Stitch stared out into the distance, reflecting over the various mistakes that he had made throughout the years he had lived with the Pelekais. It moderately floored him, and to say that the amount of mistakes was plentiful would have been a major understatement. The experiment had always had his faults.

"Stitch! Where are you? Stitch!" a female voice loudly choked out from the far off distance. Her words were broken up into syllables by a sudden rush of emotion.

It was not every day the Stitch contemplated life. Hell, it was not every day that he ran away from home either, and to be truthful, it had been about five to six years since he had truly sat down to give his initial arrival to Hawaii any real thought, except to just jokingly laugh along with Lilo about his actions back then. How destructive he had been. How dramatic. How childish.

Back on the days when Stitch had only seen himself as a monster, a being who was totally incapable of choosing his own destiny. He was not evil, per say, as he had not consciously went out in search of trouble. It just simply happened. Wherever the alien went, destruction was sure to follow. Hell, the prospect had been deliberately created within his DNA by Jumba, who was his creator and an ex-scientist, turned convict, now free man of the Galactic Alliance. It was in the experiment's blood to wreak havoc. Destruction was a major part of him, intertwined into his core and locked within his genetic coding, and although Stitch was supposed to find happiness in his destruction, still... it felt immensely sad to have only one purpose in a world; an infinite universe that was so expansive and filled to the absolute brim with new amenities to discover. Other forms of happiness and sadness, but as a scientific rule, that curiosity was not supposed to be there. Maybe a curiosity that ran along the lines of 'I wonder how big of an explosion this will create?,' but never an innocent inquiry. Never anything except for chaos.

At least, this is what Jumba had assumed. He had not built the, now teen-aged, experiment with the capacity to care, and yet here they both were, living in a hodgepodge home with a third alien, Pleakley and three unassuming Hawaiians who meant the utter world to them. They were a large family; an extended family, one that even included the allusively cool yet stout Cobra Bubbles, who occasionally stopped by the home every once in a while for a glass of iced tea, to celebrate a holiday, or to attend a birthday. Whatever the occasion was, the man was ever-stoic, although he definitely had his moments here or there.

The point is Stitch was an experiment that had been built with the capacity to only destroy. It was his only purpose in life. However, with the help of a little Hawaiian girl, number 626 of Jumba's many experiments had learned that he was more than just his purpose. The experiment was more than simply an experiment. He was more than a number. The blue alien was intelligent. He was impossible. Hell, he was a travel-sized, unearthly being with the amazing capacity to not only be able to think at fast speeds, but also the ability to lift things more than a thousand times his own size. Stitch was nothing short of remarkable.

Yet, though all of this was true, the little girl with a big heart had always seen him as a having a second, far greater purpose. It was sort of laughable, and when Jumba first met the girl he had found it hilarious, but incidentally enough, it was truly the most important purpose as well. The experiment would be a friend, but not only that, but he would not be an experiment. Sure, he was an alien, but to Lilo he had always been Stitch. He was her friend, and he was simply Stitch. That was his name, Stitch. With time, her friend was not a dog. He became so much more than that, a totally sentient being, and personified. Just as he was not a monster, her friend was never a menace against society, at least, not now anyway. Stitch was innocent. Well, as innocent as any adventurous and curious experiment from outer space could be... But whatever. He was Stitch, the little angel whom Lilo Pelekai adopted on one wearily hot summer's day oh, so very long ago.

So many years ago.

Lilo was older.

Stitch was older.

The two of them had changed exponentially as separate beings, but their feelings for one another had never changed. Everything was the same, except for the small pang which now stung Stitch's chest every time he saw her on another date with some guy. It had been like this for a while now.

A Couple Hours Earlier

Lilo smiled down at Stitch, as he suddenly appeared in the middle of the living room, demurely toting a surfboard between his claws.

Walking up to her, the experiment sent her a hopeful expression and asked a simple, "... You go surfing tonight?"

