AN:)) I know, I know, this is probably the longest it's ever taken me to update. I've been having some issue with this story, and I'm not liking it as much as I used to, but never fear, I WILL finish. Scouts honor. There actually aren't many chapters left to go. Anyways, without further rambling, I give you the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, too bad.

5, 6, 7, 8:

"And all. that .Jazz!"

"Alright everybody, that's a wrap!" Yuna called out as the music stopped. "Great job! Ok, so final dress rehearsal is tomorrow evening try to get here around 6:30 for make-up and costume, rehearsal starts at 7. Then we have the play on Friday night! Great job again and I'll see you tomorrow."

The students shuffled around, changing and putting things away. Kairi hung her costumes on the rack in perfect order.

"Wow, look how neat this rack is. I bet it took you a while to get it this nice…" Kairi turned to see Yuffie standing behind her. "Oops!" she called as she not so accidentally knocked the rack over scattering clothes all over the floor. "And now it'll take a while longer." She sneered as she walked over the clothing.

Kairi sighed in frustration. "Bitch" she grumbled to herself. She sat the rack back upright and began putting the clothes back on their hangers and in their designated spots.

After 10 minutes, Kairi finally finished restocking the rack. Sure some of the costumes were dangling off hooks or merely piled on top, but at the moment, she really didn't care. She huffed and brushed off her pants and went to get her purse.

"Kairi?"

Kairi turned to face Ms. Yuna standing in the doorway of her office. "Can I talk with you for a minute?"

Kairi glanced back at the disheveled rack and shrugged, "Sure."

Ms. Yuna closed the door behind her and took a seat behind her desk. Her hands folded and unfolded, a nervous habit that did not go unnoticed by Kairi. This can't be good. She thought, her anxiety quickly rising.

"Kairi, I'm a bit…worried about you. For the past few months I've noticed you've had a variety of bruises. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but is everything alright at home?" she finally asked.

No. Is the word that echoed through her mind, but instead a feeble "Yes." tumbled from her mouth.

Yuna sighed heavily and gazed at Kairi intently, as if trying to read her thoughts. She finally shook her head and sighed once more.

"Alright, if you need anything, you know my door is always open." She said as she settled back into her chair.

"Yes thank you." Kairi managed as she quickly left Ms. Yuna's office. It felt terrible to lie to her, but she did not need any more drama in her life. She walked briskly outside and down the long street that lead to Namine's house. In the biting cold air, Kairi now wished she had taken her friend up on the offer for a ride, but that would have spoiled her date with Roxas. So, she continued to walk, singing a quiet song to herself to pass time. The sky was a deep blue and the leaves flittered to the ground about her, the last of the vibrant reds falling loose from their branches. It was beautiful, but sad at the same time.

HONK!

Kairi nearly jumped out of her skin at the loud noise emitted from the car pulling beside her. She shot a deep glare at the driver, only to catch those familiar blue eyes that she was beginning to grow quite fond of.

"Geez, Kai. Am I really that frightening?" Sora teased playfully.

Kairi shivered as she replied, "And what if I said yes?"

"Then you would be out of a ride home." He answered, quite enjoying having the advantage of a warm car over her.

"Who said I was going to say yes?" she responded as she jumped inside the warm car. She sighed happily as she leaned close to the air vents. Sora was unable to hold in his amusement and he burst into laughter.

"Are you laughing at me?" Kairi asked, fixing him with a playful glare.

"Yes." He said frankly and she could not help but join in his laughter. He finally pulled away from the curb and started down the street.

"You know, it's so weird to think that all this time I thought I knew where you lived, but I was completely wrong." He said thoughtfully as he entered her neighborhood.

"Namine's house has always been more of a home to me than my house ever was." She said somberly as she stared out the window.

"I'm sorry." he said glancing over at her.

"It's alright, at least now I'm with people who care about me." But as the words slipped from her mouth she saw flashes of blue light coming from the front yard of Namine's house. Something was not right. She could feel it even before she saw the black and white police cars.

"Oh god." she breathed as she saw police dragging Namine's parents through the front door in hand cuffs. Their heads were bent low in shame.

"What's going on?" Sora asked as he pulled into the driveway.

"I don't know" Kairi replied as she hastily jumped from the car and ran over to the police car. Two officers were holding Namine's parents against the car while quickly reciting their rights.

"What's going on here?" Kairi asked as she approached them.

"Are you Kairi?" Asked one of the officers, recognizing her from the description they had received.

"Yes, why? Why are you arresting them?" she asked furiously. Everything was happening so quickly, like someone had pressed the fast forward button on her life.

