Lucky Number Seven

Chapter 12

Replaced

"You did not."

"I'm sorry."

Kairi stared at the pyromaniac in disbelief. She and Sora left for no longer than twenty minutes, and this happens. The ex-couple came home, expecting to find two plates of delicious food cooked by Riku, but instead, they came home to six boys with full stomachs and two piles of burnt crisps on two plates.

Her first guess was that Riku was trying to teach Axel how to cook, but the redhead screwed up and they didn't have any ingredients left, so they decided to keep it as it is and see our reactions. Her second guess was that Axel messed with the stove while Riku wasn't looking and the food burned.

She was indeed correct that Axel was the one who burned the food, but he didn't screw up his cooking lessons nor did he mess with the stove.

He burned their dinner with his damn lighter.

Angrily, Kairi threw the three-liter jug of iced tea in Axel's stupid, smug face, sending him crashing on the floor.

"OW! SHIT!" he swore, burying his face in his hands. "YOU COULD'VE BROKEN MY NOSE OR SOMETHING."

"Damn it, I was hoping I did," Kairi growled. "So, what now? Sora and I are just gonna starve? Hell no. This is unacceptable. Get the hell out of this house, and go buy us some Chinese takeout, now."

"But we can get them to deliver-"

"Now."

Axel cowered, "Y-yes, ma'am." And with that, he zoomed out the door to buy their dinner.

"Well, now that you stopped yelling, who's she?" Vanitas asked, pointing at the redhead behind Sora and Kairi. "Don't tell me this is another childhood friend or something. We've met Xion and Olette already; two throwbacks are enough for me."

"Or is she another patient?" the twins asked simultaneously.

"This is," Kairi was trying her best to control the rage inside of her. "Shiki Misaki."

"I'll be staying with you all for a few days. I hope you don't mind," she giggled over-exaggeratedly. The previous action made the boys grimace.

"I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about her…" Riku whispered in Hayner's ear.

"Don't be rude," the blond whispered back. He then turned to the girl, "So, what're you here for?"

"Sora!" she exclaimed, hugging his arm.

Vanitas swore he saw fire in Kairi's eyes. "This can't be good," he thought.

"Ah, so you're a childhood friend of his?" Ventus asked.

She nodded, "I'm so happy I bumped into him; it's been years since we last saw each other."

"Oh, how so?" Vanitas raised an eyebrow, trying to fit the pieces together.

"I went to college in Shibuya, so I haven't seen him since graduation. I just recently came back to hopefully find a job here and visit my family and all."

"I'm pretty sure your family misses you, what are you doing here?" Roxas asked in a rather rude manner. Shiki didn't seem to mind it, however.

"Oh, it's just for a few days, I'm sure they won't mind at all. Besides, they have a lot of work to do, so it doesn't really matter what day I come," she smiled. Sora tried to wiggle his way out of her grasp, and when she realized this, she just held onto his arm tighter.

"Don't say that. I'm sure they'll be pleased to see you again after all these years," Vanitas said in a tone that most of the boys understood. This was his "she's bad news get her out of here now" tone. So, they followed.

"Yeah, what happened to family first?" Hayner asked.

"It doesn't matter, really. They have a lot of responsibilities, anyway."

"What, do your parents own this super huge company or something?" Vanitas asked, eager to hear her answer. Maybe her response would be the one thing that would line up all the pieces together.

"No, but my father is the head of the town."

Jackpot.

The silence was stuffy. Sora tugged on his collar, feeling as though he was suffocating. Riku threw his hood over his head in an attempt to hide from the awkwardness. Hayner took his phone out and texted, Well this is really awkward, and sent it to the people who were in the room, minus Sora and Kairi. Ventus just looked away in order to avoid eye contact. Roxas felt a vibration in his pocket and read Hayner's text, replying, I know can I leave the room oh man. Vanitas stared daggers at Sora, then turned to Kairi and displayed a look of sadness when he saw her looking down at the floor, her bangs covering her eyes.

Shiki was starting to feel uncomfortable, so to end it all, she picked up her bags and excused herself. "It was nice meeting you all. See you in the morning, and thanks again for letting me stay!"

"Third floor, first room to the right," Kairi said through gritted teeth.

"Thank you, Koto!" she exclaimed as he ran up the stairs.

Only when the sound of a door closing did Kairi roar, "IT'S KAITO."

