Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, any movies, songs, TV shows etc. that I might use. I own Arixia and Kaiyo (Kairi's older brother).

Author's Note: First, I would like to thank all who reviewed. Secondly, I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I've been trying to come up with a way to continue my Before Kingdom Hearts Story as well as trying to change The Other Side of Light into story format. So as you can tell I'm quite busy. Anyway here is chapter 10…

Chapter 10: Thanksgiving Break

Selphie's POV:

I came back into the room after running out in tears because of what Tifa and Vie were saying. Normally I'd defend myself and snap back at them but they were really pushing my buttons this time. I just couldn't stand it. As I sat down in my seat I noticed that Tifa and Kairi were gone. I put my head down on my desk ignoring the whispers that were spreading through the classroom. I felt someone running their fingers through my hair and looked up to see Riku smiling at me.

"It's gonna be okay." he told me.

"Thanks." I smiled.

"You know why Kairi isn't here?" he asked me.

"I don't really care." I replied.

"Really? I should think you'd want to know that she was sent to the office for fighting with Tifa." he said.

"What?!" I exclaimed turning my full attention to him.

"Yeah. I came back in to hear the last part of a conversation before the fight started."

"What reason would she have to fight with Tifa?" I asked confused.

"Apparently she defended you."

"What?!" I asked again. This time unbelievingly. Riku had a serious look on his face. He wasn't going to say just kidding like I was expecting him too. "She was actually defending me?"

Riku just nodded. Kairi and Tifa came back in and sat down in their seats. I looked at Kairi and wondered why she would do something like that.I thought she hated me. Why would she start defending me now? The bell rang and she ran out of the classroom. I grabbed my stuff and ran out.

"Kairi!" I called after her. "I just wanted to say thanks. I don't know what you said when you defended me but thank you." I told her and continued running. I ran out of the school to one of the benches outside and sat down. Did I do the right thing by thanking her? What if she expected that? What if she's laughing her head off right now? No. Riku said he heard her. Riku wouldn't lie to me. If Kairi really did defend me then I don't get her. She tells me she doesn't want to be my friend anymore and harasses me for a year then starts defending me? It just doesn't make sense. I felt Riku's arms wrap around me as he sat next to me.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah. Fine." I replied.

"You look confused."

"Well… I kind of am. I don't get why Kairi would just defend me out of the blue like that." I replied as I looked down.

"I don't know. Just don't think about too much. We've got the Thanksgiving break to look forward too."

"I know. And you still have to meet my brother." I told him.

"Yeah. Right. How old is he?"

"He's twenty and he goes to college on the other side of the island."

"Does he know anything about me?" he asked.

"Well, he was home the weekend of homecoming and he saw me kiss you on the front porch."

"He did?!"

"Yeah. But don't worry. He'll love you. Anyway I need to get home. See you later, Riku." I said as kissed him, got up and started walking.

"Do you want a ride home?" He asked me.

"Sure." I smiled.

He wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked to his car. We got in and he drove to my house. I looked around the driveway and saw my brother's Red Corvette in the driveway.

"Is that your brother's car?" Riku asked excitedly when he spotted it.

"Yeah. I thought he was coming home tomorrow though." I replied.

"Nice car." Riku commented.

"Hello?! Riku! Are you listening to me?" I asked as I waved my hand in front of his face.

"Huh?" he asked as he came back.

"Right. I see how much you care about me now." I pretended to start crying and opened the door. He grabbed my arm, turned me around, and kissed me. I pulled away. "Nope, that won't work. You care more about my brother's car then you do me." I said as I turned around and tried to keep myself from laughing.

"Oh no you don't! Come here!" He laughed as he pulled me back into the car. He kissed me and we didn't pull away from each other. He slipped his tongue in my mouth and continued to make-out with me as I reached my hand around the back of his neck. He kept his hands on my waist as he pulled me into his lap. I smiled and continued to make-out with him until we heard someone clear their throat. We stopped and looked up to see a guy about six foot, long brown hair, and brown eyes standing over us with his arms crossed. My brother. I quickly moved out of Riku's lap and got out of the car smiling nervously. Riku got out on his side and came over to the other side of the car.

