Author's Note: Thank you reviewers! Gives me more confidence to write. I've been loaded with lots of homework lately, so sorry if it takes so long to update now. My math teacher had to load me – and my class with thousands of worksheets. School's more than halfway finished, so I'm happy.
Copyrights: Square or Disney owns most of the things in the story, and as for the rest are people I've met in real life. "Simple and Clean" is owned by Utada Kikaru, who rocks, and J. K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter Series. I kinda got the lady with the broom in Maniac Magee, written by Jerry Spinelli. And I do own the plot. Happy reading.
Reach for the Stars
Chapter 2:
You Enlightened me a Bit
Sora almost dropped his cookies. "Riku?" Riku was standing at the doorway, almost as surprised as he was. Then he went on smirking.
"Oh, it's Sora. I didn't know your parents were friends with mine." His silver hair was flying with the wind, and behind him were his two parents: one with white hair and tanned skin, the other with piercing aqua eyes and pale skin. They all looked unwelcoming.
"Oh, the Sato family!" Sora heard his mom say. A clunk of chopsticks was heard at the kitchen, and Sora's mom rushed to the doorway, shoving Sora onto the floor. He stood up and went up stairs as soon as he got the chance.
What's he doing here? I thought he moved away… Oh no.
Sora went quickly into his room and locked his door. Riku would soon come up and bang the door, demanding him to open it. Then Riku would beat Sora up to death. He was sure. He could already hear the stairs creeping and that snicker that he heard since kindergarten.
He looked out at the window. Without a second thought, he started unlocking it. The door was shaking, and he heard the lock clinking in the doorknob. Sora grabbed for the tree branch that was by his window and went down just when he heard the door unlock.
He didn't hesitate at all to jump down twenty feet, even if he was risking an injury. He didn't need another beating after the one a few nights ago.
Sora landed flat on the ground. "Oomph!" a girl was heard. He opened his eyes. He was on top of someone else. Sora blushed a little and sat up.
"Sorry," he said timidly as he took the crunchy, red leaves out of his messy brown hair. "I wasn't looking where I was jumping…"
"Oh, it's only you." He looked up. It was Kairi again. Again, again, and again. She always seemed there, right next to him at the worst times. She seemed to be everywhere. "Why did you have to jump?" she continued to whine. "I think I might have snapped a rib or something."
"Oh, sorry. Do you need to go to a doctor?" Sora asked. Kairi blinked at him for a second before laughing.
"I was only joking!" Kairi said. "I didn't mean it." She wiped her purple dress to make sure all the leaves were off of it. "What are you doing out here anyway?" She picked up her notebook that lied on the sidewalk.
"Uhh…" Sora didn't want to tell her about Riku. "I was just… running out of the house, you see."
"Oh, I see," she said in a tone that didn't sound so convinced. And awkward silence followed.
"Come on," she finally said, tugging his wrist, " since you're here, there's something I want to show you before it leaves." Sora cautiously agreed and stood up. Kairi was running up the hill, followed by Sora who wasn't so used to hills so much since Destiny Islands was plainly made up of plateaus. Soon he found out that Twilight Town was no different. Because he lived to the side of the town, he wouldn't have found so many flat roads everywhere.
Sora had no idea where Kairi was leading him. "Kairi? Where are we going?"
"Somewhere," said the breathless girl. "I think you'll like it." After a few moments of twisting and turning in the confusing town, Sora was standing in the front of a tower – a bell tower.
It was very, very tall, with two bells on both sides. Without warning, the bells began ringing. Since Sora and Kairi were standing close to it, they had to cover their ears from the deafening sound.
"That's just the bell," Kairi said. "I guess we hit this place at the wrong time, huh?" She laughed nervously, hoping Sora wasn't too scared to go up.
"What's there to like?" Sora asked. "It's just a bell tower."
"Not just a bell tower. Let's go up," said Kairi.
"Up the tower?" Sora said nervously. "I don't think I want to…"
Up the tower? What's Kairi thinking?
"No, you have to go up," begged Kairi. She led Sora to the elevator located at the side. "There's nothing scary. I went up there a bunch of times. Come on, it's great up there." She gave him a reassuring smile. Sora couldn't help but feel a little safe with her. He nodded slightly.
When they got out the elevator, Sora felt the nice breeze. Kairi laughed and dragged Sora to the edge of the bell tower.
