Beginning Notes: Yeah, I wrote this as a gift for one of my best friends, Cindy…

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

More than Just Notes

"Kairi, wake up." I felt a hand shake my shoulder. "Kairi," the voice said firmly. "The coach is already here. You should be ashamed for waking up so late."

"No…" I moaned softly, under my breath. If my mother had ever heart me complain about piano, she would go ballistic and take away any form of my enjoyment.

"KAIRI!" She was yelling now, and I could tell she was very upset. Oh, I was gonna be in for a beating later today. She pulled my blanket off of me, and my skin suddenly went from cozily warm to the bitter cold. Eek, better get up before my monster of a mother attacks.

I opened my eyes, and peeked over at my alarm clock. Yes, I had purposefully left my alarm off. The bright red numbers showed 6:15. Darn, I was really late. I quickly threw on a shirt and some jeans, and attempted to casually walk out the door, except my mother stopped me.

"Kairi! Do you really think you should go meet your tutor in that trash?" She asked, meaning my clothing.

Great. Now to change again. This time I put on a blouse and a semi-dressy shirt.

My mother glanced at my outfit again, and frowned. "Humph, at least now he'll recognize you as the Kairi Bloomfield." She dragged my downstairs to our grand piano.

Yes, I guess my little secret's out. I am the Kairi Bloomfield. I'm not that proud of it, although my mother is. She's the one who's been hammering on my piano skills since I was three. And being a famous pianist isn't fun at all. It's just practice, practice, practice… day in and day out. And even then, people don't really recognize you for your skills. They might say that you're so wonderful and completely mean it, but then two minutes later they turn back to their Snoop Dogg or whatever.

I saw my new coach. He had albino white hair, and sky blue eyes. I shook his hand. "Hi, I'm Riku, and I'm your new piano coach."

Did I ever mention that I've moved countless times, just because my mother never thought my current teacher was "suitable" enough? I've lostso manyfriends so quickly, just because of that.

I said nothing to him. "Still asleep, eh? Let's get started then… hopefully the music will wake you up. I guess I'll just watch you practice, and correct a few of the mistakes that you don't catch yourself.

Oh, boy. This was the kind of coach that completely intimidated me. I've always hated playing in front of others, especially since I get stage fright so easily. At the first recital that I remember performing at, I fainted on stage. And I don't even remember too much. I just remember going up onstage, seeing the thousands of people in the audience, and then blackness.

I started my four octave scales, from C Major and A Minor. Scales were the easy part; I've played them since I started.

Then, as I started on one piece, Riku said, "You missed a sharp," and circled the note with the oh-so-handy pencil in his hand.

The hour passed by slowly and painfully, and I slipped that piece into my backpack to practice during lunch. Yes, I had to give up my lunch period to practice. It's a hard life as an eighth grade musician, I tell you.

My mom drove me to school, and as she did, she criticized my practicing. "Why didn't you play soft when Riku told you to?"

"Mom, I was trying!"

"Well, maybe you aren't trying hard enough. But it's not all your fault. Riku's coaching wasn't even as good as the last one. And do you really think that you're going to play the Nocturne like that at your concert tomorrow?" I saw her scowling through the rearview mirror.

I thanked God that we had reached school before I had to answer that. I hated piano; it completely ruined my life, starting at three, all the way until now!

As I dashed onto the school campus, I looked for Sora, my best (and only) friend. Everyone else just thought of me as the quiet and odd girl, who hung out in the orchestra room at lunch. No one knew of my piano playing- it's not like they cared anyway. Like I said, even if they did, they would be all proud and willy nilly and then go back to Snoop Dogg a minute later.

Sora's never heard me play before, though. I don't want him to see that side of me. Plus, what if I messed up? He'd think I'm some lying freak.

"Hey, Kairi." I heard his familiar voice.

"Hi…" I said quietly.

"So how was it today?" He asked. Before I could answer, he added, "Oh, and I'm finally gonna hear you play!"

"No, no, no, no… you can't!" I said, defensively.

"Aww, Kai, I wanted to actually come to your concert for once. What's the good of having a famous friend if you never see them… in a famous-like way?" He must have seen my eyes widen, because then he added, "I'm kidding about the famous part. I like you for who you are, Kairi."

"B-b-but…" I stuttered. Why was my heart racing like that?

"Don't worry; I'll be there on time. So how about we get to class?"

"Bye, Sora!" I called, as I headed off to practice.

I slowly pulled open the door of the orchestra room, only to have a glaring contest with the evil piano.

I looked down, and grumbled, "Fine. You win." I took out the nocturne and set it on the piano. Remembering where parts I had trouble with were, I started, and lost myself in the music. I was so lost that I didn't notice someone else slip in, nor who it was.

"Bravo, Kairi."

I almost jumped out of my skin at those words. Or, rather, because of the person who spoke them. And there my heart was, once again, thumping so loud that I was sure Sora would hear it.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see my best friend play this instrument that she, apparently, hated sooo much. Is there something wrong with that?" He sat next to me on the bench.

