Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Short, sweet and simple.

A/N: You'd never think this one would be fantasy. Believe me, I had a full plot already (involving cooking), but it swerved off the road like a truck being driven by blond chickens. It's basically more on tactical war and magic now (at least until the truck hits a rushing train or something…I hope anyone gets my analogy).

Pairings: RiSoRi(that's RikuSoraRiku for the non-shipper) for the definite pairing. I'm having internal debates whether I should have AkuRoku/AkuRokuNami, SeKurao/ReKurao and the other minor pairings. –blinks- You do know Cloud's name when japanized goes like Kuraodo, right?

" I need those carrots in here NOW!"

Students around them merely shook their heads as a certain brunet's incessant shouting ringed across the Cooking Room. The brunette took a ladle, dipped it until it filled with frothy stock, and took a sip, before his thick eyelashes contorted to a displeased frown.

It wasn't good, wasn't good at all…yet.

"Tidus! There's not enough pepper in the stock! Add more!" Sora placed the ladle down as he went over the next person, his voice was tinted with impatience and intolerance. The mentioned blond visibly winced at the impatient tone, but coalesced and added more of the mentioned spice until the surface was swimming in flecks of black.

"Namine', slice the potatoes in uniform sizes! Make it thick!" He almost balked; a potato peel slid itself under his shoe and caused him to nearly slip before he caught himself immediately, using one skinny arm to bring himself back up the counter. He straightened himself up nonchalantly at that, and went over to his next group mate.

"A-ah! I'm sorry!" She reddened, as she took the knife and murdered the potatoes with loud, hewing sounds. A lot of the people around her backed away a few meters, hoping to put some distance between them and the dangerously-flailing knife. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Sora paid no heed to the apologies (and potatoes) flying in the air. He was over it as immediate as the incident ended.

"Vincent, are the chicken pieces sautéing in there?"

A thumbs-up came from the stolid boy. Sora grunted, tapping a finger once into the counter as if ticking off an invisible clipboard.

"Roxas, finished rubbing the herbs?"

The other brunette boy's eye twitched in annoyance, before he nodded and proceeded to dump the dried herbs into the coconut milk that was stewing in the gas stove.

Everybody in the group took a backseat as Sora took hold of the whole cooking-in of the chicken curry. Stock, cream of coconut, potatoes, carrots, and bright green Bagiou beans swirled around the bubbling, yellow green mass. The sautéed chicken was dumped, by the said boy, unto the rolling surface, teased by the steam and by the heat. Flecks of black pepper and Cayenne dotted the immaculate surface of the curry.

And for the coup de grace, a tablespoon of the finest ground coffee.

Sora was no less, the centerpiece of the cooking opera. His practiced movements as he reached every missing ingredient with ease, his hands weaving in and out of various shakers and bottles, shifting from stove to countertop, all in a matter of seconds, his concentration was unwavering and one might have thought of as foolishness in devoting to a mere dish of curry.

The concoction erupted a flare of scents, catching the attention of the other groups and even the instructor, whose petite face failed to hide the wonder and anticipation of being able to eat the Sora's chicken curry. The scent was overwhelming, powerful even, like a tendril of madness rushing up through the nostrils and towards the brain, delivering a painful curry-smelling blow.

"It's done!" Sora slumped towards a seat prepared by his mates. The seriousness in his expression earlier melted away to be replaced by childhood vigor. "I bet Aerith-sensei would go off in one of her dramatic reactions once he gets a hold of our dish!!"

The group held their breaths before turning to grins of their own. Sora-senpai's smiles were very infectious, almost in retroaction to his serious and solemn façade when cooking. Sora was a jerk when he cooked, he was a very serious and untouchable jerk when cooking was involved; but he was a very good friend outside the kitchen.

"Sora-senpai…" Tidus sighed, smacking himself upside in the head, confusing the brunette. Tidus was earlier irritated at Sora's attitude, but it seemed to have run off of him when he recognized the boy he knew to be his childhood friend (though technically, Sora was a year older). He was the most familiar to the brunette's bipolar attitude towards cooking; but he also was the most immature about it. "You know very well that Aerith-sensei has no complaints with your cooking!"

"I have no complaints here." Roxas raised an idle hand as his nose picked the curry's heavy scent. He sighed, fanning the scent more towards him. He was a laidback teen who knew how to appreciate the good things in life. One of them in near-reach, was Sora's home-cooked meals.

