Chapter VIII

Her perfectly manicured nails tap, tap, tapping on her desk, Miss Larxene waited. The clock on the wall ticked the seconds away, showing that classes had ended nearly five minutes ago. The blond brat had better not be late… A cruel smile curved her painted lips. It would be an excellent excuse to increase his punishment.

To her disappointment, the door opened moments later and Roxas walked in, his chin raised and back straight. He didn't look nearly as terrified as Larxene though he should.

"Take a seat, mister Strife," she purred, pointing at the desk directly in front of her own. He did as he was told and set his schoolbag by his feet as he stared past her. He was ready for whatever punishment she could dish out. Sora had told him stories and he wasn't scared.

Miss Larxene folded her hands neatly and gave him a stern look. "You understand why you're here, don't you, Roxas?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And why is that, Roxas?"

Staring straight ahead, the blond sophomore didn't even bother looking at her. "Because some moron passed me a note in class today."

The word almost made her snap at the little twerp. How dare he call her Axel a moron? But she forced her tone to remain stern and kept her voice steady. "Do you know who it was that passed you the note, Roxas?"

"No, ma'am." Oh but he would like to; she could see it in his face, in the set of his jaw. He wanted revenge on whoever had gotten him in trouble.

Sighing, Larxene leaned back in her chair with an exhausted expression. "I'm sorry that I have to tell you this, Roxas, but you've become the target of a very cruel game." She gave him a sympathetic look. "One of the seniors, a boy called Axel, has been targeting new students ever since he started school here. He passes them notes and gives them nicknames. He makes these poor young students feel special and wanted, and then, once he has them in the palm of his hand, he drops them."

Stunned, Roxas sat in silence, listening intently to what his math teacher was telling him.

"They look up to him and think he's their friend then he refuses to talk to them, he makes fun of them behind their backs and teases them about secrets they trusted him with. The note you received today sounded just like notes we've had before and it has never ended well for the recipient." She almost had fake tears in her eyes. The kid was actually buying it! The little wheels in his head were turning away like he'd been hooked to a power generator and she could tell that he believed every word.

"Thank you for warning me about him, Miss Larxene," Roxas said, genuinely grateful that someone had thought to tell him. "I had no idea."

Miss Larxene smiled. "I'm just glad I was able to warn you before you got hurt. Now, as for your detention, it is difficult for me to decide how to punish you. Clearly you are the victim here, but I cannot allow the passing of notes in my class to go unpunished." She did her best to sound regretful about what she was about to do.

"Why not punish Axel, if he's the one sending the notes in the first place?"

"The notes are never signed and we have yet to catch him red-handed, and there's little we can do about him toying with other students' emotions."

Roxas resigned himself to his fate. "Am I to do lines or something?"

The woman seated before him frowned. "Lines? No, no, we have a different system of punishment around here, Roxas. A more effective one." Her tone made him gulp.

What had he gotten himself into?

Only eighteen more to go. She could do this; she could stand detentions with Luxord. It was only for a month.

She sat in the desk directly in front of his where he could keep an eye on her as she graded papers.

I don't see why he can't grade these himself, she thought, annoyed. If he doesn't want to bother then why does he give out so many assignments?

Another red check appeared on the paper she was currently looking over. He was watching her carefully and she knew it; she could feel his eyes on her even though he was pretending to read a book. A smirk curved up one corner of her mouth. Of course he was looking, why wouldn't he be? She dressed the way she did so that boys—and men—would look. Of course, she had to wear her uniform for classes and therefore to her detentions, but that didn't mean she couldn't add her own flair.

Finally the hour was over and Kairi stood to leave, her bag hung over her shoulder and the graded papers neatly stacked on the desk.

"Good night, Professor Luxord," she said with a nod before walking towards the door.

"Wait a moment, Kairi."

She turned. "Yes?"

Slowly rising from his chair, Professor Luxord approached her. "When you arrive tomorrow, I expect you to be dressed appropriately. Understood?"

"Appropriately?" Baffled, she blinked up at the tall blond man standing before her.

"Yes." He pointed at her blouse, which showed just a little too much cleavage, and at her skirt, which she wore just a little too short. "This is not acceptable under the dress code. Now, you may go." With a careless wave of his hand, he dismissed her, and she hurried out of the classroom.

"Inappropriate? He stares at me that whole time then calls it inappropriate? He's the first person to ever tell me to change how I dress," she muttered, and was so distracted that she almost walked directly into Roxas, who flinched away as if she had moved to hit him.

"Oh! Hi, Roxas, how are you?"

"Hey, Kairi, I'm all right," he replied, though he didn't look all right. His face was pale and his hands were shaking as he tightly gripped the shoulder straps of his bag. He didn't meet her gaze.

"Are you sure?" the sophomore girl asked, concerned. "You look like you might be sick…"

"I'm just tired," the boy sighed, apparently not capable of putting any more strength into his voice. "See ya, Kairi." And with that he shuffled past her and down the hallk, his back bent slightly as if he was cringing.

"Huh. That was weird," Kairi said to herself as she watched the blond student disappear around a corner. Shrugging, she resituated her bag and continued on her way to her room.

"All right, Namine, time to clean up for the day," Mister Marluxia called from the doorway, smiling slightly at his favorite art student.

