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CONFESSiONS ON THE DANCEFLOOR . .

a love story written by no other than lvkishugs

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"If you knew a truth that could soothe no pain, would you change?" When Kairi is raped, Sora catches himself between picking up the pieces of a shattered past he never really knew, and a broken heart that might never be mended.

Disclaimer: I do not own KH or anything related to KH.

A/N: Though this story deals with the subject of rape, it will go under no means of details on the actual scene itself; merely hinted, if at all. But, if you find that you are still offended by the subject, then I advise you leave this story right away. Keeping that in mind, what I do want to establish is what this story will circulate around is having faith when your very world has turned upside down, and having the courage to find the light when your heart has turned dark. I hope you enjoy the first chapter, and please tell me your opinion on it – whether it's good, or constructive – I'm open to any criticism.

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Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offence. Love keeps no score of wrongs; does not gloat

over another's sins, but delights in the truth. There is nothing love cannot face; there is not limit to its faith, its hope, and it

has endurance. In a word, there are three things that last forever: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of them all is

LOVE.

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".. Sora. Are you okay?"

What a pretty voice..

"Sora. Wake up!"

But I don't want to..

"Sora.. please. I'm begging you. If you don't –-. Then you might –-. .. Just wake up Sora."

And as if it was a miracle created by magic and fairy dust, the bright eyes of the handsome boy all the villagers adored began to blink back into life. The first conscious realization of this was feeling the golden orb's warm, bright angelic arms rubbing against his already sun kissed skin as the cold sea breeze lifted him out of his bright filled fantasies caused by the soft sand from underneath. His vision was blurry, he realized as he tried to force himself awake from his thousand-year slumber; but this fierce intuition kept gnawing at him that she was in danger, and he didn't know why, but her safety meant more than anything – including his own.

"Kairi, you be okay..?" he slurred, his mind screaming in anguish as the world slowly began to stop spinning.

"Oh, thank goodness." Kairi sighed apprehensively as she draped her petite arms firmly around his collar, resting her cranium upon his own. "You were sparing Riku, and things must have gotten out of hand or something" – even though the brunette wasn't staring precisely at her persay, Sora could still feel from underneath Kairi's purple – almost blue – hues adverting towards someone besides them as she continued on explaining the earlier event. That person, he guessed, being no other than Riku. "But you were knocked out cold for quite awhile."

"Not really," a deep voice interjected, though it was ignored as the redhead went on to say how she was worried while throwing the person – or it – one could never be so sure in Sora's case when practically unconscious – a cold, hard stare.

A short lived silence sprouted before Riku (whom Sora had just clarified was him as he was doing it) threw out one of his arms towards the injured brunette for support while with the other unpreoccupied hand, scratched the back of his metallic filled head. "Well, err .. Sorry about that Sora. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Sha'yeah right!" the younger teen snorted, beginning to return to normal with the exception of the throbbing in his head and the unbalance in his coordination, as Riku's hand clasped onto his own, immediately lifting him to his feet. "I hurt YOU .. not the other way around!"

"Oh yeah, Sora. You harm me a lot. That's why you're always the one being knocked out or the one with multiple injuries while I'm the one fully conscious and without a single scratch." came the sarcastic retort from the usually over confident boy, despite the fact that now it appeared as though it was being forced (very strange considering how natural it flows out) . But wait.. Riku faking? Sora, bewildered, by the very thought itself for a mere moment before instantaneously dismissing it; the day Riku was insecure or was without a hidden motive was the day Sora was going to name his son Elvis. And he hated the name Elvis.

"That's cause you fight dirty!" the brunette snapped, losing himself in this story of out of control sparing, though he had to admit he hadn't quite remembered that happening, let alone bringing along his very loved wooden sword. But Kairi would never lie, and these sudden suspicions his mind kept creating were only angering him more. "And this is the first time I've been unconscious for your information!"

"Oh, my. Who knew you could articulate such a big word!"

