The New Me

Chapter 31

A/N: WOOT! I’m back! And there’s story back with me! Thanks to all of you who are coming back after my Word fiasco…*hits Microsoft* Make stuff that works darn you!

So anyway here’s the latest chapter. Not as long as the ones that came before it…but its close. Also, a heads up, I think like….5-6 more long chapters like this and the ones before it and I’ll be done with this story.

Also, if you noticed chapters are missing. I compressed the old short chapters into longer ones, i.e.: old chapters 1-3 = 1, 5-7=3, and so on…


Riku was smiling at Sora as he walked along side the teen. They were walking back to his house, a mere twenty feet from door to door, but it seemed like a mile. Riku was so nervous about facing his parents; all he could do was smile at Sora. At least they had back up.

Ansem walked up the steps to Riku’s porch. Mrs. Hikari turned and nodded to her son, and then turned to Ansem. He rang the doorbell.

Sora turned to look at Riku, he was afraid for his…friend? Yes, friend. He knew Riku had snuck out to see him on his birthday, he knew he hadn’t called his parents before they two went to sleep in his room, he knew that quite possibly after tonight, he was only going to get to see Riku in the court room. So yes, he was scared for his friend, he was scared they wouldn’t get to see each other anymore.

The door to Riku’s house swung open, and standing in the door was a furious looking Mr. Endo. Riku gulped a little, his smile faded. He wasn’t even sure his father noticed that there were three other people with him.

From behind Mr. Endo, and hand reached over his shoulder and moved him back, to Riku’s relief his mother was home. And her face was much calmer than his father’s. She smiled a bit.

“I told you he had to be next door,” His mother stepped out side and looked at Mrs. Hikari and Ansem.

“Well, he’s not supposed to be.” His father said from the doorway, “And what do you two want anyway?” Now he took notice of the others with his son.

“Hush, Tsurgi, I’m sure Mrs. Hikari came to return our son once she discovered he was next door. Am I right?”

“Um, yes,” Sora’s mom nodded, Mrs. Endo turned to her husband and mouthed ‘See’ to him.

“Well thank you very much for returning him,” Riku’s mother stepped past her husband and extended her hand to them. “It’s also nice to meet you. I’m Rebecca and this is my husband Tsurgi. I hope Riku didn’t give you too much trouble.” She now turned to her son. Riku lowered his head a bit when he caught the disappointed look in her eye.

“Um…well...” Mrs. Hikari was at a loss. Mr. Endo had given her the reaction she expected, but his wife was quite civil with them.

“He wasn’t a problem,” Ansem stepped in. “However, I’m afraid it’s my fault he was out. You see, Marie was at work when the boys came in. I told Riku to call you, but never checked up on the matter.”

Mr. Endo scoffed, “You should have come over here earlier to tell us where he was. We could have been worried.”

Ansem shrugged, “It’s a small island, not the big city. I’m sure if you really were worried you could have found him on your own in less than an hour.” Mr. Endo glared at Ansem for a bit. The two women looked at each other a bit worried. Sora looked over at Riku; since his mother had looked at him, the boy hadn’t made eye contact with anyone.

“Well,” Rebecca broke the silence, “Why don’t you all come in. I’m sure we have more to discuss, and the night air is not the place for it.” The adults nodded, and the boys followed in behind them.

Once inside Riku’s dad grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. “You. Room. Stay there. Understand?” Riku just nodded and pulled away. Sora looked over his shoulder, and thought about following Riku for a moment, but decided the look on Mr. Endo’s face was enough to keep him away. While Riku walked up the stairs, Sora followed his mom and Ansem to the kitchen.


The all sat down while Rebecca began making them drinks. Mr. Endo sat down last, right across from Ansem. Sora sat in between his mother and her friend. For a while, the only sounds were those of Rebecca moving around. Finally, she spoke up.

“So, Marie, was it? You’ve been our neighbor for a while,” She set the drinks on the table, “But we don’t really know much about you.”

Tsurgi mumbled, “Other than what we’ve seen in court…” His wife shot him evil looks.

“Um, well,” Marie took a cup of tea, “I moved here from Traverse Town, with my son,” She nodded at Sora, “I’m afraid we’re all on our own, so it makes it a bit, difficult to keep track of him.”

