Chapter Nine: Subdued

"I just don't get it."

"What?"

"He's still ignoring you."

Kairi sighed, shutting her locker. They were in the hallway getting ready for their first class.

"It's no big deal Selphie."

"But it is! He's never gone a full day without talking to you, let alone three!" Selphie's face turned to worry, "Maybe something's wrong with him?"

"Nothing's wrong with him." Kairigroaned, wishing Selphiewould just give it a rest already. She looked down the hall to Daniels, who was standing at his locker, his sidekicks no where to be found. He quietly took his books out of his bag and headed to class.

"But… But I mean look at him! He just… Stands there like you aren't even in the hallway! Not to mention how quiet he is lately. I seriously think something might…"

"You're making a big deal out of nothing, Selph… He's probably just moved on, exactly like I said he would." Kairi interrupted as she looked down at her black shoes. That foreign feeling began to rise inside of her again, the one she could never quite pinpoint what it was. But quickly, she pushed it to the back of her mind, in an attempt to focus on what her best friend was telling her.

That didn't help.

"You guys were made for each other Kai! He's not just going to give up on you. Surely something happened, and I am determined to find out what it is."

Kairi felt herself worrying a little. When Selphie wanted to get to the bottom of something in the world of gossip, she normally found what she was looking for.

"It's nothing!" She snapped in a slightly sharp manner. Selphie took that as her cue to stop with the subject, but she couldn't do so without once last comment.

"Alright Kairi, I'll leave the subject alone, in front of you that is. But as far as I'm concerned…" She smiled and waved, walking into the classroom, leaving a slightly dumbfounded Kairi in the doorway.

Shaking her head she walked in as well.

Kairi slipped into her usual seat, talking to Roxas and Selphie for about ten minutes when Mr. Hobart hustled into the classroom.

"Good morning everyone. I hope you're all ready to work, you'll be working on your projects today."

Kairi groaned slightly, looking over towards Sora who merely stared at his desk. How was she suppose to go through a full class period with him? It would be completely awkward.

"So I won't delay you any longer, get to it."

Kairi pulled out her notebook and a pencil and began to work as the other students milled around her. She sat at her desk for a few moments but looked up when she hadn't noticed Sora sit beside her. Kairi scanned the room for him and found him still in his seat, writing.

Confused, Kairi got up and walked over to him. Why was he acting so strange?

"Hey." Kairi said politely, taking a seat beside him.

Sora's head shot up as he looked at her in surprise.

"Oh, hi." He said somewhat awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "What are you doing over here?"

"We're suppose to work on our projects aren't we?"

"Yeah, I know, I just thought you'd prefer… Never mind."

Kairi shrugged and began to work, and she was surprised to find Sora working silently beside her.

She sneaked a peak at him from the corner of her eye. He was hunched over his desk, a look of hard concentration on his face. What the hell was wrong with him? Where were the jokes, the flirting… where was Daniels? Maybe Selphie was right, something had to of been wrong. He was so... subdued. It was one thing to not talk to her after the date, it had been a part of the deal, but now that she thought about it, he really hadn't talked to anyone else in the school since then as far as she saw. Kairi sat waiting for him to crack a joke, but it never came.

A long five minutes passed until she couldn't take the silence anymore.

"So how's the lie detector coming?"

"It's alright, kind of confusing but I'm getting there." Sora smiled lightly before going back to his work.

"Good."

"So…" Sora said slowly, pulling out a sheet of paper from his folder, "I um, printed off some more interesting things I found out about lie detectors." He handed the sheet to Kairi, his face a tad red. "I know you already said you were done with getting the info but… well I thought you might like it."

"Wow." Kairisaid, taking the sheet from him, "You actually did some work willingly huh?" She teased, sendinghim a crooked grin. She was pleasantly shocked that he actually did something.

Kairiwatched as he opened his mouth, a hint of his normal mischief in his eyes before he retreated back into his shell, the spark quickly disappearing.

"Yeah, well…" He shrugged. Kairi got the impression he had more to say but instead turned back to his work.

Thirty minutes later class was dismissed and Kairi went back to her desk to gather up her things. They were the last in the room.

"Thanks for the notes." Kairi said, trying to fill the void that surrounded them.

Sora smiled, "Anytime, if you've got anymore work that you need help with just tell me."

Kairinodded, "Alright, I think I'm pretty much set but if anything comes up, I'll let you know."

She gave him a short wave before turning around to pick up her books.

"Hey Sora." Came a voice near the door.

