AN: Yo! Thanks to all who are reading this story! Remember to R&R! ;D I wanna know what you guys out there think! :)

Almost Here

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Xion's Pov:

"My, my, what is this? Sleeping together already, Vani?" I heard someone laughing, shaking the person who was on the bed holding me. I honestly couldn't remember what happened after my girl talk with Aqua and Larxene. "Mm.. shut up.." A sleepy annoyed voice said behind me. Opening my eyes slowly I started to remember that I was sleeping on Larxene's bed and that spiky charcoal hair sticking up must belong to my boyfriend.

I looked in front of me to see a tall someone hover over me just to get to Vani. "Terra.." I sighed knowing immediately it was him. If he was going to bug just one person, Terra liked to include the ones surrounding his said target. He kept shaking until he gave up seeing that Vani wasn't going to get up. Terra whistled out the door for someone to come in. "Hey help me wake him up!" He yelled for someone to come in.

A gush of air passed by but I didn't see anyone. I patted Vani's hands to let me go, getting up I just sat there giving Terra a questioning look. A snicker came by Vani as that black hood popped up slowly, "Wakey wakey, poison and snakey!" He snickered as Vani opened his eyes. "My, you're quite the heavy sleeper" Ventus commented as he smiled close to Vani's face. Vani opened his eyes to meet Ven's and he fell from the bed. "Get that damn thing out of here!" Vani sneered rubbing his head seeing as he hit it against the nightstand.

Terra laughed and took Ven out with him, "Can we make blood?" Ven asked him excitedly walking out the door. "Sure kid!" He replied patting his back chuckling. The door shut close as Vani sat back on the bed trying to cool off.

"I'm going to kill him, I'll make him wish he were in hell!" Vani sneered as if he were spitting acid on Ventus. I sighed, they were such good friends once…

"Are you okay?" I asked him concerned. Sure I knew he would get in a sour mood when Ven was around but he seemed more irritated this morning.

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Vani's Pov:

"No" I answered, my head was killing me. Last night I just kept thinking of Sora. I was usually back home after concerts but this time…

I called home getting the voice message, my mother was probably at work by now. I looked at the time on my cell, it was almost eight. "We need to go, Xion" I told her heading into Larxene's bathroom. Xion and I washed our faces and brushed our teeth hurriedly.

Most of the gang were still asleep, Terra and Ven were making more of his stupid sugary super sweet kool-aid, and Roxas was reading a book. We said our goodbyes as I grabbed Xion's hand and ran as fast I could to the train station. "Why are we in a hurry?" Xion panted trying to keep up with my fast pace.

I didn't answer her as I bought the tickets and got in the arriving train. I sat down looking at the time again, we made it here to the station in ten minutes. Xion stayed quiet the entire ride back home, I tapped my fingers and shook my leg impatient. My mother was a great mom but even she forgets important things when she's in a hurry to get to work.

The train ride wasn't that long but I couldn't take my time. If I've been paying good attention these past few years; I know my little brother – he thinks he can do things on his own.

I ran out as the doors open, Xion yelled my name but I ignored her. I didn't have time for her! "Vanitas!"

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Sora's Pov:

"Oh dear! I'm running late! I'm running late… again!" Momma kwept yelling at herswelf. I sat down on the stairs waiting for her. Mwaybe she can twake me today! Vani is late…

"Momma" I cwalled out but she didn't hear me. I sighed, watching her. She shut the dwoor leaving me. Momma left, oh well. I gwuess I'm gonna have to drwess myself today!

This should be fwun! I rwan back up to my rwoom and put on the clothes Momma left on my bwed. I got dressed and went down. Momma forgot to make my brweakfast and I can't cook! I know! I'll have cwookies!

I grwabbed a pillow from the cwouch and threw it at the cwookie jar. The cwookies fell, I took thrwee and opened the dwoor. I'm going to skool by myswelf today!

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Vani's Pov:

I ran as fast I could back home, Xion was running right behind me yelling. I ran past those old hags and that bastard that was still here. "Vanitas, slow down!" Xion yelled coming from the corner. I ran up the road seeing Sora walking the direction where his school was at.

"Sora!" I yelled as he turned around, "Vani!" He waved cheerfully. I was almost to him when the school's stupid cross country bicycle club neared where Sora was standing. "Watch out!" One of them yelled, Sora turned around with wide eyes. I grabbed Sora and shielded him as the club rode past us.

"Vani?" Sora called when they left. Stupid! Stupid child! "Hey! What happened?" Xion asked coming up. I tighten my grip on Sora's arms. "Don't you ever do that! You hear me! Never leave the house without me!" I yelled at him; shaking Sora he stared at me with wide eyes.

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Xion's Pov:

Bending down a little I put my hands on my knees trying to catch my breath. Vani ran off trying to get to his house, when I was finally able to catch up to him – the school's cross country rode by. Vani kneeled down as he gripped Sora tightly shaking and yelling at him.

Sora's eyes widen surprised, Vani never ever raised his voice at him. "You're so stupid, Sora!" Vani yelled shakily. Sora sadly smiled, "It's otay big brwother" He caressed Vani's cheek wiping away the single hidden tear.

