Authors Note: So a buddy of mine (HotFudge500 also known to my faithful readers as Alex, King of Chains and violent motivation) recently joined and decided to write a couple of oneshots to test out the system. I thought to myself "What a great idea! He doesn't want to commit to a full story but has an idea in his brain that still needs getting out!" So here I am, with this slightly dark but seriously romantic (what is it with me and combining those two?) idea ricocheting around in my noggin and I figured it was about time to get it down on paper…er so to speak anyway. To those of you who are reading my other fanfic as well and considering mutiny because I posted this before the next chapter, FEAR NOT!!! Work on chapter eleven of "Violence is the only answer" is well under way, but if I don't get this story out of my head it will affect everything else I'm writing. Which just isn't cool. For the record, this is rated T but at sections likes to walk a fine line. You have been warned.

Authors Note #2: Welcome to "Take Me Home: The Revised Edition" As previously stated I finished this kind of late one and promptly posted then went to sleep, while it was generally well received I was informed (by Shire Folk the Butterscotch productions quality assurance) that it needed to be proofread badly…and boy did it ever lol. I was going through and more then a couple of sentences made me slap myself and yell "What were you doing!?! GAHHHHHH!!!" So this is round two, the equally delicious, but far more refined version, enjoy.

The Setting: This story takes place a couple of weeks after the gang returns to Destiny Islands. They have returned to school and resumed their "normal" lives. Riku and Sora's friendship is as strong as ever but his relationship with Kairi has taken a decidedly more romantic turn. The two of them have (in classic form) not yet revealed their feelings for one another, but I'll be damned if I don't do something about it…sadly one young teenage girl is harmed in the making of this fic.

Now introducing…

Take Me Home

A ButterscotchNoseAppraiser Production

(Now with twice the delicious)

Sora let out a dreamy sigh as he collapsed backwards onto his mattress. Life had been amazing ever since he and Riku had made their way back to Destiny Islands. Sure, attending Rosy Palms Community High School wasn't as exciting as facing down the evil hordes of heartless, but it was a lot more fun. Nothing had changed really; he had exchanged old friends like Leon and Yuffie for the ones he had left behind like Tidus and Selphie. His old enemies the heartless and nobodies were quickly replaced by the far more loathsome Seymour and Sydney. Just thinking of those two made his blood boil with rage. At least when the heartless gave him trouble he could whip out his Keyblade and cleave them in half. Those two pretty boys got to do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't cross the obvious lines and still get away with it. Sora would never forget the day he walked out of class only to see Seymour leaning on Kairi's locker hitting on her in an obvious, crude and disgusting manner. The sight had pushed Sora over the edge. He had balled his fists and began to shove his way through the throng of teens attempting to come to her aid. At one point he lost sight of her momentarily in the sea of faces. His panic rose when he heard the bang of someone hitting a locker and a collective gasp escape from the crowd.

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Kairi roughly shoved the antenna haired snob out of the way and took two steps forward before whirling to face him. "Not if we were mankind's only hope for survival Seymour" she proclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear, giving him a look filled with disdain and loathing. The much larger Seymour had shook with rage and lifted his hand as if to strike her, but Kairi didn't even blink. Admittedly the look she had given him was nothing short of challenging. Seymour stopped, forcibly stifling his rage and lowering his arm slowly to his side.

"I'll make sure you regret this" he spat at her feet staring her dead in the face to make sure she felt the full weight of his words. Kairi, completely nonplussed, responded by giving him the finger and promptly walked away.

Sora had been absolutely floored. His sweet innocent Kairi had not only just shoved a man twice her size aside, but publicly embarrassed him and flipped him off to make sure the message got across. He wondered if all of the things she had been put through over the last few years had changed her. The Keyblade master felt a short pang of guilt for not protecting her as he should have in the past. Walking down the hall in his direction she quickly caught sight of him and a smile that served as his personal sun lit up the area. Nearly skipping the last ten feet toward him she grabbed his arm and began to tug.

"Sora you lazy bum if you don't quit standing there like a deer in the headlights were gonna be late for fifth period" she said in a near pleading voice giving his arm another sharp yank.