Sora looked up and groaned to himself, watching Yuffie make her way towards him. His eyes briefly flickered to Kairi.

"Err, hi Yuffie." He mumbled, quickly packing up his things.

As he turned to walk out of the classroom a hand stopped him, gently pushing him down into a nearby seat.

"Why don't you talk to me anymore Sora?"

"Uh, I've just been busy lately." Sora lied, staring at her.

Yuffie rolled her eyes before a sly grin formed on her face, "Well, you didn't actually think you could avoid me forever now did you?"

Soraremained quiet, fiddling with his books.

"Um, Yuffie I should really be going…" He attempted to get up but Yuffie swiftly pushed him back down, quickly straddling his waist.

"Oh no Daniels, you're not going anywhere." She whispered seductively before snaking her arms around his neck.

"Yuffie…" Sora said, squirming a bit in an attempt to get out from under the black haired girl.

Yuffie just smirked before placing a light kiss on his jaw.

"What's wrong Sora? No one else is in here… We're all alone."

Sora held back a snort. Obviously the girl hadn't see Kairi, not that that would have stopped her.

"We used to be great together Sora. Why can't we have that again? I miss you, and I know you miss me too. That's why you've been so quiet lately, because we're not together." Yuffie ignored his slight struggling as she leaned in, kissing him hard.

She pulled back a few moments later, giving him a wide grin. "I think we should get back together Sora. It's what we both want."

Sora shook his head. The girl was so self centered.

He spent the next five minutes trying to get Yuffie off of him as his body started to react to her advances. But by the time he finally got free of Yuffie's grip, Kairi was gone.

--

Kairi quickly hustled out of the classroom, her face flushed red with embarrassment. Why do people do things like that in public? It was so inappropriate. 'Couldn't they have just gotten a room? Do that elsewhere, they don't need to broadcast it to the entire school.'

Kairi shook her head, slamming her locker shut. Sora had been acting differently lately, almost like an new and improved version of himself but Kairi supposed some things never change. She took a deep breath determined to clear her thoughts. Who cares what Sora and Yuffie did?

--

Sora sat down at a small lunch table, picking at his food. He occasionally looked up to glance around the room for any sign of Yuffie so if she did show up, he could avoid her by any means necessary. Breathing a temporary sigh of relief when he didn't see her, he turned back and listened to his two friends mess around beside him, throwing food at some other friends across the table. He couldn't believe what Yuffie had done today in class, especially with Kairi right there! He was so unbelievable embarrassed. They had actually been getting along somewhat too but of course, Yuffie had to come in and ruin it. Sora sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time today, catching the attention of his two friends.

"What's up?" Hayner asked through a mouthful of food.

"Nothing." Sora mumbled, turning away from the two. Sora couldn't really talk to his two friends about the Kairi situation… they wouldn't understand. They'd most likely just tell him to hook up with someone else and forget about her, but he couldn't.

"It's not 'nothing'. You've been in a funk all week, what's with you man?"

"I said, it's nothing." Sora snapped lightly, hoping to put an end to the conversation.

Riku rolled his eyes at his friend's attitude.

"Come Sora, what is it?"

"Nothing!" Sora exclaimed, poundinghis fist on the table, "I said nothingwas wrong, give it a rest already!"

Riku and Hayner exchanged a look before they both shrugged, turning back to their food.

The trio sat in silence for a long minute before Hayner quickly whipped his head up, a look of comprehension on his face.

"What?" Sora snapped yet again, irritated with his friend.

Hayner smiled sadly at Sora, face full of sympathy.

"Yuffie?"

"Huh?" Sora questioned, baffled. His eyes darted around the room as he ducked low in his seat, trying to be as invisible as he could.

"It's Yuffie isn't it?"

Sora nearly choked on a mouthful of food.

"Yuffie?"

"Yeah," Hayner said, "You're upset about the breakup with Yuffie? It's understandable man, she's the hottest girl in school."

"You think I'm upset about Yuffie?"

"Yeah." Hayner replied simply, munching on his food.

Sora chuckled slightly. He liked his friends, but Hayner was so completely dense.

"No Hayner, it's not Yuffie."

"Whatever."

Hayner returned to throwing food, while Riku and Sora continued to eat their lunch.

After a long lapse in silence between the pair, Riku gave Sora a calculating look.

"It's Kairi isn't it?"

Immediately, Sora's head shot up.

"Wha?" Sora mumbled incoherently, shocked his friend had caught on. Riku was the smartest in their group but Soranever figured he'd paid enough attention to how much he really liked Kairi.

