A/N: Good day, peoples. Umm… this is my new fic? Nothing too much about it; it's just another crazy music themed fic that my mind came up with… it's a bit random & spur of the moment-ish, but I like the plot enough & hopefully I'll actually be driven to finish it. It was inspired by The Great Gilly Hopkins, and yeah, it's kind of a lot like the book, except different... I don't think that made any sense, but that's okay. XD The Music In Our Hearts, the chaptered fic that I have been working on for just about forever & not posted, is almost done, & hopefully it will be by the end of April. I have nothing much else to say, other than please read my fic & leave your reviews. D

Oh yes, about updates. I will try to… not making any promises, because this will most likely be my second priority until… um… yeah. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or Tifa from FF VII. Or The Great Gilly Hopkins.

Chapter One: The Definition of Home

Kairi chewed on her thumbnail as she waited for the social worker in front of the house that she had just-so-recently been kicked out of, for lack of a better phrase. It wasn't HER fault that she had let the dog break the antique table. And it was just as little of HER fault that the vase heirloom that was sitting on the table broke.

So maybe she wasn't paying attention to the dog while her foster parents weren't home, but she was busy, okay? Busy with homework and the whatnot that she was forced to do for school! She didn't even get all of it finished that night!

...So maybe she was procrastinating, and off in her own little world. If ONLY her foster parents had made her confident that she was going to stay with them, none of it would have happened. Too bad that they weren't confident with keeping her; they were just doing Tifa, her social worker and their "friend," a favor.

And the favor only lasted for about two months this time. Tifa had straight out lied to her- she said that this was probably the last time she would have to change homes.

But she was used to it; after all, people lied to her all the time. First it was her birth mother, who left her at the daycare one day and never came back. Next it was the old lady at the daycare, who assured her that her mother would come back, only for Kairi to be greeted by the social worker. And then, it was just family after family. Families that had pretended to be perfect- but weren't even perfect on the outside, let alone on the inside.

Tifa was probably one of the few people that actually understood how Kairi felt- that under that rude attitude and the sulky demeanor, she was actually a semi-sweet kid inside. Except, no one really dug for the "inside."

Tifa actually seemed more like her mother than any of her actual foster mothers did- she cared for her, and always said that she'd be available if Kairi was facing any trouble. Kairi took her up on those words- almost every week. She'd call her for the littlest complaint, the littlest discomfort that she had faced in whatever household she was staying in.

However, Tifa wasn't exactly mother material. She was practically married to her job, and if she wasn't at work, she was with some new guy every week. There would be no room for a full-time kid in her life; she had too many part-time ones to deal with that. And, well, the whole relationships thing.

Kairi didn't care about that- she longed to be adopted by Tifa, because she knew that she cared. All of the other ones- they didn't care. They were pretty much just all doing Tifa some sort of a "favor." For all thirteen years of her life, she had waited for that to come.

Except there was always this little voice in the back of Kairi's head- her conscience, as they called it, who said that she was wrong, completely wrong. Even if Tifa really did care about her- which she did, Kairi told herself- she just wouldn't have the time. She'd barely have time to make dinner for the two of them- let alone breakfast and lunch.

Kairi set her bag down, and opened it, just to check one more time that she had everything she needed. She sat down on the curb to look through everything. There were a few sets of ugly clothes that her last foster mother bought her, there were her toiletries, and there were was the one thing that she always had with her- a golden harp. Now, the gold was almost completely worn off from all of the tears that Kairi had shed on it, but the little chunks of shine that remained on there were all that Kairi held on to. There wasn't much else to, anyway.

She remembered the first time she had gotten that harp. She was with first foster mother, the only one that could halfway stand her, at a store. She had first seen the harp because it was small and shiny, something that had always attracted little kids' attention. She had walked over to it, wandering away from her foster mother, and had taken it in her hands, and had walked back over to her. She pulled on the sleeve of the woman, holding it out to her. She had shaken her head, no, but Kairi stamped her foot and threw a tantrum in the store. She got what she had wanted that day, but then the next she was shipped back to Tifa.