"We have orders to arrest these two for charges of kidnapping and abusing …well, you." Said the other officer.

"What?! Who told you that? These people have been nothing but kind to me. Who's pressing these charges?" she demanded.

"Your father. Don't worry miss you'll see him soon and you'll be safe and sound at home where you should be."

"But I don't want to go back there. He's the one abusing me! Not them! Please just let them go!" she pleaded.

"I'm afraid we can't do that. We have orders to bring these two into custody. A court date will be decided on shortly."

"Kairi, don't worry about us. Please just explain to Namine. We'll be fine." Namine's father called from inside the car. Kairi bent down and gazed through the window at the pair who had so kindly taken care of her.

"I'm so sorry! I swear I'll get this fixed!" she cried, tears gathering in her eyes. The two officers slammed the doors shut before they could say another word and quickly drove off, sirens blaring, and then fading into the distance. Kairi stood stone still, cemented in place.

"Kairi?" Sora called from behind her. She had been so caught up, that she hadn't even realized he was standing next to her.

"What do I do?" she whimpered. She stared up at him with a look so helpless it nearly broke his heart.

"First, we call Namine. Then, we go to the station." He said with resolve.

Kairi grabbed her mobile from her pocket. Her finger hovered over the talk button.

"It'll be fine. Namine will understand." Sora spoke as if reading her mind. She turned back to her phone and pressed the button.

The conversation with Namine was a short one. She immediately agreed to meet them at the station. Sora had been right. She felt foolish for her nervousness.

They drove to the station quickly and in silence, each silently brooding to themselves. When they arrived Namine was already inside, fuming and yelling at the man at the front desk. Ok, so just because she's not mad at me, doesn't mean she's not mad at all.

Kairi approached her from behind and attempted to stop her from introducing the man to a premature death. Namine spun about, her eyes still hard with frustration. She softened immediately and enclosed Kairi in a tight hug.

"They said that the bail is $200 and that they'll have to go to court next week. Kairi, will you be our witness?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Kairi asked, already rummaging through her purse for money to contribute to the bail.

"It's just, if I know your father he wont be too happy about this. I don't want you to do something you may regret…" Kairi stopped looking through her purse. She hadn't considered how her father might react. But she had no choice; she wasn't going to let Namine's parents sit in jail because of her.

"Don't worry about it Namie, I'll be fine. I may not look strong, but I can take a punch. How do you think I've lived with him for this long?" she said, flexing her arms to make Namine laugh. It worked.

"Well in that case, Sora you'd better keep an eye on her." Namine said humorously, but underneath her tone was serious.

"I'm turning into a baby-sitter." He complained, also trying to lighten the mood.

"Only so much better because it's me! And who said you call me baby? I haven't authorized any pet names yet." Kairi added. A large blush made its way across Sora's face and he ducked his face down to hide the evidence.

Namine made a well-placed clearing of the throat and lead the way out to the waiting room. They sat in there for a total of five excruciatingly quiet minutes. Finally, a large man in uniform brought out Namine's parents. They looked a tad disheveled, but not too worse for the wear.

She ran up to them and embraced them both in tight hugs. The officer took off their handcuffs and returned to a desk behind the counter.

"Your court date will be a week from now on the 19th. Don't even try to leave town. A notice will be sent to you in the mail." The butch man said without much enthusiasm. They took his silence afterwards as a queue to leave. He went back to reading some body builder magazine.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kairi paced circles in the kitchen of Namine's house. Everyone was seated around the counter, having just returned from the station.

"Ok, so what will our defense be? Do you have a lawyer? What can I do?" the questions flowed from her mouth in an unstoppable torrent. Her nerves showed as she fiddled with her fingers.

"Kairi calm down. Everything will be fine. I promise. You really need to get some rest though." Namine's mother tried to soothe her.

"Where can she go mom? She obviously can't go home, and she can't stay here with the police watching the house. It's already a stretch having her here right now." Namine asked, a little annoyed by the naivety of her parents.

"She'll stay with me." Sora stated plainly, breaking the silence he had held since leaving the station. Namine and Kairi stared at him incredulously, but Namine's parents looked quite pleased with the idea.

"That's so generous of you Sora." Namine's father commended him. Was she really that terrible to take care of? After all of the trouble she'd put everyone through, Kairi was beginning to think that she was. She smiled at Sora gratefully and was rewarded with one returned.

"Then it's settled. We'll get together tomorrow to discuss the details." Namine's mother said, sealing the deal.

