Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts (II), Sora, Kairi, Riku, etc.
Author's Note: I can't reply to you reviews in these chapters anymore. It just takes too long. I'm sorry! I hope you know I still love you all, and I love reading your reviews, and at the end I'll still reply to all your questions. Just please don't stop reviewing after this! It just takes way too much time.
Warning: Axiri ahead. You have been warned.
Quick Author Babble: Hate is a strong word. That's why people use it so often.
Chapter 23: Jealousy
I hate Axel. I hate Axel. I hate Axel. I hate Axel. I hate Axel. I HATE AXEL!!!
Sora dug the pencil so hard into the paper that the lead snapped. It was lunch time—a very relaxing part of the school day where everyone got to take a break for an hour and forty-five minutes. Teens, teachers, and even janitors enjoyed this time talking to their companions, smiling and laughing and suddenly a heavy weight seemed to be lifted out of the dreary school air. And here Sora was, sitting alone.
It was like the whole group was busy that day. Pence was at football practice, Hayner had to go to Traverse Town to visit his grandparents, Roxas was at basketball, Olette was in art enrichment, Leon was home sick, and Yuffie…
Where was Yuffie?
Oh well, not that it mattered. She'd just interrupt Sora's brooding. Maybe, if Sora had been in a better mood, he'd try to reach out to the newest members. Tifa had seemed friendly enough, and Sora could probably break down Cloud and Zexion's cold impressions like he did with Leon, but he wasn't in the mood to go up to someone and introduce himself, smile, and try to show some sign of proposed friendship. No, that optimistic Sora had completely disappeared a week ago.
Sora's glare fell upon two redheads sitting together at a table, looking very cosy. Right at that moment, looking at Kairi and Axel looking at each other and giggling, Sora felt nausea bubble up in his stomach. He felt his fist clench the pencil and ground it into the table, so hard that it nearly broke in half.
Ever since Axel had come into SCARF, he'd attracted Kairi like a magnet, killing every single chance Sora had to go up and talk to her. Why hadn't Sora ever noticed Axel before? And since when had he been at Destiny High? Sora didn't remember him at all. That just showed how ignorant he could be.
Why hadn't he ever thought of other guys liking Kairi? Kairi was pretty, nice, and talented. Of course this had to happen someday. And yet Sora had never even given a single brain cell to the possibility of that happening. The only guy who had been nearly as close as Sora had been to her was Riku, and he never hung around anymore. And this was so hard on him, especially since he was so in l…
"Hi, Sora!"
Letting out a shout of surprise, the poor, beaten pencil when flying out of Sora's hand.
"Someone's awful uptight today!" Yuffie giggled, sliding into a seat beside Sora.
"Where've you been?" Sora asked, plainly ignoring the statement.
"I was checking up on Leon," Yuffie replied, turning a bit red. "He's got a high fever, and he still doesn't let anyone help him…"
She sighed.
"Stupid," she said. "I guess that's the best word that'll describe him."
"I don't know," Sora said, feeling a bit more relieved from the distraction. "Leon's not stupid…He's just a stubborn."
"Yeah, maybe…" Yuffie said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Ooh, what's that?"
Sora was caught off guard from the sudden change of subject, and Yuffie nimbly swooped down and grabbed the paper from his hands.
"Yuffie!" shouted Sora. "Give that back!"
He swiped at the paper and Yuffie quickly swished her arm away.
"Give me a break, Sora," she said. "I've got a little brother. You're going to have to be a little more agile than that."
Sora reached to try again and Yuffie quickly turned away.
"Too late," she said, and her eyes started scanning the page. "'I hate Axel…I hate Axel…I hate Axel…'"
She turned to face Sora.
"Wow, this is…this is pretty cold," she said, looking up at him. "What don't you like about Axel?"
Sora snatched the paper away and glared at Axel and Kairi. Kairi was hugging Axel in a couple sort of way.
Yuffie followed his gaze and stared for a few seconds, before turning back to Sora.
"Uh…" she said, looking utterly bewildered.
She turned to look at Axel and Kairi again. When she turned around again, her eyes were wide.
"Oh," she squeaked.
"Yeah," Sora replied.
"Oh," Yuffie said, even more understanding coming to her face.
"Right," Sora replied.
"OH!" Yuffie cried.
"Exactly!" stated Sora.
