Smile Again
Summary: I would give anything to see you smile again. It was a simple gesture that brought us together. And today, it finally broke us.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or any of that good stuff.
A/N: Here's chapter two everyone! Hope you enjoy!
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I was surprised by his question. "Excuse me?" I said not appreciating his tone either. Now that I think about it, the clapping seemed sarcastic.
"I said, who the hell are you?" He asked again.
Okay, I heard him the first time. He didn't need to get smart with me and ask again. I was about to make some clever remark then he started to talk again.
"Are you deaf?" He rudely said.
"And just who do you think you are?" I walked right up to him. "You just come barging in here as if you own the place." I crossed my arms and shook my head. "It's people like you that-" I was about to yell at him some more but when I went to look at him again he was no longer standing in the same spot.
"Are you going to tell me who you are or at least get out?" I turned around to see him sitting on the window seat. "I'd like to get a nap in so if you could wrap up your incessant rambling." The nerve of this guy!
"I was here first! Don't you think you should tell me who the hell you are?" I said quoting him a bit not budging from where I stood.
"The name is Vanitas Caelum. The guy who's going to get you expelled if you don't shut up and get out of here!" He said raising his voice clearly annoyed that I was in his presence.
Well excuse me your highness. I'm sorry I'm ruining- did he just say Caelum? I stood there dumbfounded and kept my mouth shut. Caelum was the exact same name of the academy's principal. Okay so sure he could be lying…but I wasn't going to risk being expelled from here.
I went over and quietly grabbed my stuff. I started to close the fall but then I realized…I could be expelled. I could actually leave this place and not ever come back. Sure expulsion isn't the best mark to have on my student record…but I say it would be worth it.
I put the fall back up. I sat down on the bench and looked over at him to see he had a book over his head as if he really was going to sleep. I slammed my hands on a couple of chords and sure enough it startled him out of his comfy position.
"I thought I said to leave. You want to get expelled?" I smiled triumphantly at his reaction.
"Yes. Yes I do. I'm Xion Kisaragi. Drop that name off when you visit the principal to get rid of me." I cheekily said.
He was about to say something back, but the warning bell went off. "Just great." He walked over to me. "Listen brat. If I see you here again tomorrow, consider yourself dead." He warned me and left the room slamming the door.
I huffed in my seat. "No one calls me brat and gets away with it." I closed the fall and grabbed my backpack angrily. When I left the room, I had slammed the door as well.
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I was in a bad mood the rest of the day thanks to that no good…Vanitas was it? When school got out, I was rejoicing on the inside. I got to go home. However if I saw him again, I wouldn't mind. Show him a thing or two.
Of course, once I got outside of the school buildings I didn't exactly head home right away. If he was right…about me being expelled, I would want to take a look at one last thing before I left.
I decided to head over to the west wing. Since I was outside, I figured I would be able to find the garden that led me to that room in the first place. I'll admit that I got lost several times. As I was about to give up a fresh breeze passed by me and it seemed to carry a different scent.
Something…sweet, like flowers. I shrugged and decided to go in the direction the breeze came from. If nothing there, I would just head home and face the wrath of Yuffie for being home so late.
I turned the corner of one of the walls, and sure enough my gut instinct was right. I found it. I wish I had found it sooner. I shrugged and walked through the garden for a bit. It was even more beautiful up close.
I figure if I really did get expelled, I could show Aqua this spot and say goodbye to her here. I could probably even get Terra to show up after I said goodbye and then their romantic story would unfold. I laughed at my cheesiness.
I looked up at the sky and it became enriched with orange and pink hues. I guess it was time to go. As I turned around to head back, I was shocked to see blue eyes staring at me in surprise.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't expect anyone back here." He said to me.
"Oh, n-no no! You're fine Ventus." I said with a stutter. Just great Xion. Just great.
Ventus cocked his head to the side. "I'm sorry. You seem to know me…but I don't really know who you are."
I stood there in horror. I can't believe I just blurted his name out as if we were good friends or something. "O-of course I know your name! You're one of the star players on our basketball team." I blabbered out. Great. Now I sounded like a stalker fan-girl. Could this day have gotten any worse?
Ventus chuckled. "I wouldn't call myself a star player. But thanks for the comment…um?"
"Xion!" I felt like I had shouted it to him…which means I probably did.
He smiled. "Nice to meet you Xion." He looked around him. "I know most of the students are home by now, but let's leave the school from this direction." He pointed to the direction I had come from.
I just nodded and followed him. Oh, whatever you say Ventus. He started to walk as he guided me to the east wing of the school. "See. Not a lot of people know about the garden. They're all too busy getting caught up with their own things. But I suppose it's nice. I come here to relax every so often. It's nice to have a place to get away from things that don't have so many people." I had the exact same thought about the piano room. Marry me?
