+a/n: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR THE COMMENTS AND REVIEWS. They really keep me going. I’m sure a handful of you guys are wondering if Sora is really intending to rape Kairi. +smiles+ And I feel like this chapter is going to be a short one, but we’ll see… maybe not. Probably not. XB

Also, in this chapter DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH TO HAPPEN – INSTEAD, EXPECT LONG CONVERSATIONS AND LOADS OF INFORMATION I don’t know why I feel the need to say this, but this chapter is going to be for the sole purpose of Sora-Kairi interaction. I’m planning to have the next chapter be more eventful, though, so stay tuned.

By the way, guys… I always wondered – if Kairi, Sora and Riku live in a Tropical environment… why aren’t they more tan?

+dsclm: 1- Kingdom Hearts I/II and the Final Fantasy series and all other characters and/or settings of it are copyrighted to Square Soft/Enix. 2- I did NOT write or make up any contents of The Glass Menagerie; it is a play by Tennessee Williams that is also available in novel form. No, you don’t necessarily have to read it to understand the references I use from it.

+wrnings: work safe – some OoC, mild language abuse.
(I thought I might as well have added a warning thing?)

Tuesday Affairs: 03.”.Up.”

“Riku,” Sora groaned, “This is buggin’ me out.”

Riku peeked from behind his locker door to see a preoccupied look plastered on his best friend’s face. He was troubled – and clearly blushing. Sora Kamaya was never the type to bring up personal issues during school hours. However, Riku already had a good idea of why and what was bothering Sora so much.

“How are you holding up?” Riku asked as he grabbed an English textbook and closed his locker.

“I don’t know. I can’t concentrate in class. I couldn’t even sleep last night.” He clenched and unclenched his fist, placing the palm of his hand on his forehead. “I think I’m nervous.”

“…Excited, maybe,” Riku replied. “You were pretty psyched about this yesterday.”

“…Yeah. Maybe.” As soon as Riku was done grabbing things from his locker, the duo went on their way to class with the occasional greetings of shy, bold and overly-friendly acquainted girls. “I just sort of dove right into it, tried to act like how I always act with girls.”

The long-haired teen nodded his head in response. Right before they entered the classroom…

“Wait!” Sora cried. Riku stopped short, shocked.

“Huh?”

“I—I’m kind of scared to go to English class now!” his friend replied with an awkward laugh. Riku couldn’t help but sigh. He couldn’t decide whether he felt sorry for him or if he was amused by his reaction. “Ha, ha, ha… okay, I’m up to this,” he chanted to himself.

Thus they made their way into the long-awaited English class. A certain redhead was already in the classroom when they entered; she didn’t seem to pay them any mind. The two boys sat next to each other and, as expected, Sora started to pass notes to Riku as soon as Ms. Trepe’s lecture began. Riku cautiously unfolded the note:

“Sorry for asking but… did she notice us when we came in? -Sora”

Riku peeked over behind his shoulder and strangely enough Kairi was staring intently at his friend. And what was even stranger was that she seemed pissed. Riku took note of all this and scribbled a reply.

“Actually, she’s looking at your right now. She looks… well, mad. -Riku”

He passed the note back to Sora as soon as Ms. Trepe looked away. A few seconds later, Sora passed the note back to him. He opened it.

“HUH?! She’s looking at me?! Oh man… -Sora”

Riku sighed and began to write back.

“But why does she look mad? -Riku”

The silver-headed teen quickly passed the note back to Sora and continued to listen to the teacher’s lecture. He jotted notes down as minutes passed. Sora seemed to take more time thinking before writing a reply. After filling out about a page of notes, a folded piece of paper was tossed back onto his desk. The note read:

“I think maybe… it’s because I haven’t been able to muster up enough courage to talk to her today. She doesn’t know we’re going to Twilight Town. -Sora”

Riku’s eyes widened and he raised an eyebrow at Sora. He noticed it before, but Kairi must have ben quite an amazing girl to make even Sora shy around her. The brunet took the note back from him before he even wrote down a reply. Sighing, he switched his attention back to the lecture. Unfortunately his thoughts started to wander away from the teacher as he realized that it’s been a while since Sora was this uncertain about his actions. He was always sure of his motives but being smitten like this had certainly messed him up quite a bit. It was a good sign, Riku believed, if it were go smoothly that is. Riku’s thoughts were interrupted after the folded note hit his arm. He opened it to find a somewhat longer note.

