Hello everyone, This is my first fanfiction. I've always wanted to write a story where Roxas was impaired in some way and thought that being blind would place an interesting twist on things. Yes, this is an AkuRoku story, so the main pairing will obviously be Axel and Roxas. But that won't happen for a few chapters, so let's just see where this story develops and goes, shall we? I'll continue if you guys like it.

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all associated characters do not belong to me.

Prologue:

Can't Open My Eyes

Everything was dark.

Well, that wasn't exactly the best description to begin with when first waking up, now was it?

A young blond male lay there on his bed, eyes open and blankly staring up at the ceiling. Despite his earlier mental disposition about the lack of light in his room, it contrasted greatly to say that there was a lot of light pouring in through his window. In fact, it was daybreak.

No, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the said blond was blind. The only indication that it was time to get up were the sounds of various birds outside, signaling that morning had arrived. Well, and the fact that a very annoying voice was yelling from downstairs.

"Roxas!"

"Rooooxaaaaaas!"

"Roxas, you better hurry up! I don't want to be late!"

Roxas sighed and sat up, pulled from his thoughts by the annoying voice. Every morning was always like this; wake up from either a dreamless sleep or a nightmare and get dressed; all whilst being annoyed by his cousin Sora. Why couldn't he just have a normal family member that wouldn't grate his ears with such a voice? He knew Sora meant well but...

He was well aware that Sora did it on purpose, too.

With some effort, Roxas counted the number of steps to his closet, mumbling them aloud as he took them. "One, two, three..." It took some effort still to navigate his room, as he, his father, and Sora had just moved two weeks ago into this house. He still remembered not wanting to leave the islands...

"It'll be a good, fresh start." Cloud insisted, placing a hand over Roxas' and continuing. "Your cousin Sora is coming with us; you won't be alone."

"But dad... I'm perfectly fine here!"Roxas protested, pulling his hand away while looking terribly frustrated and distraught. "I have friends here! They can help me! Hell, I can even stay here with them if you want to go ahead with your job transfer!"

"Roxas, that's not the point of this move-"

"Then what is?! So I can be isolated under your definition of 'safe'? It was an acciden-"

"Roxas, we are moving, and that is final."

The bitter memories were still fresh. Roxas shook his head and shed his old clothes, pulling on new ones to start the day with. A fresh start... That's what he was here for, right? He couldn't let his first day be a bad one. That was the last thing he had wanted. Though, he was worried about how the people in Radient Garden would take to a blind kid in the local high school.

'Probably not well...' he thought.

As promised, Sora was interrupting Roxas' train of thought again as he heard the creak of his door opening. "Hey, Roxas, are you ready yet?" he asked, walking in and dropping Roxas' sneakers in front of him. "Cloud already left for work." Roxas just sat down and slipped them on, shrugging and grabbing Sora's hand to be helped back up. "It depends on your definition of ready, Sor." he answered, touching the wall and grabbing his cane when he finally felt it.

Sora just laughed and placed a newly purchased pair of sunglasses over Roxas' eyes. 'probably got them for me...' Roxas thought as he felt the shades slide onto his face. 'Maybe I really do look like a freak.' "You have to be ready sometime. I mean. I know it would be terrifying for me to go to a new school blind, but you gotta get over the hurdle." Sora was trying his best to reassure his cousin, always having been there for him through every problem. This was no different.

"Yeah, but you aren't the one who's blind, doofus." Roxas shot back in mild irritation, though it was mostly in jest. Tapping the floor once with his cane as if to test it, he took Sora's hand.

"Let's go."

AN: Well, uh, that's the end of the prologue. I hope I didn't bore you all too much with my first attempt. Please feel free to review if you've enjoyed this chapter. See you next time! ;u;