Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts One or Two.

Tohrue's Note: Blah, thank god I'm going to be let out of school in just a couple of weeks. With all this end of the year testing and last minute projects, it gets to be so horrible I tell you. On the 12th, I'm going to be going to Washington D.C for a class trip, so I'm pretty happy and excited. I'm hoping that by then I'll have most of the updates up. Maybe while I'm out there, I'll get some inspiration writing wise. (;

The Dumbing Down of Love
Chapter Four
Thou Shall Be Flooded With Surprise

The following morning had almost gone by in slow motion for her. Following the moment she had woken up to now where she sat in her desk in home room, it seemed like the minutes and seconds were much slower than usual. Sitting in the corner of the room in a solitary state at her desk, the rest of the girls were conversing at the other side of the end of the room with giggles and gossip while the boys sat in their section of desks, playing paper football. Amongst them all, she must be have looked like a loner sitting in her corner and doodling on her paper. .. But, she had an exception, right? Being new and all?

Within about 15 minutes of the start of home room, a knock had come from the outside of the classroom door. The announcements that were being read by their teacher were paused, as he was temporarily distracted. The room came to a long draw of silence as he moved away from his desk and towards the door. Opening his head, he peeked outside. A few moments later, he disappeared behind it. Muffled voices came from the other side and the students in their places tried to listen. After a few minutes, the door opened, and their teacher stepped back inside again.

"Erm, excuse me class, but we appear to have a new student."

Finally, the moment that Kairi had been dreading. As the red headed noted the sudden perked curiosity from her fellow classmates, she let out a tiny moan and slinked down in her chair. It wasn't that she was embarrassed because of Riku – more that she was dreading what he might do. Knowing him for such a long time, the boy honestly did have multiple personalities. He could be the most caring person in the world to being the biggest self absorbed jerk the next.

Sure enough, a minute later, Riku stepped into the classroom. Kairi watched him with a slightly in fear look upon her face. To her surprise, however, he didn't have that stupid grin on his face. His expression was sharp and serious and his head was held high. He looked over the rest of them in the classroom and even when his eyes met Kairi's, he didn't waste any more time dwelling on her. The classroom now silent, he moved towards the back of the room and sat down in one of the chairs.

"This is Riku. He is from the other side of town. According to .. uh," their teacher stumbled as he mingled with the piece of paper in his hand. "This slip, he is an aspiring director. This is right, am I correct?"

"Yup," he bluntly said.

"Well, Riku .. uh, welcome to our school! You already have your schedule and school map but if you have any questions, feel free to ask me or any of your fellow students." Slipping on his glasses that had been sitting in his pen pocket, the older man moved back to his desk and soon after, the conversation in the classroom began to buzz once again.

The girls on the other side of the room were blabbing and now whispering about their new classmate. The guys shot him looks and rolled their eyes in disgust at the reaction of the girls, about him. Riku, however, just sat there in a relaxed position and casually looked around. When Kairi turned back around to see what he was doing, sure enough, Riku was looking at her. The girl had been about ready to smile and motion for him to come over when a rather dark look was shot to her. In shock, Kairi stopped herself and turned around back in her seat.

Up until the time that the bell had rang for homeroom to be dismissed, Kairi had been felt slightly sick with that look he'd given her. The loud siren of the bell ringing, everyone stood up, took their stuff off of their desk, and moved towards the door of the room. Amidst the rest of the students on her way out, she felt a jab in her shoulder from behind. Turning around, Riku stood behind her.

"What's wrong with you, Riku? First you ignored me, then you gave me a dirty look, and now you're poking me hard in the should—"

"Do I know you?"

Ouch. Taken back by the sudden remark, her eyebrows rose in shock. Then, the reality of the pain set in. Her brows relaxed and slowly, a frown reformed upon her face. For a moment, Riku looked guilty and as if he was going to take it back, but then he switched right back to his stone cold expression. Turning around, Kairi pushed through the people to get out.

So much for being her best friend.

"O' Romeo! O' Romeo! Where art thou, Romeo?"

Bored, Kairi kept her cranium supported by her hand resting beneath her chin. A pair performed the piece of Romeo + Juliet for her and the rest of the class. The girl's lines were read boringly and hardly without feeling, while when the boy read his lines, it seemed like he could have given less of a crap. And by the facial expressions everyone else was wearing in the room, it looked like Kairi wasn't the only one who was slowly being tortured to death by what they called boredom.

