Vanitas and I had been friends since we were young. We were both neighbors after all, and we ended up seeing each other a lot. He also knew what to say to get others to do things for him too. When I would come over, he'd convince me to do his homework so we could play. As I did his homework and mine simultaneously, I never really thought about telling him to do his homework on his own. I guess I was one of his chess pieces too.
His favorite game was chess. Vanitas always seemed to be planning something, and he always ended up winning. Whatever anyone did, he was already five steps ahead of them. It was just the way things were. He always seemed to be hiding something in that big, spiky, midnight black hair he had.
Over the years, Vanitas seemed to try to manipulate everyone. He would use his ability to ace all his classes, and he'd use it to get people to pay for stuff for him. It seemed mostly harmless at this point so I did nothing to stop it. He was still my friend, and I would walk to and from school with him. I felt that I shouldn't be trying to change the side of him that doesn't concern me.
Then, he started to pit others against each other. Each clique or group in our school fell to pieces as soon as he whispered a few words to one of them, twisting their thoughts and causing them to destroy all the bridges they built over the years. Still, I said nothing to Vanitas about it. It didn't concern me, I told myself.
We walked home from school once more as always. Vanitas turned to me with a smirk. I knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.
"Xion, why don't we go grab a bite to eat?" he suggested, but knowing him, it mean we were going to get something to eat.
As much as I tried to protest and explain I had to get home to study, I somehow ended up buying him some fast food. Vanitas happily ate his meal, not even thanking me. I was used to this behavior already.
I looked to my right at the surroundings while we walked. My eyes widened once I saw my friend, Ventus, being kicked to the ground by his best friend, Terra. I could faintly see their friend, Aqua, yelling at them to stop fighting. There were red stains on Ventus's white shirt. Terra glared at the blond and stormed off, Aqua chasing after him. Ventus grabbed his side where the red stains were and stood up, walking to somewhere out of my view.
"Vanitas, did you do that?" I asked him, praying he wasn't the cause.
Vanitas turned and looked at Ventus and his friends. He smirked and nodded. "And it was easy too. That Terra is easy to control, and it was easy to get him to doubt his friends."
"How could you? They were the best of friends and now they're trying to kill each other! You can't just mess with others like that. What if someone gets really hurt? People will think you're a horrible person, and you'll end up all alone."
"I don't care what other people think. It's fun to mess with people. The heart is so weak," Vanitas replied. "I won't be alone either because you'll be here, Xion."
I narrowed my eyes. "You say that like you're so sure. What if I walked away from you right now and never looked back? You'd be all alone then."
"But you won't," Vanitas replied. "I've known you my whole life. Even if you tried to walk away, you'll turn and look at me, considering coming back. You've had so many chances to leave me, but you never did. So why should I be worried now?"
I folded my arms. "It sounds like you won't even care if I did leave. Van, what you're doing is just wrong. You're a real jerk."
"Mm, I wonder," Vanitas mused.
I stared at him, shaking my head. I moved my feet and tried to walk away from Vanitas once and for all. This has gone on for way too long. As I drew further from him, my feet felt heavier, as if they were telling me to not leave. Once I slowed down, I was tempted to look behind me to see if Vanitas was still there. I then remembered his words exactly saying that I would do that. I can't let him win this game. In fact, I shouldn't even be part of this game. It'll be like when we were kids and I was losing; I'll just throw all my pieces off the board.
I started coming earlier to school, so I didn't have to see Vanitas. I sat in my seat, head lying down on the cold surface. Whispers could be heard around the classroom, a lot of them concerning Vanitas and whatever he told them.
"Vanitas told me he thinks I'm easily replaceable," a silver-haired boy whispered to his friend. "Look how that guy has already moved on to the goofy looking guy and the loudmouth."
"You can't trust what Vanitas says," the boy's red-haired friend replied. "He doesn't care about anyone but himself, and he's just messing with everyone to entertain himself. People like him shouldn't even be even be alive. My gosh, I hate that guy."
Something about their words made me angry. Sure, they were right, but they didn't have to say it like that. Vanitas...he isn't always like that. He wasn't always like this. I could easily remember that one time by the train station. I was almost an hour late because of a family crisis, and he was still waiting there. When he looked at me, he seemed almost relieved. And even though he didn't say anything to me the entire time, I knew he wasn't mad at me. He might have actually cared if I never came.
"Shut up," I muttered, causing the two friends to look at me with confused expressions. "You have no right to say that about him."
After school, I saw him waiting outside my classroom. I was surprised to see him, as he never once came to visit my classroom before. In fact, after we finished elementary school, he never really visited my house at all like we used too. No more playing games of chess. The only times we'd see each other were before and after school. Slowly, I approached him. "What are you doing here?"
"You hate me, right?" he asked me.
"Hate you?" I repeated. "Is that what you think? Wait, would you even care if I hated you? Why are you asking this? I thought you didn't care what other people thought of you."
"I don't," he replied, sighing. He then turned to me, looking into my blue eyes with his amber orbs. "I care about what you think."
I stared at him, wondering if I was really talking to the same Vanitas I knew all my life. Vanitas looked away and started walking toward the front of the school through the hallway.
"Come on, we should go home now," he said, not even turning to look at me. "Don't slow me down, stupid girl."
That was Vanitas. I smiled slightly and followed him, looking at my right to see my surroundings. I noticed some of the cliques were together again, apologizing to one another. I could even see Terra and Ventus laughing together again, apparently making up after their violent fight earlier.
"Did you do this?" I asked Vanitas.
"Mm, I wonder."
A/N: Lame summary + too much...cheesiness. Sorry about that. Err, happy birthday, choco? I know how you love Vanitas/Xion now, so I tried to write...this. Eggy looked over it for me, so she's in on this gift. Sorry this is incredibly cheesy, like so cheesy you could put it all in a sandwich. Well, I hope you at least like it a little bit. Have a happy birthday!