Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts (II), Sora, Kairi, Riku, etc.

Author's Note: I didn't know this chapter would be so LONG. I also didn't know I would get five reviews so quickly! Thanks for reviewing, everybody!

Warning: There IS no warning this time, actually. I have fully enjoyed writing this chapter.

Quick Author Babble: Here's when we get down to the real story.

Chapter 2: Call Me "Friend"

"Kairi, what are you going to do today?"

Kairi looked up at her mother's question. She was sitting ant the table with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ire, and her sister, Naminé. Naminé was the most popular girl at school, and she'd probably be the most popular person if it weren't for Riku. Kairi was always lost in her shadow. Naminé would wear a mink and snakeskin boots when Kairi would prefer a T-shirt and a pair of sneakers.

"I don't know," Kairi replied. "Maybe visit the CD store, stop at the park, and hang out with Sora."

Mrs. Ire raised an eyebrow.

"Who's Sora?" she asked.

"Some loser Kairi is friends with," Naminé answered for Kairi, poking at her eggs.

"Don't call him that!" Kairi cried defensively.

"Yes, Naminé," Mrs. Ire agreed, looking at the blond girl. "That is very inappropriate language, and I'm sure if he's Kairi's friend, he's a nice boy."

"How would you know?" Naminé asked snidely. "Kairi's never had any friends that you've known well."

Kairi looked down. It was true. She'd only been friends with Riku, and that seemed like a long time ago. Since then she'd just been hanging around with Naminé and her friends, and both Naminé and her friends were awful.

Naminé had one friend named Yuffie that Kairi didn't really mind. Yuffie wasn't really one of Naminé's favorite friends, or so she said, and when Kairi was around Yuffie actually treated her like a person—she talked to her and included her in the conversation.

Kairi wondered if Yuffie would be considered as her friend—it'd been so long since she'd had one she'd forgotten what it was like.

"Naminé!" cried Mrs. Ire. "What a horrible thing to say! Apologize to your sister!"

"What?" Naminé asked, suddenly looking innocent. "It's true! Sora is a complete and utter loser. Everyone hates him at school. If Kairi can't face the facts then…"

"Shut up!" Kairi yelled.

She threw her fork down. Kairi couldn't stand another moment of this conversation. She stood up, leaving her breakfast uneaten, and pulled on her sweater. Before anyone could say anything, she went outside into the crisp autumn morning and slammed the door behind her.

Kairi could hear her mother's angry yells at Naminé coming from inside the house, but she ignored them. The CD shop wouldn't be open this early, so she turned and made her way to the park.

Kairi sat down on a bench under a tree. The park was completely empty except for her. She watched the red and yellow leaves drift past her and smiled.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

Kairi turned at the voice. She saw Sora standing there, that big, happy grin on his face.

"Hi," she said, also smiling. "What are you doing here this early?"

Sora shrugged.

"I'm an early riser."

Kairi made a gesture for him to sit down beside her. She'd only met him a week ago in a freak lunch accident, but after that they'd gotten along well.

Sora sat down next to her and they both watched the falling leaves.

"My mom once told me that every falling leaf represents a new life about to come in," Sora said. "So, if you catch one, it will show you what your future will be like."

He reached out and caught one of the leaves. Opening his hands, he and Kairi looked at the leaf. It was brightly colored, splashed with green, red, orange, and yellow. It was still intact—it didn't have any holes or tears in it.

"It's beautiful," Kairi commented. "I guess you're going to have a good future."

"You can have it," Sora said, handing it to her.

"Really?" asked Kairi. "Thanks! That's really sweet."

She carefully placed it in her pocket so it wouldn't bend.

"Ha, ha, ha, I'm stealing your future!" she cackled teasingly.

"Redheaded villain, you will not win!" Sora cried, playing along.

Kairi leaped off the bench and held out her hands.

"I'm casting my dark magic at you!" she said.

Sora hopped off the bench as well.

