Author's Note: Well then! Sorry for the long absence folks! It's been a heck of a time what with holiday season and all that. Sorry. :( I hope this chapter makes up for the long wait, and especially for the short chapter last time! I hope you're all excited to see another chapter pop up! :D
Disclaimer: I have no words. I told you already. :|
Enjoy!
Sora hated the fact that his week had ended already. His mind was already half-preoccupied with the red head he had been certain was now avoiding him, and, he rightfully surmised, he didn't need another free seven or eight hours to think about her. He contemplated texting her, though he knew the response he'd get, or rather lack thereof, was a recipe for disaster. Instead, he took to kicking his feet into the ground with each step, watching the small bits of dirt and trash littering the high-school floors get kicked up with each motion. As he continued his janitorial motions, his attention drifted fully away from his surroundings, his carelessness landing him directly into a wall.
"Oww, stupid wa-" the wall's face looked slightly amused, but overall confused-wait, walls didn't have-
"Sleep-walking, Sora?" the red-headed wall giggled at him, which, Sora gathered upon closer inspection, was actually Kairi.
"K-Kairi!?" Sora jumped a little.
"You look like you see a ghost, Sora," she continued her small giggle as the boy reeled himself back firmly into reality.
"I, it's uhm...you just...We haven't really spoken since the weekend and stuff," the brunette grimaced to himself, chastising his use of the word 'stuff' as his being a moron.
"Yeah, I've been, like, super busy and stuff," the girl leveled her eyes at him, a small smirk curling its way into the corner of her lip.
"Ha-ha," Sora stuck his tongue out.
"Anyways, I have a little bit of homework, but you want to come over and study with me this weekend?" Kairi noticed the boy's eyes grow wide, "As FRIENDS," her look narrowed.
"O-Of course!" Sora hastily shook his head, his cheeks tinged pink, "I'll text you tomorrow, then!" Sora rushed off, too excited to wait for a goodbye.
The next 24 hours were nearly too much for Sora to handle. He didn't much like studying, but the prospect of getting to see Kairi more excited him like he'd almost never been. Had Sora not valued the sanctity of sleep, he most likely would have spent all hours of the night gushing over his crush, but he swore to himself that never man nor woman nor beast would ever stop him from achieving as much sleep as he wanted as he thusly fell asleep.
The next morning, Sora quickly groomed himself as he prepared to see Kairi. Unfortunately, though his initial text was sent to the girl rather early, Kairi hadn't responded until a little past noon.
'Hey, I had to clean a little. You can come over whenever. :)'
Sora reasoned that a smiley was always a good thing, and rushed out the door as fast as his legs allowed him. He arrived at Kairi's house a few minutes later, parking right outside the home and politely knocking on the door. He'd briefly contemplated getting flowers on his way over, though Kairi's stern words, and his own savings, had prevented a real idea from blossoming.
"Uh, hi," Sora greeted the man at the door nervously, "I'm Sora. I'm here to see Kairi?"
"Kai-" the man had begun shouting before he quickly turned back to the door, a quirky young boy slightly avoiding eye contact and blushing as the man scanned him over, "Sora, you said?" the brunette responded by nodding his head, an intrigued look appearing on the man's face as he contemplated something for a moment. He looked away, shrugging, and called Kairi once more.
"Kairi!-Sora-is here!" the man notably paused when saying the boy's name, welcoming the youth into the home as he headed back to his previous business. He stopped in the threshold of the kitchen doorway and turned to look at Sora.
"I'm not the over-bearing protective father type, but...Kairi's heart was-"
"SORA!" Kairi shouted over her father, tossing the man a stern face as she descended the stairs, almost royally in Sora's eyes.
Kairi's father sighed, making his way back to his former business once more.
"Hi, Kairi! Nice to see you again lovely madam," Sora bowed onto one knee, taking Kairi's hand and kissing it as she approached him.
"Sora!" Kairi blushed, pulling all of her limbs back to their appropriate locations - NOT touching Sora's lips
"Sorry, sorry," he offered a goofy smile, "You know me, I'm a real idiot," his grin widened as Kairi couldn't help but begin giggling.
"I had a bit more work to do than I remembered, so I don't think we'll get around to playing any video games today," Kairi frowned as Sora's grin fell slightly.
