"Kairi... I want to know your story too."

That phrase just replayed over and over in Kairi's head. She grinned to herself as she was cutting up vegetables for dinner.

"What are you smiling about, dear?"

Kairi shook her head and realized that her mother was next to her.

"Nothing, just thinking about something."

I wonder where Axel is right now. He left in a hurry after he told me he wanted to take a chance on me.

Kairi handed up the chopped vegetables to her mother who mixed it in with the rest of the dinner and then went to set up the dinner table.

"Is dad coming home for dinner?"

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry. He's staying at the store for the night shift tonight. The shop is actually very popular and doing well! This town gets pretty excited when new things come around."

Yeah, tell me about it.

Kairi zoned out again thinking about what happened with her and Riku and then what happened with her and Axel soon after.

Her mother continued, "I'm going to take the dinner to the shop and stay with him for a few hours or maybe just sleep there. Are you going to be alright by yourself tonight? I don't want to leave you by yourself in the new house on the first moving night."

"Oh, no, no, it's fine. You can't even tell when it's night or morning here anyways. I'll just go for a swim in the pool and explore the house more."

"Okay," she responded as she started to pack dinner for Kairi's father.

Kairi put the eating utensils back into the drawer and headed up to her room to find her swimsuit.

"Do you want me to leave some food out?" Her mother called from downstairs.

"Yeah, sure! I'll eat some later!" Kairi called out from her room.

Kairi walked into her large closet and dug around for her found and changed into the skimpy swimsuit she bought many years ago.

Eh, no one will see me in this anyways.

She went into her bathroom to find a towel and headed out to her balcony. Kairi hears her mother pulling out of the garage as she climbs down the tree by her balcony and heads towards her pool.

Kairi threw her towel on a pool seat and went to sit by the ledge of the pool. She put her legs in to feel the water and kicked the warm water around before she jumped in. The water felt so relaxing and therapeutic as she started to swim a lap. She swam to the edge of the pool, looked up and saw shoes in front of her.

She looked up even further and squinted to see who it was.

"Hi, Kairi!"

It was Riku. Kairi didn't respond.

"Can we talk about what happened earlier?"

Kairi still didn't respond as she got out of the pool and walked towards the seat she put her towel on. She wrapped the towel around her body and started walking towards the tree by her balcony, but Riku pulled her back. She aggressively shook his hand off her wrist and glared at him.

"Just five minutes?" Riku pleaded.

"No."

"Just sit and listen. I'll talk." He said as he pulled her down to sit on the seat.

Kairi's clumsiness made her trip over the legs of the seat and she fell forward. Riku grabbed her as she landed on his chest, wet and almost naked.

"Stop! I don't want to hear anything from you. Go home!" Kairi screamed, half angry and half embarrassed for falling on him. She tried to straighten herself out and reached for her towel.

"Kairi, just one minute then!" Riku whined.

"She said no, so leave her the hell alone," said a voice from the shadows under the balcony.

Axel walks out and protectively wraps Kairi under his arms as she covered herself again with the towel.

"This doesn't concern you, AX-EL," Riku spat.

"Back up or else," Axel said firm, but calmly.

"Or else what? Or else nothing. Go back to your little fire gang and get off Kairi. She's better than your pack of rats," Riku spouted angrily.

"Leave right now. You know what I'm capable of, you punk, so LEAVE." Axel said.

Riku glared, but started to walk out of the backyard.

"Stop hanging around with that disgusting prick, Kairi. You're better than him." Riku called out as he left.

Axel steps in front of Kairi and looks down at her. She was shivering still and looked worried at what she just heard. Axel pushes the wet hair out of her face and looked into her eyes. She's so small and helpless looking. Axel smiled at her as if she was a tiny puppy.

"C-c-can we g-go in s-side now and talk?" Kairi chattered.

Axel's smile grew bigger and took her hand and opened the closest door to the house.

"I-I don't know t-t-this part of my house," she shivered out.

"It's okay. We'll figure it out together. Are your parents home?" He asked.

Kairi shook her head no in response.

"I think we're in your basement. Here come and sit on the sofa and dry off." Axel said as he pulled her to the sofa.

"It's so cold," Kairi complained.

Axel smiled at her sympathetically. He left the basement and found the stairs and went upstairs.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Kairi called out.

Axel returned in a quick minute with Kairi's clothes. Kairi saw that he found her some clothes and smiled. As she held her hands out for the clothes, the towel that wrapped around her body fell down revealing her slender body in the bikini. Axel pulled back the clothes and stared at her body. Kairi noticed what happened and pulled the towel back to cover up her body and slapped Axel's arm and scoffed.

"Hey!" she yelled playfully.

Axel playfully acted like she hurt him, but Kairi shook her head and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Give me my clothes, Axel!"

He turned his head sideways and smiled.

"What?" she whispered. His smile always got her breathless.

"I like the way you say my name." He smirked.

She hit his arm again.

"Can I help you put your clothes on?" Axel grinned widely with a brow raised.

He stepped closer to Kairi. She tried to step back, but tripped over the sofa and fell onto it. The towel unraveled off her body and fell on the floor. Kairi froze seeing that Axel hungrily looked over her almost bare body. She sat herself up and looked into his eyes.

Is something going to happen this time? Are we going to continue what we started in my room? He's so hot and I want him so badly. The way he stood up for me with Riku... The way he's staring at me... I just want to do bad things to him. But he won't push this relationship further though, I'll just have to initiate it...

