Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts
Chapter 1: Chick Habit
I'll come right out and say this now.
I …AM NOT… a lesbian.
There, good. Now that that's out of the way, I can get on with the main story. I hate when people spend too much time on the irrelevant parts. It completely takes away from the whole aspect and plot line of the story.
Right.
Because my sexuality has nothing to do with the plot line of this story. Nope, not at all.
I don't like girls, I never have, I never will.
The most contact I've had with a girl romantically is some random drunken kiss at Sora's last New Year's party. Yes, and that's about it. I was drunk. She was drunk. The kiss was the product of some repressed sexual tensions we had on both our parts. This does not prove that I'm GAY as Sora is always telling me.
Now that that's done, I should introduce myself.
The name's Kairi.
Kairi Ifans. Let's get it straight, my last name is pronounced Ee-vans. Not I fans. You don't know how annoying it is when people pronounce my last name and end up screwing it up. My Freshman year English teacher? She pronounced my last name as "I farts". Yea. Senile old …
Ahaha …Yes. As for my rather odd name …I'm a child of mixed heritage. Big surprise there. My mom is half Russian, half Swedish and my dad was Welsh. So that's how I came about.
I'm an only child, though my mom had remarried and divorced so many times, you'd think she'd saddled me with a baby brother or sister by now. I guess because she's always so busy and all, she doesn't have time for any of that …she's always off on business trips and conferences for her business or whatever. …The life of a workaholic CEO. As for my dad …well, I'd rather not talk about him.
I'm currently fifteen going into my Junior year of high school. I'm your average teenage girl really. I have friends, I do well in school. I'm on the school newspaper, student government and honor roll at school. I guess you can say …I'm a bit of an overachiever, heh.
Well enough with introductions, these things always get so long and drag on about absolutely nothing. Time for the real story.
o—o
September.
The beginning of the ever agonizing school year.
For Kairi, it was the start of another boring year. One marked with the highs and lows of her rather mundane life. This very morning she woke to the sound of her alarm buzzing nosily at exactly 6 o'clock, waking her up from slumber. Her hand slammed down onto the small electronic hitting the button to turn it off before rolling over on her side and blinking blearily.
"Kairi," Her mother rapped against the door of her bedroom. Kairi shifted her attention to the door, as her mother peaked her head into the dark room, "I'm off to work, honey! Have a great first day!" She waved a bit, blowing a kiss to her daughter and closed the door again.
"Hgnn …" Kairi rolled over, yawning widely as she pushed herself off her bed and began dragging her feet sluggishly against the fluffy white carpet of her room to her bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror, rubbing at her head and frowning.
She never WAS any good with waking up early.
Performing the necessary grooming necessities, she left her bathroom within a matter of fifteen minutes, and made her way over to her closet more awake than she had been previously. She threw a short sleeved blue tunic shirt over a pleated skirt and slipped on a pair of white tennis shoes. Stopping momentarily to look at herself in the mirror, she shrugged and reached over by her desk to get her black messenger bag.
She stopped by the kitchen, picked up and apple to take with her, and was out of her house within a few minutes.
A new day was just beginning as Kairi left her apartment building in Traverse Town, passing by the ever familiar buildings, unfazed by the crowded streets of the ever bustling city. People going on about their business, each headed for someplace with a purpose.
Descending the stairs into the nearby train station, she paid for fair and boarded the train just as it was about to head off. Taking a seat near the window, she draped her hands over her legs, smoothing out the pleats of her jean skirt over her thighs. Reclining in the seat, she took a deep breath surveying the train.
Same thing every year right?
Crowded as usual. She thought to herself, turning the volume up on her mp3 player to tune out the sounds of the noisy train. The train ride droned all, Kairi losing herself in her music and not paying much attention to the outside world.
Before she knew it, her stop chimed from the train's intercom, and Kairi stood up filing out with the remainder people still on the train. She yawned widely, blinking away tears from her eyes as she descended the stairs from the train station and started to make the trek toward her school.
She walked on without any disruptions, hearing nothing but the music being pumped from her headphones. She most certainly didn't hear the hyperactive boy running behind her who was about to induce a head on collision with her.
"Kairi!"
Hang up the chick habit.
Completely obvious.