It was a worthwhile trade-off; she would have let Kairi go sometime later, anyway. And now, the harp was her good-luck charm- every time she was kicked out of one house and brought into another, she gripped it for good luck.

Kairi glanced at the watch that she wore. Tifa was late, and she was NEVER late. Kairi felt like throwing something, maybe the rock on the sidewalk, perhaps? Where on earth was she? She was usually so early that it bugged Kairi to death, but today, she would rather her be an hour early instead of late.

Kairi picked up a rock. It was fairly small, lying in the palm of her hand. But it was nice and rugged- perfect to throw at the street. She raised her arm, and thrust it as far as she could into the poor road.

Right after her outburst, she heard the familiar roar of the engine of Tifa's car. She could recognize it anywhere, even when she was on the bus home from the hell-hole that most people referred to as school. It always had a familiar buzz to it, and it sounded a bit higher pitched than the others.

"Hey there, sweetie." Tifa smiled down at her. "Sorry I'm late. I had an appointment with your new foster parents right before I was supposed to pick you up. They couldn't do it any other time."

"Does that mean that I'm moving in already?" Kairi whined. She wanted to stay at least one night in Tifa's apartment. She could tell before that Tifa wasn't the most comfortable with a tween in her apartment alone, but it was the one place where Kairi felt at home- where she felt like she was raised by someone who cared.

See, Tifa's home always had this certain ring to it- and it wasn't exactly something anyone could put their finger on. Maybe it was because it always smelt like freshly lit candles, even though there were none lit. It always felt like there was music playing in the background, something calming and classical- even though there was none.

"Yes, young lady. And I happen to know that Cloud and Aerith are amazing parents that are willing to take you in without me trying to persuade them." Tifa spoke as she drove down the street. "They were my best friends in college. So you better respect them, okay?" Tifa was speaking in a firm voice, one that she barely brought out.

"And if I don't?" Kairi challenged her.

"Then you'll stay there, and Cloud will make your life a living hell." Tifa bluntly responded, as if it were the truth.

Kairi wasn't fazed a bit; Tifa always liked to scare her a little bit before she moved into a new house, thinking that it'll be the last and final. The joke had gotten old, and Kairi was no longer scared. She wasn't afraid of them being scary, she was just afraid that they wouldn't love her unconditionally, the way Tifa did, she told herself.

She awaited the usual wink that Tifa gave her when she said that they were going to be "mean." This time, though, there wasn't one. Was she serious about this home?

Kairi groaned. If she was going into a boot-camp type of home, she might as well try to persuade Tifa out of it now, instead of making her drive back later. Besides, the drive seemed to be awfully long... "Tifa, please don't make me go." She let out a whine.

"Why not? This family is going to be just like the rest- nice and friendly. Don't worry about the living hell part." Tifa seemed to regret what she had said before about Cloud.

"And they're going to dump me sooner or later... so why not sooner?" Kairi grumbled under her breath, hoping that Tifa wouldn't hear.

Tifa's ears seemed to be pretty sharp today, though. She had heard every last word of Kairi's comment. "Kairi... Cloud and Aerith aren't like that. I promise." She tried to calm the girl down, knowing that she was not the best at controlling her anger. She gave her the motherly look that seemed to be the only thing that could break the barrier around her heart, and waited for her to give in.

When she didn't, Tifa pulled to the side of the road to have a little chat. "Kairi... listen to me." She looked for the redhead through the mirror. "Kairi, look at me. I've even stopped the car to talk to you about this."

Kairi looked up, slightly. Her eyes met with Tifa's for one moment before she could feel the tears running down her face. Tifa, as much as she cared for Kairi, was completely exasperated. She took the keys out of the drive and opened the back door to sit next to Kairi and comfort her.

"Kairi... I swear that Cloud and Aerith will be different from every other foster parents you have. Really." Tifa couldn't do much to convince the girl.

