Author's Note: This will be one of many Kingdom Hearts fanfics to come from me, yet I've decided to start with this particular story. For a future reference, there will be multiple pairings and I hope you'll stay around to read and watch them all grow. Please read, review - and most importantly - enjoy!
Disclaimer: All characters respectfully belong to Square Enix and Disney. The title chapter is a song that belongs to Colby O'Donis.
The Way We Are
Preface:
In high school, there isn't room for error. One mistake - even if you don't consider it one - could lead you to be labeled as something you are not. For most schools, that's the case, and for Destiny High School, it definitely applies. Since the very beginning of the year, the students assembled themselves together in their own cliques and no body dares to explore outside of them. But for a group of close-knit friends, things seem to take a different turn this year. When everyone in their graduating class comes together for a huge birthday party for Selphie Bertrand, the most popular girl in the school, will this lead to opening new doors or closing old ones?
Chapter 1 - What You Got [Sora]
A typical day. A typical lunch. His typical friends.
That had been the case every year since Sora Kimura had attended Destiny High School from the start of fourteen. He considered himself an easy going and fun person to be around, even if some of his teachers disagreed with that statement. He most certainly wasn't the most popular guy in school, but at least he wasn't at the bottom of the food chain. Sora Kimura was simply normal, living the typical teenage life. He had average grades, standard friends, and ordinary parents. Not so bad, right?
Wrong.
This year, Sora wanted to be different from everyone else, even if that meant looking like fool while doing it. For the past several months, he had become the school's class clown. By all means, it wasn't the smartest idea of his, but it helped keep creeps like Axel Tanaka off his back. The senior had had something against him the first day he set foot into the school, and Sora had grown tired of his aggravating ways. As long as the sophomore stayed funny and joked around about his classmates, Axel kept his distance. If Sora secretly made fun of people, that would give Axel the excuse to pick on them - not him.
"Sora!" A hand waved in front of his face, "Are you just going to keep staring into outer space or am I going to have to slap you?"
That was from his bubbly and very cute friend Kairi Ishikawa (also his crush since elementary school). Sora blinked his azure orbs a few times, and then whirled his head to the side.
"No," he stuck his tongue out, "I was just thinking."
"Thinking?" his cousin, Roxas Fukuda asked. "You've been doing a lot of that lately."
"Yeah, I know," he sighed, opening up his crumbled brown paper lunch bag to see what his mother had packed for him for the afternoon. He prayed it wasn't another one of her failed recipes from her weight loss diet. Thankfully, he pulled out a regular peanut better and jelly sandwich from inside, and a fresh apple. Sora lied them out in front of him and started unraveling the sandwich from the plastic wrapper Mrs. Kimura had covered it in.
"Uh oh," Roxas mumbled into his hand, spotting Axel enter the rambunctious lunch room with his arm draped around his girlfriend's shoulder. Sora glanced behind him, his back facing Axel. He rolled his eyes automatically in disgust as he watched the red haired senior's hand slide down to Xion Sato's butt, and grab it like it was a piece of meat.
"Why does she stay with him?" Sora drawled out, turning back to the group and stuffing more bread into his mouth as he waited for an answer.
"Because," Namine Ogawa quickly looked up from her sketch book, which she hadn't put down since the beginning of lunch, "She's just like him - loud, rebellious, and a stoner."
"Wow Namine," Roxas whistled through his teeth, "I didn't know you had such a mouth."
Kairi playfully slapped his arm, for she was sitting beside him, and rested her elbows on the table.
"Shut up, you! At least she's telling the truth. Xion obviously has some insecurities if she's hanging out with the likes of that loser. I remember when she use to be a nice girl."
"Yeah, 'use to be'," Roxas pointed out. In turn, Kairi rolled her violet colored eyes, clearly not seeing the point in arguing with him any further. So this was how Sora's days usually went. His friends would talk, he add in his opinions, and they'd eat their lunch. If they were fortunate, a fight would break out and they would watch from their table on the second floor, overlooking the entire lunch room to their pleasure.
Bored from the conversation Kairi was having with Roxas about the upcoming PEP rally, Sora's eyes wandered to the bottom where he could see a circle of people starting to gather around two boys. He squinted to get a better look, and slightly pulled back from the scene starting to unfold.
"What's wrong, Sora?" Namine's quiet voice piped up next to him.
"You tell me," he aimed his finger below, glancing back at Namine to see what she made of the situation.
"Isn't that Riku Nakajima?" she inquired. Sora took a closer look, standing up from the bench, and peering over the metal bar and glass that protected him from falling over. Namine was right - however - not much to his surprise. Nonetheless, Sora examined every action Axel was making towards the not amused boy, whose long hair was a strange color of gray. Sora could clearly hear the conversation from the degree Axel was speaking from.
"Fuck you, Nakajima! What do you know about me? Just go back to your prissy volleyball team and mind your own damn business!"
"Oh yeah," Sora thought to himself, "Riku's the star player on the Seagulls, I almost forgot. So then what started this?"
People jumped to the side, making a path for the steaming red-head as he turned on his heel towards his awaiting raven-haired girlfriend. But that wasn't enough for Riku. He sauntered over to Axel's table, clearly not impressed with the way the senior left things, and tapped him roughly on his broad shoulder.
"What the fu-!" Unfortunately for him, Axel never got to finish his sentence. Riku had heaved a full-pledged fist straight to Axel's face, and when the volleyball player jerked back, blood started pooling out of the upper classmen's noise.
"Nice job," Sora snorted, getting amusement out of the entire thing. At that point, Kairi and Roxas had joined him at his side - Namine deciding to sit this one out.
Axel groaned, shaking his head from a light haziness, and shot up from his seat. He charged at Riku with every bit of hatred in his body, and wringed his hands around the sixteen year old's neck.
"Oh my gosh!" Kairi screamed, "Someone has to stop them!" Sora ignored her pleas, continuing to watch Axel choke Riku half to death when his attention suddenly diverted over to a familiar blonde making her way through the mass of students that had gathered around them.
"Namine!" Roxas' mouth dropped open, and for that matter, so did Sora and Kairi's.
The petite girl pushed people aside with all her might, and rushed to the front of the fight. Axel was too busy strangling Riku to notice Namine come up from behind him, and he definitely did not expect what came next from her.
"Axel! Let him go!" Namine cried, lodging her tiny foot into his manhood. That sent a shocking impulse through out his complete body.
"Oaf!" he called out, immediately dropping an unconscious Riku to the floor as he grabbed the spot where he had been kicked. Everyone blinked, unsure of what had just happened, and watched as Namine hurriedly rushed to the Seagulls' star player's side. His face had gone pale, and the girl feared the worst. She felt warm tears starting to form in her cerulean eyes as she touched the side of his face gently. She peeked through her curtain of blonde locks and noticed nobody was doing anything, merely standing around and gaping at the scene.
"Just don't stand there!" she shouted, red-faced and tear-streaked, "He needs help! Call the nurse!"
Roxas jumped into action, practically flying down the stairs as he ran over to Namine in the midst of trying to catch his breath.
"I'll go get her!" he offered. Namine nodded appreciatively, and turned her attention back to the motionless boy in her arms. Roxas darted out of the cafeteria, somewhat hurt that Namine cared more for the "school whore" than himself, but that just goes to show you how quickly someone's feelings could change in a tragic instant.