A/N: Hi guys. (: Thanks for staying with me to chapter two!

Off topic: So, I was playing Kingdom Hearts II, right? And my new favorite line of Sora's is, without a doubt, "And then… we can go see SANTA!" THAT… was the CUTEST thing ever. I just about died. x3 I was just like "Oh Sora… You dork, you." If he'd been that cute in the first game instead of being so serious all the time, I'd probably like him more. But… in the first game it was a lot of GRRRR and not enough childish, to me, for the kind of character they're portraying him as. That's just my opinion, though. ;P

Also, I say "ker-scuffled" now. Thanks, Goofy. xP

Thanks so much to MegaPig and Aelkain for reviewing, and a major uber big thanks to DracoZombie for all your help! C:

Dissssssssssssssssclaimer: Still don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, Roxas would play a much bigger part in II. He'd be able to like… talk to Sora and mess. It wouldn't just be random glimpses, OH NO. It'd be like a whole other personality! They'd have contact like Agito and Akito from Air Gear (don't own that either xP) and it would be amazing! But I don't own Kingdom Hearts, the second game has already come out and it's just… oh well.

:D

Kingdom Hearts: Contact
II. Change My Life

School passed by faster than Roxas was used to the next day; he blamed it on his reuniting with Axel. It was nice to catch up and laugh again, just like they had before the beginning of Roxas's sophomore year. He could almost taste the sea salt ice cream still on his tongue.

The blond ventured out into the hallway just after the bell rang, dodging people and glances all the same. To his luck, his locker was on the same hallway as his pre-cal classroom, and it only took seconds to get to locker 013. Unlucky Thirteen… So, we meet again. Roxas had found that the superstition had followed through to his locker, and for the first two weeks he was assigned it, there was more yelling and jerking and banging than actual book exchange, but in the end he'd coaxed the metal beast into reasoning with him. 42… 37… 12. The door creaked open.

He fished around inside it, searching for the Algebra II binder he'd brought for tutoring. He knew it was in there… somewhere.

"AH HA HA HA! I know!"

Roxas paused. He knew that laugh.

"It was the funniest thing!"

A chorus of laughter followed. Roxas gripped the book he was holding onto so tight he swore he'd break the cover and tried to resist glancing to his right, knowing he wouldn't like what he would see. His curiosity to see just how much enjoyment was happening over there got the better of him, though, and he looked. Blue eyes flicked over to the other end of the hallway and the mouth below them almost retched. He shouldn't have looked, he knew it.

Sora strode down the hall, gloved hands folded behind his brunette hair, a grin of monstrous proportions plastered on his face. His dark blue eyes were hidden behind his eye lids and he went on blindly, trusting, with his 'friends' that Roxas hated so so much (not that Sora had seemed to notice this fact). None of the teenagers surrounding Sora seemed to be their own person; they were all wearing the same style of clothing, all brightly colored, with brand-name shoes and all laughing at Sora's story in a way that wouldn't look embarrassing. The brunette was the most original in the group, Roxas noted (and had always known) with his over-the-top way of speaking and his unique choice of clothes, not to mention his crazy hair.

Roxas also noted that Kairi, Sora's girlfriend, and Riku, Sora's best friend, were nowhere to be seen, which wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Out of habit, not fear, the blond ducked his spiky head down as the group passed by, his twin's eyes never opening and, therefore, never seeing him. A passing elbow "nonchalantly" jabbed his back so hard he had to push off the book he was still holding to stop from careening face-first into his locker, and Roxas had to grit his teeth to refrain from defending himself and causing a scene. He knew if he did Sora would notice, and he'd even come to his defense, but it'd just turn out like the last time had, and he didn't want that.

"Would you stop that?"

"Awww. Is wittle Roxy upset?"

Laughter. He grinded his teeth against the sound and anger flared in his eyes. He was tired of being insulted, tired of putting up with all the crap this douche thought he was mighty enough to dish out. Pick on a freshman, huh? WELL. Wasn't he just macho?

Roxas clenched his fist and tensed his arm, about three seconds from bringing it back to deck the guy, but all of a sudden, he didn't have to. The guy was already floored.

"You have about three seconds to give me a damn good reason why you think it's funny to pick on my brother. I'm counting."

Not many people saw that side of Sora, and an even lesser number ever wanted to. At the time, pride had filled Roxas. His twin had taken out an upper classmen. That was something else, right?

Except for it had been his twin, not him, Roxas, to defend himself and fix his own problem. So everyone, from that day forth, had branded him as weak that hadn't been proven otherwise.

The boy slammed his locker closed (he was sure the Infamous Thirteen would make him pay for that later) and shifted his books in his arms, turning on heel and striding back towards his classroom, itching with irritation. God forbid he would have a good day, right? One good thing causes something just as bad—he'd just about grown to believe that over the years.

He stepped into his classroom and made his way to his desk, setting his binder down on top. He found himself tracing the old doodles on the cover with his eyes, grinning a little at the stupid pictures he'd drawn in times of boredom. Just as he sat and looked up at the board and the unfamiliar faces in the room he realized, suddenly, he'd be dealing with somebody new. He hadn't figured out where he knew the name from, and it became all-too-clear he was utterly in the dark.

The small grin he's been sporting dropped in a flash. He just hoped she wasn't some major bitch or something; he had to deal with girls like that all day. Maybe that was why Heart hadn't wanted to teach her, maybe she was some irritating girl who didn't want to be there but was forced by her parents, or maybe she was hateful, judgmental and was going to do everything in her power to resist learning math. He groaned on the inside, hearing all the insults echoing in his mind—

"Oh, good afternoon, Namine! I'm glad you could make it!"

Roxas's head shot up so fast he swore his neck popped, ready to see all of his fears being made reality.