"I dodged it!" he remarked. "And now I'm going to take out my sword…"

He reached behind him and pulled out an invisible sword.

"And with a mighty swing, take you down!" Sora shouted, stabbing forward.

"Oh…you've killed me…I'm dying…" Kairi moaned, and she collapsed in the grass. "Gasp…air…need…air…cough…"

And she made her head fall into the grass. She closed her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

Sora knelt down beside her, and when she opened her eyes again, they broke into a fit of laughter. Kairi didn't remember having so much fun before in her life.

"So it's true. You really are…ugh…together."

Sora and Kairi looked up to meet the stone cold, pale blue eyes of Naminé. Somehow, in the short time Kairi had been gone, Naminé had gathered her friends together and now they were all glaring at Sora and Kairi.

"My own sister," Naminé moaned. "Listen, Kairi, he is the lowest of the low. You could really be quite high on the popularity scale if you'd stop wearing such plain clothes. Now come with me and leave this pathetic creature behind."

Kairi exchanged a glance with Sora. She stood up and crossed her arms.

"First of all, we're not 'together'," she said. "Second, why do you think Sora's so low in popularity? He's smart, he's funny, and he's friendly. And let me tell you one thing—he's a lot better person than you'll ever be."

It took Kairi a moment to realize what she'd just said. There was a deadly silence that followed. Naminé looked like she was about to burst with rage. Kairi quickly put a hand over her mouth, as if that would make the words fade from everyone's minds.

"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Naminé screeched, her voice echoing through the whole park.

All the birds around took off at the yell. Kairi cringed, and so did the people behind Naminé. Naminé grabbed Kairi's shoulder and squeezed it until it burned.

"Listen to me, you little brat," Naminé hissed. "If you want to stay here and be a total outcast, then fine, I'll leave you to it. But don't you ever say someone like the likes of him is better than me! I will make your life so miserable you'll be begging to be sent to jail!"

Naminé threw Kairi back, and just as she was about to fall over, Sora caught her. Naminé looked even madder when she realized she hadn't even caused any pain, so she turned and left the park, her little squad close behind her.

Kairi noticed Yuffie pause and look at Kairi and Sora apologetically before running after the rest of the group.

"You shouldn't have done that," Sora said.

"Yes, I should have," Kairi replied. "It's wrong, what everyone's doing, and I'm not going to stand around and let them do it."

"Kairi, it's okay," Sora remarked. "I can take care of myself."

"It's not okay!" Kairi yelled. "Don't you understand? There are lots of people like you, Sora—decent people, people who are perfectly friendly—and they're just being dumped on for no good reason! It's people like Riku and Naminé that make this happen. They want to show everyone what they can do, that if you don't do what they want they can hurt you."

"Other people like who?" Sora asked, crossing his arms.

"People…people like me," Kairi stuttered. "I've always quietly obeyed Naminé, people treating me like I'm not even there, and if I don't do everything Naminé wants she'll make sure I'll pay for it socially. Things have to change, Sora. I've seen you stand up to Riku a good many times."

Sora scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I guess…"

"Riku and Naminé are human like everyone else," Kairi continued. "As soon as people realize this, our school will be saved. There will always be statuses and popular kids, but no rulers. Imagine!"

Sora nodded, a determined look on his face.

"You're right!" he said. "Let's start a rebellion! Who do you think we should talk to first?"

Kairi thought for a moment and looked up at him.

"Yuffie," she said. "She's always been nice to me, and I can tell she knows what Naminé is doing is wrong."

"Who's Yuffie?" Sora asked, but Kairi was already running away. "Kairi, wait! KAIRI!!!"

Kairi was running along the path she'd seen Yuffie and the others walk down. She heard Sora's quick footsteps behind her so she knew he was close behind.

Kairi screeched to a stop as they came to a busy street. It had lots of traffic, and cars were all around honking and trying to move the other cars ahead.

"Where did they go?" Kairi murmured.

