Chapter 4: Finders. Keepers.

Part III: Conclusion

I learned that it was better to let things go under certain circumstances. Like how Namine let Riku go and Olette dumped Roxas. Sometimes, the pain was too unbearable and so it was better left untouched; ignored. Sora was Namine's guy. She loved him and he loved her. And me… I was moving on. I decided it was better to let the person you love go because they also happened to be the cause of your pain. I rather have neither than both. It wasn't worth it.

I told Olette so over the phone Sunday morning and she agreed.

"It sucks right?"

"Bad," I agreed.

"Well, I got some good news for you Kai. We found the book. That Larxene heifer had it after all."

"I could've told you that."

"Yea. But good thing though because Paine is coming home earlier than expected."

"Hm," I mumbled.

"Oh. Cheer up Kai! Just think, there's lots of other guys out there dying to have you to themselves."

"Like Demyx," I said more to myself than her.

"Right!" I heard a lot of banging around in Namine's room and then I heard the bathroom door slam shut. The shower came on.

"Listen. I gotta go. Okay?"

"'Kay. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and got up from my bed. I didn't bother putting on my bath robe. I just walked downstairs in a t-shirt and panties because I wasn't expecting to see Sora raiding our fridge. He was just in his boxers so I got to see the wondrous glory that was his extremely hot body. Just because I decided to give up on him didn't mean I couldn't look at him and like what I saw. But was his semi-nakedness evidence that he spent the night after all?

"Morning," I greeted. He turned around and blushed.

"G… good morning." I casually took a seat at our bar table and watched him as he watched me. I silently hoped he wouldn't bring up last night's accident because that was all it was, an accident. Though I was curious about the reason he kissed me back. I decided I would stay ignorant of the reason because I knew it would only bring unnecessary pain.

"How's your hand?" He asked politely. I rotated my wrist and squeezed my fingers into a fist without flinching.

"Good. You saved my life miracle doctor. Thanks to you I get to see another day!"

"Yea. Okay. I could do without your sarcasm," he said. Angelo rubbed up against my bare leg and I jumped because he was another guest I didn't expect to see.

"Silly dog! Go away! Go on," I said. Angelo just stood by me with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, tail wagging.

"I love dogs. They're so loyal and less complicated then people," I said. I didn't mean for my comment to be taken offensively, but Sora seemed to interpret it that way and he once again directed his attention to me.

"Kairi. You kissed me first," he said.

"What?"

"What?" he mocked, "You heard me. You can't get mad at me because you kissed me and then decided to forget about it."

"What?? Oh don't you dare put that on me! It takes two people to kiss! Besides you were the one with your hand up my shirt!" Sora blushed and occupied himself with the refrigerator again. Since he brought it up I decided I was entitled to know what had been eating at me since the kiss, "Why'd you kiss me back Sora?" No answer. The food seemed to take up much of his attention. I threw a sponge at the back of his head in attempt to regain his attention. My plan proved successful because he looked at me while he held his head.

"It's not important now right? It's not supposed to have been forgotten remember?"

"Don't play with me Sora! You brought it back up! Give me an answer!"

"… Well… You were crying… I felt bad… And… You were crying…," he stumbled. Oh. He kissed me because he felt like he owed it to me?

"Oh. Wow. Okay. Whatever. Don't give me your pity because I don't want it. Y'know what you can do? Get me one of those condoms you bought yesterday. I think I'll pay my buddy Demyx a visit. At least he kisses me because he likes me!"

"… You kissed Demyx?"

"It's none of your business."

"You're not serious."

"Don't tell me what I am and am not!"

"Where do you get off trying to make me into the bad guy?? You… you kissed me first Kairi! Why'd you do that?" Ah. He turned the tables. But I didn't have to answer him. I got up from my seat and proceeded to leave the room. In two strides, Sora had walked up on me and grabbed my arm.

"Let go!" I snapped.

"Give me an answer. Why'd you kiss me? I want the truth Kairi." The truth… the truth… The truth was that I liked you and you're the first guy to ever make me feel that way. And now I decided to move on because I can't have you.

"Sora," I started. My voice was soaked in my sorrow and sounded nothing like me, "It was a spur of the moment type of thing…"

"… Bullshit," he claimed. Why could he see right through me every time? I tried to yank free of his grasp, but to no avail.

"Lemme go… this is stupid. It's so stupid," I cried.

"… Maybe. But… I don't want to just blow what happened off Kairi. I won't and don't ask me to."

"… Do what you want. I'm going back to my room." I told and finally yanked my arm from his grip. I turned my back and went back upstairs to my room.

I felt really dumb.

"You're too soft Kairi," Olette's voice was screaming in my head, "Steal him!" But… did I have it in me? Should I let him go or make him mine? Namine came into my room in her bathrobe and I just ignored her. My lip was still sore.

"Kairi. I don't care if you're still mad at me… I just wanted to say sorry anyway. You didn't deserve that."

"Whatever." My feelings were still hurt, but not so much because of her as much as a certain spiky haired boy. Namine smiled softly and threw her wet wash rag at me.

