A/N: So here's a sad chapter for you. I don't know how well I did. But I'll let you be the judge.

Loss

KAI: Life is not fair. Some things never seem to last. Like the presence of your loved ones. And the pain can be excruciating once you lose them.

Little Kairi skipped into the kitchen with a small dish in her hand. Humming to herself, she put the dish on the floor and took a half gallon of milk out of the refrigerator. She poured some of the milk into the dish, careful not to overflow like most kids her age would do. She was a good and smart girl that way. She put the jug of milk back in the fridge, and called, "Kitty Kitty!" The kitten, Dawn, meowed as she ran over to the dish. Dawn, then began licking the milk out of the dish. Kairi smiled as she petted her kitten.

It had been a month since Kai brought them together. The kitten warmed up to the girl pretty quickly, and Kairi always gave her lots of love. They developed a close bond with each other, and have been inseparable. Wherever Kairi went, Dawn always came with her. Kairi even allowed her friends to play with her kitty. The girl was very thankful to her brother, and she couldn't have been any happier.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard coughing coming from the living room. Concerned, she ran into the room to find Grandma Elise with her hand covering up her mouth, coughing up a storm. The cough was causing her to bend over more and more, until she outright fell over onto the floor.

"Grandma!" shouted Kairi as she ran over to Elise. She shook Grandma's shoulder and said, "Grandma, are you okay? Grandma!" There was no answer. All she heard was a raspy breathing. Kairi could see drips of blood running out of the corner of her mouth, as well as a splatter of it on her palm. Kairi gasped when she saw this.

Just then, Kai walked into the door. Immediately Kairi ran up to him. "Big Bro!" The boy was immediately worried by her distressed tone. "I think something's wrong with Grandma!" she said.

Kai flinch when he heard that. And then finally noticed Elise on the floor. He rushed to their grandmother's side and heard her breath and saw the blood. Now he was scared for her.

Elise was immediately taken to the hospital after that. They asked the doctors what was wrong with her. They tried to sugarcoat it due to their age, but Kai was not having any of that, and angrily demanded to know. Giving in, they told him the truth. It turns out that Elise had contracted a rare disease, a deadly one with no cure. She had been diagnose with it two years ago, and has had frequent doctors appointment for months when her condition began to worsen. And now it's gotten to the point were she cannot be manage herself anymore, and she'll need constant treatment just to prolong her life.

Unfortunately, Elise doesn't have much longer to live. Even with medical treatment, they estimate she has only about a month left. Kai was devastated when he heard that. When he asked why she never said anything, the answer he received was that she didn't want to worry them. Kairi didn't fully understand what was going on, but she was worried it was really bad, and little white lies did not seem to comfort her at all.

The Recruits have begun to noticed that Kai has been acting a little off lately. He's been awfully unresponsive in conversations, even directed towards him, he's been very unfocused on his exercises and spars, and his face appeared a bit stressed to some. He's been like this for two weeks now, and they're starting to get worried.

Kai was now sparring with Squall, and wasn't doing any better. He kept attacking his fellow recruit with shaky sword swings. Squall was getting irritated at his fellow trainee's performance. "What's your deal, Kai," he said. "You've been awfully sloppy lately."

Kai grunted in frustration, before attacking again. Squall, however, just took one step to the side, causing the unfocused Kai to miss. The gunblade wielder then followed up with a kick to the stomach. The young prodigy was knocked to the ground but quickly bounced back up. Squall then casted a three fire spells. Kai dodged the first two fireballs, but the third one the ground right next to his foot, the blast causing him to lose his balance for a moment. Fortunately, he regained it before he could fall. He then activated his Spellblade, Icebrand, and dashed to his opponent. Squall avoided the attacks, until he saw an opening and blasted Kai in the chest with a fireball, strong enough to push him back but weak enough to only leave the chest covered in soot.

"I don't know what your problem is, but you need to stop moping," Squall said. "This is a battlefield. It's not the place to get distracted. You expect a real enemy to go easy on you just because you have problems?"

"Shut up." Kai said in a low frustrated tone.

"If you can't put your issues aside and focus on the battle, you're not fit to be a soldier."

"Shut up!" Kai shouted angrily. For a split second, Squall thought he saw a hint of black mist around Kai, but quickly dismissed it as his imagination as Kai came charging in on him.