…Hang it up, daddy,
"KAIRI!"
Or you'll be alone in a quick
Said hyperactive boy collided with her, knocking the wind out of her lungs, and shook her headphones from her head. She tripped a bit, hopping to get on her feet again and grimaced turning around to see who had collided with her.
Sora.
"Kairi!" He shouted enthusiastically, engulfing the auburn hair girl in a bone crushing hug. He swung her to and fro, lifting her off of the ground so that the tips of her shoes skimmed the concrete. He dropped the girl to her feet, grinning at her as he met her eyes. "Hi!" His famous cheesy grin.
Kairi glared at the brunet, fixing her headphones and clothing. "Sora." She began.
"Yes?" He asked, grin still in place.
"…For once in your life, can you greet me like a normal person?" She ran a hand through her hair, stopping to fix her bangs, before throwing the rest of her locks over her shoulder.
"Ahh, but it's no fun that way Kairi!" He linked his arm around her elbow and the two of them began walking again. "So! What did you do while I was gone?" He asked, leaning his head against her shoulder, his spiky hair colliding with her face.
She swatted at it absent mindedly, shifting so Sora moved off her shoulder. "Nothing really. I worked on my photography here and there."
"I'm sorry I left you alone all summer …but you know how mom get's about seeing her family back on the islands." He wrinkled his nose slightly, groaning as he pushed up against her. "I've been Riku deprived all summer!"
"Like that's a bad thing …" Kairi mumbled under her breath.
"Hey! I heard that!" He straightened up loosening his grip on her arm so they could walk normally for once. "It isss …how couldn't you miss …miss that." he whined, closing his eyes and sighing.
"I don't even want to know what, that is Sora." Kairi sighed, shaking her head.
The brunet sighed also, releasing Kairi's arm and looked down at her, "So …you said you did nothing all summer?"
"For the most part, yes."
"Ooooh …Kairi."
"I did NOT hook up with a girl Sora."
"Of course you didn't Kairi."
"I didn't!" she growled, through clenched teeth.
"Are we discussing Kairi's sexuality again?"
The both of them stopped talking, turning around to see the last addition of their trio walking toward them.
Riku.
Kairi groaned inwardly, slapping her face with her hand, using her thumb and index to massage her temples as Sora forgot all about the all to famous, "Kairi's Gay" discussion and ran towards his boyfriend whilst screaming, "RIKKKKKKKUUU!!". He collided with the other boy, looking up at him, his eyes shining.
"Well I see someone missed me." Riku said, smirking.
Sora merely nodded his puppy dog eyes still in place. Riku laughed, ruffling his boyfriend's unruly hair. Sora linked his arm around Riku's rubbing his head affectionately against the other's arm. Riku merely mumbled a small "hey" in Kairi's direction, ruffling her hair also as he and Sora neared the entrance to their school.
Kairi rolled her eyes, pulling her headphones back on and followed suit as they entered into the school.
…Hang up the chick habit
Hang it up, daddy…
Or you'll never get another fix…
o—o
Kairi shook her headphones off her ears, and deposited them into her bag. She flooded into the auditorium with all the other current juniors for their orientation. Riku had gone off to homeroom until it was time for the seniors to be called down to the auditorium, leaving Sora puppy dog eyed again until his boyfriend gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him he'd see him later.
Kairi sat down next to Sora, in the next to last seat of their current row. She sunk lower into her seat when their principal, Ansem, began the same speech he gave every year. One with the usual, "this is an important year, do you best, yaddah yaddah blah blah blah."
"Boring, isn't it?" he whispered to her.
"It starts to get there when you hear the same thing every year." She mumbled, closing her eyes slightly.
"Hmm …"
They both turned their attention back to Ansem, who raised his arms above his head before gripping the podium again, "Now, ladies and gentlemen. I hope that you all have a good year and work really hard to reach your goals. Junior year …while it may not be the most fun filled of years, it is certainly one of the most important of the bunch. Please keep that in mind as you go on about your studies." He nodded, and then smiled slightly, "You'll find your schedules when you return to your homerooms. Good luck to all of you."
The assembly was dismissed, students filing out of its doors, heading in every which way. Kairi waved goodbye to Sora, telling him they'd meet up later to discuss classes and whatnot. Before she could take another step, a voice called out to her. "Kairi?"