“Yeah, I don’t know why I’m being like this. I don’t know what I would say. It’s frustrating. This never happens to me – I always make the first move. But wouldn’t it be weird if I told her that we were going to a hotel? And it’s in Twilight Town no less – kinda far. And how would I tell her during school? People might hear and spread rumors and that wouldn’t be cool. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so paranoid in my whole entire life. But hey, if I still don’t tell her we’re going to Twilight Town, don’t let her know until we get on the train. -Sora”

Riku made a deep breath and exhaled emphatically. What other choice did he have but obey his friend’s request? He wrote back one last sentence before giving the note back to him.

“Did you tell her which station we’re meeting up at? -Riku”

--

“Riku? Riku.”

Riku groggily woke up from repeated nudges. He opened his eyes to see his mom looking down at him, realizing that he was in Twilight Town already. He must have fallen asleep in the living room couch.

“Oh, hi Mom… Where’s Fuu…?” he yawned.

“At practice. I’m going to start making dinner. Can you pick Fuu up later? You can use my car.”

Riku replied with a muffled “okay”. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep again with one last thought in his mind.

I wonder how Sora is holding up…

Kairi stepped back from him – the look on her face spelled “TERROR” and from the look of it, it was obvious that she was expecting something terrible to happen. He knew this would happen. But what difference did it make if she was already somewhat suspicious of his actions from the start? Any normal guy would start to worry – or try to make the situation better as if to say, “No, I’m not meaning to rape you in this hotel far away from home!” Instead of fretting, Sora decided to act natural as if this was a totally normal thing for anyone else. Hopefully he earned cookie points from buying her ice cream and hopefully it was enough to keep her trust in him.

“Shall we go in?” he began. “There’s a huge suite on the top floor by an office that only me and a few other employees can get to. We can do our work there – you can order room service and everything. I got it all covered.”

The redhead teen stared suspiciously at him and cautiously took another step back. Sora scratched his head, but his smile remained. If there was anything that made Kairi more appealing, it was her careful nature. She certainly wasn’t naïve and thoughtless like half of the other girls he was acquainted with. Ignorance wasn’t an option for her – a great display of dignity on her part. Regardless of all of that, she still had the wrong idea.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“Y-you…”

“Hm?”

“I mean… why are we at a hotel?” she questioned with a terribly forced smile. If she tried to play dumb then she failed horribly. Sora knew that her trust in him was now hanging by a thread. He tried to remained confident, his attitude unwavering. He couldn’t let any thorn of nervousness poke at him now.

“I told you – it’s my family’s place. They run this hotel; I work here.”

“But… wouldn’t you be working? Aren’t I an inconvenience at your job?” she asked suspiciously.

Bull’s-eye. Sora scratched his head. Indeed, Kairi was a sharp one.

“…I can explain once we get inside. It’s a long story.”

“Tell me now,” she demanded. Sora looked back at Kairi unexpectedly – she definitely meant business. This girl was not an easy one to win trust over. “You said you would answer any question I asked if I let you buy me some ice cream.”

Ouch. Backfire. Sora coughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. Now the tables turned in Kairi’s favor – and, oh yes, this was a turn of events – the infamous playboy Sora was actually losing some ground after winning over a red-headed ponytail girl into getting into a train and coming to some distant town’s hotel. But Kairi wasn’t so easily fooled; or so she thought.

“Sora?!” someone called out. The two caught sight of another relatively young guy jogging toward them from the entrance of the hotel. The way he dressed made it obvious that he worked there aside from the little nametag pinned to his shirt. However his brownish-blonde hair that was standing up with the bottom half of his head shaved was certainly a sight to behold.

“Oh, hi, Demyx!” Sora greeted. He was back to his seemingly carefree self, acting as if nothing happened. After she thought she had the upper-hand, Kairi wasn’t so sure anymore.

“W-wha? You know him?” she asked with uncertainty, attempting to stand her ground.

“That’s Demyx – the Bellboy in training,” he replied. At that moment, Kairi had somewhat lost. All because of some bellboy-in-training appeared to confirm that maybe Sora really did work at that hotel with absolutely no intention of harming her. Regardless, she stayed quiet to observe what would happen next. The bellboy-guy was a bit out of breath when he reached them.

“We were—wonderin’—who was just loitering out here… Who—who’s the chick?” he asked.

“Excuse me?” Kairi sneered.

“Manners, Demyx, manners,” Sora reminded.

