Passion

C/By: Kenjaje

Edited/Revised by: raVen

Chapter 11: A Change Of Mind

Laughter flew through the house as Lilo and Stitch ran amok. The unsuspecting, quiet home, was hit quite suddenly by the two as they pounded through the front door and zoomed their way around the kitchen, through the back hall, back into the living room, and finally up the stairs, where they ran into Jumba.

"Little girl should watch where she is going." Jumba chuckled, as he helped Lilo to her feet. "Also should have told Jumba you were going to beach, otherwise would not have had to look."

"Sorry about that Jumba,"

"Eh, soka,"

"But hey, you found us, and we told you then." She finished, smiling innocently.

"Is good point. Well, am glad to see little girl and 626 are all right…but where is being 624? Was she not with you?"

"Naga,"

"No, she left, but we're hoping she'll come back." Jumba paused and put a finger to his chin. "Come on Stitch, we gotta get the shovels, otherwise our sandcastle will fall!"

"Coming." He said, as they both went up the elevator.

"Is strange," Jumba thought aloud, "I thought 626 said he was going to find 624 and bring her back…why then is she not here? And also, for looking so tired after encounter with 599, are seeming very peppy." He tapped his chin a few more times, but couldn't think of a reason. "Is not my concern." He answered himself, shrugging his shoulders.

"Where is it?" Lilo asked, as she rummaged through the closet. "I know it's around here somewhere…"

"Lilo?" Stitch asked, after he searched on the other side of the room.

"Huh?" She said, without stopping her search.

"Think Angel will come back?" She paused, and receded from the closet.

"Maybe…no, I bet she will, she has to, because it'd be mean not-" Lilo's mouth hung open and her eyes darted across the ceiling. Stitch wondered what caught her attention. She turned around on her knees and stood to her feet, looking around.

"Gaba-"

"Shush." She interrupted, and quickly he closed his lips. She took a step toward the far window, and then paused. A moment later she walked at a calm pace, and pushed up against the glass, manually opening it. "Hey," Lilo shouted, sitting up on the sill and poking her head out the window and looking up, "are you just gonna stay there for the rest of the day?"

Stitch saw her look at something, a nonverbal sign he imagined, and stood up as Lilo came back through. He knew what was coming, but he didn't want to get his hopes up. Lilo often joked to calm his nerves, and he couldn't tell if this was a joke or if she was actually talking to someone. In answering, Angel's feet landed on the sill, and the rest of her climbed through with little trouble.

"Angel." He said, trying and failing to sound surprised. She appeared happy on the outside, but at the corners of her smile an uneasy straightness in her lips caught his eye. Stitch felt a touch on his shoulder.

"I knew she would come back." Lilo whispered as she passed him on her way toward the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Angel asked, before Lilo could set a foot on the pad.

"Me?" She asked rhetorically, pointing to herself. "I was…going down to talk to my sister, I think she called me." Angel gave the glance that told Lilo she knew she was lying.

"Your sister's outside." Angel said, pointing to the window. "If she called you, I would've heard."

"Oh…my mistake." She said with a shrug and unconvincing casual laugh. Apparently, Angel wanted her to stay. When she looked at Stitch he seemed not to notice what was going on.

"Angel," he began, after Lilo's laugh, "about running away-" Angel quickly stepped over and put a finger on his mouth, telling him to stop while Lilo quietly made her way to sit on the bed.

"Hold on, before you start, I've got something to say." She paused for a second, and then lifted her finger.

"Oketaka." He acknowledged.

"I shouldn't have done what I did when Zeus kissed you." She said, involuntarily reaching for the pendant hanging around her neck. "It was really stupid, and she was right, there wasn't a reason for my attacking her-"

"Naga-," He tried to protest, reaching to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let me finish." She cut in calmly. His arm froze, hung, and then went down back by his side. "I know you love me now, but when she kissed you…after you couldn't escape…for a second it was like I was about to lose you." She said, letting go of the pendant and reaching for his hand.

"Angel not lose Stitch…never lose. Stitch liked kiss, but not enough to forget Angel." He said.