"Sora-senpai's cooking is the only thing I'm not lazy to get." He added, stretching his arms and limbs before slinking back to slouching in the kitchen stool.

"That's cause you always mooch off of me every morning, Roxy." Sora grinned. "The cafeteria's open at 7 in the morning, but you always insist on eating at my dormitory. Which is 2 blocks away from school."

"WHAA? Roxas – you jerk!" Tidus threw a chicken bone at the boy, half-irritated and half-playful. "I'll eat at your place tomorrow too senpai!" He grinned, his fangs glinting proudly, not wanting to be left out from the fun of eating.

"You guys!" The brunette complained, a bit distraught. "Don't run me out of town! I barely have enough food for two people – "

Vincent dropped a rather thick wad of cash beside Sora. The brunette glanced at the money before turning upwards to notice an unnatural smile in the stolid boy's lips.

"Uwaa! VINCENT!? You too!?" Sora ogled the boy's wad of cash, said boy in question walked away to get some dishes and platters for the curry.

Vincent simply nodded, he made no denial and the answer was curt and direct.

He was creepy and a bit anti-social. But friends are friends, no matter what. And he was very loyal to his friends.

"Aye! Vincent's a rich bastard! See? He prefers your cooking over his family's chef! You should feel great Sora!" Tidus patted Sora on the head. Idiotically clueless, or foolishly carefree; Tidus was rather immune to Vincent's creepy behavior.

"Uhm…" Namine' hesitantly cut in, raising her hand a bit, her tone soft enough to cause everyone to quiet down and listen. "If it's okay Sora-senpai, can I join all of you tomorrow too?" She spoke softly, twiddling her fingers over each other again and again; a grown habit ever since she became friends with Sora and the gang.

"SURE!!" Sora gave her a big thumbs up. "Vincent gave me enough to make a feast for all of you guys! You should probably thank him, not me."

"VINCENT!" Sora, Tidus, Roxas and Namine' (surprised at the group's outburst at first) faced the boy, who just returned with the plates, and bowed deeply with half-mockery and full-appreciation. "THANK YOU FOR THE MEAL!!"

Vincent smiled.

Chapter 1

The club erupted in activity once Aerith-sensei had eaten Sora's curry. She had immediately ran off towards Zack-sensei's sports club and had dragged the confused teacher with him back towards her cooking club.

Sora wasn't a very proud person, but this was definitely one of this few moments he would have loved to brag about.

Zack-sensei was notorious to be very picky about what he ate. Something about being a former military officer had him paranoid eating stuff he didn't personally cook. Or that of Aerith-sensei's.

The teacher ended up asking for some to eat for his own lunch. Sora felt his heart grow big at that.

"Full marks, Sora!" Aerith-sensei marked a large A+ on his grade sheet. Their group cheered, Tidus hugging Sora, Namine' clapping, Vincent remaining impassive and Roxas smiling. Even a few others joined in to clap for them.

"I'm confident this'll stay the same until the Cultural Festival next month. This'll be the first time you're joining, so I hope we can beat the visiting school this time around." She spoke, unforgivingly affectionate and with great fondness.

She commended the group once more, then turned towards the other groups to examine their own curry dishes. Just in time too, since the bell for lunch had rang. Roxas took his own bento, empty of anything except rice. Namine' had the same for her pink bento box, while Sora, Tidus, and Vincent had their own sour flat bread in place of rice.

The friends talked while eating, as some of their other friends from other clubs joined them. Pence, a friend of Roxas, known for his voracious appetite, had immediately helped himself to the curry. Kairi, Namine''s cousin, looked embarrassed to join them but discarded her apprehensions when she started eating. Zell, a petite, blond boy and a year younger than any of them was a close friend to Tidus. The boy had the same name as Tidus's dog, and was constantly being teased by Tidus about it. Still, Sora had been a very good senpai to Zell, and even Vincent had no complaints to the boy's constant tailing, so he was able to bear with Tidus' constant teasing, even taking the boy's teasing in stride.

To Sora, this was one of those days when he could feel complete contentment. Contentment, as in that which filled his heart with warmth. Friends laughing together, talking together, sharing over good food and iced-cold tea, smiles and laughter here and there.

