Yet again I apologize for any typos, stupid transferring files. Thanks for all the reviews, I hope this chapter fulfills your need. The next one should be up by Saturday or within that time-period. Remember, keep sending in those reviews, they make me happy, and it will continue to get thicker. ;D

Caller Number Nine
Chapter Three: Rivalries Begin

October 10th, Saturday

When they had arrived at the cafe, it was to Sora's great relief. Amazingly he had managed to arrive there without losing his cool at the other. It seemed that his first impression of the silver-haired male was correct. A complete and moronic jerk that had no sense of kindness, and more than likely possessed no human qualities. Hell, he probably wasn't even a human, just wore the outfit as a disguise. Then again, if he tried telling Tidus that, he'd probably get himself locked up somewhere, so such thoughts were to remain in his mind only.

"Jeez, you can even hear the music out here."

Sora was snapped out of his wandering thoughts when he heard his friend's voice. Glancing upwards from his gaze at his feet, Sora noticed Tidus pointing at a cafe across the street. From their current placement, they could hear the soft roar of music coming from the 'juice-bar'. It was safe to say, in Sora's opinion, that this was the local hangout nowadays.

"Can you tell what song it is then?" Naminé questioned to Tidus, lifting her blue gaze off the cafe over to the brunette who had made a statement about the music moments before.

Tidus paused, raising a hand to his chin and placed it upon it, in some lame attempt to show that he was thinking. Sora sighed a bit and glanced away from the pair.

Ever since Sora could remember, Tidus had always been a 'ladies' man. Hell, he had even had a go at Kairi once, but she wanted to remain friends with the brunette, and not think about dating. Surely one would think that would hurt Tidus' ego, but it only made him even more determined to try and be with any attractive girl he saw, by going to any lengths to impress her.

Sora, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. Usually he was shy, or just reserved, and acted casual around any girl he did like. Especially Kairi. He doubted that he had ever given her the signal that he liked her more than a friend, due to his 'best-friend' kind of attitude. It was just hard for the brunette to express feelings stronger than friendship.

Sora was once more snapped out of any of his day-dreaming thoughts when someone had tapped his shoulder. Blinking quickly in response, the brunette turned his head to the side and watched as Riku withdrew his offending hand, bearing a rather sadistic smirk. Instantly, Sora's stomach fell.

"Your friend better lay off," Riku mumbled, just loud enough for the pair to hear. Sora's shoulders instantly fell, as his body tensed a bit. A nervous glance went from Riku then to Tidus, watching him continuously flirt with Naminé.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, a bit timidly, but tried his best to make up for it by tilting his head a bit cockily. And this action only received a glare from the silver-haired male, instantly causing the other to frown. Yet another loss.

"It's painfully obvious that she doesn't like him," Riku scoffed a bit nonchalantly, sending a glare over at the brunette. Once again, Sora tensed as the frown on his lips remained.

"I don't think she likes you either," Sora found himself saying. After a few moments of silence between the pair, he subconsciously felt his body begin to shake. Oh dear, had he tried to stand up for himself again? Why didn't he learn from his mistakes?

"Well, I doubt she likes you either," Was all Riku said before stalking off across the street after Naminé and Tidus, not even looking at Sora.

"Jerk..." Sora mumbled under his breath before catching up to the three, not even noticing that Axel had already gone into the cafe far before the rest of them had.

Entering the cafe, Sora was greeted with Buttons. Even though they had been able to hear the music outside, it wasn't so loud inside, which was quite odd. At least he could hear himself think. Sighing a bit, Sora made his way over to a large table the rest of their group had taken the liberty of sitting at. For the most part, the cafe was quite colorful. The walls were painted with two colors: orange and blue. The top half was orange, with the bottom was a baby blue. The tables were a dark cherry wood with red cushions on the seats. The counter was the same cherry wood, whilst the ceiling was painted a lavender. Very colorful, very cheery. Just how a juice-bar should be.

"Sora."

Sora turned his head to the side when he had heard his name. He was a bit surprised to find that it had been Naminé calling him over. Smiling a bit sheepishly, he finished making his way over to the table, instantly slumping into a seat against the wall next to Tidus, and across from Riku. On Tidus' other side was Naminé, and across from her was Axel.

"Sora, Tidus was telling me that you were Prom King." Naminé spoke, leaning forward a bit into the table to speak down to Sora.

Eyes widened a bit with surprise as Sora shot an invisible glare at his so called 'best-friend' as a red blush danced across his face. Of course, this was noticed by the man across the table at once.

