I gawked at her and she started to fidget, uncomfortable. She shifted her weight from her left foot to her right, and back again; she tucked her hair behind her ears and muttered quietly, "Hi Roxas. How have you been?"

"What are you doing here, Kairi?" I asked, still shocked.

"I...I..." she finally looked me in the eyes. "Is Sora here?"

I shook my head. "I'm the only one home."

"Can I come in?" she asked timidly.

I held the door open for her, and she stepped inside. She attempted to give me a hug, but I sidestepped away from her.

"Too soon?" She twirled a ring around her finger, seeming forlorn.

I couldn't help but notice that she still wasn't back to her old self. She had become quiet, and submissive, in contrast to how she was before: tough and independent. It reminded me of Naminé...

At that thought, I peered outside to see if she was there. She wasn't, of course, and I closed the door.

Kairi stood next to the stairs awkwardly. I waited for her to say something. I mean, she was the one who had come across the country to knock on my door. She didn't say anything, and the silence stretched on, starting to make me uneasy. "Are you thirsty?" That was a stupid thing to ask, I thought, annoyed at myself.

She shook her head, her hair falling over her shoulders. "Could we sit and talk for a moment?"

I nodded, perhaps a little too eagerly, and led her to the kitchen where we sat at the table.

"Did you really come all this way to ask how I'm doing?" I asked. "If I recall, the last time I talked to you, you practically hung up on me."

She flinched at the hostility in my voice. "I'm sorry, Roxas, I was mad and..."

"Mad at what? What's wrong with Naminé?" I demanded.

"I don't want to talk about this now..."

"Well, then, I don't want to talk to you at all," I growled.

"Please, Roxas! I need your help!" she exclaimed desperately, trying to make eye contact with me. "I can't live without Sora!" Her voice cracked, but she didn't start crying.

"He seems perfectly happy without you," I said coldly.

"If I get a chance to talk to him, he'll understand!"

"Kairi, even if you did get back together, how would it work out? If you haven't noticed, we're living in Maryland not Montana."

"I know," she sniveled. "But I have to try! I can deal with a long-distance relationship!"

"What about Riku? He's living with us too."

Her face became dark and angry. "I have plans for him," she laughed bitterly.

She was creeping me out; the way she said that sounded...well, insane. Who, other than Kairi, would try to get back together with a boy who had cheated on her, moved thousands of miles away, and then acted like she had never existed? "Kairi, how did you even get here?"

She blinked her blue eyes innocently. "I stole my daddy's credit card, of course. He bought me the airplane ticket and everything."

"Your family was ok with this?"

She looked away. "I didn't tell anyone, other than him. So nooooo...Naminé would have killed me if I told her..."

"You could've brought her with you," I muttered glumly.

"She wouldn't have let me come. So, when will everyone get home?"

"I have no idea."

"How has Sora been?"

"Idiotic."

"And?"

"And...cheerful and annoying."

"Him and Riku?"

"Same old, same old. Riku's over-protective of Sora, and Sora is," I paused. "Sora," I said, unable to think of a different way to describe it.

"And?"

"What else can I tell you, Kairi?" I snapped. "They're happy without you!"

"You don't have to put it so bluntly," she pouted.

"Well, you don't take a hint!"

"How happy are they? What do they spend their time doing?"

"Very and they spend their time hanging out. Constantly." I'm like her little spy, I thought, still irritated.

"How far have they gone?"

I buried my face in my hands, embarrassed and aggravated. "How should I know?" I exclaimed.

"Have they hugged?"

"Yes."

"Kissed?"

"Yes."'

"Made out?"

"Probably."

She waved her hand. "Elaborate."

"Why should I, when you won't even tell me why Naminé's upset?"

"I don't know." She smiled maliciously. "Because I can tell Naminé that it's not true."

"What's not true?" I was getting more frustrated by the second, and I badly wanted to rip the smirk off her face and tell her how crazy she was sounding.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," she said in a childish, girly voice.

"I can't believe you," I jumped out of my seat, gnashing my teeth, "you're blackmailing me, but you won't even tell me what I did wrong!"

Her smile turned even sweeter. "I'm just a protective sister. You would do the same, I'm sure."

"If you loved Naminé, you wouldn't be doing this! She's probably worried sick!"

