I apologize for how long it has been taking to update this. In fact, I've been writing out the chapters for a while, so I'm plenty ahead and have a few chapters to give you all.

Also, chapter 7 took the longest to write. It took three drafts.

Now, we will finally get to see what was so bad for Ayame.

I own nothing like usual.

Here's chapter 7!

XxXxX

Chapter 7: Why?

Do you know how it feels for something extremely unexpected to happen at the worst possible time that it could happen? Well, that was what Ayame was feeling right now. However, she didn't even seem surprised.

In fact, a lot of conflicting feelings were clashing against each other now, such as hatred, anger, confusion, bewilderment and shock. And possibly even more emotions as she felt them bubble up all at once. The one that erupted first was the most forceful; unfortunately for Ayame, and for everyone else it was anger.

"What are you doing here?"Ayame began, causing the others to notice her. It was like they didn't even understand the situation, which only built up her frustration, like a volcano getting ready to erupt once again.

Penelope's gaze met Ayame's, and she proceeded to ask, "Huh? What are you doing here Ayame?"

"I refuse to tell you why I'm here," Ayame growled. "Instead, you will quit avoiding the question and telling me why the heck you're here!"

Axel decided to be the one to answer Ayame, and he answered quite calmly, "Well, shortly after you left, the decision was made to go after you. We can't just suddenly have you leave during our trip, y'know, since you came at the start of it."

With the usual adjustment of her glasses, the glare focused onto them, making Ayame look quite intimidating as she lowered her head. In a low voice, she hissed, "What."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "You didn't hear me?"

She twitched, and then, in an unusual and unsettling calm, Ayame replied, "I heard you. And guess what?"

The four were quiet, almost aware of the lit spark. "Um… yes?"

It was then proved Ayame was extremely scary when she was mad, and the glare on her glasses broke, her amber eyes flashing the moment they were revealed. "Tell me why the heck I should go with you when you've trespassed into my house, and more specifically, my ROOM, without me knowing? And why do you think I should go back in the first place, especially considering how rude you've been to me?"

"Um…" Roxas was cut off upon realizing Ayame wasn't even done yet.

"I refuse to go back, and I refuse to put up with you. Now, GET BACK IN YOUR BOOK!" She shouted at them.

Unfortunately, Ayame was unaware of the fact of how she had been worrying her mother when she heard her yelling at someone. "Aya, dear. Is something wrong?" She asked from the kitchen.

"Mom, I'm sorry, but please pretend that you don't hear anything." She only managed to get more worried and concerned about her daughter, as it appeared that Ayame was trying to hide something from her, especially as she heard Ayame begin to argue with someone.

And then, she heard more voices questioning Ayame, when a "book" was mentioned.

She stopped what she was doing before going and checking on her, and when she came into the room, she was shocked. The four storybook characters noticed Ayame's mother, but Ayame didn't. "Ayame…? Why are the Prince, the Princess, the Pirate-Captain and the First-Mate from that story (that you may be obsessed with) here?"

The use of their titles only caused them to glare at her, and Ayame's mother cringed. With a heavy sigh, Ayame decided it was time to finally explain what had happened to her to her mother.

XxXxX

Ayame had explained everything to her mother while they were out in the living room, and the four storybook characters were at the kitchen table of her house, talking about this current situation. When she told her mother about her adventure, she didn't know whether or not to be amazed or confused.

Though the first matter of concern was the fact the characters really did have names. "I'm surprised the characters secretly had names. The author never stated them. I was always certain they just had titles up until now."

"What is so surprising to you people about us having names?!" Roxas asked, sounding upset as he shouted the question at Ayame and her mother, standing up.

Ayame motioned for Roxas to sit down as she spoke next. "The story never explicitly stated your names (like I might've said many times already), and only referred to all of you by your titles. So we don't keep having misunderstandings like this, I'll introduce my mother to you so she knows what to address you by."

The auburnette took a deep breath, pointing at each of them in some sort of order, starting with Axel, going to Roxas, then to Penelope and lastly to Riku. At first, considering how she knew them by title for so long, she couldn't help but be in a state of disbelief.

Except it didn't last for long. When Mrs. Sakura clarified it with Ayame one last time, she only annoyed the four to a greater extent. From there, Ayame explained all that she had experienced in her time gone. Her mother had many more questions as it wasn't what she remembered reading, and with the mention of Littlebrooke being burnt to ashes, Ayame brought some guilt to Penelope for not being able to do anything about it.

Afterwards, as Axel, Roxas, Penelope and Riku adjusted to the new environment, Ayame and Mrs. Sakura decided to give their proper introductions. They already knew what Ayame was called, so it was fine.

