Chapter Nine

"Welcome to the Takahashi household!" Sora waved his hands dramatically, doing jazz hands. Kairi laughed and took off her shoes. The house was even bigger on the inside. Between the high ceilings, winding staircase, and flat screen TV, Kairi felt like she was in a mansion. Sora's mother stepped out of the kitchen.
"Mom, this is Kairi Hiyashi, the girl who's going to help with my grade."
His mom was a neat person, with an ironed skirt and blouse, and her hair was tied neatly in a simple bun.
"It's nice to meet you." Kairi said politely. His mom smiled warmly at her.
"You too, and thanks for offering to teach him some things, I'm worried about his marks in English."
"Don't worry, I'll be sure he makes the grade." Kairi grinned at Sora, and he smiled back.
"I'm glad to hear it. You two behave, alright?" His mom winked, Sora groaned, and Kairi blushed.
"Mo-om, I told you already, it's not like that." He shook his head and sighed.

A young woman with bright blue hair walked in the room.
"Good luck trying to teach him anything." She snorted.
"Aqua, be nice." Her mother scolded.
"It's ok mom, she's just mad because I ate the last Pocky." Sora grinned.
What? You did? You little brat, I'm going to kill you!" Aqua growled.
"Children, we have a guest in the house, save the bickering for later."
"Don't worry about it, Mrs. Takahashi, it's way worse at my house." Kairi grinned.
"C'mon, Kairi, my room's up here." Sora started up the long staircase, and Kairi followed.
"I know I said this before, but you're house is amazing!"
"Thanks. My room isn't much though." He said, opening the second door on to the right. Inside was an enormous room with a king sized bed and a large window leading to a balcony. The walls and carpet were a creamy white, and on the other wall there was a walk in closet and a keyboard.

"Not much? This is as big as my living room!" Kairi gasped. Sora shrugged modestly.
"If you say so. I don't have a desk, so we can sit over here." Sora sat on his bed, books open, and gestured her to sit down.
It was as comfy as it looked. For a brief moment she wondered if she would ever get to sleep in it, then shook that thought out of her head.
"Okay. What do you want to start with?" Kairi asked.
"Teach me how to write better."
"Well, you can't teach someone to be a better writer, but I can show you some tips." She started off with the basics, and Sora got that quickly. Then she told him to write about things that inspired him.
"What do you like to talk about? What are you're interests?" She urged.
"Well, I like sports, but I don't talk about them. I play the piano, but there's not much to write about there." Sora sighed.
"Yes there is. Why don't you play something for me?"
"Ok, but I don't see how this is going to make me a better writer."

He walked over to the keyboard and sat down.
"What do you want me to play?" He asked.
"I want you to play whatever makes you feel really happy whenever you play it."
Sora played some chords, then began a soft melody. It sounded sad at first, then the tempo sped up to sound angry, and finally, the finale was happy.
'Wow, he's incredible.' Kairi thought.
After it was finished Kairi clapped.
"Ok, what are you feeling right now? Don't tell me, write it down. It can be a sentence, a paragraph, a poem, whatever makes you feel comfortable." Sora took a piece of paper and began to scribble furiously.
His mom walked in with a plate of cookies.
"Oh good, you're working him hard. I brought you guys a snack." She smiled. It seemed as though Sora got his cheerfulness from her, seeing how Aqua wasn't very happy.
"Thanks Mrs. Takahashi." Kairi said as she set the plate down.
"Please, call me Jillian."
"Ok, thanks Jillian."
"Not a problem. Thank you for helping Sora."
Then she closed the door with a soft click.

"Done!" Sora cried, dropping his pen to the floor.
"Alright, let's see what you came up with." She took the piece of paper and read what he had written. He had written a short story about a bunny who was trying to find his place in the world after his parents were kidnapped by hunters. In the end, he ended up finding them, but they were dead in a cage.
"And you say you can't write. That was awesome, you're going to make me cry." Kairi said, wiping her eyes.
Sora shrugged. "Thanks. Now I think that's enough English for now. Time for math!"he grinned. Kairi groaned.
"But I'm absolutely stupid when it comes to math."
"Aw, that's why I'm gonna teach you. Besides, you don't think that writing wasn't embarrassing for me? I thought it sounded dumb."
"Yeah, but I'm actually stupid." Kairi sighed, taking out her textbook.
"But you're really smart. Don't put yourself down like that." Sora took her hand and squeezed it. Kairi blushed.
"O-Ok."

