Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, YouTube, Power Rangers, Disney, High School Musical, or any of the Final Fantasies.
So here we are. The last chapter. And how do you guys feel about that?
FOR RENT will be posted tomorrow. So, please check it out and post a review!
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO kairi-i-love-sora and naminecrys4riku.
(You guys rock! ) And it just happens to be the longest chapter that I have EVER written.
You and Me
Chapter 8: Epilouge: Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace
The tables had officially turned.
I hated Sora.
I hated Naminé.
And most of all, I hated Roxas.
They thought they could get away with lying to me and then, oh this is the best part, and then they had the freaking nerve to make sure that I was the one to feel guilty!
Those deceiving, no good, rotten…LIARS, who call themselves my friends.
And you want to know the worst part of all?
I could never, ever hate any of them, especially not Roxas.
But…
How was it that I still loved him? There. I admit it. I love that insincere bloke.
But, I wanted to get over him, I really, truly, and honestly did.
After all…
There's got to be more to life than chasing after some stupid, lying...handsome...idiot of a guy, there's got to be.
THE BACHELORETTE PARTY// 10:00 p.m.
It had already been decided that the infamous bachelor and bachelorette parties would be held at the Best Man's and the Maid of Honor's residence. So, here I was at my house with a bunch of already drunk bridesmaids waiting for a certain bride to show up.
Oh, what fun.
I looked around my apartment, slightly glad that my mom, who was visiting a friend in Radiant Gardens, wasn't home right now. She'd never let me hear the end of it. A bloody bachelorette party held at our house for goodness sake.
While my eyes wandered, I noticed something unusually, well, weird. Everyone was… blonde.
It was pretty disconcerting being the only colorfully haired female there, but it was even MORE disturbing when some weirdo woman with blond hair and a purple dress passed by me and winked in my direction.
Was that woman just hitting on you?
I honestly did NOT want to know.
"Oh, KAIRI!!" A hand grabbed on to my arm and twirled me around.
I was faced with the very mischievous face of a very suspicious Larxene. "What in the world are you doing here?" I asked with narrowed eyes.
"Well, for starters, my little cousin is getting married…" The blonde woman grinned. I sighed. In all honesty, I wasn't at all surprised to hear of another curious secret kept from me.
Was it bad that I was getting used to being lied to?
"Secondly, my boyfriend's best friend is the groom's Best Man, and thirdly, you, surprisingly, are the maid of honor! I didn't even know you knew Naminé."
How to phrase this without making it seem too scandalous…
"I met her recently," I replied awkwardly.
"Recently, eh?" Larxene raised a brow. "Hm. Why is it that I feel as though you are hiding something from me, young lady? Something important and gossip worthy and unbelievably outrageous?"
That's because the blasted coward of a woman is.
"No idea what you're talking about," I responded in evasion of the subject.
"Lies, lies, lies!!" The older woman chanted.
"When have I, Kairi, a.k.a. the most boring prude of the century, have had anything even remotely to do with something so outrageous and gossip worthy in my entire life?" I flat out lied to her face.
Well, technically, I didn't flat out lie. I said it in question form, is that really lying?
…
Oh, GOD. Now, I'm starting to think like a liar. Now, I'm starting to think like them. Stupid, rotten, lying scum! Influencing me and infecting me with their disgusting LYING germs!
Now you're just being overdramatic.
"You just wait, little girl. I'll just have to ask Selphie. Selphie knows all. Selphie doesn't lie. Selphie will tell me just what you aren't telling me," Larxene informed me with a 'take that!' kind of look.
"SO," I began, hoping to make her forget her previous statement, "You were saying something about the idiot-" (mental slap) "I mean the best man being Axel's best friend?"
Larxene, not noticing at all of the purposeful subject change at the mention of her boyfriend, nodded in delight.
"That's right! Roxas has been Axel-dear's," I rolled my eyes at the nickname, "best friend ever since they were but little kids! I think Roxas was the one who began Axel's lovely chocobo obsession."
I looked at her in amused confusion.
She pointed at her hair. "You know his spiky, chocobo-resembling tresses of absolute gold?"
I had to laugh at that one. Because it was absolutely true. Roxas' hair did, in fact, closely resemble a chocobo's feathers, just like my cousin Cloud, actually. Weird. He was blonde, too.
Bullocks! Your blondephobic-ness is really starting to scare the knickers off of me.
First off, you don't have knickers to scare off, and second, it's not my fault that there just happened to be a certain blonde evasion occurring or that they all are planning on ruling the world and ridding it of all the other different-colored haired people of the world.
Now who said anything about there being some loony blonde evasion of some sort? It's all in your head, deary.
Like you?
Now don't go and blame the innocent voice in your head for YOUR own mad ravings. That's just unfair.
"Speaking of Roxas, I wonder what he has planned for Sora at the bachelor party. You know what they say about what goes on in bachelor parties, don't you?" Larxene winked and nudged me with her elbow.
Hm. I wonder, what does go on at bachelor parties?
You're not that much of a dimwit are you?
Let's see bachelor plus friends plus alcohol plus wedding the day after plus really, really drunk guys plus…
What was it that happened in that one Friends episode?
Oh.
My.
God.
"THEY'VE GOT A STRIPPER!" I screamed out in shock.
THE BACHELOR PARTY// 10:00 p.m.
"…And she's hot, and she's blonde, and she comes in the room dressed up in this really tight police getup-"
"Stop! Right there!" Roxas stopped with his preparations and shouted at his red-haired friend in the middle of his detailed description.
Axel smirked at him; "A bit on the shy side are we now? If I recall, you were there when we called Ms. Jessica the FIREWOMAN at Xemnas' bachelor party. In FACT, you're the one who called her."
"That's because you managed to stuff down 3 bottles of tequila down my throat," Roxas retorted.
The older of the two grinned, "Well, you should have known better than to trust Demyx, Xigbar, and me with the drinks. That kind of decision will definitely come back to bite you in the butt."
Roxas rolled his eyes and set up a hidden video camera in one of his plants while making sure that Axel didn't see. "Besides, I doubt Naminé would appreciate it much, and Sora's not the…" he paused, "stripper appreciating type of guy."