"Kairi, are you sure this is safe?" Sora asked, looking down. The bell tower was more than ten stories high. Maybe fifteen.
"Don't look down. Look up," Kairi told him. Sora did after a few more convincing and found himself staring at a familiar sunset.
"It… looks like the sunset where I used to see where I lived," exclaimed Sora. "It's…"
Oh, it's pretty. It looks more beautiful than the sunset I've seen before… It's wonderful. Like I'll say that. Why did you show me? I don't deserve such a nice –
"You looked like you need something to cheer you up. We can just come here and do our essay," said Kairi cheerfully. "Don't you love the scene?"
Sora shrugged. "It's… okay." He didn't want to tell her that he liked it, thinking that he would humiliate himself. Only then did he notice – after years of ignorance – he had homework.
----
It was Saturday, and Sora was sitting at the porch where his parents were just standing a few moments ago. They went away when they had been told that they won the lottery ticket for a week trip on some cruise ship. And did they bring Sora along? No; they made Sora do all the housework for the whole week.
Sora looked at his acoustic guitar and sighed. "When you walk away, you don't hear me say please…"
My parents are having fun, and Kairi's probably doing something with her friends. And me… I'm sitting at the boring pit hole playing on my guitar.
Sora had to admit; being with Kairi wasn't so bad. Maybe they became friends? Or maybe she was just a person he could speak with easily. "Don't get me wrong I love you…" He abruptly stopped singing and strumming the strings of his guitar when he heard the grass around him ruffling.
"You never told me you played a guitar!" the voice rang like bells and stopped Sora's train or thoughts. He looked up and saw Kairi running down the hill. She was wearing denim jeans and a "I love Chocolate" shirt. Her regular smile was still on her face.
Sora set his guitar very slowly. He found it a long time ago at Destiny Islands when he was searching for his homework. It was his only thing that entertained Sora, and he didn't want to break the only instrument he had.
"Did someone teach you?" asked Kairi. Sora shook his head.
"I learned by watching other people," said Sora softly. "I'm not so good."
"Yes you are!" Kairi said. "Yuna could use someone like you!"
Sora was confused. "Who's Yuna?"
"Oh yeah, you didn't meet her yet… come on, let's go to the mall!" said Kairi. "That's what I was here in the first place."
"Mall?" Sora asked, getting more confused. "What's a mall?"
Kairi sighed. "You don't know what a mall is?" She tugged Sora's wrist. "I'll show you. I guess you never went to one, did you?"
Sora looked at her eyes. They were scanning his house. "And why is your house so empty looking?"
"Uh, well… My parents went to visit someone else," Sora lied quickly, "and I wasn't interested going." Kairi stared at him doubtfully.
They walked over to the Twilight Town mall, and Sora's mind soon broke down, a lot. He hated crowds, and the ones in the mall were one of the most.
"Maybe I should just stay out here at the bench," said Sora uneasily. "I don't think it would be a good idea –"
"No," Kairi interrupted, "you're so coming with me. There're just people like you. There's nothing scary." Sora followed in defeat. He saw his classmates Kairi introduced the other day at the fountain flipping coins into it.
"I wish that our team will win the Blitzball Tournament," Tidus said very loudly for no reason before flipping his penny into the fountain.
Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like a penny would grant you a wish."
"Hey, look how many pennies are littered in the water! They practically dot the whole fountain!" exclaimed Tidus. "I'll count them for you!"
Kairi groaned. "Yuna, stop him." Selphie giggled at Yuna and Tidus. Yuna took her penny and threw it into the pool of water. Tidus saw it splash into the water and stopped counting all the money immediately.
"Maybe I shouldn't. There're too many pennies to count," said Tidus. Roxas snickered.
"Man, Yuna's like the remote control and Tidus is like the robot," he said. "I wish I was like Yuna. Then I can control Tidus forever."
Sora looked over to Naminé, who was drawing something. Kairi noticed his gaze and asked, "Naminé, what are you drawing?"
Naminé flinched a little bit when she got some attention and quickly hid her picture, blushing a little. "Oh, nothing. Just… something!"
Kairi looked suspiciously at her. Naminé was acting really strange lately. Maybe it was just her being a paranoid. "Whatever you say…"
"I'm going to find a guitarist to help me with the chorus show," said Yuna. "I hope I'll overcome Larxene's song…"
"You mean the blondie with Riku? The girl who has two strands of hair sticking out of side of her head like horns? She's pathetic!" Tidus said. "Yuna sings way better than that idiot." Roxas gave Selphie the "that was typical" face. Selphie sniggered.