"There's no helping it" came a deep voice from behind him "he finally lost what's left of his mind." Before Sora could turn to identify the newcomer he felt himself being lifted off the ground and tossed over a well muscled shoulder.

"Riku you ass put me down!" the spiky haired Hero cried out in rage and embarrassment. Kairi giggled at the sight of the two boys.

"Come on you two, race you there!" and with that she sped off down the hallway leaving both boys eating her dust in an attempt to catch up. Sora grinned despite the pain Riku's shoulder was causing his midriff. She was still the same he had fallen in love with years ago.

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Kairi hadn't grown cold or cruel over the years, she had merely grown as a person. Sora supposed that he and Riku being gone all the time she had likely had to learn to take care of herself. In the past no one had hit on her either because they figured she belonged to one of the two battle ready boys, or because the two rough-and-tumble teens had merely frightened off every would-be boyfriend. Sora had to admit that he, at least, had done it on purpose. At the time he had just told himself he was protecting her like any good brother would his younger sister, but recent struggles and adventures had shown a different reason all together. He had fallen hopelessly and irrevocably in love with his childhood friend. Ever since his return Sora's soul mission had been to make up for all the time he and Kairi had lost while saving the universe. He and Kairi did nearly everything together now. Every day he walked her to and from school. While there they had over half of their classes together and always shared lunch. Often times, after school or on the weekends, the two would take walks, watch a movie or go and visit the old island they had all more-or-less much grown up on. Occasionally Riku would tag along; bringing his personal flair into the trio and making it just like old times. However, their silver haired companion had been changed the most by their journeys and often sought solitude or the company of one of his many "female acquaintances." He refused to call them girlfriends because "If I make one of them any more important than the others, the rest won't want to see me. Right now it's a competition to see who can win me over first and the longer I drag it out, the better it gets" he had finished the speech with a smile and wistful look off into the distance as if remembering something Sora was pretty sure he didn't want the details on.

The Keyblade master lay on his bed, thinking, as always, of the auburn haired object of his affection. It was funny in a way…he would easily die for her. He had once in fact. But ask him to tell her how he really felt and he got cold feet every time. He couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of himself most days.

"The mighty Keyblade master" he thought mockingly to himself "savior of the universe! Legendary for battling a thousand heartless at once and coming away on top, but ask him to face one teenage girl and he loses without even putting up a fight." He gave a long groan of frustration and flipped onto his stomach burying his face into his pillow. "Tomorrows another day though" he told himself, exercising the optimism for which he was well known.

He sat up in bed and swung his legs over the edge so that his feet were touching the ground. Tomorrow was Saturday and the start of a three day weekend that would undoubtedly be filled with the sophomoric antics and outrageous parties of his friends and peers. If he were to survive the experience he would need as much sleep as he could get. Standing up he reached down to the hem of his shirt, preparing to pull the article of clothing over his head, when suddenly his cell phone began to ring on his bedside table. He listened to the song play quietly:

Simple and clean is the way that your making me feel tonight

It's hard to let it go…

Simple and clean by Utada Hikaru, It was Kairi's favorite song. She had insisted he buy it so that when she called him he would know it was her and actually answer, instead of just letting it ring because he was too lazy to cross the room. He glanced at the clock.

"11:30…she never calls this late. I wonder what's up?" he mused to himself, both exhilarated that she was calling and confused as to the time in which she chose to do so. He released the ends of his shirt and picked up the shaking phone.

"Hey Kai-" he started but quickly stopped when he heard the voice on the other end of the line.

"…the door nice and quiet or my friend Sydney will show you what that claw on his left hand is for."

Sora felt the blood in his veins run ice cold. The voice was unmistakably that of Seymour and if his cousin Sydney was there as well, things were about as bad as they could get. Seymour may be a cold heartless bastard, but it's genetic on his father's side. While Seymour was a cool and conniving planner, capable of acts of great evil, Sydney was the devil himself. Sora knew he had to do something, but he was rooted to the spot, phone held loosely to his ear in some kind of horrified trance. The conversation carried on.

"My father is home you know" it was Kairi's voice this time "and he sleeps like a cat. The second you set foot in here he'll know." Seymour cackled mockingly.