"Really? Prom King?" Disbelief and sarcasm was etched in Riku's voice as he laced his fingers together on the table. Nervously, Sora cleared his throat and shook his head.

"Uh.." Of course he wasn't Prom King! He didn't even go to the Prom for heaven's sake! Mostly seeing he didn't have a date due to the fact that Kairi had agreed to go with Wakka. Then again, he couldn't just say that Tidus was lieing, that'd disappoint Naminé, and make him look bad. "Yeah, I was." A white lie never hurt anyone.

"That's awesome," Naminé answered, before Axel laughed a bit to himself. Sora frowned a bit before turning his gaze downward at his hands. Why oh why did he have to agree to come here with these idiots?

"I'll go put in the order. What do you want?" Riku had spoken, arising from his chair. Sora wasn't sure if he was speaking to the whole table until emerald eyes locked onto his own blue ones.

"Chicken Club and soda," Tidus was the first to answer, seeing that he was the main reason why Sora had gotten into his lunch fiasco.

"Peach Smoothie for me," Naminé spoke with a smile. It was safe to say that she always smiled, and rarely was sad. She reminded him of Kairi a lot.

"Vanilla Milkshake," Axel stated simply, leaning back into his chair before folding his arms to his chest and watching Naminé intently.

Riku's emerald eyes once more met Sora's impatiently waiting for his own order. "And you?.." It seemed like it was painful for the other to even ask the brunette what he wanted.

"Strawberry smoothie... please.." Sora whispered, barely loud enough for Riku to hear. The silver-haired male starred at the other with a continuingly arched eyebrow for a long moment before making his way over to the counter.

"So, are you guy's friends?" Naminé broke the silence once Riku had left. Of course, the first to answer was Tidus with a laugh. A rather cheesy laugh at that with a lame attempt to wrap his arm around Naminé's chair, but instantly recoiled once Axel had shot him a rather pissed glare.

"Never met before," Tidus mumbled, ego taking a little beating.

"Well, you seem to get along well." She answered with a nod to herself. Sora, who was thinking the complete opposite, remained silent, not wanting to argue with Naminé. All he wanted was his smoothie so he could get out of here and go for a walk. Or go buy a new laptop.

"Oh yeah, we're getting along great, aren't we ..." Axel began and then paused when he realized he didn't really know the two boy's names. Tidus starred expectantly at the other, waiting for him to finish. Sora, however, was more so starring down at his hands, trying to avoid contact with the other.

If this had been anyone else, the brunette probably would have struck up conversation, timidly of course, and tried to find a common interest. However, this wasn't anyone else, this was the man who kept giving him a hard time. All Sora could do was hope that overtime he'd leave him alone. This was college, after all!

"Tidus." Tidus reconfirmed his name, starring a bit over at the red-haired male. Axel laughed a bit, swishing his hand a bit in the air.

"Of course, Tidus." Axel answered with a smirk and passed a stare over at the brunette. "And you're..."

"Sora," Sora whispered back. Hadn't he told the other his name before? He probably forgot it already. Frowning for what seemed like the hundredth time, Sora leaned his chin into the palms of his hands, waiting for his smoothie. Why did it take Riku so long?

"So, are you three going to the bon-fire next week?" Axel inquired, obviously forcing himself to make conversation in order to make himself look good in front of the blonde. Then again, Sora never really understood why guys tried so hard to impress a girl. Wouldn't they like you more if they knew the real you? Yet on the flip-side, Sora was trying his best to seem sincere, like he always was.

"Of course!" Tidus answered quickly, which received a soft giggle from Naminé.

"Now that I know people that are going, I suppose I will also." Naminé answered in address to Axel.

Sora, for some reason, felt his heart fall. Did Naminé actually believe that this red-haired freak was sincere? Who knows, maybe he was... of course, if he was, Sora hadn't seen that side of him at all.

"Peach Smoothie," Sora's thoughts were interrupted by Riku's voice. He snapped out of such lingering thoughts as he watched the peach smoothie being placed on the table in front of Naminé. She smiled a bit and then paused.

"You paid for everything?" She asked, a bit taken back. Even Sora himself seemed a bit stunned. He guessed that Riku would have brought the bill back and made people cough up the money, but that wasn't what was happening.

"No need to thank me," A flashy smile as he passed Axel his milkshake from the tray he held, then Tidus his sandwich and soda, set down his own smoothie before finally extending his hand across the table with Sora's. "Here," He grumbled a bit.

Sora starred at him for a long moment, assuming this was another way to show off, before gently reaching for the smoothie. Taking it in his hands, he felt Riku's let go of the smoothie, leaving it in Sora's control.

