Disclaimer: We do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor any of the characters! They are all respectively copyrighted to Disney and Square Enix!
All's Fair in Love and Suburban Warfare
Chapter One
Subtitled: And You're Happy Why?
A/N: This was co-written with cloudrunner64.
Kira glared at her computer screen, her hair falling into her eyes for the millionth time that day. And it was only ten! She signed off MSN Messenger, her eyes flicking over the list of offline names one last time. Sadistic Butterfly stood out for some reason, and the girl snorted. She hadn't talked to her old best friend forever, probably because she'd moved almost two years ago. Pushing away from the table, Kira got up, looking moodily out the window. They were moving in a few hours. Her mother insisted they leave the computer. Turning back to it, she printed important things and wiped it of everything, including the messengers. Walking to her front room, Kira stood there sulkily, staring outside. One might have called what she was doing 'pouting,' but since Kira would murder whoever said such a vile thing, we shall just call it sulking and leave her be.
"Are you reeeeady?" Kira's mother danced into the living room, waving a piece of paper. "Whatever." Was Kira's only response. When the paper was shoved in to her hand and she was literally yanked out the door, the teenager repressed a growl. Taking one glance at the page proved a mistake. It was a photo of their new home. A 'quaint little thing,' her mother called it, in a town called Garden Springs. Quaint is for old people and ugly dogs, Kira thought acidly, falling into their car with a disgruntled "Oomph!" Staring out the window pout—sulkily, rather, Kira crossed her arms, determined to hate anything and everything about this new town.
Kayleigh spun around in her chair, catching a glimpse of the envelope sitting neatly on her bed, laughing at her every 360-degree rotation. A soft meow startled the brunette and she squeaked. In the span of several seconds the chair Kayleigh had currently occupied went careening out of control and toppled, taking the teenager with it.
Green eyes met gold and another mewl was heard. Kayleigh laughed and stroked the cat. "You dork." The black cat lashed its tail in indignation. Kayleigh rolled her eyes and sat up. A squeal of rage emerged from her lips and she clenched her fists tightly. "Cody! Get your stupid fat cat out of my room! She's eating my schedule!" A very pleased and very fat cat was chewing on the envelope that had previously been laughing at her.
A dirty blonde preteen entered Kayleigh's room and laughed. "Sorry Kay, she must find your classes tasty," he paused and grinned, "the same way I'd think Sora would!" Cody laughed again and picked up the over-sized cat and ran out the door as a shoe was thrown in his general direction.
Kayleigh sighed and picked up what remained of her schedule and bit her lip. She was still baffled by the whole 'Sora was smitten with Kayleigh' story Roxas had been telling her since she had moved there. Judging by everyone's teasing remarks the blue-eyed brunette had a major crush on her.
The brunette whimpered and flopped down on her bed. Her gaze wandered to the laptop blaring happily at her from her desk.
Kayleigh considered logging on to her MSN Messenger, but discarded the idea, despising the idea of being attacked with her friends' interrogations on what classes she had for the upcoming school year. Glaring down at the still sealed but slightly mangled envelope, which was to be her schedule. Kayleigh rolled off her bed, grabbed a pair of flip-flops and was out the front door within minutes.
Pulling her hair back into a ponytail and taking a quick glance at the surrounding houses, including the one for sale next door, she decided Roxas probably needed a visit on this sunny yet, very depressing day.
Axel was laying flat on his back.
"Shit!" the cords he was trying to wrangle together sprang apart again. If he didn't get the car fixed soon, he'd be in serious trouble. His mother would murder him. No, dismember him. No, boil him in oil and throw his limbs all over the yard! He sighed, his red hair already rather dirty. The car above his head was his enemy. It would die. But to be fair...was it really his fault the engine had caught fire and the cords to almost everything had separated? Needless to say, his mother had been furious. More than furious. Catatonic. Whimpering at the thought of what she'd do to him if he couldn't fix this—and fix it NOW—Axel attacked the wires again.
Roxas shot the mailman a venomous look as he deposited the letters, bills, and possibly the blonde's imminent doom. Once the mailman had finished he gave the teenager a cheerful wave and moved on, ignoring Roxas' mental death-sentences that were visible in the teenager's expression.
What sounded very much like a growl escaped Roxas' throat. Pushing himself up off the porch he stalked over to the mailbox and gave it a sound kick. The mailbox bent, creaked then rocked back into place. Resisting the urge to beat the innocent mailbox any further the blonde shoved his hands into his pockets and walked (stomped would be a better word for the angered teen,) off down the sidewalk.
He groaned, almost hearing Sora's cheerful chatter about the upcoming school year, next to his other infatuation, who happened to be their best friend. Sighing pathetically, he continued on, until the all-too familiar impatient mumblings of a certain spiky-haired pyro caught his attention.
Roxas grinned and tip toed over to the car and the red head underneath, fervently trying to fix the seemingly hopeless vehicle. The blonde kicked his friend's shoe, "Axel?"
"Ahhhhh! Don't kill meeeee!" Axel rolled from under the car and cowered for a split second before realizing who it was. "Roxas, you evil, underhanded, low-hitting, dirty rotten—" The grass caught fire behind him and he whirled, throwing himself on it to put out the flames. "Did you want something?" He asked sulkily, getting up and brushing himself off. Hearing another excited squeal from Roxas' house, the pyro made a face. "Sora got the schedule, didn't he?" He cast a glance at his house, then looked back at the car. "You don't think you could fix that, do you?" he asked hopefully, giving Roxas the full power of his puppy-dog eyes. The gesture was either added to by his overly dirty red hair, or detracted by it. "Mom's going to murder me if I can't get it done. But I swear I didn't set it on fire! On purpose!" His eyes grew bigger as a curtain twitched. To understand his fear, we must take a look into the mind of Axel's mother.
... On second thought, we better stay out of there. I don't want her chasing me with a butcher knife.