"Do you think me a fool? I made sure your parents were gone before I brought Sydney and myself all the way down here to see you. I wanted to make sure that if I made the trip we wouldn't be…interrupted." The voices sounded slightly muffled, Sora dully realized that Kairi must have speed dialed him from her pocket so her assailants wouldn't notice. The next sound was the guttural "Oomph!" of someone being struck in the gut and it was quickly followed by a hissing "Shwick" as something sharp and metal sliced through the air. Kairi screamed.

"Little bitch!" Seymour screamed before regaining his composure. "Thank you Sydney, I knew you and your pointy friends would come in handy."

"My pleasure as always cousin Seymour" replied a voice devoid of sanity "shall we proceed?"

"Sora ple-!" Kairi shouted but the line went dead.

That was all the motivation required to knock Sora out of his reverie. Dropping his phone to the floor he ran to his bedroom window and threw it open. Kairi was in trouble and she needed his help. This time, he would make sure nothing happened to her. He pulled himself out of the window head first, facing the night sky. As soon as his torso emerged from the small opening he began to scale the building with all the strength and agility his years of combat had granted him. Hand over hand he climbed up the gutter, reaching the edge of the roof he pulled himself atop it and stood in the cool night air gaining his bearings. Spinning once on the spot he looked out over the secluded island scanning the area until he sighted the home of his secret love. Leaping twice as high as any normal human should be capable he reached the apex of his jump then spun rapidly through the sky gaining himself a couple extra feet of height before leveling out into rapid glide. He usually tried to avoid using these techniques in town so as not to draw attention to himself, but at the moment he couldn't care less. Luck seemed to be on his side as a strung gust of wind started up behind him propelling the young Keyblade master even faster toward his destination.

It was a fair distance, usually fifteen minutes on foot, but in his state of panic, Sora finished in three. As Kairi's house hove closer into view he slowed his decent, landing gracefully perched atop the weather vein of the home next door. He wanted to rush in, blades blazing and punch the dirty bastards until they were quivering masses of pulped evil, but his days as the Keyblade master had taught him that a well thought out plan often worked better then the first one that came to mind. Scanning across the many windows of Casa del Kairi it seemed at first that there were no signs of life and he began to fear that they had moved her to a different location in lieu of getting her to open the door. But in the end his patience was rewarded as the curtains were pulled away from the window of Kairi's room by a shirtless blonde man. Peering closer Sora noticed the moonlight glint off his hands…Sydney. The clawed menace turned his back to the window, peering down towards the floor of the room, where something seemed to be drawing the majority of his attention.

"I'll never get a better chance" Sora muttered aloud tensing every muscle in his body like a spring and using the force to launch himself the remaining twenty-five feet through the window and, feet first, into the back of Sydney's head. The man let out a startled cry of anguish before rolling across the carpeted floor and colliding painfully with the far wall. Sora hit the ground turning his momentum into an easily controlled somersault, then rose to his feet ready to face the remaining opponent, but totally unprepared for what was before him. Kairi lay on the ground, unmoving except for the sobs that racked her obviously battered body. Her shirt had been ripped off and lay in a haphazard pile along with her jacket and shoes near the entrance of the room. He called out to her trying to elicit some response, but her eyes and body remained unmoving. She was completely unaware of her surroundings and had drawn too far in on herself for his words to reach her. In a final effort to separate herself from the horrors Seymour was inflicting she had hid behind an impenetrable emotional barrier. Sora's rage took hold of him. He cast about the room with his eyes, trying to find even the smallest glimpse of the man responsible for these actions. Failing in that, he did the next best thing. Striding over to the still form of Sydney he knelt down, grabbed the man by his shoulder length blonde hair and yanked him up so they were staring face to face.

"Now I'm going to ask you this question one time before I start burning disturbingly intricate designs onto your chest" Sora growled at him, every word dripping with venom. "I don't expect you to answer the first time, but that might just make it more fun for me. Where is Seymour!?" Sydney lifted his chin, staring into Sora's enraged eyes with his own unfeeling dead pair.

"Right behind you" Sydney stated without malice or glee at the thought of impending revenge.

