Holidays

By: Kioko the pirate

Chapter 10: The Final Day

That day had finally come, the day one tiny ohana would lose a member and yet the day came like any other. Nothing seemed any different, only an air of inevitability changed the mood around the pelekai household. Every one had gotten up early, despite their late night party, in order to get things ready for the evening when they would say good bye to Kioko. The only one who wasn't yet awake and down stairs was Lilo, who still lay buried under her floral print sheets.

But her slumber was soon interrupted as the warm rays of the tropical sun shone in through her window, reflected off of her mirror and landed upon her face. The teenage girl cringed as the light penetrated her eyelids and hurt her eyes. She gave a tired grown as she rolled over onto her front and rested her face in her pillow. But this quickly turned out to be a bad idea as her air quickly ran out, causing the girl to roll back on to her back while gasping for breathe. She soon gave up on the fight for more sleep and slowly sat up, rubbing her tired eyes and carefully opening them a little.

The light hurt her eyes but not as much as her head, the girl quickly placed her hands on the sides of her head as a throbbing pain sat stubbornly in her mind. The night before she had snuck a glass of champagne behind Nani's back and now her throbbing head and painful moans were evidence that she had no Alcohol tolerance what so ever. She turned and hung her legs over the edge of the bed, her feet partially touching the floor. She continued to hold onto her head as she scooted toward the edge and carefully got to her feet.

"Ugh my head, how can they all drink that stuff and still get up in the morning?" groaned Lilo as she stumbled toward her mirror. She reached the mirror and slammed her hands down on the table in front of it as she glared at her reflection. " I look like the living dead." groaned Lilo as she stared at her pale skin and blood shot eyes.

The girl turned and began shuffling toward her closet, pulling her pale blue night gown up over her head and tossing it aside with no concern that some one could walk in to check on her. She got a pair of blue jean shorts and a red tank top on, as quickly as she could, put them on. She stepped out of her closet and made her way toward her door. Even the slight clicking of the handle made her head hurt more, making her cringe as she slowly pulled the door open and stepped out. She turned and made her way to the bathroom, where she popped a few Tylenol before continuing toward the stairs.

As she began down the stairs the sounds of the activity below made her head throb continuously. Nani was shouting at Jumba for some reason, the kids were talking loudly in the kitchen, Pleakly had his exercise video playing on the TV and Stitch and Angel could be heard shouting at each other over the sound of a vacuum cleaner in one of the rooms. All of this, mixed with the creaking of the stairs made Lilo want to rip her head off, or at least her ears. Lilo finally made it to the bottom and crept in to the Kitchen for a cup of coffee. As she walked over to a cupboard for a mug she noticed the kids standing on the chairs around the table working on a large card.

"What are you three up too?" asked Lilo as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"We're making a card for Uncle Kioko." answered Kina without even looking up.

"It's a little going away present." blurted Ashley as she grabbed a red crayon out of a tin sitting nearby.

"Are you going to give him anything, aunt Lilo?" asked Oki as he looked toward her.

Lilo gave a small huff as she turned away. "I already gave him my going away present." mumbled Lilo to herself, remembering her hand slapping him across the face.

With that Lilo walked into the living room where Pleakly was doing his aerobics. The girl looked upon him like he was an idiot as he nearly tied himself in a knot, trying to imitate the movements of the instructor. Lilo rolled her eyes as she made her way over to the couch, flopping down into its cushions and nearly spilling her coffee on herself. "And just what do you think you're doing, Pleakly?" asked Lilo after taking a sip of coffee.

"I've decided to start a yearly Holiday… exercise routine. I've heard it said that most people put on a few extra pounds during the holiday season… so… I'm burning off a few of the pounds I've put on as quickly as possible." explained Pleakly as he stretched and contorted himself into all different shapes.

"You put on a few pounds? How can any one even tell?" grumbled Lilo as she took another sip of coffee. The pain killers weren't having much affect on her pounding head ache.

"Well some one's in a grumpy mood this morning." replied Pleakly as he bent himself backward to look at her. "What's the matter?"

Lilo gave him a glare out of the corner of her eye. "Let's just say it's something I'll never do again."

Pleakly just gave a confused look and returned to his exercising but right as he did there was a loud explosion. Lilo and Pleakly both looked over to the door way leading to the hallway, a cloud of grey dust was settling to the ground. A moment later Angel came storming into the living room, covered in grey dust and dust bunnies. Stitch was following right behind her, with an innocent grin plastered on his face.

"Heh, I'm sorry Angel, Buchi-boo, it was an accident." pleaded Stitch as Angel stopped, turned and glared at the blue experiment.

"Accident? You were the one trying to vacuum the drapes!" shouted Angel.

Stitch's ears dropped down to his shoulders as he lowered his head timidly. "Well I didn't know they would…" started Stitch as he pressed his finger tips together.