"Thanks.." Sora barely whispered before arising to his feet.

"What are you doing?" It was Axel who questioned Sora's arise. It surprised him a bit, but the male's sarcasm made up for it.

Blue eyes looked at Axel as he held his smoothie tightly. Nervously, he lowered his gaze downward at the table, not really wanting to make eye-contact with the man. "I have.. um, someplace to be. Real sorry."

"Like starring at your cell phone waiting for a call you won't get?" Tidus wondered aloud, which received a quick glare from Sora. Axel, on the other hand, laughed at that, shaking his head.

"You have no manors at all, kid. I mean, here we are, buying you a drink, and you leave." Axel shrugged, "Makes no sense."

"I'm sorry, really." Sora replied sheepishly, inching his way over to the door. However, he froze in mid-action when Riku arose from his seat. Oh great, he was coming over to kill the poor kid for leaving! Sora scrunched up a bit, but tried to act calm. If you showed fear where fear wasn't needed, it just proved how easy of a target you were. "Y-yes?" Sora clasped his hand over his mouth with his free hand, noticing the stammer.

"Hmph," Riku vocalized with a smirk before leaning over, causing Sora to tense instantly. He was so close, in fact, that Sora could feel the other's warm breath on his ear, and could even hear the other's lips parting to whisper. "I hope you know this is war."

"War?" Sora whispered back, trying not to meet the others' eyes starring at the pair. "W-war?" Sora asked again, with much emphasis on the word.

"Yeah, war, Sora. I hope you're up for a challenge. See you around." Riku finished, breath harsh upon the other's ear, sending chills down the brunette's back. He could only imagine what Riku had meant when he said war. It took a few moments before Riku moved away from the other's ear before hovering above Sora's face. "Behave." Was all he added onward with one final smirk before turning his back harshly and leaving to the table.

"What ever..." Sora whispered to himself, turning his back also and quickly made his exit for the door, finally starting to realize what Riku had meant. Riku wanted Naminé for himself, and didn't care if he hurt Sora in the process. Just like he did to his laptop. With people like Riku around, he'd never find his one! What an inconsiderate jerk! Maybe RJ was wrong..

xxxxx

Blue eyes starred up at the sky as he walked along. It was a great time to think, honestly it was. Away from the campus, away from Tidus, and away from the world that he knew. Shoes clunked gently against the sidewalk as he walked. One hand held the halfway drunk smoothie while the other hand rested in his vest pocket. The wind blew against his brown locks of hair, making them fly in all sorts of directions. A smile tugged on the corner's of his lips as he walked. Yes, this was nice.

Of course, his relaxation was cut short when he felt a gentle vibration on his belt. Blue eyes initially widened, and then relaxed a bit when he realized it was just his cell phone. Grumbling a bit to himself, Sora removed his hand from his vest to grab the device and flip it open.

"Hello?" He inquired, tilting his head as he continued to walk. He waited a long moment before he received a response. A muffled response at that.

"Sora?" Came the response from the other end. Curiosity spread through the brunette. The voice didn't seem familiar and that made it all the more interesting and confusing.

"Who's this?" Sora called into the phone, as he turned down the road to the quickest path that would lead to the park. The wind picked up a bit, causing Sora to wince a bit as he held the phone closer to his ear, in attempts to hear the voice.

"It's Kairi!" The cheerful voice into the speaker on his end made him once more. However, when he realized who it was, the smile on his lips grew as he hurried his pace to the park, feeling a bit better that his best friend was once more talking to him, even if they were distances apart.

"Kairi! It's great to hear from you." Sora answered with an invisible toothy smile. Right now he felt like he was on top of the world. He had Kairi on the line, a strawberry smoothie, and no cares in the world. At least, for this moment. "How's things?"

"They're going great! And yourself? Meet any new and exciting people? Or is Tidus still giving you a hard-time?" Kairi questioned, causing Sora to chuckle softly into the phone, before taking a sip of his smoothie.

"Eh, not really. No one here seems anything like you," A sheepish blush overcame his face, and he didn't really care seeing Kairi couldn't see his face, "but yes, Tidus is giving me a hard-time lately about this new girl we meant. And there's these two guys who won't leave me alone," Sora sighed, "they're not really that interesting." He finished. He'd leave out the part about Naminé being really pretty and being the focus of his problems with Riku and Axel.

"Sounds.. exciting. If Tidus keeps it up, you have my permission to give him a smack from me." Kairi giggled softly before continuing, "Do you know why the two guys won't leave you alone?" She further questioned, making Sora frown a bit.