"Oh, and please don't think I'm trying to get you to go away or anything." He assured me. We got to the other side of the east wing. "Coming from here, people will think we just came from one of the basketball courts or something. Don't want people checking out that spot and filling it up with nonsense chatter." He laughed. "It'll be our secret. I guess I'll see you around, Xion." He waved goodbye and headed to his car.
I stood there like an idiot. "Bye." I meekly said…after he was out of earshot. "He said my name." I sounded like a giddy school girl. Ugh someone shoot me. "He even said our secret…" I shook my head. When I got home, I would need a good dosage of reality. Knowing me, that probably was nothing but a mere dream.
I pinched myself and it hurt. Nope!
I carried on home with a skip in my step. If just a one-sided conversation resulted in me acting like an idiot, then I hope he would stay far away from me…even if I wouldn't mind acting like an idiot for him. He was just too cute. These thoughts can't ever leave my head.
I found myself at my door. Faster than I expected. I opened the grand doors that led into my mansion. Sorry, I should say house. When I came inside and locked the door, I saw my sister standing there as if she had been patiently waiting for me.
"I know. I know I should've called or something-"
"You know Xion. Your school just called me." She said as she tapped her foot angrily. Did he arrange the expulsion already? That must mean seeing Ventus was like a sending off present from the heavens or something.
"Well…you see about that-"
Out of nowhere I felt a very strong thud on my head. "Ow!" I yelled at my sister. "It's not entirely my fault I got expelled you know!"
"Expelled! Geez, did I hit you too hard?" She looked at her fist and pondered. "Ah we'll worry about head injuries later. Apparently you're failing math Xion?"
Oh. "A D is not failing." I argued for myself.
Yuffie looked at me incredulously. "It is when you need a C or higher in your classes to keep the scholarship." She sighed. "I know you're not the brightest crayon in the box, but sheesh Xion. A D?"
Ouch. Hmm…if I knew a C was what I need to keep going to this school I would've failed a class a long time ago. It would've spared me the little meet and greet with that no good Vanitas from today.
"Will you quit daydreaming while I'm trying to be a good older sister here?" Yuffie yelled. "Maybe a little less daydreaming and a little more studying would benefit you." While she was right about me tending to daydream a lot, I found that not studying would actually be more beneficial right now. "Why do you look like you don't care right now?" She asked me.
"Uh, because I really don't want to go to this school anymore perhaps?" I said sarcastically to her.
That earned me another hit to the head. "Dummy. Obviously we know which sister got the brains in the family." She said.
"Oh, so we have a secret sister." Another thump to the head. "Ouch! Okay, okay! I'm not one of your PE students you know!" I said rubbing the sore spot.
"No, but you're my little sister. So here's the deal. The teacher gave me the email of a math tutor. You're gonna email them and set up a time for a study session." She laid out her master plan to me.
I crossed my arms. Since when did I ever listen to her? "And if I refuse?" I asked her not seeing any incentive on my part to continue going to this school. I mean sure my parents would get mad, but they yell at you for a day or two? Then what? Nothing I tell you.
My sister sighed. "I was going to wait for your last year to give you this." She headed to another room and came back with a manila envelope and handed it to me. "Here. This is why you should stay at this school."
I opened the letter and read the contents. My eyes widened. "No way!" I looked at my sister who smiled. "Yep. I might've sent them a video of one of your performances. So they sent back an application. Of course, you have to wait till your last year to apply."
The letter was to get into the Wayfinder Music School. The only problem is the school only accepted students that were from top education secondary schools. Radiant Academy just so happened to be on the list. And I doubt I could ever get into another school like this. I grumbled. It is just plain wrong to bribe someone with their dreams.
"Give me the stupid email," I grumbled. "And wipe that smug look off your face. You haven't won yet sis."
"Looks like I have!" She grinned widely as she went to go get the address. The rest of the night I had a sour look on my face. I'm pretty sure the look became permanent when I sat at my computer to compose the email.
"Hi. My name is Xion Kisaragai. I was given this email address to schedule a time for math tutoring? I'm available any time, so whatever fits into your schedule best. Thank you."
I hit send and sighed. "Okay…so I get a math tutor. What if I get expelled anyway?" I thought about the various things that happened today. All in all…today was just plain out weird.
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My eyes blinked several times. I had paraded down the third floor hallway of the west wing several times. Was I really at the right address?
The reply I got back from my email said to come here. Room W314. The only problem was? This room was the piano room I had frequented many times last week.
