Kingdom Hearts High School

Chapter 1: Encounter

Roxas' alarm went off making the same beeping sound over and over, waking him from his deep slumber.

As Roxas rolled in bed groaning to himself, he struggled to turn off the alarm in his nightstand. His hand aimlessly tapping around attempting to find the snooze button. After what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to hit the snooze button. As Roxas rolled over on his side to glance at the clock, he heard a thud in the other room. As he grinned to himself, he knew his older brother, Sora, had just woken up.

Knocking loudly on the wall by his bed he yelled, "Sora get up! We gotta get to class!". He listened for a bit until he heard a resounding groan through the walls. Roxas laughed, "I'm headed to the bathroom first! I'll meet you downstairs!" Roxas brushed the covers off his bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the morning.

Sora laid on the floor, his face planted into the ground. As he contemplated falling back asleep, he heard the door slam shut from the bathroom down the hall. "Roxas seems energetic this morning…" Sora mused. As he slowly rose to his feet and he managed to throw his blanket back on his bed. Sora walked over to his closet, pulled out his school uniform and went over to use the bathroom in his room.

As Roxas was headed down to grab some breakfast, an object whizzed by his head and landed at the bottom of the staircase. He did a double take and saw Sora grinning at the top of the staircase, fully dressed in his school uniform, and his brown hair spiked in all sorts of directions.

"Would you be more careful?" Roxas exclaimed, more surprised then angry at the other boy. He glanced down at the object on the ground. "What did you even throw at me?" As Roxas glanced down at the object, he noticed that it was a white and black checkerboard pattern. He stepped down next to it, and picked it up. "Ah! My pencil case. Thanks Sora, it would've been bad if I didn't have this my first day." Sora laughed and walked past Roxas patting his head and walking towards the kitchen.

"Roxas help me make something to eat." Sora said, rummaging through their refrigerator, unable to find anything to eat. Roxas walked over and opened a couple cupboards and searched for something to eat.

"Uhhh Sora, when did we last go shopping for food with the money mom left us?" Roxas inquired. Sora poked his head out of the refrigerator and placed a hand on his chin, searching within his memories for the answer.

Roxas sighed, "Grab some money, we'll get something from the Starbucks on the way to class." Sora slammed the refrigerator door and grabbed a twenty from the funds drawer that their parents had left them. As Sora ran off money in hand, he grabbed his backpack and swung the door open.

"C'mon Roxas! We'll be late if we don't hurry up!" Sora exclaimed suddenly excited to leave the house. Roxas shook his head in disbelief, and grabbed his bag after the excited boy. Seriously and how am I the younger twin here? Roxas thought to himself with a smile and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

. . .

As Roxas and Sora walked into the Starbucks they saw a couple familiar faces. Sora's face lit up as he recognized someone and he immediately walked over to their side. "Umino-san!" He said with a grin and waved at her. A blonde girl looked up from her phone and saw Sora's face and smiled, "Hikari-San!" She looked at a girl only a little shorter than her and said something, as she came to greet Sora and Roxas.

Roxas walked up next to Sora and replied, "No need for formalities Namine, we've known you for long enough." He looked at the girl Namine had left in the line, "Who's the girl? I don't think we've seen her before." Roxas asked.

"Oh that's my younger sister, she's been going to an all girl's school up until now. I finally convinced mom and dad to let her come with me to some place where she can meet new people." Namine answered, her tone low as to keep the girl from hearing her words. She then glanced at Sora, who was hungrily eyeing the menus. "Hey come join us, I'll treat you guys this morning to breakfast, from the looks of it one of you seems to be starving." She giggled at Sora's face turning slightly red from embarrassment at the comment of his hunger. She pulled out a credit card and held it up for them to see. "Don't worry, I think my dad can pay for us today." She said with a wink. Roxas smiled at the comment, and nodded his agreement.

"If you don't mind, I supposed Roxas and I could join you…" Sora replied in an attempting to play off how hungry he was. Namine laughed and gestured the two boys to join her and her sister in line.

"Well boys, this is my younger sister. Xion introduce yourself." Namine said, poking the younger girl in the ribs to grab her attention away from her music.