"No idea.." Another white lie. Sora frowned a bit into the phone and then shrugged before daring to add on. "Man, do you know when I'll be able to see you again?" Hope was written in his words, and desperation was obvious.

"I'm not sure, Sora. Maybe fall break?" Kairi murmured, sounding as if she was preoccupied. "Ok, Selphie, I'm coming!" A slight pause as Sora frowned a bit. What plans did Selphie have for Kairi? "Hey, I'm really sorry Sora but I gotta go. Selphie wants to go shopping with Roxas and Hayner." Another frown. Roxas, yeah, he knew him, he was a good friend who also went to Princeton. But Hayner? "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Yeah... bye Kairi." He hung up after speaking her name, flipped his cell phone closed, and put it back into it's case on his belt. Taking another long sip of his smoothie, he glanced towards the left, deciding to take that street seeing he could see the park in the distance, growing closer by the moment.

Sighing a bit to himself, Sora hurried his pace. All right, at least he still h ad his smoothie, but no Kairi. Licking his bottom lip a bit, he pushed his free hand back into his pockets, whilst remaining to drink his beverage. Once entering the park, he crossed into the grassy green.

"Finally, some relaxation!" Sora proclaimed aloud as he progressed over to the bench. Finishing his strawberry smoothie and dumping it into the trashcan on his way, he padded over to the bench where he sat down.

"Now... where would be the best place to buy a laptop?" Sora wondered aloud, raising his hand to his chin to think, but less dramatic then Tidus had done back at Mango. In fact, that thought made him frown even more. Tidus had wanted to stay and impress Naminé than come with him. Although he couldn't blame him, and probably wouldn't hold it against him.

"Maybe Radio shack..." Sora made a mental list out loud but was cut short when a hand was placed on his shoulder, making him jump a bit. "What!"

"Hey, sorry I scared you!"

Sora turned around slightly and noticed the blonde starring at him. A gentle blush overcame his face as he smiled brightly at Naminé. Sheepishly, he extended a hand to rub the back of his neck, breathing harshly as he tried to slow his heart-beat. He wasn't really that good at sudden scares.

"Hey, Naminé! I thought you were with the other guys," Sora explained, tilting his head to the side. Naminé laughed a bit before sitting down on the bench beside the brunette, lacing her hands together on top of her lap and watching him rather intently.

"I left a few minutes after you did." Naminé responded with a nodd, "I had to go buy some new clothes." She explained, holding up a bag resting by her side. Sora leaned over a bit, looking at the red bag and then nodded in understanding.

"Heh, I know the feeling. I have to buy a new laptop.." Sora mumbled, not really to keen on forking over a thousand dollars to get a new laptop when his old one was perfectly fine before it had been broken against his will.

"Oh, your old one broke?" Naminé asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah.. " Sora vaguely answered with a sigh before smiling once more. "Where did-" He began.

"Riku and Axel go?" Naminé guessed, receiving a confirmative nod from Sora. "They said they had somewhere to be. Not sure where exactly. Who knows. Anyways, I hope you find what you're looking for." Naminé spoke, arising to her feet and grabbing the bag by her side.

"Um... Want to come with me?" Sora stammered and paused before sheepishly grinning like a mad man. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to!" He added on quickly.

"I'd love to, but I really have to be going. My roommate is probably worried sick about me." Naminé explained. "I'll see you around, Sora?" She asked softly, tilting her head to the side.

"Of course! See you soon Naminé!" Sora spoke as she nodded and left back to the town, leaving the park and Sora. Maybe he did have some hope, maybe RJ was right. Maybe he could beat Riku in this lame excuse for a war. If he was better than Riku as a man, he'd have no problem doing such. The thing was... how could he compete with someone like Riku? Someone that was.. so.. Sora couldn't even think of everything the other man had that he didn't.

xxxxx

"What are you doing?"

Axel sat on his bed, sending a rather annoyed and confused glare at the bed across from him. He had the blanket wrapped around his blanket tightly, as if he was cold. The room was dimly lit, but the evening light from outside was making up for it, for the most part at least. The room was a bit neater than the previous day. At least it seemed like it. On the other bed sat Riku, laying on his back to be exact, starring up at the ceiling with much discontent.

"Thinking," Came the equally annoyed response from Riku as he folded his arms across his chest. This action received an eyebrow arching from Axel who scoffed a bit to himself before speaking.

"You never think, not in the middle of day. What's so interesting?" Axel dared, crossing his own arms to challenge the silver-haired male. Riku barely paid attention to this as he observed the ceiling wit h much interest. "Earth to Riku." Axel called loudly.