"This must be Riku." he stated.

"Yeah. That's me. You must be Selphie's brother Jamie." Riku replied as he extended his hand to meet my brother.

"Pleasure." he stated coolly as he shook Riku's hand. "Now why, may I ask you, were you making out with my sister in our front yard?"

"Uh…" Riku smiled nervously. "I'm just gonna… yeah… see you later, Selphie." he replied as he turned to get back in his car. My brother grabbed his arm.

"You didn't answer me."

"Jamie, C'mon. It's not like it's entirely his fault." I pleaded for him to stop.

"I know that. Don't think I won't get onto you for it later!" he scolded me.

"Jamie! Stop it! It's not like you weren't ever caught doing that!"

"Yeah, well, mom isn't even home right now! I'm the one in charge and you'll listen to me!"

"You're not dad, Jamie! Stop trying to act like him!" I cried as I felt tears roll down my cheeks. "Just because he's not here anymore doesn't mean you have to baby me!" He let go of Riku and hugged me.

"I'm sorry, Selphie. I guess I was just being overprotective. Please don't cry." He pleaded.

"Just don't get onto Riku for something like that when you just met him!"

"Okay, I'm sorry." He replied. "Won't you forgive me?" he asked. I nodded and turned to Riku. I took his arm and pulled him towards me.

"You want to stay for dinner?" I asked him.

"Uh…" he glanced at my brother. He nodded at Riku. "Sure. Just let me tell my dad."

He followed us into the house and called his dad. I was about to take him upstairs and my brother shook his head. I rolled my eyes and we stayed in the living room. My brother explained that mom went to Radiant Garden to visit my aunt who had cancer and that he was in charge. Then he left to go cook dinner. I sat on the couch with Riku for a few minutes until he broke the silence.

"You wanna practice?" he asked.

"Haven't we practiced enough lately?" I sighed.

"I didn't mean us." he replied.

"What are you talking about then?" I asked confused.

"I meant I want to hear your solo."

"No. I think you'll have to wait."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you want me to so I've decided I'm going to torment you." I smiled.

"Oh really?" he asked with a smile as he started to tickle me. I laughed and he stopped for a minute? "Are you going to torment me still?" he asked.

"Yep!" I replied with a big smile.

I leaned back on the edge of the couch laughing my head off as Riku leaned over tickling me. He eventually stopped and asked me again. When I gave him the same answer he slumped and pretended to be sad.

"Now, I'm gonna be sad." He teased me.

"Oh yeah? I know a way to cheer you up without singing." I replied with a smile.

"How's that?" he smirked.

I pulled him closer to me until we kissed. I placed my hand on the back of his neck as he wrapped his arms around me. We continued to make-out until we heard a voice.

"Oooh! Selphie has a boyfriend!" the voice yelled out. I jerked up to see my twelve year old sister.

"Talitha!" I exclaimed. She smirked. "I thought you were at your friends house."

"Nope. Mom told me to cancel since she's not here this weekend. Does she know you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes mom knows! Do you think I'm stupid?!"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" she teased.

"GET OUT!" I yelled at her.

"Thisis the living room you know."

"And I said get out! Go to your room or something!"

"What's going on in here?" Jamie asked as he entered the room.

"Selphie wants me to get out so I don't see her and her boyfriend making out." Talitha replied.

"Selphie, you know that if you were there's not much I can do about it."

"I know." I replied.

"Well Talitha does have the right to come in the living room."

"Whatever." I replied as I rolled my eyes and sat back down with Riku. Jamie went back to the kitchen and Talitha left saying she was going to the beach. "Sorry. My sis—"

"I know. I have a younger sister too." Riku interrupted.

Riku's POV:

Selphie went up to her room and brought her game system downstairs. We played Guitar Hero until dinner was ready. We ate dinner and went back to our Guitar Hero tournament. She had just beaten me and we were now at a tie game. We were about to start a new song to be our tiebreaker and my phone vibrated in my back pocket. I looked to see Sora calling me. I told Selphie to hang on a minute and answered.