"There!" Sora cried, pointing.

Kairi followed his gaze to a small café called "Rosewood Café". Sitting at the table next to the window was Naminé and her friends. Yuffie was the closest to the window, not really paying attention to what her companions were talking about, and staring into her tea, looking guilty and miserable.

"We have to catch her attention," Kairi said, turning to Sora.

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Sora asked, crossing his arms.

Kairi started jumping around like a lunatic and started to cartwheel all around the place.

"I shouldn't have asked…" Sora groaned.

"Come on, Sora!" Kairi cried. "Use your energy! Be creative!"

"Can't we just run over there and hammer on the window?" Sora asked.

"No!" Kairi replied. "Then everyone else will see us! Come on, Sora, just do something people will really stare at."

"Uh…"

Sora looked around the busy street for something he could use.

"Ah ha!" he cried.

He ran over to a ten-year-old boy who was skateboarding down the sidewalk.

"Hey, kid, I'll give you five dollars if you let me borrow your skateboard," he said.

"Deal!" cried the boy instantly, handing him the skateboard.

Sora took out a five dollar bill and gave it to him. He put the skateboard down on the sidewalk and looked down at it.

"I haven't used one of these in awhile," he said, "but whatever I do on this thing will definitely be eye-catching."

"Sora!" shouted Kairi. "Are you crazy?"

"I might be," Sora replied with a smile, and he leaped on the skateboard and raced off.

At first Kairi was too scared to look, but when she heard no big crash or yelp of pain, she opened her eyes. What met her gaze was amazing—Sora was spinning around in the air and skateboarding like an expert. He even skateboarded over the hoods of the cars that were stuck in traffic.

Everyone in the street stopped to stare. Kairi's mouth dropped open and realized she was unable to close it again. The boy who had lent Sora his skateboard was staring at Sora like he was his idol. "Oohs" and "ahs" were heard all the way down the street.

So of course Yuffie looked out the window to see what was going on.

Her mouth dropped open as Sora zoomed by her window and did a perfect three hundred sixty degree spin. Yuffie gasped because she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Her friends noticed her gasp and though they didn't really care, they asked her what was bothering her. That's when Kairi gestured for her to come over, and she said that she just remembered she was supposed to feed the cat, so she had to hurry back home.

If Yuffie's companions were really her friends they would know that she didn't have any pets, but since they didn't really care about her life, they were oblivious to the fact that Yuffie was sneaking out to talk to Sora and Kairi, the people they apparently all hated.

Kairi saw Yuffie talking to her friends and noticed that they were all starting to move and wave. She was coming.

"Okay, Sora, she saw us!" Kairi called. "You can stop showing off now!"

Sora leaped off the hood of a blue car and slowed down next to Kairi. He got off the skateboard and handed it back to the little kid.

"Here you go," he said. "Thanks for lending this to me."

"You're awesome!" the boy cried. "Will you sign my board?"

"Uh…sure," Sora answered. "Kairi, do you have a pen or a marker?"

"Yeah," Kairi replied, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a green gel pen. "Here."

Sora quickly scribbled his short signature on the back of the skateboard and the boy beamed.

"Wait till the guys get a load of this!" he cried. "Thanks, mister! You rock!"

"You're not so bad yourself," Sora replied with a smile, and he ruffled the boy's hair.

Kairi watched the little kid run off. Sora stood up again, stretched, and handed her back the pen.

"You said you haven't been on a skateboard for awhile!" Kairi said. "You seem very well-practiced to me!"

"Yeah, well…you never forget how to ride one," Sora replied.

"You could've killed yourself!" Kairi screamed. "I thought you were going to die, the way you made it sound in the beginning!"

"Sorry if I disappointed you," Sora stated, leaning against a streetlight.

"You know that's not what I meant!" Kairi cried. "I…"

"You waved me over?"

Kairi looked to the side and saw Yuffie, who looked a bit panicked and curious.

