Lucky Number Seven

Chapter 15

Reasons

"Oh, so you're leaving?"

"Yes, I've annoyed you all enough."

Shiki stood at the door with her luggage at her feet. Axel, Kairi, Riku, Vanitas, Hayner, Roxas and Ventus stood in front of her with a nonchalant look on their faces, since they all truthfully agreed to what she had said. Sora was the only one who expressed genuine sadness, upset that she felt that way her whole visit.

"You're leaving this house to move in to another house that's most probably less than fifteen minutes away," Vanitas rolled his eyes. "I don't get why your goodbye is so dramatic and- ow!" Axel elbowed him in the gut and gave him a stern look, causing him to shut up.

"Hey, come on, I don't like her either, but at least try be nice," Axel scolded in his ear.

"You're usually the one who gets hit. What has this world come to," Vanitas muttered, rubbing the place where the redhead landed the blow.

"Don't listen to him. It was nice meeting you… uh…" Hayner blanked at her name, making Sora slap his forehead at the blond's miserable attempt at being kind.

Shiki smiled sadly, "Well, goodbye to all of you. Thanks for having me."

"Yeah bye," Kairi said boredly.

"What was that about being 'nice'?" Vanitas smirked. The redhead shushed him.

Shiki was quite offended at this, but decided not to let it show. She was halfway there at picking up her suitcases, when she stopped.

"Oh, I just remembered," she began. "If it's all right with you two… Sora, Kairi, can I talk to both of you please. I have a few things I want to tell you before I leave."

"And we're here because why?" Kairi asked, confused.

Shiki had led them to the docks facing the play island. She sat on the edge, allowing her two feet to dangle over the edge. Sora gingerly took a seat next to her, while Kairi decided to sit cross-legged behind them, an elbow on her leg and her hand propped up to support her chin.

"I wanted to apologize, explain everything," Shiki said calmly, looking down at the clear waters beneath her. "And ask for forgiveness."

"No need to. I wouldn't accept your apology even if the…" she stopped herself when Sora turned around and gave her a pleading look. She sighed, "Sorry. I'm still a little bitter over everything."

"I don't blame you. What I did was really selfish of me," she said. "So, where do I start?"

"How about you start off by explaining why you fricking split us up," Kairi spat, scowling.

"All my life-"

"I may be a substitute therapist, but quite frankly, I'm not so interested in hearing your life sto-"

"Kairi, please."

"But Sora- fine."

Shiki frowned. She really left a bad impression on Kairi all these years.

"All my life," she repeated, an evident frown on her face. "I've been lonely." Sora appeared to be appalled, while Kairi just appeared bored and unconvinced. "You two know my dad's town mayor, right?" The couple nodded. "I don't mean to sound disrespectful to him, but he's the reason why I was never able to make any friends.

"Everyone who found out that I was the daughter of the town's mayor just left me. They were afraid that if they made a wrong move, they'd get thrown off the island or something. So, I was always left alone; I was rejected and unwelcomed. I was drowning in my own self-loathe and just about gave up," she turned to the brunet sitting next to her. "Until I met you, Sora."

Sora just blinked, "Me?"

She nodded, "You were the only person who didn't care that I was the mayor's daughter. You were the only person who was kind to me, the only person who truly wanted to be my friend." She then turned to Kairi, "That's the reason why I hated you so much in the past. You and Sora were so close, I was scared that you were going to take him away from me.

"I couldn't stand being someone's 'one of' when they were my 'only'. So, I came up with that whole 'my father can kick her out of the island if you don't do as I say' thing, knowing that Sora would agree to it. I took advantage of Sora's kindness and I hate myself so much for doing that. And it's amazingly ironic how I used that 'my father can kick her out' as a threat, when that was the thing that caused all my misery in my childhood.

"When I came back here, I was so upset with myself because even until now… Sora still wanted you, Kairi. Your housemates didn't like me either and I felt just like how I did years ago. Rejected. Because of all of this, I started hating myself again. I came to realize how disgusting and selfish I was- and still am. I did all of those things in the past for nothing. I broke you two up for nothing, and I'm sorry for what I've done. I know sorry's are tossed around carelessly these days, but I truly mean it. I'm sorry."

Sora and Kairi just stared at her with wide eyes. They had no idea. They both felt extremely guilty, especially Kairi. She had bad-mouthed Shiki all these years, and occasionally during her stay, without even considering learning the reason why she did all of this. She just continued to assume she did so because she was heartless. She felt immensely bad.

She made a mental note to thank Namine when she returns to Twilight Town. This whole stay taught her how to be more compassionate and understanding, and it also taught her to stop jumping to conclusions before hearing the whole story.

"Well, I'll be going now," Shiki said as she stood up. "My parents are probably wondering where I've been these past few days."

"Oh, right," Sora said, standing up as well. "We'll walk you back."

"No, I'm all right, really," she replied. "Thanks for hearing me out."

Sora grinned, "Thanks for explaining everything. It's good to know that you're still kind deep down, that your loneliness and jealousy hasn't completely corrupted you."

She smiled, nodding, "Goodbye. It was nice seeing you guys again."

She started walking away, when a familiar voice yelled out, "Shiki, wait!" She turned around to find Kairi running up to her.

"Shiki, I…" she bit her lip. "I didn't know. I'm sorry for treating you so rudely and everything. I shouldn't have acted that way before knowing the full story… I just…" She looked away, frowning.

