Kingdom Hearts 1. Prologue: Sora

**PROLOGUE**

* * *

Life. They say that it's all about grasping opportunities, taking chances, not waiting for someone to tell you before you speak, do something, go somewhere. They say it's also about finding yourself, creating yourself, knowing and discovering what, or who, is most important to you.

Back then, when someone would ask me what was most important to me, only one thing would come to mind. I soon came to see, though, how horribly naïve I was.

This isn't a happy story, but it isn't a sad story either. Actually, there isn't really any way to describe it.

I guess once you hear it, it'll be up to you to decide.

* * *

_Life's not always fair. Sometimes you can get a splinter even sliding down a rainbow. ~Terri Guillemets_

* * *

Sora Kyumuke. Soon-to-be junior at North Destiny College, youngest son of Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough, born in Radiant Garden and raised in Destiny Islands. Dyslexic, ADHD, and a bit on the 'dumb' side.

That was me at sixteen.

And my life so far hadn't exactly been awesome.

I was born in Radiant Garden, a twin to Roxas and a younger brother to Ventus. We'd moved to Destiny Islands as soon as we were deemed fit to travel overseas, and I'd been living on the islands practically all my life. I watched my parents have a bad break up and divorce here, watched him leave home and go off with a bartender called Tifa. Mom didn't take the divorce well at all, and tried to take her life once or twice, as the prospect of raising three kids on her own was too much for her, and at the time ending her life seemed to be the only solution.

She might have succeeded, had one of Dad's 'work buddies', Zack Fair, not come along. He managed to pull her out of the rut, and eventually proposed to her. She accepted, of course. I didn't mind him—I mean, I was grateful that he'd helped save Mom's life and all—but, to be honest, I kind of still missed Dad.

About a month after the divorce, we found out that we had a half-brother, Vanitas, which explained the whole divorce thing pretty clearly. Vanitas was about two years older that Ven, and my Dad insisted we looked alike. Vanitas seemed to like me a lot, and I took a liking to him in return. He sort of ended up being my substitute brother.

Dad said that Vanitas had the right to see us, and after he threatened to bring in the authorities, Mom finally had to agree. She never really liked Van that much, and usually locked herself up in her room whenever he came to visit. Ventus got a scholarship and went off to college immediately after he finished high school, and he managed to get a part-time job in some business industry, and as a result, wasn't home often. Mom had tried to convince him to take a gap year, so he could spend time with the family, but Ventus was more than eager to leave the Islands. Out of all of us, I was sure Ventus had taken the divorce the hardest...especially since he played sort of a big part telling my Dad to, and I quote, "fuck off".

With all the crap going on in my life at that time, it wasn't surprising that no one in my family had the time to figure out I was getting bullied.

I went to a school called North Destiny College, (which had never really made any sense to me seeing as it was a high school). It was home to nearly two-thousand students, which meant pretty much every teenager on the North Island went there. The principal was Ansem Yoshida, a straight-faced, middle-aged man who hated commotion and loved tradition.

It's astonishing how young the teachers there were—the oldest was probably Xemnas, who was in his mid-thirties. The female teachers were beyond attractive too; I didn't know if it was an island thing or whatever, but…

Anyway, I'd learnt not to judge anyone by their appearance. Most of the teachers I had in my first and second years of high school disliked me, which probably had something to do with the fact that I was one of the dumbest students in the school and was sort of a magnet for trouble.

You see, like several high schools, Destiny College was full of cliques. The jocks and their cheerleader girlfriends, their friends, their relatives. The people in the middle who were friends with pretty much everyone, averagely smart, averagely funny, averagely pleasant to hang out with, who had it easy. And then the "computer nerds", "art geeks", their friends, their relatives, "emos", those fading away from society…

And then there was me.

I was pretty much a freak of nature.

Or at least that's what the rest of the school felt about me, after The Incident.

I'd been driven to roam the halls alone, eating my lunch behind the bleachers, and ducking in and out of the bathroom to avoid confronting Riku and his friends.

Now let me tell you a little bit about Riku.

Riku Harada was the typical Mr. Popular of Destiny College. Naturally, he was on the school Blitzball team, and as a result, was extremely fit. He was almost unnaturally sculpted for his seventeen and a half years, tall, smart, funny. He was, as most girls put it, 'the total package'. He had unique-colored eyes and constantly looked like he'd walked straight out of a hair product commercial, and a killer smile that basically had the whole entire student body grovelling at his feet.

You were either his friend or his enemy. If you were his friend, it was for his money, his popularity, and his ability to get you laid. If you were his enemy, it was probably because he'd stolen your girlfriend…or shoved your head down a toilet.

Riku was almost always spotted with Tidus, Wakka and Shuyin, three other guys on the Blitz team. Tidus and Shuyin were also unnaturally good-looking guys, cousins, with the tan, the perfect blond windswept manes. Wakka was the guy with the Jamaican accent, who I was pretty sure was Rastafarian, and was accepted in Riku's 'clan' for the sole reason of being able to manufacture dope out of seemingly nowhere. He liked to throw Blitzballs at my head whenever he could, which quickly became irritating. Shuyin was the average popular douchebag, who bullied me just for the sake of it, and Tidus…well, he actually used to be okay once. We used to be friends, until he joined the Blitzball team in freshmen year and became so good at it that Riku couldn't risk being humiliated and befriended him. Tidus was so delighted that he was friends with the most popular guy in school that he forgot all about me and well...the rest is obvious.

Roxas fell under the emo/goth category, and in school he acted like we weren't related. So he was never really there to defend me when I got picked on.

I pretty much destroyed all my hopes of making it through freshmen year. As everyone knows, first year is the year that decides it all, the rest of your high school social life. Pick the right friends, wear the right clothes, do the right extra-curriculars…and you just might make it to the next year. Do the opposite, like I did, and…well, you'd end up like me.

I, for one, did _not_ pick the right friends. Heck, I didn't even _have _any friends. I'd been the oddball all through elementary and middle school, and, even though I knew a few people, like the chubby kid who was glued to his camera, and the new girl Marlene, I wasn't that sure I could call them friends, especially when they deserted me as soon as they got into high school. So I spent two years of high school totally friendless.

I didn't have the right clothes, and I had to blame Dad for that. Mom's job gave her peanuts, and Dad somehow got away with hardly leaving her any money after the divorce. Yeah, it had been nearly ten years, but Dad still hadn't forgiven Mom, or any of us. Or at least that's what it seemed like. After Roxas came back summer of freshman year after seemingly going through a major personality change, Mom forbade me from going to visit Dad every six weeks like we used to, which meant I didn't get presents from Dad anymore, which meant I had to say bye-bye to pretty much anything designer. Destiny College was somewhat of an elite school and most of the kids who went there were military kids and drowning in cash, so I was relatively one of the poorest kids at school.

I didn't do any of the right extra-curricular activities, mainly because the only _right _activities in Destiny College were Blitzball and football, and as everyone now knew after last year's football tryouts, I couldn't catch a ball even if my life depended on it. Seeing as I'm ADHD, you'd think that I'd have lightning quick reflexes, you know, like Percy Jackson, but I don't. I gave up the whole idea of joining the team when I realized that it threatened my life and sanity. There wasn't really anything else I was good at anyway; I was more of an indoors kind of guy.

I was already a bit of a sad case, and The Incident didn't do much to help either.

The Incident. It's not as serious as I'm making it sound, really.

Well, there I was, fourteen, a freshman, standing in the cafeteria, holding my tray of smoking hot Shepherd's Pie. I was hungry. A few other freshmen I had sort of befriended that morning, namely Vaan and Penelo, were at a table at the far, far end of the cafeteria. Penelo gave me a friendly grin and waved discreetly at me to come over.

I was in such a hurry to get to the table, I didn't realize my shoelaces were untied, and…

Well, you can guess what happened next.

I tripped.

I tripped, and my Shepherd's Pie flew, almost comically, up, up, up in the air, the mince, the mashed potatoes, the heavenly, creamy goodness…

…and landed splat on the guy who was unfortunately standing in its way.

It was a nice throw, actually. It hit him square on the top of his head.

The cafeteria was silent. The only sound was the drip-drip-drip of potato and cream slowly making its way down the guy's chin and onto the tiled floor.

I can't describe how embarrassed I felt. In front of the thousands of students in the cafeteria…

I swear I nearly cried. My Shepherd's Pie was ruined. Worse than that, I'd flung it all over some guy in the cafeteria.

And even worse, this guy was Riku Harada.

_Fuck my fucking life_.

I can still remember his furious expression. His cheeks were flushed deeply, and I'm not sure if it was out of anger or embarrassment. Judging from the way he flung his tray at me, I believe it was out of anger. I managed to dodge out of the way in time, apologizing profusely.

He looked about ready to explode. He yelled something obscene at me, causing a few people in the crowd to 'ooh' in approval.

"Riku…" One of his friends had tried to calm him down. Tidus, as I remember. The girl who sat beside him, Yuna, looked almost sympathetic, while the rest of the members on the table had a sneering expression.

Riku truly resembled a bull ready to charge, steam seemingly coming out of his nose and everything. If only I'd known how sensitive he was about his hair.

"I…I'm sorry…" I chuckled nervously, trying to play it cool. "No hard feelings?"

Wrong move.

Riku's friends snickered, along with the rest of the cafeteria. Judging from how warm my ears felt, I must have been blushing. I looked over nervously at Vaan and Penelo, but they didn't look back. They knew I'd screwed up.

Riku blew some potato-soaked hair away from his eyes, somehow even then managing to look like he was in a Pantene commercial. He smirked, grabbed his plate of Shepherd's Pie, and dumped it all over my hair. Then he topped it off with a freezing cold Slushie. "No hard feelings."

I gasped as I felt the freezing cold liquid slither through my hair, down my back and into my underpants. I can't remember if I screamed or howled, but all I remember after that was stumbling out of the cafeteria while the rest of the school cheered and hollered in utter amusement.

Yes. My high school future was ruined because of pie. That's where I got 'Porcupie' from. No matter how lame and stupid that nickname sounded, it didn't matter, because Riku endorsed it, and therefore, it was law that everyone started using it. I became the butt of everyone's inside joke. I was suddenly assaulted every single day, whether it was via paintballing, or tripping me over in the halls, or slamming me into the lockers, or just calling me names. It was dumb, stupid, uncalled for.

And I hated it.

Which was why, starting junior year, I decided I was going to change. I'd endured two years of constant bullying, and I knew I couldn't keep depending on others to make it stop. I had to make a move myself, and make sure he didn't have anything to make fun of. I was going to stand up to Riku Harada.

...or at least I'd try.


	2. Just My Luck

**[EDIT: This is the edited version of this chapter. It's basically revised from the old, crappy version. Until I'm done editing, the writing quality might give you a bit of whiplash...so bear with me?]**

**Chapter Two: Just My Luck**

Monday morning was one of _those _mornings.

My Winnie the Pooh alarm clock had failed to serve its only goddamn purpose and I woke up half an hour later than usual. The time read 8:30, which meant I had barely ten minutes to catch the school bus.

I cursed, leaping out of bed and tripping over a pile of dirty clothes and knocking over a stack of Roxas' CDs on my way to the bathroom. My brother had oh-so-nicely not bothered to wake me up, and I didn't even feel any remorse over possibly breaking one of his stupid vinyl records. The water in our house was either scalding hot or Antartica cold, and this morning it had chosen to be the latter. Any other sane person would have gone to school without a shower but I'd spent the past two years smelling like Roxas' socks and I was planning on making a good impression this year.

I realized in horror that I'd forgotten to ask my Mom to iron my uniform, but I was running out of time so I threw it on anyway. Breakfast was out of the question and there was probably nothing left in the fridge anyway, so I stuffed my feet into my seven-year-old sneakers, grabbed my backpack and raced downstairs.

The bus had just left by the time I hit the front porch, and I realized in horror that there was no way I'd ever make it to school in time unless I ran there.

So I did.

Destiny College was only a few winding streets and crosswalks away from my house, but I had never been that much of a runner and by the time I got there I was as sweaty as football shorts. I managed to get there, fortunately, barely five minutes before the bell rang—a personal record—without my lungs pulling a kamikaze on me. I thought that maybe things were starting to look up, and that maybe there was some sort of God up there who wasn't intent on ruining my life...that is until I stepped on a four-leaved clover.

Now I wasn't the most superstitious person on the planet, but I'd grown up on the Islands. Belief in the supernatural was an almost integral part of the culture, after all. I stared down at the mangled plant in horror. I'd found what was supposedly a good luck symbol, and I'd stepped on it. Whether or not that was a good sign or a bad sign was among the least of my problems, but I picked it up anyway and stuffed it in my pocket as I headed to homeroom. I'd missed the morning assembly, but if I made it to homeroom on time maybe I'd be excused.

I was in such a hurry that I didn't look where I was going, and before I knew it I'd ran straight into somebody's open locker door.

Books went flying, my backpack performed an impressive 360° somersault in the air and my pencilcase exploded all over the floor.

_Great. Just what I needed. _As if my morning hadn't been terrible enough already.

It took me several blinks for my eyesight to clear, and I thought for a second maybe I'd got a concussion. It wouldn't be much of a surprise, after all. My luck hadn't exactly been stellar as of late, and—

"Ow..."

My eyes snapped open, and I realized three things.

One: I had not only bumped into someone's locker—I had also, miraculously, fallen on top of the owner of said locker as well.

Two: The owner of said locker, who I was currently straddling, was a girl.

Three: The girl was almost impossibly gorgeous.

Destiny Islands was no stranger to gorgeous people—it kind of ran in everyone's genes (except mine of course)—and Destiny College was a testiment to this fact. All the richest, most talented, most promising students attended North Destiny. Even with the social ranks, seeing another pretty face shouldn't have been a surprise.

But it was obvious this girl wasn't from here. Her skin was too pale and her hair was too dark. It was a rich crimson color, falling down her shoulders in a seemingly neverending trail of curls. She smelled of soap and cinnamon cookies and—

...and I suddenly realised what an incredibly questionable position we were in.

I hastily pushed myself off her, knowing my face was probably at least ten shades of red right now. I sputtered something in apology, and, with great effort, tore my eyes away from her.

She pulled herself up into a sitting position, rubbing the back of her head from where she must have bumped it. Her eyes blinked open, and I didn't even have time to worry if maybe I'd given her a concussion, because as soon as she opened her eyes I forgot how to breathe.

Two pools of indigo-magenta stared back at me, and for a while neither of us said anything. About a hundred thoughts were running through my mind at that moment. My face felt numb and I was pretty sure if the girl didn't stop staring at me I'd lose my sanity.

After what felt like an hour but was probably less than a minute, she was the one to break the silence. "I-I'm sorry…" She shuffled to her knees and started hurriedly tidying up the mess of books and pencilcase parephenalia all over the floor, while I just stared blankly at her until I remembered where I was.

I did the same, stuffing my chewed pens and blunt pencils in what's left of my pencilcase and stuffing my dog-eared notebooks in my backpack. We worked in silence, and our hands even brushed once or twice. It could have been romantic, had my hands not been literally bleeding nervous sweat. I handed her back her books—one Chemistry textbook, one History textbook and three notebooks, I noted—and got to my feet before offering to help her up. Her hands were soft and cushiony.

She mumbled a thanks, then another sorry, giving me a lopsided smile. I knew better than to keep our hands locked together, as all I could think about was how clammy my hands felt. I withdrew mine immediately and let my arms fall idly to my side. I noticed she had thick eyelashes. I wondered if they were fake.

She gave me a confused look and I figured I'd been staring again. "Um." I cleared my throat, deciding the encounter had been sufficiently awkward. "Bye."

I spun on my heels and was about to head off when the girl stopped me. "Wait."

I turned back to face her. "…Yeh?"

"Um…do you know where Homeroom 47 is?" She asked nervously, gesturing to the paper in her hands I assumed was her schedule. "I'm kinda lost…"

My theory was proven correct. She was new after all. "Yeh, sure."

We barely spoke as I led her to her homeroom. She did try a little small talk, but I wasn't mentally stable enough yet to engage in conversation, so I just nodded and shook my head when appropriate until she got the hint. We didn't have the same homeroom, which was both a relief and a pity. We eventually arrived at her homeroom, and she was all relieved smiles. "Thank you very much…" She looked at me expectantly, like she was waiting for something.

I cleared my throat. "…uh…you're welcome…"

"No…I meant your name."

"Oh. Right." She fought back a smirk at the reply, and I mentally kicked myself. "Sora. Sora Kyumuke."

"Kairi," she replied. It occured to me that no other name would have done her justice. Her name She looked at least ten times prettier when she smiled. "Nice to meet you. Hope we can see each other again sometime."

I stood there in front of her homeroom long after she'd disappeared through the door, just staring and trying to push air back into my lungs. I'd had an almost-conversation with a cute girl on the first day of junior year. And she was new around, which meant she didn't know about the whole...Porcupie thing, at least not yet. She was the first person to ever treat me normally besides my family for the past two years, and it was strangely reassuring, in a way.

ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED

_Kairi. _I repeated it again in my head, over and over, and said it out loud once or twice. It took me at least another full minute for me to realize that I was, indeed, late for homeroom.

Just my luck.

Sephiroth was my homeroom teacher this particular year, something of which I was less than ecstatic about. He was the Drama teacher for juniors and seniors, known across campus for his paralyzing 'death glares', his almost historical ruthlessness and his ten-foot-long sword. It wasn't like Zack's sword—in fact, it was a lot thinner, even more so up close—but it could reportedly cut through steel and I wasn't about to take any risks.

As if having Darth Vader as my homeroom supervisor wasn't enough, the Devil's spawn himself was sitting smugly at the back of the class, his arms crossed on his desk.

"Mr. Kyumuke, late on his first day," Sephiroth muttered. "What a surprise."

I shuffled uncomfortably on my feet. I mumbled an apology, though it sounded more like a squeak. He jutted his chin in the direction of the desks in dismissal, and I all but ran for an empty desk...which ended up being right next to Riku.

I pointedly ignored him for a grueling ten minutes, fighting the urge to jump out the window.

I tried my best to stay optimistic. I still had the rest of the day to get back on track.

ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Morning classes came, and my school year in terms of academics didn't look all that promising.

For Math I had Squall Leonhart, who insisted everyone call him Leon. I had him in freshman year as well, which meant he knew how hopeless I was with his subject. He was straight-faced and barely cracked a smile, but that obviously appealed to the considerable number of girls who had a crush on him. Either he was completely oblivious to this fact or he didn't care, I didn't really know. He was renowned for his strict rules and biting sarcasm, and his deadpan way of teaching. He taught in black or white: either you understood or you didn't. I didn't. To make matters worse, the world seemed particularly determined to screw me over, so not only did I have the hardest Math teacher in school this year, I was also in the same class as Riku Harada. Which was just perfect.

Squall was dating Rinoa, the hot Physics and Chemistry teacher. She was nice and funny and I might have actually enjoyed her class, maybe, if she didn't insist on bringing her dog to class every single freaking day. He didn't do much except sit next to her desk and wag its tail lazily, but I couldn't shake the feeling he'd turn rabid and attack everyone and set the entire room on fire. I wasn't that big a fan of dogs. Rinoa insisted he was friendly, but I still kept my distance.

Genesis Rhapsodos was my English Literature teacher for the year, and in all honesty I was almost excited. He was a poetry enthusiast with an uncanny obsession with LOVELESS, an avant-garde stage play by some independent artist in Midgar. His hair was the color of rust and copper and he looked like he'd stepped out of a Hippies Monthly, but I could tell he took his subject seriously and I guess that wasn't a bad thing. I actually had a chance getting an okay grade in his class, even if it did involve reading page after page of cursive in tiny font. It probably would have been the only class I actually enjoyed, if I hadn't been sitting directly in front of Satan's offspring. He seemed to get a kick out of slamming his foot into the back of my chair. After a while I snapped, turning around to give him a piece of my mind...only for all the irritation to dissapate into fear as soon as I met his unrelenting gaze. His eyebrows were arched halfway up his forehead and he looked at me like I was an ant, and I felt like one.

I spent the entire period struggling to make sense of the letters swimming around on the page and struggling not to go insane.

After an excrutiating, Riku-filled morning came Lunch, and I was more than tempted to eat on the stairwell or in the library, like I'd been doing ever since The Incident. It only made sense. Why risk being pelted with food and undergoing public humiliation when you can spend the entire hour in the library eating stale potato chips? I was a junior now, which technically meant I could go off campus to grab lunch. There were several places to eat barely a few blocks away. It seemed like the logical thing to do.

But a voice in the back of my head told me if I wanted to change this year, I needed to quit facing my fears and take a chance. Take a risk, for once in my life. I'd been playing it safe for the past two years, and if I wanted to get out of my social funk I needed to do this.

I took a deep breath, gave a silent prayer to some unknown deity, and walked into the cafeteria.


	3. Smile for the Camera

**Chapter Three: Smile for the camera!**

Imagine a horde of elephants, all trumpeting in full swing. Then imagine a Green Day rock concert, standing right next to the blearing speakers.

The noise that hit me as soon as I opened the doors to the cafeteria was much, much louder.

I immediately regretted my spontaneous action. The typical high school cliques sat divided into their various tables—ranging from the popular to the very, very unpopular. I saw Vaan and Penelo sitting somewhere along the middle, meaning they finally managed to make it to The Generally Ignored rank after two years of struggling. If I actually cared, I would feel happy for them.

Anyway. To the matter at hand.

I heard a squelch and realized I'd stepped in something that looked suspiciously like pudding, and, after scanning the hall, I figured that a food fight must have taken place a few minutes prior. I shuddered as the many memories of food fights from freshmen year (in which most of the school population 'accidentally' chucked food on me) danced across my mind.

Someone walked in through the doors and shoved me aside, and I decided I should move out of the way. I took a deep breath and headed for the cafeteria queue. I was lucky I had some spare change in my pocket, and I bought myself a muffin and some chips. The cafeteria food is generally okay, unlike other high schools I know. I also took a Fruit Shake, because someone wise once told me that fruit is good for your skin.

After retrieving my lunch, I moved onto the hard part—finding a seat.

Before I even turned around, everyone made sure that they had no space whatsoever for me to sit, but I ignored them. I tried as much as possible not to look completely lost. I started worrying when I was halfway across the hall and without a space to sit. I caught a glimpse of Kairi, who, unsurprisingly, was sitting in the popular table. She was sitting next to Yuna, nibbling on a cookie shyly. I realized that her teeth shone like…shiny things.

I managed to snap back to my senses before I performed a remake of The Incident again and continued on my search. Whenever people looked at me knowingly with a smirk, or hissed curse words at me just for the fun of it, I obeyed the book and returned a smile. I'm not sure how my smile looks like, but I did a bit of practicing in front of the mirror, and figured it's good to go. No teeth, slipping my tongue behind my enamels to reduce nose-flareness. You're probably thinking I'm acting like a girl, but that's just me, I guess.

I spotted a spare seat next to Vaan and Penelo, and inhaled deeply, doing a silent prayer before heading over to them. It's always smart to take the initiative, the book says.

Okay, so you're probably wondering what the book is. But I'd rather lead you through my day first before explaining _that _part of my life. No hard feelings?

Well, so, I walked toward them, my tray held firmly with my palms, making sure I sashayed around the stray potato pie that littered the floor. Penelo noticed me first, but she immediately averted her gaze and pretended she didn't see me. She muttered something quickly to Vaan, who tilted his head in confusion and muttered something back, before turning his head around, much to Penelo's embarrassment and annoyance. Penelo's cheeks were flushed pink by the time I reached the table, and she avoided my gaze.

I gulped before giving them a smile. "Hey."

Silence.

"Do you mind if…I, uh…sit here?"

More silence.

I felt my cheeks heating up as I felt something wet hit the back of my head, but I didn't bother to find out what it was.

I didn't wait any longer and took a seat next to Penelo, setting down my tray and my tattered bookbag. I nervously glanced at Vaan and Penelo before digging into my chips. Well, not exactly digging in, as I prefer to take them one by one so I can savor…ugh, you don't care.

Vaan and Penelo continued with their conversation as if I had never existed. There are a few others sitting with them—a girl with pink hair in an anime outfit and a light-haired ski-looking guy. (I'm bad with descriptions, so sue me.)

"I heard this year's play is gonna be Crisis Core," Vaan spoke up, running his fingers through his light blond hair.

"Talk about lame," the pink-haired girl groaned.

"Crisis Core is NOT lame, Lightning," Penelo hissed. "It's a tragic story about love and—"

"Please, not anymore!" The flaxen-haired ski dude clamped his gloved hands over his ears dramatically.

"Ha ha, Snow." Penelo rolled her light-brown eyes, taking a sip of her cola.

"Crisis Core isn't half bad, actually," Someone spoke up. "At least it means there's fighting innit."

They were all silent, looking at me with unreadable expressions. That's when I realized I was the one talking.

Crap.

It was silent for some time, then Penelo spoke up. "Fighting? Sephiroth? I don't like where this is going…"

I let out a laugh, careful not to make it sound too exaggerated. "My brother said that, when he had Sephiroth for Drama, Sephy accidentally stabbed an unfortunate bystander with his sword."

Penelo paled, but Lightning and Snow stared at me in disbelief.

"Seriously?" Snow's icy sapphire eyes widened. "And he wasn't arrested?"

I took a bite of my muffin, careful not to make it explode all over my shirt. "Ven says that he threatened the guy he would rape his mother to death if he even thought about telling the police."

"How did he get away with it?" Lightning asked. "Didn't anyone notice the gigantesque stab mark that was oozing blood? What kind of idiot would miss that?"

"Well…" I paused to take a sip of my Fruit Shake. I had everyone's attention now, and I liked the authority. No, I wasn't being cocky. "What actually happened was that they called the ambulance. All the poor guy had to do was tell a false story."

"What did he tell them?" Penelo asked, her face even blancher than before.

"He just made up some story about slipping or something," I shrugged. They were silent for some time.

Then Penelo whined "I don't wanna do drama."

Vaan, who hadn't said a word to me since I came, rolled his eyes. "Yeh right, Sora. How do we know you're not just lying?"

"Why would I lie about that?" I retorted, raising an eyebrow. Vaan didn't have an answer.

"He's right," Penelo joined in. "Why would he? It is kinda believable, judging from that sword he carries around all the time…"

Vaan scowled at me for no exact reason as I laughed along with the rest.

Time passed, and I was amazed at how easy it was to speak to them. Penelo was back acting like the same old Penelo from freshmen year, and Lightning and Snow introduced themselves properly to me. Snow was called Snow because he was born in Alaska, and Lightning was called Lightning because, well, she had inventive parents. She announced that she was going to an anime expo and invited me to come with her after I announced my passion for Inuyasha. (Actually, I have no idea what an Inuyasha is, but, seeing as it might score me some points and give me a perfect opportunity to get to know her more, I didn't tell her that. Note to self: Find out who or what the hell and Inuyasha is.) Penelo was going along with her too, and I managed to respond to a satisfying amount of questions about anime and manga before the bell rang (who knew my cousin's obsession with anime, manga and fanfiction would ever come in handy?).

I was saved by the bell. Literally.

"What you got now?" I asked them, wiping my hands on my napkin (in contrary to my shirt, which I was aware I would be wearing for the whole week).

"I got Sports," Snow shrugged, and Lightning announced she had the same. I retrieved my schedule from my pocket and realized I had History, followed by English Literacy, finishing off the day with Sports. Oh happy, happy day.

I told them this, and I learned that I had History with Penelo, and Sports with Vaan, which didn't actually help. But I smiled anyway because, well, 'a smile is the first step to friendship'.

I blame my stupid bookbag for what happened next.

Well, to make a long story short, I had to carry my bookbag in a sort of way that would ensure that all my school stuff wouldn't pour onto the floor. Doing this meant that Penelo and the rest were well ahead by the time I had lifted up my tray.

As soon as I did this, I was met with a three-and-a-half layers of strawberry and two rounds of whipped cream.

My heart sank as I heard the peals of laughter that escaped from the entire student body in the cafeteria. The cake had blinded me so it was impossible for me to see who had done it, but I had a pretty good idea.

"That never gets old!" The seemingly rehearsed laugh came unmistakably from no one else but Riku himself, and I felt my blood boiling. A wise man once told me 'If someone gets on your nerves, BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF HIS ASS!'.

No, I didn't do that of course, because that would have just made things worse.

What I did was what I presume another ADHD-driven act. Either that, or it was just the testosterone.

I slammed my tray down on a nearby table to get everyone's attention, wiped the cake away from my eyes and mouth with the back of my hand, and then turned over to Riku. He was looking at me with an expression that looked like it got stuck between shock and amusement, but I didn't let that faze me.

I looked him straight in the eyes. And smiled.

Looking back, I have no idea why I did that. I wasn't at all in a smiling mood, and I'm not sure if I was just faithfully following the book, either, because I have no intention of being Riku's friend.

But I didn't stop there.

"Thanks for the cake, Riku, but I just ate," I said for an inexplicable reason. I can't remember if my voice was shaky or not, but Riku seemed to take it quite well.

His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, and he looked like he was absolutely lost for words. But I wasn't going to wait until he'd gotten over his shock that, yes, Napoleon Dynamite himself had just spoken back to him.

I wiped the last bit of cake off from my face, grabbed my tray, and stormed out of the hall.

ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED

For History we have Barrett Wallace, a muscle-wrapped Negro. He claims that he was in a war of some sort, and that's not hard to believe, seeing his various scars and hacked off arm replaced with a cool bullet-shooting-missile-gun-thingamajig. He has an awful tendency to divert and go out of subject. He spent the whole of today's lesson talking about how, when and where he got his scars, and what each of his horrendous tattoos signified. At least it beat reading.

Then came English Literacy. About the only period of the day I loved.

We have Aqua for our teach, a pretty gorgeous teacher with boobs and oddly sapphire hair. She's pretty nice, but I can tell she gets annoyed each time I forget to put an 'ies' instead of a 'y', or when I accidentally write the letters the wrong way. I usually hate this class, seeing as I barely manage to pass every single year.

So you're probably wondering how I adored this period.

Well, to make a long story short, I was sitting next to Kairi in this period. And what made it a whole lot greater was the fact that The Sex God was nowhere to be seen.

I resisted the urge to do a victory dance right then and there as Kairi sat down next to me.

"Hey," she whispered to me, flashing me a quick smile. My brain was on vacation so I was unable to answer.

Not long after the period started, one of the girls behind us sent her a note, and it looked something like:

_Ghu oyr'ue so kluncuy u vha 2 tis extn 2 Porpciue_

I didn't realize until later that it read _'Ugh y__ou're so unlucky u hav 2 sit next to Porcupie_'. I looked at Kairi to see her reaction, but she just gave them a shy smile. My heart deflated at that.

She noticed me looking and flushed slightly, giving me a nervous smile and looking guiltily at her notebook.

The rest of the period passed silently. I opened my mouth several times to try and start small talk, but nothing came out. (_Why can't I have one of those ADHD moments NOW?_, I thought.) So I spent the rest of the period inhaling her cinnamon biscuit-y smell.

The bell rang, and I gulped. The period that followed was a period I sincerely believe should be erased from the school agenda.

Sports.

Yes. Sports.

Sports.

Need I repeat it again?

Our Sports teacher Terra looks like a generally cool guy, with his sharp blue eyes and his awesome hair and his sculpted-but-not-too-bulky body, but don't let that fool you. He's an evil mastermind at heart.

He made us run a hundred laps around the football field, THEN do fifty push-ups, THEN another hundred laps backwards, then thirty pull-ups and finally ten rounds of monkey bars to finish. And then he claimed that all that is Warm-Up: Phase One and that we shall finish the rest on Wednesday. By the time we get to the 'Fifth and Final Phase', I don't know if I'll still be able to walk.

Oh and, just so you know, I had to do all of this Warm-Up while frantically avoiding Riku, and making sure that I breathed at the right pace. Okay.

I managed to fake an asthma attack around the hundred laps and get a time-out, though, so for about five minutes I was okay. Until he said that asthma isn't an excuse and that I should get back on that track now before he whips my sorry ass.

By the time we had finished, I was sweating harder than Zack after his and mum's weekly make-out session.

Ew. That was a _bad _comparison.

Anyway, the fact that I was sweating meant that I had to change out of my school shirt that I had kept on (because, well, I had conveniently forgotten my sports outfit). The thing was…I didn't have another shirt. Oh, and neither did I have an impressive body.

The guys' locker room is the third scariest room in the school, just behind the cafeteria and two places previous to Sephiroth's Drama classroom (which, after Ventus' description, is hell on earth). I'm probably going to sound like a girl from some chick flick, but, seriously, your body kind of decides your social rank. Guys like Riku, with their godly bodies and sculpted abs, usually end up on the top of the hierarchy, mainly because the others are generally too scared to get beaten up with those heavenly muscles.

And no, I am not gay. I am describing Riku likewise for nothing else but storytelling purposes.

Anywho.

On the contrary, guys like me, with no muscles whatsoever, are at the bottom, generally because they look fun to push around.

This is one of the reasons why I usually skip Sports. Last year we had this weedy pushover for our Sports teach, and I think Principal Yoshida must have been on crack or something when he hired him, because he didn't exactly have an impressive body. Well, he was called Eric Cullen. You'd think he'd be some kind of reincarnate of Edward Cullen or a long lost brother or cousin of said fictional vampire, but, no, he isn't. Riku and the rest of the class generally drove the class, resulting in several geeks like me to take absent. Eric hardly ever showed up, and when he did, I wasn't there. He never noticed, probably because he never did register.

Once again, I am swerving drastically out of subject. Where was I? Oh yes, the male locker room.

It _was _the end of the day, so I decided I could just go home in my sweaty polo shirt, seeing as I didn't have any more classes. But, as I was packing up my stuff, I didn't realize someone approaching.

If I had seen what was coming, I would have been able to pack up in seconds and dash out of the room and prevent what happened next. But I hadn't, I didn't, I didn't, and it did. So...yeh.

"You gotta lotta spunk, Porcupie," Riku spat in my face. And that isn't just a play on words. I must have flinched, because he let out another peal of perfect laughter. "Think you're so smart—talking back to me like that, huh?"

I looked away, but that only got him angrier. "Look at me when I'm talking to you, idiot."

Like an idiot, I did. I felt my courage starting to shrink back to wherever it went when I met his cold cyan eyes. My breath hitched in my throat and I my fists clenched against my will. I glanced over at Vaan, who was pretending not to hear everything, though it was obvious he did because Riku's voice was pretty loud.

I quickly looked back at Riku before he strangled me for disobeying him or something. He was still glaring at me with an amused smirk.

A weird voice that sounded eerily like Paris Hilton's spoke up at the back of my mind, yelling at me to use my secret weapon.

So I did.

I smiled.

Riku was once again caught off guard, and I took this chance to grab my bookbag and slightly push him out of the way. I was walking in a pace I assumed to be normal, but I couldn't resist the urge to look over my shoulder and throw him a 'See you tomorrow', just for extra measure.

I felt good. I'm not sure why.

Maybe because I thought I'd finally beat him.

ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED

I decided it would be smart to hurry up and leave the building, and as soon as I was out of the Sports gymnasium I raced outside to the parking lot. The bus was conveniently waiting there, and so was the oh-so-friendly bus driver from this morning. As soon as Josh—yes, that's his name—saw me, he looked like he was about to start running the engine and veer off. But then he realized that I was, in fact, nearly ten minutes early, and that he still had, like, fifty other students to pick up, and that zooming off just because of one kid wasn't actually a good idea.

I climbed the bus, giving the bus driver one of my smiles, because, well, I felt a bit smiley today. He just rolled his eyes nonchalantly.

As I showed him my bus ticket (because, well, we have to do that around here), I decided to start some small talk. Yes, I am crawling out from under my rock. "Um, Josh? Do you mind, like, waiting for me next time?"

Josh's cheeks went a little pink, and his sideburns bristled. "Huh? What are you talking about, kid?"

"Well…this morning, I got out of my house well before you started the engine."

Josh's sideburns tittered in recognition, but Josh himself ignored them. "You're talking trash, kid. Get in the bus."

"I can tell Principal Yoshida," I persisted. "I have rights."

Josh didn't listen, giving me a flushed glare as he tapped a tune on the steering wheel. I gave up then.

A few minutes later, the bus was full and ready to go. Just so you know, Penelo takes the bus, and she was one of those latecomers that couldn't find a seat but didn't feel like standing up for the whole ride. (Because some people find it better to stand up grabbing onto a pole for their dear life than to sit next to me.)

"Hey," she whispered as she sat next to me. I smiled at her, and she paused before smiling back. "That was great…what you did in the cafeteria."

"Oh…" I felt my cheeks heating up at the fact that a girl was complementing me. Or maybe just the fact that I was being complemented, seeing as I don't get that very often. "Thanks." I topped that off with one of my rehearsed smiles.

She looked at me for a bit, and then she smiled again. "You should smile more often," she commented.

I wasn't sure what that meant, but before I could say anything in reply we had already reached my street. I waved to Penelo and got off the bus.

ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED

When I got home, Mum was in the kitchen, cooking. It didn't smell bad, but it didn't smell particularly appetizing either. I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a cookie and started munching on it as I poured some milk into a cup that was conveniently lying on the table.

"Not even a hello?" Mum spoke up from the pot.

"Hey, mum," I mumbled through my cookie. Mum gave me a soft glare (?) and I swallowed my food before repeating the same phrase.

"That's better. How was school?"

"Great," I gave her my usual reply, except this time I flashed another Sora Smile. I was in the haven of my own home so I didn't need to do the whole tongue-behind-teeth thing and let my nose flare as it wished. "I got invited to an anime expo."

"Anime expo? I never knew you were into that kinda thing," Mum replied.

"I'm not," I mumbled, dumping my cup in the dishwater. Mum raised one of her russet eyebrows. "Long story."

Mum was about to say something, but then her phone rang. She covered the pot (which contained mangled looking chicken pieces in oddly colored water) and brought out her mobile from her pocket. She grimaced at the name that shone on the screen, and the ringing persisted. "Hell."

"Him?" I asked, an amused smirk playing on my lips, because, as you know, I'm in a smiley mood today.

"Him." Mum confirmed, and she picked up the phone. "What is it, Vanitas?"

* * *

**Haha! I had fun writing this. Hope you liked it too, and thanks for your reviews! Seven! We're getting somewhere. In my last, non-AU fic I did, I had to wait about three weeks before I even got one.**

**For those of you who don't know Napoleon Dynamite…well. I never got round to watching it either, but I've heard about it. ^^ It's basically about a guy like Sora, and geeks, and stuff. **

**Yayees! Vanitas in the next chappie! Seeing as this is AU, I won't let out any spoilers, except Vanitas' appearance. xD **

**Sorry, but the next chappie might take some time, seeing as I have to work on my other fic, N&S. Totally different setting, and a little angsty, but I need a break from humor before I go on overdrive.**

**Well, R&R ppls! Stay cool! **


	4. Vanitas the Wise

**Chapter Four: Vanitas the Wise**

I could hear Vanitas' menacing laughter over the phone as Mum held it at arm's length, desperate to keep her ear drums working. "_Welcoming, as always._"

Mum rolled her eyes at his comment. "How may I help you?"

"_Just thought I'd let you know that I'm coming over this evening._"

Mum looked horrified. "This evening?"

"_Yuppers!_"

Mum cursed under her breath, rubbing her temples. "Why so sudden? I thought you said—"

"_Yeh, so I was initially gonna come on Wednesday, but…well. Something came up._"

"What exactly…_is_ that something?"

"_Dad and Tiff went clubbing again_."

There was a pause. Then, "Vanitas, you're twenty-three. You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself."

"_Aw, come on. Play a different tune, Aerith."_

Mum flinched when he rudely called her by the name, paused for a bit, and then sighed. "Can't you, like, order Chinese or something?"

"_I totally prefer your cooking to the trash they serve in the so-called Chinese take-out._" There was a pause. "_Plus, I haven't seen my liddle bruddas in a while._"

"They are _not _your—" She stopped herself, rubbed her forehead, and sighed again. "Whatever."

Mum cut the call, giving me a glare. "It's that excuse for a child, Vanitas."

"I realized," I muttered, inwardly feeling giddy. "I guess that means he's sleeping over?"

"NO WAY," Mum snapped immediately. "I am NOT having that cocaine-reeking buccaneer anywhere near my mattresses."

I laughed at Mum's reaction.

Vanitas, like I mentioned in chapter one, is my halfbrother. You'd think, like my brother Ventus, that he'd be a responsible guy with a job at twenty-three years old but…well, he isn't. He isn't responsible at all, and he hasn't got a job. Mum instantly hated him at first glance, which is probably due to the fact that he has the tendency to break things and that he's her worst enemy's child.

As he got older, Mum's hatred grew. Mum and Dad had countless fights over Vanitas and his rights, while Vanitas sat in the background smoking a cigarette, or something. Yes, he smokes, which pisses Mum off even more.

Vanitas has had countless girlfriends, which he usually meets down at the Seventh Heaven after eleven. They are usually of the lap-dancing variety, and wear outrageously revealing clothes. Once, when Mum was out, Vanitas came over drunk with a call girl in hand. I was only twelve or something at the time, and Mum wasn't married to Zack yet, so I let him in.

You can guess what happened.

Mum got extremely mad when she came home and found them entwined on her bed, sweating and moaning and doing other unmentionable stuff that people do when they're…um. That incident set off another row between Mum and Dad.

I also forgot to tell you that we have had to bail Vanitas out of jail up to three times. I don't think you'd want me to elaborate.

Despite his perverted and life-threatening tendencies, I still think Vanitas is cool. He has identical hair to me, except a dark ebony color, and amber eyes. I have no idea where he got those from, but they're unique, and I can see why girls are attracted to him. He is the wise guy that gives me all the advice, which I have recently started to use.

Maybe it's because Mum is too busy to really care about me, Roxas is too busy being emo, and Ventus is in some faraway land, also too busy providing money to keep Roxas and I in school that I like Vanitas so much. He calls me his 'fave little brudda', (complete with the Rastafarian accent), and ruffles my hair every single time he comes to visit. This should be annoying, but, for some reason, it isn't.

Vanitas is the only person who makes me smile. He has a countless supply of stories and recounts locked up in his mind, which he unleashes at every visit. He gives me advice and counsel and comfort once in a while. Whenever I felt crapped up because of Riku's constant yammering, Vanitas would crack an obscene joke about Riku and I'd burst into laughter. Laughing always helped.

Mum doesn't like me associating with him at all, but there's nothing she can do about it. Every time Vanitas comes over, she mumbles something quickly to me about warming up freezer food and retreats to her room, where she stays locked up until he leaves. Which usually means that I have to clean-up for Vanitas every time he arrives drunk and throws up all over the sink. (Yes, this has happened before.)

Today, though, he doesn't arrive drunk. Thankfully.

His arrival was broadcasted with his obnoxiously loud banging on the door, which I opened. As soon as he saw me, he grinned toothily, ruffling my hair. "What's up, little brudda?"

He saw Mum and waved enthusiastically at her, but she just grimaced and left to shut herself in her room.

"Meh, whatever," Vanitas muttered. "Don't need that witch's blessing anyway."

I politely didn't say anything. Vanitas shut the door behind him and skipped over to the kitchen, inspecting the fridge. "Got any milk?"

I nodded, pointing at the cupboard. He ransacked the cupboard until he found milk, poured it into a bowl and served himself to some Cheerios. I watched him quietly as he munched.

"How was school?"

"Great," I replied, smiling just for the sake of it.

"That's a first. What happened? Met a chick with a sex appeal or something?"

I must have blushed, because he suddenly gasped and pointed at my face. "OHMIGOSH, YOU _DID_?"

I realized there was no point in arguing. "Yeh…but that's not what I meant—"

"What's she like, huh?" Vanitas pushed his bowl that was already half-empty away so he could lean on the table. "Nice hips? Nice boobs? Tell me EVERYTHING."

"Ew, Van, that's not—"

"What's the point of getting to know a girl if she doesn't have any of _that_?" Vanitas scowls. "After you know those important details, then you can start caring about the less important things like the girl's name."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, fine," Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Seeing as this girl you've obviously made up has no sex appeal whatsoever—"

"Van!"

"…what's the _real_ 'great' thing that happened today?"

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "_Well_…I took The Book's advice and—"

Vanitas' amber eyes widened. "No WAY! You wore a push-up bra to school?"

"What? NO!" I stammered in reply, flushing deeply. "That's wasn't—"

"Yeh, yeh," he waved it off. "I still don't get what moved you to use advice from a chick's magazine."

"I-It is not a magazine," I retorted. "It's a 225-page—"

"Same thing."

I promised to tell you what the book is, right? Well…

I found it this summer, when I was cleaning up the attic. Mum and Zack don't believe in spring cleaning, but the roof started leaking and Mum said that we had to move everything out of there before the Roof Guy came over to fix it up, seeing as we kept all our valuable stuff up there. Well, boxes of old clothes and naked baby pictures of practically everyone in the family aren't exactly what I'd call valuable, but Mum's seem to like that kind of thing.

Anyway, I was cleaning out the shelves when one of the books fell off. I picked it up, dusted it off, and struggled through the swirly cursive capitals on the cover.

_HOW TO BE POPULAR_

I immediately took it as a divine signal, or something. I haven't believed in heaven or in any of the deities since I found out that Father Christmas didn't exist, but the fact that it was this particular book that fell off the shelf probably meant something. I couldn't just ignore it and throw it away, especially when this book was addressing one of my biggest problems.

So, ignoring the fact that right below the title was written '_—a girl's guide_', I began to read it. I managed to stumble through the book in two months, just in time for school. For some reason, the author's voice came to me as Paris Hilton's, which probably explains the random Paris Hilton-y voices that have been calling me. I took all the possible advice—ironed my clothes, took a shower in the morning (which I didn't previously do due to lack of time and soap), brushed and flossed, shampooed my hair frequently, wore a push-up br—ack. Sorry. That kinda slipped out.

Vanitas once barged in unexpectedly one day as I was reading '_Chapter Seven: How to Get Your Crush's Attention_', and he never let it drop. His first reaction was "OMIGOD YOU'RE GAY?", and I had a hell of a time explaining why I was reading a book directed at pubescent girls.

As soon as I mentioned Riku, he was all ready to march over to Riku's house and murder him in his sleep, but, after pleading for over an hour, he let that plan of action go. Vanitas solves most of his problems with his fists, and, occasionally, his gun.

I still remember the time when…okay, okay, back to reality.

"You sure you aren't wearing one?" Vanitas smirked, tugging at my color and rudely looking down my shirt. I yelped, whacking at his hand. He rolled his eyes. "Ugh, homosexual chick."

"You do realize that you just used an oxymoron—"

"Aw, shut _up_," Vanitas hissed, finishing off his bowl of cereal. "Like I care. I thought you were supposed to be the dumb one."

I was about to open my mouth to say something when the door slammed open. I sighed. Vanitas and I shared a look, shaking our heads.

Roxas walked into the kitchen, his heavy metal music blaring through the headphones that lay askew on his blond mane. He almost didn't notice Vanitas, walking to the freezer and retrieving a stick of Sea Salt Ice Cream (his favorite).

"HEYYYYYY!" Vanitas bellowed at the top of his lungs in order to be heard over the loud music. Roxas nearly dropped his ice cream in alarm. "HOW'S IT GOIN'?"

Roxas gave Vanitas a look of disgust before storming upstairs. Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Can that dude wear anymore eyeliner? Geeze…"

I laughed. You see, badmouthing Roxas' make-up habits has become a running joke for Vanitas. Vanitas used to greet Roxas as 'The Goth Kid', and once went as far as calling him a girl, which earned him a few cuts of his own.

"Meh, I'm bored." Vanitas got up from his seat and skipped over to the living room, slouching onto the couch and switching on the television. "What's on TV?"

I left him flicking through channels and went up to my bedroom. If you knew my halfbrother, you'd be wise enough not to stay watching TV with him. He usually lands on one of those R-rated movies, which are usually in the Playboy Mansion category, and almost always have at least one woman who doesn't hesitate to strip herself.

Well, when I entered the room, Roxas was doing something so awkward and repulsive that it is impossible for me to tell you what it is. Let's just say what he was doing started with an 'm'.

"Ew, Roxas, not on my bed!" I protested in disgust. He immediately straightened up and adjusted his boxers, mumbling something about going to the bathroom as he left the room. I sighed, making a mental note to change the duvet before I went to sleep. Unfortunately, I and Roxas share a room, which means that I have to put up with the mess he leaves. This mess usually consists of cutting knives, random emo jewelry, make-up (all of the black variety), heavy metal artists' CDs, underwear, and other unmentionable things. It also means I have to put up with the horrible music that floods my room.

At this particular moment, Roxas was listening to the all round emo band—My Chemical Romance. I don't know what emos like so much about them, except for the fact that the singer is indirectly supporting their conduct, and…whatever. Not my problem.

I angrily pulled out the plug and the song came to a close, just as Gerard Way burst into a soulful ballad about suicide pacts and cutting your wrists and all those other cheerful things. Then I walked over to my backpack, and pulled out LOVELESS, deciding to start reading. I couldn't get past the first line, however, and gave up, pulling out The Book instead.

I stumbled through Chapter Nineteen (entitled 'How to Make Friends'). I've previously read this chapter, but I wanted to check if there was anything I missed.

'_Don't lie. Liars aren't very attractive. Be truthful, loyal and reliable—trustworthy people attract the most friends.'_

How ancient _was_ this book?

I sighed, closing the book and walking to the window, drawing back the curtains and—

The first thought that went through my head was _WOAH. _

I didn't know. I really didn't. Please don't judge me on this unanticipated occurrence…

My bedroom window gave me a direct and perfect view of the next door neighbors' bedroom. I had heard my Mum talking about there being new neighbors, but I never had the chance to go visit them, and I didn't want to. Well, the last neighbor we had was this old grumpy bald psycho who had an awkward fear of the light. He didn't like me much, and threatened to kill me with a butcher's knife when I accidentally stepped on his flower bed. I was overjoyed when I heard he had been killed in a car accident.

But our new neighbor isn't anything like our old one. Judging from how crappy my luck is, I didn't expect something like this to happen. This was totally unexpected…

To make a long story short, my new next-door neighbor is Kairi.

* * *

**Hope this chappie was better than the last! Sorry I had to cut it short here—it's for the sake of the plot. I know I said I was gonna update the other story before this one, but I had ideas bursting out of the seams of my mind and I had to type them out before I went berserk. **

**Anyway. Did you like me portrayal of Vanitas? He's a bit OOC, sorry, but his character is vital in this story. Maybe one day his advice will come in handy. Also, those of you who've played BBS can guess who the bald psycho is. **

**Thanks to Miss Captain-Mad Dog Vane, Black Marionette, Midnight Hell, GiraffeShapedCroissant, lauraxlovegood, tennisdesi91 and . for their wonderful reviews! Love you all! And keep R&R-ing! **

**Disclaimer: I shall own KH when Riku dyes his hair pink. I.e. NEVER, guys. I mean, seriously...**


	5. The Girl in the Window

**(A/N: Sorry, a bit late. Reading fanfics, doing homework. Well, here it is! Happy Year-of-Marluxia! XD)**

**Chapter Five: The Girl in the Window**

I stared.

And stared.

And stared.

And…okay, you get the picture.

Well, the reason that I was staring with such relish was because my new next door neighbor, who was, in fact, Kairi, was in the middle of undressing herself.

And me, who had never seen a naked girl before then (yes, I'm not that perverted to actually watch the playboy series Van does), was shocked.

Among other things.

I really, really wanted to look away, but I just…couldn't. She had pulled down her skirt, so I could see quite a lot of her skin on her thighs, which was a deep peachy-beige color. It reminded me of the sand at the beach, and I couldn't help wanting to touch it.

She was swaying to what seemed to be music, mouthing lyrics as she span around in circles. Being in nothing other than a half-buttoned polo shirt and underwear (which, by the way, was bright red with white polka-dots on), it looked quite appealing. I must have forgotten to blink once or twice.

Then, just as Kairi was about to completely unbutton her school shirt, someone slammed the door open.

I pulled the curtains closed and shrieked in terror, my heart thudding against my chest. I span around and leaned against the window, gulping when I saw Vanitas standing there, playing an air guitar. He got all the keys wrong, and he was holding his so-called invisible guitar the wrong way, but I didn't tell him that.

"WHASSUPPP, LIDDLE BRUDDUH?" He boomed, his voice swaying dangerously off tune. I gave a sigh of relief when I realized he hadn't noticed I was, in fact, looking out the window at my next door neighbor, who, coincidentally, happened to be a girl. A girl I had just met this morning.

"Nothin'," I replied. "Just doing some homework."

"Ugh, _please_," Vanitas mock-yawned, stretching. (This probably made his air-guitar fall to the ground with quite a nasty thump, making all the strings come loose, but I didn't tell him that.) He fell back onto Roxas' bunk (which he probably shouldn't have done), and immediately started snoring. When I was sure he was fast asleep, I slowly walked to the window and eased open the curtain.

I don't know what I expected, but she wasn't there when I looked. Her bedroom was empty, and the lights were switched off. I let out a dejected sigh and closed the window.

_What is wrong with you? You should be jumping in joy, not sighing in sorrow! Kairi's your next door neighbor, dammit! _

A smile crept up my face. Paris Hilton was right.

ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED

I woke up the next day at eight, giving me half an hour to get ready. I actually managed to have a proper shower this time, getting in before Roxas robbed the bathroom. I stole Zack's shower gel, for a good cause, of course. I gave my hair a proper scrub, and I don't think you want to know all the foreign bodies I found in there.

I came out of the shower (in Mum's purple bathrobe) only to meet Roxas' seething face.

"Sorry, Roxas. Had to be done." I shrugged, ignoring his glare and heading to the wardrobe. Yesterday night I managed to give my school outfit a rewash, making it smell of soap and other cleanish things. I sprayed Axe Body Spray all over it (also Zack's), and then put it on. When I was done dressing up, I blow-dried my hair and gave it a brush.

I couldn't do anything about the sticking-up-in-all-impossible-places thing, but I managed to make it look a bit less bed-heady and a bit more bouncy. According to the book, bouncy hair can be attractive. (Yes, I know the book was directed to girls with their fluffy hair and curls and everything, but I'm just ignoring that fact.)

I looked myself in the mirror for the last time. I still wasn't happy with how I looked, but there was nothing I could do about it. I sighed, wished myself good luck, and headed downstairs.

Mum had fried something horrendously unhealthy for breakfast. Vanitas was at the table, scoffing down on eggs and potato chips and pancakes and Nutella sandwiches. They looked ever so tempting, but I decided to go with the counseled breakfast.

I took a slice of hard toast and some apple juice, both of which would prevent 'milk moustache' and 'reeking breath' incidents, at least that's what The Book says. Mum stared at me like I was mad.

"You don't want pancakes?" Mum asked incredulously. (I'm known in my family for being the Number One Pancake Eater. Seriously. I mean, once, I scoffed down twenty pancakes in three minutes, fifty seconds. I'm not kidding.) Even though the pancakes looked extremely inviting, I shook my head.

"You sure?" Vanitas asked, raising an eyebrow. I shook my head again, and he shrugged. "Suits yourself! All the more for _moi_!" He immediately started hoovering down my pancakes, and I let out a wince.

"Not all of them!" Mum protested, pulling the plate out of his reach. "Roxas still needs to eat! You've eaten enough!"

"Roxas' is probably upstairs eating his dick or something right now for all we know," Vanitas muttered.

Mum stared at him. "What?"

"Nothing, Mum," I cut in, giving Vanitas a scolding look. He rolled his eyes and got to his feet.

"Aw well. I gotta go." Vanitas stretched his arms, then stopped, sniffing the air. "What is that _horrendous _smell?"

I instinctively sniffed my coat, and he noticed. He gasped. "What are you _wearing_?"

I waited until Mum was out of hearing range before I mumbled. "Axe Body Spray."

He gasped in horror. "SPAWN OF THE DEVIL! WHY THE FU—" Mum cleared her throat. "I mean…_THE HELL_ WOULD YOU DO THAT?"

I shrugged, looking at my watch. "Oh, there's the bus. Gotta go. Bye, Mum, bye Van."

I grabbed my backpack, popped to the bathroom to quickly floss my teeth, and then headed to the bus. Roxas was already outside fooling about with his skateboard as he waited for the rest of his Goth/emo friends. Two of them, Hayner and some guy with hair issues, were waiting with them. Hayner, Roxas' best friend, is what you could call an attitude problem. I think he has some kind of bipolar disease. He's the one that dragged Roxas into cocaine, and he always seems to be jumpy and fidgety for some reason. He scares me.

Wanting to practice my new personality, I gave him a wave. Hayner returned my friendly wave with his middle finger, so I gave up with that idea.

Thankfully, this time, Josh hadn't ridden off. He still didn't look me in the eye, though.

I met Penelo on the bus and sat next to her. I half expected her to scrunch up her nose and change seats, forgetting completely about yesterday, but she didn't. She smiled and immediately broke into conversation.

* * *

I knew that I was not going to enjoy school today and that God must hate me when I noticed that, first thing on my schedule, I had SexEd. Up until junior year, boys and girls do this subject separately, but this year, we're doing it as a whole class. And, instead of just doing it for a brief month or so before moving onto another subject, we're actually going to be studying about humping for a whole year.

I shuddered.

I nearly choked on my spit when I walked into the class and saw Kairi standing there, talking with her friends. She had her red hair in a high ponytail, which looked kinda nice on her, and she was twirling a loose strand of hair around her perfect finger.

I felt my cheeks heat up when I realized that, just nearly twelve hours ago, I'd said girl frolicking around in frilly knickers. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get that image out of my head…

Someone shoved me from behind, and I realized I was standing in front of the classroom door, still. Riku walked past me, giving me a dark glare, which disappeared as soon as he saw Kairi. I didn't like the way he looked at her, either.

I managed to find a seat next to Vaan, who was in my SexEd class. He didn't even say 'hi', fiddling with his hair. I sighed, looking over at Kairi. She was looking at Riku with an amused look on her face, covering her lips with her palm when she giggled. She looked pretty cute like that—hell, she looked gorgeous. I couldn't help wondering what Riku said to make her laugh. I want to make her laugh like that.

"HOWDY!" A guy with wine-red hair sashayed into the class, laptop in arm. His hair was spiky at the top, but, when he turned around to set his laptop down on his desk, I realized it reached the small of his back and was held in a ponytail. He turned to us with a toothy grin—his canines are as spiky as vampires, and I'm quite sure they aren't fake. He was wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt. His suit was open, revealing his half-buttoned shirt, which showed off his chest. He had dark sunglasses that lay askew on his forehead, and a silver earring in his left earlobe. He looked like someone that belonged on Playboy Paradise.

"Yo peoples! I'm Reno, and this year I'm gonna be teaching you a whole lot about condoms and baby-makin'!"

The girls grimaced in disgust, though a few swooned at his handsomeness. He's not exactly that drop-dead gorgeous, but there's that whole Twilight fad going around and, well, girls dig vampire teeth. Riku rolled his eyes, smirking, while some of the guys whooped.

Reno turned his teal gaze on Riku, and his teeth gleaned. "Nice to see ya, bitch," he greeted Riku, ruffling his hair. (Riku didn't seem to like that and instinctively started fixing it up again.) "You taking my class again?"

"Yeh right," Riku scoffed. "I know everything already. Why take SexEd all over again? I'm only here cause I failed English 101."

"Mm-hmm," Reno nodded slowly, as if in thought. Then his eyes sparkled—he had an idea. "Why don't you share some of that knowledge of yours and share with the class?"

Riku looked flustered, but the rest of his guy friends laughed at Reno's joke.

"Naw, just kiddin'." Our SexEd teach span around and flipped open his laptop. "Grab a seat people. Don't got all day; chop chop."

We obeyed.

I was glad I was sitting next to a guy this year. In Biology last year, I had to sit next to a girl for the whole four weeks of learning about the female cycle. It wasn't an enjoyable experience, especially when said female decided to let loose right then and there. Nuff said.

Anyway, horribly disturbing happenings aside, Reno was tapping madly on his laptop. He excused himself and said he had to check his Facebook account, so we waited patiently until he was done. Then he introduced himself.

Name: Reno. Surname: None. He refuses to disclose his age, but hinted that he's young enough to be Kairi's boyfriend (to which Kairi blushed. She looks so damn cute when she does that). He lives in a flat in Destiny Islands, with his cousin, he says. He says he hasn't got a girlfriend, but that he is completely aware of what sex feels like. (More grimaces.) He says he works part-time in SOLDIER, (which is also where Zack works, by the way.) He also said Riku was his star student last year, and got the highest marks. Then he suggested that Riku should demonstrate how to wear a condom, just as Principal Yoshida entered the classroom on his morning rounds.

Riku desperately tried to clear his throat, but Reno couldn't take a hint.

"Come on, bitch!" Reno encouraged enthusiastically, waving the packet in front of Riku's flustered face. "Don't be shy! You did it just fine last year—"

It was Principal Yoshida's turn to clear his throat. Reno jumped, startled, and whipped around. His teal eyes widened. "Ansem!" He quickly corrected himself. "I mean, Principal Yoshida! Wh-what…I wasn't expecting—"

"Obviously," Principal Yoshida cut him off. "I can see you are…teaching your class appropriately."

Reno chuckled nervously. "I-It's…it's my method of teaching I—"

"I'm afraid I must question your teaching methods, Mr. Reno."

The class snickered.

"Ehhh…"

"My office, four o'clock."

Principal Yoshida left, and Reno gave him the finger at his back as he walked off. I couldn't help but notice how similar Reno and Vanitas were, and I immediately started liking him.

"Sod him. Crazy old bat." Reno turned to us, and his eyes brightened. "Anyway! Where were we?"

The bell eventually rang, signaling the end of that awkward yet relaxing period. Awkward because of obvious reasons. And relaxing because I spent the whole period staring at that girl in the window.

ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED

After a boring two hours of English Literature with Genesis came lunch.

I hung out with Vaan and Penelo again at lunch. Well, Penelo's actually in my Lit class, so we walked to lunch together. Luckily there were none of those awkward silences—we always managed to find something to talk about.

Plus, the cafeteria is in the block right next to the Arts Wing, so we thankfully didn't get to the 'How's the weather?' phase.

All the gang from yesterday was there, along with a few others. Snow had his arm around a girl that resembled Lightning, her light pink hair in a side ponytail. She looked pretty cute, if you ask me, but nothing compared to Kairi. (That's probably because I haven't seen her in underwear yet…)

"That's Serah," Penelo informed me when she saw mw looking, then added: "Snow's girlfriend."

I had realized they had something going on by this point as Snow and Serah were in a vigorous liplocking session. I averted my gaze politely, smiling at Lightning.

Lightning did not smile back. Her fists were clenched and she was glaring daggers at the couple. (She was still in her anime outfit, and I momentarily wondered how she got away without wearing the school uniform. Hmm…)

"Loosen _up_, Light." Snow momentarily took his tongue out of Serah's throat to roll his eyes at Lightning. "We're in love. Deal with it."

"You're 'in love'?" Lightning's teeth were grinding, and her eyes were cold. "You're 'in love', you say?"

"Uh oh…" Penelo sighed, covering her ears.

"Because you're 'in love' with my little sister does NOT guarantee you the permission to vacuum her face off!"

"Light, it's okay…" Serah tittered feebly.

"IT IS NOT OKAY! HOW CAN YOU BE DATING THIS…this…" Lightning's rampant yelling session died down as she noticed she was earning attention from the surrounding tables.

"Finally," Vann muttered, stuffing some fries in his mouth. His blond hair was shading his eyes, and he looked sort of emo that way. I didn't tell him that, of course.

Lunch went normally, after the scene. Kairi was sitting at Riku's table again, laughing and nibbling at her fries. She managed to look hot eating _French fries_.

The bedroom scene flashed before my eyes again, and I quickly averted my gaze.

ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED

We had more Math after lunch. We just so happened to be doing a subject that involved _x_s and _y_s, and, like always, I didn't understand a thing. Kairi was exceptionally smart, and she finished before anyone else in the class. She even beat Riku, who is known for his remarkable Math skills. Riku looked a bit dumbfounded when she got all her exercises right and he didn't, and Kairi stuck her tongue out at him. If I wasn't stupid, I would call that flirting.

_Why? Why is she flirting with RIKU? Of all people? She saw ME first! WHY? WHY? _

Such were the thoughts that were running through my head. I was broody and miserable for the whole lesson, which didn't help my brain decipher the nonsense from the textbook.

I managed to drag myself to Drama—which, I must say, was one of the scariest moments of my life.

* * *

**Ugh. This. Chappie. SUCKED.**

**But I'm going back to school on Monday, with lotsa homework to be done, and if I don't post chappie five today, I never will. Sorry for the crappyness and plot failure…**_**hopefully **_**the next one will be better.**

**Big thankies to all! **

**R&R! **


	6. Drama In Every Sense of the Word

**In the last installment of Addicted…**

_My next door neighbor is Kairi. _

She had pulled down her skirt, so I could see quite a lot of her skin on her thighs, which was a deep peachy-beige color. It reminded me of the sand at the beach, and I couldn't help wanting to touch it.

_My life sucks. Bad._

I pretty much destroyed all my hopes of making it through freshmen year. As everyone knows, first year is the year that decides it all, the rest of your high school social life. Pick the right friends, wear the right clothes, do the right extra-curricular activities…and you just might make it to sophomore year. Do the opposite, like I did, and…well. Meh. You know what I mean.

_I kinda reconciled with old friends. Keyword: 'kinda'._

Time passed, and I was amazed at how easy it was to speak to them. Penelo was back acting like the same old Penelo from freshmen year, and Lightning and Snow introduced themselves properly to me.

_We have a new SexEd teach. _

"Yo peoples! I'm Reno, and this year I'm gonna be teaching you a whole lot about condoms and baby-makin'!"

_And, on top of all this, my life as I know it sucks. Why, you may ask? Because, well, my extremely cute next door neighbor is starting to fall in love with the Sex God himself._

She was looking at Riku with an amused look on her face, covering her lips with her palm when she giggled. She looked pretty cute like that—hell, she looked gorgeous. I couldn't help wondering what Riku said to make her laugh. I want to make her laugh like that.

_FML.

* * *

_____

**Chapter Six: Drama in Every Sense of the Word**

I don't even know why I bothered coming to Drama. Apart from the fact that it's on my schedule, of course. It's obvious who's going to get the lead role.

Riku, as always. He got the main lead in last years' play, 'Eternal Sonata'. He was the reason most people bothered to watch the stupid play. I mean, half the school haven't even heard of Eternal Sonata. But as soon as they heard that Riku had the main role and that he'd be half shirtless, they immediately went to buy tickets.

But to get into the play, we have to do auditions, even if taking part in the school play is compulsory. Sephiroth, who, as you know now, is our drama teach, obviously didn't think that part over. Or he's just always wanted to say 'NEXT' like Simon Cowell.

Or maybe because he just _adores _hearing Riku sing.

The Drama room is basically a music studio-gone-wrong, with props messed up at the back of the large room. It looks like a music room because, well, the sophomores and first years use it for their music room. Apparently, Principal Yoshida didn't have enough money to build an extra room. Hey, our school is expensive.

In the middle of the hall stands a podium, which basically means bad news for me. (Podiums are my Number One fear, next to the 'The Snowman' movie and all breeds of dogs.) I gulped, until I felt someone squeeze my hand. It was Penelo.

"It's okay," she reassured me. I smiled back gratefully, but I saw Vaan frowning at us in the background. I should have put two and two together back then, but, well, I didn't. I just smiled at him, and he gave me a look of disgust.

"Sit down," Sephiroth ordered, pulling a red folder out of his coat. He seems to keep everything in there—he doesn't even carry a briefcase. "I'm Sephiroth, your Drama teacher for this year. You are to call me Sephiroth-sama. If anyone dares call me anything else, he shall perish by the sword." People stared murmuring at that, and Sephiroth glared. I looked away. "Anyone who speaks at the same time I'm speaking shall have the same fate." Everyone shushed. "Now. We are going to begin the auditions for Kingdom Hearts, our upcoming school play—"

"U-Uh, Sephiroth…s-sama?"

Sephiroth's glare turned on the poor soul who had spoken—a junior with light silver hair and white-blue eyes. He winced. He looked as small as a freshmen, but he was most likely in our year.

"YES, HOPE?"

"U-Uh…I thought…I thought we were doing C-Crisis Core this year?"

Sephiroth obviously didn't like Hope's question, and sighed. "Yes, we were. But _his highness_ protested and said it was too dangerous. He said that if I didn't change it to something more suitable for a younger audience he would call off the play altogether. I suggested Advent Children, but he was against that too, and suggested this piece of junk." He showed us a 'Kingdom Hearts' poster. There was a dark-haired guy on the front, surrounded by what suspiciously resembled Mickey Mouse's fellow clubhouse friends. "He gave me some lousy Disney-Squeenix crossover."

Riku's hand shot up.

"Yes, Riku?"

"Hey, um, does that mean that we're seriously gonna have to dress up as fluffies? Cause I am SO not into that…"

His fangirls giggled obediently, even though it wasn't really that funny.

"No, it doesn't." Sephiroth frowned. "I'm thinking of characters to replace the animal-themed ones." He furrowed his silver eyebrows and glared at nothing in particular before sighing. "Okay. Onto the auditions. Who's first?"

Riku, of course, took the stage. Nobody protested. No one really had their hopes up for being in the play anyway.

He took the stage, flicked his fingers for some of his friends to take the instruments, then started to sing.

He sang some retarded song about the DJ making him fall in love with some girl in a nightclub. (Figures; Riku's that kind of guy, I bet.) His voice was steady and husky, but he wasn't _that _great. He forgot when to stop to breath sometimes, and he went off tune once in a while, but his 'sexiness' hid it all. He was doing that 'I'm too sexy for myself' routine, flicking his hair and thrusting his pelvis around whenever necessary. His fangirls loving it, jumping around like crazy, and some of the cheer team even went to the extent of cheering him on, pom-poms and all.

I spotted Kairi in the crowd of screaming girls. Her cheeks were tinted pink and she was giggling, covering her lips like earlier. And she was looking at Riku. Riku was looking back at her, his lips tilted as he sang.

If I was dumber than I already am, I wouldn't have come to the conclusion that they were flirting with each other.

And it hurt.

Riku, once again, was stealing what was rightfully mine. (Well, sort of.) Kairi had met _me_ first, but Riku had come flouncing in with his rag of dust-bunnies and steroid-induced biceps and mock-sexy voice, and taken Kairi away from me. I mean, she'd probably forgotten I existed.

And, yeh, like I said, it hurt.

And I was tired of doing nothing about it.

I wanted to show him. I wanted to show all of them. I wanted to show Kairi that she deserved _me_. Not him. He wasn't the perfect boyfriend. I was. (Well, sort of.)

Which is why, as soon as Riku's song came to a close (yes, Sephiroth let him finish the whole song—he was _that _proud of Riku), I marched up to the podium and shoved Riku aside, grabbing the microphone. I had no idea what I was doing. ADHD, I guess.

And I don't know where I found my confidence, but I looked Kairi straight in the eye.

And started to sing.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Actually, I sang the first song that came to my mind. It was a song I'd seen last summer, which I spent eating cookies and watching TV. I closed my eyes after some time and let myself get taken away with the lyrics. The music flooded my senses and the words came out like—

Okay, I'm going to stop trying to make a cheesy description, because I suck at that. To make a very long crappy description short, I sang. As I song I tried to imagine things that made me happy. Cookies, Disney Channel, sneakers. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Winnie the Pooh, Naruto. Riku's head in peanut butter. Riku's head the toilet. Riku's head.

Kairi.

I opened my eyes as the song came to an end, which I soon realized I shouldn't have done. As soon as I saw the shocked faces of the silent audience, my knees started feeling weak. My mouth felt dry and I felt dizzy. Penelo covering her mouth, Vaan looking at me with an undecipherable expression, Lightning looking bored. Snow smirking, Serah blinking, Riku crossing his arms…

…and Kairi staring at me with wide eyes.

I stumbled backward, feeling heat rushing up to my cheeks. I have no idea how I sounded like. Did I make a fool of myself? Did I go off tune? Did I mess up the lyrics? I presumed the answer to all those questions were yes.