“Argh!” Demyx stood upright and cleared his through. He bowed to Kairi – who was, needless to say, at a loss for words – and said, “Good evening, ma’am. How can I be of service?”

“Uh…”

“She’s not a customer, Demyx,” Sora laughed. “Anyway, this is Kairi. She’s from the Islands. Kairi, this is Demyx, who I ended up hiring because he was poor and in need of a job.”

Kairi raised and eyebrow.

“Hey, too much information!” Demyx hotly answered back. “Er, I mean – nice to meet you, ma’am.”

“N-nice to meet you too?” Kairi hesitantly said.

“Anyway, Sora! We were wondering why you were kind of late. What have you been doing?” Demyx looked at Kairi and noticed how bewildered she looked. “And what are you doing to this poor, defenseless girl? Or, more importantly – why are you holding her bag? …Unless you’re going for a new style.”

“Aw, Kairi’s not scared!” he said. Evidently, she flinched when he patted her back. “She’s just – confused. She doesn’t believe I work here.”

“HAHAHA!” Demyx could hardly contain his laughter. “Well, whaddya expect, man?! You can’t bring a girl here on the first date – she’d just think yer trying to get some!”

“Manners, Demyx,” Sora sighed.

“Oh, right, right, sorry, dude!” Demyx turned to Kairi and held out his hand. “And, sorry to you, Miss Kairi.” Kairi shook his hand in an indecisive manner and nodded back.

“This is why you haven’t been able to win points with girls,” Sora added.

“H-hey!” Demyx retorted, his face flushing red.

“Girls like guys who are good gentlemen and that know how to talk right,” Sora lectured. “Be mindful of what you say and around whom! Discretion is vital! And if you score a girl without being a discreet gentleman, then she’s probably bad news.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeeah, I get it, I get it,” Demyx huffed. Kairi couldn’t help but let a brief chuckle escape from her lips. She’s never seen Sora act this way before, aside from the fact that all of Sora’s recent actions were completely unexpected of him as of late. Not that she’s known him for a long time, either.

“Anyway,” Sora said. “It’s a good thing you came out here – I just wanted to check in real quick and leave.”

“What?” Kairi and Demyx chorused.

“B-but, dude! What am I gonna tell the others?” Demyx whimpered.

“Just, um… I guess just tell Larxene and she’ll – as much as I hate to admit it – she’ll cover up for me,” he said. “But don’t tell any of the others. I don’t trust them.”

Demyx was dumbfounded; he switched his glances between Sora and Kairi, but studied Kairi more carefully. Sora almost expected him to ask, “Who is she?” but he knew that the young bellboy was smarter than that to even ask.

“Err, sure, okay… Do I get paid any extra munny?” Demyx shyly asked.

“Of course not! You’re only doing this out of the goodness of your heart. Right?” Sora replied with an eerie smile.

“Y-Yes, sir!” Demyx said in salute. “I’m off to do my bellboy duties now, sir!”

Demyx went off, leaving the two teens alone again. Sora turned back to Kairi, who was obviously befuddled by the whole ordeal.

“It’s okay, I was just kidding about what I said to him,” he said. “I’ll give him a raise this month. That way he won’t carelessly spend the extra dollars since he won’t know they’re there.” He left out the fact that Demyx had also gotten him out of a bind just now.

The girl only stared back, even more perplexed as to the kind of things Sora said to the bellboy – to give a raise? To have workers cover for him? To hire workers? And did Sora mention earlier that there was an office in the top floor that only he and a few others had access to – and a suite along with it? Kairi had no clue what to think, or if all of these things led to the right conclusion – or even had a conclusion. But if Sora did work at that hotel, then what exactly did he do there?

“Kairi? Hello!”

“H-huh? Wha?” Sora couldn’t help but chuckle at her disorientated state. He put his arm on her shoulder: this time she didn’t flinch. Maybe she was confused numb.

“Come on, I’ll take you out. My treat.”

The two teens walked side-by-side on the streets of Twilight Town together – Sora led the way, Kairi followed. She didn’t have much of a choice other than to stay with him, seeing as she didn’t know her way around the town; plus he was still holding her bag. On their way to where ever they were going Kairi would ask Sora questions after gathering her scrambled thoughts. However, the boy promised he would tell her in time after they arrived at their destination. She thought that maybe he had some sort of backup plan to the theorized rape-then-murder-evil-deal intention but at this point she decided to look further into what was really going on in his head; the truth. She couldn’t say she wasn’t curious about what happened back there by the Kamaya Inn hotel.

