The Lion and the Mouse-

Hi again! Thank you to all of my nice reviewers! I really appreciate it! I was waiting until I got 10 reviews to update and I got 10! I'm so happy! Okay, anyways, time to meet the lion!

Disclaimer: Me no own Kingdom Hearts or any of the FF's!

Ch. Two: The Lion-

" Riku! Get your ass out here right now or you'll be late for school!"

Riku removed his headphones from his ears when he heard his mother's cry. He couldn't believe that his mother's voice was so loud, it could be heard over his loud, rap music. ( AN: I hate rap... . )

" Now Riku!" she called once more.

Riku scowled and sat up from bed. " Alright! I'm coming, you bitch! Stop yelling already!"

The silver-haired teen grabbed his black jacket and slipped it on over his white shirt. Then he placed his black baseball cap sidewards on his head. He didn't even bother to take his backpack.

He left his limiting bedroom and came into the family room of their meager apartment. To Riku, it seemed more like a rathole- junk was everywhere.

On the couch, his mom sat, smoking a cigarette and watching television.

Riku shook his head shamefully and started for the door.

" Aren't you even going to have some breakfast?" his mom called, not even looking away from the T.V.

Riku scoffed in irritation. " Give me a break. You can't cook, and you know I can't cook. Don't start that shit with me this morning."

His mother glanced at him over her shoulder. " My, my, aren't we quite bitchy today." She took anther puff on her cigarette. " At least have some cereal."

Riku sighed in defeat before going into their tiny kitchen. He opened the cabinet and searched the shelves for some cereal. He finally found it and took it out of the cabinet.

He shoved his hand into the already opened box and took a handful of the cereal pieces. He popped a few in his mouth, but he spit them out shortly after. " Agh! It's stale!"

His mother placed a finger to her chin. " I suppose we should go food shopping..."

Riku rolled his eyes. He had been down this road plenty of times before. Usually, "we" meant " him, and only him".

" Riku, look in the cookie jar and get some money. Go to the grocery store after school and get some more food."

"Damn," said Riku. He reached into the cookie jar and pulled out the last one hundred dollar bill. It was all they had left.

He looked at his lazy mother and said, " Shouldn't you be at work?"

She took one last puff on her cigarette before putting it out in her ash tray. " Got fired," she said simply.

Riku's eyes widened. " What?! Why?! When?!"

She shrugged. " They said I was being lazy. They fired me about a few weeks ago."

"Oh..." said Riku quietly. No wonder their money was running so low. " Well, where have you been going for the past few weeks?" he asked her, suspicion hanging on every word.

She chuckled. " What do you think?"

" I'm thinking... I don't wanna know," Riku decided. He tucked the money away in his jacket pocket and headed once again for the door. " See ya moms. I've gotta jet."

She waved lazily at him before lighting another cigarette.

Riku scoffed again before walking outside and closing the door behind him.

He walked calmly down the street for a while until he was attacked from behind and put in a swift headlock.

He know the hold all too well and figured out who his captor was instantly.

" Zell! I know it's you! Let go of me right now!" Riku yelled, pawing at his friend.

The blonde just grinned. " Come on, Riku! You don't remember how to get out of a headlock? Didn't I teach you that?"

Riku sighed and did a technique called headlock A on his " captor". [ 1 ]

Zell smiled and did the Oblivion handshake with his fellow gang member.

Not only was Zell Riku's best friend, but he was also the leader of their gang-- Oblivion.

People feared them. They even feared wearing their gang colors, black and white, because they knew they would get a beat down if they did.

Riku liked having this kind of power. It was almost like he was king of the school. He could do almost anything he wanted to anyone and get away with it, because he knew they wouldn't tell. If they did, they'd probably end up having a bad accident.

The Oblivion gang consisted of five people, including Riku and Zell. The other three were Axel ( AN: The red-headed guy from KH2), Seymour ( AN: KH Seymour!), and Vincent.

There used to be seven members-- Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almsy were the last two.

Leon left because as far as Riku was concerned, he was a traitor. Leon quit because he said he wanted to make something of his life. Whatever...

But for Seifer, it was a totally different story

He was killed by another gang- shot, right through the heart. It might as well have been his heart, because when Leon left, Seifer was heart broken.

He used to be the leader of the gang, and since Zell was his little brother, he took over being leader-- even though he was much younger than everyone else.

Zell was so upset about his brother's death that he got a black teardrop tattooed under the corner of his left eye. It symbolized the pain he would forever feel in his heart.

Riku sighed. " So man, you ready for another year of nosy teachers who give us homework because they can't teach us enough during the day?"

Zell laughed at his friend's comment. " Yeah. I'm cool, I guess. But you know how we do the school year..."

Riku smiled and continued for him. " Yeah: Go one week, skip the next, go one week, skip the next..."

Zell laughed some more. " You know it, man!" As he laughed, Riku couldn't help but notice the black teardrop.

" Hey man..." Riku called quietly. " You still thinking about how to avenge your brother?"

Zell stopped laughing and looked away. " Yeah, still thinking..."

Riku mentally scolded himself. ' Real good way to start off the school year, Riku!' He placed a hand on Zell's shoulder, trying to comfort him. " Hey, look... sorry I brought it up..."

" It's cool, bro," Zell assured him with a small smile on his face. " Don't worry about it."

Riku nodded and said, " You don't think about it. Let's focus on the exciting new year with exciting new people!" He faked enthusiasm for his friend, but groaned shortly after when they came around the corner and saw their school building.

" You mean, ' new meat' -- and speaking of which..." Zell trailed off and pointed on the other side of the street. " Check it out."

Approaching the school was Tidus, along with his three cousins.

" I know the short blonde," Riku said, remembering Tidus from freshman year. " That kid is so damn annoying..."

" Wait, wait," Zell ordered him while trying to get a better look. " Who are the other three?"

" New faces," Riku said with interest. " Looks like two new blondes, and a..." His heart seemed to skip a beat when he saw the timid looking boy. He stared with a slightly opened mouth as he inspected him.

The boy had chestnut colored hair and sapphire blue eyes. His spiky hair framed his heart shaped face with beauty. The boy's skin was evenly tanned. ' He's probably from the islands,' Riku thought. ' He's beautiful... he looks so smart.'

The boy did look like an intellectual.

" He looks smart," Zell said about the brunette.

He noticed too? Did that mean that he was thinking the same things that Riku was?

" Yeah," Riku said, shrugging. He tried to play it off like he didn't think the boy was attractive.

" Maybe we can make him help us with some stuff..." Zell suggested.

" You mean like, making him do our homework?" asked Riku.

Zell shook his head. He grinned and licked his lips. " No, man. I was thinking something waaaayyyy different."

Riku pushed him. " Perv!"

Zell laughed before looking towards the boy again. " Keep an eye on him for me. Let everyone know that he's off limits until further notice."

' Off limits...' Riku thought miserably. Never the less, Riku was ready to fallow his leader's first given command of the year. " You got it," he said.

Riku stared at the boy until his gaze caused him to look up. Their eyes met for the first time.

Sora didn't like the look Riku was giving him. It was like a lion, ready to pounce on its prey.

tbc

[1] About that... well I take karate and headlock A is a technique they teach you in your white belt. It's what you use to get out of a side headlock, so yeah...

Anyways...

Please review. See you again in chapter three: The Lion's Wrath.

TTFN!