"Yes, Mister Marluxia," the pale girl replied as she finished the project she was working on and began to clear away her supplies. She was grateful to him for allowing her to work in the art room after classes had ended while she waited for her cousin to get out of detention. After packing her things away, she wiped the table clean and washed the pain from her fingers, careful to get it out from under her fingernails. The hallways were dark when she left the classroom, turning off the lights and locking the door behind her. Hopefully, Kairi was finished with her detention by now.

As she walked, Namine began to hear soft music echoing through the halls and she found herself wandering towards the source and even humming along. The tune was familiar, though she couldn't quite place where she had heard it before. Finally, she found where the music was coming from; someone was in the music room playing the piano.

Not wanting to interrupt but curious, Namine crept to the door and peeked in through the small window. A boy sat at the shiny black piano, his back to her. He had a blond mullet that was spiked in the front and he sat proud and erect on the bench with the most perfect posture she had ever seen. His hands flowed over the keys, producing the beautiful music that had drawn her here. It took her a moment to recognize him. His name was Demyx and he was a junior. She had band class with him first thing in the morning and had already been impressed with his musical abilities; she had never heard him play piano before.

She stood listening for several moments and tried to remember where she had heard the song before. Her thoughts on that were abandoned, however, when someone she hadn't noticed before approached Demyx and stood behind him with a hand on his shoulder. Namine recognized the long pink hair instantly. It was Mister Marluxia. The male teacher must have said something because the music faltered and stopped; Demyx's hands froze on the keys. Namine watched in curiosity as the blond junior stood and turned to face the teacher. A moment later, she wished she had looked away. But, despite herself, she couldn't tear her gaze from what was happening in the music room. Not until Demyx turned his head and looked directly at her, his distress clear in his expression, did she finally manage to spin around and run as fast as she could to escape the image of what she had just witnessed.

She fled, and didn't stop running until she reached her dorm and locked the door behind her. Panting, she fell onto her bed and hugged her knees to her chest. Here she felt safe, but the guilt soon swept over her. How could she leave him like that? She should have run in and yelled for him to stop or at least gone and found someone who could help.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm sorry I couldn't be brave enough to help you." The look on his face when he'd seen her had almost brought tears to her eyes. He had looked so desperate and helpless and confused and she hadn't done a thing to help him. Namine couldn't have felt worse about herself.

Sora was still on his victory high. He had the stereo turned up and was singing along to the one song that fit his mood perfectly.

"I've paid my dues, time after time…I've done my sentence but committed no crime…and bad mistakes, I've made a few. I've had my share of sand kicked in my face but I've come through!" he sang, raising a fist into the air before pretending to play the guitar.

"We are the champions, my friends! And we'll keep on fighting till the end…we are the champions! We are the champions!" His body swayed in time to the music. "No time for losers 'cause we are the champions of the world!

"I've taken my bows," he bowed gracefully, "and my curtain calls…you brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it…I thank you all…"

He snatched up a comb from his desk and sang into it like a microphone. "But it's been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise! I consider it a challenge before the whole human race and I ain't gonna lose!" Leaping onto his desk, the brunette boy turned to face the room and, lifting his arms, sang the last few lines with gusto. "We are the champions, my friends! And we'll keep on fighting till the end! We are the champions! We are the champions! No time for losers 'cause we are the champions…of the world!"

By the time the last note faded away, Sora was out of breath from singing along. Dropping the comb, he jumped off the desk and fell onto his bed, a grin on his face and his hands tucked under his head.

"I am the champion," he hummed, closing his eyes as his weariness from the game overtook him. It had taken his all to beat Riku, though he knew he probably would have lost had it not been for Roxas.

Just as he was on the verge of falling asleep, the door opened and shuffling footsteps crossed the room. He listened rather than opening his eyes and heard a bag hit the floor, followed by a pained groan.

"Roxas?" Sitting up, Sora looked at his twin in concern. "Are you all right?"

"Fine…" The blond sophomore slowly made his way over and contemplated the ladder. All he wanted was to get in bed and sleep but the task of climbing the ladder seemed like too much to ask of his abused body.

Not believing him for a second, Sora got up and stood before his twin. "Liar. You're hurt and I can tell. Is it from the soccer game?'Roxas shook his head. "No."

"Did someone beat you up?" The anger was clear in his voice and expression.

"Not exactly…"

"Then what happened?"

Roxas didn't want to tell him. It was too humiliating and he knew it would only upset him. But he wasn't sure if he would be able to lie to his twin, especially to his face.

"Tell me, Roxas, and I want the truth this time."

He sighed. "My detention with Miss Larxene."

Sora frowned. "What about it?"

Gesturing, Roxas turned his back to his twin. "Help me." He began unbuttoning his shirt. Confused, Sora helped his twin to shrug out of his white uniform shirt, a movement which obviously caused the blond more than just a little discomfort. When he saw what his brother was trying to show him, he could do little more than put his hand over his mouth in shock and horror.

"Roxas…!"

"I'm all right, Sora," he sighed, taking off his tie. "Just sore."

"What are those from?" Gently, the brunette trailed a finger along one of the angry red welts that covered his twin's back and shoulders.

"A yard stick…"

Outraged, Sora turned his brother to face him. "You have to go to Principal Xemnas about this, Rox. It isn't right."

"No, Sora. I'm fine and they'll be gone soon." Roxas managed a small smile. "Besides, somehow, I get the feeling Principal X wouldn't care, if this is what his teachers get away with."

"Well, she shouldn't get away with it," the other boy muttered as she twin climbed into his bunk.