Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters.

Warnings: Slight language

Author's Note: You know, I just realized something. For me, school starts in less than a week. The good news? I'm at least halfway done with Pretending, so at least I don't have to constantly worry about it when trying to study. At least I remember what classes I'm taking this year, because they're the same as Roxas'. Last year I was completely surprised when I got my schedule, because I didn't realize what classes I asked to be placed in.

Pretending

Chapter 6: Reasons

"What happened?" Hayner shouted, his voice filled with anger. "That friend of yours punched me in the eye without any reason to!"

"Did he have red hair?" Roxas asked, although he was certain that this was Axel's doing. His suspicions were confirmed when Hayner nodded.

"Damn! I just wanna beat the shit out of him!" Hayner growled. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before continuing. "I don't even know why he did it in the first place; I mean, I just told him that you and me were friends again. Then he just goes and punches me in the eye!"

"That's odd..." Roxas said, pondering Axel's reasons for hitting Hayner. "I don't see why that would get him angry. I'll go talk to him at lunch today and get this whole thing sorted out."

Hayner patted Roxas on the back, smiling. "Thanks, buddy. I'd talk to him myself, but you know, one black eye is bad enough. I don't wanna come to school with two black eyes tomorrow."

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The human mind works in odd ways, manipulating our emotions to cause us to be blinded by anger or surrounded in a haze of happiness. Some people are more vulnerable to rage than others. Some will never get angry, while others will be blinded by the emotion when the tiniest thing happens to go wrong. Perhaps, our hearts are to blame. Are we to trust our hearts fully, or are we to allow the heart to say its input before deciding our course of action?

Roxas sighed as he sat under his usual tree. It was lunch time, and Roxas was dreading the discussion that would surely take place within the lunch period. The day was stressful for Roxas. He was constantly staring at Hayner's black eye, and finding himself getting angry at the other students who made up false rumors about his friend. He would have loved to dispel the rumors, but he knew that finding the time to confront every individual student who created the rumors would be impossible.

As the day aged, Roxas found himself getting angry at the flamboyant redhead. Roxas believed that hitting another person, no matter what the reason, is unjust and wrong. Axel's reason was horrible - he had only heard a few words in Hayner's sentence wrong. Throughout the day, Roxas could feel Axel's emerald green eyes staring at the back of his head. It bothered him.

Roxas closed his eyes, enjoying the gentle breeze. The leaves, which had began to fall from the trees in recent days, tumbled in the wind. Roxas frowned as he felt something hit his head. Curiously, he opened his eyes, angry to see the redhead in front of him.

"Axel..." Roxas said, his voice as cold as ice. "We need to talk."

"I know..." Axel said, his voice laced with guilt. He sat beside Roxas.

At that moment, silence was an uncomfortable thing for both of them. However, there was nothing to fill the space. Neither one could find the words and combine them to form a sentence that explained their feelings. Guilt radiated from Axel, almost like an unholy aura. The only thing radiating from Roxas' body was anger. Roxas was normally not the kind of person that would be angry, however, this situation wasn't very normal for Roxas at all.

"Roxas?" Axel asked, using Roxas' real name.

"Axel?" Roxas mocked. Axel's lips twisted into a frown.

"Roxas, just listen to me. I'm sorry about punching your friend in the -"

"- Why are you sorry? You've never apologized before," Roxas said, his voice still laced with anger. "What kind of friend are you, anyway? You gave me nothing but trouble! You almost destroyed my friendship with Hayner, causing me to become a lazy slacker, just like you are! You constantly harass me and never give me a moment of peace! You always call my cell phone, and I eventually ended up turning it off because every time it was on, so was your number. Will you just leave me alone!" Roxas shouted, his voice growing progressively louder.

"Come on, Roxas, hear me out!" Axel pleaded, but it fell upon deaf ears. Roxas had ignored him, getting up and walking into the crowded building.

"Roxas!" Axel called, trying to get his friend to come back. "Come on, Roxas! Don't..."

Roxas was already gone. Axel sighed, closing his eyes and pulling up the hood on his black trenchcoat, which he used during the fall and winter months.

"Don't leave me..."


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As the sun set, Roxas laid upon his bed, his hand resting on his forehead. He sighed in guilt, lightly hitting the mattress with his free hand in frustration.

'How could I have been so stupid?' Roxas thought, sighing again.

The events that occurred at lunch time replayed over and over in Roxas' head, tormenting him. By the time he had finished his homework, Roxas realized how irrational his actions were. Although Axel was the cause of a fight between Roxas and Hayner, Roxas realized that it was stupid to have brought that up - after all, he and Hayner were friends again.

It was also wrong to blame Axel for Roxas' former laziness. After all, Axel hadn't encouraged Roxas to be lazy. Roxas had become lazy because of his fight with Hayner, not because of Axel. Roxas realized that he was blaming Axel for things he didn't do.