"They wouldn't what Stitch? Get stuck in the vacuum and cause the thing to get blocked up and finally explode?" continued Angel as she threw her arms in the air, causing dust to fall off of her shoulders.

Stitch just looked up at her with big puppy dog eyes, still fiddling with his fingers. "Yes." blurted Stitch quietly.

A blank stare fell over the female experiments face as her arms dropped down to her sides as well as her ears. She rested her paw on her forehead and slowly dragged it down her face. "Stitch…" started Angel with a sigh. "I love you and I've come to expect these sorts of things from you. But I've already cleaned myself up once today and if you think I'm going to do it again… with out taking you down with me… you're nuts." grinned Angel evilly.

"What?" chirped Stitch as a confused look came over his face. Angel smiled and placed her paw on top of his head, with a quick motion she messed up the fur a top his head and left a dusty paw print on his forehead.

"Now come here and give me a hug, big boy." smiled Angel as she opened her arms wide.

Stitch instantly gave a yell, turned and ran back into the hall, followed soon after by Angel. Lilo held her head in pain, the experiments yelling was like a spike being driven through her head. As she rubbed her temples and slowly took another sip of coffee she was unaware of her older sister walking into the room. Nani immediately looked over at her sister and watched with growing suspicion as the young girl rested her head on the back of the couch. The older girl walked over in front of Lilo and stood ther, waiting for her sister to notice her. After a few moments Lilo finally opened her eyes and looked up at Nani.

"What's wrong with you this morning, Lilo?" asked Nani caringly, trying to hide her suspicion about her sisters condition.

Lilo gave a groan and closed her eyes again. "I've just got a huge headache that's all."

Nani folded her arms over her chest and gave a slow nod. "I see that you made yourself a cup of coffee. I was under the impression you hated that stuff?"

"Well I heard it helps clear up these kind of headaches." groaned Lilo as she took another sip.

Nani raised her eye brow and popped her hip to the side. "And what causes 'these' kind of headaches?"

Lilo looked up at her sister and then shifted her gaze away for a moment. "A cold maybe?" blurted Lilo, sounding unsure of her answer.

Nani gave another nod. "A cold huh? No, I'll tell you what causes those kind of headaches, a hangover Lilo, you were sneaking drinks last night weren't you?" said Nani her voice starting to rise to a yell.

Lilo put her hand on her head again as a pained expression rolled over her face. "Please Nani, no yelling, it hurts my head."

"Plus, Nani, I can't hear my video." blurted Pleakly as he stepped up next to Nani.

The older Hawaiian girl shot the noodly alien a cold look and then pointed to the kitchen. "Go help the kids make their card, Pleakly. I need to talk with Lilo alone."

Not wanting the girls wrath directed at him Pleakly obeyed and headed for the kitchen. Her eyes once again fell upon Lilo, who was glaring up at her with her own icy glare. "How many glasses did you have, Lilo?" asked Nani, her tone serious and strict.

"Only one." mumbled Lilo as she looked away.

"Are you lying to me?"

"No I'm not. I only had one." said Lilo, raising her voice slightly.

"Lilo." said Nani accusingly.

"I'm telling the truth, I only had one!" yelled Lilo wincing at the pain her own yelling was causing.

"Well then why did you do it, Lilo? You know you're not old enough to drink yet!" yelled Nani.

"I did it because I needed it!" replied Lilo leaning forward in her seat.

Nani clenched her teeth as her hand s fell upon her hips. "No one ever 'needs' Alcohol, Lilo!"

"Well I did!"

"And why is that?"

Lilo's angered expression faded away as she dropped her head. "I just needed it… that's all. I just wanted to get rid of some things in my head, but it's obvious to me that it didn't work. Because their still there."

Nani's own angered expression dropped to that of a concerned one as she watched her sister slowly get to her feet with her head still hung low. The girl turned and walked off toward her room, the cup of coffee still in her hand. "Lilo, what are you talking about?" called Nani as Lilo began to enter the hall.

Lilo stopped for a moment. "I'll tell you all later." mumbled Lilo before disappearing into the hall.

Nani was left with a concerned and dumbfounded look on her face. It wasn't just Lilo's hangover and stealing of alcohol that caught her off guard, something had changed within her sister. Her attitude had changed so drastically and she knew it wasn't just the throbbing headache she had that was the cause. Was it the fact that Kioko was leaving, she didn't know, but something had happened that made her sister suddenly revert to her old personality. The one she had right after their parent's deaths, the one that Nani had hoped was gone for good.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, the final packing was being done by Kioko as he gathered up the very last things he had. His ship sat in front of his home, cloaked just to play it safe, and ready to take flight. The last of Kioko's kitchen ware was packed in boxes along with stuff from his living room and set near the front door. The pirate was now gathering the last of his things from his bed room, the sheets from his bed were folded and put in boxes along with an alarm clock, a blaster pistol built from scratch and crumpled, wrinkled pieces of assorted papers.