Finally they arrived after taking back roads, short cuts, alleyways and secret paths (many places to consider under Kairi’s suspicion list) to a little, quaint café. It was charming, to say in the least: not too classy, but cute and old-fashioned. When they entered, the girl decided that the café was just her style. Kairi and Sora sat by the window with a beautiful view of Twilight Town’s famous sunset and a huge clock tower (the café was in an elevated level). It was a beautiful sight to see but after they told the waiter their orders Sora got right down to business.

“I’m sorry that I keep leading you in the dark like this,” he began. “I had no right to keep this from you – how we were coming to Twilight Town, the hotel, to this café… and really, thank you for cooperating with me for this long. I know it was probably a stretch for you to trust me.” He looked sincere.

“Yeah, it was,” Kairi admitted, showing less remorse in her reply.

“I’ll be honest with you now,” he said. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, I’ll answer questions. I couldn’t tell you before because I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

Kairi leaned forward to listen more closely. This was it – this was the moment of truth. This is when things would finally make sense and this is where he’ll come clean. She continued to listen on, waiting for him to fess up. The two were locked in eye-contact with intent gazes… then Sora tilted his head to the side with a questioning look.

“…So? What have you got to say?” he asked.

Kairi blinked. “Huh? But… but weren’t you about to tell me something?”

“Yes, I was going to answer question.”

“Yeah! So, start explaining already!”

“Oh… But you didn’t ask anything yet!”

“Huh?!” she gaped. “But—but you said there was a long explanation! Aren’t you suppose to give me this long, drawn out talk about – about what’s happening?!”

Sora raised an eyebrow – then a smile appeared on his face.

“Oh! You were expecting some sort of speech?” he inquired. “I’m sorry; I’m not too good with storytelling.”

Kairi was floored. She couldn’t believe what he was saying. They clearly were not thinking on the same track.

“Um, excuse me?” The two adolescents looked up to see a waitress with their drinks. Her smile was hesitant and awkward as she looked down upon the two customers: one was smiling cordially, the other in seemingly utter distress. “I’m… not interrupting anything, am I?”

“Oh, not at all, ma’am!” Sora replied sweetly. Kairi grunted.

“Okay, well, here’s your Mocha Latte, Miss,” the waitress said as she placed it on the table. “And here is your Piña Colada, Sir.”

“Thank you!” the boy emphatically said. Kairi raised an eyebrow.

“You drink Piña Coladas?” she asked when the waitress left.

“I usually get Strawberry Daiquiris,” he said as he happily sipped his drink. “This Piña Colada’s really good, too, though. Want some?”

“N-no thanks,” she said. She couldn’t help but stare at him sip something so – fruity… in a bright orange cup with a small toothpick umbrella sticking out. He almost seemed like a little kid the way he looked so content. “Sorry to say this, but I would imagine someone like you to order something less… I don’t know, sweet?”

“You’re just jealous ‘cause you don’t get a little cute umbrella,” he snickered. “Actually, Riku got me into liking sweeter things.”

“Riku?”

“Oh yeah,” he replied. “He doesn’t eat sweet things himself but he can bake really well – exceptionally well.”

Kairi gawked, not knowing what to make of this. Who knew that someone so quiet would have a passion for baking?

“I was never given any cake or candy when I was a kid – not even on my birthday. Maybe they were paranoid about cavities. The closest thing I had to sweets was strawberries… and Riku makes the best Strawberry Cakes ever,” Sora rambled.

Kairi covered her mouth to muffle her giggle. That dreamy look on his face in that last statement was almost hilarious – in fact, she thought this whole ordeal was simply ridiculous but amusing nonetheless.

“Hmm? What’s so funny?” Sora asked who also seemed on the verge of a chuckle.

“I—I really don’t know how to react to all of this,” Kairi pleasantly sighed. When the girl wiped a tear away from her eye she noticed the smile on Sora’s face – it wasn’t like his usual playful smile or a smile just for politeness or for show. It looked and felt more like a real smile, one that showed genuine gladness. He almost looked like a different person, Kairi thought.

“Well,” Sora started, “I was afraid you were going to say that – but if you’re going to say it from that kind of perspective then I have no objections.”

“Mm, what?”

“Nothing,” He said. His grin smile quickly faded and turned back into another courtesy smile. “What I meant was – we’re getting a little sidetracked.”

