The sound of beeping filled the room, breaking the spell of sleep cast upon me. The alarm was shrill and piercing. I rolled over and slammed my hand down on the snooze button. The sound died away and I got comfortable in my bed again. "Sora! Get up or you'll be late for school butt-head!" My brother's voice echoed in my room. I opened my eyes wearily to an unfamiliar place that was certainly not my home. I sat up quickly, panicking. The room was light blue and was filled with my things: my desk and computer, my dark blue bed set, my clothes scattered lazily on the floor, my video games, and all my books. All of it was mine and reminded me of home, but the room was different and foreign. "Sora, I'm serious! You better be awake!" I jumped at the sound of my brother's voice again, but it reminded me where I was. This was my room, but not the room I was used to. These were my things, but not where they had once belonged. I had moved here to New York City from Japan a few weeks ago. This was my new home and I lived here with my brother. I stretched and got out of bed causing my blankets to fall on the ground. I went over to my desk chair where my new school uniform laid neatly. The uniform consisted of black pants, a white button up shirt, a blue tie, and a dark blue sweater with a v-neck, that coincidentally showed off the the white collar of the button up and the blue tie. I threw on the uniform quickly and brushed my teeth. I looked in the mirror and made an attempt to make myself look presentable. My eyes were a bright blue which contrasted with my brown hair that had spikes in every direction. I ran my hand through my hair a few times trying to get it to lay one way, but it stayed the way it always did. I gave up knowing it was useless and went into the kitchen to meet my brother, Vanitas.

His eyes glanced up from the table where he was eating. We looked a lot alike, except his coloring was different than mine. He had dark hair with an almost blue tint to it and bright, golden eyes. His hair was spiked messily the same way mine was, and similarly he couldn't ever get it to stay one way. He was two years older than me and was going into his senior year of high school. Our personalities were always quite different too, even when we were younger. He'd always been more quiet and withdrawn, while I was hyper and outgoing. I've always looked up to my brother Vanitas. He could be cold and we fought sometimes, but he was always there for me in his own way. When I was younger I would always follow him around and beg him to play with me. Eventually he would agree and I'd make him play whatever games I could come up with.

Our parents came up with the idea of us moving to America last summer. I was angry at first. My parents were always busy with work and weren't around a lot. This was just their way of shipping us off. They never really cared about what I liked or what I wanted to do. Even when I told them how much art and painting meant to me, they had just rolled their eyes and told me that I had to get a real job someday. They found a private school in New York that was somewhat popular and highly regarded. "It would look good if you were fluent in English and went to a nice school in America." That was their reasoning. They were always hard on Vanitas and I, and they expected us to always excel in school. I never had much of a problem in school, but Vanitas had to work harder for better grades. It just wasn't in his nature to buckle down and study for an upcoming test. Of course is doing good in a normal school in our own country wasn't good enough. So then, our parents decided, without much caring of what me and Vanitas thought, that we would move to America. I had stayed in a sort of vacation house before in America, but I was really little, I hardly revered the trip at all. I had mixed feelings about it, and I was pretty nervous. Our parents assured us we'd be fine and wouldn't budge on their decision. So, Vanitas and I moved to New York City together and here we were.

"I thought you'd never wake up." His sentence was a mix of Japanese and English. It was a habit of ours to mix the two together when we were talking to each other. Some things were easier to say in English than in Japanese and vice versa. My English wasn't perfect and I was still learning, but I had a good basic grip on it since I took classes before we moved here. I could speak basic English, but my writing and reading were pretty bad. I didn't understand the grammar well either. I would definitely have to get better if I was gonna pass my classes. "Yeah well you can't beat sleep." I gave him a toothy grin.

He nodded and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Just eat your breakfast already." I grinned and sat at the table and ate some pancakes and a bowl of rice and miso soup. Vanitas looked up at me as he finished his breakfast, "So are you ready for your first day of school?"

I nodded a little, "Yeah I think so, I'm a little nervous though."

"Yeah, but it'll be fine. You'll see." I smiled at him more and he gave me an agitated look. I just laughed and finished my breakfast. I put my dishes in the sink and grabbed my backpack. "Thanks Vanitas." I poked his arm lightly, "You better hurry up. You don't want to miss the bus."

"Yeah whatever." Vanitas said in his 'I don't give a fuck' way. I smirked and rolled my eyes and went outside to the bus stop. It was still pretty warm since the summer weather hadn't quite changed to fall and everything was still green. The sidewalks were filled with people walking and streets were filled with cars, taxis, and busses. Even though I didn't like right in the middle of New York City, I still saw the crowds of people and busy traffic. It was different than what I was used to, but something about it was so nice. I loved the feel of the city. I walked down a couple of blocks to where my bus stop was. A few other kids were gathered there and were playing on their phones and listening music. I took out my phone and put my earbuds in. I put on some music and watched the street for the bus. I was nervous, but excited.

The bus pulled down the street just as Vanitas came around the corner. The doors opened and the bus driver looked at me expectantly. I stepped up onto the bus and moved down the aisle. The bus was mostly quiet. It was full of kids who looked deprived of sleep and were already missing summer. Some girls talked in whispers and giggled at each other while some boys chatted a little too loudly. Besides the few that talked the bus was silent and nobody looked up from what they were doing. I was pretty relieved. I picked an empty seat in the middle of the bus and watched outside as the bus driver pulled around the corner. The tall city buildings and all the traffic was nice to look at. We got to another stop and a few girls and a couple guys got on the bus. One girl, with red hair and bright blue eyes stopped and made eye contact with me. She smiled brightly, "Mind if I sit with you?"