And was proved very, very wrong.

"Oh, thank you for letting me come, Ms. Heart. I don't know what I'd have done if I wouldn't have been able to catch up." The voice leaving her delicate lips could've been confused for that of an angel's with ease; but so could she, he swore. Her skin was a gorgeous pale and blond locks made of silk fell over one of her shoulders, her blue eyes piercing, but also delicate. She wore in a simple white dress that on anyone else would've looked plain, but she made it look outstanding.

She was beautiful.

Roxas quickly shook his head and made sure his mouth wasn't agape, trying to ignore how creepy he'd just sounded. Blue eyes found the cover of his Algebra II binder, attempting to distract himself from the sight, yet he paused, looked up and proceeded to almost fall out of his chair.

His jump made her jump as well from her position she'd been in, where she was leaned over his shoulder studying his notebook cover, and she stumbled back a few steps. "Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been—"

"No, it's my fault, I just wasn't—"

"I shouldn't be so nosy, I—"

"No, seriously, it's okay… I just wasn't expecting you to be there."

They both fell silent and Roxas studied her expression quickly. She seemed borderline flustered and a little nervous, though somewhere behind that there was something strong that said she'd stand her ground. Overall, too cute to be legal.

The silence became a stressed awkward and Roxas, taking the stand for once, stuck his hand out towards her. "I'm Roxas. Namine, right?"

She smiled cutely. "Yes. Nice to meet you, Roxas. Thank you for trying to teach me…" She glanced down at the notebook and he saw just the slightest grimace pass on her face. A little part of him died happily that day; screw legal, that amount of cute shouldn't have been allowed in nature. "…this."

"It's no problem. Take a seat." That line sounded cooler in his head but sounded very lame and professional when it came out. He kicked himself.

She giggled (in quite a cute way) and sat down beside him, taking out her own Algebra II binder from her shoulder bag. She set it down on top of the desk and Roxas almost gasped. He had doodles on his cover; she had straight-up art. "Those are really good!" He complimented on a whim, looking over the several sketches that all looked very life-like.

Namine glanced down at the notebook. "Oh, these? I was just bored." She grinned. "But thank you!"

"You're welcome," he smiled back. He glanced up at the clock and, noting it had already been twenty minutes since the end of school, decided (a little sadly) to get to work on the task at hand.

-AU- Kingdom Hearts -AU-

He could honest-to-God say he'd never had so much fun with something like math. Usually it bored the hell out of him, but that day he could say he'd enjoyed it and speak the truth at the same time. Namine had genuine interest in learning what he had to say, though that didn't stop her from making jokes. Other than the day before with Axel, Roxas hadn't laughed so much in quite a while. He was pretty sure some of the other students in the room (who were mostly there because they had to be or they'd fail a class) didn't seem to appreciate the fun they were having, but he didn't care. For once, he couldn't wait to get back to teaching math the following Tuesday.

He was heading towards the clock tower (he and Axel had decided to start up the old ice cream tradition again, as they'd been losing touch as friends there as of late), a little bounce in his step, lost in his thoughts and the run-in with Sora's crew far from his mind. She really was nice, Namine. He hoped he could get to know her before she didn't need his help anymore.

"Hey, watch it!"

He really should've been paying attention. Saying he wasn't in a "good part of town" was an understatement. He was currently walking through a severely overlooked bit of Twilight Town where doors were locked when screams were heard. There weren't many inhabitants in the badly graffitied streets, but any house that had someone living in it had bars on the windows, provided it wasn't the house of a druggie or drunk. It was also the fastest way to get to the clock tower from the high school.

He really should've been paying attention.

Roxas looked up, an automatic apology about to roll of his tongue (he had just run into someone's shoulder, after all, even if they were being a jerk about it), but the smell of alcohol hit him first. He recoiled from the stench and looked into the face of who he'd just hit.

God, he was an idiot.

"If you think you c'n jus' push by me, you got another thing comin,' buddy. I'll have you know—" The pause let Roxas know he was probably done for. "Hey, boys! Look who it issssss." The boy whistled when he let out the "s" sound and Roxas scowled at the sound. If anything, the drunk version of this boy was more obnoxious than the regular one. "It's our friend Roxie." Pet name that was supposed to be annoying, or something.

From the crowd of boys behind the irritating one, a deep voice came. "Who'd you say?"

The sea of boys parted, albeit in a little bit of an unsteady manner, and the owner of the voice came to the front. Upon seeing the blonde, he smirked. "If it isn't Roxas."

Said boy scowled even deeper. "Saix." As tough as he was trying to be, though, Roxas was automatically alarmed. Saix wasn't drunk, not enough to be incoherent. The blue-haired man was dangerous when he was sleeping, for Christ's sake. Roxas tried to push backwards but ran into a pair of legs. Too late he realized he was surrounded.

"I thought I told you to keep off our turf."

"I live on your 'turf.'" Roxas rolled his eyes, despite it all. It wasn't like he was giving away anything; it was old knowledge to them where he lived. They'd even posted somebody outside his house once to wait for him, though they never saw Roxas come and go, and Axel had shown up later that day and the goon had high-tailed it out of there. All of Saix's group feared and respected Axel, especially considering he'd kind of been part of them years before. But he'd left, and swore he'd never come back. Saix didn't want to believe that.

Thus, they hated Roxas for being friends with someone they weren't even permitted to be around.

"Not a problem of mine." The cronies behind Saix all burst into drunken laughter, and Roxas had never hated it more.

.

'Kayyyy. Chapter two. Not done with this scene. C': Soooo.

Also. I know the gang member was never named. Sorry. :P If you can think of a good organization member to fit the description, go on ahead. And sorry if you're upset over any Organization OOCness. :'P

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Guilt trip! Let's go! :D