Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

A/n: Kya~! I absolutely enjoyed reading your reviews. It makes everything worthwhile. :3 I hope you continue to support me… even if I do start to suck (but let's hope I won't). Thanks again. My soul is forever yours. :D

-

Citrus Skies

Naminé stared at her sketchbook, her sharpened pencil ready to be used. But it was one of those rare times where her hand didn't move in its own accord and her mind was completely blank.

Maybe she wasn't in the mood.

Or she had no inspiration.

She blinked and then slowly looked out the window, feeling the gentle touch of the wind patting her cheeks. And then, she saw a tree. A big, sturdy oak tree.

Afterwards, unconsciously, she grabbed her colored pencils and her hands started to picture her mind's image.

It was a tree. A big, sturdy oak tree.

Then a girl. Smiling blissfully.

And orange. Lots of orange.

-

Ties

"That was amazing when you played the guitar! You sounded like a pro!" A chubby guy complimented, walking side by side with Roxas. The blonde grinned widely, "thanks, Pence. Music's pretty much my life, you see."

Pence nodded as if he understood and then he decided to strike up another conversation. "Hey, since Sora and Riku are busy, why don't you meet my friends? I think they should be at the cafeteria now."

Roxas agreed, seeing as Sora and Riku weren't that reliable to begin with. They disappear and appear most of the time so he didn't really have much time to be with them. Plus they would occasionally tease him and spread rumors about him liking random girls he hasn't even met yet. Like Kairi or Selphie or Daisy D. or Yuffie. Who the hell were those girls anyway?

As soon as they entered the cafeteria, Roxas immediately heard a loud voice yelling. "Pence!! Hey, Pence, over here!!" A guy with messy blonde hair waved his arms crazily, not actually giving much thought how stupid he looked. The brunette girl beside him, however, rubbed her temples, smiling sheepishly at the staring people while slapping her friend not so lightly on the back.

"Hey, guys! Meet Roxas, he's in my Music Class. Insane talent, man." Pence introduced, mostly to the other guy.

"The name's Hayner! This girl here is Olette." He introduced, pointing at himself then at his companion. The girl waved slightly and then they proceeded to their seats.

"So, Roxas, huh? Why'd you transfer to this dump?" Hayner asked, poking his Macaroni and Cheese with his fork. He looked at it uninterestedly before finally grabbing Olette's cheese fries.

"Well, actually I got kicked out."

"Really? For What?" He continued to question, ignoring the girl glaring daggers beside him. This group made Roxas feel awfully relaxed, though. So far they were the only people who didn't know about his small scandal back at Dusk High. "I sorta made a guy infertile by hurting him… if you know what I mean." Pence left to buy himself snacks in the mean time.

"Ooh, nasty." Hayner commented, munching down the remnants of Olette's fries as she pulled his tray to her, shoving the cheesy (and somehow even slimy) food in her mouth.

"Yeah, but it was worth it. He was being a jerk."

Hayner nodded, sipping from Olette's Orange juice. "I know what you mean."

"So are you guys dating or something?" Roxas grinned widely. This question earned a cough and a few chokes from the two, and even laughter from Pence who just arrived. "You're not the only one who asked that, believe me." Pence said between fits of chuckles, sitting at the plastic chair beside Roxas.

"No way in hell am I dating this kid."

"Excuse me like you're some prince charming yourself, jerk!"

Roxas didn't stop himself from laughing. "I guess couples like to fight a lot."

"Wow, you are friends with Sora and Riku." Hayner rolled his eyes and reached out for Pence's banana muffin. In the mean time, Olette just wanted to change the subject so she asked, "Do you like Twilight better than Dusk, Roxas?"

"Yup."

"You're just saying that."

"Nope. I didn't like myself when I was at Dusk High. Also nobody'll miss me… well except maybe for Axel who said he would and practically did everything for me to miss my flight."

"Why, what'd he do?"

"Oh you know; turned off my alarm clock, stabbed holes to the tires of our car, stole the 'For Sale' sign."

"Wow," Olette exclaimed and then propped her elbows on the table, smiling brightly at Roxas. "You must be good friends with him."