I shook my head, "Of course not." She beamed and sat down next to me happily.

"Did you go to Twilight before? I don't think we've met."

"No, I actually moved here from Japan a couple weeks ago."

"Wow, really!? You're English is really good! That's so cool!" I laughed a little at her enthusiasm.

"It's really not that good. I'm still learning, but I can speak it all right."

"No way! You're just being modest. So do you like it here?"

"Yeah, it's really different, but I love the city."

She nodded, "Yeah, it's pretty cool." She looked out the window for a moment and then back at me. "So why'd you decide to go to a private school?" I had nearly forgotten that Twilight High was a private school.

"My parents just decided to send me here, they said it was a nice school." Twilight High was sort of a private school, and basically an alternative to city school. For that reason it was pretty popular.

"It's really great! I know you'll love it. Oh! And my name is Kairi." She smiled and held her hand out to me. I grinned and shook her hand.

"I'm Sora."

"That's a great name." We talked the rest of the way to school. She told me about the school and gave me some tips on high school here. We compared our schedules and classes. We had lunch and art together. We were both sort of disappointed to only have a couple classes together, but we decided those were the best classes anyway. When we got to school I must've looked as lost as I felt. "C'mon Sora, I'll help you find homeroom." She gave me a quick mini tour of the school. "And see to the north the class numbers go up and to the south the class numbers go down and the first number of the classroom matches with the floor number." I nodded taking in what she was telling me. It wasn't so complicated when she explained it. "Thank you so much Kairi."

"It's not a problem!" We smiled at each other for a long moment. I think the same thing when through both of our heads at that moment. Neither of us said anything but we knew we would be best friends and that this was just the beginning. "I'll see you later Sora!"

"Yeah, I'll see you in art." She waved and went down the hallway to her class. I went into the classroom and looked around. Only about half the kids were there yet. There was a couple girls talking loudly and laughing while a group of guys huddled in a corner talking about their summer. Some kids also sat at their desks and texted or played games on their phones.

I picked a seat by the window in the next to last row. The window had a nice view of a small street below with a few small stores and some houses. I watched people walk down the street going about their everyday lives. A few minutes passed and more kids started to come into the classroom. A silver haired boy, who was quite muscular, came towards where I was sitting. He had ear buds in and was playing a game on his phone. He grinned at me for a moment and then sat next to me and went back to playing his game. Something about him stood out to me, but I wasn't sure what it was. A few more girls came in, talking about a cute boy they saw in the hallway. More kids began talking and I started to have a hard time understanding them. I sighed to myself, my English was okay, but it still needed some work. I could have basic conversations like with Kairi this morning, but I wasn't sure how well I would get along in my classes with basic English skills. I wasn't really sure how to build my English though.

I leaned back and pulled a notebook of my backpack that was hanging on the back of my chair. I took out a sketch pencil and started to draw a cherry blossom tree. I drew a the trunk and lightly drew branches that reached across the paper. I smiled as I drew different shapes and lengths of branches. Ever since I was little I've loved art. I loved painting and drawing and all things art. It was my favorite thing to do. I kept drawing for a while and some more kids came into the classroom. One boy had shaggy dark hair and he sat in the front with a couple of girls. Another boy had short white hair and he sat in the back of the classroom by himself. A few more girls came in too, one had blue hair and the other two had brown hair. I watched the other kids curiously. Then another boy walked in. He had spiky blonde hair and cobalt blue eyes. His skin was light and he had a slim body shape. He had long dark eyelashes that made his eyes stand out even more than they already did. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning either. He wasn't zoned out or blank either. He looked like he was thinking. Like a million things at once were flowing through his mind and he was trying to figure everything out as it happened around him. I couldn't look away from him. He was so intriguing and different. He stood out against everyone else like a flower in a field of dead grass. My eyes were glued to him. He scanned the room with his thoughtful eyes and seemed to be contemplating where to sit. Then, the boy with silver hair looked up from his phone and saw the smaller blonde. He grinned a little. "Hey Roxas!" Roxas. It was a nice name, it had a nice tone to it and it suited him. Roxas looked at the silver haired boy, "Hey Riku." He glanced at the seat next to Riku and then his eyes traveled to me. I couldn't help but cower under his gaze. The way he looked like he was analyzing me made me uneasy and nervous. He walked towards Riku and me, "How was your summer Rox?" Riku looked at Roxas smirking.

"It was alright," he shrugged at riku, "how was yours?"

"Ahh you know, the usual." Riku laughed as Roxas rolled his eyes. Roxas's eyes wandered to the seat behind me and he stepped over towards me. He looked at me for a moment and then glanced down at my drawing. I shifted in my chair, I rarely showed anybody my art. What if he didn't like it? I resisted the urge to pull the sketch off the desk. His fingers ran over it lightly and something in his eyes sparkled. His thoughtful face scanned the half finished picture. He gave me a curious look and I sunk in my chair. "Did you draw this?" His face had an almost serious expression. I glanced to my left and a couple girls were watching Roxas, whispering and giggling. I nodded at him and looked at the drawing,

"I-I was just ske-..."