Riku smirked, "Sora, we've been friends since kindergarten. I know you a bit better than you think. You unnecessarily pay attention to that girl way to much to just want to sleep with her. You've gone through a lot of trouble to gain her attention when all you'd have to do is simply wink at another and they'd hop into bed with you. You like her and she keeps rejecting you. That's why you're in a funk isn't it?"

The brunette could feel heat rising towards his cheeks as he sat stock still. "Err, no." He said quickly, embarrassed at having been figured out so easily.

As his friend turned back to the others, talking and conversing less loudly than before, Sora thought about how pathetic he was being. Perhaps he really should just move on. Kairi was just another girl, and although he really liked her because she wasn't just some fan girl of his,there were plenty of fish in the sea. It was obvious that he couldn't win her over by his looks and she wouldn't fall for his real personality either. She just wasn't budging.

Sighing slightly he picked up his fork and stabbed at a piece of cafeteria food violently. For a moment, he preoccupied himself with the thought of what it would be like if Kairi actually felt the same. He smiled, imagining what it would be like to wrap his arms around her and kiss her whenever he wanted. He remembered the feeling of holdingher in his arms that night on the ship and he honestly felt nothing could compare to that. Just simply holding Kairi was better than any experience he had ever had with another girl. He'd thought he'd died and gone to heaven that night.

Shaking the random thought out of his head, he watched a certain redhead walk into the spacious room. He tilted his head, eyes glimmering fondly as she placed a stray strand of crimson hair behind her ear. Her eyes danced as she laughed at something the blonde in front of her said.

In a lot of ways, he very much envied Roxas. He didn't know the guy, Roxas was a bit too shy, but he caught Kairi's attention. Even if it wasn't romantically, he still had her as a friend. She was able to feel comfortable around him, and Sora wondered just how he did it - how he managed to make her laugh and not bore her to tears, or get her angry with him.

He watched as she turned around to face her brunette friend… Selphie, he believed her name was. Now there was someone who was extremely hyper, and somewhat obnoxious, yet Kairi still liked her. It was times like these Sora really wondered what exactly he was doing wrong. Perhaps it was the way he presented himself. Maybe if he acted like a friend first... she might glance at him long enough to notice who he really was. A nice guy, not the jerk that she rightfully perceived him as.

Sora sat up a little straighter in his chair at the thought. Maybe that's it. He'd always taken the flirting approach with Kairi and even when he was just trying to be nice, he'd always wanted Kairi in a romantic way and she rebuffed him each time he asked her out. Maybe all he had to do was be her friend and the rest would fall into place.

Standing up and mumbling a goodbye to his friends, he threw his food away and made his way to the exit of the lunch room. He had a lot to think about.

Sora walked past the lunch line, noticing right away the immediate tenseness of the three, as if they anticipated him coming over to bug Kairi. He couldn't really blame them, that's what he'd always done until a few days ago. Any chance he could get to gain Kairi's attention, by either talking to her or annoying her, he had always taken. Sora was sure it was incredibly weird for all of them that he didn't now, but he was also sure they liked it better this way.

As he glanced backwards, sapphire orbs locked with violet. Their gazes met for a split second (but what felt like an eternity for Sora) until Kairi's eyes widened. Sora turned around just in time to smack face first into the cafeteria door. He stumbled backwards, cursing loudly and grabbing his nose. He moaned as he tried to shake the dizziness away from his vision.

He turned around, face flushed red with embarrassment as a number of eyes stared at him, including Kairi and her friends. Sora cursed once last time before speeding out of the cafeteria.

--

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm really sorry for the late update, I've just been really busy and have had huge writer's block. Not a very good combination but it's better now, I already have the next chapter done (for the most part).

It's come to my attention from some reviews that this story sounds a lot like Gilmore Girls. The thing is, this idea was originally for Gilmore Girls, therefore the setting and a few relationships (Kairi/Jayna Topher/Jayna) may sound similar. I found myself thinking more and more that the idea would be better used for Kingdom Hearts. I understand that some of you might think that this story is just like Gilmore Girls and it follows it too closely (which I partially regret doing now but it had to be done for plot reasons)… But it won't be like the show for long, a lot of different stuff is going to happen. If you could all just hang tight and wait for the story to unfold a bit more, it won't resemble Gilmore Girls all that much, just the beginning is a bit similar while we get into the story. I kept some of the relationships and things the same because it goes along with what happens in this story in later chapters. Everything else in the story (plot, ex...) are my own ideas.

I appreciate all of the feedback from you, but I figured enough people had pointed this out where I should address it. Please review! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. : )