"Are you aware of the situation you are in?"

Why couldn't he breathe? Why was it so hot in here?

"And, tell us, are you also aware that murder is a crime?"

The windows were shut, nailed in place. So hot, so terribly, terribly hot.

"Objection, your honor! My client is in no position—"

Couldn't someone—anyone—do something about this heat? Surely someone must have felt it too. So hot…

"Overruled."

Sometimes… it's just too much…

"I think your client is in every position, sir."

And sometimes… I forget what it feels like… to be alone…

"I have no further questions. Thank you."

Sticks and Stones

Written by Firefly-chan

Warnings: yaoi, violence, angst, drama AU.

Disclaimer: I claim no possession whatsoever of the characters of Kingdom Hearts. This is purely for fun, and is not being sold for a profit. Aha, thank you.

Part One

The sky was cloudless – clear and blue, with the sun shining brightly down upon the earth. But, despite the sun, it was cold. The crisp fall wind swept unmercifully into Akita, Japan, brushing drying and moribund leaves from their trees and escorting them to the ground. Sora squinted against the defiant sun, shoving his gloved hands into his jean pockets as he walked. It was an early Saturday morning, so not many people were out and about just quite yet, and truthfully, he really had no idea why he was wandering the streets at this particular hour either. It may have been because he had woken up and couldn't fall back asleep, or it could have been something different. But it wasn't like he was spending much time thinking over it, anyway. He was too busy studying his surroundings – studying his life-long home, and watching the trees sway slightly as the rather fierce wind knocked them about, or watching the sparrows as they hopped from one spot to another before flying off.

He probably should have brought a heavier jacket than the one he had on now. He hadn't realized that it was exactly this cold out, or this windy. But he figured he would be fine for the time being. He wasn't planning on staying outside for very long, anyway. Just long enough to think, to sort out the jumble of thoughts that were scattered in an array about his mind. Walking always relived stress, at least for him anyway. It was a way to get him to calm down, to lift the thoughts that were troubling him from his shoulders and send them on his way. He wasn't quite sure of what was bothering him at the given moment, but he knew that it was something.

Sora moved silently over the small stone bridge that stood over the small pond that was placed in the middle of the city. The bridge was old and rather pathetic looking, and it didn't seem to fit with the clear pond water that was every so often graced with swans beneath it. Removing a hand from his pocket, he slowly trailed his fingers along the edge of the bridge. The pads of his fingers, through the thin cotton gloves, felt the cracks and the crumbling rock. This bridge always seemed to make Sora sad, although he really couldn't understand why. It could have been because, to him, the bridge represented what time did to things—to people—but then again, it might not have.

The mind's a funny instrument like that. It's quite good at manipulating people, no matter who the person may be. Sora could never get his thoughts completely straight – could never understand exactly what he was trying to say when he was actually saying something, if that made any sense. It took him time to understand most things, as he liked to go over the details. Liked to stretch the details out to their fullest potential and study every corner, every mistake, and every blotch. He often missed the bigger picture when he did this, but he was quite certain that it was the only way he could ever really think about anything.

Turning a corner, he looked away from his surroundings and focused his attention on his scruffy looking shoes. He didn't know why, but he figured it was better than staring off blankly at nothing for the rest of the time. Again, he turned another corner, but ran into something that sent him reeling backwards. At first, he had thought it was a wall, and glanced around to see if anyone had seen his embarrassing little tumble, but then he saw that it wasn't a wall he had run into. It was a boy. Or not really a boy – a teenaged guy maybe around the age of 16 or 17. In any event, he looked a little older than Sora himself.

"Pay attention to where you're walking, kid," the stranger said softly, holding out his hand to him. "Wouldn't want to run into the wrong person."

Sora blinked, taking his hand and letting himself be hauled back into a standing position. "Uh, yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I didn't see you."

For several moments, Sora stood there staring at the boy blankly. He looked very familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on where he had seen him before. There was another couple seconds of silence, before it dawned on him.

"Oooh," Sora raised a hand over his eyes, blocking the sun from his view. "You go to my high school, don't you? You're that popular junior guy. What's your name again? Rinn? Ruku?"

"Riku," the silver-haired boy corrected patiently. "And, as you put it so bluntly, yes, I'm that 'popular junior guy'. Who are you?"

Sora shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets, and muttering, "No one of much importance."

Riku raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in the hints of a smile. "What a way to win the crowd there."

"Yeah, well…" he trailed off, shrugging again. "I'm Sora."

"It's nice to meet you, Sora."

"I'll bet."

Silence.

"You sound like a bitter kid, Sora," Riku said suddenly, turning around and beginning to walk in the direction that his counterpart had been doing when he ran into him. "You really shouldn't be. What're you? A freshman?"

"No, I'm a senior," he cracked dryly, hooking his thumbs in the belt of his pants and pulling up slightly to prevent his too-big jeans from falling off his hips. "Don't I just look it?"

"Again with the bitterness."

"It's not being bitter. It's a little thing I like to call sarcasm. Try it sometime. It becomes the image of popular people."

"In my opinion, sarcasm is never becoming to anyone," Riku said, kicking at a stone that lay in his path. "And surely you don't have something against me?"

Sora scoffed, shooting him a look of slight annoyance. "Oh no," he began dramatically, rolling his eyes as he spoke, "why would I have anything against popular, full-of-themselves sticks in the mud like yourself?"

"Not everyone is like that," the other responded calmly. "I'm not. Anyway, you don't know me. How can you get that from me if you've only spoken with me for 5 minutes?"

"It's actually been seven minutes," Sora replied snidely, resisting the urge to flip off the bastard and make a run for it. "And I can tell you're an idiot."

"Perhaps."

Sora stopped walking, turning on his heel to face the taller boy with a scowl. Riku paused too, looking down at the annoyed boy with a mild expression of interest and amusement. This just pissed Sora off even more.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Sora snapped, folding his arms across his chest. "I've been insulting you, and you're not saying a damn thing about it. Not beating my face in or anything. Do you have problems or something? Usually guys like you would've done that from the moment I ran into you."

Again there was silence. Then, slowly, Riku broke into a small, yet almost eerily sad smile. He leaned down slightly, tapping Sora on the forehead, and whispering, "Sticks and stones, kid. Didn't your mother ever teach you that?"

He pulled back, turning and starting off again, this time not waiting.

"Oh, and Sora?" Riku said, stopping and glancing over his shoulder to the flustered brown-haired boy. "I'm not like other guys."

When he started off again, Sora didn't follow him. Cursing the 'white-haired bastard' he turned and went home.

End Part One.

End Notes: Whoa, my first KH fic. XD And it's an AU nonetheless. Surprise, surprise. Okay, actually, that isn't real surprising. Anyway, yeah, not much happened in this chapter, besides introducing the two main characters to one another. O.o; Um, this story isn't going to be… happy or fluffy by any means. So if that's what you're expecting, then you're really expecting the wrong thing. x.x; Yeah, R/R is appreciated. Thanks.