A/N: Right, so this is my first attempt at a Kingdom Hearts fic. I hope you enjoy it. Review if you read it… I guess that's all I need to say right now. Enjoy!

(&-…. -& signals a POV. &-qp -& is a break in the narration)

Disclaimer: I don't own KH. Unfortunately.

&-qp -&

The Running Sky

By Openly Red

Chapter One: A New Start

&- Roxas -&

We always knew that our Dad was different from everyone else's parents. When we first started school, he stood out as a lone figure against a backdrop of women with strands of pearls around their necks and coral pink lipstick on their mouths. He was tall, and skinny, with a shock of wild blond hair and two backpacks thrown over one shoulder, his hands shoved down the pockets of jeans, chin tucked into his scarf, whenever he picked us up. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to anyone; they just didn't want to talk to him. And he could live with that.

We could live with that too. We adored him, my twin and I. We always ran to his embrace, and he would greet us with a smile, all of us with bright blue eyes that shone with adoration. I look most like our father, with my own blond hair and blue eyes, and my twin has gravity-defying brown hair, which my father insists he inherited from our mother… We've never met her. We don't know her. We don't need to.

Dad has always done his best for us. Sure, we don't live in a great part of town, but we're not living in the worst part either. Our apartment is small, pokey, and Dad's always saying it's too small for three growing boys (he still includes himself, even though he's 31), but it's our home. We decorated it when we were younger, with paper dragons and butterflies, which our Dad made with painstaking care and hung on the walls of our bedroom, and down the hallway into the living room. He painted the bathroom blue and drew orange fish swimming across the walls, just to fulfil a request from my twin. He put a lot of effort into our home.

So, understandably, whenever our father is upset, it rattles us. Just like this evening, where he was fretting about how to get us to school tomorrow, even though he recently got promoted and his shift started earlier.

"I could always arrive later…" he mumbled to himself, stirring whatever was in the pot on the stove. My twin and I glanced at each other, and he spoke up first.

"Dad, it's not a big deal… Roxas and I can walk by ourselves…" Sora, my twin, suggested, closing his mouth the minute Dad threw a look over his shoulder at him. I nodded, agreeing with Sora. We knew where the High School was, we were Juniors, for God's Sake! Unfortunately, Dad didn't see it that way.

"I've dropped you boys off at the first day of school since you started- I am not breaking tradition now!" he grumbled and we nodded in sync. Dad turned back to the pot on the stove, giving whatever was in there one more stir, and then motioning for Sora to get three bowls. Sora stood from the kitchen table, and opened a cabinet, taking out three bowls, placing them next to Dad, before sitting down again. The three bowls were rimmed with three different colours; Blue, Red and Green. Blue for Dad. Red for me. Green for Sora. Dad put something that looked like ravioli into them, and then passed us the bowls. We sat down, and ate. We don't tend to run on routines in this household; it's normally 'Get up before you'll be seriously late for school. Eat when you want. Get back from school before it's dark and Dad goes head-hunting. Do homework. Eat. Sleep when Dad says.' Yes, Sora and I still sleep when our Dad tells us too, we've always done that. He said that, at one point when we were babies, he could get us to sleep on command.

Somehow, I doubt that.

Take this into account; Sora is a ball of energy. He would bounce off the walls if gravity didn't restrain him; his hair was the only part of him which had succeeded in rebelling against this innate force, and stood proudly from his head at all angles. Mine just looked like I had fallen asleep on my desk, face-first, and my bangs had refused to flatten out. Dad's hair was like Sora's; insane. We all blame our genetics for something, and for us Strifes, it was our hair.

"We could ask Riku to take us…" Sora suggested hopefully, spearing a piece of ravioli on his fork. Dad shot him another look, and then sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I really want to take you guys to school, you know…" He mumbled, and I looked up at him through my hair.

"Why don't you ask Cid to take us?" I suggested and Dad looked like he was about to shoot me down again, before closing his mouth. He thought for a second, frowning. Well, frowning more than he usually does.