I trailed off feeling embarrassed. I searched my head for the English word for sketch. Way to look like an idiot Sora. I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off. "It's good." I looked at him surprised as he sat next to the window in the seat behind me. Riku then leaned over curiously and looked at my picture too. He nodded in agreement and went back to playing on his phone. Time seemed to be moving in slow motion, there was still five minutes left until class started. Roxas sat in his seat and was typing rapidly on his phone. I looked back at my picture and continued to sketch the tree. Roxas occasionally leaned forward and peeked over my shoulder at my sketch and then went back to typing. It made me a little anxious, but I didn't really mind. I was almost done with the branches when the teacher walked in and the bell rang. The teacher introduced herself as Ms. Iver. She was light hearted and happy and talked animatedly about the rules of the classroom. When she was done giving the speech I was sure I'd hear seven more times today she told us to introduce ourselves. We just had to go down the row and say our names. She started at the front and each person introduced themselves. "I'm Zack."

"I'm Mary."

"I'm Olette."

"I'm Jared." And on it went until it got to me.

"I'm Sora Hikari..."

The teacher grinned, "Oh! You're the student from Japan! Is your name Japanese Sora?" I was surprised for a moment, but I realized they probably told my teachers I was from Japan. (And it was probably obvious since I looked Japanese and my name definitely wasn't American) I had come to the school to talk to a counselor about my classes last week. I told him my English was okay, but it wasn't great. They probably told all my teachers that I might not be able to speak English well. "Yeah," I looked around at all the different kids staring at me curiously. I rubbed my neck sheepishly and smiled a little, "It means sky..."

Ms. Iver's smile got even bigger, "that's great, Sora!" She then looked at Riku next to me and he introduced himself, "I'm Riku." He smirked as some girls giggled at him and the teacher continued down the row. I did my best to remember the name of each person. Then she got to Roxas. Her bright smile faded away to a more analytical expression. She seemed puzzled, and not in a good way. I glanced back at Roxas who was looking at the teacher seriously. "I'm Roxas." The teacher blinked and she looked upset for a moment but it quickly changed into a small smile. "Thank you Roxas." The rest of the class finished and we got the last few minutes to ourselves. Riku got out of his seat and went to talk to the boy with the black shaggy hair, whose name was Zack… Or at least I thought it was. Roxas got up from his seat and sat next to me where Riku had been sitting. He stared at me for a long moment. His blue orbs flickered back and forth watching me. It was like he was analyzing some animal, trying to figure out what I would do next. "You're from Japan then?" He asked me finally. I nodded a little and looked down at my drawing. "That's cool. It must be hard to move to a different country… with a different language and what not..." He trailed off.

I looked at him and smiled softly, "Yeah, it's a little hard, I like it here though." He nodded and the bell rang. I was a little disappointed. I wanted to talk to him more and know more about him. I gathered up my things and we both looked at each other one more time. "See you around Sora." And with that he turned and walked out of the classroom catching up with Riku. I smiled a little to myself and went to my next class.

••••

I had World History second period. My teacher's name was Mrs. Emerson. She introduced herself and told us her list of classroom rules. She seemed nice enough, but I wouldn't want to get on her bad side. She explained the curriculum and why it was important. I wasn't too worried about this class. I had learned history in Japan and this wasn't any different. When she was done talking she gave us each a sheet that asked what we knew and what we wanted to know. I filled out what I knew with things I had learned in Japan about history, and then filled the other side about what I wanted to know about American history and wars I had never learned about. The teacher came around to collect each of our papers and then gave us the last couple minutes to ourselves. I looked around the room at the different kids. I didn't recognize any of them from homeroom. I checked my schedule for my next class. I had art next. I grinned when I remembered Kairi had art too. The bell rang and I gathered up my things and went to my next class.

It took me a little longer than necessary to find the art classroom. But eventually I found the room in a weird little corner of the school. I slipped into the classroom and picked a seat towards the back. There were three long black tables in five rows. I sat in the middle of the fourth row. Kairi wasn't there yet, so I continued doodling the cherry blossom tree I had started earlier. I had zoned out until I heard a familiar voice, "Just wait till you meet him-" I looked up and saw Kairi with another boy. "Sora!" She pulled the boy over and smiled. The boy wasn't unfamiliar though. I already knew him.

"Hey Sora." Roxas's voice was soft. Kairi folded her arms and pouted. "You guys already met!?" I looked at her and smiled a little.

"He's in my homeroom." Roxas looked at Kairi with an amused look in his eyes, but he didn't smile. In fact, I hadn't seen him smile yet. "No fair!" I laughed as she took the seat to the right of me and roxas took the seat on the left. "I thought I'd get to introduce you guys." Roxas shrugged and looked at the picture I was drawing.

"This is really nice." Roxas stated softly. I looked at roxas and smiled. "I'm gonna copy all your good ideas in art class." I giggled and looked away trying to hide my blush.

"Wow it is good!" Kairi smiled and looked at me and roxas. The bell rang and the teacher walked in. It was an older guy with shoulder length blonde hair and a beard. He came around and gave us each a piece of paper. "I'm Mr. Ansem. I'll be your art teacher for the rest of the year. I just gave you each a piece of paper. I want you to draw some place you find beautiful." Kairi and Roxas looked at each other confused.

"Umm, I can't think of anything." Kairi pouted.

"Something you find beautiful. Is there a place you really like?" Roxas and Kairi looked at me. I shrugged a little. "I think the city is nice. Especially when the sun is setting, and the sunlight reflects off all the windows." Kairi and Roxas made an 'oh' face.

"I like that café a few blocks from here." Roxas said almost as if he was asking a question.