Roxas peered at the car and immediately a blonde eyebrow shot up. "What the hell did you do Axel?" He shook his head incredulously then grimaced at Axel's statement rather than the question that it was, "Don't remind me, are you still going to that private school? Mom wants to send me there but I gave her some excuse about the costs." The blonde shrugged. At the sound of footsteps he turned to be greeted by a familiar brunette. "Hey Kayleigh."
Kayleigh flashed him a smile, "Hiya Roxas. Avoiding your schedule, too?" At Roxas' glare she giggled then peered at the hopelessly damaged vehicle, "Woah, what happened?" She of course, being the blonde in disguise that she was, had not noticed the red head.
"I drove with mother, that's what I did," Axel moaned, dragging a hand through his spiky red hair. At Roxas' question, the pyro shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Well, um...not exactly...I might have...accidentally, of course...set the band room on fire and, um...well tuba's don't do well in heat..." He gratefully turned toward the girl. As he looked at her, he blinked. And then blinked again. "Um. It ...caught fire," he stammered, his eyes never leaving her face. "I'm Axel," he added, almost as an afterthought. He sent a glare at Roxas, obviously wanting an introduction that he'd missed.
Kayleigh gave Axel a curious look then smiled, "Oh! You're the one that goes to that private school. Roxas told me about you." She beamed and held her hand out in greeting, "I'm Kayleigh. And, if you don't mind me asking, how in the world did your car catch fire?"
Roxas glanced at Axel then did a double take, immediately noticing the look Axel was giving his best friend. His eyes narrowed dangerously. He knew that look; it was the same look Sora had when Kayleigh talked to him. The blonde groaned inwardly and placed himself between the pyro and the brunette, casually, so Axel wouldn't lunge at her like some rabid dog.
Axel reached out, grabbed Roxas' shoulders, and yanked him aside. Grasping her hand, the pyro gave a slightly embarrassed shrug. "Uhm well sometimes I have that problem, Kayleigh..." he held onto her hand a little longer than was necessary, and he only reluctantly let go. Kayleigh...oh, how her name rolled off his tongue with the sweet taste of chocolate and honey...how beautiful she was, and oh, how he longed to just pull her into his car and drive away...if the car worked, that is...His eyes went soft and dreamlike as he contemplated his future with the girl before him.
Roxas yelped as he was easily removed from protecting his friend. Kayleigh was, of course oblivious and Axel would kill him if he dragged the brunette away. About the only thing the blonde could do was glare at the pyro.
Kayleigh dismissed Axel as being a little weird but it leveled out with his attractiveness. She gave him a curious look and glanced at the car, "Mind if I take a look?" Without waiting for a response she lifted the hood and examined the engine, "Hmm I'd consider your engine well-done." She surmised absent-mindedly.
Axel sniffed. "I like to consider it a more...medium-rare shade." He glared at the car as though it was the cause for any and all problems he had had and ever would have. He ignored Roxas' glare, giving his friend a deadpan look, not entirely sure why he was being so...irritating about it. The girl was hot! Could he help that? No—for once—he most certainly could not! However, it WAS his fault that there were tiny flames hovering near her shoes.
"Cloud!" Sora called, near dancing through the house. He was waving a paper wildly above his head. "Schoooool! We got our schedules and everything!" He danced—perhaps pranced is a better word—Into the kitchen, looking for his cousin. He thought of Cloud more like his brother than anything, but hey, what could he do. "Isn't it going to be fun?" He looked around, big brown eyes sparkling. Sora was indeed a very innocent and fun-loving boy, but anyone would have wanted to shoot him now for his enthusiasm of the one thing all teenagers hate: school.
Cloud resisted the oh-so-tempting urge to flee at the sound of the very excited teenager for the beginning of the new school year. Unfortunately, the brunette caught him in the kitchen before he could move. He twitched and forced a grin, "That's great Sora." He gritted through his teeth. Despising the memories of his school days. "I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun. Are you ever going to ask that girl out that you've been ogling since she moved here?" The blonde's eyebrow raised in question.
Sora halted dead in his tracks, brown eyes going wide. "W-what? No! I don't like her that way." He blushed, and blushed hard, belying his words. "And I haven't been ogling her." The indignation in his voice was countered by the deepening of his blush. "She just lives close. Anyway. LOOK!" Immediately happy again, Sora pulled the white paper delicately from the envelope. "I have Mrs. What's-her-name and I have Mr. Bogus—you know, he teaches History! Riku had him last year." the brunette continued citing off his classes, all the while running around the kitchen as though standing still to read something was absolutely ludicrous. "Oh and the new family is moving in today and I have MATH WITH THAT ONE TEACHER! LOOK!" He thrust the paper at Cloud, his eyes dancing merrily.
Cloud remained unfazed by Sora's excited chatter and patiently waited for the brunette to pause for breath, which seemed to be almost never, and made Cloud wonder if Sora was some hybrid fish. He blinked at the mention of the new family moving in. "Their moving into the house next to that girl you like? Maybe we should welcome them to the neighborhood, on the way over you can ask that girl out, too." The blonde said simply in a deadpan tone.
"And—" Sora paused, not breathing as he stared at Cloud. "I don't LIKE her," he spluttered. "YOU go greet them or something. I'm going to get my things ready for the school year. Geeze, Cloud. Are you obsessed with her, 'cause you sure talk about her a lot..." Sora shifted, trying not to seem jealous or anything.
Cloud managed the smallest of smiles, "Of course Sora. I hope you enjoy your afternoon arranging school supplies. I'll let Kayleigh know you said hello." The blonde used the girl's name as if he were talking about someone totally different than Sora's obvious crush.
Sora nodded furiously, then narrowed his eyes at Cloud. "It's Kayleigh, not Kayleigh," he said, as though he'd made some huge breakthrough with that discovery. "Well...I guess I could come with..." He got a dreamy look in his eyes. Oh, how her name rolled off his tongue with the sweet taste of chocolate and honey...
Cloud feigned a look of surprise, "Sora, but your school supplies won't be in order in time for school. You only have a week away. Don't worry; I'll make sure your greeting gets to Kayleigh without fail. You should get those supplies in order." He nodded matter-of-factly and with an absolutely straight face.