"I guess I could give him a call…" he mumbled, putting down his fork and leaning back in his chair. He chewed on his lip, and then leaned back further, reaching for the phone that rested on the counter behind him. He managed to snag it (whenever Sora and I try, we always fall off the chair), and quickly punched in our Cid's number.

"Hey, Cid, it's Cloud. Yeah, listen, I need a favour…" and the conversation continued like that. Cid Highwind is one of our Dad's oldest and closest friends. He taught Sora and I how to swear when we were six (Dad was not happy), and Sora's best friend Riku works at his garage near the center of town. He occasionally does favours for Dad, in return for Sora or I working our fingers to the bone at his garage. Eh, whatever. If it cheers Dad up.

"Great, thanks." Dad hung up, and threw the handset somewhere onto the counter. Sora watched it as it helplessly hit the floor, and he rolled his eyes. Dad wasn't much of a clean-freak, and neither was I, but Sora hated things being on the floor. He said it made him nervous. "Right," Dad said, interrupting Sora's glaring match with the handset. "Cid's taking you to school tomorrow. He'll be here at seven, sharp. Either of you are late, and I'll ban you from going out for the rest of your lives." He said, pointing a finger at us, before standing up, putting the bowl in the sink, and leaving the room. Sora and I stared after him.

"Well." I said.

Sora laughed.

&-qp -&

The Strife twins were relatively well known at Destiny Island High. Sora for his incorrigible good humour and unfailing loyalty, Roxas for his book-smarts and fierce gaze. Both of them for their large group of mutual friends, spanning from local teenage heartthrob and captain of the school's blitzball team, Riku Bai-Lindberg, to the National Struggle champion, Hayner Flores. Their social group was admittedly the biggest one, and the one that combined kids of many different sects into one group. They weren't particularly popular, but they were content with their rung on the social ladder, and left it at that.

It was seven-thirty the next morning when Sora and Roxas shakily climbed out of Cid's car. He had been driving way over the speed limit, to the point where the twins feared for their lives, and then had slammed the breaks on outside of school.

"HAVE A NICE DAY!" Cid shouted after them, before laughing and speeding off. Sora gave Roxas a look that was akin to a kicked puppy. Roxas gave him the same look back. They both turned to the front steps and encountered a tall, silver-haired boy, whose cheerful smile dropped into a shocked look, as he ran over.

"Sora, what happened?" he asked, grabbing the shorter boy's shoulders. Roxas mentally rolled his eyes.

"It was a-awful, Riku!" Sora wailed theatrically, throwing his arms around Riku's neck. Riku's face was a picture of absolute panic, and Roxas had to stifle a laugh, as Riku patted up and down Sora's back as if making sure he was still intact. Sora gave a loud sob, and then wailed "Cid drove us to school!"

In a second, Riku had shoved him away, and Sora had doubled over laughing. Roxas too cracked up, a hand over his mouth to stifle the sound. Riku gave Sora a sharp glare, and then turned on his heel and went back to the steps, where the rest of their group was.

"Hey Sora, Hi Roxas!" a small girl with red hair and a pink dress cried enthusiastically, waving a hand in the air. Sora straightened up and gave her a smile, running to her quickly and throwing her arms around her. Roxas followed his twin to the front of the school at a slower pace, grinning at his friend who stood slightly off to the side, giving Hayner, a tall boy with spiky dirty blond hair, a high-five.

"What are the new Freshmen like?" Roxas asked Hayner, turning on the spot and leaning against the side of the stairs. Hayner shrugged, glancing over at the affiliated university students, who shared part of Destiny Highs campus."I meant the High Schoolers, not the University students…"

"Well, the new Students aren't too bad. Some of the girls are fi-ine!" Hayner said gleefully. Roxas rolled his eyes, and bit the inside of his cheek as Olette gave Hayner a pained look. It was well-known by everyone except Hayner that Olette wanted to date him, but no amount of hints seemed to penetrate Hayner's thick skull.

A bell rang somewhere in the midst of the school and the group stood and headed into the all ready jam-packed halls of Destiny Islands High. Roxas and Sora bid good-bye to each other as Roxas, Hayner, Olette and Pence headed towards their homeroom.