"I know. It should have never crossed my mind. But, there's still something else. Before I came here, I started thinking, 'what if it was different, and I was the one being kissed?'" She squeezed his hand and looked up at him, smiling honestly. "I still don't know for sure what I would do, but I imagine I'd do what you did…run away. I know I worried you, and I'm sorry, so I wanted to make it up to you."

"Make it up?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, to be more clear, let's say that, when she kissed you, you did fall in love with her, even if it was for a second." She began hypothetically.

"I kind of did." Stitch admitted silently.

"Well, if it happened to me instead, then I realize that you and I both could easily lose sight of each other, even for a second, and that could tear us apart, like it almost did. So I figure, the best way to keep us together is to stay together." She smiled as she saw Stitch's expression; he was beginning to realize what Angel was getting at. "And that's why I've decided—if it's alright with everyone else that is," she said, looking toward Lilo, "I want to stay with you, so that I can make sure you don't fall in love with someone else. And so you can make sure I don't either." She spoke with an excited smile, and was pleased with his reaction to what she said.

He wasn't truly expecting her to say such a thing, especially after the many times she had turned his offer down before. At first he looked at her with a narrow eye, wondering if he'd heard wrongly. But she smiled and nodded, letting him know that he wasn't imagining what he heard, and then felt his arms wrap around her. After a long pause, he let go, and chuckled a bit as he stroked his arm, a bit embarrassed by his action.

"By the way," Angel said, "I wanted to thank you, for the pendant. I think it looks lovely." Stitch looked at it, and smiled.

"Naga miga, enjata Lilo." He said. Angel turned to face her with a smile, which Lilo returned a moment later after just realizing they were done. She had tried not to pay attention, but—despite her attempt—still heard everything.

"Then thanks," Angel repeated, and then added, "for the pendant, and the letter." Angel saw the twitch in Lilo's eyes, and felt the wave of nervousness splash upon her. Angel was now certain as to just how deep that letter was; judging by the uneasy posture Lilo took.

"L-letter?" Lilo asked, trying to hide her stutter. She further tried to hide her nervousness by moving to lie down on the bed.

"Lilo wrote letter?" Stitch asked, looking from one girl to the other, not understanding.

"No, I didn-" Lilo began to say with an agitated laugh of disbelief. But Angel interrupted her.

"I'm sorry Stitch, I would show you," she said, looking at Lilo and winking, "but I lost it on the way over here."

"Oh…ok…" He said as he shook his head and shrugged, still not quite understanding. Angel gave a quick apologetic glance toward Lilo.

"Oh hey," Lilo started, trying to change the subject, "speaking about pendants, Stitch," she hopped off the bed and pulled out the drawer on her bedside table, "I forgot to give yours back." Deftly she pulled the green pendant out of the drawer by the chain and caught it with her other hand. She brought it over, and handed it to him stone up. He looked at it while she spoke again. "I know you didn't want Gantu's symbol on there, so I tried to think of a way to get it out…but I couldn't do much without damaging the stone." She looked back at him. "I tried." She finished, apologetically.

Stitch looked at the stone, holding it up to the evening light. The scratches that made the symbol were still deep, but they were a bit less noticeable. He lowered it back down and stared it at for a few seconds, thinking. The symbol looked familiar to another symbol but he couldn't think of it off the top of his head.

"Oh yeah!" He exclaimed, as he finally remembered what symbol he was thinking about. With a flick of his wrist he extended all the claws on his free hand, and then retracted them again with the exception of one with a very fine point. He then began work on scratching into the stone, making horrible, yet subtle scraping noises. After four nicks, he looked it over, snorted with satisfaction, and turned it for Lilo and Angel so they could see what he did. Lilo scrutinized it, but didn't understand what he was showing her. Angel, however, obviously got it. Stitch showed a clever grin as she burst into an astonished laugh.

"What did he do?" Lilo asked, with a left-out tone in her voice. "What's so funny?"

"Miga jiste ichita, agachoota." He explained, pointing to the pendant.

"…What?" Lilo asked again.

"Let me tell her." Angel said, taking the pendant from him. "This symbol," she explained, covering up a few of the marks on the stone, "Makes the sound 'Gantu'. But if you add these marks, like he did," She pulled her fingers away, and displayed the entire symbol, "the pronunciation changes to 'Ganazu'."