"No, I'll go with you," Sora said stoically. "I'll still have six days to get ready. I can make it." he took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling. "Barely. But I can do that. It's Roxas who'll need more time. He never is ready when it's time to go to school." The brunette gave another self-suffering sigh and looked at Cloud. "I better say hi to her myself. You don't put feeling into it." He said almost poutily.
Cloud rolled his eyes but gave the excited teenager a break, "If you're absolutely sure, then let's go." Without waiting Cloud exited their home and walked down the driveway then came to a halt to wait for Sora.
Kayleigh rolled her eyes, "Well, it's fried either way." She slammed the hood down and looked over the car. "I doubt it would have lasted much longer..." She hesitated and sniffed, "Do you smell rubber burning?" She glanced down at her feet and squeaked, feeling the heat against her feet and panicked. The brunette made a misstep backwards and fell.
Roxas' eyes widened and he dove to catch Kayleigh but to no avail. Although he was able to crawl over to the dazed teenager, "Kayleigh, you okay?" Kayleigh nodded mutely and he breathed a sigh of relief. In the midst of shooting Axel a glare he caught sight of an unfamiliar car making its way slowly down the street.
"SORRY!" Axel bounded over, offering his hand to her. "Sorry. Roxas gets really out of hand sometimes. I should muzzle him, but I've yet to find one that fits." He smiled apologetically, his hand shaking slightly. "And the car is stupid. I didn't kill it. It killed itself."
Sora, only a little delayed, bounded after Cloud, looking up and down the street expectantly. "OF course I'm sure why wouldn't I be sure I mean this is great to be outside the last week of freedom and—" he kept chattering as the car rocketed past them, sped into the driveway, and slammed to a halt.
"Ow! JESUS MOTHER!" Kira was thrown into the window as her mother stopped the car. "Sorry! She called cheerfully. Kira got out of it sullenly, muttering unkind things. Their things were here already...but not unpacked. That was their job, apparently. She stomped through the front door as her mother, happily oblivious, began pulling things from the car.
Kayleigh laughed at Axel's comment and accepted his hand gratefully and pulled herself up. "Thanks." Without a second glance she turned and helped Roxas up then caught sight of Sora and Cloud, "Hey guys, I think they're going to welcome the new family. We should go too, just for kicks." She shrugged and looked to the two boys.
He smiled at her, squeezing her hand before letting go. "Sure thing. Oh yeah, Cloud and Sora...new family?" this was the first he'd heard of it. But as he saw the car screech to a halt, he grinned. "I already like whoever's driving that thing." He started walking to where Cloud and Sora stood. Well, sauntering is more like it. Waving his ass around might be and even BETTER description. Not that it wasn't a nice ass, to be sure. It was quite lovely, in fact.
Roxas, plenty happy of a subject change and new scenery as well as the possible opportunity to get Axel away from Kayleigh nodded in agreement. "Sure. Anything to prolong looking at my schedule."
Cloud watched the car rocket past and slam to a halt with wide eyes, ignoring Sora's constant talking. He hesitated and glanced back, considering the idea of visiting the new family. If that was the new family and the mother driving, she was an absolute lunatic and the spiky-haired blonde didn't want anything to do with the family.
Sora blinked, watching the car. "Are people supposed to drive like that?" he asked, confused. Hearing the crack as the dirty blonde's head hit the window, he couldn't suppress a wince. "Are they crazy?" he asked, even more curious as a woman—full grown, mind you—danced into the house with a pillow in her arms, singing some sort of odd song...wait. Was that Jingle Bells?!
Kira slammed the door and stalked back to her room. A computer was set up there, a brand new one. She didn't even smile at it, only growled and turned around again as her mother entered the house, singing something that sounded too much like Jingle Bells for comfort.
Kayleigh rolled her eyes at Axel's comment and watched him saunter towards Cloud and Sora. And he was waving his arse, so Kayleigh couldn't help but chance a look. The brunette approved then jogged to catch up with the red head, with Roxas in tow. She waved, "Sora! Cloud! Wait up."
Roxas watched Kayleigh's gaze wander to the pyro and felt his blood boil. It wasn't like he was jealous, more that he knew that the girl deserved someone who wasn't a player like Axel said he was. Amazingly the blonde tolerated being towed behind Kayleigh.
Cloud stared along with Sora then turned at the sound of his name. He was able to mask the wicked grin as he caught sight of Kayleigh. Oh yes, this would be a good day. Taunting Sora and meeting the crazy neighbors. Good day, indeed. He waited patiently for the girl and two boys to catch up.
"Heya Sora, hello Cloooooud..." Axel drew the blonde's name out, bowing in a over-exaggerated gesture, giving him the chance to wave his rump in the air a moment before straightening and shoving his hands in his pockets as though he was the most innocent thing in the world. The image was tarnished by the fact that anyone who knew him knew that he was one of the most dirty-minded boys who ever lived. Not to mention the fact that his hair was still dusty from being under the suicidal car.
Sora turned, his eyes beginning to sparkle like the Fourth of July was taking place inside them. "Hey Kayleigh!" He called happily, almost ignoring Axel. Blinking, he sent a dazed look at the red head, who was watching him closely. "Hi Axel...so Kayleigh did you get your schedule yet?" He practically bounded up to her, smiling widely.
Kira came back to stand outside as her mother, who was, in fact, singing Jingle Bells at the top of her very large lungs, pulled something else out of the car and ran inside with it. Kira stood at the end of the driveway, her hair falling over her face as she glared out at the pavement. The little group of people on the sidewalk didn't interest her. She barely glanced at them through her hair, then focused her eyes on the concrete. If looks could...well, do anything, for that matter, she would have burned a hole it in it by now. China would have been MORE than visible.
Kayleigh smiled at Sora, "Um yeah, my little brother's fat cat found it very tasty." She grinned and shrugged, "Haven't um, had the chance to look at it. School's not my best subject." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. Kayleigh glanced around Sora and at the girl that stood in the driveway. "She looks way familiar, maybe I know her." She thought.