It turned out to be the photography studio, so students were scattered in clumps around the room, since there were no seats to speak off. Several were leaning against the desks pushed against the walls, and one had hijacked the computer. Hayner high-fived this one and then sat in the corner with Roxas, Olette and Pence.

"Did anyone say who the new Homeroom Prefect is?" Roxas asked as he rifled through his backpack in search of his cell; he had forgotten to put it on silent earlier. Pence shrugged.

"Nah, man." He said, raising a hand behind his head to scratch the back of his neck. Olette wrinkled her nose at him, and then sighed.

"I heard it was a Law student." She said and the boys all scoffed.

"Big deal. There's always Law, History or Science students being prefect. God, I wish they would give us, like, a militant lesbian or something." Hayner said whimsically and Roxas shot him a weird look.

"What, so you'd have someone who's equally as macho as you?" Roxas drawled and Hayner punched his shoulder playfully. Pence gave a short laugh and Olette tutted. "Seriously though, it's always a Law student. Remember Tifa?"

"Now, she was a militant lesbian!" Hayner said, and they all laughed.

"She was evil…" Roxas agreed, nodding slowly, glancing at the door as it slowly opened. He fell silent as a tall, thin figure with wild red hair walked in, glancing around the room with a bored expression. Roxas glanced at him, and then did a double-take, his eyes trained on this new figure as though he needed to study him. Hayner elbowed Roxas in the side. "Hey!"

"Dude, you were staring. It was weird…" Hayner murmured and Roxas shrugged. Olette frowned and then gasped, her hands rising to her mouth.

"Oh, I know him! It's Kairi's brother!" she said and the three boys stared at her. She rolled her eyes. "Axel Elliot… Remember, he was sent to boarding school in Port Royal when we were eight…?" Olette prompted them. Again, they all stared at her blankly. She rolled her eyes. "Remember? Kairi has two brothers, Reno and Axel. And Axel went to boarding school with Reno… Oh, never mind!" she snapped, obviously realising she had lost the boys interest a while ago. She hmphed and slid into her seat properly as the homeroom teacher came in.

"Right, class. I'm Saix, your homeroom teacher. Roll call!" he snapped. The class stared blankly at him, not used to the barking out of orders. Saix flipped open the register and began rolling off names. When he was done, he flipped the register shut and turned back to the class. "This is Axel Elliot, he's the Homeroom Prefect. Axel, tell us about yourself." Saix barked the orders at the redhead student, who wrinkled his nose slightly, before turning to the class.

"Right. I'm Axel Elliot. I have two siblings, a brother Reno and a sister Kairi, who's in your year. I'm an Art Student, Animation and Illustration with a minor in Music. Eh… I'm half-Dutch, fire-crazy and too lazy for anything else. That's it." He finished with a shrug and the class went back to talking, ignoring him. He and Saix began to talk quietly together, altogether unaware that Roxas was watching Axel with interest the entire time.

&-qp -&

When Sora and Roxas arrived home, after having a Near Death Experience in the back of Cid's car, they went straight to doing their homework, waiting for their father to come home. Roxas had had a day of elective science classes, so had a mound of textbooks to flick through, while Sora had his new Photography project to begin working on. He was currently wondering around the apartment taking pictures of random objects while Roxas looked on in bemusement.

"Kairi's brother is my homeroom Prefect, by the way." Roxas said randomly once Sora had sat down with his camera at the computer. Sora looked over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised. Roxas shrugged. "Axel. He's… weird."

"Yeah, Kairi said it's odd having him home. He's normally in Boarding School about now." Sora explained.

"So why's he gone to Destiny U? I mean, Port Royal's got a good school – he could've gone anywhere. Why here?" Roxas asked, flicking to the back of his BioChemistry textbook. Sora turned back to the computer, shrugging.

"Don't ask me." And that was that.

Two hours later, the front door opened and their father came in, carrying a bag of groceries, with his old backpack thrown over his shoulder. It was the same one he used to carry when he would pick the boys up from school when they were four.

