antaurilover685, who owns Kairi, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy!

I only own the Grant Mansion. All other characters belong to their respective owners.

Also, part of his story was inspired by the MGM cartoon movie "All Dogs Go To Heaven", which I do not own.

Win Or Lose, A Good Attitude Is Important

Kairi was running down the street, dodging streetlights and a few people here and there. She didn't care if they looked surprised or gave her dirty looks as she breezed past them with a brief 'excuse me' as she ran on, running until she finally reached the Grant Mansion, going in and closing the door before leaning against it and letting her tears flow more freely now.

The reason she was crying was because there had been a major swim meet earlier that day and her team had been going against a tough rival. It had been near the end of the meet when it came down to her and one other member of the rival team in a race to bring the win to the team they represented. Kairi had been relaxed and ready, although a little tense as she knew it wouldn't be easy.

The race had started okay, but on the way back, both she and the other swimmer were neck and neck until he surged slightly ahead and reached the end a second before she did. She was stunned she had lost, but had gotten out and congratulated her opponent, who thanked her and thanked her for being his opponent. That made her feel better that he wasn't going to rub it in her face that he had won, but she quickly found out her team didn't feel the same way. When she walked over to them, one of them had pushed her into the pool roughly and they glared at her, blaming her for them losing and saying hurtful things until the swim instructor walked over and sternly reminded them all that Kairi had done her best as they all had and they needed to be good sports about it, but the team didn't stop there, saying they would have won if Kairi hadn't been on their team.

Those hurtful words made Kairi upset and she lost her earlier attitude about being confident she had done her best and that her opponent had been nice about it. She had gotten out of the pool, grabbed her stuff, pulled on her t-shirt and shorts over her swimsuit and put on her shoes before running out of the building and down the road, feeling more upset and tears begin forming, but she held them off until she arrived and now let her tears fall.

Snare-Oh was in the living room reading when he heard crying and thinking that bullies had chased another person up to the Mansion, he went towards the front door and saw a young girl with brown hair sitting with her back pressed against the door and crying as her hands were pressed into her face. He kneeled down beside her.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently, placing one hand gently on her shoulder.

Not recognizing the voice, Kairi lifted her head and looked at him and a horrified look came to her face when she saw a mummy looking at her. She then screamed. "Get away from me!" she cried out as he quickly grabbed her.

"Whoa! Hold on!" said Snare-Oh, somewhat surprised when she slipped out of his grasp, but he grabbed her again, only to have her escape again and run down the hallway with him behind her. She got to the rec room and saw he was right behind her.

"Get back!" she cried out in both fear and a little anger, trying to be brave.

"Stop a moment," said Snare-Oh, holding his hands out in a 'calm down' motion, but she was too frightened to calm down and quickly grabbed a book nearby and threw it at him. Surprised, he quickly caught it.

"I'm not afraid of you!" she declared, although fear was in her voice as she grabbed a box nearby that had kids toys in it and threw it at him. It wasn't too heavy, but it was enough to make him stumble back a little. She then grabbed a nearby frying pan and climbed up on the table to get away as he got closer to her. "Go away!" she said and hit him smack on the head as she was now a little taller than him as she was standing on the table.

Snare-Oh let out a muffled sound of pain as he felt the frying pain hit him and he shook her head rapidly before stretching his tendrils towards her and she jumped down from the table, her face now full of pure terror as she jumped on the nearby air mattress that was hanging from the ceiling to act like a hammock. He looked at her.

"Calm down," he said calmly as he went up to her.

"P-please!" she stuttered as she pushed herself to stand up with her back flat to the air mattress and he sat down right in front of her. She began stuttering again. "I-I have a sore back! D-Don't touch me!"

"Quiet!" Snare-Oh snapped as he grabbed her in his tendrils, now a bit impatient from unsuccessfully trying to calm the girl down. A few tendrils tied up her arms and legs while he pressed one hand to her mouth to keep her from screaming again. She whimpered in fear as she tried to get his hand off her mouth, but he then slightly squeezed her cheeks, which made her stop squirming as she realized he could suffocate her if he wanted to. That thought made her start trembling and her eyes filled with tears again.

Seeing new tears filling her eyes and feeling her tremble, Snare-Oh became less upset and his face softened. "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you," he said, his voice full of gentleness. "I was just frustrated that I couldn't calm you down before, that's all."

She looked up at him, still shivering and he gently lifted her head up, his tendrils gently undoing the braid her hair was in from swim class, and he began rubbing her head gently and two tendrils began massaging her neck carefully. Wondering why he was doing so, she stopped squirming and looked up at him with confusion and curiosity. He chuckled gently at that.

"I'm going to take my hand away from your mouth, and you're not going to scream, alright?" he asked somewhat sternly, but also gently.

Afraid of what he'd do if she did scream again, she nodded fearfully and felt him remove his hand from her mouth and one of his fingers gently tickled her chin. "Atta girl," he said approvingly.