To which Lilo gave her utmost apologetic expression and lipped a sad grin in his direction, her eyes shining down at him with a guilty gleam. As per her usual response.

"I'm sorry Stitch, but I'm going out with *insert name because I'm a freaking butt face* tonight. Sorry, but I promise I'll make it up to you."

As Lilo's voice trailed off, she let a thoughtful expression slip across her brow, "Actually, could we maybe go out surfing together tomorrow? Just the two of us?"

Simultaneously, Stitch felt his heart skip a beat, just as it plummeted deeply into his gut. Sure, he could live with her dating… always dating… men, but it was disappointing that most of her nights were previously engaged nowadays. Almost weeks in advance, it was beginning to seem. Whether she was out laughingly spending time with her friends, enthusiastically participating in another 'Monster Movie Family Night', or simply hanging out with another guy in her long line of pointless boyfriends, there was virtually no moment for her and Stitch to just chill out as friends. Just friends. Nothing more, and Stitch could only hope that it would never be anything less.

Stitch blinked dumbly. With his mind finally arriving back on Earth, the experiment could only stare up at Lilo in a failed attempt to cover up his sudden sense of disappointment... In the edges of his eyes, his dejection shown through his crinkles, and he gave his best friend his best forced smile. A force which almost broke his heart, as she started to gaze compassionately into his orbs. It was safe to say that his best friend knew that he was lying through his teeth. Literally. Lilo was staring into his smile, which was a large and overly acted, toothy grin.

"Ah... sure."

Lilo watched her friend closely, as Stitch eventually managed to mutter a response. She instantly noticed the way that his claws tightened around his surfboard; how they fumbled unsurely. Her brows furrowed downward.

"Stitch-"

Just as the human girl was about to say something, a loud ringtone erupted from her bedroom, and she stopped cold. The jingle was a happy, bubblegum pop song that mentioned something about walking a thousand miles in order to see someone, and obviously it was a love song. Clearly, it was her boyfriend calling.

Lilo felt her face scrunch up at her boyfriend's timing. She sighed. Huffing inwardly, the woman gave Stitch one last apologetic smile, before finally walking away and quickly rounding the corner, inelegantly sprinting up the stairs to her bedroom.

Stitch blanched from his spot. Staring blankly into the distance, there was a deafening moment of silence, before he suddenly let out a small grunt and grumpily discarded the wooden surfboard onto the floor. His shoulders sagged, and with a depressed air, the experiment left his surfboard lying haphazardly upon the floorboards of their living room. Good riddance.

This was always how it was. Stitch was always alone. Lilo was always leaving...

Stitch never had Lilo to himself anymore.

"Ritataka," he whispered heatedly, and the hateful curse erupted from his lips like a broken mantra. God, it even hurt to utter it.

Stitch simply hated Lilo's boyfriend, whoever the lucky heffer was. Truthfully, he did not one care about the subject these days. At this point, he could barely even find the strength to look at the person, let alone care whatever her new boyfriend's name was. Besides, it did not matter. The unknown person would be gone from Lilo's life sooner or later anyway, as no man was able to keep up with her constant energy forever. The entirety of the male population could never hold onto Lilo for too long.

Stitch sighed and sluggishly trudged his way outside. The jaded alien stomped on, utterly annoyed, toward his bedroom and angrily muttered, "Limpdika, ha. Gantutur beelajah."

Continuing to mutter exhaustedly, Stitch fell into the sheets of his bunk bed and gazed cynically upward at the top bunk which hung directly above him. It stung his heart, as the offending place was empty, its covers ever-made and well-kept with no one else to sleep in it. Everyone else was gone. Completely vacant. It was a fact that no one had slept in the bunk for years, because the experiment had been living in a separate bedroom from Lilo for a long time now, ever since she had first begun developing and surprisingly demanded Nani to permit her own space. Something about her 'lady problems'. At the time so many years ago, none of this had mattered to him, and honestly, he still did not care about any of those things. Lilo was Lilo; why could she not accept that?

