-o-x-Chapter 14-x-o-

Roxas scowled at his locker and tried the combination again. The day had not been good so far. Rikku had 'forgotten' to turn on his alarm clock before she fell asleep, so he had woken up with twenty minutes to get up, dressed and get to school. He'd managed do it in twenty-four minutes, so he was only a little but late, but it hadn't put him in a very good mood. Especially as his locker seemed to be broken.

So, feeling as though the whole world was somehow conspiring against him, he picked his messenger bag up off the floor, slung it over his shoulders and walked down the corridor.

His mind wondered to what he was supposed to be doing today. It sounded really quite stupid that merely bumping into someone could actually do what they were planning. Though, it was only the second stage of the plan.

German had been almost normal, despite the goings on at the weekend. Axel had been his usual confusing self and Roxas had just played along.

He was just thinking that it didn't look like he was going to get a chance to do what Naminé, Yuffie and Rikku had instructed him to do when he saw the very person he needed.

The first proper smile of the day worked its way onto the face as he moved to the left slightly so that the red-head would be almost directly in his path.

When he was about three feet away, he bent his head down and pretended to be rearranging his bag.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Axel walking straight towards him. He was with a tall blonde girl who had a smirk that could almost rival the red-head's. Or possibly not.

Roxas braced himself; he would have to make this look as natural as possible. He started to unzip his bag as slowly as possible and then-

"Ouch!" he smacked right into Axel.

"Hey, watch it kid," the red-head said, pushing him away gently, "Oh, Roxas. I should have known it was you."

"M'sorry…" he mumbled.

'Damn it. I never asked what I was supposed to say after I'd bumped into him. Crap, crap, shit, bugger. What do I say?'

Axel just shrugged before winking at him and walking away.

Roxas sighed. He didn't know if he had done it right or not. All he knew is that he had managed to get a wink. And that must count for something, right?

What he didn't notice what the icy glare he had been receiving the whole time from the blonde Axel had been walking with.

.x.X.x.

Sora stared at her.

"You want me to do what?!" he exclaimed, giving her a disbelieving look.

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" she pressed a finger to her lips and glared at him in a forceful way.

"Okay, sorry," he whispered, "It's just… I don't know if I can do that."

She sighed, "Why not? You'll do it great, I'm sure."

"But… I don't think I can, Kairi… I'm so bad at explaining things and I just ramble on and on and then nobody understands me except you and Riku… At least I think you can understand what I'm saying. I really hope you can because otherwise that would be even more embarrassing."

Kairi grinned, "Exactly" Only me and Riku can understand what you mean. So there's no problem."

"There isn't?" he asked, looking bewildered.

"Of course there isn't. It is Riku you are going to be talking to and if he can understand what you are saying it doesn't matter if you ramble."

"Oh… are you sure?"

She rolled her Kohl-rimmed eyes, "Yes! Otherwise I wouldn't have said it."

"Do I really have to do it? What if he is disgusted and pushes me away and hates me forever and spits on me when he sees me?"

Kairi smacked him lightly over the head, "Don't be silly Sora! He won't reject you. Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?"

Sora bit his bottom lip and looked away. She raised two fingers to her forehead.

"Don't answer that. Okay, you said in the conversation between you and Riku that other day that he said that he wasn't really upset when I dumped him because there was something else on his mind. That something was you. And did you see the way he looked straight at you after he kissed Yuffie in spin the bottle? He was seeing how you would react! He was obviously trying to make you jealous. And don't think you haven't noticed him staring at you throughout the whole of today! He's obviously smitten."

The brunette looked back at her, his eyes were wide and full of hope. "…Really?"

"Definitely," she confirmed, nodding and patting him on the shoulder in a reassuring way.

"Okay, If you're sure…" he said, feeling a little more optimistic than before. "So… when are we going to do it?"

She grinned, "Well, I thought this evening might be a good time."

Sora choked and his bright blue eyes widened, "Wha-what? Today? This evening? That's a bit early, isn't it?"

"No, Sora. The evening is a later part of the day," she said, suppressing a giggle.

"No… I meant it's a little… soon?" he squeaked, eyes now wide and looking at Kairi incredulously.

"So? The sooner the better, right? You were saying earlier that you didn't think you could handle lying for much longer."

"I guess," he said, sighing helplessly. He really wasn't sure if he was ready to 'reveal all' to Riku. Despite Kairi's insistence that Riku liked him in that way as well, he couldn't help but worry that he was going to lose one of his oldest and best friends.