She began trembling again as she was still scared of him. "P-please," she begged. "I-I don't want…t-to be…y-your…v-victim."

Snare-Oh blinked in surprise. "What are you talking about?" he asked gently.

Kairi swallowed hard. "Are-Aren't you…the…mummy g-ghost l-looking…f-for…s-souls…t-to eat?" she asked.

His eyes widened before he looked serious. "Okay, hold the phone," he said. "One: I'm not a mummy ghost. I'm a Thep Khufan."

"Thep Khufan?" she asked with confusion.

He smiled a little. "That means I'm an alien mummy," he said gently. "Two: you aren't my victim and I'm not going to 'eat your soul', as you put it. Where did you get that from anyway? Some horror movie?"

She nodded and he shook his head. "The stuff they come up with for movies today," he muttered to himself before looking back at her. "And last, but not least, you need a good tickle torture."

That statement caught her off guard as she felt his tendrils start tickling her neck, ears, underarms, and shoulder blades while his hands began tickling her stomach. As she was very ticklish, she immediately began laughing as she tried to escape, but was trapped.

Snare-Oh chuckled. "Wow, I thought I was going to have a hard time making you laugh," he said teasingly. "Cootchie coo! Tickle, tickle! Cootchie, cootchie, coo!"

Kairi squealed loudly, especially when her captor lifted her shirt up a little and suddenly began blowing raspberries into her stomach, which still tickled despite the fact that she still had on her one-piece swimsuit, but Snare-Oh had no problem making sure the raspberries tickled her like crazy as he then blew a few raspberries into her neck. She laughed harder before beginning to cough, groaning a bit as her side was now hurting. She felt him immediately stop tickling her and let her go, but then began stroking her head gently, which helped her to calm down and she looked up at him. "Are you…really an alien?" she asked.

He lifted his hands up and wiggled his fingers at her teasingly. "I think you need another tickle," he teased, chuckling as she curled up to protect her tickle spots.

"No, no!" she protested with a laugh. "Please."

He chuckled again. "Yes, I am an alien," he said. "I'm sorry about scaring you, but I was concerned when I heard you crying. Were bullies chasing you?"

She shook her head and looked away, but then felt the backs of his fingers brush her cheek and she looked at him. "No, just…,"

"Just what?" he prompted her gently.

She sighed. "Teammates blaming me for making the team lose the meet," she said softly.

He looked thoughtful. "A swim meet?" he asked.

She looked at him. "How did you know?" she asked.

He smiled in amusement. "Well, your swimsuit gave it away," he said as he playfully poked her stomach, making her giggle. "Plus, I remember one of my teammates saying he had a beautiful fiancée who loved to swim. Kairi, is it?"

Kairi nodded. "Yes," she said. "You know Goop?"

He chuckled. "Yes," he answered her. "Kairi, my name is Snare-Oh."

She smiled. "You're the one Rachel mentioned the other day when she told me about you chasing off the bullies when you first met her."

Snare-Oh nodded. "Yes, that was myself and a few others," he said. "Now, why would your teammates blame you for losing the meet?"

Kairi sighed. "I was the last one against a rival team to win the meet as both teams were tied and we needed one more win to win the meet, but I lost by a second to the other swimmer. He was nice to not rub it in my face, but my teammates weren't as nice and I'm upset at myself too. I should have done better," she said.

The mummy alien was thoughtful for a minute. "Did you do your best?" he asked gently.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Then, that's all that matters," he said.

"Snare-Oh's right, Kairi," said Goop, coming in. She wasted no time jumping up and running to be in her fiancée's arms. He held her close and gently rocked her. "It's not your fault that your team lost the meet. It's no one's fault."

She looked at him and he kissed her cheek before giving her a brief kiss on the mouth. "You know what it means to truly be a winner?" he asked softly.

Kairi looked thoughtful. "You're not talking about winning medals, are you?" she asked.

Snare-Oh chuckled as he came up to them and ruffled Kairi's hair. "She catches on quick," he said with a smile.

She smiled back before looking at Goop. "What does being a true winner mean beyond winning?" she asked.

He smiled and leaned his forehead against her forehead. "It also means accepting some losses with a good attitude," he said gently. "Your teammates sadly don't see that, but it's true. You have to take some losses as well as some wins. That's what makes you a true winner."

She smiled at him. "You're right," she said and hugged him.

"Not only that, we'll always think of you as a winner, Kairi, because with us, you are always a winner," said Snare-Oh.

Feeling a lot better now, Kairi hugged Snare-Oh, who returned her hug warmly and then watched at Goop pulled Kairi close to him and kiss her lovingly before the alien mummy quietly left to give them privacy as he smiled, having a feeling that Kairi would never feel terrible about losing a swim meet again, not with him and Goop around to make her feel better afterwards.

It's true. You can't win them all, but a good attitude always makes you a winner.

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418