"Stop being a dodo head," she demanded. I threw the towel back at her, starting to feel a little better.

"Go away! You're dripping on my carpet!"

"Whatever," she said. She shook her head and water flew everywhere.

"Namine!" She stopped and laughed merrily.

"That's what you get sour puss." Just then, Sora joined us. He was fully dressed and he had Angelo on a leash. He looked at me for a split second before looking at Namine and saying, "I'm going now." Namine pouted and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt dramatically.

"But Sora," she whined. I watched them and I felt my happy feelings die once more. Sora kinda glanced at me before grabbing Namine's hands lovingly and rubbing his forehead against hers.

"I'll talk to you later. But I really gotta go now. My mom and dad are probably bitching a fit. Not to mention, but I gotta find Roxas."

"Oh. You're not mad at him anymore?"

"No," Sora answered plainly.

"Okay. Fine. I guess I can let you go," Namine said, "But not without a kiss."

"You're so spoiled."

"And you made me that way." Watching them was like watching a soap opera with bad acting. I tried not to laugh. They kissed noisily but I ignored them. Angelo broke loose from Sora's grip and wandered over to me. I patted him, sad that he had to go at least. When the two drama queens finally broke loose, Sora noticed his missing dog and saw that he was with me.

"Come on Angelo. Geez," he commanded. The dog barked but made no attempts to obey his order. Grumpily, Sora stomped over to me and grabbed Angelo's leash. The dog whined, but Sora ignored him and instead settled to look at me.

"Bye Kairi," he said.

"Bye Angelo," I said, "I'll miss you." The dog barked and Sora simply nodded and pulled Angelo away as he left the room. When Namine and I were left alone, she looked at me with a befuddled look.

"Why are you being mean to Sora again? I thought you'd grown outta that."

"Well… what can I say? He irks a nerve."

"Oh. Well. Get used to him because he's gonna be your brother-in-law one day…"

"Oh joy." I acted tough on the outside but inside… well inside I was like a confusing jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces couldn't be put together in the right order no matter how hard someone tried. Had I really decided to push him away? Was it really that easy?

"Anyway. Lemme get dressed and then I gotta talk to you about something." She left my room to go next door to her own and then she came in through the bathroom that connected our rooms together.

"That was fast." But it wasn't hard to throw on some underwear and a shirt. Namine shrugged and leapt onto my bed.

"Hey!" I cried as I swayed with the springiness of the mattress.

"Okay Kairi. Look. I know you hang out with Olette and Fujin and everything, but what I'm about to show you, you can't tell them anything about. I don't care if they threaten to shave your head and throw you in front of a moving train! Don't say anything to anyone." If it was that big of a deal, I wasn't sure that I wanted to know about it.

"Uh…"

"Look!" What she showed me was completely mind boggling and certainly something unworldly. She held in her hand a picture. An old picture probably taken the summer before Namine's freshmen year. It was a picture of Paine and Yuffie… kissing opened mouth. My jaw dropped.

"What… the… hell?" I stuttered. Namine shook her head.

"That's not the worst of it… well it is but look at the rest of them." She proceeded to show me more pictures of Paine and Yuffie… Paine and Yuffie… and way too much Paine and Yuffie.

"This is disgusting!" I cried.

"Right."

"I didn't know Paine was a dyke!"

"Duh Kairi. How else is she able to terrorize Seifer? Not a lot of people can do that." I stared at the pictures in disbelief and complete awe.

"Where did you find these?"

"Well, you probably know by now that Larxene did have the photo album. We took these from it."

"You stole Paine's pictures??? She's gonna kill you!"

"They're just copies. We're not dumb." It was a known fact that Paine was violent. Really extremely violent. She once hospitalized a boy for calling her ugly. He nearly died. That was just one of the many reasons she no longer went to our school, or any other school in the district now. You just didn't mess with Paine unless you wanted… pain. Or unless you were a fourteen year old Yuffie who Paine found attractive…

"This is crazy! Why do you have them?" I bellowed. Namine flipped her hair behind her and grinned nonchalantly.

"Well, if I tell you, promise not to say anything to anyone else. Promise?" I nodded dumbly, "I promise!"

"Good. So, Larxene, Tifa, and I are getting revenge for Yuffie telling that BS to Sora the other day. Think she'll be able to live this down?" Namine said as she held up the picture of Paine and Yuffie kissing as emphasis to her point.

"Well. She might get away by saying Paine forced her to be her sex toy," I offered. Namine slapped me upside the head with the picture. "Hey!"

"Oh please! No one will believe that when see this one…" She held up a picture of Paine and Yuffie smiling together at the camera. Paine had her arms wrapped around Yuffie affectionately and I almost barfed.

"I guess you're right…"

"But this is a great way to get her back right? Of course! I'm frickin' brilliant!"

"You are…" My sister hugged me excitedly and gathered her photos then left my room.

Well. If my weekend taught me anything, it was that whatever it was you went looking for, you would find it eventually, whether it was a missing book, a plot for vengeance, or a reason to love. But if you weren't careful, if you didn't try to look, you would most certainly miss out and regret it.