"I told you I'm just thinking." Riku snarled back, tilting his head to the side a bit to glance over at his roommate. Of course, Axel wasn't satisfied with just that. So, being the type he was, continued to pry for a further answer.

"Naminé?" He guessed vaguely, laying down himself, spiky-head resting onto the pillow beneath him. Yes, this was nice indeed.

"I suppose." A shrug came from Riku before he turned to his side fully to watch Axel. "Do you think that there's actually such a thing as a soul mate?" His voice sounded so hopeful and yet so skeptical. Emerald eyes tried to hide a glimmer within them as he awaited an answer patiently.

"Soul mate? Where the hell are you getting that from?" Axel inquired, laughing to himself. Riku frowned a bit before sighing, which Axel caught on to. "You didn't ask for advice on the job again, did you?"

"No." Riku replied bluntly, as if he was offended by such accusations. "Nothing like that," It was a small white lie. He hadn't asked for advice, he had given advice. Advice that he seriously doubted was the truth, and was hoping his friend would clarify for him. Then again, what was the point of asking Axel such things? He didn't have one romantic bone in his body. Riku? His were hidden behind fear, anger, and bitterness.

"Then why are you rambling on about something as screwy as soul mates? I swear, you're going insane." Axel retorted angrily, tapping his feet on the end of his bed as he laid there. It was silent for a long moment before the red-haired male glanced over at Riku. "Why? Think you have a soul mate out there?"

"Well," Riku shrugged his shoulders before continuing, "I mean, there's got to be your perfect match out there somewhere. It would be stupid to think that there isn't someone out there for you. Even if there isn't, it's always nice to hope for something better... someone better." Riku sighed again.

"You're talking about Larxene, aren't you?" Axel smirked as if he understood what Riku was saying.

"No, not her," Just hearing the name caused him to tense with painful memories. Honestly, he hadn't really given much thought about his painful break-up and her horrible affair until this moment. "I was just wondering."

"You honestly think that you're going to find someone to love you?" Axel wondered, looking over at Riku with accusing eyes. "You never open up for anyone. You're afraid of getting hurt. Trust me, I've seen you date enough damn times to know you're too afraid to let someone in." Axel explained.

"I'm not afraid!" Riku retorted angrily, pushing the side of his face into the pillow. "Screw love..." He mumbled a bit.

"Riku.." Axel sighed himself, "I've known you for awhile now. You need someone like you, except the attitude. You need someone equally afraid of being in love. You need someone that can withstand you and let you make them your number one. Honestly, you need someone that'll turn you soft."

"Turn me soft? Are you fucking nuts?" Riku laughed out loud, but paused when he realized the other wasn't laughing. "There's no one like that out there."

"Naminé?" Axel guessed aloud.

"She's not my type. I'm just pretending to be interested in her to ruffle that kid's feathers." Riku explained.

"Well, just remember what I told you. Usually I don't offer free advice, so you better listen to it." Axel smirked before turning over to his side. "I'm going to sleep. Don't wake me up till tomorrow. Night." And with that Axel fell silent, leaving Riku to himself.

Someone... that was like him. Someone that would let him make them his number one... Someone willing to fall in love, but was afraid to. Who could possibly be like that? Was that Eli kid right? Was there really someone that fit that description out there? But why, why should he care about some lame advice some stranger gave him. And why should he even care about finding the one.

Riku turned his head to the side. He repeated the caller's name over and over in his mind. He wanted to meet this Eli. Wanted to ask him where he got off thinking he knew Riku? Then again, that would be the worst thing to do. Another sigh passed Riku's lips. He needed to talk to Eli again, ask him where he could find someone that fit Axel's description of what he needed.

He needed to talk to Eli just to talk. It wasn't like he enjoyed talking to him- all right, he did enjoy it. It just felt so natural talking to someone that understood him. Maybe Eli knew someone for him. Damnit, why couldn't there be a girl like Eli? Another sigh came from Riku as he grumbled to himself.

"Girl's aren't like that anymore. They're not afraid to be in love... They love to be in love..." Riku sighed as his emerald eyes threatened to close. If there wasn't a girl like Eli-. No. He wouldn't possibly stoop that low! He did not date guys, he never did like guys.

Then again... there was those few times.. but- No. He did not need to meet up with some caller number nine to fall in love. No way. He needed some sleep, that was it! He was not gay, and he was definitely not going to fall in love with this 'Eli'! No, no, no!

Sleep. That's what he needed. After that, his mind would be fine.

Would it?...