Her grin vanished, and she gave me a dirty look. "I know her better than you do."

I took a deep breath, letting my anger go, and sat back down."Probably. Can you just leave?" I added to myself, "I'm sure they'll find a way to blame this on me..."

"I have to talk to Sora," she whined.

"He doesn't want to talk to you."

"How do you know?"

"I've been living with him for a while now," I shook my head. "What do you see in him?"

Her eyes lit up. "He's sweet and funny and caring and—"

"He's also annoying, loud, and naive."

"He's actually pretty smart." She cocked her head to the side, beaming.

"If you say so..." I grumbled.

"So, Roxas, have you made any friends?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said, confused at the sudden topic change.

"Can I meet them sometime?"

"Sure...wait, how long are you staying?"

"For as long as I can get away with it," she grimaced determinedly.

"Where ar—"

"Don't worry, I'm going to stay in a hotel."

"Don't be surprised if Sora completely rejects you," I brought up.

"Hey, it's worth a shot, right?"

"Uh, sure."

"What should we do while we wait?" she asked suggestively.

I paled. "Uh, I—"

"I was kidding!" she laughed. "You know I love you like a little brother. At least I use to."

"Use to?"

"Remember me saying that if you hurt Naminé, I would make it my goal to hurt you twice as bad?" she asked casually.

"Yeah," I said slowly.

"I was being completely honest." She raised her fist threateningly, but a joking smile played on her lips.

I automatically flinched, and she set her hands on her lap.

"Don't get me wrong, I would love to beat you to a pulp," she said, "and I am only here for Sora, I could care less about you...but did you get in a fight or something? You have the ugliest bruise on your cheek although it is almost healed."

I told her about Clyde, which made her laugh.

"I didn't think it was funny," I said sourly.

"If I was you, I would feel the same. I can't b—" she stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened as the door rasped open.

Accompanied with footsteps was Sora saying, "Next time we're going to go on that ride too!"

The four of them-my dad, Kelly, Sora and Riku-stepped into the kitchen, each of them grinning happily.

My dad and Kelly, walking hip-to-hip, entered first, looking for a brief moment at Kairi and I. Then they went to the refrigerator, presumably to make dinner.

Sora and Riku were behind them. Sora was laughing at something Riku said, so Riku noticed Kairi first. He stopped walking, and narrowed his eyes at her.

Sora, confused, glanced up to see why he stopped.

Sora and Kairi's eyes met; Sora immediately turned pale and blurted (sounding a lot like me), "What are you doing here?"

"Hi Sora," she said slyly. "Hi Rikuuuu." The way she said Riku made it sound like she was being polite, but what she really wanted to do was rip every hair from his head and watch him suffer.

My dad and Kelly were bustling around the kitchen. My dad set out the cutting board and a large butcher knife next to the sink. Kelly, while washing her hands feverishly, asked, "Who's your new friend?"

"I'm Kairi," she smiled pleasantly. "It is very nice to meet you, ma'am."

Was I the only one who saw behind her kindness? Who heard the sarcasm, and spite in her voice? From the way Riku was glaring at her, and from the panicked look on Sora's face, I would say the children of this household are the smarter ones. Or maybe that was just their natural reactions to seeing her suddenly.

Kelly beamed at her, and my dad seemed indifferent. "I'm Kelly, and this is Oscar," she introduced.

"Mom?" Sora exclaimed. "It's Kairi!"

Kelly scrunched her forehead up in confusion, but a second later, her face flooded with understanding. "Kairi?" she echoed blankly, turning off the water and drying her hands off with the towel hanging off the stove.

"Am I the only one here who doesn't know this young lady?" my dad blinked.

Kairi stood up, and folded her hands in front of her thighs. "I just felt so guilty. I couldn't live with myself!"

"Guilty? What for?" Riku asked distrustfully.

She looked from Kelly to him, tilting her head to the side and saying, "For all the mean things I said, of course!", as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I briefly wondered if her voice was annoying everyone else in the room too. It was falsely high-pitched, and innocent, reminding me of Larxene.

"Oh, that's sweet of you," Kelly said. She started chopping onions with loud, rapid "whack" noises that were issued whenever the knife was brought down on the cutting board.