"Oh yeah! That's a good one Roxas. I like the shopping plaza in the city." Kairi said excitedly. We all grinned and started drawing. "This isn't due until Friday so I want these to be your best work. Don't rush. I want to see where you all stand as far as artistic abilities go. So I'll know what you need to learn." The three of us were pretty quiet while we drew. Roxas occasionally looked at my drawing and then went back to his. Towards the end of class our drawing started to slow down as we got tired and started to chat. "So Sora, what do you have next?" Roxas looked at me curiously.

"Um gym… I think."

"Really? So do I." I grinned at roxas. I pulled my schedule out of my backpack and showed it to Roxas. "Do we have any other classes together?" He looked at it for a moment.

"We have Algebra II together too." I smiled at him brightly.

"Aww Roxas is so lucky" I laughed at Kairi as she pouted. We continued working on our pictures until the last five minutes of class. We began cleaning up all our things and I got a chance to look at all of our pictures. Kairi had just finished drawing the lines for the shopping center she liked. There were people in the picture shopping and riding their bikes and the all the stores had pretty window displays. Roxas was still adding down detail to his lines. His picture was of a café. You could see a table in the café next to a window. Outside the window there were people going about their lives in the city and inside the café it was empty besides a cup of coffee that sat on the table by the window. Their pictures were beautiful. Mine was a skyline of the city. I had only just finished drawing the outlines. I was planning on painting it with a sunset in the background. Roxas finished putting his things away and came over to me. The bell rang and I grabbed my bag too. "See you at lunch Sora!" Kairi waved to me and went out of the classroom. I looked back at Roxas and grinned.

"C'mon Picasso, let's go to gym." I laughed rolling my eyes and followed him out of the classroom.

••••

Luckily Roxas knew where he was going and led us to the gym. Some of these classes were seriously hard to find. When we got there the gym teacher was standing in the gymnasium. He pointed to the locker room at the other side of the gym. "Go get changed and come back here." He gave us both locker numbers and we went into the locker room. The locker room smelt like sweat and cologne. "I know, it stinks in here" Roxas looked at me and pinched his nose jokingly.

"How'd you know that's what I was thinking?"

"You're easy to read." He folded his arms in a cocky way.

"I am not!" I covered my face. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Just change." I nodded and pulled my change of clothes out of my bag. We both found our lockers, which happened to be across from each other, and began to change. I took off my dark blue sweater and white shirt and folded them in my locker. I turned around to grab my shirt off the floor and saw Roxas. He already had a different pair of pants on and now he was taking off his shirt. He stared at me for a long moment and I stared right back. He leaned towards me making a serious face, until our faces were inches apart. I felt like I was in a haze, I didn't want to move or say anything. I just gazed at Roxas waiting for him to do something. Loud laughter came from the the doors to the locker room. Roxas pulled away from me slightly and looked towards the sound. I came out of my trance and quickly put on my shirt. Roxas looked back towards me and pulled his shirt on over his head. "You're so weird." We both said simultaneously. I glared at him for a moment and he did the same, but I couldn't keep a straight face. I grinned and laughed and he smirked a little. It was the first time I had seen him smile, but it wasn't really a smile either. He rolled his eyes and went to elbow me but I quickly stepped out of his reach and walked out of the locker room, avoiding eye contact with any other half naked guys. I went and stood against the wall of the gym where the gym teacher was lining everyone up. Roxas followed me out of the locker room soon after. A small girl with brown hair waved at him and he went and stood with her in line as she talked animatedly to him. The gym teacher gave his spiel about rules in the gym, that if you were absent you'd get zero points for the day, you had to participate, blah blah blah. I kinda spaced out for most of it, something was kind of nagging at me, I wasn't sure what though. After about twenty minutes he seemed satisfied with all he had said and split us into two teams. I internally groaned as he tossed a bunch of balls in the center of the gym. "We'll play dodgeball for the rest of class. Does anybody have any questions about the rules? It's pretty simple. If you get hit by the ball you're out, go and stand in line in the order you got out. If you catch a ball thrown you're safe and bring your teammate back into the game from the beginning of the line. The person who threw the ball is out." He looked at as all for any signs of confusion then blew his whistle. "Start!" I hesitated staying where I was as some people on my team ran forward and grabbed balls from the center line and the other team did the same. I watched them ready to dodge if they threw any at me. I noticed Roxas grab a ball and back up away from the line. I hadn't realized he was on the other team before. He looked at me and frowned scrunching his eyebrows together in a confused way. I stepped to the side quickly as a ball flew past me. A boy behind me got hit by it and trudged disappointedly over to the line of people out. I looked back at Roxas who was listening to the browned haired girl from before as she whispered in his hear. He looked at her confusedly and pointed in my direction questionably. She nodded and grabbed a ball as it rolled past her feet. She looked at me and whipped the ball in my direction. It came right toward my stomach, I waited for it to get close then wrapped my arms around the ball holding against my stomach. The girl sighed and went over to the out line. The gym teacher blew his whistle and a boy from my team came back into the game. He had spiky red hair that stuck up in different directions and gold eyes. He stood next to me and grabbed a ball. "Thanks…" He trailed off not knowing my name.

"Sora." I grinned at him and smiled.

"Shiro." He smiled and grabbed a ball on the ground. I turned to face Roxas with the ball from before still in my hands. Roxas bounced his ball in his hands a couple times then threw the ball towards us. Even though it was just a game, it still stung a little. It got closer and I held my ball out blocking Shiro and I. The ball bounced away from us and back towards true other team's side. "Nice! You're not bad Sora." Shiro gave me a small smile and laughed. I grinned and glanced back at the rest of my team. A good half of the team was out already while the other team had only about a third of them out. "They're targeting you Sora. You're doing the best on our team right now."