Kairi spoke up. "But you don't need to go find one, Yuna. Just ask Sora. He's really good at playing his acoustic guitar."
Sora stiffened. "I – I'm not that good. Nobody taught me. I just learned how to play myself," said Sora.
"Stop lying to yourself," said Kairi. "I was watching. You were brilliant!"
Sora blushed a little. "I'm not brilliant. But I guess I'll help…" He looked at Yuna. She had brown hair that ran down all the way down to her neck. Her right eye was blue, while her left was green.
"What happened to your eyes?" Sora asked quietly.
Yuna laughed. "People always ask me that question. I had some freak accident when I was little. I turned out to have bi-colored eyes. I don't know if I was supposed to have blue eyes or green ones."
"I wish that our team will be the Blitzball Championship," Tidus said again, this time throwing a quarter into the fountain instead of a penny.
"Isn't that pretty much the same wish as the last one? And why waste twenty-five cents? I could buy a cookie with that coin," Roxas said. At the mention of food, Sora's stomach grumbled. He hadn't eaten anything since yesterday.
"Oh, we have a hungry friend," said Kairi. "We'll go get the food." Kairi tugged Sora's clothes, and Sora had no choice but to follow her.
"Do you have any money?" Kairi asked. Sora took out his blue wallet and searched around. He lost his latest job at a shopping market when he moved away. He hadn't earned any money since.
"It's okay, you don't have to buy me any food," said Sora.
"Nah, you need food," protested Kairi. "You can't live without food." She gave Sora ten dollars. "Here, take it."
Sora looked at Kairi's eyes. They looked so caring, and almost mesmerizing. It still had that sparkle…
Sora shook his head to get the thought away, a little more frustrating than usual. Kairi mistook it as a no and walked away to the food court. He found himself getting shoved into a seat. Kairi slid the tray full of food to Sora. He looked Kairi. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"Maybe." Kairi giggled. "At least you're starting to speak more fluent than when I met you yesterday," said Kairi cheerfully.
"I am?" asked Sora. Kairi nodded.
----
"You know," Tidus said, "I'm getting hungry as well. Let's go find Sora and Kairi."
"You're such a bigmouthed freak," said Yuna. Yuna, Tidus, Roxas, and Selphie were at the arcade playing air hockey only because Tidus forced them to. Naminé was sitting at the corner drawing as usual, not telling anyone what she was drawing.
"Thirty to twenty-six!" Tidus shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Ha! Yuna and I won, you three lost. You pay."
"Come on, Naminé," Roxas said. "We're getting food." Her head peeked up a little from her sketchbook. She closed it and caught up to Roxas.
"Is there something up? You seem… distant," Roxas asked.
"No- nothing's wrong," Namine said. "Nothing wrong at all." Roxas stared suspiciously at her. "What?" she said. Roxas shook his head and looked up front.
Tidus was literally knocking down anyone in his way to the food court. Yuna went chasing after him, and Selphie only giggled at the two.
"And they still don't admit that they like each other," Selphie said to Roxas and Naminé. The three caught up with the other two, only to find another group going over to the table Sora and Kairi was sitting at.
"Oh, damn," Tidus said, who also saw the very, very familiar group. "I smell trouble."
----
"Well," Kairi began talking to Sora again but soon got cut off.
"Oh! It's Kairi!" someone said behind her. "And look! A porcupine!" Kairi quickly turned around to find a young man that certainly looked like a harasser. He had red spiky hair and green eyes.
"Wow Axel," started Kairi, "I'm surprised that you aren't a porcupine. Oh wait, you are a porcupine, considering how many times you've attacked people with you head."
Axel glared at her and took a step forward from his place. "Who asked for your opinion?"
The two began furiously talking to each other, shooting each other with insults and swear words.
"I'm not surprised that your name means complete jerk," said Kairi.
Sora looked at the group. There was the spiky red haired guy, and a woman with blonde hair. He recognized that it was the same woman Tidus was talking about an hour ago. Another boy had a scar going across his head, and he was wearing some sort of hat. The last of the four was... Sora started shaking slightly when he noticed how familiar the person was.
It can't be him, can it?