Xion looked up first at Sora and then Roxas, "I'm Xion Umino… I'll be a first year at Kingdom Hearts High School this year.' She told them flatly, and then put her headphones back in and continued to stare off into space.

Roxas looked closely at the girl, she was petite, short black hair that complimented her looks. He was puzzled at why she didn't try talking to them a bit more. Her eyes we downcast, but she had a fair complexion. Suddenly Roxas was taken out of his thoughts when he heard Namine.

Namine sighed, "She doesn't really have much experience talking to other people… much less boys." As the line grew closer Namine looked at the two boys who were staring at the menu hungrily. "Well? What do you two want? Don't hold back. I'm sure dad will understand." She assured them once again brandishing the credit card for all to see. Sora and Roxas nodded and told her the items they wanted. After she made sure she got all the orders right at the register, she gestured for Xion to get a table for four. Xion shrugged and sat alone at the table waiting for the food to arrive.

As the other three teenagers waited for their food to come, Roxas glanced over at Xion, noticing how lonely she appeared. She sat there gazing out the window, headphones still in her ears. Namine tapped Roxas back to reality. "Hey Roxas, mind helping me carry the food? I don't trust Sora enough, he looks way to hungry." Sora responded to the comment by jokingly trying to reach for all the food. Roxas shook his head out of the daze he was in, and grabbed the tray with the food and brought it over to the table, coincidently sitting across from Xion.

"Thanks for the food!" The two boys said eagerly, and dug right into their pastries. Namine giggled and picked up her iced coffee, wincing slightly at the bitterness. "Not enough sugar…" She muttered to herself, as she got up and started adding cream and sugar to her drink. As Namine got up, Roxas looked up from his pastry to glance up at Xion again, this time the girl was looking right at him. Her eyes reminded him of the ocean, blue and sparkling. As he began to realize he was staring right at her, he turned away and looked at Sora, who was too immersed in his food to notice the scene that just unraveled.

Namine rushed back to the table, and picked up her bag in hurry. "Guys let's go! We're gonna be late if we stay here!" She yelled at the three sitting at the table still. Roxas and Sora swallowed the last of their food in unison and grabbed their bags and drinks and stood up quickly, sipping their iced drinks as they moved. "Xion! C'mon, if you're late on your first day here, dad will have my head for it!" Namine said urgently, ushering her sister up out of her seat and out the door.

Sora followed with the same urgency, dashing out after them and waving at Roxas to hurry up. As Roxas walked out the door, he stopped and laughed out loud, "Guys! It's only 8:00, we don't have class until 9:00 today remember?" Namine and Sora stopped in their tracks and looked back at Roxas, puzzled looks on their faces. "Roxas ran and caught up with them, "You both are too used to doing club activities in the morning."

Sora put his hands behind his head in his normal relaxed pose when he was standing up. "Oh right, it's a new year. We don't have to worry about club activities for another week." As the four walked together to school, Sora and Namine took the time to catch up with one another, as Roxas threw in the occasional quip when appropriate, usually making Namine laugh and Sora yelling at him to stop in the way brother's do. Roxas smiled at their conversation, but couldn't get the thought of how beautiful Xion's eyes looked out of his mind.

As the four finally reached their high school, a girl with red hair came over and smiled at them and spoke, "Welcome back to another year you three."

Namine turned her head and said in a teasing tone, "Shouldn't you be monitoring the students Shinkai-san?"

The girl turned to Namine and with a straight face said, "Maybe you need to remember what happens when students go against me Namine-chan?" As she said Namine's name, a smile broke out on both their faces and they started laughing. She looked at Roxas and smiled at him, as she turned to Sora, a slight blush entered her cheek, "Hi Roxas. M-morning Sora." She stammered when she addressed Sora.

Sora beamed at her, "The one and only! Haha it really is school seeing you dressed up in that uniform again Kairi! Did you get a new hairpin?" Sora kept talking, giving Kairi no chance to even interrupt. As Sora kept rambling on, Roxas and Namine exchanged looks, smiling to one another. The two knew that Kairi has had a crush on Sora since they first met, but was never able to tell him how she truly felt about him. As Roxas thought about it, it dawned on him he didn't know how his brother felt about Kairi. He talked to her as naturally as he talked to anyone else. As he pulled himself from his thoughts, he noticed Kairi was starting to turn redder with all the attention Sora was giving her.