No one dared to talk after. Vanitas wanted to smash Sora's face against the wall, but violence was never a good idea, and everyone else wanted to yell in his face, wondering why the hell he'd let the girl who ruined his past relationship into their home. She might just end up breaking the trust and friendship they currently had for each other. She might just end up breaking the Penthouse family.

Minutes of silence later, Axel quickly returned with boxes of Chinese takeout.

"I have the food," he grumbled, holding up the takeout boxes over his head. He then felt the tension in the room. "All right. Spit it out. What did I miss?"

Breakfast the next morning was eerily quiet. Usually, Axel had a ton of stories to tell at the table, but he just poked at his food, not opening his mouth at all. Vanitas was normally calm and collected, but many felt his uneasiness and worry. This worried everyone, but they all knew that it had something to do about Sora, Shiki and Kairi. It was expected of them anyway, since they were the only ones who knew about Kairi's true identity.

Kairi came running down the stairs with much force in her steps. When she turned the corner to enter the dining room, she saw Shiki in her seat. Unfortunately, Namine only provided them with eight chairs, leaving Kairi with no place.

"…I see how it is," she sneered. She picked up a plate and filled it with a shit-load of eggs, bacon, toast and potato nuggets before stomping to the couch. She stuffed her face with food aggressively, while Shiki watched in disgust.

"Koto-" she began, but was quickly interrupted.

"KAITO!" Kairi yelled with her mouth full. "MY NAME'S KAITO!"

"Oh, really? I'm sorry," Shiki apologized as Kairi rolled her eyes. "What I wanted to say was that Kaito acts a lot like this girl I used to know."

Kairi nearly choked on her food, waiting to hear what Shiki was going to say about her.

"To start things off, she's a tomboy, nothing like her sister, who's very sweet and dainty," Not like Kairi had ever heard that before. "She's really messy and impolite and she reacts the same way you do. She's really loud, and you look a lot like her, too."

"Ah, yes. Thank you for indirectly calling me messy, impolite and loud," Kairi said with much sass. "Do you happen to be describing Kairi by any chance?"

"Oh, you know her?"

"Well, she is my cousin, after all."

"Oh, that explains the strong resemblance."

"Yes, and quite frankly, if she were here right now, she wouldn't have appreciated you comparing her to Namine."

"Yeah, that was pretty rude," Roxas said all of a sudden. "I don't think any of us would like being compared to someone else, especially your sibling." Upon hearing this, Kairi gave the blond a sympathetic look.

"Wait, you all know Namine?" Shiki asked.

"If you may have not noticed, this penthouse actually serves as a Service Centre, with Kaito over there as our therapist," Vanitas said in a monotone. "We're all here because each of us has our own problems. Namine's a bit busy at the moment, so she sent Kaito here as a replacement."

"Exactly. Cleared things up for you?" Kairi asked, getting up to throw her plates in the sink. She returned shortly after, and plopped on the couch.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't know that," Shiki said. "What are your problems?"

"As if we're gonna tell you," Vanitas scoffed.

"Then again, it isn't really hard to guess from the way we all act," Hayner shrugged. "But I agree with him. Why would we tell a stranger our stories?"

"But you told Kaito everything, and from what you've said about him being a replacement-" she was suddenly interrupted.

"Yes, but it took us nearly three weeks after knowing him to tell him everything. Not one day," Roxas said. "I bet you don't even remember any of our names."

"I may not remember all of your names, but I do know that he's Kaito," she said, pointing at Kairi. "And he's Sora." She pointed at Sora.

Everyone clapped slowly, each with a straight face on.

"Amazing," Vanitas said in the most sarcastic tone.

"And I know you're Ventus!" she exclaimed confidently, pointing at one of the twins.

"I'm Roxas."

Her face fell, "Oh… I'm sorry-"

"People have been making that mistake for as long as I can remember, but I'm really offended right now because you said that in the most confident tone I've ever heard in my entire life."

She apologized repeatedly after what the blond said, and when he couldn't hold it in anymore, he and his brother burst out laughing.

"I am Ventus!" the blond said in between laughs. "You should've seen the guilt on your face!" The twins high-fived each other, grinning.

"How'd you know it was Ven?" Roxas asked.

Shiki smiled sheepishly, "Lucky guess?"

"…Oh," the twins said simultaneously. "Well, we're actually offended now."

The redhead looked around the room, studying each boy's face. "Um… I forgot the rest of your names."

Everyone clapped.