"Yo, it's Sora!" the silver haired boy said. "Trying to be a stalker?" Sora started shaking more violently.
"Hey, you, gramps with the white hair!" a really loud voice broke through. And anyone would know whose voice it was.
Riku turned his head around. "Oh," he said, "It's the uncontrollable dog." Axel snickered.
"First off, I'm not a dog," Tidus said. "Last time I checked, you were born on the year of the dog. And you Axel were the chicken. I'm surprised you're brave enough to even talk."
"Shut up," Axel snarled and made a fist. The boy with the scar held him back.
"Stop, we can't fight in a mall," he whispered. "Everyone's watching." Indeed, everyone was watching. The children stopped halfway on their food, watching the interesting teens.
"Wow, you haven't grown at all," Riku continue to teaseSora. "I'm sure you're still an outlier. Look at how puny you are compared to everyone else."
Naminé didn't know what was coming out of her mouth, but she couldn't help herself. "Leave him alone!" she said crossly.
"And it's Sora's girlfriend. I'm surprised he even has one," mocked Riku. Naminé's face turned a little pink.
"Shut your mouth, Riku," said Kairi. Riku smirked at her and whispered something to her ear. A few moments of silence passed before a baby started crying, cutting the silence, and everyone started focusing at what they were doing in the first place. When Riku finished whispering, Kairi only glared at him.
The woman with the blonde hair turned to Yuna. "It's the cricket singer."
"You're the cricket singer, Larxene," Yuna said angrily. "Look, you have blonde antennas, just like a cricket! All you have to do is get them to face the front and paint them green."
Larxene was about to punch Yuna when Riku stopped her halfway. "Seifer's right. We're not fighting here." He looked at Sora one more time. "See you later, porcupine."
"Oh, if I could have a wand like Harry Potter," Tidus muttered, "I would have killed them all one by one with that curse."
Roxas shook Sora's shoulders. "They're gone. Do you know them or something?"
Sora nodded slowly before choking out some words. "I know Riku. I knew him since I was five. I – I hate him. He's the reason why…"
"What?" Roxas asked. Sora shook his head.
"What did Riku tell you?" Selphie asked Kairi. Kairi didn't answer. "What? Is it something bad?" She continued asking. Kairi only stared at the spoon on the tray.
Sora stood up so unexpectedly. "I – I'll go." Before anyone could stop him, he pushed his chair to the side and started running for the exit door, his head down so nobody saw the tear falling down his face. He heard his classmate's cries but ignored them and continued running, not caring where the heck he was heading.
The sun was beating down Sora's back, and before he knew it, he was sweating. Taking one last turn to the right, he was gasping for breath. There was another fountain that looked slightly like the one he saw at the mall. He sat down on the side, wiping his tears away.
Why am I the person who always gets rejected…?
"It's the little porcupine again," the same annoying voice Sora heard back at the mall snickered. "I go away to take a bottle of beer, and there he follows along!" It was Riku. "Maybe he's looking for a beating because he hasn't gotten any good ones ever since I moved away!" Sora winced.
"I'll be happy to start off!" Axel sniggered. "After all, he looks like a really good punching bag." A fist came in contact with Sora's face. Sora fell into the water. Everyone saw it and ran into their houses. Nobody wanted to mess with the four juniors.
Before Sora could even get up from the water, another fist came at him. The force caused Sora to land onto the floor.
Riku was about to deliver the last blow, but a lady came and swiped her old, broken broomstick between the two. The two looked up at her.
"Now, now," the elderly lady croaked out dangerously, "I don't want a fight here. Get out of here before I shoot you two." Riku glared at the woman. She did the same, and for a long time, they were staring at each other before Riku sneered and backed off. He and his teammates left.
"And you boy," the old woman said, pointing the end of her broomstick at Sora's chest, "don't you get in trouble." Sora nodded quietly before walking away, minding his own going back home to clean the house.
That woman is scary…
But then again, someone helped him… again. Sora counted with his fingers.
The woman helped me, Tidus helped me… Kairi helped – wait, what did she do?
She helped you make friends, Sora's conscious said.
No… Tidus and the others are just my classmates, right? They feel pity on me… yeah, that's why people talked to me...
Such a self-conscious person. When will you face the truth? his conscious said.
"Oh, shut up!" Sora mumbled loudly, looking at the concrete. "I don't need your advice…" He winced when a small pain was felt around his face Axel punched earlier.
