Shadows

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Kingdom Hearts games, Final Fantasy games or Disney. They belong to people very lucky and rich.

Warnings: Homosexuality, sexual situations, plenty of casual swearing, drug use, physical abuse later and others I'll put up when they come around.

Pairings: Sora/Riku, Sora/Various, Axel/Roxas and multiple other pairings.

Summary: AU. Sora is sent to a Christian Boys School because of his salacious ways at his previous school. Instead of purging his sin, he finds that this school encourages it via a mysterious and rather lecherous organisation.

Chapter Two

Of all the people to be his new roommate, it had to be Axel. Apparently Axel's roommate had to move out because of a tryst gone wrong, so he was left without one. Sora didn't want to pursue that topic of conversation because it seemed to put Axel on a downer, but he didn't feel that annoying uncomfortable silence that had happened at dinner. Axel was currently lying on his bed and reading a magazine as Sora unpacked his things. He looked over at Axel and inwardly shrugged. He could be roommates with someone much worse, he figured. Axel was quite an interesting character. His flame red/brown hair was set in spikes away from his face, and he always seemed to wear weird makeup. Was he a Goth or something? He didn't seem to quite fit the full description as he was much too lively and upbeat. He certainly wasn't the quietest one in the group, at least. He and Demyx were apparently famous around the school for their wild antics and loud mouths, but other than that, Sora didn't know that much about him. He would have asked about him, if it weren't for that fact that Axel was reading and he didn't want to interrupt him.

He sighed and put his things away. As always, his thoughts trailed back to him. God, why did it have to turn out like that? He had never fallen in love with anyone, but he became so smitten with him. And it was with the worst possible person; a teacher. A man at least 10 years older than him, and a person with social responsibility as well. He was an ethereal beauty, something that didn't seem to fit on this earth. Riku…he was far too much like him for Sora to be comfortable. He had a feeling that whenever Riku would be around him, he would instantly be reminded and he worried he would not find a distinction. But Riku had a girlfriend, and was completely straight, so that was out of the question.

"So…" Axel put his magazine away in the drawer of his bedside table. "When did you find out you were gay? Or should I say, when did it slap you in the face?"

Well, that was a rather personal question. It wasn't as though he was ashamed of his sexuality, but he would have thought Axel wanted to know something more basic about him. "Ah…well…"

Axel smirked and sat on the edge of his bed. He wasn't exactly bad looking at all; he had a sharp face with feminine cat eyes, but a tonne of masculinity to prove he wasn't a female. "Don't tell me, you're shy about that?" He said with a wry grin. Even the makeup was quite a good look on him.

Sora spluttered, mock offended, and took off his uniform shirt. "Not really. Is that all you think about, though?"

Even though it was May, it was still quite warm. The nights were still quite light and no one really felt like sleeping until it was well and truly dark, which was around 10pm.

Axel smirked, taking in Sora's torso obviously by raking his eyes up and down. "I've been stuck here for a term, wouldn't you? Besides you're my type."

"Please don't hit on me." Sora asked nicely, smiled sweetly and replaced his shirt with a black wife beater. "To answer your question, I accidentally walked into a gay bar whilst heavily intoxicated. Is that enough?"

"Hmph, and here I assumed you were innocent. A sweet little boy." Axel pouted. "That takes all the fun out of it."

"I'm a lot less innocent than you think." Sora tried to pat down his unruly hair and looked over his books. "But, enough about that. Did your parents send you here to purge you of your homosexual disease too?"

Axel sniggered. "They don't know I am. They know nothing about me. You'll find there are plenty of boys like you and me here. Rich kids that their parents send away because they can't be bothered raising them."

"Organisation X? Let me guess, you're the richest kids, and Xehanort lets you have your way because your parents donate the most money?" Sora sat down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. "I am right, aren't I?"

Axel grimaced slightly. "You're quite perceptive. I guess I'll have to be careful what I tell you from now on."

Sora shrugged. Looking right through people was his specialty. He had been doing it since he was a child. "It doesn't bother me what reasons you have for being in that organisation."

"To tell you the truth, after a while you lose track of what reasons you're in it." Axel smiled a little darkly. "You just are. It becomes who you are."

Sora could tell that Axel was having doubts, whether he knew it himself or not. Was the organisation that bad that he would want to give it up? "I guess. So, what's Saix like?" He was becoming an expert on changing the subject when it was the right time to do so.

"He's pretty up himself, and a little weird. He's probably the last person you'll get to know out of all of us. He's basically the ring-leader at our school." Axel stretched out on his bed like a cat, his eyes fixed on Sora.

Sora had already guessed that about Saix. He did seem like the centre of attention. "But what about Zexion and Riku? They seem pretty secretive."