Yuffie stood there for a long time, and for the first time ever she was speechless. She covered her hand with her mouth. Sora, suddenly very enraged that Yuffie found out at all, let alone this way, gathered his books and stomped off down the hallway.
"""
"Hello, So—" Mrs. Roma began cheerfully as her son entered the house, and then stopped dead at his face.
Sora dropped his bags on the ground and glared at her.
"Bad day?" she asked.
Sora gave her a look that said "what do you think?" before storming upstairs.
"""
Collapsing on his bed, Sora threw the small, rubber ball up and down, up and down, up and down, until he was in a sort of trance. Why did his life always turn out this way? One moment he was feeling his highest, and the next he was plummeting downwards into a pit of despair.
He hated Axel and worried over the whole situation more than what was healthy. Truth be told, he thought he'd never have a chance with Kairi anyways, but it was nice to know there was an opportunity open if he ever built up enough guts. But now she was drooling over some other guy—some other guy who, Sora was sure, didn't deserve her. When Kairi was around Axel—which was pretty much all the time now—nothing else existed. Sora was sure if someone came up to Kairi and said, "Sora wants to talk to you", Kairi would look up and say, "Who?"
Sora would wait everyday after school for Kairi to come outside and see if they'd walk home together like they usually did. He'd wait for an hour at least before she'd finally come out, and when she did she'd be with Axel, so Sora would have to walk home by himself.
It was the sad, sad truth of it all. And now…
Yuffie knew.
Sora's stomach gave an upset lurch at the thought. Now she'd tell everyone. Sora could picture it now—everyone laughing at him, Olette looking sympathetic, Kairi extremely upset, and Axel probably laughing his head off. Sora groaned and plunged his head into his pillow.
"""
Sapphire eyes met violet ones. The wind was blowing gently, and flower petals danced happily around. Sora smiled and just knew now was the moment.
"Kairi, I need to tell you something."
Kairi smiled sweetly back at him.
"What is it?"
Sora took a deep breath in and a nervous smile crept on his face.
"Ever since I met you, you've really changed my life here. I thought Destiny Islands was a nightmare, but you made it into a dream."
Kairi looked up at him inquisitively.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is…I l—"
Honk, honk!
Sora and Kairi looked up at the noise. Axel pulled up in a red convertible. An older looking teen was driving it.
"Kairi, babe, I got a friend to lend me a favour! Come on and take a ride!"
Kairi leaped up and looked at Sora.
"Sorry, Sora, can we talk later?"
"B-But…"
Honk, honk!
"C'mon, doll face, I'm not going to wait forever, you know!"
"Coming! I'll see you later, okay, Sora?"
"But…"
"Bye!"
Kairi jumped in the car and it drove off.
"Kairi…Kairi!"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Kairi…" Sora murmured, turning over in his sleep.
The alarm clock continued to incessantly create nose, until finally Sora sat up and whacked it off the shelf. The beeping stopped. Maybe he had broken it, but he really didn't care. Pulling off the quilt, he stood up, stretched, and started to get ready for school.
"""
"Sora!" a voice yelled through the mid January morning.
Sora flatly ignored it, knowing exactly who it was. He continued to trudge to school.
"Sora, please, I just want to talk!"
Sora screeched to a stop and turned to face the black-haired girl running up to him.
"Yeah?" he snapped. "Well, I'm sure you've done enough of that, considering how many people you told yesterday about…you know…"
An angered expression came over Yuffie as she glared at him.
"Well, excuse me, Sora Roma!" she cried. "I'll have you know I didn't tell a single person yesterday, not even my family! I barely thought about it myself, just for your sake!"
Sora's eyebrow rose doubtfully.
"It's true, you numbskull!" Yuffie shouted, noticing his look. "And if you don't believe me…well…you suck and you're a terrible friend and…"
"Okay, okay, I believe you!" Sora said. "Just quiet down, will you? People are staring."
His eyes darted over to two elderly people who quickly turned away when they saw him looking at them.
"Now's not the time to talk," Sora said. "Later."
Yuffie opened her mouth to protest, but Sora started to race to Destiny High. So without another word, she quickly followed him.
"""
As it was a new term, Sora happened to have second period with Yuffie in Ms. Maleficent's class. It was an unfortunate class to be in—Ms. Maleficent was the type who didn't like anyone, not even straight A students like Sora. Sora was determined not to talk at all during that class. He'd heard about students who couldn't get into college because they chatted too much in Ms. Maleficent's class.
