Author's Note: This story is very loosely based off of the anime, Clannad. I'm not labeling it as a crossover for the reasons that this is only going to contain Kingdom Hearts characters, and that this story is only going to be Clannad-based slightly, considering it will have it's own plotline different from that of the actual Clannad. Certain elements will be recognizable, other's won't. I hope that this prologue will give you a feel for what I mean~

With that being said, this story will obviously contain RokuNami! If this bothers you, please astray from reading this now. Thanks!

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts copyright Square Enix; Clannad copyright Key Visual

I hate this town.

It's full of so many far off memories, so many distant times that I only wish I could forget about. Every day it's the exact same thing: go to school, slip by in class, then head back to a lonely home that's filled with nothing but forgotten promises and broken ties. Will something eventually change, doing this? Will that day ever come?

In a dead, bleak place like this…is there really any reason to search for light?

Small, pink petals fluttered to the ground as Roxas coolly walked along the silent road that brought him to school each morning. He usually just made the everyday commute to school by himself, strolling along effortlessly with little concern to his punctuality to class. It wasn't like his brother would join him anyway: his idea of getting to school on time was stumbling out of bed at 11:00 am only to beat the lunch bell. It wasn't as if he disliked being alone either, it gave him time to unwind and just forget about his problems.

He scrunched his nose a bit as a petal came flying down towards his face. He carelessly brushed the pink figure off his skin and kept walking, fully aware that his hair was undeniably decorated with the rosy flower blossoms by now. He wasn't bothered by it much though, he was used to the excess falling and flying around of the petals during blooming season. The only problem was that every morning he'd probably be coming to school looking like he'd climbed into a cherry blossom tree a few more times than he should. Maybe he'd bring an umbrella one day just to see how much of a difference it'd make…

"Blue!"

Roxas whipped his head around, startled a bit by the sudden voice. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice the delicate girl standing along the path beside him. Looking at her again, he really doubted that she even detected him either as she stood there closing her eyes and clenching her fists in concentration. Unlike him, her lighter shade of blonde hair wasn't full of scattered petals, but she was wearing the same school uniform. He shrugged; it wasn't uncommon that he didn't know a girl that went to his school. In fact, he tended to avoid making friends as much as he possibly could: he never did get along with people that much. Most people noticed that, and they generally stayed out of his way as well, though he concluded that the more prominent cause behind that was because of his reputation as some attitude-prone teenage rebel. For that reason, he never would've expected that this small, shy girl would randomly start up a conversation with him as he crossed her path on the road.

"Do you like this school?"

She looked down thoughtfully, though her eyes glinted with a bit of fear. Not expecting a response, she quickly went on.

"I really love everything about it, but nothing can stay unchanged. Everything has to change sooner or later, right? Fun things, happy things…they can't all possibly stay unchanged. But is it possible to still love this place?"

He didn't know what it was that impelled him to speak back to her. Just something about the way she was talking to him, the hopeful light glimmering in her eyes as she spoke, he needed to say something to keep that flicker alive. He was, in a way…drawn to her light.

"Just go and find more."

As if awakened from a trance, the girl turned her head, the wind blowing freely through her hair as her blinking eyes met his. She stared at him speechless, astonished, as if the last thing on earth she expected him to do was reply to her. Roxas felt a bit strange under the new attention, but continued speaking.

"All you have to do is find other fun and happy things, it's not so hard."

He shrugged and took a step forward, attempting to continue his morning walk to school. But after he took that first step, he felt as if he couldn't go forward. He glanced back to the girl, feeling her stunned eyes on him. She looked like a lost puppy of sorts, standing there without direction and reason. He couldn't leave her behind like that, all on her own. Roxas gestured with his hand, moving to face her.

"Come on, let's go."

He began walking again, and the girl blinked, hesitantly following in step beside him. Smiling to himself a bit, his eyes shifted back to her as she timidly tried to start conversation again. Somehow, he found it even easier to head down the path with her right by his side.

And so we begin… a long, long, upward climb.

"What did you do THIS time?"

Roxas sighed, looking at his brother with a deadpanned expression as the brunet lounged back on his bed, acting oblivious to the fact that his left eye was turning more purple and bruised by the second. Sora lazily grabbed a bag of potato chips and started fumbling with the opening, then brought his attention back to his brother as Roxas made an angry scoff. Crunching a few chips in his mouth, Sora blinked and looked back at Roxas dumbfounded.

"…What did I do?"

"Obviously you did something if you have a black eye!"

"Oh yeah, that!" Sora nodded, curling his hand by chin as if trying to remember something. "I was skipping out on history class and I kind of had a run-in with the soccer team." He sheepishly scratched the back of head and smiled.

Roxas facepalmed and groaned. "I thought I told you to AVOID them!"

"It's not my fault that they like to use me as a punch-bag!" The teen pouted jokingly and squinted off to the side. "I'm just too cool for them, that's it!"

"…Yeah, that's definitely it."

"They're all jealous and wish they could be as farly superior and amazing and sexy!"

"Of course."

"One day they'll all come begging at my feet to be my followers!"

"You bet'cha."

"They'll all scream 'Sora, we're sorry! We've really just admired you this whole time and wanted you to notice us because you are super mega awesome! Let's all just be your loyal servants now!'"

"Woohoo."

"…You're not taking me seriously, are you?"

"Nope."

Sora playfully clutched at his chest and pretended to fall dramatically on the floor. "That hurts, brother, that hurts…Oh, the paaain!"

Roxas rolled his eyes fondly and placed a bag down beside his sibling, who was still pretending to have a heart attack. "Here are the pastries you wanted…you're lucky the store was making new ones today."

Suddenly revived from his fake death spell, Sora shot up and excitedly start digging through the bag, pulling out a box of doughnuts with zeal. He only got distracted from his precious treat when he saw his brother walking out the door. "You're leaving already?"

"Yeah." The blonde looked out at the darkening sky. "I'd better head home before it gets dark."

At this, Sora's face turned serious with uneasiness. "Are you sure you want to go back? You're fine to stay here if you want…I mean, there's no one-"

"Don't worry about it." Roxas quickly shut him off, his eyes narrowing. Although not satisfied with his reply, Sora knew it was a lost cause and went back to his doughnuts.

Roxas took this as a sign to leave and shut the doorway, striding the hallway nonchalantly. Exiting the apartment building, he made his way to the usual sidewalk, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. He never liked going home and leaving his brother, but he accepted that it was just something he had to do. Regardless.

He was all too familiar with the routine: go to school, visit Sora, go home, repeat. It bored him to think his life was so set in stone like that, stuck in an endless loop of actions. Skipping classes occasionally and breaking a few rules was just a way for him to feel alive, to get a thrill out of life. He didn't care if people considered him a "delinquent", in fact he honestly didn't care about what anyone thought of him. He was better off alone, that's just how it was always meant to be.

Roxas pulled open the door to a tiny house on the side of the street, one he regrettably had to call his home. The old floor creaked as he walked on it, stains of haunting memories scattered all around the faded hardwood. His focus wandered to a small envelope labeled "ROXAS" on the neglected table, his hands automatically reaching to open it. He emotionlessly tabbed through the money inside, not bothering to count the amount. Aloofly tossing the envelope back to the table, he dragged himself to his bedroom, flopping down on the bed.

Without even realizing, he slowly drifted off to sleep, thoughts of the gentle, hopeful girl clouding his dreams.

"Everything has to change sooner or later, right?"