Kioko gave a tired sigh as he knelt down in front of his nightstand. He reached over and pulled an empty box next to him and then began going through the drawers. He gave a slightly disgusted sigh as he found the top drawer filled with papers, receipts, bills and other things. He could have sworn that he had placed everything in piles with in the drawer, but now it looked like a bomb exploded.

"Who ever said 'Pirates are packrats' was right." laughed Kioko as he began pulling papers out and placing them in the box next to him. But as he pulled a small stack of papers out of the drawer his eyes fell upon a small picture frame that was turned over. A serious look came over his face as he reached into the drawer and pulled out the frame. He flipped it over to reveal a picture of him and Angel. A slightly saddened look replaced his serious one as he looked upon the picture. He was rolling his eyes with a wide smirk on his face while Angel had her arm wrapped around his neck, her cheek pressed against his and a big toothy grin upon her face.

Kioko quickly forgot about the other papers, he slowly stood up and sat down on the edge of his bed. A ton of memories came flashing into his head as he stared at the pink experiments face. Some were good, some were amazing and some weren't the best. The night that the picture had been taken was the clearest memory out of all of them. It was shortly after Angel had completed her first lessons on how to control and suppress the dark scar that dwelt within her. He had thought it deserving of a celebration and a special one at that. It would be just them, since they were the only two who knew about her problem it made sense, plus it would give them a chance to get to know each other a bit better.

To avoid any suspicion Angel had faked the symptoms that she usually had when the scar acted up and then snuck off to Kioko's house. He had scolded her later after finding out what she had done, explaining to her that the scar was not something to faked. But despite that the two of them had gone on with their celebration. The two of them had gone to see a movie and had played a round of miniature golf; afterwards he had taken her to dinner. She had made the comment that their "celebration" seemed more like a date, which had given them both a good laugh. Both of them knew it wasn't meant to be like a date but given the things they had done it seemed like one.

Kioko gave a sad sigh threw his nose as he ran his thumb gently over the picture. "If there were any one reason why leaving this planet is the best decision… it's because of you. Me being here puts your life at far too much a risk for me to take. I'd do anything to protect you… no matter what the cost is to my own life. Because in my eyes," Kioko gave a small laugh. "Your life is far more valuable then my own."

The pirate slowly got to his feet and walked over to the window, the picture still in his hands. He couldn't help but crack a small smile as he continued to stare at the picture. After all, it was more then just a picture to either of them. It was one memory that was for them to enjoy on their own, no one else in the family knew about it and so there was no chance of anyone ruining it. It was their little secret, their little treasured memory.

"I'm far too dangerous a person to get so close and attached to you, Angel. You're far too important to me; I need you to stay safe. It's just ironic that in order for that to be, I can't be around. I feel as though you are my sister, and as such it is my responsibility to protect you in any way possible." Kioko began to laugh as he looked away from the picture and out the window toward the sky. "Knowing you is like a double bladed sword. It is my duty to protect you, for you are the one keeping me in this state of mind. But at the same time, every fond memory we share together… brings me that much closer to death. You are a sweet poison, my dear Angel."

Kioko looked back down at the picture, turned and gently placed it in the box. He once again returned to pulling things from his drawers and placing them in their boxes. After a while he finished gathering everything that was left in his house and started packing everything into his ship outside. All of this had taken up what was left of the day and now the light of dusk was falling over the island. Back at the Pelekai house every one was piling into the dune buggy and Nani's jeep to head over to Kioko's. Lilo's hangover had finally faded but her attitude hadn't, she basically forced herself to get in the car. She didn't want to see Kioko again but for the sake of the kids and the rest of her family she made herself go.

Lilo buckled herself into the front passenger side seat and gave a sigh as she leaned her head back on the head rest. Nani looked over at her after turning the key and starting the jeep. Her concerned face once again appeared as she watched Lilo.

"Do you want to tell me what's bothering you know?" asked Nani as Lilo closed her eyes.

"Not right now." mumbled Lilo as she rested her elbow on the car door.

Nani's eyes narrowed as her worry grew a little larger. She knew something must have happened to make her sister like this, but what exactly escaped her completely. And to top it off, Lilo hiding what ever it was so deeply began to irritate her. The possibilities ran over and over again through her mind, constantly evaluating whether or not it was right. The whole thing was frustrating to no end.

"Nani, are we going to go or just sit here?" asked Stitch, sounding rather impatient.

"We don't want to miss Kioko. I wouldn't put it past him to just leave with out waiting for us you know." added Angel.

The experiments snapped Nani out of her thoughts and she quickly focused back on to getting under way. Giving one last glance over at her sister before starting off down the drive way.

Well that's the end of this chapter. Nothing much to say except that this was one of my shorter chapters. Anyway, please review.