"GUY is stripper appreciating type. Is he gay?"
The blond laughed at the statement. "Hello. He's getting married."
Axel shrugged. "Gay guys get married all the time."
"He's getting married to Naminé, and you know how she is," Roxas commented.
"True. But I know Sora, too, you know."
Roxas looked at him in surprise. "Really? How?"
"He used to stop by the ice cream shop all the time, because he was dating one of my employees, Kairi. Which is pretty weird, because one minute they were dating, and the next he's getting married to Naminé, of all people, I mean weren't you guys-"
"We were," He interrupted.
"But still. You don't get married to someone randomly, out of the blue, right after breaking up with someone. It just doesn't happen. Something's up," Axel remarked.
"You have NO idea," Roxas whispered under his breath.
"It's really none of my business, though. More of yours really, shouldn't you be, I don't know, fighting for your woman?"
"When did Naminé become MY woman?"
Axel shot him a curious look, "Well, since you two were-"
The door slammed open and in came the groom himself, holding a couple of six-packs and followed by a group of loud men.
"BRING ON THE BACHELOR PARTY!!!"
THE BACHELORETTE PARTY// 10:37 p.m.
Why. Do. They. Keep. On. STARING AT ME?
Okay, I mean sure, when you scream out the word STRIPPER, really loud, you expect to be stared at, but, come on, I was in a state of panic, all right? And this, having the eyes of at least a thousand blondes on me, this is just pushing it.
Bloody HELL, mate, you might as well have screamed RAPE.
So, it was really, really, loud.
Did I happen to mention that half of these 'terrorizing' blondes are PROPER ladies, you know, proper, as in, if they were to hear the word stripper they would-
I KNOW what proper means, Potter!
Could have fooled me.
That still doesn't give them the right to stare at me. I mean now that is un-proper.
Why don't you just go ahead and put a bloody BAG over your head?
State of PANIC, remember?
Discovering that your ex-boyfriend might have hired a stripper for his BACHELOR party puts you in a state of panic?
No. It's more like; discovering that my ex-boyfriend's best man might have hired a stripper is what is putting me in a state of panic.
It's a bachelor party, for Merlin's sake. It's not like they're going to go play bloody BINGO for three straight hours.
If only…
Just then, the front door to the apartment opened and Naminé came in with another group of women. "THE BRIDE HAS ARRIVED!!" Naminé shouted overhead in a singsong voice.
To my relief, everyone looked away from me and began to crowd around her in a mini mob. Now, how should I go about getting the bride alone for interrogation?
The mini mob grew to be an all out horde of blond woman and yelling as I was gradually being pushed to the back of the room.
That does prove to be quite the predicament.
…I could always just yell stripper again
THE BACHELOR PARTY// 11:11 p.m.
"DUDE!" Sora yelled drunkenly, "It's SO eleven, eleven!!"
"DUDE!!" Riku yelled, equally drunk.
"Make a wish. Make a wish. Make a wish," Axel chanted as he held up an almost empty bottle of beer.
Roxas shook his head at their antics from his spot on the couch where only the lucid and sober men sat, which mostly included, him, and well, him. Though, Squall was just as sober, but he was on the other side of the room hustling Axel's cousin, Reno, in pool.
The blond didn't think the men in his apartment could get any weirder, that was, until they all started to…
"God, I wish that I could fly," Sora began.
"God, I wish I was a power ranger!" Hayner joined in.
"God, I wish I had a chocobo!" Axel belted out.
Roxas raised an eyebrow at that one.
"I wish I lived in Neverland with Peter Pan!" Riku screamed and afterwards began laughing hysterically.
"I wish that I was a back up dancer in High School Musical!" Tidus chided in.
"I wish you guys could shut the hell up," Squall muttered under his breath.
"I wish I was a video game character!" Reno added.
Sora's old roommate Zidane laughed. "I wish I had a monkey tail!"
"I wish that I was a sky pirate!" A blond haired guy named Vaan put in.
And then soon enough, everyone in the room had said their deep dark desires, much to Roxas's dismay. Well everyone that is except for Roxas himself. But he was hoping to walk away from the room, sober, and very much intact with his own deep dark secret.
Of course, the groom couldn't just let him get away with that now could he?
Just as Roxas was about to sneak away from the room, Sora, quite loudly, called him out.
"Roxas!"
The mantra inside Roxas's head went like this. Must run. Must hide. Must get away from psycho drunk men. Must run. Must hide. Must get away from psycho drunk men.
Sora was just a bit faster than him though and blocked the exit before the other could escape. "Roxas, you can't just leave!"
"Uh. Why not?"
"Well, you never said what you wish for." There was a growing smirk on the groom's face.
Roxas blinked. "World peace?"
The men in the room gave him a pointed look and he lifted his hands in front of him in defense. "What? Must I really? I mean, it's not even 11:11 anymore," he looked at his watch, "In fact it's 11: 13!"
Axel put an arm around the blonde's shoulders. "Not the point."
Hayner shrugged. "It's not like anyone outside of the party is going to find out."
Roxas shot a glance at the plant to his left. "That's what you think," he muttered under his breath.
Axel came up behind him and patted him on the back. "There's absolutely nothing to worry about. So, just sit back, grab a beer, and relax."
The men, excluding Squall and Roxas, raised their bottles and all said, "Huzzah!"
Seeing as there was no way out, Roxas just gave in. "Fine, I'll participate in your sick game."
"Sick?" Sora inquired.
Roxas pointed his thumb behind him at Tidus. "He just wished to be a back up dancer in some weirdo Disney musical." He looked Hayner. "Power Ranger? Really?" Then, he threw Axel a curious look. "Don't even get me started on yours."
The red haired crossed his arms. "You're just jealous."
"Yeah," Roxas shook his head, "that's it."
"Come on. There has to be something you want to wish for!" Vaan said.
"Yeah, I wish that people didn't have to lie all the time." He looked at Sora as he said this.
Everyone looked a little put out at the comment, so he decided for the sake of the party, he would just have to throw away his pride and angst for the moment. He sighed, "Fine. And I also wish that I had magic powers like Harry Potter."
The men in the room perked up at this. "That's the spirit!"