"And Axel helped knock me back to my senses…"
----
Kairi felt something in her hands. It was an envelope. She looked at it under her table, but when Selphie came over, she quickly hid the pink envelope under the table.
"Is it something bad?" Selphie asked, shaking her shoulders. Kairi shook her head slightly.
"Where's Sora?" Kairi asked.
"Were you that blind?" Roxas sighed. "He ran away, out the door, and to his house."
Kairi stood up. "Wait, which door did he go out?" Tidus pointed at the door next to them. Kairi quickly stuffed the envelope into her jeans. "I'll see you guys on Monday." She ran over to the doors and out to the town.
Looking back to make sure no one was following her, she reached for her envelope and tried opening the wrinkled paper up. Kairi groaned in frustration and ripped it instead. A note came out of it.
Kairi,
My parents and your parents have officially made you my fiancée. There's no way you can break up with me, or you're dead. You can try, but the only thing that's going to happen to you is getting hurt. And I don't want my soon-to-be-wife hurt.
Riku
P.S. Sora and I have known each other for a long time if you were going to ask.
Kairi's body was shaking. "What?" she shouted. "There has got to be no way… it's just another one of his tricks. I know it!" Her mind was no longer set to find Sora but to go home and ask how the hell she was Riku's fiancée. She ran home and opened the door that no longer looked very welcoming.
"Mom!" Kairi yelled angrily, slamming the door shut. "Explanation!" The chopping in the kitchen stopped.
"Honey, your grandma's sleeping; don't distract her!" Kairi's mom whispered. "You know she's not feeling well these days." Kairi plopped down on her couch.
Her grandma wasn't feeling well last month. She was getting worse everyday, and everyone thought she was dieing. Kairi refused to believe it.
"And what explanation?" her mom said. Kairi shoved the letter roughly to her mom. She looked surprise at Kairi's actions, but read the piece of paper anyway. After a few moments, her mom handed it back to Kairi.
"Oh, you mean Riku Sato?" her mom said, acting as if nothing serious has happened. "His parents and us were friends for a while. We wanted you two to get married."
"But I don't want to marry him!" Kairi said. "I don't want to marry an idiotic popular kid that's my enemy. And he hurts Sora."
She eyed on Kairi. "Who's Sora?" she asked. "I don't know him."
"Of course you don't, Mom!" continued Kairi. "He just moved in on Thursday and started school on Friday."
"Oh, are you trying to tell me that you want to invite him to dinner next Saturday?" her mom said. She took off her gloves and threw them into the trashcan. "If that's what you're telling me, then of course! Make sure he brings his parents if they can come. Making new friends is my life." She giggled and slid all the chopped vegetables into the pot, getting them ready to be cooked.
"But Mom! That's not the point!" Kairi said. "It's –"
"Yes, yes," her mother cut Kairi's voice like scissors. "Here, I know you want to impress Riku, so I've bought you a gift for him." She took the nicely wrapped box on the dinning table. It was in aqua, Riku's favorite color. She dropped it into Kairi's arms. "Now make sure it's not opened, destroyed, indented, pickpocketed, or manipulated. And make sure you give Riku your nice, cute grin and say hello to him. Okay?"
Kairi couldn't speak. She didn't want it to end the way it was. When she was about to put some sense into her mom, Mrs. Tanaka hugged her and went back to her cooking.
She heard some jumping behind her and turned around.
"Kairi is getting married!" seven-year-old Sam said. He laughed and then jumped back up the stairs. "Wait till I tell my class!"
"No, you don't understand!" Kairi yelled. "Come back here Sam!"
"Kairi, please, quiet!" Mrs. Tanaka said.
What is wrong with this world?
----
It was Monday, and the worst day Sora could get. Only that day he wasn't frowning, which meant a good sign.
Then the clock hanging on the wall downstairs hit its hour and minute hand to seven. The bluebird stored in it came out and did its hourly chirps. When the bird finished, the alarm clock next to Sora's bed started talking loudly. Sora instantly got annoyed.
Time to wake up, you lazy bones! It was his father's voice that was recorded into the alarm clock. Sora only buried his head into his pillow.
I guess you're not very corporative, are you? Sora's father – or rather the alarm clock continued saying.
"No, I'm not," Sora murmured, trying to smash the button. Instead, he hit the hard wooden table. He gave up and went back to sleep.