"Oh! Woe is me! I better just head home then, I mean seriously. What is this, you invite me to your house and then I can't use all of your stuff?" Sora gave the red-head a toothy grin, "It's fine. We can just do our work and talk. I never really get to talk about things anyway; Riku is kind of overbearing with his presence. When he wants to do something, you do it."
"Sounds scary," Kairi shuddered.
"Eh, it's nothing weird. Just Riku being the tool that he is," Sora flashed a bright smile that nearly blinded the unexpecting Kairi.
"Whoa, dude," Kairi covered her eyes, "watch where you're showing those things," she nudged him in the arm playfully, and he couldn't help but blush.
The two made their way upstairs, Kairi explaining various locales and points of interest in the somewhat antique house that her family owned. Emergency exits and bathrooms were pointed out in case of, as Kairi explained it, 'well...emergencies.' She apologized profusely for forgetting to print up the blueprints, begging mercy that she needed her job to support her three children and two dogs.
"Hmmm...I'll make an exception-THIS TIME. But next mistake and your head is skewered," boss-man Sora laughed with his chest puffed out, the two giggling at the joke as the facade broke down.
"This is my room," Kairi explained, opening the door with a gentle push.
Sora swore, in his mind at the very least, that it was one of those moments that the person pushes open the door and everything looks perfect and the curtains are gently fluttering in the wind that you swore wasn't actually happening outside but that made its appearance just for this beautiful unveiling, the wind carrying a gently scent of something flowery or sweet to entice you to enter this newly discovered location, a slight glitter and sparkle showing off the sheer pristine beauty of the room you suddenly need to enter.
"Sorry if it's a mess, still," Kairi apologized with a nervous smile.
"No, it's really..." he looked around. His illusion of a perfect room was shattered upon entering, but he still had to admit it was really clean and homey. Plus, the added bonus of not being in Riku's pig-pen of a bedroom was an even better prospect, "It's really great."
Kairi blushed slightly at the compliment, grabbing her books out of her backpack.
Sora took his backpack off one arm and let it fall to the ground, plopping down next to it as Kairi made her way over. The two began immediately working, making their way through the various assignments they'd been given.
"You were planning to eat dinner here, right?" Kairi asked, looking up from a History textbook.
"Uhm, if it's not too imposing of me..." Sora smiled slightly at the thought of sharing a meal with Kairi's family.
"It's okay. I wasn't sure what time we'd be done so I asked my parents to make enough for you too," she smiled back at the boy.
The two continued back on their work, small exchanges occurring in between problems they were solving. Before they'd realized it, a few hours had passed and the sky was beginning to turn a beautiful orange.
"I'm almost done with my work," Sora began, challenging Kairi with a teasing tone. "Well I only need to finish these three math problems and I'll be finished," Kairi responded back to him, "Let's make it a contest. The first one to finish gets to ask the loser any question they want, and the loser has to answer it."
Sora's eyes lit up, some of the many questions he had about Kairi flooding through his mind as he accepted the challenge, "Alright. First one to finish gets a no-holds barred question answered," the two shook, and immediately dove into their textbooks to finish their work.
Their pencils flew across the page, Kairi's fingers swiftly tapping buttons on her calculator as Sora searched his textbook for the scientific formulas he needed to use. The race seemed desperately close as the two peered up at one another every few moments to ensure they hadn't lost yet. Sora's pencil stopped for a moment, and Kairi's heart skipped a few beats, her pencil speeding down the page with even more gusto than before. Sora's hand began moving once more and she breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't lost. Just as Kairi finished and put down her pencil, Sora repeated the motion. She quickly claimed her victory shouting, "Done!" just as Sora opened his mouth to do the same. He grumbled, Kairi getting up and doing a victory dance around her room.
"Alright, alright, alright," Sora waved Kairi down with both his hands, "you won, don't brag about it, you butt. What did you want to ask me?"
Kairi sat back down across from Sora where she'd been, her face puzzled as she contemplated what to ask, "Hmmm. I don't know. I might just put this in my pocket and save it for a rainy day."
"What? That's not fair," Sora pouted, "There's supposed to be a lightning deal expiration on these things! Besides, I have a few things I wanted to ask you immediately," Sora picked up his pencil and drew randomly on the side of his paper as Kairi talked.
"I don't know. You're actually pretty forward with me, Sora. It's really neat having someone so honest to talk to."
'Definitely a lot more forward than I am with you...' Kairi thought to herself.