Lilo was beautifully loud and yet strangely delicate. She had the prettiest shade of mocha-colored skin, and had a head full of dark tresses which cascaded down her back and were as gorgeous as they were long. She was extremely smart and had the tendency to be quite abrasive whenever she wanted to be, but she was never crass enough for anyone to dislike her. The young woman was a delight, both funny and eye-catching, and she could make even the strangest gentleman justifiably raise his brow in concern. She was an oddity, a constant battle for Pleakley in his continuous attempts to maintain a clean household. Alas, poor Pleakley. The pillows that he and Nani had picked out were never safe from Lilo's naughty clutches. And honestly, not everyone pretended that spoons in pickle jars were voodoo dolls. It was a common fact that made her doubly weird, but perhaps the woman was on to something? Always on to something in her momentary spurts of insanity. And who knows? Only Lilo understands her own madness, but Stitch loved to try and figure her out. The oddness was kind of an addiction for him; the constant back and forth questioning nature that she held. It was incredible.

Lilo's adventurous spirit was invigorating. Irreversibly so, its presence gave him the purpose to want to stay by her side and discover new concepts. It urged him to find even more purposes, as even Lilo wished to pursue them for herself. It was oddly beautiful in the best kind of way, how deep the woman's love went for discovery. Another d-word, far greater than destruction. Discovery. This was a purpose that Lilo had instilled in him.

Like helping all of his cousins find a place where they felt they would belong? Family. This had become a purpose for him, as he wanted all of his fellow experiments to be happy like him, and to this day, he still cared for all of them equally, his cousins. They were all his brethren. His ohana.

Additionally, another example would be when he finally gave that one guy who always loses his ice cream due to their adventures a new cone. The action had been tough, and Stitch had to protect that ice cream with his life, but getting to see him take his first lick, with his eyes crinkling behind his thick, black shades, had definitely made both of their days. To instill happiness in others, this was one of Stitch's more noble purposes. The experiment would forever try to make this a point on his list of many life-fulfilling goals.

Stitch let out an emotional huff. Lying distraught upon his mattress, the experiment crossed his arms like a moody child and moved resignedly onto his side, grunting a tiny noise of displeasure. He scowled. Sure, the alien was as smart as any super computer, but he was still fairly young. He could allow himself some time to mope around like a depressed teenager.

"Lilo-"

Immediately, Stitch heard the name fall from his lips. He sighed, and the downcast experiment threw a hasty arm over his eyes. He closed his eyelids in remorse and mentally mourned the state of his own broken heart. It was pitiful. He was pitiful.

Stitch sighed despondently and let out a small, form-shaking whimper.

A lone, objectionable grumble left Stitch's lips, as a few tears gathered in the corners of his two, expressively big and black orbs.

"Stupid, stupid head."

No, Stitch was not calling Lilo stupid. The experiment was calling Lilo's date stupid. Since he had matured a lot over the past couple of years, the alien had made the conscious choice to never again call Lilo stupid, for she was definitely far from that, even if he had called her a "stupid head" maybe once or twice during his adolescent years… but that was far beside the point. Lilo was as intelligent as most humans come, and she was quite compassionate to boot.

So in the end, Stitch was not bitter, per say. He was merely tired, and it was also easy to say that he was lonely. He was sad, he was brokenhearted, and he missed Lilo desperately.

Lilo was the one who had given him a new purpose.

Stitch was to be a friend. He was to be kind and suave, and he was to be fun and talented. He was to be like the man that Lilo idolized, Elvis Presley.

Strong and handsome, in Lilo's eyes, Stitch was never a monster. He was her best friend. Weirdly enough, the human girl had always seen him in a much different light than all of the rest. Her perception of him had been like this ever since the day that she first laid eyes on him when he initially arrived on Earth. He was her dearest friend and her closest ally...

And this was why she was searching for him so desperately.