"She speaks! Juliet, --"

However, before the line was finished, the door of their acting class, suddenly bursted open. A boy fell forward but managed to catch himself. Panting, he rested his hands upon his knees and tried to hurry and catch his breath. The rest of the class had stopped and watched the boy in curiosity. It took a while for him to notice that he had the classes' focus, as to when he finally looked up, he seemed surprised that everyone was looking at him. Obviously embarrassed, he slowly stood up straight and laughed quietly.

Finally he moved away from his spot and began to head towards the corner of the front of the room where the teacher's desk laid. The older pruned woman looked cross and angry, yet she didn't even speak a word. However, as soon as he came close to her, he loudly began explaining.

"S-sorry! I .. I didn't know where the class was and I ended up going into the wrong one and didn't realize it until someone started talking about how nervous they were for –"

He stopped talking though as their teacher finally stood up and snapped a piece of paper out of his hand. The glasses that had been hung around her neck by a beaded necklace, were placed upon the rim of her nose, and soon pushed up in front of her eyes. The grey haired woman studied it for a moment, before her dry tone of voice spoke up.

"Roxas. New transfer. Aspiring Photographer. Photography Art. Art throughout the Centuries. Drama. Physical Education. Blah, blah, blah .." The woman stopped and crumpled the piece of paper. The students watched in confusion and shock before she began to speak again.

"Be late for my class again, Mister Roxas, and I will not be so kind. I do not care if you know not where my class is – you shall learn. One more scene such as this and you will be immediately written up for three days worth of detention. Am I clear?"

Roxas nodded his head, a bit taken back by the woman's strict rules. It was about now that Kairi had started to thank that she had known where this class was on her first day, otherwise she probably would have had the same thing happen. As the blonde haired boy moved away from the front of the classroom, he began to head down a row of desks. Sure enough, he soon placed himself in the back, in the third row – sitting in the desk that sat beside Kairi's. She looked at him and for a moment, their eyes met. He smiled at her and then turned back towards the front of the room. A little surprised, she tilted her head and found herself turning red.

The following eighty minutes of class seemed to be a slow walk throughout the park; yet, it had been going by a lot quicker than before. The whole time during the skits of Romeo +Juliet, Kairi had sworn she found Roxas glancing at her from the corner of his eye. Though, she couldn't deny that she liked the fact that someone was actually paying attention to her at this point.

When the bell rang for lunch, everyone stood up from their seats and started to quickly head towards the door. Lines were always long for food so it was no surprise that everyone rushed out of their classes to try and get their early. Upon walking down the row of desks, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she stopped to find Roxas.

"Hi, I was just wondering if you could tell me where the cafeteria is .."

"Oh, yeah, sure! Once you're out of here, you go down the hall, take a left, go up the stairs, turn, and then there's the cafeteria. You just have to follow the crowd of people." Smiling sweetly, she tried to give off a good impression.

"Great, thanks! I appreciate it!"

".. Do you need somewhere to sit?" She started to laugh as she instantly recognized the familiar situation from a few days ago on her first day. Before she had met Selphie in Physical Education, she'd been panicking who she was going to sit with at lunch. She'd pint pointed a couple of targets she was planning on asking, but she didn't want to seem like a goon, so she had planned on asking them where the cafeteria was, and then if she could sit with them.

"Yeah, ha ha, actually I do." A bit embarrassed she could tell, Roxas laughed lightly as he held his hand to the back of his head and rubbed it in a nervous manner.

"Why don't you sit with me? I just came a couple of days ago, too, so I'm pretty new. Maybe I get give you some tips on what I've learned so far." Laughing, she turned back around and continued to head down the row of desks with him behind her.

The conversation of that and more continued as they exited out of the room and headed towards their lockers. Surprisingly, they'd placed Roxas' new locker right next to her own. The two continued to talk as they were spinning their locker combinations, and even when they were heading down the hall to get in line for lunch. Strangely enough, when they came into line, Selphie was right there.

Upon approaching, the brunette turned around with a grin on her face. However, it seemed to lessen when she noted the blonde haired boy with Kairi.

"Selphie, this is Roxas. He's new, too."

"Hiya! I'm Selphie! Glad to meet you!" Relieved that Selphie had immediately accepted him, the perky brunette grabbed his hand and began to shake it vigorously. Laughing at the uncomfortable-ness of it all, he shook her hand for a few seconds before taking it back.

After the introductions, the girl immediately stumbled upon the subject of gossip and all that jazz. Not to her surprise, Selphie somehow managed to find herself stumbling upon the subject of the other new guy – Riku.