That was it. It was one thing to make fun of him – Sora mocked Riku behind his back every time he had a chance. It was even forgivable to knock him out cold – the brunette was more than positive he could do that if he wanted to, just choose not to because he was nice like that. But question his intelligence? Sure, he wasn't Einstein smart.. but then again, Einstein was a nerd.

So in that split second of testosterone rage, something inside of Sora must have snapped for his usually mellow hands went up and was shoved forcefully against Riku's higher shoulders. In return, the brunette got (an even stronger) thrust against his own.. shorter shoulders. And being how Riku was Riku, and Sora was Sora, and they both being boys, this simple (yet still ridiculous) verbal fight turned into a boxing match on steroids .. except without the blood, and fists part, just the wounds on their egos and the fact they were making asses of themselves.

"Stop it you guys!" Kairi bellowed, the intensity of her voice instantly bringing both of the very stubborn teens to a complete halt as her eyes shot daggers towards their silhouettes for a very still moment. "You two are being so.. self absorbed, you know that? And over something so stupid!" She then adverted her gaze, speechless for words, while shaking her head disappointedly along the way. Sora, mouth dropped open, was going to express regret, but Riku beat him to the punch line – and in all honestly, Sora didn't know whether it was that action that offended him most, or the way the platinum haired boy had looked at her while saying it:

"You're right, Kairi. I apologize for being so juvenile."

That fire that had sparked in his eyes moments ago was drowned with sincerity as he stared down at the redhead so affectionately that not even Sora could misplace it. The brunette shifted uncomfortably in his stance and brought one of his hands to the back of his head where it subconsciously began to scratch – an obvious sign that he was everything but contented. But Kairi, whom was always been so keen on what was going through his head, was too busy wrapped in Riku's seductiveness, and Sora couldn't take it any longer.

"Yeah, sorry." the brunette repentantly interpolated as he drifted his stare to the soft yellow – almost white – sand as remorse swirled around him, captivating his heart as his mind rattled for the meaning of the sudden attachment his two friends had for one another.

"You're forgiven." Kairi answered, her voice returning to that gentleness it was known for, though Sora noted it was more directed to Riku than himself. And all the attention she was giving their friend was only irritating him more.

"You know what?" he said, finally cracking, but when Kairi and Riku's attention finally came upon him, all that impulsive anger he harbored vanished. "We should, uhh.. Get going. .. .. I'm hungry." The brunette added, as if it were to bring more emphasize that they need to return home. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending whom you were asking, they all silently seemed to agree as their motionless figures shifted to a constant pace towards the now broken docks.

"I don't think you guys should fight anymore." Kairi decisively said, her words shattering the awkward silence that had erupted once they had begun to leave Paopu Island. "It's dangerous."

"Aw, come on Kairi! Riku and I were just playing around. Weren't we Riku?" Sora whimpered, his big blue eyes pleading at Riku's aquamarine orbs to make her understand. But when the silver haired teen couldn't – or rather wouldn't – the young teen spun back around and continued speaking as if Riku had interjected something that had backed up his statement. "Yeah! So like.. don't be worried and stuff. We can take care of our selves."

"I know," Kairi sighed, her purple-blue hues glossing over with provoked tears. "It's just that after what happened today – and all the other times – it's like all you guys do now is cause harm to one another. And I don't want you to .." She would have finished her sentence, if not for the river that had erupted from behind her eyes. And Sora hated seeing girls cry. Especially if one of those girls happened to be Kairi.

"Hey.." Riku began, slinging his arm ever so charmingly around Kairi's shoulders while speaking in that tone of his that was so smooth that not even silk had anything on it. "We should be the ones protecting you, Kairi. What we did, do .. is quite frankly immature, and you don't deserve being forced in the middle of it." The more the silver haired teen spoke, the quicker the redhead's tears seem to dry; as did the envy flicking in Sora's eyes.