Kairi pulled Axel down by his hand. He leaned towards her face for a kiss. Kairi pulled him down as they were passionately kissing so that Axel was on top of her. Kairi broke the kiss and grabbed at his shirt and started lifting it off him. He finished taking off his shirt while Kairi's hand explored his stomach. His abs were so defined, she couldn't help feeling it more. She didn't realize how fit and in shape he was until just then.

Then Kairi's hand started to linger downward to unbutton his pants. Axel reached over to stop her.

"Not today, okay?" He said looking into her eyes.

Kairi's face burned red. She froze from embarrassment.

What did I do wrong? Oh my God, am I that disgusting that he doesn't even want to do anything with me? Did I do it wrong?

"Kairi, I want this relationship to mean something, okay? You don't even know me and I don't know you."

Kairi didn't respond. She was still under him and looked away. Her eyes were starting to water from embarrassment.

He's right though. I don't even know him. I'm just full of lust. God, how embarrassing! What do I do now? What's wrong with me and all these new urges?

Axel looked at her and smiled. He lifted her chin so that she'd look at her. He lowered his lips onto hers and gave her a soft kiss. She closed her eyes and kissed him back. They continued the kiss for a few more seconds then all of a sudden, Kairi remembered something Riku said earlier and broke the kiss. Axel looked down at her surprised and arched one brow.

"...Fire...gang?" Kairi asks hesitantly.

Axel froze in surprise at her question.

"You don't have to tell me," Kairi quickly said in response to his reaction.

"I... um... hmm..." He starts slowly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"No, it's not that. I just... don't know where to start... We can talk about it later..."

"Yeah, yeah." Kairi quickly nods.

He got up and picked up Kairi's clothes that fell on the ground during their make out session and found her underwear. He handed it to her and covered his eyes with his hands while smiling extremely wide. Kairi laughed as she undressed and put on her underwear and bra, then reached for her sweatpants. Axel peeked through his fingers then dropped his hands. He stared at Kairi in awe as she put on an old, worn-out shirt.

"What?" Kairi asks, while putting her wet hair behind her ear.

"N-nothing. You're just... gorgeous..."

"I'm gross, still a little soaked from the pool, and don't have my makeup on." She laughed at him.

"I don't care. You look perfect right now." Axel whispered breathlessly.

He reached his hand out for her. Kairi took it smiling, gave him a quick kiss on her tippy toes, and they both go up the stairs to her room. Kairi jumped onto her bed and patted a spot next to her, signaling for Axel to lay down next to her. Axel obliged and laid on his side and propped his head up with his arm.

"Sooo..." Kairi starts.

"Yes?"

"Are you excited for school to start?"

Axel laughed at her question.

"That's what you're going to go with? If I'm excited for school? Why not ask what my favorite color is or if I'm enjoying this weather?" He continued to laugh.

"What? I'm just trying to make conversation!" Kairi responded defensively.

She sat up and crossed her arms. Axel laughed again, pulled her back down and leaned over to give her a soft kiss. Kairi forgot to breathe.

"You know, you can't keep doing that. You're going to faint." Axel smirked at her as he pulled away.

Oh yeah? Kairi immediately grabbed at his shirt collar and brought him back to her lips. She continued to kiss him deeply and forced her tongue into his mouth. Axel's mouth opened in submission as Kairi pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him. Then suddenly, Kairi stopped making out and sat up. Axel, shocked at the sudden interruption, breathlessly looked up at her.

"You know, you can't keep doing that. You're going to faint," Kairi teased and stuck her tongue out.

"You're going to pay for that," Axel said still trying to catch his breath.

Kairi got off Axel and jumped off the bed, but her leg got caught on the corner of her bed frame and gashed her leg.

"OW! Shit..." Kairi fell onto the ground to grab her leg that's in pain.

Axel immediately jumped up and met her on the ground to see that her leg was bleeding.

"Holy shit, you're bleeding like crazy. Are you okay? How are you feeling? Let me get something to stop the bleeding," Axel said quickly.

He looked around spastically and then ran to the bathroom, "Where are your towels?! This bathroom is huge!"

Kairi heard Axel rummaging around in the bathroom while she massaged her leg. Her eyes teared up from the pain.

Ow, this hurts so bad! Please stop bleeding, please stop! Why did this happen to me? Ow, ow, ow.

Her leg got warm under her touch and the bleeding slowed down. The pain in her leg started to alleviate. Kairi's eyes widened at this, but she kept rubbing her wound. The cut completely healed itself under her hands.

Kairi was speechless. She looked at her blood-covered hands, then back at her leg. Axel finally ran out of the bathroom with towels and fell onto his knees to start wiping the blood. Kairi just stared at her leg and poked at where her gash was.

"What are you doing? Doesn't that hurt? Don't touch it!" Axel commanded completely perplexed.

His hair was a mess, sweat slowly beading on his forehead, and he was hyperventilating. He wiped away all the blood on Kairi's leg and looked at a wound-free leg. He looked up at Kairi's face and met an equally confused expression.

"Y-you're not hurt?" Axel started confused.

"...No, I was... I felt it... I gashed my leg... It hurt so badly..."

"What happened? Where's the cut?" Axel looked at her leg closely. He examined her leg so closely, his nose was practically on her leg.

"I... just rubbed my leg and it got warm. My hands got warm... and my leg just... healed itself..." Kairi faded off.

Axel sat up quietly and stared at her leg. He locked eyes with Kairi and let out a deep breath in relief.

"Well, I'm excited for school now." Axel smiled.