I was so desperate not to faint on stage that I ran out of the Drama hall, tripping over my feet as I rammed through the large double doors.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I must have fainted sometime after I rammed through the doors, because I can't remember anything happening between then and waking up in the infirmary.

I blinked open my eyes and met the blinding white ceiling. (Why must all infirmaries be white? Where did our stupid school get its interior decorator? Ugh…) I groaned and rubbed my head. I felt a bit groggy and light-headed, and I didn't know why.

"You snore when you sleep."

I snapped awake at the familiar voice, and turned my head sideways. My heart skipped a beat when I saw who it was.

It was Kairi.

I automatically brought my hand to my mouth and rubbed at it, praying I didn't drool, just this once. Of course, whoever's up there didn't answer my prayers.

I looked over at Kairi, taking in her beauty. Her hair was still in a ponytail from this morning, but, up close, I could see every strand of her red locks. She smelt of honeysuckle this time. I struggled to regain control of my hormones and blinked wildly at her. "K…Kairi…"

"Hey." She smiled at me and gave me a little wave, making my insides do a little dance. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing here, right?" I nodded slowly, still lost for words. She was wearing pink lipstick, which I thought she wouldn't have needed. Her lips were naturally pink anyway. "_Well_…your friend—Penelo, wasn't it?—needed to go to Sports, and since I'm excused from Sports for three weeks, I suggested to watch over you until you woke up."

"Oh…thanks."

"Welcome!" She beamed brightly. "By the way…you were great."

"Huh?"

"Drama…"

"…oh."

I felt my cheeks growing warm, and looked away. I'd completely forgotten about that. I had sung, most likely badly, in front of more than fifty students, then chickened out and fainted in the hallway.

I felt stupid.

"How…how long have I been out?" I managed to make myself ask. I pulled myself up on my elbows, but my head started thudding and I lay back on my pillow, exhausted.

"Hey, you need to rest," Kairi softly patted my arm (and I held back a sigh). "You've been out for nearly three hours. The nurse says it's stress."

"What'd I miss?"

"You slept right through eighty-three auditions and four pages of Physics notes."

I arched an eyebrow at her, wondering how she knew all that. My heart deflated; I remembered she was as smart as hell. I was nothing compared to her. I'm the kind of person that would take two minutes to spell 'interesting'.

"None of them were half as great as you, though."

I blushed harder, still hiding my face.

"I'm not kidding. You were really great. Sephiroth loved you."

I laughed at that. "Yeh right. He's hated me since before I was born—why would he suddenly feel the opposite?"

I felt Kairi's eyes on me, but I didn't look at her. I decided to count the circle patterns on the ceiling. There was an awkward silence.

"I…I don't get it…" I looked at her—she sounded so sad, so confused. She was looking at the ground, clasping her hands together, like she was praying. Then she looked up at me. "Why…why does everyone hate you so much?"

I was quiet for some time. I wondered what Riku and his friends must have told her.

My cheeks grew warmer, then I told her.

"Because, in freshmen year, I slipped and emptied my lunch all over Riku's hair."

Kairi stared at me incredulously and I held my breath, closing my eyes. I figured she was going to bolt whenever she had the chance, stop talking to me, pretend she had somewhere to go and leave me lying here. I mean, that's what any sane person would have done. I wasn't exactly sure what she was doing with me.

But she didn't do that. She didn't do that at all.

She laughed.

She freaking _laughed_.

I had been too far away the last time she was laughing to actually hear her, but, man did it sound good. It's the most wonderful sound I've ever heard, (even beating the school bell that starts summer break). Like Christmas bells, tittering canaries, all those other cliché things. All I could do was stare at her as the melodious tune filled my ears. It was amazing; when she laughed, I was reminded of happier times. I was at the Cliffside in Radiant Garden, watching the fireworks on the Seventh of June. I was sitting on my Dad's shoulders and trying to touch the clouds while my Mum tickled my feet. I was in a garden with flowers of all shapes and sizes, Chocobo chicks frolicking beneath.

Her laugh made me want to smile. Even though she was probably laughing _at _me at that moment, I didn't give a damn. I had made her laugh, and that was all that mattered.

"S-Seriously?" She said between laughs. I nodded slowly, and she giggled again. "I can't believe…they made it sound like you'd killed someone, or had a contagious disease or something…"

I frowned. I knew who 'they' was. I could see her giggling as Riku told her all the embarrassing things that had happened to me, and I felt sick. She had friends that were _way _above my social status, and, if they saw her talking to me, they'd probably exclude her from their social circle.

She must have seen my expression, but I didn't care. I sighed and threw my legs over the bed. My head throbbed in protest, but I didn't listen to it. I buttoned up my shirt (I realized it had been buttoned down and I blushed) and pulled on my sneakers, reaching for my bookbag.

"S…Sora?"

I ignored her. "My mum's probably here by now. Gotta go."

Then I turned around and walked out the door.

* * *

**YAY! NEW CHAPPIE! Fast enough update? No? Meh...**

**Hope you liked this one! I was actually happy with this one, apart from the length. **

**The song Sora sang was 'I'm Just a Kid' by Simple Plan, and Riku's song is 'DJ Got us fallin' in Love' by Usher. If you didn't know that already. xD**

**And the Seventh of June is Radiant Garden National Day. Made that up, of course.**

**Please review, and give me your views! Now, gotta go do homework…**

**Disclaimer: Errr...I already mentioned who owns the songs. And, no, i don't own the awesomeness that is Kingdom Hearts. **


	7. Big BRUDDAS

**A/N: Heyya guys! Spelly-chan again! Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! I have a feeling this chapter is going to be a bit long, so I'm gonna begin with the review replies. **

**gr8azgrl: Thankies! Making people laugh is my **_**forte**_**. Muahaha! Well, at least my friends say that…but their sense of humor is kinda warped. O.o**

**GiraffeShapedCroissant: Arigatou to you aswell! I'm super happy you reviewed. Haha, I think I've went a bit out of the way of how vulgar I usually write, but we're inside a hormone-driven teenager, which means I had to stretch the seams a little. And the 'pelvic thrust' thing…well. I recently learned what a pelvis was, and I felt obliged to use it. xD **

**Gxmwp: Yes, I have made Riku a real dick. Bear in mind that this whole fic is from Sora's point of view. Riku isn't as bad as Sora makes him seem, and he actually has a reason for bullying Sora, which you shall see in time… **

**Once again thanks for your reviews! I'm really glad you liked it, not a single flamer! **

…**yet.**

**You guys give me INSPIRATION to write! It's all thanks to you, buddies! You're all probably tired of hearing me rant and rave, so let's get on with it, shall we? **

**A/N2: Oh, and I know in the original game Sora's voice is…ughh…but, well. In Addicted, let's pretend he sings well. Imagine a voice that's kind of in the middle of the lead singer of Simple Plan and Enrique Iglesias. You got Sora. And now imagine a voice that's in the middle of the lead singer of Nickelback and Usher. You got Riku. Kay?**

**Disclaimer: Nope, nope, and nope. I also disclaim the song 'TiK ToK' by Ke$ha. I don't think I'd want to own that song anyway. -shudders-**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED...**

_We have Resident Evil for our Drama Teach. _

"I'm Sephiroth, your Drama teacher for this year. You are to call me Sephiroth-sama. If anyone dares call me anything else, he shall perish by the sword."

_We're doing some Disney-Squeenix Mashup for our school play. And it's mandatory. _

"Okay. Onto the auditions. Who's first?"

Riku, of course, took the stage. Nobody protested. No one really had their hopes up for being in the play anyway.

_And, yes, Riku is still on the top of the hierarchy. And he's still stealing _MY _girl. Kind of._

Riku, once again, was stealing what was rightfully mine. (Well, sort of.) Kairi had met _me_ first, but Riku had come flouncing in with his rag of dust-bunnies and steroid-induced biceps and mock-sexy voice, and taken Kairi away from me. I mean, she'd probably forgotten I existed.

And, yeh, like I said, it hurt.

_And I was tired of doing something about it. And, like an idiot, I decided to take the stage. _

To make a very long crappy description short, I sang. As I sang I tried to imagine things that made me happy. Cookies, Disney Channel, sneakers. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Winnie the Pooh, Naruto. Riku's head in peanut butter. Riku's head the toilet. Riku's head.

_Forgetting that, well, I have extreme stage fright. _

Did I make a fool of myself? Did I go off tune? Did I mess up the lyrics? I presumed the answer to all those questions were yes. I was so desperate not to faint on stage that I ran out of the Drama hall, tripping over my feet as I rammed through the large double doors.

_Well, at least I earned a free talk with Kairi. _

"You snore when you sleep."

_And managed to make her laugh. _

It's the most wonderful sound I've ever heard. Like Christmas bells, tittering canaries, all those other cliché things. All I could do was stare at her as the melodious tune filled my ears. It was amazing; when she laughed, I was reminded of happier times. Her laugh made me want to smile.

_Which should have been enough, right? WRONG. She's still in the IT crowd, and I don't want to take that away from her. _

I could see her giggling as Riku told her all the embarrassing things that had happened to me, and I felt sick. She had friends that were _way _above my social status, and, if they saw her talking to me, they'd probably exclude her from their social circle.

_So, yeh, I decided to ignore her. Makes it easier for the both of us, right? _

_Yeh, the answer to that is wrong, but I just didn't know that yet. _

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Big Bruddas **

I felt a bit stupid, standing there, waiting outside. School didn't finish until another five minutes, but I didn't feel like going back into the infirmary or going back to Sports either. I didn't want to face Kairi again, or kill myself trying to complete Phase Two of our Warm-Up sequence we're doing with Terra.

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. It was windy, and my hair was flying all over the place, but I didn't exactly care. I felt miserable and depressed, and you should all know why by now.

My hands slipped to my pockets, and I realized I still had the clover. I slipped it out—it was practically dead, its leaves a dark brownish color. I decided to throw it away before it started fermenting in my pocket.

After throwing it away, I sighed and sat down on the bench, worn out. I still felt a bit dizzy and weak, so I closed my eyes for a bit.

As soon as I closed them, someone sat on the other end of the bench. I opened my eyes to see who it was: Roxas.

He was smoking, as usual, with his hood over his head, but he was alone. He also had his headphones on, and the music was playing, but he seemed to be looking absently at nothing. He looked sort of…dreamy. And a ghost of a smile haunted his lips.

I looked at him for some time, to see if his demeanor would change, but it didn't. So I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Roxas."

"Roxas."

"ROXAS!"

He snapped out of his reverie and turned to look at me, as if he'd just realized I'd been there. Then his eternally emo glare returned.

"Who's the girl?"

His cheeks flushed, but his glare stayed. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well I do. You were acting exactly like this the last time you crushed on a girl."

Roxas stiffened at that, his fists clenching so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Olette had always been a touchy subject for Roxas. He really loved her, and was heartbroken when she suggested they break up. Well, I don't blame Olette. Roxas was kind of a burden, and she spent most of the time they were dating cleaning up his bruises and fetching him cigarettes. Or snogging him. I mean, none of their conversations ended without Roxas' hand finding its way up her shirt.

Anywho.

I was about to say something else when the bell rang, and Roxas took his leave. I saw him go and join his crackpot friends, and decided to head for the bus.

But before I could do that, someone yanked my arm and before I knew it I was pushed up against the wall.

I cringed when I opened my eyes and met Riku's fiery cyan ones. (And to hell with oxymorons.) He had quite a grip on my shirt, and I felt my breath hitch in my throat as fear overtook me. My confidence had once again shrunk into a corner, and I started feeling sick. I looked around and saw that we were behind one of the buildings in the Arts Wing—far away from the Staff Room. Which meant I couldn't cry for help.

"You _idiot_," he snarled into my ear. "Why don't you just crawl back under your little rock and die there?"

I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but I sure did have a lot of witty comebacks running through my head. I didn't say any of them out loud, of course. I mean, I didn't want to die yet—I was only on Step Three of my Grand Master Plan.

"I…I don't know what you're talking—"

"Stay. Away. From MY GIRL." He emphasized his statement by pushing me harder against the wall. My back screamed and I winced. I tried not to think about how Josh wouldn't wait one second for me when he realized I wasn't in the bus, or about how I badly needed to pee.

"GOT IT?"

Incapable of doing anything else, I nodded.

"Good. If I see you anywhere near her, I swear I will take my sword and I will stick it up your ass—again and again and AGAIN! You HEAR?"

I nodded frantically, my back aching and my stomach churning and my mind in shambles.

He stared at me long and hard before giving me one last shove and storming out of the alley.

I didn't realize I was holding my breath until he exited the alley, and I collapsed to my knees as I took a huge gulp of air. This was followed by some coughing, and then some throwing up. By the time I had finished hacking out my insides, my eyes hurt and my stomach felt like it had just been thrown in a tumbledryer.

_Stay. Away. From MY GIRL._

Since when was Kairi _his _girl?

Last time I checked, _I _was the one who bumped into her on her first day of school. Last time I checked, _I _was the one who had walked her to homeroom. Last time I checked, she was MY next door neighbor.

My anger soon died down into depression. I should have known from the first day that she was genetically programmed to find Riku. It was so obvious. A perfect girl deserves a perfect guy. And I, as far as I know, am NOT what you can call perfect. I should have seen it coming.

But I didn't, and now all I got was heartbreak.

I sighed and staggered to my feet, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. My stomach was still doing somersaults, but I didn't feel like emptying any of my insides anymore, which was good. I picked up my bookbag and headed to the bus park, and wasn't surprised to see that Josh had driven away, like the douche that he was.

And, as if on cue, thunder boomed and it started to rain, soaking my not-so-bouncy-anymore hair. I sighed. _Today is just not my lucky day_.

I felt weak and tired, and I really wanted to go to sleep. I mean, I would have even accepted to sleep on Roxas' bed, which shows how desperate I was. I dragged myself across the courtyard, which was practically empty, minus a few stray students smoking or snogging their girlfriends in the car park.

I eventually collapsed outside the school gate, leaning against the brick wall as I sat.

Kairi's face haunted my head, and I closed my eyes shut, my fists clenching. I felt emo-er than an emo at an Emo Convention. The rain soaked through my shirt, my plaid trousers, my soul. I might have even resorted to cutting myself. (Just kidding.)

Thankfully, at that moment, someone's car drove up onto the pavement right in front of me. I was so depressed that I didn't even recognize the familiar wheels.

"NEED A LIFT, LIDDLE BRUDDA?"

I snapped my eyes open and blinked the rain away from my eyes. Vanitas was grinning at me through his half-opened car window. He looked like some kind of phantom with his amber eyes shining in the mist, and he was mumbling something about the rain soaking his seat.

I wasn't even happy to see Vanitas. That was how depressed I was.

I pulled myself to my feet and collapsed into his car. It stank of cigarettes and alcohol, like always, but it was warm and musky and comfortable. I sighed as Vanitas pushed on the engine.

"What's up with you?" Vanitas asked, arching an eyebrow. He still kept his eyes on the road; none of us wanted to perform a remake of last summer. My arm still ached from the time Vanitas crashed us into a tree and dislocated my elbow.

I mumbled a reply, sniffing. It was silent for some time, the only noise being the windscreen wipers, and my eyes started fluttering closed. Vanitas decided to switch on the radio, and I groaned as that annoying Ke$ha song that's been playing too much these days boomed through the speakers.

"What, you don't dig Ke$ha?" Vanitas asked, even though he knew the answer to that one already.

"No. I don't."

…_ain't got no mohney in mah pocket but I'm ALREADY here! _

"Huh? I didn't hear you."

…_cause they know we got swagguh! _

"I said NO. I DON'T, Van."

…_kick 'em to the curb unless they look lyk MCJAGGUH!_

"Come again? You gotta speak up man—"

_...boys try'nah touch my JUNK (junk!)…_

I had had enough, and I screamed as I punched the FM Radio. It made a weird buzzing noise before switching off. I was panting heavily, glaring at the evil device that dared interrupt my sleep.

"Dude…that cost me fifty bucks, man." Vanitas glared at me. "Somebody's gotta get that stick outta your ass…"

I sighed. "I'm sorry. Rough day, is all."

"Uh-huh. I realized." He paused to swear at some unfortunate driver who got in his way, then he turned back to me. "Wanna tell uncle Van about it?"

I was silent for some time, then I spoke up. "It's…it's Riku."

"Again?" He frowned, his jaw clenching. "He been harassing you or sum'n?"

"…uhh…not exactly…" I winced when I felt a sudden pain in my back.

"That rotten bastard!" Vanitas growled, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. "When I lay my hands on him he'll—"

"Hey, hey, hey!" I chuckled nervously. "It's not…that bad. You don't need to k-kill him, or a-anything…"

"You sure?" Vanitas raised an eyebrow at me. He wasn't looking where he was going and nearly crashed into a bus, but I managed to alert him at the last minute. He swerved manically and slammed on the brakes, making the bus driver and many others beep their horns in protest. Van retaliated by yelling a whole lot of curse words, throwing something that looked suspiciously like a knife for extra measure.

"Yes. I'm sure," I replied finally. Vanitas laughed.

"So…what actually happened? Why're you all emo-looking?"

"Well I…" I started fiddling with my bookbag, then paused. I turned it over, and started when I realized it wasn't ripped open at the side anymore. Instead, it was stitched together with a bright red ribbon.

I stared at it, wondering where it came from. I was quite sure it was still ripped this morning when I left for school. It was still ripped at lunch, though I had left it in my locker to avoid anymore cake-in-face incidents. And I'm quite sure it was still like that in Drama…

It suddenly clicked. It was Kairi. Kairi had stitched it back for me.

I tentatively brought my bag close to me and sniffed at the ribbon, and, sure enough, it still carried Kairi's scent: cinnamon biscuits and honeysuckle.

"Um. Sora? Just outta curiosity, may I ask _why_ exactly you are inhaling your schoolbag?"

I flushed, looking away and lowering my schoolbag, but he noticed the red ribbon before I could hide it.

"Ah…you're thinking about a girl, right?"

I cursed inwardly at how accurate he was. There was no point lying. "Yeh."

"Is it that same girl you were talking about yesterday? Little Miss Nonexistent-Sex-Appeal?"

"…she's called Kairi."

"Kairi. Hmm. Interesting. Japanese for 'ocean'. Anything else?"

I didn't bother trying to find out how he knew what her name meant and continued speaking. "She's…she's a new girl in my grade. She's got these amazing blue—no, purple—eyes, amazing pink lips, amazing smile, amazing red hair, and her laugh…"

"D'ya mind changing the adjective once in a while?"

"…it's the most wonderful laugh I've ever heard. I don't know why but…I feel happier when she's around."

"It's called a crush, bro. All teenage guys get it," Vanitas rolled his eyes.

"…yeah. I…I guess…" I sighed. "I don't stand a chance against Riku anyway."

Van frowned. "Huh? What did you just say?"

"I met her first. It's not fair. He just came out of nowhere and stole her from me. I mean, why does he _always_ have to get what he wants?"

"You mean…Riku's in this too? You've both fallen for the same girl?"

"I bet he doesn't even like her."

"Sora."

"I bet he's just aiming to make her go out with him as a bet, or something."

"Sora."

"And there he goes, acting like she's _his_—"

"SORA!"

I stopped speaking.

"Wow, you're really into this chick…" Vanitas stopped at a traffic light, and I noticed we were only about one street away from our house. "So what you're saying is…there's some super sexy new girl that you've got the hots for, who, unfortunately, is in love with that douchebag what's-his-face."

"Riku. Yeah. Who, by the way, threatened to kill me if I dared go anywhere near her."

"Hmm. Well that's simple."

"Huh?"

"All you gotta do is win her back, of course." He looked at me as if it was the most obvious, simple thing in the world. Which, by the way, it is NOT.

"And just how am I supposed to do that?"

Vanitas smirked at me as he switched off the engine, and I realized we were in out driveway. "I dunno. I thought you had that part figured out already."

I sighed as I climbed out of the car. My sneakers made a squelchy noise as they landed on the damp grass. The rain had lessened to a drizzle. "Thanks for taking me home, Van."

"No problemo, liddle brudda," Van saluted. "That's what big bruddas're for!"

I smiled after his car as he drove away, fingering my stitched up bookbag. Then I headed upstairs to my room, which, thankfully, was empty. I made sure Roxas wasn't hiding under the bed or in some corner of the room before cautiously pulling the curtains open.

Sitting on the edge of her bed was Kairi, lacing a red ribbon into her hair. As I looked at her as she smiled at her reflection in the mirror, the lamplight adorning her features and making her teeth glow, I knew that hell would freeze over before I lost to Riku.

* * *

**Meh. Guess it wasn't exactly as long as I thought it would be. Hn. **

**Basically just a whole bunch of brother bonding. Next chappie is where the next arc starts! **

**Did this chappie make you laugh? Well, yes, there was a bit less jokes in this chappie, because I was kinda focusing on his feelings. Starting next chappie, things are gonna get a lot more hilarious…and complicated. **

**Roxas has got a crush? Riku's threatening Sora? Gaspity gasp! **

**Well, I started with a horribly long author's note, so I won't end with one. R&R peoples! **

**And on that note, I bid thee adieu! **

**XOXOX to all my fans. **


	8. That was Unexpected

**A/N: Hope you liked my last quick update! Sorry this one had to come a little later. I don't have access to the computer on Mondays or Tuesdays, so that sucks. **

**Anyway, I thought about making a poll for this question I'm about to ask, but I realized that I hardly agree with how polls turn out, and that most of my readers don't even check out my profile page anyway, and decided against it. **

**So, yeh, my question is…**

**I'm wondering whether I should work on separate fics in Kairi and Riku's POV, but following the same storyline as Addicted. I've already started both of them on paper, and have the storyline and ideas in my head. Should I work on these fics, or should I just continue with Sora's POV only? I've posted the first chappie of Riku's Story on the site, so you can check it out. Note: Riku's Story is very, very important to the storyline. Even if I won't do Kairi, Riku would be really helpful to do. But I don't want to start working on something while my fans (cough-hack) disagree, going berserk in the background. Please tell me what you think in your reviews. Which reminds me: Review Replies. **

**Roxy mccartney: Thankies, new reviewer! Oh, and I love your penname. ^^**

**AllLightHasEmotions: Yes, judging from your penname, I kinda figured you were into all those emotional-esque stuff. Thanks for reviewing. **

**Gr8azngrl: Yes, well, teeth glowing usually doesn't sound romantic, but this is Sora we're talking about. The inside of his mind is a scary, scary place. **

**Someone Who Mustah Forgot To Insert His Name: Thanks! I shall indeed keep 'em coming! Oh, and, um, who are you? Please don't leave anonymous reviews, even if you don't have an account. I like knowing my reviewers…**

**Superpeanutbutter: Yes, Kairi should get some blinds. And depending on what my reviewers answer to the question previously asked, you might just find out…nah, just kidding. You'll find out in Addicted soon enough. **

**Kingdom of Sin: Danka-shuuunnn!**

**: Yes. Sora, indeed, shall fight for his woman. I'm not saying he'll win or anything…xD. **

**GiraffeShapedCroissant: HEYYA! Glad you is liking my fikky! I don't know when I'll stop liking Vanitas, even though he's meant to be evil and looks like Sora after getting amber contacts and dunking his hair in black ink. And what new KH Game? Are you talking about Re:coded, or something? Because I'm a bit lost. What new KH Game? I MUST GO FIND IT!**

…**Right after this chapter, of course. Tally-ho! **

**Disclaimer: Do I look like Nomura to you? Do I? No. I disclaim all his work. Oh, and also, just so you know, part of the first scene consists of an edited version from **_**sunflowerb**_**'s 'Battle of the Sexes' oneshot. Which I suggest you read. **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Roxas has got a crush. Or at least it seems like it. _

Roxas looked sort of…dreamy. And a ghost of a smile haunted his lips.

"Who's the girl?"

His cheeks flushed, but his glare stayed. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."

_I'm kinda on Riku's hitlist._

"Stay. Away. From MY GIRL." He emphasized his statement by pushing me harder against the wall. "Good. If I see you anywhere near her, I swear I will take my sword and I will stick it up your ass—again and again and AGAIN! You HEAR?"

_I got some helpful advice from Vanitas._

"So what you're saying is…there's some super sexy new girl that you've got the hots for, who, unfortunately, is in love with that douchebag what's-his-face."

"Riku. Yeah. Who, by the way, threatened to kill me if I dared go anywhere near her."

"Hmm. Well that's simple."

"Huh?"

"All you gotta do is win her back, of course."

_Which I intend to use, mind you. _

* * *

**Chapter Eight: That was Unexpected**

I woke up to Roxas strumming his guitar. He was leaning against the wall on his bed, his fingers moving along the strings. He was singing some kind of love song by Bruno Mars, and he wasn't that bad, actually. He had a good voice, which surprised me. Roxas hadn't sang since he stopped living with Dad, neither had he played the guitar.

He didn't realize I was staring at him until I cleared my throat. He immediately stopped strumming and coughed, leaning his traditional bronze guitar against the wall.

"You finally let that thing outta the attic?" I said, climbing out of bed and walking over to his. He ignored me, mumbling something about needing to shower. "What's her name?"

"I told you already—there IS no girl," Roxas hissed, glowering at me. He looked a bit less scary without all his emo Goth make-up on, so I wasn't as frightened.

"That _so_ explains why you were singing some 'Just the Way You Are'," I retorted. I watched in amusement as his cheeks became inflamed with color.

"What? So I can't sing love songs for no reason?" Roxas snapped back. I raised an eyebrow at that. His cheeks darkened and he turned around and marched to the bathroom.

I decided to leave him alone and think about my own problems, instinctively heading to the window.

I immediately froze, not just because of Kairi, but because of what she was wearing. I.e. very little. Her creamy beige legs were halfway into a pair of opaque navy tights, while the rest of her body sported nothing but underwear and a bra, both which were rosy pink and decorated with a rather sexy assortment of black lace.

I had never seen a girl in lingerie before. Well, at least I assumed it was lingerie. I never quite figured out at what point ladies underwear became lingerie. Well, it had lace on it, and lace is sexy. But, judging from Mum's laundry basket, everyday undergarments require lace, for a reason I'm not sure of. So I guess that qualifies as lingerie, or something.

Well, I was looking through my window into that of my next door neighbor's, who seemed to be having a hard time, getting into her tights. I watched with amazement as I watched her struggle to pull them on, twirling around every once in a while, still in nothing but ling—_underwear_.

She eventually managed, but then realized that she had a huge tear down the side of her tights, and I don't know why but there was something spectacularly alluring about the way she looked over her shoulder at the rip running from the middle of her thigh to her ankle.

She cursed, somehow managing to look sexy doing _that_, before peeling off her tights again and heading to what seemed to be her wardrobe, as she reappears with two long black stockings that looked terribly fancy. She bent down as she began to pull one of them up her creamy beige thighs, her cleavage deepening.

I was too busy surveying the delightful change in geography to notice Zack entering the room.

"Hey Sora?"

I gasped and pulled the curtains closed, turning to my stepdad. His dark hair was in its usual style, his bangs bordering his straight face. He looked at me with suspicious blue-green eyes. Thankfully, he didn't ask me what I thought he would.

"Have you seen my shower gel?"

I replied that, no, I hadn't seen it, and he left, mumbling something about thieves and reducing Roxas' pocket money. I was about to open the curtains again when Roxas returned from the shower, so I regretfully abandoned the idea and left to get ready for school.

When I arrived downstairs, Mum and Zack were in a heated argument. I decided not to interrupt them and grabbed my breakfast—apple juice and dry cereal. Roxas was sitting at the table, munching on week-old Cheerios, Kurt Cobain moaning about _memoria_, whatever that means.

"—half the time I don't even know where you are!"

"I _told _you, Aerith, if I want to get a promotion I'm going to have to—"

"I don't give a damn about your fucking promotion, Zack!"

"Well you'd better! Who is it that makes the money to put food on the table, huh?"

"You don't need a damn promotion to put food on the table!"

"I'm doing this for you, babe. I want us to be happy. If I get this, we can get that house you've always wanted. The one with the pool and the cobbled terrace—"

"Money doesn't buy happiness, Zack! We're fine just the way we are right now!"

"We're fine? The roofs falling apart, we've barely enough money to keep the kids in school, you've just lost your job and you say we're _fine_?"

I decided to choose this time to take my leave, leaving Mum and Zack yelling at each other's faces. I tried to push away all I just heard and focus on the one thing I was aiming at—winning Kairi.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Let's just say my Wednesday morning was really, really weird.

Well, it all started when I mounted the bus. Everyone erupted into what they believed was incoherent whispering, and I heard my name being mentioned quite a few times. I tried to ignore them, heading to my seat, until I felt someone pinch my butt. I yelped in astonishment, and my cheeks grew warm when I realized it was some girl with light-brown up-curled hair. She was giggling flirtatiously, I suppose, but I didn't get it then.

My face on fire, I stumbled along the bus until I found a seat next to Penelo. She was smiling when I sat down next to her.

"You okay, Sora?"

I realized she was talking about yesterday, and nodded. "Mm-hmm. You?"

"Great. Sorry I had to leave you in the infirmary yesterday…" She apologized. "It's just there were the cheer tryouts and I _really_ wanted to get in this year…"

"It's okay, I understand," I shrugged. Her leaving me in the infirmary with Kairi was one of the best things that had ever happened to me, after all.

She sighed, looking out the window. "By the way…you were amazing…in Drama yesterday. I never knew you could sing that good."

I decided to be modest. "You're just trying to make me feel good about making a huge fool of myself and nearly projectile vomiting."

Penelo blinked at me weirdly, then started to laugh. She must have found my statement funny, or something. "No! No, no, no that's not it at all. You really were great, Sora. I mean, why else would Sephiroth-sama let you finish the whole song?"

I thought a bit, after that. I did begin to wonder why, but before I could come up with a hypothesis, Josh honked on his horn for everyone to _get the hell outta his van_.

We arrived at school and met up with Vann and the rest. Along with Snow and Lightning, there were three other girls I hadn't recognized before. They were all in their cheer outfits, meaning they were cheerleaders. You seem, now that casual dress is out and uniform is in, the only way girls can possibly get Riku to check them out is to wear their cheer gear, which is technically uniform anyway. It consists of a blue-and-white ruffle skirt that can't be any longer than a 30cm ruler and a white sports bra with a blue ruffle lining. _Destiny Dolphins_ is printed on the front in bold blue letters, though they kind of stretch depending on the wearer's cup-size, which is probably what they're aiming at.

Before I could ask myself how I was standing less than a meter away from a cheerleader and still not having gum stuck in my hair, one of the cheerleaders bounced up to Penelo and handed her a pair of blue and white pom-poms, along with a nylon white duffel bag.

"You got in!" Said cheerleader exclaimed. Her lime-green eyes sparkled, and she looked awfully giggly. Penelo was still looking at her cheer gear, astonished beyond belief.

"Cheer practice starts a four everyday 'cept Thursday," another cheerleader added. She was chewing bubblegum, and she had clean blonde hair. I thought I saw her wink at me, but I must've imagined it. "Hey, Sora."

I blinked at her, wondering how she knew my name. "Uhhh…"

"Ashelia." She outstretched her manicured hand. "Call me Ashe."

I took her hand, which felt all soft and cheerleader-y-like. She blew another perfect rosy bubble.

"I'm Vanille!" The giggly girl ruffled my hair—she was about an inch taller than me. "Nice ta meetcha Sor-Sor!"

The third cheerleader sashayed over to me, swaying her hips as she walked. She was tall, dark-skinned and looked exotic, her dark eyes looking me up and down. I held my breath as she circled me, inspecting me with her eyes.

"Hmm. Nice," she said finally, giving me one last long look before speaking again, her hands on her perfect hips. "Fang."

It took me a few seconds to understand that she was telling me her name. "Oh. Um…nice to meet you…Fang…" I felt my cheeks grow warm at all the attention I was getting.

Vanille and Ashe gushed over me for quite some time until Snow suggested we go check out what parts we got for the play. So we did.

* * *

I don't know what I was expecting, but I sure as hell did not expect what happened next.

* * *

As we approached the school Bulletin, people began whispering around me, and a few girls smiled. I wasn't sure what to make of that, but smiled back, using the Book's advice.

There was a huge huddle of people around the Bulletin board, so I couldn't see the sheet. But I did see Kairi giggling amidst her friends. Ashe, Vanille and Fang had walked up to join her, and were babbling and giggling and doing whatever girls do when they're exited. Kairi's hair was in a French plait today, but two strands lay loosely around her face. I remembered that I had seen this girl in lingerie less than twenty minutes ago, and immediately averted my gaze.

My eyes landed on Riku, who was, for some reason, glaring at a sheet of paper on the Bulletin. His fists were clenched, and his hair looked disgustingly shiny, as always. My first thought was 'Ugh, too much hair tonic', but when he turned his eyes on me, it changed to 'Hell. He looks REALLY pissed off'.

He stormed passed me, shoving me quite hard for no apparent reason. He was seething, and I swear I saw steam shooting out of his nostrils. He looked kind of funny like that.

Now I _really _wanted to see what got him angry. I walked over to the Bulletin, but I could only catch Riku's name, which, surprisingly, wasn't at the top of the list. He was going to play some guy called Masahiro, which, apparently, wasn't the main lead. I managed to push myself through the crowd, eventually getting close enough to see it clearly.

And then I froze.

I expected to see one of Riku's friends' name, or something, next to the main lead, seeing as some of them have OK voices, like Tidus, for example.

I did NOT expect to see _my _name.

I stared at the piece of paper in shock, blinking repeatedly to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. It didn't make any sense. Me, Sora Kyumuke, the freakiest freak in the history of Freakdom, had beaten Riku, the jockiest jock in the history of Jockdom, to the main lead.

And I wasn't dreaming, or anything like that, because when I pinched myself on the arm, it still hurt. And I was sure the hug I got from Penelo was real aswell, seeing as she nearly squeezed out my breakfast.

I was too overwhelmed to speak. I wasn't sure if getting the main lead was a good thing or a bad thing.

I mean, sure, I'll be the center of attention in the school play, which will probably bring me higher up the social ladder. But it also means that Riku will be out to get me more than ever. I had already attempted to steal 'HIS' girl, and now I had stolen 'HIS' lead.

And, judging from the way Riku was seething like a matador bull, he doesn't like it when people steal his things.

I eventually tuned back into reality when Snow decided to ruffle my hair. "DUDE. You actually got the main lead! I thought this day would never come!"

"Yay for Sor-Sor!" Vanille cheered. Ashe blew another bubble, while Fang inspected the list.

"What is with the names?" Fang commented. "Hiroshima? Nagasaki? Masahiro?"

"Sephy's obsessed with Japan…" Vaan, who I hadn't noticed before, groaned. He gave me a look I can't describe.

"W-Wait…" I was having a hard time accepting what had just happened. "…how…? How did _I _get the part and Riku didn't?"

"Well, probably Sephy wants someone new for a change," Serah suggested. She looked very small next to Snow, who's pretty tall, even for an eighteen-year-old upperclassman.

"Wow…" I ran my fingers through my hair (which, for a change, was easy to do), feeling my cheeks heating up. "I…I can't believe it…"

"I can," Penelo spoke up. "I _told _you he liked your voice."

Seeing that I had no idea how I sounded, I didn't know what to say to that, and, instead, kept quiet.

Instead, I looked back up at the list.

_**MAIN**_

_HIROSHIMA: Sora Kyumuke _

_MASAHIRO: Riku Harada_

_YUUKI: Kairi Bellamy-Price_

_NAGASAKI: Roxas Kyumuke_

_HINATA: Namine Price_

_KOSUKE: Vaan Takeda_

_KURUNAI: Penelo Mikuni _

…

There were a lot more unfamiliar names on the list, some which were going to be played by some of Riku's friends, along with some upperclassmen, but I was too excited to form a sentence.

Me, Riku, Kairi, my big brother and an anonymous girl who shared part of Kairi's last name where listed under the main characters.

I had a feeling things were going to get very, very complicated from then on.

Boy, was I right.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

As Sephiroth handed us out the scripts, he gave us a brief summary of the play.

It's about three teenagers, best friends, who live in a place called Nautilus, which, unsurprisingly, is a paradisiacal extraterrestrial world in some other invented galaxy.

These three teenagers, namely Hiroshima, Masahiro and Yuuki, live peacefully on Nautilus, swimming and partying and being generally ignorant to the outside world. Or, more precisely, worlds.

One night, while Hiroshima is randomly having a stroll near the pier of Nautilus, he notices a freaky Black Hole of Death in the sky. He sees his best friend Masahiro at the pier, and runs over to warn him. Masahiro ignores him and has a weird speech about not being afraid of the darkness, and so Hiroshima and Masahiro stupidly get sucked into the gigantesque Black Hole of Death.

He wakes up in another 'world' (don't ask; it's Japanese), and, while perambulating the world, meets Kosuke and Kurunai, two homeless kids. They are being attacked by some of the same weird black creatures, called Shadows.

Suddenly, a huge silver key materializes in Hiroshima's hand. It is a Keyblade, a deranged weapon obviously created by someone who has run out of ideas. Brave Hiroshima fights off the Shadows and saves the children.

Kosuke and Kurunai apparently both had a prophetic dream that they should find the 'Keybearer' in order to save the world. So Hiroshima sets off with his two new friends to go and look for Masahiro and Yuuki.

He travels the universe, meeting many deranged Disney characters along the way, and eventually finding his friend and Yuuki and saving the universe, taking them back to the seaside world of Nautilus, where they live happily ever after.

Sephiroth apparently isn't happy with this storyline, even though he had already switched Donald and Goofy for Kosuke and Kurunai. He said it wasn't enough, that the story was too predictable.

Sephiroth decided to add a little drama to it. Hiroshima and Masahiro are now supposed to be best friends _and rivals in love for the ravishing Yuuki. Yuuki is in love with both of them, but seems to be leaning towards Hiroshima_. Hiroshima travels the worlds in search of Masahiro and Yuuki, _in order to find her and confess his feelings for her_.

Sephiroth also decided to add more ridiculous, unnecessary characters to the plot—the alter-egos of Hiroshima and Yuuki. He mentioned that, in the real video game (because Sephiroth seems to like making plays out of video games), when someone loses their heart, they turn into a Heartless, but that he found that name to predictable and immature, hence Shadows. From that, he made up this whole stupid theory of an empty shell being left over after someone loses their heart. If the person had a very strong heart, his empty shell takes a human form. This alter-ego is named a Nobody.

He invented an arc of the story where brave Hiroshima sacrifices his heart to free Yuuki from the evil masterminds, The Alliance. The Alliance is a group formed of several evil Nobodies, several of which are going to be acted by upperclassmen, like Snow. Well, anyway, Hiroshima's Nobody, Nagasaki, is in love with Yuuki's Nobody, Hinata. (I found this all very cliché and retarded, but I didn't voice it out.) The Alliance holds Hinata captive, and Nagasaki joins the Alliance to save her.

Hiroshima, on the other side, has been saved by Yuuki, who is a Princess of Heart, which means she has a pure heart and has power over the Realm of Light. Yuuki, by this point, is quite sure she is in love with Hiroshima by this point, and is about to tell him when the evil Masahiro flies into the scene. He now has the power over Darkness, and Hiroshima has to fight him to free him from the Darkness' terrible hold on his heart.

To make a long story short, Hiroshima defeats Masahiro after a gruesome fight, and Masahiro, like an idiot, dies. Hiroshima and Yuuki mourn their dead friend for a bit, but they eventually get over it and confess their feelings for one another. Hiroshima sets off to save the universe, destroying the Alliance and rejoining with his alter-ego, and Yuuki and Hiroshima live happily ever after.

Sephiroth personally thinks his version of the story is much better, and we can't argue with him.

Lots of people found the storyline hard to understand, and I didn't blame them.

"All the characters listed under MAIN are to learn their full script by Monday latest," Sephiroth announced as the bell rang. "Anyone who doesn't will suffer their fate."

I looked through my script, and realized that, although the font was quite easy to read, even with my dyslexia, it was nearly a hundred pages and there was no way I was going to finish it by Monday.

But I didn't exactly care. I saw Riku through my peripheral line of vision and saw him glaring at me with an annoyed look on his face.

And, for some reason, that made me smile.

* * *

…**PHEW! **

**Sorry once again for the long wait. If you didn't realize, the storyline for Kingdom Hearts has been changed a bit, along with the names. xD**

**This whole chapter was basically about their school play, but I promise the next one will be better. It'll have more Roxas, and Namine, that's for sure.**

**Their school play will be very important to the storyline, which is why I dedicated a whole chapter to it. **

**Well, I gotta go make dinner.**

**XOXO to all my fans! AND A BIG SHOUTOUT TO GIRAFFESHAPEDCROISSANT! U ROCK! **

**P.S: Don't forget to leave me the answer to the question I asked you at the top of the chapter! Xxx And the review button is feeling lonely…**


	9. Friends?

**A/N: Hola. Me again.**

**Thanks for your reviews, again. After looking through your reviews, I've decided to go one with the MERGE idea. For those of you that're against it, please don't kill me. The majority voted for it, so...yeh.**

**Review replies! **

**MHplayer749: Yeh, the main reason I wanted to do more than one fic is because this one is in first person, and it's pretty hard explain character background and stuff in first person. So...yeh. **

**Squall11717: Thankies! My story is ACTUALLY someone's favorite! (Or second favorite, at least.) Haha! Well, as for the updating rapidness thing...that's probably just because I type extra fast. ^^ Plus, the first chappies are always the easiest to write, anyway. **

**Gxmwp: Yes. He did. ^^**

**GiraffeShapedCroissant: Yuppers, I have watched Mean Girls as well, and that's actually my inspiration for this story. Except from a guy's point of view, and stuff. And I'm not gonna say anymore, or I'm gonna start giving spoilers. Yeh, I heard of Re:coded, but I can't get it yet cause I live in France, and i don't have a DS. And, sorry, I really wanted to do Roxas', but I didn't want to do more than three at a time, and others wanted Riku and Kairi's. But don't worry, **_**maybe**_** when I'm done, I'll do a double-MERGEd fic for Roxas and Namine. If I still have time, that is. xD But Roxas' story should be covered in Sora's, so...yeh.**

**Superpeanutbutter: Thank you! No, I don't watch DN Angel, but I've heard of it. And I kinda guessed that Harada was the last name of someone from DN Angel…or something. ^^ Glad you liked it, and I'm sorry to say but I'm allergic to your penname. xD **

**roxy mccartney: OKAY! ^^**

**hey man: Yay!**

**Half-Dragon Hero: Thank you! Have you read 'Apologize'? That's Riku's POV, check it out. **

**: Hooray for Kairi! It's up, if you were wondering. **

**BlackMarionette: Riku's story is up! Enjoy! And I'll start updating them at the same time as Addicted from now on! Hopefully…**

**Well…now that that's done…ON WITH THE STORY! **

**Disclaimer: Like I so totally do yuhno? **

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I'm kinda on Riku's hitlist._

"Stay. Away. From MY GIRL." He emphasized his statement by pushing me harder against the wall. "Good. If I see you anywhere near her, I swear I will take my sword and I will stick it up your ass—again and again and AGAIN! You HEAR?"

_Mum and Zack seem to be quarrelling a lot lately…_

"You don't need a damn promotion to put food on the table! We're fine just the way we are right now!"

"We're fine? The roofs falling apart, we've barely enough money to keep the kids in school, you've just lost your job and you say we're _fine_?"

_I befriend some cheerleaders._

"I'm Vanille!"

"Ashelia. Call me Ashe."

"Fang."

_And I get the main lead in our school play, Kingdom Hearts._

Me, Sora Kyumuke, the freakiest freak in the history of Freakdom, had beaten Riku, the jockiest jock in the history of Jockdom, to the main lead.

_So now me, Riku, Kairi, my big brother and an anonymous girl who shares part of Kairi's last name are all main characters in our school play_

_I have a feeling things are gonna get very, very complicated from now on…_

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

**Chapter 9: …Friends?**

As we were exiting the Drama Hall, somebody tapped me on the shoulder, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. My heartbeat didn't get any slower when I turned around and saw who it was.

"Hey!" Kairi grinned enthusiastically. She had her hair in twin braids, and she reminded me of a bunny rabbit for some unknown reason. A cute one at that. "So…this means you and me'll have to rehearse together, or something, huh?"

Riku wasn't that far from us; I was sure I felt his glare on my skin.

Ignoring his threatening death-glower, I replied: "Um, okay. Yeh, sure." I paused, deciding to follow the Book's advice and add a compliment. "Congratulations, uh, for, you know, getting the part."

She seemed to like that, and beamed. "Thanks. Same to you. So…after school then?"

I nodded. "Um…sure, okay." I was sure I was starting to sound like I was on replay.

She smiled at me, making my heart race, and she looked like she was going to say something else until a girl tapped her on the shoulder.

She had pale blonde hair, frosty blue eyes and a petite figure. Her lips were pink and slightly swollen, with a few cuts striping them. She was wearing a grey hoodie over her uniform, but I noticed the end of a bandage poking out from under her sleeve.

She saw me looking and blushed, tugging on Kairi's arm. Kairi gave me an apologetic smile, and I shrugged. "S'okay. I'll leave you girls alone."

"Later, then?" Kairi's voice sounded sorta…hopeful, though I may have imagined it. She looked so cute and adorable with her pigtails falling beside her ears, and I nodded dumbly. Then her cute blonde friend tugged her away, and I turned on my heels, only to come face to face with Riku's chest.

I swear it was rippling behind all that white polyester.

I instinctively took a step back and braced myself for pummeling.

"Relax, Kyumuke." I saw Riku roll his eyes through the gaps between my fingers. "I'm not gonna hit you."

I slowly dropped my hands. "You…you're not?"

"Course not," Riku replied, a seemingly forced smile present on his face. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes, though. "I just wanted to…to congratulate you."

I stared at him in disbelief, immediately suspicious. After I outright ignored his threat to leave Kairi alone, after I blatantly stole _his_ main lead from him and showed him up in front of all his friends, he walks up to me and says he wants to congratulate me? There had to be a catch, right?

Well, that's what I was thinking. Why would he do such a thing? He finally realized his wrong ways and decided to turn around? Maybe I'd touched him in some sentimental way, or something? Nah, that couldn't be it.

Maybe because I was becoming too popular? That seemed highly unlikely, because I was still not-so-attractive-looking and had penguin feet, even if I had gotten the main role in the school play, which is usually reserved for school jocks or cheerleaders.

But then I realized that lots of people we were in the middle of a horde of students, who all seemed to be doing what they thought was inconspicuous eavesdropping, and then it clicked.

Riku would gladly have torn my head right off my shoulders or introduced his wooden sword to my ass, but that wouldn't have given him a good image, would it? Most of the school population was still crowding the Drama Hall at this point, seeing as it was only second period and everyone was bustling. If he acted all nice and sociable, like the good guy he was _not_, his cheerleaders would all fall in love with him…all over again.

Well, no, I was not going to give him that satisfaction. I mean, come on. This was the guy that had been bullying me since fourth grade, for no real reason. This was the guy who used to stuff my head in the toilets, justifying his actions by saying that a face as ugly as mine _belonged there_. This was the guy that found joy in making my life hell.

And he thought I was going to help him make himself look good? Yeh, right.

Then I realized that if I yelled at him, it wouldn't help me that much either. I mean, I was in the middle of building a reputation. If I rejected his 'kindness', people would see _me _as the bad guy, and I didn't want that to happen, not after all I'd been through.

I knew this was a win-win situation for Riku. No matter what I did, he would benefit from it.

So I just smiled back and said: "Thanks. You really deserved the part, though."

Riku's smile wavered, but he managed to hold it for a little bit longer. "Hn. Thanks." He paused, blowing at his hair. "So, um…what were you talking to Kairi about?"

Like I was going to tell him _that_. "Uhhh…nothing really."

Riku didn't look satisfied with that answer, but thankfully the bell rang before he could say anything, and I dashed off to my next class. I was saved by the bell, literally.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I found out who Namine was in Art class.

She was sitting in a corner by herself, painting wildly. Her blonde hair was shading her face, and she looked like she was concentrating very hard. The sleeves of her hoodie were pulled up, and I noticed how skinny her arms were.

Not too far from her was Roxas, who was staring at her with wide black-rimmed eyes. He looked sort of dreamy, leaning on his palm as he watched her hands move. Hayner looked like he had been trying to snap Roxas out of it for quite some time.

I smiled mischievously—boy was Roxas going to have a lecture that evening.

"Settle down, class." Miss Stella, the art teacher, was already beginning to write the title of this month's theme on the board. "_Pointillism_."

"What's that?" I asked instinctively. People snorted and giggled at that.

"A technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image," Miss Stella replied. "Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works of these artists, and is now used without its earlier mocking connotation."

I blinked dumbly at her; I hadn't understood a word she just said.

Penelo noticed this and pulled me down beside her. I smiled gratefully at her, my cheeks heating up.

"This is a typical example of a pointillism painting." Miss Stella held up a painting of a clownfish made entirely of dots, with a dotted blue background. The class wowed in awe. "You guys are going to be doing art like this for the rest of this term, so get your colored pencils ready."

The class groaned, and I inwardly cursed. I was incapable of drawing a simple circle, so I didn't see how she expected me to do anything more. I embarrassed myself last year when I was asked to draw a tree in front of the class. I ended up with some kind of deformed pig thing, which wasn't pretty.

I told Penelo this, and she laughed. Miss Stella overheard, and objected. "It's impossible for someone _not _to be able to draw. It comes naturally. Anything is art." I rolled my eyes at the typical 'art teacher' speech. "Don't beat yourself up. Plus, pointillism is nothing more than a bunch of dots scattered about on a sheet of paper—you can't fail this." She handed me a sheet of clear white art paper. "There. Get to work."

I spent the rest of the class wildly spattering my sheet of paper with my colored pencils, and then the bell rang. As I was standing up, I noticed Roxas was talking to the blonde girl in the grey hoodie.

"Who's she?" I asked Ashe.

"No idea," Ashe replied. "I heard she's going out with some guy who isn't in our school, but that's just about it. Weird, huh? Like, who would go out with _her_? I mean, look at her fashion sense…" She blew another bubble, and, after staring at Roxas curiously, I shrugged and headed to English Literature.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"_When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end_

_The goddess descends from the sky_

_Wings of light and dark spread afar_

_She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting._"

I was already nearly asleep by the time Genesis had finished reading the Prologue. LOVELESS was seriously boring, and I realized how unlucky Riku was to be doing it two years in a row.

"What do you understand from these lines?" Genesis asked the class. No one answered; most of the class was either yawning or texting each other. "No one? Humph…I guess you students need to be enlightened. LOVELESS is the tragic play about a prisoner's lover who is left loveless when he never returns. From this prologue, what do we learn from…"

My eyes started drooping closed, until I felt someone slam his foot against my backside. While I was grunting in pain, I felt someone's breath beside my ear and stiffened.

"_Don't think I've forgotten about what you've done, Kyumuke_," Riku hissed, just loud enough for me to hear.

I gave him a sarcastic smile. "_Oh, I haven't._"

"_Good_," Riku replied. "_I'll let you off today but_—"

"_But I don't have any intention of giving up on her_," I added before I could stop myself.

Riku was quiet for some time, but eventually replied. "_Neither do I_."

I turned around slightly and saw Riku grinning mischievously, and grinned back. "_Well. May the best man win, then._"

"_Prepare to lose, punk_," Riku snarled. A bit too loudly, though.

"Kyumuke, Harada; I'm expecting a 600-word report on Acts One to Three of LOVELESS for Friday. Any later and I'm informing Principal Yoshida."

The rest of the class laughed, while Riku and I shared a secret challenging grin.

**Once again, it wasn't that long. That's cause I really want to keep to my weekly updating schedule. Also cause I need to go have dinner.**

**R&R! **

**P.S: Check out Apologize and Angel in your spare time! **


	10. Bliss

**A/N: Dora the Explorer is singing about how badly she needs to buy a freaking GPS as I am writing this, so I'm in a slightly irritated mood. Don't worry, I'm not going to yell at you in my review replies. **

**Roxy mccartney: Really? Oh. Well, thanks. It's just that some people seem to like long chappies, like me, for example. ^^ **

**: Thank you! I feel so loved. *cocky grin* Haha. I'm actually working on the next chappie of Kairi's POV, or maybe it'll be up already by the time I reach the end of this one. Glad you likies! **

**Girafaa: Yes, this is probably similar to Mean Girls because I wrote this while in my Mean Girls Inspiration mode, or something. I had also just finished reading the Meg Cabot book 'How to Be Popular', and I was feeling slightly Sora-bashing-ish. I'll try and put fetch in this…watch out, it might just appear in this chappie…^^…don't worry, Sora won't start wearing short skirts and getting drunk in parties and snogging guys (hopefully…). Yeh, I can watch Youtube, which is what I did for 358/2 Days and Re:CoM anyway. And, yeh, it's gonna get a hella lot more interesting from here. And I added something special in this chappie, just for you. ^^ **

**Milkbones: Thanks! Hope you enjoy what you read! **

**Superpeanutbutter: Really? Hmm…btw, Penelo is one of Sora's friends, and if you want to find out what she looks like, just type it in your search engine. She's from Final Fantasy, btw. I know FF characters can get annoying, but I hate making OCs so I use as many FF characters as I can. Not one single OC is in this story yet, and I want it to stay that way. And I'm sorry but I can't tell you who Namine is dating…yet. You'll find out in due time. ^^ Thank you again for your reviews—I can't thank you enough! **

**ShadowSpooky: I'll reply to your reviews at the end of the chappie; they deserve separate space. ^^ **

**And I just had to add this in here…**

**Has anyone seen Disney's TANGLED? I know it's Disney and all, but I'm practically dying waiting for it to come out on DVD! AGGGHHHH…**

**Okay, well. Off we go then. **

**Disclaimer: What? You're calling in the FBI? I was just joking! Ugh, seriously? KH and all that drabble belong to Nomura, sheesh. I mean, if **_**I **_**had it, I would have already hurried up and made KHIII by now. Instead of making lots of pointless (no offense) games in the middle. I mean, in the Epilogue and Secret Ending of Re:coded, Nomura practically crapped all fanficcy ideas for the secret letter. What's the point of releasing lots of clues for KHIII but not MAKING THE DAMN GAME ALREADY? I mean, the next game to come out it something called KH:3D Dream Drop Distance, or something like that, which, one again, takes Riku and Sora back in time. What's the effing point? Didn't Nomura realize that Sora and Riku's voice actors **_**grow older**_**? One day Haley Joel Osment will turn thirty, then we'll see. I mean—AHEM. Uh. Sorry. Went on a little berserk there…**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I score some points with Kairi…_

"So…this means you and me'll have to rehearse together, or something, huh?"

"Um, okay. Yeh, sure. Congratulations, uh, for, you know, getting the part."

"Thanks. Same to you. So…after school then?"

…_sorta._

I turned on my heels, only to come face to face with Riku's chest.

I swear it was rippling behind all that white polyester.

_Thing is, Riku's still on my case._

"_Don't think I've forgotten about what you've done, Kyumuke,"_ Riku hissed, just loud enough for me to hear.

I gave him a sarcastic smile. _"Oh, I haven't."_

_And, well, I kinda challenged him to a duel._

"_I don't have any intention of giving up on her." _

"_Neither do I."_

"_Well. May the best man win, then."_

"_Prepare to lose, punk." _

_Only one problem. How exactly am I supposed to beat Riku in winning over Kairi's heart?_

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

**Chapter 10: Bliss**

I had a feeling that the day was taking so long to come to an end simply because I was so impatient to finish school and meet up with Kairi for our script rehearsals.

Especially in Sports.

I actually managed to remember my Sports outfit this time, but it wasn't much use. After doing the second Phase of Warm-Ups, I was sweating like a pig in a sauna, but I didn't dare hit the showers.

I don't think Principal Yoshida took into consideration the fact that not all teenage guys are equal in muscle and…maturity, if you know what I mean. The showers don't even have _doors_. Someone can get seriously scarred walking into that room and meeting nude guys soaked from head to toe, male genitals waggling. It reminds me of those toilet cabinets in airports; the guy right next to you is entirely capable of looking over the side and seeing everything. I didn't want to repeat what happened to me in freshmen year, when, naïve person that I was, actually took a shower. Riku repeatedly insulted me on how 'undeveloped' I was for the rest of that year, saying I had 'Lady Humps'. Don't ask what he meant by that.

Anyway, so, yeh, I didn't want to risk going in that hellhole, which was why I arrived in English Literacy stinking like hell.

The worst thing was that I was next to Kairi. She didn't complain though, politely scrunching her nose as I sat down next to her.

"What is that smell?" Aqua wrinkled her nose and started heading to open the window.

"Ask your fiancé," I muttered. I must have said it a bit louder than intended, because some people in the class actually laughed. Kairi was laughing too, and I turned away to hide my blush.

"Come _on_, it's not _that_ funny…" Aqua huffed, heading to write something on the whiteboard. "Okay, class. Books closed; we're starting this lesson with a spelling test."

My face blanched. Hell no. Spelling. My worst nightmare.

Aqua must have noticed how much blood I'd lost from my face, and gave me an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, Sora. Just do what you can."

I wish she didn't say that out loud. I felt like everyone was staring at me, and sank even lower into my chair.

Aqua finished handing out the sheets, and then began.

"Ambiguous."

I had learnt that word the previous year, and, after months of cramming, managed to remember how to spell it.

"Psychology."

I presumed it was some kind of name, or something. '_Sy Coló Gii.'_

"Ventriloquist."

I had no idea that word even existed. I scribbled down '_Vintryluquizt'_.

"Onomatopoeia."

I gave up trying after that. I don't get how Aqua expected me to try and spell any of these stupid words, when she knew my mental capacity. It took me years to remember that the word 'carriage' didn't have a 'd' in it.

All of a sudden, my paper disappeared from in front of me, and in its place lay Kairi's. Her handwriting was round, and I realized that she put circles on top of her 'i's, like me. I scanned her sheet of paper, feeling stupider and stupider each passing second.

While I was mentally punching myself for forgetting that 'Ventriloquist' didn't have a 'z' in it, I noticed Kairi scribbling away beside me. I realized that that was where my paper had gone. She looked like she was concentrating really hard, and occasionally stopped to tuck loose strands of hair behind her ear. She rolled her eyes every once in a while at what I presumed were my stupid mistakes.

"_Uhh…what're you doing?_" I whispered to her.

"_Stopping you from flunking this class_," she replied hastily. I felt a little hurt at that. "_You are terrible at spelling_."

"_Thanks for reminding me_," I huffed, crossing my arms and leaning on the desk while waiting for her to be done. "_Well, I spelt 'ambiguous' right, at least._"

"No you didn't," Kairi sighed, rolling her eyes again. "Ambiguous doesn't have a _'y'_ in it."

"_Yes it does…_" I replied uncertainly.

"_The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem_." Kairi rolled her eyes, and handed me back my sheet of paper. "_Here you go."_

I looked over my paper, and noticed she hadn't filled in all the blanks. She probably did that so that Aqua wouldn't get suspicious. I looked back at her; she was blowing at her fringe in boredom, which looked pretty cute. I watched her in admiration until the bell rang and Aqua picked up our sheets.

As we stood up, I noticed the red ribbon on my bookbag again, and decided to thank Kairi. But she was already halfway out the door when I looked up, so I scrapped that idea and headed to lunch.

Penelo and Vaan had already found a seat in the cafeteria, and I managed to reach the table without getting any food in my hair. I instinctively ran my fingers through my hair as I sat down, though, not entirely trusting the school body just yet.

"Hiya!" Penelo waved as I sat down next to her, which I didn't really think was necessary. "How's class?"

"Spelling test," I mumbled. "Don't ask."

Penelo started giggling. "Okay, I won't. On the brighter side, we're all in the school play!"

"As expected," Vaan added with his mouth full.

"What I meant was," Penelo corrected herself. "We all got actual _speaking_ parts, not like a tree, or something."

"And that's a good thing?" I couldn't help but add. "Look, I'm still not completely sure what I'm doing with a main role; I can't act for toffee."

"I don't think Sephy cares about that," she suggested. "He just cares if you've gotta good voice, is all." Her eyes brightened, as if she'd gotten an idea. "Hey, we could all rehearse together after school!"

"I'm out," said Snow immediately. "I've got a date with Serah."

"Karate class," Lightning drawled.

"I…have plans this evening," I shrugged apologetically. Penelo's face fell, and I noticed Vaan stiffen.

"Fine, I'll stay back and rehearse with you," Vaan sighed, rolling his eyes.

Penelo cheered and hugged him, but I was too distracted with my food to notice Vaan blushing slightly.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I couldn't remember if Kairi had said where we should meet, so I waited outside, in the bus park.

While I was waiting, I saw Roxas come out of school with his friends.

He didn't realize I was there; he was pretty far away. He soon separated from his friends and met up with a tall guy who was hanging outside the school gate. He had striking red spikes and tattoos under his eyes, and was wearing a tight black vest and black ripped skinny jeans. He handed Roxas a parcel, which Roxas quickly stuffed in his backpack, before handing him nearly three packs of cigarettes.

Roxas took one before tossing the packets in his backpack. He and Red Hair talked for a bit, smoking and occasionally laughing. Red Hair kept mussing up Roxas' hair, and Roxas didn't seem to mind.

I presumed they were friends, only I had no idea why Roxas had never mentioned him before.

I was still observing them when Kairi popped into view.

"Heya!" She giggled, making me smile. I glanced over her shoulder and realized that Roxas and Red Hair had disappeared. "Glad you remembered."

"You thought I'd forget?" I asked, amused.

"I dunno; we've only just met." She shrugged, tilting her head. "So, my house, then?"

"Huh? Uh…sure. Which bus d'you take?"

We mounted the Number 3 bus, whose driver, I found out, was called Dylan. Dylan was much nicer than Josh, and he didn't have sideburns, which was a plus. I nearly stopped liking him when he tried to flirt with Kairi, but Kairi didn't even notice, so that was okay.

Somewhere along the road, Kairi suggested we play that cliché _20 questions _game, 'you know, to try to get to know each other better'. I didn't really get it but I was so caught up in her biscuit-y scent that I forgot that I usually hated clichés and played along anyway.

I managed to learn that Kairi's favorite color is green, not pink, and that she's twenty-one days older than me, much to my horror. She likes kittens, especially fat ones, but can't stand full grown cats. She doesn't mind dogs, and laughed when I told her I'm afraid of them.

We had reached her front door when the embarrassing questions started coming on.

"Hmm…what's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?" Kairi asked, her amethyst eyes wide in anticipation.

My smile vanished. "Huh?"

"You heard me."

My face felt hot. I decided to go with the least embarrassing. "When I threw pie all over Riku in freshman year, of course. You?"

"Uhh…I don't really have one," she replied hastily. Of course; someone as perfect as her didn't make mistakes.

She unlocked the door and walked inside, depositing her bookbag in the hall before heading into the kitchen. I followed her, and we asked each other random questions, laughing along the way. She was so easy to talk to; I didn't have to watch what I say like I did around Penelo and Vaan and Snow and all that. I could just be myself.

"Have you ever been in love with anyone?" I asked uncertainly. I don't know what I expected her to say, but I didn't expect her face to blanch. Her eyes suddenly glazed over, and she gripped the hem of her skirt tightly.

I guessed it was a sensitive subject for her, and quickly babbled: "Um…you know what? Never…never mind. We should get started on the rehearsal, huh?"

She loosened up at that, and we continued speaking like before, but I couldn't help wondering why that question touched her so much. My first guess was that she was in love with Riku, but I realized that she looked sort of terrified, and I was sure that Riku didn't make her feel that way. I really wanted to find out, but I didn't push it.

She led me upstairs to her room, and I realized it looked a lot bigger on the inside. It was a lot cleaner than mine, and brighter too. The walls were painted green, and I noticed that her ripped stockings were still sprawled across the floor like that morning.

I blushed.

"So…we'd better get to work, then?" Kairi sat down on her bed, opening her bookbag and retrieving the script. I tentatively sat down next to her.

"Sephy really knocked himself out doing the soundtrack," I observed, spotting many urban songs in the list.

"Cool! I love this song!" Kairi exclaimed enthusiastically.

And then she started to sing.

* * *

**NEXT CHAPPIE SHALL BE BETTER. AND LONGER.**

**I just really wanted to post this before i started my long crappy week of school. Excuse the quality. **

**I have approximately five minutes before my Dad arrives and starts yelling at me, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave now.**

**Sorry, ShadowSpooky, but your review replies'll have to wait. **

**Toodles, and R&R!**

**XOXOX**


	11. Melodious

**A/N: Well, this time the chappie is actually worth reading. Believe me, I worked really hard on this one, yah? **

**I know how I always say that the next chappie shall be better and all, when it's actually not, but this time I actually meant it, and voila. It's not long, but it's okay, i guess. **

**Really. I'm actually proud of this one. Which is saying something.**

**I was a bit delayed because I needed a bit of inspiration and spent a whole day on HeartStation reading KH novels and looking up music vids on YouTube, but it's finally here. **

**Review replies!**

**Hey man: Better than HOW TO TRAIN A DRAGON, which is my favorite ever Disney animated movie to date? Now I REALLY want to watch it. I ended up watching Little Fockers while my little sisters watched Tangled, and now I regret it. Ugh.**

**Roxy mccartney: You shall find out. Hope you enjoy the chappie, and…yes. Roxas and Axel do drugs, which is important in this story. Nuff said.**

**Morgead's girl: Well, this one'll be longer. And, yeh, Dads can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but my Dad bought me this computer, and, therefore, must be respected. Even when his temper sometimes inhibits by update quickness. **

**ElleGal: I don't know why this site blocks your name. Hm. Well, I've removed the full stop, hope tht works. Anyway, hope you liked the new update of Angel! **

**ShadowSpooky: Phew, thank you. I mean, I was actually dreaming about how the hell I was going to reply to all your reviews and not make it a hundred words. I've made this chappie this long just for you! I won't be able to play KHIII either, but I want it to get out so I can at least watch the walkthrough on YouTube, like what I did for Re:CoM, re:coded and 358/2 Days. **

**Now…on with the chappie! And this one is relatively long, and I ain't kidding, for once. **

**Disclaimer: When hell freezes over.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Me and Riku are kinda sparring over a girl…_

"_I don't have any intention of giving up on her." _

"_Neither do I."_

"_Well. May the best man win, then."_

"_Prepare to lose, punk." _

_Kairi helps me with a spelling test…_

"You are terrible at spelling."

"Well, I spelt 'ambiguous' right, at least."

"No you didn't," Kairi sighed, rolling her eyes again. "Ambiguous doesn't have a _'y'_ in it."

_And I get invited over to Kairi's. _

She led me upstairs to her room, and I realized it looked a lot bigger on the inside. It was a lot cleaner than mine, and brighter too. The walls were painted green, and I noticed that her ripped stockings were still sprawled across the floor like that morning.

I blushed.

_But, well, I haven't really made any advance just yet. What, you expect me to suddenly confess my undying love for her right here and now? _

* * *

**Chapter 11: Melodious**

I'm not going to tell you to try and imagine what her voice was like, because it's…unimaginable. Seriously. It's one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard, and that's saying something. She got all the lyrics to the song she was singing right, and her singing voice made me feel like how I did when she laughed. I felt like an invisible hand was tickling my stomach, or something.

While she was singing, my eyes moved to her lips. They somehow looked more luscious today, coated with pink lipstick, and it was hard not to take my eyes off them. I was content just sitting there and watching her lips move and hearing her melodious voice, but, well, she had other plans.

She lifted her tinted eyes, and stopped when she realized I was looking.

I blushed.

"Don't you know this song?" She blinked at me.

"Uhhh…" I was distracted by her eyelashes, but I managed to find an answer. "N…Not really…"

"Really?" She looked surprised. "Well…you're uninformed."

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I'm a guy—"

"Not an excuse," Kairi snapped, standing up and walking to her desk. She picked up a white Apple MacBook. I admired the new technology, while she opened it and entered her password. "What's your favorite music genre?"

"Uhhh…" I thought for a bit, and then shrugged. "Don't know. Anything, I guess."

"Hmm…" Kairi navigated to YouTube, her manicured fingers flying across the keyboard at an amazing speed. "I'm going to show you real music."

I waited patiently, fiddling with the red ribbon on my bookbag.

"Here!" She found the song she was looking for and pressed the play button.

_Keep rockin, and keep knockin_

_Whether you Louie Vouitonned up or Reebokin_

_You see the hate, that theyre servin on a platter_

_So what we gonna have - desert or disaster?_

Kairi began to sing when Kanye had finished rapping, and I noticed she didn't even need to use the lyrics as she sang. Personally, I preferred her voice Keri Hilson's, but I didn't dare say so. She started swaying to the music as she sang, which I thought looked pretty cute.

I picked up the script and scanned through it, taking in the lyrics. I realized that I was going to be singing this song with Riku, and felt sick.

"Seriously?" I muttered in indignation, and Kairi stopped singing. "I'm going to be singing this song with Riku?"

"Well, me and Riku, more precisely," Kairi explained. "Uhhh…yeh. You know, since the storyline is, like, you and, um, Masahiro, you know…fighting over…me, I mean, Yuuki." I noticed that she blushed slightly as she said that, probably thinking about Riku.

I frowned. "Oh."

It was silent for some time.

"You know what? I'm gonna go change," Kairi informed me, inspecting my face. I nodded, and she placed her MacBook on my lap. "You try and memorize the words to that song."

"But—"

"That's Sephy talkin', not me."

She disappeared into her bathroom, and I sighed, listening to the song. I kept running it on playback, and gradually managed to learn the whole first rapping verse when Kairi emerged, donning dark jeans, white sneakers and a white off-shoulder top that wrote '_GREEN IS SEXY' _in capitals. Her hair was unbraided now, and it fell in silky waves over her shoulders.

"Ah, much better," she sighed in relief, walking over to me. "So, got it memorized yet?"

I nodded, trying with all my might not to let my eyes fall to her chest. "Mm-hmm. Almost."

"Wanna give it a try?" She took her MacBook and pressed the Replay button before I could respond, and the tune began to play.

I successfully managed to get through the intro, and then Kairi started to sing again. I was so busy watching her sing that I nearly forgot to sing when my turn came in, and even tripped over a few words. Kairi grinned encouragingly at me when I made a mistake, though, so that was okay. She didn't stop repeating the song until we'd gotten it perfect, (stopping along the way for snacks, of course), and before I knew it it was nearly six and I had to head home.

"We should do this every day," Kairi suggested later as we stood on her doorstep, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

I looked down at her (I noticed she was nearly a head smaller than me), smiling. "Yeh, sure."

"Well, uh…later!" She waved goodbye, and I headed off. I actually had to walk all the way up the street and round the block so that she wouldn't find out I was her next-door neighbor.

But it was worth it.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Sort of.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE BACK THREE HOURS AGO!"

Mum was in a particularly shitty mood when I got back. I figured it had something to do with the fight she and Zack had that morning.

Then I realized that Vanitas was in the living room, watching some kind of porn star reality show, or something, and realized.

"Sorry, Mum," I apologized. "Uhh…Drama practice."

Mum sighed, massaging her temples. "It's…fine. Just…just get in that sleazebag out of my living room before Zack gets home. He's stinking up the furniture and polluting this house with all that porn garbage!"

I nodded obediently and headed to the living room. Vanitas was stretched out on the couch with a packet of Cheetos, and porn magazines, beer cans and cigarette packets littered the floor. I picked one up and noticed it was empty.

"Hey, man," Vanitas greeted me, finishing with a burp. "Hahwuzzool?"

I rolled my eyes, starting to clean up his mess. "You really shouldn't keep getting yourself wasted like that. You do remember what happened last time, right?"

"Yeh, duh," he replied, sitting himself up. "But amnot gonna do any drivin' or anythin', so wuzzah big deal?"

I sighed, throwing a dozen cigarette packets in the trash can. "That's not the point…"

"Whatever. Enough 'bout me, more 'bout you. So, got anywhere widdat chick you like? Kelsey, wasinnit?"

"Kairi," I corrected him, looking cautiously at the hallway. "And keep it down."

Vanitas yawned, scratching his hair. "So?"

"Uh…well, I was at her house today, actually—"

"No WAY?" Vanitas' eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Any under-the-cover action?"

I stared at him, startled. "Wh-what—"

"I was just kiddin', sheesh. It'll prolly take someone like you years to even get to see a glimpse of her underwear."

