Stranger Than Fiction

Chapter Two:

The Fighting

Author's Note:

Hello. This is chapter two. Thank you for your reviews, you're all so nice. I want to make it clear that, while the characters may seem a little OOC, that's because of changes in their lives. In this world, although in the game Sora's mom was nice (or at least we can assume by the way Sora treated others) in this he's learned to be nice because he doesn't want to end up like his parents…

Riku is tough because of where he comes from. And also for another reason which you won't find out until next chapter…

Disclaimer:

I don't own Kingdom Hearts nor any of the characters.


"Where have you been?" Sora's father, an imposing man of forty-six with greying hair and premature worry lines, demanded. Sora stared into his father's face defiantly, as Selphie cowered behind him.

"I went to the bookstore to get a book that we're going to be studying in my English class. Selphie came with me to see if they had her order in. You can ring them and check if you want," Sora replied icily. His father regarded him through his spectacles. Gucci of course.

"Don't take that tone with me you ungrateful bastard," He growled. Sora frowned, crossing his arms.

"That's funny. I thought bastards were people without fathers. Unless you're saying that you're nothing? In that case I wholly agree with you," Sora then tried to push past his father, the President of the Hikka Financial Empire, otherwise known as Hikka Internet Banking International.

"I'll teach you to answer back you little shit!" The man yelled, bringing his fist back. Sora backed off, pushing himself against a wall. He looked over his shoulder, not scared but trying to avoid the oncoming pain. It started with a back-fist across the face, throwing him across the room. Sora winced and rubbed his cheek. He saw Selphie hovering by the front door, her eyes wide, trembling in fear that her father might turn to her.

Sora glanced to the staircase and back to her. She took this as a sign and bolted up the stairs and into her room. Sora stood up, leaning on the wall for support as he looked up at his father.

His father… The monster didn't deserve children. Maybe he deserved Sora, the useless, dense, clumsy fool, but he didn't deserve Selphie, the bright, cheerful, pretty little girl who loved to play with her brother and brought sunshine to the lives of those around her. That was what Sora called her, Selphie Sunshine. When they were smaller and Sora would get beaten up, he would cheer her up by telling her stories of the magical Selphie Sunshine.

The stories eventually lost their glamour when Selphie began to get past the age when she believed them. When she had witnessed Sora getting beaten up, it had been she, no one else, who had come to his room and comforted him, made excuses for their parents, called him Silly Sora and made up a wacky tale. It seemed so long ago that they had been able to survive like that…

"I don't care what you do to me. I can't hate you more than I already do. I don't care if you beat me unconscious, at least then I won't have to put up with you're mindless controlling-" Sora was cut off by his mother's hand falling heavily on his shoulder. He looked at his mother, a woman who had been married to his father when she had been only sixteen, while he had been in his late twenties. It had been a marriage of convenience, rather than love. This meant that the two barely agreed on anything and were ill matched.

However, they shared one common despair, and that was Sora. His mother would pick out faults, his father would beat him into submission, and together they tried to pick their only son and eldest child apart. No matter how many psychologists they got in, none would ever find anything wrong with Sora, so his parents had decided it must be some kind of genetic disorder that made him like he was.

The truth was that to everyone else, Sora was a charming, cheerful boy, who liked comics, computer games, basketball and ice cream. To his parents he was an abomination, who was the bane of their existence, a son who challenged their authority, a child who fought back against the controlling hands of his parents.

"Sora, you will not use such a tone with your father. He is older than you are and he is your role model in life. You should pay closer attention to him, maybe then you'll learn how to behave properly," His mother said, venom in her voice. Sora shrugged her hand off.

"I don't care how I should behave. This is how I am behaving. Sorry if you don't like it," Sora retorted, pulling away completely. He saw his father's shadow shift and could tell that the old man was coming up behind him.

Although Sora could fight back. Although Sora could punch his father in the face. Although Sora could kick that old man so that he'd never get up again, something stopped him. Perhaps it was the fact that he was his father after all that stopped him, or maybe something else, Sora didn't know.

He braced himself for another beating.


Selphie winced from where she was on the staircase. She was on her knees, peering through the railings on the hallway. Below her Sora stood there, receiving blow after blow, barely making a sound.

Selphie felt the tears fall down her face, horrified that anyone would hit Sora, her big brother, her closest friend and companion in crime. How could anyone hit that round, happy, cheerful face and not feel like they were kicking a puppy?

Then again, her father would probably do that for fun…

She gasped as Sora was hurled to the floor with a final blow. Sora cried out then, the first sound he'd made since the beating began. Selphie drew back from the staircase, afraid. It had sounded too much like a death keen for her liking.

She retreated to her bedroom, the cry running through her mind like a broken record. She dived onto her bed, slamming the door with her foot and snuggled under the covers, pulling them over her head and covering her ears, trying to drown out the noises.

