Dean's Note : For those of you who don't know yet, this story takes place in a fictional world I'm still working on. So much to do…


Chapter 49 – She Will Be Loved

Setting : Dawn Rosenbridge Court

Time : Saturday, 11.48am

It was official. Kairi was affiliated with her mother no longer, and as of this very moment, she was Kairi Young. Hating every single moment of the session earlier, Veronica Dixon forced herself to attend the court and said explicitly in not wanting her custody for her own daughter. Aqua did not even had to pull off her astonishing expertise into play.

Veronica said a few foul words to her daughter, and as a result she was fined for misbehavior in a court session. The important part of the case was that Aqua Young had received the parental rights on Kairi. The lawyer then had a 'private' conversation with Veronica Dixon that went no close to being at ease.

Later on that afternoon…

"Impossible stuck up woman!" Aqua cursed as she led her children out of the court terrace. "Just how conceited a person could get!?" the cobalt haired lawyer's voice dragged the attention of all the people around the area.

Roxas, Sora and Kairi silently followed Aqua, their hearts at ease since the worst was in the past now.

"It's over." Sora said, holding hands with his step-sister.

"… I can hear her words in my head…" Kairi murmured, vis-à-vis to her former parent's horrid words earlier. To make matters more worse Nate was present, who had always had an eye on Kairi. Though no more, because Kairi was in the safest hands, and she at this instant had a new, caring family.

"Pay it no mind, Kairi. That snobbish woman and that asshole won't be laying a finger on you. You have my word."

Sora's words were pleasant to her hearing. "Thanks, Sora."

"So uh…" Roxas spoke up. "Aunt Aqua? This means our family has grown to a number of five, right?"

Aqua dismissed her furious state and answered. "That's right. Kairi is now my… daughter. … … Mind being my daughter, sweetie?" smiling, Aqua asked the girl as they neared the lawyer's car.

"I… Um…" Kairi was speechless when presented with the question. She had not actually thought about being Aqua's 'daughter'. That also leads to her being Sora and Roxas'…

"Does this make Kairi our sister?" Roxas asked ineptly. "That's going to take a bit getting used to."

"We'll talk about it back home, Roxas. For now, let's be happy for Kairi." Aqua said.


Setting : Stardust Bridge in 7th Street Park

Time : 2.57pm

Sora brought Kairi to the park, wanting to get her mind off of what happened earlier in the morning. They came to the bridge where Kairi once attempted a suicide. Not exactly the place for a memory lane, but it did not bothered the teens.

"I used to read about you in your school's website."

"Really?" Sora knew about the many articles written by his former schoolmates, although he did not bother reading them. "What do they say about me?"

"Nothing bad, I assure you." Kairi said. "You were quite the buzz."

Sora shrugged. To some extent, he detested the popularity he had back in Dusk. One alleviating point of it was the fact that he could share the 'suffering' together with his cousin.

"Sora? Question."

"Yup?"

Kairi hesitated to ask him but she found the courage to do so. "How do you feel about me… being your… s-sister?"

"Yeah, well... It's really gonna take a little 'getting used to'. But I definitely don't mind about it. … How about you?" Sora expressed his curiosity.

"I don't know… I just want to feel… accepted."

"Consider it already done, then." Sora optimistically said to comfort her.

Kairi smiled at his words. Even though the thought was very uncanny, the boy was now her brother. In fact, in a quick turn of events, the cheerleading prodigy now had two brothers.

"Woah. Wonder how everyone back in school are take this. I can expect a lot of gossips and all." Sora said.

Kairi sighed, seeing how all of her girlfriends were going to give her a major headache by letting loose their barrage of questions.


Setting : Dawn High School, Cafeteria

Time : Monday, 9.21am

Alas, Kairi's fears came true. Despite Aqua told her to take a leave, Kairi still attended school, and the result was being surrounded by all the populars and being asked loads of questions. Sora was with her, though his presence did not make a single difference. There was no controlling over these populars of Dawn High.

"Tell me you're not serious!" Kat yelped out her voice. "My god, Kairi! Why didn't you tell us before!?"

"I'm sorry." Kairi's voice and eyelashes fell down. "I didn't mean to."

"Look at you idiots. Making her feel like she's to blame." Vinia said.