Oh, how he wanted to be the one credited for making Kairi feel better. To spend as much time as he did with her. To touch her affectionately without raising eyebrows. To come up with the wittiest things that would cause her into a fit of laughter. But every time he tried, he would only come out looking like an idiot, whereas Riku would appear as some .. perfect guy. And staring at the firm grasp the older teen had around the redhead only seemed to rub in Sora's face that Riku was indeed quite better than he.

"-- I promise to go softer when sparing if it'll make you feel better. I'm sure Sora will agree to go so also on his part."

"Totally." he muttered, drawing scribbles in the sand with the tip of his shoe, pondering if his contribution in this conversation even mattered.

"Thank you for understanding." Kairi said; again, referring it to Riku before giving a small nod towards the brunette.

"No problem." the platinum haired boy casually replied with a smug smirk developed on his face, before leaning down and brushing his lips against the redhead's ears with a light whisper. "And don't worry.. Everything is going to be alright, okay? It's not going to happen again – I'll make sure of it."

A sense of relief appeared to wash over the redhead almost immediately as Riku's words slipped off of his tongue as in return, she whispered something inaudible into his ear with a bleak smile dancing across her face. Sora, for some reason, felt filthy for observing them so closely; like if he were to walk in on his mother and her boyfriend – it was just wrong. Thus, when it finally occurred to him that they were at the docks, he took it upon himself to turn away and stagger towards his boat – ignoring the fact that there were only two vessels, his own and Riku's. And during the whole procedure of untying the knot in a rope that kept his boat to the dock, he awaited for one of his two friends to call out after him. But they never did. Neither had they noticed that he had even left in the first place, let alone got in his boat and paddled back to the main island..

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".. .. Wake up, Sora." came an inpatient voice, bringing Sora out of a not so pleasant memory.

"Make me." he challenged, not giving up on sleeping longer without a good fight.

"Mmk."

"Uncle, uncle!" the brunette cried out in agony an instant later, bringing his hands to the back of his head to protect from the whirlwind of slaps Riku was giving it.

"Thought so." Smirk, smirk.

"I hope you choke on a fork." The young teen growled, his hands still rubbing his head whom had become a victim to Riku's violent hands, as his eyes slanted towards his friend's descending form.

"Hm. Well, if that happened then I guess you would have to actually work for a change."

"Hey! I work.."

"At sleeping." Riku finished for him, snickering as he turned around, only to find that Sora hadn't thought it was the least bit funny. ".. Oh, and eating. Excuse me."

"You're excused." The brunette replied playfully, as if the older boy was serious in the first place, while the settings twirling around him began to slowly fade back from his memory bank.

The building was old, perhaps forty or fifty years old, and showed many signs of it with it's creaking facets and Brady Bunch exterior. The creamy yellow – nearly peach - brick walls had an almost homely feeling to them if not for the posters of bands that not even their parent's parents knew the name to be plastered all over them. But the pay was good, and the owner never bothered to show up unless it was Cash Day (which, in Sora's point of view, was the best part of his job).

"Seriously, Sora. It's pathetic how much you sleep."

"You're just jealous."

"Of what? being a lazy bum?" he scoffed, practically laughing out the words, as he brushed the silver strands of hair that fell into his face behind his ear. "No, that's okay. I actually want to look decent in the eyes of society thank you very much."

Sora was silent for a split second, letting Riku relish in his moment of whatever it held to him, but right as his laughter began to descend, was the moment Sora came back with: "You're right.. I don't look good in society. I look farking FINE." At that, Riku choose to say nothing, his chuckle and roll of eyes conveying everything there was to say.

Solitude appeared to have erupted right after, but with both boys' minds far away than where they were, they hadn't cared to notice. Lately, though the 'dark prince' as some would refer to him, always had something on his mind, it came much more obvious since recently. Hence how he was willing to do more work around the store and let Sora sleep in. But, it came inevitable that something was biting at Sora as well; that memory, the brunette decided, was causing emotions to stir that couldn't be forced into peace.

"Hey Riku.."

"What?"