I slowly walked closer to them trying not to upset Vani more. He was frustrated with himself. "Come on sweetie, let's go back inside and get you dressed right" I patted Vani's arm to let of of Sora, he did as Sora took my hand. I went inside with him and told him to wait upstairs.

I went back out to try to calm Vanitas again. "Vani?" I quietly said as he looked up with sadden amber eyes. "He could of got hurt Xion! It would have been my fault" He got up taking my hand and going inside his house quietly.

We went upstairs as Vani took Sora's clothes off and changed him into something else. I took out the first aid kit from the bathroom. "Dwon't worry Shion! No boo-boos!" Sora smiled. I set the kit on the bed. Vani went downstairs and made his lunch.

We walked with Sora to school, Vani got an ear full out of Sora's teacher for bringing him late. Vani stayed quiet for once unlike other times where he would roll his eyes and talk back sarcastically to her. He took my hand as we decided to skip school and just stay at his place.

Going inside I cleaned the kitchen from the bread crumbs and juice spill of Sora's lunch mess we left. I went up to Vani's room as he sat down on his bed. I sat next to him, as I was going to soothe him by rubbing his back I felt something moist. "Vanitas…" I looked down to my blood stained hand.

He turned his head as I showed him my hand that was covered in his blood. He shrugged, "I deserve it" He commented as I ran to get the first aid kit from Sora's bed. "You may not care for yourself, but I do! Now take off your shirt!" I ordered.

I know Vani. He'll blame himself, get hurt, hurt himself, then carry the guilt. I didn't want him to blame himself. He took his shirt off as I asked him to, I turned him around to see the couple of bloody scars.

"Some guys on the bikes tried to stop but the brakes and handles cut into me" Vani said, I told him to lay down on his bed as I disinfected and bandaged his wounds. He didn't cringe in pain or complain just stayed quiet as the only noise was coming from his clock ticking.

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Vani's Pov:

I feel like crap. I yelled at Sora but it's all my damn fault. After Xion wrapped my wounds we stayed in my room just playing a game of chess. It was boring as hell playing chess but I didn't feel up to anything other than murdering the entire cross country stupid club.

When it was nearing time for Sora to get out, Xion and I headed early to pick him up. The old hags gasped seeing me wearing black jeans and a black wife-beater and of course the wraps of bandages were somewhat visible.

Xion glared at them seeing that I wasn't up to it. As we past them she whispered, "I punished him" She winked as the hags seemed to show some sympathy for me for a sec.

Ah. What lies could do.

I didn't see that bastard there waiting for Sora so at least something good happened today. The bells rang as the stampede of children came out laughing. Sora kept yelling, "Come on Kai-kai!" He pulled Kairi out the gate with him. Xion giggled and whispered to me, "She's very shy"

I smirked, "Unlike him"

I ruffled Sora's hair taking his hand. He smiled and laughed seeming to have forgotten the events of this very morning. Xion picked up Kairi and carried her.

We decided to hang out at the small dock for a while. Xion and I sat the edge of the dock as Kairi and Sora dared each other to reach for a paopu fruit.

"Are you okay?" Xion asked. I turned my head and nodded. "Good. I'm glad" She smiled leaning on my side. We watched the sunset, it was nice until the unexpected happened.

"Greetings, Lovers!" That damn hooded freak popped up from underneath us. I heard a deep laugh and a "Howdy" coming from Terra as he roughly patted my back. I hissed at the slight pain. Ventus and Terra sat next to us. "Spiders, anyone?" Ven offered holding out a bag of his stupid spider shaped sugar cookies. I glared at him as Xion took one.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked rubbing my temples. Stay calm, gotta stay the hell calm. Terra shrugged, "We were bored and-" Ven shushed him manically laughing, "And we set a trap on your father!" He joyously announced.

"And?" I asked slightly curious. Ven laughed continuing,"We snuck into his temporary residence, took his clothes and some belongings, ran to the fish market and we dumped them in fishy water and finally we dumped them into the ocean hoping sharks would eat it!"

Well that was stupid. "One childish prank won't drive him away" I sighed. I looked at the time,"We'll discuss this later at school. It's getting late" I got up with Xion. Sora and Kairi came running back with a small paopu they found. "Eat it!" Kairi said blushing. I smirked, "Nice try, kiddo" I didn't believe in stupid magical love fruit. I threw the fruit taking Sora's hand as Xion took Kairi's. "GAH! IT BURNS!" Ven screamed as he held the paopu I threw. "It's sucking me alive! Ah! Oh the misery! Help! No! Run and save your souls! It's eating me alive!" He continued yelling as Terra laughed his ass off. "You big baby!" He roughly patted Ven taking the fruit.

Xion gave me a questioning look. "He's afraid of love…" I answered. That idiot. She nodded probably thinking 'Oh that's just like Ven'

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Xion's Pov:

Next day Vani and I walked Sora and Kairi to school early. We waved goodbye and headed further to our school. Namine was waiting for me by the entrance to first. I sighed, I was irritated yet I couldn't be. She's my friend and is dating Roxas after all.