Roxas gave Axel an infuriating glare, yeah the red head was one of his best friends but he just pissed Roxas off far too often for comfort "Axel, didn't you have to fix that car before your mom murders you?" He asked, hoping that the pyro would leave. Glaring at the two boys ogling Kayleigh he shifted his gaze to the girl standing in the driveway and blinked several times. She looked pissed, but in an extremely attractive way.
Cloud rolled his eyes at Axel's greeting, "You kids have fun, I have some...important thing that needs to be done. Because it's important." He supplied and turned heel, heading back to the house leaving the group of teenagers behind. He'd welcome the crazy new family once they had things settled.
Sora laughed and shook his head. "Well, I guess if it finally has a use..." He bobbed his head, smiling widely. "Mine either! But I know all my classes and all so I think it'll be fun. Maybe we have some classes together...?" His eyes took on a hopeful sheen. Sora was now completely focused on Kayleigh, not even seeing the girl in the driveway or her mother, a box in hand, standing there looking at them all with a bemused look.
Axel turned around as Cloud left, looking right past Axel to Kayleigh. He ambled back over and around behind her. "I got mine too," he said, butting smoothly into the conversation. "But I hid it somewhere and now I can't find it. Either that or it caught fire." He smiled vaguely, remembering how many times he'd had to replace that poor mailbox already. Well, it was either that or instant death.
"Jingle—" Her mother had started again. Kira whirled. "MOM! It's. Not. CHRISTMAS!" The woman blinked at her daughter a moment, who was standing with her hands on her hips, her hair over her face still. There was a long pause, and then her mother turned away, happy as ever. "Born to be wiiiiiiiiiild!" Kira resisted the urge to scream and turned back to the road, verily shaking with anger.
Kayleigh returned Sora's smile and rocked back on her heels, "Yeah, maybe. I'll e-mail you my classes once I find the courage to look at my schedule." She gave Axel a deadpan look then rolled her eyes. Looping her thumbs into her belt loops she walked over to the girl standing in the driveway. "Hey."
Sora bounded after her, nodding enthusiastically. "Okay! That'd be great." He glanced at Axel with slightly narrowed eyes. Axel gave him a cheesy smile and sauntered after them. Sora smiled at the girl in the driveway and called out, "Hi!" in his most chipper voice.
Roxas had to hand it to Kayleigh; she definitely knew how to blow guys off. He sneered at Axel and jogged after the brunette. The blonde put on his most handsome smile and sidled up next to Kayleigh to gaze upon the dirty blonde that was currently paying them no attention.
Axel grinned sadistically, seeing the way Roxas was looking at the new girl. She still hadn't turned toward them yet, though by the way her shoulders had gone rigid, she was planning to. He was fairly sure he was the only one with firepower, so to speak, although as she turned her head to look at them all, he had to wonder.
"Hi," Kira snapped, making no effort to gentle her voice. She didn't recognize Kayleigh at all, and looked away too soon to think about it. Instead of turning and killing them all, she focused her gaze on a little pebble, willing it to explode into a million little pieces. It didn't, of course, but imagining its destruction made her feel a little better.
Roxas couldn't help the gaping look that he was now giving the new girl, she seemed to be even more pissed off than he was! That was incredibly talented for one so new in the neighborhood. He cast Sora and Axel a sideways glance before returning his gaze on the pissed off teen.
Kayleigh's smile faded almost instantaneously. She peered at the girl curiously. "Hey, um, welcome to the neighborhood?" Kayleigh attempted still trying to figure out where she knew the girl.
"What?" Kira snapped again, not even hearing what she'd said. Turning around fully, the girl brushed her hair out of her eyes, spared Roxas a scathing glance, and looked back at Kayleigh. "Look. It's great that you're trying to be nice and all, but you're wasting your time. You can just go away now." She waited, glaring at them as though it'd make it happen.
Axel would have gladly gone; she was a scary person. But Kayleigh wasn't moving, so neither would he. The same went for Sora, who was now looking at the ground sadly, disappointed by her reaction.
Roxas stared. Kayleigh blinked and took a step back, surprised by the other girl's blunt outburst. "Uh, sorry..." She murmured quietly. "I guess I'll uhh...see you around or like at school or something." Kayleigh turned and started to take a step towards her house then whirled around. "Kira!" She blurted.
Kira's eyebrows, if it had been possible, would have shot through the sky, gone through outer space without a problem, bounced off Mars, and ricocheted right back, where they would have hit Roxas in the head, causing some very interesting problems. Especially because Kira would have been eyebrow-less. But I digress. She blinked, her eyebrows-currently still attached to her face-lifted high. "Who the fuck are you?" she asked, none too kindly. She still didn't quite remember Kayleigh's face. Or at least, not at the moment. Her spectacular eyebrows began to lower in a scowl, reversing their intergalactic movement and sending them through the concrete, down the earth's core, and shooting out the other side, going through China, back in time, and hitting a certain General Shang Li in the butt. Hypothetically speaking, of course. For if they had really done that, she would have been eyebrow-less and some very interesting problems would have been caused. (Stop being redundant.) Right. Anyway.
She blinked, then thought back to the morning, when she'd been somewhat less pissed off and her eyebrows had not been considering intergalactic movement. Her MSN window flashed into her mind (bing, bing). "Wait. You're not...that one girl...Kayleigh?" The name brought a face to her mind, and with the face came memories. "Oh! You!" Almost reluctantly, her eyebrows resumed their normal state, disappointed that they had not gotten to see Mars. Or Shang Li, who everyone knows is a hot hot, hot hottie. (Don't tell Mulan I said that.) That said and re-said; Kira let a weensy bit of anger go long enough to smile. Slightly. Barely. In fact, it was so tiny that one probably would have needed a microscope to see it. But it was there. Somewhere.
Axel, who had just opened his mouth to defend the future mother of his babies, stopped dead as the possible future of a certain pair of eyebrows flashed into his mind. By the time he had finished wondering why anyone or anything would want to hit Shang Li in the butt, Kira had gone from screeching like a freaky little banshee wanna-be to a microscopic-smiling-maybe-I-know-you person. He closed his mouth, which had been gaping, and looked at Kayleigh with startled green eyes. "You two know each other?" He asked, more than a little surprised.