"Don't worry about it Sora. If he takes it the wrong way or something I'll jump out of the bushes and say that you're on crack or something."

Sora grinned and hugged her, "That sounds great."

Kairi hugged him back tightly, laughing at the sarcasm in his voice.

"Hey, what's up?"

They pulled apart and looked at the new comer in surprise.

"Hey, Riku," Kairi said, her eyes wide, wondering if he had heard their conversation, "I-err… Sora was just telling me that he… didn't want to do track running…?"

Riku gave her a funny look, "Err… Okay," he turned to Sora, "We'd better go. We'll get detention if we're late."

Sora cringed, remembering the last time he'd had detention with Mr. Highwind. It was not a very pleasant memory.

"Yeah, I'll see you later, Kai." He said, waving at the red-head and following Riku out of the door.

He started at him. There had been something in Riku's eyes when he had spoken to them just now. The aqua eyes were normally bright and open, but it had seemed like there was a solid barrier behind them, making him almost unreadable.

Sora didn't know what it was. Maybe it was annoyance. Possibly anger.

No, that didn't seem right.

It was more like confusion.

"So..." said Riku, shaking free of his previous look of bewilderment, and obviously trying to initiate some sort of conversation.

"Heh heh," Sora said, rubbing the back of his head. "So..."

Sora stared at the floor, unwilling to meet Riku's eyes. It was funny to think that just this evening he would be admitting undying love for this boy, but now he was just casually walking next to him. Well, casual might not be the word. It was awkward, very awkward. There was a tense chill which sent shivers down Sora's spine.

"Still don't know why Kairi dumped me?" asked Riku, breaking ice.

Sora made a muffled squeak which he was sure Riku caught. "No... no idea," the younger muttered. Oh God, thought Sora. Oh God, he knows, he knows and he's trying to be all nice and bravado about it all. Sora mentally smacked himself.

"Ah," murmured Riku. Sora felt sick. He couldn't stand it anymore. It was too hard, he had to get away – maybe he could go to the nurse. Yeah, he could say he had stomach upset – which wasn't too far from the truth anyway. But Riku beat him to it -

"I'm going to go see the nurse," he said. "I don't feel too good."

Sora was left to stumble to the lesson on his own.

.x.X.x.

This is it, thought Riku. This is the end. Obviously Sora and Kairi are planning to get together and they can't tell me because they think I'll be upset about Kairi.

He stopped round a corner, pressing his fists into his eyes. He let out a muffled whine.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." He brushed a few angry tears from his eyes. "Fuck it." Was he crying? It all felt so wrong... He had only gone out with Kairi because he had thought it would make him more popular to have a girlfriend. But his plan had backfired. He didn't want to be popular. He wanted... Damnit, he wanted Sora.

He just wanted Sora.

"Oh, Sora..." he moaned. "What have you done to me?"

.x.X.x.

review replies:

DarkHenrych - LOL that's good. I hate the little buggers, I swear the mistakes just sneak in to annoy us. D:
Well, you just found out what Riku thinks Kairi dumped him for. But how wrong he is… Sill-eh boy.

I love Rikku too. She is one of my all time favourite characters. She is totally awesome :D It's quite funny really, I was talking to my beta while I was writing chapter 12 I think. And I was all "damnit. I don't know what to write like for Rikku." And she said "uh, just write what you would be like… you're enough like her anyway." Which made me laugh.

I'm glad you liked that chapter! I enjoyed writing it. I am also glad that you love this whole story! I love it too. I will be so sad when I finish it… D:

Varchsadow - Heh… I live to make people laugh. I really do XD

The operation name just came into my head automatically and I was surprised that it was actually good. Heh.

Inspiration? Yeah, I like that stuff. It's a very nice feeling :D

Peachie Bunni - hahahaaa. That really would be fun… sexuation, that is a damn good word. You should apply to get it into the dictionary. xD Yeah, I do too. It would be so damn fun to write :D

Cloaked Nocturne XV - THANK YOU! -cries- that was such a nice review…

SporkFilledDeath345 - Rikku makes everyone laugh. It's really funny cuz in nearly every review for the later chapter's they go "Rikku made me laugh so much!" or "Rikku is so funny!" or "I love Rikku!" and I'll all LAWL. Yeah, I'm sad xD

Writer's block on a review? Wow. Nice one. XD

UberBex - Certain other things will indeed go up! Thanks to the lack of pants on Sora. -nodshead- very good.

author's note: I hope you enjoyed that chapter. If you didn't I am very sorry. I love the next chapter. I really do :D

read, review, party, enjoy life...

nirii xx