He looked outside the window, birds flying towards the branch of a nearby tree. Leaves in summer green, sky unmarked with white and stretching in endless blue, the incoming breeze slapping his face with remarkable heat, filling his face with young blood and making him blush. Life was good.

"Woooo! Look! Look! Sora-senpai's turning red! He's thinking of something perverted right now!" Tidus' laughter broke him off his train of thoughts, almost causing him to fall off his chair. The others simply laughed as Sora threw a ladle that expectedly bounced off of Tidus' head.

Life was good in its simple way.

It would surprise a lot of people to know that Sora was actually the leader of the ragtag group of friends. With age comes status, and because of that unwritten rule; Sora became the big brother of everyone there…even if he also was the shortest of the bunch.

This height difference caused everyone to still treat him like he was the youngest. A fact, which rather annoyed him sometimes. Tidus, usually, would be the first person to go out of whack and disrespect that unwritten rule. He rarely called Sora his senpai, but simply…Sora.

Roxas was too lazy with the honorifics, and Namine was just horrible with it. Last time Sora coaxed her to call him senpai, he spent the next hour telling her to stop. Vincent was the typical black sheep of his family, and was left behind a year. Technically, he would have been Second Year; but due to his escapades both in and out of school; he remained being in the first year. Vincent was smart, sometimes too smart, which led to his boredom and usual flights from the classroom.

Sora had spent the last minutes of his class talking to another boy about their assignment. He was just leaning on the doorframe of their room when he saw a flash of blond and a rather-too bouncy of a boy rushing towards him.

"SENPAI!! SORA-SENPAI!!" Good, thank God Tidus was addressing him that, knowing they were on the sophomore's part of the building. His colleagues are rather cruel to disrespectful underclassmen.

"Tidus?" Sora raised a brow in askance. Tidus rarely went straight to his room after classes, much less cause a ruckus in this part of the building. "Something wrong?"

The boy grinned, quelling Sora's thoughts that something bad had happened. "It's nothin' bad senpai. The gang's waiting for you at the gate though. Everyone wants to pitch in helping buy all the stuff we'll need for tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning…" Sora's mind wandered off before he realized. "AH! Cooking! I almost forgot!" Sora turned towards the boy in his class, hurriedly explaining something to him. The boy nodded, before leaving both of them in the doorframe. Sora did the same and took his bag from his chair, leaving the room and saying his goodbyes to his classmates.

"Ara…Sora-senpai, is something wrong?" Tidus asked the teen, obviously zoning out as he was staring outside the window of the hallway.

"Tennis." Sora muttered. Tidus cocked his head towards the window, curious.

True enough; outside were the tennis courts. The noisy bouncing of balls against rackets and the rowdiness of the people could be heard. Tidus found Sora pouting while looking at the people playing below.

"Didn't you like tennis back then, Sora-senpai?" Tidus inquired, lightly taking the older boy's bag off his shoulder. The brunet smiled, thanking the gesture, before turning back towards the windows. "I remember senpai would always frequent the tennis garden more than the play park with us."

"Mhm." Sora mumbled, half-answering and half-dreaming. " I was pretty good back then. When I was a kid, I had always thought tennis was nothing but fun and playing."

Tidus caught on the troubled look on his senpai's face. "What gives, Sora-senpai?"

"A year ago, I was in the tennis club, not the cooking club. They dubbed me as the 'super rookie' because I was able to beat most of my senpais back then. I had thought that maybe I had the right stuff to become a regular back then." Sora sighed deeply at the memory. "Tennis was fun for me, it will always be. But I didn't want the politics that went with actually joining the school's tennis club."

"First years will always be ball boys, no matter how good you are. I was a bit cocky back then, and was angry at that rule. So many of the first years with me were better and had more experience than the older members. Not that I was impatient waiting for a year before becoming a regular…but they liked harassing freshmen who stood out too much."

"Is that why you quit tennis?"

Sora smiled at that. "Quit? No. I still love tennis, but I've switched to cooking after that incident. The teacher likes me, and I don't think I can and want to leave the club anymore. Tennis will always be first, but cooking is not that far from my heart."

"Cooking and tennis…" Tidus shook his head. "What a weird combination, senpai."

"That it is." Sora grinned, ruffling the younger boy's hair, messing it up.

They both laughed, as they disappeared in a corner of the hallway.