"Yeah, what a two faced fish he seems like. In my production class, ALL the girls were swarming him like some sort of an attraction. He was bragging about all this stuff and how his mother was married to a really famous movie producer. And I mean, get this! Even the guys were swarming him! I was surprised that Sora wasn't in the buzz, either. He just sat in his desk, drawing and writing in his notebook. Funny thing, too. Seems like they would get along just great." Selphie rolled her eyes at the last remark.

".. Really? I think Sora seems kind of nice compared to him."

Selphie and Kairi continued to talk about Riku throughout the whole time of being in line for lunch. Roxas remained silent but yet, a part of the conversation. Kairi didn't feel like mentioning the relationship she had Riku, either. Not only would it have been embarrassing with how much Selphie was attacking him, but, he was pretending to not even know her. So, Kairi was going to play right back at that game.

By the time the three had gotten their lunches, they moved around tables in the cafeteria until they came to their own. Already, five or six more people sat, all conversing about something or another. Selphie immediately jumped into another conversation upon sitting in her seat, while Roxas and Kairi finally came into their own. During it all, everyone stopped their own talk to find out who the new stranger was at their table. But soon after the introductions, everyone continued on with what they were talking about.

"So you want to be a photographer, Roxas?"

"Yeah, I love photography. My dad doesn't really see it as a career, but then again, we never get along about anything." He laughed briefly. "That's why my mom boarded me over here to go to school. I'm actually originally from about 120 miles from here. I'm just living in my own condo above one of my mom's business partners."

"Wow, are you joking! That's so cool! I mean, I love my mother and everything, but I would kill to live alone – let alone have my own apartment sort of thing." Kairi was smiling happily at the wondrous thought.

"Ha ha, nah, it's not that great. It gets kind of lonely, but I do have my own freedoms,. I can go skateboard when I want and I don't even have a time that I need to be in bed." He rubbed the back of his head in that embarrassed sort of manner, again.

"But that's still really cool! .. You know, I'm an avid picture taker. I'd love to be a photographer, but I'm actually going to school here for something else. You see, my mom was a famous runway model back in her day – you might know of her, actually. Her name was –"

"Wait! I know who your mom was!" Roxas set down his fork as his facial expression blew up in shock & excitement. "Yeah! They nicknamed her 'Gemma' because of all the gems she always wore in her photo shoots! Wow! And you look just like her too! You know, --"

But before Roxas could continue, Kairi felt a tap on her shoulder from behind. At this point, all conversations between people at the table had stopped. Noting this, when she turned around, she took the precaution. It was probably the Principal, informing her that she'd done something wrong and now would have to have after school detention for the rest of the year. However, when she did turn around and look up, It was hardly the old man in the grey suit and tie.

"Hi Kairi. Can I talk to you for a second?"

Sora.

"Uh .. s-sure!"

Immediately standing up, she wiped off any food that may have fallen against the blue plaid skirt. Her chair was pushed in and she gave one last look at her table before she walked off with the brunette. Selphie was giving a rather confused yet sour look to him. The other few were whispering and rolling their eyes, while Roxas, actually looked a little taken back and mad. She got confused for a moment, but finally, she focused on where she was walking.

After a few minutes, Sora had pulled her out of the cafeteria and now they stood at a corner between the lockers and the entrance towards the kitchen.

"Why is .. uhm, you-know-who, here?"

".. I .. oh. Riku." Looking down, she immediately drew a serious yet hurt expression again. Though she was mad at him beyond belief, what he had said earlier that morning still hurt her. "According to him, he convinced his mom that he needed to switch over here to give me moral support. I'm guessing he told her some phony lie so she would feel sorry for me and exchange him. And now .. I-I guess he's going to school here."

"I see," Sora said rather expressionless.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure he hates me right now. This morning he said he didn't even know me and through out the halls today, he's been giving me dirty looks and purposely ignoring me. I don't know what's gotten into him. I'm pretty mad and frustrated with him. I don't even know right now if we're friends."

"Huh?" Sora looked to her, a dramatically worn confused look on his face. He tilted his head to the side and burrowed his eyebrows. It almost seemed as if he was having a hard time believing that, which, Kairi found rather awkward and weird.

".. I guess, it's surprising ..."

"No, it's not that." He shook his head. "I just don't get why he's been doing that. I mean, right before lunch, he told a whole bunch of guys in my class that you and him were dating and you've been dating for at least half of a year now."

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TOHRUE