Sora, who had just opened his mouth to ask the girl—politely, of course, this IS Sora we speak of—to shut up, paused as the future of a certain pair of eyebrows flashed into his mind. However, he did not spend time wondering about Shang Li's butt. Instead, he blinked, wondered why these crazy images stalked him so, and looked at Kayleigh. Since Axel had already asked the fundamental question, Sora added-rather lamely—"Yeah...you do?" Axel gave him a raised eyebrow.
Kayleigh beamed and threw her arms around Kira—Ignoring the fact that she might have her face ripped off for physical contact—"Kira! It's been forever! I can't believe you moved here and you're like... Next door to me too! This is like so wicked awesome! Did you get your classes yet? We should so compare schedules and see what classes we have together!" The brunette took a step back as well as a breath. "Okay. Freak-out moment over with." She smiled sheepishly. Kayleigh hesitated then reluctantly introduced the boys that were huddling (fearfully) behind her. "Um, oh yeah, this is Sora, Roxas, and Axel. Some friends of mine." She shrugged casually.
Roxas plastered one of his most charming smiles over his visage and held out a hand to Kira. "Welcome to the neighborhood. Don't mind the two doofuses." He jabbed a finger at Sora and Axel.
The girl blinked, rather unused to PDOA's since Kayleigh had left. However, instead of ripping her face off and running to the house for safety, she returned the hug and stepped back as well. "It has been forever, yes we moved here, yes I'm next door to you, sure that's wicked awesome, no I don't have my classes yet, yes we should, and I'm glad." Trying to keep up with all her questions was tiring indeed. Taking a long, slow breath as she listened to the names (Sora, Donald, Goofy?), Kira nodded. Eyeing the hand Roxas offered, she reluctantly offered hers as well. "Thanks. Don't worry. I will."
Giving an offended sniff, Axel added, "Huh. Got it memorized?" At the dark look and lifted lethal eyebrow, he quieted and looked at Kayleigh. "So how do you know each other?" he asked, edging a little closer to her, running a hand through his red hair.
He edged closer as well, blinking his adorable little blue eyes. "Yeah, did you live close before?" Sora asked, giving Axel a glare. The pyro neatly ignored him, his green eyes on Kayleigh. Sora focused on Kira, inching past Axel to be nearer to Kayleigh.
Kayleigh cast a look at Sora and Axel and rolled her eyes. "We used to live by each other. We were like, best friends. Then lost contact when I moved here." The brunette shrugged a shoulder. "But, anyway, do you want us to help you unpack or anything? Or would you rather I take you up on your first offer of leaving?" Kayleigh said mockingly.
Roxas shook Kira's hand gently but displayed no public ogling of her. He, instead, shoved his hands in his pockets and dumbly nodded in agreement with Kayleigh's question.
A car pulled up to the curb and the passenger's window was rolled down, "Hey guys." A sultry male voice greeted. It was obvious that Kayleigh suppressed a shudder at the sound of that particular voice. Within the car sat a strange silver-haired boy with even stranger turquoise-blue eyes that gave most girls butterflies.
Sora immediately bounded over to the car, a smile lighting up his whole face. "Riku!! Where have you been?" the brunette paused, leaning over to make a face at his friend, smiling widely
"Oh, shut up," Kira said, lightly socking her friend in the shoulder with the hand Roxas had let go. "Uh...I still have crap to unpack...more like... everything..." It had gone quiet now that her mother had gone inside and STAYED inside. She turned at the sound of the car, and blinked at the boy inside. One hand popped automatically to her hip as she eyed him, about to tell him off for parking there, but seeing as he wasn't in her driveway, she held off. And, he was... adorable...in fact, he might just measure up to Shang Li's butt. But that wasn't for sure.
The red head turned toward the car, a slight smile on his face. Riku was one of Sora's best friends, and Axel didn't mind him, either. He hadn't been around in a while, though...
Kayleigh narrowed her eyes and started towards Kira's house, "Come on let's get your stuff unpacked." She supplied in hopes that Kira would ignore Riku and follow her. The brunette stopped halfway up the driveway and gave a self-suffering sigh.
Roxas gave Riku the same look Kayleigh had given him but stayed his ground, ignoring Kayleigh's attempt to pull her friend away from the silken-haired boy.
The boy gave Axel a curt wave then chuckled softly at Sora's antics, "Hey Sora. Thought I'd come see what you guys were up to." He cocked his head to peer out the passenger's side window at Kira. "Hey, you a friend of theirs?" He turned the car off and stepped out, closing the door behind him. Riku strutted around the car to where Sora, Axel, Roxas, and Kira stood and leaned against the car.
"Oh, well I'm glad you did," Sora chirped, looking up at him happily, seemingly not seeing the strut, nor the apparent dislike of him. "Yeah, she's Kira, she just moved here," he said, giving the girl a little smile. Kira gave a slight nod in response, and he sighed in relief; he'd been afraid she would rip his throat out for saying her name. However, she didn't seem quite so angry now that she knew someone...
Her eyes flicked to Kayleigh, who'd moved almost to the garage door. If one hadn't been looking for it, one might not have seen it...but the girl shifted, just enough to put her body between Riku and Kayleigh's. Her hand, however, remained rooted to her hip as one eyebrow took an upward stance. "So to speak," she said dryly, in response to his question. Her hair flopped over her face, covering her lifted eyebrow. Noting how most of them reacted to this boy, she had to wonder what it was about him they didn't like. He was cute...but the cutest people could be the most evil.
Axel, unknowingly mimicking Kira's eyebrow, shifted back on his heels at Riku's curt hello. Instead of moving closer and following Sora's example, he turned and sauntered up the driveway to stand beside Kayleigh. "You don't like him," he said softly, his green eyes neutral for once.
Kayleigh looked up at Axel and gave a sniff, "No. Not really. Why do you care?" She asked a little harshly. The brunette fidgeted nervously and visibly froze when Riku stepped out of the car.
