Chapter 21: A Sad Note

A/N: Somebody buy me a new laptop. Short chapter today, by the way.

Warnings: None this time.

Reviews:

Guest- You'll just have to wait and see :3

Painted With a Palette- I do the same thing too, so no worries.

*laughs evilly* Yes! I am truly despicable! And thanks for the constructive criticism! I hadn't even realized that!

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I grabbed a box and hefted it into the truck. Currently, I was helping Kairi move all of her and her father's boxes. Said father was nowhere to be seen. The moment he saw me in his front yard helping Kairi, he got in his car and peeled off. Kairi might not have actually disliked me the way she had wanted me to believe, but her father was in no way faking his glares. It was like being stared down by a disgruntled lion. In the end, however, his tantrum worked out for us: Kairi, because she still had my help and me, because I didn't have to feel his eyes burning a hole into the back of my head anymore. I would almost miss it, though…if it meant Kairi could stay. I looked up when she sighed.

"Where's that goofy smile that's usually on your face? This entire few days, you've been mopey. I don't want the last thing I see of you to be your frown…"

"Can you blame me?" I asked, shrugging. I wasn't exactly in the mood to smile.

"No… I know how you feel. I've been arguing with him this entire time. Telling him I want to stay." She looked down the street her father's car disappeared down with a wistful look.

"He can go anywhere he wants," she continued, "I just wish he didn't feel the need to pull me along for the ride like this. I mean…I honestly think he wants me around him so much because I remind him of mom. He clams up at any mention I make of growing up or leaving the nest. I've spent so much time trying to convince him to let me stay, but he won't hear it. It's…really messed everything up."

I didn't say anything. There was nothing to say, honestly. We both knew it wasn't fair of him to uproot them both like this again. Not after Kairi's spent just about her entire childhood here. And she never even got to graduate before leaving.

"Maybe I should run away," she joked, although the sad look on her face told me she wouldn't go through with such a thing.

"Heh, well there's always a place for you at my house," I said, trying to lighten the mood. She glanced sadly at my fake smile, seeing right through it.

"That look's not much better on you."

We both leaned against the moving truck and I dropped the smile. It hurt my cheeks anyway…

"So…back to the mainland…" I said. I wasn't looking at her anymore, but I imagine she nodded.

"Back to the mainland. Far away from our old home. Still too many bad memories for him there. And for me…" she answered after a small pause.

"Well…I'm sure it'll be fun…to move to a new place, and all. And we can all still keep in touch. And hey! Maybe we could even visit each other."

She pulled herself off the truck and turned to me.

"I know what you're thinking about. And I'm sorry. Trust me, Sora, I believe you and I could have had a really good thing. But this just isn't going to work. We can't see each other for weeks, maybe months at a time. Air fare between the islands and the mainland is ridiculous, not to mention boat rides, and Dad's probably not going to let me come here, so you would have be the one to visit. I can't just leave it all up to you! I don't even think we would be able to talk as friends that often, how do you think a relationship would work?"

I pushed myself off of the truck as well. Her face was getting redder with each sentence and her voice higher with every breath. Opening my arms for her, I held her for a moment as she tried to calm down. So what if she was leaving? She's still one of my closest friends and I wasn't going to let this put a wedge between us.

"We'll be in touch however it needs to be, okay? If all we can do is text each other, then we'll do exactly that. I'm sorry too. This could've worked out in a number of ways, and it came to this." At that, I held her away at arm's length. Her eyes were a bit shiny and irritated, but she let no tears fall. Instead she returned my smile and nodded.

"So, we'd better make the best of this and get back to loading all of these boxes on the truck," I finished as I let go of her to grab for another box.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Let's make the best of this."

She grabbed a box as well and we continued until every box was out of the house and on the moving truck.

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It was all finished in a short amount of time. After all, the heavier things had been handled earlier that day by professionals, so we had basically taken care of the straggling boxes left behind. I said my goodbyes to Kairi before her father got back and threw another fit, and then I walked back to my house slowly, letting it all sink in. She really was leaving Destiny. It almost didn't feel real. Even after she first told me she was moving, it didn't feel real. But now…?

It really put into perspective all of the time we wasted going in circles. How much time was spent where she would try to drive me away and I would do exactly that: stay away. How much time was spent going through these crazy antics when I could've just told her how I felt. And above all, all the time we could've spent just being friends…gone. We weren't going to get that time back, and, if what Kairi said about her father was true, it'd likely be a while before I could see her again.

It hurt to think about.

The house itself seemed to sense my mood. It was dead quiet. It was a school day, but I had simply decided not to go, knowing Kairi would be spending her day packing. At least, I told myself this was why I skipped, although it took me half the day to kick up the courage to actually go to her house. Everyone else was still where they needed to be: Mom, Dad and Vanille all at work and Rox and Nami at school. The only other occupant of the house was Midnight and she too seemed to sense my mood. She lay on the floor of the living room, her head between her paws and a somber look in her eyes. Deciding I could use some company, I sat down next to her and stroked her fur. We both sighed.

It stayed like this for us until everyone slowly started coming back home: Dad first, then Vanille, then Roxas and Naminé, then finally Mom. They stayed silent when they looked at me, knowing exactly why I felt down. But they each stayed with me, sitting in the living room and offering companionship. This I was thankful for. We sat in silence for a while, before Roxas cut the t.v. on and treated the rest of the day as a normal day. Everyone went back to their normal routines: Dad going to read the paper diligently as ever, Mom finding something in the fridge to make a something substantial out of, Vanille going up to her room to likely call Fang and talk for a while, and Rox and Naminé hanging around the living room listening to the background noise of whatever movie was on while they held each other close. I stayed on the floor with Midnight and thought to myself. It wasn't the end of the world. I simply had to make the best of this situation. Not to mention, I had my own life to focus on and this entire ordeal had pulled my attention away from it. The end of the school year was approaching fast, time feeling like it had simply flown by. I needed to get myself in gear now. Maybe find a job better suited to my career path, now that I had some sort of experience and something better than 'middle school film club' to put on my resume.

Things were ending on a bit of a sad note this school year. But I know I'll get by.

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A/N: Wow, okay. This turned out way shorter than I expected. But then, there wasn't much to put. I thought about a flashback to connect this chapter with the last, but that was kind of unnecessary. Next chapter's kinda long anyway since it's focusing more on everyone rather than just Sora and Kairi. And then after that…THE END IS NIGH. Yup, that's right folks. It's been decided. This story ends on chapter 23. The last chapter's already done, so you guys are basically just waiting for me to finish 22.