Maybe they had accidentally typed the wrong number. I was about to leave to go write another email asking them about it. But as always, my feet seemed to make a U-turn back towards the doors of the room. I figure, hey it's after school. That jerk can't be here. And if my math tutor gets mad at me for being late, I'll just say they gave me the wrong room number...because I'm pretty sure they did.
I opened the doors and was delighted to see it was empty. I closed the door and placed my things down on the table that was in front of the couch. I went over to the piano. "What song should I play today?" I asked out loud to no one as I went through the pieces I had memorized in my head.
"Well you're here early." Before I even lifted the fall to play, I was interrupted already. I looked up and nearly fell off the bench. It was him again. "W-What are you doing here?" He wasn't supposed to be here. Ever since my stupid sister flashed that dumb letter in my face the worry of him actually going through with expelling me haunted me.
"Well...if I recall correctly, I was supposed to meet someone by the name Xion Kisaragi here for a tutoring session." He smirked. "Ring a bell? Oh right...that's you. And if I recall correctly again, I told you if I saw you again in here, you'd be out of here. Guess you really are deaf."
There were so many swear words going off in my head. Had I been at my old school, I would show him something about manners or two. Had I been at my old school, he wouldn't be the rich guy that had so much power just because he is somehow related to the stupid principal of this stupid school.
But I wasn't at my old school. "What are you waiting for? Get out. Go say goodbye to this school one last time." He was just downright cruel.
I hated people like him. So the fact that my eyes were starting to water in front of him, I felt like an idiot. I wasn't being teary-eyed over his words. I could handle that. It's the fact some snobby, power-hungry jerk was destroying my dreams as if it was child's play.
I grabbed my things and brushed past him and left the room. I wiped my eyes and started to head home. Maybe mom and dad's home instead, since now there was no point in living with my sister.
"Xion!" I turned my head to the direction of the voice. I could see Aqua coming towards me. "Hey, what are you doing here after school?" She looked at me. "Are you okay?"
"Do you know a guy named Vanitas Caelum? Is he really related to the principal?" I knew Aqua would know something because she made it her priority to know all the little details about everyone.
"Vanitas? Yeah. The principal is his mother. What are you doing spouting off his name for? That guy is a downright jerk." At least she agreed.
I sniffled slightly hating myself more. I hated it when people saw me even the least bit vulnerable. "He was supposedly my math tutor." I started. "But...he threatened to expel me out of nowhere." I loved Aqua, but I didn't want her knowing about the room really.
"What? That guy is really smart so I can see why you would want him as a tutor, but he has an attitude that makes you just want to shove him off a cliff!" That was really mean coming from Aqua considering how nice of a person she was. I noticed her looking past me. "Vanitas!" she yelled.
I turned around to see he had come out of the room and was walking in the opposite direction of me. He stopped and turned around. His eyes just seemed to bore into me. I wanted to hide behind Aqua. Only she was nowhere near me and was marching towards him.
"I'm not going to stand by and just let you bully a fellow student like that. What did she ever do to you? Going on about empty threats like that. No one treats my friend like that. You apologize right now!" She demanded and chastised him as if he was a small child.
It didn't seem to affect him too much. "Quit the act Aqua. You're only the president here. Don't think you're Wonder Woman. If I want to expel her I can. Now get out of my face and mind your own damn business." He walked off.
Aqua looked like she was fuming but headed back to me. "Don't worry Xion. I'll talk to the principal about this. Sometimes his status gets to the best of him." She walked off in the direction of the north wing. "Oh great...now Aqua was going to make it much, much worse." I hung my head. At this rate, I really would be expelled. If not...I would definitely fail math. Great.
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I don't know why but the next day he emailed me back to the room. I decided to go. I had already visited again and was going to be expelled. What was one more visit to my doom? Thanks to him I went through the five stages of grief in my house last night. Which also resulted in my sister taking my temperature several times.
When I got to the piano room, I felt like I needed to knock now. The way that Vanitas strut about in that room made it seem like it was his own room or something. But, I managed to control my urge and just barged right in.
I saw him sitting on the couch. "You're late." He said automatically.
"I came at the exact same time you told me too!" I argued. I looked at my phone. I was a minute late. Unbelievable. I guess to these kids time really is money.
"As I said. You're late. Now close the door and sit down." I slammed the door shut. I couldn't believe I was taking orders right now. If I snap, I hope someone will tell the court system the murder was just.
"What do you want?" I scowled.
"Now what kind of attitude is that? I'm actually going to be nice to you for once." Define nice, I thought. This guy was up to something and I wasn't going to trust him one bit. I crossed my arms to show I was somewhat listening.
"So here's the deal. I won't expel you." Did I just hear that correctly? "I'll tutor you in math." He's going to do what now? "However on one condition." I knew it.
