A/N: Welcome to Chapter 1. This is still kind of an intro chapter, so yeah, it's still short. Oh, and this fic has implied Student-teacher relationships... so please don't flame me about that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 1: Learning

"KAIRI! We're going to meet the Destiny High orchestra teacher!" Selphie screamed, waiting for Kairi to come out of her house.

"I'm coming... I'm coming." Kairi stumbled out the door, to see not only Selphie, but Yuffie along with her.

"Let's GO!" Selphie half dragged Kairi as she ran down the street. "We don't have all day, plus, we don't know how long Mr. Leonhart is going to be there!"

Oh yes. It was the first day of their summer, and Kairi, Selphie, and Yuffie were using it to go visit their future orchestra teacher, to get some help to the new cello player. Although they weren't exactly having an ideal "fun" first day of summer, Selphie practically sprinted down to the high school, since she half-worshipped Mr. Leonhart. Wait, make that complete worshiped Mr. Leonhart. Yuffie was jogging along, too, and both of them were dragging along poor Kairi, who just wanted to walk, like a normal person.

"YAY, WE'RE HERE!" Selphie squealed as she ran up to the music/drama building. "Let's go in!"

"Selphie. Calm down... we do NOT want Mr. Leonhart to think we're a bunch of crazy wanna-be orchestra students." Yuffie said, trying to get Selphie out of her hyper state.

"SOOOO? He already knows me from All-state! And he knows my passion for cello players! And he-"

Yuffie cut her off. "Please, Selphie... BREATHE. In and out... in and out... there you go!"

Selphie inhaled and exhaled with Yuffie's words. Kairi just laughed and shook her head.

As Kairi was about to open the door, someone else came out through it. She sweatdropped. "I guess we're not the only ones here."

Selphie didn't hear Kairi, because she was too busy squealing over the person who came out, a brunette with wild, spikey hair. "OHMIGOD, it's SORA!" She ran over to him as he tried to shrug her off.

"Heh. Yeah, it's me." He ran off, clearly scared by Selphie.

"Who's he?" A confused Kairi asked.

"OHMIGOD you DON'T know who he is? He's like, the best cello player at our school!" Selphie screamed, running around like a maniac as usual. Thank goodness there were no other people around, or else Yuffie and Kairi would be hiding behind the bushes.

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Selphie, I thought you were all for Tidus."

"I AM! But, hello, Sora's a cello player, too!"

"Uh... yeah, let me explain." Yuffie said, seeing the confused look on Kairi's face. "So, you know Selphie's obsession with cellists?" Kairi nodded. "So... yeah, every time you make it known that someone's a cello player, she'll annoy them to death. All of the cellists at school are scared of her, especially the guys."

"AND Sora got accepted into Julliard! He might never come baaaaack!" Selphie wailed, listening to their conversation.

"He's first chair for a reason, Selphie." Yuffie was being rational, as always.

"So why didn'tI get accepted into Julliard?"

"Because you wanted to stay here, and you never applied."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that."

Kairi sweatdropped, once again. Sometimes Selphie was just too blonde for her. "Uh, let's go inside, since we didn't come here just to run around the courtyard."

"YEAH! Let's go!" The trio walked inside, down to the orchestra room, to see if it was locked.

Selphie tried to open the door, but the doorhandle refused to budge, as if it was locked. "NOOOOOO... Mr. Leonhart HAS to be here! He said that he would!"

This time, it was Yuffie's turn to sweatdrop. "Selphie, that door is always locked." she said, pointing out to Selphie that she was trying to open the right side of the double doors. Yuffie casually opened the left door, and the three went inside.

"Mr. Leonhart! We're here!" Yuffie yelled accross the room to see if he was in his office.

A tall man with long, dark hair opened his office door, and came out. "Hello, Yuffie, Selphie. I see that you brought your friend here. You're Kairi, right?"

"Yeah," Kairi mumbled, a little intimidated by his demeanor.

He walked over the cello rack, motioning for them to follow. Kairi crept up towards him while Selphie and Yuffie dashed. "Here, let's first see what size fits you. Since you're a little small, I'd think that you'd be a 3/4." Kairi tried not to take offense to what he said. He led her over to the empty orchestra and sat down in a chair, then beckoned for the three girls to do the same. He handed Kairi a cello, and showed her how to hold it. "Now, you try." She did so, and thought, This will be easier than I thought it would be!