"Sorry, Shiki, we're all really close after spending so much time together, you can't just expect all of us to accept you right away," Sora apologized to his childhood friend.

Shiki perked up, "Wait, Sora… does that mean you have a problem, too?"

The brunet blanched, "Yes, but it's nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Shiki shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "If you all don't mind, can I maybe spend some time with each of you individually?"

"F-for what?" Riku asked.

"If I'm gonna stay here, I might as well make myself useful," she said. "I promise I won't judge any of you. If won't say anything unless you want me to. I'll just be there for you to open up to me. And maybe… I might just open up to each of you, too."

Vanitas' head shot up at that last part.

"Um, that's what I'm here for," Kairi said, pointing at herself.

"No, no, this could work," the black-haired boy said. "Kaito will give us some advice, and Shiki will be there to lend an open ear. Dealing with seven guys must already be hard; I'm sure Kaito could use the extra help."

The redhead was shocked upon hearing him. She survived almost a month with her seven boys; she didn't need any help at all.

"If you don't mind, I'll gladly go first," Vanitas said, wiping his mouth with a napkin, and getting up.

Kairi soon found herself getting lonely. The boys were talking to her less and less, and would seek help from Shiki instead of her. Her usual seat at the dining table was always occupied by Shiki, so she was always left to sit on the couch in the living room. She could always hear them talking and laughing from where she was, so she started listening to her iPod while eating in order to cover the sounds of their voices through her music.

She couldn't believe this was happening. Shiki arrived not over four days ago, and she already replaced her.

One day, having had enough of this, Kairi left the house, without telling anyone, to have some time alone. She walked down Destiny Islands' streets, and only felt her heart break whenever she passed by a group of friends. She walked over to the docks and looked around the place to make sure that no one was looking before jumping onto a dinghy. The redhead rowed all the way to the play island, believing it to be the perfect place for spending time to one's self. Nobody was around and there were no distractions whatsoever; just her and her thoughts.

She took a stroll around the island, thinking about all the very few moments she had spent with them all together, and the attitude of each boy after Shiki's arrival.

Kairi thought about the time they all battled at the paintball arena, the time they all went Double Dash Racing, the time they went exploring around the islands around Destiny Islands, the time they all opened up during the Magic Circle, the time they all worked hard to give Vanitas the best birthday ever, the time they all convinced him to perform at the Distant Worlds concert; they were such little events that managed to help her find the happiness within her again. Namine even said that she sounded a lot happier.

In fact, meeting these boys had brought so much excitement into her life that she dreads the day they would have to separate, which a only a little over a month. She was not expecting Shiki to come running back into her life to ruin yet another thing that made her so happy.

What hurt the most, however, was that Shiki seemed to be doing a pretty good job. Axel had not burned anything in a while, Vanitas seemed a lot less depressed, Riku's evident anxiety was starting to fade, Roxas appeared a lot kinder, Ventus' broken heart must now be healed, Hayner was actually getting up and doing something rather than lazing around, and Sora…

What if he had fallen in love with Shiki? Kairi made him wait for so long; she would not be surprised if he suddenly switched to Shiki, especially since the aforementioned looked a lot like her now.

Kairi did not know why the thought of it made her heart dropped. She hated Sora for what he did to her in the past. She most definitely does not have any more feelings for him.

Or maybe her heart dropped not only for Sora, but for everyone. It would be like Kairi lost to Shiki a second time, but instead of losing only one person this time, she lost seven.

"It's happened again," Kairi frowned. Upon reaching the little islet, she sat on the ground with her back against the Paopu tree's trunk, and brought her legs up to her chest. "But not only did she take Sora; she took Axel, Vanitas, Riku, Roxas, Ventus and Hayner away from me, too." She buried her face in her knees and closed her eyes.

"Thought we'd find you here," said a familiar voice.

Kairi immediately looked up to find all her seven boys smiling down at her. Though she would never admit it, she was glad that they all got out of their way to look for her.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" she asked, still curled up into a ball. "And weren't you all hanging out with Shiki?"

"How'd we know you'd be here?" Sora laughed. "You think this is the first place we looked?"

Her blue eyes widened slightly, "Does that mean…"

The twins nodded, saying at the same time, "We looked everywhere for you. The play island was our last stop."

"Why'd you all come look for me though?" Kairi asked, looking down. "What about Shiki?"

"I get it," Axel grinned, taking a seat next to her. "You were jealous, weren't you?"