And then an old boy band song came on the radio and Sora jumped up. "This song is my FAVORITE!" And he then proceeded to sing the lyrics aloud.
Squall came up beside Roxas and shook his head at his participation. "You disappoint me." The blonde just laughed, the first time since the party began.
"Hey. At least I'm not participating in that."
The two looked at the rest of the members of the party who are dancing crazily around the room to the song as Sora paraded around using his beer bottle as a mike and singing loudly and out of tune.
The brunette sighed at the scene. "You know what? There's hope for you yet."
Roxas only grinned at the sight and tried to stop himself from cackling aloud at the thought of putting his little 'home video' on YouTube.
Revenge was sweet.
THE BACHELORETTE PARTY// 12:06 p.m.
Naminé had successfully managed to avoid me for half an hour.
Which was quite annoying, really. I enter the living room when she is gossiping with her friends and then she suddenly has the urge to get a drink. I go enter a conversation she is in and then she excuses herself to go to the bathroom.
So here I was, alone on the couch in front of the TV trying to watch some dramatic romance movie that one of the other guests brought in with this other girl named Penelo, who, like the other guests, was surprisingly blonde. She had attempted to start a conversation with me, but soon found that I wasn't the most interesting person to talk to. Especially since I was glaring at the bride the entire time.
Speaking of which, I was running out of ideas to do to get her to talk to me. And I felt as though Naminé could go on with her little game of keep away the entire night.
Why don't you just get the woman drunk?
Get her drunk? Why would I want to get her drunk?
Anyone with half a brain knows that even the deepest, darkest secrets are revealed when intoxicated.
Hm. I don't know about that.
Please. Don't tell me. YOU'VE never been drunk before have you?
WHAT!
I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't had a single drink before in your entire life!
I'll have you know, Potter, that I have been present in several college dorm parties in my lifetime where alcohol was served.
Yes, but did you drink any of it?
Well, I…
That's what I thought. So, here's the plan. You get her to drink as much of that wine over there as possible and then get her alone and…
God, it sounds like I'm planning on raping her, jeez!
Do you want to know if your suspicions over the RoxyNamiSora matter are correct?
The Roxy-what?
The RoxyNamiSora matter. It's what I have decided to call your little predicament. So, is that a 'yes, I want to know' or 'no, I am too much of a coward to go find out'?
Of COURSE I want to know.
Well then what on earth is the matter with you? There's the wine, and there's the bride. Go get her drunk already!
THE BACHELOR PARTY// 12: 48 a.m.
"I'm getting married, today."
Roxas looked up at him as he was cleaning the apartment. The rest of the men had either left or passed out on the floor somewhere. It was only him and Sora that were still awake, although the brunette seemed to still be somewhat intoxicated and was sitting at the table.
"Yeah, I guess you are."
"That means…I'm never going to be able to date, hold, kiss, or even look at another girl again!" Sora was looking at his hands when he said this, he was obviously rambling, "I'm never…I'm never going to be able to love her again."
Roxas paused from his cleaning and looked at him closely. "Well, that was your choice, so now you have to deal with it."
"My choice?" Sora let out an empty laugh, "You know the story, Roxas. Can you actually say…that it was really my choice?"
"So are you saying you regret it? The engagement, I mean?" Roxas asked incredulously.
"No, of course not. It's just that," Sora tightened his hand into a fist and looked wildly at the blonde in front of him, "What would've happened if you stayed with her?"
"…"
"What would've happened if YOU didn't run away?"
Roxas's blue eyes widened at the groom. "Sora…"
He didn't stop, though. "What would've happened, Roxas, if YOU had married Naminé instead?"
"I don't…I don't know," Roxas was trying hard to think but found that he could not.
"You were ENGAGED, and you ran away from it all," Sora was standing now, "If you hadn't. If you had stayed with Naminé, I would still be with Kairi right now. I would never have met Naminé, and she would have never asked me to help her."
"I wouldn't call it an engagement," Roxas said, finding his voice once more and it was steadily rising, "More like an arrangement. It was an arranged marriage, for god's sake. Who would want that?"
"But you loved her!" Sora pointed out angrily.
"But I didn't want to marry her!" Roxas said just as mad.
"That's not the point, and you know it! You made a promise to be with her, and you broke it! You broke her! And that's how I found her, you know. A broken girl, with a broken heart."
Roxas gave him a heated glare, "Well, if you don't love her, than why the hell are you marrying her? Why did you agree to help her in the first place?"
"Because!" Sora yelled, "Because I couldn't just leave her alone like that! Because she needed someone's help, and because I was the only one there for her!"
"So it was out of pity? Is that what you're saying?"
"NO! I am just saying that!" Sora's voice began to quiet down, "I'm just saying that what would have happened if you were with Naminé and I was with Kairi? Like it was supposed to be?"
Roxas calmed down a bit as well. "Well, maybe it wasn't supposed to be. Maybe this is how it's supposed to end."
"There's just…so many things I left unsaid, though," Sora said sadly, "So many things that I still want to say."
"Then say them. You're not married yet," Roxas pointed out.
"What are you…trying to say?" Sora asked slowly.
"You can't just leave Kairi thinking that you never loved her. She won't be able to move on if you do. She won't be able to handle it. Don't leave her not knowing. Don't leave her thinking that you never cared about her."
Sora sighed. "But that's…she hates me. I betrayed her trust."
Roxas ran a hand through his messy blond hair. "That makes two of us, so just go okay? You're getting married in a couple of hours, not dying."
Sora suddenly looked determined. "Then tell Naminé, too, all right? Promise me that you'll talk to her before the wedding."
"Fine. I promise," Roxas replied dully.
"No, you don't get it," Sora roughly grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him down to meet his eyes, "I don't ever want to see her broken again, okay? You have to promise me this and you have to mean it."
Roxas narrowed his eyes and nodded. "I promise."
Sora nodded as well and let him go. He then walked to the front door, but before opening it, he looked back at the blonde.
"And Roxas?"
The other looked up.
"Just tell Kairi you love her already." And with that he opened the door and closed it shut behind him.
Roxas blinked at the spot Sora was standing in moments
before and shook his head with a small smile playing on his lips
THE BACHELORETTE PARTY// 1:03 p.m.