"Do you .." Sora paused, making sure that the words aligning in his head were going to come out right. "Do you remember that one time you knocked me out? It was right before.. you know."

"Uhhm. Sort of. Why?" Riku asked, thrown off guard by Sora's sudden curiosity, at whom he threw a stare stating just that.

"Nothing, just.. I don't know. You two were pretty close." the brunette remarked warily, hoping to catch some sort of proof for his statement.

"She was as close to me as she was to you." Riku said, knowing this game all too well as he began picking up boxes of records and bringing them to their rightful spot in the store.

"No, no," the brunette corrected, straightening his back as he sat up from his position. "I basically had to force myself with you guys. And even then, you were too preoccupied with whatever you were doing."

"It was nothing, Sora," the platinum haired teen sighed; obviously tired from defending himself from the rather emotional rollercoaster he called his best friend. "We were preoccupied with nothing."

"How about we ask Kairi about that nothing, then!" Sora defiantly threw back, his stare challenging Riku's as if there were some sort of competition in the first place.

"It's ancient history, Sora. Forget about it. Kairi probably doesn't even remember anyways." While his words emerged as a bit casual, his deep voice and aquamarine orbs expressed something entirely different. The message between the lines being: It's ancient history, Sora. Now forget about it, or I'm going to be fucking pissed. The brunette got the memo crystal clear – oh how he did - but being how he was just in one of those moods, he firmly choose to do otherwise.

"Well, maybe she does, and if we ask her then.."

In what looked like one motion, Riku had suddenly spun towards Sora as his arms threw the box of records to the ground, slamming his extremities on the counter. "Who cares what she what she was thinking about Sora! It was four years ago. She's with you now. Does it really matter?"

Letting down on his persistence, Sora slowly began to verbalize his words out, afraid to aggravate Riku any further. "No.. I guess not."

"Exactly. It doesn't." the platinum haired boy snide, before throwing his arms exasperately into the air and storming off in such a huffy matter that even Sora was alarmed (more so now by the threatening way he had handled himself). Everything was fine and dandy up till the point the brunette had mentioned the past; of course Riku had always been so touchy on the matter, being how he was screwed over so many times, but he was always able to hold himself together.. until now. Or was it because this time Sora had decided to involve Kairi in their constant struggle for power over one another?

So many thoughts, and so many unanswered questions, the brunette said mentally to himself as his eyes glanced desperately to the clock on the wall. Okay, so if it's four-thirty right now, then I can still take a ten-minute nap and pick Kairi up from school. Resting his head into his hands (Sora wasn't hard to convince when it came to sleeping), the brunette blinked shut his eyes and decided that when he woke up, he would get to the bottom of Riku and his stupidness.

DEE. DA DA DA. DO. DEE. DA DA.

Moaning like he had when his mother forced him awake for school, Sora's azul orbs groggily opened up to a vibrating sensation in his pocket, and a noisy annoying ring tone he didn't even know the name to. "Farking phone.. So loud and.. loud," he muttered to himself as one hand pulled his cell phone out of his jeans, while with the other rubbed his blearily eyes. Holy crap, it's eight-thirty, already? Heaving a sigh, the brunette flipped open his phone and uttered some random greeting.

"Sora, you there?"

".. Selphie?" he asked, his usual perplexed expression deepening across his face. "What the heck are you doing with Kairi's cell? I thought Riku told you to stop wasting her minutes."

"Just get home, okay? It's an emergency." She said, dismissing his reflection altogether, which she had the tendency to do when it came to him, and his remarks.

"Why? .. What's wrong?"

"It's Kairi. She was.. She was.."

Sora paused, waiting for the girl to say add more to her thought, but when a short muffled cry erupted from the other side of the receiver – straight away he knew something was wrong. Girls only cried when a) something bad happened, or b) something really bad happened. And the drowsiness that kept him calm was wearing off very quickly.

".. .. Finish the sentence, Selphie."

"She was raped!" she blurted out before as another flow of tears streaked down her tan cheeks.