"Um…yeah, we did," Kairi said, turning away from Sora. "Yuffie, we want to talk to you about Naminé. We know you don't like her…I mean, you can't like her…and we've noticed that you seem a bit guilty every Naminé bullies someone."

"Talking about Naminé behind her back is a bad idea," Yuffie stated, looking a bit panicked. "She's everywhere."

"Yuffie, you don't need to be scared of Naminé," Sora remarked. "What can she do to you? Change you socially? Are you really that scared about that? I mean, look at me. I'm picked on by everyone at school, and I'm still living."

"You almost died," Kairi said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot on the ground.

"For God's sake, I'm still alive!" Sora shouted. "I wasn't even scratched during skateboarding!"

Yuffie smiled.

"I saw that," she said. "Those were some wicked moves, Sora."

"See?" Sora remarked, gesturing to Yuffie. "See? There's someone who appreciates my skateboarding! Besides, you should be thanking me! I got Yuffie's attention, didn't I?"

"By nearly killing yourself!"

"I'M STILL ALIVE!!!"

Yuffie walked between the feuding teenagers.

"You guys, was there something you wanted to tell me?" Yuffie asked.

"Oh, um, yes," Kairi said, straightening up. "We want you to join our rebellion."

Yuffie made a face.

"Rebellion?" she repeated.

"Yes," Sora replied, giving a quick nod. "We want to stop Riku and Naminé from ruling the school. Personally, I think Riku's more dangerous than anybody."

"Says you," Kairi said. "I have to live with Naminé."

Yuffie put a finger to her lips to prevent another fight to enflame.

"I see," she remarked. "Naminé's pretended to be my friend for so long, but she only treats me as a servant. I bet she doesn't even like me! Fine, I'll join."

Kairi took out the gel pen she had given to Sora before and a small notebook. She wrote down:

KING AND QUEEN REBELLION MEMBERS

Kairi

Sora

Yuffie

"We'll call our rebellion…KAQR," Kairi suggested.

"KAQR?" repeated Sora, a look of bewilderment passing over his face.

Kairi nodded.

"It stands for 'King and Queen Rebellion'," Kairi explained.

"No," Sora said, shaking his head. "It doesn't work…"

"Sora's right," Yuffie agreed. "It's not catchy enough."

Kairi crossed her arms.

"Then what do you suggest?" she asked.

"How about…" Sora murmured thoughtfully, "SCARF?"

"SCARF?" repeated Kairi. "Um…Sora…you do know that spells scarf, right?"

Sora nodded and smiled.

"I know," he replied. "It stands for 'Students Contending Against Ravenous Fools'."

"Ravenous fools?" Kairi said, crossing her arms. "Sora, let's be nice."

"Okay, okay," Sora sighed. "How about this then: 'Students Contending Against Ravenous Frosh'."

"That sounds great!" Yuffie chirped.

"I'm okay with that," Kairi remarked.

She took out her notebook, ripped out the first page, and started to write:

STUDENTS CONTENDING AGAINST RAVENOUS FROSH MEMBERS

Kairi

Sora

Yuffie

And so SCARF began.

It had been a long day. Kairi was relieved to get home, even though she'd had a great time hanging out with Sora and Yuffie. They still hadn't decided who to pick for their next member—none of them had really taken a good look at all the students.

The smell of Mrs. Ire's famous homemade chicken soup met Kairi's nose as soon as she entered the house. Mr. Ire was back from work, and he was watching the Destiny Island Evening News a bit too seriously.

"Some boy was skateboarding on the hoods of cars today in Club Road!" he suddenly cried. "Can you imagine that, Kairi? I wouldn't believe it if someone hadn't filmed it!"

"N-No, I can't imagine…" Kairi stuttered, looking at the TV screen.

It was the same thing she had seen that day. She could tell it was Sora by the unruly, spiky brown hair, but it was impossible to see his face—it was obviously filmed by a cell phone camera.