"Well, because I like you," Axel replied easily, ignoring her snappishness for the time being. He noticed Kira's little shift and nodded slightly, having a weensy bit more respect for the evil-eyed (eyebrowed?) girl. "What about him don't you not like?" he asked curiously, turning his startling green eyes on her.
Roxas gave Riku a deadpan look and hoped to go unnoticed and listen on the outside of the current conversation that was going on between the silken-haired boy as well as Sora and Kira.
Riku cocked an eyebrow at Kira and gave her the same menacing look that she offered to him. "Cool." He said smoothly and looked down at his best friend. "You seem...extra happy today Sora." A malicious smile crept its way to his lips, "What's got you so excited? Other than school of course." Riku mocked and gave Alecia the smallest of looks.
Sora tilted his head slightly, giving Riku a puzzled look. "I'm always happy," he said slowly, as though Riku needed time to absorb it. "Nothing has me so excited," Sora said, completely oblivious to the reference. "School is going to be fun though!" His eyes lit up again at the thought.
Tilting her head just slightly to the side, Kira narrowed her eyes at him. The more he twitched and opened his pretty mouth, the more she began to dislike him. So, turning around, she began heading toward the front door, feeling no obligation to stay still and listen to the freak—erm, boy.
Kayleigh sighed and gave Axel a sideways look. "It's nothing. Forget about it." The brunette looked towards Kira and bit down on her lower lip and chewed. She cast her eyes downward, "Look, thanks Axel, but you really don't need to try and get my attention. You've got it." With that she jogged to catch up with her friend.
Roxas watched (as if shell-shocked) Kira start up the driveway and followed pursuit. Sora would catch up later. He was getting the distinct feeling that he wasn't the only one who had a dislike for Riku.
Riku rolled his eyes upwards and gave a slight smirk. "Hey," he called after Kira. "You just moved in, right? I'd gladly offer my services to help you unload all your stuff." He said genuinely. He pushed his hands into his pockets casually.
His green eyes lit up with a slow smile. Sorry, Sora, he thought, a little regretfully. But hey...Sora was a still a goofy kid. Axel wasn't. A little goofy, sure...he wouldn't deny that...outright...The red head followed Kayleigh, not walking, but sauntering. He wouldn't out-right flaunt what she'd just told him in front of Sora...yet. Not until the brunette got over his infatuation with her. Sure, he wasn't Sora's best friend, but Roxas was part of Sora, so he couldn't really be cruel to one without incurring the wrath of the other. And he liked Roxas far too much to do that. Well, that and the fact that Roxas would murder him. Axel was a pyro and a great fighter, but Roxas's temper wasn't one to be messed with unless you had a REALLY big stick. Which, at the moment, Axel did not.
"I think we'll be fine," Kira said, half-turning back to look at Riku. Ahh, what a face...too bad it had to be attached to that mouth of his. However, at that same moment, her mother appeared. "And I—Oh, hello!" she said, obviously quite pleased to see the people crowding into their driveway. Having just caught Riku's help offer, and not having yet seen Alecia, she smiled at the boy. "I'll take you up on that if she won't," she said, then turned and gestured at the front door, which was, of course, wide open. "It won't be hard to know where things go, just shove them in random spots and we'll fix it later!" she said merrily. Then she blinked, and gave what could almost be classified as a fan-girl squeal. "Kayleigh? Is that yoooou?! And your boyfriend oh how neeeeat to see you again?" Axel smirked and gave the woman room as she bounded up to Alecia. Kira inched away, her hair falling over her face again as she made a face. "Mother," she hissed, but she was, of course, ignored.
Turning, Sora caught a glimpse of Axel and Kayleigh talking, and he frowned slightly, wondering what they could have to say to each other. Roxas was already walking away, and the brunette sighed, following him. "C'mon then, Riku," he said, then stopped, not wanting to be included in the squealing and hugging that was going on in front of him.
Kayleigh laughed as she was caught up in Kira's mother's arms. Totally unfazed by the bubbly cheerfulness that Kira absolutely hated. "Hello to you too Mrs. Wishfall. Ah...err he's not my boyfriend." She said, a faint blush touching her cheeks. Once she had released her grip on Kayleigh she beamed, "We're only all too happy to help!" She said in mock cheerfulness as she cast Riku a dark look.
Roxas refrained from running for cover when Kira's mother entered the scene. He instead, casually pocketed his hands and took a measured step backwards. An eyebrow shot up when he noticed the red headed pyro standing much closer to Kayleigh with a smug look of accomplishment. Not good.
Riku smirked and joined the small group. "Where do we start?" He asked, in a I'm-taking-over-this-job-and-you-all-will-be-my-loyal-minion s tone of voice. His strange-colored eyes twinkled mischievously as they landed on Kira. 'My Queen.' His thoughts seemed to echo.
Kira rubbed at her forehead, already tired. Glaring at her mother, she said with an incredibly fake, sweet voice, "Mother, let go of the nice children...there's a good girl..." Stepping forward, she hauled her mother off of Kayleigh. "We'll take care of it. Go away." She shoved her at the car. Mrs. Wishfall shrugged happily. "I've an errand to run anyway...have fun!" she grinned devilishly and left almost as quickly as she'd come. Kira whirled around to look at them all and made a face. Brushing her hair back behind her ear, she pointed at Riku, steamrollering over his over-bearing demeanor. "You. Prissy one. Inside. You can have the kitchen. Kayleigh, come help me with my room, will you? The boxes are all inside the rooms that the items belong in. So no one is to come into my room with a shruken head that so obviously belonged in the living room. Got it? Good."
Axel grinned at the boyfriend comment. "But I will be," he muttered so only she could hear. He winked lightly at her, just in case she took offense to his adorable-ness. Seeing Roxas's eyebrow, the pyro tried to put on a solemn face. But it kept cracking as his lips twitched.