After several attempts without success, I finally managed to get her drunk, well her, and also the rest of party guests as well.
Who knew that blondes were so easily attracted to alcohol?
See? What did I tell you? Bring the beer, and blondes will come.
So, now she was sitting on the same couch I was on moments before and blabbering on about her wedding details to these two women named Rikku and Quistis, who were both already passed out next to her.
"And well Sora, being the groom, of course, is so NID, not into details and everything. I mean he didn't even know who was coming to the wedding! Seriously. Men. What the heck is wrong with them? Do they not know what marriage implies? You know what? It's us women that do all the work! All they have to do is buy a ring and propose and then leave US to deal with all the other stuff and-" Pause. "Are you two even LISTENING TO ME?"
This was obviously the time to make my move, I mean; she couldn't possibly get any drunker than she already was.
"Naminé…?"
"Huh?"
She looked up, saw me, and immediately took another drink.
I looked at the bottle of beer in her hand warily. "Drinking won't help you ignore the problem."
"Yeah, but it sure as hell will help with the nerves," Naminé answered and held out her bottle to me, "Want a drink?"
"I'd rather keep my sanity, thanks," I replied.
She shrugged.
There was a short silence between us, and I decided to just go straight to the point. "What did you mean before? When you said that you told Roxas the truth?"
Naminé looked to the side without answering.
I sighed and tried again. "Okay let's try answer the blank. 'But he shouldn't be mad at you anymore, after all, I did tell him the truth about blank."
Still no answer.
"You know, the point in answer the blank is to answer the blank."
Silence.
This was when I was beginning to get frustrated. "You have to answer me some time! If you've forgotten, you're getting married today, and we don't really have time for your little game of-!"
"-We were engaged."
Wait. Stop. Rewind…WHAT?!
"Would you care to… repeat that…?" In all honesty, I knew exactly what she had said. I knew it, but I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it.
Her blue eyes rose from staring at the ground and met mine without once blinking. "We were engaged. If you want to know what I told him before, you have to know the whole truth."
You know, that thing I said before, about you overreacting? Yeah, I take that back.
I stared at her for a moment, and then looked away. "En-engaged, huh?"
She sighed and then patted the spot next to her. "You'll need to sit down for this." I looked at the other women occupying the couch and sat down right at the spot I was standing in, in front of the couch.
"So, how did he…propose to you-?"
"It was an arranged marriage," Naminé cut me off. I refrained from commenting about the whole cutting me off thing that she was so fond of, and listened to what she had to say.
"Our parents were close friends, so they decided that, since Roxas and I had no other siblings, we would be wed to one another when we got out of high school. Of course, they didn't mention this little arrangement to us when we were younger, and they used to set us up on these little play dates together. We became the best of friends by the time the two of us were in the first grade."
Best friends, just like Sora and me in the old days.
"When they finally did decide to tell us of our engagement, we were juniors in high school and had been dating since freshman year. And Roxas being Roxas, threw a huge fit about it, saying that it wasn't fair and that we should be the ones to choose what we should do with our lives."
Yeah, that sounded like something Roxas would say.
"But our parents didn't listen. Only gave us our engagement rings and told us that what was done was done and that there was nothing either of us could do about it. He broke up with me then, said that since we were engaged in the first place, there was no point in us going out. But…but the thing is, the entire time I didn't once complain about the arrangement. Because, I wanted it; I wanted to be with him," Naminé looked at me with pleading eyes.
"I loved him, you know, really and truly. And I knew he loved me, too, but we both knew that he didn't want to marry me. Roxas told me that himself. So, on the summer of junior year, he ran away. And when my parents and I went to Castle Oblivion like we always did for summer break, I was heart broken, and that's when I met Sora."
"The summer of junior year?" I wondered out loud in realization, "That's the summer Sora spent with his dad after the divorce. Now that I think about it, he never actually…told me where he went."
Naminé nodded. "I met Sora at the beach, well, more like he found me there. I was crying, and he stumbled upon me accidentally. He comforted me, and I told him everything. And he didn't run away or leave me alone, only listened. I think that…I think that's when I knew I could fall in love with him."
"So, I begged him to be with me, told him that I'd die if he left me. Sora had said that he had a girlfriend, and I told him that he could still be with her, you, as long as he was there for me, too. And then he took one look at me and said yes."
"Just like that?" I asked feeling a bit betrayed, "He didn't even give me a second thought?"
"Well, I didn't actually give him much of a choice you see," Naminé continued while taking another drink of her beer, "When I said that I'd die if he left me, I meant…that I would take my own life."
"You threatened to commit suicide!" I exclaimed in surprise.
She smiled sadly to herself, "I was desperate, and he was my only hope in forgetting about Roxas. When that summer break was nearing the end, I felt as though that everything between Sora and I would be forgotten, that he'd forget me when he went back. And I still remember what he said," The sad smile turned soft in her reminiscence, "He said, 'you'll never be just a memory to me. I'll come back to you, I promise.'"
"'You'll never be just a memory to me," I thought. That's what he had told her. Then what was I to him then? What am I to him now? Am I just a memory to Sora? I felt distressed thinking that. I didn't want to just be a memory to him.
"We had decided that we would meet at Castle Oblivion every chance we got; he even spent spring break with me there," which really did explain a lot, now that I understood, "And Roxas turned up, too, his parents had found him and forced him into going back to school for senior year. Along the way, Sora began to feel even more guilty for the two of us so we decided it would be better if the two of you broke up, then, he wouldn't have to deceive you any longer."
"Which then leads us to this summer, right?" I asked. "My suspicions were somewhat correct after all. Let me guess what happens next. Roxas, for the arrangement, had to move in with you, since you both were to be married this break, but to prevent this, you and Sora met up at Castle Oblivion and decided that the only way to stop you and Roxas from getting married is to get married yourselves. Right?"
Naminé had a surprised look on her face, "Yes. You're right. But how did you…?"
I shrugged. "I just followed the clues."
"So I guess you know what I told Roxas, now don't you?"
"I guess so."
"Does it make you feel any better?" Naminé asked hopefully.
I paused. "…Not at all."
She sighed.
