I'm so sad right now. :( One of my very very best friends moved to North Carolina. Now, I'm freakily sad because everyday I'm reminded of her not being there. She sat behind me in math class for crying out loud!! We met during the summer before seventh grade - three years ago. She gave me my nickname, which everyone calls me because I am the Shel-lala. I'm just...urgh...

Here's the next chapter...

Xion didn't sleep that night. Besides the fact that she was used for a bet, she also made out with her long time crush and her brother's best friend. She tossed and turned all night, texting a drowsy Kairi for advice.

When she 'woke up' the next morning, Xion threw on a pair of jeans and a black and white checkered hooded thermal. She slipped her shoes on and went downstairs nervously.

Would the question her about where she had been? Would they be mad? Would they be disappointed? All these questions and more were rushing through her head, fighting for most prominent.

She peeked her head around the kitchen door frame and was met by a surprisingly empty room. There was a plate of muffins sat out on the island. Xion grabbed one and looked around the room until she saw a yellow sticky note stuck to the fridge. She walked over to it and picked it off, reading it.

'Xion-

Went to take care of some business. Be back soon. Love you!

-The Brothers'

Xion groaned and banged her head against the refrigerator door. Riku had probably told them all about last night. Well, leaving out the kiss (something that Xion didn't know if she regretted or not.)

With a sigh, Xion went into the living room with her muffin.

Tidus was a marked man.

- -- - -- - -- - -- - -- -

Xion lounged around the house all day, catching up on homework. Tidus had taken up a lot of her time, so she was behind on her work and projects.

Just as she finished glueing a pipecleaner on a piece of cardboard, she heard the door downstairs open. Putting the project aside, she quickly threw open her door and ran down the stairs.

When she reached the bottom, she heard voices from the living room. A smile on her face, Xion walked in and was met by the sight of Ven, Sora, Roxas, Axel, and Riku lounging around in front of the TV.

"Where were you gusy?" Xion asked, her hands on her hips. She noticed Roxas rubbing his fist, it looked a little bruised. "And what happened?"

"We went out, got it memorized?" Axel offered, pointing to his temple. Xion rolled her eyes.

"What was the 'business' that you had to do? I woke up this morning and found a note, no brothers or brothers' friends, but a note!" Sora sighed.

"Don't worry about it, sis," he reassured her. "We took care of it. Tidus will not bother you again." Xion felt her eyes widen.

They didn't!

"You didn't!"

"We only did what he too," Ven subjected. Xion's jaw dropped.

"Nobody messes with a Strife," Roxas finished.

Xion's eyes softened and she let a slight smile escape. Her brother's had defended her, just like older brothers should. She hadn't known them for long, yet they were treating her as if they had grown up with her.

"You guys," she murmured. Sora smiled and stood up, ruffling her hair before the room. Ven, Roxas, and Axel followed suit.

Leaving Xion and Riku the only ones left in the room.

She watched him through ocean orbs. He was slouched down, his elbows resting on his legs and his hair in his face. Xion walked over and sat by him. He scooted away from her on the couch and Xion frowned. The way his hair sat, it hid his eyes from her - all she could see was Riku's tense jaw.

Before she could open her mouth, Riku straightened, his hair fell back. Xion gasped at a bruise that surrounded his eye.

"Oh Riku..." she said. Xion reached up a hand to touch his face, but he pulled away. She looked at him in confusion.

"What's wrong?" she questioned him, worried. Riku just shook his head.

"Nothing Xion," he spoke with a tone of finality in his voice, "I just over stepped my... self-imposed boundary."

Xion was just a tad bit more than confused. "What do you mean? What boundary?" Riku rolled his eyes.

"You don't get it," he stressed out through gritted teeth. Xion noticed that his knuckles had turned white while he was clenching his hands. "When Sora first told me that his younger sister was coming to live with him, I thought 'Okay, this will be different. She's Sora's sister, she'll be alright!' "

Xion opened her mouth to comment, but Riku stopped her.

"Let me finish!" he ordered. "I've had this bottled up inside me long enough."

Xion closed her mouth and crossed her arms, staring at him with raised eyebrows. Riku kept his eyes closed and his fists tight.

"Then when you got here and I first saw you in the lunchroom, I thought - wow. She certainly looks like him, but how does she act? I noticed you hanging around Olette, and she's a priss - so I thought you were stupid. That's why I laughed at you while you stared. Then you left with Roxas and Axel and then I thought that you had to be okay if Axel thought you were cool.

"Then you joined theatre, and I thought - Hey! I recognize her! She was that chick who everybody was in such a fuss over when we went to see RENT. Great! Then Marluxia said that you were going out for Johanna and I didn't know what to think!"

Xion felt her eyes burn, he spoke with such a conviction that she didn't know what to think either. He seemed determined to get it out, yet it seemed like he was hurting him.

"And then, somehow during practicing and all the rides home and the questions and the spending times together - I fell for you!" Xion's eyes widened, but she didn't smile. He didn't sound to happy about it.

"You were my best friend's little sister! Completely off-limits! I didn't even think about it until you started hanging out with Tidus! Then it all came rushing to the top." Xion felt a tear escape and Riku saw, but he turned away.

Xion stood up and glared at him.

"You are such a fake! Why should it matter that I'm 'your best friend's little sister'? It shouldn't matter than I'm related to Sora - I like you, you like me. It's perfect! What about when you were singing in the shower," his head jerked up and stared at her, "yes, I heard. You changed the lyrics, giving me hope that I shouldn't have gotten if you felt that way."

"You heard that?" He seemed deflated.

"Hell yeah I did!" Xion was practically screaming. She knew that her brothers were probably in the doorway, but she didn't care. "I also heard when you told Tifa that you didn't feel for me that way! What was I supposed to think? You flirted with me, you gave me rides, you were generally an awesome person and then you go and do that?! Which one is the real Riku, the flirting one who made out with me last night or the one I see before me today?"

Xion felt a torrent of tears rushing down her cheeks, she wiped them away before glaring once more at Riku's defeated form before turning from the room and going upstairs.

Riku sank down on his knees, completely drained. Her last words ringing through his head.

"Which one is the real Riku?!"

I had the ending of this chapter all planned out, yet when I was writing it, it flowed out differently than I thought it would. Oh well, what's done is done.

-The Gray Rook