“You’re the reason why we got sidetracked.”

“Hmm, you’re right,” he chuckled. “So. Questions! We should start on your questions.”

“Mmm… I kind of don’t know where to start,” Kairi said as she began to scoop up some of the whipped cream from her Latte; of course the cream was already half-melted by then. “Okay. You do work at that hotel, right?”

“Yes.”

“What… do you do there?”

“What do I do there?” Sora repeated. “Hmm, that’s a good question.”

“W-what do you mean ‘that’s a good question’?”

Sora took a moment to think; he picked off the mini-umbrella from his Piña Colada and ate the pineapples from it.

“Hmm… I guess you could say… I’m supposed to own the place?”

Her jaw dropped.

“WHAT?!” Kairi’s sudden volume within the little café had other customers’ heads turn their way. Sora, on the other hand, sniggered at her reaction. The redhead shyly slumped low and whispered, “I mean – are you serious?!”

“Well, do you know my last name?” he asked.

“Um. No.”

“It’s Kamaya. And it’s also the name of that hotel.” Sora continued after Kairi just stared at him in skepticism. Of course – he couldn’t just expect her to believe him right away. “Okay, so I don’t own the place – not yet at least. I go there every Tuesday as an understudy because I convinced them that I was busy with extra-curricular activities for school during weekends.”

“Huh? I thought you said you were free every day except Tuesdays,” Kairi recalled.

“I know. I lied to them,” he said. “I hate coming here.”

Sora slurped down more of his Piña Colada as if that last statement didn’t mean much – just like how he mentioned the death of his parents like it was nothing. Kairi found this odd; surely, something was up.

“Why do you hate coming here?” she questioned.

“Oh! I don’t hate coming here. I love this little café! They make really good Strawberry Daiquiris,” Sora chirped.

“I knew that,” Kairi said. “I meant in general – like, the hotel?”

“Mmm… I don’t like my boss. I mean, my boss is going to be out for another week so I have nothing to worry about but I would still rather not go.”

“Why?”

“Because that means I would have much more work to do.”

“I mean, why do you hate your boss?”

Sora hesitated; it was the first, aside from earlier when they arrived at the hotel.

“She’s … oppressive, that’s all,” Sora answered, sure to not let any pained emotions leak; thankfully Kairi didn’t notice. The girl figured that his boss was a relative, seeing as the hotel was run by his family (according to him). But if it wasn’t his assumedly dead mother, then who exactly was it?

“Stepmother?” Kairi asked aloud. She quickly covered her mouth from her accidental slip-up. The girl definitely didn’t want to seem too nosey about his family life. However, Sora took no offense.

“No,” he replied. “My father never remarried after her death.”

His mother died first, Kairi thought. Then she recalled that Sora lived with his cousin – and that it was because of some complicated family reason – but what about aunts and uncles? Whoever it his boss was, she was probably an authority-figure.

“Wait! Why are you bailing yourself out of the hotel now? Wouldn’t you get in trouble?” Kairi asked.

“I was going to sneak you in at the back entrance. I was planning to tell you all of this when we reached the top floor,” he said, “but this is better. It would have been risky even though I know the place like the back of my hand. I really do owe Demyx a raise this month.”

The first thought that came across the redhead’s head was why would Sora do all of this. Where was the reward for needlessly smuggling in a classmate into his family’s hotel? His motives were unclear; it didn’t make sense.

“I don’t understand,” she stated.

“Err, e-excuse me?” squeaked an already familiar-sounding character. Sora and Kairi looked up; the shy waitress had their main order with the same uncertain look on her face. Perhaps the seemingly tense atmosphere made her nervous. Sora smiled affably at her. “I have your orders – here is your sandwich, ma’am.”

“Thank you.”

“And here, Sir, is your tiramisu.”

“Thank you very much, ma’am!”

Kairi gawked for the second time at her peer’s order. First a sweet and fruity drink, now a light whipped creamy, espresso-based cake. It was a very odd combination that didn’t fit at all.

“…Tiramisu?” Kairi asked after Sora took a bite out of it, “Piña coladas and tiramisu?”

“Mmm, tiramisu is so heavenly,” Sora moaned to himself. “Actually, I usually get Strawberry Cheesecake.”

“Huh. Well, if you usually get Strawberry Daiquiris with that then I guess it makes more sense,” Kairi said. Then she took note that Sora had already finished his drink. Yes, having Piña Colada and Tiramisu at the same time would clash. But never mind about food – questions were still needed to be asked.