"Ganazu?" Lilo repeated. "What's Ganazu?" Both Stitch and Angel's faces straightened into a calm smile. Angel looked at Stitch, as if to say it was his turn to answer her question.

"Ganazu is word, means," he said, taking one of Lilo and Angel's hands in each of his, while Angel took Lilo's other hand, "togetherness."

"I got the sheets, is the bed ready Stitch?" Lilo asked over the hammering noise.

"Youch!" He screamed.

"Hit your thumb." Lilo stated.

"Chuto…" He replied painfully.

"Here." She cooed, taking his hand and kissing it. "There, now it'll get better."

"Oketaka." He smiled.

"I appreciate you two doing this but…did you really have to do it tonight? I could've just slept on the floor or something." Angel said as she rose up from the elevator carrying a pillowcase and blankets.

"No big deal." Lilo said, as she tested the newly installed bed meant for Angel. "The hinges seem to work." Stitch jumped up on the bed, to make sure it could hold his weight. After landing, he paused, and tapped his foot a few times, which caused the bed and him to fall on the floor.

"No legweesta." He murmured as he picked up the hammer and blurrily nailed the faulty hinge in again. Another test proved it was stable. "Perfecto."

"Good, now move, I gotta make it." Lilo pulled him off by his legs and immediately began putting the sheets on. Angel did the pillow and blanket, and in a few minutes the new bed was ready for sleeping in. "Just in time, too. It's late." Lilo said, looking over at the clock, which read close to ten. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm way tired." She said, slumping over to her bed.

"Oh yeah." They both replied in agreement. All three climbed into their beds, and Lilo waited before she turned out the light. "Enchujae." Stitch bid.

"Enchujae." Angel responded.

"Yeah, however the heck you say it." Lilo said sarcastically as she turned out the light. Angel relaxed with her eyes closed, but didn't fall asleep. She kept her hand on the pendant around her neck as she waited for the other two to doze off. For a half hour she waited until their breathing was even and slumberous.

Quietly she rustled out of the covers, and lowered herself to the floor, softly putting one foot after the other, trying not to wake the other two. Holding the pendant close to her chest so it wouldn't make any noise, she made her way to the farthest window away from the beds, and opened it with only a small click. The night was breezy as she climbed her way out, and lowered the window so that it was loosely closed.

She exhaled as she finally relaxed, and scaled her way to the top of the roof. She could be a bit noisier now, as long as she didn't accidentally knock against the ceiling. She let go of the pendant and let it fall free, and leaned back on her palms, staring up at the sky. Most of the clouds were gone, and the ones that were left had a dim blue ridge around them, with dark navy bottoms, still threatening a tiny drizzle.

Angel waited until her eyes adjusted to the light, as she stared at the scenery. It was a lot different from here, a lot prettier. She could see the tree that she was leaning against before Zeus attacked her—or at least what was left of it. She drew her thoughts away from the day, and adjusted herself so she could sit cross-legged. She took the pendant off her neck and held the bulk of it in her palm, looking at the stone. It shined a bit blue in the moonlight.

She liked the stone and thought it was very pretty to look at, but that wasn't the reason why she took the pendant off. She turned it around to the back; the gold also shined a bit blue where the moonlight was strongest. She extended a claw, and traced it across the flat surface, passing it over a few times before she located the tiny crevice she was looking for. Using her claw as wedge, she popped open the compartment in the back, and took out what was inside.

She looked back up at the moon, hoping there weren't going to be any clouds blocking the way for a few minutes, and then back down at the object in her hand; a folded piece of paper. Gently she unfolded it, and turned it right side up, and panned across the letters written in black ink.

She smiled as a tear dropped from her eye. This was what gave her the courage to come back; without it she wouldn't have been able to speak to Stitch. It was more the way the letter was written, rather than what was there. It sounded disheartened and pleading, which made her feel guilty, and yet happy because it let her know she had a friend—or maybe something more.

She wiped the drop that fell down her cheek away with her hand and returned it to hold the paper still. She smiled as she read the letter aloud once more,

"Dear Angel…"

Atichura

(The End)

(The next one may be a little slow to come, as my editor is also co-authoring, so don't be distressed if it doesn't come too soon.)