"Hm, I guess." He replied and stared at the pudding cup Pence offered.

"So, found any girls yet?" Olette suddenly asked, practically shining with curiosity.

Roxas blinked and looked at her for a while until Hayner interrupted. "Oh you don't need to answer that, Roxas. Olette is nosy most of the time so you should probably just ignore her."

She glared at him and then looked back at Roxas. "So? If you don't I can introduce you to my friends. Most of them are single." Olette laughed, nudging him.

"Ignore her." Hayner mouthed, gagging behind her back.

Roxas took this advice, smiled, and pulled the lid of the pudding cup.

He took a spoonful of it.

"But he's gotta have girl friends, too!"

"We just met him, Olette. And you're kinda scaring him. A lot."

"Yeah, besides why are you asking him? You don't ever offer to introduce me to your friends."

"That's because I know Roxas'd treat them well. So whoever he earns as a girl friend or a girlfriend then I won't have to be worried that I might be the indirect cause of her misery in case she gets hurt in the future."

But he does have a girl friend. A friend that is a girl he meant.

He smiled to himself and continued to enjoy his snack.

This group kinda makes him relaxed.

-

"So, wanna join us later? Pence's the manager of the Basketball team and he sorta asked me to help out with their practice. So, will you?" Hayner invited, his hands shoved to his pockets. "Olette has student council work, too, so I don't have any choice but to hang out at the gym."

Roxas paced out for a while. He did plan to visit Naminé at the end of the day. He hasn't seen her yet. Seeing him skeptical, Hayner knew he had to push it. "Come on, it'll be fun. You can bring along anyone if you'd like."

"Anyone, huh?" Roxas nodded, rubbing his chin playfully. "Well, I guess."

"Yes! No take backs." Hayner threatened, grinned and walked away.

Roxas sighed and walked at the opposite direction. He gotta at least tell Naminé he suddenly had plans… still, he knew she wouldn't care any less. But Roxas was the type of person who'd rather do whatever he wants even if he would definitely regret it.

Dong Dong Dong Dong!

There goes the bell indicating break was over and classes were about to start.

He didn't want to miss class. Nope. He was still in probation. Coming from Dusk High, a school which was dominated by delinquents, he had to be paid close attention for the first week and if he does even one measly mischief, he'd be kicked out… again.

He won't have the time later to tell her.

…

And then Roxas had a crazy idea.

-

Riku and Sora snickered as they started punching each other playfully, not minding their classmates who were complaining or laughing at them. Hayner and Pence were in their respective classes, too, as they kept on talking about video games and video games and oh, surprisingly, video games. And of course, Olette was reviewing for a bit before the teacher enters the room.

"Hello? Heeelllooo? Is this thing on?... Oh wait, it is on."

A familiar voice echoed throughout the whole school. Making everybody listen.

"Hey, um, Naminé? This's Roxas. I can't go there now but hey, my new friend invited me to do something later. Uh… Here's a crazy idea, why don't you come and watch! It'll be fun, at least that's what Hayn—…"

"There he is!"

"You can't use the P.A System, idiot." Some distinct voices were heard.

"WAIT! WAIT! Naminé, I'll be waiting at the Gym!" And then struggling sounds.

"Let go of the mic, transfer student!"

"D-DISMISSAL TIME!!!"

Click!

Everybody was in pure amusement. Either it was because the new kid had guts or he actually mentioned the witch… in a friendly manner, too. There were only two options the student body could ever things of.

First, the new kid was being used by the witch.

Second, the new kid was actually friends with the witch.

Eitherway, Roxas was in big trouble.

-

"You do know that the P.A System is limited only to Authorized Personnel, don't you?" The Principal whose name was unknown said with a stern face.

"Actually, no, sir, I had absolutely no idea." Roxas protested knowingly, putting on his Get-out-of-trouble innocent face. "Back at my school you see, we were allowed to do so. If I knew all about it, then I wouldn't have done such a horrible thing… Sir."