I looked up at her from my spot on the ground. "But I guess, this is what happens when you ask for the truth, right? More pain."
"I wish that it didn't have to be like this, though," Naminé spoke lightly, "I wish that the truth didn't always have to be followed by pain," she paused, "Why can't the truth be happiness? Why can't everyone just be honest?"
"Because," I replied, "Everyone's a liar."
She threw me a sidelong glance. "I can understand Sora, Roxas, and me being liars, but I don't recall you ever lying at all. So, if that's so, then what is that you've lied about?"
I stretched my arms and lay back with my hands behind my head. "Keeping the truth from someone… is the same as lying."
Her eyes were calculating as she stared me down for a moment and then she smiled knowingly.
"Kairi, you're going to be happy one day. I know it."
I looked back at her sadly then and just shrugged. "Who knows what the future will bring."
There was a brief silence before I nudge her with my elbow.
"Now
go to sleep, you. Didn't you say you were getting married today?
THE MAID OF HONOR'S DRESSING ROOM// 7:14 a.m.
I looked in the mirror with wide eyes. There was no way that woman standing there was me. There was just no way.
The dress, no gown, I was wearing was purple and flowing. The first layer was made of a silky material and on top of that something akin to the fabric that veils were made of and had pieces of silver decorating it in beautiful designs.
My hair was pretty impressive itself as well. It was put up in such a complicated manner and had pieces of purple fabric woven in.
I was in complete shock when I stared at my reflection.
"Lookin' good, Kai," Sora's voice called out from behind me.
I snapped out of my reverie and looked back at the doorway. Sora was looking pretty handsome himself in his black tuxedo. His hair was a hopeless cause of course, sticking up everywhere, and I found myself in disbelief that my childhood friend was actually getting married.
"Please, Sora, don't flatter me."
He grinned brightly stepping inside the room and stopping beside me. "Doesn't this remind you of prom?"
We both stared at our reflections in the mirror and I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face. "Yeah it really does."
"Good times, huh?"
If I remembered correctly, Sora and Riku spiked the punch and ended up getting everyone drunk, except me since I was previously warned over the matter. Then Sora started up a dancing competition between the men of Paopu High and Riku forced everyone into performing karaoke.
I laughed then. "Yeah, good times."
He looked hopeful at my laugh. "Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?"
Looking at his reflection in the mirror I rolled my eyes. "You're getting married today. I'm not allowed to be mad at you."
"So I guess getting married does have its props."
The comment caused me to turn around and smack him lightly in the head. "Yeah, other than the fact that you're going to be able to spend the rest of your life with the person you love."
His expression suddenly changed into one less playful, as if he just remembered something.
I looked at him curiously. "What?"
Sora looked a bit nervous and then I knew exactly what he was thinking about.
Turning around fully, I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled softly at him. "I know everything now Sora. Naminé told me."
He raised his head in surprise. "Everything?"
I nodded. "Everything."
He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well then. That's a relief."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You could have told me," I paused, "No, you should have told me"
Sora bowed his head in shame. "Yeah, I know."
"Why didn't you?"
He turned his head to the side so that I wasn't staring at him directly in the eye. "I didn't want you to hate me, Kai."
I looked at him pointedly. "I could never hate you, Sora. Not really at least. Sure, at one point, I did want to strangle you and maybe run you over with a car thoroughly a couple of times for lying to me," his eyes widened and he backed away slightly making me laugh, "but you were-ARE, my best friend."
Sora smiled in that way of his that used to make my heart flutter, but now, only one person could do that to me, and it wasn't Sora anymore.
"I'm glad you still feel that way. And you know…even if you might not believe me, I," he took my hand with the one on my shoulder and held it tightly, "I did love you."
"I know. And I did, too," I looked at our intertwined hands thoughtfully, "But now I-"
Sora interrupted me, "Yeah, yeah. Roxas, right?"
I looked up at him surprise as a blush spread on my face which Sora noted with a small smirk playing on his lips.
"He still thinks you hate him."
I crossed my arms with a pout. "Yeah, well, I do. And he hates me, too."
He laughed. "Seriously. You two amaze me without the amount of stubbornness you both possess."
I threw him a curious look but he only smiled and began walking back toward the door. "He's with Naminé if you were wondering."
"I wasn't."
"You suck at lying."
"Go away, no one likes you."
"I'm the one getting married."
"In less than an hour, mind you."
"Oh. Crap."
THE BRIDE'S DRESSING ROOM// 7:20 a.m.
Naminé twirled around in her wedding gown giddily across her dressing room. "Can you believe it, Roxas? Married! ME!"
The best man shook his head at her antics. "Sure I can. You are the type."
She stopped prancing around. "The type?"
Roxas shrugged. "I always imagined you getting married."
"Just not to you, right?"
He smiled weakly at her.
Naminé sighed and wandered over beside him all the while looking completely dazzling in her white gown and glowing. She stopped in front of him, causing Roxas to look up at her in surprise. "Wha…"
"I'm about to get married, Roxas. I think it's about time the both of us came clean to each other. It's our last chance."
Roxas appeared reluctant at first but then after taking a moment to look at her hopeful expression a soft smile broke across his face. "All right. Me first."
He took a breath, "I'm sorry that I ran away from you."
Naminé grew quiet, as she seemed to ponder over his words. "I'm sorry that I wasn't good enough for you."
He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you."
The bride tilted her head to the side. "Well, I'm sorry for breaking up with you so abruptly."
The comment made Roxas laugh. "I'm sorry that I made you break up with me."
The once serious confessions turned a tad lighter as Naminé's face broke out into a grin at her next assertion. "I'm…sorry that I was having a secret affair behind your back."
"I'm sorry that I didn't love you like you wanted me to," Roxas admitted.
"I'm sorry that I hurt both you and Kairi," Naminé confessed knowing that the mentioning of the certain females name would cause an amusing reaction from the male in front of her.
Roxas paused his mouth agape for a moment at her before shooting her a small glare. "I'm sorry that I…stole Sora's tuxedo and dyed it pink."
Naminé giggled at the memory. "I'm sorry that I told Kairi everything about what happened between the four of us this morning before you could."