Kairi stopped, turning around and smiled softly. "Oh. Hey, Olette."
The brunette smiled back, as she fell into step besides Kairi, "How was your summer?"
Kairi shrugged, "Same old thing. And you?"
"Same thing." She turned to Kairi, "When do you think you'll get the paper started up this year? You're editor this year, right?"
Kairi winced slightly. That's right; she had been made editor this year. She waved a hand slightly, covering her mouth to stifle a yawn. "I'll …make an announcement or something this week." She turned to Olette, "Just be ready when I need you, alright?"
The brunette nodded mumbling a soft, "Okay."
The two of them walked on in relative silence, finally nearing their homeroom on the third floor. Upon entering their classroom, Kairi took a seat by the window, Olette filing in after her and sitting in the one behind her. Their teacher quickly checked attendance before handing out schedule assignments, electing groans and small cheers of approval from some students.
Kairi turned around to face the brunette sitting behind her, "Want to switch?"
Olette nodded, handing her schedule over to Kairi. "…We have AP American History together …and we have the same gym and free period." gazed over Kairi's schedule a bit more, "You're taking a lot of AP's this year …Psychology, Physics …you sure you can manage all of this?" She asked looking up at Kairi.
Kairi nodded, "It's nothing." She took her schedule back from and looked it over, just as the bell rang signaling the two that homeroom was over and first period was about to start. Kairi gathered her stuff up, waving to Olette over her shoulder. "See you next period, Olette."
Olette nodded, returning the wave and heading off down the hallway.
Kairi glanced down at her schedule. "Honors English …well …"
o—o
Kairi slid into a seat in the back by the window, watching old faces she knew from previous years file into the classroom. The bell rang a few minutes later and a man with short unruly silver hair waltzed into the classroom, glasses on the bridge of his nose, his face in the book.
He slammed the book shut, surveying the class in front of him. He rolled up his sleeves and began to call off attendance one by one. He jotted a few things down before placing the notepad back on his desk and reclining on it slightly. "…Alright. Let's get down to business."
He massaged the bridge of his nose, as he took off his glasses. "My name is Zexion Sakushi. You however, may call me, Mr. Sakushi." He rounded the desk, picked up a piece of chalk and began to scribble his name in a flourish of script on the board. He turned around to look at the class, "This is Honors English for Juniors. All of you that this being an honors class, there will be a lot more material that we need to cover for the year than in the regular class." He walked over to his desk, picking up a stack of papers, and began passing them down the rows. "Rules and regulations of the class are as follows …"
Before he could get any further into what he was discussing, Zexion was cut off by the door banging open. In popped a short Japanese girl with dark cropped chin-length hair. The front part of her hair had was dyed a pale blonde color, and fell into her eyes every few minutes even after she tucked it behind one of her ears. Her eyes were almond shaped, both outlined lightly in black eyeliner. She wore a grey shirt with faded yellow kanji on the front and low rider plaid black capri's. Her left arm was adorned with large yellow and black beaded bracelets, which were matched with a yellow cartilage piercing on her left ear and two black in her right.
Her white and black checkered vans squeaked loudly across the linoleum floor as she walked to the back of the class, taking a seat in front of Kairi. "Uh …heheheh ...sorry I'm late. Summer fog still clouding my mind …I kind of forget the layout of the building, you know?" she laughed a bit, waving her hand for emphasize.
The class broke out into a low snicker, which soon subsided. "I thought we were missing one …Miss Kisaragi, I presume?" Zexion looked down at his attendance chart, sighed passing another paper down her row, "This better not become a habit, I hope." Zexion continued to drawl on about the criteria for the class, answering questions that people had along the way.
He glanced toward to clock, and then down at his watch. "Seeing as we only have a few minutes before the bell ring, I'll take the liberty to tell you this now. Along with your regular homework, I'll be assigning you monthly projects that you are to complete with an assigned partner. He surveyed the class, "Seeing as there are twenty eight of you in this class, you'll be working in groups of two. Oh yes, and I will be picking the groups." Numerous groans flooded the classroom, causing Zexion to roll his eyes.
Bah, teenagers.
