Disclaimer-I do not own Kingdom Hearts

Riku slammed the door behind him as he heard his stepfather run up the stairs after him. He leaned against the door and waited for the intense banging on the door. Riku clenched his teeth in frustration and closed his eyes as his stepfather began to pound on the door.

"Riku, open this door right now!" yelled a harsh and cold voice. After a few minutes of pounding and shoving, the man forced the door open. He grabbed Riku and started to punch him in the face. Riku's mother was out of the house and he knew she would not rescue him. She is the same way as his stepfather except she would use whatever was around.

"Don't you ever disobey me! You hear me, Boy?" he yelled sending another fist in Riku's stomach. Riku nodded and mouthed "yes" to his brutal stepfather. The blond man stopped and stomped out of the room while Riku lay on the floor. He began to hurt everywhere and did not want to risk getting up. Riku looked over and saw the reflection of a sharp object that was well hidden under his desk. He slowly crawled over to the object and pulled it out from under the desk.

A small pocketknife rested in his hand and he flipped the small knife open to reveal a razor sharp blade. After rolling up his sleeves, he gently placed the sharp edge against his arm and began to make small cut marks along his arm. He went over the previous marks that had turned into scars. Blood ran down his arm and he smiled to himself as the pain began to take over his mind.

Riku took a deep breath and made one last cut before putting the blade away. He frowned when he saw that a few drops of blood had made it to the floor. Luckily, his floor was made of wood so all it took was a wet towel to wipe it up as he had done countless times.

He quietly sneaked to the bathroom and grabbed a red rag. After he dampened it, he went back to his room and wiped away whatever evidence lay on the floor.

His bloody arm was shaking uncontrollably as he lay in his bed and curled in a ball. The night was quickly disappearing and the school day was arriving.

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Morning finally arrived and Riku put on fresh clothes. Even though it was hot outside, he always wore long sleeved shirts or a jacket to hide the many bruises and cuts on his arms. Since his legs was normally bruised, as well and even had a few scars from the pocketknife, he wore pants.

Riku walked to school since his parents refused to take him. He actually liked it that way. Being alone made Riku feel better since he did not trust anyone anymore. Previous friends had stayed away from him after he refused to talk to them. Everyone called him a loser and there was nothing he could do since he lost his voice. Teachers tried to speak to him and get him help, but he just ignored it and anyone that came along.

When Riku arrived at school, he took his usual seat in the front of the classroom, away from everyone. The teacher watched him with empathetic eyes. She looked up to see a new student walk in the door.

"There you are. I was wondering when you would show up. Everyone, this is Sora and he just transferred to this school. Please make him feel welcome here."

The only empty desk happened to be the one connected to Riku's desk. The teacher pointed at the silver hair boy and whispered to Sora, "This is Riku. He does not really talk to anyone, but he is harmless. I'm sure you two will get along fine." Sora nodded and set his books down on the desk.

"Hi, Riku, it looks as if I'll be sitting next to you for the rest of the school year," said the brunet. Riku looked at Sora with his aquamarine eyes and saw that Sora had clear blue eyes that stood out. His hair stood out even more since it was spiky and defied gravity.

Since Riku knew he would not be able to say anything, he just nodded his head and looked away from the new boy.

Sora sat down without another word and tried not to stare at Riku. 'He seems so lonely and his eyes tell me that something is hurting him. I wonder what it is.'

Lunchtime came and Riku took his food and sat in a corner where it was quiet. No one else sat with him, but he actually liked that. Before he could take a bite of his lunch, the new boy walked up.

"I'm sorry, but do you mind if I sit with you? Everywhere else is pretty much full."

Riku pointed his fork towards the empty seat across from him, so Sora took that as a yes. The awkward silence was tearing at Sora. "So, I guess no one sits over here with you?" he asked.

Riku shook his head and kept his eyes down on the tray.

"Why not? You seem like a pretty cool guy to me."

Riku opened his mouth and then closed it again. After looking away to avoid eye contact, Riku caught sight of his old friends walking over. He clenched his teeth and stood up to leave.

'Did I say something?' Sora asked to himself as he noticed a relatively large group of people heading over to the table.

The guy in front, who Sora could tell was the leader, stopped Riku and smirked. "Where you going, Mute Boy? We just came over to see if we could join you and the new kid."

Riku glared at the guy who had stopped him. Sora stared at Riku with confused eyes. 'He's mute? I guess that explains a few things.'

"Hey new kid, I wouldn't hang around this freak if I was you. You'll never get him to talk. All he does is sit there. Isn't that right, Riku?"

The two boys behind the leader started chuckling and Sora stood up. "Stop it! I wouldn't talk to you if I were him either. Did you ever think that maybe he would talk if you would be nicer?"

The leader scowled and glared at Sora. "You better watch your mouth. You're nothing but fresh meat here and could easily get a fist on that flawless face of yours. When you decide you want to join the gang, come talk to me with some respect."

The group of guys walked away, leaving Riku and Sora to stare at each other. "Why do you let those guys pick on you like that?" asked Sora with a clenched fist. He didn't like when people bullied others.

Riku just turned around and threw his food away. After putting his tray on top of the trashcan, he walked out of the cafeteria. Sora ran after Riku. He caught up with him and started to walk beside him.

"You shouldn't listen to those idiots. I don't think you're so bad. I'm sure you have your reasons for not talking. I don't have a problem with that, because I knew a friend of mine who was mute and…Forget it. What I'm trying to say is that if it's okay with you, I'd like to hang around you. I'm new and don't normally make a lot of friends."

Riku stopped and looked at the brunet who had stood up for him. He nodded his head without any emotion.

'If this boy wants to get hurt, it's his problem. I've tried to stay away,' thought Riku as the bell rung to return to class.

Sora noticed that Riku was wearing long sleeves and wondered if he was like his previous friend. He hoped not, but couldn't help wonder if Riku always wore long sleeves. To him, that meant that he was hiding something on his arms.

When the bell rang to leave, Sora walked out beside Riku. They split up after a few blocks and Sora watched Riku turn down a shady street.

"I hope he'll be okay all by himself. That street looks scary."

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Riku walked through the front door and saw that no one was around. When he got to his room, he almost threw up from the noises coming from the room across down the hall. His parents were obviously fucking each other without any realization that he was home. Riku grabbed a pair of headphones that were attached to his CD player. He put a Three Days Grace CD in and turned it up to block the nauseating noises.

When it turned five, Riku went downstairs to go fix dinner. He didn't know if his parents were going to eat or not so he made extras.

His parents walked down and saw the dinner. They were disappointed that it was only spaghetti and started to yell at Riku. Riku kept his eyes on his plate, which happened to be a horrible mistake. His mother grabbed Riku by the arm and slapped him across the face. "Don't you ever ignore me like that again. Do you understand?"

Riku nodded and put a hand on the spot his mother had just slapped. He put his plate away and walked up to his room and grabbed the pocketknife and sat on his bed as he relieved the emotional pain.

AN-Reviews appreciated!! I dont care if you flame it. I wanna read what you thought aboout it :)