Chapter 22 – Go Away!

"Come on, Akira." Kosuke lay in his bed staring over at his brother's. Akira was motionless. It was almost believable that he was sleeping. However, Kosuke knew his twin brother better than anyone, even if they were different.

Finally after much nagging, Akira turned onto his back and faced him. He was tired, obviously, but also very sad as well.

"Did you hear that? Dad quit his job." He said in a low, disappointed tone.

"Yeah… but…" Kosuke paused, "It's not the end of the world."

"Yes it is!" He sat up. "What if we become poor or something?"

"That's not going to happen. And plus, mom has a job too." Kosuke reasoned.

"But that's not all… do you know how many people at school are going to hate us now?"

"You mean hate you. And why would they?"

"Well… if dad's not famous anymore, they won't care about us."

"And who are they?" Kosuke glared at him. "People that only like you because of your father? That's really low. Have you ever thought about who your real friends were?"

"But… that's besides the point!" Akira covered his mouth because he thought he was too loud when he said that. And then in a whisper he said, "All my friends are true to me!"

"Akira, think of how you met… I don't know, Sally and Jason. They came up to you, not even knowing your name when they've been in class with you all year and asked if Sora Kiyamoto was your father. Immediately after that, the others swarmed on you. And what about Nikki?"

Akira eyed him. "What about her?"

"How did you meet her?"

"Hey! That was way before dad became famous!"

"But you weren't friends until she found out, right?" Akira had a point.

"Argh… you're just jealous that I get so many friends!" Akira pulled the covers over himself and faced away from his brother.

"Actually I'm glad that I don't get as many friends as you do, because that only means less drama for me! Geeze!" Kosuke did the same.

- - -

Kairi was sick for about two days, so she got off work. She spent most of it in bed. Part of her sickness was the depression she had been building up inside the past few days. Sora cooked the meals, woke the kids up and sent them off to school, and gave her anything she asked for. Despite the good way he was treating her, she still felt really guilty for making him quit his job.

"Honey, for the last time, it's not your fault…" He sat next to her on the bed and moved her hair out of her face. She didn't answer him. Sora sighed and stood up, still not taking his eyes off of her. Kairi coughed and turned over onto her side, her back facing him. Sora walked out of the room, turning off the light behind him.

"Although I did not like quitting, I still had to do it…" He thought.

Akira and Kosuke left for school. Sora yawned as he waved to them. He didn't get much sleep the night before. He had been up thinking about Kairi all night, even though she was lying right next to him.

Kairi, on the other hand, had been debating in her head back and forth on whether what Sora did was right. Was it wrong for him to do that? But then those memories of her taking care of the twins all alone came back, and she could only think of Sora helping her this time around. However, Blitzball still was his dream… which was why she felt so depressed and angry at herself. But he also had a family… it was so confusing.

She started to feel a little better throughout the day after she threw up, but still had a headache. Her eyes were all dried out; she couldn't possibly cry anymore than she did.

- - -

Akira and Kosuke walked off to their third grade classes, still pissed at each other from the night before. They didn't even say goodbye to one another. Akira went to the classroom down the hall from Kosuke's class.

"Hello Akira!" Nikki greeted happily, making Akira blush a little.

"Hiya." If it was possible for nine-year olds to fall in love, that's where Akira would be right now. However, poor kid, he didn't even know what love meant.

"Akira! Why did your dad quit?" Asked Sally as she held out some fan pictures of him, which always freaked Akira out. He didn't really want to be reminded of that.

"He didn't quit… he just took a break for a while." Akira lied.

Meanwhile, Kosuke's classmates were bugging him about it too. These things spread around quickly.

"He quit because he wanted to spend more time with us. Is that so wrong?" Kosuke saw no need to lie. His friend Megan came over to him and sat down next to him. She was a shy, blonde girl with cute little blue eyes and always wore her hair in pigtails no matter what the occasion. Kosuke had a crush on her at one time, but decided to back off when he found out she liked someone else.

"That's so sweet of him." Megan said.

"Man, the team is going to suck now!" Yelled out one boy. Kosuke couldn't care less. However, Akira wanted to save his social status.

"Look, I don't know why he's doing it… just shut up about it, okay?" Akira rolled his eyes and turned away from the rest of his questioning classmates. He guessed their parents wanted to know too, because whenever he would see one of them they would gasp and start whispering behind papers and such. Was it really that big of a deal?

Nikki put her hand on Akira's shoulder, making him jump. She laughed at his clumsiness. "You're so silly."

After school, Akira and Kosuke met up again, still a little angry with each other, but would actually talk this time.

"People wouldn't shut up about dad all day!" Kosuke said, irritated.

"Tell me about it."

They decided to keep all of this on the low and not tell Sora about it. Kosuke figured it would make him miss being a Blitzball player, but Akira just flat out did not want to.

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A/N: Question: Should I make a part 2 to this story and that will count as the 3rd I Heart You series or just make an entirely new story? I don't know…