Kairi stepped towards Sora, and he took an uncertain step back. "Can I talk to you?"

"Go ahead," he said unsteadily.

"In private?"

Riku stepped in front of Sora. "Can't you say it in front of everyone?"

Kairi met his eyes stubbornly. They stared at each other for a while, both of them waiting for the other to back down. It made an image pop in my head: two cartoon characters staring each other down with the same intensity, but with electricity sparking and shooting between the pairs of eyes. Kairi's jaw was set determinedly and her eyes had a fire to them. Riku crossed his arms, unimpressed, and stared her down unblinkingly. It lasted until Kairi rubbed her lips together and looked away, nervous, saying, "I think Sora would prefer—"

Sora shook his head frantically from behind Riku.

"Will you hurry up and say what you came here to say?" I spoke up. "So I can get to bed."

Kairi shot me an evil look, and twisted her hands in front of her. "Well, I...I..." she looked desperately at everyone in the room: Kelly met her gaze with a small smile, my dad squinted at her, puzzled, I smirked, knowing she was about to burst from the pressure, Sora avoided her eyes completely, and Riku frowned at her angrily.

She bowed her head, blushing. "Sora, please!" she cried. She pushed Riku out of the way, and tried to embrace Sora.

Sora screeched in fear, grabbing her arms and holding her away from himself while she squirmed.

Riku yanked her off Sora and she crumbled against the wall the second he let go. "Why...why, Sora?" Her pretty face distorted, and she started sobbing. "Why would you pick him over me?"

She pushed past Sora and Riku, and disappeared after slamming the front door shut.

My dad summed up everyone's feelings when he said, "That was...weird."

XxXxX

After dinner, I went upstairs and laid on my bed to read. Eventually, Sora and Riku showed up and sat down next to me.

"What do you want?" I asked, turning the page.

"What did you and Kairi talk about before we came home?" Sora inquired.

"Apparently she stole her dad's credit card, flew all the way here to win you back and is now staying at a hotel until her parents force her to go back home," I said imperturbably.

"She's crazy," Riku muttered.

Sora and I nodded in agreement.

"What are we suppose to do, Riku?" Sora whimpered.

"I have no idea...it's not like you didn't make it obvious that you weren't interested..."

"I know!" Sora sniffed. "She's scary."

"She's worse than you, Roxas."

I looked up from the paragraph I was reading to give him a dirty look. Then I thought better of it, and shrugged. "Thanks, I guess." From Riku, that certainly was a compliment.

"Riku, Roxas is way better than she is! And you can't insult my brother," Sora poked him.

"I know. I'm sorry. I just think—"

Sora lowered his voice. "We've had this discussion before. And not in front of him."

"Ok."

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Sora raised his voice cheerfully. "We could do something together!"

"Like?" I prompted.

"I've always wanted to go to that Egyptian mall! Sound good?"

Riku nodded and I shrugged indifferently.

"What are we suppose to do if Kairi comes back?" Riku asked.

"Hmmmm, lock the doors and ignore her!" Sora said happily.

They left, and I took a sleeping pill and fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow.

With everything that was going on, I completely forgot to call Zexion back. I still hadn't heard from Axel, which did leave me with an odd empty feeling. Meanwhile, I was just bidding my time.

I did go to the mall with Riku and Sora; it was pretty boring, all window shopping and walking, until I was leaving yet another store. Someone grabbed my arm and dragged me back.

It was none other than Kairi. Now she was wearing a white sweater that was lined with large buttons and a pink, pleated skirt. "How did you find us?" I asked suspiciously.

"I have ways," she grinned.

"You don't give up, do you?" I said.

"Never, I'm a Tippet!"

That struck me as funny, but before I could laugh, she continued, "Where did Sora and Riku go?"

"Uh..." I glanced out the window of the store to see them entering FYE. "Over there," I pointed it out.

"Good!" she exclaimed, determined as ever. "I can make this work for all of us."

"Meaning?"

"Get Sora and me alone, and I will force Naminé to talk to you."

"More blackmail," I sighed.

"Everyone wins!"

"Really? What about Riku?"

She pursued her lips in thought. "Hmmmm...I know!" she snapped her fingers. "I'll invite him to the wedding!"