"Hey man. What's up?" I asked.

"I've got some bad news." he replied on the other line.

"What is it?"

"Kairi's in the hospital."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "Is she okay?! What happened?!" Sora explained to me what had happened with Kría missing and Kairi getting stabbed. I stood in shock listening. Kairi just got stabbed? How could this be? "Please tell me she's okay." I replied.

"Yeah. She's uh…"

"Sora. Is she or isn't she?"

"Well she's alive."

"I'm on my way." I replied as I hung up and turned to Selphie. "Sorry, babe. I gotta go."

"What happened? Who were you talking about?" she asked.

"It's nothing."

"Don't tell me it's nothing!"

I explained and she sank to the couch in shock. She immediately started to cry. I sat down next to her and wrapped my arms around her.

"I'm gonna go see her in the hospital, okay? I know she's not exactly your friend but she's still my friend and I hope you won't be mad at me for—"

"I want to go too." she interrupted me.

"What?"

"I want to go too. Take me with you." She replied as she turned to me.

"Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded. "Okay."

Selphie's POV:

I told Jamie I was leaving and Riku drove to the hospital. Is she okay? Riku didn't give me a lot of details. I feel really bad about this. Why do I feel so bad? All Riku told me was that she was stabbed. Even though she isn't exactly my friend I still care about her. I mean she used to be one of my best friends. Why'd it have to be her? I started to cry again as I had thoughts running through my head. Riku pulled into the hospital parking lot and looked over at me.

"Selphie, you don't have to go in if you don't want to." He told me.

"No. I want to." I replied as I wiped my tears and got out of the car.

We walked into her room to find her sleeping. She was on a hospital bed wrapped up like a mummy. I couldn't stand to see her like this. I burst into tears and ran out of the room. As I ran out I collided with someone. I looked up to see Sora.

"Hey, Selphie. Are you here to see Kairi?" he asked confused.

"Yeah. Please don't tell her I was here." I replied as I took off running again. I ran to Riku's car and got in. I laid down in the car and continued to cry. What if this is my fault? What if it's karma? Even though I thanked her for sticking up for me I was still a little rude. What if this is a way of showing me its not good to be rude to people? But then wouldn't Kairi have had something happen when she dropped me? Or maybe this is her punishment for that? Oh no! Even if she is my enemy I don't want her to die! Please god! She's too good a person! Why her?! First my dad and now Kairi?! Why are you doing this to me?! Are you going to take everyone precious to me?! Please don't do this!! As I was crying I realized someone got in the car. At first I withdrew from them into myself until I felt Riku's gentle touch running his fingers through my hair. I relaxed a little and threw myself into him. I hugged him tightly as he embraced me back.

"Why…did it… have to be…Kairi?" I asked between tears.

"I can't answer that, Selphie." he replied as he continued to comfort me.

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It had been almost a week since Kairi was stabbed. I couldn't stop thinking about it. If she's not my friend anymore then why do I care for her so much? I didn't even know the whole story until just yesterday. Riku finally told me everything. How Kairi's brother, Kaiyo was hurt as well, what happened with Sora's sister, Kría being involved, and who did it. Tifa. I cried myself to sleep last night thinking that it was my fault. If I had just listened to Tifa then Kairi never would've been in this predicament. I spoke to Naminé last night as well and Kairi and Kaiyo are fine now. Kairi came home on Monday and she was good as new but I still felt like it was my fault. Of course my friends tried to talk me out of that but I couldn't help it. Anyway I had to try and get those thoughts out of my head. Today is Thanksgiving day! My brother went to his girlfriend's from college, my sister is going to a friend's house, and I'm going to Riku's because my mom is still in Radiant Garden visiting my aunt. Today is the first time that I'm even going to meet his family. I looked at the clock to see that it was 2:30. Riku was going to be here any minute and I wanted to look my best but not too formal. I put on my orange dress with white flowers on it and went to the bathroom to do my make-up. As I was putting on my eyeliner the doorbell rang.

"Selphie! You're boyfriend's here!" I heard Talitha call up to me.