"Alright, alright. Give the girl some space." Riku shooed away some of the jocks and cheerleaders as if they were a flock. "You'll get more buzz later. Go on."

"Bullshit... Talk to ya later, Kairi." A jock said and left with his gang.

Riku shook his head in exasperation. "Fuckhead…" he quietly cursed.

"Stay strong, Kairi." A cheerleader said sharing a hug with said redhead. All of the cheerleaders with exception of Vinia and Kat left the table.

"Why did you come anyway? You could've stayed back home if you wanted to." Vinia inquired. She had called Kairi the day before today to tell her to not come to school, and Kairi told her she would consider it. The cheerleader captain attended anyway.

"I had to." Kairi answered. "If there's anything I want right now, it's to recover quickly. I can't just keep depending on people, and if I'm going to get better, I have to do it myself."

"W-wow…" Kat's eyes became dreamy and slightly teary. "You've always been my… my role model…" the girl rubbed her eyes slowly.

"… great." Riku rolled his eyes, tired of Kat's sniveling.


Setting : The Library

Time : 9.26am

Namine and Xion came to the library to return some books and borrow new ones. They spotted Roxas, Xion and another blonde girl having a discussion. Roxas gave a nod to the girls as acknowledgement, and Namine alone returned it. Her raven haired best friend ignored the spiky haired blonde.

"… I'll stay outside. You get the books, Nami. Don't forget the novel Axel wanted."

"Okay." Namine answered and walked to the counter. A few minutes later, she finished her business and rejoined her best friend outside. Back inside…

"It's just a thought. The 'Disciplinary Board' is a bit… out of chic."

"Are you sure? It seems okay with me." Cissnei said to Roxas.

"We could call it… the 'D.A.O.' , short for Discipline Assessment Organization."

"… what do you think, Elena?"

"Frankly, I like it. But still, Professor Lightning has to decide about it." The blonde haired intellect said.

"Quite right. But she'll definitely agree with the name change." Cissnei pointed out. A alteration in the group's name would not hamper their inner works, after all. "Roxas, if I may… Can I ask you something?"

"Hm? Yeah, what's that?" Roxas asked while writing some paperwork regarding his duties as a member of the board.

"I'm not one used to believing in school rumors… but is the matter about the cheerleader squad's captain true?"

"…" Roxas started to hesitate on whether he should elaborate the issue to Cissnei.

"That's right. I'm somewhat curious about it too." Elena said.

Cissnei was a person Roxas knew he could share clandestine subjects with, and Elena was the crimson haired girl's best friend, who also a trustworthy individual herself.

"…. It's like this…" Roxas said in a gentlemanly fashion as he began to explain everything to the girls before break ends.


Setting : Classroom B3

Time : 2.19pm

Kairi shoved her books into her schoolbag and stood up from her seat, her curly haired best friend beside her did the same also. The day went normal to a degree, with few of the teachers inquiring Kairi on her condition. Also, Aqua had come in the morning together with her to meet Principal Ansem and inform him of Kairi's condition and to give her special consideration from the teachers.

"Are you sure you're fine coming to school?" Kat asked, since a lot of odd gazes were locked onto Kairi the entire morning. It was almost as if the cheerleader was a new student, being looked at by unknown students. Sora and Roxas, however, have told Kairi earlier before school to ignore any stares she would get, therefore Kairi made sure she did so.

"I'm sure." Kairi answered with poise. Coming to school and meeting her friends again are one the things she desperately needed to do with the purpose of making sure her recovery would go well. "Don't be worried, Kitty. I'll be fine." the quickly improving girl said and hugged one of her closest friends.

"Please… Talk to me whenever you want to, okay?"

"Okay, I will." Kairi answered Kat's request. The other cheerleader left for her extra-vocational activities with the rest of the cheerleaders, leaving behind Kairi and Vinia in the classroom with several other departing students. Some said farewell to Kairi along the way.

Sora came by the class a little later, saying goodbye to his girlfriend beforehand.

"Hey, Kairi." Sora greeted with a smile. "H-hey, Vinia." but the smile became forced at the swift sight on the other girl.

"Hey. I'll trust her to you, then."

Vinia shared a hug with her sisterly best friend, gave a nod to Sora and left the classroom.

"Ready? … Hey, you alright?"