I blushed, but didn't tell him that, in fact, I _had _seen her in _lingerie_, which was something, and retorted with a "Whadda ya mean, 'someone like me?" instead.

He laughed, throwing his arms behind his head. I proceeded to tell him about how I got the main lead, how Kairi had repaired my bookbag, and how I'd challenged Riku to a duel. I was moving onto the part about me and Kairi singing together when Zack returned, and Vanitas had to leave.

"S'okay," Vanitas shrugged as he got up. "Fill me in on the details tomorrow, yeh?"

"But—"

"Don't worry; I'm sane enough not to crash into a truck this time, even if I have downed more than a dozen cans of lager."

"But you—"

"Adios, liddle brudda!"

With that, Vanitas skipped out of the house and into his car, driving off into the night.

I swear I heard a sharp braking sound and the yowling of an injured cat before I closed the door shut.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I was still in a daze as I opened the door to my bedroom, where Roxas was, smoking. Luckily the window was open, so it didn't smell too much.

"Ugh, can't you do that somewhere else?" I muttered as I sat down on my bed. Roxas gave me a nonchalant glance and took another drag. "That reminds me; who was that guy I saw you with after school?"

Roxas froze, turning his rimmed blue eyes on me. He looked angry and sort of…frightened. "You…you saw Axel?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh…I think…if you're talking about a tall guy with red hair that looks a bit like Reno, then…yeh."

Roxas stared at me, gritting his teeth. This resulted in him breaking his cigarette, and I watched in amusement as he choked on whatever substance he had rolled up in there.

When he had finished retching, he gave me another cautious glare, and I shrugged. "Axel…is just a friend. Nothing else. And don't you dare tell anyone about him—especially not Vanitas."

I blinked at him. "Um. Why?"

"If you do, I'll tell Kairi you spy at her through our bedroom window."

I stared at him in horror. "What?"

"I'm not _stupid_," was all he answered, and my face felt warm. Great, now Roxas knew. It wasn't that much of a secret anymore. "Gotta admit, that's quite a view you got here, though."

I glared at him as he started laughing, my face growing warmer and warmer each passing second.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The next morning, we began with SexEd.

Reno was reading a porn magazine as we entered the classroom, which I found a little unnerving. What was worse, though, was the fact that he had the word CONTRACEPTION written in capitals on the blackboard.

Riku was brave enough to ask why, and Reno explained that that was what we were learning about for the following hour.

We went on to learn about the possible ways to prevent a girl falling pregnant, and such, but I soon lost interest. I noticed Kairi was sitting next to Riku, which was a little annoying, seeing as he kept leaning close to her and whispering a joke, and she kept bursting out into adorable laughter and looking up at him. Sometimes they stayed like that for minutes, just staring into each other's eyes and occasionally saying something random.

My chest hurt.

Luckily after SexEd we had Drama.

Sephiroth was already there, commandeering some guys around. The music props had been moved to the side of the hall, so we had a lot more space than last time. Penelo was there, but she was in the middle of a group of cheerleaders, who were all discussing which fashion line is more _à la mode _this season: Prada or Dior? (Personally I think Ralph Lauren).

Kairi was with Riku and some of his friends, and I noticed that Roxas had actually showed up, unlike his other Goth/Emo friends. He was in the corner, chewing on what I suspected was nicotine gum, or something. His hands were in his pockets, and he kept blowing at his fringe and yawning.

Then I saw Namine standing near the music props, and I realized why Roxas didn't skip class.

She looked sorta cute standing next to the piano, chewing nervously on her sleeves. She kept looking at her feet and trying to pull her skirt down. I realized why; she had some kind of bandage wrapped around her knee area, which I suspected came from a nasty fall, or something. Roxas kept shooting her glances, which he must have thought were discreet.

Sephiroth eventually called for the class to settle down and sit down on a chair. The chairs were now set in rows across the hall, right in front of the stage.

Then Sephiroth called the main characters to take the stage, and my heart began to ricochet off my ribcage at an unimaginable speed.

"You five are going to be singing the opening song to this play, which I suspect you all know."

I looked at the first song on the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack, and nodded. It was 'Shadow of the Day' by Linkin Park, a song Roxas listened to way too much. Riku, Kairi and Roxas seemed to know it too, and Namine gave a quiet nod.

"Good. Off you go then."

* * *

**End of chappie! **

**I tried to put enough SoKai fluff in there. Well, enough for now, at least. More shall come.**

**I'm happy, happy, happy! I had my gymnastics evaluation today, and, even though I weigh as much as a pig and am way too tall for my age, I managed not to kill myself doing a handstand! WOOT!**

**I've been amusing myself reading doujinshis, and now don't hate SoRiku as much as I used to. Hmm. Oh well.**

**Don't worry. There isn't any SoRiku-ness in this fic. Prolly a little AkuRoku, but absolutely no SoRiku. **

**How'd you like Vanitas in this chappie? Hehe, I needed some more laughs. **

**Well, R&R, and I'll get the next chappie up by the end of this week, hopefully.**

**Okay, now I gotta go give my little sister a bath. Woohoo. **

**(The song Sora and Kairi sang is called 'Knock You Down' by Keri Hilson ft. Kanye West and Chris Brown.)**

**XOXOX**


	12. Competition

**A/N:** **BUENOS DIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS! KEPT MY PROMISE, KYAAA? **

**Freaking CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT ON SHAKESPEARE ON MONDAY! HOLY MOTHER OF GOOGLE—HELP MEHHHH! **

**Uhhh…**

**Review replies?**

**MHPlayer749: I don't particularly like rap either, except Eminem. My favorite music genre is actually rock/pop rock, but this is high school, and most girls I know either love pop or R'n'B, and the occasional rap gangster. Plus, the song just fitted the storyline, if you know what I mean.**

**Morgead'sgirl: Nah, I lyk ur reviews! I lyk anyone's reviews, actually, and I'm kinda lyk u when I review ppls stories aswell. So **_**you r not alone**_**! (Yes, crappy MJ reference there…) Yay! Somebody that loves Knock You Down! I actually used the song cause of the part where Ne-Yo talks about how he used to be a pimp…that SO suits Riku! **

**Hey man: I shall.**

**Gxmwp: I know! That's why this one'll be longer than the previous! (At least, I'll try to make it longer without crapping up the plot…)**

**ShadowSpooky: Yes. KANYE. No, I don't particularly like Kanye, but boys are boys. And Sephiroth is Sephiroth. xD Yes, I put that Vanitas action in because of you. ^^ I used to review every chapter, only my reviews tended to be of the three thousand words variety, and…yeh. I stopped, in order to relieve the authors. And if I didn't have, like, a truckload of homework to do, and a controlled assessment this Monday, then I'd play some video games.**

**Kingdom of sin: OKAY! **

**Without further ado, I grant thee chappius twelvus! **

**Disclaimer: To bash thee on the head or not to bash thee on the head? THAT…is the question. **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I discover Kairi's singing voice._

It's one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard, and that's saying something. She got all the lyrics to the song she was singing right, and her singing voice made me feel like how I did when she laughed. I felt like an invisible hand was tickling my stomach, or something.

_Roxas' seeing some guy named Axel, only he won't let me tell anyone about it. Especially not Vanitas._

"Axel…is just a friend. Nothing else. And don't you dare tell anyone about him—especially not Vanitas."

_And I can't even disobey him, either._

"If you do, I'll tell Kairi you spy at her through our bedroom window."

_Well, Roxas is going through tough times in _his_ love life aswell, seeing as the girl he's got a crush on is some mute girl. _

She looked sorta cute standing next to the piano, chewing nervously on her sleeves. She kept looking at her feet and trying to pull her skirt down.

_Anywho, I'm singing in the school play, with Riku and Kairi, which should be cool, right?_

_WRONG._

* * *

**Chapter 12: Competition**

I basically screwed up.

Well, singing in front of, like, fifty-something students is way harder than singing in front of Kairi. It didn't help that Riku was glaring at me for the whole thing, or that he and Kairi kept glancing at each other. Seriously, that didn't help at all.

Which was why at the end of the class, Sephiroth called me over to have a little 'talk'.

"Now, I am going to ask you a question, and you are going to give me an answer. Are you serious about this play?" I nodded—what else could I have done? "Really? Or are you just saying that because I'll make your life a living hell for the rest of your school year if you don't?" I shook my head furiously. "Good, because I am serious about this play as well. I could take you down from this lead and make you a tree or a Heartless if I wanted. But I won't, because I am serious about this play. I could just as well make Riku have this lead, seeing as he is showing much more feeling than you are. But I won't, because, like I may have previously said, am serious about this play. If you do not show how equally serious you are about this production on Monday, I will make sure you will no longer set a foot on this school campus for the rest of your teenage years. Am I understood?"

I nodded vigorously, and he muttered something about making sure I remembered my lines next time and let me off.

I was late for Phys/Chem, but that was okay, since Rinoa had to walk her mutt and was late as well. People were actually brave enough to go and _stroke _the worthless animal. I kept my distance, of course. Shouldn't it be against the school rules to allow animals on the school campus? Pfft, stupid Principal Yoshida.

"Scared?" I jumped when I noticed Kairi was standing next to me.

"Scared? Yeh right," I replied once I had gotten over my shock. "You're in this class?"

"Uh…yeh," Kairi replied, giggling a bit. "Actually, I didn't want to take Phys/Chem, but I was one subject behind and had to choose between this, Psychology or Business and Management." I shuddered at the last one, and she rolled her eyes. "Yeh, not much of a choice, huh?"

"Reading minds woulda been pretty cool though, right?"

She rolled her eyes at my joke—she seemed to do that a lot. I didn't mind, though; she did it pretty well. "Not interested."

Then Riku called her over, claiming that she was his new lab partner, and giving me a challenging glare.

Riku: 1 Sora: 0

I got back after lunch, in Math. I managed to get Kairi's attention, and pulled funny faces whenever she looked over. I got the desired effect; it got Riku fuming and Kairi in hysterics.

Riku: 1 Sora: 1

Riku managed to get me back, pretending he didn't understand some Math problems so that she'd explain them to her. He managed to get all her attention, but he eventually got her rolling her eyes and wondering how he previously thought Calculus was a breeze.

He even managed to get her attention in History, bragging about how he had apparently wrestled a live bear last year at camp, and people seemed to believe him. He even wanted to demonstrate how, volunteering to use me as an example, but Barrett stopped him before he completely destroyed my skeletal structure.

Riku: 3 Sora: 1

She wasn't there in English Literature, and Riku took his time to mock me.

"How's it going?" He asked mockingly, leaning smugly on his palm.

I tried to ignore him, but he just resorted to prodding my back, so I replied. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

"Uh-huh. Hn." Riku rolled his eyes. "She's _so _into me, Sora. You don't stand a chance."

"She'd have to be crazy to like someone like you," I replied without thinking. I was drastically swerving off the tracks of the Book's advice.

His eyelid twitched, and he frowned. "Well she'd have to be even crazier to like you?"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?"

"HARADA! KYUMUKE!"

We stopped.

"Are you two so madly in love with each other that you can't keep quiet for one measly hour?"

People thought Genesis' joke was funny, and laughed. I don't know why, but I blushed, and Riku looked disgusted, though his cheeks weren't exactly pale either.

"I think I recall giving you two essays to do for today, am I right?"

_Shit_, I thought. I had been so preoccupied with Kairi that I'd completely forgotten about the stupid LOVELESS essay.

Riku, surprisingly, had actually done it. I heard him tell Tidus that it was the same one from last year. Mr. Rhapsodos looked over it and smiled at Riku, then held his hand out for mine. I mumbled that I didn't have it, and I ended up with an hour of detention that evening.

I arrived in the detention hall in a particularly sour mood, because I was wasting one hour of Drama practice with Kairi in detention. I wasn't alone, though. There was a lesbian couple, Hayner, Roxas, and a tall guy that must have been a senior. His hair was in a mullet style, and was a strawberry blond color. He was talking to Roxas, and Roxas looked like he knew him. Hayner was at the other end of the hall, digging his pen into the desk as he decorated it with curse words.

I felt a bit uneasy as I sat down on one of the desks, and tried as hard as possible not to stare at the lesbian couple. Some people say that lesbian chicks are sexy, but…well, I just find them freaky. No offence.

I tried to work on my LOVELESS essay, but I didn't understand how Riku managed to get up to the intended 600-words, and sat there squinting my eyes at the cursive sentences for most of the hour. I fell asleep some time later, and was woken up by one of the lesbian girls when it was time to go home.

I was about to head home when I saw Roxas heading the opposite way, and decided to follow him. He was with the tall blond guy, and they seemed to be conversing amicably. I followed them cautiously, becoming weary when he started heading into the ghetto areas of the island, even passing by the Children's Shelter. I was just about ready to head home when Roxas and Tall Dude suddenly stopped.

Roxas looked around cautiously, amazingly not noticing me hiding behind a trash can, before removing a parcel from his backpack. Tall Dude took it excitedly, giving Roxas a thumbs up before tossing it in his satchel. He pulled out a packet of cigarettes and handed them to Roxas, and they stood there smoking and talking in hushed voices. I was too far away to eavesdrop, and I was just about to give up and head home when someone else stepped into the scene.

It was a young woman who closely resembled a prostitute; she was wearing tight leather shorts and net tights, a belly-free sleeveless top that showed way too much cleavage, platform black boots and long black gloves that ran to her elbows. She was also wearing too much mascara and bright red lipstick, but to be honest it'd be a lie to say she wasn't attractive.

She strutted up to Roxas and Tall Dude, asking Roxas for a cigarette, which he gave her, before giving him an air-kiss. Roxas seemed to already know her, and I frowned. Since when did Roxas ever associate with call girls?

I stayed there crouching behind the trash can until my knees felt numb and the sky started getting dark. I didn't dare come out of my hiding place, and I didn't even know the way home. I waited and waited until Roxas finally finished smoking and said goodbye, pulling on his hood and heading home. I followed him from a distance, taking another route once I found out where we were.

I didn't know whether I should be worried or angry that Roxas hadn't told me about any of his outdoor friends. I eventually settled on nonchalance and decided to ignore it all, minding my own business.

_That_ was my mistake.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Mum and Zack were in a particularly hostile mood on Friday morning.

When I entered the kitchen, Mum and Zack were simply glaring at each other with all their might. They seemed to be doing some kind of staring contest. They may be thirty-nine years old, but they sure do act immature some times.

I looked at Roxas for an explanation, but he just shrugged, nodding his head to some Evanescence. I sighed and headed to the fridge, feeding on some yogurt and switching on the TV.

There was just the usual crap on the news network; some president giving a speech, some street gang committing some murder, some teenage mum throwing some baby in the freezer…you know the drill. I changed the channel and started listening to some music. Rihanna was busy wondering what her name was on MTV, and I was about to change the channel when Rihanna's face suddenly transformed into Kairi's, and I had to rub my eyes harshly before it went back to normal.

I watched a few cartoons before heading off to school, Mum and Zack shouting in the background.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Riku and I were still at it the next day.

He managed to get her attention by drawing a very elaborate love heart (in dots, of course), flashing her a smile. She seemed to like it, and Riku earned a kiss on the cheek.

Riku: 4 Sora: 1

I was so angry that I banged my pencil right through my sheet of paper, and got an F on my Art evaluation.

She did come up to me at Lunch and ask why I wasn't at Drama practice the previous day, and I had to explain that I had gotten detention from Genesis. She asked what book I was doing and, when I told her, offered to do my essay for me. I said okay, dumbfounded as she waved goodbye and returned to her throne i.e. the seat next to Riku at the Cool Table.

Riku: 4 Sora: 2(…?)

Thankfully Penelo had cheer practice and wasn't there to have heard that I was doing Drama Practice with Kairi instead of her.

While I was still jubilating over what had just happened, Lightning asked me who I was cosplaying as for the Anime Expo, and I stared at her dumbly. "Huh?"

"You haven't forgotten, have you?" Lightning's eyes darkened dangerously.

I laughed nervously. "N-No way! I'm…I just didn't hear you…correctly…"

"So? Who're you cosplaying as?"

"Uh…" I wracked my brains for a random Japanese name. "…Na…ruto?"

"Naruto?" Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Hm. Okay. Don't you think he's a little overrated? I mean, _everyone _will be going as him."

"Eh…I already got the costume and everything," I lied. I was just really hungry; we were having Shepherd's Pie today, and I wanted to eat it in peace. "Can't really change now. What about you?"

She started going on about who she was cosplaying as and how much her costume cost while I made a personal reminder to ask Xion if she has any spare cosplay outfits. It was just as I was about to dig into my creamy pie when…it happened.

For once, I don't know who the hell to blame for what followed.

"Hey, SASQUATCH!"

_Oh HELL no._

SPLAT!

Silence.

Then the school body burst into new peals of hysterical laughter.

Thankfully, I hadn't received any pie straight in the face, but straight in the back of my head. It had soaked my spikes with potato and mince, and it didn't exactly feel nice as it trickled down my back. Riku's friends were in hysterics; I knew their laughter better than anyone's.

I felt like crying. Second year in a row eating Shepherd's Pie, and it once again just _had _to end up in my hair. My grip on my cutlery tightened as I tried to block out the laughter. _Just calm down, Sora. Calm. Down. Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. In. Out. Don't do anything stupid. Just—_

_Oh fuck it all. _

I angrily pushed myself off my feet, grabbed my plate of pie, and flung it at Riku.

I have to say, it was quite a good shot—I got him square in the face.

The cafeteria was silent, and all that could be heard was my breathing, the occasional cafeteria lady coughing, and the tick-tock of the school Grandfather Clock.

Then all of a sudden, Riku yelled: "FOOD FIGHT!"

And all hell broke loose.

Food of all sorts was flying everywhere; juice, pancakes, cupcakes, pie, fruit, spaghetti, porridge, yogurt, and, of course, Shepherd's Pie. Everyone went wild, flinging plates of chow anywhere and everywhere, hiding under tables for refuge, smearing ketchup on their faces and omitting war cries. The freshmen looked traumatized, and I even saw one or two crying.

But I kept my focus on Riku the whole time, and vice versa. We picked up anything and everything we found on the way, tossing and chucking our trays wildly at each other, spraying ketchup and mustard and curry sauce and whatever liquid we could find into each other's hair and down each other's underpants…

And, I have to admit, it was sorta…fun.

Until Principal Yoshida arrived.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone came to a halt, except one plate of flying pasta.

Principal Yoshida was too slow to react.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

About thirty minutes later, Riku and I were waiting outside the Principal's office.

Riku's hair was decorated with ketchup, mustard, and the occasional pickle and mince rind. My hair wasn't any different, and my underwear felt very, very uncomfortable. My clothes were sticking to my skin, and my eyes burned from the curry Riku had sprayed at them.

"Thanks a lot." Riku was glowering at me.

"Hey, you started it," I shrugged.

It was silent for some time, then Riku said: "Let's face it: I _so _pwned ya."

I stared at him incredulously. "_Yeah_ right. Didn't you see when I threw that spaghetti bolognaise right in your face? That was SO a bullseye, man!"

"Not by a long shot," Riku retorted. "When I sprayed you with my twin BBQ sauce guns…_that_ was expertise."

"That was _nothing_ compared to the time I poured that blueberry slushie down your pants!"

"It _so_ was!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Kyumuke, Harada, in my office, NOW."

We turned around to see Principal Yoshida's furious face. He motioned for us to come in before disappearing behind the door. Riku and I shared a look.

"But that was _nothing_ compared to when that pasta hit Principal Yoshida in the face."

"Damn straight."

Riku and I shared a laugh, and, for once, I thought that maybe Riku wasn't actually that bad.

Keyword: Maybe.

* * *

**DONE IN ONE DAY! WOOT! **

**I'm supposed to be revising for my Shakespeare assessment, but, like an idiot, I aint. Hmm. **

**Wow, it's already passed midnight? I'd better go, then…**

**XOXOX to all my dear fans! **

**Don't forget to R&R!**


	13. Family and Friends

**A/N: Ugh. I'm still shuddering after having to memorize all those Shakespearean names and phrases. **

**I should be studying, but I think I've overstudied and, well, us students need a break once in a while, kya?**

**Well, whatever, you folks don't care about any of this, do ya?**

**Review replies!**

**CheshireGiraffe: You can't change your penname enough, can you? Haha, just joking. And why would Sora end up in a Hello Kitty outfit? Random much? Please clarify… **

**Hey man: Yo, I'm a woman.**

**Superpeanutbutter: Hmm…maybe. They're not friends, yet, but they might be, in the future, if my plot bunnies allow it. You'll find out 'bout Roxas soon enough…I'm still thinking of making a double-MERGEd RokuNami fic to go with this trilogy…but that's when I catch up with Apologize and Angel. And, yes, there shall be some connection…connecting…connecting…ness…ugh. **

**Morgead'sgirl: Who knows? Love has no boundaries! (Ignore that, that was way OOC of me. I only believe love can exist if you and your partner share the same beliefs and goals. Well, at least it's easier to love someone if you're heading to the same goal, or something like that. Oh sod it all.) I'll try and update as frequently as I have been (I mean, two chappies in four days! Now THAT is a record!), but I can't guarantee you anything…you know how Dads and teachers are…**

**Gxmwp: Don't worry, he just might.**

**ShadowSpooky: Yes, it was quick. I was typing at a gersquillion miles per hour, aight? Sora shall catch up, at least almost. And the guy who threw the pasta was some idiot who hates it when they put the corn in the chili. Question answered? Keke. **

**JaxDaxPeaceMaker: Thanks, and sure thing! **

**FULL SPEED AHEAD!**

**Disclaimer: I've run out of cool, witty ways to say that I'm not the effing owner of Kingdom Hearts. **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I'm kinda losing badly against Riku._

Riku managed to get her attention by drawing a very elaborate love heart, flashing her a smile. She seemed to like it, and Riku earned a kiss on the cheek.

Riku: 4 Sora: 1

_I find out that Roxas has some…interesting friends._

She strutted up to Roxas and Tall Dude, asking Roxas for a cigarette, which he gave her, before giving him an air-kiss. Roxas seemed to already know her, and I frowned. Since when did Roxas ever associate with call girls?

_Mum and Dad are kinda in a fight…_

"I _told _you, Aerith, if I want to get a promotion I'm going to have to—"

"I don't give a damn about your fucking promotion, Zack!"

"Well you'd better! Who is it that makes the money to put food on the table, huh?"

"You don't need a damn promotion to put food on the table!"

_And on top of all this, I'm invited to some Anime Expo which I promised to attend._

_I guess it just comes to show: Popularity has its price._

* * *

**Chapter 13: Family and Friends**

It was amazing how many people said bye to me on Friday afternoon.

People that didn't even know my name at the beginning of the week were suddenly all over me, saluting me and commending my excellent shots and amazing spray aim etc. I tried to take the Book's advice and say thank you to everyone that commended me, but that wasn't exactly easy seeing as everyone was speaking at the same time, and I was getting late for the bus.

Principal Yoshida gave us a thirty-minute reprimanding session about respect for the school property, cleaning staff and cafeteria ladies. For some reason he didn't make us clean up the entire cafeteria, but instead gave us an hour of detention for Monday.

I was at my locker when someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around to see it was Kairi. Her hair was wet and she was wearing what I assumed was her sports outfit. She didn't look that happy.

"Did you have to do that?" Kairi frowned, fingering her hair.

"Hey, it was Riku who started it," I shrugged, stuffing my Drama script in my bookbag. "Not me."

"You retaliated," Kairi retorted, crossing her arms. "Because of you two bickering, my school uniform is RUINED." She showed me what I supposed was her uniform. It was stained with bolognaise and other not-so-nice foodstuffs.

"Uh…" I looked at her sheepishly. "S-Sorry."

She looked like she was trying hard to keep her frown, but visibly softened and let out a sigh. "It's not your fault. I mean, Riku kinda pushed you over the edge, huh?"

"Yeh," I replied. "He's an idiot." I slammed my locker door shut.

"He's not as bad as you make him sound," Kairi protested, walking beside me as we headed to the bus park. "He's a pretty nice guy."

I didn't trust myself to answer that, so I kept quiet. I joined Kairi in the number Three bus, and we continued our 20 questions game. I learned that Kairi's favorite music genre is actually soul, and not pop, but that she listens to basically everything. Kairi laughed when I told her that I absolutely detest angsty music and anything by Evanescence and My Chemical Romance, and laughed when my face paled when she informed me that an Evanescence song is in the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack. She was generous enough not to make us sing it in our Drama Practice session.

"So, whadda you wanna sing first?"

"I dunno."

We were in her bedroom and she was talking to me through her bathroom door. I idly inspected her room, taking in the green walls and furniture. I was envious of her. My favorite color is actually orange, but Roxas will kill me if I even try to change the color of my room.

I paused when I noticed a picture on her bedside table. I picked it up and inspected it. It was a picture of younger-looking Kairi, probably when she was fifteen or sixteen, maybe. She was smiling at the camera with her arm around a smaller blonde girl who I soon realized was Namine. Namine was smiling too, nervously playing with her hands and not looking off into the distance. The picture was taken in some kind of park or garden, and the sun radiated off their porcelain faces.

I was still admiring Kairi's beauty when I heard her voice behind me. "That photo was taken ages ago," she said in a somewhat strained voice. "With my half-sister, Namine."

"Namine's related to you…" I blinked at the two faces; they looked so similar, and I gave myself a virtual face-palm at how I didn't realize that fact earlier.

"Mm-hmm." She took the photo from me and placed it back on her table. "Why don't let's get started?"

She looked like she was suddenly eager to change topic, so I obliged. Two uneventful hours passed, singing and reading through the script, when Kairi's mother opened the door.

"Mom!" Kairi exclaimed, leaping off her bed in shock. "I-I…I didn't know you'd be back this early!"

Her mum kept quiet, keeping her eyes glued to me. She looked pretty young, and I could see where Kairi got her beauty from. Her lips were set in a smile and she was looking me up and down. "Who is this lovely young man?"

"This is Sora, Mum, from school." Kairi replied, looking a little flustered. "My…best friend."

I stared at her. Since when did I become her best friend? It'd been less than a week since I met her, and I spend most of the time we talked embarrassing myself and staring at her hair.

At first I was ecstatic, triumphant even. _I_ was Kairi's best friend, _not_ Riku. I had beaten him in one thing, and it had taken me barely a week. She considered not Riku, school Blitzball champion and proclaimed Sex God, blessed with heavenly looks and non-steroid-infused muscles, as her best friend, but _me_, Sora Kyumuke, a former social reject and school outcast, with no appealing traits or attributes whatsoever. I had earned the title of 'the best friend'. I was catching up to him, and the score was now Riku: 4 Sora: 3.

Then my happiness died down and I realized that being called her best friend wasn't exactly a good thing. In the chick-flicks, the best friend is always the one who ends up on the side, the second-best, the third-wheel, the heartbroken loser that thought he was actually getting somewhere until it all came crashing down and she announced that she was getting married to some douchebag, and then he realizes that he didn't stand a single chance against her new beau, because said douchebag is way better that him in every single line of thought.

Either that, or he's gay and hasn't yet come out of his shell.

If I was her best friend, all that meant was that she didn't exactly have any real feelings for me. If she did, it was a sort of platonic love, or something, and that she was really in love with someone else. And I had a feeling I knew who this someone else was.

"Best friend, huh?" I was pulled back into reality when I felt Kairi's mum's gaze on me, and met her eyes confidently. "Nice to meet you, Sora."

"Same to you, uh…Kairi's Mom."

Kairi's mum must have thought that was funny, and laughed. "Aw, aren't you adorable. Call me Ariel, it makes me sound younger. I've heard a lot about you, Sora."

"Mum…" Kairi groaned, giving her mum a look. "Can you, um, leave us alone now?"

"Sure thing," Ariel giggled, disappearing behind the door. "Just don't get too frisky…"

Kairi yelled in indignation, and I started laughing at how adorable she looked when she was pouting. She turned to me and rolled her eyes, giving me a sharp slap at the back of my head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Enough fun and games; let's get serious," Kairi muttered, sitting down on the bed next to me. "Sorry about my Mum, she's…" Her words died out as she thought of how to end her sentence.

"Nah, it's okay," I replied. "I know how mum's can get."

"Tell me about it," Kairi sighed, running her fingers through her hair, lying down on her back. I wish she wouldn't do that; it makes her boobs stick out more. "I'm _so tired_…"

"Same," I replied. "I can go home now, if you want."

"No…stay…" She was yawning as she said that, so I wasn't convinced.

"No, seriously," I insisted. "It's fine. Plus, I gotta get going anyway; my mum was mad at how late I got back last time."

"Mmm…oh well…" She turned around and lay on her stomach, resting her head on her pillow. "Goodnight."

"It's five o'clock in the afternoon, Kai."

"Meaning?"

I chuckled, omitting a yawn of my own before giving her a pat on the head and heading downstairs.

Ariel was in the kitchen, and asked if I was Aerith's child, to which I answered yes. She suggested that Kairi could come over to mine sometime, but I rejected the offer and half-lied that our house was undergoing some turbulences at the moment, with Mum and Zack fighting and everything. I also added that I didn't want Kairi to know, to which he Mum said okay and shrugged. She even gave me a muffin and some apple juice for the road.

After making a tour of the block, I arrived at my house. I could hear Mum and Zack yelling through the door, and I was wary to open it. I badly to pee after drinking all that apple juice at Kairi's, so I entered against my will.

"—I told you, Aerith, I was doing this all for you! Why can't you understand!"

"Why didn't you consult me first before taking that decision?"

"Because I knew you'd say no!"

"Where's the logic in that, Zack? Huh! TELL ME!"

"…"

"You can take your stupid money and your stupid airplane reservations and **get the hell out of my life**!"

"NOW YOU LISTEN, AERITH!"

I approached the kitchen cautiously, suddenly curious. I didn't know what was happening. Usually, when Mum and Zack fought, it didn't last long. Zack seemed to be madly in love with Mum when he married her. I didn't know what had suddenly pushed him over the edge.

"You need this money! And the boys need it too! Do you just want to throw away their future like that?"

"Just stop for a minute and think about what _they_ want!"

My heart was thudding dangerously at every word I heard, and I didn't know whether I should interrupt them or not.

"I **know** what they want! They want food that isn't expired, clothes that aren't second-hand, a house that isn't falling apart—"

"Oh shut _up_, Zack! I've had enough of you trying to take-over my family! These are my kids and this is my house and I need you sticking your—"

Then all of a sudden there was a loud cracking sound, and my face blanched. I slowly backed away and made my way upstairs, blocking my ears so I wouldn't hear my Mum's cries.

I ran into my room and slammed the door behind me, willing myself to forget everything I'd heard. I felt more like a coward than ever, just like I had when Dad used to hit Mum. It was Ventus who finally stood up to Dad and threatened to kill him if he touched Mum again, but that didn't exactly go the way we thought it would. Dad stopped hitting Mum alright, but he stopped living and talking with Mum as well.

I grabbed Roxas' headphones and shakily pressed the play button, and Breaking Benjamin's 'Diary of Jane' began to play. I realized that Roxas had been listening to a lot of love songs lately, which was probably due to the fact that he had the hots for Namine. I smirked at the irony of it all; Roxas and I were both in love with our next-door neighbors.

Only Roxas, of course, didn't know this.

Coming to think of it, I hadn't actually ever seen Namine in Kairi's house. I remember Ashe saying that she was going out with some guy, and concluded that she was probably living with him.

I decided not to tell Roxas that.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I must have been a lot more tired than I thought I was, because I fell asleep soon after and didn't wake up until the next morning. I immediately freaked when my alarm went off and I remembered that I had an Anime Expo to go to in three hours.

I rummaged through our 'Dirt Pile', as Roxas and I dubbed it, of dirty laundry, and retrieved my phone. I quickly dialed Xion's number, praying for her to pick up.

After three rings, she did.

"~Moshi moshi!" Xion's cheery voice came from the other end of the line.

"Hey, uh, Xion? I kinda need your help. It's urgent."

"Urgent, sou deshou? What's your problem?"

"I need a cosplay outfit, pronto." I looked at my watch; it was eight-thirty, and Lightning would be over in approximately an hour. "Naru…tard, or something."

"_Naruto_," she corrected me, complete with the Japanese accent and everything. "Uzumaki, daijoubu?"

"Yeh, yeh, whatever."

Xion, by the way, is my half-cousin. She's Tifa's sister's daughter, but lives with Vanitas on holidays. She came over to our house whenever Vanitas did last summer. She's about fifteen-years-old and has short black hair, which she never lets grow for a sole reason: cosplay.

What you must know about Xion is that she is a huge anime/manga freak. She calls herself an 'otaku', and is proud of it. She is in love with cosplaying, and is that kind of otaku that goes berserk when someone pronounces a manga/anime character in the American way instead of the Japanese way. She even knows how to speak said language. Well, at least she thinks so. She inserts Japanese expressions in every sentence she can, which generally gets on people's nerves. Especially mine.

She even has this outrageous manga collection, which she never ceases to brag about. She always has her nose in a manga, and she must have re-read all her manga about ten times, because she knows everything that happens and why. She has a crush on practically every manga/anime shounen known to man, and has an 'I LOVE ITACHI' t-shirt. She's president of the DN Angel fanclub in her school, she says, and she even resorted to _fanfiction_. I like writing stories and all, but not of _fictional characters_. I mean, where's the creativity in all that? Plus, all of Xion's fanfics always end up with two guys having 'hot sex', like that's even possible. She says that English teachers approve of it, but I don't see Genesis approving of _any _of Xion's M-rated fanfiction.

Anyway, enough about her.

"Hmm…Naruto Nine-Tailed Kyuubi or Regular Naruto?"

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I chose Regular to be safe. She said that, okay, she'd be coming over, with a '_kawaii_ _shounen fuku_, _kya_?'

Xion, luckily, only lives on the other side of town, so it only took a few minutes for her to arrive. I ran downstairs and opened the front door, only to meet Xion in some cosplay outfit. She was wearing a blonde wig and what looked like a school uniform or something, and announced that she was cosplaying Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist. I honestly didn't care.

"Here ya go!" Xion handed me a parcel. "Naruto cosplay _fuku_!"

I gave her a quick hug and patted her on the head before going to change. I was ready to squeeze into it if I had to, but she amazingly had the outfit in my size. It even came equipped with yellow hair-dye, one of those ninja headband things, a list of Naruto catchphrases, and a free Naruto volume 1, (which I chucked in the trash can, of course). I had a shower, dyed my hair and put on the outfit, and was just running a hairbrush through my hair when the bell rang. Roxas raised an eyebrow when he saw my new hairdo and outfit.

"Anime Expo with Lightning," I explained to Mum as I grabbed my breakfast. Mum gave me a silent nod, and I noticed that she had a bruise on her cheek. I didn't ask her about it though, and left without a word.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I almost didn't recognize Penelo, who was going as Yuuki Cross from Vampire Knight, and Lightning, who was going as some chick from Sailor Moon. The backseat was full of anime/manga portfolios, so Penelo had to squish in the front with me.

I was kind of amazed that Lightning knew how to drive, but she's a senior, so I guess that was expected.

Penelo kept taking my hand and squeezing it once in a while, which I thought was a bit odd, but I didn't want to be rude and tell her to stop. It was a thirty-minute car ride from my house to the venue, which was near the South Beach. I started feeling nervous when I saw the millions of otakus and cosplayers flooding the beach.

Lightning was right; there were so many people cosplaying as Naruto that I nearly lost myself. Don't ask how I managed to do that. Some of the otakus were trying so hard to be Japanese; it was a pitiful sight. I noticed that almost all the cosplayers were female, and felt a bit odd.

I walked behind Lightning and Penelo for most of the Anime Expo. Many pink-haired girls in red outfits that were seemingly cosplaying as some Sakura girl asked to take pictures with me, and some even dared kiss me on the cheek. Thankfully, Penelo came just in time before I lost my kissing virginity.

_Ugh. I've been watching way too many chick flicks. _

Then the Anime Expo actually started. It basically consisted of bad cosplayers doing failed skits and showing off bad artwork, but I laughed when necessary, even though I didn't get most of the jokes. I even noticed some kids trying to cosplay Hiroshima and Yuuki from Kingdom Hearts, which made me laugh a little.

We stopped for snacks at a nearby bar, slurping on Citronella Waves and Banapple Twists and Strawberry Flurries. The bar girl proposed some sushi, which I declined. Penelo and Lightning looked at me like I was mad, but I replied that I was a strict meatarian and didn't eat anything fishy. Penelo retorted that 'meatarian' isn't a word, and that sushi is the best part of an Anime Convention.

But I stood my ground, and they were all like 'Suits yourself'.

After watching some more failed skits and booing at crap artwork, we decided to head down to the beach. Penelo was the first to strip out of her outfit, followed by Lightning. I stood on the side and watched as they sprayed each other with sea water, trying not to be distracted by the fact that they were in nothing but bikinis, and that they were barely meters away from me and not behind a television screen.

Penelo eventually called me over to join, but I declined. Lightning gave me one of her threatening glares, and I had to oblige. Knowing that Xion would kill me if I soaked her outfit, I had to take it off, and waded into the water in my underclothes. My face must have been flickering all shades of red by the time I had submerged myself in sea water, because Lightning and Penelo didn't stop giggling at me.

The sun eventually went down, and we had to head home. Penelo fell asleep on my shoulder, but I didn't wake her up, to be polite. Lightning thanked me for coming with a kiss on the cheek, and I dumbly waved goodbye at her. She smelt of candy floss and maple syrup.

The house was silent as I opened the door and headed upstairs to my room, which was empty. Roxas' headphones were on his bed, along with a parcel. I heard the tap running in our en suite bathroom, and, curious, picked up the parcel. It was light and when gave it a little shake and held it close to my ear it sounded like it contained sand. I noticed it was slightly torn open and was just about to look inside when someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back, snatching the parcel back in the process.

It was Roxas, and he wasn't happy. "DON'T. TOUCH. MY STUFF."

I nodded sheepishly, looking at my feet. He stuffed the parcel under his pillow I heaved a sigh as I undressed into my pajamas i.e. my underwear. I lay down on my bed and looked over at Roxas, who was lying down on his stomach. My heart clenched.

"Hey…Roxas?"

"…"

"I…I just wanted to say…if you want to tell someone what you're going through…I'm…I'm ready to listen."

"…"

I thought of saying something else, but then Roxas switched off his bedside lamp and the room was engulfed in darkness. I heaved another tired sigh before resigning and drifting off to sleep.

Well, at least I'd _tried_.

* * *

**Was that long enough for you? Well, it should be, because it's the longest chappie to date.**

**Once again, I'm updating at midnight. Haha. **

**Oh, and the slushie names belong to **_**glass0ghost**_**, the author of the 'Cupid's Kiss' fanfiction! Which I'm in the middle of reading, by the way. **

**XOXOX to all my fans, and a big thanks for the reviews! **

**P.S: Wish me luck on my Shakespeare test! **


	14. Tumblin'

**A/N: So, yeh, I expected another quick update, but Apologize, Angel, and end of mid-term work called. Plus, my History teach decided to be an ass and call my parents because he said me and my best friend were **_**talking**_**, even though we weren't. Okay, so maybe we were, but in really low voices, and plus, it was about Japan, which we're studying about, and other people talk WAY more than us. But no, our History teacher decided to be an asshole and call my mum, who wasn't at all happy, and probably won't give me pocket munny this week.**

**So what. I'll deliberately flunk History, if that's what the stupid asshole of a teacher wants.**

**(And don't worry, even if for some inexplicable reason my History teach someday falls upon this particular fanfic, he won't understand a thing, since he's French. LOSER.)**

**Nah, I'm just kidding. I actually care about my academic non-failure, and if I want a laptop, which will lengthen my fanficcy writing time, I'd better hurry up and get to work.**

**Ugh. Hell of a last week of mid-term. But at least now I'm on HOLIDAY! **

**Review replies!**

**Gxmwp: I know right? I didn't actually want to make Zack evil, but I needed another subplot. ^^ I know Sora shoulda stood up for his mum, but he's sorta a coward. The day when he manages to ask Kairi out shall be the day he stands up to his stepdad. **

**Hey man: Haha, real funny. I think I'll do the MERGE fic when I'm done with the APO and ANG, and when I'm updated my Fanmail Service fic. ^^ And thanks for the encouragement! It really helped. :D**

**ElleGal: YAY ME!**

**ShadowSpooky: I know right? I haven't watched the anime or anything, but I think I've heard of Goku. ^^ But I don't know how Sora would manage to change his hair color…(Oh, and I know this is a bit late but, just so you know, I don't hate Kesha. The Kesha bashing was actually just for the clique sensation, or something. Eff this, I don't even know what I'm talking about.) And you should SO check out Xion's fanfiction. They are SO hot. (xD) **

**Roxymccartney: Thankies! And a blonde Sora would be AwKwArD! **

**Morgead'sgirl: I haven't finished Cupid's Kiss yet, but I sure do plan on doing so. And I wasn't sure what to do with Xion in this fic, but I wanted her to be related to Sora, like she is in the game. And I also wanted to play a bit with her personality, and voila! She ended up as a super-mega otaku. And don't worry, I like you as a stalker! (Sounded equally stalkerish…xD)**

**CheshireGiraffe: I haven't ever gone to an Anime Expo, so I had to kinda imagine and use my own knowledge from watching JenxtheJinx and the Demyx Time crew (a cosplay series on YouTube that I sorta got addicted to). Please clarify what BROWNED means…! Haha. I'm just curious. And yeh, Sora's a coward. He will stand up to his dad…the day he asks Kairi out without peeing on himself (i.e. never). And I basically hate Shakespeare, and I don't think I'll ever know what 'Forsooth' means. But it's compulsory in our curriculum, and I'm kinda known as the class English Geek.**

**Superpeanutbutter: Yup, he does! I totally don't agree with most of the things he says, but I needed a guy's point of view, and I know lots of guys that hate anime freaks. And, yeh, Sora was the hottest Naruto EVER…he even got photos on Facebook! ^^ And yes, I finally checked out what DN Angel is. And I just found out that Riku Harada in DN Angel is actually a girl. Silly me. ^^ I don't know if Sora will EVER be able to break through Roxas' shell…**

**Okie chokes, onto the chappie! **

**Disclaimer: Seriously?**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I'm Kairi's BEST FRIEND. Though I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing._

"This is Sora, Mum, from school." Kairi replied, looking a little flustered. "My…best friend."

_Mum and Zack have been fighting for quite some time now, but lately Zack has been going over the edge…_

Then all of a sudden there was a loud cracking sound, and my face blanched. I slowly backed away and made my way upstairs, blocking my ears so I wouldn't hear my Mum's cries.

_I go to the stupid Anime Expo as Naruto._

It basically consisted of bad cosplayers doing failed skits and showing off bad artwork, but I laughed when necessary, even though I didn't get most of the jokes.

_And I, well, try to find out what's bugging Roxas, and why he's hiding parcels of something from me. _

"…"

"I…I just wanted to say…if you want to tell someone what you're going through…I'm…I'm ready to listen."

"…"

_Well. At least I _tried_._

* * *

**Chapter 14: Tumblin'**

In school that Monday, Aqua handed us back our Spelling Tests.

I was surprised to see I'd gotten a D- and not an F. Kairi, of course, had gotten and A+.

"How did you get a D?" Kairi was complaining, frowning at my sheet of paper. "I never made any of these mistakes!"

"Well, I knew it wasn't Sora who did the work." Aqua appeared next to us, and I froze. "But I couldn't exactly give him an F, could I? Next time, Sora, just tell me if you're having problems instead of cheating."

"That's discrimination!" Kairi huffed when she'd walked away. "We need to start a riot about this! We have the right to cheat!"

"Uh, Kai, it's okay," I chuckled nervously. She was acting kind of ridiculous. "Look, I'm just happy I got something higher than an E for once."

She stared at me. "Seriously? That's the highest you've ever got in a spelling test."

"Yeh, cause my parents can't pay for a special school."

Kairi blinked at me, confused. "Huh? Why would you need to—"

"I'm dyslexic," I told her. "I thought it was obvious."

"Really?" Kairi looked away, biting her lip. "S-Sorry, I didn't know…"

She looked so sad like that that it hurt. "Hey, I don't mind. Really."

She searched my face anxiously for something, and then sighed. "Okay. But, you know, if you need any help with your homework or anything…I could help, if you want."

I mumbled a thanks, feeling special for some reason. We continued our twenty questions game; we had five questions left. We'd used all the 'favorite thing' questions, so it took some time for us to find questions actually worth answering.

We continued the game until the bell rang, and we were heading to Sports when Kairi asked an odd question.

"What's the best article of clothing you can think of a girl wearing?"

I blinked at her for a second, looking away and thinking. Okay, so lingerie didn't qualify as clothing, at least I didn't think so, and I wasn't about to ask Kairi. Girls in short skirts and tank tops and all that just look like prostitutes. I started thinking, hard. Trying to remember…

I finally found my answer. "A wedding dress."

Kairi looked at me like I was insane. "A…wedding dress?"

"Yup, a wedding dress." I couldn't look Kairi straight in the eyes as I spoke. "When a girl's in a wedding dress, you know, walking down the aisle and everything, she couldn't look any happier. Her face seems to illuminate with light and she's thinking that nothing could be better than that…" I paused, lowering my head as I started to think about Mum. "It's the happiest moment of her life when she's in that dress, which is why I think that's the best thing a girl could be wearing."

My heart started clenching as everything that had happened that weekend started replaying in my mind. Zack had hit Mum again on Sunday, but I couldn't do anything about it, simply because I was too scared. I was mad at Zack for ever saying he loved Mum and walked her down the aisle if he was just going to treat her like Dad did. I was mad at Dad for leaving and letting Zack come and marry Mum. I was mad at Mum for letting Zack hit her.

But most of all I was mad at myself for not doing anything about it all.

"Sora…?" I looked over at Kairi, who was looking at me sympathetically. "Is…is anything wrong?"

I didn't know what to answer, and lowered my eyes. "…nothing's wrong. I'm…" I couldn't finish the sentence as my throat clogged up, and I started running to the Sports Hall.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the smartest of ideas, because I arrived at the gymnasium wheezing like a weasel (bad simile, I know). I didn't even have time to get my inhaler because Terra was being such an ass and said that, because I was late, I had to do fifty push-ups.

I nearly passed out around the fifth push-up, so he allowed me use my inhaler and take a glass of water, but didn't leave me out in the Team Sports.

"As you all know, the Blitzball Season is approaching," Terra said later that hour when everyone had finished Warm-Ups. "I know I said we'd have Five Warm-Up Phases, but Principal Yoshida just told me that we have only five weeks until the competition begins, so we'd better get cracking."

Those who were in the Blitz team tittered in excitement, while I headed for a nearby bench.

"Where d'you think you're going, Kyumuke?" Terra stopped me, frowning.

"Huh? Oh, uh, I'm not in the Blitzball team."

"And is that meant to be an excuse?"

I stared at him. "Yes."

Terra didn't take that very well and forced me to do another ten push-ups for insolence. Riku snorted at my attempts to even push myself off from the ground. When I had finished, as sweaty as gym shorts, Terra sighed and palmed his face.

"Let's just hope you're better on the pitch…" he mumbled.

I didn't understand, and neither did pretty much anyone else. "B-but…I'm not on the team…"

"Nonsense, everyone's on the team," Terra retorted, frowning. "Even if you have to be eternal substitutes or benchwarmers or something."

I realized that I'd have to be a benchwarmer, seeing as I couldn't even catch a ball, and swimming for me was out of the question. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one with this problem; about five other guys who were about as scrawny as me were told to stand with me on my side of the hall, and do 'Special Practice'.

Well, as you can guess, barely ten minutes had passed before I got seriously injured i.e. slammed in the face with a Blitzball (because Terra says it's too dangerous for us to even try and use the real Blitz court without drowning), and I had to head to the infirmary with an ice-pack to my head.

And I didn't expect to see Namine there, either.

She was sitting down on one of the beds, staring absently out the window. I noticed that she had a new bandage wrapped around her leg, and one on her arm.

But that wasn't what shocked me the most.

She wasn't wearing her hoodie, which was slung over a nearby chair, and was in nothing but her school polo and skirt. What shocked me were the marks around her neck and across her right arm. The ones around her neck were swollen, like love-bites or something, while the ones across her arm looked like a cat with razor-sharp nails had repeatedly scratched her.

I stifled a gasp. I had never seen anybody so…mutilated.

(Not even Roxas, who cuts himself almost every day, for an unclear reason. I gave up trying to stop him when he threatened to stab me with his pocket knife if I annoyed him one more time.)

And what was worse was that she was a girl. How had she gotten all those scars? So I've seen a few girls bragging about having love-bites and all that, but not that many. I mean, there had to be at least eight of them. She kept nervously clutching the front of her shirt, and she seemed to be always shaking. And the marks on her arms…

Well, I have a twin brother who's into self-mutilation, so I think I know 'em when I see 'em.

I eventually found my voice, and slowly made my way to one of the chairs. As soon as she noticed me, she grabbed her hoodie and pulled it over her head. It was silent for a while.

"When's the nurse getting here?" I asked eventually, feeling uncomfortable.

"…she'll be here in about ten minutes…" she mumbled uncertainly, looking at her feet. Then, after another few minutes of silence: "You…y-you're not going to…tell anyone, are you?"

Her knees were folded up against her chest, and she wrapped her arms around them, partially hiding her face.

"Tell anyone what?" I asked.

"What…what you…saw…" She looked away to hide her blush. I suddenly felt sorry for her.

"Who…who did all that to you?" I whispered. She chewed on her lip, giving no answer. "No, I won't tell."

She stared at me for some time, and then gave me a small smile. "Th…thank you."

I smiled back before heading to the freezer, grabbing an icepack seeing as the nurse was taking forever, and holding it to my head.

"You're…you're Roxas' twin brother, right?" Namine asked, tilting her head.

"Uh, yeh, but we aren't exactly alike…you know, personality-wise," I replied.

"You look kinda identical though. I mean, minus the hair, of course." She paused, then added: "And the eyes."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I kept quiet.

"Your…your brother…Roxas…" She looked like she was debating with herself on something. "He…he's in a street gang, right?"

My heart stopped right then. I didn't know what to answer; I had no idea myself. But that would explain where he got those parcels from. That would explain why he always seems to have bruises on his knuckles. That would explain why he suddenly decided to tattoo the number thirteen in Roman numerals along his arm. That would explain a lot of the things I'd noticed for a few weeks.

But wouldn't Roxas tell me? Well, okay, he'd stopped telling me things since the middle of the previous summer, like how he suddenly hung out with prezzies and traffics parcels. Well, that was just a wild guess, but what else could he have in those? What if they were…illegal drugs?

Was Roxas a criminal?

I couldn't make myself believe it.

"I…I don't…" My voice faded, and my head started spinning even more.

Namine looked at me worriedly. "You…you didn't…! I'm-I'm sorry…!" She lowered her head and started biting her lip again.

I sighed. "No, it's fine. Thanks…for telling me, I mean. He doesn't speak to me these days anymore…" I paused. "How…how did you know?"

Her eyes widened like she'd just been caught shoplifting, or something, and she lowered her gaze again. "I…"

The nurse chose this convenient time to walk in, giving us both fake smiles before heading to her desk and unpacking her stuff. Namine slipped down from the bed, limped over to the nurse and whispered something to her. The nurse gave her another smile and handed her a packet of medicine, which Namine took before hurriedly limping away.

I decided to let her go. It wasn't that important, anyway. I was still trying to get over the fact that my own twin brother…

How could I have been so blind?

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Kairi kept glancing at me in Drama practice, and I didn't blame her. It was kinda weird and retarded that I suddenly bolted after telling her that I like girls in wedding dresses with no explanation whatsoever.

She seemed to be trying to be extra cautious with me, thinking I'd suddenly burst into tears if she pushed me too hard, or something. She didn't even bother correcting me when I made mistakes while reading the script.

I watched Kairi sing 'Simple and Clean' by Utada Hikaru (who I assumed was, of course, Japanese), we sang Knock You Down once again, and then we went over some of our lines in the script. Kairi suggested we do it standing up, which we did.

"'Whoa!'"I said as Hiroshima. Cue Kairi giggle. "'Gimme a break, Yuuki!'"

"'Hiroshima, you lazy bum.'" Kairi said as Yuuki. She managed to make her voice eerily juvenile and sweet. "'I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here.'"

I stumbled through most of the first scene until which Riku is meant to come in as Masahiro. Kairi insisted that I wasn't trying hard enough, and looked a little irritated with me.

"What is _with _you?" She sighed in irritation after I muttered, with no feeling whatsoever, because, well, I didn't feel like being all Drama-y and cheesy: 'Why can't I say it? Why can't I say I love her?' (which I was sure wasn't in the script, because the real game is for, like, seven year olds and such.)

"Nothing is 'with me'," I replied, tossing the script onto her bed and sitting down on it. "I'm just…gotta lot on my mind."

Kairi paused, searched my face for clues, and then sighed. "You could talk about it, if you want."

I don't know why, but I just felt like I could tell her anything I wanted, and trust her to keep a secret.

So I did. Well, not the part about Namine, because, well, I promised her not to tell anyone, but about how Mum and Zack were always fighting, and how he'd hit her the previous weekend, and how Roxas was drifting farther and farther away from me, and how I recently heard that he's in some kind of street gang and hangs out with prezzies and druggies. And then I told her about how I am most certainly failing Calculus and English Literacy, and about how Terra is forcing me to be in the Blitzball Team, even if it means being a benchwarmer, or something, seeing as I am physically unable to catch a ball, and how I have asthma, and can't hold my breath for more than three seconds.

And while I was moaning on about my complicated and retarded life, she just sat there, listening.

And it felt kind of nice, because not many people listen to me in my life.

(Except maybe Vanitas, but he's usually also listening to some porn star recount her experiences with playboys, and such.)

At some moment in time, her hand started making its way up and down my back, which was comforting, in a way. It made me feel sort of nervous, though, because I was sure my back was still sweaty from Sports.

She was quiet for a while, and then she said: "Well. Your life is…messed up."

"Tell me about it," I mumbled back.

"Don't worry, I'm sure your parents will work it out…somehow. And your brother—Roxas, wasn't it?—should come around soon enough. Though I think you should confront him about it, before it's too late."

"He's been in that street gang since the middle of summer," I replied, unconvinced. "It's probably already too late."

Kairi sighed. "I'm not going to lie and say it's never too late, or something that cliché. But…well. You'll figure something out."

I smiled at that.

"And I think I could help you with Calculus. And Lit." She tapped her chin in thought. "We could probably squeeze in some lessons after school on Wednesdays, or on the weekends, or something."

My smile disappeared. "Hell no."

"Hey, I wasn't the one who started complaining about my Math scores. And plus—you're in Junior year. We got the FINALS next year. Like FINAL finals."

"I don't see myself passing those," I muttered under my breath, but she heard me.

"You've gotta believe you will if you want yourself to pass," Kairi snapped. "Haven't you watched Peter Pan?"

I don't know why, but the fact that she compared my messed up situation to the situation in a Disney movie about fairies made me burst out laughing. She tried to frown, but she soon gave way and started laughing, too.

We laughed some time, and then our laughter died down, and we were just looking into each other's eyes. It was only then that I realized how close our faces were. Her eyelashes looked so thick and full and bushy up close, and I don't know what my fingers would have done had we not been interrupted by a loud ringing noise.

I thought I heard Kairi curse in annoyance, but Kairi never curses, so I must have imagined it.

She slipped out her phone from her pocket, which was a Blackberry Storm2 (HOW MUCH MONEY DOES THIS GIRL HAVE?), and looked at the caller. "Riku," she explained with a blush. I tried not to show how irritated I was that he was calling her.

I mean, I didn't even own a cell phone. Okay, so maybe Mum refused to buy one for me because of what happened to my last one, which was a pretty sleek HTC Smartphone I got for my sixteenth birthday. But I was nearly eighteen, and my Mum should have known that guys my age needed cell phones to live. I mean, what if I somehow ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere with no food and no water? How would I call for help? What if aliens abducted me and took me to their planet? She'll be sorry.

Anyway. I started feeling sick when Kairi started giggling and blushing at something Riku said, and waved her goodbye. She waved her arm wildly for me to wait, so I did. After telling Riku that, no, she wasn't doing anything this weekend, and that she had to go because her mum was calling her, (a blatant lie), she hung up, got to her feet nd pulled me into a warm hug. "Hope everything works out for ya, buddy."

And it felt good.

Partially because my nose was practically drowning in her hair, which still smelt like cinnamon biscuits.

And partially because her boobs were pushing into my chest, like cushions, or something.

What? Don't look at me like that.

I'm nearly seventeen, and a teenage guy. Deal with it.

Sora: 3 Riku: 4

Hey, I just my catch up after all.

* * *

**Okay, so I had no idea how to end that chappie without making it suck. Forgive me.**

**Gotta go watch the new episodes of GLEE! (Yes, because I am one of those people that like that show. ^^)**

**XOXOXOX and R&R! **

**And I'll try and update. After doing my crapload of homework. ^^ **


	15. Friendship and Glee

**A/N: Sorry to say, but this'll be the last chapter of Addicted until I reach chapter ten of both Angel and Apologize. Without the other two caught up, I don't think we'll have enough information to carry on. Plus, I have quite a lot of ideas bursting out the seams, and all. Don't worry; the three stories will reach at least thirty chapters, so it's nowhere near done! **

**Onto the review replies!**

**Draco Oblivion: Some SoRiku fluff in there for ya! Keke…and thanks for all your lovely reviews, haven't got enough! ^^ **

**Muri: Thnx for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy reading this story! **

**NoVII aka Karasu: Sora shall indeed take your advice. (Eventually). And I also wonder what Roku will do…**

**RinXLen Kagamine: You a Vocaloid fan? Nice. I've heard of it, but never gotten round to actually checking it out. Silly me. Anyway, I'll give more SoKai fluff…eventually. I'm trying to make their relationship realistic and less cliché. And Lightning went as Sailor Jupiter. ^^ **

**Kingdom of sin: Being a girl…I'm not going to answer that. ^^ **

**Morgead'sgirl: I take it that you've read my very long review reply already. *snickers at inside joke* **

**Jellybean2799: I know, I specialize in annoying endings. **

**CheshireGiraffe: I've totally finished all the Percy Jackson series—I LOVE IT! Ahem, anyway…wow. I was pretty good for my first try. ^^ I'd never be allowed to go to an anime convention, seeing as I only get five euros a week as pocket munny, and I couldn't cosplay anyway, except as Xemnas or anyone dark-skinned. (Yes, because I am half-African.) Grr…and I actually dreamed of cosplaying as Kairi before I realized I couldn't…oh well. And I have just learnt a new expression, which I intend to use in Addicted. *squeals* And words are indeed funny. The word 'hiccup' is so hilarious; I'm still waiting to find out how to say hiccup in French…**

**Gxmwp: Keep waiting. :D **

**Roxy mccartney: I agree. And your penname just reminded me of the Jesse McCartney song 'Body Language' ft T-Pain, which I am totally head-over-heels IN LOVE WITH atm. **

**ShadowSpooky: I know it was a bit weird for Sora to say a wedding dress was his fave, but if I made him say 'bikini' or 'bra', that would cause a huge personality change. I don't want him to be portrayed as a pervert, even though I've pretty much screwed that up so far. xD And wow…I didn't realize how much I made it seem like Roxas was homo until you mentioned it and…yeh. Well, now you know. I pretty much suck at writing yaoi fics anyway. **

**oooMichiruooo: DANKA-SHUUN! (Thank u very much, Michi-chan!) **

**Disclaimer: Haha. Fat chance. Don't own Kingdom Hearts **_**or**_** the Busted song 'Britney'. **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Great, I meet ANOTHER emotionally-disturbed person._

What shocked me were the marks around her neck and across her right arm. The ones around her neck were swollen, like love-bites or something, while the ones across her arm looked like a cat with razor-sharp nails had repeatedly scratched her.

_And, well, she seems to know something I don't._

"Your…your brother…Roxas…" Namine looked like she was debating with herself on something. "He…he's in a street gang, right?"

_My life is so messed up, and I end up pouring out my problems to Kairi, of all people._

And while I was moaning on about my complicated and retarded life, she just sat there, listening.

And it felt kind of nice, because not many people listen to me in my life.

_Maybe having Kairi as a best friend isn't actually that bad. _

_Well, at least it's better than nothing. _

* * *

**Chapter 15: Friendship and Glee**

In SexEd, we had to do that baby-care assignment thing—of course, because stuff like that happen in real life, and not just in movies—and I got paired up with _Namine_. Roxas got paired up with Kairi, and Riku with Fang.

I didn't see the logic in this.

We immediately started to argue, but Reno was like: "Say one more word and I'll start making gay couples."

We had to shut up after that, because I would have died if I got paired up with Riku. I'd already heard one too many people ask if Riku and I had something going on (*BARF*).

Namine was blushing furiously by the time the bell rang. I gave her an encouraging grin and picked up our 'Baby'.

"Um…okay. So…yeh." I cleared my throat warily. "Uhh…so I guess the first thing we gotta do is…name him…her…huh?"

Namine was furiously gnawing on her sleeves, looking anywhere but my face.

"Uh…right." I wasn't used to being in charge, so I scratched the back of my head while thinking of what to do. "How 'bout…" I looked closely at our 'Baby'. She—(I found out it was a she after realizing that practically all dolls are 'she's, because doll creators realize that little girls aren't supposed to see a male woohoo at such a tiny age)—she had black hair and amber eyes, and I smiled. "…how 'bout Vanitas?"

She blinked at me. "Vanitas?"

"Okay, you're right, that sucks." I frowned, thinking. "Vanilla, then?"

She nodded mutely, and I handed her the baby.

"Okay, take good care of Vanilla, then!" I grinned, trying to be enthusiastic.

She swallowed. "N-No, I really can't…"

I was about to object when I saw how pale she'd gotten. "Uh…okay." I picked up Vanilla and made her comfy in my bookbag. Namine gave me an apologetic smile before shuffling out of the classroom.

"Guess it's just you and me, Vanilla…" I sighed, patting Vanilla on the head. I heard Kairi giggle and looked up to see her standing in front of me, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Already given her a name, huh?" Kairi asked, bemused.

I flushed. "That was part of the assignment, right?"

Kairi shrugged, just as Riku walked up to us.

"I can't believe this counts as fifty percent of our whole SexEd grade!" He grumbled, struggling to stuff his baby in his backpack.

"What did you name yours?" Kairi asked inquisitively.

"Baby," Riku replied with a growl. "What's the point? Not like it matters."

Kairi was chortling by now, and I struggled to hold back a smile at Riku's irritated expression. "Didn't you do this last year?"

Riku nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Uh-huh."

"He lost the fifty percent cause he 'accidentally' lost Baby in the garbage." Tidus chuckled, rolling his eyes as he appeared next to Riku. Riku growled, cheeks flushing, and tackled Tidus to the ground, me and Kairi guffawing in the background.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Our hour of Drama was dedicated fully to the Alliance.

Kairi, Riku and I got to sit back and relax while the Alliance practiced their overture. Sephiroth went mad, scribbling in his notebook what sound effects and flavored stage smoke he'd need to use as the Alliance struggled to remember their choreography to 'Uprising' by Muse.

The Alliance consisted of Wakka, Hope, Balthier, Tidus, Yuna, Shuyin, Roxas, Snow, Zidane, Sazh, that strawberry-blond guy who hung out with Roxas, Demyx, and a few guys on the Blitz Team. In total they make up twelve guys and one girl, and Yuna tried to argue that this was sexist, but Sephiroth just claimed that he couldn't go against the script of Kingdom Hearts, (even though he had drastically swerved off the script by deleting most Disney villains and creating more badass ones).

We also found out that Fang would be playing the character of Maleficent, because Maleficent is his favorite Disney villain. Fang was horrified when she saw what Maleficent actually looked like, but was okay with it as soon as she heard she'd have a dance with Riku.

Riku looked slightly sick, and he groaned.

"What?" I asked as Tidus made a mistake in the choreography for the umpteenth time that period.

Riku glanced at me impassively, running his hands through his hair. "I don't know if you heard, but Fang and I used to be going out."

I rolled my eyes. _Who _didn't_ hear about that?_ "You sure do get around."

Riku shrugged. "It's them that come to me, not the other way round."

"Mm-hmm."

Riku sighed. "Anyway, I broke up with Fang last year, but she doesn't seem to have gotten over it." I must have looked confused, because he kept talking. "She thinks I'm still not over her."

I nodded as if I understood, which I didn't, because I'd never been in a relationship before. "Why did you go out with her in the first place?"

He stared at me, then looked away, as if in thought. "I…I don't know. To make myself look good, I guess. She's the head cheerleader, Sora—"

"To make yourself look good, huh?" I didn't know what I was doing, but the words escaped before I could stop them. "So I guess breaking up with Fang made yourself look good too, huh?"

Riku's eyes darkened dangerously. "You don't understand—"

"I mean, what's the point of going out with a girl you never even liked?" I persisted. "How do you know Fang doesn't actually feel something for you?"

Riku made a noncommittal sound, playing with his hands. "That's…that's not my problem."

"So what you're saying is that you don't care as long as it doesn't affect you?" My gaze unconsciously flickered towards Kairi, who was talking with Yuna not too far away. "I bet this whole thing going on between you and Kairi is just to make you look good too, right?"

He glared ominously at me, teeth gritted. "Will you just quit it?"

I was about to say something else when I realized that the hall had turned quiet and Sephiroth was glaring at us.

"Yes, Riku?" He muttered ominously. "Something you want to share with the rest of the class?"

Riku sighed, digging his hands into his pockets. I realized he did that a lot when he was nervous. "Nope."

Sephiroth frowned. "Something you don't like about this play?"

Riku stared at Sephiroth in disbelief. "I never said—"

"You and Sora are going stay here after class and practice the Beach scene," Sephiroth grumbled. "It has to be perfect for tomorrow. Or else."

Riku tried to object, but the bell rang and everyone started heading out of the class.

"Thanks a lot, Sora," Riku muttered, looking like he wanted to strangle me as we headed to the speakers. "Because you wouldn't shut up—"

"Hey, I wasn't the one who yelled," I shrugged. Riku rolled his eyes and didn't answer. Kairi gave us each a wave before she left with her friends, and, as she disappeared from sight, both of us sighed in unison. "She's so pretty…" I heard myself mumble.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Uh. Right."

I didn't like the tone of his voice, but decided to let it drop. He picked up the CD case that read 'KINGDOM HEARTS—THE PLAY Soundtrack' on the cover and checked the back for the tracks. "Seriously? I'm amazed he didn't put Justin Bieber in this thing." He found the appropriate track and located it, and sighed when the strumming of an electric guitar followed by the beating of a drum flooded the hall.

"Busted," I murmured as I recognized the song.

Riku nodded, absent-mindedly twirling a strand of his hair around his finger (which looked pretty gay, though I didn't tell him that). "Let's get this over with."

I nodded and began to sing. When it was Riku's turn, I waited patiently until he had finished singing before speaking up. "Wait-wait-wait, you're getting it all wrong."

"What is it now?" Riku sighed, exasperated.

"You're pushing yourself too hard," I reprimanded him, trying not to sound too preachy. "You've gotta relax and let your voice flow by itself."

"Uh, right." His eyes narrowed. "I totally understand what you just said."

I glared at him, pouting. "I know what I'm talking about."

"I noticed." He wiped at his fringe idly. "What do _you_ know about singing? I got the main role last time—"

"I still don't get how that was possible," I muttered under my breath. Riku seemed to hear and whacked my arm. "Ow! That hurt…"

Riku rolled his eyes and continued singing, and I switched off the radio. Riku looked about ready to explode as I began to speak. "There you go again. You have to know when and where to hold your breath, Riku. You're all over the place."

"Aw, shut up, you—"

Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed his hand and placed it on his stomach. He immediately tensed, staring at me in shock.

"You see that? That's your diaphragm." I wasn't exactly sure where the diaphragm was, but I knew it was somewhere around the stomach area. "You have to learn how to sing from there. Well, all singing is from the diaphragm, because all breathing is from the diaphragm." I cleared my throat. "What you're doing is taking too deep breaths, which means your voice is getting stuck somewhere around here…" I motioned to his neck area. "…and so your voice sounds forced, and you get exhausted easily. You need to take a relaxed and open breath."

"What're you—"

"An open breath makes the diaphragm go lower, which helps take pressure off the throat and relax it. Well, basically you're doing the opposite."

Riku blinked at me, and I noticed that he looked a little flustered. Then his ominous expression returned and he cleared his throat. "Right. Um…can you let go of my hand now?"

I obliged and muttered a 'sorry', feeling awkward. "Try it out?"

Riku gave me a searching look, sighed, and then nodded. "Okay. Relax. Got it."

After only three tries, Riku actually managed to sing fluently, and I was so ecstatic that I nearly hugged him in glee. Riku stopped me before my arms closed around him, though. "Uh, NO WAY. NO. TOUCHING."

I nodded in response, once again feeling awkward. "Uh, sorry. Really happy that my teaching methods worked, and all."

"You're weird."

"So they say."

Riku let out an amused chuckle, crossing his arms. "Who taught you all that…singing stuff?"

I paused in thought. "I'm…not really sure. I think it was my older brother…can't remember."

Riku looked away, trying to look like he didn't care. "You…got an older brother?"

"Two, actually," I mumbled. "One of them's my halfbrother."

Riku nodded, absent-mindedly tapping a tune on the table. "I…I've got three. Triplets, actually."

"Um. Wow." I didn't really know how to respond. "That's…weird. Must get annoying."

Riku didn't respond for a while, but eventually muttered: "Tell me about it."

I didn't notice at the time how his voice wavered as he said that.

* * *

**Sorry, but this won't be updated for some time, unfortunately. I'm gonna be working on Apologize and Angel, though. But I added some SoraxRiku for those of you who really wanted them to become frends! But don't worry, they aren't gay. Better be expecting some awkward moments between them, though. Keke…**

**R&R! **

**And see you in a few weeks, hopefully! **


	16. Going Under

**A/N: LET'S CELEBRATE! ADDICTED IS BACK! :)**

**Thanks for all your reviews and your patience too! I am so excited for this chappie! All the ideas running amok in my mind…**

**Kingdom of sin: Yeh. It's a bit weird…but yeh. And I'm not a lesbian, just want to clarify that. You don't have to be a guy to write in a guy's POV. Check out the fic Milk and Marshmallows by Redeeming Endeavour; he writes in a girls POV and everyone thinks he's a girl. Amazing, really. And I'm not gonna put SoRiku fluff, just maybe some fuzz. Or Bromance-ness.**

**An1995616: And here it is! Thanks for your patience!**

**Draco Oblivion: Sora is a groper. *grope grope* Must be so awkward to be Riku when Sora touches him. Haha. And I love RiKai almost as much as I love Namixas and SoKai. I don't know what to choose sometimes…but it'll be complicated, I can tell you that in advance. **

**ChibixGiraffe: Cool, a half-black Korean! So cool! Being dark-skinned is okay I guess; you don't have to worry about tanning. But it's kinda crap being the only dark-skinned girl in my grade cause my friends tend to make 'Can't see a black person in the dark' jokes a lot…oh well. And it also sucks for cosplaying. But yeh. Great Scott? LOL! **

**Roxy mccartney: There's not gonna be much SoRiku, so that's okay. Probably some Bromance, but that's about it. **

**ShadowSpooky: Yeh, it's weird that Riku and Sora are buddies…well, almost. But I had to make their relationship start developing early, cause…yeh. Plot, and all. **

**Gxmwp: :DDDD**

**Superpeanutbutter: I AM SO TOTALLY ADDING THAT IDEA. LOL! I've got a whole list of ideas I have to add now… :L **

**Morgead'sgirl: LMFAO. I almost thought about making a gay Riku, but then I realized I suck at writing yaoi and that my plot would crap up. And inside jokes RULE. Especially when you're in the middle of a group of people and only you and your friend get the joke. Like in London there was this sign that said 'Vote for M.P', and me and my friends translate M.P as Male Prostitute. So we burst out laughing, and no one else got it. LMAO. **

**RinxLen Kagamine: Yup! Randomness much? Haha! Imagine he did…**

**Kingdommad: Yay! You're reviewing! Sorry I don't review as much as I used to on your fics; I'm just busy and all, and school and homework suck. Meh. :L Sora's life isn't half as messed up as Riku and Kairi's…heck, all their lives are messed up. It's a miracle I'm still holding the plot. **

**Tennisdesi91: DANKA! *insert heart emote here***

**Videogamer93: Soon enough. If you've gotten to this chappie by now that is. :)**

**XxMinekoxKenxX: Thanks for your encouraging words! I'm struggling to make it through Tenth Grade, but I can do this! *insert huggle emote here***

**Milk bones: I know how it's like to be subscribed but never read a fic. I've been subscribed to Shire Folk's 'Annals of Darkness' series, but they're like a hundred plus chappies each, and I just can't motivate myself. :P Hope you're enjoying it! **

**Stormyfang502: Um…thanks? xD**

**Muri: Here's the update!**

**Person: I addressed Barrett as 'Negro' cause he's dark-skinned. :P **

**Well…I think that's all! Phew, so many reviews! Onto the story! About the chapter: Uggh…not really any SoKai, unfortunately. Just a bit of a filler-slash-drabble chappie that focuses mainly on Sora's family which is basically crap…so yeh. Just plot building. **

**Disclaimer: I would love to…but no. I don't. **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I've got a baby._

"Guess it's just you and me, Vanilla…" I sighed, patting Vanilla on the head.

