(.c.H.i.P.s.)

.chapterten.

.and.HATE.

"Kairi honey, what's the matter?" Kairi stared at her bowl of cereal. She had started a new life in Hollow Bastion. She had friends. The sort of friends who stuck by you whatever and didn't try to murder you if you killed their bunny, but she didn't feel right. She didn't feel happy.

"Kaiiiiiii-wiiiiiiiii! Answer MUMMY!" cried Naminé in annoyance. Naminé was scoffing down her breakfast as though there was no tomorrow, it was kind of sickly actually and was putting Kairi off eating her breakfast. Not that she wanted to eat it anyway.

"Oh... sorry... it's nothing... I guess..." Kairi shoved the spoon in her mouth, quickly wishing she hadn't; the cereal had turned into some milky mush and wasn't a very nice surprise. She dropped her spoon in her bowl and grabbed her bag. "I think I'll go to school now..."

"Okay, bye Kai!" twinkled Kairi's mother.

Kairi hoisted up her school bag and rushed out of the kitchen and left by climbing out of the back window; she didn't like the door, she had bad memories of the door...

"Kairi, oh my GOD! Kairi what the hell happened to your head?"

Kairi stopped outside the park and crunched down into a ball. Nothing made sense and nothing ever had done. She could feel warm tears trickle down her cheeks and she tried licking them off; her hands were preoccupied with trying to stop them from being numb. Or maybe she was trying to make them numb. She didn't know. She didn't know anymore.

"Hey Kai!" called a familiar voice from behind. Kairi swivelled round and saw Hayner and Pence. She smiled. She loved 'her boys' as she had recently dubbed them. They were nice, and not 'rough' or 'rebellious' like the other 'friends' she had.

"Hey Hayner..." she sniffed, wiping her face and attempting to stop her eyes from being red. Pence smiled, and took a picture. Kairi giggled, "Stop it!" she smiled, playfully batting him with her hand. Pence smiled.

"You didn't say hello to me though!" Pence pouted, earning a whack from Hayner.

"It's only because she loves me more than you!" the blond cried. Kairi smiled weakly, but quickly decided to get away from them. If she wanted to keep her reputation in school then she'd better not stick with those two. What was it with her and attracting losers? Not that she didn't like Hayner and Pence, but they themselves even admitted it being a fact.

"Gotta go guys, okay? Byeeeee!" Kairi gave them each a quick hug and scampered off.

"We've got to stop her, Hayner..." Pence whispered, watching Kairi skip over to 'the gang's' leader. Hayner patted Pence's back.

"By doing what?" he muttered, walking away. Pence chased him all the way to school.

.X.o.X.

"Hey Xig!"

"Yo Kairi."

Kairi scratched the back of her head, unable to think of anything to say, she brushed her bangs out of the way of her eyes and noticed that Xigbar wasn't smoking.

"How come you're not smoking?" she asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure on how good 'friends' they were, all she knew was that she was in his gang and that was that. If she were anything more than that then she'd prefer to die than anything else. Especially not with Xigbar.

"My mum caught me yesterday and grounded me... I got out of it, but she took 'em off me..."

"Oh." Kairi blinked, she wouldn't be able to 'let go of her troubles' with her good friend tobacco.

She made her way to school, slowly but surely. And as she reached the gates she suddenly felt drawn to skulk back to the park. Suddenly she realised she had a reason to get back: she'd left her bag.

"I'm just gonna go back and... and get my bag..." Xigbar shrugged and plodded on, making his unfortunate way into the building he preferred to call 'shit-house'. Ingenious. Indeed.

.O.x.O.

Kairi grabbed her bag and rushed back home.

She wasn't going to stick here any longer; she was sick and tired of being treated like some sort of lost puppy someone had found off the street. She wasn't a 'lost puppy', she didn't need sympathy, she didn't need anyone. No one needed her, she was worthless. She was nothing compared to even Xigbar, and who liked Xigbar, they just tried to get on the good side of him.

No one liked Kairi, they just pretended to. People used her, they took her heart and ripped it out, leaving her shell, cold and heartless, with nothing worth living for.

People liked to use Kairi because she was an easy target, they could talk to her for say five minutes and she'd automatically like them. But they didn't like her. And she realised that now, but she knew she should have realised that at the time.