"Hey Xion!" She greeted smiling. I nodded and headed in with her. Inside Aqua was teasing Terra with her new cooking invention – fish cheesecake. Non of us could ever tolerate her weird creations or have the heart to tell her no but Terra was a brave soul.

Namine excused herself and went to sit next to Roxas who was tapping on his desk with his drumsticks. For once Ventus decided to show up to class as he sat in the very back where the lights were flickering in and out.

I sat next to him seeing as Vani was trying to decline a taste of Aqua's new disaster erm… I mean food. "Morning, Ven!" I greeted as he shined his heartless skull named Neo. "What brings you to the darkness my dear?" He asked as he kissed Neo. I smiled at him, "Just wanted to keep you company is all"

Before I could start a conversation with him, the classroom door opened. A girl with a black shirt with a white flower pattern with white shorts came in. "Sweet death, take me" Ven whispered as his eyes glazed over.

The gang and I stopped what we were doing as Selphie came in after the girl. "Don't you dare leave Olette!"

I think all our jaws dropped. OLETTE? She was… well… I don't know what she is but she is definitely not the one to wear such 'dull' and 'depressing' colors as Selphie would say. Olette turned to her angry, "I'm tired of this! I don't need drama! I quit the squad and I quit being your friend!" She jabbed a finger a Selphie's arm. Selphie ran away screaming bloody murder.

I turned to look at Ven who was drooling with his eyes still glazed. "Ven? Earth to Ven!" I waved my hand back and forth in front of his face. "Ven just left Earth and went to Heaven" He dreamily stared at Olette.

You have got to be kidding me.

Vani held my hand as we walked into Home Ec. "You look pretty disturbed. That's new" He noticed as we took our seats. Truth be told, I was worried about Ven. Professor Xemnas was the cooking teacher – he instructed us to make fish mackerel.

Oh boy. Here we go,

Vani and I started getting our ingredients, as we got started I was watching Ven who got paired up with Olette. Ventus manically laughed as he took the fish and set it on his table. Olette had the knife in her hands. "My what sharp knife you have my dear" I heard him say. Olette giggled, "All the better to stab you with" She smiled.

They both laughed as they gutted the poor looking dead fish. I looked at Vani who looked at them who then looked at me and gave me a WTF look. I ignored them trying not to burn the fish or let Vani do all the work.

When it was time to cook the fish, we put ours into the oven. Ven and Olette did the same thing but it exploded. "How the hell do you explode fish?" Professor Xemnas yelled as he opened the oven to see the big burned exploded mess inside. "Baking soda?" He screeched as he nearly pulled his hair out. Professor Xemnas took cooking very and I mean very serious.

Vani and I took ours out – if it weren't for Vani, ours would of been nothing but ashes. "Wah! I don't get it! How did it not burn?" I asked Vani as he chuckled. "Stupid girl. Cooking is easy" He smirked setting the fish on a plate.

I grumbled narrowing my eyes. When the bell rang I saw Olette wave at Hayner who was the numero uno in football. She skipped over to him, taking his hand and walking out. Ven frowned and quickly disappeared.

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Vani's Pov:

Xion decided to go ahead of me to go pick up the kids, walking out I was immediately stopped. "How do you talk to girls?" Ven popped out of nowhere as always. I shrugged, "Don't know. Now scram before I kill you" I coldly shoved him heading down the road. He popped up again, "Come on! I know you do not like me but please. I think I may be experiencing my very first crush!" Ven pleaded. I raised a eyebrow, "Are you Roxas or Ven?" I asked him slowly.

He gulped, "Ah quite the question! I'm Ventus of course!" He smiled brightly. Bingo. "Liar. Why are you pretending to be Ven, Roxas?" Roxas sighed taking off the black hood. "Ven's been acting weird all day. He asked me to ask you about love advice since he didn't want mine"

I sighed, "Like I know any. Look I'm late. Later" I waved him off not having the patience or time to help him out with his problems. Once we picked Sora and Kairi – we decided to cook dinner for once instead of buying take-out like always.

Once we cooked, ate, hung out, Xion and Kairi walked home. "Vani, I'm sweepy" Sora rubbed his eyes as he held his lion plushie close to his chest. I nodded heading upstairs with him and tucked him in. He instantly ko'd. It was still early so I decided to head out and skateboard for a while.

Heading into my room I took my black Unversed Flood Darkstar skateboard from my closet. I headed out and rolled down lazily. As I was heading downhill I felt someone bumpy go underneath.

"MEEEOOOWWW!"

Crap.

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Done! To be continued.

Ohohoho wonder what's gonna happen~

Does Ventus have a crush on Olette? (Never thought of this pairing nor Roxas with Olette but it sounds interesting)

And what did Vanitas just hit? xD

There will be more of Ventus-Roxas switching going on later~ and maybe even a surprise! *Le gasp!*

So… I got this chapter title from The Academy Is… song - Almost Here.

It's a great song! ;D

And yes I did some research on skateboard styles/models and I like Darkstar ~ I had to give it a BBS flavor to it!

And no offense to Cross Country! I think it's interesting since some of my friends from ROTC were in Running/Track.

And Neo as in Neoshadow Heartless - not that Matrix dude xDD