In one fluid motion Sora slammed the pale monster's head through the thin plaster of the wall while spinning his torso around to block Seymour's incoming strike with his quickly summoned Keyblade. There was the loud "Clang" of metal colliding with metal as the knife Seymour had drawn on the brunette was deflected aside with an ease that came after too much practice. Sora stayed there half crouched and ready to pounce, staring into the eyes of the man that had hurt the one person in the world most important to him. The one person he would kill for. And what Seymour saw in Sora's eyes caused him the first real trill of fear he had experienced in over ten years.

"You should have run while you had the chance" was all the angered hero said before he felt the time for words had past. Springing from his position on the floor he grabbed Seymour by the front of his half unbuttoned blue shirt and pushed him backward toward the shattered window. Seymour screamed as he was shoved backwards with an unrelenting force belied by the seemingly average size of the man he now faced. Broken bits of glass cut his bare feet as he stumbled toward the opening, before he finally collided with the wooden sill. Half bent backwards so that his head and shoulders hung out over the dizzying three story drop Seymour prayed to every god he could think to conjure at the moment.

"Get ready to lose it all" Sora told him with such force that every word felt like a strike. But when the strikes finally did begin to rain down, Seymour wished that Sora would start talking again instead.

Using one hand to hold the would-be rapist in place, Sora began to furiously beat Seymour with his right fist. Every blow that landed fueled the next so that they quickly grew to a rabid intensity. Only one in ten shots was aimed at the head, Sora wanted his victim conscious for as much of the pain as possible. The shots came down like a hail of meteors to the unprotected flesh of the other teen. Seymour was helpless to defend himself and could do nothing but look up into the face of his attacker. The blue haired villain was already afraid for his life, but when he saw Sora's eyes shift from azure to glowing yellow, his terror was so great that he had trouble keeping his bodily functions under control. Right before Seymour slipped into unconsciousness the blows finally ceased. Groggily he peered into Sora's face and was met with the maniacal grin of a man on the edge. Picking Seymour up by the shirt with one hand and unnatural strength, Sora begin to slowly lift him out the window so he was dangling listlessly over a twenty foot drop. Sora's golden eyes glinted with nihilistic glee as he stared at the horrified man squirming in his grasp.

"Apologize to god for me" the Keyblade master said in a voice not his own. "And I'll see you in hell for round two."

"Sora stop!" Kairi cried out to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. The sound and touch of his only love pulled the young hero from his fugue, and as the unnatural strength of the darkness began to fade, he quickly yanked Seymour back in through the window and tossed him on the floor like the garbage he was. He turned to face Kairi, battered, exhausted, and afraid as she was; she was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Kairi" he tried, but his words were choked off as he began to cry.

"It's ok now Sora" she assured him, smiling with her split lip. "You won. I'm safe now."

Fast as lightning he reached out and pulled her into his embrace. He buried his face and one hand into her hair while the other pulled her tighter against him. His tears glistened in her auburn locks and they stood there for what seemed like an eternity crying and holding each other. Both of them had never been so happy to see the other as they were at that moment. After several minutes they started to calm down and the awkwardness of the situation began to settle in on them. Kairi was, after all, still very shirtless and in close proximity to the young hormonal hero. Not to mention the fact that her room had been nearly destroyed in the battle against the two men who had attacked her and now lay unconscious on the floor at their feet.

"Um...Sora" Kairi started, her voice muffled by his shoulder.

"Yea Kai?" he questioned pulling out his specially reserved pet name for her.

"I think I should probably put a shirt on" she said with more than a little amusement in her voice.

Sora quickly pulled away as if burned and turned around both to give her some privacy and to hide his blush. Kairi giggled from behind him and walked quietly across the room to her dresser to grab a shirt. Sora remained facing the wall for some time, allowing her to get dressed and clean up.

"Do you think I should call the police?" he asked her before he realized he had left his cell phone on the floor of his room in his haste.

"…no…" she replied hesitantly. "Their fathers have enough connection that it wouldn't do much good anyway. Besides they didn't do much to me, you got here before he got the chance. At this rate it looks like they got off much worse than I did." She said it all quietly in a matter-of-fact tone, but Sora could hear the underlying pain in her voice.

