT?!" Roxas' outburst made everyone else in the car look at him.

"I just thought I would... let you know. Just... be careful."

"Does Kairi know?"

"No. I'm not going to tell her."

Roxas agreed wholeheartedly with Sora's decision, but he was a little confused as to why Sora was telling him this in the first place.

"I think I need to come back..."

"That's okay. I'll take care of Kairi." and with that, Sora hung up, sending Roxas into a fury.

'What? Everything is forgiven and all of a sudden Sora wants to be the hero?!'

"Who was that?" Ventus asked, but Roxas didn't hear him.

'Vanitas... escaped...'

His worry for Kairi's safety was building and he was really unsure on what to do. Could Sora really protect her all by himself? Sure, Vanitas wasn't exactly the best fighter, but Roxas felt like he would bring in reinforcements since he was so crazy. His mother tried to console him, but Roxas pulled away. As soon as they got back to the house, he ran inside.

He hated going back and forth like this, but he didn't know what he would do if Kairi were to get hurt again.

He may have given up on the idea of being with her, but that didn't mean that he didn't still love her.

"DAMN IT!"

o.o.o

Sora deleted the call to Roxas and walked out of the bathroom. Kairi was sitting on the bed; her gaze on the floor. Sora slowly went over to her and tried to give her phone back, but she didn't take it. She started to tremble; her eyes watered and she couldn't stop herself from feeling so upset.

'Did she... hear...?'

Sora played it cool; if it was something else he didn't want to freak her out. He sat down next to her and grabbed her hand. "What's the matter?"

"It's... nothing..."she instinctively placed her hand over her stomach.

"It has to be something..."

"You wouldn't like it..."

"Tell me what's on your mind."

Her tears flowed down her cheeks and her face became blotchy. Kairi hid herself from him; she really didn't want Sora to see her like this. She had promised herself to be strong, but a certain movie had reminded her... of her unborn child. Even though the child would have been Roxas', she still felt really sad. The baby didn't deserve to go and she felt like it was her fault. She couldn't tell Sora this, even if he truly did want to help.

She thought about the child every now and then; each time she was met with an unbearable pain as she was reminded of that time; that entire day. That was the same day that Sora found out about her infidelity and then supposedly died right after. It was the worst day of her life.

The memory of Sora's supposed death and the death of her unborn child always went hand in hand.

If Kairi were to get pregnant again, she had no idea how she would handle it. She would constantly be reminded of the child that she lost.

It was karma.

It was because of her own actions.

She was the reason.

Kairi shook in Sora's arms; even though she loved that he was actually being nice and caring towards her, she didn't quite understand it.

"I thought... you said... that you needed more time..."she mustered, changing the subject in her mind.

"Umm..." Sora knew exactly what he said just a few hours before, "...well..."

"And now you're moving in...? I'm sorry... I'm just... confused..."

"Don't think... much of it..."

"You always say that..." irritation echoed in her voice, "... I don't understand you right now, Sora..."

"I don't understand myself either."his arms retracted and he sat there, not scooting away or anything. Their legs were still touching and they didn't say anything for a few moments.

"So... do you still want to watch a movie...?"Sora asked, not knowing that looking through Axel's DVD collection was what caused Kairi's mood to change in the first place.

"Okay... but... you choose."

o.o.o

Roxas was trying to decide whether or not to pack everything back up and hurry back to Destiny Islands. When he really thought about it though, he knew that he didn't want to be around Kairi and Sora. But at the same time, he didn't want Vanitas to go anywhere near them.

Ventus came into his room without knocking, quietly closing the door behind him.

"Alright, what's going on?"

Irritated, Roxas didn't really want to explain to his brother about the entire situation.

"Is it about that girl?"

Maybe he didn't have to.

"So... she's more important than your family, huh?"

"Don't say that."

"It seems that way!" Ventus yelled.

"Just leave me alone!"

"Not until I find out what made you leave us."

"Ugh... I don't have time for this."

The bitterness that Roxas felt for his family-well, his parents was definitely something that he didn't want to be reminded of. Ventus seemed to be determined to get it out of him though and that really bothered Roxas. In truth, he didn't care if his parents wanted to reconcile. He had much more important things going on, just like Ventus mentioned. Kairi was way more important right now.

o.o.o

Reno and Vanitas were parked in a black car outside of Sun Set Valley Apartments. Vanitas was really surprised that they were able to find them so quickly; when he asked Reno how it was possible, he merely smirked and said he had his ways.

"Jennifer, sweetie," Reno said from the backseat to the driver, "Call the police."

"May I ask, why?"

"Tell them that you have an anonymous tip about Vanitas. Tell them that he's here, somewhere on the 5th floor."

Vanitas was silent; Reno truly knew how to get around things.

"As soon as Sora is out of the way, Kairi will be left alone. Auron and Jecht are nearby."

They listened as Jennifer provided the tip to police, then drove off and parked around the corner.

o.o.o

Sora and Kairi sat on separate couches as they watched the movie. Kairi lay down and made herself comfortable. Sora didn't pay attention to the movie at all; he had become a bit paranoid knowing that Vanitas could be anywhere.

"Sora, are you okay?" Kairi asked, noticing his nervous expression.

'Is that guy really related to me...? And knowing that... how am I going to react if I see him again?'

"Sora?"

"Oh, what?" He looked over at her.

"Nothing." she focused back on the television. All of a sudden, there was a forceful knock on the door. Sora jumped up.

"Police! Open the door or we'll kick it in!"

'Police?!' Sora was confused as hell, but he was sure it was all some sort of misunderstanding. He went over, opened the door, but then was bound and handcuffed on the spot. Kairi rushed over to him in a panic.

"What the hell?!" Sora fought back, but there were too many officers.

"Vanitas Spar, you are going straight back to prison!"

'No... Kairi can't find out...'

"You've got it all wrong! I'm not him! If I were, do you really think I would have opened the door?!"

"Sora, what's going on?!" Kairi shrieked.

"Come on, you little shit." The police officers forced him out of the apartment.

"Kairi, I'll come back... I promise!" Sora yelled before being hauled away.

o.o.o

o.o.o

A/N: If you didn't see this coming... well.

Damn, I hate feeling sick. I have a fever right now. Good thing I was nearly done with this chapter.

I hope that you leave a review. I'm still debating on the amount of chapters left.