Then you'll just need a beat- There was a loud smash. The alarm clock was literally destroyed. Sora peeked and eye and looked at the floor. A large indent was greeting him at the wall, and below it was the alarm clock in pieces.
Sora yawned and sat up in bed. It felt more like a strange day than a bad day. There wasn't any stomping of rushing feet on the wooden floors downstairs like he usually heard.
Oh yeah, they've gone to the cruise ship. And left me behind.
Sora went to the bathroom and turned the faucet on to fill his cup. He didn't need any cold water on his face – he was already wide-awake and fearing Riku already. After the incident the last three days, he hadn't walked out of his room, thinking that Riku was right outside, ready to punch him again.
Sora looked at the mirror. Riku was right. He hadn't change at all, maybe except the few inches added to his height. It was the same unhappy face, the same frown, same tanned skin, and the same spiky hair. Only it became spikier over the years. His dull blue eyes were no different, except the left one it had a light purple mark, still injured from Axel's blow. And his necklace was still hanging on his neck.
He did consider about Kairi and his fellow classmates though. Maybe he should give them a chance. They don't sound so bad. They were helpful at least.
After Sora finished brushing his teeth, he quickly took something random out of his closet and put it on before reaching out for his backpack hanging on the chair.
And there's nothing to eat again.
Sora turned around for a last look on the table, hoping that there was food, but none came, so Sora sighed and opened the door. The November breeze was a still a little chilly, but being Sora, he ignored the wind touching his skin. To him, it felt like regular wind at July.
"Sora!" called the same exact voice he heard before. Sora didn't flinch that time though. The sound of something rolling turned into footsteps.
How can she act like I'm her best friend? It hasn't even been a week.
He found Kairi running down to him, holding one of those skateboarding things in her arms. Some kind of hat he seen people wearing before was placed on top of her auburn hair.
"What's that on your head?" Sora asked, pointing at the strange hat.
"This?" Kairi said, touching her hat. "It's a helmet."
"Why do you need a helmet?" he continued asking.
"So if I fell from the skateboard, my head would be safe," answered Kairi. "That's what a helmet does after all."
A pebble rolled down from the hill. "Dude, Kairi, what's taking so long?" a man's voice shouted. And anyone would know whose voice it was.
"Tidus is here?" said Sora.
"Yeah, why not?" Kairi said. "Everyone you know is here. We walk together everyday at morning and the afternoon. Since we passed your house, we wanted you to come along."
"Oh," said Sora. The two walked up the hill, and when they reached the top, Kairi shoved Sora his skateboard.
"What's this for?" Sora asked. It was black at the top and white at the bottom.
Kairi giggled. "Try to skateboard. He handed him the helmet. "Here, you put your right feet at the front, and your other at the back. Now balance, and you're –"
"Off!" Tidus said and pushed Sora. Roxas couldn't help but laugh so hard when he saw Sora almost fall off. He then noticed Naminé's gaze. She was staring at Sora.
"Naminé, you're walking the wrong way," Roxas said as he watched Naminé walking off the other direction. Naminé's gaze instantly stopped. She looked up at Roxas's light blue ones.
"Sorry, I'm off a little, aren't I?" Naminé laughed nervously as she tightened her grip on her sketchbook.
"A little too much," Roxas mumbled. He cast an odd look on Naminé before shifting his book bag to a comfortable position.
The group was soon in the front of the school building. Sora hit the side of the sidewalk with the skateboard.
"Man, Sora's seriously gifted," Roxas said. "That was a good first try for skateboarding, unlike Tidus. I still remember the first time you tried it. You almost got hit by a car."
"Shut up," Tidus said and punched Roxas's shoulder. Yuna giggled, and Selphie smirked. She wrote something in her notebook.
Sora blushed. "I'm not talented…"
"And he's good at the acoustic guitar," Roxas continued to tease Tidus. "Not to mention that he's better than you at math. Wonder if he can beat you at blitzball."
"Oh no!" Tidus said. "Nobody can beat me at blitzball! No one can beat Yuna as a singer, and Selphie as a matchmaker. But how about you, Roxas? You're beatable in every department."
Roxas looked offended. "Hey, I was the champion of skateboarding for five years in a row!"
"But I bet Sora can beat you," Tidus laughed. Roxas glared. Sora slowly edged away from the group, hoping that he wouldn't get caught.