Kairi could even see the Rosewood Café in the background. She hoped no one had caught and footage of her—she didn't know what her father would do if he saw her hanging around with a boy who happened to skateboard over cars. It wouldn't matter that Kairi had screamed at Sora for nearly killing himself on that deathtrap on wheels. Her father would probably see Sora as a bad influence and never let her see him again.

My only friend, Kairi thought. Is he my friend? I don't even know anymore…Ugh. I need some soup.

She turned on her heels and marched into the kitchen. She stopped as she saw Naminé. The blond girl looked furious—Kairi could almost see the steam coming out of her ears.

"Do you know what Yuffie told me today?" Naminé snapped.

Kairi's eyes widened.

She didn't…she thought. She wouldn't tell Naminé about SCARF…would she?

"She said that she didn't think I was 'a good enough friend' for her!" Naminé yelled. "And then she just left…I think for maybe forever!"

She pointed a finger at Kairi.

"You better not have anything to do with this, Kairi!" she snapped. "Because if you do, you'll wish you were never born…"

"I…"

"And what's this with Sora?! You want to lower your social status even more, huh?!"

"But…"

"If you weren't my sister, I wouldn't even talk to you, but since you are, I guess I can only hate you!"

Naminé stomped off, her face red with rage. Kairi looked after her, and she sighed and looked down.

Kairi walked down the sidewalk. It was nighttime—completely dark outside, with cars going back and forth through the noisy scene. The stores' signs were lit up, also spreading light across the street.

But Kairi wasn't thinking about the busy night scenery. She was thinking about her life.

She had no friends. She was at a very low social status. Her sister hated her.

She didn't know how things could get any worse.

Suddenly Kairi felt someone grab her arm and pull her back. There was a figure in all black. It wore a black mask, so obviously it didn't want to be identified.

"Give me all your money," it said in a deep, threatening voice.

Kairi quickly reached to get her wallet because that was what her mom told her to do in cases like this. Kairi had never thought it would actually happen to her, and she was panicking, her heart beating wildly and her lip trembling. She gave the person her wallet and felt it shove her forward.

Kairi was pushed into the road. She screamed as she saw a truck racing forward, about to hit her. Kairi closed her eyes, expecting for unbelievable pain or death, when she felt someone tackle her, pushing her out of the truck's way.

Kairi landed on grass. She was still shivering with fright and couldn't bring herself to open her eyes.

"Don't you think you're old enough to know the 'no playing in the street' rule?"

At the familiar voice Kairi opened her eyes. Her gaze was met with two very blue eyes.

"Sora!" she cried, sitting up instantly.

Sora smiled at her and Kairi realized what had just happened. All her money just got stolen and she'd nearly been hit by a truck but Sora pushed her out of the truck's way.

And everything awful that had happened today just came back to her.

She burst into tears, still feeling horrified as she remembered the person's black mask and how he pushed her into the street.

"Kairi!" cried Sora. "Kairi…It's okay…Don't cry…"

He put his arms around her and Kairi was grateful for it. She buried her face in his shoulder and continued to cry.

"I'm here," Sora whispered. "You're safe."

Kairi felt like a little kid again, crying after she'd just had a nightmare.

"Don't you dare move," Kairi choked.

Sora smiled.

"No one said I was going to."

MOOnlight-dUSk: Thanks! Sorry if this chapter wasn't as funny…I think I broke my funny bone.

Valor999: Thanks! (And also thanks for reading Kingdom Hearts III too.)

Isler: Sorry if you had to wait a long time! Here's you chapter.

Skyblueangel: Why do you want my friends' pennames and why are you telling me all this stuff? (I'm not trying to sound rude.)

Cheychey41: Thanks! Once again, sorry if this chapter wasn't as funny.

Aw…audience starts saying "aw" and old ladies start crying Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! audience starts cheering and clapping like crazy And I owe it all to my sister, since she's not here to disturb me.

So, hope you liked it, and review!