He stopped and stared at her, eyebrows raised and she shrugged sheepishly. "I'm sorry that I got your fiancé and his friends completely smashed last night and videotaped their psychotic behaviors before proceeding to post it on YouTube."
"You didn't!" She gasped.
"Oh, I did, trust me," he stated smugly.
They both laughed. Roxas stopped first and sighed. "I suppose there was a lot we had to say, huh?"
Naminé nodded with a smile still playing on her glowing features.
Roxas felt as though a load had been taken off his shoulders and mirrored her expression. "I should be going now, huh?" He ambled over toward the door. "You're wedding is approximately," he took a quick glance at his watch, "a little more than half an hour away."
The bride-to-be squealed. "Oh my god…I'm getting married."
Roxas only laughed and was about to fully exit the room, but changed his mind and turned back around to face her.
"Ne, Naminé."
The blonde blinked and looked at him expectantly.
"I'm sorry that we couldn't have our happy ending."
Naminé felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes as she nodded at him.
"Me too, Roxas, me too."
A RANDOM HALLWAY IN THE CHURCH// 7:38 A.M.
I dashed down the hallway, quickening my pace as I turned another corner.
It seemed as though they lost the flower girl, Marlene, somewhere in the church and they kindly granted me the oh so wonderful task of finding her. Oh, and did I mention the fact that there was only about ten minutes left until the wedding started?
Yeah, I was pretty much screwed.
My, what vulgar language you use.
Please, Potter, you use more inappropriate British slang than anyone that actually lives in England. And yes, J. K. Rowling's characters are included in the statement.
In the back of my head I heard a soft snort.
Now, back to finding that flower girl. "Marlene!" I called out in a sickeningly sweet tone, as if to a pet of some sort, "Come out, come out wherever you are! The wedding is about to start!"
Like I expected, there was no answer and I let out a sigh of frustration. I had already looked through most of the church, meaning every nook, every corner, every room, and there was no sign of her.
"Marlene!" I shouted aloud once more and picked up my speed, going into a full out sprint while turning a corner only to crash into something very hard. "Oomph!"
I stumbled back, making me lose my step and fall backwards, but before I reached the ground, I felt a hand grip my arm and pulling me forward into a steady, standing position.
Looking behind me and seeing an open broom closet, I sighed thanking the heavens that I hadn't fallen in there.
"Jeez, Kai. Quite the klutz are we now?"
The familiar voice caused me to stiffen and I looked up, only to meet familiar azure eyes twinkling in amusement.
"Roxas…?" I trailed off in amazement. My eyes were wide. Wasn't he, mad at me? Wait; wasn't I supposed to be mad at him? "Klutz!" I exclaimed suddenly to try and cover up my moment of shock, "I'm not clumsy. This is the first time that I've ever shown any klutz worthy tendencies."
He shook his head with a growing smile. "If you recall, on the first day we met, you tripped over me."
"Did not," I replied stubbornly.
"Did too, I have the bruises to prove it," he informed me smugly.
The familiarity of our bantering made a smile slowly form on my face. I missed this, just talking to him, when it was only the two of us. It felt as though we hadn't spoken in years.
"Bruises? I doubt that, you drama queen."
"Says the girl who held a funeral for a dead cricket," he shot back.
This event had occurred some time before the whole tape thing. I had found a cricket, which I dubbed Mickey, in Roxas's car and decided to keep it as a pet, only to have it die a couple of hours later. The very memorable funeral was held in my hallway bathroom where we had a thirty-minute ceremony with Roxas as the priest and ended with the both of us wishing it farewell as it was flushed down the toilet.
"Mickey deserved that funeral."
"Mickey's lifespan was a total of three hours," Roxas said this in a smug tone as he crossed his arms.
My blue eyes narrowed at him and I looked away with a small pout playing on my lips. He seemed to find the gesture to be very amusing and he began to chuckle lightly.
"Whatever. I need to go find the flower girl and the wedding is starting in less than ten minutes!" I paused, "Shouldn't you be there already?"
The blonde boy shrugged, "I'll get there when I get there."
I gave him a pointed look, "I'll get there when I get there?" I repeated in an incredulous manner.
Roxas nodded. "All a wedding really needs is a bride, a groom, and a cooperative priest. In all actuality, we," he gestured toward himself than at me, "Don't really need to be there."
I raised an eyebrow. "Where are you getting at?" I asked slowly.
He flashed a smirk before I found myself being pushed into the broom closet behind me, my back meeting the wall and Roxas closing the door behind us.
"R-Roxas!" I stuttered aloud in shock.
From within the darkness, I could vaguely see him giving me an innocent look as he inched a bit closer. "Yes?"
I could barely form a sentence. "You just…you just…"
"Locked us both in a closet?" Roxas finished with a grin evident on his handsome features, "Yes, yes I did."
"Locked!"
He twisted the doorknob in confirmation and I almost fainted from the thought of it all.
I TOLD you that the best man and the maid of honor would end up in a broom closet!
I very much wanted to strangle my inner voice, disregarding the fact that it was a voice, and that it was in no way a physical being.
"Yep." Roxas seemed very pleased at the feat.
Telling myself to breathe, I calmly asked him, "And can you tell me, Roxas, why you locked us both in a closet?"
"So that we can talk of course, " he chose this moment to shoot me a very suggestive look, "What did you think I did it for?"
I blushed slightly and glared at him. "Oh nothing, nothing at all. I mean nothing else comes to mind when the opposite sex pushes you into a closet. And we could have very well talked out there, you know. Where its brighter, less stuffy, and I could move more easily."
"Now where's the fun in that? I swear, we haven't hung out in weeks and you've already turned yourself into a boring prude once more."
I gaped at him, "A boring prude am I?"
His hand was on my shoulder and I wondered how he could have located it so easily in the dark. "Kairi, Kairi, Kairi, where would you be without me to brighten up your life?"
"Definitely not in a broom closet."
Roxas laughed, "Just admit it, you can't survive without me."
I tried not to let him see the redness on my cheeks as I fought hard to stay mad at him. "I thought we were supposed to be having a serious conversation, huh?"
"I think serious is pretty much thrown out the window when you're locked in a closet with me," he paused thoughtfully, "And you're avoiding the question."