The brunette, however, had excellent hearing, and caught Axel's boyfriend comment. He froze, staring at Axel with wide eyes. He...what? Something around the region of his heart cracked, as though he'd suddenly realized that Kayleigh really didn't—and wouldn't—like him that way. Sora, realizing he'd frozen, ducked his head and scuffed at the dirt lightly, his eyes just a little too shiny. Then the sheen that may or may not have been tears was burned away and Sora stood perfectly straight. He was a level 99 Keyblade master, not a wussy prone to giving in because the girl he was in love with might love a retarded little red-headed, low hitting, dirty rotten, scum-eating, low, evil—Sora halted his thoughts long enough to take a breath, then resumed them again for a moment. When he had fully satisfied that rare anger, he was semi-happy again...only more determined to win Kayleigh over to him. There was no way he'd let AXEL have her without a fight.
Kayleigh narrowed her eyes at Axel for the over-confident comment. Oh yeah, he lost quite a few points there. She flipped her hair over one shoulder and followed Kira into the house and into her room. "Stupid boys..." She muttered darkly and did a once-over of the room. "Oh, nice. Shouldn't be too hard to unpack. So what's been going on? I see you've improved on your meanness." Kayleigh giggled and stuck her tongue out mockingly at her friend.
Roxas stifled his laughter when Riku was called a prissy. The blonde noticed Sora's sudden mood-swing and glared at Axel, for whatever reason had caused one of his best friend's to be the slightest bit sad. "C'mon Sora." He growled as he trekked in the house after the girls.
"Prissy one?!" Riku all but roared (or more suitably, screamed.) After a few agonizingly long curses and utterances from the silken-haired boy he was able to compose himself and a most definite evil smirk graced his lips. "I'll have you yet, and your little dog, too." He muttered and sauntered after the others.
Completely oblivious to Roxas's glare, Axel followed Kayleigh, but took a sharp turn, taking a medium sized room with a large window...that let him listen in quite well on what was being said.
"Coming," Sora told Roxas, semi-cheerfully. He followed the blonde until he walked in the door. Then, he carefully chose his room...the one on the other side of Kira's, which would allow him to listen to what was being said. Not that he would...on purpose...but the walls were pretty darn thin in some of these houses, you know...
Roxas watched Axel and Sora pick their designated rooms and rolled his eyes. He turned around and headed towards what looked to be the family room, that was farthest from everybody else's' but closest to the exit if need be. He snickered quietly to himself as Kira yelled at Riku.
She rolled her eyes and shrugged a shoulder then, her eyes suddenly shadowed, though that was concealed as her hair fell over her face again. "Yeah...well...stuff happened," she muttered at the carpet. For a moment she was silent, which allowed her to almost catch Riku's statement...and certainly his roar. She threw the door to her room open, turned in his general direction, and yelled, "Oh shut up, you silver-hair wuss!" A smile played around her mouth; she would have fun with this one.
Kayleigh doubled over in laughter at her friend's comment to Riku. "Oi, I hate that kid, don't know why. He seems way too stuck up. I think he likes ya." She grinned and seated herself in the midst of the boxes and opened the closest one to her. "D'ya wanna talk about what happened? Or save it for a more personal time." She smiled and tucked a stray strand of her brown hair behind an ear.
Riku clenched his fists but tactfully kept his mouth shut. He looked around the kitchen and sighed. It would seem that he needed a plan. And a very good one at that. Kira already hated him, and that was not a good thing. He needed some accomplices to help him with this one. He opened one of the boxes and started removing the contents and placed them wherever they seemed to fit.
"He kinda does seem that way..." Kira said thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side to listen. "Eh, doesn't matter if he likes me or not. No one is going to fall in love with me anyway—" she wrinkled her nose and shrugged again. After staying quiet a long moment, she leveled her eyes at her friend. "You were my best friend for a really long time," Kira said slowly, picking her words with delicate ease. "But now we've both changed. You have boys hanging all over you. Literally. And I'm...probably even more different than you," she laughed softly, without much feeling. "Why don't we get to be friends again—If we still can be—before we go disclosing life stories, hmm?" That said, she turned to a box and yanked it open, listening to the house and the people in it. She thought about yelling at Riku again, but changed her mind.
Being careful not to break anything, Axel grinned. Kayleigh did have boys hanging off of her...but he was confident that soon, he would be a step above those...OTHER...boys. The grin faded slightly. Poor Sora.
The brunette pulled something heavy and rather large out of the box...and promptly dropped it on his toe. It rolled away, clanking loudly, and he hopped around, trying not to squeak too loudly.
Kira, automatically assuming it was Riku, yelled, "Hey! Freaky boy in the kitchen! Don't drop stuff, how 'bout?!"
Kayleigh sighed and leaned back with a pillow tucked firmly in her arms. "Yeah. Deal. I don't want boys hanging off me though. I hate to break any of their hearts." She sighed once more. "Aw c'mon Kira, you're gonna have guys all over you once school starts." She said with a smile. She laughed again as Riku was called yet another name.
"I didn't drop anything!!" Riku yelled back sulkily. He shoved another item into a seemingly adequate place and sighed, flicking his silken hair over one shoulder (rather girlishly for such a manly man) and glared at the rest of the boxes crowding the kitchen.
Roxas snickered to himself the entire time whilst listening to Kira's name-calling.
"No one wants them hanging around like the lamest lawn ornaments in the antique store," Kira muttered at Kaleigh, glaring at the door. "If they're going to do that, they should at least look as good as last year's tree-topper." Stalking to her doorway, she yelled, "Well, if it wasn't Prissy-boy, who was it, and what was it?"
Sora squeaked, "M-me...and ...Umm...it was a..." He looked at the thing in confusion. "A...thingummy?" He cringed back from the doorway as though a dragon was going to come through the door and eat him. His Keyblade couldn't take care of an angry girl and he knew it. Hence the fear. Well placed, indeed.
"Oh. That." She walked into Sora's chosen room and scooped said thingummy off the floor. Seeing him casting glances toward the corner he wished to cower in, Kira snorted. "It's nothing important. Not even breakable. Watch." She dropped it again to illustrate. Sora grinned weakly as she picked it up and headed toward the kitchen. "It also goes in here, with Mr. Pompous," she told him and Kayleigh, as she passed.