"Oh Kairi!" Namine said, interrupting Sora's barrage of questions and comments to Kairi. "This is my younger sister Xion" She gestured to Xion standing next to her. Kairi smiled and had a look of thanks she flashed at Xion for a moment. Xion looked up and nodded her acknowledgement, then resumed to stare off into space. Namine sighed, "Xion, I'm sorry to do this, but I have to go with Kairi and go back to working the student council again, so I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of Roxas and… Sora, to show you around the school." She told her sister.

Xion merely nodded at the comment and walked over to Roxas' side, making him stiffen up a bit. As Namine started to walk away with Kairi, Sora blurted out, "Wait why did you mention Roxas first? I'm the older one and I'm just as capable!" Namine and Kairi merely laughed and waved at them as they departed back to the student council room. Sora pouted for a moment before he was put into a headlock "Ah? Who?" Sora exclaimed with surprise.

"I see you haven't changed at all Sora." A taller boy with long silver hair mused. He glanced over that Roxas and Xion, "Oh a new face?" He said referring to Xion. "My name is Riku Yaoke, I'm a third year here, and this idiot in the headlock, is my best friend." As he let go of the headlock Sora turned around and a wide grin appeared on his face.

"Riku!" Sora shouted with happiness! Sora looked over at Roxas and Xion, "Ah! Sorry Roxas. I'm gonna have to let you handle this one and I'm gonna go catch up with Riku!" Sora shot the words out so quickly and dragged Riku away before Roxas could voice anything up.

As Roxas stood dumbfounded at the situation he was thrown in, Xion spoke in a quiet voice, "I can find my own way around Roxas…" The girl pulled her headphones out again, and was about to put them in when Roxas' hand darted out and grabbed her wrists.

"No your sister wanted at least someone to show you around" Glancing at his watch he looked back at her, once again pulled in by her blue eyes, as he finally broke eye contact with her "I'll take you around, and make sure you get to class on time. No debate about it." He used a tone that wouldn't allow her to argue against him. Xion shrugged and put her headphones away.

"Then I'm in your care senpai." She bowed at him. Roxas turned a bit red and averted his gaze away from her.

"T-there's no need for such formalities." He stuttered, taken aback by the amount of respect she was showing him. He took her in and showed her to the shoe lockers, explaining the customs of the school. As he was doing so, two people walked by a man with spiky bright red hair, and a man with long blue hair. As the one with red hair saw Roxas, he stopped his conversation with the blue haired boy.

"Hey Roxas! You better still have me memorized!" The boy yelled across the hall. Both boys walked up to Roxas and Xion.

Roxas turned around straight faced with no sign of emotion on his face, "Oh god it's you again." He groaned, hiding the smile that would burst out any moment. Roxas turned to Xion, "That's just the Axel. The one with blue hair I think is Isa. Both of them are third years."

Xion glanced over at the two walking over and then back to Roxas, "You're rather close with Axel aren't you?"

Roxas glanced over at the young girl, "Wait how did you pick up on tha-"Axel suddenly interrupted his conversation with Xion.

"Hey that's no way to treat your only friend here!" Axel looked at him with a grin. "Good to see you again buddy." After saying that he finally noticed the girl next to him. "Oh? I'm sorry was I interrupting your time with him?"

Xion shook her head and gestured him to continue. "Ah, well I'm sure Roxas has told you already but I'm Axel, Axel Moyashimasu. Got it memorized? This here is Isa Tsukiyomi."

Isa nodded his hello and gestured that it was time to go. "Sorry about this! Let's meet up at the old spot Roxas! Bring your friends!" Axel waved his good bye as he and Isa walked away.

Roxas shook his head and laughed, "C'mon Xion. I'll show you around we have some more time before school starts." Xion nodded and they two continued to walk through the school. Roxas smiled at her, "It may be school, but try smiling a bit, it won't kill you to try." After he said those words he instantly regretted it, the words came out without him even thinking about it.