“Kairi, Please have some of this,” Sora offered.

“Huh? But, wai—”

“Come on! It’ll cheer you up. That’s what Tiramisus are supposed to do!” he said. “You shouldn’t think so much. You hardly had any of your Latte.”

“And I haven’t touched my sandwich yet either,” Kairi replied. “So I shouldn’t have dessert yet.”

“I always have dessert,” Sora grinned.

“Yes, I can see that.”

“I’m sure you’d like it,” he insisted.

“…Well, actually… tiramisu is my favorite dessert,” Kairi admitted.

“See?” Sora said. He scooped some of the tiramisu with his spoon and offered to feed it to her. Kairi only gave him a look of defeat, finding just the scent of it irresistible.

“Fine,” she mumbled and she let him spoon-feed her a small morsel of it. Kairi nearly whimpered in satisfaction as the light, creamy flavor swept across her taste buds, bringing with it traces of rich mocha. If Sora knew that this was Kairi’s favorite dessert in the first place she would consider this to be a good step forward in their strange relationship... if this was a friendship at all.

After the taste left her mouth, she took up a napkin to wipe her lips. She suddenly froze when Sora licked the remaining Tiramisu leftovers on the spoon after he withdrew it from her. The boy grinned when he saw the girl’s cheeks flushed a light pink but said nothing of it.

“Tiramisu supposedly picks people up when they’re down,” he affirmed. “That’s what it means.”

“What means what?”

“Tiramisu literally means ‘pick me up’. It’s referring to one’s mood. Maybe that’s why they make it so light.” After another spoonful of the pastry, Sora moved the plate in Kairi’s direction. “I’m full. You can have the rest.”

“W-what?”

“Okay, so where were we?” he said. “Unless you’re finished with your inquiry and we can talk more about cake.” Kairi scrunched her brows and cursed at how sneaky he was at shifting subjects. She didn’t know whether to object to his being full or continue on with the main subject matter.

“So what don’t you understand?” he asked.

“Excuse me?”

“You said you didn’t understand something,” he recalled, “right before we got our food.”

“Oh, um, right,” she replied. “I don’t understand why you would risk all of this just to sneak me into your off-limits office at your hotel. What merits do you gain from all of this? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why, we have a project to do!” Sora replied.

“A project we ended up not even starting,” Kairi countered. “There are a lot of other times we could work on it together.”

“You didn’t tell me that the first time we spoke.”

Kairi winced. His statement was true and she didn’t want to admit he was right.

“O-oh yeah, that’s right,” she subsisted. “But, still. We could have worked around it.”

Sora smiled but Kairi had a feeling he was hiding something. He let out an inaudible mumble under his breath.

“I’m sorry?”

“I said,” he hesitated, “that I don’t know what to say to that question.”

“…I see.”

The two sat in silence as Kairi finally began to eat her meal. She didn’t even feel like asking why Sora had given up his cake when he only ate so little. Although they haven’t said spoken to each other again, Kairi had not felt anymore awkwardness in their silence as if enough words were already said to fill in the gap in between them. The young boy gazed out of the window for a long time as the sun had successfully dipped itself completely under the horizon. The sky was left behind as a huge pink and purple watercolor canvas with bold hues soon to be faded into the dark of the night. They were to soon depart from the café and from Twilight Town.

Although his eyes were fixated on the window, it was not the scenery of the sky that he was watching. Within the window was a reflected image of a certain redheaded girl with a ponytail who was eating her meal. Just knowing that he was in the midst of her presence had picked him up from his usually gloomy Tuesdays. Another genuine smile was accidentally slipped up as Sora thought to himself.

Because spending time with you is worth the risk…

+ a/n: Yeah, so it took me effort to update much sooner than last time. It was still a long wait though and I sincerely apologize. I have my first day of school tomorrow (ew) and I just wanted to end my (crappy) summer with something good at least. cough

+review replies:

FantasyFreak-90210: Haha, glad to know that someone can relate to Kairi now! If she’s like you, then I suppose it makes things easier that way. XD

Namilaa: Wow, thank you so much! I kind of didn’t see this fanfic as original, so this really means a lot to me. :0 -hugs&kisses!-

Kingdomfantasyanime453: LOL, did you think Sora was really gonna rape her? –wink- This would have been a very different story if that happened. I’m not that great at writing rape-scenes though. Arharhar. I hope this chapter was a good read for you, though!