“We can see that,” Tsurgi earned another glare from his wife.

“Um…I am, sorry for all of this. I don’t know what possessed Sora to think he could play this game and not suffer any consequences.” She looked at him from the corner of his eye.

‘Yes, Mom, shift the blame...’ Sora slurped his tea.

“What Marie means is, when they moved here, they meant no harm,” Ansem put his hand on Sora’s shoulder, “He’s a good boy really…he just didn’t adjust well to the move. I’m sure if he could, he would take back everything that’s happened. Right Sora?”

“…Yes,” Sora looked up at Ansem, “If I could, I would take back having started this lie. And stop this whole mess.” Mrs. Endo smiled and nodded.

“Well, not adjusting is no reason to pick fights with little girls.” Mr. Endo proved to still be bitter.

“Well, to be fair,” Sora’s mother spoke up, “My boy’s really the one who got hurt. I think the girl in question’s not so ‘little’.”

“Yes, Kairi is very tough but-”

“Listen here! We’ve known the Akai’s for years. Since Riku was little. We know Kairi and her father, they’re good people. But we know nothing about you, other than that you’re never home to keep tabs on your son. And the boy runs wild convincing people he’s a girl and trying to turn others.”

“Tsurgi!”

“Now wait a minute! I never tried to ‘turn’ anyone!” Sora slammed his cup down.

“Mr. Endo, I assure you, Sora never meant to harm anyone or put them in uncomfortable positions. If anything, his little game was something he was doing to spite me! He’s done it before.”

“And you let him get away with it? Here’s a parenting tip: Beat his ass.”

“Sora never gets that out of hand, Mr. Endo. This is the first time he’s done anything of this scale.” Ansem moved Sora’s cup away from him. “He’s not a bad kid; he was just having a tough time, and tried to help himself in a very foolish manner.”

“Oh stop! I’ve seen you in court, you’re the kid’s lawyer, but I’m no judge. I’m not buying this crap.”

“It’s not crap! My Sora’s good boy!”

“If he’s so good then why is he the focus of the entire islands gossip chain?”

“Well last time I checked, that little hot headed red-head was the one that everyone was yammering about. If she’s such an angel, why did she attack my boy?”

“She was doing my son a favor! She didn’t want him hang out with your little faggot kid.”

“MY LITTLE WHAT!”

“OK!” Rebecca stood up. “Tsurgi, why don’t you go talk to Riku, I’ll stay here and see Mrs. Hikari, her lawyer, and her son out, hm?”

“I can see Riku after I-”

“Please go do it NOW, dear.” She glared at him until he removed himself from the table. She sighed and sat back down. She seemed to be thinking of a proper way to apologize, but it never came. Ansem nursed the rest of his tea, Marie glared off in the direction of Mr. Endo, and Sora just sat. After a few moments of silence, Sora spoke up.

“May I…” Everyone turned to him, “Um…use your bathroom?”

Rebecca nodded, “Of course, to the left of the stairs.” She pointed and Sora walked off.


Once he was out of the room, he heard the adults talking again. He stood at the bottom of the stairs and thought about going to the bathroom, he honestly did, but before he knew it he had one foot on the stairs. And then another. Pretty soon, he was at the top, just staring at the wall before him. He had no clue where to go.

He stood for a moment; he thought he heard his mom laugh downstairs. He was tempted to go back, when he heard a door open. Not wanting to get caught, he ran for the first door he saw, opened it and ducked in.

He was so busy listening to the passing cursing of Riku’s father that he didn’t notice the person sneak up behind him and tap him on the shoulder. He felt like he jumped ten feet in the air and slammed into the door.

“Good going.” Sora turned to face the familiar voice and found himself face to face with Touya.

“Um…er…”

“Looking for Riku?” Sora just nodded dumbly. “He’s down the hall, left door.”

“…Um…thanks.” Sora opened the door when Touya tapped him again.

“Can I ask?”

“Ask what?”

“What’s the deal with you and my brother? Are you something or are you nothing?”

“I’m, not really sure, actually. Sorry…” Touya shook his head and took hold of the doorknob.