And while Ayame was rather plain about it, Mrs. Sakura was a bit more formal. "I'm Ayame's mother, as you already know. My name is Sorano. While you're here, please, try to make yourselves at home if you can."

It was fortunate that she was at least able to adjust to the situation.

With that, after the introductions were out of the way, the topic of dinner was brought up. From it being said, Ayame and Sorana Sakura both noticed that the four main storybook characters got up, and then, Ayame questioned them, "Um… guys. Where are you going?"

"To wash up for dinner." Penelope replied, appearing confused that Ayame didn't seem to get it. Well, she didn't, but regardless, she directed them to the bathroom before she and her mother decided to help prepare dinner for their guests.

When dinner did in fact, come along, it was unusually quiet as they ate, though nobody tried to comment or break the silence (as doing so would be hard). For Ayame, it was probably the most awkward dinner she had ever had in her life. Maybe it was because they just didn't know what to say and they were getting used to a new environment or something.

It did make sense if such were the case.

Regardless of that, shortly after, they figured out room arrangements, and much to Ayame's surprise, yet again, none of the characters seemed to be bothered by it at all. Axel, Roxas and Riku were to sleep in the guest room. Penelope was to share a room with Ayame for the night (and both were used to being in the same room by now, so it worked).

All Ayame was concerned about was how the arrangement would exactly go. When Penelope and Ayame went into Ayame's room to retire for the night, Ayame decided to at least be polite to her guest, and noting her clothing situation, she asked, "Do you want to borrow a spare set of pajamas I have (in hopes they'll fit)? Y'know, since you're stuck wearing your dress and your corset?" Ayame hadn't been paying attention to Penelope in that moment, but when she looked at her, upon adjusting her glasses, she saw that Penelope was in a silken dress with lacey straps, and she turned to her in confusion.

"Hm? I always have my under dress on when I'm asleep, though I'm unsure as to what you mean." Penelope seemed rather confused, and almost ticked off when she noticed how Ayame appeared to be rather uncomfortable about it, and she squinted at her.

"What, have you never seen an under dress before?"

"…No… it's just…"

"It's just what? Say it already." Penelope ordered, and Ayame nervously blurted it.

"Well, it's just that it's made of silk, and you might ruin it. Don't you have anything else to wear?" Ayame awkwardly asked her, being as careful as possible in her wording.

Sarcasm wasn't even needed to reply. "Well, my kingdom burnt down to cinders, and you witnessed it. So, to answer your question, no, I don't. Why do you care?"

"Well, for one thing, you're going to possibly ruin your silk dress ("I told you I always wear it to sleep, idiot." The Princess hissed under her breath), and for another, I realized that if I take you all out tomorrow, you're all going to look weird. And maybe you'll look like you belong at some kind of medieval fair or something." Ayame answered her, gulping a lump down when she noticed that Penelope seemed to be rather insulted.

"Weird? You already seem to dress in an odd manner. I don't understand how we will look weird." Penelope pointed out, and Ayame shook her head at her, approaching her closet and asking Penelope to look away as she changed from her current clothing to her pajamas, and spoke again once she was finished.

"Basically, I live in a world full of judgmental people. Though if it's ok with you guys, I don't mind taking you out to get normal clothes and anything else you need. The 'normal' clothes in my standards are so you guys better blend in and don't make a scene if we're in town."

The Princess considered it before nodding. "Well then. I suppose that will be a treat." She replied to Ayame, setting her crown on Ayame's bedside table before going to the opposite side of Ayame's bed and climbing onto it, making herself comfortable before falling asleep.

Ayame set her alarm and took off her glasses. She felt incredibly awkward that there was another person present, as she wasn't accustomed to it, but she tried to have some kind of sleepover mentality and allow it. Though the sleepover mentality also felt really awkward too.

Ayame took her glasses off and flicked off the lights, going over to her bed and getting in, giving Penelope her space and falling asleep.

XxXxX

What awoke Ayame was the familiar sound of her clock beeping three times as its alarm went off. She tried to sleep through it, though she heard a grumble next to her.

Except, all it did was continue. "Ayame… what is that noise…" The Princess groaned from beside her, as it continued. Ayame didn't respond, still partially asleep.

"Ayame… get the sound to stop…" She murmured, and Ayame snapped into it, though she had issues seeing the alarm. Then again, it was dark, but from the lack of her glasses, her sight appeared to be kind of blurry. She had to search for her glasses for a moment, but when the alarm beeped again, Penelope fully awoke, irritated and tired.