_And I piss of Riku. _

"I mean, what's the point of going out with a girl you never even liked? How do you know Fang doesn't actually feel something for you?"

"That's…that's not my problem."

"So what you're saying is that you don't care as long as it doesn't affect you? bet this whole thing going on between you and Kairi is just to make you look good too, right?"

He glared ominously at me, teeth gritted. "Will you just quit it?"

_And then I give Riku singing lessons._

"You see that? That's your diaphragm." I wasn't exactly sure where the diaphragm was, but I knew it was somewhere around the stomach area. "You have to learn how to sing from there. Well, all singing is from the diaphragm, because all breathing is from the diaphragm." I cleared my throat. "What you're doing is taking too deep breaths, which means your voice is getting stuck somewhere around here…" I motioned to his neck area. "…and so your voice sounds forced, and you get exhausted easily. You need to take a relaxed and open breath."

_Random, but yeah._

_Guess our relationship's moved on to a whole new level._

…

_Ugh. That sounded SO wrong._

* * *

**Chapter 16: Going Under**

As soon as I sat down next to Kairi in Physics (after giving Miss Rinoa our late passes, of course), Kairi enveloped me in a hug. My cheeks must have been burning as I asked: "Someone's in a good mood. What's up?"

Kairi was practically bouncing on her seat. "I'm in the Songstresses!"

"That…that's great, Kairi!" I smiled for her; her enthusiasm was kind of contagious.

"Yeh, well, Yuna and Lenne were debating over whether to let me in or not…and, well, today they decided!" She gave me another grin as she took my Physics notebook and began to copy down what I'd missed. "Sorry, Sora, but I'm gonna have to skip Drama Practice today to practice for the Sectionals."

I shrugged dismissively. "S'okay."

"It's in two weeks—can you believe it?" She started prattling on about how exited she was to have made it, how important it was for her, and all that. I nodded along and copied down the notes.

We were separated when Riku came up to remind Kairi that she was his lab partner (drat). We were ordered to use the microscope to observe some tiny microbe-bacteria-type stuff and note down our observations. My lab partner, an emo girl called Paine, wasn't really doing anything. I didn't know how to use the microscope properly, so we basically wasted the whole hour doing nothing.

We got an F-. Paine was furious and started prattling on about how it was all my fault, and such. The nerve of some people! If I was someone like Roxas, I would have beaten her up, but I wasn't that blessed in the strength category, and was pretty much sure that even Paine had more muscle than me, so let it drop.

I had a feeling I was going to fail junior year. One week in and my grades were already falling. I'd gotten an F in my Art Evaluation, an F- in Phys/Chem, and a C- in English Literacy. Kairi had done my Literature essay for me, but one A wasn't going to help much.

Sports wasn't all that jovial either. We had started Blitz training. Terra had decided to get a move on. He said that today we'd be evaluated, and we'd all know who's in and who's out. I wasn't really interested in making the team, so I didn't try that hard.

As we were running track, (well, I wasn't really running; couldn't be bothered), Riku fell into step beside me. We must have looked a bit weird—Riku, the bulky-armed beef, and me, the bag of bones. (Yay for alliteration.) "What's up with you? You're even sloppier than usual."

I rolled my eyes. "I can't be bothered."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Can't be bothered?"

"Yeh. I know I royally suck, so what's the point?" I wiped the sweat off my brow. I was sweating and I wasn't even running half as fast as Riku. I was starting to wheeze, which was a bit annoying.

Riku just shook his head as we turned the corner. He must have been forcing himself not to go at his normal speed. "You don't _have _to royally suck. If you actually tried, you might be able to make the midfielder, or something."

"I think…the only player…I'll end up as…is the benchwarmer."

Freakily enough, I did. As the two hours came to an end, Terra announced the positions, and I ended up as the Benchwarmer.

I guess I should've expected that. Terra hated me. I knew it.

"Benchwarmer, huh?" I muttered. Why? I was still on the road to popularity, and I just _had_ to get the rank of Benchwarmer. Even an Eternal Substitute rank would have been better.

"Yeh. Being a Benchwarmer's a very important job," Terra replied, trying to keep my spirits up. "Especially in the cold season. It's your job to make sure there's enough towels, to make sure there's enough jerseys, and to generally keep their benches warmed."

Everyone sniggered at that.

"Yay," I muttered in mock-enthusiasm.

Terra frowned. "It's a serious task, Sora. If one of the players catches a cold and can't play, it'll be all your fault."

I sighed. "Understood."

"Good." He ruffled my hair and then turned to the rest of the class. "Okay, hit the showers everyone. We'll start serious training on Monday."

I sighed, relieved. Now that the timetables had been sorted out, we weren't gonna have Sports three days in a row anymore, which was perfectly fine for me.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

When I got home, the door was half-open. I walked in and went to the kitchen, and saw Mom hurriedly pouring some hot water into a mug of coffee while munching some toast. She was wearing her favorite pair of high-rise jeans and a burgundy blouse, and her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail that looked like it used to be a bun.

"Where're you goin'?" I asked curiously. She jumped, spilling hot water all over the counter, and cursed.

"Don't scare me like that!" Mum scowled, discarding her toast and starting her tea. She took a gulp, and scalded her throat. "Great! Just great."

"Where're you goin'?" I repeated.

"To look for a job, hunny," she replied, abandoning her coffee in the sink. She had dark bags under her eyes, but she still managed to look pretty.

I felt sorry for her. Her old job didn't pay that much, and now she'd lost it. I realized that with unemployment came grumpiness, and with grumpiness came deprivation of essential things, like new clothes, television and latest video games.

She picked up her handbag. "I'll be back by ten—promise." She kissed me on my forehead (which was very motherly of her but unnecessary; I was nearly seventeen) and headed out the door. "Heat up chips, or something."

I had the whole house to myself.

If I was that kind of Riku guy who had like a gazillion friends and an unlimited amount of freedom, I would have thrown a party.

But I wasn't, so instead I just went upstairs and did some homework, discarding Vanilla on Roxas' bed. (She looked pretty cosy there.) When I was done, I watched some old movies with cliché plot, ate some pizza and scrolled through some channels on the TV. I kept looking at the clock. It was ten-thirty. No Mom, no Roxas, no Zack.

I headed upstairs to my room. The house was cold; the heating system had crashed and Zack was too busy to get round to fixing it. The water pump kept making these weird noises. Something creaked, and I squealed. I realized it was the floorboards and felt a bit stupid.

I knew I was being a bit immature, but I went upstairs and took refuge in my bed. My hands absently groped under my pillow and felt something hard. I pulled out The Book.

_Oh yeh. I was wondering where I kept that…_

I decided to take in some more Words of Wisdom from The Book before I went to bed.

"_Chapter Twenty: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!_

_As everyone knows, there is always an antagonist who stands in the way. She could be the blockade that's obstructing your course to Popularity. But don't be discouraged._

_Step Number One—Don't return evil with evil._

_If she's acting bitchy, that's no reason for you to act bitchy back. Put old differences aside, and ask questions that show you're interested in what she thinks. _

_**Action Plan**_

_**Try and ask questions like "How was your day?", "Who's your favorite singer?", "What's your favorite brand?" and "Where are you going on holiday?"**_

_**She'll eventually soften up and regard you as one of the girls!**_"

It was chapters like this that reminded me how desperate I was to be popular.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I must have eventually fallen asleep. I woke up to the sound of Evanescence's 'Going Under', and groaned.

I turned around in the sheets, and peeked out from underneath. The bright light coming in from between the curtains stunned me, but I managed to catch a glimpse of Roxas, who was sitting on his bunk. He was wrapping his right arm with bandages, and he didn't seem to notice I was awake. He winced and clenched his teeth as he tightened the bandage. I noticed his cheek had a scar that wasn't there before. It looked slightly new, and was a reddish brown.

I watched him fix himself up for a while before letting out a huge yawn and climbing out bed. Roxas hurriedly tried to hide everything, and I pretended I didn't see. "Hey, Roxas. When'd'you get back yesterday?"

He swallowed, and then looked down at his hands. "Dunno. Around midnight."

"Where were you?" I probed. "What took you so long that kept you out until midnight."

Roxas squirmed uncomfortably. "Nothing. I was just…hanging out with friends." He looked away and started absently going through his CDs. "None of your business."

I frowned. "It IS my business, Roxas. You're my brother, and half the time I don't even know where you are!"

"Well maybe that's because, like I said, it's not any of your business," Roxas muttered. "You wouldn't understand, even if I told you."

"Oh you mean that street gang you're hanging out with?" I blurted out before I could stop myself. "You're right; I don't understand."

One second Roxas was staring at me with a look of part shock and part hatred, and then the next second I was pushed up against the wall, my back screaming in pain and Roxas towering over me.

"Who told you?" He snarled ominously. He wasn't wearing any make-up yet, but he still looked intimidating and dark. His grip on the front of my shirt was almost as tight as Riku's.

"I…It was…" I had a mini-flashback of Namine, how depressed and scared she looked, and decided not to answer. "No one," I lied. "It was just…just a wild guess."

Roxas glowered at me, searching my eyes for something. And then his grip loosened and he sighed. "I'm…I'm doing this to protect you."

"Doing what?" I asked, confused.

"I can't…there's some things that are better left unsaid," Roxas concluded.

I didn't really understand, but I didn't have time to ask as he disappeared into the bathroom.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Our new timetable said we had to choose two foreign languages, and I picked Japanese.

I have no idea what I was thinking.

Our Japanese teach was a guy named Rufus, but we had to call him 'Sensei'. He spoke Japanese too fast for anyone to understand, apart from the Japanese exchange student from last year. He announced to the class that he would be speaking in only Japanese until the end of the school year.

I didn't get the point of this; the fact that we didn't understand was the reason we were taking the class anyway.

Rufus made ridiculous motions with his hands and legs; we had to guess what he was trying to say.

"You're saying goodbye!"

"You need the bathroom!"

"You're climbing a tower!"

"You're masturbating!"

After a whole thirty minutes of class, we managed to learn the word 'car' in Japanese.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

On Thursday, Sephiroth decided we'd better get moving with the scenes. I'd managed to memorize the whole of the first and second Acts with Kairi's help, so he said we had to move on to the next Act—the one that begins with a Yuuki solo.

Kairi was going to be singing 'Going Under' by Evanescence. (The song was haunting me, I was sure of it.)

Sephiroth had it all planned out. While Kairi was going over her solo, the Cheerleaders—who had been given the role of basically all the monsters in the show, be it Nobodies or Heartless or whatever retarded creatures Sephiroth had invented—went over their choreography.

Sephiroth ordered me to go over my solo, which was 'More' by Usher. I didn't understand how the song had anything to do with the storyline, but nobody questions Sephiroth.

Riku got it easy. He had to sing 'Not Afraid' by Eminem. He spent most of the period messing around with his friends and having fun with all the curse words in his solo.

Then, after the first hour of Drama, Sephiroth said we were going to go over the second Act through the third Act. Everyone thought he was moving a bit fast, but he didn't really care. Everything had to be done by the first of June, when it would be performed.

Sephy was all set, with his megaphone and everything. "ACT TWO—SCENE SIX; ACTION!"

I cleared my throat and tried to remember my lines. "Where's Yuuki? I thought she was with you!"

Riku stepped into view. "The door has opened..."

"What?"

"The door has opened, Hiroshima! Now we can go to the outside world!" (Riku was a really good actor; he managed to make himself look possessed. It boggles me how much he resembles Sephy.)

"What are you talking about? We've gotta find Yuuki!" I 'pleaded'.

"Yuuki's coming with us! Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

Right on cue, Eminem's song began to play. Sephiroth began explaining to someone on the Lighting Crew how the light sequence was to be organized while Riku began rapping. He somehow managed to get all the words perfectly without tripping over any of them, and he even remembered to sing the way I taught him to. The Cheerleaders were cheering him on, and Kairi was clapping enthusiastically, the way she always did whenever he sang.

We went through the remaining of the scene, up until the part where Kairi comes in as Yuuki and sings her Evanescence solo, and then we started working on the choreography.

We were in the middle of doing some kind of hop-skip-jump move when the double doors suddenly opened, and Roxas emerged.

But something was different about him.

His hair was blonder, brighter, and livelier, like he'd actually bothered to wash it. But the most shocking thing about his appearance today was that his face was completely free of any piercings of make-up. He looked…normal. I heard a few cheerleaders whispering to each other and wondering who this new 'ultra-cute guy' was.

"Sorry I'm late," Roxas muttered, running his fingers through his hair.

Sephiroth grumbled dismissively. "Whatever. Get working on your duet with Namine."

Roxas nodded and headed over to Namine, who was looking up at him, wide-eyed. I met Kairi's gaze across the room, a look that clearly said: 'WHAT THE HELL?'

I gave her an honest shrug. I met Roxas' eye and gave him a smile. He returned it with a scowl, but I didn't really mind.

Roxas had taken one step forward.

And I knew it had something to do with Namine.

* * *

**Ugggh…failed drabble-filler-chappie of nothingness.**

**I mean, this is the first chappie in a long time. I could've rewarded you with something worth reading. But NO…this is all that came out.**

**Ugh. I have this huge History mock exam to do this holiday, along with a poem in French to write, and a huge 300-page French literature book to read…I don't know how I'm gonna survive. **

**Well…yeh. Read and review, pretty pretty please. **

**Heck, I don't even need to tell you this anymore; you're so good at it.**

**Byes!**

**Next chappie will have more SoKai. Promise. **


	17. Gay Best Friend

**A/N: I hate my computer. I can't seem to do anything but write fanfiction when I'm on it. I haven't gotten anywhere on my studying routine. I have a feeling I shall royally fail my mock. **

**Oh well. Who cares. Review replies!**

**Draco Oblivion: U mean 'Going Under'? I have the Evanescence CD! I luff it too! And glad to hear you like Sora's family Chappies! I like writing them, but most ppl prefer Sokai action to SoRoxas and basically SoraxFamily chappies…they usually turn out as drabble.**

**Toni Heart: Thanks! And you are entering HIGH SKUL! GASP! High school is a scary, scary place…BEWARE. You could end up like…*gulp*…like SORA! **

**Morgead'sgirl: Yup, it's finally here! And I have all these ideas…too bad I'm moving—I'm gonna have to go on another hiatus on July. :P Gonna make sure I do as many chappies as possible! And courtesy my best friend for inventing Male Prostitute… (Lmfao mini penis xD)**

**MyRealNameisHiding: Yup. I was inspired by three movies before making this fic—Mean Girls (series), Napoleon Dynamite and Speak. So…yeh. I disclaim those. XD**

**Reigatsu: LMFAOOO U CRACK ME UP! To be honest, I usually squeal when I see a Review Alert with ur name next to it. ^^Yes…Roxas has quit being a weird Goth freak. Le GASP TOTALE! And you've already received my review on ur story, right? *smiles at nonexistent inside joke***

**ChibixGiraffe: Lmao uneven tans? I didn't even know that was possible…well, my best friend compares her legs to milk bottles, so I guess ur not the worst off. xD. I guess being dark-skinned isn't so bad after all! And I'm gonna check the song u requested…now. :D I have a long list of requests…**

**Superpeanutbutter: The Japanese class part was inspired by the Speak novel. I forgot who writes it. But I changed quite a lot. Glad u like it anyway! And I don't usually realize when I switch the 'o' for the 'e' in Mom… :P There's gonna be more Roxas in this fic…I mean, people keep saying he and Sora are too distant…and, well, I gotta make them less distant. :P **

**Kingdom of sin: Sure, as soon as I find out where to fit that in. And if I do, maybe it won't be Sora saying it. What about Vanitas?**

**Rayne Destiny: Yes, that's it! Fun! Next to Riku and Kairi's problems, Sora's problems seem tiny. And this one's more full of humor—I like humor. ^^**

**ElleGal: ^^**

**TheKidWhoSkates a.k.a Skateboard: Hello, Skatey-kun! You know what? I love skating, but I can't skate! How crap is that? Anyway, enough about ur penname. Ahem. Um…oh yeh! Thanks for telling me about the marijuana-overdose-not-being-possible; I changed it. You and Rayne Destiny kinda let me know. Thankies! I didn't actually know, seeing as I don't take drugs and all…xD. Maybe I should've known since I do live in France, and my brother says France is one of the places with the most cannabis smokers…but whatever. And I'll be sure to use slang! :) Thanks for reviewing! **

**About this chappie: VANITAS! And things should start speeding up a bit from here…well, -ish. Sokai and stuff, and all that.**

**Read on!**

**Disclaimer: HELL NO BLAH BLAH BLAH. DON'T OWN ANY OF THE SONGS MENTIONED—DUH. **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Kairi's got something to be excited about._

"I'm in the Songstresses!"

_I'm a Benchwarmer on the Destiny Dolphins. Yay._

"It's your job to make sure there's enough towels, to make sure there's enough jerseys, and to generally keep their benches warmed."

_I'm home alone for one night._

I kept looking at the clock. It was ten-thirty. No Mom, no Roxas, no Zack.

_Roxas is acting funny._

Roxas glowered at me, searching my eyes for something. And then his grip loosened and he sighed. "I'm…I'm doing this to protect you."

_In more ways than one._

His hair was blonder, brighter, and livelier, like he'd actually bothered to wash it. But the most shocking thing about his appearance today was that his face was completely free of any piercings of make-up. He looked…normal.

_And I have a feeling this has to do with Namine._

_Which is a good thing._

_My relationship with Kairi, however? Not so much._

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Gay Best Friend**

The two weeks that followed were some of the best weeks of my life.

Drama Practice with Kairi became a routine, and Kairi even made this whole schedule of things we'd go over every session. Kairi helped me as much as she could with Math and English Literature, while I helped her with Creative Writing (though she had to correct all the spelling mistakes). I wasn't really that good in anything else. I wasn't really that keen on doing Math lessons, but Kairi made me anyway. She managed to fit it into the schedule.

Kairi was a no-nonsense girl. And you'd only know that if you were her best friend.

I managed to learn a whole lot of new stuff about Kairi that I'd never known before. Like how she liked to play video games, and was wicked at _World of Warcraft _and basically every other video game known to man, even the ones she hadn't played. She beat me my high score in _Super Mario_, which I didn't even think was possible.

Kairi rocked at video games. And you'd only know that if you were her best friend.

Whenever I came over to her house, she was cooking something. From pancakes to noodles to sponge cake. She was amazing at cooking, unlike me, who screamed whenever something sparked on the fire. I had a fear of cooking bacon or anything with oil in it after the incident that had happened when I was cooking bacon by myself with a dripping wet kitchen fork. Kairi tried to teach me how to make pancakes, but I let her know beforehand that me and the kitchen aren't exactly pals, and that I usually eat whatever there is in the fridge.

Kairi is a kitchen whizz. And you'd only know that if you were her best friend.

Kairi's singing voice seemed to get better every day. For some reason I never got tired of hearing it. And the fact that Sectionals were nearing gave me countless opportunities to just sit and watch her, listening to her sing. She made me sing along with her sometimes to practice. She didn't tell me which song she was actually singing, but just made me practice songs with high pitches and low pitches with her to test out her voice. She didn't exactly invite me, but I figured it was sort of my duty as her best friend to go and watch her sing.

Best friend. I liked the sound of that.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The Sectionals were scheduled conveniently on a Friday after school, so I had time to go home, get dressed and play some video games before I left. I had almost reached Kairi's high score on _Super Mario _when the bell rang.

Putting the game on pause, I went to the door. I knew who it was even before I opened it.

"~Heyy, little brudda!" Vanitas grinned, ruffling my hair as he walked passed me.

I smiled despite myself; I hadn't seen him in two weeks, and Roxas had been acting sort of depressing lately, even without his freaky make-up. "Hey. Where you been?"

"Here and there," Vanitas replied vaguely, ambling into the kitchen. He retrieved a half-open bag of prawn crackers from the cupboard and inspected it. "What about you?"

"Same old," I shrugged, following him to the living room. He sprawled himself over the worn-out, ten-year-old divan and switched on the TV.

"What about…that girl you like?" He asked, eyes on the TV. (PlayboyTV was doing a documentary on Lolo Ferrari and her gigantesque boobs.)

I was sort of amazed he still remembered. "U-Uh…we're…pretty close." I cleared my throat. "Well, we do everything together now. Um, apart from when I'm with my other friends, that is. I was actually gonna see the Sectionals today, you know, to cheer her on—"

"Ah, so you're sort of the gay best friend, right?"

I paused, hurt. "What?"

He turned to me, amber eyes laughingly empathetic. "You know, typical high school drama? Dude likes Chick, Chick only thinks of Dude as best friend, Chick falls in love with Douchenozzle…"

I frowned. "Where're you going exactly by this?"

He shrugged, munching on crisps. "Dunno. Guy/Girl friendships usually equal unrequited love, and…yeh. The guy always turns out to be homo, so I just assumed…"

I sighed, exasperated. "I am _not_ gay."

Vanitas gave me a flippant look. "I believe you."

I rolled my eyes. "Just because I—"

"I am SO having a boner right now," he cut in suddenly, eyes still trained on the TV. It felt too awkward for my liking, so I went upstairs to finish getting ready.

Roxas was upstairs, playing his guitar. I hadn't even known he'd gotten back already. He didn't hear me at first; he was _singing_. I recognized the song as 'Me and My Guitar' by Tom Dice.

"_When darkness falls; all of the stars will see…just me and my guitar_…" He casually started strumming on the strings. I felt a little jealous and annoyed that I never got taught how to play. Dad had tried, but I'd been way too hyperactive to concentrate. Roxas had been learning since he was six.

To lighten the mood, I started clapping as he concluded. He looked up at me, slightly shocked, but then his facial expression softened. He looked a lot less scary in his old turtleneck sweater and wooly grey socks. He didn't look like the scary Goth Roxas anymore. He looked like the Roxas who used to sing me to sleep and tell me Mom and Dad would stop fighting, and that Ventus would always watch over us, no matter what.

He wasn't smiling, but his eyes weren't blazing with the cold bitterness they usually were, so I took that as a good sign.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Weird silence.

"Um…well…this is new. I mean, dressing up…normally." I casually took a seat on Roxas' bunk. He didn't glare at me or push me off, thank goodness.

Roxas shrugged. "Sephiroth said I was 'screwing up my character' and that he couldn't concentrate on what I said when I 'looked like the Grim Reaper'."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"And this has nothing to do with Namine?"

He halted momentarily, his face lighting up with color. "Nothing to do with Namine."

I raised an eyebrow persistently.

"Okay, so maybe it does—a little bit." He sighed, strumming absently on his guitar as he spoke. "She…she said that my make-up hides the real me, and that most people won't see past the exterior…I don't know. She said I should dress like that more often."

"I agree," I added truthfully, giving him a smile. "You're a lot more approachable now."

And it was true. Barely seconds after we exited the Drama Hall on the Thursday of Roxas' new look, a bunch of giggling girls asked him out. He turned all of them down with a bored glare, but that didn't stop them. (He _still_ insisted in hanging out with Namine, occasionally Hayner, and that strawberry-blond dude I saw him with in detention.) Roxas was immediately dubbed a 'heartthrob', and had been ranked the second hottest male in Destiny College in barely a week (according to Kairi, who found this information in the girl's bathroom). The girls apparently thought his 'bedheadedness was too luscious for words', and described him as 'a hot, sexy mess'.

Roxas did what I'd been struggling to do for years in simply a day. He was invited to a party some girl on the Cheerleader team was hosting, and he turned it down. Roxas, the grumpy, moody emo, had been invited and not _me_. And a party was exactly what I needed to give me that extra boost and get me further down the road to popularity.

But life isn't fair. Everyone should know that by now.

Roxas shrugged, strumming 'Wish You Were Here' by Pink Floyd on his guitar. I stood up and decided to get going, picking up a hair brush and trying in vain to get my hair to stay in a non-retarded style.

"Where're you goin'?" Roxas asked nonchalantly.

"Today's the Sectionals."

"Oh yeh."

I winced as the comb got lodged in one of my spikes, and I had to nearly pull out my hair to get the comb out. Irritated, I dumped the hairbrush in the trash can. "'Kay, I'm off."

"Don't get back too late," Roxas muttered automatically. I nodded and gave him a smile.

That was the most I'd talked to him in, like, ages! I skipped down the stairs in a particularly happy mood. Vanitas was smoking and eating Oreos.

_My halfbrother is weird._

"Um, Van?" I asked, pulling on my coat. "Mind dropping me off?"

Vanitas didn't look like he wanted to, but did anyway. He winded down the windows as soon as I entered the car; it once again stank badly of smoke and alcohol. It also smelt like people had recently been busy in the back seat.

I was lucky not to have an asthma attack.

The car ride to the Hall was an uneventful one. We basically spent it singing to whatever came on the radio. I knew the lyrics to most of the songs, so it wasn't hard. Vanitas didn't exactly have the best singing voice, and the way he ridiculously murdered the lyrics left me chortling uncontrollably.

"Aw, shaddup," Vanitas growled affably. "Not everyone is born with a superhumanly awesome voice."

"Did you just compliment me?"

"No. You sound like freaking Justin Bieber."

"What? I do _not_—"

"Kidding, bro, kidding."

He parked arbitrarily on the curb, nearly slamming the front end of the car on a fire hydrant. "Here we are."

I thanked him. "Pick me up at ten."

"Yeh whatever."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It was a bit awkward. This was the first time I'd actually attended a school event, so I didn't really know where to go. There was this huge crowd of students, many of which I didn't recognize. I distinguished a few girls from the Cheer team, and then I saw Riku, Shuyin and Tidus and decided to try and follow them. Apparently we had to pay, and luckily I had enough spare change on me.

I got an okay seat around the middle, so I could still see the stage. I met Snow, Vaan and Lightning, who were there to support Serah. Penelo was sick, and she had told me over the phone to make sure I told her all about it on Monday.

"They're up against _AVALANCHE_ and _Playing With Fate_," Snow explained. "_AVALANCHE_ are from South Destiny College, and, well, _Playing With Fate_ are just some wannabes from the high school in the Central Island."

I nodded. "Are they good?"

"Who knows?" Vaan shrugged. "The Songstresses have been up against _AVALANCHE _before, but not _Playing With Fate. Playing With Fate_ look like they suck anyway, so they're not the problem. _AVALANCHE_ are pretty good."

I nodded as the lights dimmed, focusing on a pretty blonde haired girl standing on the stage. It took me some time to realize she was Stella Nox Fleuret, our Art teacher.

It didn't take me long to find out what she was doing on stage.

"Hello, I'm Stella, and welcome, everyone, one to the seventeenth annual glee club Sectionals!" Everyone clapped before she continued. I was still thinking about how retarded it was having my Art teacher present a singing competition. "As you all know, the three glee clubs will compete to dazzle the judges, who will then proceed to choose who will be moving onto the next round." She gave the audience a dazzling smile. "Now, without further ado, let's begin. Give it up for _AVALANCHE_!"

_AVALANCHE_ was composed of a bunch of girls and two guys, all dressed in bandit outfits. They had great voices, and the song list was priceless ('On the Floor' by JLo, 'Mercy' by Duffy and 'Get this Party Started' by P!nk.)

_Playing With Fate_ wasn't as good—just a few immature freshmen girls in flimsy sundresses singing about love. Two Taylor Swift ballads and a Ke$ha song were about all I could handle.

And then came the _Songstresses_' turn. I saw Riku actually look up from his current Tap Tap Revolution match and look at the stage. The lights went off, the stage dark, and for awhile it was silent.

And the suddenly yellow, green and red strobe lights began flashing along with the upbeat tempo. I recognized the song immediately—'Rude Boy' by Rihanna. (Vanitas had fallen in love with the song a while back, which resulted in me listening to it hours on end.)

Then Snow whispered: "Hot damn."

The spotlights shone on the eight female Songstresses, with the three lead singers posing in front. Yuna, Lenne…and Kairi.

Ah. Kairi.

Once I saw her I couldn't take my eyes off her. My eyes were, like, wholly glued to her. She was wearing a sleeveless army-print hoodie with the hood pulled up. Her redwine tresses tumbled down in waves. I couldn't see her face that well from where I was sitting, but I assumed she was wearing quite a lot of unneeded make-up. Her hoodie was half-open, revealing what looked like a camouflage push-up bra, or something. She also donned denim shorts that couldn't have been more than three inches long, revealing quite a lot of her legs. To top it all off she was wearing expensive-looking army-print knee-high Converse sneakers, along with several camouflage-themed wristbands and large silver hoop earrings.

She looked…she looked _sexy_.

And that's a bit of an awkward adjective to use when you're describing your best friend.

Yuna, Lenne and practically all the girls were also dressed like prostitutes, but my eyes were trained on Kairi the whole time.

Next on the song list was 'Beep' by the Pussycat Dolls—it was only now that they were joined with the guys. There was a whole lot of suggestive dancing involved, and it irked me whenever Kairi touched or was touched by one of the other guys. I knew they were only doing it for the audience, but Kairi was such a good actress that I sometimes forgot. They were doing that whole 'hairography' thing, but even that didn't distract anybody from her amazing voice.

The final song was 'My Humps' by the Black Eyed Peas. By now the crowd had gone wild. I felt myself having a major boner, which was very Vanitas-like of me. Well, okay, so I caught Riku staring at her too with wide eyes. I noticed he was smirking slightly, probably figuring out how to get her laid, or something. I had the sudden urge to punch the jerk in the face for even thinking that.

But, well, as I watched her body move, it was like everything was going in slow-motion. The way she moved her hips was somewhat hypnotizing, and her butt…for some reason I just really wanted to go over there and…well, grab it.

_What is wrong with me?_

I guess you could call it a bad influence or simply adolescence.

The song eventually came to an end, and everyone cheered, wolf-whistled or gave a standing ovation. It took me some time to snap out of my trance before I started clapping as well. Yuna and Lenne were waving professionally, but Kairi was giggling adorably while looking around for someone. She saw me and waved, and I gave her a thumbs-up sign. I wasn't sure if I was in enough control of my emotions yet to smile at her.

She beamed, flushing slightly as Stella came onto stage and signaled for the Songstresses to go backstage.

"Now it's time for a little intermission while the judges cast their votes. Don't go anywhere; we'll be back in ten minutes with the results of which school glee club won this year!"

* * *

**Meh. I've been planning this chappie for ages, but, for some reason, it just came out like…well, like this.**

**:L**

**R&R people. I'm seriously not in the mood for going back to skul on Monday…but I guess it has to be done. **

**Stuff **_**should**_** start happening…soon enough. Sokai, and more RiKai etc. And some Namixas, of course. **

**Well, I'm off. Luff u guys, so very much. **

**XOXOXOX**


	18. Strawberry Shortcake

**A/N: School. Sucks. **

**Nuff said.**

**Review replies! **

**No VII a.k.a Karasu: Yuppers! And how did u know that Vincent was gonna come later on in the story? …are you…I KNEW IT! YOU'RE A MIND READER! GAAAHHH! **

**Morgead'sgirl: Haha! I know! I felt so weird writing that…since I'm a girl and all and have no idea how having a boner feels…but whatever. xD **

**Superpeanutbutter: Mr. Hottie McHotHot! ROFLMFAO! Priceless! I had that idea stuck up here *points at head* for AGES. Finally found somewhere to fit it in. And, whenever I get started on Hero::Heroine, it'll become clearer. And poor Sora has to deal with his not-so-hotness! And (don't tell), but I actually had a crush on Roxas the first time I saw him in KHII…and I didn't actually know Jesse voiced him until I was watching the credits, so happy that I'd finally beat the game, and then I was like 'Sora: Haley Joel Osment, Kairi: Hayden Pannetiere blah blah blah, Roxas: Jess Mccartney…ZOMGWTF? JESSE MCCARTNEY?' Cause at that time 'Beautiful Soul' was my cousin's fave song, and I was lyk 'shut UUUUP'. And then I found out that Jesse, the seiyuu of Roxas, sang that song and…well. That explains why I now have Jesse's first album and am saving up for **_**Right Where You Want Me, Departure **_**and **_**Have it All**_**. LMAO. And Jesse looked AWESOME and all, but that haircut was uncalled for. And as for the Justin Bieber bashing…that's just pop culture talkin'. For the sake of conversation. xD And don't worry, I don't hate the Biebster. **

**ChibixGiraffe: Wow. Okay…cool? XD Anyway…Kickass sounds cool! Shall make a mental note to check it out some time…and you should've all known that the 'Gay Best Friend' was coming. Seriously. :) I have a not-really-gay-but-sure-as-hell-acts-like-one best friend. He likes Rihanna, the X-Factor, Cher Lloyd, acting, singing, and hanging out with girls. Practically everyone thinks he's gay, and it's starting to piss him off. If you ever meet someone called 'Thomas Wilkinson', remember not to ask him that question. xD **

**TheNerds: ^^ Kay, and thanks for reviewing! **

**MyRealNameIsHiding: Aww! Be my guest! To be honest, your review was the best out of all of the reviews for Chappie 17. Don't ask why. It just **_**was**_**.**

**Reigatsu: Once again, your review made me LOL-MAO. Is that a word? No? Whatever, I don't care. :P FARSTU! (Lol LOVE IT) Haha, I never knew Vanitas' ending comment would have so many likes! I just wanted him to randomly interrupt Sora with something, and…well. That was all that came to mind. :P But glad you, and many others, think it's classic! SECONDO! You must have seen that coming. I mean, Sora and Roxas getting closer. Haha, maybe not. But I needed the plot to get going, and so…yeh. THARDU! Well, Sora thinking about the Big S and all at such a young age (COUGHYOUNG?COUGH) made people think he was some kind of messed-up pervert. But oh well, that's guys today, I guess. And do you want to know who informed me about Lolo Ferrari? Some guy in my class in Sixth Grade. IN SIXTH GRADE. What the HELL? I wasn't smart enough to ask him why I should check her up, and checked her anyway. And was almost BLINDED. I can't get the image out of my head. I recently found out that 'Lolo' is French slang for 'boobs'. And I know she's ugly. xD Did u know she got into the Guinness Book of Records? Le GASP! I know 'Angel' doesn't have as much appeal as 'Addicted' has—(I mean, ANG and APO are on around 70 reviews, and ADD is on what? 152 FRICKIN REVIEWS? And this is a big deal for me cause that's the most I've ever got in my whole two years since I began)—so don't worry. ^^ And even though I believe in God (and I'm serious—the Bible is my FREAKING LIFE DUDE), I found your liddle joke pretty funny. I LOLd for about five minutes. No kidding. :)**

**ShadowSpooky: Haha, glad u liked Van's joke. ^^ And thanks for reading! Don't worry, the 'stuff' shall and will arrive in due time. **

**Gxmwp: Aww…u hurt ur hands? :P So sowwy…that must SUCK. I couldn't live without my hands. You'll find what Riku was smirking about in Chappie 13 of APO, whenever that comes out. And I know how I'm making Yuna a bitch, but she'll get better. And Kairi DID feel uncomfortable dancing like a whore. You'll see that in Chappie 13 of ANG. ^^ And tell your hands I said 'GET WELL SOON SUCKAHZZZ!'**

**ThatKidWhoSkate aka Skateboard: Apply myself? Rigggght. And CONGRATULATIONS! You're, like, the first to actually SEE IT COMING! Haha. Well, this chappie should be longer, if life is being good to me. **

**Toni Heart: Thank you! I have to get working on Fanmail soon though…I procrastinate cause of how long it takes. xD You're moving! Wow, we got something in common! Well, I'm moving to Louisiana, actually, but if I ever meet said foreign-black-kid-under-the-name-of-Lance, I'll be sure to punch him! Or, at least, get someone else to punch him, since violence is totally against my religion. :D And I SHALL and WILL watch Sucker Punch with the crew, whenever I find time in this hectic life of mine. **

**Draco Oblivion: Haha…we-ell…maybe she might. (no, I wasn't hinting anything, because at this moment in time I honestly don't know xD). And Sora's so failing at being a GBF, but whatever. Kairi doesn't know, at least. ^^ He's gonna be acting pretty GBF-y in this chappie, though. **

**Rayne Destiny: Haha, you think Sora's down for the count? Wait till u read this chappie dude. ^^**

**WTF? (That's 'What the Flamingo?' cause I don't and can't swear in real life). KICKASS LONG REVIEW REPLIES? Ugh. Page three in Microsoft Word already. Better get going with the actual chappie now. **

**About this chappie: GBF-ness, more VAN-VAN, Sokai…AND ABSOLUTELY NO RIKAI! I can hear you Anti-RiKai fangirls/boys rejoicing in their seats. I actually LOVE this chappie. And that's something seeing as I never really do that. **

**Disclaimer: NOPE NOPE YADDA YADDA YADDA. **

**WARNING! SUPER-LONG CHAPPIE AHEAD! (Well, super long for me, at least. :L)**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Kairi and I are, like, bestest pals now. _

She didn't exactly invite me, but I figured it was sort of my duty as her best friend to go and watch her sing.

Best friend. I liked the sound of that.

_Well, according to Vanitas, I'm supposed to be the _Gay _Best Friend._

"What?"

"You know, typical high school drama? Dude likes Chick, Chick only thinks of Dude as best friend, Chick falls in love with Douchenozzle…"

_But I'm pretty extra super duper sure I'm not gay, seeing as I was totally turned on at the Sectionals. _

She looked _sexy_.

And that's a bit of an awkward adjective to use when you're describing your best friend.

_And on top of all that, Roxas and I are, well, on the 'talking' stage again! _

"She…she said that my make-up hides the real me, and that most people won't see past the exterior…I don't know. She said I should dress like that more often."

"I agree. You're a lot more approachable now."

_And even though he's managed to do what I've been struggling to do for years, I don't really care. At least we're making progress._

_But me and Kairi's relationship? _

_I have a feeling it's not gonna get anywhere past the 'Best Friend' stage, especially after how Vanitas put it. _

_But that's not gonna stop me. Nothing will ever stop me until I get into Kairi's pa—I mean…until Kairi's my girlfriend. _

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: Strawberry Shortcake**

_The Songstresses _won. None of the crew really made a big deal about it—apart from Kairi, of course.

She was over-the-fucking-moon. As soon as she met me outside after they'd retrieved their Sectionals trophy and everything, she squealed and gave me a gigantic bear hug, even doing that totally immature jumping-up-and-down thing.

But I still found it cute, of course. I mean, everything Kairi did was cute.

"WE WON!

"I know."

"WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON WE **WON**!"

I spotted Riku giving me a death-glare from his group of friends, but I just smiled back at him.

If anything, his glare dimmed.

She pulled away from me. Her face was aglow, even though it was dark out apart from the lampposts. "This is all so amazing!"

I smiled warmly at her. You_ were amazing._

Kairi blinked at me, and that's when I realized I'd said it out loud. "I-I mean—"

"You serious?" She asked, smiling. "It was Yuna that said I should put _this _on." She gestured to her get-up, and I struggled to keep my eyes trained on her face.

"Yeh, well…tell her her outfits rock."

"I look like a _whore_."

"Well, outta all the whores, you looked the best."

That comment earned me a punch on the arm. And I'm not sure whether it hurt because Kairi had pretty hard knuckles or because I had practically no muscles. Whatever—it hurt. "Ow!"

She was still glowering at me.

"Um, okay…I'm s-sorry, I didn't m-mean it like _that_—"

She started giggling, shaking her head. "Yeh, I know. Just playing with ya." She ruffled my hair. (I _loved _it when she did that.) "Thanks, by the way."

Suddenly Vanitas drove up, completely failing to park in straight as he hit the curb of the pavement. Through the window, I saw him mouth: _"Oops."_

I sighed. "Meh. Guess that's my cue to leave."

She nodded understandingly, looking off into the car window. "That your Dad?"

I shook my head, laughing. "No, not at all. He's my halfbrother."

"Oh," Kairi giggled. "Um, well…see ya, then!"

I returned the greeting and she pulled me into a hug again. I'd been getting lots of hugs lately—not that it bothered me, of course. Every time we hugged I kept drowning in how cinnamon-y she smelt, and I nearly had an orgasm every time Kairi's lips accidentally brushed against my neck. (Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but...)

I knew this was unhealthy, so I never let the hugs last too long.

Giving her a final wave, I headed off to the car to join Vanitas. I was met with the stuffy smoke-slash-alcohol scent, much different from the heavenly biscuit smell.

Vanitas was smirking sardonically as I sat next to him. "What?"

"You and Princess Biscuit Hair seem to be getting pretty close."

I blushed, averting my gaze immediately. "Uh, well…we're best friends."

"Ugh. Don't remind me." The engine purred.

I frowned. "What do you have against us being best friends?"

"I already told you," Vanitas deadpanned, reversing out of the car park and nearly squashing Riku's drive. "Oops."

I didn't feel like listening to another 'Gay Best Friend' lecture and instead sighed, looking out my window as we drove off.

"Your mom's back, by the way," Van put in for the sake of conversation. "Just so you know."

I nodded knowingly. Ever since my Mom had gotten her new job at the restaurant, she came back late almost every day. She never glowed like she used to, and she and Zack fought more and more often. He occasionally hit her, but whenever he did I just covered my ears with the pillow. Roxas didn't seem to know what was going on; he was stuck in his own little world.

"Oh—and Ventus called," he muttered. "Said you should call him when you got back."

"Ventus?" I whispered, immediately intrigued. Ventus called rarely, probably thrice a year; he always said he was 'too busy'. I hardly remembered what he looked like any more.

Vanitas gave a brusque nod, and I knew he didn't like dwelling on the subject of Ventus, the prestigious older brother with degrees and diplomas and munny falling out of his pockets. Ventus sent us all the munny he made doing his part-time job in some research lab or business industry (we didn't really know exactly), but the munny was always shared between Mom and Dad and, when we'd finished paying the rent, the school fees, the tuition for Ventus (because he insisted he couldn't pay by himself) and other basic things, like new clothes and food, we didn't really have much left for buying other important things—like designer sneakers, new swimming trunks, new video games and stuff like that.

Anyway, Vanitas didn't really like Ventus much. He was pretty much an example of everything Vanitas wasn't. Ventus started university at seventeen; Vanitas didn't even try until he was twenty, and, when he did, didn't get accepted. Ventus was smart and spent his weekends researching; Vanitas was a bit thick and spent his weekends in strip clubs, in pubs or sleeping with prostitutes. Ventus was blonde and handsome and made his parents proud; Vanitas was, well, handsome as well, but looked more like a vampire, and his parents avoided speaking about him in public.

Vanitas seemed like a tough guy on the outside, but on the inside I saw him feeling inadequate and angry whenever Ventus was brought up.

Which was why I decided to change the subject. "So…what about you, Van? Met any new girls lately?"

Vanitas shook his head. "Uh-uh. Well, not really. There was this girl I met at the bar yesterday, and she was pretty hot—you know, non-plastic boobs and these killer legs—and she said she was called 'Ronnie'. But then, when we were getting it on and everything, I found out she was a Ronnie who used to be a Ronald. If you catch my drift."

It took me some time to understand what he was talking about. Then my eyes widened. "_Ew_."

"Yeh, exactly what I thought." Vanitas gave me a grin, which I returned. "Speaking of sex changes, how's Riku doin'?"

I laughed. "Riku's been male all his life, Van."

"Doesn't seem like it. He just looks like a girl on steroids, or something. Minus the boobs, of course. I mean, what normal guy shaves his legs? He has girl legs, I'm telling you. Remember that Blitzball game we went to watch when you were a first year?"

I nodded. "You mean the one where you wouldn't stop making sex noises when you were eating your hotdog?"

"Yeh, that one, but that's not the point." Vanitas gave me a smile again, ruffling my hair. "His legs were fucking _glittering_, dude. You know, like that Cullen fag in Twilight."

That made me burst out laughing for some reason, and I didn't stop until we'd arrived at the house. "We have arrived, your Majesty," my halfbrother said in the most mock-pompous voice imaginable.

I chuckled, and he ruffled my hair again. Seeing as I was in a good mood, I suddenly had this weird impulse to hug him, and it wasn't long before I did. I buried my face into his shirt, inhaling the familiar musky scent.

"Um. Okay." Vanitas mumbled, but I could hear the smirk playing on his mouth. "Better watch out; I'm starting to have this weird attraction to you, little bro. Don't think your little girlfriend would be happy to find out you do incest, would she?"

I punched him on the chest before pushing myself off him, glowering. He laughed and my glare softened, and then I decided I'd better head inside. "See ya, Van. And, uh, thanks for taking me."

"You're too polite, yanno dat?" Vanitas grinned, showing off his pearly white teeth. And then he gave me a final wave and zoomed off down the road.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"Hello?"

"Uh…hey, Ventus."

"Um…hello…may I know who is speaking?"

"Uh…i-it's Sora…"

"So…ra…?"

"Your…little brother…"

"…OH! Oh _yeah_! Sorry I've gotta lot on my mind…hehe."

"Hehe."

"So…how're stuff going for you in school? How's Tidus?"

"Um…I'm fine. It's fine. H-He's fine."

"Glad to hear it. Uh…how's Mom holding up? I didn't really get to speak to her…Roxas said she was busy or something."

"Yeh…she's great. Never been better."

"Happy for her. I mean, I was afraid she'd fall back into that depression stage after a while…she good?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Great."

"…"

"…"

"So…how's your Business course goin'?"

"Good, really good. Couldn't be better. It was pretty hard to begin with, but after it got easy. Works out for you when you put your heart into it, yanno? At first I was like 'Hell no, I am never gonna get this', but…well, I did. Made some friends, too. There was this girl that gave a lecture here a while back, you know, when I was still taking Language—"

"Uh…Ventus? I kinda…gotta go now. Uh…Mom's calling me and stuff…"

"Oh, okay. Oh, and while you're at it do you mind telling Mom I'm gonna take this Psychology and Neurology course next semester? My professor said I have the capacity and—"

"I'll be sure to let her in on that."

"Thanks. You're the best, uh…Sora."

"…see you…later, I guess."

"Yeh. See ya. Love you guys. And, uh, tell Zack and Mom I said hi."

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

She was in a euphoric mood for the whole week. She kept randomly squealing in lessons, and babbling on about how excited she was and how she really didn't think she'd win.

I didn't really mind that much, though.

School was chugging along fine. I still randomly got shoved once in a while in the hallways, but people seemed to steer clear of me whenever Kairi was there. Kairi had some kind of aura around her; it was impossible to dislike her. She eventually joined the cheerleading team when her ankle was better, and joined the rest of the Cheer Team in cheering on the Destiny Dolphins.

Speaking of Blitzball, Blitzball matches were hell for me, even if I didn't really play on the field. It was the Blitzball season, and we'd had to go against the other two local teams. Being a Benchwarmer was twice as hard as I thought. Running around with towels and drinks and trying to remember which pair of trunks belong to who and worrying about whether or not you're going to manage to carry the one meter pile of towels to the team without slipping on the water that seems to be _everywhere _kinda takes a lot out of you.

At least I got a good view of Kairi cheerleading from the sidelines. The thing is, she managed _not_ to look slutty in her cheer gear.

Penelo and Kairi came to keep me company during breaks, though, while the Blitz team dried off and the Cheer Team re-did their make-up. Kairi and Penelo admitted they didn't really care for make-up, which I didn't find surprising. Kairi didn't _need _massive amounts of make-up to look astounding.

Eventually the Autumn Term came to an end—something I dreaded and looked forward to at the same time. I was ecstatic that the holidays were coming, but I was dismayed as well because of one thing.

The Parents/Teachers meetings that took place on the last day of Autumn Term.

How I hated the stupid Parents/Teachers rendezvous. Usually, these occasions meant three things: a) an opportunity for the teachers to criticize me b) an opportunity for Mum to see my horrible report card and c) an opportunity for me to get grounded.

"Why the long face?" Kairi asked that Friday in English Literacy. We had just finished doing another Spelling Test, and I was pretty sure I'd failed. (Aqua had seen to it that I didn't get any help whatsoever by stationing herself right in front of me and smiling sweetly at me for the whole hour.

"What long face?" I mumbled dumbly.

Kairi giggled, ruffling my hair (as I held back a sigh). "Come _on_; I know you better than that. I know something's up. You can tell your best friend, right?"

I sighed, muttering. "You know. Today is the Parents Q&A meeting a.k.a another opportunity for all the teachers to humiliate me in front of my parents."

"Aw come on, you're not _that _bad!"

"No, Kairi. I _am_."

"No you're not!" Kairi protested, frowning slightly, going into 'Mother Kairi' mode. "I helped you a lot this term! Remember all the homework we did together? ~_And _you've gotten better at Math too! I mean, you actually know how to solve quadratic equations now without messing up all the numbers!"

I shrugged. "But still. I'm not _half _as smart as Roxas, or anyone else for that matter. I don't know why; I have some kind of problem with concentrating. It's like sometimes I'm staring at the teacher and then I blink and it's like their's this huge blank space in my memory and I realize I've missed something."

"Eh…well. You'll manage. I'm sure of it." She gave me an encouraging smile, which slightly cheered me up. She must have noticed still wasn't exactly happy, though. She frowned, and then her face lit up—she had an idea. "I know how I'm gonna cheer you up! After school today, we're gonna go _date stalkin'_!"

I was immediately wary. "What?"

"You know. Namine says she and Roxas have a date today."

"What?" I stared at Kairi in disbelief.

Kairi giggled. "Okay, so those weren't her exact words. But she did say she and Roxas were going to the park today. You know, for her 'Art Project'." She made speech mark signs with her fingers.

"Oh." I held back a frown. "Roxas didn't tell me any of this…"

A mischievous grin slowly appeared on Kairi's face. "…which is exactly why we're gonna see more up close."

Kairi and I proceeded to share a menacing Evil Maniac laughter, one which lasted long until after the bell rang.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The sun shone stagnantly in the sky, but the wind blew ferociously, nipping at my ears and nose and turning them pink. The weather was starting to not make sense—winter was approaching.

Kairi didn't seem to mind the cold. The fact that she was wearing her strawberry-red raincoat was probably a reason. We waited near the buses we wouldn't be taking until Roxas and Namine emerged from the building. They were deep in conversation, and didn't even notice us peeking at them.

They headed off down the street, and then we were off.

I'd never been that great at spying on people. Kairi got pissed and hissed that I was 'a terrible spy' and 'the worst stalking partner she'd ever had'.

"You mean you've done this before?" I asked curiously, as I massaged my sore arm. Kairi had just pulled me into a bush for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

She nodded, looking slightly embarrassed. "Yeh. With Namine once when I was twelve."

"How…exactly are you and Namine related?" I probed, picking out leaves from my hair.

"~Well…" Kairi whispered, brushing at some hair that was shading her eyes. "We're half-sisters, like I said. We have the same Mom, and different Dads. It's pretty funny since her Dad has black hair and mine has blond."

I laughed, nodding. "Oh, okay. I just wanted to know."

"What about your family?" Kairi implored as we got up from the bush and headed down the streets after the couple. "You've never told me much about it."

"Eh, well…"

To be honest, the reason I'd never told her was because I was a little embarrassed about my family. I'd told her about Roxas already, but all that resulted in was in her being extremely freaked out by him. It was nearly impossible for her to even do the SexEd assignment.

(Speaking of the Nurturing assignment, Reno had graded us all. I'd gotten a B-, one of my best marks in the term. Riku had gotten a D, and Kairi an A-. He'd said her baby didn't see enough of his father, and that my baby didn't see enough of its mother. Turns out they had inbuilt cameras. Hm. He'd said we were allowed to keep the babies, but, after suffering from sleep loss for weeks, many thought it'd be better to throw it away. I just didn't have the heart to, though, and I made it a cardboard bed next to mine. It pissed Roxas immensely, but I didn't really care. Call me girly, but, well, I guess that's just me.)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeh—talking with Kairi.

Kairi looked up at me with probing eyes. "Hn?"

Nervously, I scratched the back of my head. "Um…hehe well, you see, my family's pretty messed up. I've told you about my Mum and my stepdad and you've seen my halfbrother and my twin brother already, right?" She nodded, intrigued, and I continued. "~Well…actually my halfbrother and my stepdad aren't directly related. Um, well, my _real _Dad left my Mum when I was seven, and now he lives on the other side of town. My Mum got remarried to my stepdad, Zack. Well, the reason why my Mum and Dad broke up is cause he was still interested in this other girl he, um, knocked up in high school. Eh…well, that girl had a child, which is my stepbrother." Her eyes widened. "Yeh. We're pretty close, as far as halfbrothers go. I know it's kinda against the code to actually like your halfbrother, but whatever. He's twenty-three, by the way. My oldest brother is twenty-one, but he's never really there." I cleared my throat. "And then there's my stepmom's sister and her daughter, who I sometimes see in the summer…"

Kairi giggled. "Wow. That must be cool to have such a huge family. Mine's kinda…small. We don't really visit each other often." She smiled sadly. "And now that Namine's Dad's passed away…"

She looked so sad that I had to do something and desperately blurted out a 'Sorry'.

She smiled warmly, catching my hand and giving it a squeeze. "Don't be."

I didn't have time to revel in the fact that I was _holding Kairi's hand_—for the first time since we'd been best friends—because suddenly Kairi pushed me down into a bush that had been conveniently waiting there for me to fall into. "Ow! Kai—"

"SSSSHHH!" Kairi hissed, glowering at me. I was about to object when I noticed why. Through the leaves, we had a direct view of Roxas and Namine. Roxas had just sat down next to a tree, and Namine was bringing out her art stuff.

"Aw, isn't that cute?" I cooed as quietly as possible. "He's letting her draw him."

Kairi giggled. "We have to come up with a name for them…"

"How bout Namixas?" I suggested with a grin.

"You serious?" Kairi raised an eyebrow, an amused smile gracing her lips.

"Yup! You know, all those name-mashing stuff celebs do?" I shrugged, which was pretty hard seeing the weird position we were in. The bush was just large enough to hide both of us. "Well…I figured we could do that for pairings. You know, Bradgelina? For example, for us it would be SoKai."

It took me some time to realize what I'd just said.

Heat rose to my face. "I-I mean—"

Thankfully, the awkward moment was interrupted as we heard laughter coming from the couple. It was Namine's laughter. I'd never heard it before, but it sounded pretty nice. She was beaming, and she looked happier than I'd ever seen her.

"I can't believe it…" Kairi whispered. Her eyes were teary; she looked positively happy for Namine. "She's _smiling_…"

I nodded, feeling a smile creeping onto my face. During the whole SexEd assignment, Namine had hardly ever been there, and, when she was, she was quiet.

She never smiled.

And yet, here she was, _laughing_.

Roxas was different as well. Apart from the make-up that he'd ditched eons ago, his face was full of life. He was smiling and joking like nobody's business.

"Two lost souls, finding comfort in each other," I mumbled for no reason. "How cute."

Kairi's hand found mine again, and I gave it a comforting squeeze. She noticed and gave me a teary-eyed smile.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Eventually our legs started getting numb and we decided to head back to school. Namine and Roxas came later, still lost in conversation. It was evident, though, that the sullen/emo facades had returned to haunt their faces.

Kairi's friends eventually came, saying that they were going to Starbucks. Riku was there, and he gave me an acknowledging nod.

Riku was…well, I wasn't sure what I could call him at that moment. He didn't _hate _me anymore, and sometimes we got along quite okay. I wasn't exactly popular, but since I was in the Blitz Team, people seemed to know me as 'the Bench Kid'. (I got it lucky; some other useless dude got the job as the school mascot: the 'Destiny Dolphin'.) Riku occasionally helped me out in stuff, and I sometimes helped him out in Drama. Thanks to me, his voice improved immensely—even Sephy noticed. The songs we went over were a lot easier to go through when he knew how to use his voice properly. The best thing about our 'friendship' was that Riku didn't hit me anymore. He somehow managed to order his Blitz Team members to quit shoving me in the hallways, which had become a routine since freshmen year. He still didn't invite me to any of his parties, but he occasionally smiled at me, and his glares were less frequent.

Riku's behavior sort of rubbed off on everyone else. Riku was like the God of the school, even if he wasn't an upperclassman yet. Whenever he did something, everyone else did. People copied nearly everything he did, except his hairstyle, which they knew was off limits. So when he stopped calling me names, others stopped calling me names. When he stopped shoving, everyone else stopped shoving. The 'Porcupie' joke faded and dwindled into nothing.

For the first time in my life, I wasn't scared of what each day would bring.

"See ya later, I guess," Kairi shrugged, giving me a wave as she headed off with her bunch of friends.

One thing never changed, though. And that was my social status.

Okay, so I'd moved from the rank of Outcast, but now I'd ended up in Snow and the gang's group, which was the 'Random people People don't mind' group. It was something, but it still wasn't what I was aiming for.

Oh, and just so you know…I still consulted The Book regularly. It became like a Bible to me.

I looked over at Namine and Roxas, who looked like they were just about to go their separate ways. I saw Namine take his hand, look around warily, and then quickly kiss him on the cheek. And then, looking red-faced, she sprinted off, leaving a flustered, mesmerized Roxas in her wake.

If I was a fangirl, I would have fainted at the amount of Namixas cuteness.

Roxas eventually noticed me looking, and his blush deepened as he walked off down the street.

Apparently he wasn't going to wait for Mom and Zack to arrive.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It was getting dark when the sound of a car brake broke through the noise of the blowing wind. My eyes widened as I recognized the car, and the guy who stepped out of it. "Vanitas?"

"Fucking lousy-ass car," Vanitas was muttering. "And to think I spent two thousand munny on this shit."

"Van?" I walked over to him, wrapping my scarf closer around my neck. "What are you doing here?"

"Huh?" He noticed me and immediately broke into a grin. "Heya liddle brudda!"

"Um. Hi?" I raised an eyebrow. "Where's Mum and Zack?"

He dug his hands into his pockets and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Couldn't make it."

My heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"You heard me. Sent me instead. Having some kind of verbal abuse battle or something."

It was suddenly really hard to swallow. "Oh."

"You're Mom was pretty pissed, though." He put a stick in his mouth and lit it. "So was Souja Boy." He glanced at me. "Wanna tell me what's going on?"

"I h-have no idea wha—"

"Save it."

I sighed as we headed into the school building. "Well…Zack's…Zack's been hitting Mom."

Vanitas looked intrigued. "Really? You mean your Mom's getting Browned?"

I nodded sadly, not at all amused by the term he used. "For…some weeks now. Well, it's not all the time; just once or twice a week, I don't know. Most of the time I'm asleep."

Vanitas let out a sardonic chuckle. "Well you're Mom's a failure at marriage."

I glared at him at that, not at all pleased. "What did you say?"

"Hey, hey, don't go all Full Frontal Bastard at me." He raised his hands to shield himself. "I'm just saying. Well first there was my Dad and then there was Soulja Boy…I mean, there must be something about your Mom that makes guys go crazy—"

"Shut up," I muttered venomously. "Shut. Up."

He must have detected the tone of my voice, because he sighed and shook his head. "Fine, fine."

We entered the building, Vanitas still smoking. Principal Yoshida happened to be roaming the halls at that exact moment and scowled. "NO USE OF MIND-ALTERING SUBSTANCES ON CAMPUS, YOUNG MAN. DRUG USE IS A COMPLETELY VALID GROUND FOR EXPULSION—"

"Sorry grampa, but I finished school five years ago," Vanitas shrugged, taking another drag of his cigarette. "I'm just here for this kid." He jerked his thumb in my direction.

By now Yoshida was thoroughly pissed off. "Whatever. No smoking on campus, student or not."

"Fine, fine, whatever," Vanitas quipped. "Don't want your beard to catch fire, now would we?"

"Van…" I muttered warningly. "We'd better hurry up if we don't want to miss the appointment."

"Oh yeh. Forgot about that." Vanitas shook his head at his own stupidity and gave Yoshida a boorish wave. I saw Yoshida's right eye twitch, like the way it always does when he sees PDA in the hallways, and I knew I'd be on Yoshida's 'I'm watching You' list from then on.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

We were sitting in the waiting lounge outside the English Literacy room, where our rendezvous was going to take place. Vanitas was rudely flirting with 'milf' and scratching his crotch for the whole time we were there. The other mothers/fathers looked appalled, and I even heard a few gossiping about him.

The hopeful feeling I'd had when I'd first saw him arrive disappeared when Aqua came out in all her blue-haired glory. "Sora Kyumuke?"

Vanitas was up before I was, and he took Aqua's hand in a flash. She blinked at him, surprised. "A-And you are?"

"Your future boyfriend, baby," Vanitas quipped flirtatiously.

I wished at that exact moment that the floor would open and swallow me whole.

Aqua looked slightly disgusted. "I…highly doubt that."

Vanitas was surprised at her reaction, but quickly got over it. "You got spunk. I like you."

Aqua rolled her eyes. "No, what I meant was how are you related to Sora? I'm used to seeing his mother, or his father…"

Before Vanitas could respond, I replied for him. "He's my stepbrother. My Mum and Dad couldn't make it."

"Oh, okay. Very well, then. Shall we?" She gave Vanitas a glance before spinning around on her heels. Vanitas tried to grab her butt (much to my horror), but Aqua saw that coming and fastened her palm around his wrist.

Vanitas winced.

"If you touch me, I. Will. _Kill you_. Understand?" Her voice was ominous, and her eyes were stormy pools of navy. "Understand?"

Vanitas nodded, dumbfounded, and she gave him a sickly sweet smile before heading to her desk. When he'd gotten over his shock, a suggestive grin reappeared on his face. "Feisty."

I rolled my eyes and, embarrassed, tried to ignore the stares the other teachers were giving us.

Aqua sat down on her chair all business-like, tucking some of her blue hair behind her ear. "Well…I guess I'd like to start by saying that Sora…is a troubled child. It's obvious he has some learning disorders, but the fact that his parents brought him here evidently means they want him to feel like any other normal child."

"How did you get your hair to stay that color?" Vanitas blurted out randomly. "Blue, I mean?"

Aqua pursed her lips, and for a while I thought she wasn't going to say anything. "Hair dye. Heard of it? Sell it at most supermarkets, you know. You should go there sometime." And then she turned back to me, her gaze softened. "Like I was saying—"

"How did someone like you end up teaching in a high school?" Van said the two last words as if he was talking about slugs or ugly fat people. "Because, I mean, if you worked down at the South End, I'd totally pay anything to get in your pants."

_Smooth, Vanitas. Real smooth._

"Can you shut up?" Aqua snarled. "I'm trying to talk to you about your stepbrother's academics, and all you're giving me in return are these lousy attempts at flirting with me?"

"Someone's not in a good mood," Vanitas mumbled.

Her glare darkened.

"Fine, fine. Whatever. Go on blahblahblah-ing about how stupid and lousy Sora is, and get back to me when you start saying something worth hearing."

For some reason, his statement hurt me. He didn't seem to mind, though, but Aqua noticed. "It's okay, Sora. You've progressed commendably this year, in all subjects. Even English Literacy." She handed me my report card, and I was astounded to see that my average was a C, unlike the E- and the D+ I'd gotten in the two preceding years. "Well done, and keep up the good work!"

I nodded, smiling at her for the sake of it. I kind of felt sorry for her since Vanitas was acting like such a douche. Stuffing my report card in my bookbag, I stood up and headed for the door.

Vanitas came some time after, silently. He was listening to music in his mp3, and not even looking at me. The silence was as pregnant as the woman who lives down our street.

It was only in the car that he spoke up. "So…she's married, huh?"

I waited before answering. "…yeah. To…my Sports teacher."

His face was downtrodden, and I noticed his hands grip around the steering wheel. "…lucky guy."

There was something wrong with Vanitas. He was silent and didn't say a thing for the rest of the ride home.

* * *

**WTH EFFING LONG CHAPPIE FTW?**

**Can't believe I wrote that much. But when I started I couldn't stop.**

**This is when more of the plot starts kicking in. **

**Next chappie is WINTER BREAK PEOPLE!**

**Hope you liked the extra dose of Vanitas action I threw in there for you Vani-fans. And some RokuNami. And some SoKai. And VANQUA. I was inspired by Annria2002's art on dA. LOVE IT. **

**Haha, lol. **

* * *

_**Sneek Peek:**_

"_I was a deprived child."_

"_What about you, Sora?"_

"_Sora?"_

"_K-Kairi?"_

* * *

**Haha, that should give you guys something to dream about during my absence. Well TTYL and R&R! XXXXXX LOVE YOU GUYS! **

**P.S: I got a dA account, for those of you that care. I don't do art, cause I suck. But just incase you guys wanted to send me some DCT Fanart (if that ever happens lol), I'm called **_**RokuTenshi131**_**. **


	19. Winter Break Pt 1

**A/N: GUESS WHAT? GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT? I got a B! A B! In my mock I mean! I am in such I good mood; I could just kiss you guys! But, seeing as most of you are girls, and I'm not a lesbian, I won't. **

**Review replies?**

**Morgead'sgirl: Oh? Guess who's the first review reply? xD Lol! My first fan! *squeals* Anyway…glad you loved the chappie! I loved writing it, and I didn't want it to end, which was why it was so long. And…well, just so you know, Sora won't be masturbating/looking over at Kairi through the window in this chappie. xD But they'll be some kind of encounter of some kind though…and I needed the date stalking scene. It was vital. And yes, I did go there. =D Glad you liked the chappie and glad I made you lol! :D **

**ChibixGiraffe: Yes! I used your super-cool word! =D Lol I thought Vanitas would get haters after the last chappie…but glad to know u still love him! I haven't finished BBS either, partially bcause it's actually my brother's PSP I use to play it. Lol. Sora will get love…one…day…or something. And Vanitas got rejected, but that's not the end of their relationship…and they're about the same age, but, just so you know, Vanitas is younger. (Aqua's twenty-four.) Vanitas won't get in a car accident, but something will happen to him…not gonna tell you if it's bad or good…and I didn't see the Royal Wedding, partially because I was in school and partially because I didn't particularly care…but her dress was AWESOME! If I get married I'd want one as cool as that (I originally wanted a purple-and-black-themed wedding, but my Mum says black's a funeral color. Lol.) **

**Superyummycupcakes: Can't wait for the comic, whenever it's out! Don't worry, the DCT will be on at least until this winter, because of all the moving and stuff going on around here…but yeh. ^^ And I know Sora's girly…but it was either that or cocky, and I totally prefer not-cocky. Okay, I guess I coulda made him a clumsy dunce and all…but I just wanted my Sora to be different. Failing at that, but whatever. ^^**

**Skateboard Kid: Yes. Near-death experiences always work! That's why there shall be one! Not gonna tell you who's gonna get hurt though—that'd ruin everything. Anyway, at least he and Kairi are best friends. That's something, right? xD Vanitas was a little mean, but he was in a bad mood. Lol. **

**TheNerds: Here ya go! New update! **

**An199516: Hmm…maybe. Ventus won't be in this fic a lot, but they'll eventually meet up. How'd you know Ventus knew Aqua? xD**

**Draco Oblvion: Yeh, I know it's unnatural for someone to enjoy hugs that much; Sora was just exaggerating. I based the 'girl legs' comment off my best friend, since this guy in my class has girl legs, unlike most of his other friends. Puberty sucks sometimes. I know, I try to make Vanitas as funny as possible without making him an ass, but I pretty much failed at that in the last chappie. Oh well. And I tried to make their family without basing it on any other AU families, which is why I mixed up the parents and added cousins and all…and now it's all just really confusing and everything. xD Ventus can't even remember Sora's name, and, I agree, that's sad. Ventus is getting sucked into the tornado of Materialism and the Search for Happiness. Forgetting his family much? What's like Milk and Marshmallows? I know the story but I didn't realize there was a connection…and you knew Vanitas had to be related to who? (doesn't understand anything *insert dunce emote here*). And OOHOOHOOH—ONE TREE HILL! That's the series with Chad Michael Murray innit, rite? So have to start watching that series…Seifer won't ruin things yet. The night is young, nothing bad's happened yet… *sigh* Lol. Ventus won't return for some time, but don't worry—Zack will be taken care of. *evil grin* Vanitas will one day reveal his connection to Aqua…and thanks for your awesome review! **

**Toni Heart: I suggest you wait until Fanmail comes out. ^^**

**Reigatsu: Yes! I was freaking out and saying WHERE IS REIGATSU? I have to admit I was disappointed after five days and no review reply…but here it is! Sorry if life's sucking—I know how THAT feels. Anyway. I believed SoKai deserved some fluff, since RiKai had had its moment to shine for several chappies. Sora says thank you for your advice/counsel/thingamajig, and that he was using hyperbole for the 'nearly having an orgasm' thing. xD But, well, I wouldn't know since I've never had one (at least I don't think so; don't really know exactly what it is). Sora also says that he'll take the underwear factor to heart. RokuNami FTW! I'll try and focus on their relationship later or something…and Vanitas demonstrated his verbose verbosity in the last chappie eloquently. And to hell with adverbs. And don't worry, they'll be a lot more VANQUA to come! Hell, I think I should mellow down with the sideplots before I mix everything up… *sweat-drops* Oh well…enjoy the chappie and BOOYAH to you too! **

**a.k.a Karasu: Thanks for your review! Again! And I'll try to keep the long chappies up…keyword being 'try'…and if you liked Vanqua, I think I should let you know there's gonna be more in the future! XXX **

**Q-A the Authoress: Thanks new reviewer! Love your penname btw (don't ask why). Vani is jealous/heartbroken or something…thanks again! **

**About this chappie: WINTER BASH! Just a bit of fun and games…nothing really important happens until the next chappie…**

**Disclaimer: U KIDDIN ME RITE? **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_The Songstresses win the Sectionals. Whoop. _

"WE WON WE WON WE WON WE WON WE **WON**!"

_Ventus calls, which doesn't really mean anything to me seeing as the convo went mostly like this: _

"Uh…hey, Ventus."

"Um…hello…may I know who is speaking?"

"Uh…i-it's Sora…"

"So…ra…?"

"Your…little brother…"

_Even worse, the PTM comes up. _

Usually, these occasions meant three things: a) an opportunity for the teachers to criticize me b) an opportunity for Mum to see my horrible report card and c) an opportunity for me to get grounded.

_We spy on Roxas and Namine's date._

"Aw, isn't that cute?" I cooed as quietly as possible. "He's letting her draw him."

"We have to come up with a name for them…"

"How bout Namixas?"

_Uh…yeh. And Vanitas embarrasses me in front of my English teacher. _

"I mean, if you worked down at the South End, I'd totally pay anything to get in your pants."

_Yeh, so he gets shot down. But he takes it harder than I thought he would. _

"So…she's married, huh?"

"…yeah. To…my Sports teacher."

His face was downtrodden. "…lucky guy."

_And now winter's coming. And everyone knows what winter means._

* * *

**Chapter 19: Winter Break—Part 1**

It was a normal, winter day in the Kyumuke household. Mom and Zack were out working, Roxas was washing the car, and I was in my bedroom flipping through magazines. It was one of those days. Days of boredom, television and relaxation.

The bell rang, and, when I realized no one was going to get it, I headed downstairs, face still buried in an article of the latest celebrity couple. I figured it would be the pizza guy with my pepperoni meal I'd ordered half an hour earlier. Or maybe it would be the mailman, or the ice-cream van.

I did not—and I mean DID NOT—expect it to be Kairi.

She was standing there, staring at me in shock, carrying a basket of muffins, and looking sort of confused-slash-amazed.

"Sora?"

"K-Kairi?"

It was only then that I realized I was in nothing but my tattered hoodie and my Spiderman boxer shorts. I slammed the door behind me, starting to hyperventilate. So many questions were running through my head. _What am I doing? What just happened? And, most importantly, what is Kairi doing at my front door? _

It took me some minutes to realize that I'd slammed the door on Kairi and pull myself together. After pulling on the nearest pair of jeans I could find, I rushed back to the door and pulled it open again.

Kairi was standing there, blinking at me with a deadpan expression.

"Uh…hey," I swallowed nervously, scratching my hair.

Kairi grinned. "Hi! Uh…wow…I had no idea we were neighbors."

"Y-Yeh…me neither." Kairi raised an eyebrow. "I-I mean…" I wracked my brains for an excuse. I mean, I couldn't just tell her '_Oh I didn't want you to know I live right next to you in case you find out I've been looking at you through the window for the past three months.' _Then I found something. "…you know…my family's a mess and I was kinda embarrassed and all…it gets a bit noisy around here sometimes."

Kairi giggled, shaking her head. "I wouldn't mind. I mean, my family's WAY too boring compared to yours."

I smiled at that, and, against my judgment, let her inside. "Well…what brings you here?"

Kairi shrugged, looking around curiously. "~Well, actually, my Mom was nagging at me all summer to go visit the neighbors and everything, but, you know, I was busy this summer."

"Doing what?" I asked, heading to the fridge.

"This and that," Kairi replied vaguely, sitting on our threadbare sofa.

We were running empty on snacks and food, but I managed to find a Coke. "Want one?" Kairi shook her head, and I shrugged. "Suits yourself."

I was opening the can when Kairi suddenly squealed and scuttled over to the shelf next to the television. My face blanched.

"Is this you?" She cooed, pointing at a very embarrassing picture of me in my Winnie the Pooh pajamas (okay, so I've been a fan of anything Disney for quite a long time) when I was seven. "You were so adorable!"

"I guess that's another way you could put it," I joked. Kairi laughed and shook her head, and then she picked up a photo album.

I nearly died.

Kairi was one of those girls who loved cooing over baby pictures and laughing when necessary. I spent a whole hour with her fussing over my photos and squealing about how cute I was etc. etc. She had just reached the embarrassing photo of a hyper-Sora prancing around naked when I decided we'd seen enough photos.

"~Well, that's enough for today, I guess," I chuckled, stealing the album and giving myself a personal note to destroy all the embarrassing pictures we'd encountered. Kairi protested, but eventually gave up. I was throwing away my Coke can when Kairi headed outside to the garden.

I followed her outside. It was cloudy out, but the clouds were a faint grey color. The illusory sun shone, but it didn't make much difference on the temperature outside.

It was only then that I realized how long it had been since I'd actually been in the garden. It had to be at least three years since I even set foot in the place. Ever since Dad left, we vaguely went there. It was a mess. Weeds broke out through the cobbled ground. There was a full-to-the-brim dustbin and the rusting barbecue. Dandelions all over the place, scattered at random. A broken swing. A stack of poles. Flower pots full of dry soil. Autumn leaves etched into the concrete.

Our garden—a bunch of unfinished projects.

I remember hearing Mum and Dad discussing what they were going to do to the garden when we first moved. The fairytale backyard never realized itself. The swing was never finished, and neither was the jungle gym. We were too old for that now anyway. I remembered my Dad roasting meat with the rusty thing that used to be the barbecue. I remembered summers spent in the grass, looking up at the clouds with Roxas and Ventus.

Even though I was seventeen, my throat still clogged up after seeing what remained of our garden and all the memories it brought back.

Kairi must have noticed because cautiously, silently, she walked up to me and wrapped me in a comforting hug.

Okay, so it didn't fix everything. But it made me feel better.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Due to the school code, Yoshida had deleted the Halloween Bash _and_ the Christmas Bash from the school calendar.

This, of course, resulted in a protest by the freshmen and sophomore girls whose main incentive for coming to high school was to go to these annual Bashes with their newfound boyfriends. Somehow, the protesters managed to convince Yoshida into putting the Christmas Bash back on—only now it was called the 'Non-Denominational Winter Skating Ball'. It never snowed in Destiny Islands, and Yoshida thought he was being smart by holding it in an ice-skating rink.

As soon as I heard the word 'skating', I nearly vomited out my insides. Okay, so the Decoration Committee (founded by Selphie) changed the name to 'Winter Wonderland Bash', but the damage had already been done.

* * *

Of course, Kairi felt exactly the opposite of what I did when she heard about it. She was elated, going on and on about some outfit she was going to wear. She was looking forward to it so much that when I told her there was no way I was going to 'that thing', she exploded.

"What do you _mean_ you're not going?" She screeched. "Of course you are!"

"I've never gone before and I don't plan on going in the future." I nonchalantly switched channels on the television. "What makes you think that's gonna change?"

"You mean, you've _never_ gone to a school gig before?" She raised an eyebrow and sat down next to me on the sofa.

I shook my head. "What's the point?" I decided not to elaborate and left it at that. "Besides…I prefer staying at home."

"No way," she growled. "There is no way I'm letting you stay here and watch TV, slouching on the sofa like a couch potato while everyone else is out skating!"

Now would have been a good time to tell her that, well, I couldn't skate, but at that time I didn't think I was going to go anyway, which meant there was no real reason to let her in on this piece of information.

"Whatever. I'm staying here; they're showing a rerun of the first season of Desperate Housewives."

"You're a _guy_, Sora."

"And?"

"Well, most guys would prefer going outside to get some exercise to staying at home to watch TV."

"Well, I guess I'm not like 'other guys'."

"That's just SAD. You'd prefer to watch some dumb drama marathon—which, by the way, is for girls—to going to the Winter Wonderland Bash?"

"Yes."

She huffed. "Fine. Whatever. See if I care. I don't need you there anyway." She stood up and marched out the door.

Sure enough, five seconds later she returned. "Aw, come _on_, Sora! Please?"

Oh no. She was giving me _that_ face.

I struggled to keep my eyes trained on SpongeBob. She noticed, and positioned herself in front of me, pouting. _Oh hell no not the pout!_ "Please?"

I shook my head and tried to think of something random to block out her voice. Then she fell to her knees and started pleading harder, and eventually I couldn't take it anymore.

"FINE! Fine…" I mumbled.

Kairi squealed and clapped her hands. "Yay! I knew you'd come through sooner or later!"

She ruffled my hair and I pouted. "You're evil."

She grinned cockily. "Well, if you weren't so stubborn I wouldn't have had to unmask my dark side."

I rolled my eyes. "Haha."

She broke into sardonic evil maniac laughter, and I knew it was obvious there was no way I was getting out of this.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It was placed on Sunday evening, two days after the Parents/Teachers meeting.

I really, really felt like staying tucked up in bed, reading The Book and scoffing down Sea Salt Ice Cream after Sea Salt Ice Cream. I even considered faking a cold and calling up Kairi to say I couldn't come.

But then I thought of how crestfallen she'd look if I did that, and decided to scrap the idea.

_The things I do for lo—I mean, friendship. _

* * *

I pulled on my old wellington boots, a few sweaters and an orange beanie. Even though it was only drizzling outside. I looked in the mirror and realized I looked like a cross between a carrot and a pineapple, complete with the mop of spiky hair.

The door opened and Roxas entered the bathroom. He smirked slightly at my outfit, shook his head and headed to the sink. I noticed he was dressed up with a comfy, expensive-looking hoodie with a wooly interior, checkered leg-warmers (worn on his arms), thick black jeans and a warm-looking 'NY' beanie. He was wearing new black sneakers, and he looked way awesomer than me—something I'd gotten used to by now.

"What—you're going to?" I asked.

He nodded, scrubbing his teeth and spitting into the sink. "Yeh."

I felt myself smirk. "You don't usually go to stuff like this. Why do I have a feeling this has to do with Namine…?"

Roxas opened his mouth to lie, but sighed at the look I gave him. "Fine. It does have to do with Namine. Happy?" He bared his pearly whites at his reflection in the mirror. He gurgled down some mouthwash and spat it out again, leaving his mouth minty fresh.

"What—are you planning on kissing her or something?" I teased.

Roxas froze, contemplating something, and then he shook his head. "We're just friends. A-And she already has a…_boyfriend_." He spat out the last word like he was talking about Brussel sprouts, glaring at the mirror.

I decided to leave it at that, fixing up my hair.

"What about you, Sora?" I heard Roxas ask. "Why're _you_ going? You know you can't skate…"

I nodded, sighing despairingly. "Yeh, I know. But I promised I'd be there. Kairi forced me."

I felt Roxas' scrutinizing gaze and turned to look at him. He was smiling slightly, which shocked me. "You _like _her."

I didn't bother to say anything in retort. Partially because I had no smart comeback and partially because I was so happy Roxas was honest-to-God smiling at me. "I could say the same thing for you and ~_Namine_."

Roxas stiffened slightly, falling deep into thought again, and I decided to drop the subject once again.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I felt kinda awkward amidst all the well-dressed teens in the rink. I recognized lots of people from school, but it was weird not seeing them in their customary Destiny College uniform. Selphie and the Decoration Comittee had done a pretty good job; the hall was decorated with Christmassy things, like mistletoe, holly, garlands and all that. I made a mental note to make sure I steered clear of the mistletoe in every single way possible. I had a feeling I would somehow end up with a guy, which freaked me out.

I was starting to gnaw on my sleeve like I always used to do when I was nervous when Penelo's happy-go-lucky face appeared in front of mine.

"Hey!" She greeted. "Excited?"

I forced a smile. "Totally."

She giggled. "Come on, you've gotta try harder than that!" She took my hand and took me to the stand where we retrieved our skates. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed Snow, Serah, Lightning and Vaan following us, all decked in their snow gear.

Snow looked like a pro skier, Serah looked like a snow queen, Lightning was dressed in some blue-and-white cosplay outfit (complete with blue hair), Vaan looked like a villager and Penelo was in her Strawberry Tokyo Mew Mew Ichigo outfit or something.

Whatever. Next to them, I felt very underdressed.

And even more so when Riku and his gang arrived. Riku was decked in expensive clothing, as always, and looked like a clothes model, as always. Tidus and Shuyin had matching outfits, and Wakka didn't seem to mind the cold—he was dressed like he was in Hawaii, with a scarf for the sake of it. Yuna and Lenne were in matching 'Winter Songstress' outfits or something, the bizarre ninja chick was dressed like a snow ninja, and Rikku was dressed like she was going to the North Pole.

And then I noticed Kairi. She was dressed as a female Santa, or something, looking amazing in her red mini-dress with the black belt and the white fluffy frills. She'd even worn black suede lace-up boots and Santa's hat to go with it. To say the least, she looked absolutely adorable.

She saw me and gave me a wave, and I waved back.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

After retrieving the Evil Death Shoes from Hell, I broke away from my friends and went to find the snack bar. I eventually found it, and I bought some hot cocoa and a blueberry muffin. I was contemplating on whether to take refuge in there and never come out. I was starting to like that idea when suddenly SHE appeared again.

I winced.

"There you are!" She exclaimed. "I've been looking all over for you!" She took my gloved hand and dragged me all the way back to the rink, leaving my unfinished snacks on the table.

I don't know how, but sometime later I was on the rink, holding onto the barrier for my dear life. Kairi had skated away in the blink of an eye, leaving me there. Muttering things along the lines of 'stupid skates' and 'what's the point of bringing me here if you're just gonna leave me here' and 'I didn't finish my muffin'. Poor, poor muffin. All alone on the table. I imagined rats crawling out from under the floorboards, using their scrubby little paws to rip Muffin to shreds and devour him whole. Then I imagined them draining the rest of my cocoa. Did rats even drink cocoa? Well, I knew that if cats did, they'd die, so I assumed that that was the same for rats. Smiling, I imagined the heat burning their insides, disintegrating their itty gritty little internal organs to smithereens. _Die bitches_.

You could say I was going mad. Probably because I was standing alone on an ice skating rink, struggling not to slip and break every single one of my bones—and not to mention my sanity.

Then Kairi appeared again. She looked concerned. "Hey, what's wrong? Why aren't you skating?"

"…because I can't," I mumbled.

"What?"

"I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SKATE."

She stared at me. "You can't be serious." I nodded, and she huffed. "You don't know how to ride a bike, you don't know how to climb a tree…and now you don't know how to skate?"

I knew she was referring to several activities we'd done the past term. Once, after Drama Practice, Kairi and I went to the park, and she suggested we climb a tree. I couldn't. Then, later that week, she suggested we go out biking. She soon learnt I couldn't do that either. (I had quite a scratch on my knee as a souvenir.)

I shrugged. "I was a deprived child."

Kairi gave me a hard look. And then she sighed. It was obvious she was getting fed up with me. "You could've told me before."

"Yeh, like that woulda changed anything."

She smiled, showing her teeth. "Yeh, you're right. It wouldn't have." She took my hands. "I guess this means I'll just have to teach ya."

I groaned. "Y-You know what? I think it'd be better if I just—"

"It's not that hard. All you've got to do is push your feet like this, you know, like rollerblading—" She cut herself off. "And, yeh, I assume you don't know how to do that either."

I grinned. "You assumed correctly."

She smiled. "Come on—you'll get it sooner or later!"

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I did not get it sooner or later.

I had problems with coordination; whatever my brain told my legs to do, they did the opposite. Everytime I managed to pull myself to my feet again, I fell the other way. Kairi was laughing her ass off, and her teaching skills weren't exactly the best. She'd say "No, Sora, you've gotta do it like _this_" and do some impossible motion with her feet and expect me to follow through.

I did get to hold her hand a lot though, which, in turn, pissed Riku off.

An hour passed and by then I was aching all over. Riku called Kairi over, and she deposited me at the edge said she'd be right back.

She didn't come right back. I watched Riku blatantly flirt with Kairi for about a quarter of an hour. Then they started skating together, and I got sick. I spent another half-hour awkwardly shuffling along the border and struggling to pretend I was having fun. I seemed to be the only one who was struggling to stay on my feet, probably because I was the only one of my fellow Couch Potatoes who wasn't sipping on hot cocoa at home.

I missed my threadbare sofa. And I felt a cold coming on.

I was heading for the exit, trying to shuffle awkwardly to the way out without holding onto the barrier when suddenly someone yelled: "WATCH OUT!"

Judging from the way I first met Kairi, you should all know by now that I wasn't that good at 'watching out'. Before I could move a muscle, someone whammed into me, falling on top of me as I fell to the ground. I silently prayed I'd had a concussion, so that that way I'd get to go home to my warm, warm sofa…

But no. Of course I didn't have a concussion. (The ice was hard, but it still had to penetrate through a wooly beanie, a bush of hair, and three layers of skin before it could affect my brain.)

Seeing as my vision was a bit blurry, all I could deduce was that it was a girl who had landed on top of me.

Hahahaha. Haha. Ha.

"Sora?" It was Penelo, obviously. Her pink cat ears were poking out of her pink hair.

"Oh. Hey." I grinned and she shuffled off me. It was really hard to do this in skates without looking oddly like we were banging each other or something. "Sorry for being in the way."

"No problem," she replied, covering her face with her hair. I didn't notice then, but she was blushing. I'd presumed it was the cold.

We gracefully tried to help each other to our feet, but all that resulted was an awkward tumble to the ground—me landing on top of her this time.

I felt so ridiculous that I burst out laughing, and so did Penelo. We stayed like that for a while, until some seniors yelled at us for being in their way and we had to move. We managed to shuffle off the rink and pull off our skates. My feet were aching and my socks were soaked, but I let out a relieved groan.

Penelo smiled. "You're not the skating type either, are you?"

"Well, I'm not exactly what I'd call professional," I joked. I paused. "Wait…you don't skate?"

"~Well," Penelo shrugged. "I didn't, not until today, I mean. Vaan taught me. It's not that hard once you get used to it."

I nodded, but didn't really believe her. "Yeh, well I guess I'm just not born to skate. My coordination is way off. Explains why I'm a Benchie."

Penelo giggled, smiling warmly. "I'm hungry. Want a snack?"

My stomach grumbled on cue. "Does that answer your question?"

We left to the snack bar, and I realized that my purchase from earlier had dissapeared. I doubted it was any rat's fault, though.

I ordered another muffin and a hot chocolate, and sat down at a booth. Penelo did the same, buying a cookie and a hot chocolate with marshies instead. We sipped companionably, occasionally smiling whenever we met each others' eyes. I spotted Kairi in the middle of the rink, with Riku. They were holding hands and doing some kind of complicated spinning thing on the ice and looking deeply into each others' eyes. It looked like some scene from a chick flick.

I have to admit; I was boiling with jealousy.

When it hurt too much to watch, I turned back to Penelo. Her cheeks were a burning red, and at first I thought it was just the cold. I was about to ask what was wrong when Snow came bundling over with Serah in arm. "Oh-ho-ho, Sora! Look who just got lucky!"

I still didn't get it. "Huh?"

"Come on! Go for it!" He urged me. Serah was giggling shyly next to him, pointing upwards.

That's when I realized.

We were sitting under a mistletoe.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

All in all, the Bash wasn't that bad. Yes, I did eventually have to kiss Penelo, but I opted for kissing her on the cheek. I figured girls had this thing for 'first kisses' and didn't want to steal it from her. (Well, that wasn't the real reason. The real reason was that I had never kissed anyone apart from my Mom before, and for some reason it seemed hard. Especially the way they portrayed it in movies.) Lightning appeared soon after, and Snow ordered everyone pizza. Apparently that was his eighteenth birthday, which was pretty convenient. Vaan glared ominously at me for the whole evening, for a reason I wasn't really sure of at that time.

The night eventually came to an end, and I figured that it was worth missing the rerun of Desperate Housewives. Even if my arms and legs ached like hell and my nose wouldn't stop running.

That thought soon changed as I was heading home and it started raining torrents.

"Van? Where are you? This would be a good time for you to show up and save the day you know?"

It soon became obvious that I was talking to myself, and that that was simply wishful thinking.

I didn't see a good winter break on the horizon.

* * *

**What the hell? I believe that this chappie is the epitome of epic FAILURE. I tried to fix it up—several times—but this was all I came up with. Sorry for the length, and the crapnosity, and everything. **

**Got a few stuff in, but I really didn't know how to end it without ruining Winter Break—Part 2. **

**Just as a little footnote, Sora's crap skating skills were inspired by my inability to skate. You know you are a failure when you cause a whole skating-train to collapse in front of your very eyes. (And yes, that has happened to me. Kudos to all you bad skaters out there.)**

**Oh well. Guess you guys have to wait for that.**

* * *

_**Sneek Peek: **_

"_You can't see me. I look horrible."_

"_You're scared of thunderstorms." _

"_Thank you, Sora."_

"_The name's Axel—got it memorized?"_

* * *

**Muahaha. I R so EVIL.**

**And crap. **

**Wow. Finished this chappie in one day. That's a personal best, I find. Watch out for Winter Break—Part 2, which should be up by the end of the week, God willing. **

**R&R! XXXXX **


	20. Winter Break Pt 2

**A/N: After my near-death experience last week, I realized that I could die any minute now. Which is why I'm gonna try—'try' being the keyword—to hurry up with my updates. **

**My friends are all thinking I'm being too casual about it, but—hey—would you rather I act all emo and boo-hoo waa-waa about it?**

**Well, anyway, on the bright side I have converted one of my friends into the world of epicness that is KINGDOM HEARTS! She's currently playing KHI and II in unison now, and soon wants BBS. I borrowed FFXII in return, the one that has Penelo and Vaan, which'll help me loads with this story. A huge round of applause! **

**-APPLAUSE-**

**Wow…I gotta lotta reviews for chappie nineteen…**

**Dennou Writer: HELLOOO! Yeh, everyone here has problems—including Kairi, though her problem is a little more subtle. It'll resurface later. Have you read the other merges btw? That'll help a bit. :D Enjoy! **

**NoVII aka Karasu: Lol, yh. I was thinking of making a SoRiku moment but I decided against it. I'll try and fit some in in the future. Haha, that woulda been funny if Sora and Riku were under the mistletoe though…I'm working on the next episode of Fanmail; they take AGES to do…yanno, with all the questions. But I shan't procrastinate!**

**Kairi-namine-chan: Thanks for your review! Oh, and are you a reader of Fanmail? Your name sounds familiar…oh well. If you are, the next episode will be up soon! If you aren't…well, ignore and get on with the chappie!**

**ElleGal: You are absolutely right, and I think it's pretty clear Penelo's crushing on Sora by now…and you're gonna see Kairi's reaction soon enough…**

**Reigatsu: No worries! My life's been hectic as well…though I'm not gonna go all blabbityblabla about it right now. All the deadlines are falling on this fateful week, and if my average isn't 15 out of 20 or higher by the 27****th**** of May…no laptop i.e. slower updates i.e. unhappy me i.e. writer's block. The fate of us all depends on my brain which, btw, isn't exactly in tip-top shape. I'm a little on the dumb side. ANYWAY…SoKai fluffiness was needed after all that RiKainess…I was even getting sick of it. I decided to delete the Christmas and Halloween parties because they were overused, and, plus, I don't do those so I don't really know any Christmas songs apart from Jingle Bells. xD As for your 'hint', when I told Sora he was like "Huh? Who? Starts with a V? Vanitas?" (You see he's not very bright…) I'll be thinking of a cool catchphrase of my own, but for now I'm gonna have to go with BOOYAH!**

**Skateboard: He does care…but he's a little shy-slash-ignorant-slash-EFFING RETARDED. He cares, but he also cares for Kairi's happiness blahblahblah like most best friends do. Sora's girliness was emphasized in the last chappie a bit too much, but I'll make him super-manly (*coughcough* highly impossible *coughcough*) in this chappie! Anyway, as for the final question. In the Prologue/Intro Chappie you'll see that Sora and Roxas got their last name from their deceased grandfather, while Ventus kept Cloud's last name. :L**

**ShadowSpooky: The last chappie reminded me of the time my class went on a school trip last winter to the ice skating rink and I came back with soaked trousers after falling over nearly thirty times. I eventually gave up trying to look like I was having fun after I pulled a fifty-person-long skating train. Precious memories I'd rather forget.**

**Morgead'sgirl: Lol. Well, all I ended up falling into was the cold ice, though I did get helped up off the ground by some pretty hot guys as well. But then I was new and the guys were just giving me attention because they were naturally nice, so it didn't make me feel that much better. I'm an accident-prone klutz. Even more so on ice. But I don't do Christmas, as you prolly know already, so I never get those embarrassing mistletoe moments (thank god). Lol, I never knew the last chappie scene was really close to a scene you've lived! xD Wow…well enjoy the chappie!**

**Manco the Lurker (can I call you that? No?): HIHIHI! I don't mind if you've been a lurker; you've also been a reader and that's all that matters! *gives welcoming cyber-hug* And you're right about Sora's uke-ness in the relationship (lol). You sound just like Vanitas, and, in fact, I'm gonna include your counsel in this chappie. You DA MAN. Lol. You'll get the SoKainess you want soon enough! Just wait till Spring—when everything happens! Sora's a bit dumb, yanno, which is why he pretty much ignored the huge red flag slapping him in the face. Read on, BRUDDA, as Vanitas would say. ^^**

**TheNerds: IKR! SKATES ARE EVIL! This chappie brought me painful memories as well, but, well, that's just life! Enjoy!**

**ThatKid10001: SCARED TO REVIEW? WTH? Lol…I won't bite! Now that you have reviewed, you are now under my fav readers list! Thankies! And, yes, Penelo likes Sora. Weird, right? But Penelo's gonna come in handy soon, which is why I'm trying to make it as obvious as possible atm that she likes him. I mean, if anyone hasn't noticed by now, he/she must be dumb. Lol. Enjoy the chappie!**

**Superpeanutbutter: Penelo x Sora. Gottit? Lol…pretty obvious much? xD Kairi didn't just ABANDON Sora like you think she did! …okay, so she did, but you'll understand a lot better when you read the fifteenth chappie of Angel (coming soon!). And thanks for the link! I'm gonna make it this summer! **

**Q-A the Authoress: Sora=W.H.I.P.P.E.D! (I should so make a cheer for that…) Keep on Readin' and Reviewin', and enjoy with chappie! **

**ChibixGiraffe: You're the umpteenth person that's told me my suckish last chappie didn't suck. Well. I have self-esteem problems, I guess. But thanks. This one's WAY BETTER. I suck with anything on wheels…apart from bikes. Though, judging from the fact that I nearly died via car crash on bike, I don't think I'm gonna be doing THAT anytime soon. Enjoy!**

**Draco Oblivion: Yeh. Okie chokes! Zack's not going down…YET. You'll see how he'll go down, and it won't be pretty. Kairi didn't make a big deal about it, but she will (maybe) when she finds out about him ogling her through his bedroom window. A double date! Not a bad idea… *plans inwardly with an evil grin on her face* Lol! Sora isn't lying to himself…he's not gay (though he may be bi LOL). The last chappie will be so fun to write from the other perspective and maybe you won't hate Kairi as much for doing what she did to Sora. And don't worry, I'm used to ppl laughing at my clumsyness by now. xD Well, enjoy! **

**Toni Heart: BEASTLY! U ARE SO GOOD WITH IDEAS! I love Rion…oh I know! Riku could, like, make Riku be turned into 'Ansem' for example by an evil witch 'Maleficent' and he has to find someone who loves him before a certain date…and that somebody could be XION! KYAAA! Well…enjoy, and tell me when it's out! **

**Gxmwp: You'll hate Kairi a lot less (hopefully) once the 15****th**** Angel chappie comes out. Vanitas was…CAN'T TELL YOU MUAHAHAHHAHAA LOL. Anyway, enjoy the chappie! **

**About this chappie: FLUFF TO THE EXTREME. SoKai though. I feel you guys deserve it. Rain, rain, rain. **

**Disclaimer: HOW I WISH, WISH YOU WAS MINE! (lol at the Pink Floyd reference)**

* * *

_Kairi finds out I live right next door. CRAPCRAPCRAP—_

"Hi! Uh…wow…I had no idea we were neighbors."

"Y-Yeh…me neither."

_The Winter Wonderland Bash is back on, and I have no intention of going. But Kairi has other plans. _

"What do you _mean_ you're not going? Of course you are! You'd prefer to watch some dumb drama marathon—which, by the way, is for girls—to going to the Winter Wonderland Bash?"

_Oh, and did I tell you I can't skate?_

I was standing alone on an ice skating rink, struggling not to slip and break every single one of my bones—and not to mention my sanity.

_Kairi gets somewhere with Riku…_

They were holding hands and doing some kind of complicated spinning thing on the ice and looking deeply into each others' eyes. It looked like some scene from a chick flick.

…_and I get my first kiss._

Yes, I did eventually have to kiss Penelo, but I opted for kissing her on the cheek.

_Riku and Kairi seem to be getting closer by the second, I'm coming down with a cold, and Vaan still hates me, for some weird reason. _

_I do NOT see a good winter break on the horizon._

* * *

**Chapter Twenty (WOOT!): Winter Break—Part 2**

All I really gained from my evening out were aching limbs, a figurative slap in the face (from Riku of course)…

…and a COLD.

I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and a blocked nose, which, for an asthmatic, is pretty lethal. I would have suffocated over night if I wasn't a mouth-breather.

My eyes burned as soon as I opened them, so I spent the whole morning in bed, randomly drifting off into sleep once in a while. Mum must have come inside to take my temperature because I remember hearing her say something about staying inside for the day.

I was having a weird dream about a rabbit and a headless chicken (don't ask me what was happening; dreams involving animals are usually pointless) when the door creaked open.

"Sora?"

I recognized the familiar voice immediately and buried myself under the covers. I must have let out a yelp of surprise.

"What?" I heard her whine. "It's just _me_."

"Y-You can't see me like this. I look horrible," I mumbled.

"Of course you don't—"

I lowered the duvet, sniffing loudly and coughing conveniently.

She opened her mouth, shut it again. And then she said: "Okay you do."

I glared at her and sniffed, covering my face with my pillow. Kairi was my best friend and all, but she was also the girl I was crushing on, and it was a bit demoralizing hearing her admit I looked like a pig. It was a living nightmare.

"B-But you still look adorable!" Kairi teased. Or, at least, I thought she was teasing.

I snurkled and lay back down on the bed. "Go away. I'm tired."

She was quiet, and then she got off the bed. I thought she was going away until she said: "You sound like you need a hankie."

I heard rummaging noises before she handed me a clean, spotless green tissue. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"I like the color green."

Shaking my head fondly, I blew my nose. Kairi made a grossed out face. "You really are sick."

"And it's all thanks to you for dragging me to that…thing yesterday."

Kairi looked pretty hurt, fingering the hem of her teal button-up sweater. I was about to apologize when her facial expression suddenly changed and she gave me a warm smile. "I know. I'm sorry. Which is why, to make up for it, I'm gonna keep you company for the whole of today."

At first I thought she was joking—but she wasn't.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Staying home was a lot more fun than I expected.

We hung around in my room for a bit, doing puzzles and chatting, doing homework and listening to random songs that came on the radio. When my mum went out we watched a bunch of sappy romance movies (including Korean ones—Kairi had loads), a few action movies, and then we went through my Disney collection. I'd started collecting them when I was six after watching Mulan for the first time. I had almost every Disney animated movie to date—from The Heffalump Movie to The Princess and the Frog—except from Tangled (which Zack refused to buy for me saying that I was nearly seventeen and way too old for animated movies—especially Disney ones).

We were halfway through Tarzan when Kairi's phone rang. It was Riku, which was pretty obvious from her reaction.

"H-Hello?" She answered, giving me an apologetic smile. I shrugged and focused on Tarzan's vine-surfing. "Um…yeh. At Sora's. Watching…a movie." She grinned at me and I chewed on my popcorn. "Uh…next week? Um…okay. Great. See ya then."

She hung up and returned her phone to her pocket. "That was Riku."

"No kidding."

She giggled and prodded my shoulder. "_And_ he wanted to invite us to the beach next week."

I was wondering why he was inviting us to the beach in the middle of winter when I realized what she said. "Us?"

She paused, and then she started fiddling with her hair. "Well, not really. But I'm taking you along anyway."

I stuffed some more popcorn in my mouth. "And why would you do that?"

"You're my best friend, silly," she giggled. "And, plus…" She wriggled in her seat, lowering her voice. "…I figured if you two hung out you'd stop hating each other so much."

I rolled my eyes. "Kairi, I don't _hate _him…"

"Well, you don't really like him either," she retorted. "And, plus, he doesn't seem to think any better about you."

I sighed, the movie long forgotten. "Kairi, Riku and I just don't mix, okay? The only reason we seem to be getting along fine is because…well, because I'm friends with you."

She frowned. "And what's so special about me?"

I had a long list of answers to that, but went for the least complicated. "Well…you're popular."

She stole some of my popcorn and nibbled on it gingerly. "And you're not?"

I shrugged. "Well, I wasn't before you came along. And I'm nowhere near your level."

"But doesn't that mean that, since I hung out with you, I should've become unpopular or something?" She chewed on her popcorn. "That makes no sense at all."

"Well, you're just impossible not to like." I smiled at her and she smiled back. "Even being friends with someone as freakishly weird as me isn't enough to stop people liking you."

"You're not freakishly weird!" She retorted. I raised an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes. "Okay, so you are freakishly weird." She grinned at me. "But so what? I dig freakishly weird."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Riku didn't look exactly overjoyed to see me on Thursday afternoon. He was wearing new jeans, a tartan coat, and a disappointed frown.

"Oh. Hey Kairi." He gave me an icy look. "And…Sora."

"Glad to see you too, Riku." I smiled dryly at him and he just rolled his eyes. We were back to this stage again.

"So, Riku!" Kairi tried to lighten the atmosphere after watching us glare at each other for more than a minute. "What's so important that makes you bring us to the beach in the middle of winter?"

Riku broke the glare and sighed. "Well…I was thinking of, you know, going for a walk, but I didn't know he was gonna be here so…"

"Don't worry, I won't get in your way or anything," I muttered, rolling my eyes and heading for the shore.

The beach was littered with stones and grass that had been thrown up by the winter winds. It was chilly and I was glad I'd remembered my scarf. My cold had mostly gone away by now, and I wasn't intending on catching another one.

I trundled over to the shore, kicking at pebbles and sand as I went. The waves crashed endlessly against the sand, ignorant of the season. The beach brought back memories.

Sandcastles. Sun. Sea. Smiles.

Ventus. Mum. Dad. Roxas.

It was only when I felt the cold water brush against my sneakers that I was snapped out of my trance.

Sighing, I sat down on the wet sand, fingering some seashells and absentmindedly bringing them to my ear.

* * *

"_Roxas! Roxas! Look what I found!" _

"_What's that?"_

"_I-It's a sheeshell! Daddy says, daddy says when you put it in your ear you can hear thu SEA!" _

"_Cool! Can I try?"_

"_Nope! It's MY sheeshell!"_

"_What're you gonna do with it?"_

"_Well…I'm gonna keep it for someone speshal!" _

"_Someone special huh?"_

* * *

"Sora?"

I opened my eyes to see Riku looking down at me, hands in his pockets. His hair looked like it was fighting against the harsh wind.

I gave him a wan smile and brought the seashell away from my ear. "Hey."

"Kairi went to Starbucks to get us some drinks." I nodded and he silently sat down beside me, looking off into the horizon. It was silent for some time.

And then Riku said: "I'm sorry."

I gave him an inquisitive look. "Sorry for what?"

Riku lowered his head, sighing. "Well…everything. Pushing you around, calling you names, making your life miserable…and all that."

I was surprised, but tried not to show it. I was about to say something witty as a comeback, until I saw Riku's facial expression, that is. Riku looked genuinely sorry, which was saying something. "It's okay. No offense taken."

Riku sighed, raising his voice over the wind. "It's just…it's just that I was sick of it, you know? Everyone…pushing me around."

Intrigued, I pried further. "What do you mean? No one pushes you around—you're, like, the God of Destiny College. You're the one who does all the pushing."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Well…frankly this isn't really any of your business, but…" He sighed. "First there's my friends, who all pushed me to become someone I'm not. Most of those girls, most of those pranks…they were someone else's idea."

"Then…couldn't you just have said you didn't _want _to do whatever prank you're talking about?" I asked. "I mean, they'd all listen to you and everything…"

"You don't know what they'd say about me behind my back," Riku snapped immediately. "I do. My reputation outside is all I really have. The sexy, bad guy Riku is the one everyone wants to see, you know?"

"What about your reputation, I dunno, inside?" I babbled, not really sure what I was aiming at. "I mean, your family must know who you really are, huh? And you and Tidus are pretty close, and—" I cut myself off when I saw the look on Riku's face.

"Let's just put it this way: there's no one in my life who actually knows the real Riku, period." He sighed. "Even I'm not sure who I am, who I'm supposed to be…" He pursed his lips. "Damn, I'm starting to sound like I'm in some teen drama."

I chuckled amicably. "It's okay, I get you." Somehow my arm found its way to Riku's shoulder. "But…if you ever wanna, you know, talk about something, anything…I'm all ears, aight?"

Riku stared at me for a long time. And then his face broke out into a genuine, bright smile. It wasn't the rehearsed Student Body President smile he showed at school assemblies. It wasn't the flirtatious Player smile he flashed at girls in the hallways. It wasn't the half-hearted Whatever smile he was so famous for. It wasn't even the lovesick smile he wore only around Kairi.

It was a real _Riku_ smile.

And I had a feeling I was the first one to see it. I had just witnessed a miracle.

"Thank you, Sora."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I guess you could say Riku and I became sort-of kinda friends after that. Or you could say we just stopped hating each other.

Whichever works for you is fine.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It was mid-December in the Kyumuke household.

Roxas was messing around on his guitar and I was scrolling through channels on TV when the bell rang.

It was Kairi. As you may have guessed.

She was wearing frills and green—the perfect combination. And a fluffy white bobble hat. "My mum and Dad are out Christmas shopping over at the South End so they won't be back till tomorrow afternoon so…" She tilted her head. "Do you mind sleeping over at mine?"

"What?" I thought I didn't hear her correctly.

Her cheeks were stained slightly pink. "Um, well…I'm kinda scared of being alone…and Namine won't be here cause she's out this weekend…somewhere."

"You mean…your parents aren't in?"

"Nope."

"And neither is Namine?"

"Nuh-uh."

"So you're…alone?"

"Mm-hmm."

I nodded slowly, my heart racing. To be honest, inside I was thinking perverted thoughts. _ME AND KAIRI. ALONE IN HER HOUSE. WITH NO ONE ELSE. NO ONE AT ALL. HARHARHARHARHAR—_

"Of course I can come over. I mean, Zack's off on another business trip and Mum's working late. I can just leave her a note on the fridge and that'll be okay. Plus, you live right next door." I shrugged.

"Great!" Kairi looked relieved. "See you this evening then!"

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Later, Kairi's house, kitchen.

Her kitchen was amazing. There was even a television, a popcorn popper and a marshmallow dispenser.

Not to mention the large hot beverage maker in the corner.

I filled my mug with hot chocolate, whipped double cream and pink and white marshmallows, mouth watering. The rain was coming down in torrents outside.

"You're really living it large, Kai," I commented before sipping my hot cocoa.

Kairi had taken a glass of milkshake. "Maybe, but nothing compared to Yuna. Do you know what she got for her birthday? An iPad2. _And_ a car."

I inhaled sharply. She'd gotten an IPAD for her birthday? I hadn't even had a birthday _party_ since I was eleven. Munny started running out after that. Presents became rare. Christmas and Halloween celebrations usually consisted of the family sitting on the sofa and watching some Christmas or Halloween marathon while eating burnt turkey or sour candy.

Sigh.

"That's just sick."

"I know right?" Kairi took another sip of her milkshake, and I did the same. Kairi sputtered before bursting out laughing, pointing at my face.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Y-Y-Your face!" She hiccupped, struggling to catch her breath.

I still didn't get it. "My face? What's wrong with my face?"

"You…you've got cream all over your…" Her voice faded out and she used her thumb to wipe off a large blob of whipped cream from my nose. Her finger trailed down my cheek and then she just stared.

All that could be heard was the pitter-patter of the rain outside and the tick-tock of the clock in the kitchen. Her fingers were warm and her face was so close I could touch it with my tongue.

It was one of those moments where I wondered how I qualified to be the best friend of someone as amazing as Kairi.

It seemed like an eternity before the house phone rang and I was snapped out of my trance. Again.

She cleared her throat and started playing with her hair. "I-I'll go…get that…"

She climbed off her seat and padded out of the kitchen, leaving me sitting there, dazed and confused.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The guest room was way bigger than my room, which was a bit surprising. It had a water bed and plush cream carpets, and as soon as I saw it I had a feeling I was going to end up spilling something on the floor.

After saying goodnight to Kairi, I closed the door behind me and stripped down to my underwear and got into bed.

After several turns and wriggles, I finally managed to drift off into sleep.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"Sora?"

She was standing at the half-open door, wrapped in a blanket. She was shivering, trembling, but I could only glimpse her face in the dim light of the moon.

"Hnn?" I mumbled something groggily and pulled myself up on my elbows. I was vaguely aware of the pouring rain outside.

"C-Can…c-can I stay here…with you?" Her voice was shaky, and she looked terrified.

Dumbly, I nodded, and then, as she was heading over to my bed, thunder boomed. Lightning struck, and Kairi screamed. Before I could register what was happening, she flung herself at me, grabbing desperately onto my arms and digging her nails into my flesh.

I had to bite my lip to prevent myself yelling in pain and waking up the whole neighborhood.

I was wide awake by now.

Then something clicked, and I smiled fondly. "You're scared of thunderstorms."

"No…" she mumbled against my chest. Lightning struck, and she stiffened. "…I mean, yes."

I chuckled, but stopped at the icy glare she gave me. "It's not _funny_. I have problems with thunderstorms. So sue me."

She clambered off me, and it was only then that I noticed the awkward position we'd been in. Kairi didn't seem to notice, so it was okay.

I lifted the duvet and let her get into a comfortable position before turning the other way. I don't know why; it just seemed like the right thing to do.

It was quiet for a while. I found it impossible to sleep knowing that I a girl was in my bed. And that that girl was…_Kairi_.

(I'd had that dream before, but it was in a totally different context.)

"Sora?" Kairi whispered all of a sudden, barely audible through the rain and the rumbling sky.

"Hmm?"

"…are…are you sure this is okay? Me s-sleeping here, I mean?"

Of course it wasn't okay, sleeping in the same bed as your best friend. Especially if she's a girl. At least I didn't think it was. How would I know?

I felt myself smile and turned over so I could see her. "Why wouldn't it be? It's a lot less scary when you're not alone, right?" I grinned at her, then, in the most reckless move ever, leaned in a sniffed her neck. "And plus—you smell nice."

As soon as I realized what I'd just said, I broke out blushing. _You smell nice? WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT? _I was about to turn around and bury my head in my pillow, praying she'd fall asleep and forget what I said, when she grabbed my arm. Her hand was warm and soft, like always.

"Sing to me."

I froze. _Wh…what?_

Her voice was soft and she sounded like she was drifting off into sleep. "Please."

Obediently, I turned back around to face her. Her hand gripped onto my shoulder, sending shivers up my spine.

Her eyes were half-closed, but she wasn't asleep yet. And then, picking the first song I could think of, I began to sing.

"~_You push me_

_I don't have the strength to_

_Resist or control you_

_Take me down_

_Take me down_

_You hurt me_

_But do I deserve this?_

_You make me so nervous_

_Calm me down_

_Calm me down_…"

Tentatively, I made my hand trace the intricate lining of her heart-shaped face, wiping away some of her hair from her face. Her fingers twitched and she smiled in her sleep.

"_Wake you up_

_In the middle of the night to say_

_I will never walk away again_

_I'm never gonna leave this bed_…"

When I was sure she was asleep, I smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. My lips lingered on her soft skin as I inhaled her addicting scent.

_Tell me, Kairi. A best friend. Is that all I'm ever gonna be to you?_

And then Kairi let out a wide yawn, and, startled, I leapt back to my side of the bed.

The rain poured outside.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The next morning I woke to the smell of…pancakes.

I sniffed, turning over on my pillow. For a second I thought maybe Ventus was back, since he was the only one in my family who had the ability to cook anything edible, until I opened my eyes and realized…well.

I wasn't in my room.

And everything came flooding back.

Including the color on my cheeks.

The previous night had been heaven. The feeling Kairi's body next to mine was enough to keep me dreaming for several months, and maybe even then some.

"Hell…" I mumbled, scratching my hair. I spotted what looked like a blanket next to me. It was green, and a bit rough around the edges. I spotted a few hot-chocolate stains, a few drool stains, and a few rips and tears. I sniffed it, and realized who it belonged to.

Cinnamon spice. Kairi Price.

(Lmao that rhymed.)

I figured I'd better stop sniffing Kairi's blanket before I started getting high on it and discarded it on the bed. Yawning, I looked under the covers and noticed I was still in my underwear. The embarrassing Winnie the Pooh print ones.

I broke out blushing, and then I remembered that it had been dark and she hadn't seen me in my underwear.

Inwardly rejoicing, I decided I'd better get dressed quickly before she came back and clambered off the bed.

And then, as I was heading over to the pile of discarded clothes, the door swung open, and in came Kairi.

* * *

**I don't think I'm ever going to be able to keep the length working, because so far, whenever i promise a long chappie...well. You know. Something crappy comes out. **

******Hope that was enough to keep you satisfied for the week, because I have got A LOT of studying to do! ****And by a lot I MEAN a LOT. My average is at FOURTEEN AND A HALF! JUST ZERO POINT FIVE MORE POINTS AND I'M THROUGH! But guess what subjects are in the horizon? History, two Physics tests, two Spanish tests, and a whopping ENGLISH EXAM.**

**Wish me luck. I don't see myself passing all those with flying colors without you guys cheering me on.**

**Sorry I didn't get one or two scenes mentioned in the sneek peek into this chappie. My eyes hurt and I'm gonna get yelled at if I type any longer.**

* * *

_**Sneek Peek (See if you can guess who says what...):**_

_"Names' Axel, got it memorized?"_

_"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined..."_

_"...I've been...here and there."_

_"She hasn't been feeling well lately..."_

_"If you don't want to be with me then just tell me face to face!"_

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the chappie. Sorry for the lack of Namine and Roxas. And basically any of Sora's family. It was all just KAIRI KAIRI KAIRI. And a little Riku. And yeh. **

**Next chappie's more Vanitas action, New Years and Axel comes into the scene! And then it's back to school! **

**R&R! **


	21. New Years

**A/N: This month is utter hell for me. How can so much be happening in one stupid month? The year's coming to an end, my grades are supposed to be rising, i'm doing entrance exams for all the available high schools in Louisiana, I have the stupid French exams and the GCSE History REAL exam coming up...GOD SAVE ME. **

**Yeh, but you've all probably realized that nothing—and I mean NOTHING—will stop me from updating. Not even the site prohibiting authors notes (I MEAN, CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?). Love is a strong, strong feeling. **

**JapADdict: Well...you'll see Kairi's reaction...in Angel. And yay for being a male! :D Thanks for the good luck, partner! Now it's your turn to get something from me i.e. the newest chappie!**

**Dennou Writer: Lol. Enjoy the chappie!**

**Iawesome213: I know right? He SO has to get it for his birthday.**

**Jellybean2799: Her and Riku will probably never get 'that close' until they're together...oops. Anyway, enjoy! **

**NoVII aka Karasu: Lol! Yeh. My tests went GREAT—I got a TEN OUT OF TWENTY IN ****PHYSICS****! (Which is, if you know me, a pretty good mark seeing how utterly crap I am at Physics.) Well this is probably boring you now, so enjoy!**

**ShadowSpooky: Marshmallow dispenser is copyright my warped and crazy mind. Not even sure they exist, but when i'm older I'm gonna MAKE them exist. Though that'll probably need Math and Physics and Technology and...ugh. Pretend I didn't say that. And I've been planning that scene for a-g-e-s! Glad it's finally out and you all enjoyed it. ^^ Thanks for the good luck! I really mean it. **

**Roxy mccartney: I don't even need to study to pass English. I'm serious. My English average is an A. Not trying to brag or anything, but I'm the best in the class. Thanks for the luck anyway! :D **

**Manco: Glad you like your nickname! xD Anyway. Sora's gonna be getting signs in the future—even more than he's already gotten—but he'll be too naive to realize it until he's too late. He's not gonna make a serious move now, cause he's got issues. I mean, look how long it took him to ask Kairi out in the GAME. Don't think he's gonna be any faster here. Lol John Cena vs. Sora. xD I highly doubt he can even wrestle a gummy bear (exaggeration, don't worry). Enjoy!**

**TheNerds: I SHALL AND I WILL! **

**ThatKid10001: Sora totally missed that Kairi had feelings for him. I mean WTF? He's the slowest kid on earth, I tell you. Don't get your hopes up. xD Seashell! That'll come in handy (I wasn't even thinking of that until you mentioned it!) Ah, I understand what Puff Puff means now xD Lol. **

**Morgead'sgirl: Sortafriendship is cool. (NEW WORD!) I'm gonna have fun writing about that. Thanks for the luck and enjoy the chappie! **

**The Girl Who's Name Admits That, Indeed, Peanut Butter is Super: YAY! Lol.**

**xXAwesomenessKiraXx: Okie chokes! *goes into bragging mode* I ROCK! I ROCK! I AM AN AMAZING WRITER HARHARHAR!**

**Twilight Yuna: Thanks! Sora and Kairi will have their cliché kiss in the rain...but not now. I mean, you'll have to wait a LONG time...which means only one thing—we're not even halfway through this fic! YAY! DCT will probably be around 40 to 50 chappie or more (I know right? I can so see you jaw-dropping). Sortafriendship FTW! Sora's cold was a miniature arc that was never really meant to happen...but, well. I know it was a bit weird but I didn't want it to be too long. Let's just say he's not fully recovered, but well enough to go for a walk outside in the winter breeze. Does that make sense? No? Whatever. Enjoy the chappie!**

**Gxmwp: MAAAYYYYBBBBBEEEEEE! **

**Dracozombie: You've probably already seen my review reply. ^^**

**Toni Heart: Yeh, well. Thanks! By the way, guess what? I'm gonna have only two weeks of summer hols! Hurrah! PFFFTTT. And HELIA? You serious? (Helia does kinda look lyk Riku...hmm). Well, as for me I'm still in the middle of a Disney Channel obsession. Which is pretty sad. I've been listening to Selena Gomez songs for three days straight. **

**An1995616: Yeh he does. In this chappie, in fact. xD FLUFF! This chappie'll be fluffy, since it's New Years and all...**

**Q-A the Authoress: Thanks! And I'll try to keep up with the fluff. **

**Draco Oblivion: Lol. You're right; sometimes I'm tempted to make him gay. There's even a gay moment in this chappie. xD But he's not, truly. Lol at the Winnie the Pooh boxers...but whatever. Enjoy and thanks for the good luck! **

**Kairi-namine-chan: Lol okay just wanted to know. xD I thought your name was familiar somehow...enjoy the chappie anyway!**

**Phew. Off we go. 3...2...1...**

**About this chap—AHH WHAT THE HECK. Go see for yourself. **

**Disclaimer: NONONONO BABY NONONONO DON'T LIEEEEEEEE! (courtesy the Black Eyed Peas). **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED...**

_Kairi and I have some more Us time. _

" I'm sorry. Which is why, to make up for it, I'm gonna keep you company for the whole of today."

_Riku and I have a little tête-à-tête ourselves. _

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Well…everything. Pushing you around, calling you names, making your life miserable…and all that."

_Kairi comes over for a sleepover. I'm not joking. _

"My mum and Dad are out Christmas shopping over at the South End so they won't be back till tomorrow afternoon so…do you mind sleeping over at mine?"

_Too good to be true, right?_

_This is me we're talking about. Nothing good ever happens to me. _

* * *

**Chapter 21: New Years**

I wanted to die.

There were so many thoughts running through my mind. Most of them included several ways to commit suicide, while the rest of them were a bunch of curse words.

And I really, really regretted not wearing my not-tight-fitting boxers. Especially not Winnie the Pooh ones.

_Ugh_.

Kairi's jaw was hanging open, and unreadable expression on her face, and I mumbled something intelligent, like "Uhhhhhhhh."

Then instincts kicked in and it became evident that this was the part when I was meant to shield my vitals. Which I did.

My cheeks were burning. "Uh...hey, Kairi."

Kairi's face was on fire, and her words came out stuttered. "I-I-I s-sorry m-my m-m-mistake—" She swallowed, lowered her head and ran out, slamming the door behind her.

It took me a while to realize what had just happened.

Kairi had seen me in my underwear.

_In my UNDERWEAR_.

I badly needed to scream.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

After pulling my top and jeans back on, I padded downstairs in my socks, going to retrieve my sneakers at the landing. As I neared the ground floor, I was hit by the smell of baking coming from the kitchen, and decided to go check it out.

Sure enough, Kairi was there, sitting at the table. There was a large pile of pancakes on the table, which was set up ornately. She was staring at the plate of pancakes, as if deep in thought.

She looked so adorable like that that I waited a few more minutes before actually making my presence known. "Hey."

Her head snapped up when she saw me, but she immediately looked away. I cleared my throat and slowly sat down opposite her.

It was silent for a while. Unsure of what to do, I decided to state the obvious. "You made pancakes."

"Y-Yeh," she giggled nervously, playing with a strand of her hair. "You were taking way too long to wake up and I...well, decided to surprise you."

I felt my cheeks growing warm. "O-Oh..." I picked up a pancake and took the largest bite I could out of it. It was warm and thick, and brought back memories. I chewed on my enormous mouthful and gave her a thumbs-up sign. "Mmm. Theesh are goosh!"

"Yuck!" Kairi grimaced, poking me lightly with her fork. "Don't talk with your mouth full. That's disgusting."

I shrugged and took another bite. "Ish a free world."

She frowned and started trying to sear through her pancake with her knife and fork. I watched her pityingly for a while before I sighed and rolled my eyes. "You are the biggest goody-two-shoes I've ever met."

Her jaw dropped open and she dropped her knife and fork onto the table. "What?"

"You heard me. You act like you're dining with the Queen or something." I poured myself some orange juice, feeling her glaring at me.

Her cheeks were flushed. "I-I...I can be wild too you know."

I gave her a sceptical look. "Um. Right."

She caught my sarcastic tone and glared at me. I was reaching for the Nutella when suddenly she grabbed the can and dunked her finger in it. "What the hell—" Taking a deep breath, she stuck her finger in her mouth. I was about to laugh at how odd she looked when she did it again. "HEY! Now there's gonna be all your spit in it!"

She shrugged and gave me a triumphant grin. "How's that for wild?"

I feigned indifference. "I've seen better."

She gaped at me as I continued downing my pancakes. Then all of sudden she dunked her fingers in the Nutella (I was starting to lose my appetite now) and started smearing it all over her pancake.

"You really don't have to—" I stopped when I saw her determined expression, her eyebrows scrunching together. When she was done she picked up her Nutella-filled pancake and took the largest bite I'd ever seen her take.

She seemed to be struggling, but she eventually managed to say something through her mouthful. "HOWZZAT?"

I chuckled. "Okay."

Frowning, she poured herself a cup of orange juice, and before I realized what was happening, she flung it at my face.

I gasped, feeling the citric acid running down cheeks and into my shirt. "WHAT THE HELL, KAIRI?"

She placed her hand over her lips, feigning innocence. "Oops."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

As you can guess, her action resulted in a full-frontal food fight.

Unfortunately, this also resulted in Kairi slipping on a puddle of juice and slamming her head against the refrigerator.

"This is all your fault, you know that?" She hissed at me a while later, holding an ice pack to her forehead. There was now a large bump there, only slightly shaded by her fringe.

"_My _fault?" I whined. "_You _were the one who started it."

"Only cause _you_ were being mean." She winced slightly, probably due to the cold ice on her inflamed skin.

I decided not to protest and continued mopping the floor. Kairi had forced me into cleaning up the kitchen since it was, apparently, my fault that she'd bumped her head. Okay, so I did sort of feel guilty about the whole thing, which was probably the only reason why I obliged.

Kairi had, in the meantime, taken a shower and changed into clean clothes. My clothes still stank of potato salad and my face was still slightly sticky with orange juice.

After a while of silence, Kairi cleared her throat and decided to change subject. "So…you going to see the fireworks?"

"You know about those?" I asked casually. "Mmm…I dunno. Maybe."

"You have to go. Penelo says it's the biggest annual sensation _ever_. Everyone else is going—even my parents. Please, Sora, you have to go as well…"

Honestly, I really wanted to see them as much as she did. There was something magical about fireworks; it brought back memories, had this way of making you feel on top of the world just looking at them explode in the sky. Especially in the Destiny Island sky. I used to go with Mom and Dad and Ventus and Roxas every single year; it became a family tradition. But ever since Dad and Mom broke up and Zack came and Roxas went all grumpy and Ventus left and no one ever had time anymore…

And I had pretty bad memories of opting to go alone.

Most of them involving Riku and ice cream in my hair and getting buried in sand…

"I usually just watch them on TV." I shrugged and soaked the mop with water, not looking Kairi in the eyes.

"But that doesn't make it any special," she protested. "Riku says it's, like, a Destiny Island tradition or something."

"That doesn't make it obligatory…" I didn't know who I was kidding, acting like I didn't want to go.

Probably Kairi. She huffed and dropped the icepack on the table. It was obvious I was starting to get on her nerves. "Why do you have to act all grumpy all the time? Don't you know _anything _about fun? Cause it sure doesn't seem like it!"

"Of course I do. Maybe my idea of fun is just different from yours."

"What _is _your idea of fun, huh? Sleeping? Writing crappy stories? Wasting away your life watching stupid **Disney movies**?"

_Silence_.

I knew she didn't _mean _to scream; she was just worked up and cast out all her anger on me, or something. But that didn't stop me from feeling hurt by her words.

"U-Um…" I saw her visibly weaken for some reason, and I figured I probably looked kinda down. "I…I didn't mean—"

"I know," I interjected. "It's fine." I gave the mop a final squeeze and discarded it where I'd gotten it from before picking up my coat.

"Hey. Sora."

I pulled on my coat and started heading out the door, and then, giving her the best smile I could muster: "I'd better get going. You know, before my Mom starts getting ideas."

"Sor—"

I slammed the door shut behind me.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I guess you're all thinking "Wasn't that a little over-the-top, Sora?". Well, I totally understand that. I'm not really sure why I got all depressed-like over it. I think it probably had to do with the fact that I'd been picked on all my life, and I thought that Kairi was different. That Kairi didn't mind my weird preferences, that Kairi didn't mind me being a freak.

I could have seen it coming. I mean, who said having a _girl_ for a best friend was ever easy? I've read more than one teenage high school story, and the girls always seem to treat us guys like we're stupid.

It was only when I got home that it occurred to me that Kairi and I had just had our first fight.

Hmm.

I was skimming through The Book—(skipping _Chapter Twenty-Two__: What's Happening to My Body?_ Which, I found, seemed to have nothing to do with popularity)—when I heard the door open. Assuming it was just Roxas, I was about to read _Chapter Twenty-Three_ when I heard another unfamiliar voice coming from the landing.

Mysterious Voice: "You mean no one's here?"

Roxas: "Positive. Well, my Mom's out at work and my brother's out with his girlfriend."

_Girlfriend. Yeh right. I wish. _

Mysterious Voice: "Oh. So it's just you and me and my sexy ass."

Roxas: "Quit the self-flattery, Axel. It's not cool."

Axel: "But you _do _think my ass is sexy, right?"

Roxas: "…you hungry?"

As soon as I heard them enter the kitchen, I decided to leave the room and head downstairs. Their voices got louder as I approached the kitchen.

Axel: "So…how's your love life?"

Roxas: "…nonexistent."

Axel: "How's your sex life?"

Roxas: "…Coke? Pepsi?"

Axel: "A glass of vintage champagne, if I may."

Roxas: "I'm serious here."

Axel: "Yeh, and so am I. You say your love life's nonexistent, huh? What about that blonde chick I saw you with just last Friday?"

Roxas: "…w-well, she's—"

Being the klutz that I was, it was at that moment that I chose to trip on my way down the stairs and tumble painfully down them, making a hell of a noise. Unsurprisingly, this caught their attention. "Sora?"

"Hey," I winced, pulling myself up. My left arm was still aching from the fall. "Don't mind me; carry on with your conversation."

"This is your little brother?" My eyes darted to the owner of the voice—it was indeed Axel, the red-headed guy I'd seen Roxas with near the beginning of Autumn Term.

"Well, he's actually my twin brother," Roxas mumbled through gritted teeth. "Who said he'd be staying over at Kairi's until later this afternoon."

"Kairi and I had a fight, so I had to come home early," I said, standing up. "And what about you? Did you tell Mom you were bringing home…friends?"

Roxas opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. "Whatever."

"Name's Axel, got it memorized?" Axel said out of the blue, stretching out his lanky arm. His fire-engine red spikes looked even wilder up close. I noticed he had two triangle-shaped tattoos beneath his eyes. He smelt of smoke and petrol.

I took his hand. "Um. Right."

"This is…my friend," Roxas muttered.

"What? '_Friend_'? Is that _all _you think of me, Roku?" Axel feigned hurt.

Roxas rolled his eyes and headed upstairs, Axel following behind him.

I swore Axel was staring at Roxas' butt the whole way up.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I was playing some Pokemon when my stomach started rumbling, and I headed to the fridge, only to find it practically empty. "When was the last time Mom ever went shopping?" I thought allowed.

My stomach grumbled again, and, sighing, I decided to go to the corner shop myself.

I was heading to the store, reciting the shopping list over and over in my head, when I spotted Vanitas. He was smoking, like usual, but his eyes were somewhere else.

"Hey! Van!" I ran up to him when I caught his attention.

What hit me first was the fact that he didn't smell of smoke or booze or the result of vigorous masturbating (trust me, I know how that smells). He smelt of cologne—and _AXE_.

What hit me next was what he was wearing. He was wearing this fancy dress shirt and—can you believe it?—a _tie_. And polished black shoes I never knew he had. And for the first time since I'd met him, I had no idea what color of underwear he was wearing.

Oh, and he was holding a bouquet of flowers under his arm.

"Um. Okay?"

Vanitas threw away his cigarette and gave me a pleading smile. "So…what do you think? Do I look okay?"

"You're wearing _AXE_! And…and a TIE!" I feigned shock, and Vanitas just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, wow, shock of the century, I know," he muttered. "You didn't answer my question."

"You're seriously going on a date?"

"SORA."

"You look great, Van. Sexy enough to eat."

Vanitas chuckled. "I taught you well."

We exchanged smiles.

"So…" I said as we began to walk. "…where've you been lately?"

"...I've been..." He paused. "…here and there." He looked at his watch and tousled his hair. "I gotta go. See you around, aight?"

There was something in his voice that sounded different, but I couldn't get what it was. "Um…okay."

And then he headed off down the street, sprinting through the winter breeze.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I wasn't planning on going to the Annual New Year's Firework Display on New Year's Eve. I wasn't even expecting Mom or Zack to be home in time for dinner.

So it was surprising when Mom suddenly burst into my room when I was in the middle of listening to Nicki Minaj's 'Super Bass', walking to my wardrobe and pulling out a pair of jeans and my favorite T-shirt. "We're going out. Dress up and meet us in the car in ten minutes."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The car ride to the North Beach was strangely weird. We didn't live that far away, but it felt like forever. There was this heavy silence enveloping all of us, and after ten minutes of complete silence, Roxas brought out his headphones and turned the volume.

Mom inhaled sharply and Zack's grip tightened on the wheel, but they remained silent.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The beach was flooded with Destiny Island villagers. Several of them had set up little tents and picnics, and a few were eating their dinner on the pier. I spotted lots of people I recognized from school, including the pregnant woman who lived down our street. The nearby restaurant, the Paopu Palace, was full to the brim with customers.

We walked for ages, looking for a spot to sit down. The beach was filled, and if we wanted to get the good places we would have had to come earlier.

We finally managed to find a spot under a palm tree near the west end of the beach in front of a fat couple. Mom immediately got to work laying out the picnic rug, and Zack arranged the picnic baskets. Then Mum tried to put the umbrella in place, but Zack stopped her. "Let me do it."

"I'm fine, Zack. I've done this before—"

"Aerith."

And then they were staring into each other's eyes, as if unaware that we were standing there waiting for them to hurry up and get on with it.

I heard someone call my name and then all of a sudden someone had collided into my chest and enveloped me in a hug.

"Kairi!" I gasped. I hadn't spoken to her since the incident, and she hadn't come over either.

"You came!" She squealed, and then a cloud shrouded over her face. Before I could react, Kairi pushed away from me and kneed me in the gut.

I doubled over in pain. "OW! Kai_riiii_! What was _that _for?"

Her scowl faded only slightly. "For making me…worried."

Okay, so maybe I _did _ignore all her calls and delete all the voicemail she sent me. "Sorry about that."

Kairi's scowl faded completely and all that was left was a regretful frown. "No…_I'm _the one that should be saying sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that and…" She sighed. "Do you forgive me?"

I smiled warmly at her. "Of course I do."

She giggled and turned to Zack and Mom. "Oh, um, good evening Mrs. Aerith! And…Mr. Zack. I'm Kairi, and nice to meet you."

Mom had broken out of her trance and was now smiling at Kairi. "Hello." She turned to me with a smile. "Sora, you never told me you had a girlfriend!"

_Silence_.

My cheeks were burning hot. "Sh-she's not my g-girlfriend."

Mom looked confused. "Really? Oh."

"Y-Yeh, Mrs. Aerith, I'm just his best friend," Kairi giggled lightly.

"Oh." Now it was Mom's turn to blush.

"You don't mind if I steal Sora away for a while, do you?" Kairi asked.

She was quiet for a while, but she finally nodded, quietly sitting down next to Zack. "Meet us at the car after the firework display's over."

I nodded as Kairi dragged me away.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Riku and his gang had reserved their very own table in Paopu Palace, and he frowned when he saw me. I grinned in response, and he rolled his eyes. Yuna called Kairi over and she deposited me with Riku, much to his chagrin.

"Kairi came back from her bathroom break with _you _in tow. Why am I not surprised?" Riku mumbled under his breath, loudly enough for me to hear. The others were either grinding to the beat of whatever party song was playing or kissing each other against some wall.

"Missed me?" I gave him my most pompous grin and sat down next to him, stealing a piece of fruit and popping it in my mouth. It was sweet and juicy, like the clash between a watermelon, an apple, a banana and a juicy plum. It tasted…familiar.

Riku rolled his eyes and popped a piece in his mouth as well. "My life would be a whole lot more peaceful if you weren't in it."

"I know right? Imagine how _boring _that would be."

Riku held back a smile and shook his head, absent-mindedly taking another piece of fruit. I did the same and we ate companionably until we'd finished the last piece.

"Oh. My. GOD!" Someone squealed, a unique squeal particular to the biggest gossiper of the century—Selphie.

"What?" Riku asked, resting on his palm, obviously bored.

Selphie giggled. "You know how the legend goes: '_If two people share a Paopu Fruit, their destinies become intertwined_'."

"And? What does that have to do with me?"

"You just shared a Paopu Fruit with Sora."

I blanched, and I assumed Riku did the same. We looked at each other in utter horror, before blurting out in unison: "WHAT?"

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"It's just a stupid legend…"

It was nearly midnight, and me, Riku and Kairi were sitting near the seashore. Riku had managed to use charm and good looks to get a group of freshmen girls to give us their space, and I was, admittedly, impressed.

_Five minutes…_

It was surprising Riku was even sitting next to me after what had happened. Riku and I had shared _a Paopu fruit._ I had a feeling I was never going to live that one down.

_Four minutes…_

Kairi was trying to convince us that it didn't really mean anything, and that are destinies weren't _really_ intertwined. But the fact that she couldn't stop laughing at us didn't help much.

_Three minutes…_

The sky was cloudless and a deep, midnight black—the perfect sky for New Years fireworks.

_Two minutes…_

Kairi's hair was lying loose by her shoulders, making her look all the more angelic. I broke away from staring when she opened her eyes, but soon realized I wasn't the only one staring. I looked sideways and met Riku's challenging glare.

Some things would never change.

_One minute…_

"For the last ten seconds, the Destiny Island tradition is to start a countdown," Riku announced out of the blue.

"Really?" Kairi asked, intrigued.

"Well, you could put it that way," I chuckled. "It actually all started when a bunch of teenagers had too much to drink twenty years ago. Since then, everyone thinks it's a tradition to countdown till the New Year."

"Haha, well." She shrugged and lay back on the sand. And then she gasped. "You guys! Try this!"

Riku and I exchanged a look before shrugging and doing as she told us. I was immediately breathless as I was taken in by the wide midnight sky. I didn't think it was possible, but I felt like I was _drowning_ in it.

"Wow…" Riku whispered. "I could get used to this."

Kairi sighed blissfully. "I don't think I ever will."

"_Ten!_"

The countdown had started, and we all joined in, yelling at the top of our lungs. It was a rare moment of happiness, feeling like I, well, belonged with all these people. Like, even though I wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, even though my family was falling apart in front of my very eyes, even though Kairi was probably _never _going to end up liking me more than just a friend…

…like I belonged with this group of people. Like I wasn't a freak of nature. And like, no matter how unlikely it seemed, everything would sorta turn out _okay_ in the end.

"_Five!_

_Four!_

_Three!_

_Two!_

_One!_

_HAPPY TWO-THOUSAND-AND-ELEVEN!"_

Fireworks erupted in the midnight sky, illuminating the deep blue with a kaleidoscope of colors. Kairi was a giggling mess, and my stomach tickled with giddiness. It was like we were watching a 3D movie—the fireworks looked so close we could touch them.

Somewhere along the line our hands found each other, and there we were, lying on the sand beneath the amazing lightshow.

And for that one, simple moment, I felt like nothing could possibly be better than that feeling.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The feeling disappeared as soon as the display was over. Roxas came running up to me, yanking me by the arm and telling me we had to 'go NOW'.

I didn't even get to say goodbye to Kairi and Riku.

The car ride home was worse than the previous one. The atmosphere felt even more hostile, and I gave Roxas an inquisitive look. He just shrugged, but he looked equally concerned.

It was only when we'd gotten home when it all came crumbling down.

We weren't even halfway up the stairs when we heard the sound of tableware breaking in the kitchen. We heard Mom and Zack yelling at each other at the top of their lungs. We heard Zack calling her horrible, horrible names. We heard Mom slap him across the cheek.

"If you don't want to be with me then just tell me face to face! Stop m-making up all these stupid stories a-and—"

"I've told you more than a thousand times, Aerith—she's just a FRIEND!"

"I'm tired of all your fucking lies, Zack! J-Just go away and leave us alone!"

"Aerith…don't do this…"

"I mean it! I'm tired of everything! You're making everyone's life miserable, S-Sora's and Roxas' and most of all mine! I sh-should've never married you in the first place—!"

Another shattering noise, and then…silence.

I couldn't take it anymore. "I'm going down—"

"No!" Roxas hissed, holding me back by my arm. "You'll just make it worse."

I stared at him incredulously. "You mean I should just stay here and let him hurt her?"

Roxas sighed. "Trust me…don't try and get involved. It'll just worsen things."

"Like hell you know anything," I hissed.

Roxas pursed his lips and sighed. "I'm going to bed. I advise you to do the same."

He left.

I stayed there, sitting still on the staircase, anxious to do something—anything—to make him stop.

But there was something in Roxas' voice that made me believe that he knew what he was talking about. That he knew about abusive relationships. But…how?

Taking a deep, pained sigh, I got off the stairs and headed up to my room.