Maybe if it hadn't been dance class, other students would've taken the warning more seriously.
Yes, Sora was in dance class. He had to do one art class to get into university. Kairi had prodded him to do music class but he flatly refused—playing guitar was his and Kairi's secret and nobody else had to know about it.
Ms. Maleficent swept into the gymnasium where all the students were clamouring about, excitedly talking to each other.
"This is so stupid," said one girl named Fuu.
"I'm so awesome at dancing, I don't even need this class," a boy named Seifer bragged.
"Ooh, ooh, I hope I get to dance with Seifer!" Selphie gushed, apparently completely forgetting about Riku. "He is so…"
"Ahem!" Ms. Maleficent coughed rather loudly.
All the students looked up and Sora suddenly wished he hadn't. Ms. Maleficent was wearing a black and green strapless dress, and there was way too much pale green skin showing. Most of the boys winced. The girls clung onto each other's arms, apparently not knowing what to think—fashion trauma or "eek!" Tidus nearly fainted, but quickly caught himself after he stumbled a bit.
"Hello, class," Ms. Maleficent said.
Ms. Maleficent didn't believe in the term "good morning". No one had ever heard her say it for the decade she'd been teaching at Destiny High.
"Today we will be doing…" Ms. Maleficent began, pausing for effect, making everyone hold their breath, "ballroom dancing!"
The boys groaned very loudly. The girls squealed in delight.
"Everyone pick a partner," Maleficent said dryly, "before I assign them to you."
The next second, everyone had a partner of a different gender standing next to them. They all seemed to appear like magic. It took Sora a few moments before realizing Yuffie was standing beside him. She had a big, toothy grin on her face, and then looked over at Sora.
"We need to talk," she said through gritted teeth.
Sora noticed Ms. Maleficent looking at them and quickly placed a fake smile on his face as well.
"I know," he responded quietly.
"""
After a very long review, Ms. Maleficent turned to the class. Sora and Yuffie were doing all they could from standing up and yelling at each other. Sora could already picture the conversation in his mind—"Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Yuffie would yell, and he'd say, "Because it's none of your business! Why the heck do you always have to be so nosy?!" and then Yuffie would say, "I'm not nosy, you…you…GAH! I'm the one who should be yelling at you! Honestly! All those things you could've told me! I'm your friend! I wouldn't tell!" and then Sora would say, "Yeah, right! You have a mouth like a ripped pocket! I can't trust you with anything!" And it would go on and on, until they lost their voices.
"Now, we dance!" cried Maleficent, knocking Sora out of his virtual argument with Yuffie.
"Great," Yuffie said, big, fake smile back on her face. "Come on, Sora!"
"Actually, I don't think…" Sora began, suddenly feeling uneasy at the thought about talking about the subject he'd been hiding for almost half a year, "ouch!"
Yuffie grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up, nails digging into his skin. She dragged him over to a secluded corner of the gym, and absentmindedly got into a ballroom dancing pose.
"You, Sora Roma, are in big trouble," she said, fake smile falling from her face and being replaced with a deathly glare.
"No, I think it's the other way around," Sora said, glaring. "Can't you keep your nose out of my business for one second?"
"Can't you tell me when you're in lo…mmph!" Yuffie began.
Sora slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Shut up," he hissed, glaring at her.
Yuffie slapped away his hand and stared back at him.
"How long has this been going on for?" she asked.
Sora looked away, trying very hard to ignore the question, but a light tinge of red came to his face.
"Oh, that long, huh?" Yuffie asked.
"Hey, I…" Sora shouted, face reddening.
He felt a long hand with extremely long nails fall onto his shoulder.
"I can barely hear the music over your voices," said Ms. Maleficent, frowning at the two.
"Sorry, madam," Yuffie apologized.
"Yeah, sorry," Sora muttered.
Ms. Maleficent gave them a steely, yellow-eyed glare before turning back to examine Selphie's and Tidus's dance pose.
"This is big, Sora!" Yuffie hissed. "You know Kairi likes Axel!"
"Yeah, no duh," Sora muttered, glaring at her.
"This must be killing you."
"Yeah, thanks for the info, Yuff. I'll call you whenever I need a boost."
Sora rolled his eyes. Yuffie frowned.
"You know, you could be a little bit more polite to a person who has advice for you," she said, a knowing look in her eyes.
Sora looked at her, and this time without a glare.
"Advice?" he said. "What advice?"