Sora went over the basics in Trigonometry, which Kairi didn't get. He was really patient and tried to explain as best as he could, but she still didn't get it.
"I am really retarded. I tried to tell you Sora." Kairi was blinking back tears. She felt so stupid, and it wasn't helping that she was about to cry.
"It's alright. Sometimes you don't quite get it at first, but as soon as you do, you'll get everything." Two hours had passed, and Kairi had to leave.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Sora's mother asked.
"I'd love to, but I told my mom I'd be back by 6:00 and if I'm not she'll freak out at me."
"It's alright, Sora chews with his mouth open anyway, so you wouldn't really enjoy it." Aqua grinned. Sora punched her in the arm.
"Shut up Aqua. You're just jealous because I'm actually going to my school dance and you didn't." Aqua growled and grabbed his shirt collar with one hand, her other hand clenched in a fist.
"You take that back or I'll break your face."
Their mom intervened before anyone was hurt.
"Really Aqua, all I ask is to behave with your brother when we have civilized people over. And Sora, can you not say things that upset your sister for at least a few hours?" Aqua released her grip and Sora adjusted his shirt.

"I'm sorry Kairi. My children can't behave themselves when they're in the same room together."
"Like I said, no worries. My family is worse."
"Highly doubtful, but I appreciate your tolerance."
"If you want, I can drive you home." Sora offered.
"You don't have to..."
"Please, anything to get out of the house." He gestured towards Aqua, now in the kitchen nibbling on a carrot stick and glaring at him.
"Alright then. Thanks again Mrs. Takahashi." Kairi waved.
"Not a bit of it dear. Come back anytime."

"Wow, you and you're sister are really distant." Kairi said once they were out of the house.
"Yeah." Sora sighed as he started the car.
"I don't know what happened. When we were little we were really close, but once we got a bit older things changed."
"That's sad. She seems really nice when she's not threatening you violently." Kairi mused.
"I think everything kind of escalated when my dad died a few years back. It kind of set her off."
Kairi gasped. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry." She said, impulsively taking his hand that wasn't steering.
"Why are you sorry? You didn't kill him." Sora took a deep breath.
"I was only 14, Aqua was 18. We were sitting at home, waiting for him to come home one night. He never did. We were told an accident had happened at the site he was working at. When it happened, Mom cried, I Aqua shut herself in her room for days, and I didn't talk for a month. It was horrible."

He stopped the car, now in front of Kairi's house.
"When we finally adjusted, it wasn't the same. Aqua went off to college, but she couldn't make any friends, so after a year she came back home. Since our uncle is providing for us, it wasn't a burden on my mother at all. She was way more sensitive, since her and Dad were really close, I think it affected her a lot." Sora helped Kairi out of the car.
"Wow, that's... I mean... I didn't know." Kairi stuttered.
"That's ok. You had no idea of knowing. Usually when someone's parents die they go all depressed and wear black all the time. I got through it because I had my mom and Riku. None of my other friends really cared, but he was always really supportive of me."
"I wish I could've been there." Kairi whispered.
"It's ok, at least you know now."
"If it makes you feel any better, my dad died six years ago because he was addicted to crystal meth."
"Oh, that sounds really bad. Sorry." Kairi shrugged.
"He was a bastard anyway."
Sora ran his fingers through his hair.
"Well, I guess we've both had our history of family trauma."
"Yeah, I'd say so. By the way, that song you played: what was it?"

"I don't know. You said to play whatever made me feel happy, and making things up make me happy."
Kairi's jaw dropped.
"You made that up? But it was amazing! It sounded like some famous pianist composed it."
"Nah, it was just made up by an average person."
"Sora, as much as you hate to admit it, you're not average." Sora looked startled for a moment.
"What do you mean...?"
"You're popular, of course. "
Sora looked relieved. "Oh yeah, of course. P-Popularity."
Kairi was confused. Wasn't she the only one who stuttered? Why was Sora acting like this?
"Well, I don't want to keep my mom waiting."
"Understandable. Thanks for coming over Kairi."
"No problem. You're alright coming over here tomorrow?"
"Yeah, it should be interesting, what with all you've told me about your mother." Sora grinned. Kairi sighed.
"Interesting for you, at least."