"Have you rented or bought a cello yet?" Mr. Leonhart asked, inturrupting Kairi's glory.

Argh, she thought. I haven't talked to Mom about that yet...

"Kairi?"

"Um... no..." What else was she supposed to say?

"Okay, well... I'll be able to rent you a cello for free during school, but at home, you're on your own, okay? If you plan on just playing for school, and if you're willing to practice during school, then it shouldn't be a problem, and you might not have to rent one for home. But, since you're just starting out, I'd suggest you at least rent for the summer, so you don't have to walk here everyday to practice. And I'm not here everyday, either... so, what do you think your plan will be?"

Remembering what her mother said in 4th grade, she realized that if she wanted to rent a cello, it would have to be out of her own pocket. Darn... I'm going to have to put extra hours into work this summer... she thought.

"Um, earth to Kairi? You're spacing out again." Kairi suddenly realized that three pairs of eyes were on her as she was slowly thinking.

"Hm..." Mr. Leonhart thought quickly. "Yuffie, could I talk to you for a moment? Selphie, could you show Kairi how to hold the bow?" Mr. Leonhart led Yuffie out of the room.

"OKAY!" Selphie said in a perky voice. "This is how you hold the bow! You make a little bunny with your hand and you slip it in, and then curve your thumb and hang your pinky over the edge!"

"Um... I'm not sure if I completely got that, Selph."

"Here, I'll show you." Selphie patiently talked while she showed Kairi how to hold the bow.

Kairi copied Selphie's movements, and realized that the bow was heavy, and not easy to keep in her hand in that position. She wound up gripping the bow with all her might, and just letting her fingers slip out of place.

"Whoa, there, Kairi, don't grip it that hard." Mr. Leonhart had come back with his chat with Yuffie. "see, you've got the hold right, but you've just got to relax." He showed her the bow hold again, and when she tried this time, it worked a little bit better.

"So, Kairi. How 'bout you three come here about once a week, at the same time, and we can all practice together. Everyone else already has their music, so I'll give you your part, and work on it with you, after you get the basics covered. "

Kairi nodded, and he continued. "Learning is harder than it looks, Kairi. I'd hate to disappoint you, but when school starts, you're still going to be a little behind. I'm going to put you in the back, so then you can listen to everyone else play while you try to play along. It'll get easier once you get the hang of it, okay?"

She nodded once again, and he finished his little speech. "Chair tests are going to be on the first week. It's kind of sudden, but everyone else has known since the last month of school. I'll excuse you from them, but that means you'll be last chair. Is that okay with you?"

Kairi said yes, and while thinking, Any chair's fine with me, as long as I get to play.

"Okay, then, I have to get going, and so do you three. I'll see you guys sometime next week. I'll be here almost the whole time, but I'd like it if you would come during the afternoon, and that will be the time you come every week, okay? Don't go changing it on me."

Kairi slowly packed up the cello, dragging the fabric case along the floor, and then attempting to gently nudge the cello into it. She slowly dragged it back to the rack, with Yuffie and Selphie's warnings to "be careful with it."

They bid farewells to Mr. Leonhart, and walked out to the street.

"So, Yuffie, what did Mr. Leonhart have to talk about with you?" Kairi asked.

Yuffie blushed, and then said, "He wanted to know if you guys have financial problems or not. Because even though a lot of kids in orchestra do, he really didn't want to be the one to ask... If you did, he wanted me to let you know that he could make an exception for you, and rent a cello out to you for the summer."

"Aww, Yuffie, we all know that Mr. Leonhart told you something else!" Selphie giggled, knowing perfectly well about her friend's "thing" for the teacher.

Yuffie's blush turned redder. "No! That was all! I swear it was!"

"Don't worry, Yuff, we know he likes you too. He acts completely different around you. At All State, he had a straight face the whole time, and was practically speaking in monotone. Plus, you don't always have to be the tough girl." Selphie teased.

Yuffie continued to redden. "SELPHIE!"

"Okay, okay, I think it's time to stop." Kairi entered their arguement. "We've come to my house."

They bid each other farewells as Kairi walked inside.

It's going to be an interesting year, Kairi thought, and let the door slam shut behind her.