"I'll be down in a minute!" I called back. As I finished I looked in the mirror for a second and turned around. Riku was standing at the door.

"Why do girls always have to spend hours getting ready?" he asked.

"Because we want to look our best." I replied.

He just rolled his eyes as I grabbed my purse and we started to walk out to his car. I noticed Talitha on the couch watching TV.

"Talitha, where's your friend?"

"She said I'll be coming over later."

"Really? And how are you getting there?" I asked skeptically.

"She said her brother is bringing her to pick me up." she replied.

"I can't leave you here alone." I stated.

"I'm almost thirteen! I'll be fine." She tried to reason. I turned to Riku.

"Riku, I can't leave her here alone. My mom would kill me."

"I understand." he replied.

"Did you just say Riku?!" Talitha asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"As in Riku Aiawa?" We nodded confused. "Amé is my friend. She said her brother is picking me up." I turned my look to Riku. He was just as shocked as I was.

"No one ever told me that." He replied. He took his phone from his back pocket, answered it, talked for a couple minutes and hung up. "That's really nice. I just now found out about this. My sister just called me and told me about it." he replied sarcastically.

Talitha came out to the car with us and we drove to Riku's house with Talitha in my lap since Riku's car is only a two-seater. Luckily we weren't pulled over in the ten minutes it took to get there. Talitha jumped out and ran up to greet Amé. I sat in the car looking at Riku's place. It was a lot bigger than mine. I felt a little out of place. He lives in the rich part of the neighborhood.

"Are you nervous?" he asked. I nodded guiltily. "Don't be. They'll love you." He smiled as he gently turned me to face him and kissed me.

We got out of the car and he led me up to the house. I could've fainted when I saw the inside. His house is enormous compared to mine! We walked into a hallway that led to a large living room. To the right were the stairs, to the left I could see a huge kitchen. As he gave me a tour I learned a guest bedroom and a bathroom were on the other side of the stairs, the formal dining room was just past the kitchen. He led me upstairs where there was the master bedroom two bathrooms, his room, his sister's room, two other bedrooms, and a game room that seemed even bigger than the living room downstairs. My eyes widened as we walked into the game room. There were two big screen TVs, every game system imaginable, a pool table, and a fool's ball table, with a big card table in the middle. Everything in his house was so fascinating. No wander Talitha's never home much. She's always over here. Then he took me to meet his parents.

"Your eyes got pretty big. Is my house really that amazing?" he laughed as we were walking down the stairs.

"It's just so big compared to mine. I mean it's like you have everything." I replied as I blushed.

"Well I don't know about that." He replied as we walked in the kitchen.

"Hello. You must be Riku's girlfriend. Selphie right?" a woman with dark hair and purple eyes greeted me. I nodded as I shook her hand. "I'm Riku's mother, Emi."

"Step-mother." Riku corrected.

"Don't be so rude, Riku." a voice said. I looked to see it belonged to a tall middle-aged man that looked almost exactly like Riku.

"Hello, Selphie. I'm Kitai, Riku's father." I smiled and shook his hand as well. "Welcome to our home." He greeted.

"Thank you." I replied. He turned to Riku.

"And you do know the rules about girlfriends?"

"Yes, dad. I know." He replied as he rolled his eyes and took my by the arm to leave for the upstairs game room.

"Do you not like her?" I asked.

"Who?"

"You're step mom."

"I don't know. It's just that she acts like she owns me. I only put up with her because she makes my dad happy. I refuse to call her mom, because when my dad first started dating her it was like my mom never existed. Amé was happier than I was about it. Of course she was only nine so it doesn't affect her as much. She was too young."

"Oh. My mom hasn't met anyone since my dad. Although it was only five months ago that he passed away. I really miss him. Thanksgiving and Christmas were his favorite times of the year."

"I really miss my mom too."

"How do you deal with it?" I asked him as my eyes began to water.