* * *

**RELIEVED SIGH.**

**FINALLY. DONE. WITH. THIS. CHAPPIE.**

**Hope this one had that extra 'oomph' the others have been missing. ^^**

* * *

**Sneek Peek:**

"_She hasn't been feeling well lately."_

"_Regionals!"_

_"Enough already, Fang!"_

"_Happy Valentine's Day!"_

* * *

**Don't ask when the next update will be. **

**This upcoming week'll be as busy as hell.**

**Which me luck! (AGAIN…though I probably have enough already). **

**XXX**


	22. Riku's Secret

**A/N: G'day me lovely readers!**

**ThatKid1001: Lol, you so funny. ^^ Yeh, Axel wants Roxas…but Roxas doesn't know that yet. xD He's a bit naïve on that front…but whatever. He probably just thinks Axel acts like that to everyone. SoRiku yaoi action was PRICELESS. I needed to get that in LOL. As for Sora and Kairi having sex…well. Not so sure about that…YET. Harhar! Even though review replies are going to stop after this chappie, I'll still be replying to you since you're an anonymous reviewer. But whatever. Enjoy the chap! **

**Reigatsu: Yay! Reigatsu-kun! *glomps Reigatsu. Stops, gets off laughing nervously at the weird looks everyone else is giving her* Course I remember you! I was almost bursting into tears when you didn't review for, like, two chappies. But **_**c'est pas grave**_**, as we French say. *wears beret and nibbles baguette—NAW. We don't **_**really **_**look like that. And neither do we eat frogs legs* LMAO…seeing what's under his undies, eh? *has an idea* Oh. Hehehe…anyway. The fight…I had to make something go wrong in their way-too-perfect friendship. Sheesh. It did make them closer, but if you've read Apologize you'd see that Kairi's already been kissed, so Sora still has a long way to go. BROMAAAANCE! WOOT! Loved writing that scene. Roxas knows about abusive relationships via Namine, I guess. He knows now. Which will be explained whenever I bother to continue Hero::Heroine. =D Enjoy the chapps! **

**Toni Heart: Yeh, so he may be hot, but he's from WINX. Not trying to be mean or anything, but fairies are retarded. *goes into evil-me mode* HAHARHAHARHA! *goes back to normal* Anyway, I've checked out some of your stories, but I haven't had time to review. I'll try and do that sometime, kay? Enjoy!**

**Morgead'sgirl: IKR? School sucks. Haha cool. I love Nicki Minaj. Since I got hair extensions that look almost exactly the same as hers in the 'Right Thru Me' video, all my friends call me Nicki Minaj now. =.=**

**NoVII aka Karasu: Thanks for all the luck! Good luck on…whatever you're doing. xD **

**Twilight Yuna: Thanks! *captures 'Luck' and stores it in 'Luck box'* Anyway…guess since I've given you the 'kiss in the rain' spoiler it's not really a surprise anymore, but whatever. xD The reason for the paopu fruit thing was that lots of readers said they would have loved it if Sora and Riku got caught under mistletoe. And since I hadn't thought about that, I decided to come up with another Bromance-borderline-homo moment between them. ^^ As for the lying down in the sand…that was SO taken from the beginning of KHII. Oh, and did you notice that Sora was in the middle i.e. he was holding hands with Kairi AND Riku? My little sister pointed that out. Talk about Nomura totally promoting bisexuality. Anyway, enjoy the chapps!**

**Kairi-namine-chan: Brilliant? Thanks! Have fun! **

**Draco Oblivion: (Axel has a crush on Roxas. SSH! Don't tell anyone.) Haha no really, I'm not kidding. Just thought I'd give you that spoiler; it clears up things later. Roxas knows about abusive relationships via Namine and also via his previous relationship with Olette. To be explored later. Anyway, enjoy!**

**ShadowSpooky: "It's just a stupid legend." Lol. I wanna try and set fireworks off one day. Must be fun. Thanks and enjoy!**

**Superpeanutbutter: At the firework part, I thought about making Kairi in the middle. But later I said I'd keep the game format and kept Sora in the middle. Of Kairi and RIKU. I.e. Riku and Sora hold HANDS. Am I the only one who finds this weird on Nomura's part? I made Sora and Riku share the fruit because people complained about the fact that I hadn't given them a gay moment (you know, like making them get stuck under mistletoe together or something) yet. Since it was too late to change anything, I came up with…that. xD Sorry if you don't like yaoi; I don't either lol. Xion SHALL and WILL make another appearance…somewhere around Spring. Or something. She lives on the South End so yeah; she won't be in the story THAT much. Axel, however…he has a crush on Roxas, but Roxas doesn't know that. He just thinks that's Axel's personality to be flirty, yanno? Just to clear things up…you'll see Kairi's POV in the next chappie of Angel…or the next…lol. And only Sora can look sexy in Pooh bear boxers. I SWEAR TO KINGDOM HEARTS AND EVERYTHING THAT BELONGS IN THE REALM OF LIGHT THAT I SHALL NEVER QUIT THIS STORY! Except if I die, you know, since that wouldn't be possible. Or if I get fatally injured. Or if Armageddon comes. xD For now, enjoy!**

**Acidic-wrath: Thanks! I take you're a new reviewer? ^^ Enjoy!**

**Gxmwp: Fang shall…aw come on just READ. **

**Manco: *facepalm* *facepalm* *facepalm* *facepalm* … -a gazillion facepalms later- SORA IS SOOO STUPID. Sora won't commit suicide…at least I don't think so. I need him for the rest of the story. I have a whole agenda for Sora, but you'll just have to wait until Spring, when everything shall happen, and when things will FINALLY start looking up for Sora. Don't wanna give away spoilers yet, though. Don't worry; you at least have a chance in your lovelife. The guy **_**I **_**like is going out with some girl who's two years older than him, and they've been going out for, like, nearly two years. She's WAY prettier than me and has known him for way longer; I'm just the shy weirdo who likes video games, hoodies, anime, manga, Converse and rock music. I thought he hated me for at least two years, so me and my friend sent him hatemail. Now I'm pretty sure he hates me…I called him an idiot—and he's DYSLEXIC. *sighs* Well. I'm not planning on dating until I'm eighteen, so whatever. (I don't see the point of dating somebody you have no interest in marrying yet anyway). **

**Q-A the Authoress: Thanks! I've tried Nutella once; it was disgusting. I hate any chocolate apart from Twix and the occasional Mikado. But apart from that…yuck. Summer break=moving=no computer=nonexistent updates in the near future. But I'm still excited nonetheless. **

**TheNerds: My sister said the exact same thing! If only I owned Kingdom Hearts…then I could publish them without having to disclaim the characters. =( **

**xXAwesomenessKiraXx: Thanks! **

**JapADdict: Wow…I'm so flattered! *gushes* And no, I'm not being sarcastic, got it memorized? …sigh. I really have to quit with these Axel catchphrases. Anyway, I'm not **_**really **_**British (I'm Scottish-slash-Nigerian), but the English section of the school here offers English exams, and so I have the choice to do them. I made a mistake and took iGCSE History. *facepalms* I saw your subscribtion before I saw the review, and at first I nearly had an attack until I read this xD Thanks…though I hardly do anything on YouTube anymore xD. **

**Phew. You guys review A LOT.**

**As you may have noticed, I've decided to end replying to reviews from here. Apart from the fact that it's against the rules, apparently, it's also pretty stressful. But don't worry; I'll still reply privately! I think it should be better that way. Can't risk this fic getting reported and then deleted, can we?**

**Meh. **

**About this chappie: Back to school, finally. Some Sora-Terra stuff…Kairi and Riku and Fang action…meh. Oh…and Sora's family goes caput. Kinda.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, I wouldn't have to do a disclaimer.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Kairi sees me in my underwear. _

I really, really regretted not wearing my not-tight-fitting boxers. Especially not Winnie the Pooh ones.

_We also have our first fight._

"What _is _your idea of fun, huh? Sleeping? Writing crappy stories? Wasting away your life watching stupid **Disney movies**?"

_I meet Axel in person._

I swore Axel was staring at Roxas' butt the whole way up.

_Something's up with Vanitas._

"You're wearing _AXE_! And…and a TIE!"

_I share a paopu with Riku—can you believe it?_

"You know how the legend goes: '_If two people share a Paopu Fruit, their destinies become intertwined_'."

_Well. The New Year fireworks aren't the only things that are sparking…or something like that._

"I'm tired of all your fucking lies, Zack! J-Just go away and leave us alone!"

_Yup. My family's falling apart. In front of my very eyes._

_But Roxas says I should ignore it and go on with my truly fucked-up life._

_Yuppie._

* * *

**Chapter 22: Riku's Secret **

Winter faded away almost as quickly as it came, and the Islands were once again blessed with the usual tropical-Mediterranean weather. A.k.a summer sun and spring breeze.

After spending three weeks out of school, I was starting to get used to it. I'd spend every morning cooped up in my bed, especially since Kairi was off on holidays for the last week. I'd wake up around four in the afternoon, watch some old movies until midnight, and then watch some of the night shows until I fell asleep. Vanitas was busy for some reason, and Roxas was always out of the house. When he was in, he would sometimes join me in my movie marathon—unless I was watching a Disney movie, that is. Then he'd be out of there faster than a cheetah on rollerskates.

Anyway, the fact that I'd developed a routine was probably the reason why, on the first day of Spring Term, I destroyed my alarm clock.

And it was my Winnie the Pooh one.

I'd been up late the previous night watching the Grey's Anatomy all-night marathon, and I ended up with large bags under my eyes, which were red. I'd drooled and my hair was a mess. I looked like a freaking zombie.

Roxas, of course, managed to look like his usual good-looking self, even though he was also up late listening to heavy metal. I never really knew how he did it.

I had a shower and pulled on my uniform before picking up my backpack and heading downstairs. Mom was there, writing a shopping list.

"Hi, Mom," I greeted casually, heading for the fridge. I'd sifted through The Book for any possible pages on eye-bag treatment, and I'd actually found a vegetable-based recipe that apparently made them disappear in ten minutes. I opened the fridge and cursed when I found out there weren't any cucumbers, pickles or olive oil left in the house. "Shit."

Mom didn't even glance at me. "I'm going shopping. Anything you want me to get?"

I was about to yell "Anti-Eye-bag cream", since I assumed that existed in the women's section, when Zack walked in. He had strapped on his sword again. He always looked a lot bulkier and scarier that way.

I poured myself some cornflakes and soaked them with milk, watching Mom and Zack closely. She wasn't looking him in the eyes, even when he leaned in to kiss her in the cheek.

It was depressing, really. I had the urge to do something, though I didn't really know what I'd be useful for.

"Aerith…" He began, scratching his hair. "I'm…I just wanted to say I'm going to be away for a while…"

Mom kept quiet, mouthing the words 'Shower Gel' under her breath.

"You've heard of the impending civil war between the Gardeners and the Paranoids on the news, right?" Zack pulled himself a seat next to Mom and leaned on the table. She still didn't look up, but I could tell she was concerned. "Well…the Gardeners needed military instructors, and since I was free…"

"What the hell, Zack?" Mom snapped, gripping her idle pen. "'Since you were free'? Isn't that a bit dangerous? Why the hell did you volunteer?"

I sat there, chewing my cornflakes into mush. It was a small mouthful but it seemed to be swelling right up to the roof of my mouth, swilling in and out of my teeth, coating my tongue with orangey-gold slime. I tried swallowing but my throat wouldn't work. Spitting the cornflakes back into my bowl seemed pretty tempting.

"Because," he continued. "I want to. I _like _teaching. I'm a teacher; it's what I do."

"A teacher in a _military _academy. There are a lot of other jobs you could do—"

"You know, most wives would be _supportive _if their husband got a promotion," he snapped, eyebrows narrowing. "Don't you see how important this is to me?"

Mom stopped writing the shopping list. "Yeah. I do. I see how important it is _to you_. But don't you ever think about anyone _else _apart from yourself?"

Zack snapped then. "Who do you think I'm working for, huh? Without me, you guys would be living in the Shelter right now! Ever since I met you I've spent my time struggling to provide for you and your _stupid_ kids, and this is how you show your gratitude!"

I downed my orange juice in an attempt to clear out my throat. The cornflakes were still in a soggy clump and I ended up choking. That seemed to snap Mom and Zack out of their conversation.

Mom got up from her seat to come and pat me on the back, most likely to avoid speaking to him. Zack stayed sitting at the table, glaring at her. I noticed her eyes were lined with tears that were waiting to fall.

Zack eventually got up and brought me a glass of water. Before I could retrieve it, Mom snatched it from him. Drops of water sloshed onto the table.

I looked up at Mom. She was glaring at Zack with teary eyes.

"Fuck off."

Zack and I stared at Mom in shock. She handed me the glass before breaking away from his gaze.

Zack stood up. "_Aerith_—"

"I **mean** it."

Roxas came in then, headphones blaring. He was free of makeup but he'd put his eyebrow piercings back on again.

He stole a Red Bull from the fridge before popping it open. He gave me an inquisitive look and I just shrugged.

Zack was still staring at Mom with an unbelievable look. Roxas looked from Zack to Mom, then back to Zack again.

"Fine." Zack sighed heavily, picked up his sword, and placed it back on his back. "_**Fine**_."

And then he upped and left.

We heard him slam the front door before Mom burst into tears.

Roxas and I stayed put, not knowing what to do. Roxas eventually opted for slowly exciting the house and heading off to school on his skateboard.

I, on the other hand, wasn't that eager to go to school—especially considering the whole eye-bag situation.

I slowly stood up and awkwardly wrapped my arm around Mom. "Um…I don't have to go to school, Mom. I can do the shopping while you stay home and rest and—"

Mom giggled bitterly through her tears. "N-No way. You're still going to school whether you like it or not."

I gave Mom a searching look before sighing in resign. "Fine." I discarded my cornflakes in the sink and picked up my backpack. "Bye, Mom."

She didn't answer, but I wasn't suspecting one anyway.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I got to school on reasonable time, taking the next bus that arrived after the Mom-and-Zack episode.

Penelo didn't notice, but Kairi did. Unfortunately. "What happened to you?" she demanded, eyeing me inquisitively. Her shirt hugged her chest alluringly; I'd almost forgotten how great she looked in uniform.

I ran my fingers through my hair nervously. "Uh…I slept a little late."

"On a school night?" Kairi asked incredulously as we headed down the hall. "Lemme guess—Desperate Housewives?"

"Grey's Anatomy, actually." I found it hard not to smirk when she laughed. "So…how did you spend _your _last week of holiday?"

Actually, I was trying to divert her attention from _my _life, since at the time it was pretty suckish. Turns out, Kairi had gone to Disney Town for the last week of Christmas Hols, with her parents and Namine.

I had bad memories of my last trip to Disney Town. We'd gone there on Roxas and I's sixth birthday. The most vivid memory was still engraved in my mind. I'd just finished eating two Captain Justice Meals, (mine and Roxas'; he wasn't hungry), a Mick Milkshake, a popsicle and my Mom's slushie when, in a bout of ADHD, I ran to the _Pinball Machine_. After several minutes of begging, I managed to convince my Mom to let me on, but only with Ventus, who was eleven at the time, to accompany me.

As you can guess, I ended up puking all down my shirt, and onto Ventus' too. Eventually I also ended up peeing all over myself and spent the rest of the day curled around Dad in my stinky underpants for the rest of the day.

It wasn't a wonder Dad left the following year.

Kairi, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy her trip. She said she went on the Pinball Machine and that it was 'awesome' and that she also played Fruitball and won a prize which she'd show me later that afternoon.

I nodded and said 'cool' when appropriate.

We eventually met up with her friends and had to part ways.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Later, in English Literature, Genesis announced that we'd be moving on to Shakespeare.

He said that, unlike the other Literature classes of our year, we wouldn't be doing _Romeo & Juliet_. We were going to be doing _The Merchant of Venice_.

Seeing as I was dyslexic and dumb to begin with, archaic language and cursive manuscript was a very, very bad combination for me.

"The Merchant of Venice is a very renowned Shakespeare play, which discusses racial prejudice, trust and friendship. Has anyone already read this play at their leisure?"

No one rose their hand.

"Very well then—I guess that means you shall all discover the wonder that is bla bla bla…"

I zoned out and eyed the hundred-page-long play with disgust.

Absently, I turned my head slightly to look at Riku, who was sitting behind me. He was lying motionlessly on his desk, and I heard him snoring lightly. "_Hey_," I whispered. "_Riku?_"

"_What?_" he grumbled under his breath, shifting his position so his eyes were half-visible. "_Shut up and leave me alone_."

"_Rough night?_" I asked, ignoring his request. I'd noticed that Riku didn't usually mean half the things he said.

He didn't answer for a while, but eventually propped himself up on his elbows. "Y_ou could put it that way._"

I chuckled lightly. "_Yeah well…how was your holiday?_"

"_Please don't ask._"

"_Okay._"

We regarded each other awkwardly. It was then that I spotted the darkish bruise only slightly covered by his shirt sleeve. "_What happened to your arm?_"

Riku tugged at his shirt sleeve, glaring at me. "_None of your fucking business_."

"Mr. Harada!" Genesis bellowed. "You of all people should know better than to disturb in class! You are to write a ten-line paragraph on the character of Bessanio for the next time I see you, understand?"

"Yessir."

I gave him an apologetic look, but all he did was glare before collapsing back onto his desk.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Penelo was sitting with the cheerleaders at lunch. Which I found pretty odd.

"So she's found a new bunch of friends that suit her, big deal," Lightning grumbled, impaling her potatoes on her fork.

I was confused. "You mean…she's sitting with them?"

"What do you expect? She's becoming one of _them_ now."

I frowned disapprovingly. "Oh. Well that's…"

"That's what?" Lightning snapped. "Wouldn't _you _do the same thing if _you _became popular all of the sudden?"

It didn't take me that long to think about it. "Of course not. Just because I'm popular doesn't mean I'll stop being friends with you guys."

"You know, if I felt like it, I'd do the same," Vaan added. "I've been invited to stay with them on the Blitz table countless times. But…" He sighed. "…you guys are my friends. I wouldn't just give up all this for all…that."

We watched them silently for a while. Penelo was pretty and everything, but she looked a bit odd amongst all the flawless, plastic cheerleaders, prancing around in their miniskirts with their bulky boyfriends.

"Vaan's right, dude," Snow agreed. "What Penelo's doin'…it's just not hot."

"Don't worry; she'll come back soon enough," I muttered unconvincingly.

Vaan rolled his eyes. "Don't you know anything? Of course she won't. Do you have _any _idea how long she's been dreaming about this? Ever since middle school she's been wishing to be popular. She even thought about auditioning for the Songstresses, but she gets stage fright." He sipped on his drink. "It's basically because of her we've progressed to sitting around here." He sighed. "Don't you get it? _That's _why she was so eager to join the Cheer Team. Saying she'll 'come back soon'—that's bullshit, man."

"Language, language," Serah sighed airily for the sake of it. The table felt depressing with Penelo missing. She was usually the one who reprimanded Vaan about his filthy mouth.

"What?—we can't have _fun_ just because Penelo's not here?" I scoffed.

No answer.

"Right. Not helping."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I must have been one of the only ones to notice Terra's unusual behavior in Sports. He still yelled at us to move our asses and all, but there was something…missing in his tone. It was like he'd lost all willpower to bully us around. And I didn't know why.

Since the start of the year, I'd actually progressed a little. My stamina had improved, albeit minimally. I could run for about a minute longer than I used to be able to without stopping.

When I was taking my inhaler break, I noticed Terra sitting down on the bench with his head in his hands. His elbows were resting on his thighs and his hands were covering his face.

I don't know why, but I felt obliged to ask him what was wrong. I just liked listening to people's problems, I guess.

"You okay?" I asked, sitting down a fair distance away from him. I had a feeling I stank pretty bad.

Terra lifted his head up momentarily to look me in the eyes, before sighing finally. "I know this probably has nothing to do with you, but…" He ran his fingers through his hair. "It's Aqua."

"Aqua?" I asked, intrigued. "You mean my English Literacy teacher? What about her?"

"She says she hasn't been feeling well lately," he sighed distraughtly. "She refused to look me in the eyes when I'm talking to her…" He rested his arms on his thighs. "Okay, so you probably have never been in a relationship before but…"

(I resisted the urge to yell a sarcastic 'I love how you can tell that by one look').

"…when a girl stops calling…should a guy be worried?"

I had no idea how to answer that. "Well…I dunno. Maybe she's just busy." I thought about it for a while. "But I think so. Yeah." I paused. "Wait. You two are married, right?"

He blinked at me in surprise. "No! No way…well, not yet anyway. I thought it was pretty clear." His tanned cheeks darkened slightly. "We've been engaged for six months, though. With all the work and her family's relocation and all, we've not really had the time to get started."

"Oh." _Then why had Aqua told Vanitas she was married? _"Oh. Well. Is she stops calling, then I guess that's a sign. Maybe she's trying to tell you something." I shrugged. "Whatever it is, you shouldn't ignore it. I think you and her should sit down and talk about it to sort it out."

He looked at me for a while, thinking it over, and then he nodded. "Yeah. You're right." He patted me on the head. "You know, for a guy who's never been in a relationship, you know quite a lot about them."

"Yeah, rub it in my face why don't you?" I retorted. Terra laughed, and I relaxed. "But, yeah. That's what happens when you watch too many chick flicks."

He smiled fondly at me, and then he clapped his hands briskly. "Right. Break's over. Five laps around the track—and step on it!

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"That's nice," Kairi said later that afternoon at our Drama Practice session after I'd told her the conversation Terra and I had had. We were in Kairi's garden, sitting among the camellias and snacking on Sea Salt Ice Cream. I'd told Kairi the salty-sweet treat was an Island specialty, and she'd informed me it was originally created in Radiant Garden by a guy who went by the name of Scrooge McDuck. (Poor guy.)

"It's cool what you told him though," Kairi continued, licking at the remaining ice cream on her spoon. "You sure do watch a lot of girl series. You watch _Pretty Little Liars_?"

"I tried," I admitted. "But there was a _Glee_ marathon going at the same time."

"You watch Glee too?" Kairi squealed. "I _**love**__ Glee_!"

I chuckled. "I don't care for it. It's a bit cheesy, you gotta admit. And they're too many stereotypes." I stuck another spoon of ice cream in my mouth. "One of the only reasons I watch the show is because of the song covers they do."

"Yeah, they rock," Kairi agreed. She stuck her spoon in my cup and stole some ice cream. I gave her a look, and she stuck out her tongue. I didn't protest. I was used to it by now.

She stood up to throw her cup in the trash before wiping her hands and coming to sit next to me. While waiting for me to finish my ice cream, she leaned forward and plucked out a fresh pink camellia.

I nearly choked. "What the hell? Your mom's gonna kill you!"

"It's just _one _flower." She brought it to her nose and sniffed it, sighing. "These are camellias. My mom knows what every single one of these flowers mean." She stroked the petals fondly. "This one means 'longing for you'."

I nodded silently.

"Personally, my best flower is this one…" She stood up, went a bit farther along the garden, and plucked out a long, unique-looking spring flower. "…a daffodil."

She brought it to me and placed it in front of my nose. I sniffed obediently. "Mmm. They're really nice." I decided I liked daffodils. "What do daffodils mean?"

She opened her mouth to answer when her Mum called her from inside. "I'll be right back!" She handed me the flowers and pranced inside to answer her Mum.

When she came back, we launched into another conversation and eventually forgot.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"When I was in high school, I had a bunch of girlfriends, yo."

We were in SexEd, and Reno was telling us another one of his high school recounts—several of which were usually completely unrelated to the present subject.

"And, well, in my days, people no one knew about AIDS." He sat down on his desk with his arms resting on his knees. "So having sex wasn't really a problem. When it broke out, everyone went crazy. I remember thinking _I _had AIDS more than once."

"So, to make a long story short, we're gonna be talking about STDs?" Riku interjected.

Reno chuckled. "Yeah, but lemme finish my story first, yo."

He proceeded to launch into a tale about his unnamed cousin who dated a girl with AIDS and very nearly caught it but prevented this from happening by using a condom.

Eventually he announced that the subject for the term was 'Contraception, Birth Control and Sexually Transmitted Diseases'.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

In Drama, Sephiroth was crabbier than usual, which was only noticeable if you squinted.

After a quick rerun of a few acts, Sephiroth ordered us to get started on the next songs. Fang was told to sing 'Do it Like a Dude' by Jessie J at the encounter scene with 'Masahiro'.

Apparently, in Sephiroth's parody of KINGDOM HEARTS, Maleficent was a spunky young adult with the power of darkness, and is also a women's rights activist.

For some reason, Riku was also pretty pissed off. I asked Kairi about this but she just shrugged, saying he'd been like that all morning.

He still managed to get into his character, though. He was a natural actor; he didn't let his emotions interfere with his character's emotions. He even managed to mock 'Maleficent' and sound like he meant it.

Then it was Fang's cue to start her song. It wasn't surprising that she was picked for the song; she had wicked _krumping_ skills. I'd never really been able to street dance, but I knew some street jargon thanks to Roxas. He'd been doing _parkour_ for as long as I could remember, always running around the island with his friends and getting up to all sorts of trouble. He'd broken his arm more than once.

Anyway, Fang's dancing apparently made Riku pretty uncomfortable, because he didn't stop taking a step backwards until he bumped into the piano.

"_I can do it like a brother _

_Do it like a dude _

_Grab my crotch, wear my hat low like you_…"

Fang seemed to be having fun, though, and she had one of those strong, loud diva voices. It was pretty entertaining to watch, and Sephiroth didn't seem to mind that his student was strutting around like a skank in his own classroom.

She eventually ended up nearly dry-humping Riku, and it was obvious that he was about to snap.

She didn't seem to notice, though, until it was too late.

"Enough already, Fang!" he snarled, pushing her off him with a shove. Everyone gasped in shock for the sake of it.

I glanced at Kairi; she didn't look angry, she didn't look sad. She just looked a bit…smug.

I turned back to Riku. He seemed pretty surprised as well, and was just staring blankly at Fang. It was a bit awkward for a while. Sephiroth didn't do anything; he just stared patiently.

And then Riku yelled "Fuck this" before storming out of the hall.

_Silence_.

"Um. Alright." Sephiroth cleared his throat. "That was brilliant Fang. Keep it up. Next song we're going to be working on is…"

I zoned out, looking off towards the door. I wondered what had gotten Riku so pissed. Okay, so Fang had majorly invaded his personal space, but…well, Riku and Fang had seemed to be getting along quite well, especially after the talk Riku and I had had nearly two months prior.

Something else was bothering him. Ever since the day before in English Literature, when I'd asked him about his arm…

"I'm going to go talk to him," Kairi blurted all of a sudden. She looked concerned as well—almost too concerned. It unnerved me, but it was equally sweet that she was so caring.

However, I wasn't going to let her and Riku have another 'moment'. And, plus, Riku looked pretty pissed and I wasn't going to risk him hurting Kairi in some way. "No." I grabbed Kairi's wrist cautiously. She looked at me with her probing indigo-violet eyes. "I will."

She opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to decide against it. "Fine." She sighed, fingering the end of her ponytail. She ruffled my hair casually. "Just…be nice, okay?"

I thought it was probably Riku who needed to be told that, but decided not to bring that up. "Naturally."

She gave me a warm smile, just as Sephiroth called her up to do a repeat of her opening song.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

After about ten minutes of searching, I managed to find Riku hanging around behind a building in the Art Wing. He was just sitting on the ground next to a few old boxes and a trash can, staring blankly at empty space.

He didn't notice me at first. I wasn't really sure whether I should make my presence known or not. I just looked at him, looking at nothing. Every five or so seconds, he'd reach up to tug on his shirt sleeve. I glimpsed the bruise; it looked even darker now.

I figured I'd been in hiding for way too long. "Riku?"

He saw me, but he didn't answer. He made a face; he looked like he was trying to scowl but just didn't have the willpower to do so.

Silently, cautiously, I walked up to him and slowly sat down next to him on the graveled ground. It was silent for a while, and I took this time to study our surroundings. I spotted a spot on the ground that was slightly darker than the others, and I remembered where we were.

We were exactly where we were when Riku had threatened me on my second day of junior year.

"Time flies, huh?" I chuckled randomly, absently flicking at the gravel.

He nodded without looking at me, leaning against the wall with a sigh.

"Mm." I shifted on my butt. My eyes moved back to Riku's face. His eyes were closed, but he didn't look like he was sleeping peacefully. It was like he was trying to block out a nightmare. "You okay?"

I knew it was a stupid question, and he obviously thought the same. "What a stupid question, Sora."

I held back a frown. "Sorry."

He opened his eyes and looked at me before sighing. "Look…I'm just in a really fucked up mood right now."

"I can see that," I muttered affably. He glanced at me and I smiled. "Care to elaborate?"

He paused for a while, but eventually gave in, raking his fingers through his silver hair. "You know Sephiroth?"

I raised an eyebrow at the odd question. "You mean the guy we see every single day in homeroom and the guy we're frequently tormented by in Drama? Mm…I think the name rings a bell."

It was obvious Riku was trying to hold back from rolling his eyes. "Yeah. Well. He's my dad."

I nearly choked on my own saliva. "What?"

He chuckled at my reaction. "Yeah." He pursed his lips. "And you're the first one to know."

I tried not to gape. I studied Riku; how could I not have noticed before? They shared the same evil grin, the same pale skin. They even had the same shape of eyes, though Riku's eyes were brighter. And Sephiroth was the only teacher in North Destiny College aside from Xemnas who had silver hair.

Suddenly everything seemed to make sense. The looks Sephiroth gave him, the way Riku constantly evaded hanging around too long after homeroom, why we were let off by Principal Yoshida for the food fight…

I couldn't help but laugh. "Dude! That is _so _awesome! Why haven't you told anyone else?"

Riku looked uncomfortable. "Well…several reasons, I guess. I mean, first of all there's the thing about favoritism, then there's the issue of my dad being a psycho, and then…" His voice dwindled into nothing.

I noticed he was becoming more uncomfortable each passing second, and sighed. "You don't have to tell me if you don't wanna."

He thought about it for a while. "No. I want to."

I stared at him in shock while he continued. "My mum died on the day I was born. My Dad and my siblings fucking hate me for it." He lowered his gaze to the ground. "You know what I said about everyone pushing me around."

I nodded. I remembered the conversation vividly. It was the conversation that changed my view on Riku. (I wasn't really sure what it was at the moment, but I knew I didn't _hate _him like I used to. Even though he was being a major cockblocker and everything.)

"Well…I was mostly talking about my brothers," he mumbled under his breath. "They've hated me ever since I was born." He laughed humorlessly. "I was angry, but I could never do anything to stop them from making my life hell." He sighed. "Which was why I…"

"…vented out all your hurt on me, huh?"

His aquamarine eyes met mine, and suddenly a memory hit me.

It was in kindergarten. I was at my table, drawing, when I saw a boy I'd never seen before sitting alone in the corner. He had short silver hair and large eyes. He wasn't talking, just sitting in the corner silently, glaring at everyone who looked at him.

Childishly, I thought of going to ask him if he wanted to play, and I picked up a few crayons and some paper and went over to meet him.

"Hello!" I remember saying. "I'm Sora! What's your name?"

He didn't answer, just stared at me ominously.

I remember handing him my picture. "You look lonely. You wanna be my fwend?"

Still silence.

Oblivious to the cold air he was giving off, I sat down next to him. "You want to dwaw? I brought you some cwayons and some papuh and stuff." I smiled, picking up my picture—which I vaguely remember as some scribbles. "This is my mommy. She's really pwetty. See?" Innocently, I handed him my drawing for him to look at it.

Big mistake.

Riku stared at the picture for a long time.

And then he proceeded to rip it to shreds.

I remember yelling at him to stop, in vain. I remember watching him cut all my crayons in half and stomp on them until they were nothing more than rainbow-colored rubble. I remember crying and bawling over the remnants of my picture of 'Mommy'.

Presently, I understood. I understood why I'd grown up seeing him bullying everyone. I understood why he ripped the picture of 'Mommy' to shreds.

Riku had never _had _a mother. And he'd taken all the blame.

I felt…_sorry_ for him. Something I never would have imagined I would have felt for him a few months earlier.

"I'm…I didn't know," I whispered honestly.

"Of course you didn't. You're the first person to know, actually."

"And I'll make sure I'll be the last. Your secret—or should I say _secrets_—are safe with me."

He smiled companionably at me. I did the same, and then I spotted the bruise again. I had the nagging urge to ask him about it.

But I eventually settled on leaving it alone, not wanting to break through the comfortable silence.

* * *

**MAJOR SORIKU BONDING THERE. AGGHH.**

**I'm so glad I managed to chuck this chappie out. **

**School year's ended, but I still have the finals next week. **

**And then I'm DONE! **

**I hope I can pop in another chappie of Angel and Apologize through my rabid studying schedule. (PFFT YEAH RIGHT)**

* * *

_**Sneek Peek:**_

"_Happy Valentine's Day!"_

"_F-For me?"_

"_Vanitas? What's going on?"_

* * *

**Meh. That's all I got, for now. **

**R&R.**

**See you...when i see you. :P **


	23. My Hope

**A/N: Hello. Old buddies, old pals. **

**First of all, I would like to APOLOGIZE so bad for seemingly disappearing off the face of the earth! UGH I hate myself right now… *beats herself up* Well there was all this passport crap which resulted in this whole drama and I ended up not being able to travel with the rest of my family. But then I managed to retrieve it from the container and—would you believe it—was allowed to travel two days later. Big whoop. The cool thing, though, was that since I was traveling unaccompanied, I got to skip all the queues. *evil giggle* Okay, so while I've been away I've been trying to get used to the Southern accent, doing Math, writing DCT inserts in my notepad whenever I can so I don't lose ideas, reading the Bible even more (well DUH I just got baptized). Oh, and I became addicted to the series 'Modern Family'. Seriously. I now have seriously reduced my pocket munny after just HAVING to buy Season One. **

**ANYWAY…enough about me. How have all you guys been doing, with a lack of good fanfiction to read? (Nah just kidding there are a LOT of better fics on this site, bleev me!) Well, I'm back now! You guys are all probably waiting in anticipation for the next craptastic—I mean, fantastic—chappie of Addicted! WOOT WOOT!**

**About this chappie: Valentine's Day. Some family development. Riku-Sora-interaction. And stuff.**

**Disclaimer: Assuming possession of someone else's belonging is a criminal offence, man. **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Zack finally gets lost._

"Who do you think I'm working for, huh? Without me, you guys would be living in the Shelter right now! Ever since I met you I've spent my time struggling to provide for you and your _stupid_ kids, and this is how you show your gratitude!"

_Penelo finds a new clique._

"What do you expect? She's becoming one of _them_ now."

_Something's wrong with Aqua. _

"She says she hasn't been feeling well lately," he sighed distraughtly. "She refused to look me in the eyes when I'm talking to her…"

_Ditto Riku._

"Enough already, Fang!" he snarled, pushing her off him with a shove. Everyone gasped in shock for the sake of it.

_And I finally understand Riku a tiny bit more. _

Riku had never _had _a mother. And he'd taken all the blame.

I felt…_sorry_ for him. Something I never would have imagined I would have felt for him a few months earlier.

_But, yeah, that's not enough for me to let my guard down. Riku and I are still in it. _

_You know, the race for Kairi._

* * *

**Chapter 23: My Hope**

Our little 'heart-to-heart' session behind the Arts building that Tuesday didn't do much to our relationship. He still occasionally act like a dick when necessary, and glared whenever Kairi and I hugged, or anything. It didn't really surprise me.

He forbade me to ever bring up the subject again though. This was understandable.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

When I came back home on the following Friday evening (after a Drama Practice session at Kairi's, of course), Mom was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the TV. She was so quiet I didn't notice her at first. Her hair lay undone by her shoulders, and she was still in the same pajamas she had on that morning.

Roxas was sitting on the adjacent couch, headphones on and PSP in hand. He was also chewing on beef jerky.

I cautiously ambled past Mom, reaching for the packet and giving Roxas an inquiring look. He just shrugged. _Nothing new._

I sighed.

Ever since Zack had left that Monday, Mom had been acting all funny. She'd wake up extra early in the morning, cook cook cook, clean clean clean, and then she'd smile eerily at us until we left the house in the morning. Everyday we'd get back home and wait for Mom to come back, and when she did she'd just cook us dinner, re-clean the kitchen, sit down on the couch and watch TV.

Today she was back early, but she wasn't acting much different.

I served myself to some beef jerky, ignoring Roxas' glares. I gave Mom a wary smile before heading to the stairs.

"Wait."

I froze in my tracks, turning around warily. "Huh?"

It was Mom. She seemed to force herself to smile. "Come and sit down with Mummy."

I blinked rapidly at her. "Wh—huh?" I didn't get it.

Roxas gave me a look, and we both obeyed, cautiously sitting down next to Mom. She draped her skinny arms around our shoulders and kissed each of our forehead, and I realized how much I'd missed this. Cuddles and kisses, and stuff. But it scared me how skinny she'd gotten. She made way too much food, yet hardly ate any of it. It scared me.

I suddenly felt ten years younger.

"You're sick," I whispered against her arm.

Mom laughed shakily, and it seemed forced. "No, don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"No you're _not _fine, Mom," I heard Roxas snap icily. "Look at you. You haven't eaten in days. You're working yourself to death. And don't think we're totally oblivious to what that bastard Zack is doing to you either."

It was suddenly way too quiet. The TV seemed distant, far off.

And then Roxas shrugged himself away from Mom's hold and stormed upstairs to his room.

Mom looked after him emotionlessly, her arm lying limp by her side. And then she burst into tears.

She sobbed into my shirt for what seemed like hours, occasionally trying to blubber something intelligible, while I just stayed there rubbing her back, unsure what to do. I was supposed to be the kid, right? And yet I was the one taking care of Mom, cradling her when she cried, wiping away her tears, telling her it was going to be okay.

It was at times like that that I really started to miss Dad.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Our Japanese teacher finally snapped, one week into the Spring Term.

He said that if we didn't stop pretending we didn't understand the homework assignments, he was going to make all of us fail Japanese.

Everyone started working a little bit harder after that.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"I'm talking about the Regionals!" Kairi giggled, rolling her eyes. It was Monday afternoon, and we were in English Literacy. We were supposed to be doing Creative Writing, but I'd already finished and was working on my report for Literature. "How could you forget?"

"Yes, how _could_ I forget?" I muttered into _The Merchant of Venice_. "You know, something so important to you?"

She whacked my arm playfully. "Hey. I'm being serious here."

"Yeah, so am I." I gave her a smug smile.

"Sora," she whined. "Be straight with me here. You _are _coming, right?"

"Hmm, I'll think about it. I have to check. I have a pretty tight schedule, you know—"

"_Sora._"

I laughed. "Okay. I think I could trade one evening of Lying On The Couch Doing Nothing for Watching You Perform At Regionals."

Her face lit up like a toddler's on Christmas morning. "Great! You're gonna love the song choice this time. I've convinced the girls for it to be a bit less, uh, sexy." She cleared her throat in embarrassment.

I gave her a totally OOC-grin. "You know you didn't _have_ to do that."

She rolled her eyes at me, scrunching her nose in disgust. "Right. Sometimes I forget you're a guy."

"Ouch."

The bell rang and we headed out of class. "So, this afternoon, right? Your house or mine?"

A group of girls passed by us at that second, and I saw one or two of them give me a disgusted look.

I realized only too late how that must have sounded.

Thankfully, Kairi didn't seem to notice my blush. She tilted her head to the side. "Um…well I've got some stuff going on at mine, so how bout yours?"

"S-Sure."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Riku was in a better mood in Sports. He was still his usual asshole-ish self, but he wasn't all grumpy and he seemed to have gotten rid of the gigantic stick in his ass.

We were doing swimming, to train for the upcoming Regional game. I had a feeling Terra got a kick out of making us all suffer, because half of us weren't even in the team. I was a _Benchwarmer _for fucksake. Since when did a Benchwarmer have to swim?

Riku was enjoying himself, you know, since he had the abs to show off and he didn't mind parading in Speedos, because that's totally normal.

I vehemently refused to put them on, claiming I had a testicle disease that required normal swimwear, but Terra wasn't having it.

I ended up sitting at the edge of the pool with a towel wrapped around my embarrassingly puny body. It didn't help that cheerleaders kept passing by the pool on their way to the ladies' room. (Actually, the ladies room was on the other side of the College, but I had a feeling they were using it as an excuse to check out the guys—or, more specifically, Riku.

As you may have guessed, Riku also excelled in swimming. Big shock there.

After a while of messing around in the pool with his friends, he came over to meet me, which wasn't surprising. He had a smirk on his face; it was just _obvious _he was on his way to humiliate me.

"Yeah, go ahead and make fun of me," I mumbled.

"Well, you're just asking to be picked on. A towel? Really?" He looked like he was holding back a laugh.

"Yes, really, because I don't take steroids. Do you know the side effects of those things? Gynocomastia, liver damage, erectile dysfunction—"

"I'm _not _on steroids, idiot," he snapped, pulling himself up to sit next to me, water dripping down his defined abs and—gah. Man did that sound gay. "I just do exercise."

"Who would have guessed?" I muttered sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

He sighed. "You know, you could have abs if you tried."

"Yeah. I totally believe you, Riku."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. You're not a _totally _lost cause."

"Thanks for the encouragement, Riku. It was very much appreciated."

He pressed his lips together. "Tell you what—from now on, every morning I pick you up at six a.m. and we work out for two hours. I promise you in less than a month you'll…well, you'll have _something_."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You serious?"

He shrugged, like hanging out with a total loser like me was no big deal. "Yep."

I looked at him for a long time. He seemed pretty serious about it. I figured it might help. It couldn't be _so_ bad, could it?

So, against my judgment, I replied. "Fine, it's a deal."

"I look forward to working with you, my friend."

"The feeling is mutual."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"Like _**hell**_ I know what I'm fucking talking about! I'm not fucking missing out on anything, **bitch**!"

We had barely set foot in the house and I had already started regretting allowing the Drama Practice session to take place at mine. Kairi gave me an uncertain look as Vanitas continued to rant.

"I _told _you to quit callin' me!" He snapped as we made our way in. "Just cause we fucked once or twice doesn't _automatically _mean we're in a relationship!" He poured himself some orange juice as he shouldered his mobile phone. "Look, I'm just not in the mood for sex, aight?" He paused before slamming the orange juice carton on the table. "And _you _can go stick a shower hose up your—"

I cleared my throat, catching his attention before he contaminated Kairi's ears anymore than he already had. He looked from me, to Kairi, then back to me. And then he grinned and made to finish his conversation. "Listen, bitch, if I get one more call from you I'm getting a restraining order." A pause. "Of course I'm fucking serious. Why would I want to have sex with you anyway? That's like throwing a sausage down a hallway."

He cut the call and turned to us, running up to us with his glass of orange juice still in hand.

"Hey, slow down, you're getting juice all over my carpet!" I complained. I had a feeling Mom had spent her whole day cleaning up again, and I she was in a funny mood these days.

Vanitas just grinned suggestively. "That's what she said."

I groaned, palming my face before turning to Kairi, who hadn't said anything since we entered. "Kairi, this is Vanitas."

She giggled unsurely. I didn't blame her. "N-Nice to finally meet you…Vanitas."

He chuckled, draining his glass before setting it on the table as we followed him to the kitchen. "So…he's already told you a lot about me, hasn't he?"

Kairi glanced at me uncertainly. "~Well…not really…all he's really told me is that you're his halfbrother."

Vanitas gaped at me incredulously. "What? Well THAT makes me sound interesting!"

Kairi giggled, finally loosening up, and Vanitas smiled. "Well. I'm Vanitas, I'm twenty-three, and currently…single." I didn't notice the pause then. "I bang girls, I bang guys; it depends. I like baseball, Prison Break, and sex."

"Van!" I groaned, covering my face.

"What? She's got to know this stuff." He turned back to Kairi. "I lost my virginity at fourteen, you know. It was at this house party at some senior's; the girl was sixteen and she tasted like parmesan." He tapped on his glass after giving us that totally unnecessary piece of information. "But enough about me. I'm awesome, but not _that _awesome. What about you? I know who you are—I mean, Sora talks about you a lot. And when I say a lot I mean A LOT—"

"_Van!_" I hissed, cheeks burning.

Kairi regarded me dubiously, a smirk playing at her lips. "Really? What does he say about me?"

I gave Van a pleading look, and he sighed.

"Meh, nothing really." He shrugged.

Kairi looked confused. "But you said—"

"So, what about you?" Vanitas pulled himself a chair and took a seat. "Age? Cup-size? Sexual orientation?"

I punched Van in the arm and gave Kairi and apologetic smile. "Sorry, he's a bit of a perv."

"A _bit _of a perv? Come ON—that's just insulting! I am the Prince of Pervs, the President of Pervsville, the mayor of Persyllvania—"

"Let's go, Kairi," I hissed, honestly fed up with Vanitas. I took her by the wrist and headed up the stairs.

"Whoo! Holding hands already, huh? I like where this is goin'! And remember, Sora, use protection! There's a whole drawer of the stuff in your bathroom, so—"

I slammed the door before he could embarrass me even further, hearing his crazy laugh resounding up the stairs.

It was at times like these that I hated my brother.

"Sorry about that," I muttered, not looking at her. My cheeks still hadn't recovered. "He's…he's like that. He can be a bit annoying."

She giggled. "Naw, I think he's pretty cool." She smiled and sat down on my bed.

"Remind me again why we're not doing this at your house?"

Kairi's smile only widened. "Well…I suppose I should keep it a secret but…" She took a deep breath before letting it all come out in a squeal. "NAMINE AND ROXAS ARE ON A DATE!"

It took me a while for my brain to process that. "What?"

She nodded ecstatically.

"Really?" I gasped. "How come? He didn't tell me—"

"Okay, so I'm maybe stretching the facts a little." She licked her lips, and it was suddenly hard to keep my eyes focused on hers. "But I heard her inviting Roxas over, and I didn't want to get in the way."

"Oooh…" I nodded slowly, feeling a smile creeping up on my lips. "Well isn't that cute. And we can even watch them from—" I caught myself before I revealed that vital piece of information.

Thankfully Kairi didn't seem to hear; she was too busy setting up the music. "So, what song?"

I kept quiet, just watching her move flawlessly, making my insides all jittery in a way only she could.

And then, all of a sudden, I had an idea.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I immediately regretted agreeing to Riku's workout sessions. I ended up nearly having an asthma attack every single morning. Riku was ruthless, and he seemed to love rubbing the fact that he was better than me in my face. He insisted that he wasn't doing on purpose, but I knew him better than that.

I did get a few results. My stamina did improve a bit, but still no abs.

Riku said that I just needed more time.

I found it hard to believe him.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

February 14th. The day of the year couples re-pledged their love for each other, girlfriends rushed around buying presents for their boyfriends, boyfriends bragged to their friends about sex, and hopefuls shakily confessed to their crushes.

I'd never really liked Valentine's Day that much. This probably had to do with the fact that I hadn't gotten a Valentine's present since pre-school.

Riku, of course, didn't seem to mind Valentine's Day. As I descended the school bus that February morning, I spotted Riku by his car, being flocked by a horde of his fangirls, squealing and trying to shove the bundles of flowers and chocolates up his nose. I spotted his friends standing a safe distance away with amused-slash-jealous expressions on their face.

Poor Riku.

"Uh, thanks, really, but I think that's all I can take." I heard Riku attempt to silence the crowd. "My hands are full."

"B-but—I spent hours making this present!" another fangirl whimpered, obviously a freshman.

"Well too bad," another bitchy one snapped. "He said his hands are full, so fuck off."

Riku's eyes widened as the girls burst into protest, a few of them even starting to cry. "W-Wait a second." He adjusted his hold on his presents before opening his car door and shoving them in. "There you go. And hurry up; I don't have all day."

I was too busy shaking my head at the scene that I didn't notice Vaan and the rest of the gang coming up to us. I tried not to let the fact that Penelo was _still_ in the cheerleaders clique bother me.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Lightning muttered with no emotion whatsoever, handing me a very slim wrapped up package.

"Thanks!" I grinned at her and unwrapped it; it was a pen. "Um…thanks?"

She shrugged. "Actually that was your pen, but I forgot to give it back."

Snow laughed. "That was priceless."

I couldn't help but laugh as well. "Well, at least I got a present this year."

They all gave me sympathetic looks.

"What?"

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

As I headed over to pick Kairi up from her locker that morning, I noticed she was busy talking to a guy with spiky white-silver hair, who I vaguely remembered as a guy on the Blitz team. He flourished a bouquet of magnolias, and had a cocky grin plastered on his face.

I immediately disliked him.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kuja, but the answer is no."

"Come on, at least give me a chance," he crooned, taking a step forward.

She seemed to be struggling for words, and her face broke into a smile as soon as she spotted me. "Sora!"

I waved uncertainly as I saw Kuja and the guys behind him glare at me. It took all my willpower not to yell 'IN YO FACE!' when she ran up to hug me.

She squeezed me a little tighter this time. I didn't really mind. "Are they gone?" She whispered in my ear.

They had, but I decided to wait a little longer just for the sake of it. Eventually I had to say yes, though.

"So, how's your morning been for you?" I asked when the warmth of her body had left me and we were walking to class. "Shooting down every man that proposes must be fun, huh?"

"I'm not shooting them down, because they're not proposing," she snapped. "They're just…asking me out."

"Told ya you were likeable," I snickered. "And you didn't believe me."

She frowned. "You're likeable too, you know. I bet your hands will be full with presents by hometime."

"Well I bet fifty munny that I'll be going home empty handed," I replied. She gave me that same sympathetic look all the others had given me. "What?"

"Don't worry, this year it'll be different, I promise."

I rolled my eyes. "It's been like that since first grade, Kai. I don't think it's gonna change anytime soon."

"Well, I do," Kairi mumbled. "Even if it doesn't; getting presents isn't as awesome as it sounds. My locker _pongs_."

I wrinkled my nose. "Hm. Well Riku's _car _must smell a lot worse."

She frowned. "Yeah. Poor him. I mean, practically _all _the girls are getting him presents. Even Lenne. And she's got a boyfriend. What the hell? Can't they get a hint? He doesn't want to go out with them. Duh. That's why he…"

I tuned out after a while, rolling my eyes at Kairi's obvious infatuation with Riku. I started thinking about the Valentine's present I'd gotten her, and whether it was worth the trouble. It had taken weeks for me to make it absolutely perfect…

I didn't notice we'd bumped into Riku until he spoke up.

"Oh, hey, Kairi." He flashed her a smile, completely ignoring the fact that I was standing next to her.

She beamed. "Hey yourself." She reached into her bookbag and pulled out a pack of cinnamon rolls. "I know this isn't the best present, but I figured you'd get sick of chocolate and flowers. Happy Valentine's Day!"

Riku laughed, collecting his present with a grin. "Thanks. How did you know how much I loved cinnamon?"

Bastard. _I _was the one who loved cinnamon.

"I did some recon," Kairi joked, playing with her hair. "Nah, just kidding. I overheard some of your fangirls discussing your likes and dislikes."

Riku grimaced. "They actually do that." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yup," Kairi confirmed.

They just smiled at each other, and I had this weird feeling that I was intruding in their precious romantic moment, like I always did. My throat felt prickly.

"No, this is really awesome," he spoke up after a while. "It makes my present seem like shit."

"Y-You got me a present?" Kairi gasped, as if it wasn't obvious already from the fact that he'd left his friends to come meet us. He nodded and reached into his bookbag, bringing out a huge parcel.

While I was wondering how it managed to fit in his bookbag, Kairi was gushing over it. "Oh my god, thank you!" She giggled, staring at the huge parcel in awe.

"Don't mention it." Riku winked before turning on his heels and heading to homeroom.

Watching their interchange was like a bitchslap on the face. It was _obvious _Kairi's reaction wouldn't be anything like that when I gave her _my _present. I knew the dreaded day was coming: the day when Kairi and Riku would…

I didn't want to think about it.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The whole day was pretty suckish. I got to watch fangirls gush over Riku, and guys attempt to win over Kairi. Every single time she rejected them, they glared at me like it was _my _fault.

By lunchtime my locker door had been vandalized.

Riku was too busy to make out time to talk to me, so I couldn't ask him what he'd given Kairi. I was too embarrassed to ask her herself.

It was another one of my many emo days.

In English Literacy I was too depressed to even focus on my latest creative writing assignment. Kairi noticed my mood and asked me about it, immediately concerned.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked. "You've been grumpy all day."

"No I haven't," I mumbled as I unloaded my bookbag. "You've just been too happy."

"Aw, come on," Kairi moaned, a sound that did weird things to my stomach. "This isn't about the present thing, is it?"

"To be honest, Kai, I don't give a fuck about presents," I muttered.

She caught the dark tone in my voice. "Well someone's in a bad mood."

I sighed as I pulled out my pencilcase (well, my new pencilcase. The old one had died on the first day of school.). I didn't notice Kairi's Valentine's Day present fall out of my bag until it was too late.

"What's this?" She wondered, carefully slipping off the ribbon I'd wrapped around it.

My cheeks darkened and I attempted to snatch it back. "I-It's nothing—"

"For Kairi?" A smile played at her lips. "This is for me, huh?"

"Well, it was, but…" I groaned. "No, seriously Kai, give it back—"

But it was too late. She was already reading it. My stomach churned and I had the urge to throw up. This was _not _how I imagined her finding out about it. She wasn't even _supposed _to find out about it.

"This…this is a poem?"

Yeah. Lame, huh? I wrote her a poem for Valentine's Day. The cheesiest present ever.

Kairi had always said I had a way with words, so I figured since I couldn't tell her how I felt vocally, I could tell her, well, on paper.

It sounded a lot better in my head.

* * *

"You know," Roxas spoke up after a while, contemplating. "This is actually pretty good."

"Really?" I squeaked.

"Mm-hmm." He handed back my poem and pulled out some sheets of paper. "Now you're gonna help me out with mine."

"What? NO WAY!" I snapped. "Writing a poem's _my _idea!"

"Yeah, but I'm your twin brother, so, technically, it's my idea as well."

"That's some messed up logic."

He sighed, ignoring me and pulling out several rumpled up pictures papers out of his backpack. "This poem…it just doesn't seem to work. I've done like a thousand drafts but—hey!"

I snatched one of his drafts and read through it. "'You are the bacon to my eggs'?"

"I know, I know, it sucks," he mumbled, a blush creeping up his face.

"'You are the ketchup to my _French fries_'? Are you freaking serious? You can't compare a girl to ketchup?"

"I know," he snapped. "Which is why I need your help. I suck at creative writing, and I need to write Namine this poem."

"No you don't," I retorted. "If she knows you well enough, she'll know you didn't write the poem. If you can't tell her, show her. Take her out someplace, whatever. Don't fake and try to be something you're not just to impress her. Girls hate that."

Roxas was quiet for a while. And then he nodded. "You know what, Sora? That actually makes sense."

* * *

I snapped out of my flashback as I saw Kairi finish reading my poem. She was shaking slightly, and it took me a while to notice she had started to cry.

She was fucking _crying_.

"Kairi? Are you okay?" I whispered, rubbing her back and trying not to make a scene. We were still in the English Literacy classroom, and, even though Aqua had been off in her own dreamland for weeks now, she'd still notice if I suddenly started yelling.

"Y-Yes I'm—" She sniffed. "Sora this is amazing."

I stared at her. "Wow, um. Thanks?"

She giggled through her tears and pulled me into a hug.

And, for that small moment, I felt a flicker of hope.

* * *

**GAH. FAILED CHAPPIE. I had a feeling it was gonna end up a lot better…ugh.**

**Well I'm gonna post this cause I've been hogging my brother's laptop all day.**

**Don't worry, you'll find out what the poem is soon enough. :) (Kudos to Manco :D)**

**R&R. **


	24. Lucky

**A/N: YES! I CAN FINALLY GET BACK TO WRITING THIS! **

**ThatKid2003: Wow thanks for the THREE reviews! Hehe…and yeh, Sora will get abs! =D And Sora was sad about Penelo leaving because Penelo was one of his friends, duh. Though I don't stress on their relationship, Penelo and Sora are pretty close. Not Kairi/Sora close, but…yanno. Close. He doesn't have a crush on her but…well. She's one of those girl friends that he likes a bit more than others. Or something. Lol…I might play Elsword, if I have time. ^^ And no spoilers on the poem, aight? The other readers will just have to wait…teehee. And YES I'VE READ TEENAGE WASTELAND! WOOT! It's officially my fave fic (AT THE MOMENT, tying with The Laws of Proximal Attraction by Redeeming Endeavor). Yup, I've read it! Isn't it awesome? I've even put a little something in this chappie to honor it! Keep your eyes peeled! XXX**

**Thanks for all of you who voted on the poll! I think practically EVERYONE wants Sora to get Kairi…which is understandable. Votes for Sora: 17. For Riku: 3 For themselves (xD): 2. For Vincent: 1. Though I didn't know Vincent would even get ONE vote. The jerk. **

**Okay, now that that's over…ONTO THE CHAPPIE! **

**About the chappie: SoKai, a house party, some kisses, and RIKU'S BIRTHDAY. Watch out for a bunch of cool stuff you never thought you'd see happening. **

**Disclaimer: I disclaim all things disclaimable. Which includes xo-dot-Kyorii's awesome invention—**_**Teenage Wasteland**_** (referred)—the-dot-isreal-dot-project107's **_**The Unfamiliar**_** (referred), Disney's _Tangled_, and the song 'Lucky' by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat. **

**Note: Blitzball is usually a sport that takes five-minutes per period. But let's just say that, in this time and era, Blitzball matches take maximum an hour.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Riku offers to train me._

"I promise you in less than a month you'll…well, you'll have _something_."

_Kairi meets Vanitas…_

"I bang girls, I bang guys; it depends. I like baseball, Prison Break, and sex."

_And I experience another suckish Valentine's._

I got to watch fangirls gush over Riku, and guys attempt to win over Kairi. Every single time she rejected them, they glared at me like it was _my _fault.

_Well, almost. _

I snapped out of my flashback as I saw Kairi finish reading my poem. She was shaking slightly, and it took me a while to notice she had started to cry.

"Sora this is amazing."

_Well…at least I've got a chance…right?_

* * *

**Chapter 24: Lucky**

It was the day after Valentine's Day. Mom wasn't home (she'd finally garnered enough confidence to wander out of the house and buy the groceries), Roxas was out as usual (whether it was with Namine or with some of his other freakazoid friends, I didn't know), and I was home alone. I had TV, a bowl of popcorn, and a sofa. Life couldn't get any better.

I was well into the latest episode of _Teenage Wasteland _when the bell rang. I was reluctant to move and only dragged myself off the couch when the sound of the doorbell started severely interfering with the show.

It was Kairi at the door, sporting a pair of low-rise khaki pants I'd never seen before, a strapless white cami, and a winner smile. I didn't even know what she was smiling about, but, upon seeing that smile, all the previous irritation just…disappeared.

She was wearing a necklace I'd never seen before—expensive looking silver with a simple, cream-colored pendant. I'd been over to her house before, and I'd never seen anything like it anywhere, so I assumed it was new.

"Hey, Kai!" I moved to the side to let her in. It was scorching hot outside, and we were barely into spring. Somehow, Kairi, being a girl, managed not to break a sweat. She smelt of cinnamon and flowers—an unlikely combination that somehow managed to mix just correctly and smell heavenly.

"He~ey," Kairi sang, skipping into the living room and making herself at home. She grinned as I sat down next to her. "So, what you watchin'?"

I turned my eyes to the screen, hoping that after I explained to her that she'd keep quiet and pay attention. Not that Kairi's presence was annoying, but the episode was a really juicy one that I couldn't miss.

"Teenage Wasteland," I began. "It's a show that gives every teenager the opportunity to be a star!" I waved my arms to emphasize my point. "It's a little bit like Big Brother, except with teenagers. For two whole months, only teenagers will be in the resort! No adults—well, accept for the staff, but other than that, its heaven!"

Kairi nodded dismissively. "Wow. Anyway—"

"I am _so _jealous of them. They get free trips, free games, fangirls _and _publicity, just for winning some contest. There's even a 'World Showcase' on there, which is basically like Epcot but better." I sighed. "What I'd give to live on a tropical island."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "You _do _live on a tropical island."

"Yeah, but do I have fangirls, publicity, free trips—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get your point!" Kairi sighed, rolling her eyes again. And then suddenly her bubbly persona returned. "Anyway, there was a reason I came by here, apart from my vital need to see you every day."

I laughed at the evident sarcasm.

Kairi just grinned wider. "Well, after you gave me _your _present, I realized I hadn't gotten _you _one."

My heart sped up when I remembered how she'd cried over my sorta-poem. "You don't say?"

"…so…" She continued, ignoring my apparent disinterest and reaching into the duffelbag I hadn't realized she had. Before I could blink, she had pulled out two pieces of rectangular paper.

"TADA!" She giggled.

She waited expectantly for an enthusiastic response.

I cleared my throat. "Wow…uh."

Her smile turned into a frown. "Don't you know what these are?"

I tried. I really did. But all I could come up with was "Yellow paper?"

"TICKETS!" She practically screamed. "TICKETS TO SEE TANGLED! IN IMAX 3D!"

That's when it hit me.

"You didn't."

"Uh-huh!"

Girlishly, I squealed along with her.

I pulled her into a hug, and we laughed companionably. To others, we probably looked like we were getting it on; we _were_ entangled on the sofa after all.

She eventually pulled away, patting me on the head. "Happy late Valentine's."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I left a note on the kitchen table and said I was going out with Kairi. My mom didn't usually worry that much when it had to do with the next door neighbors.

We took a bus to the cinema, talking about nothing in particular on the way. The closest cinema was somewhere in the middle of the North Island and the South Island, so we had had to leave pretty early, even though the movie began at seven thirty.

I wasn't really sure whether it was my excitement or the ADHD, but I could barely sit still.

Okay, so I know I was acting pretty childish about the whole thing, but I loved Disney movies. I'd grown up watching them, and since Mom had said I wasn't allowed to waste anymore munny on buying Disney DVDs, this was probably gonna be my only chance of ever seeing it. And I was going to watch it with Kairi, my best friend. Even better.

I insisted we stop by the grocery store to by snacks for the cinema, since I didn't want Kairi spending anymore of her munny on me. Since there was only one cinema on the North Island, the prices were high, and I started feeling guilty for making Kairi spend so much munny to get me a ticket for Tangled—in 3D.

We arrived at the cinema, carrier bags full of ice cream, popcorn and other cinema foods. We snacked on the ice cream while as we queued for ticket validation, not wanting it to melt.

We eventually made it inside, and I stared in awe at how big it was. The stairs seemed endless, and I had a feeling there wasn't a 'perfect seat'. They were all perfect. It was somehow created so that everyone could see the screen without a problem. The seats were comfy too—a deep, deep red, like Kairi's hair—and I felt myself sinking as soon as I sat down.

"You know, this is my first time of going to a cinema," I told Kairi, truthfully. Dad had tried to take us once, but Mom got sick and we had had to cancel. Zack had tried to take us to see Avatar, but we hadn't really gotten used to Zack and Mom being married yet, so we stoically declined.

Kairi stared at me in disbelief. "You serious?"

I nodded, taking another sip of my Coke. "Yup. I've always just waited for the DVD to come out, or for the movie to start showing on TV."

"…Oh." She looked like she was about to ask something else, but she held it back.

We sipped on our Cokes, silently watching as people flooded into the cinema. And then I remembered. "Hey, um, wait. I forgot to give you something." I kept my drink on the convenient drink stand and reached into my pocket, pulling out a seashell. Well, more precisely, _the _seashell.

She stopped drinking, searching my face. "A seashell?"

"Yeah, uh…" I cleared my throat. "It's part of my Valentine's present."

She took it from me and examined it, cradling it gingerly in her hands. "Wow. I…"

I laughed. "Yeah, I know you're probably thinking it's not that much of a present, right?"

She hesitated. "No. It's…I like seashells."

I saw straight through her. "Well, this seashell has sentimental value," I explained, smiling at her. "That's what makes it special. That, and the fact that if you look very closely, you can make out a dolphin."

She did, and she smiled when she saw it. "Wow. This seashell just got a whole lot better."

I laughed.

She grinned, bringing the seashell to her ear. "Mmm. Sounds like the sea." She closed her eyes, leaning on my shoulder. "Thanks. This present's awesome."

I tried desperately to calm my rapidly beating heart. It irked me that I couldn't just calm my hormones for one second whenever I was around her.

Thankfully, the lights dimmed and the huge screen came to life before Kairi could notice the blush on my face.

After practically peeing in my pants waiting for the adverts to roll by, the movie began.

"_This is the story of a girl named Rapunzel…and it starts with the sun._"

It was another Disney masterpiece, another wonderful take on the story of Rapunzel. It didn't take me long to get into the movie. I immediately began to like Flynn Rider, the cocky, sneaky thief who was obviously going to be the love interest. Rapunzel, the girl destined to spend the rest of her life stuck in a tower, wasn't that bad either, but her eyes freaked me out. I eventually got used to that, though, and was able to enjoy the movie. I particularly hated Mother Gothel, the evil witch who held Rapunzel hostage so she could use her magic hair. I mean, what kind of parent would do that?

Everything was magnificent in 3D. When Flynn was getting chased, I felt I was, too. Every fight, every song they sang was only made better by the whole three-dimension experience. The best scene was the lantern scene—as the floating lanterns drifted into the sky, they felt so close I could touch them. I felt like I was actually there, and Kairi and I childishly reached out for them. It felt just like the night under the fireworks on New Years, except without Riku there to share it with us.

But whatever. I guess this was our moment—just Kairi and me.

It was incredibly romantic, and as the couple on screen moved in to share a kiss, couples in the audience began to do the same.

"_All at once everything looks different_

_Now that I see you…_"

The air between Kairi and I got awkward pretty fast, and I was glad the lights were off, because I had a feeling I was blushing pretty hard.

The moment ended pretty soon, as the movie took a dark turn. I was tempted to shoot the cinema screen as the witch came back into play, recapturing Rapunzel and taking her back to the tower.

I'd begun to like Flynn pretty much, so when he got captured I got pretty disappointed, wondering how the hell the movie creators planned to fix it.

They did, of course, and they both got a happy ending. A typical, storybook romance, where the girl and guy fall in love and end up living happily ever after.

The kind of thing I knew I'd never ever get.

The movie was great, with a good mix of romance, comedy and tragedy, and by the end, Kairi was crying. I struggled to hold back tears as well, which was pretty shocking. I had always been sensitive, yeah, but I'd never been a marshmallow. And I had a feeling crying in front of Kairi wouldn't say anything about my manliness.

We stayed right up until the credits have finished, only leaving when the cleaning guys started to come and clean up.

It was already dark outside as we headed to the bus stop. We somehow ended up holding hands. We shared the last tub of ice cream on the bus trip home. I figured we were too tired to speak.

We were walking back home from the bus stop when Kairi suddenly spoke up. "We should totally plan a date for them."

I gave her a curious look. "Who?"

"Roxas and Namine, of course!" Kairi giggled. "You and I could go out for lunch together or something, and then we could drag Roxas and Namine along!"

I blushed. "You mean…like a double date?"

She turned to me and smiled. "Yup!" She tilted her head in thought. "I'm sure there's something going on between them. They have _got _to be more than just friends."

I paused. "How do you mean?"

She shrugged. "You know. It's pretty obvious. The hugs, the holding hands…"

I hesitated. "But…we hug. And hold hands. And we're not…" I stopped myself before it got too awkward.

She shrugged again, still not letting go of my hand. "Yeah. But with us it's different."

For some reason, upon hearing that, my heart sank. I'd thought that my poem would have helped something. How could she have _not _seen what I was trying to tell her? Did I make it too subtle? Maybe I should have written outright '_I AM FUCKING IN LOVE WITH YOU DAMMIT_'.

"We understand each other," Kairi continued. "It's as if we've been friends since forever." She laughed lightly. "You're, like, the best friend I've never had." She squeezed my hand. " Now, Roxas and Namine…that's something totally different. They only smile around _each other_. It took me forever to get through to her. And Roxas…he just came out of nowhere and suddenly she's remembered how to smile."

We had almost arrived at home. I felt myself smile, though my heart still hadn't recovered from her comment. "I could say the same for Roxas." It was silent for a bit, and then I continued. "Do you think it's possible for a girl and a guy to just be friends and not…fall in love with each other?"

Kairi answered immediately. "Sure. I mean, you and I are…" She stopped walking, looking up at me curiously. I immediately looked away. "Sora…?"

"I…"

Then it struck me. This was it. The moment. The ambiance was perfect—it was dark out, it was a starry night, it was just me and her…

It was now or never.

I turned to her, looking her straight in the eyes, melting in her gaze, her eyes, filled with concern. The street lights shone a soft yellow glow onto her face, making her look even more angelic than she usually did. "Kairi…" I felt my heart accelerating, my body craving for her, moving me to act against my will. I tucked a stray lock of her ruby hair behind her ear, and then suddenly the space between us was diminishing, and—

The door to my front door flew open, and Kairi and I parted like the Red Sea.

It was just Roxas, taking out the trash. He was in nothing but his pyjama shorts, which, in any other season, would have been viewed as retarded, but it was still warm out, even though it was so late in the evening. He was humming softly along with the song he was listening to, tossing the trash inside the basket with ease. He stopped when he saw us, though, looking from me to Kairi, then from Kairi to me. "Oh."

"Hiya, Roxas." Kairi broke through the awkwardness in the air.

Roxas was still wary. "Uh…hey."

It was weirdly silent for a while.

"Um…well g'night, Sora," Kairi eventually said, giving me an awkward wave and heading inside. I didn't even get a hug.

"Ouch…" Roxas scratched the back of his head, searching me curiously. "Did I ruin a moment?"

I sighed, shoulders slumped as I headed inside. Surprisingly, Mom was still awake. She was humming, hair done in a braid, and she looked a lot better than usual. She had finally decided to change the light bulb in the corridor that had been dead for over three years.

She smiled when she saw me, and I felt myself smile back. "Hey, Sora. How was the movie?"

I glanced at Roxas before replying. "It was great. We had popcorn and…stuff."

Mom smiled. "How's Kairi doing? She's your best friend and I don't know anything about her." Mom laughed lightly, startling me slightly. "Coming to think of it, I hardly know her mother, and we're neighbors." She fiddled with the dead light bulb in her hand, thinking. "I know! How about we invite them over for dinner? That way I could get to know her better…or something."

I nodded, trying to smile convincingly. "That'd be great, Mom."

She grinned before kissing me lightly on the forehead. It was weird that she was still tall enough to do that. "Now off to bed. You have school tomorrow."

I obeyed her, heading upstairs. Suddenly I stopped, turning around. "Uh, Mom?"

"Mm?"

"Can I…do you mind if I invite someone else over?"

"Sure…another one of your friends?"

I nodded. "Um, yeah. His name is Riku."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"The date's…not fixed yet…but I just…thought I'd let you know."

"Sure. Don't…really have anything else planned."

It was another one of our morning workout sessions, and Riku and I were jogging around the park. My shirt was soaked, but Riku hadn't even broken a sweat yet. I was panting slightly, but I wasn't wheezing, which was a good sign.

After running ten times around the park, we stop for a drink before heading to the local gym. We've been doing this every morning since, but I still can't get over how muscular everyone is. They look like the kind of guys who you'd see on _World's Strongest Man_. A bunch of them were obviously homosexual, but Riku didn't see that as much of a problem. They all immediately took to liking Riku, as expected, but it took a while for them to like me. They seemed to like picking on me, and I became the butt of all the jokes.

Riku insisted they were just kidding around, but after I got trapped trying to lift a dumbbell some guy called Mukki had said weighed no less than ten pounds (when in reality it weighed well over twenty), I started getting wary.

They weren't much different today. The bulkiest guy, a guy with protruding buck teeth and black shaggy hair that looked freakishly like Pete from the Mickey Mouse cartoons and, weirdly enough, was _called _Pete, laughed as soon as he saw me, as if just my being there was a joke in itself. The others joined in not soon after, and then they returned to whatever they were doing before.

"Riku," I muttered. "I think I should just go home."

Riku laughed lightly. "Hey, I've already told you—don't take anything they do or say seriously—"

"That's easy for you to say—you're not the one who's getting laughed at," I snapped. "Look, I'm tired of being the laughingstock."

Riku smirked. "'Laughingstock'? Who says that anymore?"

I sigh in exasperation and turn to leave, but he pulls me back. "Hey. Look, if you want them to stop laughing at you, you've got to get better. Then they'll have nothing to laugh about, really." He puts a hand on my shoulder. "And you've got to stop taking it so fucking seriously."

I sighed, nodding in defeat. "Fine."

Surprisingly enough, I manage to lift twenty pounds that day.

Everyone applauses, even Pete.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The Blitzball Regionals took place on the Monday of the last week of February. Everyone on the team seemed to be pumped up and ready to go. The bleachers were full, spirits were high, and I hadn't slipped or tipped over anything yet.

Since we were playing at home, we sort of had an advantage. Riku said the team always played better at home. Plus, I knew where everything was and where everything went, so it was less hard to make mistakes. Of course, being dyslexic meant making no mistakes at all was impossible.

The away cheerleaders flounced around the water sphere in their miniskirts, which was what a lot of the people in the audience came to see. A good number of spectators just came so they could hook up with the cheerleaders after the game.

While all this was going on, the guys on our team were having their pep talk, Riku giving them all encouraging words and urging them on. He was starting to rant about team spirit when suddenly he stopped, distracted by something going on in the distance.

It was our cheerleaders that distracted him, particularly, I assumed, Kairi. She had her hair in ponytails, making her somehow manage to look cute and sexy at the same time. Penelo was there too—in fact, she was standing right next to the head cheerleader, Fang.

When the music started up, I immediately recognized the song. The cheerleaders had somehow managed to create a cheer routine to go with Nicki Minaj's 'Super Bass', with a lot of hip waggling and boob shaking. I personally thought it was like watching a porn flick, but the guys on the team and the guys in the crowd went wild. Penelo, apparently, was a really good rapper—either that or she was just lip-synching.

When the girls had finally finished showing off their underwear (yes, that included Kairi, but I couldn't tell her that to her face) and the guys had finished making out with their girlfriends, the match finally began.

Riku was on fire. He seemed to know exactly when and where to go, which wasn't a surprise. He scored practically every single goal, and when our team reached the required seven points without the other team scoring a single point, the match ended.

It took barely forty minutes, but the Destiny Dolphins had made the Regionals.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I was just finishing up cleaning out the locker rooms (because, apparently, being a Benchie meant cleaning up after everyone's mess) after the big game when suddenly I heard footsteps. Curious, I wondered who it could've been. All the guys had gone off to some club to celebrate their win, and Kairi had informed me that she'd be hanging out with the girls for the rest of the day. For a moment, I wondered whether it was an away supporter who'd lost his way, until I saw who it was.

It was just Penelo. She sighed when she saw me, as if she'd been looking for me everywhere. "I've been looking for you everywhere!" She exclaimed, validating my theory. She smiled, but I didn't smile back.

I hadn't spoken to her in so long, just being in the same room as her was awkward. She looked so different, so much older now. And it had been barely two months. Her hair wasn't in the familiar twin-bunches style that suited her the most, and she started wearing way too much make-up. She was becoming one of _them_, the preppy, sex-crazed sluts on the cheer team, who spend all their free time flirting with their reflection in the mirror.

Okay, at least that's what I thought.

She must have seen the uncertainty in my eyes, because suddenly she wasn't smiling anymore. "Um…hi."

"Hi," I replied stoically.

She flinched. "Um…" She reached up to tug on her pigtail, like she always used to do when she was nervous, and then realized it wasn't there anymore. "I…uh…wanted to invite you to my birthday party."

"Ah. Yeh. It's your birthday this weekend."

"Sunday. Yeah."

"Hm."

Silence.

I picked up the last towel and dumped it in the large laundry cart. I tried to force myself to be mad at her. She hadn't exactly been nice to us during the past few months. She'd actually outright ignored me, barely a week after she started hanging out with the cheerleaders.

I started heading out of the locker room. "Well…have fun at your birthday party. You're gonna get lots of presents, hang out with the popular kids. All you ever wanted, right?"

I had almost gotten to the door when Penelo stopped me, grabbing my wrist. "Wait." I turned to her, and I struggled to hold my frown when I saw how sad she looked. She looked like she was about to cry. "Please, Sora. I w-want you to be there."

I gave her a skeptic look. "Why?"

"B-Because…" She lowered her head. "Your still my friend. A-And…" She looked up at me pleadingly. "I didn't even want this party, Sora. They arranged it themselves, they've all already said they're coming—" Her voice wavered. "Sora, please. You h-have to help me…"

"Why can't you just tell them you don't want a party?" I suggested, my frown almost completely disappearing.

"As soon as they found out my parents were out for the weekend, they told everyone there was gonna be a party at my house. They've already arranged everything. They've all already decided. They're bringing a-alcohol and drugs a-and…" She shook her head. "Garnet says she'll make sure it won't get out of hand, but…" Her voice became choked up with tears. "I feel so stupid…"

If she called off the party, her social life would go down the drain. In high school, holding a wicked party was sort of what secured someone as popular. And Penelo didn't want to lose that. I sort of understood how she felt. I'd been there before. There had been times when I'd been so upset about my social life that I'd even, albeit briefly, considered suicide.

At the same time, Penelo was scared. Scared of becoming too much like them. Scared of forgetting who she really was. Scared of become just another cheerleader clone with zero personality and an exceedingly high libido.

She didn't say it, but I figured that was why she wanted me there. To make sure she didn't do anything stupid, like lose her virginity or get drunk or something.

"I…I'll have to think about it," I said at last, and then I hurried out of the locker room before she could ask me any more questions.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Something very weird happened in English Literacy that Wednesday.

Kairi and I were laughing at some joke I'd apparently told when suddenly we were interrupted.

"Kairi! Vanitas! If I hear another word from you, you'll be spending your afternoon in study hall!"

"Vanitas?" Kairi asked, confused.

Aqua seemed to notice her mistake. She blanched. "I-I mean…Sora. I meant Sora." She lowered her head, hurriedly returning to the lesson.

Kairi and I shared a look. _What was that about?_

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Kairi arranged for our 'double date' to be on that Friday. She said she'd already taken care of it—we were going for lunch after school, and then hanging out in the park a bit. Then we'd all head home to mine, meeting up with Riku at the bus stop, for the dinner Mom had organized.

It was going to be 'perfect', Kairi said.

Surprisingly, Roxas and Namine were okay with the idea. Well, Roxas was. It took a bit of convincing on Namine's part, but she finally gave in, and we met up after school on Friday to go to the lunch.

Kairi and I had made sure not to eat much that afternoon so that we wouldn't be full, and my stomach was rumbling. I'd eaten way too little and I needed to eat something—fast.

Namine walked alongside Roxas, while Kairi and I followed from behind. They walked pretty close to each other, but they showed no intimacy. This annoyed Kairi—she had arranged the whole lunch thing to catch them in the act.

I suggested we ask them outright if they were dating, but Kairi said that'd be too blunt and unromantic.

We took the bus. I spent most of the ride groaning about my stomach and retorting to all Kairi's comments. Namine and Roxas were in hushed conversation, whispering so quietly that it was impossible for either of us to hear.

We eventually arrived at the restaurant, and place called 'Ile de Destin', which apparently meant 'Destiny Islands' in French and was supposed to be a French restaurant. About one of every five thousand people spoke French on the island, so I found this incredibly weird.

Kairi immediately launched into speaking French with the servers, showing off her ability to learn foreign languages easily. I assumed she was speaking correctly; I was taking Japanese, not French.

Kairi and the waiter talked for a bit in French, and then he said 'Suivez-moi', which I decided to take as 'Follow me'.

The waiter, who was called Ignis and didn't look very French at all, led us to our seats with a seemingly rehearsed smile. "Bon appétit."

"Merci," Kairi replied, smiling back at him before picking up the menu.

"I wonder if there's anything good here…" I muttered, grimacing when I saw something I presumed had frog in it.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm taking foie gras," Kairi announced.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Kairi? You do know that's duck's liver you're ordering, right?"

"But that doesn't mean it's disgusting. It's French cuisine."

"Your point being?"

I yelped in pain when Kairi whacked me on the back of the head with her menu.

"Ow…" I groaned. I hear a tiny tinkling sound and grinned when I realized it was Namine's laughter.

"You never want to try anything new," Kairi went on. "It's always the same old for you. Don't you have any interest in the unfamiliar?"

"The unfamiliar?" I smirked. "You totally stole that line from a book."

Kairi pouted. "Yeah, well…" She huffed. "Just hurry up an order."

"Fine." I scanned the menu one more time. "I'm taking a cheeseburger."

"A _cheeseburger_?" Kairi said incredulously. "You can't come to a French restaurant and order a freaking _cheeseburger_!"

I shrugged. "Watch me."

Kairi sighed, turning to Roxas and Namine. "What about you guys?"

"Mm…" Namine spoke up for the first time that evening. "I'm taking the seafood gumbo."

"I'm taking the same as Nam," Roxas chirped, which was totally OOC of him. Roxas never 'chirped'. He either 'mumbled', 'muttered' or 'yelled'.

"Aw, c'mon, not you too!" Kairi whined in distress, giving Namine a pleading look. Namine just smiled shyly back at her.

"Why are we at a French restaurant anyway?" Roxas leaned on the table, absently fingering the condiments. His eyes kept flickering to his guitar, which he'd kept near the entrance. He'd done guitar that morning, in Gifted and Talented, and so he ended up having to bring it with him. Ignis had promised to keep an eye on it, but Roxas was the kind of person who didn't trust anyone. "Couldn't we have eaten at the Paopu Palace or something?"

Kairi frowned. "Well, I didn't you guys would be such…such…" She racked her brains for a word.

We all waited patiently.

She eventually came up with nothing, huffing. "W-Well…you know what I mean!"

Roxas smirked, leaning on the palm of his hand. "Well, I don't know about you, but I like to know what I'm eating before I eat it."

"Isn't this supposed to be a French restaurant?" Kairi muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "What kind of French restaurant sells non-French food? A cheeseburger! Really…"

All in all, the meal was pretty fun. We all had fun flaunting our 'normal' meals in her face while Kairi struggled to act like she liked her duck liver. I eventually ended up having to give her my fries, but only after we all made her admit that 'same old' totally beats 'the unfamiliar'.

Namine smiled and laughed a lot during that meal, and it was like I was seeing a whole different person. She wasn't just Kairi's Shy Little Sister anymore. She was…well, Namine.

Kairi and I managed to pick up a few clues that they liked each other along the way—like the way Roxas always looked at Namine's lips when she was talking (something I was also guilty of, that Kairi thankfully hadn't noticed yet), how Namine smiled at everything he said, how the space between them was almost nonexistent. By the time the waitresses came to clean up our table, Namine and Roxas were practically inhaling each other.

"Aw, isn't that cute?" The waitress giggled. She had shoulder-length strawberry-blonde hair, brown eyes, and a nametag that read _'Refia_'. "A double date!"

We all coughed simultaneously.

"He's not—"

"She's not—"

"We're—"

"—just friends."

Refia blinked in confusion, but then she recovered, a knowing smirk on her face. "I see."

My face felt like it had just been plunged in hot oil.

She smiled, giving us our bill. "Ah. Right. Well…_à la prochaine, les amoureux_!"

I had no idea what she was saying, but I had a feeling she didn't believe us.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

After a tiny argument over who should pay—it ended up being me and Roxas, due to our being male, which, apparently, meant that it was our responsibility to pay—we made our way to the park.

The sun shone softly over the park. There weren't many people there, since it was the time of year when most people went to the beach. We found a nice patch under a tree, and we sat down.

We talked absently about nothing and everything for a while. We played the 'I Spy' with the clouds—a game I was pretty sure I invented. And then Kairi suddenly had an idea.

"Roxas, why don't you sing a song for us?"

Roxas didn't seem like he liked the idea very much. "I don't…"

"Aw, c'mon, Roxas!" I urged. "You've got a good voice! ~And you've got a guitar!"

Namine seemed to like the idea, though she was trying hard not to show it.

Roxas still seemed reluctant. "It's embarrassing. We're in the middle of the park."

"So?" I persisted. "C'mon—we'll start off for you."

Roxas gave me an inquisitive look, and then I began to sing.

"_Do you hear me,_

_I'm talking to you_

_Across the water across the deep blue ocean_

_Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying_…"

"_Boy I hear you in my dreams_

_I feel your whisper across the sea…_"

I grinned at her when she continued, picking up where I left. The edges of her lips curled upwards as she sang.

"_I keep you with me in my heart_

_You make it easier when life gets hard…_"

"_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend_

_Lucky to have been where I have been_

_Lucky to be coming home again_

_Lucky we're in love every way_

_Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed_

_Lucky to be coming home someday_…"

Roxas began strumming his guitar, giving Namine a small smile as he continued the song.

"_And so I'm sailing through the sea_

_To an island where we'll meet_

_You'll hear the music fill the air_

_I'll put a flower in your hair…_"

Namine got to her feet as she began to sing along, catching me and Kairi off guard.

"_Though the breezes through trees_

_Move so pretty you're all I see_

_As the world keeps spinning round_

_You hold me right here right now_…"

Kairi got to her feet as well, grabbing Namine's hands and spinning her around as they sang along, somehow managing to stay on tune. The eventually broke into giggles, Roxas still strumming enthusiastically at his guitar, while Roxas and I watched fondly from the sidelines.

"They're amazing, don'cha think?" I whispered as Kairi and Namine fell in a heap in the grass, giggling euphorically.

"Mm." Roxas kept strumming his guitar. We'd started to gather a little crowd—the few people left in the park were clapping and giving us adoring glances. "They're good for us."

I nodded in agreement, watching Namine and Kairi pluck at flowers as they rolled about on the grass. I eventually managed to pull my eyes away from them and look at Roxas. He had a silly, lovesick smile on his face, sort of dazed. His eyes were glowing, the way they only did around Namine. The last time I'd seen him have that smile—that content, happy smile—was the first time he'd kissed Olette.

I couldn't hold back a smile. I had a feeling things were finally working out for us. I had a feeling this was it—happiness. Despite all the things going on at home, I felt…serene.

And it was all because of one girl.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

We headed home for dinner after that, meeting Riku at the bus stop. He seemed pretty surprised to see Roxas and Namine, but he tried his best not to show it, even going to the lengths of saying hi to them. They didn't say anything back.

"Uh…" Riku cleared his throat. "So where's your house?"

"Just down the road," I replied, shrugging.

Riku frowned slightly. "How come this place seems familiar?" Then he stopped. "No way."

"What?" Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"You guys live on the same street?" Riku gasped.

"Right next to each other, actually," Kairi clarified, as if it wasn't such a big deal. "C'mon; we'd better hurry up if we don't wanna be late."

She took Riku by the hand as we headed towards the front door. I was about to knock the door when I heard Riku say: "Oh, you're wearing the necklace I got you."

My heart stopped for, like, five milliseconds.

And then it started beating again.

I heard Kairi giggling nervously. "Y-Yeah…thanks, by the way."

"No problem."

I was suddenly burning with jealousy. It was a good thing Kairi and Riku were too preoccupied with each other to notice my teeth grinding.

I knew I had to do something—and fast. Riku and Kairi were falling more for each other each day. As for me and Kairi…despite everything I'd tried, she was still oblivious to how much I liked her. She was totally convinced that we were just best friends and nothing else.

I had to change that…but how?

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Kairi's parents were at the table when we entered the house. I'd seen Kairi's Mom a bunch of times, but I'd hardly ever seen her Dad, except in photos. (Yes, there'd been a time when I'd gone to Kairi's house and gotten my own back on Kairi for raiding _my _baby photos. Strangely enough, the pictures went up until Kairi was fifteen, and then they just stopped. Weird.) He had a stocky build and cropped blond hair, and aviator's glasses perched on his forehead. Kairi had told me once or twice that he was a pilot, and he was obviously proud of it, judging from the way he had kept his nametag on his shirt, which read: _Hey, I'm Cid! Sector Twelve—Pulse Air Forces_.

Ariel, Kairi's Mom, was sitting next to Cid at the table. Her long, mermaid-like hair was done in a braid identical to Mom's. She smiled when she saw us, showing off two rows of perfect white teeth. It was suddenly obvious who Kairi got her smile from.

"Sora!" Kairi's Mom exclaimed. Her eyes drifted towards Riku. "And you must be Riku. Kairi's—" She stopped herself before she embarrassed Kairi any more, something I wished my Mom knew how to do. She smiled at Roxas and Namine. "You guys had fun?"

Namine just nodded, while Roxas adjusted his hold on his guitar. "Um…Mom…I'm just gonna go drop off my guitar upstairs, alright?"

"Of course," Mom replied, beaming. Roxas nodded and headed upstairs, Namine following not much later. I saw Mom and Ariel share a secret smile.

"Aren't you worried they'll, you know…" Cid grumbled. "Get 'frisky'?"

Kairi groaned in embarrassment, leaning against me to hide my face. "Kill me now."

I laughed.

"Oh no, Roxas knows when to behave," Mom chuckled, laying down the forks and knives. "He's almost seventeen."

"Well, our Namine is only fifteen," Cid muttered. "And Roxas is a guy. With raging hormones. And thousands of sperm."

"_Dad_!" Kairi moaned, burying her face in her hands.

Riku and I chuckled at Kairi's whining, the Moms joining in not much later. After a while of random banter, I suggested we go and watch some movies. We got through one and a half movies (happily donated by Riku and Kairi, since most of my movies were Disney and, therefore, totally not suitable for seventeen-going-on-eighteen-year-olds)—_Inception_ (donated by Riku), _500 Days of Summer_ (donated by Kairi)—before Mom finally called us down for dinner.

The aroma made my mouth water. Mom had cooked up one of her homemade seafood dishes, the ones we always used to have when we were little. I wondered absently how much munny she must have spent on prawns, which she always said were way too expensive for us to afford. She'd brought out The Forbidden China—the plates that had been locked up in The Forbidden Cupboard ever since I destroyed nearly half of them when I was six—and had set up the table professionally. I remembered Mom telling Dad once that she'd wanted to be an interior decorator, but, obviously, that hadn't worked out for her.

She smiled at us as we sat down at the table, seeming happy with herself. She waited for everyone to sit down before she started serving everyone.

"Really, Aerith?" Ariel chuckled, shaking her head. "You don't have to go to the trouble of serving us."

Mom brushed off her comment, dutifully doing it anyway. I had a feeling not working just wouldn't feel right for her. She'd been treated like a slave for more than half her life.

My stomach rumbled eagerly as I waited for the food. Kairi shook her head in disbelief. "How can you be _hungry_? You just ate a huge cheeseburger and loads of fries!"

I shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. My stomach's a bottomless pit."

Kairi crossed her arms, pouting. "I don't get it. How come guys can eat so much and not add an ounce?" She sighed in distress, and I resisted the urge to coo at her adorableness.

Thankfully, the food arrived and we all got to dig in. The taste brought back memories.

As we ate, Cid launched into a story about one of his many adventures in the sky. He was a natural storyteller—I didn't exactly care for anything sky-related, but he told it in such a way that even I became intrigued, finding myself wanting to know what happened after the plane ran out of fuel and began to plummet to the ground.

"Well…at first I was like '_This is it. There's no fucking way I'm getting out of here_.' I was about to give up when I remembered sum'n. I have a family—Ariel, my two girls…" He shook his head vehemently. "There was _no _way I was just gonna _give up_ when them were waitin' at home for me to get back." He took another spoonful, creating suspense.

"What happened next?" I persisted, my ADHD making me bounce in my seat, the way I always did when I was excited. "Did the plane explode? Did just crash-land into a mountain? Did you _die_?"

Kairi started giggling, and I could practically hear Riku rolling his eyes. "Of course he didn't, stupid. If he did die, then you wouldn't be talking to him right now."

I grinned. "How are you sure he isn't a ghost?"

Riku gave me a look that clearly said '_What the fuck?_'.

"Anyway," Cid continued, catching everyone's attention. "What happened next was a miracle, I tell ya." He gave me a knowing look. "Yes, Sora, I _did _crash-land."

I gasped. "No fucking way."

"Sora!" I heard Mom reprimand, but I took no notice.

"But not in a mountain. Just so happened that I crash-landed into someone's backyard. Somehow, I managed to get out with minimal damage."

"How did you get back home?" I probed.

"Well, this someone was a farmer, see, and, yeh, the crash burnt half his crops…but the company repaid him when he—ah, I'm getting to that. He, of course, saw the wreckage and came out to help me. Somehow he managed to find my ID, which miraculously hadn't been burnt to shit with the rest of my stuff.

"Then he called the number which was on my ID, yaddayadda you get the drill. Turns out they'd been searchin' ever since they lost signal."

"Wow…" I turned to Kairi. "So I suppose while all this was going on, you were at home watching _Vampire Diaries _or something."

Kairi smiled, shaking her head. "Nah. We didn't know he'd been in a crash until he got back, though. Shocked us a little."

"Old git refuses to stop flying," Ariel added, shaking her head disapprovingly at him, but it was impossible to miss the tiny smile she was trying to hide. "They offered you a job on ground."

"What—you think just one stinking mistake is gonna keep me outta the sky? You've gotta be fucking outta your mind."

"_Cid_…" Ariel hissed, nervously glancing at Mom. Mom shrugged, though it was obvious his blatant swearing bothered her a little. Kairi seemed to be used to it, and she was the purest person I knew. I hadn't heard her swear since I met her.

I still had a bunch of questions. "So, you still fly then? Do you have your own ship? What's its name?"

Cid laughed, ruffling my hair. "You sure don't like to mind yer own business, do ya, kid?"

Someone calling me 'kid' would have usually irked me, but I couldn't be bothered to bother. I shook my head. "I find that everyone's business is my business."

Cid laughed at that, patting—well, more like _whacking_—me on the back. "I love this kid."

I felt myself grin, immediately feeling at ease with him. He was a lot nicer than his appearance let on.

"Aerith, this is superb," Cid commented through a mouthful, not too long later. "Better than anything Ariel cooks." Ariel nudged him hard with her elbow, and he winced. "Damn, woman! It was just a joke."

Ariel just shook her head, ignoring his comment. "You'll have to give me the recipe for this, though. Where did you learn to make this?"

"Oh, it's an old family recipe…" Mom remarked shyly.

"Well, you'll have to teach me." Ariel took another spoon, closing her eyes as she savored the taste.

"Your husband must be the luckiest man on earth."

And just like that the happy feeling that had been bubbling non-stop in my stomach died, fizzled out. Just. Like. That.

Mom's smile disappeared, and it took Cid a while to realize he had stepped into forbidden territory.

Roxas, who had been silent since the beginning of the meal, gave me a worried look. I returned the gesture, not really knowing what to do.

Mom looked like she'd burst into tears any minute. But then something miraculous happened.

Mom's smile reappeared again, and she shook off the comment like it was nothing. "Mm. I've gotten that before."

Roxas and I forced laughter to ease the tension, and the rest of the people on the table soon joined in. The uneasy feeling subsided eventually, and we were able to go back to just enjoying the meal.

And then my eyes met Riku's, Riku who had been silent for most of the meal, except to occasionally interrupt to insult me. And what I saw scared me.

Sadness. An overwhelming, overpowering sadness. It reminded me of how Rapunzel's eyes looked when she thought Flynn had deserted her—except worse.

He saw me looking and quickly averted his gaze, but I had seen enough.

Something was wrong with Riku. Something he was hiding from all of us.

I didn't get to found out what it was until much, much later.

* * *

**Yes…so I intended to make this chappie longer (I bet you're all like 'WTF?')…but then I was like 'I'm gonna save that for the NEXT chappie. You know, to make the next one super loaded.' Which it totally WILL be. You'd better watch out. For the chappie I've been waiting for ever since…well. **

**And I also wanted hurry up and post this today—if I didn't, it wouldn't be up until at least next Sunday. Homework is dragging me down. I don't know if I can update weekly like I used to anymore. And it SUCKS. I'm in the library right now. Don't really have friends yet, so solitude is easy to find.**

**A big shoutout to any of my readers in the Hurricane Irene area! Stay safe!**

* * *

**Sneek Peek (cause I roll like that xD):**

"_What the hell is he doing here, Mom?"_

"…_not even God himself will be able to convince the girl to give you a shot."_

"_This…this can't be happening."_

* * *

**Yeh…so a bunch of stuff going down in the next chappie. Better watch out.**

**While waiting for the next chappie, go check out some of the fics under my **_**Suggested Reading **_**section on my profile page. That'll keep you busy. xD**

**I'll try to chuck it out by next week, so stay tuned! XXX**

**Oh, and remember to check out the poll on my page! =D **


	25. Knockout

**A/N: Let's start with the reviews before I go on my rant.**

**Superpeanutbutter: Haha well…they will kiss…just not now. So your Sora is all yours right now (HARHARHARHAR). And I love Sora too… :D Anyway…YES JESSE MCCARTNEY FTW! As for Penelo's b-day…just read on! Haha, well I guess…but I don't know if that's how people see potential friends… xD Well I've got friends now…kinda. :)**

**Jellybean2799: Thanks! I bet you'll like this one better though… xD **

**So…well. This chappie is the chappie I've been planning since the first chappie of this story. I have done numerous templates, drafts and sketches about this chappie, and have spent litres of ink and grams of paper on them. Unfortunately, it seems like I've MISPLACED **_**ALL**_** of those drafts on the way here. I actually considered going on a hiatus when I found this out, but then I realized how heartless that would be, so I'm continuing without the drafts. But…you know. What's that saying? The show must go on? Meh. Whatever. **

**Right before I start, I think you should all know this—KH 3D: DDD is coming out in Spring 2012! And Neku from The World Ends With You will make a cameo appearance! *fangirl squeal* **

**About this chappie: Nah. I'm not gonna destroy it for you. Go see for yourself. UBER LONG CHAPPIE FTW! ****12,287 words! :O **

**Disclaimer: Well…you all know I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Or the book **_**Speak**_**. Neither do I own the song 'It Girl' by Jason Derulo, or any of the other songs mentioned.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Life seems to be looking up._

Despite all the things going on at home, I felt…serene.

_Penelo invites me to a house party._

"Please, Sora. I w-want you to be there."

_I almost confess. _

"Do you think it's possible for a girl and a guy to just be friends and not…fall in love with each other?"

_But I don't. And it looks like Riku and Kairi are getting closer every passing second…_

* * *

**Chapter 25: Knockout**

I felt a bit guilty going to a high school house party and having to lie to Mom about it, especially after she'd been so nice, but I knew that if I turned down Penelo's party…that wouldn't really help my popularity that much. And, plus, Penelo needed me there.

I'd heard that a bunch of cheerleaders and Blitzball guys were gonna be there, but it didn't seem like Kairi was going, even if she was invited. I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing yet.

I pulled on an orange shirt, an orange t-shirt, a pair of dark jeans and my favorite sneakers before heading out. Vanitas had jumped at the opportunity of getting to take me to the party, which I was grateful for—he was a lot better at lying than I was. He'd said that I had a couple of friends uptown who needed my help for their English project, and Mom totally bought it.

Vanitas was the one who'd insisted I go to the party when he'd found out, saying that if I didn't go to at least one party, I was missing out on the whole high school experience.

"Isn't hardcore partying part of the _college _experience?" I asked doubtfully.

Vanitas shrugged. "How would I know?"

Right. He hadn't gone to college.

Vanitas had appeared at our house on Saturday afternoon with a basket of flowers for Mom, which was totally OOC of him. He was wearing a clean t-shirt, and he no longer smelt of alcohol, like he usually did. And he was _still _wearing Axe. Vanitas' appearance was probably the only thing that led her to believe the whole English project lie.

He still smoked, which was weirdly reassuring for me. Vanitas was changing way too quickly, and sometimes I felt like I couldn't tell him everything anymore. I had a feeling I'd miss the sex-crazed ill-mannered pervert Vanitas if he ever got replaced.

We were on the way to Penelo's house when Vanitas' phone rang. It didn't seem like he was going to be picking it up anytime soon, and when I reached for it he whacked my hand away.

"Ow…" I muttered. "What the hell?"

He stared blankly at me for a second, and then he grinned falsely. "My call. Leave it alone."

I did.

We arrived at Penelo's house. It looked cozy and like any suburban house on the Island, but no one could mistake that there was some serious partying going on inside. The lawn was littered with burst balloons and cars filled the driveway. I had a feeling Penelo's 'friends' wouldn't exactly volunteer to stay over to help clean up.

I heard a girl drunkenly yell "Gimme another shot!", and I got scared.

"Sounds like quite the party, huh?" Vanitas chuckled when he saw my face. "If I wasn't too old to be partying with highschoolers, I'd totally go with you."

"Maybe this isn't such a—"

"Get your ass out of my car or I'll make you."

I grudgingly obeyed, and he grinned. "Go have fun."

"Right," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

He laughed, and I watched him zoom off before taking a deep breath and heading to the house. My stomach lurched as I took in the house party-ness. It was also cliché, and I'd watched enough movies to know what usually happened at house parties. There was an annoying party song booming at full blast, girls singing off tune, guys cheering drinkers on…

I spotted more than two couples making out on the porch, and I had to squeeze past one to get to the door.

After waiting for what felt like ten minutes, the door was finally opened by a girl with frizzy blonde hair, wearing super-mini jean shorts and a silver tube top. She was decked in make-up, and the only feature that made me recognize it was Penelo was her eyes. They lit up when she saw me.

"Sora!" She looked so relieved. "Oh, uh, hey! I…I didn't know you were coming…"

I grinned. I had a feeling she needed all the encouragement she could get. "Why wouldn't I? You're one of my best friends."

She giggled, and I took in what she was wearing. It was just so…_not _Penelo. In all the years I'd known her (and yes, that included the years we never spoke unless required to), she never wore mini-_anythings_ unless it was for cosplay. Even then—the only remotely slutty person she'd cosplayed as was Babydoll from SuckerPunch. (And, of course, Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew, but that wasn't half as bad.)

She caught me looking, I caught her catching me looking, and we had a very mini blushing session which was only interrupted by a bunch of sluttily dressed teenagers. One of them took in my appearance, and gave me an approving wink. "Hey, hot stuff. I'm Garnet."

I blinked at her. _Hot stuff? Since when…?_ "Uh…" I felt my face start to burn up, and thankfully Penelo saved me by dragging me to the living room.

The living room was worse. It was filled with several guys and girls on the Blitz and Cheer teams, along with several people I was sure neither Penelo or I remotely recognized. At least five of them looked like they were in college.

Several of them looked drunk, and people were making out in every possible space they could find. Someone accidentally spilt their cigarette ashes on the carpet, and I felt Penelo flinch.

I was about to ask what was wrong, for the lack of anything better to say, when someone yelled: "Who's up for a game of _Spin the Bottle_?"

In my head, I was like: _Of course. How did I not see that coming?_

I'd watched a bunch of movies, so I was totally aware of what _Spin the Bottle _was.

For some reason, this idea appealed practically everyone, and not playing suddenly wasn't an option. I got thrust into the game before I could get a word in edgewise.

The game began.

It soon became clear that I wasn't going to be the lucky one who the bottle would miss on each round. It seemed to _always _fall on me. I was starting to think the bottle was rigged, or that it was being controlled with some evil remote control device or something.

The worst thing was, I could _never _pick truth. Judging from the questions asked to others, I knew it'd be embarrassing. I had no intention of telling them how many girls I had kissed, or which girl I'd rather kiss, so I had to pick Dare.

I should have known beforehand that this would be a bad idea.

"I dare you…" Cater (?) smirked, her short auburn hair reminding me of a Cheshire Cat for some reason. "…to kiss Garnet!"

Everyone 'ooh'ed, breaking into peals of laughter.

"What?" I sputtered.

"Like _smooch _her. Tongue and all," another girl—Sice?—urged.

Garnet rolled her eyes, giggling as if this was totally normal. I tried not to look like I hadn't done this before.

"Whatever, this'll be easy." Garnet flipped some of her brown hair over her shoulder and crawled seductively over to me. My heart started pounding and I had this embarrassingly warm feeling in my gut.

The other girls were giggling like crazy, and some of the guys were giving me weird looks. I had a feeling they still weren't over how I'd totally 'made Kairi reject them', or something. One or two of them whispered "You can do it, Benchie!", but I had a feeling they were just mocking me. And it only made the whole situation even more awkward and embarrassing.

I didn't notice how much I was shaking until Garnet placed her hands on mine. "C'mon, let's just make this quick."

I mumbled something like 'okay', and I closed my eyes as her lips crashed into mine.

There aren't many words to describe how my first kiss felt—except for _soft, slippery _and _wet_. I played around with my tongue a little bit, because apparently that's what people in the movies did; honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. Garnet seemed to, though, so I just winged it.

For some reason, it felt strangely…_not _disgusting.

Eventually she pulled away, and everyone was cheering. She smirked, gave me a look I couldn't quite read and returned to her spot. I saw her mouth 'OH MY GOD' to her friends, and I didn't really know if that was a good or a bad thing.

I ended up having to kiss a whole lot of other girls that night. And the worst thing was, I didn't even _know _half of them.

Well, you know, apart from Penelo.

And, yeah, I kissed her. Big deal.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I woke up tired on Monday.

I'd spent the whole night before helping Penelo clean up after the party. It had been an awkward five hours, with Penelo saying hardly anything and me trying and failing to start conversation.

We did succeed in cleaning everything up though—from the front garden to the vomit inside the bathtub—which was a relief. The thing that sucked, though, was that Penelo seemingly forgot to say thank you.

My head hurt badly, and I was so tired that I walked into doors twice and nearly fell down the stairs. Mom looked surprised when she saw the condition I was in.

"Hey…" She gave me a skeptic look. "What time did you get back yesterday?"

"…Ten…" I lied, rubbing my eyes. "I, uh, stayed up late…doing homework."

Roxas knew that was a lie, but Mom didn't, which was good.

"You really shouldn't…" Mom sighed, patting my hair. She scrunched her nose. "You've _really _got to do something about your hair…when was the last time you got a haircut?"

I moved her hand away from my hair and retrieved some strawberry jam and some peanut butter from the fridge. I was suddenly ravenous for some PB&J. "Dunno."

"It's gotta be more than a year," Roxas contributed. "A dog could take a crap in your hair and no one would notice."

"It's not _that _bushy…" I muttered unconvincingly. He was right; I hadn't had a haircut in ages.

"Well…that's another thing we'll have to save for…" She sighed, emptying the jar of munny she'd been saving ever since Zack had left. She'd meant to be saving for house repairs, but every once in a while me or Roxas would need something and she'd have to take out munny again. This was probably the reason why the munny in the jar hadn't even reached the half mark.

I tried to tell her I didn't need a haircut, but she was so bent on being a 'responsible mother' that she decided she was going to get me one anyway. "Next month, okay?"

I couldn't really object to that.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Monday morning was…weird, to say the least.

First of all, I kept getting unreadable looks from girls as I walked to my locker. Girls I barely recognized were suddenly saying hi to me, and the Blitz guys were _still _glaring at me.

If that wasn't weird enough, girls were waiting for me when I got to my locker. Two of them I recognized—the girl called Cater and the other one called Sice. The third one was the only one who wasn't in cheer uniform, but it was pretty obvious she was popular by the way guys were checking her out.

I didn't even have time to try and understand why three hot popular girls would be waiting for me at my locker, because they started talking.

"He~ey," Cater was the first one to speak. She looked a lot less scary when she wasn't half-drunk, half-dressed and high on pot. "Sick party last night, huh?"

I nodded dumbly. "Uh…"

"You have fun?" She asked, not even waiting for an answer. "Course you did."

I swallowed. "Um…"

I furiously tried to remember what The Book had said about conversation. When was the last time I'd read that thing?

"~Well…" Sice started straightening out my tie, and I unconsciously took a step back. She just followed my movements, and soon enough my back was pressed against my locker. "We were thinkin'…how about you come over to my house and we could have a, you know…slumber party?"

I wasn't so stupid as to not know what she meant. "A-Actually—"

Thankfully, just then the bell rang, and they had to leave. Sice let go of my tie, gave me one more look, and placed her hands back on her hips. "We'll see you around."

I immediately set off for my locker as soon as they were out of sight, ignoring the stares I was getting from the people who had seen what had just happened. I reached my locker within record time, not even breaking a sweat. I was still fumbling with the lock when I felt someone behind me, and nearly jumped out of my skin.

I relaxed when I saw it was just Kairi. "Oh, hey, Kai!"

"Hey, _buddy_."

I chuckled at her tone, opening my locker. "Well, somebody's got their undies in a bunch."

"Well at least I know when to keep them on!" She snapped.

I retrieved the book I needed before turning to her with a curious look. "Wait…what?"

Her lips were pressed together in a thin line, and her eyes were stormy. I had a feeling someone had pissed her off. "You _know _what!"

I stared at her. "Kairi…I am sorry but I _honestly _have no idea what you're talking about."

"Just how many girls have you kissed, Sora?"

I tried and failed to keep myself from blushing. "Uh…"

"Garnet? Really?" She hissed, scaring me even further. She looked so angry; I was almost scared of her.

I sighed. "They told you that, huh?"

Her frown deepened. "Yes. They did. How come I wasn't in on this?"

I scratched the back of my head absently. "Well…it happened just yesterday—there was no way I coulda told you—"

"Yeah, like you would've told me if I didn't ask you," she bit back.

I frowned, starting to get irritated. "Yes, I would."

"Like you told me about you kissed Penelo at the Christmas Bash?"

I didn't really have an answer for that. "I didn't think you—"

"I thought we were best friends!" She huffed, crossing her arms. "Best friends are meant to—"

"Seriously, Kairi?" I hissed. "You're pulling the 'we're best friends' card on me? Look, why do you care so much who I kiss in the first place?"

She stopped yelling, looking lost for words. She slowly closed her mouth, her gaze slowly falling to the ground. I didn't really know what to say—all I knew was that I was getting late for homeroom.

"I…" She uncrossed her arms, taking my hand. "I just don't want you to get hurt. The cheerleaders…they only want one thing, and…"

My rising anger fell back to where it had come from, and I felt myself smile. She was worrying over me! How adorable…

"It's okay," I said, making her look at me. "I'll be fine. They won't get anything out of me." I lowered my voice. "And, plus, you'll scare them off if they even try to get near me, won't you?"

Her smile reappeared, and then she giggled. "If you're lucky." She gave me one last, undecipherable look before pulling me into another hug.

When she pulled away, she had a weird smirk on her face. "Wow. It's getting harder and harder for me to do that every passing day. Have you been working out?"

I shook my head, which was, of course, a big fat lie.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Someone started this sick rumor that Riku and I had 'a thing' for each other. I didn't know what that 'thing' was supposed to be, but I was pretty sure we didn't have it. It got worse, though, when Riku and I were chosen to play Antonio and Bessanio from _The Merchant of Venice _in class and I had to tell the whole class how I loved 'Antonio' "more than life itself", which apparently only added to the Yaoi Fodder. Riku reassured me that it was all just a phase and that it'd be gone in no time.

I did, but that didn't stop one or two people from looking at us weirdly whenever we whispered to each other in class or sang together in Drama or said hi to each other, whenever we did.

I didn't really know _what _we were, really. Sure, we talked occasionally, we understood each other, and the bulling had almost come to a complete stop, but…I would have liked to call us friends, but Riku…I wasn't so sure. I had a feeling I was still nothing more than a guy he saw in the hallway who was best friends with the girl he wanted to shag. A guy who knew half his secrets and had more against him than anyone else.

I did _not _think I was important enough to get an invite to his eighteenth birthday.

Riku's parties were legendary—they were never the same two years in a row, and they were all anyone talked about for weeks—and sometimes even months—after they were thrown. I'd never been to one, honestly, for obvious reasons, but I'd heard a lot about them. Once he'd held his party in an ice-rink. Another time he'd held it in an amusement park. For some reason, he never ran out of ideas, and the next one was always better than the last. I had a feeling they were stretched out of proportion most of the time, but there wasn't really any way I could have known that.

Guys made sure not to get on bad side because of this, and girls tried to act the most appealing when it got near his birthday. You were considered really lucky if you got invited, but I had a feeling Riku just invited people at random.

Which would explain how come, when I opened my locker on Friday afternoon, an invitation fell out.

I heard a few girls from the lockers next to mine gasp in surprise, and I even heard one of them mutter "_He _got invited?". The jealousy in her voice was as clear as day.

I held the invitation tightly, just in case they decided to rob me, or something.

_Come celebrate my 18__th__ B-Day_

_When? 13__th__ March '11_

_Where? North DI Emporium _

_From 9pm—HANGOVER. _

I rolled my eyes at the last line.

"You going?" I nearly jumped out of my skin at his voice; it was Vaan.

I folded the invitation and tucked it in my schoolbag, away from the hungry Riku fangirls. "Uh…I don't know. I'll think about it."

Vaan raised an eyebrow, leaning against the locker next to mine. "What _is _there to think about?"

I scratched the back of my hair. "Dunno…I can't help feeling this is all some big prank, and he's gonna come out of nowhere with a bucket of live spiders and—"

"That's just crazy," Kairi chirruped, appearing seemingly out of thin air. She gave me a scolding look, ignoring Vaan's presence entirely. "Riku isn't _that _immature."

"Yeah, and _you _know." I made sure my tone was coated with sarcasm.

"As a matter of fact, Sora, I do," she chipped. "Riku actually _wanted _to invite you. You're his friend too, you know, and—" She paused, just realizing Vaan was there. "Oh, hey Vaan!"

Vaan grumbled something in response before leaving us to go find the others.

Kairi winced. "I just completely got in the way there, didn't I?"

I shrugged. "Pretty much."

She sighed. "I hate it when that happens."

I laughed, shaking my head. "So…when's the next glee club competition?"

"Well…it's gonna be on the 1st of April. There's been problems with the venue, so they've had to postpone the event to a later date. Which pretty much sucks, cause now it means there's only a one month gap between the Regionals and the Nationals, if we ever make it there…"

Penelo passed by just then, distracting me from whatever Kairi was telling me. Ever since the party she'd held which was, apparently, successful, she'd gotten even more popular. She'd joined their clique. She stopped talking to me, to any of us. Vaan was crabbier than ever, and I had a feeling he wasn't that happy about his best friend, well, not being his best friend anymore.

Today, however, she actually glanced at me, and in that one glance I saw it. The same pleading look she'd given me that day in the locker room. I didn't see it then, but popularity seemed to be turning out not at all how I'd always thought it would be. I was still too disillusioned to see that at the time, and all I could do was watch as Penelo got dragged back out of the earth and back into the superficial world of cliques and gossip and make-up and who's going out with who…

"Sora?" Kairi brought me back, finally, with raised eyebrows and a curious frown. "You okay?"

I nodded stiffly. "Y-Yeah. I'm fine."

I must not have looked that convincing, because Kairi sighed, shaking her head. "It's Penelo, isn't it? You're still upset about her leaving you guys for…well, whatever she was looking for."

I looked away. "A little."

"She's still there, you know. She's not completely vanished off the face of the earth. Sure, the down-to-earth _normal _Penelo is still living deep down in her heart."

"Thank you, Kairi, for those three inspiring sentences. I'm touched."

She elbowed me in the stomach, and I winced. "I'm serious."

"I know you are," I smiled, sighing and looking off in the direction Penelo had gone. "I just hope you're right."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

We'd gone pretty far in Kingdom Hearts. We'd gone through practically the whole script, except the 'Saving Kairi' arc and Riku's Death Scene. Sephiroth said that those two scenes would take the most work, which was why he was leaving them for last.

It was weird in Drama, knowing that the freaky silver-haired assassin with the six-foot long sword was Riku's dad. I suddenly saw all the similarities, and all the looks and messages they passed to each other were suddenly a whole lot more obvious.

Sephiroth spent the whole period making us go over our dance numbers, and saying that we'd get working on the final scenes the following Monday. I just hoped Riku's birthday didn't drag on until the late hours of Sunday night.

I still couldn't get over the fact that I'd been invited. This could have been the biggest possible boost I would get, pushing me higher up the social ladder. The day was getting close—I could feel it. The day when I'd finally be accepted as me.

(Well, at least I thought so.)

And where was he holding it? The _Emporium_, of all places. I'd never been there, but everyone knew where that was. It was an indoor game center—including an arcade, a ballroom (which could be used as a concert room or a dance hall), a go-kart arena, a tennis court and a restaurant. To book the whole _Emporium _for your birthday, you had to be rich. And by rich I mean _filthy rich_.

This was gonna be Riku's biggest party yet. I knew it.

And I was invited to see it.

* * *

Terra seemed to be getting worse and worse.

His yelling went from weak to downright nonexistent. He was absent frequently, and when he was there he'd tell us to do a thousand push-ups while he brooded over whatever it was he was brooding about.

I thought about approaching him to ask about it, but quickly shot down the idea. I had a feeling all I'd succeed in doing was pissing him off.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I was doing my homework on Friday afternoon when the bell rang. I skipped downstairs, unbolted the lock and pulled open the door.

And froze.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Zack. Zack Fair. Standing on the front porch, holding a bouquet of strong-smelling flowers. Magnolias. Mom's favorite. As if it was totally normal to show up on the doorstep when you're meant to be a thousand miles away, fighting in some stupid civil war.

"Sora…"

It took all my willpower to stop me from slamming the door in his stupid face. "What do you want?"

"Can…" He sighed; he looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in days. "Is your mother here?"

I glared at him, teeth gritted. "No."

He rubbed his forehead. "I know you're lying, Sora. Just let me—"

"No."

He clamped his mouth shut, his eyebrows drawing together in a tired frown. He looked like he was about to say something, until he saw someone over my shoulder. His face lit up. "Aerith."

I span around and met Mom's worried eyes. "Zack…"

The air suddenly felt awkward. As soon as their eyes met, it was obvious they were still in love with each other. The passion was so intense that even I felt the heat from just standing there.

I let go of the door as Mom slowly took my place. She looked ghastly pale, and more like a lost child than ever. The brave façade she'd been putting on for the past month had disappeared into thin air.

"Aerith I…" He glanced at me, then back at Mom. I noticed he had a new scar on his cheek, one I'd never seen befire. His eyes looked greener and he seemed to look taller. "I know…I've been an idiot in the past and I've never treated you right…" He swallowed. "…I've been a jerk, I've treated you and your kids like shit, when I know you deserve better—you deserve much more than that. All this time away from you has only made me realize how much I really love you."

It was silent for a _long _time, as they just regarded each other. I felt sick, being there in the midst of all that. I didn't trust Zack, still. Sure, he'd brought flowers, but how could a bunch of plants heal all the emotional and physical scars he'd left on Mom? He'd even had the audacity to come to our front door with the stupid Buster Sword stuck on his back. I wasn't sure whether or not he knew about the horrible blood stain on the right hand corner of the blade. I did.

Anyhow, it was obvious Mom was still madly in love with Zack. No matter how much she'd tried to hide it, she was still dependent on him. She needed him to go one. She needed him to bring the color back to her face.

After what felt like centuries, Mom turned to me. "Sora…go upstairs. Or go see Kairi. I'll call you later."

Reluctantly, I left them be, heading upstairs. I didn't trust Zack enough to leave him alone with Mom in our crumbling house.

* * *

I went to the garden, since it was sunny out. The grass had actually turned a little green, and the weeds that used to ravage the backyard had completely disappeared. There were even a few magnolias growing in a patch at the end of the garden, behind the rusting birdhouse.

Kairi's Mom had been coming over to help out with the garden ever since that evening we invited her to dinner. She was a garden person, and when she saw the state ours was in, she insisted she help us out.

None of us could say no—she got straight to work that evening.

The garden was slowly getting into shape; the pots had been cleared away and replaced with clean, soil-filled ones, the weeds had all been pulled out, and the broken slide-and-swing set had been removed and taken to the attic. (It still had sentimental value, so I couldn't exactly let Mom throw it away.) There were still a few things rusting in the corner, and the Forgotten Fish Pond, which used to be hiding under the slide, was still full of algae, but all in all it looked a lot better than before. I almost couldn't wait to see how it'd be like when it was done.

I sat down in a clean-ish patch of grass, sighing heavily as I waited. And waited. And waited.

After a while I fell back on the grass, looking up at the clouds. I thought about playing that I Spy game we'd played a while back in the park, but I realized it'd pretty much suck playing it alone. I thought of eavesdropping on Mom and Zack, but they were too far away for me to hear anything properly, and, plus, they deserved privacy. Well, at least Mom did.

I frowned, trying to understand _why _Zack would come back, and if Mom would accept him. Probably. Mom was still in love with Zack—you had to be blind not to see it—and Zack would probably take that for granted. Why? Well, there were several possible reasons. Maybe he was lonely. Maybe he'd missed having a punching bag. Maybe he'd missed the free sex.

Or maybe…maybe he really _did _love Mom.

I didn't understand, though. I didn't understand _how _you could possibly hurt someone you loved like that. I couldn't even _imagine _hitting Kairi, for any reason. I couldn't think of any situation that would lead me to laying my hands on her for any reason.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I almost missed the small chirruping sound coming from somewhere in the garden.

I frowned slightly, looking for the origin of the noise. It was a sort of strangled whine, and I couldn't really identify what animal it was. I slowly approached the bush it was apparently coming from, wondering if it was a bird, a cat, or a ten-pound lion.

I gasped when I pulled back the bushes and saw what it was.

A squirrel.

Or a chipmunk.

Or a groundhog. Honestly, I had no idea.

It was fair-skinned, with two stripes down the back, and it was about the size of my palm. (Yes, I have fairly large hands, but you know what I mean.) It had a large bushy tail and huge chocolate-brown eyes, which were slightly closed. It was lying in a mass of decaying grass, blocked off from the sun by a flowerpot. It was still whining when I got to it, and the noise was even louder now.

Then I realized why it hadn't run off yet.

One of its feet was stuck in strings of thread, which, for some reason, were lying in the bush. It had gotten itself so entangled that there was a bruise starting to form. It was lying there limp, as if it had lost the energy to struggle.

It was incredibly thin, and I inwardly wondered how long it had been lying there. Two, three days? It didn't look like it had eaten for a lot longer than that.

I panicked, staring at the dying animal in shock. What was I supposed to do? Rescue it? And then what? It wouldn't be able to walk, obviously, and then what would I do with it? How long would it last in the wild, even, with an injured leg? I didn't know anything about squirrels! I didn't even know if it _was _a squirrel! What would it eat? Where would I keep it?

I realized that at that moment, I had to do _something_. I couldn't just let the poor animal die. If it was a dog, I might have just left it there—(don't look at me like that—I have a phobia of dogs, and what happens when I'm near one is not something you really want to hear)—but this wasn't a dog. It was a poor little rodent, a baby one by the looks of it.

I took a deep breath and set to untangling the squirrel/chipmunk/whatever from the thread. I realized Kairi's Mom must have been using thread to graft the vines to the branches or something, and accidentally forgotten it in the garden. After trying in vain for more than a minute to untangle the squirrel/chipmunk/BLAH, I realized I'd need scissors.

A pair of scissors was conveniently lying there in the garden, next to the other garden utensils, and I carefully snipped at the thread, making sure not to hack off its leg. I eventually managed to free it, sighing in relief when it came through. My nails were stained red, and I had scratch marks all over my fingers from the squirrels delirious kicking.

I wiped my hands on my jeans, picking up the squirrel. It started kicking at my palms with its okay limbs, but I forced myself to ignore it. It was obvious he wasn't gonna be using his severed leg anytime soon. I looked around the garden for a possible resting place for the squirrel/chipmunk (—okay, for the meantime let's just call it a rodent—) to stay. I couldn't remember if rodents lived in trees or burrowed holes, so I just decided to make do with the rusted birdcage. I padded it with dry grass and lay down the rodent inside it.

I had no idea what squirrels ate, but I assumed that, like Chip and Dale, they ate acorns. After scratching at the earth until my fingers were raw, I managed to find a few acorns, and some half-dry berries, and gave it to Rodent. It's big brown eyes turned languidly to me, and then to the food, as if not sure if it should trust me or not.

His hunger got the best of him and it began to dig in.

As I watched him slowly start to eat, I figured I should name it. I mean, I'd be keeping him for a couple of weeks, until he got better. I thought of naming him Chip or Dale, and maybe even Alvin or Theodore, but I knew there must have been some kind of copyright law on those.

I sighed, deciding to put off the idea of naming it for a while, deciding to stick with Rodent for the time being. I found an old baby beaker and turned it over, filling it under the outside tap, and kept it in the birdcage. Rodent promptly lost interest in the food and started lapping feverishly at the water in the beaker. I let out a tiny laugh. He reminded me of myself, with how he couldn't concentrate on one thing for long periods of time. I wondered of this was instinct or if animals could actually have ADHD.

I watched Rodent until he fell asleep, his huge bushy tail twitching every once in a while, and then I decided I'd better get back inside. I gave Rodent one last look, trying to figure out what animal he was, and finally decided it'd be smarter if I just checked on the internet.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Zack stayed for dinner.

Zack was at the table, his huge sword leaning against a wall a fair distance away. He didn't even look up when I entered the room; his eyes were fixed on Mom, filled with a feverish passion. I wondered inwardly how I'd never seen it before.

Mom had just brought in a plate of potatoes, and I realized how hungry I was.

Roxas came back not too soon after the meal began. His skateboard was tucked under his arm, and he was humming Coldplay's 'Yellow', which probably meant that he was in a good mood. He must have been out with Namine—that always made him smile.

But when he came in and saw us at the table—saw _Zack_ at the table—his humming ceased abruptly and his smile disappeared. "Zack." His tone was dripping with hatred.

"Roxas…" Zack gave Mom a wary glance, uncertainly. I chewed relentlessly at the piece of beef in my mouth, starting to feel sick. "I—"

"What the fuck is _he_ doing here?" He snapped.

Mom wavered. "Roxas…be nice."

"Be _nice_?" Roxas snorted, tossing his skateboard onto the sofa as he approached us. His eyes darkened as he glared at Zack. "Like _hell_ I'd do that! What the hell is he doing here, Mom?"

Zack attempted to calm him down—big mistake. "Look, Roxas—"

"Shut the fuck up, you sick bastard!" I growled. "I don't want to hear it, and neither does Mom. Get the fuck out of our lives or I'll do it for you."

"Roku!" Mom pleaded.

Roxas clamped his mouth shut, stopping himself before he said anything else. He always reacted like that whenever Mom used his old nickname. His hands were clenched into fists as he desperately tried to calm himself down. The tension in the air felt so thick you could slice cleanly through it with a butter knife.

And then Zack stood up. "I…I think I should go." He wiped his hands on his cargo pants, giving Roxas a wary look. "Thanks for the dinner, it was…great." He cleared his throat and tousled his hair. "I'll swing by some other time and…" His voice died out when he saw the expression on Roxas' face, and he sighed. "'Night."

He gazed forlornly at Mom, as if half-expecting her to kiss him, probably because he was too scared of engaging the kiss. And then he sighed, turned away, and headed out the door.

The door slammed.

And then Mom snapped.

"What is _wrong _with you?" She pushed herself away from the table, her chair screeching. "

"Nothing is wrong with me," Roxas snapped. "He treated you like shit and walked out of you, and then he comes back expecting you to welcome him back with open arms? Hell no."

Mom looked like she was about to burst into tears. "He said he was _sorry_—"

"Yeah, and you think he means that? I never thought you of all people were dumb enough to believe that."

Mom flinched. I'd had enough. "Roxas, shut up."

Roxas stared at me, and then his eyes darkened. "Why should I? I know what I'm talking about—"

"Roxas, she said Zack was sorry." I didn't believe Zack either, but I knew I had to pretend I did, for Mom's sake. She was inwardly beating herself up enough already.

"Oh yeah, so if Dad came back saying _he _was sorry, you'd expect Mom to just let him back in?"

_Silence_. A cruel, piercing silence.

Roxas seemed to realize he'd gone too far, but he didn't seem to care enough to apologize. Instead, he kicked the table and stormed upstairs.

Leaving me, once again, to take care of Mom when she broke down.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Mom didn't stop crying until she fell asleep, around seven that evening. Roxas stayed shut up in his room—well, our room. He'd locked it shut so I was forced to go to bed on the sofa without brushing my teeth.

Roxas left early the next morning, not even saying goodbye. I was angry at him, angry at him for being such a jerk when he knew about Mom's condition.

After taking breakfast, I headed outside to see Rodent. I'd found out that he was, in fact, a squirrel. I'd searched what squirrels ate on Wikipedia, so now I had a pretty good idea. Rodent was scrabbling around in his makeshift house, a lot livelier now. His leg still hadn't healed, so he just dragged it around after him. It looked both ridiculous and heartbreaking, but I guess having a disabled leg was what made him unique.

After feeding Rodent (and, no, I still hadn't come up with a name for him) and cleaning up his cage, I headed back inside.

Vanitas came over that morning, and I cursed at his extremely bad timing. Mom didn't even have the strength or will to yell at him, though—she just retreated to her room wordlessly as soon as he entered the house.

Vanitas brought cookies this time, and, since Mom was inactive and Roxas was gone, Vanitas and I ended up sharing them. I thought of heading over to Kairi's, but Vanitas was here, and I didn't want to have to endure Vanitas' teasing again.

We were in the middle of playing chess (for lack of anything better to do) when the phone rang. My dyslexia and my ADHD made it practically impossible for me win, so I wasn't that miffed to have to leave the game to pick up the phone.

It was Kairi, her voice delightfully bright. "Hey, Sora! You ready for the party tomorrow?"

I sighed. I was thinking of putting off the whole party idea since my family was falling to pieces in front of my very eyes, and I was the only one holding it all together…but I knew I couldn't. Kairi had pulled the 'please' card once again, and she was very strict about promises.

"Yeah," I replied after a while.

"Well, I'm not. I mean, I still haven't picked out an outfit…"

"Oh."

A pause. "So I was thinking that maybe…you could come shopping with me?"

"…you want me to go shopping with you."

"I want you to go shopping with me."

It took me quite a long time to answer. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

"Honestly, Kairi, I don't—"

"_Please_?"

My confidence just dwindled into nothing on the spot, and my stomach became a pool of mush. It felt strangely soothing, in a way. "Okay."

"Yay!" She cheered, and I felt myself smile. "I'll drop by at eleven."

I looked at the clock. It was half-past-ten. I tried to make my voice sound enthusiastic. "Sure! See ya then."

I dropped the phone, and then I turned back to Vanitas, who was watching me with a disappointed frown on his face. "What?"

"Honestly, the way you bend to her will without protest astounds me."

I frowned, heading to my bunk to get my towel. "What do you mean?"

"He needs to take a little more control, gets some confidence," Vanitas continued, playing with his King. "I mean, seriously. You want Kairi—so much that you spend every morning staring at her through your window—"

"What?" I sputtered. "Who told you that?"

"No one. Found out myself. Anyway—you want this chick so bad, and yet you're giving her just way too much control. You allowed her to make this friendship and if you don't do something she's going to put you on the permanent friend list, and when you're on that…" He shook his head sadly. "…not even God himself would be able to convince the girl to give you a shot."

Honestly, the way he said that scared me. I knew what he was saying was true. Kairi was obviously oblivious to the fact that I liked her—at least that's what I thought. It wasn't that hard to see that Kairi just valued me as a friend…well, her _best _friend.

But how was that even possible? Girl/guy friendships seemed to be totally outdated. Every girl and guy that I knew who claimed they were nothing more than friends eventually ended up in bed together.

But…what about Kairi and I? I had a feeling _that _wasn't going to be happening between us any time soon.

I sighed. I'd checked it up on the internet. On a page I'd read '_Honesty is key_'. But then, further down I'd seen something that made me lose all my confidence, something that made me shy away from ever letting her know.

'_Don't ever cross the line of friendship without realizing it may be a point of no return. Never give in to physical attractions without knowing that it could change the friendship forever._'

I couldn't risk losing Kairi's friendship over something as trivial as my crush on her. If she suddenly decided we couldn't be friends anymore…

I only realized how tightly I was clutching my towel when my fingers started turning red. I gave Vanitas a look before stoically heading to the bathroom. "I need to take a shower."

"Hey, I'm just saying!" Vanitas protested. "Don't get all grumpy about—"

I slammed the door to the bathroom, blocking out his voice.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Kairi did, indeed, drop by at eleven. She was wearing a denim newsboy cap, a green push-up bra top, and denim hot pants. I could barely keep my eyes off her legs. I mean, I'd never seen her in anything that short apart from at the glee club Sectionals, so whenever she wore anything that revealing (which was rare) my mind went a bit…weird.

"Hello~!" She sang. "You ready?"

I nodded, and before I knew it we were in the bus on the way to the shopping center.

We arrived at the mall, and I nearly choked on my spit when I realized where Kairi was heading.

_Victoria's Secret_.

I followed after her, trying hard to control the raging color on my cheeks.

"I…I heard they sell the best dresses here," Kairi chirped, playing with her hair. "Hope you don't mind."

I sputtered something like: "NUUHHSOKAY."

We entered the shop, and I suddenly felt horribly warm. There were girls _everywhere_, and they were _all _dressed like Kairi.

I suddenly understood why she'd dressed like that for this trip.

It was excruciating. I had to watch as she went through bras and underwear that couldn't have been more than pieces of cloth, and I even had to give my opinion. I found out that she was a 38F, which was both totally embarrassing and unsurprising, because I'd seen her undress and—um.

She was asking me which bra she should take—the push-up bra or the lacy corset thing—when I snapped.

"U-um, honestly, Kairi, can we just get your dress and leave?" I groaned.

Kairi seemed to pick up my tone, and she smirked. "What? Does all this girl stuff make you _uncomfortable_?"

My face was on fire. "U-Uh—"

"Hmm?"

Kairi pressed the bras up against my face, and I stumbled backwards, swatting it away. "What the hell?"

She laughed. "Aw…you're blushing!"

"I am _not_!" I lied, face burning. "I…I just—"

She laughed again as I tried to cover my smoldering face. Then she shook her head. "Okay. I'll go try these on…but while I'm at it could you help pick up these for me?" She handed me a list, and I took it obediently. She ruffled my hair, smiled, and headed off to the changing rooms.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

After having to go through the awkward process of buying tampons (I honestly had no idea which ones she wanted, so I just got one of each), finding volume six of some manga called Bleach (which I was sure Xion would have known about) and getting a jar of milk, I headed back to _Victoria's Secret_.

The girl at the counter probably assumed I was some perv, especially since I had to wait outside the changing room, where a bunch of half-naked girls were parading their new slutty dresses around and—and—

And then I saw Kairi come out of nowhere, in this…well, this dress.

It was a bombshell of a dress, with a halter neckline that ties at the back of her neck. It was leopard printed and ruched, and for some reason it made her boobs look even bigger, which is _really _saying something. It was simple yet sexy, but totally not Kairi.

But she liked it, which, I guess, was all that mattered.

What I didn't really get was _why _she had to spend almost a hundred munny on a dress just for one birthday…

_Riku's _birthday.

And then it clicked. She was trying to impress Riku.

It was so freaking obvious and it hurt me to say it, but Kairi was already way out of my reach.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Roxas was lying on his bunk when I got back, listening to RHCP or something. He glanced at me, his eyes blank, before returning to the book he was supposedly reading. It took me a while to read the title because of my dyslexia, but I eventually came out with _Speak_.

"Hey." I forced a grin onto my face. "How's Mom doing?"

Roxas just shrugged. "Don't know, don't particularly care."

My good mood disappeared. "Can't you ever quit being such a jerk? Mom is really getting depressed over this, she—"

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna just sit idly by and watch him abuse Mom any longer."

"Weren't you the one who said it was better not to interfere?"

He paused, pressing his lips together and looking away. "Yes. But I've changed my opinion now."

"Oh really? And why is that?"

Roxas' gaze darkened, and he tightened his hold on the book. "Because…whoever hits their girlfriend is a coward—a big fat coward."

I stared at him. "What—"

"That is unexcusable. Anyone who stoops so low as to hit their girl has to _pay_."

I stared at him, and, for a split-second, it looked like he was mentally beating himself up.

But then that second passed, and he was back to his stupid jerkface self again. "Zack is an asshole and will stay an asshole. Don't you go encouraging Mom or you'll only make her fall back into the same trap."

And then he plugged in his headphones, shutting off from the world once again.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"What? She took you to a _Victoria's Secret!_?"

I sighed. "Yes. Yes she did."

Vanitas was driving me to Riku's birthday party on Sunday evening, and I'd just told him about everything that happened the previous afternoon.

"Man," Vanitas chuckled. "That almost sounded to me like she's coming on to you. Well, at least it did until you said she made you go buy tampons. That is a total turnoff."

I moaned, suddenly not feeling like going to Riku's party anymore. "Can't we just turn back?"

"And miss the awesome party at the Emporium? Hell no."

"You're not even going!"

"I know…but you are."

I sighed, shaking my head in resign. "Whatever."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The emporium was big—and I mean _BIG_. It was an arcade, a restaurant, a dance floor and a lounge all in one, with profiterole towers and chocolate fountains and girls in cocktail dresses going around serving everyone in the lounge. There were no security guards, and I wondered if serving alcohol to underage kids was allowed. (Of course it wasn't.)

I hadn't really dressed up for it, so I felt pretty awkward in my dark jeans and rumpled orange dress shirt. And I still hadn't cut my hair.

I was thinking of heading for the arcade and shutting myself there until the party was over when Kairi came over.

She looked even better under the disco lights with her hair professionally curled and her eyes all made up and—ugh. I did have a huge respect for girls—for being able to walk in those contraptions called…_heels_. If I was a girl, I probably would have called the close-toed pumps 'cute' (which, for guys, sounds totally wacko. You just don't call shoes _cute?_!)

She yelled something over the party music, pulling me into the crowd.

There were a lot of people there, and I didn't even recognize half of them. A number of them looked like college students. I even spotted on of the girls from the locker next to me; she must have somehow managed to sneak in.

The party music was so loud I thought I might have gone deaf. Apparently, I was an hour late, said Kairi, and Riku had been looking all over for me. I had a feeling she made this part up.

She was still busy dragging me to wherever she wanted to take me when she was called by her friends again, which I found pretty ridiculous. She gave me an apologetic look, and I just shrugged in consent. Then she disappeared, leaving me struggling to wriggle my way out of the mass of grinding bodies.

I managed to find my way out with most of my limbs intact, but it had made me thirsty. I headed to the bar, where a bunch of high school students were illegally drinking alcohol. Well, that explained the stench of sweat and booze in the air. It reminded me of Vanitas, for some reason.

Anyway, I grabbed a drink from the cooler—a drink I assumed was Malt soda—and started chugging it down to keep myself busy. I sat down on a chair, feeling a little awkward. Parties were not my scene. I was starting to think it was all a big mistake. I didn't see how my being at this sex fest was going to help my reputation.

Time passed, I didn't know how long. I spotted Kairi several times, and we occasionally exchanged smiles, but every time she got pulled into some dance or something and our connection was lost. I awkwardly ambled around, trying to make it seem like I was having fun.

I stole some profiteroles from the tower, stuffed myself with Pringles, and then headed over to the arcade to workout. I beat some guy I didn't know in a game of Dance Dance Revolution, and got a high score on Modern Warfare. Now this was somewhere my hyperactivity came in handy.

After playing for a while, I got thirsty again, and headed back to the bar. It took me a while to find it, and I ended up rubbing my body against a lot of drunk people before I got there.

I took another one of those soda things, and was just throwing my can away when I felt someone grab my wrist.

Before I knew it I was in a room with my back pushed up against the door.

"_Sora_…"

I recognized the voice. "P-Penelo?"

In the dim light of wherever we were, I could barely make out her face, or the rest of her body. But I could smell the alcohol clearly on her husky breath.

She was drunk.

And half-naked.

"_Take me, Sora_," she moaned, and then she crashed her lips into mine.

It was a really, really weird feeling. At first I just stood there, frozen, unsure of what to do. I might have responded, I might have not—honestly, I had no idea. All I knew was that her tongue was in my mouth and she was wearing nothing but a hot pants and a bra and it was probably a hundred degrees in there and I needed to breath—

I eventually managed to get my arms working again, and I pulled away forcefully, gasping. "Penelo, wh-what are you—gah!"

She'd groped for the front of my jeans, which I found totally terrifying. I yelped, stumbling blindly out of her grasp, trying to look for the exit. Suddenly something caught on my leg and I fell forward onto the ground. I realized with horror that Penelo was holding onto my ankle, giggling drunkenly.

My heartbeat went at a hundred mph as she crawled on top of me and started kissing me again. The whole situation was awkward and wrong, and…was she going to rape me?

Using all my willpower, I held her by the shoulders and turned her over, ending up on top of her rather than the other way round. My lips ached and my elbow hurt from when I'd fallen down.

She was staring back up at me, her eyes unfocused. "~Hey…" And then she pulled the collar of my shirt and whispered something extremely obscene in my ear.

I decided enough was enough. "Penelo…"

"Mmhmm?" She giggled. "Is this a dream?"

I didn't really know how to answer that. "Penelo, y-you have…you've gotta stop…kissing…me." I was sweating very unattractively by now.

My shirt had become unbuttoned, and she started running her fingers up and down my torso. I swatted her hand away in a fluster. "Penelo, I'm serious."

"I can't concentrate with you sitting on top of me like that~."

I blushed and got off her in a hurry. She tried to pounce on me again, but I stopped her this time, holding her by the shoulders. "_**Penelo**_."

She seemed to detect the anger in my voice, because her smile disappeared. "Why? You don't wanna have sex?"

"No, I don't want to have…" I blushed profusely. "This is so wrong."

Her face fell. "It's because of Kairi, isn't it?"

I stared at her. She was talking awfully fluently for a drunken person.

"I _knew _it," Penelo whispered, falling limp in my hold. "Kairi. It's always Kairi. Kairi Kairi Kairi."

"What're you—"

"I love you, Sora, alright?" She moaned, covering her face with her hands.

I gulped. "What? Y-You…what?"

"I love you, I've loved you since the first day we met in freshman year, probably even before th-that…"

It was silent apart from the faint sound of the raging teenagers in the dance hall. I stared at Penelo for a long time, trying to figure out if she was being serious.

She was.

Penelo…had a crush on me.

I couldn't believe it. Well, coming to think of it…I didn't get how I hadn't seen it all sooner. The way she looked at me when I smiled, the way she always came to me when she had problems, the way she avoided me after the party out of embarrassment…

I suddenly felt really, really stupid. And slightly flattered. It wasn't everyday someone normal liked someone as abnormal as me.

I took a deep breath, knowing I had to reply to her. And I hated it that I had to tell her I didn't like her back. I almost wished I did, so that I wouldn't have to see the distraught look on her face when I did.

She'd taken the risk, the risk I hadn't been brave enough to take—to risk our friendship for possible love. I admired her for her bravery…and I'd learnt a lesson. I needed to stop being a coward and tell Kairi what I felt. No matter the reaction…she had to know.

I exhaled slowly, taking one of Penelo's hands in mine. "I'm…I'm flattered you'd say that…but…"

"I know, I know," she whimpered. "You…you don't like me that way."

"I…I don't share your feelings." I cleared my throat, trying to keep my voice steady—and failing. "But…thank you, Penelo. For…for teaching me a lesson of bravery. I would never have had the courage to do what you're doing…so thank you."

She stared at me, but eventually smiled sadly, wiping at her dripping eyes. "I've been such a stupid, crazy bitch."

"No…no you're not…" I felt my heart break, feeling incredibly guilty all of a sudden. "You're a beautiful, caring and creative girl, and I'm sure the right person will come for you."

"And who would that be?"

"Well…" For some reason, at that exact moment, everything fell into place, and I knew the answer. "…Vaan Takeda."

Penelo froze. "What?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Vaan is in love with me?"

I nodded, everything becoming clear. How Vaan seemed to be constantly glaring at me, how he hadn't smiled at me since the beginning of the year… "Yes. Vaan Takeda is in love with you."

She was quiet for a while. "Well. This is dumb."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes. Yes it is. You totally almost raped me there."

"I was on a high…" Penelo muttered, blushing. "Garnet and all the other girls were trying out this drug, and…well…" She sighed. "I know, I know. Pretty stupid of me."

"My thoughts exactly…" I sighed. "Are you planning on staying with them forever."

Penelo shrugged sadly. "I…I don't know. I miss you guys so much but…I can't believe _this _is what I've been craving for all my life."

"Well…whenever you get sick of it, come join us at the loser table." I couldn't help but add: "We have cookies."

That made her laugh, and she leaned in to kiss me on the lips. "Thank you…for being there for me."

"Eh, it's nothing really," I said, handing her her shirt and proceeding to button up mine. "Vaan was always there for you before I showed up. All you gotta do is let him back in."

"Vaan…" She sighed. "I miss him."

"You should," I agreed. I cleared my throat as I waited for her to get dressed. "So…ready to head back into the chaos?"

"Nope, but do we have a choice?"

She and I shared a smile, and then we opened the door, stumbling back into the party.

What hit me first was that everyone had stopped dancing and were all looking at the stage.

And then I saw why.

Riku was on stage, microphone in hand, _singing_. The background music was loud, but Riku's voice was louder, trained and pure and obviously a lot better than it had been a few months ago. His hair looked like it had been glossed to shine and tied in a ponytail that probably looked attractive. He was wearing an expensive denim and designer outfit, as if he'd just come off a magazine cover, and he was staring intently at someone as he sang.

"_You're my greatest hit girl_

_Just say this is it girl..._

_Hey baby..._

_Don't you know you're my it girl…?_"

This someone was Kairi.

She was standing on stage, her cheeks flushed, her mouth parted and her eyes widened in disbelief and awe. Her dress looked even shorter on stage, and, although she looked extremely stunning and all, she looked like she really, really, _really _did not want to be there.

My heart clenched when I realized what was happening.

"_I just wanna rock all night long_

_And put you in the middle of my spotlight_—"

He was singing to her. He was winning her over with music.

"This can't be happening…" I could barely choke the words out as I watched the scene unfold before me.

The song came to an end, and everyone broke into cheers of applause. They weren't genuine—and I assume Riku knew that—because all the guys wanted Kairi and all the girls wanted Riku, and them being a couple would mean none of them would be available, and…well.

But they clapped and pretended it was the most romantic thing on earth, because, after all, this was Riku's party.

And he was about to get his eighteenth birthday present.

I watched in horror as Riku approached her, took her hand and got down on one knee, before looking up at her to say: "Kairi Bellamy-Price, will you be my girlfriend?"