“Look, Riku’s catching lots of hell for sticking with you. So you’d better decided. No more messing around, or I’ll show you where Riku learned to fight from, ok?”

“Um…is that a threat?” Touya just smiled and closed the door. Sora looked at the shut portal before him. ‘He just threatened me! To make up my mind about Riku….How am I supposed to? I haven’t even known him that long. And he’s always so….direct, but not. Like that stupid need to kiss me…but then he just goes off and says I love him like its nothing! Nothing!’ Sora turned and walked toward Riku’s door.

‘What am I supposed to do? How do I know if he’s serious or not. If I’m even serious! You can’t give people ultimatums regarding their feelings…that’s just….Mean!’

Sora put his hand on the doorknob and turned it, only to find the door was locked. He sighed and knocked softly.

‘Riku? Its Sora…are you in there?’ Sora stood with his face close to the door. He didn’t hear anyone respond. ‘Guess not…’ He pulled away and the door flew open. Again, Sora felt like he jumped around ten feet in the air. Before he could even say anything, Riku reached out and pulled him into the room.

“Riku!” Sora stumbled once Riku let him go; the other boy quickly shut and locked the door. “Riku, what are you doing!”

“Sorry about that…” Riku shrugged and turned around. “I just wanted to make sure you got in here.” He smiled at Sora, who huffed in return.

“So,” Riku scratched his head looking for a topic, “How’s the conversation going?”

“Now, I don’t know…but earlier your dad was causing a bit of an argument.” Riku sighed and walked over to his bed.

“I’m not surprised. He still doesn’t like you.”

“He still doesn’t? What about your mom?”

Riku shrugged. “It’s hard to tell…I think she still thinks you did a bad thing. But she seems to have lightened up after she saw what Kairi did to your head today…” He lay down on the bed, “Maybe she figures no one’s as perfect as she thought anymore…”

Sora walked over to Riku, “I guess that makes since.” He looked down at him, and sea green eyes looked back up in silence. Neither of them said anything for a while. “Touya…seems nice…?”

“Who? That animal? He’s a jerk at heart.”

Sora smiled, “I think he’s just looking out for you.”

“Yea well, you tell him I can look after myself just fine.” Riku nodded. Sora turned his head and looked out one of the three large windows in the room. “…H-Hey Sora I-”

“What do you think of us?” Sora had cut him off.

“Uh? What?” Riku sat up.

“I said what do you think of us? What do you think it is that we’re doing…or that we have…” Sora turned back to face Riku now.

Riku looked at him and tilted his head, “Well…you know already, what I would like to hope to have. Bu-”

“You hope too much! Riku,” Sora sat on the bed and lowered his head, “Why do you think that we can be a couple?”

“Well, because…I like you. And you like me. What else is there?”

“How do you know that I like you? I don’t even know that.”

“For starters…you’re here aren’t you? You could have just stayed downstairs, or home even. You didn’t have to let me into your house and,” Riku turned to his side and lifted Sora’s face, “You certainly didn’t have to kiss me.”

Sora flicked his eyes over Riku’s face. He was right; he didn’t have to do all those things. He didn’t have to mail the truth to Leon and sever ties, he didn’t have to befriend him after the Secret Cave incident…it was all stuff he did.

“So, then…”

“So then!” Riku pulled back. “When all this is over, want to go on a date?” Sora nodded silently. Riku gave his own, very audible cheer. “I gotta tell you, Sora, I never had this much trouble getting a date out of anyone…You play a mean game of hard-to-get.”

Sora frowned, who was playing? Really, sometimes Riku could seem so serious, but in a split second he’s an idiot again. Sora stood up.

“I don’t know why I bother with you.”

“I already told you why! Because you love me.”

Sora sighed, “You might be right…” He turned to say something else but a knock on the door cut him off.

“Hey Riku! Sora’s Mom and lawyer are ready to go! So say goodbye to your girlfriend!”

“…I’m NOT his girlfriend!”

“Right…sorry….Say goodbye to your BOYfriend.”

Sora grumbled.

“See, I told you Touya was a jerk.” Riku smirked at his, damn his brother for being right, boyfriend.

Sora threw himself on his bed and exhaled. Somehow, everything that just happened seemed like a really distant dream. He couldn’t believe he did that, and yet, he didn’t feel bad for doing so.