She found herself face to face with her teddy bear. She smiled, taking a hand away from her ears to bring him closer to her. She had called him Sky, sky blue being the colour of Sora's eyes, and being the meaning of his name as well.

The teddy bear was like Sora, one huge cuddly thing that only wanted to be loved and accepted.

Selphie pulled the teddy bear to her, closing her eyes against the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks. She hoped that poor Sora felt her love at least, while he was down there, taking a beating for being ten minutes late home.


Cloud frowned as he saw Sora approach him. The boy had a large bruise on his cheek and a cut on his forehead above his eyebrow.

"Sora, what happened?" Cloud rushed forward, taking that Selphie was perfectly unharmed but grim looking. He wondered what the hell could have wiped a grin off Selphie's face?

"I-er…" Sora faltered, then looked up at Cloud from underneath hair that was hanging a little bit lankly.

"I got mugged…" The brunet explained. Cloud clenched his fists.

"You called the police?" He demanded. Sora nodded, and rubbed his bruised cheek thoughtfully.

"Yeah. The police caught them and got my money back, so everything's okay, even if my jaw aches a little," Sora grinned, but Selphie was frowning at him. Cloud found it a little amusing that Sora's little sister would be the one to care most about his well being.

"As long as you're okay, I guess. Can't make moves on you if you're sick," Cloud chuckled. Sora laughed.

"Oh yeah? Like you'd ever make moves on an ugly mutt like me!" He replied. Both Cloud and Selphie opened their mouths at the same time.

"You're not ugly!" They said in unison, causing Sora to chuckle and shake his head.

"Yeah, I know I'm not ugly. I'm just stupid," He said, his voice taking a depressed tone. Cloud bit his lip.

"Sora, you're not stupid. You're not dense. You're not clumsy. You're just fine. Be happy with who you are, for God's sake the rest of us are," Cloud couldn't hide the concern in his voice, no matter how hard he tried. Selphie looked at Cloud through the corner of her eye and sent him a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Say, what lesson do we have first?" He asked. Cloud shrugged.

"I don't know. I rely on Kairi for the timetable," The blonde replied. Sora smiled and shrugged his bag of his shoulders and pulled out his timetable, reading along the day labelled 'Tuesday'.

"Oh man! Physics, Maths, English Language, Physical Ed and French! What a crap day!" Sora complained. Selphie sniggered.

"Well I have a great day, actually. I have all my favourite teachers. Aren't I lucky, huh?" She teased. Sora groaned and trudged into the school gates.


Riku looked up as Sora and Cloud entered the form room, Sora kissing his sister, Selphie, on the cheek as she waved goodbye. She peered into the room briefly, saw Riku, squeaked and left.

"We have physics first with Mr. Jally. He waffles a lot and is half-deaf so we'll just talk through that," Kairi was explaining the day. Riku listened with half-an-ear and waited for Sora to sit down in the only available seat, beside him.

"What happened to you, spiky?" Riku asked, cruelly, cutting off Kairi's description of their English Language teacher.

"Mugged," Sora grunted in reply. Riku snorted.

"Mugged? Why the hell would they bother to inflict those kinds of injuries to mug you? It's just a quick shot to the back of the head that they go for, to knock you out. Unless you have some demented muggers around here," Riku examined Sora's face. The brunet had been beaten up pretty bad, Riku doubted he could have done better himself.

"Yeah, well these were the retards of the mugging world then," Sora snapped. Riku smirked, it was twenty to nine in the morning and he had already got under the spiky haired boy's skin.

"You sure you haven't pissed anyone off recently?" Riku asked. Sora glared at him.

"I'll have you know that other than you, I get on with everyone in this school. Even if I had pissed someone off, how does that concern you?" Sora demanded. Riku shrugged and turned to Kairi. She was listening to their idle exchange of insults with rapt fascination.

"What?" Riku asked incredulously. She smiled a very fake smile.

"I never knew Sora was so fiery. He must be real pissed off," She said quietly, so Sora wouldn't hear. She then stood up and picked up her chair, sitting in-between Sora and Riku, her back facing Riku as she examined Sora's face.

Riku scoffed and looked around for someone else to talk to. Finding no one worth his time, Riku turned back to Kairi, who was fussing over Sora's split lip.

Stupid Sora, getting beaten up and taking away Riku's attention. Riku looked over and saw Kairi doing the completely wrong thing to do, causing Sora to yelp and pull away. Riku sighed.

"Don't be such a wimp. Wait here," Riku scolded, getting up and walking out of registration. The teacher watched him, without stopping him, and he was thankful she didn't. He might not have bothered had she stopped him.