"It's okay," Shiki said. "I shouldn't have done it in the first place. All this is my fault."

"Well, I can't say I disagree with you, but… I'm just glad you took the time to tell us everything," Kairi said, meaning every word of it. "About Sora, though… I know you like him and all… but…"

"Hey, it's all right," Shiki said, smiling sadly. "There's someone waiting for me back in Shibuya anyway. Sora's all yours, Kairi. Don't ever let anyone take him away from you ever again, especially someone who's just like selfish… me…"

The words were caught in Shiki's throat when she felt two arms wrap around her. Kairi was hugging her. Shiki stood frozen in place when she realized what was happening.

"You know, you could hug me back. It'd make this a little less awkward," Kairi laughed.

Tears pricked Shiki's eyes as she wrapped her arms around Kairi as well.

So this was what a hug felt like…

Not a meaningless hug or a pity hug.

A genuine one.

"Thanks, Kairi," Shiki said as she let go. She blinked away the tears that threatened to fall. "You really do deserve Sora."

After hearing the last part, the redhead scratched the back of her head, laughing awkwardly; a gesture she caught on from her boys. "Yeah, well… thanks for apologizing. That was really brave of you to say it to my face."

The two girls just smiled at each other before Shiki said it was time for her to go pick up her things and leave.

"Sora and I really don't mind accompanying you-" Kairi began.

"No, really. I'll be fine," Shiki said. "It'll make this goodbye a lot easier for me."

Kairi nodded and watched as her ex-enemy disappeared in the distance. She returned to the docks and sat next to Sora, letting her legs dangle over the edge in the same fashion as Sora's.

Sora began, "Loneliness really does things to a person's mind, huh?"

Kairi nodded, "It surprised me how good of a person she really is."

"Looks like she had a problem of her own this whole time, too."

Knock, knock.

The door opened.

"Oh, hey there," Axel said as he let Shiki in. "Took you guys a while; my mother instincts were starting to take over. I was about to head off to look for you guys," he paused. "Wait. Where are Sora and Kairi?"

"They stayed behind to talk about a few things." She walked past him and picked up her luggage.

"What happened?"

"I told them everything and apologized and all." She walked out the door, and Axel followed, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey," Shiki stopped mid-stride and turned to the redhead. "Sorry about all this. We're all really over-protective of Kairi, so naturally, we'd do something if she was threatened or if she got hurt. We didn't mean to make you feel rejected or anything."

"It's okay," she said before walking off again. "Thanks for the apology. You've always been the good guy, huh?"

"I do my best."

She laughed, "I'll see you guys soon. Thanks again for having me."

And with that, she waved goodbye and left in the direction of the mayor's house.

"Mom and dad are sure in for a big surprise."

"Hey, how many weeks do we have left all together?" Axel asked, munching on a bag of chips, lazily sprawled on a couch.

Kairi and Sora returned shortly after and were now both, along with Axel, Ventus and Vanitas, lying on the couches in the living room, watching as Riku and Hayner battled it out in Street Fighter IV. Roxas said he had to go pick something up at the local convenience store, which explained his absence.

Kairi frowned at Axel's question. She took out her smartphone and touched the Calendar app.

"About three weeks left," she frowned.

All of a sudden, the sound of Ryu and Ken's simultaneous Hadouken was cut off mid-sentence, causing everyone to look up curiously as to why the game was paused. They all noticed Riku and Hayner looking down, frowning, and they all did the same.

"Hey, come on, guys," Kairi laughed half-heartedly. "It isn't the end of the world. We'll stay in contact for sure-"

"It won't be the same…" Riku muttered. The whole room went silent.

Suddenly, the front door was violently thrown open and a panting blond with a terrified look on his face stood with his cellphone in his hand and a plastic bag in the other. Everyone sat up, startled.

"Roxas, what's wrong?" Ventus asked worriedly.

"It's about Xion," he replied almost immediately.

"And?"

"She's at the hospital."

A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the short chapter, and if it seemed rushed. I had to write Shiki out of the story and I honestly had no idea what to do after. Like, should they celebrate now that she's gone? (Okay no cause that's hella mean LOL). And I didn't wanna make Sora and Kairi come back and explain to everyone that Shiki wasn't so bad after all and all that crap cause let's face it; that sounds pretty cheesy and boring LOL. Oh, and of course, the person waiting for her back in Shibuya is Neku because NekuxShiki ftw.

Also, Roxas didn't get his chapter yet! It's gonna be pretty dramatic, just saying. (Well, it seems pretty obvious, considering how I ended the chapter with a cliffhanger). If any of you are a bit doubtful about the character development, or if you just wanna go back and read a chapter where your favorite LNS character is the main character of the chapter, then scroll down! :D

Character Chapters (for some, Character Development Chapters):

Kairi: Chapters 12 & 13.

Axel: Chapter 8.

Vanitas: Chapter 9.

Riku: Chapter 4 (throughout the story, really).

Roxas: Chapter 16.

Ventus: Chapters 10 & 11.

Hayner: Chapter 14.

Sora: Chapters 13 & 19.

Shiki: Chapters 14 & 15.

By the way, do any of you ship Kairi with the seven boys in this story? Cause I do.

LOL what the hell am I doing to myself.

Please kindly leave a review, and thank you all so much for the support! Especially for helping me reach over 100 reviews! I adore you guys! :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR!