Sorry for such a late update guys ; 3 ;. I'm having writers block! Hopefully it goes away soon.

Enjoy!~

Chapter 21 – Traverse Town

September 11th , After school

Roxas fell to his knees in the sunlit grass. He put his hands to the ground, panting. "Do we have to practice," he sniffled. "I'm so sick."

"You have to if you want to make it!" Olette pressured.

"I can't even make it to the other side of this field right now…" The blonde whined.

"Why isn't Sora with us?" Hayner asked, helping Roxas up.

"Well," Olette began. "Sora's been doing a lot more extra practice than you guys. I would assume he's at a much higher agility level than the both of you." Roxas and Hayner sighed in unison. "At first, Roxas and Sora were matched in agility. Hayner, you're slower than the both of them but you show promise in defense."

"Greeaatt." Hayner moaned.

Olette blew her whistle.

"Hope, you'll never learn that way," The taller brunette nudged the boys shoulder, watching him come off balance. "You're too stiff." He sighed.

"Says the goalie." Hope murmured, standing up straight.

"How are we supposed to defend the fielders anyway," A raven haired girl chimed in. "They're so much bigger than Hope and I!" She said, exaggerating with her arms.

"Xion's right," Hope fell to a seated position in the grass of the schools Blitzball field. "What did Lightning see in us that made us make the team anyway?"

"Potential!" Tifa smiled. They were all in their black and dark-red Blitzball uniforms, the flame crest of their school on the upper left of their chest.

"Where is Terra," Hope frowned frustratingly. "And how come the fielders never come to practice?"

"They think they're too good for it." Tifa put her hands on her hips.

"But they lost to Destiny Islands school last year," Xion put a finger to her lip. "That guy Satoshi had made the golden goal, the tie breaker."

"You mean Riku," Xion nodded. "He's my cousin."

"What!? He's so good looking though…" Xion teased. "And your last name is Estheim!"

"Thanks." Hope said dryly, lying on his back. "His dad is my mom's brother." He closed his eyes.

"What are you doing laying around instead of practicing, Hope!" A recognizable voice said to him. He looked up to see blue eyes shaded by long brown hair.

"Terra!" He jumped up, smiling.

"Hope doesn't think a goalie could teach him how to defend." Noel sighed, hand on his hip.

"Noel was actually a defender in freshmen year," Terra chuckled. "He taught me most of my skills when I had joined the team in sophomore year."

Hope blushing frowned, Xion looking at him in amusement.

"I see you guys are having fun?" A taller teen came in behind Hope grinning. His hair was long and white, similar to that of Riku's but with more of a silvery undertone. This was Sephiroth Fujioka, captain of the team. Behind him stood two other boys, one had cinnamon colored short hair, Genesis Rhapsodos, and the other with long layered pink hair, Marluxia Aburane.

"So now you guys will be coming to practice," Tifa asked sternly, crossing her arms against her chest. "Or are you just visiting?"

"Well, we are in our uniform," Marluxia said. "Right?" He grinned sinisterly at Tifa as he passed by her, getting the ball from Noel.

"We have to teach Xion and Hope how to defend you guys," Terra told them. "It'll be much easier now that you're here."

"Let's get to it then." Sephiroth puts his hands on Xion's and Hope's shoulders.

September 12th

Sora had his elbow on his desk, his hand holding up his head with his cheek. His eyes were closed, but fluttered open when he heard a chirping sound from beneath his head. He looked down to see the baby chocobo his history teacher usually held within his afro. The brunette smiled down at it.

"Please stay awake, Sora." Mr. Katzroy said.

Sora lifted his head up, the chocobo flying back towards its 'nest' within Mr. Katzroy's coily hair. He felt Kairi tap on his back. "Are you okay, Sora?" She asked concerned.

"Yeah," Sora whispered back. "Just tired." Sora slightly jumped at the ringing bell that pierced his ears. The class began to evacuate the room to head to their next class.

"You have blitzball tryouts today," Olette stood. "You can't afford to be tired!"

"I know," Sora whined, putting his books in his bag. "But I was so worried about this day that I couldn't sleep last night." He pouted. Kairi put a hand on the brunettes shoulder. "I think you'll do okay, Sora." She smiled sincerely.

'If I don't then Riku would just view me a joke…' Sora put his hands into fists at his sides.

"Better get going before you're late to you next class," Mr. Katzroy informed the three. They nodded and jogged off. The teacher shook his head. "Kids."

Sora sluggishly made his way to gym's males' locker room. He threw his bag down on the tiled floor below his short locker and collapsed on the wooden bench. "Roxas," He whined. "I don't want to do gym today, I just want to sleep. Don't tell teacher I'm in here."

The brunette heard someone sigh and then felt large arms reach under his chest and pull him up to a sitting position. Flustered, he open blue eyes wide and flailed his arms at whoever it was who lifted him up. "You're not Roxas!"

He felt the large hands shake his shoulders. "Sora, cut it out," The boy grabbed one of the brunettes wrists. "It's Riku!"

Sora stopped and began to rub his tired eyes, looking back up to see Riku looking down at him. The elder let out a breath and frowned after a couple seconds of silence. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I've been beginning to think there's something severely wrong with you."

Sora's face became impassive at Riku's comment. His eyebrows then furrowed. "Maybe you're the problem." The brunette murmured.

Riku, peeved, put his hands on Sora's waist and lifted his small body up into the air. "What are you doing?!" Sora flailed. He was brought over to his actual area of the locker room. Roxas and Axel gave the two boys a weird look, watching as Riku placed Sora down in front of them and Sora yell 'what about my backpack' to no response other than the back pack that was tossed over the lockers almost hitting Sora square in the face.

"And I thought I was crazy." Axel laughed, continuing to change.

Roxas put the back of his palm to Sora's forehead. "Are you okay?" He asked, blue eyes probing.

Sora sat down on the bench. "I'm just tired," He answered. "I couldn't get any sleep last night since I was too busy worrying about today."

"Stay in here then," Roxas sighed, pulling his gym shirt over his head. "We'll just say you're absent."

"Thanks so much!" Sora lie down on the bench relieved, using his backpack as a pillow.

Axel ruffled his fingers through brunette's spikey hair as they were leaving for gym. "Don't worry about it kiddo."

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