"Yes you have a point and avoiding what question?"
"Whether or not you can survive without me, of course. And disregarding the answer will only make it more evident that you're in denial and being in denial only makes me think that I'm right."
I glared at him through the dark. "What makes you so sure that I can't survive without you?"
"Because youlove me," Roxas replied in an offhanded manner as if it was the easiest of all things to comprehend.
All I could do was stare at him speechless. He was only teasing, I know, but just hearing him say those words.
"I see that you aren't denying it," he said in a singsong sort of voice.
The comment made me snap out of my reverie, and I scowled at his dark outline. "Oh, please. Don't flatter yourself. I am still mad at you, you know. Making jokes and bickering like the old days won't change that."
Okay, so I had already gotten over the whole hating him thing, but he didn't know that, did he?
The declaration, I soon found out, didn't faze Roxas in the slightest. In fact, he only replied with a, "No, you're not."
Which I could only shoot back with my own, "Yes I am."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am. And what gives you the right to tell me whether or not I'm mad at you?"
"No, you're not. Because I know you, and out of all the things you can do, staying mad at me for so long is not one of them."
"I can so stay mad at you! Especially since you, you know, lied to me about, well, EVERYTHING. And then, you had the nerve to be mad at me for trying to protect you from getting hurt!"
Roxas paused slightly at that. And I took this time to maneuver myself around him and reach the locked door. "I am not going to stand around and play this immature game with-" I stopped mid-sentence as I felt a hand grab my arm and spin me around and soft lips pressed against my own.
Now, I could say several things about my first kiss with Roxas.
Like how he ever so slowly backed me up into the door and slipped his hands through my hair, or how I was completely and utterly immobile under his touch and could only stare with wide eyes into his face, or how he knew exactly what to do and how to do it to leave me breathless.
But, it would still be indescribable.
He moved away slowly and set his calculating eyes on to me before the corners of his lips turned upwards in a full out grin at my lost expression. "I told you so."
The comment allowed me to regain my voice and I turned my bewildered look into a very pathetic glare. "Y-you cheated."
Roxas laughed and a mischievious glint entered his eyes. He moved in closer, causing me to let out a small 'eep!' and back up further into the door. "Now, I wouldn't quite call it cheating. More like…taking advantage of."
"A-and that," I hoarsely managed as he leaned in towards me, "is even worse!"
"Hm? Is it now?" He asked, his face only centimeters away from mine. I had the feeling that he wasn't even paying attention to what I was saying…not that I was either with the way things were going.
Before his lips could descend back onto mine, the closet door magically opened, causing me to topple onto the ground. Oh, with Roxas on top of me, of course.
"Gah!"
I looked up to see a little girl dressed in a pink dress with wide, wide innocent eyes staring at Roxas and me in horror.
"…"
Marlene's mouth was agape and she didn't seem able to move
"…"
Roxas seemed to be trying really, really hard not to laugh, and did not even attempt to get off me.
"…"
I didn't know whether to go comfort the girl or smack Roxas in the head for being such a, …such a…Well, it seemed as though I still couldn't think straight.
Roxas being, well Roxas, turned toward Marlene, "Do you mind?"
I swear that guy is bi-polar. One minute he is all 'angst!! ANGST!!' then the he is cornering me in a broom closet, and then he's all giddy and happy. Seriously, what.the.hell?
The flower girl took a step back, and then after taking one last look at the two of us, dashed off frantically down the hallway, leaving her basket of flower behind. I slowly turned toward Roxas.
"You idiot."
He grinned.
I glared. "You can get off now."
"Hm. Can I? Didn't know." Roxas looked up at the place Marlene was last standing. "Uh, didn't she just run in the direction of the ceremony?"
My eyes widened in realization and panic.
"THE WEDDING!!
THE WEDDING// 7:51 a.m.
"If anyone knows of any reason why this couple should not wed, speak now or forever hold your-"
SLAM!!!
Turning of heads. Collective gasps. Rustling. Scampering of feet.
Naminé looked down at her flower girl in wonder. "Marlene?"
"Aunt Naminé!!" She cried out grabbing onto the older woman's white gown.
"What's wrong?" Sora asked from his spot beside her. He looked a tad stressed and a bit worried, probably more because the maid of honor and best man were missing rather than the flower girl herself.
Marlene remained stubbornly silent, still clutching the dress.
The blue-haired priest looked presently annoyed with the interruption. "May we continue?"
Naminé looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, Pastor Seymour, please go ahead."
The man nodded and started where he had left off, "If anyone knows of any reason why this couple should not wed, speak now or forever hold your-"
SLAM!!
More turned heads. Startled gasps. Eruption of whispers.
I pointed accusingly at the flower girl. "DON'T BELIEVE A WORD SHE SAYS!"
Silence.
Marlene cowered in fear behind Naminé.
Roxas, seemingly oblivious to the awkwardness of the situation, stepped up beside me and took a quick glance around the room before casually grabbing my arm and leading me down the aisle.
Which I found quite disconcerting, I was walking down the aisle with Roxas.
The thought immediately brought me back to a certain broom closet and I felt a blush form on my face. I sped up, causing Roxas to shoot me a curious look, but we ended up reaching the bride and groom in record time.
I could tell that both Sora and Naminé were having a hard time deciding whether or not to glare at the two of us are cry out in relief and happiness.
"We'll talk about this after the two of you get hitched," Roxas whispered under his breath.
The two nodded and we all turned to look at the priest, who in turn was staring at us with a raised brow before shaking his head. "Let us proceed…"
He cleared his throat, "Speak now or forever hold your peace."
I glanced about the room in mild curiosity at the thought of anyone actually speaking up and found most of the occupants of the room staring almost expectantly at me. And all I could think was, 'What the hell?'
You are the most likely person to speak up, you know.
Turning back to the couple, I locked eyes with Naminé, who was staring at me in an almost hopeful desperation, and then at Sora who was happiness personified.
And I smiled.
The tension in the room seemed to suddenly disappear and I could almost see several of the guests heave out relieved sighs.
Pastor Seymour continued on with the ceremony.
Though, I tried hard to pay attention to what was being said, I found my gaze constantly drifting over to the best man, who never failed to catch my eye and wink.