"Are you even listening to me…? Turn it off!" She barked, and Ayame sighed at her, nodding and finally taking hold of her glasses, though she accidentally hit her alarm and turned it off in the process. She adjusted them and didn't turn on the light quite yet.

"I think… the alarm's off." Ayame stated with a yawn in between, getting up and turning the light on, causing Penelope to groan and hide her face in a pillow.

"Penelope, its fine. I just turned the light on."

She grumbled something before slowly rising, adjusting to the light and then getting out of bed, brushing herself off. "What time is it now, Ayame?" Penelope questioned, turning to her, but still appearing quite visibly tired.

"It's 7 o' clock am. Why?"

"I see. Axel's likely been up for a few hours."

"What? What are you talking about, Penelope?" The princess only seemed to chuckle at her, thinking she was messing with her.

"I thought you knew."

"No, I don't. It's only 7. I don't see why Axel's already awake."

The response took Penelope off guard, but she tried to give an explanation, yawning at first before speaking. "Well then," she started, going over to Ayame's bedside table where she picked up her crown and gently placed it upon her head. "The Captain commonly awakens at around 4 or 5. He developed the trait of waking up early so make sure everything is in gear and also to keep watch just in case."

At first, Ayame hadn't heard the first part as she focused on fixing her hair and only heard the second. Except when it came to her, she paused and looked at Penelope, her amber hued eyes in astonishment. "You… you mean. Axel wakes up that early?!"

Penelope didn't bother replying as she opened up the door and left in response, freaking Ayame out and following the Princess out to the living room. Like she had previously stated, on the couch was Axel, who happened to be staring out the window.

Ayame tried to be polite. "Oh… Good morning, Captain." She calmly greeted, though Axel didn't seem to hear it. He was out of it for a moment before shaking his head and then hearing what she said, registering it and shifting his bright green-eyed gaze over to her.

Then, Ayame wondered why she acted polite. She still hadn't quite forgiven Axel for what had happened yet (though she knew she had to forgive him at some point because holding a grudge would get her nowhere) and he hadn't apologized, though Ayame knew that it was her fault and she was holding a grudge over nothing.

"Mornin'." He answered her, and Ayame tried to at least engage in a conversation though she noticed how Axel wasn't responding, and she couldn't figure out whether or not Axel was ignoring her, he spaced out, he was in deep thought, or he fell asleep. She noticed that Axel had fallen asleep, which was weirdly amusing as she knew he'd probably pass out from being sleep deprived at one point.

Ayame stood there a moment before sighing at Axel, adjusting her glasses and deciding to go and start breakfast. It was probably the best thing she could do right now considering how she was planning on taking the four characters shopping later and so they wouldn't complain.

She noticed Penelope yawn and head back to her room, and Ayame narrowed her eyes before closing them and taking a deep breath.

"Well, I guess everyone is tried today, huh?" She asked herself with a slight chuckle before going back to what she happened to be doing.

XxXxX

A few hours later, at noon, Ayame took the four shopping. It wasn't as hard as she thought, though she worried that she wouldn't have enough to get them al clothes, but fortunately, maybe due to the possible "magic" of her own world, or the character's currency changed depending on the environment, they were able to purchase things without much problems.

Except… there was this one thing. Ayame hadn't tried considering it too much since she was too mad to think about it the night prior, but she didn't understand why the storybook characters really had followed her out of the book.

She knew that Axel had briefly mentioned it. It was something about going back into the book, since Ayame couldn't just leave in the middle of the trip. It wasn't exactly how it worked according to the fairy tale characters.

So, as she was unlocking the door, carrying some of the bags, she heard Axel say something. "Hey Ayame. You know how I mentioned why you can't just leave the ship while we're sailing, right?"

"Yeah, I did." She answered, not paying attention as she worked on unlocking the top lock, which could be stubborn sometimes.

"Well, you're not going to get away with leaving the ship scot free." He indicated and Ayame said nothing, and didn't show her face to the others, but she was unimpressed, and then she groaned before unlocking the door.

Why was it so difficult for them to forgive her and why did they make it so hard?

-o-o-o-o-o-

…Man, writing up this chapter took much longer than necessary. And due to it, I haven't updated in a long time and I'm sorry for that. Fortunately, I have more chapters to type up, so hopefully, it won't take as long to post them like this did.

I mean, yes, this chapter also took a while to write (considering three drafts), but typing it up was ridiculous. Hopefully, this doesn't happen again.

Other than that, like usual, please review if you'd like, please refrain from flaming if possible, and I'd appreciate it if you could tell me how I can improve my writing.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!