"Hmm… What should we do?" I looked at Shiro hoping he had an idea of some sorts.

"I'll help cover you, I can't throw well so I'll give you balls. You throw." I nodded. It was as good a plan as any. I watched the other team, Roxas seemed to have the best arm, but some of his other teammates seemed to have better reflexes, but it was hard to say. I took a step towards the other team's side and threw the ball at Roxas' legs. He jumped over the ball easily and threw one back at me. It was a little high. I ducked and let the ball hit the wall behind me. Beside me Shiro caught a ball somebody threw toward us getting them out and bringing in another person on our team. He said he couldn't throw, but he had fast reflexes and was great at carving the ball. They joined my my side and helped throw balls at the other team. I took another step forward and Roxas did the same. Shiro handed me a ball and I didn't hesitate. I whipped it quickly toward Roxas. He was distracted looking for a ball, but the brunette girl from before stepped in front of him not paying attention. She looked like she was going to give him a ball but mine hit her hard in her back. She stumbled forward and fell into Roxas. He caught her easily and looked up at me and frowned a little. The girl whipped around and saw me. "Aww! C'mon!" She stomped agitatedly back to the out line…again.

"S-sorry…" I felt kinda bad and I watched her walk over to the line when Shiro got in front of me and blocked a ball. I looked up at Roxas who got ready to throw yet another ball. He whipped one at my arm and I stepped to the side barely dodging it. Another boy threw one at my leg. I jumped and another ball was thrown at me but hit Shiro instead as he was blocking somebody else. "Sorry Sora." He went over to the out line. Two more came at me and I ducked. I stood up when I figured they passed and saw another ball come at me. It made direct contact with my face. I groaned as it fell to the ground and the gym teacher blew the whistle. "That's it guys, go change. Class is almost over." I held my head and went to towards the locker room. "You alright?" The gym teacher looked at me worriedly. I nodded and smiled.

"Yeah fine." I hurried into the locker room feeling a little sick. A couple kids snickered and some asked me if I was okay. I just nodded and tried to get to my locker but I felt a hand wrap around my shoulder. I turned to see Roxas who was frowning. "Sora, I'm s-"

"It's fine." The words came out colder than I meant them to. I wasn't really mad at him, I was just a little bitter towards the situation in general. My face stung pretty bad.

"I'll take you to the nurse after class." Roxas said, ignoring my comment. I looked up at him and he winced. I hadn't realized until now that he was a little taller than me. Not by much, just an inch or two, but it seemed so apparent now. "You're face is red" his fingers grazed my forehead gently. I blushed and looked down. I was pretty embarrassed. "Go get changed and then I'll take you." I nodded and smiled to myself a little. He sounded like a mom. We both got changed back into our school uniforms and the bell rang.

"It's okay Roxas, I could go by myself." I felt bad for him missing class just to take me to the nurse.

"It's fine, besides you don't know where it is." I couldn't argue with that. He led me to the nurse and we went into her office. A lady with long violet hair sat at her desk. "Hey Roxas," she looked at Roxas then at me.

"Hi Ms. Ashuma. I'm just gonna take Sora back and get him an ice pack." She smiled softly.

"Okay, let me know if you need anything." Roxas took me to the back of the nurse's office where the beds were. He sat me down on the edge of the bed and examined my face for a moment. He was so close I could smell him. He smelled sweet like peppermint. I hadn't really looked at his face so closely before. His eyes looked like the sky on a summer day, and his eyebrows were a little darker than his hair making his eyes pop even more. He had practically flawless skin and his lips were a natural light pink. I looked down when I realized I was staring at him. I had realized before that a lot of people seemed to stop him and try to talk to him. He wasn't cold, in fact he was kind of sweet in a way, but he wasn't outgoing. People probably tried to talk to him all the time though. He was good looking for sure. "You don't think you have a concussion, do you?" I shook my head.

"I don't think so." I kept my eyes glued on the floor as he got up and went over to a small freezer and pulled out an ice pack. He came back and held the ice pack against my forehead. I cringed at the the cold feeling stung my head. I peeled my eyes from the floor and looked up at him. His look was gentle and a little guilty. "I'm really sorry Sora. I didn't mean to hit you in the face…" I smiled at him a little.

"It's no big deal, I'm sorry you have to miss class."

"Eh, it's just chemistry." I laughed at him and his eyes sparkled with something that wasn't there moments ago. He moved the ice pack around a bit patting it on my face. "How's it feel?"

"It's okay, it doesn't sting so much anymore. We can go back to class if you want."

Roxas shrugged, "If it was up to me, I'd stay here for the rest of the day." I laughed and nudged him.

"You gotta go to class, who knows what'll happen if you don't know how many bonds carbon can make someday." He smirked and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. As long as you're sure your head is okay, let's head back then." I nodded and gave him the ice pack which he put back in the freezer and we want back to class. Well, he went back to class, I went to lunch. I spotted Kairi almost immediately, and with her was Riku, the boy who had been in my home room, a girl with blonde hair who looked about the same age as me, and to my surprise, my brother. Kairi waved to me from across the cafeteria. I waved back and made my way over their table. "Sora?" Vanitas looked at me kind of surprised.

"You two know each other?" Kairi looked at us back and forth before she realized, "Oh! You guys are brothers!"

I laughed and grinned, "Yup!"

Then Riku looked at me and smirked, "Hey, you were the one talking with Roxas in homeroom. I met your brother in metalsmithing." Riku look at me with a sly grin plastered on his face.