She failed to hide the blush slowly spreading on her face, "…Maybe."

The twins knelt down in front of her, smiling. Roxas began, "You thought we were gonna end up liking Shiki more than you," and Ventus finished, "And end up forgetting about you, didn't you?"

Vanitas smirked at this, then ruffled her claret hair, "That's cute, Kaito."

"Shut up," she muttered, attempting to hide her red face.

Riku decided to take a seat next to her as well. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said in the softest voice, "Shiki may seem all sweet and friendly, but we know all about what she did to your cousin and to Sora, so we're all just doing this to keep a close eye on her to collect as much as we can about their past. It's all an act, really."

"Really?" Kairi asked.

Vanitas nodded, "Come on, Kaito, you know me better than that. Do you honestly think I'd open up to her just like that?" he smirked. "She said she'd open up to us if we opened up to her. By opening up to us, it could help us piece together your cousin and Sora's past. You've helped each one of us so much; we thought we'd return the favor. We are quite a handful, you know." Kairi just wanted to stand up and hug him to death right then and there.

"So, did you all really tell her about your problems?" the redhead asked.

"Psh, no," Axel laughed. "We all came up with fake, yet somehow convincing, problems."

"You guys actually did all this to help Kairi?" she asked.

"And Sora too, of course," Axel winked. "He has a few unanswered questions himself. She didn't get to open up to him yet, but we're still working on it."

"So, after we collect all the information we need, just tell Kairi everything the next time you see her again. She deserves to know the full story," Ventus said.

"And maybe she'll finally forgive Sora after all these years," Riku turned to the brunet, who scratched the back of his head while smiling and blushing. "Vanitas is really thoughtful. He realized that all of our problems can be helped by opening up to you and getting some advice afterwards, except for Sora's. In order for him to be fully healed, he has to talk to Kairi. It'd be unfair if not all of us left with a weight lifted off of our shoulders."

Riku was talking quite a lot right now, making Kairi smile happily. He was talking confidently without caring if his words sounded cheesy or not. He did not stutter once, nor did he display any sign of agitation. She gave herself a little pat on the back.

Her eyes widened when realization suddenly dawned on her, "Wait… this was all Vanitas' idea?"

"Yup, I guess he really does care about all of us, even though he says otherwise," Sora grinned, throwing an arm over the raven-haired boy's shoulder. "I really can't thank him enough."

"Neither can I," Kairi smiled, close to tears. In all honesty, Kairi thought that Vanitas would be the hardest one to help. She thought that he would stay neutral and emotionless during his whole stay, but he ended up truly caring about everyone, and even sometimes acted like an over-protective big brother towards her.

"So, there wasn't anything to worry about, Kaito," Riku turned away shyly, knowing how embarrassing (and possibly gay) his next sentence was going to sound. "No one can ever replace you."

Hayner threw his arms behind his head, "Yeah, seriously. Like what Vanitas said, you've helped us all so much, and we've had so much fun together this past month. And come on; what's the Penthouse family without you?"

Sora gave him one of his signature goofy smiles, "Hayner's right. You're the whole room, remember? Without you, who'd be there to hold us all together?"

"I thought I told you guys never to bring that up again," Axel said, recalling what he told Tidus a while back.

Kairi felt like crying of happiness. These boys were really something.

All eight of them spent the rest of the evening together on the little islet on the play island. After a few games, nonsense stories and jokes, they all just sat down, either on the curved Paopu tree or on the ground, and watched the sunset in silence.

Neither of them even bothered to look at the time because it did not matter if they were to get home late, it did not matter if Shiki was left alone at the penthouse to wonder when they were going to get back, it did not matter if all seven boys were starving because they were too busy looking for Kairi to care about their stomachs, and it certainly did not matter if tears freely fell from Kairi's eyes, giving her a good teasing if any of them were to notice.

All that mattered was that they were all together as the Penthouse family, and the Penthouse family only.

A/N: I've gotta say, this chapter's a real let-down after last chapter's cliff-hanger. Basically, this is just to show you how they're all slowly healing, how they've all gained each other's trust, and how they're all starting to care for each other.

...Okay fine, truth is, I made this light-hearted to prepare you all for the shit-storm that's about to happen, which happens to be Chapter 13. I'm currently writing it and holy shit. I'm surprised at my own story LOL.

Please kindly leave a review, and thank you all so much for the reviews, faves and alerts! I love you guys! :)