".. She was what?"

"Raped. She was raped, okay?" Sora could hear Selphie inhale deeply, only to exhale it all too quickly as her not so tough façade appeared momentarily screwed back in her voice. "Now will you stop being a stupid idiot and come home. She needs you."

"On my way."

Everything after that split second was a severe case of numbness, shock, and memory loss; and if asked later what happened, Sora would tell you that he did not know. From the moment he closed the phone and stuffed it into his pocket to when he opened his front door, everything was a complete blur. He didn't remember getting up from his seat behind the counter and shutting off all the lights in the building. He didn't remember locking up and staggering to his Toyota, even though he had done the same actions over and over for the past two years. He didn't remember the car ride home, or taking an exit early only to stop at Ralph's. He didn't remember trailing down the aisles for a certain brand of ice cream, or for Kairi's favorite movie ..

but he did it. Because that's what people do. When something bad happens, an instant reaction is to find a solution to fix it. But as Sora is soon to find out, not all incidents can be mended with sweet treats, and heartfelt things.

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"Where is she?" Sora demanded more than asked as he slammed the door behind him, plastic bags in hand.

"Upstairs." Selphie answered with her back to the brunette, her attention only concentrating into finding those certain ingredients somewhere lost in their – to put it lightly – messy cabinets. But upon hearing the swift – almost running like – footsteps jump up the steps, she spoke again, sounding so nonchalantly towards something quite big. "She's not talking."

"What?" he asked, stopping in mid step as his chocolate colored eyebrows arched in disbelieve.

"She's not talking," Selphie repeated, this time her voice holding more confidence in what she was saying as she turned around and locked her emerald hues with his glowering ones. "Even to me. And I'm not a guy."

"Yeah, well .. I'm her boyfriend. She'll talk to me." Sora retorted, his voice already turning cold towards the girl he considered anything but entertaining. He would have added more, if not for Kairi needing him so desperately (and the fact he couldn't come up with a decent comeback if his mere life were on the line).

"If you say so," she chirped in a singsong voice, the voice she used whenever she knew she was right.

As Sora's feet stumbled up the remaining steps and turned the sharp corner towards their bedroom, his eyes darted into the area, preparing himself for the whirlwind of emotions that would be struck down on him; but when his eyes finally reached Kairi, a panic in his heart almost caused him to stop breathing. She looked exactly like she did when she was first captured by Ansem: lifeless as she laid on her side, pitiful as it came aware she was too broken emotionally to shift, and pathetically enticing like a puppet. Her features did not hold that playful grin Sora had grown accustomed to since his return, but instead a blank expression filled with emotionless eyes. So emotionless that Sora had considered if she was alive at all: the slight motion her chest moved told him otherwise, but he wondered if the pain was so deep that it would have been better she died during that experience.

"Hey Kairi." the brunette managed to choke out, his voice cracking under pressure he had created himself. Taking long, stride steps towards her, he paused, deciding if it would be better to talk to her standing up, or sitting down. He really wished that he had some sort of guidelines for this situation; there were always movies, television episodes, and stories written on this circumstance, but when it came down to it, even if he happened to research all the information on it, none of it could tell him what was right, or what was wrong to do.

"It's me.. Sora."

He wanted to show her that he cared, but not if the cost was to offend her anymore than that man already has. Not wanting the redhead to catch onto his apprehension, he rested himself next to her, dropping the bags on the floor besides them: but she didn't move, not even a stir, and his heartstrings pulled firmly in return.

"I brought home some Cookie Dough ice cream," Sora continued without missing a beat, covering his fear and worry almost effortlessly. "I know how much you love that. Also, I have your most favorite movie in the world: The Notebook." Pulling the items out of the sacks, he slowly shook the items in front of her face before plastering a phony smile on his façade – he heard that your voice seemed more joyful and convincing with a grin. "So how about we sit downstairs, eat, and watch the movie. We haven't done something like that in awhile."