The old man heaved a sigh of frustration. "I'll let you off the hook, this time, but now that you're aware of this certain rule, I expect this to never happen again. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

-

Dismissal Time

School Premises

'I wonder if Naminé heard me? Maybe not? What if she was concentrating on another one of her sketches? Maybe I should've yelled? I think I'll go visit her now and invite her personally.' Before he could go back inside the school building, though, Hayner called out his name.

"Roxas! Where're you going? The gym's over here."

"I've got something to…"

"Nope, no can do, let's go." He forcefully grabbed his new friend's shoulders and gave it a push towards the right.

They were walking silently until he spoke up. "Hey, Roxas?" He caught his friend's attention, more importantly, the tone of his voice sounded like he was reluctant or something.

"Yeah?"

"About that announcement you made earlier."

"What?"

"Did you say Naminé as in Naminé. You mean that girl at the…"

"Music room, yes."

Their conversation was interrupted when Pence called them whining about how long they had waited for them to arrive.

Their job was simple. All they had to do is compete with the newbies against the top players. This way, Pence could evaluate how both opposing teams would handle these types of situations.

Hayner, being used to helping out, was quite used to this. Instructing his team members to pass the ball to him or to there or to shoot where and when. Meanwhile, however, Roxas wasn't doing so hot. All he did was follow his team around and it was even as if he was invisible. Haynver didn't seem to instruct the members to pass it to him even if he was wide open.

Of course, it didn't take too long for their opponents to notice this, so they took this as an advantage. Soon, they were gaining more and more points.

"What's up, man? Roxas's our teammate, or did you not know that?" One of their members said, panting at the same time.

"What's wrong, Hayner?" Roxas asked, his face a mixture of worry and annoyance. Everybody looked at Hayner while he was huffing for breath. Somehow in its own not-so-subtle way, the opposing team outnumbered them… that was because Roxas didn't seem to be there at all.

"What's wrong?" Hayner repeated, and then within a split second glared directly to Roxas from the ground. It was so sudden and… fierce Roxas's hands balled to fist unconsciously. "You're what's wrong!" Hayner yelled, throwing the ball at his supposedly friend in… an unfriendly way. Roxas caught it before it could hit his stomach. If it did it would hurt. Real bad.

"Me? What're you talking about, you're the one who's been acting weird, you know!"

"Why'd you have to do that?! Didn't anybody tell you? You're walking to a dead end, can't you see that?!"

"Okay, what the hell are you talking about?!" Roxas retorted, throwing the ball at the ground as it bounced and finally rolled away.

"She's a witch, Roxas!" It was by then, that Roxas had an idea what he was talking about as silence plagued the whole gym. "She's just using you. You don't know why yet but you'll find out when it's already too late. That's what she does. Sooner or later, she'll ruin your life. She already did this to her so don't make the same mistake, will ya?!"

Roxas was silent, looking at the floor. But afterwards, surprisingly, Roxas glared back at Hayner. Truthfully, it didn't look like it was the same happy-go-lucky, friendly, cheerful Roxas everybody knew.

"Everybody says that but do you know everything? Do you?!" He yelled.

"I know it perfectly well, Roxas." Hayner said sternly. "I know it too well."

Hayner continued, staring intently at Roxas. "Olette was her friend, too, you know. But what did she do? She made Olette's father lose his job just because Olette is friends with us, too. Now, Roxas, did you know? Did you know how much Olette cried just because of her inconsiderate game?!"

Roxas was utterly speechless. Then there were footsteps.

"How can you talk to that witch… like you two are buddies? She's a witch."

"That's because we are friends."

This, of course, made Hayner frustrated and was about to seriously hit his supposedly new friend but…

The footsteps stopped.

"Hey, guys, I managed to get out of Student Council work!!" A bright brunette lit up, cheering from the Gym door. It took her some time before she realized that everything was wrong. All wrong.

"Olette…" Hayner whispered in a vexed kind of way.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, staring at the whole gym of silent and obviously troubled students. "What? Is it because I'm wearing a weird shirt? Well, it's funny actually, I bought it since it's orange and I couldn't resist…"

This, of course, lightened the tension. But Roxas took this time to walk away, not because he didn't want to get punched by Hayner. It was because he didn't know who to actually believe anymore.