"Oh my god! How do you meet everybody so fast Sora!? Don't tell me you know Naminé too!" The blonde haired girl looked at me now and smiled.

"No, we haven't met yet. I'm Sora." The girl smiled at me softly.

"Naminé. It's nice to meet you Sora. I'm Kairi's Sister. I've already heard a lot about you." I looked at her worriedly then at the other three.

"What'd you hear about me?" She laughed lightly.

"Nothing bad. Just that you're from Japan, you're a good drawer, annnnnd you get along with Roxas." I rubbed my neck sheepishly as Kairi pulled me down into the seat next to her.

"So Sora! We're planning on going out on Friday, you know to celebrate being back at school together! Will you come too?" Kairi looked at me hopefully with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Sure, I wasn't gonna do anything anyway."

"Yaaaay!" She clapped and smiled at me brightly. "Now we just gotta ask Roxas and we're all set!"

Kairi and I spent most of the lunch chatting about this and that. We connected right away so it was easy for us to make conversation. As we talked I noticed she'd glance at Riku as he talked to Naminé and Vanitas, then she'd look down. There was something in her eyes that was sad yet happy at the same time when she looked at him. I made a mental note to ask her about him next time we were alone. Lunch ended and I gathered up all my things. "See you later Sora." Vanitas waved at me a little and Riku did the same and then left the cafeteria. Kairi and Naminé waited for me and then we left together too. The rest of my day began to slow down. Study hall was long and boring so I just watched videos on my phone. Then I had chemistry, where my chemistry teacher handed out a bunch of papers with information we needed to start memorizing. Like the periodic table, root words, how many bonds each element could make, and so on. It was a little overwhelming but she told us not to worry, that she would help us here and there to learn it and it wouldn't be so bad. The rest of the class she talked about rules for when we went to the lab and things NOT to do. Finally the bell rang and I hurried out of the class. Who knew your first day could be so long? I found algebra II pretty easily (to my surprise) and picked a seat by the window. I watched the sky outside. It was starting to look a little gloomy, like maybe it was going to rain. I turned to find Roxas sitting down next to me lazily. I could immediately tell he was different. He looked at me and sighed. He looked genuinely sad and a little broken. Sure, he hadn't been overly excited before, but he wasn't sad. I frowned at him as he laid his head on his desk. "What's wrong?" I blushed turning red. I only realized I was speaking in Japnese when it was too late. He looked up at me confused for a moment but then smiled a little. It was small and he still looked sad. It was soft, but vibrant at the same time. It was beautiful and somehow he was just meant to smile. He made a soft amused sound. "Sora… what?" He said it amusedly, his smile was gone but there was a small smirk on his face. I couldn't help but laugh at him. He rolled his eyes and elbowed me, "Did you just call me a dumbass in Japanese? That's so rude!"

"Me? Never." I smirked in a sarcastic tone. "I was only saying what an idiot you are."

"Wow Sora, I might just take that as a compliment." We both just laughed despite it not being that funny. The fact that I could make him smile just made me happy. Roxas leaned back in his seat sighing and looked at me. I smiled at him softly as the bell rang and the teacher came into the classroom. He was tall and looked like he was meant to be a gym coach, but changed his mind last minute and became an algebra teacher. He talked in a loud strong voice that made you kind of antsy. He gave us some algebra problems and told us to find a partner. I scanned the room nervously and sunk in my seat. I had been kind of dreading this moment. I didn't know anybody, and I didn't know who to work with. Just then Roxas slid his desk closer to mine. "Wanna work together?" I smiled brightly. Roxas was like a small miracle at that moment. (Though why I couldn't think to ask him in the first place was beyond me.)

"Yeah, sure." He pulled his chair closer to me and we started the algebra problems. It was pretty easy for the most part, I had done it all before. Occasionally we'd get different answers so then we would go through each other's' mistakes and find where we went wrong. "I got x equals 8." Roxas leaned over and skimmed work.

"Hmm… I got 10." He said and pointed to my work, "oh, you just forgot to make this negative." I redid the the problem and got 10.

"Oh yeah! You're right. Hmm… You'd make a good teacher Roxas."

"Oh I dunno… I was just helping you."

We finished the rest of the problems and took our work up to the teacher. He nodded, looking quite satisfied, "You two are the first ones to get them all right, good job. You can just relax until the rest of the class finishes." We nodded and went back to our seats. We sat together not bothering to pull out desks apart. Roxas pulled out his phone and typed rapidly, like he had been doing before. I pulled my sketch out of my backpack and tried to add more to it. I had been lacking much inspiration lately, I would start and get about halfway through something before I lost interest or just didn't know what to do with it. I had never had the problem before, so I wasn't sure why I was lacking so much inspiration. I looked at the sketch feeling a little sad I couldn't finish it. I turned and watched Roxas as he stopped typing and just stared at his phone. He frowned and looked at me. "So you're gonna go out on Friday?"

I nodded, "Oh, yeah… Are you?" He shrugged and looked toward the window.

"Maybe," he paused glancing at his phone again. "If my friend comes…" He trailed off and suddenly he seemed sad again. I sunk into my seat and looked down. Way to go Sora… I flipped through my notebook of pictures, all unfinished. One was of a beach on a small island. There were palm trees and a large tree house, a waterfall, and a dock with some small boats tied to it. I was nearly done with the line work, but never finished the details and shading. Another resembles a small town at night with some shops and people walking in the square. There were multiple pathways and roads going this way and that. Another was a large castle, and there was one of a dark city where skyscrapers reached into the sky and a castle floated in the distance. I sighed frustrated, I wanted to finish all of these, yet despised them all at the same time. Roxas watched me and frowned. "You really are good at drawing." I shook my head.