I looked at him trying to figure out what his game was. "And exactly what condition would this be…?" I asked hesitantly. Some jerk like him probably had some sick and cruel punishment in mind.
"Grant me three wishes." I have been reduced from a human being to a genie.
"What kind of rich jerk needs three wishes for? I mean aren't you supposed to have everything?"
He glared at me. "What was that about being a rich jerk?" I said that out loud didn't I…? He didn't wait for me to defend myself. "So, will you go through with it or not?"
"Let me think-"
"You have 'til the count of ten." He interrupted.
"Wait you can't actually-"
"One, two, three…" Oh my gosh I can't ever think when I'm under pressure. What if one of his wishes was to murder somebody? There would be consequences far worse than being expelled. "…seven, eight, nine, te-"
"Okay!" I shouted.
He smirked. "Good, I thought you would see it my way. Alright then, brat." I am not a brat. "Your first job? Get Aqua to ask me out."
He wants me to do what now!
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I paced back and forth thinking of my dilemma. What was I going to do? "Hi Aqua, I need you to be a dear and ask out the biggest jerk in the history of history on a date. It'll save me from being expelled. Okay thanks!" Did anyone else find that statement ridiculously…well ridiculous! "What am I going to say Aqua?"
"Say to me what?" I froze when I heard my friend's voice from behind. I turned around nervously and gave a small wave. "Tell me what Xion?"
I couldn't tell her that. I would definitely get expelled rather than seeing a good friend having to go to the trouble of dating him just to keep me at this stupid school. Aqua was just that kind of person.
"Um not say. Wrong word choice. I meant what am I going to ask you…as in how should I ask you!" That sounded like a good recover…right?
"Hmm? Ask me about what?" She said.
Yeah Xion what are you going to ask her that was important that you called her aside from her busy schedule. "Well I didn't want to bother or anything…" Except I sort of am right now. "But, did you ever talk to the principal?" Man, I'm good.
"Oh! Thanks for reminding me Xion. I talked to the principal. His mother was appalled he was using his status for something like. She told me to tell you not to worry. No matter what her son did you would be safe." She smiled. "I told you I would take care of it. Anything else? Sorry I'm on a tight schedule!"
I shook my head feeling relieved. "No, thank you." I waved goodbye to her with a smile on my face.
My smile quickly became a frown. I marched myself right back to the piano room. And of course, there was that pompous jerk.
"About time you got here. I thought of a second wish." He said not looking up from his book.
"Oh? And what would that be?" Vengeance would be mine.
"Whenever I tell you to, play the piano. So play something. Now." I stood there tapping my toe. I wasn't going to move one bit with the information I just found out. He looked up from his book. "What are you standing there for? What? Want to get expelled?"
I couldn't help but smile. "Nice try. Apparently, just because you're the son of the principal, it doesn't mean you have any power. Aqua told me what your mother said. I'm not going anywhere. Especially just because you said so." It felt good to finally stand up to this guy.
He smirked. Wait…he wasn't supposed to do that. "Pity." He shook his head as if in disapproval. "Of course she would listen to goody little two shoes Aqua." Well jeez if you're going to mock her like that, you should explain to me why you want her to ask you out.
"You know, for someone who got accepted to Wayfinder Music School, your music grades are about average. How do you think you're going to pay for that?" Just what was he getting at? "With your grades, even if I could raise your math grade, there's no way you would get a scholarship. How do you expect to pay for it?"
He had a point. "So I figure a wish for a favor. I wanted three wishes. You get three favors. One, I won't expel you. Two I'll tutor you in math so you can at least have somewhat of a chance in going to that school. Three, you do everything I tell you up until graduation and I'll pay for you education at Wayfinder."
He was kidding right? Of course he wasn't. He's rich! He has money to throw around like that. I felt awful taking a bribe like this. Then a light bulb hit me. I only had to continue these three wishes until graduation. So what if I didn't put my heart and soul into getting Aqua and Vanitas together? As long as I 'try' I should be good.
I looked at him. I slowly held out my hand. "Okay. Fine." He smirked as he shook my hand back. "Glad you see it my way. Now then, before any math lessons. Play." He pointed to the piano.
I silently grumbled to myself as I headed over to the piano. I looked over at him as he sat back down. "So what's the last wish?" I asked him curious to know what else he would want me to do until graduation. Now that I think about it…which graduation is he talking about? Mine or his?
"I'll tell you when I think of it."
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A/N: Okay! That's the end of chapter two! Just to let you guys know, on my profile I have two links. One for my deviant art, which is where I post snippets or previews of each chapter for the story. Also for my blogger which is where I just comment or analyze the chapter. So drop a review and check out those sites if you want to. Thanks for reading!