‘A date with Riku? If anything, he’ll embarrass me…but I guess there’s nothing wrong with it.’

Sora rolled over to face the wall just as someone knocked on his door. He rolled over again to see his mother walk in. She didn’t say anything, she just came over and sat on the bed.

“…Sora?”

“Yea, Mom?”

She paused for a moment, “Sora,” she looked at him now, “Why did you…do it? Dress up and fool those kids?”

“…I guess…I really did want you to be angry enough to send me home.”

“But Sora, I would never do that! Why do you think I would?”

Sora sat up, “Well, when ever you get angry, we just up and leave places…I figured if we had only been here a short time, there’d be no actual way for you to relocate us so fast…so the best option was to send me back to Traverse Town.”

Marie reached out and pet Sora’s hair, “Sweetheart…I moved you away from Traverse Town because I was worried not angry. You’re lucky I’m not sending you off to boarding school.”

“You’re not!” Sora’s eyes lit up. He had completely forgotten that threat, but this was refreshing news.

“No, I’m not…however, Sora, you can’t keep this up. No more lying and sneaking around. That’s why we’re out here on the islands in the first place.”

“But…I never…”

“Getting drunk falls under sneaking around. You know you’re too young to drink.” Sora bowed his head and muttered a ‘yea sorry’. Marie smiled, “You know…this will all be over soon, and you’ll have to start school,” Sora looked up at his mom, “I’ll make you a deal. You don’t cause any more trouble for yourself, me, or anyone else…and I’ll let you go home to Traverse Town for Christmas.”

“OH MY GOD REALLY!” Sora jumped up and hit his head on the low ceiling over his bed. Marie made a worried face and grabbed him; Sora made a groan held his head, that hadn’t been smart. She began stroking his hair.

“Sora, sending yourself back to the hospital counts as trouble,” Marie kissed the top of his head in an attempt not to laugh.

Sora buried his face in his mother’s arms. “Why are you being so nice all the sudden?”

“Hm? Don’t be ridiculous. I’m always nice.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Oh stop it…” She set him up, “If you really want to know…Ansem said, I should stop worrying so much…and…just let you be you.”

“…Really? And you’re going to?”

Marie nodded, “Yes.” Sora smiled and tilted his head.

“You should marry Ansem mom, I like getting my way.” The color drained from Marie’s face as she heard a laugh from the door. She turned around and glared at her friend.

“How long have you been there!?”

“A while…” Ansem smiled at her.

“You know Sora’s just kidding, he’s full of himself, like his father.” Marie stood up and pat Sora on the head. “Get some rest, tomorrows going to be busy.” Sora smiled at her and watched her leave. As she approached Ansem he spoke up again.

“You know…you shouldn’t talk about Knai-kun like that. He’ll come back and haunt you.”

“Good! He needs to! Then he can come back and tear up Sora’s rear end for all the trouble he’s causing!”

“I don’t want to be hit by a ghost!”

Marie turned around, “Don’t worry, Knai would never come back as a ghost.”

“Yes, he’s too proud; he’d be a zombie for sure.” Ansem smiled at Sora and shut the door behind them, leaving the teen to contemplate whether his father was a ghost or a zombie.

Marie was right, the day had been busy. So busy in fact, it seemed as if they flew through the trial.

Sora didn’t really have much to do other than listen. The witnesses today were another doctor, Larxene Something-or-Other, a police officer, and Kairi herself. This was really the only thing Sora paid attention to, and he was sure, it was the only thing everyone else wanted to hear.

She took the stand and stood while they read to her the same words they read to everyone. She seemed awfully calm and confident today, as opposed to yesterday when she kept her head down low. Sora scoffed a bit when she promised to tell the truth.

She sat down, making sure for fix her skirt and looked up. Tseng began questioning her on the events that lead up to the moment in the cave, the same as Ansem had done for Sora.

“Kairi, where did you first meet Sora?” He asked in a causal voice.

“At his house. He opened the door to curse at Riku,” she nodded, so did her lawyer.

“And when you began to engage in conversation with Sora, what did you first think?”

“Um…that a new girl moved into the neighborhood…he was in dress after all.”

