Chapter One

Destiny Islands Anyone?

"Ms. Parker, if I see those headphones again, I will confiscate them, then auction them off to hoodlums on the internet," the Honors English 11 teacher warns the new student, Haine Parker.

Kaname Aicho's ears prick upon hearing this and he looks up from his drawing. When did we get a new student? I wonder where she's sitting… He scans the room for her.

"Sorry Ms. Belle," the girl apologizes, pocketing her MP3 player.

Kaname jumps when he realizes that she's right next to him, and blurts out, "Whoa! Where the hell did you come from?!"

She herself jolts a little and answers, "England. ...I'm Haine."

"...I'm Kaname. I'm sorry for being… so rude, but I didn't see you sit down next to me."

"Is this someone's seat? I'll move if you like," the new girl offers.

Kaname shakes his head. "No, it's free." Studying her a bit more closely, he concludes that she's a near exact replica of Kairi from his favorite video game, Kingdom Hearts. "Did you know you look just like Kairi?" he asks her, hoping he wouldn't hear a "who?".

"You really think so? Yes! That's what I'm going for! Hey, and you look creepily like Sora, don't you?"

With a sigh of relief, he grins. "Yeah, I've been told that. I went to a convention once and they thought I was hired to play his part in the Ansem re-enactment. That almost turned out bad for me, of course."

"Really? Once I had the man playing Sora mistake me for the woman playing Kairi and follow me around for an hour. Hey, what's your favourite world?"

"In the first, it has to be Olympus. In the second, it's definitely Hollow Bastion. And what about you?"

She ponders for a moment. "Well, in the first it's Wonderland, hands down. In the second it's the Pridelands. I love his lion cub form."

"Haine, Kaname, can we please pay attention?!" Ms. Belle screeches at the two. They turn back to the board and breathe heavy sighs of immediate boredom. A minute later, Haine pulls a sheet of notebook paper out of her binder.

What're you drawing? she writes to Kaname, then passes it to him.

Kingdom Hearts anime. I'll show you when I'm done.

I love anime! she scribbles in big letters. Do you read graphic novels?

All the time. Hey, it's your first day. Should you pay attention?

Kaname, this class is on British literature. What am I?

…British?

Very good. I know all this. It's common material all through school for us.

How fun! I love Brit. Lit.

Don't you love Beowulf? It's gotta be the best.

Yes! Okay, this is creeping me out. We're too much alike.

I'm just glad I found a friend. You wanna guide me through my first day?

Sure, why not? I'll have to introduce you to my friend Aido.

Oh God, does he look like Riku?

…Yes.

So he's an anime-obsessed, KH freak like us? I like him already.

LOL. You're pretty funny. What class do you have next?

Here's my schedule: English 114, Music Theory 216, Anatomy 97, APUSH 213, Lunch 90, Band 216, HAM 223, Study Hall 90.

…We have the same schedule. All right, I'm thoroughly freaked out. It's like God one day said 'Hm, I think I'll put a female version of Kaname on Earth and scare the hell out of him.'.

Same here. It's almost too creepy to believe. But I suppose 'miracles' happen, right?

Is this a miracle?

I think it may be. How many new kids find an amazing friend on their first day in their first class?

Here? Not many.

The pair continues to converse throughout the rest of the period, and when the bell rings Haine puts the three sheets of notebook paper in her folder and stands up.

"Hey, so what instrument do you play? Please don't say oboe," she asks him.

"…Bassoon. Aido plays bass clarinet, which means you and I will be sitting next to each other with Aido on the other side of me. This is so strange, that it's turning out this way," he comments as they head to the band room for AP Music Theory. "So… have you actually finished KH2 yet?"

She grins sheepishly. "No. I got stuck on Demyx. I'm not very good at actually playing video games…. I know, it's awful to be obsessed with something I can't even finish."

"That's okay, Haine. I've almost beat it in expert mode, but beginner was a breeze."

"Yeah, that's what I'm on…"

Kaname laughs and smiles at her. "Maybe I can come over some time and defeat Demyx for you. It took me a while to get him too. I think it's just the timed part that got me at first. I hate having a time limit. It's be a lot easier if we could use rising sun on him, but no…"

"Rising sun?"

"Oh yeah, you haven't gotten that far. In the Thousand Heartless Battle, you get to use an attack called rising sun and it takes out, like, fifteen at a time. Of course, using berserk with that damn guitar would work too…"

She nods, remembering berserk, a command in which you use the boss's own weapon against him by stealing it and beating him with it. "Yeah, that'd be wonderous. I'm just getting sick of hearing 'you like that?' ten thousand times. Every time he says it I scream 'No, I don't!' at the TV... and then lose."