KHKairiNamineFanatic: Aww, thanks a bunch! I still think the first chapter was rushed but everyone else seemed to be fine with it. This makes me glad. Teehee. Thanks much for your support.

-x-StaarGiirl-o-: Haha, thanks! It means a lot that you like my style of writing. I’m still trying to get better, though. I don’t even know if I have a kind of style? But thanks. I liked the scene where Sora falls asleep on Kairi, too. There will be more of that, so stay tuned! -wink-

Typical Sundays: Hahaha, I really like your penname. Probably cause someone named “Typical Sundays” is reviewing a story called “Tuesday Affairs”. Weekdays for the win! And there will be more fluff, so keep on R&Ring! -wink-

AnimeDutchess: HEY DUDE. I UPDATED BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED! And lo and behold, I FINISHED THIS CHAPTER BEFORE MIDNIGHT. I’m sick, too, so I thought I’d sleep early (well, earlier than usual). Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow. Also, next chapter might have Axel in it. Lawl.

Russ Dog: My DA account is “Cottonball”. I’m not that great of an artist though and I haven’t been posting stuff cause I lack a scanner. Boo. But I, uh, blog there? Haha, but you probably already have enough of my writing. XD Thanks a bunch for the support!

Tsuri Kato: I HAVE YET TO READ -YOUR- FANFICTION IT IS ONLY RIGHT SINCE YOU HAVE REVIEWED MINE. -dies- PS- I love you.

Jupiter-Lightning: Hahaha, nope, Sora would never rape Kairi! Maybe obsess over her a little, but never rape. Teehee. Thanks so much, Jupiter, for supporting me! It means a lot that you have been doing so through and through. I am touched. -tears of joy- Thank you thank you thank you!! -huug-

Ch/anonymous reviewer: Whoa, a chain-message in a review? This is new.

Doggone2dog: AW! No, no, feel free to say stuff about all of the characters you want! XD It’s interesting to know what others are thinking about! I’m glad that the one train-scene made you go “AW” really loud. Olette is pretty scary (and obscenely out-of-character lawlz) and Riku -is- definitely innocent. And, haha, Sora’s cousin! Yes, yes, Roxas -IS- Sora’s cousin in this fic but the cousin I had mentioned earlier isn’t Roxas! DUN DUN DUN. It’s actually Roxas’ brother. Can you figure out who it is? Hohoho, I have no clue when I’m going to mention him in this fic! Thanks a lot for reviewing!

K a i r i . O c e a n .: HAHA, oh man. It’s totally awesome that you found this fic through my DA drawing. LOL. My DA advertising is working! Thanks so much for looking for this fic – although you could have just asked me. -wink- This means a lot to me. Thanks again!

Sky Stroll: I love -YOU- so much!! -hug- I’LL KEEP CONTINUING THIS AS LONG AS YOU KEEP WRITING FANFICS OF YOUR OWN, K? We’ll be fanfic buddies. XD LAWL.

XxmylastbreathxX: Thanks a bunch! Glad you enjoyed it. Here’s your update. I hope it was a good read. XD

KeiraLoveKH: Thanks a million for reviewing! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And sorry for the wait.

The Walker of Dreams: I think I replied to your review already. XD but, YES, SELPHIE/IRVINE. I just love the original pairing of those two in FFXIII. Irvine’s entrance will be later though. And, um, sorry for bursting you bubble when you had to read all of the OoCness. I actually had some of their character descriptions in that (annoyingly) long DA description in those drawings. cough But it was a terribly dragged out description so I don’t blame you for not reading it. I kind of didn’t expect anyone to anyway. XD Also, I tried to tone down the blocks of texts. I hope I did alright this time. My beta-reader mentioned something about that, too, actually. Anyway, thank you SO MUCH for your criticism! It also means a lot to me that you also decided to hunt for this fic after seeing the DA picture of it. Thanks a bunch!

darkwing13: YAY! I’m so happy that you find this to be a “funny/happy/funny” fic! It’s intended to be like that and I wasn’t sure if I pulled it off right. DX So, thank you so much! Your review meant a lot! -hug-

YOUR REVIEWS MEAN SO MUCH, GUYS! Whether it’s your first time reading this or if you’ve read this from the beginning, my sincere thanks to all of you who have read this and who have reviewed. And if you haven’t reviewed already, don’t forget to click that review button.

Until next time!