Kairi continued to look in the other direction as more tears slid down her face. "You've always said that, Tifa... and I've always believed you. I think it's time now that we both just stop trying to overcome the impossible and just admit that there will be no family out there for me." Kairi's hand was gripping to the not-so-golden harp as she wept.

"Now, now," Tifa pulled the resistant Kairi into a tight hug. "I'll make a real promise to you, and I won't back down on it." She looked at the girl seriously. "If it doesn't work out between you and the Strife household, I promise..." She thought for a second. "I promise that I'll adopt you and you can live with me."

Kairi stopped sobbing, and her eyes grew wide. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah." She ruffled the red hair on Kairi's head. "But that doesn't mean that you can be rude to them. If you're so sure that you just can't last another day, you have my cell number, right?"

Kairi gave a little nod.

"Now, let's get going. Put a smile on that face!" Tifa grinned, hoping that Kairi would follow suit and also do the same.

Kairi attempted a smile to please Tifa, but it turned back into the expression that lay on her face as soon as Tifa had started driving once again.

She looked out the window at the homes they were passing by. They all looked so cute and handsome on the outside, and Kairi had wanted it to be left like that. Too bad that she had gone through so many homes in the past ten years that she couldn't marvel at the beauty of houses anymore. She could care less for the house- she just wanted a true home inside.

They had driven up to a quiet, serene lake. There was a fairly large house next to it, decorated to be a bit like a log cabin in the woods, although any person could see that it was much bigger and fancier than a log cabin could ever be.

"Come on out," Tifa opened the door for Kairi to get out. Kairi stiffly did so, carrying her bag and clutching her harp in her hand.

They walked into a house that was almost too big for words. A man with long blonde hair opened the door for them, and walked them over to the living room, with a beautifully placed white grand piano next to a double bass.

They sat on the cream colored leather pouch with absolutely no stains, marks, or rips whatsoever. This family was obviously rich, and liked to look the part, too.

A woman in a pink dress walked into the room. She had a big pink bow in her braided hair, and had a very kind look to her face. "Hey, Tifa." She greeted her friend, and then looked at Kairi. "You must be Kairi." Kairi held out her hand, and the woman gave a firm shake. "I'm Aerith."

She brought in a tray of cookies and lemonade, and poured some for the three of them. Then, she started to speak.

"Kairi, I'm so glad that we could have you... Cloud and I love to raise kids, and we love to spread the passion of music..."

Kairi looked at Tifa. She hadn't mentioned anything about music.

"Well... we have a big family here. I'll introduce you to them later. First, I have a question for you. Have you ever thought of playing an instrument?"

Kairi shook her head. What kind of family was this?

"Well, then, you should think of it now... our whole family plays music. Squall, our oldest, plays double bass and acoustic guitar; Maria, she's turning seventeen soon, she plays the cello; Wakka, he's fifteen, plays the trumpet and bassoon; Yuffie, she's fourteen, plays viola and clarinet; Selphie, she's twelve, plays violin, piano, and organ; I play the organ and piano; and my husband, Cloud- he's the blonde one- plays cello and xylophone."

Kairi's felt her head spin with so many names and instruments. She wasn't going to belong here- everyone else was talented, and most likely born into the family.

"We all teach smaller kids, except for Yuffie and Selphie. I also know a lot of music teachers around here, so you have a pretty nice range to choose from for your instrument."

Kairi was dumbfounded. She wanted to live in a house, not a school! She looked at Tifa, who amazingly seemed to be approving of what Aerith and Cloud did. She put on a plead for help on her face, but the plead was ignored.

She sighed. It might be a while before Aerith stopped talking.

TBC…

End notes: Yeah, the family is big & a really weird combination… Maria's the only OC, and she doesn't have a particularly big part, but she's there for a reason. What reason? You may never know. jk jk. You'll know within the next few chapters. I'm wondering what I was on when I thought of this idea...