He chuckles, recalling the first time he fought Demyx in Hollow Bastion. He did the same exact thing. "You know what I always wondered?"

"Huh?"

"How water can hurt you. I mean, you can drown in it, but if someone just throws water at you, does it hurt? No. So how can Demyx use it as a weapon?"

"I've wondered the same thing for such a long time!"

Haine and Kaname keep producing new theories about the game, and by the time they reach the band room, the last bell has rung. "Come sit on the cabinets with Aido and I," Kaname offers, pointing toward a guy with long white-blond hair and bright teal eyes.

"You weren't kidding… He looks just like Riku!"

"What's sad is that his hair is naturally that color. I mean, who has bright blond hair like that? Just like your hair. Who generally has pink/red hair?"

Haine shuffles nervously. "I do… This is my natural color. Is that yours?"

"Yeah, but dark brown isn't a rare color, either. Wow… Hey, Aido! Look who I found!"

The blond looks up from his book and nearly falls backward off the cabinet. "Kairi?!"

"No, I'm Haine. But thanks for the compliment," she says with a sly smile, loving being mistaken for her. Looking at Aido, she feels a thump in her heart. He's very handsome, in her eyes, at least.

Double-taking, Aido focuses on the Kairi-clone. "Wow, so now we have the complete set? Jeez, we should move to Destiny Islands!"

"I wish they existed. High school sucks sometimes… ," Kaname mumbles, handing his homework in to the band director/AP Music Theory teacher.

Mr. Scynth eyes Haine cautiously. "Who're you?"

"The new student. We met last week when I auditioned for oboe, remember? I'm first ...er, well, only chair now. Ring a bell?" she reminds the scatter-brained director.

"Oh, yes. Well, take a seat… somewhere. Class is starting."

She lifts herself up next to Aido on the instrument cabinet and opens her textbook to the page written on the board. "What're we doing?" she whispers to Aido.

"Review for the test tomorrow. You won't have to take it, though. He'll probably start your grades in the next chapter. I already know all this stuff, though. I'm really bored."

"So you're Aido, right? I love that name," she tells him, flirting a little. Kaname tells me you're a KH freak too?"

He nods, turning to face her.

"Won't you get in trouble?"

"I practically teach the class half the time. He won't care."

"Oh… So you're really good at music theory?"

He shrugs. "I guess it comes naturally to me. Now Kaname, he has a little more trouble. What about you?"

"I'm really good at it too, but I'm not too good at listening. I can't really hear the intervals too well."

"Maybe we should work on that some time. Let me know if you want help, okay?"

She thinks about it. "Sure. Maybe after school one day. ...Okay, so I'm dying to know. What's your favorite world?"

"In KH it's gotta be Wonderland. I loved beating the boss at the end. In KH2 it's the Pridelands. Simba and Sora tear it up with the combos they do."

"Those are my favorites too!" she exclaims. "For different reasons, but still the same! Wow."

Aido stares at her for a very long minute and then turns around and says something to Kaname. She watches him shrug once, then turn back to the teacher. Aido flips back around and smiles at her. "Kaname and I are hanging out at my place tonight, and we both agree that you should come. We'll probably be eating junk food and playing KH2 most of the time, or doing something revolving around it. Just bring your memory card."

She pulls out her cell phone and types a very quick message to her mom. After a couple minutes of conversation she looks back at Aido. "My mom says it's fine. Put your address and phone numbers in my contact list," she tells him, handing him her phone. "Tell Kaname to do the same."

Once they're done, she takes her phone back and giggles. "I don't know that I've ever seen a more unproductive class in my life!"

"Get used to it. Scynth isn't a teacher, he's a crazy director that forgets his name every other day. We don't get much done."

"I like this school. I already have two best friends and it's only second period."

When the day ends, Haine rushes home to grab her memory card and drawing bag. She's a very skilled anime artist and her parents, who have quite a bit of money, buy her numerous art supplies. She keeps them in an over-stuffed, heavy-as-hell art bag.

Getting in her car at five, the seventeen year old tries to find her way to Aido's house. Fifteen minutes later she's in the driveway of the exact house he described: a huge tan house with red shutters and a red gate in the front with a porch overlooking a small pond.

Inhaling deeply and nervously, she rings the doorbell and waits to be let in.

Okay, this is an OC story I found on my computer from last year, and I decided to continue it. It won't be OC forever, don't worry. It just starts out this way. I think you'll like it, once I update more. I just hope I can execute it as well as I think. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

Number XV Rexene

So long as the king loves music, all is well with the land.