"And what do you mean you have a few things you want to ask me? Am I really so mysterious?" Kairi almost wondered the question to herself. Maybe she wasn't as good at concealing things as she thought.
"Well, like...you know...you never did tell me why you were at that bar, anyways, for example..." Sora looked up from the scribbling he'd been doing on his work, tilting his head slightly at Kairi, "I mean, I know we both kind of said we were forced along, but I didn't want to be there because I usually just never find anyone interesting."
"I...I told you. My friend forced me to come along, I'm not looking for a relationshi-wait. You said find anyone interesting," Kairi reasoned slowly her eyes looking Sora up and down.
"Yes..." Sora responded equally hesitantly, his brows raised as he mulled the thought over.
"Well then, Mr. Knight," Kairi smirked slightly to herself at the nickname, "-and you can count this as my no-holds barred question-I have to level one of two things with you. Based on what you just said, you either a.) Don't find me interesting, which I can't believe to be true at all, considering the puppy dog look you're giving me right now," Sora looked away, attempting to hide his face and his embarrassment, "Or, when you say 'anyone', you mean...anyone."
The brunette continued looking away for a moment.
"I think you're just looking a little too far into what I said, I just mean..."
"Sora, be honest, are you into..." Kairi trailed off rolling her hands with emphasis for Sora to finish the statement.
"I don't know. Maybe. It's crossed my mind before, but I just don't like anyone. Guys, girls, anything," he pouted, somewhat embarrassed at the accusation.
As he turned his head away once more, he noticed a small white bag sitting precariously on Kairi's dresser.
"Hey, is that from the jewelry shop we went to the other day?"
Kairi's bombardment of questions suddenly ended as she remembered she'd left it out, "Oh, uhm...yeah. I guess it is," she reasoned without much thought, an excuse trying to form in her mind as she quickly stood up to try and grab it.
Sora quickly-er got up and nabbed the bag, heading back over to where the two had been sitting and opening it like a child on Christmas Day. Inside was a box much like the one that had contained the crown he had bought for Kairi, but instead the box held a small silver key.
"Kairi...did you buy this for me the other day?" Sora intently stared at the small piece of jewelry.
"Uh...yeah...I guess I did," she smiled nervously, "I was going to give it to you, but it seemed really weird, and then you gave me the crown and it was a lot for me to handle, and I guess I just got nervous and never gave it to you."
"I guess I kind of stole the spotlight and whatever," Sora said in almost a whisper, But...I really, really like it! Would it be alright if I...uhm...had it now?" the boy asked in what almost sounded like a plead to Kairi.
Not wanting to upset the boy, she managed a small smile and nodded, "Yeah."
The boy looked overjoyed as he took the small silver clasp and brought it behind his neck, turning away from the girl as he let the chain fall.
"Can you put it on me?" he asked her.
Trembling, Kairi's hands made their way to the boy's neck, gently gripping the silver chain as she hooked it together. A small tap letting him know she was finished, Sora turned back to face Kairi as he looked into her eyes.
"Thank you, Kairi. I...I really love it," his voice dropping to a whisper once more.
The two continued staring at one another, Kairi nervously biting on her lower lip as Sora's breath hitched. Unconsciously, they began to move closer and closer to one another. Their eyes lidded over, fluttering shut as their faces inched nearer and nearer, their lips trembling as emotions overcame them. Just as their lips were about to meet, Kairi's door suddenly flew open.
"Kairi! Sor-ah," Namine's broad smile faded as she saw the two youths staring back like a pair of deer caught in headlights, "I...should've knocked. Dinner is, uhm, ready," she coughed, rushing back down the stairs almost as fast as she had arrived.
Kairi snapped out of her daze, shooting up and gesturing Sora to follow.
"Let's...let's...let's..." the words escaped her as she rushed down the stairs, joining her family for dinner as they all gathered around the table.
Our intertwined emotions,
Dispel all our illusions,
In a world I was never meant to meet you in.
I know that I can't stop it,
I know that I don't want to,
If you just kiss me then it will solve everything!
End Note: Hoooooooooooooosnap. They almost kissed. Dayum. You a playah, Sora. You a playah.
In all seriousness, I hope you all liked the chapter! Sorry again it took me so long to post, but I'll try and get the next chapter up in a week or so! In the meantime, keep racking those brains and trying to figure out Kairi's secret. Until next time, have a great one! ~Shin-Shui~