Xion giggled a bit at the comment, "You got flustered when I called you senpai, earlier… Why is that?" Xion turned her head giving Roxas a quizzical look.

Roxas turned to face her, "It just feels a little embarrassing. I'm not really sure how to explain it."

"Well I thought it was funny how you reacted to it… Senpai~." She said emphasizing the last word in her sentence. Roxas' turned his head away in embarrassment and as he did so, Xion let out a hint of a smile as they continued on their tour of the school.

. . .

As Namine and Kairi were finishing up their business in the student council room, Namine couldn't help but do some digging into how Kairi was feeling, "So I noticed that Sora was talking to you a lot more this morning…" She began. As soon as she pointed out the events from the morning, Kairi flushed a deep red.

"W-we've texted a bit during the break…" She stammered, staying the same red she was before. "Do you think he'll ever realize how I feel?" She exhaled deeply, as if she had been keeping that question in all her life.

Namine smiled at her friend, "Of course he will, but if he doesn't then you need to do something about it! Roxas and I are rooting for you!"

Kairi turned redder, "How do you and Roxas do it, Namine? You two seemed to never have liked anyone… at least not like how I feel about Sora." Kairi sat down, exhausted by the events of the morning.

Namine sat down next to her friend and patted her back reassuringly, "Well I guess we haven't met that person yet. But when I do I'll be sure to come tell you and you'll have your turn to laugh at me!" Namine sighed and looked outside dreamily, "But I have to admire you Kairi, you've liked him since you first met him? That was back in middle school, it's been about five years since then… So you better not give up just yet!"

Kairi looked up smiling, "Thanks Namine… I hope you find someone soon. The feeling is amazing… I just wish he'd be less dense and return them soon."

As Namine got up to get her stuff, the door suddenly opened and in came Riku breathing heavily. As he closed the door behind him, both he and Namine made eye contact with each other. As they stared at each other, group of girls ran by the classroom yelling Riku's name trying to find him. Riku looked at Namine and held a single to finger to his lips. The universal sign of stay quiet.

Kairi stood up, confused on why Riku came in so suddenly, but after hearing the sound of the girl's voices, she understood immediately and quietly went to retrieve her stuff. As the crowd of girls passed, both Riku and Namine were still looking at each other. Kairi let out a cough to break the silence, "Um Riku that's Namine, she's a friend of mine. Namine that's Riku. He's been close friend's with Sora since they were kids. Those two were always competing against each other."

Riku nodded his thanks and walked over to Namine introducing himself, "I'm Riku Yoake. I know this is sudden… But would you mind if I walked you to your class?" Namine hid her flushed face at his straightforward question, but nodded and waved bye to Kairi.

As the two walked out, Kairi smiled to herself knowing that something was going to happen between those two after this meeting. As she sat down in a nearby chair, she complained out loud, "Ahhh it seems everyone else is out there with someone besides me!"

Kairi sighed to herself, thinking about Sora. She loved how his brown hair spiked in every direction. She giggled a bit at how she used to think he spent hours working on his hair, just trying to get the perfect spike. When she finally decided to ask, she was surprised at how both Sora's and Roxas' hair was naturally spiky. He wasn't too much taller than her, maybe an inch or two. She turned her head to look out the window, at the sky, marveling at how beautiful the blue looked. "Sora's eyes are just like the sky, big and blue." Her thoughts began to wander, and she slowly imagined Sora's smile. Every time she saw him smile at her, it made her heart skip a beat. She could feel her heart fluttering as she thought of it.

Kairi shook her head, clearing the thoughts of the boy she liked out of her mind. She once again glanced at the empty room, she picked up her stuff and was about to start walking to the door to go to class when it once again opened. But this time Sora stood at the entrance of the door smiling at her.

"Hey I knew I'd find you here! We're in the same class with everyone again! Let's walk there together!" Sora said cheerfully, his smile present on his face as it always was. Kairi smiled shaking her head at her own thoughts.

"Yeah… let's go Sora." She walked to his side as they started down the hallways to their classroom.