He insulted Axel - calling him a slacker and a horrible friend. Axel was a good friend, but wasn't much of a slacker at all. Axel liked to live for the moment instead of planning ahead, because no one knows if there will even be a tomorrow. Sure, Axel distracted his friends constantly, but it was to coax them into having fun and live for the moment instead of planning for something that might never even happen.

Axel had always called Roxas. Axel had always found something interesting to talk about, whether it be a new story in the local news or perhaps about how a teacher made a fool of himself during class. Axel had always said that Roxas studied too hard and didn't have enough fun, and perhaps those phone calls were to encourage Roxas to live a little. Eventually, Roxas had tired of Axel bothering him, so he ended up turning off his cell phone. This evening, though, he had turned it on again for the first time in a long while.

Roxas was worried about Axel. Axel hadn't yet called to bother him. After their incident at lunch, Axel had stayed quiet and avoided Roxas whenever possible, as if he was being punished for doing something horrible. Not even a single teacher had yelled at Axel in the afternoon, an almost unheard of event. Roxas had watched Axel mope around, walking with his hood up and head down, not looking his own friends in the eye.

A week went by. Axel had continued to avoid Roxas as if Roxas was some sort of deadly virus. Axel was no longer being yelled at during class; in fact, Axel had even begun to do his homework like a good student. Axel had ceased eating lunch, and instead skipped the period, wandering around town aimlessly. Demyx, just like he had with Roxas, tried to cheer up Axel, but Axel never responded. Axel was so distant; he seemed to be in another world all together.

It was lunch time again, much to Roxas' dismay. He was sitting with Hayner, Pence and Olette at their usual table, joking and chatting about anything and everything. Roxas felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around, half-expecting to see Axel. Instead of the flamboyant redhead, a silver haired emo teenager stood there. Hayner, Pence and Olette turned around when they noticed Roxas turned around. They looked at the teenager curiously, wondering who that silver haired teen was.

"Demyx wishes to talk to you by the old tree," Zexion said with his usual monotone voice. "He says that it is important, so I suggest you see him."

Roxas nodded. "Alright. Thanks, Zexion."

Zexion nodded in response, walking back to the library.

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"Finally!" Demyx said, exasperated. Roxas sat on the grass next to Demyx.

"So, what is it?" Roxas asked curiously. "Did a kitten get stuck in a tree?" he asked jokingly.

"No, but I got Frou-Frou down yesterday!" Demyx chirped, causing Roxas to look at him strangely. Demyx chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Oops, sorry 'bout that. Anyway, I wanna talk about Axel."

Roxas frowned. "What about him?" Roxas asked.

"He's been acting really odd. Hasn't even been talking or anything. The last person we saw him with was you, about a week ago."

"Yeah. And?"

"What did you do to Axel?" Demyx demanded. "Mind control!?"

"..." Roxas stayed silent for a moment. He sighed before speaking. "About a week ago, Axel gave Hayner a black eye. Axel came out here to give an apology, but...I got really mad. And I didn't accept his apology. Ever since then, he's been acting strange. I even turned my cell phone on in case he would call, but he didn't. ...I'm sorry, Demyx. It's all my fault..." Roxas closed his eyes sadly.

"You were mad because Hayner's your friend?" Demyx asked. Roxas nodded.

"Hayner is my best friend, and I got mad when Axel gave him a black eye."

"You know, Roxas..." Demyx began. "Axel...hasn't had a happy life. He lost his mother when he was only a little kid, and his father was never, and is never, home. Axel almost lives by himself. His father blames him for his mother's death. She died from cancer."

Roxas' eyes widened. "Axel...went through that?" he asked, his voice shaking. He couldn't even begin to imagine the pain that Axel went through.

"Yeah...His mother the only person that really cared about him. His father doesn't care about him. He even said that Axel was a mistake, right to his face!"

"That's terrible!" Roxas gasped. "No one should ever say that."

"But his father did...and well, that's why Axel's like is today. He gets depressed when people are mad at him, especially if they're people that he cares about a lot. And he cares for you a lot, because you're his friend."

"He still considers me one? Even after how I treated him?"

Demyx nodded. "He thinks you're mad at him...so, are you?"

"I was...but now, I'm not. Do you know where he is? I want to talk to him."

"He left the school building, so he could be anywhere! Even China! If you give me your cell phone number, I'll call you if I see him," Demyx offered.

Roxas scribbled down his cell phone number on Demyx's arm with a pen. "Thanks, Demyx...I think I'll be heading to the library now. I want to know if Zexion will help, too."

"Oh! He will. I already asked him, but I'll give him your number for you. After the last class today, you just go and find Axel!" Demyx shouted excitedly. "You already have my number, so if you need help..."

"Alright, thanks," Roxas said, before getting up. He and Demyx entered the cafeteria, a shelter from the cold wind that began to howl outside.

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Author's Note: I cannot write Demyx in character at all. I really need to go through KH2 again. I haven't played it in nearly a year, anyway. The last thing I did was beat Sephiroth, and after that, I lost interest because I didn't feel like playing the whole game again just to beat Xaldin. At least I tried to write Demyx in character. I think that's what matters.