Squall was force to block Kai's attack, the two of them push against each other with their swords. Unfortunately, Kai's Icebrand was still in affect, cause his katana to freeze Squalls gunblade, along with his wrists. Kai kicks the older boy hard in the stomach just as his Icebrand wears off, knocking him back a little. Squall tried to thaw his wrists out with a fire spell, but Kai didn't give him any time. The younger boy knock the frozen gunblade out of the way, jumped up, and slashed Masamune right across Squall's face, leaving a deep cut that runs diagonally across the bridge of his nose, bleeding profusely. Squall fell to the ground with, Kai pinning him down and holding his blade to his neck. Kai breathed heavily out of anger and exhaustion.

"Kai!" shouted Laguna from the sidelines. "Settle down, will ya!? I think he's had enough!"

After a few seconds, Kai removed the blade from Squall neck and got off of him. Without word, Kai walked away from the other with his head hung low, and his red bangs shadowing his eyes. After getting a some distance he stopped in his tracks, and let out a cry of frustration as he slammed his Flametongue charged katana onto the ground, creating a slight fiery burst right next to him. He then sheathed his sword and sat against a nearby pillar, looking awfully gloomy. Most of the other recruits were concerned.

"Yeesh!" said Lea. "What blew his fuse?"

"I don't think I've ever seen Kai this worked up before," said Zidane.

"What could've happened?" asked Bartz.

Lightning looked down. Her sister hanging out with Kai's sister had its advantages. She looked back up and said, "I was told that his grandmother was recently sent to the hospital."

Almost everyone was taken aback by this news. "R-really?" asked Tifa. "What happened to her?"

"Apparently she's fallen very ill. I wasn't given any specifics. But judging from the way Kai's been acting lately, I'm starting to think that it's worse than I was led to believe."

Isa crossed his arms and said, "You mean it's possible that she's not only sick, she's dying."

"And there's nothing they can do to make her better," added Cloud.

Lightning only nodded.

"Man," said Zack. "I guess if anyone in my family was dying of illness and I couldn't do a thing, I'd be frustrated too."

"And let's not forget," Laguna decided to chime in while checking Squall's wound, which he concluded was going to leave a scar, "She's the only adult family Kai and his sister have left. And Kai, being the oldest, is obligated to take up the burden of taking care his family, something he's still too young to have to do by himself. When you get down to it, if his grandmother is in fact dying, the kid is gonna have it pretty rough."

Squall stood up, holding his wound with towel to halt the bleeding. Understatement of the year, he thought.

Laguna then grabbed Squall's shoulder. "Take a break, everyone. I'm gonna take Squall to the infirmary." He then began to drag Squall away, leave everyone to there thoughts. As he walked he had a thought of his own, Perhaps it would be a good idea to talk to Lord Ansem about this.

While everyone else looked at Kai with sympathy, Ryu typically looked at him with contempt. All the attention he's been getting was really starting to get on his nerves. "You deserve to suffer," he said quietly to himself.

The estimated time was here. Laguna decided to give Kai some time off to give him as much time to spend with his grandmother as he could. When word reached Ansem the Wise, he didn't think twice about paying for Elise's anesthetics so that she wouldn't have to suffer through the pain. Elise was now connected to an ECG monitor to keep track of her heartbeat.

Kai and Kairi had come for their daily visit. Elise could now feel that her time was just about up. But before she passed on she wanted to speak to her grandchildren one last time.

"I wish this wonderful family didn't have these misfortunes," Elise said, gain the siblings' attention. "You mother, Mira, was the kindest girl I knew. But she was always so shy and fragile. I loved my daughter so much, and I always worried about her wellbeing, even as she grew up. But then, you father, Suzaku, came along. He was a great and honorable man. How your mother always admired him. He was supposedly the strongest swordsman in the guard. Yet he never let his strength go to his head. Suzaku remained as modest Mira. But he was honest and held a strong will. I trusted him enough to allow him to be with my daughter. I knew that he would protect her with his life. And then you came along, Kai. A young prodigy in you own right. A quiet soul with a caring heart and strong will. I believed that you three, with little Kairi on her way, would always be a happy family."