Now she realised.

Except, no one would be able to hurt her anymore. No one. Except for one person. Because that one person was the one in possession of her. Since the day she met him, she was his to mould. And he sculpted and etched and scribbled over her form, creating her into what she was now.

And then, one day, he took her heart.

She grabbed whatever she could, not minding the funny looks Naminé gave her.

"Where are you going Kaiwi?" Kairi pushed back a strand of hair, and tried to find that bag she could use for one to keep her stuff in. She had no idea where she was going to run off to, or what she would do when she'd get there.

"I'm going..." Kairi replied, rushing, "Ha!" she cried softly, finding the bag she was looking for and stuffing all her stuff in it.

"Mummy's gone to the shop for a second..." Naminé told her, probably trying to brighten up the situation, or possibly she was just confused and was telling Kairi what she knew, like little kids do.

Kairi nodded, waved good bye and left.

.X.o.X.

"A-And then... and then she left be-because... I don't know Demyx! She just left, and I ju-just... I just sat there and watched her go, I didn't do anything to help, I didn't stop her ... I-I failed at being her brother... I-I hate life!" Axel whimpered. His life felt meaningless; Kairi had left him.

"B-But Axel... But Axel... But..."

"Pfft, Axel you're making a big deal out of nothing. So you're sister left. Oh boo hoo. Waa waa, my sister left, and she's probably dead, oh boo hoo... No, no Demyx... Demyx I'm sorry, sorry... Demyx I didn't mean it like that..." Demyx didn't want to start crying again, he had been for the past few months. And even though Axel and Larxene had no idea why, they still tried being nice... which was a first. "Demyx, stop crying please..."

Demyx wiped his eyes dry, and gave her a thumbs up signal. He didn't want Larxene to think she'd upset him. She had a little. But she wasn't to know why, and Demyx doubted that he'd ever tell her. Hell, he hadn't even told his old best friend.

But he wouldn't be seeing his old best friend again. Nu uh. No way. Not in a million years. Not even to save his new best friend's life. His new best friend being Axel of course.

But Axel knew about it. Or the boy should... Axel was the first person Demyx turned to...

"Alright Demie, I gotta go... Bye Axel..." the latter was said with a hint of sarcasm, and did Axel detect a whiff of ... love in the former?

As Larxene wandered off, Axel stared at Demyx.

"'Demie'?" Axel asked, trying to stifle the snickers, failing miserably of course.

"Shut up!" Demyx laughed, hitting Axel on the arm.

"So, why can't you come over later again?" asked Axel, smirking, he knew the answer to this one.

"...I'm ... out..." Axel laughed, slapping Demyx on the back. "What?"

"Now where might you be going out to... or should I say, who will you be going with?" Demyx blushed, and started to mumble something, stuttering slightly. "Larxene right?"

Demyx nodded meekly, and Axel sighed. He was going to lose both best friends to the dangerous trickery of something some people called 'love'.

To some it was a virtue, but to others it was a poison.

Axel knew what 'love' did to you, it sucked out your innards and fed them to Lady Luck's pet goldfish.

That's what love did to Kairi anyways, and this was evident in the girl's current situation. And Sora's. Axel would walk round town and see Sora moping about in the chip shop. It was the only place you could ever find him nowadays, considering that it was the holidays. And it had been exactly three weeks since Kairi had left and he hadn't heard from her since. Maybe she blamed him for what had happened.

Maybe...

"Axel?" Axel drifted out of his dream world where he was not just stuck with Larxene and Demyx, where the visions of 'lovers arguments' melted away with the sea that lapped at his knees, as he sat next to Kairi, and next to Kairi was Sora. And they were holding hands. And everything was happy.

Was he missing something from his perfect world?

Of course he was. But he knew that in his perfect world the sound of his baby sister's tinkly laughter would shatter his dreams. A reminder of what happened. But in his perfect world it didn't happen... Right?

Now, even his dreams chased him, and confused him, and killed him inside...

"Axel? Axel, are you okay...?" Demyx asked his friend, worried. Axel shook his head and wiped his eyes. He knew he'd been crying, he just couldn't be bothered to stop, nothing mattered any more anyway.

"Mm... Mm hmm..." he mumbled. Demyx smiled and patted Axel's back.