"I dunno." The words came out a little cold. He looked surprised and touched the notebook. Sadness built up inside of me. Or more like, it had been building up and I felt like a soda bottle that had been shaken and was now slowly being opened to avoid exploding. This really had nothing to do with Roxas, but he was the only one there. Looking at me gently with soft eyes, yet analyzing me at the same time. I pushed the notebook away from me sadly. Roxas watched me calmly. Roxas placed his hand on my head and ruffled my hair. I just stared at him as he stayed completely calm. He slid my notebook back to me gently. Immediately I felt terrible and awkward. "I'm sor-"

He shook his head and opened to the tree in my notebook. "It's okay." He turned to face me now and I felt more awkward than I had felt all day put together up until this point. I hardly knew Roxas, yet we had been together a lot in the time of one school day. I felt like somehow we knew each more than we should've for being together for such a short time, and at the same time I felt like I didn't know Roxas at all. He could've been a serial killer and I would have no idea. That was pretty unlikely, but still. I was so unsure suddenly. I had felt naturally comfortable around him, and despite his quiet analyzing personality, he had been kind to me. Now I felt like I was burdening him, being the "new kid". I wanted to get to know Roxas, I wanted to be his friend, but who was I? He could hate me if he wanted. I took a deep breath attempting to collect myself. Roxas still looked at me. Now I just felt sad… Maybe I had some sort of guy PMS. I wanted to say something but the teacher got up from his desk. The class had finished their algebra and the teacher went over the algebra problems for the rest of class.

••••

The bell that ended 8th period rang throughout the school. I gathered together belongings when the English teacher motioned me over to his desk. My heart sank in my stomach. We had just been doing some basic practice grammar problems and reading some excerpts from books, and I pretty much did terrible. I stared at the ground as I stood before the teacher. His voice was kind, "Sora, I know you're new, and from what I've heard Japanese is your first language." I nodded. " I can tell you're trying, and you're doing good considering you moved here not long ago. I think what you need is a tutor. I teach an 11th grade honors English class. They're all nice kids and they are doing a year long project this year where they write about an experience they've had. Tutoring would definitely be a good experience, and it would definitely help you. Please consider it." He pulled a paper out of his desk with a list of names on it. "This is all the kids in my class. You could ask one of them, but if you can't find anybody just come to the class and I'll find somebody to help you." I nodded thankfully and put the paper in my pocket.

I got outside to the front of my school where Kairi waited for me. I had changed out of my school uniform and into a pair of shorts and t-shirt. She had also changed and was now wearing jean shorts and a tank top. The uniforms were nice and all, but they were a little hot to wear around and I'm pretty sure none of us wanted to have to wash it if it got dirty already. She waved happily when she saw me, "Sora!" She giggled and glimpsed me as I approached her. "Ready to go home?" I nodded agreeing. It had been a long day and. I was ready to go home for sure. We got on our appointed bus and went home for the day.

The rest of my week dragged on a bit but it wasn't too bad. I talked to Kairi a lot, and Roxas and I talked here and there when we were together. By the time Friday rolled along I was more than happy to go out. I met Kairi out at the front of the school. She waved to me happily when she saw me and when I got up to her she threw her arms around my neck pulling me down. We lost our balance and I fell backwards pulling her down with me. We laughed loudly as we got strange looks from other students. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." I nodded smiling and helped her up from the ground.

"Great! We're just waiting to see if Roxas is gonna come." She pulls me over to a large tree that had a bit of an umbrella shape, but not entirely. We sat under the tree that shaded us like a tent. We watched as Riku came out of the school in jeans and a tank top and Naminé followed not far behind in a white summer dress. Vanitas walked with Riku also wearing jeans and a t-shirt. We all waited under the tree until a familiar spiky haired blonde emerged from the school. He wore a thin grey hoody that was rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of dark jeans. On his left wrist he had a checkered bracelet and on the other he had a few friendship bracelets. He had black and red high tops on and he had black earrings in both ears. (Probably not in before because of dress code.) His backpack hung from one shoulder and he had a skateboard tucked under the other arm. Kairi waved happily to him. He came over and looked at all of us for a moment before pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Axel said he'll come." There was a small silence for a moment that was a bit awkward. The air grew tense but quickly Kairi lightened the mood, "Alright! We're all going then." Roxas nodded and looked at me. You know that awkward moment when you meet somebody outside of school and suddenly you're not sure it's even the same person. It wasn't that what he wore didn't fit his personality, honestly he looked very 'Roxas', but he just looked different. Like, in school he was stuck inside a box, and now he was free. I must've been staring pretty hard because he leaned closer to me and raised an eyebrow. I trembled beneath him. "R-Roxas…" I managed to squeak out. He made a soft hmm sound. "I… Your earrings are nice." He looked confused and pointed to his ears questionably. I nodded quickly and looked down.

"Oh, thanks. I can't wear them in school. You know, Dress code."

"C'mon Sora! You too Roxas! Let's go!" Kairi grinned widely and pulled me to my feet. I laughed and followed her and Roxas walked beside her quietly.

"How was your day Kairi?" I walked a little faster to keep up with her.

"Oh, it was fine! How about you?"