"Hey you two," he said, placing the bag on the counter and wandering over to Roxas first, bending down to kiss the top of Roxas' head, doing the same with Sora. Sora laughed at the action, while Roxas remained silent. "Riku's down at the beach, Sora, why aren't you with him?" Cloud asked and Sora shrugged.

"I wanted to start this photography project." He explained simply. Roxas frowned; now that he thought about it, it seemed odd for Sora to be home, instead of at the beach. Maybe he and Riku had fallen out?

"Right... Oh, I phoned your school earlier. Your homeroom Prefect, Roxas, lives nearby. He's agreed to drive you to and from school."

"Kairi's brother?" Sora asked and Cloud nodded, heading over to the kitchen to start on dinner. Roxas turned slightly to glare at his father's back without Cloud noticing. He hated his father's constant need for them to be monitored. They could walk at least to school and back by themselves.

"Dad, why don't we just go by ourselves?" Roxas said and he heard the 'uh-uh' noise from Cloud. He rolled his eyes. "It's not a big deal. It's just a 20 minute walk away! What's the problem?"

"We are not having this conversation now, Roxas. You know why."

"Dad, that was years ago, it's dif-,"

"Roxas!" Cloud snapped, spinning on his heel, his face flushing a deep red in anger. He faced his youngest son with an expression of grim determination, though his eyes were carefully guarded. "We are not talking about this."

"When will we talk about it, then?" Roxas snapped, standing up so suddenly his chair fell back. Sora stood up and walked away from the computer nervously, all too aware of the results of Cloud and Roxas' arguments.

"Dad, can't we talk about it-"

"NO, SORA!" Cloud shouted and Sora jumped back. Roxas leapt to his twin's defence.

"DON'T SHOUT AT SORA!" he roared, and Cloud rounded on his blond son. Sora turned on his heel and ran down the corridor, shutting himself in the bedroom he and Roxas shared. He sat on his bed next to the window and prodded one of the crepe paper dragons that swung from the wall. It swayed gently from the touch and then came to a rest peacefully against the wall. The brown-haired teenager sighed, and rested an elbow on the window sill, looking out into the distance. Though they lived in an apartment building, with only two other flats in the whole thing, you could still see the sea from the windows. In the distance was the play island, where children from the island had traditionally gone to in the afternoons to swim, play volleyball or just goof around. There were tree houses on the island that were over two hundred years old. Hayner's grandparents, who were locals, had said that even they had played in those tree houses until they married.

There was a quiet knock on the door before it was slowly pushed open. Sora glanced over his shoulder to meet his father's sad gaze before he looked back out the window. "Hey, Sora… Can I talk to you?" Cloud asked and Sora nodded slowly. He felt his bed dip down at one side before he was gently coaxed into leaning back against his father. One of Cloud's hands went into his hair, running his fingers through it soothingly.

"I'm sorry I snapped. I just… I don't want to talk about what happened, okay? I just want you and Rox to be safe, more than anything." Cloud murmured quietly. Sora nodded a little sadly. "I love you guys so much, you know that, right? I'd walk through burning buildings for you, and I never, ever want to see you hurt. I'm sorry I come off as over-protective, but I don't know what I'd do if either of you-…" The end of that sentence was left hanging. Cloud sighed, and dropped a kiss on the top of Sora's head. "I love you, my little sky." He mumbled into Sora's hair and Sora smiled.

"I love you too, Dad." He said back quietly and Cloud nodded, gave him a quick squeeze and then let him go.

"It's late. Get some sleep. Roxas'll be in, in a second." He said, standing up and walking to the door. Sora nodded, sliding off the bed to grab his pyjamas from under his pillow and changing into them. Roxas came in soon after, a scowl marring his face. He changed quickly as well, while Sora went to the bathroom. And then they settled down to sleep.

Typically, they ended up facing each other when they were going to sleep; but Sora noticed that today, Roxas' back was turned. He frowned, but buried his face deeper into the covers.