"Gotta go now Axel... sorry... I promise I'll come to yours later, kay? Bye!" And with a hop, skip and a jump, Demyx made his merry way home to get ready. Axel sighed and stood up. He might as well be getting home now.

.O.x.O.

"She left."

This news hit Axel hard on the head, his reaction about as subtle as a Wakka-like creature painted purple dancing about naked on a park bench shouting about 'I'M BEING VERY SUBTLE'. It hit Axel about as hard as a ton bricks about the head, making him reach up to cradle the side of his head with one hand. His face was contorted with shock, the look one is expected to wear when they receive news of their sister running away or when they see a purple-painted Wakka dancing around naked on a park bench. Still shouting about 'I'M BEING VERY SUBTLE!'

"Axel?" asked Demyx, his voice lightly laced with worry as he poured himself a glass of orange juice, fresh from his date with Larxene about half an hour ago. He must have enjoyed himself, he'd been doing nothing but smiling, until he saw Axel was doing the opposite as he spoke on the phone.

Axel barely heard Demyx's voice, Ariel's own one that didn't really sound that worried considering her only (well, not only daughter, but the scene calls for drama) daughter had vanished into the wide blue yonder cutting into Axel's ears through the phone.

"What do you mean, she left?" asked Axel in a shaky voice. Ariel was cut off as she rambled on about Yunalesca and 'thy should honor thy father and thy mother and general crap like that. She didn't used to be a Sunday School teacher for nothing, and took every opportunity to lecture them on Yevon. Now was a perfect moment, as Kairi running away was obviously not respecting her parents. But her mother never respected her, ever since she arrived on her doorstep like a delivered pizza.

"Really, dear, it's no need to panic. We've already sent the police out looking for her, and she can't have gone far with her little stubby legs. It's not like she was the best child at cross-country in PE or anything, what did her teacher always say, she couldn't run for more than five minutes without collapsing-"

Axel let Ariel's hateful voice wash over him in a sea of abuse.

If Kairi didn't want to stay with Ariel, she wouldn't stay with Ariel. She was stubborn like that, and it wasn't like it was the middle ages. In the twenty-first century they had a little thing called public transportation. Kairi could be on a bus half-way to Atlantica by now.

"And who would want to kidnap Kairi? It's not like she's anything sp- Naminé, put that down honey, no, put it down. I SAID PUT IT DOWN!" roared Ariel, something that sounded like breaking crockery playing in the background.

That was the final straw.

Ariel wasn't going to do anything about Kairi.

Axel slammed the phone down, fingers shaking uncontrollably.

"Axel? What's wrong?" Demyx tried again, waving his cup of orange juice around as he spoke.

"K-Kairi... She ran away..."

Silence over-took the kitchen for a few seconds. Well, it wasn't really silent, Axel's breathing shaky as he attempted to get his lungs under control and failing miserably. Axel did love his sister, after all, even though he had memories and photographs of him slyly pinching her when she was little and stealing her toys.

"Oh my God."

Demyx's previous actions (a.k.a the waving around of a cup brim-full of Tropicana) became more violent, as orange juice flew through the air and landed on the microwave. The microwave made a strange hissing noise like a cat and it started to spark ominously, but Axel was past caring. He simply made a mental notation never to warm bacon up in the microwave again in case it ended in death and also never to tell Cloud of this.

Axel could see the headlines now.

The great soldier Cloud Strife finally meets his match against faulty microwave and bacon.

What jolly jipes.

If jipes is even a word, which Axel highly doubted it was.

Demyx had fallen against the counter, the now empty cup rolling away under the fridge, having been dropped on the floor a few seconds ago.

This made Axel mad.

Why was Demyx, Demyx of all people, seemingly more worried than he himself was? What right did Demyx have to fuss over his little sister. Yeah, Kairi was Axel's little sister and if anybody was going to be sat front-row at her funeral on those uncomfy seats bawling their brains out it was Axel. Not Demyx – this was a family matter and he had nothing to do with it! Unless he wanted to play a piece on his sitar in loving memory of Kairi Strife or something, as Axel took piano lessons once and sent his instructor running out of the room tearing out his hair in despair. Later he was asked very kindly never to come back again as the elderly instructor's ears could only handle so much crap before he turned completely deaf.