Elise's expression grew somber. "But then tragedy struck. Out of anger and jealousy, a fellow guard named Zabuza struck your father down without warning." Kai flinched at that. This was the first time he actually heard about how his father died. "Zabuza had no remorse for what he did, and so he was executed for his crime soon after. But the damage had been done, and your mother's heart was broken and filled with despair. She wouldn't stop crying. She had lost all hope. But..." she paused for a second as she smiled, "the happiest I've seen her since her husband's passing was when you finally came to us, Kairi. When she looked at you for the first time, her sorrow disappeared, and her eyes were filled with joy." She grew sad again. "But alas, she didn't have the strength to stay with us."

Both Kai and Kairi had been listening intently. Kai remembered how he gave his mother his word that he would take good care of Kairi. Kairi was amazed at hearing about her mom and dad. She never got to know them herself and always wondered what they were like, so it was enlightening to hear about them. She was especially flattered about how just the sight of her made her mom the happiest she had ever been.

Elise pause for moment to let her speech sink in before continuing. "If only your parents were here right now. They could see the how well their son is doing in the Guard, and how beautiful their daughter is becoming. I've done my best to take care of you two in their place. I wish I could've done more. And look at me now, a sick old lady who time is almost up."

Kai could sense a feeling of regret coming off her. He look at the monitor and noticed her heartbeat was slowing down. Kairi's eye were beginning to have tear up, something inside her was telling her that Grandma was about to go away.

"Kai," Elise said weakly. "Please take, good care of your sister. Once I'm gone, you're all she'll have left. She needs you now more than ever. Lord Ansem the Wise has offered to let you two stay in his castle. Please take it. You'll need all the help you can get right now."

Kai said nothing, only nodded as his eyes began to feel watery.

Kairi's tears were now running. She held onto her grandmother's hand, as she said, "Grandma! Please don't leave! I don't want you to go! Please stay with us!"

"I'm sorry dear," Elise said sadly, "but I don't have a choice. You still have your brother. You'll never be alone. Kairi, I need you to be strong. You are a very special girl, Kairi. More special than you know. I want you to grow into a wonderful young woman. Please be strong for me."

"This is not fair!" the little girl cried. "I want us all to be together forever!" Kairi cries pierce both Kai's and Elise's hearts.

"Kairi," said Grandma. "Would you like me to tell you the story...on last time, before I go." Hearing this, Kairi could only nod. With that Elise proceeded, "Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light...Then, people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves, and darkness was born in there hearts...The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It cover everything and the world disappeared." Her voice was beginning to sound weaker and weaker. "But, small fragments of light survived in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now...But the true light sleeps deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered; divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open, and the true light will return...So listen,...you two. Even in the deepest darkness,...there will always be a light to guide you...Believe in the light,...and the darkness will...never defeat you." Now her eyes had closed. "Your hearts...will shine with...its power...and push...the darkness...awa-" No more sound came out of her.

"G-Grandma?" asked Kairi. But she received no answer. "Wake up! Grandma! Please wake up!" No response.

Kai look over at the monitor. No heartbeat. The tears Kai was holding back now flowed freely. Grandma Elise was gone. He couldn't believe it. First his father, then his mother, and now his beloved grandmother. His heart was shattering, one piece after another. The pain building inside was becoming more than he could handle. He felt the urge to scream.

But then he looked at Kairi. He watched her as she cried on their grandma's dead hand. That's when he realized something. This is the first time she lost someone she loved. Her cries made his heart ache more. No. He had to be strong for her. He couldn't afford to look weak in front of her. They were counting on him to protect her. He held back his agony as he walked up to his sad sister and place his hand on her shoulder.

It took a minute, but Kairi turned to her older brother. Her face was damp in her own tears. "Oh, Big Bro!" She quickly latched onto him, still crying.

"Shhhh," said Kai as he embraced his sister, and brush her hair with his fingers to comfort her. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm here." He looked to their late grandmother before telling Kairi with resolve, "I'll protect you. I'll always protect you, Kairi. That's a promise."

KAI: It's hard to get passed the loss of loved ones. I don't know how much more I could take. I fear that if I lose Kairi, my little sister, the one person I cherish the most, I might just go insane.

A/N: I hope this isn't too cheesy. I also hope you don't mind me killing off Grandma like this, but I thought it might heighten the effect of something that'll happen later.