"Wait, Kairi. I'm going with you. If that's ok with you Sora…" she trailed off, letting the sentence hang in the air with a suggestive tone. Kairi rolled her eyes knowing the conversation to come if Sora allowed Namine to come. Unfortunately, Sora's recent "be an amazing guy" streak held and he agreed. It was going to be a long night.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"So, Kairi, how are you doing?" Namine asked, trying to subtly broach the subject of Sora, who was currently in the shower with no chance of hearing the conversation.

"Cut the crap and ask your real question Nam. I know what you really want to know." Kairi said, seeing right through her.

"Alright, alright. What's the deal with you and Sora? Tell me the truth, I know there's more than you letting me in on." She said, frankly this time.

Kairi sighed and pursed her lips in thought. Even with the knowledge before hand that Namine would ask, she still felt unbelievably unprepared for the question. But she knew that she owed it to Namine to be honest, and quite honestly she needed to figure this out herself.

"Ok, well where do I start?" she asked, not knowing where to begin.

"Well, do you like him?" she prompted.

"I don't know. I know that I used to hate him. Then he kissed me and everything got screwed up. And lately with everything going on, he's been so amazing, but I'm sort of afraid that just as fast as this started, it's going to end. I don't know whether I should trust myself on this or not. Considering my last relationship, I don't know if I'm the best judge of character. What if it's all just a lie? I don't think I can take another let down." She said, her voice unsteady as she fought back the sting of tears.

"Kairi, I know I don't know him very well, but I can tell you that he cares about you. You should really see how he looks at you. I mean seriously! If you even sigh, he gets worried that you're not ok. And every time you so much as smile at him he's blushing all over. It's really kind of sad that you haven't noticed." She said, exasperated at her friend's obliviousness. Did he really blush that often? She must have been too busy trying to hide her own flushed face to notice.

"I know you better than to even ask again if you like him. It's written all over your face. You're blushing like mad." Namine pointed out, giggling at her friend's expense. Kairi's face heated up even more.

"Hey, what did I miss?" Sora suddenly walked into the room. Namine watched with amusement as Kairi's face got even redder, if it were possible.

"Are you ok Kairi? You're really red, are you feeling sick?" Sora asked, the concern evident in his voice, but even so, she had to see if Namine was right. She looked up to face him. His eyebrows were pushed together and his eyes shone with worry. She couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face.

"No, I'm fine." She assured him, her eyes still not leaving his face. She saw Namine get up from beside her.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll be back…" Namine trailed off as she quietly edged out of the room, shooting Kairi a meaningful look as she left.

They remained quiet for a moment before Kairi broke the silence, "Sora—" she started, but was cut off by a loud ring coming from her pocket. She closed her mouth and sighed in frustration.

"Hello?" she asked, trying to keep the annoyance from reaching her voice.

"Hey Kairi. It's Leon." A voice replied from the other line. It was a voice she hadn't heard in a while. She immediately brightened up.

"Hey, what going on?" she asked.

"Well, I remember you mentioned your play was coming up in a couple days. I was thinking I might come, if that's ok with you." He answered. The play. She had nearly forgotten in everything that happened today.

"Of course, that would be awesome. You know the way right?" she confirmed.

"Yup. Ok, well then I'll see you then."

"Yah. Hey, thanks for calling Leon." She said, suddenly struck with how much she missed the closest thing to a brother she had.

"Anytime. Bye Kai."

"Bye." She hung up the phone and met Sora's questioning gaze.

"Oh that was Leon." She said, "He's coming to the play."

"Wow, I forgot. It's pretty soon isn't it?" he said with the same disbelief Kairi had felt moments before.

"Yah." She said, her mind already somewhere else. The silence stretched again. Sora knelt down beside her on the floor.

"Are you sure you're ok Kairi? I know you've been through a lot." He must have taken her silent meditation as sadness. She found that same worry shining in his deep blue eyes. She smiled, and without hesitation, leaned in and pressed her lips lightly to his. He nearly gasped in surprise, but allowed his eyes to slowly shut. He met the pressure from her lips and matched each gentle brush. His hands gently framed her face, taking in the softness of her skin. She didn't pull away and instead wound her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer. Finally, they pulled apart, breathless and smiling.

"Yes, I meant that one too." She answered before he could ask. He laughed and leaned in to capture her lips once more.

AN:)) Aw, I loved writing that. I have to give some of the credit to Paramore's song "When it Rains" and other various songs off their album. So I hope this makes up for this freakishly long wait. Thanks for reading and don't forget to click that little purple button!