Shopping was pretty much uneventful.

Unless you didn't count knocking three pyramids of soup cans all over the floor, mutilating half of the produce section's vegetables into horse fodder, catching a kid shoplifter (Zell felt very proud at himself for noticing the shady boy) and finishing off almost everything in the free samples section.

Yep, pretty much uneventful.

The sun had almost set in the horizon as they saw Zell off towards the train station. Zell lived in a different part of town, unlike the group whose homes were dispersed around the school.

"Bye guys! See ya tomorrow! Tidus, call me when I get home! Remind me to bring the magazine tomorrow, kay!?" Zell yelled rather too enthusiastically before the train's doors closed. Tidus was left waving his hands with less vigor than the waves Zell gave him even as the train started moving.

"Awww, Tidy-widy. Call me when I get home pwease?" Roxas made sloppy kissy-kissy sounds, earning a few laughs from the group minus Tidus. Said blond merely took a stalk of leek from the bag he was holding and slapped it at the back of Roxas' head. Roxas rubbed the sore area. He scowled and blew Tidus a raspberry at that.

"Oh knock it off you guys." Sora chided. "Tidus, put the dangerous thing away. And Roxas, put your tongue away." He shook his head at both of their immaturity. Tough luck being the senpai of the group.

"Break it up you boys." Namine folded her hands on his hips, her earlier shyness quickly dispelled. "Especially you Roxas, you're too lazy to do anything except eat Sora's cooking and tease Tidus."

Roxas straightened at that. "…sorry, ma'am."

Sora blinked. "Wow…you got him whipped Namine'." Tidus snickered at Sora's comment, while Vincent coughed.

Namine' turned red again, however, when Sora talked. She broke down into a bundle of nerves, just like she was earlier at the club. Predictably anyway. Sora wondered why she could boss anyone around, but break down in front of him.

Too much twiddling and shuffling caused a pack of some sorts to fall out of Namine's pocket. Roughly four inches in length, three inches in width and fifteen centimeters in height (Sora had frankly no idea where he got those approximate measurements). They were wrapped in old leather, he could tell, and a simple abaca cord kept the small package intact.

"Namine'-chan?" Sora took the pack, feeling it to be suspiciously akin to cards. "What is this?"

Namine turned redder still, embarrassed by a little bit. "Special tarot cards. Uhm…I brought it from a traveling gypsy lady a few days back. She looked Chinese of some sort…"

Tidus peeked in. "Ooh, Tarot cards? Aren't those the ones used for telling the future and stuff?" The girl nodded. "Sora-senpai knows how to read Tarot?"

Sora shook his head slightly. "I'm not really good at reading the cards. I do know how to read it, but not like how you think others do."

He returned the cards to Namine'.

"Let's drop by my place. I'll explain it in a bit."

"Now let's see here…"

The group had gathered around the living room coffee table for the promised novice Tarot reading. Tidus had earlier vacated the magazines and the flowerless vase, whilst Namine was fumbling around the kitchen for some tea.

"As I said earlier, I did mention that I do know how to read cards. Unlike what you may think however, I can only use it to read people's characteristics."

"For example," Sora carefully shuffled the cards on hand, finally setting six cards down. "Let me try with myself."

"This is how I read. Three cards at the top most represent the past, present and future. Three cards at the bottom represent who we could have been but are not."

"They are buried characteristics, and may represent another side of us. You could say that having those personalities may not make you any different than who you are right now."

Sora carefully opened the left card down, earning the curious stares of everyone.

"The Past Tower. It means a revelation, a sudden change. It also means chaos in one's life."

Tidus had pointed it out immediately. "Haah!! Could the Tower symbolize what happened to your parents back then, senpai?"

Sora smiled, softly though. "It could be. Call it coincidence, but the cards were very specific not to choose Death, but rather the Tower that was struck down…The Tower with a man and a woman…September 11…"

He brushed the memory off, giving a fond smile to Tidus. "It's okay. I'm over it. What happened, happened."

Namine had cut in almost instantly though, her hands curling into a fist. "But it's rather weird senpai. You were right. It's very weird that the cards were very specific. It's rather scary."

Roxas had slid in closer to the girl, whispering it was just coincidence and other comforting words. Sora frowned at that. Could it have been merely coincidence?

Sora turned the second card up.