He rounded the corner to his locker, and opened it up. He had a mini-fridge in there, on top of it was his books, but his fridge was the most important thing. It kept Riku's drinks cold. And it had a few cans of Fruit Twist flavoured Fanta in it…

Riku returned to the classroom with a can of Fanta in hand, slamming it down on Sora's table. Sora stared at it for a second. Riku rolled his eyes.

"Put a cloth around it and hold it to your face to take the sting away, stupid," Riku growled, sitting down. Kairi and Cloud were giving him a weird look now, and Sora was busy removing his thin summer jacket to see Riku's slight smirk.

The bell went.

"Keep the Fanta," Riku called over his shoulder as he walked away. He hadn't a clue where physics was, but he didn't care. He'd find it eventually…


When Riku finally got to physics, over half the lesson was over. Sora wrinkled up his nose as the boy went passed. He smelt of smoke, and that was the grossest smell ever.

"What's the matter, Sora? Never smelt smoke before?" Riku's voice ridiculed from the back. Their teacher, Jally, hadn't even noticed Riku's late arrival, or that Riku hadn't been there in the start. In fact, he was completely oblivious and was explaining to the only person listening about light waves and refraction.

"Shut up, of course I have, but it smells awful!" Sora waved his hand in front of his face as Riku sat down beside him, pulling out deodorant and popping peppermint chewing gum into his mouth.

"Better?" He demanded. Sora shook his head.

"Nah, you still stink," He replied. Riku bristled and looked about to hit the brunet, but he took a deep breath and slouched in his chair.

"Yeah, whatever," He closed his eyes and put his head back. Sora looked at the ceiling.

"Say, Sora, how did you really get those bruises?" Riku didn't change his position, or open his eyes. He was asking probably out of pure malice, but Sora wasn't going to tell anyone how he got his bruises. He was clumsy, that was all.

"Door," Sora replied automatically.

"Funny shaped door if you ask me. Who was it? Local bully? That little sister of yours? Your parents?" In Sora's opinion Riku was being far too prying. He pursed his lips, remaining silent.

"Or was it Cloud? You two having violent homo sex behind everyone's backs?" Riku's mask broke and he grinned maliciously.

"No, Cloud didn't do this," Sora said firmly, knowing that Cloud had probably heard his name. It had probably been a wild stab in the dark on Riku's behalf that he had managed to guess Cloud's sexuality.

"So one of the other's did?" Riku asked. Sora bit his tongue.

"No, it was a retarded door and some stupid mugger-thugs, okay?" Sora almost yelled. Riku opened his eyes, regarding Sora coolly and then shrugging.

"Whatever you say, spiky," He replied. Sora growled low in his throat. Who was Riku to doubt him? Who was Riku to pry? Was he really this much of an asshole, or was he really trying hard especially for Sora?

Well, he wasn't in the mood for it today. Feeling crap because his face was mashed and all the colours of the rainbow, Sora felt that the day couldn't get any worse, until he saw his timetable. Then he'd realised that he had Riku with him in every subject and the day became worse and worse.

"Stop prying into my personal life. It's none of your concern anyhow," Sora warned. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, then I'll ignore you the next time you come in with you're face black and blue and your lip split," Riku said easily, as though he had ever actually cared. They were just words, words to wind Sora up. Usually Sora would have shrugged them off, but today? Today he was pissed.

"Stop while you're ahead," Cloud warned Riku, seeing Sora's clenched fists and glazed expression. Sora stared hard in front of him, willing himself to think about something nice, like Bambi…

Wait, Bambi's mom died… Okay then, Beauty and the Beast… Hang on… The beast died in the end… There had to be something…

The bell went, signalling the beginning of second lesson and everyone jumped up from their chairs. No one heard the teacher shout out the words 'Essay on Light and Refraction for next week' and everyone knew he'd have forgotten about it when it came to collecting it anyhow.


Riku grinned as he passed the note. Sora opened it and stared down at the message.

What's up gorgeous?

Riku laughed as Sora glanced up furiously. He then looked at his English language teacher, the same teacher he had for English Literature, Kikuta, was still scribbling over work with red pen.

Sora threw the note back viscously, making it zoom passed Riku's head and bounce off the wall.

Just do your work and leave me alone.

Sora was scribbling down answers on his page. Their lesson was about emotive language, and how the words you use can trigger emotions in people. It was here that Riku excelled, for obvious reasons, and he happily replied to the note and threw it across the classroom.

You're beauty is distracting me o gorgeous one.

Riku was a little scared when he threw the note. It was almost as though he was being a little too sincere.

What are you up to?

Riku grinned at Sora's reply. He wasn't quite sure, but he wasn't going to stop now.

Has anyone told you how beautiful your eyes are? They're the colour of the sky. Such a pretty colour for such a pretty boy.