"We'll start with …Fujin Ampte, you will be working with …Seifer Almasy." He looked down Fujin who nodded, and then toward Seifer who shrugged. He scribbled their names down on a notepad, and went about assigning the next group. Zexion continued on in the same fashion, matching people's last names together, electing few cheers from people and many groans from others. He finally got to Kairi, searching for her last name.
"Kairi Ifans, you'll be working with …" Kairi held her head up expectantly, a questioning look on her face. "…Yuffie Kisaragi."
o—o
Yuffie Kisaragi.
Star runner on the Twilight Town high school track team. I can't say I know much more about her than what's already common knowledge. She lives with her dad over in Radiant Garden, and as far as I know she's an only child.
She's somewhat of a jock, and from what I've heard she's pretty arrogant. I know she's friends with Riku, and she hangs around Cloud and Leon all the time. The most I've ever said to her is probably a hello here and there.
I know what you're thinking.
That's her.
That's the girl that's going to change everything.
That's the girl that's sooooo going to gay-ify Kairi.
Well she's not! She's not going to change anything because there's nothing to change.I'm perfectly normal.Yes I am.Besides, who the hell said she's gay? I mean, there's still …the rumors and all about what last time at Leon's birthday party over the summer, but honestly, in this high school?
Rumors are usually just that.
Rumors.
…I'll shut up now.
o—o
Yuffie turned around in her seat, looking Kairi over for a moment before cocking her head to the side, squinting at the auburn haired girl. "Hmm …" Shrugging, she stood up as the bell began rang, throwing her grey canvas bag over her left shoulder and digging her hands into her pockets and walking out of the classroom.
What the hell was THAT about? Kairi thought, frowning slightly as she watched Yuffie leave the classroom. Just as she was about to leave, Zexion stopped her. "Kairi …Can I see you for a few minutes?"
"Um, yes. Sure." Kairi about faced, heading over to her English teacher.
He reclined against the desk, sighing softly. "You're editor of the paper this year, right?"
Kairi nodded slowly, "Yes, I am."
He folded his arms, "They made me moderator this year, seeing as Mr. Highwind stepped down from the position after last year. I was wondering if you wanted to set the day for when we should have the meeting for those who want to join the paper this year."
Kairi tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and nodded, "It'll probably be soon, I want to get started on the paper right away seeing as we have so much coming up to report on within these next few weeks of school." She stopped, looking up at Zexion and then continued again, "Maybe next Friday, if possible?"
He nodded, "Sounds fine to me. Just let me know the time and I'll be there, alright?" He looked around on his desk for note paper. "I'll write you a note for you're next class. Where are you going?"
"Oh, um ...AP American."
With a flourish of his pen, Zexion had written out something in intelligible script and handed it to Kairi. "Well then, get going."
Kairi nodded, smiling at him. She waved as she turned around and headed out of the classroom and down the hallway. The next few periods continued on with relative ease. Kairi met up with Olette in AP American, who commented on how strange their teacher – Marluxia – hair was. After her history class she had Pre-Cal honors with Sora's twin brother Roxas …who had been freaked out by their nazi math teacher - Xemnas – who seemed to have taken a special liking to the blonde haired boy.
Following her Pre-Cal class was "Intro to Photography", an elective she'd been pining to take ever since she was a freshman. To her surprise, she found that the old moderator of the newspaper, Cid Highwind, taught it. He smiled when he saw her, saying he expected her to put as much work into this class as she did into the newspaper. She merely blushed, when the whole class turned around to look at her trying to hide behind her book bag. After her photography class, she had a free period which she took to the library.
Thankfully, upon entering her lunch period, she was able to find Sora and Riku sitting in the cafeteria a few tables away from the entrance. Sora smiled cheerily, waving over the auburn haired girl. She sat down, sliding her messenger bag off of her shoulder, before propping her elbows up on the table.
"This is so great Kairi! We all have lunch together!" Sora cheered enthusiastically.
"Hmm …" She hummed, nodding along with whatever Sora was now blabbering about. It wasn't until she heard the following voice that she paid any attention to what was going on around her.
"Hey red!" Kairi turned around to frown at said voice, knowing it could be no one other than one person calling her "red". Axel. He waved to her, his usual grin in place. Behind him was Sora's brother Roxas who was pushing at him to sit down instead of staying hovered Kairi. The blonde haired boy had no luck over the other who stood firmly planted where he was.