"Yes…" Kairi answered the boy, a hint of tiredness present in her voice. "… just a little headache, that's all.

"You must be tired… Come on, let's go home. Give me your bag."

"No, it's okay…" Kairi tried to carry her bag but it was hastily grabbed by Sora.

"Don't push yourself and just try to relax, okay? Take my hand."

Kairi linked her hand with the spiky haired brunette's and together they walked out of the classroom. The girl with shoulder-length auburn hair was afflicted with a minor headache, but being close to Sora made her feel exceptionally safe.

"… wait, what about Roxas?"

"He stays back every Monday and Thursday, stuff about that discipline board."

Kairi nodded her head slowly.


Setting : Sora's room in the mansion

Time : Wednesday, 10.56pm

Two more days have passed since school started. So far, everything went smoothly for Kairi.

All the lights in the mansion interior was turned off, with the exception of the ones in the study room and Aqua's office. In Sora's room, the boy and Kairi were lying side by side on the bed, doing what they usually would before going to slumber.

"22, huh?"

"Yup."

Twenty-two. That was the number of wealthy boys from Dawn High who proposed to Kairi. The outcome of every proposal was the same though, rejection.

"was Riku one of em'?" he could not help himself not asking that. "Just curious, that's all."

Kairi laughed softly and answered, "No, no. He's my best friend. Since kindergarten."

"Oh…" Sora muttered.

"… and how about you, wonder boy? I bet there were countless girls who were after you."

"I guess so… I used to get love letters, and trust me I receive stacks of them."

Kairi laughed softly.

"It's true… Man… those girls will try and jump me at corners. I practically had to seek cover from Paine and Rikku those days, and I'm pretty sure you know how Paine helped me in those… circumstances."

"Yeah, I can tell." Kairi said thoughtfully.

"That 'know-it-all' in the next room basically abandons me in times like that… I always wondered why his fangirls were well behaved and mine were… I don't know, hyper."

"Some girls are like that." Kairi said.

Just like that, they continued to talk for a little longer. Some time passed, and they hugged each drifted into a deep sleep.


Setting : Restaurant in Dawn Entertainment District

Time : Sunday, 1.35pm

The Youngs decided to have their lunch outside, hence they came to a vegetarian bistro in the city's ever growing entertainment district. Sitting around a sizable round table, each family member had different varieties of vegetarian meals. All except Sora enjoyed their lunch.

"My god… Look at this…" Sora held an unfamiliar vegetable in a fork and inspected it. "… what is this anyway?"

Terra heaved a sigh. "It's something that needs to go into your mouth if you wanna stay healthy, Brownie."

"Hold on, honey." Aqua took possession of Sora's fork and tried to feed him motherly. "Open wide…"

"N-no!" Sora protested, shaking his head about to prevent his mother from feeding the vegetable to him. "You can't, Mom!"

His protests seemed cute to Kairi. She could not keep herself from laughing. Roxas followed her action suit.

"Just one? You'll never know the taste till you try, right?"

"… but… I don't want those beans!" Sora repeated his remonstration.

Aqua sighed but with a beatific smile. She instead turned towards Kairi. "Here, Kairi. You try." in the same maternal manner, Aqua fed Kairi, who accepted it enthusiastically. Kairi was a girl who would most probably take the majority of the vegetables. More to the point, she was a cheerleader who was a professional in taking care of her slender hourglass figure.

Sora smiled innocently. "Okay, okay… I'll take it…" he pierced a veggie with another fork and put it into his mouth. Without chewing, he swallowed it.

"Ah… Um… That wasn't so bad."

"No need to force the kid, Aqua." Terra said after sipping his coffee. He noted the glare he quickly received from his wife. "I-I mean… Sora, you take those, alright? It's for your own health."

Roxas and Kairi again had a hushed laughter, as Sora frowned when Aqua started to feed him, and this time she succeeded. Giving up, Sora let his mother to have her way with him. Sora was in fact eating a vegetarian taco salad.

All things considered, it appeared to be that everything was going to be just fine.


Dean's Note : Just one more chapter… wow. I can't believe I managed to come this far…

Let me say special appreciations to my most prominent readers, without you guys this would not have been possible. Writing this story really kept my mind off of several… appalling stuff in my life. I really want to keep writing.

Readers and writers alike. Go us. :)