Riku wrote it down in his elegant script and folded it up carefully. He hid it when Kikuta went around to check everyone's answers. The only sounds were of pens scratching on paper and people turning the pages of their notebooks.

When Kikuta finally sat down, he took out a pen and began to mark more people's essays, this time in green. As usual, for every paragraph the student had written, Kikuta wrote one twice as long in green.

Er… Your eyes are nice too…

Riku smirked at Sora's awkward reply. He wrote down one word before throwing it back.

Fag.

Sora pouted when he read it and obviously didn't think of a good comeback, as when the lesson ended, he got up and walked straight passed Riku without even looking at him.


Leon stared at the little brunette, quite unsure of what to say to her.

"Hi! My name's Selphie! What's yours?" She asked. Leon nodded, he could answer that question.

"Leon," He replied stonily. She didn't seem put off at all by his reluctance to speak to her.

"You're brother is in my brother's year. His name is Sora, that's my brother's name, not your brother's. Your brother's name is Riku, right? He's really hot. I was wondering if you could set me up with him, you know? I would ask Sora, but they don't seem to be very friendly. In fact, I think that Riku is the first enemy Sora's had in school," Selphie rambled. Leon took a second to digest this information.

"No," He replied. She looked up at him, bottom lip quaking.

"What no? No Sora and Riku aren't enemies? No, you won't set me up with your brother. No your brother's name isn't Riku? No he isn't hot? No what?" Selphie asked. Leon sped up, trying to escape the little sunshine brat but she stuck to him like glue. Obviously she was used to this tactic.

"Hey Leon!" Riku jogged over, seeing Selphie he smirked at her evilly. Leon suddenly felt like he was about to be involved in one of his little brother's schemes. He didn't like the way he was looking at the little girl.

"Hey, you're… Sora's sister, right?" Riku asked. Selphie beamed up at him, incessantly happy that she was recognised by someone who was 'hot'.

"Yup!" She responded.

"Say, how did Sora get those bruises?" Riku asked. Unprepared for the question, Selphie blinked at him stupidly.

"Oh, er, funny shaped door and some retarded muggers?" She suggested. Riku's brow furrowed.

"You synchronised your lies?" He asked. Selphie grinned.

"No, it's the truth!" She protested. Riku scoffed.

"I'm not that stupid. Obviously you and your brother are to think that anyone would buy that story," Riku said cruelly.

"My brother's not stupid! You are! You don't know nothing about him so leave judging him out!" Selphie said, her voice rising slowly.

"I thought there was incest. You're both products of some kind of genetic malfunction," Riku's voice was harsh and cold. Selphie looked on the verge of tears.

"What right have you to judge us? What right have you to delve into our secrets?" Selphie asked.

"So you admit there are secrets then?" Riku pressed. She folded her arms.

"I'm not telling you anything!" She yelled. Riku took her by the shoulders and shook her.

"I know that you're lying, okay. I can only help you two if you tell me the truth!" He shouted in her face.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" A voice yelled. Riku looked up to see Sora running full pelt across the school football field at him. Dropping Selphie he shot Leon a look that clearly said 'get-ready-for-trouble'. Leon sighed.

Why did he have to have a brother like Riku?

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Sora shouted, his face up against Riku's. Riku stared back icily, unhanding Selphie, who staggered back, flushed and shook up slightly.

"I was talking to your sister," He replied. Sora growled deep in his throat.

"Talk to this!" The brunet suddenly shouted, slamming his fist into Riku's jaw. Riku staggered backwards, then arms clamped around Sora and he was dragged backwards. Riku was rubbing his jaw.

"You hit like a girl," Riku spat. He spat on the floor, red staining the car park ground.

"Really? Then you won't mind if I hit you again?" Sora asked sarcastically, going for Riku once more. Cloud grabbed onto Sora's arm but was shrugged off, this minor distraction meant that Riku could land a blow on Sora. It was soft and half-hearted though, and it brought Sora to his senses.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Sora, please don't! Stop!" Selphie was begging. Sora snapped back to reality, through the violent haze. Riku wiped his mouth, a trail of blood running down his chin.

Sora felt horrified at what he'd done. Had he… Had he turned into his father? He'd hit someone without any justification…

"Sora, come on. Let's go," Cloud said firmly. Sora allowed himself to be lead away, still dazed at what he had done.

Riku swilled out his mouth again.

"He knocked a tooth out Riku, you should go home," Leon warned. Riku shook his head.

"You're kidding? I'm going to find out where he got those bruises from Leon. I've seen too many people live unhappy lives…"

Ending Notes:

The review button needs feeding. Feed it, please…

A weird place to end? I know, but that's because I wanted to add another level to Riku and Sora's relationship. It's kind of hide and seek with the family secrets. I might change the name of the fic to that… But then again, it is about how weird life can be so maybe not…

R&R

Beta'd: 19/09/05