He grinned, "So." He began, finally sitting down next to Kairi. "Haven't really seen you all summer."
Kairi rolled her eyes, "That's because you were drunk half the time."
Axel scratched at his head and shrugged, "Was I?" he asked looking toward Roxas, who merely glared at the red haired boy. Axel flashed his cat like grin back at Kairi, "Guess I was."
No sooner than Axel arrived, his partner in crime -- "YO! YOOOOOOOOO! ROXAS! AXEL! …AND OTHER VARIOUS PEOPLE AT THE TABLE THAT I KNOW BUT I'M TOO LAZY TO LIST YOUR NAMES!" – Demyx made his appearance. The mullet haired boy chose a seat between Axel and Kairi, sitting down heavily and leaning back in the chair, hitting one of his boot clad feet against the bottom of the table.
"Hi, Demyx!" Sora chirped out, while Kairi rolled her eyes and Riku just laughed.
The lunch period continued on for the next agonizing twenty five minutes with Demyx talking about how the ketchup dispensers were more curvier than they were last year, Roxas growling at Axel to get his hand off his thigh every five minutes, Axel annoying the hell out of Kairi, Sora taking part in any random conversation he could find, Riku occupying himself with Sora's neck when he found the chance and Kairi wondering why the hell she had sat at this table at the first place.
After lunch Kairi went to the remainder of her classes of the day – AP Physics, AP Psychology, Italian III Honors and her last elective, Journalism and Creative Writing. She met up with Sora and Riku for a little while, hanging around the school premises until Sora's mom had come to pick up him and Riku.
Somehow, the group of them had made there way over to the school's track field. Sora and Riku decided to waste time watching the track team running laps, while Kairi had already began to focus on her homework. She would look up ever so often to watch the people that Sora was cheering on, on when Riku commented on something about the current person running.
"...Hey, isn't that Yuffie?"
Kairi looked up instantly, seeing the Japanese girl crossing across the field. She was dressed in loose shorts and a white t-shirt and had her short hair pinned back. Kairi stopped writing out the problems for her Pre-Cal homework, setting her pencil inside her notebook and closing it.
"Yea, it is."
The coach of the track team was talking to her about something before she took her starting stance behind the white line, starting as close to the center. The whistle blew and she was off. Sora cheered off to her side, and Riku reclined a bit causing the bleachers to squeak beneath them.
Kairi watched as Yuffie began to make her way around the length of the field. People were right, she was fast. No sooner than she had already taken off, she was right back at the finish line, turning around to check her time.
"Kisaragi, you did well. One second above what you usually run. Not a big change, but nonetheless a change." He grinned, "I hope you'll be able to run that well at Saturday's meet, huh?"
Yuffie flashed him a reassuring grin. Like the same one Kairi had seen her give their English teacher earlier that morning, "I'll smoke'em." She retorted.
"She's good, huh?" Kairi turned to look at Riku who was grinning at her.
"She's weird." she muttered opening her notebook to start back on her homework again.
"How so?"
Kairi looked up at Riku and wrinkled her nose, "In English …she just …I don't know." She went back to her homework, deciding to leave the conversation at that. She closed her notebook again, shoving it inside her book bag and grabbed her textbooks, preparing to stand up and leave.
"Yuffie!" Sora called from their spot on the bleachers.
The black haired girl turned around, looking up at the bleachers, shielding her eyes from the sun. It took her a moment to register who it was calling her before she waved out, "Hey, Sora!"
"I gotta go." Kairi murmured as she stood up, and made her way past Riku and Sora, nearly tripping over the two, as she climbed down the bleachers.
"Agh …Kairi! Wait …ah …well, see you tomorrow!" Sora called out to his friends retreating backside.
Yuffie watched as Kairi ran off down the street, in the direction of the train station. "…What's wrong with her?" Yuffie asked as she approached the two of them, resting her arms on the fencing surrounding the bleachers.
"She says you're weird." Riku said, trying to hide a smirk behind his hand.
Yuffie turned her head to look at the direction Kairi had gone. Ha! She was weird.
Kairiwas weird.