Was it just me, or was he really… warm? But no… that couldn't be, it was thirty degrees outside and isn't that where he just came in?

"Kairi," he smiled. I felt his hand on mine. "You play really well… and I mean it."

My cheeks must be burning by now.

"Kai… could you play that… again, for me?" he asked with the most innocent blue eyes.

"O-okay." Since when did I stutter so much around Sora? I put my fingers onto the keys, shaking.

"Relax, Kairi… it's just me, after all."

I tried to do so, and it worked… soon, the music flowed through my fingers and onto the piano. Maybe, for those few minutes, I didn't feel any hatred towards piano.

I cut off my music, thinking that Sora stopped paying attention. But then, I realized that his eyes were still on my hands.

He looked amazed. Like really, truly, amazed.

"Kairi?" I felt his hand on my shoulder, and my heart started to soar again. Was I just having an off day?

"…Yeah?" I answered, as firmly as I could muster.

"Could you… possibly ever teach me how to play?"

Silence followed his question. I didn't know how to answer…

He broke the silence. "I mean… if… I know you don't have much time on your hands, but…"

I stopped him. "No… Sora… I can't." I felt like I was going to break down and cry a river right then and there.

He hugged me. Not just a pity hug, or a friendship hug, but… it felt like… something… more. No! What was I thinking? He wouldn't like me that way…

I think I was at the end of my rope the day of the concert. No, wait, I was at the end of it. For two weeks straight, I had been getting up at 5:30 to meet some new coach.

Mom still said my Nocturne wasn't good enough, and the Sonata was barely cutting it. Oh, how I couldn't wait until tonight was over!

I had been almost dead as we reached the music hall. And, as a matter of fact, I'd been feeling like I was going to faint…

"Kairi!" My mother's harsh voice rand through my ears. "Get your act together in front of the make up artist!"

I attempted to stand up straight, and walk toward the lady. I must have looked awfully pale to her, because she put a LOT of stuff on my face that I had no name for.

After, I was still a bit dazed, even though this was most definitely NOT my first concert.

My mother put her hand on my shoulder. "Kairi, it's almost time.

Shakily, I walked up onstage.

"Kairi!" Someone was calling for me from the audience. Ignoring my mother's warning about not looking, I turned to look. It was Sora, out of all people.

Oh, shoot. My heart felt like it was going to thump right out of my chest any minute.

I heard another voice, this time from behind me. It was my mother. "Kairi! Start!" She shot me a glare.

Did I really have much of a choice in the matter? I wondered as I put my fingers to the bleached white keys. I started, and the music just continued to flow out.

Soon enough, I wasn't nervous anymore. I was in such a happy, relaxed place, until my finger slipped, causing me to forget the rest of the Sonata.

The five seconds felt like an hour. I had completely forgotten the piece! What was I supposed to do? I looked around, helplessly. Then, as soon as my mistake was made, my finger struck another note, and I, once again, was lost in the music.

About half an hour later, I was finally allowed offstage. I felt like crying; my concert was completely ruined! Just because of that one finger slip…

Outside, people congratulated me. They all realized my mess up, and whispered about it to me. Great, I felt like a murderer now. A murderer of Mozart's Sonata. Oh, where was Sora when you needed him?

"Hey Kairi…" I felt a hand grad mine. Oh, why must he always read my mind like that?

"You did really good, Kairi, I can't believe you actually said you hated pia-" I covered his mouth with my hand before all the people would hear what he said, or was about to say.

"Sora!" I shot him a glare. "Let's talk somewhere else!" I casually dragged him to a side of the building where no one would over hear.

I removed my hand from his mouth and he continued to talk. "As I was saying," he said, and this time shot a glare at me, "Why do you say that you hate piano? You're freaking amazing!"

Was it just me… or was it very… warm? Last time I checked, it was January… and did I mention that my heart was beating about a thousand beats per second?

"No… Sora, you don't understand." He put a finger to my lips.

"No, Kairi, I completely do. I know you've spent so long sweating in front of that instrument that it seems like pain… but it's not. I know that it isn't."

What was he talking about? "Sora, I hate it! Because of that… that thing, I've lost so many friends and shed do many tears and-"

I was cut off then, when his lips met mine.

"Kairi… you're amazing," He repeated, "don't ever doubt that. There's more to your music that notes, isn't there?"

I had to think about it… was the reason why I chose the Nocturne because… every time I played it, I felt all of the pain from my life coming back to me? Why would I want that? And… did I chose that Sonata because when I played it, it was how I felt around Sora? All bouncy and perky?

Maybe so.

"I… I guess…" I answered quietly.

He smiled. I wonder, when did he ever know anything about music?

"So, Kairi… about my question yesterday… will you teach me piano?"

I don't know what I was thinking them, but I knew it was the right thing to do, at least at the time. I pressed my lips gently onto his.

"As long as you stay by my side- always."