"Kairi, please give up," I groaned. "You sure are happy today."

"It's because I have willpower and self-discipline."

I snorted. "Sure, you do," I said sarcastically. "Will you just leave me alone..."

I started walking out of the store, but she grabbed me again. "Wait!"

She whipped out a cell phone (which was a hideous shade of hot pink) and pressed it to her ear. "Hi Naminé," she grinned as my eyes narrowed.

"Yes, I know...uh-huh...I'm working on it...duh..." Kairi blew her bangs out of her face, annoyed. "It wasn't a stupid thing to do!...like you'd know!...gah you're impossible!...no…I know...yeah..." she shook her head. "I'm getting sidetracked here. Naminé, answer your phone when Rox—"

I finally decided to grab the phone out of her hands. "Naminé?" I asked.

The line went silent.

"Roxas?" she said finally.

"GIVE ME THAT!" Kairi exclaimed, wrenching the phone from my grasp.

"Hey!" I growled.

She held the phone over her head as I tried to grab it. Each time I came close to reaching it, she would whip her hand in the opposite direction.

I finally gave up, and Kairi smiled, satisfied. Jerk, I thought resentfully. I should put her on my hate list...

"Anyways, Nami," Kairi continued, twisting a strand of hair around her finger, "if Roxas calls you, answer, k?...yeah I know…no, I doubt it...he still has no clue...I don't know..."

My ears strained desperately to hear the other side of the conversation, but it was impossible to hear anything.

"Yes...ok...love ya too. Bye," Kairi hung up. "Now will you help me?"

"You're cruel," I clutched my teeth together. "...fine." I looked away from her, because I couldn't stand the selfish, gleeful look on her face.

"See, that wasn't hard! We need to come up with a plan...this could be tough..."

I laughed sullenly. "Not really. Just follow me, and keep out of sight."

"Ok," she agreed.

I found Sora and Riku as they walked out FYE. They were smiling, and holding hands. What more did Kairi need? Stupid, lying, malicious, evil-

"Hey, Roxas. Where did you go?"

"Nowhere," I made myself smile at Sora's question. "They're having this special brothers-only event over there!" I jerked my thumb back the way we had came.

"Really? What is it?"

"Anyone who comes in with their brother gets a free box of fudge!" I shook my arms, as if excited. "And we have to go now, or we'll miss it!"

Sora's face brightened at the mention of fudge. "What are we waiting for!"

He bounded ahead towards where I had pointed; unfortunately, Riku was following us.

"Sora," I whined. "They won't give us any fudge if he comes too."

Sora stopped, and turned to face us. "Riku, wait for us by Borders."

"But—" he complained.

"Go," Sora demanded. "I promise to share the fudge with everyone, ok?"

Like that was what he was worried about, I scoffed. Riku shrugged, giving me a wary look before retreating.

I followed Sora, bored, until he stopped when he reached the far end of the mall. "Where is it?" he asked.

"Somewhere around here," I said vaguely.

That's when Kairi came.

She strode up to Sora, and Sora's face fell when he saw her.

"K-K-Kairi!" he gasped.

"Happy to see me?" she smiled, scooting closer to him with each word she spoke.

Sora looked at me hysterically. "Roxas! We need to get going, huh? For the...the..."

He lost his train of thought as Kairi grabbed his hand and held onto it tightly. He leaned back as far as possible; he didn't pull away (yet) but it looked like he was mentally pushing her away with every fiber of his being. "Sora, please, just listen to what I have to say." She stepped even closer to him, so that they were practically touching. She looked up into his eyes with a melancholy look on her face. It was easy to see that Kairi was the last person Sora wanted to talk to; he was gulping and smiling nervously. He glanced at me again. "You can call her now..." she raised her voice to me.

I nodded, and pushed open the glass doors that led outside. I felt bad for leaving him with that crazy version of Kairi, but I really badly needed to talk to Naminé.

I leaned against the wall of the mall, having already dialed her number. I looked out across the parking lot, which was, like always, filled with cars and rowdy teenagers.

"Hi," she finally answered, her voice soft.

"Hi Naminé."

"What do you want?"

I was a little taken aback at her blunt question, but I waved it off. "What's wrong? What did I do?"