"Kairi is happy with Axel," Yuffie stated. "And if you truly lo…"
"Shut up," Sora warned.
"And if you truly care about her, then you want her to be happy, right?" Yuffie said, quickly changing the sentence. "I know it's hard, being jealous and all, but you've got to work your way over it."
"Jealous?" Sora repeated.
Was that the sick feeling he'd been having all week—jealousy? Seemed hardly like an emotion to fret over. Yet it was true. Sora was jealous of Axel.
The gymnasium door creaked open, distracting Sora from his thoughts.
"I'm here for Sora Roma," a woman with long, wavy, red hair and blue eyes said.
"Uh…yes?" Sora said, looking at her.
"Come with me," the woman stated. "The principal wants to see you."
"Uh…okay…"
Sora walked over to the woman and felt thirty pairs of eyes follow him. The woman looked at him and quietly said,
"This is very important."
"""
Sora looked around at all his friends, travel bag thrown over his shoulder. They were all so happy—Roxas had that supporting smile of his, Leon's eyebrows were raised to show he was impressed, Olette was smiling big and wide, Hayner and Pence were both patting him on the back, congratulating him, and Yuffie looked like she was about to explode.
Who knew that the principal was going to tell him was that he'd been offered a huge scholarship opportunity and he had to go to beautiful, exciting Wonderland to see the special programs he could be enrolled in?
Certainly not him.
And now he was leaving for a week, fully ready to open as many doors as he could for himself, see as many wacky sights as there was to see in Wonderland, and most of all, skip school for a week. All his friends had come with him to the train station to see him off to the airport. But there was one person missing.
"Hey, where's Kairi?" Sora asked, scanning all the faces surrounding him.
"Last time I saw her, she was in front of the café talking to Axel," Roxas said, shrugging.
"I guess I should say goodbye," Sora stated. "After all, I'm not going to see her until next Saturday…"
"Well, what're you waiting for?" Hayner asked. "Go! I'm a very impatient person, you know."
Sora walked through the train station to the tucked in café at the back. He looked around the tables and saw them. For a split second, he smiled, and then stopped almost immediately.
There they were, lips locked together, eyes closed in utter peacefulness.
Sora felt like he was about to collapse. He felt his heart drop into his stomach. All emotions seemed to be clamped together in one, indecipherable clump. He could basically hear Kairi's heart beating a mile a minute, and the telltale pinkness was on her cheeks.
Sora turned abruptly and ran back through the crowd. Who needed to say goodbye? Kairi had seemed a lot happier not saying anything back there.
Sora pushed past his friends and ran into the train. Everyone looked up at him in worry.
"Sora?" asked Yuffie gently.
"Tell Kairi I said goodbye, when her face isn't mashed into Axel's," Sora snapped, stomping over to a seat and collapsing in it.
He felt warm tears creep up into his eyes, but held them back with all he had. It wasn't worth crying over. It couldn't be. What could be done about it, really? What could tears do about it, as a matter of fact?
Nothing.
And Kairi was the one who'd end up with a broken heart in the end. She should be the one hurting, not him. But he was hurting. It felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and stomped on. And to be Axel right then…Sora would've given anything.
It was sick hatred and jealousy that Sora felt, and he couldn't shake it away. He couldn't shake anything away.
Okay, now that this is big, empty space, I'm going to reply to all the questions/interesting comments I received, but before I do, THANK YOU ALL FOR THE VERY NICE THINGS YOU SAID!!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!!
I didn't know Kaixel was sexy. I really didn't.
Yes, I know Kairi's crush happened rather quickly, but it's a "love at first sight" sort of thing, so…yeah, whatever.
I hope people have fun on their breaks too!
Lance Bass as Sephiroth! I still laugh every time I think about it…nice!
Yes, Riku jumps in when people need him.
Yes, but I got past Evrae! A-ha! And now I have to figure out how to get past zombie Evrae… (sighs)
Yes, Zexion has AGREED TO JOIN SCARF. Good for him.
Yuffie might be waging war against Riku. It is still unknown.
I'm glad many people here are Axel fans!
No, Wakka isn't part of the whole Riku follower thing. He is, as a matter of fact, a free teenage boy.
Axel and Larxene have not been thought about yet.
Okay, thanks everyone! You guys are so awesome! And if I did not reply to your review, it doesn't mean I haven't read it! All your reviews were awesome and I took them to heart! LOVE YOU ALL!
Read and review!