"They deserved more then what they got" Sora said, his voice growing steely. He heard a zipper in the background and wondered quietly what she was up to.

"No Sora" she told him with conviction. "Maybe they do, but not from you, I won't see you turn into a killer, or some vigilante doling out his own brand of justice. Your too good for that. Just, toss them outside while I get ready please" she nearly begged, and he happily obliged.

"I'll be back in two minutes" he told her while grabbing the two boys by their arms and dragging them remorselessly down the two flights of stairs to her front door. Pulling them across the expansive lawn, into the road and down the street a couple of blocks Sora finally tossed them into an alley. Dusting off his hands he gave their wrecked bodies one last glance.

"Exactly where the trash belongs" he spat at them before turning and jogging back to his waiting angel.

Entering the house Sora climbed the stairs three at a time and walked down the hall pausing before entering her room. He gave a quick timid knock on the doorway "I'm back Kairi" he said aloud so she knew it was him before walking in. What he saw nearly broke his heart. She had clearly spent the better amount of the time he had been gone crying her eyes out, and now sat on the side of her bed that wasn't covered in glass with her hands folded in her lap, gazing at him with a lost look in her eyes. He wanted nothing more than to pick her up in his arms, tell her everything was going to be ok, and hold her until she felt safe again. She must have seen it in his eyes because she raised one hand to stop him.

"Please Sora" she begged looking up at him and giving a feeble smile "not here. I don't want to be here anymore" she told him standing up and slinging a backpack over one shoulder. "Take me home?"

Grabbing her hand Sora gave her a smile filled with as much love as he could pack in and began to lead her toward the door.

"Let's go" he said softly and guided her toward the yard.

Reaching the outside of the house Sora realized they were a good distance from his home and Kairi was likely too exhausted to make the trip on her own. So, ignoring her protest he shouldered her bag and slung her onto his back before beginning the trek back to his house. He made it there five minutes faster than normal using the occasional quick dash to speed up the process but had to stop them about halfway back because Kairi had begun to fall asleep on his back. Reaching his front door, he opened the lock and eased himself in silent as the night. He didn't have to worry about how condemning this would look to his mother because she had left the day before to enjoy the holiday weekend in a small island resort with some friends. Plodding carefully up the stairs so as not to jostle his precious cargo too much Sora opened the door to his room and shut off the light he had left on so it would not disturb the sleeping angel.

Crossing the room he carefully pulled back the sheets to his bed and lay her still form down on the mattress where she would be more comfortable. Kissing her on the forehead he turned to exit and catch some sleep of his own on the couch downstairs, but a small hand reached out and grasped his wrist tightly. He turned around to eye her with a questioning glance, awaiting her reason for stopping his retreat.

"Sora please…stay with me tonight" she asked blushing slightly "I just can't be alone right now."

He smiled softly and crawled under the sheets with her. He had dreamed of a night such as this, but had hoped it would happen under different circumstances. All the same, he enjoyed every moment as she snuggled her small figure up against his, their bodies fitting together like two pieces of a romantic puzzle.

"Talk to me" she requested meekly "it will help me sleep if I hear your voice."

He knew that she needed to talk about what had happened eventually, but now wasn't the time. Right now what she really needed was rest, so he opted to ask her a question he had pondered on the walk back.

"When we left our house" he started while raising his hand to stroke her hair comfortingly "you said 'take me home'" she gave a small murmur of agreement. "Why?" he finished, somewhat lamely "we were already in your house." He felt her smile against his chest.

"Home is where the heart is" she explained to him softly "and mine has always been with you" and with that she promptly fell asleep, leaving Sora to follow suit soon thereafter.

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Authors Note: So there you have it. Not quite as perfect as I wanted it to be, but I sat down and did it all in one go without much proof reading or any input from a second party. So I once again rely on you, the reader, to provide me with the comments and criticisms that I depend on to better myself as a writer and fuel my typing frenzies. The two "bad guys" in this were Seymour of FFX and Sydney of Vagrant Story for those of you who didn't and/or were wondering. I hope you enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.

G'night all!

Music Listened to while writing: A lot of Disturbed…which may be why it ended up so…well disturbed