"I don't know why my sister wants me to talk to you," she said, "but, please, just make her come home."

"Naminé," I said, confused and hurt. "I need to kn—"

"Please don't. I'm sorry." Her voice saddened. "I need to hear you say something."

"What?"

"That it was a mistake."

"Why is no one making sense?"

"Fine, you don't have to say it...I just..." she trailed off. "Promise me you'll get Kairi home?"

"Yeah, of course—"

"Bye."

She hung up.

What is wrong with them? I finally snapped, and threw my phone against the concrete as hard as I could. The back popped off, and the screen cracked slightly, but other than that, it was unharmed. I wanted to scream insults or punch Kairi and Naminé and Hayner until they begged me to stop. Until they explained to me why they were acting this way.

I slid down the wall, and sat down. I grabbed my phone, and shoved it back into my pocket. What would make Naminé say those things? It was unlike her...considerate, soft-spoken, selfless, calm Naminé...acting like that, I thought disgustingly. What happened to the Naminé that was so easy to talk to? Who needs her? Who needs Hayner? They can do whatever the hell they want, it makes no difference to me.

I stood up; I could at least get revenge against Kairi...

I went back inside the mall. The second I opened the door, I saw Sora recklessly sprinting past, his clothes disheveled and his face flushed, with Kairi chasing after him, yelling, "Sora! No! Wait!"

I ran after them, but lost them quickly. Huh, I thought, standing in the center of the mall, where Egyptian statues decorate the area.

"Roxas!" Sora gasped, appearing behind me. "You have to hide me!"

"Um..." I glanced around.

Riku appeared, looking at us with a confused look on his face. "Wh—"

Sora yelped; Kairi was bowing out of a store a few yards away from where we were standing.

I shoved Sora behind a potted plant, and Riku and I followed suit. The potted plant, luckily, was tall and leafy, which should provide enough coverage. Unluckily, it was in a corner, only a foot away from the wall.

We were all crammed, and I was wedged between the two uncomfortably.

"Is she gone?" Sora breathed in my ear.

"I don't know," I hissed.

"Riku?" we heard Kairi ask.

I pushed Riku out into the open; if he had already been seen, there was no hope for him. Sora and I could at least remain hidden.

I peeked out. "Hey," Riku said sheepishly, obviously fighting the urge to look back at us.

Kairi smiled at him kindly. "Do you remember the day I found you and Sora in my room?"

"Yeah," Riku glanced behind, as if paranoid.

"And you were laying on my bed..."

"Yeah."

"And you were on top of Sora..."

"Yeah."

Each time she listed something, she took a step closer to him. Riku was ineptly agreeing with her. Just sock her in the face, I thought.

"And you guys were kissing..."

"Yeah."

Riku must have gotten over his paranoia, because he looked her in the eye when she said that, and didn't back up even though she was only a foot away from him.

"And do you remember how upset I was?" she said it pleasantly enough; she was even smiling, but her eyes burned with anger.

"Yeah."

"Do you know how long I've wanted to do this?" she asked, her voice more sugary than ever.

And she struck his cheek as hard as she could.

Riku frowned, and she snarled because it was obvious that it hadn't hurt. She made to slap his other cheek when Sora ran out and got in-between the two.

"Stop!" he yelled. I followed him to watch the scene unfold before me.

Kairi let her arm drop; she dropped her gaze away from him with a shameful look. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice shrill.

"Kairi, you've done it now. Get out of my sight," Sora spat. Sora mad, I thought. Interesting...

Her eyes widened. "But I—"

"Go home," he said sternly. "You can't just push yourself on me and expect me to give in."

"Sora, I can't," their eyes met, and her lip trembled.

Riku stepped forward. "Remember how it use to be?" he asked suddenly.

Kairi and Sora looked at him, surprised. Sora understood first. "Yeah..." he said softly. "When the three of us were friends and nothing more."

"That was a long time ago," Kairi narrowed her eyes; not in anger, but in sadness.

"You need to get home to your family."

"That's it?" she snapped, tears in her eyes. "No closure, no nothing! Just a 'get out of here'?"

"Kai.." he sighed.

"She deserves that, at least," I spoke up, and walked towards the three. "It would be more than I ever got."