"The Present Emperor." Sora let out a relieved sigh. "It means authority. Leadership and order. A man who reigns, a man who oversees everything."

"Kind of like where we are right now, senpai?" Tidus grinned, sniggering. Vincent merely nodded and even Namine let out a chuckle. Everyone relaxed quite a bit, the mood lightening up a bit.

Sora continued laughing, as he opened the third card.

"Ugh…" Sora bit his tongue, surprised and somewhat not-expecting.

The picture was of a hooded figure with a skull in place of a face. His bony fingers pointing directly at the card holder, and at his feet were the decapitated heads of both humans and animals alike. On the scythe the figure held, was a sheath of wheat, with stalks bleeding of red blood.

"The Future…Death. Sadness…conclusion…loss. The end." Sora spoke with a resigned breath.

The others weren't as calm as Sora though. Tidus had immediately backed away, muttering 'oh shit, oh shit' several times. Namine had suddenly jumped on Roxas, who was just as surprised both at the card and at the panicky girl. The boy fell on his back, suffocating as the girl held him on a death grip.

"Na…na…mi…ne'…" He coughed, losing air by the second. The girl had realized, she immediately let go but still hid behind the blond's back, whimpering 'I'm scared-sorry -I'm scared…"

Vincent only whispered a small expletive. But that was that…Vincent never, ever cursed. This really had upset him quite a bit.

"Relax, kiddies…Death doesn't necessarily mean dying." He snorted slightly, trying to lift the grim atmosphere. "Death can mean reincarnation, rebirth. It could mean the end, yes, but not in the physical aspect. Relationships, problems…things like that."

"Nevertheless…" Sora frowned, staring at the card once more. "This card isn't usually a good sign."

Everyone backed away, with Tidus forming his fingers like a cross and directing it at Sora's consternated face.

"All right, now you guys are being silly." Sora shook his head. "I said this was for fun only, don't be too serious about what the cards are saying."

"Fun or not," Tidus cut in. "That picture of Death is scary."

"Course he is." Sora huffed, scratching his head. "You can't expect him to wear pink and give out flowers now, do you?"

He opened the next card below the Tower just to get it over with.

"The Past Sun. Energy, radiance, vigor and innocence." Sora looked taken aback. "My past life must have been a very happy and optimistic boy."

"Which is so not like you right now, senpai." Tidus snickered, still not moving in though.

Sora gave him a look of consternation, as his hands sought out the card below the Emperor.

"The Present Moon. Deception through illusion. Apprehension and conflicts in ideals. From innocence, a big responsibility. Confusion…"

"Sora-senpai thinks that the child was suddenly burdened with a great responsibility that caused confusion?" Namine asked.

Sora turned towards her. "Took the words right out of my mouth." He muttered, a bit worried. It seems he had led a hard life even before he knew it. Or might lead one. Or is already leading now. Tarot was very vague when it came to stuff like this.

"The Future Star." Sora smiled aptly, grinning upwards to face everyone. "Renewal and the end to confusion. Stability, optimism, peace and faith for a bright future. I guess everything ends well."

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Since when did grass grow in his living room?

Scratch that…since when did his living room have trees and mountains in the background?

The morning sun hit his face with genuine warmth. A summer gale crept across the meadow he was sitting on, mildly moving the cards sitting on the table – no – the tree trunk. A few birds flitted by, chirping happily. The clouds moved fast in the blue sky.

He could see houses from a distance. A trail led towards a dirt road that stood out from where he was standing from. He could hear the tilling of land from the wheat field an acre away.

The trees shook gently against the wind, giving up some of its dry leaves.

There was a large bee's nest hanging on one of it's limbs.

A termite mound was beside him, standing ominously like a pinnacled castle of the earth.

He took the cards from the surface of the tree trunk, and pocketed them carefully.

Standing up, he braced himself, when a strong gust whipped his hair out of place.

His kouhai had disappeared, vanished from him.

Or was it that he was the one who vanished before them?

"Where…"

There was a village nearby. He should probably go there and see if they have a telephone.

"Where…"

Everyone was dressed in peasant-y garb. Was this some village that cosplayed the old era for tourists?

"Where…"

A boy was looking at him from the dirt road, same blue eyes as he had. He was wearing a clumsly looking turban, but a few of his familiar, sandy blond hair still peeked out.

"Where…am I?"

No one answered.

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