The prince was confused.

He exited using the other door, leaving them quiet and apprehensive. Roxas went to the drinking fountain, slapping his face with the cool water. He stared at it blankly, flowing at the drain.

"I know it perfectly well, Roxas."

Whose side was he supposed to believe in now. Hayner didn't seem to be the type to lie… well on serious things only, of course. But Naminé just seemed…

…

Lonely.

Snap.

Instinctively, Roxas looked back. That sound was obviously no cat, it sounded like a broken twig.

He approached the corner and to his surprise…

"N-Naminé?" He mumbled.

"H-Hey, Roxas." She greeted softly, looking at the leafy ground. "I… c-came because you invited me. A-Am I too late?" She slowly stuttered.

There was one thing Roxas noticed since he met Naminé. If she stutters it meant that she was nervous. Or sad.

"How long were you here?" He asked seriously.

She didn't answer.

He had a look on his face that was either annoyed or apologetic. Without knowing it, his fists tightened again. "I'm sorry." He said, looking at the patch of soil beneath his feet. "From this point… I don't know if I… believe you anymore, Naminé."

First there was silence. And then…

"It's okay." This made Roxas look at her again, surprised. But perhaps if he knew that that look on her face would be there, he wouldn't have looked anymore. "I'm a witch. I'm not bothered. I'm used to this after all."

"Then…" He couldn't even bear to look at her anymore. "Why are you crying?"

Slowly, her hand touched her face, and then slowly, she stared at the tears trickling down her fingers, and finally, she slowly covered her face with her palms. "I... I'm a monster."

"I know it too well."

Roxas knew he couldn't do anything. All he did was listen. To be honest, he would think to himself, he had no right to talk back to Hayner seeing as he was only new here. He had no right to argue with everybody's opinion because he had only met her. They should know better than him because they've lived up with her longer than he had. Even so…

The prince just stood there as the witch wept.

Why does he feel… miserable?

-

The Next Day

The Abandoned Music Room

Naminé stared at her sketchbook, her sharpened pencil ready to be used. But it was one of those rare times where her hand didn't move in its own accord and her mind was completely blank.

Maybe she wasn't in the mood.

Or she had no inspiration.

She blinked and then slowly looked at the piano, remembering the sound it made. And then, she saw a light. A warm, friendly light.

Afterwards, unconsciously, she grabbed her colored pencils and her hands started to picture her mind's image.

It was a piano. A white grand piano.

Then a boy. Smiling blissfully.

And light. Fading light.

-

Olette stared at the piece of string on her hand, a portion of her hair flapping with the wind. "My hair ties broke all of a sudden." She whispered.

Broken Ties.

-

Meanwhile

At a messy apartment

"I just can't take it anymore, Saϊx." A young man with fiery red hair growled. "That damn kid forgot about us."

"Who?" Some guy with cobalt blue hair replied uninterestedly, leisurely sitting on the couch.

"Talk about blank with a capital B. Roxas of course!"

"Oh, him. Again?"

"I knew I shouldn't have let him leave. I knew I shouldn't have trusted him."

"So? What're you gonna do about it?"

"I'm going after him." The red-haired man declared, carrying a duffel bag and at the same time, pointing his finger.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I'm transferring to that ugly Twilight High, too!"

"Really, now?" Obviously, this companion of his wasn't too concerned about his sudden decision.

"Twilight, get ready for the new kid in town! The name's Axel, got it memorized?"

-

A/n: Whew, can you believe the drama in this chapter? I honestly didn't like this much and didn't want it to end there but I had to. I have plans you see. Axel's arrival will hold a meaning you know. Perfect timing too since Roxas was in such an unstable state.

The scene titles were fewer than the previous chapter but I wanted to stick with the ties thing. Anyway, thanks for reading! :3

By the way, I already have Chapter 3 stored in my PC but I'm waiting to see your reactions and think about it if I should change any details regarding it because frankly, Chapter 4 would be a lot better than Chapter 3… yes, I am starting on Chapter 4 already :D I had a lot of free time this weekend, you see.