Axel shrugged. "They are in their own ways. Zexion chooses when he wants to be a shadow, or if he wants to be with one of us. He's pretty sneaky when he tries to get something he wants, so he usually gets what he wants." He said darkly.

Sora felt shivers up his spine after he said that. He would have to avoid him.

"And Riku…who knows what he's thinking? He's quite impulsive, cocky and intelligent, but he's also one of the nicest guys in the school. His girlfriend's pretty hot too, from a straight guy's perspective." Axel's smirk was only there to drive the knife into Sora's side.

He had said that because he knew Sora was attracted to him. How nice of him. "Is she part of Organisation X?"

Axel shook his head. "Definitely not, she's too much of a sweetheart and coddled by her parents. Her twin is though, and her best friend. Kairi's definitely too nice to be associated to us directly. Her sister Namine is, well… quite different. And Larxene is basically the devil incarnated into a female body. You don't want to cross her path. She picks and chooses."

"Geez, you guys sound pretty scary. Are you sure I'm safe associating with you?" Sora poked fun at him just because he seemed to fire up so easily.

"You're safe if Saix andZexion don't want you… which means you're not safe. Not in the slightest." Axel sighed despondently, his doubt becoming evident again. "Try to avoid them, if you can. Once you're in, there's no way of getting out. Unless…" Axel trailed off into a thought.

"Unless what?" Sora pressed the topic more than a little, even though he knew that Axel wouldn't say anything.

Axel smiled and waved his hand in his goofy manner. "That's a story for later. You'll hear about it before I tell you, I bet. You're a lot like him, actually."

"Like who?"

"Roxas."

Sora woke up in the middle of the night to see an empty bed on the other side of the room. Did they go out every night? He wouldn't be surprised, if they were as bad as Axel said they were. Going out on a Monday night was pretty lame, actually. Just as he was thinking this, the door to their room opened and Axel crept in quietly, but not very. By the way Axel clumsily crashed into any object he came across; he knew that the night had been a doozy.

"Did you have fun?" Sora asked in a groggy voice.

"I just went to take a piss." Axel brushed his hair back and took off his long black coat, letting it pool on the floor.

Sora couldn't believe he lied like that, especially when he was dressed in a coat. How stupid did he think Sora was? "Psch, you're such a liar."

Sora rolled over when he didn't receive a reply and listened to Axel settle into the bed across from him.

He missed that warm body next to him.

Axel was still dead to the world as Sora arose from his bed. It was 7 in the morning, and the sun had already risen. He had felt slightly disorientated when he first opened his eyes, but then the memories of the night before came to him; the first night and what a mess he had gotten into. If only he had refrained from sitting with that group, who knew what trouble he could have evaded. Organisation X seemed a little extreme, especially for a gang at a Christian boys' school. He didn't know yet what they got up to, but he knew that he'd find out soon enough. He wondered, even if he didn't associate with the group straight away, whether he would have been targeted anyway.

Axel stirred, causing his sheet to rise up his thigh. He knew now that the red-head slept naked, and it took him quite a few seconds to look away. He was well-built, but not too muscled with nicely toned arms and a long neck and jaw. Sora's breathing shuddered and he proceeded to find his towel. He needed a cold shower, pronto. This was the worst idea that his parents had ever had. Not only was he stuck in a place with very attractive guys, his roommate was a particularly sexy one that couldn't sleep with clothes on. It wasn't as though he could see anything that would matter, but if that sheet was a bit higher, he most certainly would.

Okay, he had to leave now. Except, he didn't know where the showers were. Oh god, what did he do now?

"Axel…" He whispered softly, hoping it would wake him.

Axel stirred again, but fell into the abyss again.

"Axel, wake the fuck up!" Sora growled softly and Axel's eyes shot open.

He was so startled, that he actually fell out of bed in a tangle with his sheets. At least everything was still covered, to Sora's relief. "What?"

"Where are the showers?" Sora noticed his stomach was actively complaining about no food being in it.

Axel rubbed his forehead, as though he was suffering something nasty. "Give me a minute and I'll go with you."

Sora huffed impatiently and put his towel around his hips (he still had boxers on, he wasn't an exhibitionist). "Well, hurry up then." He faced the wall so he wouldn't see anything, not like Axel seemed to care.

Axel rustled around getting clothes organised and finally placed his hand on Sora's shoulder. "Ready to go?"

Sora turned and took note of Axel's charming grin. Then the most daunting thought appeared in Sora's mind. Communal showers. Oh, fuck. What were his parents thinking? Axel's grin didn't help that thought much at all. Sora followed Axel out the door and a short way down the corridor to the showers, hoping to god that he would save him from this torment. Axel was enough, but several naked guys?