"Well… I guess I just remember the time I did have with her and the things she enjoyed. Like the fact that she loved thunderstorms. So now every time there's a thunderstorm I sit outside to watch it and remember her. My dad called her Arashi because she loved them so much. What's funny is that her first name was Ara and her middle name was Shika so if you take off the 'ka' part it was her name anyway." (A/N: If you didn't know Arashi means storm in Japanese.)

I smiled. "I see. I can understand that. It's just really hard for me right now because it wasn't that long ago. He promised me he'd always be there for me and he's not." I tried not to start crying again. Riku came up to me and hugged me close. I felt tears run down my cheeks.

"He is still here for you. As long as you remember him he'll always be in your heart. My mom told me that before she left." He tried to cheer me up as we sat down on a couch. "Do you mind me asking how he died? You never told me that."

"No, I don't mind." I replied as I sat up and wiped my tears. "He died on the job."

"What did he do?"

"Remember the thing about the Chief of Police dying? It was all over the news and everything." He nodded. "That was my dad."

"Oh, Selphie, I'm so sorry."

"He was on a call and he turned his back at the wrong time. He didn't think the guy was armed."

"If I'd known you then I would've been there for you."

"Thanks." I replied as I wiped my tears again.

"Riku! Come eat!" We heard a voice call up the stairs.

"Coming!" Riku called.

We walked into the dining room to eat. It looked like they had everything you could possibly eat. We sat down and talked while we ate. It was funny seeing Riku's dad tease him about having a girlfriend. He reminded me a lot of my dad in a way. He started telling me embarrassing stories about when Riku was a child. As his dad was telling me I looked over at Riku and saw him blushing, which made me laugh even more. After a while his step mom brought in desert. There was pumpkin, pecan, butterscotch, apple and cherry. I helped myself to a piece of pumpkin. (A/N: I really do love pumpkin pie. It's my favorite) When we had finished desert I offered to help with the dishes but Emi insisted that I let her do it. Riku took me up to the game room again and decided to play a game of guitar hero since we never got to play our tiebreaker last Friday. He told me we both had to be on the same level. I agreed and he picked hard. At least he picked a song I could play on hard.

"I won!! I won!! I beat you at Guitar Hero!" I teased him.

"Yeah okay. Today you did." He replied.

"Are you embarrassed that you were beat by a girl?" I teased.

"No." he replied. "Because I have something better."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You'll have to find out some other time." he replied with a smirk.

"That's not fair! You tease me about it and you don't even tell me?! How dare you!" I pretended to look angry and pushed him to the couch. I turned around about to walk off. He grabbed me at the waist and sat me next to him.

"And where do you think you're going?" he asked teasingly.

"Away from you." I replied smiling.

"Really? You want to get away from me that bad?" he asked as he left a trail of soft kisses starting from my collarbone and ending at my lips. He pulled away.

"No." I replied softly as I pulled him back into another kiss. We were so pre-occupied we didn't even hear someone come in.

"Eww!" we heard two voices. We stopped and looked up to see Amé and Talitha.

"If you don't like to see it then don't bother us." Riku replied.

"This is the game room, Riku. And besides you know the rules about girlfriends." Amé replied back.

"Yeah, and I'm not in my room am I? You want me to tell dad about your little incident with Erik the other day?"

"Okay. Fine. I'll shut up. Just don't tell dad about that please."

"You don't tell, I don't tell. Deal?" he asked her.

"Deal." She agreed as they left.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"I got her and her boyfriend making out in her room yesterday when my dad and Emi were gone." He answered.

"You're so bad. You know that's blackmail in a way right?" I teased.

"What are you gonna tell on me now?"

"No, of course not. It's actually kinds sexy." I answered as I kissed him again.

Did I really just say that? Ever since I've started dating him I've become more outspoken. Is that a good thing? He is the one that said you'll meet new people and that high school will change your life. I'm glad I can spend my time in high school with him. Besides Arixia and Naminé he's become my best friend. I feel like I can tell him anything. How could I feel this strongly though? We've only been together a month! Is this what love feels like? I'm in love?

Author's Note: Uh... wow… I made that so much longer than I intended. Oh well. I hope it wasn't too boring. Next chapter I'm going to skip a few weeks and go straight to Christmas. Please Review!