"Porcupine Stalker!" a voice sniggered. Sora turned around. Riku was flipping his coin over and over again in his hand, with the others watching. "I found you at the mall, but here? I surprised your family can even pay to come to a school."
"Shut up, gramps," Tidus said angrily. "He doesn't need to be as rich as you."
"Sit, puppy," Riku said, pointing to the ground. Tidus's glower only deepened. "Besides, I didn't come for another fight with Sora. I've come here to talk to Kairi."
"What?" Selphie asked.
Riku sneered. "None of your business. Now if you excuse Kairi and me…" he grabbed Kairi and dragged her away with the other three juniors.
Sora quickly ran to Dr. Stepper's class, away from Tidus and the others. He opened the door silently so no one would notice him. Too bad it didn't work.
"Sora, how nice to see you again!" Dr. Stepper said. Sora nodded for no reason and sat down in his seat. He looked across where Kairi usually sat. But there was no Kairi there. Just an empty seat.
Everyone else started coming in the door, and then the bell rang. Sora felt a little anxious that Kairi wasn't there. Tidus looked the same.
"Kairi's never late," Tidus said. "And she wouldn't dump school. That's just not her." He shrugged. "Oh well, I'm sure she's okay, and as long as Riku doesn't do anything, I'm fine."
Sora stared at the clock. After thirty minutes passed, Sora asked Dr. Stepper if he could go to the bathroom. He got the excuse and went to see if Kairi was okay. Something just didn't feel right to him.
----
Riku was ridiculously close to Kairi. A little too close. Kairi couldn't go back anymore. Her back hit the blue lockers, and she stood there, feeling Riku's breath on her neck. His fired up aqua eyes were looking into the annoyed blue ones.
"You can't hide from me forever," he whispered. Kairi only frowned more.
"Let go of me," Kairi said. She tried to move her arms, but Riku held them securely.
"I take that as a no?" Riku growled. "You give me something, I ask you out, and you say no?"
Kairi groaned. "I told you, my mom invited a family over at Saturday, and I have to go to the Blitzball competition on Sunday. Maybe some next time!"
"That wasn't the answer I was looking for!" Riku said.
"Hey, you let go of her!"
They both looked to the side.
"Sora!" said Kairi. Riku sneered again.
"Puppy number two," Riku said. "I'm surprised you've got social skills." He let go of Kairi and walked up to Sora. "And from your voice, you want another fight, don't cha?"
"Sora, don't mess with him!" said Kairi. "You'll get in trouble, and –"
"Shut it," said Riku. "This is between Sora and me." He cracked his knuckles and smirked at Sora. He only glared.
"That's my friend you're messing with!" Sora said before blinking. Since when had he go up against Riku, the popular guy who was a head taller than him?
When did I start talking in public? Sora couldn't recall.
"So you do got social skills, you just don't use them, do you?" Riku mocked. "That's still sad in my opinion, porcupine stalker." He threw Sora to the edge whose back hit the lockers, making a loud noise, attracting the classes.
"Oops!" Riku continued mocking. "I'm so sorry! Forgive me!" Kairi couldn't take it anymore and slapped him.
"You're a real jackass, you know!" Kairi said snappily. "and your friends too! I can't believe I'm betrothed to you!" She helped Sora up. "You would have been expelled by now if I was a tattletale. Too bad I'm not." Riku laughed.
"I don't care if I was in trouble. My family can control this whole school if they felt like it. Just a little persuasion would do it." He turned his back to them. "But I guess I could give you guys another chance. Piss me off one more time and –"
"And what?" a voice was heard. The three turned around and found Mrs. Rogers, the calculus teacher looking at them. Riku laughed nervously.
"You see –"
"I saw everything, Mr. Sato," Mrs. Rogers said. "And you'll be going to the principal." She came over to Riku and grabbed his arm. He made one last glare at the other two and walked off with her.
Sora rubbed his arm. "Thanks, Kairi." Kairi couldn't resist and hugged him.
Author's Endnote: Whew! That took a while to write. My arms are aching. I hope you guys enjoyed it, considering that I won't be updating this story for a while because of Kingdom Hearts II coming out and me going to San Francisco. Please review! I'd love suggestions and comments, as long as it's not a flame.
Thanks to: Neko-Neko23, Iridaceae, revengematron3, pink-chaos, A Shorter Name, and all the anonymous reviews!