“Understandable. Now, at anytime that you spoke to Sora that day, and in the days that followed, did he ever tell you he was a boy?” Kairi paused for a moment, Sora curled his lip in anger, ‘Must she fake sincerity?’

“No.” She finally answered.

Riku crossed his arms and stared dead forward. He wasn’t even looking at Kairi, just listening to what was said. Naminé looked at him worried, his face was expressionless. She wanted to ask him if he knew the point of these questions, but something told her to keep quiet.

“So,” Tseng continued questioning, “If Sora never told you he was a boy, what did he do for the weeks he went out with you and your friends?”

“Well…” Kairi looked at her hands and then looked up, “He was always dressed as a girl, and he always talked about his home…and he always flirted with Riku.”

“So, from what you could see, Sora was genuinely a new girl interested in your best friend, yes?”

“Yes.”

Sora looked over at Ansem, he wasn’t moving. It didn’t even look like he was paying attention. ‘Are these question’s really relevant?’ He lowered his head, ‘I mean, I know he asked me all those questions of what I did and why…but,’ he looked up, ‘Kairi can’t answer for why I did those things.’

“So, how did it make you feel to see Riku and Sora together all the time?”

“Objection. Relevance?” Ansem finally spoke up.

“Judge, The boy already testified his goal was to invoke certain emotions in my client and her friends. I just want to show whether or not he succeed, if he did, then he indeed has provoked her actions toward him.”

“Overruled, continue,” Sora sucked on his bottom lip.

‘Stupid judge…he looks like an overgrown mouse anyway.’

“So, Kairi, how did it make you feel?”

She looked out at Sora, then out at Riku, “I was angry. We had always been together, and Riku leaves me at the drop of a hat for every girl that comes along. I didn’t like Sora for that.”

“And how did you feel when you knew Sora was a boy?”

Now Naminé saw Riku blink, his face seemed to come back to life. He looked at Kairi for the first time today. He face was still the same, but his eyes reflected an emotion similar to anger. He took deep, long breaths and seemed to be staring her down. He didn’t want her to lie. He knew she might, but he didn’t want her to. He wanted her to tell the truth, that she didn’t know until that day. That moment. She had to.

She shook her head, “I don’t know…I, I just wanted to get back at him.” She lowered her head, “Riku thought he was gaining a girlfriend….but I knew Sora was just toying with him. He was trying to hurt him, I had to stop him.” She didn’t look up.

Naminé glance at Riku, the boy had clenched his jaw shut. He suddenly stood up. Kairi looked up at him, he could feel the eyes of his friends and family in the other aisle fall on him, even Sora turned around. But Riku just stood up, and walked out of the court room. Kairi lowered her head again.

“And then he said he didn’t care…” her bottom lip began to quiver, “Riku cared so much for him, and he just wanted Riku for fun…He’s my best friend…” She looked up; her eyes were glazed over now with water, tears were slowly falling out the corners of her eyes. For once, Sora actually felt bad for the girl that had hit him. He had never seen anything other than anger in Kairi before, but this was new. She looked hurt; actually hurt, by what he had done to Riku. By what he had with Riku, that she didn’t.

Sora lowered his head, he felt sick.

“My best friend loves some boy more than he loves me…What am I supposed do! How am I supposed to feel!!” She looked at Sora with hatred in her eyes, “This is what you wanted! To make me feel like shit!” She stood up and screamed at him, tears falling more rapidly now; she was hysterical, “Well are you happy! I feel worse than that! You and your stupid game…I’ve lost all my friends, my best friend, and the only person I ever loved! When all this is over, you’ll have them! You didn’t have to go home to get the life you wanted! YOU STOLE MINE!!”

Kairi fell back into the chair and let her head drop into her hands, and she sobbed uncontrollably on the stand. Sora leaned forward and put his hand over his mouth. He tasted something terrible in the back of his throat. He could hear Tseng asking for a recess for Kairi to recover. He could hear people talking behind him. He could hear Ansem saying something.

But it didn’t matter. He felt so sick. His head was throbbing like the first time he’d woken up after being hit; his stomach was twisting in on itself. He felt like he was going to start heaving any minute now. All because for the first time he saw what his little game had actually done.

And he hated himself for it.