"It was good, I guess. Pretty typical first week stuff." She giggled and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, get lost, meet some mean teachers, fall in the hallway, get hit in the head…" She coughed and nodded towards Roxas.

"It was an accident!" Roxas put his arms up defensively. Kairi looked at me and we both laughed.

"Sure, it was Rox." Kairi smirked wickedly at him. "Say Sora, how's English?"

"Oh, umm…" I looked down at the ground, which was lined with stones that varied in grey tones. "My teacher said I should get a tutor," I reached into my pocket and pulled out the paper with the names on it. I handed it to Kairi, "he said somebody from his class could tutor me." She eyed the paper for a moment and frowned.

"Honors 11 English, Only person in that class I know is…" She went down the list then looked up excitedly. She spun around to face Roxas. "Is Roxas!" Roxas looked up at the both of us, and then at the list.

"Oh yeah… I'm in his class." He glanced at me curiously.

"You're in Honors English… For eleventh grade!?" He nodded slightly, but stayed silent.

"He really likes writing." Kairi filled in for his empty answer.

"Oh! That's awesome." Kairi nodded in agreement and looked at Roxas happily. Roxas took a step towards me and looked at the paper.

"If you want, I could-" Roxas got cut off by a loud voice.

"Hey guys!" I looked up to find a tall guy, who looked 19 at the oldest. He had fire red hair and bright green eyes. Kairi stayed silent, but Riku smirked and waved, "Hey Axel!" Roxas smiled softly, different than when he smiled before. Something about his smile was so happy, yet so broken.

Axel came over to us and grinned, "So this must be Sora. It's great to meet you. The name's Axel, got it memorized?" He pointed to his head and smirked.

"Y-yeah! It's nice to meet you too." My voice died off as I finished.

"We've been friends with Axel since last year. We met him when he was a senior, he's in his first year of college now." Kairi explained. I nodded in understanding. Axel smirked and folded his arms. He seemed alright… But something seemed weird about him at the same time. If I had met him someplace by myself, I probably wouldn't trust him.

"He's also Roxas' boyfriend." Riku pointed out. Roxas blushed brightly and looked away. My jaw might as well have laid on the floor. Axel laughed (probably at my expression) and nodded.

"Yup." He ruffled Roxas' hair as Roxas swatted at his hand. I stared at Roxas. Honestly, it wasn't that Roxas was gay that surprised me, but that Roxas had a boyfriend at all, and an older guy at that. It's not that he wasn't boyfriend material, in fact he was good looking, sweet, and caring. He probably made a great boyfriend, but somehow I just couldn't imagine him dating someone. Roxas looked at me in my still shocked state and frowned a little. "What is it?" He sounded almost hurt.

"O-oh! Nothing, I just didn't think you had a boyfriend…" I trail off awkwardly. I definitely didn't want to hurt Roxas' feelings, or give him the wrong idea.

"Aww, Sora don't be sad, I'm sure Axel will share." Kairi nudged me playfully, smirking. My face heated and I looked away nervously.

"N-no I… was just…" I covered my face with my hands as I felt my cheeks get even redder. Everybody giggled and Kairi squeezed me tightly.

"Aww! Isn't Sora adorable!?" Kairi smiled brightly.

"You made him so embarrassed he spoke in Japanese…" Riku pointed out very matter of factly.

"Aww, sorry Sora." Kairi pouted and hugged me tightly. I slowly pulled my hands away from face and looked at her. Roxas looked at me for a moment, but then followed Axel into the ice cream shop. Kairi smiled and pulled me in after them. "What are

You gonna get Sora?"

"Oh um… I dunno, do you have a favorite?" Roxas turned around towards me and looked like he was about to say something, but Axel tapped his shoulder grabbing his attention.

"Oh! We really like the sea salt flavor, it's really good. Sweet, but salty." Kairi smiled softly.

"Okay, then I'll try that." I smiled a little and we all ordered our ice cream. Riku, Roxas, Axel, and Naminé all got sea salt, and even Vanitas agreed to try it. Not far from the ice cream shop there was a small park that looked out on the ocean. We all sat together and ate our ice cream, watching the water crash against the wall below us. The ice cream was unique, at first I wasn't sure but the more I ate it, the more it grew on me. Salty, but sweet. It was good. We talked about different things like school (college for Axel) or the occasional questions to me or Vanitas about Japan. Roxas and I didn't talk much, I mostly talked to Kairi and Vanitas, and occasionally Riku. Roxas and Axel talked a lot, along with Naminé. Axel occasionally kissed Roxas' neck or nuzzled him, causing Roxas to blush brightly. It was weird to see Roxas that way, almost vulnerable. He seemed like he had too many walls built around him to give in to somebody like that. Every time he would touch Roxas she would throw glares in their direction, but never when Roxas was looking at her. It was weird, Kairi was so kind, but she obviously didn't like Axel. Later when the sun was starting to set she pulled Axel aside. Roxas looked at them then at me, he scooted over next to where i was sitting and looked up at the sunset. "It's kinda amazing, isn't it?" I went to say something but got cut off by Kairi shouting.

••••

A/N: Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I apologize for any errors in the story, if you see anything please let me know! Please let me know what you think of the story so far and any constructive criticism you have! 3

NOTE: If it is in italics that simply means they're speaking in Japanese (This was the best idea I could come up with that didn't involve me trying to translate English to Japanese and the reader trying to understand what he was saying.)

EDIT: I revised the story a bit, nothing too important. Though, I might suggest skimming through it if you've already read it. Hope to fill in some more background and fix any errors! :)