To his relief, the showers were cubicled. So there was sanctity in this school. He quickly cleaned up and met Axel at the door.

"Well, you certainly brighten up after a late night out." Sora poked Axel in the ribs. "Just took a piss, yeah right."

Axel chuckled. "Hey, I was pretty wasted."

"Do you go out every night?" Sora asked as they walked down the stone corridor. The dorms were well furnished and very flash, but still very traditional. As he looked out the various large windows to the left of him, he could see the vast gardens and playing fields that belonged to this school. Exactly how large was it?

Axel ran his hand through his natural spiky hair. Had he done his makeup quickly? They weren't… So the guy did have balls to tattoo the most sensitive part of his body. Well, one of the most sensitive parts. "Not every night. But we had a particular thing to do last night."

"I see." Sora noticed that there was a boy standing outside their dorm room with a gloomy look on his face. He was blonde with most of it forward from his head, his eyes were bright blue and he had quite a cute face. Not really his type, but good looking nonetheless.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Axel asked quite rudely as they walked up to him.

The young man looked straight into Axel's eyes and spoke. "I've been assigned to show Sora around. He's in all of my classes."

Axel narrowed his eyes and stormed into the room, confusing Sora in the process. "Um…okay?"

"Never mind him." The boy smiled lightly. "He doesn't like me very much."

Sora nodded. "I'll just get changed and get my books."

"Don't forget your Phys Ed uniform as well, we have that today." The blonde leant against the wall.

Sora noted that he was exactly the same size as Sora himself, with the same features. No wonder he didn't find him hugely attractive. He entered the room and closed the door behind him.

Axel was in a particularly sour mood and it was extremely evident on his face. "Are you normally that rude to people?"

Axel sneered as he did up his tie. "Only people that I despise."

"Who is he?" Sora quickly dressed himself into uniform and organised his things into his bag.

Axel slumped on the bed. "Roxas."

"Oh." Sora made an O with his mouth and felt pretty much stumped. He was the traitor that they were talking about. Wasn't he pretty much risking it being here? "He looks pretty nice to me."

"He's all sugar on the outside, of course." Axel smirked darkly, almost ironically. "I should know; I knew him the best. But we'll continue this story later. Don't trust him; he'll stab you in the back."

Sora frowned, in thought. There was a lot more to this that he would find out about later. What he didn't like was that he was now stuck right in the middle between Organisation X and Roxas; not the safest place to be. "I better go."

Axel just sat on his bed looking out the window, which was quite unsettling. He'd have to learn more about this, without actually getting involved.

"So, now that he's told you all about me, shall we go to breakfast?" Roxas said a little numbly. "I am a traitor, yes, but for all the good reasons. At least I was brave enough to leave." He smiled. "That's something he'll never be able to do. Not even for me."

"Roxas…" Sora started, even though it was a touchy subject. "You two were…"

"Yeah. Then I got sick of Organisation X and left." Roxas smiled a little too cheerfully for the grim moment. "But all that's over and I'm glad."

"Oh."

"Sorry to dump on you, I just felt you needed to know the truth before you're convinced otherwise." Roxas led Sora down the hallway, his demeanour quite difficult to figure out.

Sora and Roxas entered the hall and sat down at a table. Students seemed to get breakfast only when they felt like it, so the hall wasn't very populated. Sora knew he would like it here. "Anyway, enough about that. It's all I've been hearing about since I got here."

"Of course it is. Axel's your roommate. He doesn't know when to shut up." Roxas poked his eggs with his fork when they had retrieved their meals. "I'm actually really sorry that you got involved with them straight away. It's… unfortunate."

"It's alright, I can look after myself." Sora smiled and wolfed down his food. He felt like he hadn't eaten in months. "So, what do you like to do?"

"Oh, plenty of things. Art, mainly. That's what we have first. We have really good teachers here." Roxas seemed to radiate energy and happiness, regardless of what had happened to him. He was all sugary on the outside, and that wasn't a bad thing. Sora wasn't really worried about what he was like on the inside, the more he got to know Roxas.

Sora grinned, he stomach filling up quite quickly. "I love art. It's good to express yourself."

"I am in complete agreement with you there." Roxas smiled and looked past Sora's shoulder warily to follow some figures as they entered the hall. Sora didn't even have to guess who they were.

Sora was going to say something concerning them, but the bell rang loudly through the room. It was time for first period.

"Yay, art." Roxas bounced out of his chair and took Sora by the wrist. He grabbed his bag just in time for Roxas to drag him out of the room. Yup, this one sure had energy.

Sora found himself to be drooling half way through the period, but he found he wasn't the only one in a smitten daze. All of the students in the class seemed to be hanging on their teacher's every word.

