Author's notes: I know, another KH fic. I'm so predictable. I did this spur of the moment, so it may not be my best. This is months after KH2. Everything else is explained, I think.

Abused

"Sora!"

Sora and Kairi turned around, and moaned. Riku. The silver haired teenager used to be their friend, until he just snapped. In a matter of days he became the new school bully.

"Don't go to any balloon parties!"

"He's a humanoid echidna." Commented one of the kids in Riku's gang to add to Riku's insult. Kairi moaned, grabbing Sora's arm and turning him away, before walking off before something like last time happened.

Last time, both Sora and Riku were nearly expelled due to a fight they'd gotten into. The only reason Kairi didn't kill them was because they were smart enough not to use the Keyblades. Both had a two week suspension. Sora had argued that Riku had provoked him, and Riku seemed to get sympathy by the teachers and staff. No one knew why, though.

"My mother's getting remarried this weekend." Sora remembered Riku telling them, only a week before he had turned into the school bully.

"I didn't know she was divorced in the first place." Kairi commented.

"She divorced my father shortly after we left the isles for the first time." He replied.

That didn't have anything to do with it, though. Riku never said anything about his new step dad or anything else. It wasn't like he was on good terms with his dad, so what was the problem?

Much to Sora's relief, the bell rang for class. Since Riku was a year older he couldn't bother them during class time.

"Math?" Kairi asked Sora, who nodded in a bored fashion.

"Of course. We've always got math at the same time on Thursdays." He replied.

"Lighten up, after math is lunch, then sport." Kairi encouraged.

Both were in their school uniforms, Kairi in the girl's blue skirt and white shirt while Sora was in the boy's blue shorts and white shirt.

"Ever wonder what happened to Riku?" Sora asked her out of the blue. "I mean, one minute he's our friend, and the next he's a jerk to us and all of our friends. Heck, he nearly got into a fight with Tidus yesterday."

"I've been researching that for our SOSE assignment." Kairi started. "'What causes teens to snap?' One thing I read said that it usually starts with things going on at home, or when someone just wants to fit in. After the whole Keyblade thing, I wouldn't be surprised if Riku feels like a reject."

"But he's not the Keyblade Master. Sure he wields Way to the Dawn but-" Sora was cut off.

"Sora! Think! Riku gave into the darkness. How do you think that makes him feel?" Kairi snapped. Sora shut up; he hadn't thought of that.

"Right." He stopped at his lockers and grabbed his books for his next class, as Kairi continued off to her locker. He grabbed all his books for math class, and headed off quickly to the math room. Unfortunately for him, Riku happened to be hanging in the direction of Sora's next class, and pushed Sora onto the ground, causing his books to scatter.

"Loser!" Riku yelled back at him as he and his friends laughed, walking away. Sora growled, collecting his books and getting to his feet.

"Jerk." He growled under his breath.

Half way through math class, Sora realised that he had forgotten his calculator. He asked the teacher if he could go to his locker to get it, then quickly left when given permission.

He was surprised to see the school counsellor walking down the hall, Riku following him. Sora ducked behind the corner and watched them.

"So, Riku. How're things at home for you?"

"Crap."

"I suspected much. Things haven't been easy on you since your mother died."

Sora blinked. Riku's mother was dead? That would explain Riku's sudden change, if Kairi's research was true.

"Rachael hasn't been taking it well."

"How is your sister, that aside?"

"Can't really tell. She spends most of her time at home, locked up in her room. She wouldn't notice if the house caught on fire."

"Are you still hanging out with your old friends, Riku?"

No response.

"I see. Sorry to hear that. You heard from…"

They walked off around the corner, and their voiced died out. Sora was still trying to comprehend what he just heard. He ran off to his locker, only to find that his calculator wasn't there.

"Riku." He moaned, slamming his locker shut and rushing back to class, explaining that he couldn't find it. After returning to his seat he whispered something to Kairi. "I just saw Riku. I'll tell you about it later."

--

"You're kidding!" Kairi exclaimed. Sora had just told her everything he had heard when he saw Riku during math class.

"No, I'm not. From what I heard the teacher talking about, the counsellor talks to Riku on a regular basis." Sora replied.

"Think he's spilled about the Keyblades?" Kairi asked in an undertone.

"If he has the counsellor probably thinks that he's delusional. He'd need a bunch of Heartless and Nobodies to suddenly show up to prove it. Plus, he'd have to call Way to the Dawn and have me call Kingdom Key."

"If Heartless attacked he wouldn't have to ask. You'd just follow your heart and act." Kairi commented. Sora nodded.

"Probably."

It was only a few months after they finally all came home together. They had all been enrolled in school on the mainland together, but now it was becoming an annoyance. The bell rang to end lunch, so Sora and Kairi parted ways, headed to their individual sports.

Sora just couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, stop thinking about Riku. Why hadn't he told him or Kairi, instead of taking it out on them? They could've helped him before it got this bad. When sport was finally over, Sora met up with Kairi and continued talking about it, before saying their goodbyes and heading home.

"Sora! Could you go to the shops and get some milk?" He heard his mother call from the kitchen. "Sora?"

"Yes, mother." Sora sighed. Why couldn't his younger sister, Sara, go get milk for a change? He changed out of his uniform, slipping his normal clothes on and heading out the door, only stopping to get money from his mother.

He sped walked away from the house, remembering that Riku's house just happened to be on the way to the shops. Great, not. He couldn't seem to get away from his former friend.

He paused near Riku's house. Screaming, yelling… where was it coming from? The sun was setting over the horizon, but Sora stopped anyway. Wait… was the screaming coming from…