I don't know how I managed to get through the entire wedding without running out of that church screaming. But before I knew it, the 'I Do's' were exchanged and the bride and groom were leaning in for the kiss.
I took this time to lock eyes with Roxas, who, inspired by the kiss, grinned saucily in my direction. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes in exasperation. Like I needed to be reminded.
When Sora and Naminé separated, cheers broke out and everybody watched as the two held hands and did a mix between skipping, walking, and running back down the aisle.
I'd never seen any two people look so happy. It made me want to cry just as much as I wanted to smile.
It was moments like these that made me believe that there really were such things as cliché happy endings. And I was glad that my pessimistic and cynical nature hadn't kicked in yet. Maybe I was still a little light headed from that kiss.
Stupid Roxas
THE AFTERPARTY// 11:43 p.m.
Amidst all the laughter and the dancing, I found myself sitting away from the crowd, on a chair in the back of the room next to the spiked punch eating, surprise, surprise, gourmet chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, specialty of the ever so charming Chef Irvine.
Said Chef was whisked away not minutes ago by one very drunk Selphie, who by the way, did have a little heart to heart with Larxene. The meddling woman wouldn't stop shooting me the most irritable glances during the ceremony.
A few guys had come up to me asking for a dance, but I turned them all down politely with a pointed look and a scoop of ice cream.
"Somebody's sulking," a singsong voice called out from behind me.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who the owner of it was, as he pulled up a chair next to me and casually seated himself onto it.
"I am not sulking," I muttered under my breath. I was trying really hard to fight down my growing blush, though, with the smirk Roxas was shooting me, it probably wasn't working. "I am clearly enjoying myself."
"Oh, really? I wasn't aware that glaring at innocent partygoers and scaring off potential dance partners was classified as 'enjoying yourself'," Roxas replied in open sarcasm.
"Well, shows how much YOU know."
The blond pouted at my lack of enthusiasm. "Aw, come on, Kai. Don't be a party pooper. Let's dance."
"Tango?" I drawled.
He grinned. "Nope. I was thinking a long the lines of…" He trailed off and used his arm to gesture toward the slow dancing couples in the middle of the room.
I raised a brow at them all and answered him flat out. "No."
"Why not?"
"I don't do the slow dancing."
"But it's fun."
"I'm afraid of your kind of 'fun'."
Roxas crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "This wouldn't at all have something to do with a certain incident involving a locked broom closet, now would it?"
"No," I glared at him, "Why in the world would you think that?"
"If you're going to say that you didn't like it, I would have to accuse you of lying." He threw me a knowing look.
"I'm not saying I didn't like it…" Please, how could I not? "It's just that…" I paused and found that I couldn't finish the rest of the sentence.
"Just that what?" Roxas urged.
"…" I sighed and turned to face him with a more determined look. "What did it mean?"
"Mean?" He repeated confusingly.
"Yes!" I exclaimed, "What did you think to accomplish by kissing me? Where does that leave us now? What are we now? And PLEASE, do not say that we are 'friends with benefits' or, I swear to God, I will kick your-!"
Roxas cut in. "We are definitely not friends with benefits."
"Good. So that makes us…what? Just friends. A, uh, couple?" I asked awkwardly.
"What do you want us to be, Kai?" He asked this with such indifference yet at the same time with so much intensity that I honestly couldn't tell what answer he was hoping to get. Did he want us to stay friends? Was he looking for something more?
I looked at him closely, taking the time to further analyze the unfamiliar look in his blue eyes.
"I want us to be…" For some reason I couldn't find the right words to tell him how I truly felt. And my hesitance was obviously taking its toll on him, my gaze drifted downwards toward me wrist where a certain charm bracelet with the engravings of R and K rested.
I slowly slipped it off my wrist and held it out to him so that the two letters were facing him. "I want us to be Roxy and Kai, again."
The look on his face was unreadable. "So…just friends, then."
I shook my head vigorously. "When were Roxy and Kai ever just friends?"
He lifted his head, so that he was staring directly at me. "What are you saying?"
"Roxas, we've been dancing around each other since we first met at the ice cream shop. I think it's about time we admitted that there is something and there has been something between us. Something more than just friends."
I couldn't believe I just said that.
"So, it finally comes out," he smirked at my puzzled expression, "Kairi, it would have taken a complete idiot to not notice that there was something between us. I've just been waiting for you to finally come to terms with it."
"Then, you…knew?"
"About me and you, and you and me? Yeah, all to well. For a moment, though, I was afraid that I had been misinterpreting your feelings toward me the entire time. I mean, at one point, I seriously believed you hated me."
I wanted to laugh. "And here I thought you hated me."
Roxas shook his head with a small grin. "We are idiots."
"Yeah, no kidding," the voice of the groom said from beside me. Sora was grinning wildly as was Naminé, who was literally attached to his arm. "Do you know how long we've been waiting for you two to come to your senses?"
Roxas and I looked at them blankly.
"A very long time," Naminé answered.
"So," Sora began, "When's the wedding?"
I rolled my eyes and laughed aloud when Roxas put his arm around my shoulders and winked at the other two. "Well, we've already walked down the aisle, I say, we're just as married as the two of you."
"In a weird way," Naminé spoke softly to me, "I think he's trying to propose to you."
My eyes widened considerably and I turned to Roxas who smiled slyly at me. "Don't you get any ideas, mister, I don't get married on the first date."
"Are you asking me out on a date, Kai?" He asked in mock disbelief.
I rolled my eyes and stood up from my chair taking Naminé's arm in the process. "Let's go leave these two psychos alone together."
She laughed and we began to make our way to the other side of the room when Roxas's voice called out to me.
"What about the second?"
All I can really say now is that, maybe in the beginning, Roxas and I weren't meant to be. But, I guess, with the amount of stubbornness the two of have combined, we didn't need to be star-crossed lovers.
No, all we really needed was fate.
A/N: It's done! It's done! AHH. Thirty-two pages on Word and it's done! WOOT.
Please Review and check out For Rent when you get the chance!!
I love you guys and I want to thank you all for sticking with me 'till the end. I must say, you guys must have a whole lot of patience to make it this far.
.:WALLFLOWER:.