Kayleigh grinned and followed Kira, casting Sora a sideways glance. "Interesting...Thingummy." She announced happily but immediately the smile faded when Riku looked their way. Her cheerful green eyes took on a dark look as storm clouds (ones you'd find in My Little Pony) gathered in them.
Trying not to laugh, Axel unpacked his boxes silently, snickering finally as Kira flung more names Riku's way. Maybe she could succeed where most of them failed—taking Riku down a few thousands pegs or two. The only other time it was possible was when Axel got the opportunity to set his hair on fire. Oh, hadn't that been a fun day...
Roxas peered into the kitchen then rolled his eyes and ventured to Axel's designated room. He took on a dangerous stance and eyed Axel darkly. Clearing his throat, he waited for the red head to begin his line of excuses or, maybe, possibly, if he looked mean enough. He could get a direct answer from the red headed little retard, as previously stated.
The chakram-weilder didn't even notice Roxas for a moment. He reached up, putting away something he didn't want to know the name of, and then, as he turned around, caught sight of Roxas. He smiled at his friend, putting his hands on his hips lightly as the blonde scowled at him. The smile began to fade then, and Axel cocked his head to the side, extra dust falling out of his hair. "What are you looking at me like that for?" He asked, a little confused.
Roxas' scowl deepened, "Why do you think wise ass?" He growled. "You. Kayleigh. What's going on?" The blonde asked bluntly. "You've got three seconds to answer me. You're three seconds started two seconds ago." Roxas crossed his arms.
Axel's eyes flickered and he went back to the unpacking. "Your threats mean absolutely nothing to me, Roxas," he told his friend bluntly, not bothering to look at him again. "I kicked your butt before. I can do it again. As for what's going on with me and Kayleigh, why don't you ask her, wise-ass?" The pyro turned, put something in a corner, and then leveled a full-on green-eyed glare at Roxas. "Instead of coming in here and acting like I've done something horribly wrong. You're my friend, not my judge," he reminded coldly.
Riku amazingly gave Kira, the slightest of cruel looks then gave Sora a curious look, "Ah, so it was you, the oh-so-famous wise guy who go me, Mr. Pompous in trouble?" He said mockingly and opened yet another box full of strange oddities.
Seeing the startled, more than slightly hurt look Sora gave Riku, Kira set the thingummy on the counter. Taking Riku's box from him, she gave him the sweetest smile in the world. Punctuated by the not-so-sweet words of: "Get out. Thanks for your help so far. I've got it from here. Thank you." Putting the box on the counter, Kira wriggled around behind Riku, put her hands on his back, and gave him a less-than-gentle shove toward the door. "See you later," she told him, the cheerful note in her voice giving it a pretty lilt.
Kayleigh stared in utter shock as the silver-haired pompous brat we all love and know as Riku was given the boot. Efficiently, too. "Woah. You're like, a goddess Kira." Alecia snorted once she knew that Riku was officially out the door and gone.
Riku opened his mouth in protest but found it to be useful as he was effectively kicked out of the house and to the curb. "Shit." He growled and left as if he had gone of his own accord.
Kira turned back to Kayleigh, cocking an eyebrow. "How so?" She asked, snorting a laugh as the door shut. "Any one of you could have kicked him out. You just would have needed one of these." the girl drew a steak knife out of the block she'd just pulled out of the box. Flipping it in the air, she watched the silver metal with a calculating look in her eye. Then her hand flashed out, caught the handle, and put it back in the block with the rest of the knives. Shoving it to the corner, Kira turned back to her box.
Sora went back to his room a moment, quickly unpacking his last box with no incidents. He sorta felt bad that Riku was kicked out, but what was with that remark? It hadn't been necessary, had it? After all, Sora hadn't MEANT to drop that thingummy...nor had he meant for Riku to get blamed. Could it be helped that the boy was such a snob sometimes? Well, perhaps it could be, but not by Sora.
Kayleigh rolled her eyes, "I'm a fan of knives, but I prefer the larger ones. But I also prefer much more painful tactics." The brunette gave a sly grin and winked. The girl sighed and shrugged, "Wow, it's so much nicer to have a friend...that's a girl. Roxas and I have been best friends but it's just not the same y'know?" Kayleigh said reflectively. "Err, what I mean to say, is I'm glad you're back." She smiled and hugged her friend.
Roxas scrunched his nose up (rather cutely) and huffed. "You can't have Kayleigh." He said stubbornly and turned on his heel; exiting the room. The blonde peered into Sora's designated room, "Hey, what happened with Riku?" He asked, his voice a much softer and kinder tone than it had been with Axel only moments ago.
Kira opened her mouth to reply as she returned the hug, but at that moment, her mother came back inside. How did she know? "Happy Together" began ringing through the house, bouncing off the walls, and all of it rather off tune. She winced and drew back from Kayleigh just as her mother called, "Thanks guys! Who wants pizza? On me!"
Kayleigh gave Kira a sympathetic grin and laughed, "Sure Mrs. Wishfall! That'd be great!"
Sending a dark glare at the doorway Roxas had just vacated, Axel heard the call for pizza and began ambling in that direction. He wanted to set something on fire, but refrained. He didn't want to be castrated, thank-you-very-much.
"I dropped something," Sora said guiltily, "and Kira thought it was Riku so she yelled at him." He omitted the comment Riku had thrown his way and shrugged. He might have said something else, but then the call for pizza echoed down the hall. "OOH! Come on!" Grabbing Roxas' arm, he yanked his friend after him.
Roxas gave a strangled yelping sound as Sora grabbed him and hauled him into the kitchen with the girls and Kira's mother whom had so graciously invited them to have pizza. Dinner? With Kira? A pleasant (that's right, I said pleasant) grin crept across Roxas' visage.
"Well, then let's go!" She said happily, and with that, the troupe of soon-to-be friends crowded at the door, Kira unwillingly following them.
A/N: R&R Pleeease!