There was no reply but the sad stillness that had become, in Sora's opinion, her life. But he didn't want to give into that consideration – not yet, not now; he had thought she could never be repaired when her father died, but her lips managed to roll into an upward arch even then.

"Okay. If you don't want to go downstairs, then we could always watch it up here." he offered, hoping Kairi would take the bait.

Upon hearing her reply (which was of course nothing) it suddenly occurred to Sora that Kairi might not be able to be mended as easily as he first believed. They had been apart for years before, everybody knew, but now more than ever were they isolated from another: not by land literately, but by worlds entirely. Every moment, though deemed short to everyone unaffected by this, felt like a lifetime to Sora as the extent of this finally hit him – excuse the cliché – like a ton of bricks.

"Kairi, talk to me. Tell me what you want to do." he said, unable to hide the fear in his voice as he lifted one of his hands and gently began caressing her cheek. "Kairi.."

She didn't answer, and he wasn't surprised. Sora may have been considered dumb, but certainly not ignorant nor naive. He knew that it was the perfect opportunity to stand up and leave, but instead, he took this moment to dwell on the situation occurring before them. Despite what had happened throughout their journey together, Kairi may have had her freedom and innocence stolen, and was forced to develop into the person she was .. earlier this evening, but she had never had her purity once tainted. And yet, here she was, motionless atop a bed, having complete darkness spilling over her and feeding off her lifelessness, where not even silly gifts and his now massaging touch could bring her out of this.. ..

It had taken a few moments to accept this conclusion swarming around him, but once Sora had, he bent down and brushed his lips tenderly upon her pale forehead before going to his feet and slowly staggering towards the doorway; because no matter how hard he tried to understand, he couldn't. He was nineteen and a virgin. And until today, so was Kairi.

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Even though they didn't really have a friendship, or any warm outlook towards one another (she considered him immature and stupid, he thought of her as annoying and completely bitchy), Selphie managed to bite her tongue as Sora walked down the stair steps with a grave expression weaved into his face. He knew she was right, she knew she was right, so there was nothing to call out for; or per haps that was the excuse she told herself so she wouldn't have to.

Handing him a cup of homemade apple cider, Sora didn't even have enough energy to question her for her sudden burst of kindness. Maybe it was because he was too down to ever notice or care really. "Thanks," he murmured, taking a stance next to her while bringing his craving thirst a liquid it wished for, while his interest was momentarily entranced by the blaring television.

"No problem," the bronzed haired teen delicately replied, her bright green eyes staring foreword to nothing in particular as her body remained glued in the same position.

-- The man was stabbed forty-two times by the girl's – whom he had supposedly enforced intercourse upon a few days prior - mother. The women pleads not guilty, stating that she was only trying to defend her daughter's well being. A jury will decide if her story is true - and if thought not, how much time she will be serving. More details on this case will be told tomorrow evening. .. Back to you, Ken.

"I feel bad for her. You can obviously tell she had only planned on protecting her daughter's honor, though now she'll be going to prison for it." pausing, Sora brought the tall glass to his lips and let the warm liquid travel down his throat once again before gently adding, "What a shame."

He knew the answer was directed to him, even before the words were spoken.

"Some people just cause more pain than they ever intended to create."

As the sad forgotten truth then stood still between them, like love in a rejected heart, it tested the tests of time as it waited for one to shatter the tension; but Sora, stubbornly as his darkened azul eyes flashed at her emerald hues with carelessness, softly murmured:

"Yeah, well .. it's the people who blame others that cause the most damage."

With a shrug in response, the two then cast a cold shoulder to one another while taking shelter in their drink: hoping that they could somehow find a way to mend their broken friend, and have the faith to continue on when it appeared like they could not.

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A/N: I haven't had anytime to revise slash edit this, so please excuse any errors / overused phrases&words until I get back (Jan 2nd). I'm planning to update by the next day (Jan 3rd) if I have enough feedback telling me to do so.

Thanks lovers.

Mwah.

- lvkishugs