Both Sora and Riku shot me a look that said "Why?". I shrugged. Why? Because I wanted to hear Sora explaining his actions? Because I enjoyed seeing them fight? I don't know why I said it. But the point is that I did, and now I couldn't take it back.

"Please, Sora?" Kairi asked gently.

"Fine," Sora said, obviously unhappy about the way things were turning out.

"What made you pick him over me? How long was it going on?"

Riku glared at his shoes as Sora began to talk, "Kairi, I can't explain something like that. And for..." he glanced at Riku uncertainly, "a few months, maybe?"

"Months?" Kairi exclaimed, hysterical.

"Kairi, relax," Riku said.

"How can I?"

Riku muttered something under his breath. "There isn't anything for us to talk about."

"I can think of a few things," she gave him a fiercely angry look. "What are the chances of you two breaking up?"

Riku stepped forward furiously. "Next to nothing."

"I bet I could change that," she growled, just as heated.

"Oh, really?" he laughed darkly. "It made such a difference back then, didn't it?"

"Shut up!" she snapped, looking as if she wanted to slap him again.

"Can't you give up already?"

"Not until you give him back!"

"What is he, a trophy?"

Kairi and Riku were in each other's faces, yelling. Sora and I stood off to the side, our heads turning from Kairi to Riku, as if we were watching a tennis match. Sora had a conflicted look on his face; he was probably debating whether or not he should stop them.

"Do you know how much you hurt me?" Kairi was shrieking.

"It's all about you! It has always been about you!"

"It is—"

"You can't even imagine how I felt when you two were going out! You didn't want me there, and don't say that you were surprised when you found me and Sora, because you knew, didn't you? You knew I liked him! And that's why you were trying to turn him against m—"

"I was not!"

"You were keeping him as far away from me as possible!"

"Ok, maybe I was! But I began to trust you! And look at what happened!" She gestured at him crossly. "At my own house, you—"

"It's not like you didn't get revenge on me! So why are you here now?"

"It will never be enough! Nothing you do can take it back!"

"The same goes for you! Don't you remember when you screamed at me—"

"It didn't matter what I said, you didn't care!"

"Kairi, if you want Sora to be happy, you wouldn't have come here!"

"He'd be happier with me!"

Riku rolled his eyes. "You clung to him, and it annoyed him."

"Did not!"

"Oh, are you mad because, even then, he was confiding in me instead of you?"

"You don't know anything! You—"

Sora inched forward. "Guys, stop. People are giving us weird looks."

Kairi frowned and Riku stepped away from her to wrap his arm around Sora's waist. She turned her head away from them, obviously pissed, but from the way she didn't say anything, I think she had given up.

"Sora, what do you think of me?" she asked a moment later.

Sora thought the question over carefully before answering, knowing he was treading on hot water. "I think that..." He glanced at Riku again.

"I don't think that matters," Riku said. "Kairi, we've moved on, and you need to do the same."

"Do you...do you think we could stay friends?"

"After this?" Sora asked. "We could try. But, Kairi, you would hate that."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I guess I should..."

"Go home?"

"Yeah," she sighed again.

I approached her. "I talked to Naminé."

"What did she say?"

"Nothing worth mentioning."

"I still want to meet your friends..."

"Why?"

"No reason," she smiled.

"Well, they seem to have disappeared off the face of the Earth."

"That's too bad."

"Do you need a ride back to wherever you're staying?" Riku asked.

"No, I think I'll walk." Her voice seemed to automatically turn cold when she talked to him.

He shrugged. "Ok. Bye Kairi."

"Bye Riku. Sora?"

"Yeah?" he asked cautiously.

"Keep in touch, k?"

"Ok."

"Bye," she smiled sadly.

"Bye Kairi."

She leaned towards me. "Sorry no one will tell you what's going on."

"Tell me before you leave," I suggested hopefully.

She straightened, and laughed cruelly. "I don't think so! Nami will, eventually."

"Eventually," I groaned.

"Yep. Bye Roxas."

"Bye."

She began walking away, just to turn back towards me. "Oh yeah, before I forget..."

She slapped me in the face, right where my bruise was. It stung for a second, then slowly vanished. "What was that for?" I complained.

"That's for you to decide," she smiled that falsely sweet smile, and left.