"You can see why I love art so much." Roxas resumed his sketching of a photograph and sighed dreamily. "You learn to have good aesthetics."

"Oh sure, and by that you mean the teacher is hot." Sora grinned, finding common ground with Roxas at last.

The teacher resumed speaking. "Since you're working with charcoal, try not to smudge with your thumb but with your little finger. You have more control; it's more sensitive."

Sora was suddenly assaulted with visions of a different kind of smudging with fingers. "Oh god. Why?" He complained aloud.

"I was thinking exactly the same thing." Roxas elbowed Sora in the side.

Their teacher was Mr. Leonhart. Squall Leonhart. A wet dream in the figure of a nicely toned man with perfect features but the added danger of a scar in between his eyebrows in a slant from the left side of his face to the right. His icy blue eyes were bordered with long dark eyelashes and his hair was a dark brown, shagging to his shoulders. He was everything to have a boner over.

"Mr Leonhart? Can you help me with this shadowing? It's not quite working right." A boy on the other side of the classroom called out.

Roxas chuckled. "Oh sure, you know he just wanted to be close to him."

"Who wouldn't?" Sora tried to block out the invading thoughts. This was not a school to purge homosexuality, with teachers like this. This was a school to encourage it. "Wouldn't you want to be writhing under him?"

Roxas blushed and punched Sora in the arm. "Are you trying to put thoughts in my head?"

"Well, yeah." Sora admitted and smirked. How he loved working people up like this.

Roxas sat still suddenly and started smudging furiously. Sora noticed the reason for this was that Mr. Leonhart was currently on his way over to them.

"You chose the perfect time, you idiot." Roxas muttered.

Sora stopped his sniggering when Mr. Leonhart knelt down beside them. He was quite tall and well filled out. He emanated a sensual musk that was unlike anything he had ever smelled before. All it did was fill his senses, so he found his coherent thought lacking.

"I understand that this is different from what you were learning at your other school." His deep voice resonated in Sora's ear. He must know what he did to the students here. "Are you coping well with our curriculum?"

"Yes, sir. I've always liked charcoal." Sora didn't really know how to act around this adonis. He could see Roxas trying to contain his mirth.

Mr. Leonhart looked over the picture that Sora had begun to draw. "You have quite an unusual style here. You're focussing on negatives, rather than what we see in plain view."

"I thought it would be a nice change, not creating a typical life-like image." Sora explained, not even really understanding what he was saying, his anxiety rising slightly for every moment Mr. Leonhart was around them.

The teacher raised his eyes in surprise. "I really like it. You're quite talented, Sora. Keep up the good work." And he left to attend to other students.

Why were teachers his Achilles heel? One smile from Mr. Leonhart and he was a puddle on the floor.

"You were so obvious." Roxas smirked, still trying to hold in his laughter.

Sora continued his sketch, choosing to ignore what Roxas just said. Everything was just fine, until a significant someone entered the room.

"He's always late." Roxas' smile was long gone by the time Axel walked past him and settled in the back of the classroom. "He's allowed to be, though."

"That's pretty low." Sora looked at him over his shoulder. Axel just raised his eyebrow in return, nodding at Roxas.

Roxas just shrugged. "That's Organisation X. They do what they want."

Sora wondered if it was suitable to ask him about Axel, but before he could do so, Roxas was already on that same wavelength.

"We broke up when I decided to leave." Roxas wasn't at all shy about his past, Sora found. "It wasn't a mutual thing, though. He had a choice; me or the organisation."

"And he chose them." Sora looked down at his art a little sadly.

Roxas smiled. "It was everything and then nothing. I didn't really get closure; it just ended. It probably isn't worth feeling for someone that would easily ditch me like that, though."

"You're right." Sora agreed. Roxas didn't show any sadness or depression on his face at all. Maybe it was so long ago that he'd gotten over it? Or maybe he was now just so good at hiding it?

"But take it from me, as someone who was once in Organisation X, you don't want to get involved with them. They'll seduce you and trick you; it's not pleasant on the whole. Just trust me on that." Roxas was still smiling, as though he were telling a really bad joke.

Sora frowned in confusion. There was something decidedly wrong with this boy, and he realised that there was a possibility that Roxas could be the one tricking him. "I don't really trust anyone at the moment. It's quite difficult to decide when you're stuck in the middle, but I'll be careful."

Roxas was satisfied with that answer, so he went back to his work. Sora risked a look to the back of the classroom to see Axel's reaction of them getting along. The red-head was staring wistfully at Roxas, completely in his own little world. Sora swivelled his head back before he was noticed, but kept that look of Axel's firmly in his mind.