"What right do you have to cry over it?" asked Axel bitterly, eyes narrowed.

"I have plenty of reasons-"

"You're so damned over-protective of Kairi and I'm sick of it! It'd be okay if you were like a normal friend who tried to sympathize and hand out chocolate biscuits so I could eat away my troubles and get fat and just be there if I wanted to cry to somebody! NORMAL friends don't cry along with them and be even more emo than the situation calls for! It's embarrassing watching you cry over Kairi! You have no right, SHE'S NOT YOUR SISTER!"

Axel's fists were clenched at his sides, and he looked a little scary.

Demyx backed away from Axel, fire seeming to light in his eyes, and wondered if the red-head had his lighter on him and if he should run for it.

"So what are these 'plenty of reasons' you have?"

"My sister."

"You don't have a sister," said Axel scornfully. "You don't know what it's like to be worried sick over them... You don't know..."

"I don't have a sister. Not anymore... I have a tombstone somewhere as a reminder, and I don't even have that anymore because some vandals probably smashed it all up so it's just a pile of rubble now! You don't know what it's like having a sister who is really dead! You obviously don't remember, when I told you – ages ago, we were about six – and cried for ages. I didn't want the same thing to happen to you because you're my friend, and I didn't ever want you to have to worry about Kairi or sit there in a church while some vicar who doesn't even know her preaches on about how good and wonderful she was, probably getting her name wrong several times in the process, all the while checking his watch as if he can't wait for it to end! The last true memory you'll have of being with your sister, even if she is closed up in a coffin, and some old guy checks his watch through the whole fucking thing and doesn't care one iota about you! I didn't want you to have to go through that!"

Memories flooded through Axel's head, of Demyx crying, actually crying, when he used to be so happy. Memories were scary things, and these were probably the scariest flash-backs Axel had ever had.

How could he have been so heartless and insensitive to have forgotten about Rikku?

Little Rikku.

Little Kairi.

Axel didn't want to sit through any of the events Demyx described, didn't want another grave-stone as the only thing left to remind him of Kairi that vandals would probably destroy for a bit of fun. He didn't want a pile of rubble as the Kairi's final resting place under some dying apple-tree, completely devoid of flowery bouquets because Cloud and Ariel couldn't be bothered to say goodbye to her. Axel didn't want that at all.

First little Rikku, then little Kairi, and Naminé probably wasn't that close behind.

Ariel wasn't a very responsible mother.

The cemetery was crowded enough as it was, thank you very much.

"I-I'm sorry, Dem... I forgot..."

"Everybody forgets. I forget things about her day by day, like what colour eyes she had and her face shape and her hair. I don't want Kairi to become a tombstone and a photograph to you."

"Oh, Demyx."

"I'm sorry for caring."

Axel smiled softly at his rather gormless-looking friend.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I'm going to make sure she's alright. I'm going to find her myself."

.X.o.X.

Roxas gulped down another glass of orange juice before turning to his brother.

"Now, Sora, I'm not meant to speak to you, but seriously tell me what was so interesting and amazing about that... that girl... erm... what was her name... erm..." Sora lifted his head from looking outside the window, and blinked his large blue eyes. Although, nowadays they were usually red from crying too much.

"Kairi. Her name was Kairi, and she wasn't 'interesting' and 'amazing', she was the only thing I had..." Roxas groaned, ready for a great long ramble from Sora about how much Kairi meant to him and how much he missed her, and how much he resented all those years he hated her... and crap like that... But it didn't come.

When Roxas looked back, Sora wasn't there. Instead the other was at the door, to answer it. Without Roxas realising, the doorbell had rung. When Sora opened the door, a flurry of what seemed to be dancing flames, appeared, hovering on the doorstep. It grabbed Sora by the wrist and into a car. Roxas shrugged.

"Bye Sora!" he called after him.

.X.x.X.

A/N: -LE GASPE- What a train of plot-twisting revelations... and stuff...

WE HAVE LOTS MORE PLANNED FOR NEXT TIME'S INSTALLATION OF -cheesy music plays- CHIIIIIIIPS!!

I'm pretty sure Skitts wrote some of this... /ponders non-existant bread/

Yes, bread.

Anyways... You likey?

Or no likey?

Cuz I dunno...