A/N: This is probably going to have at least one or two more parts to it, but since I am writing drabbles right now, I'm publishing in small chunks. Please look forward to the rest of the story!
Street Rats
Sora had been on the streets almost as long as he could remember. Once, he'd had a mother, and they had lived in a tiny hut with other people, but one day, he'd come home from playing in the market, and she wasn't there anymore. The other people in the hut would've taken him in, but Sora was restless and adventurous, and without a mother to come home to, he decided it wasn't the same. So, he lived on the streets, becoming a street rat like any other orphan.
And like any street rat, he quickly learned what he had to do to survive. He made a game of it, pickpocketing people in the market, lifting food and wares from the merchants. And because it was a game, it was fun, and Sora always had a smile on his face. He wasn't alone, and that made it fun, too, because he could swap stories with Tidus and Wakka and Selphie, about which theft was the easiest, and which one had been the biggest challenge to overcome.
And sometimes, he saw a boy, Ku, who was quiet, and obviously had a home. Even in his rags, he had the look of someone well-fed, but he was looking for fun and adventure, too. Sora didn't mind teaching him tricks, and anyway, Ku was a quick learner, who was willing to share some of his own knowledge. They found sticks and sparred, pretending to be guards for the palace, and they exchanged barbs towards the sultan and his spoiled prince.
But neither of them meant it. The sultan was kind, and his son fair and lovely as the moon, or so they'd heard. They both admitted to never having seen the prince themselves.
"Wouldn't it be nice to be a prince? Wouldn't it be nice to lounge around the palace all day, and be able to do whatever we wanted?" Sora mused one day.
He didn't notice the color in Ku's face, accompanied by a small scowl. "I don't think being a prince is quite like that."
Sora pouted. "Well, what would you know about being a prince?"
"I know that you can't be one."
"I could be if I married him!"
Ku scoffed. "You can't marry the prince. Princes can only marry royalty. They wouldn't let a street rat like you near the prince." His face softened. "They don't let anyone near the prince."
"That must get really lonely."
"Yeah."
Sora didn't see Ku again after that day. He missed his friend, but he didn't worry overmuch. After all, wherever Ku had come from, he had food and shelter. He was safe, and probably doing whatever it was that people that weren't street rats did. Maybe he was a jeweler or some other kind of craftsman. Maybe his father worked for the palace guard. Sora had never asked, because he hadn't wanted to shatter the illusion for his friend, that they were equals, both from the streets, but he started to wish he had.