* * *

**Yes. I am a very evil person. But, honestly, do you guys want this chappie to be any longer? Well, I sure as hell don't. Took me DAYS. XD And I did this without my drafts…oh well.**

**Yes…the next chappie begins the next arc of the fic. About twenty-something chappies left until the end, I think. =D **

**At least the Sora/Penelo arc is over and done with... *wipes imaginary sweat off brow***

**Feel free to flame, critique, blah. Whatever. REVIEW! We're almost at 300! WOOT! **

**Sneek Peek—NO SNEEK PEEKS FOR YOU. HARHAR. FOR I AM EVIL.**

**Gotta go to sleep…honestly it's almost midnight. I forced myself to finish this this night. Gonna post it tomorrow morning in my free period. Hope you enjoyed this mega long chappie.**

**And in case you didn't recognize the song Riku sang…it's 'It Girl' by Jason Derulo. At first I intended for him to sing 'Just The Way You Are' by Bruno Mars…but then Jason Desrouleaux (yes, that's how it's spelt really) released his new single, and I was like 'RIKU'. Yeah…so…yeah.**

**I'm taking in suggestions for a name for Sora's new pet... ^_^ If you have any idea, PM me or state it in your reviews! **

**Adios, and goodnight! Watch out for the next installment, and R&R! **

**XXXX **


	26. Chasing Pavements

**EDIT: Fixed the ending. Seriously…I realized that it wasn't really that long at all and I was just spazzing for nothing. Enjoy. **

**A/N: Yes. This is it. The chappie you've all been spamming my inbox for. **

**Replies…**

**Traveler: Haha yeah…after that last chappie, I had a feeling a bunch of people would hate Riku…BUT YAY FOR ANGST! WOOT! And, yes, poor Sora… *unhappy smile***

**ThatKid10001: OMG U GOT HIT BY A CAR? …now we're accident buddies! Lol…but yeah, hope you're recovering! And lol! Omg…Sora isn't a player though…he was just outnumbered…I mean, what would you do? (Probably something different…but let's just say he's naïve! Total uke…) Well…as a sidenote, d'you mind making your reviews a little less…vulgar? Sorry…but it's pretty hard to follow what you're saying. Haha…Cheese…interesting name…might consider it…maybe. xD Haha…thanks for your reviews anyway! ^_^ **

**Thaumaturgic Adversary: Haha I know…I suck. You may beat me with a shovel after you finish reading this chappie. **

**Superpeanutbutter: Yes! Yes a lot of stuff did happen! Woot! But…well, just read on to see what happens next. XD AND YAY FOR NEKU KYAAAA! **

**Jellybean2799: I hate you two. ^^ Lol…I ended it like that because…that was the way it should have been. I know, bad cliffie is bad. And yay for Sora getting totally K-Od. And long chappies are long. But if chappies are long, the wait is a lot less…kinda. And the plot moves along faster…so I'll just write as I deem necessary. And you aren't the only one who hates Riku right now… *glares at Riku* Riku, go shove a toilet roll up your… *gets censored out* Hehe…anyway. OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT VAAN LIKED PENELO! I THOUGHT I'D MADE IT SO OBVIOUS! But…apparently I didn't…Haha and yay. Off you go. Lalalah. **

**Yeh, so here we are. Before I start, I'd like to thank all of you who've suggested names and submitted ideas. LOVE YOU GUYS LOADS. And…have any of you watched 500 days of Summer? I almost squealed after seeing how much Joseph Gorden-Levitt reminded me of Sora…in a way. And a little bit of Roxas…but you know. **

**Well, that movie, and a bunch of other stories and songs I've read/listened to, inspired this chappie greatly. Honestly. Truly.**

**But enough with the rambling. This is basically me talking to myself, right? Because most of you have just skipped to the chappie by now.**

**About the chappie: ANGST TO THE MAX. With some fluff…but yeah. **

**Disclaimer: BLAH BLAH DON'T OWN DON'T SUE. 'Superhuman' belongs to Chris Brown…'Chasing Pavements' belongs to Adele…**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I lose my virgini—I mean, my first kiss._

I ended up having to kiss a whole lot of other girls that night. And the worst thing was, I didn't even _know _half of them.

_I get invited to Riku's b-day. _

To book the whole _Emporium _for your birthday, you had to be rich. And by rich I mean _filthy rich_.

_Zack is back. _

"All this time away from you has only made me realize how much I really love you."

_I get a new pet._

It was fair-skinned, with two stripes down the back, and it was about the size of my palm.

_I am forever branded as Kairi's best friend._

"…she's going to put you on the permanent friend list, and when you're on that…" He shook his head sadly. "…not even God himself would be able to convince the girl to give you a shot."

_And I discover that Penelo is…well…_

"I love you, I've loved you since the first day we met in freshman year, probably even before th-that…"

_And Riku asks…Kairi…to be…his…_

* * *

**Chapter 26: Chasing Pavements**

"Kairi, will you be my girlfriend?"

It was dead silent. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the answer.

I was frozen on the spot, unable to move. My legs felt numb. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the unfolding scene.

The silence continued. There was a tiny squeak of Kairi's heels as she took a tiny step backwards in shock. She pressed her lips together slightly, and I saw her swallow. She averted her gaze from Riku, looked at her feet…

And then her eyes drifted around the crowd, as if looking for someone.

And then they stopped on me.

Her eyes were pleading, begging for an answer. And all of a sudden I understood.

She was confused. She wanted to know what to do.

And she was asking _me_, of all people, for an answer.

It took me a while to register this. Kairi was asking me whether or not she should say yes to him. She wanted to know what I thought…if I thought it was okay. Which, you know, I should have expected. Wasn't that something best friends did? Urge their best friends on…or something?

I was totally new to this.

But…this meant I had a chance! All I had to do was say no…and then I would be free to tell Kairi how I felt, and she'd somehow fall in love with me and then we'd live happily ever after…or something. Even if that didn't happen, if I told her to answer no, I'd at least have a chance, right?

This seemed like the logical approach. If it was anyone else who was in my scuffed year-old sneakers at that exact moment, they would have told her to say no in a heartbeat.

But then I saw Riku, who was still kneeling on the ground—(which, you know, was totally uncalled for, but whatever)—clutching desperately onto her hand. Even from my angle, I knew how important her answer was. His hands were shaking, and he looked…_nervous_. I didn't know if anyone else noticed, but I did.

It was then that I realized—I couldn't do it. I couldn't look Kairi in the eyes and tell her to shoot him down. I…okay, so maybe I was totally in love with Kairi and everything, but so was Riku. I just couldn't take away his happiness like that.

And Kairi…she deserved someone like Riku. Someone good-looking, popular, and totally worthy of her. Someone who would make her happy…

I thought all this over in the space of approximately ten seconds before I made up my mind.

Flashing her the most convincing smile I could muster, I lifted up my hand and gave her a thumbs-up sign.

She blinked, pressed her lips together, and turned to Riku, finally. I must have been imagining it, but she looked a little…disappointed.

Before I could figure out if I was seeing things or not, Kairi had already started to speak. "Riku…"

She started to pull her hand away, but Riku only held harder. I heard people start to mumble, and Penelo squeezed my hand. Her hand was so warm…either that or it had gotten cold all of a sudden.

Then all of a sudden someone yelled: "SAY YES!"

And then another, and then another, and then it was this horrible chant—_"SAY YES! SAY YES! SAY YES!"_—and Kairi's embarrassment was written all over her face.

Riku, who had barely managed to lift himself up off the floor, was too stricken to try and do anything to help the crowd, and I didn't know whether to feel happy or sad.

I knew what the answer to that was pretty quickly.

"Riku I…" She was barely audible over all the chanting, but the shouting came to an abrupt halt when she screamed her answer. "_YES!_" And then, to everyone's surprise, she started giggling. If my mind wasn't so messed up I might have realized how off her laugh sounded. "Of course I'll go out with you, Riku."

The cheers came back, and they just got louder when Riku pulled her into a passionate kiss.

I felt like someone had ripped out my heart and stepped on it. Repeatedly. And then thrown it in a vat of toxic acid. And then cut up into a thousand pieces. And then fed to wild animals.

Simply put, it hurt like hell, I really did _not _want to be there, and I regretted my decision almost immediately.

"Sora?" I barely heard Penelo's voice. It was like my brain was still trying to process what just happened. "You sure you're alright?"

I couldn't even bring myself to nod. Or shake my head. Or do anything, really.

Kairi and Riku finally pulled away, and I heard Kairi's giggling resounding through Riku's microphone. The crowd 'aww'd. I distantly heard someone yell something along the lines of 'sing him a song', and then everyone else joined in.

"Kairi, you don't have to—"

"Sure, I'll sing."

Everyone cheered. My stomach churned.

Penelo must have started pulling me through the crowd somewhere along the line. I was too drained to try and help her.

"_You think I'm pretty_

_Without any make-up on…_"

"Sora…" I heard Penelo's voice. My mind was starting to drift back into reality, albeit slowly. "You gonna be okay going home by yourself? Because if you want I could—"

I must have shaken my head, no. She understood. She sighed, gave my hand one last squeeze, kissed me on the cheek and headed back inside to the party.

As soon as I was sure I could feel my legs enough, I started to walk home.

As I walked, reality started to hit me, like a thousand bricks, and the pain intensified. I felt really stupid. I felt like an idiot; I had a chance to bring my own happiness, and I just _had _to be so damn unselfish and start thinking about what _she _wanted.

I hated feeling like Riku and Kairi's being together was all my fault. But why did she ask me? Why did she give me that choice? Was that something a best friend was meant to decide?

If that was the case, then I was sick of being her best friend.

I didn't know how long I had walked for, and I didn't really know what was keeping me on my feet. I honestly understood what all those lovesick retards in angsty romance novels felt. Like their heart was being burned on a stake. Like it was being shattered to pieces.

In my case…I'd pretty much brought it upon myself.

My body must have been on auto-pilot, because somehow I arrived at the house. The door was open. I climbed upstairs. Roxas wasn't in. I collapsed onto my bunk.

I couldn't sleep. I closed my eyes and opened them now and then. My pillow felt damp. I probably cried, silently.

An hour or so had probably passed when someone walked in. It was Roxas. He shuffled around in the room for a while, and then I felt him approach my bunk.

"Hey. Sora?" He patted my back. I was too depressed to respond. He sighed, ruffling my hair. "Kairi's a bitch."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

When I woke up that morning, I felt like there was this big hole in my chest. There wasn't one, really…but there was this horrible empty feeling that made it strangely hard to breath.

I looked like a mess. My hair was all over the place. I had these huge bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. My palms were red and bleeding; I had a feeling I'd dug my nails into my palms too hard.

I really didn't want to go to school, but I didn't want Mom to worry over me. She had already had a bunch of other stuff to worry about.

"You sure you want to go?" Roxas asked that morning when saw me. I wondered how he'd known what had happened. "I could cover for you, tell Mom you're sick or—"

"Nah, it's fine," I croaked. If Roxas had wanted to object, he didn't show it. He nodded silently and left the room.

I rubbed my eyes and decided to get dressed. It was already quarter to nine.

I stood under the cold shower for at least ten minutes, and then got out and sluggishly pulled on my uniform. I thought of checking if Kairi had gotten dressed yet, but I decided against it. I didn't think I was ready to see her just yet.

I was taking the books I'd need for the week from the shelf when one of them fell onto the floor—it was The Book. I paused for a second, and then I picked it up. How long had it been since I last looked through it? I'd been so occupied with Kairi I hadn't even given popularity a second thought.

I flipped through The Book, trying to remember where I'd stopped. And then I saw a chapter that hit me.

"_Chapter Seven: How to get your Crush's Attention."_

I vaguely remembered flipping through it sometime in freshman year, but…

_There'll always be a time in your life when you meet a special someone. This special someone might just be in high school! If that's your case, then here're a few useful tips that are sure to get your special guy to fall for _you_!_

I rolled my eyes. I almost forgot. This book was for _girls_.

_Don't flirt! Sure, you could toss in one or two winks now and then, but generally avoid flirting. Be yourself! Guys hate girls who pretend to be something they're not. Find out who you are—a funny person? A charming person? A brainy person? And then shoot! Maintain good hygiene! See Chapter Two for more information on how to look good. Smile! A smiley person is an attractive person! When you've got all that down, you should be good to go, and—_

I lost my temper right then, and started angrily tearing at the book. Yeah, as if. The book didn't know shit about real life. Like any of that helped.

I ripped and ripped until my fingers got numb, and then I threw it angrily against the wall. I felt pretty suckish. And then I realized I'd ripped up The Book and felt even worse.

_To hell with it all_, I thought, realizing that it was now nine o'clock and I'd most likely missed my bus and would be late for homeroom again.

Sighing, I picked up my bookbag and dragged myself downstairs. Mom was trying to flip pancakes and talk to someone on the phone at the same time. She didn't see me coming in.

"What do you mean 'you paid me'?" Mom let go of the frying pan to wipe away the sweat that was gathering on her forehead. I didn't really see why she was cooking pancakes in this heat. "If you paid me I think I would have noticed." She froze. "No. I'm positive. _Yes_."

I took a seat at the table. The lightbulb in above the sink had gone out. We'd have to call for an electrician, since we were all useless with electricity.

"No. No…you _**can't**_ do this to me!" Mom whimpered into the phone. "Look—I _need _this munny! I really—you can't—_what?_"

She was silent for a long time. The pancake she was frying started to smoke. "No…you can't fire me—look, I'll take back what I s-said, and—" She froze. "Hello? _Hello_?" Mom groaned and slammed the phone down next to the huge bag of baking soda. "_Dammit_!"

It was pretty obvious what had just happened—Mom had just lost her job. Which meant things were going to get a lot more difficult from then on forward.

I didn't really know what to do. I was in a pretty messed up mood and did not at all feel like being compassionate, so I just fed on burnt pancakes and chocolate milk to fill the silence, not caring that I was totally ignoring the stupid Book's counsel.

Mom leaned against the sink, and soon enough she was sobbing silently. Our sole means of income had just disappeared. Mom probably felt like a horrible mother. I had a feeling she was starting to regret turning Zack down.

I picked up my bookbag and left the house, leaving her there, alone.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It was all over the school—Kairi and Riku were officially an item.

It was all anyone was talking about, really. Rumors were flying all over the place. I gave up trying to figure which ones were true and which ones weren't.

I missed homeroom entirely. Kairi wasn't waiting for me at my locker that morning. She was waiting at _Riku's _locker. Cause, you know, that's what normal girlfriends do. She didn't come see me in Lunch. She must have waved, but I tried not to look their way for too long. I didn't want to have to see them…get intimate.

I tried as hard as possible to steer clear of them. But it was like they were throwing it in my face. Everywhere I went, Riku and Kairi were there, sucking each other's face off. Riku and Kairi were the subject of almost all the gossip.

Kairi never went anywhere without Riku and Riku never went anywhere without Kairi. It sucked. Suddenly, almost all of our Drama Practice sessions were cancelled because Riku had planned a date for her, or she was going to hang out with Riku, or something like that. Riku was suddenly 'too busy' to continue our workout sessions. I wasn't sure whether I was happy or sad.

I sort of missed Riku as a friend…but at the same time I didn't think I could stand looking him in the face and knowing that he was dating my best friend.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

By the end of the week our fridge had started to run empty, and Roxas was the one who decided we get jobs.

We were in a rut. Ventus was going to be starting his next course in April, which meant we had less than a month to come up with the cash. It was going to be Spring Break for Roxas and I from the second week of April, which also meant our Winter school fees were due. _And _I needed a haircut. _And _we needed to fix the leak in the ceiling. And the lightbulb in the kitchen. And get the house fumigated, since it was almost insect season.

Roxas said that there was no way Mom was going to come up with the munny on her own, and, that since we were legally old enough to have our own jobs, we should help out.

Roxas, being a man of many talents, managed to find a job at a mechanic store downtown. I, on the other hand, got stuck working at McDonald's.

Yes. McDonalds.

I didn't really have that many options. There was that porn shop near the corner store that was in need of employees, but I didn't think I'd be comfortable working there. There was the _Seaside Shack_, but that seemed like the kind of place a guy like Riku would work, not a guy like me. There was a restaurant, but everyone knew that, being ADHD and all, running around with expensive china wasn't really my thing. And since I was dyslexic I was probably gonna forget everything the customer ordered if I worked as a waiter.

So, yeah, the only option I had was to work at McDonald's.

I didn't really have to do much at the interview. I just had to tell the boss my name and address and then I was hired.

As soon as I began working, though, my grades started dropping, all my free time was occupied, and I started taking more and more junk food. My shifts made it that I came home at around eleven at night on weekdays, and I ended up falling asleep quite a lot in class. My grade average dropped from a C to an E-. My grades were deteriorating again.

Well at least it meant I saw Riku and Kairi less and less.

I missed Riku.

I missed Kairi.

I wished everything could go back to how it had been before.

* * *

After a week of angsting, I realized there was no point in brooding—it wasn't gonna get me anywhere. I was her best friend, right? Who was the guy who'd urged her on? It was me, wasn't it? What was I doing bitching about it? I was supposed to be supportive of hers and Riku's relationship…what kind of best friend would I be if I moped over every single guy she dated?

And, plus, I'd pretty much brought on myself.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It was only the second week for her and Riku's relationship when I'd started to notice changes.

First of all, she was a lot gigglier. It was pretty weird. Riku would call her at least twice whenever she came over, and she'd spend the entire conversation giggling at something he said. She started chewing on her hair as well, something she never ever used to do. And she started acting more and more like her friends. It was a little off-putting. She was always in a daze whenever we hung out—which was rare since I'd gotten that job at McDonald's.

I started to think we were drifting farther and farther away each passing day. We hardly got to see each other, and it was killing me.

And then something weird happened.

* * *

We were in Drama. We'd just finished all the other scenes and all we had left were the two scenes that 'would take the most work'. Riku's Dad-I-mean-Sephiroth said we were going to be doing the scene after I found Kairi and saved her from Riku blah blah blah, which basically consisted of a few lines and a song.

"So…you ready?" Kairi asked, fiddling with her sheet of paper. I nodded, and she grinned awkwardly. She had started to wear a lot more make-up as well…and I had a feeling Riku had something to do with it.

I sighed and absently went over the lyrics to the song we were going to sing—_Superhuman _by Chris Brown and Keri Hilson. How un-Broadway-musical-like.

"You know this song?" I asked her. This was a pretty stupid question, but, well, for the sake of conversation.

She said duh. I nodded. We remained silent for a while.

It was awkward. We'd hardly seen each other the past week…I guess we'd run out of things to say to each other.

The silence was broken when Riku's Dad—um, _Sephiroth_—pressed the play button on the radio set and the piano interlude caught everyone's attention.

Everyone shushed, like they always did whenever I, Kairi, or Riku was called up to sing. I hated all the attention I was getting…which was weird because I'd never seemed to mind before.

"_Weak, I have been crying and crying for week_

_How'd I survive when I could barely speak_

_Barely eat_

_On my knees_…"

Kairi joined in, and I almost forgot to breathe. I'd forgotten just how amazing singing with her was, and I started to get carried away. I started to loosen up and soon enough I was putting my heart and soul into the song, putting all the emotion that had been weighing down on me into those lyrics…

It was ironic, really. I, the lovesick teenager, was singing about falling in love and how it empowered you and all that cheesy stuff, when I had no idea what love was.

"_You changed my whole life_

_Don't know what you're doing to me with your love…_"

I wasn't in love with Kairi, was I? Sure, I missed her like hell when she wasn't there, I dreamed about her almost every night, I felt like absolute crap as soon as I saw her with any other guy, I couldn't get enough of the way she played with her hair when she was nervous, the way she cocked her eyebrows, the way her cheeks dimpled slightly when she smiled…

I was thinking all this over as we sang, circling each other like we were in some sick teen drama, singing at the top of our lungs. It was pretty fortunate that we hadn't been given microphones.

"_Nothing can stop me here with you…_"

As we approached the end of the song, I noticed something. The way Kairi was looking at me…it was different. It wasn't her usual warm, gentle gaze…it was this look of…well, at the time I wasn't sure what it was. It looked like she was stuck somewhere in between anger and passion.

…_what?_

For some reason we started walking closer to each other, as if choreographed, as if some invisible force was drawing us together. We got closer, and I momentarily forgot where I was.

"_Superhuman…_"

Somehow my hand found its way to her face, and before I knew what I was doing I was tracing her jaw. My hand suddenly felt warm and I realized she was holding it, looking back into my eyes with that…_look_.

My heart started thudding again, and I might have lost control if the bell didn't ring at that exact moment, breaking me out of the trance.

I distantly heard the sound of clapping, and then I realized it was Ri—_Sephiroth_ who was clapping his hands. "Brilliant choreography. Taken one job off my back. Keep it up." He ticked something on his clipboard, and then he sighed. "Dismissed."

Everyone dispersed, and I slowly turned back to Kairi. She averted her gaze immediately. I was ransacking my brain for something to say in defense when Riku appeared, pulling Kairi towards him and kissing her forehead, looking at me all the while, like I was a predator and Riku was a mother hen protecting its chicks. (Well…except Riku wasn't female. And he wasn't a hen. But you get the picture.)

I tried not to let my jealousy and hurt show, and instead forced myself to grin when Kairi looked up at me. I decided to make my exit before my façade fell, and I'd almost reached the exit when Sephiroth called: "Kyumuke! Kisaragi!"

_Kisaragi? _I thought. _Who's…_

I remembered who it was when I saw the black-haired girl who was skipping up to Sephiroth. It was Yuffie, the cheerleader and karate guru.

"Hiya!" She waved when she saw me. I waved back unsurely. "I'm Yuffie!"

I nodded. "I know. You were at that party, right? I probably kissed you."

She blinked in shock, and then she started laughing. "Ohmigosh you are so _funny_!"

I didn't really get what was funny, but I went with it. Sephiroth cleared his throat.

"What's up, Mr. S?" Yuffie chirruped. She reminded me of Xion, in a way, except she was a lot bubblier—which is saying something. I wondered if she had ADHD. That would have been awesome.

"Yuffie, I'm promoting you to Chief of the Dusks."

Yuffie stared at him for a while, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. "Um. Okay. Awesome. So does this mean, like, I can summon Dusks at my will now or do I get special powers or…?"

I held back a laugh, and Sephiroth just glared at us. His eyes narrowed into slits. "No. It does not."

"Oh."

Sephiroth face-palmed and wiped some silver hair out of his eyes. I noticed once again how much his eyes resembled Riku's…sorta.

"What it means is that you've been picked to do the dance solo with Sora," he clarified.

"What? Another choreography we have to learn?" Yuffie groaned. "This is so unfair!"

"I expect you to have it perfected by Monday, no excuses." Sephiroth ended the subject with a single nod, and Yuffie sighed, looking at the sheet of paper Sephiroth had handed her.

She turned to me. "Right. So…when do we meet up? To practice…I mean…"

"I'm free tomorrow," I said with a shrug.

"Great!" Yuffie whooped. "See ya! Which bus do you take?"

I hesitated before telling her. "B-But I was thinking—"

"I'll have to call of cheer practice just for this, so please don't be late! I'll be waiting outside school for you to come out!" She grinned and brought her two forefingers to her forehead in some kind of salute. "See ya then!"

She was gone in a flash, and I sighed. Great. Now Yuffie was coming over to my house the next day and there was nothing I could do about it.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Penelo dropped by our table just as the bell rang for end of lunch period. Lightning gave her a cold look, Snow just raised an eyebrow at her, and Serah frowned dubiously. Vaan just stared blankly, which was why I had to be the one to grin. "Hey, Penelo."

She was silent for a while, and then: "Hey. Sora. Guys."

I hadn't noticed she wasn't in her cheer uniform up until that moment. Her eyes were smoky around the rims, as if she'd been crying and messed up her mascara. And her hair just fell loosely by her shoulders, which was weird. Penelo _always _tied her hair.

She sighed heavily, pressing her lips together as if doing so was the only way she'd prevent herself from bursting into tears. "I…I quit the cheer team…"

"What?" I gasped.

Penelo flinched and wiped at her eyes which were starting to fill up with tears again. "Y-Yes…"

"Why? Finally realized cheerleading wasn't your thing? Got sick of guys chasing your skirt?" Snow suggested. He didn't look that angry…just…confused.

Penelo chewed on her lip. "I…it's you guys…I was stupid enough to give up friends like you for all that…popularity nonsense. I hate being in their clique. It's all about fashion and fads and who's having sex with who and house parties and…" Her eyes filled up with tears. "I…I'm so sorry guys…I was stupid…and silly…and…"

"And it took you this long to realize it?" Lightning quipped.

There was an awkward silence in the air. I wanted so desperately to intervene…but I'd only known them since the beginning of the year, while they'd known each other since middle school. And, in Vaan and Penelo's case, since birth.

Penelo choked a sob. "I really, really hate myself right now."

Vaan walked closer to her, and, shocking all of us, put his arms on her shoulders. "Don't…sure, what you did was stupid and crazy…but I don't blame you. It's not your fault for wanting to be accepted."

Penelo stared at Vaan, and her eyes widened, as if they were being opened for the first time. "Vaan…"

And then, to everyone's surprise, she kissed him.

* * *

Another happy ending I was there to witness. Why did it seem like everyone was getting a happy ending except me?

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Vanitas was there when I got home.

He was sprawled out on the sofa, flipping through text messages on his phone. He'd apparently just finished smoking; the living room smelt faintly of smoke. Not enough to make me need to use my inhaler though, which was good.

He looked pretty serious, and, even though an old episode of School of Sex on TV (Yeah, he was on the Playboy channel.), he didn't even seem to be watching. He didn't realize I was there until I walked right in front of him, blocking the TV.

He snapped out of his trance, blinking, as if he'd just realized where he was. "Huh? Oh, hey Sora…"

I forced a smile. "Hey."

He grinned, getting to his feet. "_Hey_?" He laughed and ruffled my hair. I struggled to resist the urge to swat at his hand. It reminded me too much of how Kairi used to do that. She didn't do it anymore. "What's up with you?"

My throat clogged up. "Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "Okay." I headed for the kitchen, and he followed me. I was looking through the cupboard to see if we had any nuts left for Rodent (who was still called Rodent) to eat when Vanitas spoke up again. "That's right—you never did tell me how Riku's party went!"

I stiffened, accidentally squeezing the bag of cashews too hard and making them spill out all over the cooking surface. I cursed vehemently and started angrily scooping everything into Rodent's paper bag.

"Hey."

I ignored Van and pulled out a banana from the cupboard. It was getting pretty soft, and I wondered if it would do Rodent harm if he ate a rotting banana. It couldn't be helped though.

"Yo. Sora? What—you don't want to talk to me about it?"

I ignored him and started vigorously slicing at the banana with a kitchen knife. This probably wasn't my best idea, because me, stress, and pointy objects don't mix well.

My hand slipped, and before I knew it my hand was dripping with blood. Pain shot from my finger right up my hand and I dropped the knife with a clatter, and Van had to stumble backwards to avoid getting his foot chopped off.

"What the hell?" Van yelled. "What the fuck is your problem?"

I moaned, cradling my hand. I'd heard somewhere that putting pressure on a wound helped to stop bleeding, but I was too scared of even trying that. I bit down on my lip as my palm started throbbing.

I didn't know when I started crying. Vanitas soaked the dishcloth and wrapped it around my hand, and then he ransacked the cupboards until he found an old pack of band-aids.

He was helping me put on the band-aid when he spoke up again. "Seriously, brudda, what's up with you? Somethin' happened at the party?" He gasped. "Oh my god. You did it."

I gave him a wary glance. "Did what?"

"You know. _It._" When I still didn't get it, he rolled his eyes. "Sex. You banged a chick and you're so embarrassed about it that you almost chopped off two of your fingers—"

"I didn't have…sex…with anyone," I muttered, trying to keep my blush under control. "Just…" I sighed. "…drop it."

He frowned. "Hey, c'mon, you've been telling me everything ever since you were a kid. What's so bad that you can't tell your own brother?"

Thankfully, Roxas came home at that time, interrupting the conversation, and I took my leave before Van could to anything to stop me.

"Hey—" Was all I heard before I slammed the door to the kitchen behind me.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It was pretty hard doing homework with my severed hand, but I managed to get used to the pain. I was still struggling with my Math problems—(I was starting to regret not going to a school for dyslexics)—when the door creaked open.

At first I thought it was Roxas, and it was only when he spoke up that I realized it was Vanitas. "Hey…Roxas told me…what happened."

I stiffened. "Oh."

He quiet for a while, and then he ruffled my hair. "Hey. It's alright…"

I didn't really know what to say to that.

"Oh…and you tore up your Book…"

I nodded.

The room was cloaked in an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the evening.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

By the next day I'd completely forgotten about our little practice session that was meant to take place that afternoon, and, when Yuffie met me in the bus after school, I was totally not expecting her.

She was in a sports bra and a pair of dark shorts, and her skin was damp as if she'd been running. I supposed she had, because she had her iPod attached to her waistband and she was holding her sports bag. "Hiya! Didn't forget about me, did you?"

I shook my head. "Nope," I lied.

She squeezed my cheek, like the way a grandma did to her grandson. It was hard for me to believe she was a sophomore and I was meant to be older than her. "You're adorable."

We eventually arrived at my house. We'd spent the whole bus ride talking—well, Yuffie had at least. I was still in my suckish mood. Which wasn't a surprise, because I'd spent my whole morning watching Riku and Kairi exchange saliva. Ew.

Though I wouldn't have minded doing the same…to her, I mean.

That sounded a lot better in my head.

"This your house?" Yuffie said as soon as we'd gotten off the bus. It seemed to be crumbling in front of my very eyes. I noticed the sprinklers weren't working, which meant the grass would start drying up soon, since it was almost summer. Well, not really, but from April on it was summer on the Islands.

I nodded. She struggled to hide her disgust. I didn't blame her.

"C'mon," I said. She followed me to the house. I rang the bell about three times, and then I concluded Mom wasn't in. I sighed and unlocked the door with my key. I guessed Roxas wasn't in either. Mom was probably out looking for a job…or something.

Yuffie followed me up to my room, silently. I sighed. "You can say my house looks like crap—I know."

She was quiet for a while, and then her voice appeared again. "Your house looks like crap."

I smiled, and it was weird that it wasn't forced.

She seemed to regain her voice and bubbly persona and was suddenly skipping ahead of me. Seriously, she resembled Xion in so many ways…I wouldn't have been surprised if she was somehow related to her. She disappeared down the corridor, and for a second I panicked. What if she found my old laundry? What if she found the girls magazines I'd stocked under my bed? (Don't ask—I went through this phase…it's a long story.) What if she found…the Book?

I blanched. Hell, if that ever happened…I didn't even know how I'd be able to face anyone in school.

I sprinted down the corridor, but thankfully she hadn't even found my room yet. Or maybe she had, but she was just being polite and not opening the door yet.

I told her I needed to clean up a bit first, so I left her to wait outside while I made sure all the embarrassing stuff were well hidden. I changed into a more comfortable outfit—jeans and a t-shirt—and then let her back in. This all took about a minute.

Yuffie was still there when I came out. She was texting to someone on her cell, and she quickly tucked her phone in her pocket when she realized I was there. I figured she was texting one of her gossipy friends.

I let her into my room and started rummaging through the shelf for the KINGDOM HEARTS CD.

"What song're we doin'?" I heard Yuffie ask. She'd slipped her phone out again, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"More," I replied. "By Usher."

"I love that song. And you're a pretty good singer."

I said thanks. She frowned. "…that Kairi thing really got to you, huh?"

I flinched. "You…what are you talking about?"

"Don't deny it," she snorted. "Everyone knows you're horny for Kairi."

"Wh-what?" I sputtered. "I…" My face felt increasingly warm.

"It's pretty obvious." She cocked one of her eyebrows. "Whenever you're with Kairi, you…ahem."

I blushed when I noticed where she was looking. "_Oh_."

"And people sorta notice."

I felt really awkward. Here I was, in my bedroom, with a girl who was addressing my…ahem. "W-Well…she doesn't. And she isn't ever gonna notice anyway, now that she's with Riku and…" I sighed, with effort. "Let's just get on with it, okay?"

I started heading to the boombox, but Yuffie stopped me. "Look…I think you shouldn't take this so seriously. Riku and Kairi…Riku's obviously just using her. I mean, I think they make a pretty cute couple and everything, but I'd much sooner see her with you."

I stared at her. "What?"

"Penelo…told me what happened at the party." Yuffie nibbled on one of her nails. She sighed when she saw the look on my face. "Look, Penelo was my friend too. It was kinda painful when she quit the cheer team. And…well, I knew she had a crush on you for a while…but I wasn't stupid enough not to notice how you liked Kairi. And…well, I did try to warn her, but she didn't listen…" She smirked. "Is it really true that she almost raped you?"

I felt myself start to blush again. I hoped she assumed it was the heat. "W-Well…"

"And then you said, I quote, 'You're a beautiful, caring and creative girl, and I'm sure the right person will come for you'."

I was startled at the accuracy. I didn't even remember saying all that.

"You're a really nice guy, Sora. I'd always thought you were pretty weird…but, you know, I'm not really all that shallow…like the rest of my friends." She rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I've even thought about coming over to you guys' table." Yuffie grinned at me, and I felt myself smile.

Her grin widened. "You should do that a lot more. You're actually really cute when you smile."

The pain in my chest lessened, albeit only slightly, at her words, and I grinned widely, for the first time in ages.

I actually ended up having fun with her. We goofed around trying to learn the dance moves, and I found myself genuinely laughing once in a while. Yuffie wasn't Kairi, but…I had a feeling she would be a pretty nice friend. For a moment, the pain was numbed, and I felt…okay.

I was pretty surprised when I checked the clock and realized it was almost five, and that in less than two hours I'd have to be in front of the counter at McDonald's, calculating prices with the number machine and yelling out orders.

"Thanks for inviting me over," Yuffie said as I showed her out the door. I didn't think it'd be nice to point out that she'd invited herself over…so I didn't. "I actually…had fun!"

"Me too," I replied. I didn't have to force myself to sound genuine.

She grinned, squeezed my hand, and then patted me on the shoulder. "See ya around, buddy."

I grinned back at her, and waved until she'd disappeared around the corner.

And then the feeling started slowly coming back.

I sighed, locking the door behind me, and thought of what to do to spend my time. I decided to feed Rodent first, and took his bag of nuts out to the back yard. He'd been eating healthily for a while now…and his leg seemed to be healing. Sorta. I knew I should have probably taken him to a vet…but I wasn't sure if vets did that kind of stuff for small animals like Rodent. Rodent had come to recognize me, though, and scurried up to me when I brought him his food.

I loved the feeling of his tiny paws on my palm… Sometimes I spent the whole evening in the garden, feeling him play in my hair, chew on my clothes, and even sometimes run around on my face. I'd sorta grown attached to him…though I still hadn't thought up a name.

After spending about five minutes with him, I decided I'd better go back upstairs and probably lift a few weights. Yes, I'd been doing that. Since Riku was never free anymore…and since I'd been eating way too much junk food I'd figured lifting weights would be good for my health.

Turns out Roxas had a few old dumbbells in his closet, so I'd been using them once in a while, whenever I had free time. (Which was rare). But I'd started to feel some changes…sorta. It was getting _easier_.

I lifted the weights for a while, only using my good, undamaged hand this time, because I didn't want to open up the wound again. That wouldn't have been smart.

As I did this, I thought of how much I missed Riku.

"Riku…" I whispered. "…have you given up on me?"

I shook my head. It was stupid, talking to myself. Riku was probably off somewhere with…Kairi.

As I pulled off my shirt to do push-ups, I had this strange feeling someone was watching me.

But I pushed it aside. I was always being paranoid.

I dropped to the ground, starting my workout. _1…2…3…_

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I was surprised the next day when the bell rang and I opened it to find Riku at the door.

He was in his usual workout attire, except this time he was shirtless. Yeah, leave it to Riku to show off his abs to the world.

"Hey." He waved uncertainly. "You…you're up."

I stared at him. "What are you doing here?" I felt like crap; I'd come back at midnight the night before, because the boss had kept me late to serve a bunch of Blobs who were having a late-night birthday party.

He frowned slightly. "Well I came to pick you up. Step to it—we gotta hit the beach in ten."

I opened my mouth to ask him why the hell he hadn't shown up for over a week when he yelled at me again. I sighed and obeyed him, going upstairs to pull on the first pair of shorts I could find before running back down to meet him.

He was waving to a group of women from across the road. I recognized one of two of them. One of them was the pregnant woman from down the street. They were all checking him out, and liking what they saw.

I felt like telling them that he was eighteen and still in high school, while they were well into their twenties, but I didn't. Riku grinned when he saw me. "You ready?"

I nodded, and we set off jogging.

The atmosphere was weird, because I hadn't seen him for over a week and here he appears, seemingly out of the blue, saying we should go work out.

I decided to let it drop and just enjoy the fact that Riku hadn't forgotten about me.

We ran for a while, did some fitness exercises down at the beach instead of going to the gym, and swam for a little, because Riku insisted. And then we headed back up to Riku's car.

I was sweating so much I was scared I'd stained his car. He switched on the air-conditioning, but all it blew was hot air, so we wound down the windows instead. Riku's ponytail started flapping, and I amused myself by watching it lift, and drop, and lift, and then drop again. It was weirdly distracting. But that's probably just my ADHD talking.

I started wondering where we were going when we didn't take the right turn into my street. "Hey…where—"

"Thought you'd want a drink after all that."

He drove for about three more minutes, and we were there, in a weird side of town I'd never seen before. The houses all had green gardens and flowers and huge porches and gargoyle statues and fountains and turrets and…it was like the Beverly Hills of Destiny Islands. I thought that one of those houses might be Riku's, and I started wondering—did it have an indoor pool? Did it have naked Cupids who spouted out water out from their navels? Did it have a huge watchtower, or maybe a moat and a large balcony with a ping pong table and a—

Well. It didn't.

We drove straight past the Beverly Hills-like place and into _another _side of town. And then we got to Riku's house.

It didn't look at all like how I'd imagined it. I'd always imagined it was this huge mansion with a huge green-grassed garden and a private pool and maybe even a private jet parked in the backyard. But it wasn't.

The grass was still green, yeah, but the house just looked…normal.

I'd never imagined someone as rich as Riku—who could afford to rent the Emporium for his birthday and get vehicles for his birthday and buy countless girls—would live in a house so…normal.

He led me inside and…well. It was as equally normal inside as it was outside. And it was a little eerie. The walls were empty—devoid of any photographs. It looked like there had been a bunch that had been hung on the walls, judging from the nail markings and the faded squares that dotted the beige walls in the corridor.

The carpet was a dark red color…like blood. I remembered Sephiroth lived here…and I felt myself shiver.

"Impressive, huh?" Riku said as he led me to the kitchen. His voice was laced with sarcasm. He knew it too.

I shrugged. "It's better than mine."

He chuckled and opened his fridge…which wasn't some high-power five-thousand-munny one either. It was just…normal. Like his kitchen. His kitchen looked like it hadn't been touched or cleaned in ages. There was a yogurt tin next to the sink that, if I was reading it correctly, contained yogurt that had expired half a year ago.

"Want anything? Red Bull? Gatorade? Pepsi? Beer?"

I laughed at the last suggestion. "Right. I totally wanna get thrown off campus today at school."

Riku frowned in confusion. "We don't have school today. It's a national holiday."

I face-palmed. "Right. I knew that." There were a bunch of public holidays thrown all over the place…I didn't even know what the holiday was for, probably some guy killed some other guy some thousand years ago and they decided to commemorate it. That was basically the theme of all the public holidays we had. And then there were the traditional ones, like Christmas, and Easter, and Halloween…

Anyway…

He tossed me a Gatorade, and we sipped companionably for a while. "How you been?" Riku asked after a while. The loose strands of hair that had escaped from his ponytail were framing his face. If I forgot about him from his neck down, I might have mistaken him for a girl.

I shrugged. I wasn't about to tell him. "Been okay. What about you and Kairi? Things goin' okay?"

Riku took a while to answer. "Yeah…we're good."

"How far've you got?" I found myself asking. "With her, I mean?"

Riku blushed. "That's not really any of your business…"

I shrugged. "Okay. Just curious."

It was quiet again.

Riku finished his drink and tossed it into the trash. "You up for a movie?"

I shrugged, and I followed him to his living room. There was a huge HD flatscreen. It looked a bit odd in the way-too-normal house.

Speaking of TVs…we'd probably end up having to sell our flatscreen back home if Mom's financial problems didn't clear up…

"So, I've got Limitless, Killer Elite and Blood Diamond. What're you up for?"

"Wow. Action. Yay."

I felt my blood curdling just from hearing the name, but I didn't want to let Riku know about my fear of…violent movies.

So I picked Limitless, since it was the only movie that didn't have 'blood' or 'kill' in the title, and cause it had that guy from The Hangover in it. (Yeah, I'd watched the notorious 'best R-rated movie of all time' ages ago, with Vanitas as soon as it came out.) At first it didn't look so bad—it was about a writer, Eddie Mora, whose life was going crapped up, and then he meets this guy who offers him this drug that lets him access all of his brain…or something like that. When the first person got killed, I flinched slightly, but then I thought "Hey, this might not be so bad." Maybe I was finally getting over my fear of blood and joining the millions of teenage guys who were entertained by action movies.

But then it got worse. More people died. There were more and more fight scenes. And, as the end neared and Eddie Mora ended up drinking someone's blood to take in what was left of the drug from his bloodstream, I couldn't take it anymore.

I felt my stomach lurch and I had to cover my mouth to prevent me from puking.

"You okay?" I heard Riku ask. I tried to nod, but then my stomach churned again and I couldn't take it anymore.

I stumbled to the nearest bathroom and threw up in the toilet. My throat burned as I spewed out all the food I'd consumed that morning (like popcorn, and hotdogs, and other movie food), and I felt sorry for whoever was gonna use the bathroom after that.

As I struggled to calm my stomach, I felt someone rubbing my back, and was surprised when I found out it was Riku. He was smiling slightly—no, he was smirking…

"You're such a pansy," Riku declared, as if I didn't know that already.

"Well, sorry for not liking to watch people cut themselves up."

Riku laughed and patted me on the back again. "Look, you asked for it."

I didn't really know how to answer that, so I kept quiet. All the puking seemed to have stopped, and I decided to rinse out the taste from my mouth. Riku disappeared and reappeared with a glass of water and a bottle of what I assumed was some kind of painkiller drug or something. He shrugged. "It helps."

I took it and downed the water before giving it back. "Thanks."

He disappeared to go an take it back while I went back to the living room. The credits were rolling. "What happened at the end?"

"He got over his addiction," Riku said with a shrug. "I've watched it at least ten times."

I nodded. "Right."

Riku smirked. "You up for another movie?"

My stomach flipped. "Not…not really."

Riku laughed. "Look, we could watch the Hangover or something…you've watched that, right?"

I said yes, but that I wanted to watch it again, so we did. The jokes never seemed to get old, and I ended up laughing more than I had for a while. The tension in the air had completely disappeared.

After we finished the movie, Riku said we'd be going down to the beach again. For a walk, he explained. So we did.

There were a lot more people now, and I felt pretty self-conscious. Riku had given me one of his shirts when I'd sweated all over mine, and it was way too big for me. Riku was pretty happy going around shirtless, but I wasn't.

We jogged down the beach again, but Riku didn't really tell me where we were going. We got all the way to the far end, and then, after taking a few more twists and turns we arrived at the end, where the levies blocked all passage.

"Okay…so I guess we just run back now, huh?" I muttered.

Riku shook his head. "Nope. Look up there."

He pointed to a large hole in the wall that was hidden behind the leaves of a coconut tree. The hole was so large Riku and I could have passed through it no problem.

"Whoa," I whispered. "Where does it lead?"

"No idea," Riku replied. "I saw it a few days back and though of exploring…but then I remembered that's your thing."

I felt myself grin. "Shall we?"

Riku's smile said it all. I grinned back, and then I looked around. How were we gonna get up? I noticed that a few of the trees were taller than the one facing the hole in the wall. If I could just climb up on one of them…

I headed to the shortest tree and got to work climbing on it.

Well, I did. Riku just lingered on the ground for a moment. I was almost at the top when Riku said: "You look like you're humping the tree."

I laughed at that. "C'mon. This is the only way up."

He hesitated. "Y'know, I was thinking maybe we could build a ladder or—"

"C'mon, it's easy!" I chuckled. I wasn't really the one to say anything, since before I met Kairi I had no idea how to climb anything. Months of hanging out with her had taught me loads, like how to climb a tree. "Look, you have to find a hollow space in the branch…"

"You look like a monkey humping a tree," Riku muttered.

I huffed. "Look, weren't you the one who wanted to show me this place?"

He crossed his arms. "Yeah. I was. But…" He scratched the bridge of his nose, like he was trying to hide the way his face was turning red. He was embarrassed, obviously. "I was thinking maybe you could help me…get…up there."

I grinned. "Sure."

I somehow managed to help him climb up the tree, nearly breaking my arm in the process. "Okay, so now all we gotta do is jump."

"The hell?" He shrieked. "Look at the…we'd fall!"

I shook my head, even though I was starting to fear the same. "No we won't. It just takes time, direction and perseverance."

"I knew it. You're suicidal. Go ahead—kill yourself, but don't you dare take me with you."

I rolled my eyes. And he said _I _was a drama queen sometimes. "Seriously, Riku? You're scared of heights?"

He scowled. "No, but I'm scared of falling and shattering into pieces."

"Nuance."

He made this weird growling sound at the back of his throat, as if he was trying to threaten me but too trembling too much to do so.

I took a deep breath and began the trip. I took the first jump, and didn't fall off, so I took the next jump. Only one more jump to go.

"Sora!" I heard Riku yell. "Don't you _dare _leave me here."

I grinned. "I thought you said I shouldn't take you with me?"

"…I take back what I said. I'm too young to die. I've got years ahead of me, a bright future, with a wife and twins and a million-dollar mansion in Beverly Hills."

I sighed and went back to help him. Jumping came naturally to me. I guess I'd jumped a lot as a kid. I had ADHD, after all.

I managed to help him get all the way up to where I was, and then he panicked. "No way. No way, Sora. I'm gonna miss it. There's no way I'm making that jump."

"Sure you are!" I patted him on the back. This probably wasn't a good idea because I almost made him lose his balance and fall off. He glared at me as soon as he'd regained it, and I smiled apologetically. "Sorry?"

He sighed. "You go first."

I did. And I made it. Which was pretty surprising. I did end up almost slipping on some vulture eggs and tumbling to my doom, but…yeah. Otherwise it was a soft landing. "C'mon, Riku! It's safe!"

He muttered something, and then he took a deep breath and jumped.

Five seconds later I was seeing stars and Riku was on top of me.

"What the hell?" I winced. "I didn't tell you to jump me!"

He glared at me, and punched my arm. "Your fault for not getting out of the way." He shuffled awkwardly and got off of me, and then he stood up. I rubbed the back of my head, which was now throbbing. He'd ended up jumping me and pushing me all the way into the cove.

I got to my feet as well and followed him. There were two blocks of wood nailed to the sides of the rock, but Riku somehow managed to pull them off. Behind that was a sheet of seaweed blocking the entrance, like a curtain.

"Talk about _The Secret Garden_."

Riku rolled his eyes, opened it, and then he gasped. "The hell…?"

I couldn't believe what I was seeing either. Overlooking us, through the whole in the wall, was a cove. No, a beach. Hell…it was like it had been part of the beach all the tourists went to ages ago, judging from the old beach chairs and the torn umbrellas littering the bay. But the sea was still there, crystalline and blue, the waves crashing ceaselessly against the shore.

"Oh my god it's a beach," I whispered. I realized that there was what seemed to be some kind of obstacle course, and it seemed to have been abandoned for years. We managed to climb down via paved rocks, and I wondered why the place felt so…familiar.

The beach was obviously an old resort. There was a large fallen billboard that read '_The Cove_', and a few collapsed food stands. There was an old radio, but it wasn't playing any music, obviously. The only music was the sound of the waves.

"Wow," Riku muttered. "This is…disappointing."

"No it's not," I retorted. "This…this could be, like, our private beach."

He nodded, and then he followed me as we started exploring it more. I was trying hard to remember where I'd seen this place before…

And then I stepped on something.

It was a wooden sword, carved by someone obviously skilled. And then there was another one, carved like a key. I picked up the key-shaped one and read the name: _Ventus_.

"No way…" I whispered. And suddenly I remembered. Memories came flooding back, memories that had been pushed to the back of my mind since…

"Badass sword, Sora," Riku commented. "Where'd you find it? It sorta looks like a—"

"Key," I whispered. "A Keyblade."

Riku stared at me. "What? Isn't that, like, what the swords are called in that video game out play is meant to be based on?"

I nodded, inspecting the Keyblade again. It was slightly worn with age, and one of the teeth was chipped, but it was still unmistakeably Ventus'. "This is my brother's toy sword. He made it…ages ago."

"How did he know…?" The question was lingering in my head too. How…weird. I started wondering if Ventus had written the storyline for Kingdom Hearts…but that would have been ridiculous. Or maybe he'd given someone the idea. Or…maybe it was just a coincidence.

The silence carried on for a while, and then Riku cleared his throat. "So. Up for a brawl?"

I shrugged. One brawl wouldn't hurt. I didn't have any knowledge of how to sword fight…or maybe I did.

Riku let me keep the key, because, as he'd said, the shape of his sword gave him an advantage. He'd apparently done fencing, or something, when he was a kid. Heck, he did _everything _when he was a kid.

We counted to three, and then we began.

In three moves, I'd managed to steal his sword away from his grasp.

He gaped at me as his sword fell to the sand with a clatter. "Where…where did you learn to do that?"

I didn't really know. It just came naturally. Or maybe…

I remembered all of a sudden. Ventus…he'd taught me. With the sword I was holding. How old was I…four, five?

I felt my throat start closing up. I just realized then how much I missed him. I hadn't seen him for almost a year now…it was crazy.

"Hey, I call a rematch," Riku declared, picking up his sword again. "And I'm not letting you off easy this time."

We did play again, and the stupid abandoned feeling lessened. The hole in my chest felt like it was closing up even more, though not completely. I didn't think I'd ever be that healed. I knew it was only temporary. Because Kairi…

No. I wouldn't think about her. That much.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

After a whole hour of brawling, we were sweaty and tired, and decided to head home. We climbed back up the way we'd come, and out through the hole in the wall. Coming back was a lot harder than coming in; instead of climbing up the tree we had to climb down. This was strangely okay for me, but not for Riku.

One second he was scowling and muttering about how he hated climbing and how we should have gotten a ladder, next second he was on the floor, groaning and holding his ankle.

I ran up to him, panicking. "You okay?"

He glared at me. "Yeah, I'm just _FINE, _Sora!"

I frowned. "No you're not. You're groaning and your foot's swollen and—"

"I KNOW THAT!" He growled. "I think I've broken something…just…this is all _your _stupid fault!"

I didn't know what to say to that, because it kind of was. He was making me feel even more guilty though, which sucked. "C'mon. Lemme help you up."

He glared at me and tried to get up by himself, but eventually took my hand when he realized it was pointless trying to move anywhere on his own. I slipped one of his arms over my shoulder and used my other hand to hold him up by his belt. It was pretty weird but he was way more muscular than me and there wasn't really any other way for me to hold him.

He winced at first, but eventually got used to it, moving his okay foot and making sure to put as little pressure on his swollen one. I prayed he hadn't broken a bone or anything…because that would have sucked. I knew I couldn't yell at him that it was partially his fault for sucking so much at tree climbing, because Riku would probably make up some story, the whole team would yell at me for ruining their chances of ever getting to Nationals, (because Riku's leg probably wouldn't heal for months), and my social life would go down the drain. Again.

We walked for a while, in silence. Thankfully, there weren't that many people on the beach. It was getting dark. I wondered how long we'd been out, and what time it was.

"You know…" Riku said after a while. "I always figured I was better at stuff than you."

I tried to keep a neutral expression. "Hm. Really?"

He looked at me, sort of looking guilty. "Are you mad?"

I shook my head, smiling a little. "Nah…I always figured that too."

We walked in silence for a bit, and then Riku complained that his leg was hurting and he needed to rest for a bit, so we did, right next to the shore. The waves nipped at our feet, soaking them with water. It was pretty soothing, really. I'd sweated right through Riku's shirt.

I leaned back and closed my eyes, inhaling the sea breeze. It felt strangely…peaceful.

"You like Kairi, don't you?"

I flinched, and the peaceful feeling disappeared. The feeling in my chest started spreading again, and I kept my eyes on the waves. "Yeah."

He was quiet for a bit. "Sora…I know you might think I just asked Kairi out because I want sex, but…" He hesitated. "Honestly, Sora, I really, _really _like her. I want…I don't know what I'd do if we ever ended up breaking up…I'm serious about her, and…" He sighed. "You get that, don't you?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

He shook my shoulder. "Hey. Look at me." I did. "I just want you to know that I'd never _ever _do anything that would hurt her."

I sighed, turning to him with a forced smile. "You'd better not." He nodded in determination, and my smile suddenly wasn't so forced. Weird. "You know…I'm actually happy for you guys. Happy for her…she has someone as good as you…to make her happy."

What was even weirder was that I meant it.

He looked like he felt guilty for something he said. I shrugged at him to show I didn't mind, and then looked back over at the waves.

"What I said back there…about thinking I was better at stuff than you…" I turned to him as he spoke up again. "To tell you the truth, Sora…I was jealous of you."

I stared at him. "What for?"

He lowered his gaze, frowning slightly. "I wished I could live life the way you do…just following my heart." He sighed. "I don't get how you stay so nice…no matter what anyone throws at you."

I shrugged, feeling a little flattered. "Yeah…well, I've got my own share of problems too."

Riku looked at me, his eyes tinted gold in the sunset. "Like what?"

I had a long list, but I just stated the obvious one. "Like…wanting to be like you."

Riku averted his gaze, and then a small smile crept up on his face. "Well, there is one advantage to being me. Something you could never imitate."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, and smirked. "Really? What's that?"

And then he turned to me, and, shocking me, said: "Having you for a friend."

I stared at him, feeling this weird warm feeling in my chest. It wasn't quite what I felt around Kairi...but it was something I didn't think I'd felt before. I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but, for a split-second, the pain in my chest just…disappeared.

I felt myself smile, and I looked at the waves again. "Then I guess…I'm okay the way I am." I grinned. "I've got something you could never imitate too."

* * *

I felt strangely reassured.

Sure, my heart still hadn't healed…but if there was one guy I'd recommend for Kairi that wasn't me…it was him.

Riku. Riku Harada.

This was the guy who was dating my best friend.

* * *

**EDIT: Howwuzat? Any better? Don't worry—there's still a bunch of Sora angst left over for the next chappie! *groans* He's not completely recovered. YAY FOR BROMANCE! **

**Hopefully you're all reading the edited version… :D **

**I know…not my best….and a lot of you probably hate me…**

**This IS thirty-borderline-forty pages now, exactly what I'd tried to avoid. And I intended on writing more…but, seriously, you guys have lives. **

**Don't worry…SoKai isn't completely dead…yet.**

**Shoutout to ShallowAbyss-chan for the Yuffie/Sora scene idea! And I totally disclaim the KHII ending dialogue. **

**Thank you all for your submissions! And here's a little preview of the next chappie… :D**

* * *

**Sneek Peek: **

"_What happened to your hair?"_

"_Rodent? That's seriously his name?"_

"_Aerith..."_

"_Van…I think we should stop seeing each other."_

* * *

**Hehe…honestly I've got the whole next chappie planned out, so yeah. Feel free to point out any errors. :D **

**Haha well…onto Angel! *everyone groans* **

**P.S: Didn't go to the concert. Yeah. My life sucks. ||dies||**


	27. Sweet Disposition

**A/N: Yeaah…so the last chappie probably pissed a lot of you guys off. Not gonna piss you off anymore with a super-duper-long author's note…for those of you that even read these…**

**Replies…**

**Superpeanutbutter: THANKIES! Haha I know…AAAANGST! THERE SHALL BE MORE…AAANGST! RiKai rocks my socks off though. :D Sora/Yuffie…that wasn't really a pairing, I just wanted Kairi to get jealous. Lolzers. Lol YAY BROMAAAANCE. xD And, yes, I once again tried—emphasis on TRIED—to relate this terrible high-school AU to the game. I even tried to fit in Donald and Goofy into this chappie… XD And, honestly, I think I might have gotten that from you. I was trying to figure out who'd told me something like that… XD BTW…one of your ideas comes up in the next chappie! YAYZ! Thanks…but I'm so NOT the best writer out there! My FLAWS are FLAWED! (?) But yeah…go read 'White Knight' and then you'll see what a real KH-fanfic-writer is! D: With that said…ENJOY! **

**The Traveler: Haha thanks! Finally the Keyblade has arrived…only it's Ven's. But whatever. :D SAD SORA FTW. Haha and as for the concert…NO WORRIES! I'm over it…sorta… *sniffs* But yeah, my angsting has to come to an end someday. MORE SORA ANGST! Enjoy! **

**Thaumaturgic Adversary: Um…no. But, sure, Riku's a 'star', but…GAH. BROMANCE ONLY. **

**Arcticstar: Haha yeah… :D You'll see why she's acting differently…and it has to do with SORA! I wanna hug him too…but there's still a bit of angst left before then. :D **

**Jellybean2799: Haha you will. ^_^ Riku can't climb LOL…and Sora's family is pretty crappy, true. Sephiroth didn't move out or die, sadly. (LOLCOPTER). Kairi's…being a girl and chatting with her friends, or something. SoRiku…BROMANCE! And yay Roxas! As for Riku…he can't her over just yet. You'll see why…**

**JustSomeRandomPerson: OKIE CHOKES! :D **

**About this chappie: More angsting…a little SoKai…REGIONALS…and a BIG secret will be revealed. Read on. **

**Disclaimer: PFFFTTTTUZNODFULHSDUNF. Don't own 'Fix A Heart', '2 Is Better Than 1' or 'Pretty Girl Rock'.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I give Kairi up._

"Of course I'll go out with you, Riku."

_Mom loses her job…_

"No…you can't fire me—look, I'll take back what I s-said, and—"

_Kairi and I are drifting farther and farther apart…_

Kairi never went anywhere without Riku and Riku never went anywhere without Kairi.

_And Penelo and Vaan…_

To everyone's surprise, Penelo kissed him.

_Yeah…so someone else who's got their happy ending. _

_Like hell that's ever gonna happen to me._

* * *

**Chapter 27: Sweet Disposition**

It was the third week of Riku and Kairi being an official couple. Riku and I hadn't really done that many workouts, but we continued to spar at the Cove whenever we could. Riku said he didn't tell Kairi about it, and I started to wonder why the hell not. I mean, if I was him I probably would have told her immediately…but whatever.

Anyway, I was at my locker, fiddling with the lock when someone tapped on my shoulder.

"Hey, Sora!"

I inhaled deeply to stable my heartbeat. Kairi voice did that to me sometimes. And I had to try a lot harder lately to keep a happy face, so my smile was pretty much forced. "Hey, Kai—whoa!"

I dropped my books, which probably wasn't a good idea. I'd been holding my 3-ton History textbook, and I yelped in pain as it crushed my unfortunate foot.

"Ohmygod are you okay?" Kairi gasped, bending down to help me pick up my books.

I was barely able to choke out my reply. "You…Y-you—You cut your _hair_?"

I didn't even have to wait for an answer, because it was pretty obvious she had. It was so drastically cut everyone around her was staring in shock. It was so short it barely touched her shoulders, but it was still the same vibrant red color, so at least she hadn't changed that. Even her _fringe _had been modified; it was now swept sideways to the right, tucked neatly behind her ear.

Her new haircut made her look different. Older? Cuter?

No, _sexier_. But _so _not Kairi.

Which pretty much pissed me off.

She frowned slightly, brushing nervously at her fringe. "What—you don't like it?"

"I…" I didn't really know how to answer that. Kairi's long redwine cinnamon-scented locks had been one of the many things I loved about Kairi's looks. And now all of it—well, most of it—had gone. I _hated _that she'd cut her hair.

But I couldn't exactly tell her that. One look at that disappointed frown and I knew that wasn't an option.

"I-I love it! It was just that you look so different…" I hesitated. "In a good way!"

Her face lit up. "Really?"

"Totally," I lied. Well, maybe I'd get used to it eventually.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I still ended up having to go to the glee club Regionals that Friday. Kairi said that without me there she wouldn't be able to perform. Yeah, right. I wasn't _that _important.

I had to get Vanitas to pick me up after work at McDonald's, and ended up having to go to the Regionals smelling like burnt steak and sizzling oil. I'd gotten an unflattering burn on my arm that afternoon while delivering a packet of greasy French fries, and it looked pretty gross.

"So…you sure you wanna go to this thing?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

He shrugged. "No reason."

We both knew there was a reason, but we'd been trying to steer clear of the 'Kairi' subject lately. Vanitas knew I didn't want to talk about it.

"Hm. So…you and Riku've been hanging out, huh?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

He grinned. "Weird, huh? Never thought that'd happen."

"Hm." I absently scratched at my arm, remembering the last time Riku and I had talked.

"_Honestly, Sora, I really, really like her."_

I sighed. I didn't know whether he was serious or if it was just temporary…but I knew I didn't have the right to mess any of that up, to interfere with their happiness. I wondered if Riku was gonna be there…well of course he was. Kairi was probably gonna be singing a freaking song dedicated to him.

I suddenly felt like telling Van to turn the car around so we could go home.

The Regionals were held on the East Island, so we had to drive for at least an hour before we got there. Van's phone wouldn't stop ringing, but he wouldn't let me pick it up or see who was calling. Weird.

We eventually arrived there, and I once again wished I'd thought of dressing up better. It all looked pretty official, and I was in my smelly t-shirt and plaid uniform pants. Van decided to come inside with me this time for some reason, and he was texting for the whole time we were in the queue.

When we eventually got into the huge arena, most of the seats were already taken, but we managed to find some okay seats not too far from the stage. As Van continued texting god-knows-who, I absently searched around for Riku and his friends to see where they were, and found them up front. I didn't have to guess how they got the tickets for those seats. Riku was with them, after all.

Even though I'd seen Riku's house and it hadn't been anything that special.

I sighed, thinking of eavesdropping on Van's text convo when the lights dimmed and a brown-haired woman took the stage. She went through the typical before-show routine of announcing what the glee club and how it went, introducing the judges, introducing herself, bla bla bla.

And then she let the first group take the stage.

It wasn't our school, unfortunately, but a bunch of _guys _from a school from Spira, which was, apparently, a city in our Region. The main guy had long blue hair, and I might have assumed he was gay just based on that fact if he hadn't been so freaking brawny. He made Riku look…well, less brawny.

I wondered what a guy like him was doing singing in a glee club.

Whatever, he had an awesome voice. I had a feeling he'd get famous one day. His glee club made my version of 'Never Gonna Leave This Bed' sound like grade-A crap, and that cheesy Backstreet Boy song sound like a pop hit. Seriously, they were that good.

Anyway, when they were done, everyone clapped for them, and a bunch of girls I assumed were from his preppy high school cheered Blue Hair's name. If I'd heard them correctly, his name was Seymour. Hm.

Well, the Songstresses weren't next, which sucked. I hoped this wasn't going to become a routine. A group of girls and guys from Ivalice—(which I remembered was Penelo and Vaan's hometown/island/whatever)—bounced onto stage and impressed the crowd with their upbeat dance-pop hip-hop bop-whatever routines, while I wondered whether or not we were having pasta for dinner.

After what seemed like hours, they finally finished with their…thing, and it was the Songstresses turn.

I heard a bunch of guys that must have been from our school cheering Yuna, Lenne and Kairi's names as the lights flashed and they strutted onto stage. Well, the girls strutted, while the guys skipped.

The main singer in the first song, surprisingly, wasn't Kairi, Yuna _or _Lenne. It was Serah. Which probably surprised the hell out of the guys.

She sang '_Fix A Heart_' by Demi Lovato, which was a surprising song choice. She had a surprisingly amazing voice, and I wondered why they hadn't used her before. Probably because Yuna and Lenne loved being viewed as 'the best'. I noticed Tidus was with them too, and I wondered when the hell he'd joined.

Whatever. He had a great singing voice, and it actually sounded pretty nice when Serah and Tidus sang in harmony.

_You never really can fix a heart…_

And then the next song came on—and the next main singers were Irvine, Hope, Selphie, and Olette. I was wowed, to be honest. I wondered if Roxas knew Olette could sing so well. It was pretty awesome, to say the least. And the choreography was brilliant. It was all pretty entertaining.

The final song was the best, though—at least to me. (Though this was probably because Kairi was one of the main singers, and she was wearing an alluring outfit.) Anywho, the song—which I'd never heard before—was catchy, the choreography was fun and bright and lively, and it was pretty obvious the _Songstresses _obviously got the crowd's attention by the end.

"God, if only I was three years younger…" I heard Van mutter. I didn't know whether to roll my eyes in disgust or laugh at his comment.

Anyway, everyone clapped as their lineup came to an end. The brunette woman announced the intermission, and I decided to stretch my legs. I told Van I was going for a walk before making my way around the arena. I walked by people I didn't know, smiling politely when appropriate. I heard someone talk about how I smelt like grease, but decided not to retaliate. It was true, after all.

I passed by Riku and his friends, averting my gaze when I noticed Kairi was with them, and searched around for anyone else I might know. I was thinking of turning back when I bumped into some people I recognized.

"Hey, Sora!" Vaan greeted with a small grin. This was so unexpected that it took me a while to smile back. Well, I'd never seen him smile, that is. So it was pretty weird seeing him all smiley and all that.

Penelo blushed, and it was weird how much I noticed now that I knew she had had a crush on me. "You came."

I nodded. "Yeah…Kairi kinda made me."

I intended it to be a joke, but all I earned was a pair of sympathetic frowns.

We talked about random stuff for a while—like where I was sitting and whether I'd done the Math homework and why I smelt like potato oil—until the woman announced that the intermission was over and that I had to go back to my seat.

Van was still there, still texting. I wondered if he was sexting again. I decided not to ask, and waited for the results to be announced.

* * *

They won. Which was probably a surprise to pretty much everyone.

Except me. I kind of knew they'd win.

I thought of going to see Kairi, but then I realized she'd probably be with Riku. She wouldn't need me there.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Zack turned up at our door on Saturday afternoon.

We were all feasting on pizza leftovers in front of the TV—it was our only day off in the entire week—when the doorbell rang. Mom was the only one who wasn't really eating, so she volunteered to go open the door.

If it had been any of us who'd opened it, things might have turned out a little bit different.

But, no, Mom opened it, and in came Zack.

Roxas froze as soon as Zack's eyes met his. It was dead silent apart from the guy on the news talking about the economic crisis, and I had a feeling we all expected Roxas to explode at any time.

But he didn't. He just gave Zack a glare and stormed upstairs. Mom sighed, and Zack gave me a nervous wave. "Hey, Sora."

I didn't answer.

"Um…Sora…?" Mom hesitated, but I got what she was trying to say pretty soon.

"I'll…go check on Roxas."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"You think we should forgive him?"

"Hell no."

"Why not?"

"Because he's just gonna beat her up again."

I sighed. Roxas had been acting like a dick ever since I came up to talk to him. He was still pissed off and said that, if Zack still wasn't gone in fifteen minutes, he'd storm right down there and chase him out.

"C'mon, Roxas, you need to give him a chance," I reasoned. "To be honest, I think he looks pretty sincere."

Roxas gave me a glance that showed he didn't believe me in the slightest, and went back to finishing his Calculus. Well, my Calculus. I took advantage of his anger to sneakily slip mine into his folder. He usually didn't focus that much when he was pissed off.

I absently fingered his skateboard while he worked, and I noticed there were miniature carvings of Roxas and Axel, that red-haired kid. Roxas seemed to be running and Axel seemed to be chasing him with that chibi smirk on his face. It all looked simple-yet-professional, but that was probably because I couldn't draw for toffee. "Who drew this?"

Roxas looked up from the Calculus textbook. "What?" He saw what I was pointing at and lowered his head again, though I wasn't sure whether it was to hide his blush or to hide the fact that he was smiling. "Namine."

I felt myself smile. "Namine, huh?" I admired the carvings a little more, and then I set the skateboard back down. "So how close are you and Namine anyway?"

He shrugged. "Pretty close."

I smirked. "How close is pretty close?"

He sighed. "Isn't talking about my love life, like, depressing for you?"

"…love life?" I tried not to laugh. "You just said _love _life!"

His face erupted into flames. "N-No I didn't—_ugh_!" He fell face-forward onto his pillow as I laughed at his slip-up. I had to tell Kairi later…

I sighed. She'd probably be with Riku, or something. She hadn't called me since the previous evening. But that could have been because she was exhausted from all the singing, right?

Yeah. Right.

I stole Roxas' iPod—and surprisingly he didn't object to this—and lay back on the bed, listening to his songlist of angsty music as I waited for Zack to leave. I didn't know whether it was because the lyrics seemed to sympathize with me, or whatever, but it was soothing, in a way.

Time flew by pretty quickly, and I probably drifted in and out of sleep, because when I woke up Mom and Zack were in the room.

"Oh, Sora, you're awake!" Mom gasped. She sounded pretty nervous. Roxas was sitting upright on his bunk, glaring at Zack relentlessly. I wondered what I'd missed.

Mom answered immediately. "Well, Sora…we were just…I was just telling your brother that Zack and I will be going on vacation for the holiday."

I stared at them as this registered in my brain. "Wh-what?"

"We're going to Costa del Sol," Zack exclaimed. He was smiling, and he looked a lot younger again. "It'll be awesome—these great beaches, and—"

"He didn't ask _you_," Roxas interjected.

Zack's smile disappeared, and he scratched the back of his head nervously. It was hard not to feel sorry for him, but by now I'd learnt that Roxas wouldn't talk to be if I didn't follow his lead.

Mom looked down at her hands, which she had clasped together and pressed against her chest, a little bit like she was praying. "I think…Zack and I need a little time alone to work things out."

"You guys can't be serious," Roxas snapped. "You guys expect us to be fine with this? It's irrational. Where'll we stay? If you haven't noticed, we're pretty low on food supplies, and last time I checked I didn't have a bank account, and—"

"We've thought things over and we've decided that you'll be staying over at your Dad's for the three weeks we're away."

"We'll try to be back before you're the start of the next term," Zack put in. "Okay?"

Roxas made it pretty clear he wasn't okay with it at all. "You guys running off to Costa del Whatever to 'work things out'? Oh, I'm _totally _okay with it. For all we know you just can't wait to go off alone so you can kill her in peace."

"_**Enough**_, Roxas!" Mom shrieked. "I have had it up to _here _with your nonsense! I know you guys might not be entirely happy with Zack, but _I _am! Sora, at least, tries not to be an ass about it, but _you_! If you're not happy with it, then bugger off and stop trying to make everyone else around you feel miserable!"

Zack hesitated. "Aerith—"

"Shut up, Zack!" Mom snapped. She still wasn't done. "Roxas, Sora, Vanitas is picking you two up after school, and you two are going to stay at your Dad's. Don't you _dare _ruin the first vacation I'm getting in years. If I get any report that you two are misbehaving, I will punish you severely when I get back."

She sighed heavily before turning on us and storming out of the room. Zack gazed unsurely after her for a while, and then he turned to us, scratching the back of his head the way he always did when he was nervous. "Um…sorry, guys…"

Roxas was staring down at the ground, and I wasn't sure if he was ashamed of himself or angry at Zack.

I sighed as Zack left the room. "Well…look on the bright side, Rox. At least this means we get to see Dad—"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"Sora, I called you here because I _know _you can do better than this."

"Well, I can't," I muttered, crossing my arms and looking Aqua straight in the eyes. I was in a pretty Roxas-like mood that afternoon. I didn't know whether it was because of all the crap that was going on at home, or the fact that Roxas refused to speak to me, or the fact that I was lacking hours of sleep or because I hadn't seen Kairi in ages…

But yeah. I felt pretty suckish.

She frowned, looking my English paper up and down once more, and then she sighed. "Yes you can. I know you can. You've written brilliant short stories for me before this. Kairi's told me how good you are at writing. I gave everyone this assignment specifically because I thought maybe this would be a part of my class you'd excel at."

"Well, it's not," I snapped. "If you haven't already realized, I'm dyslexic. I can't excel at anything."

"You never let that stop you before."

I shrugged. She stared. I glared.

We sighed.

"Look…" I inhaled deeply to calm myself down. "I'm…I don't have any inspiration. I don't see the point. I can't get into the character's minds or anything…"

"That sounds a little bit like writer's block," Aqua reasoned. "That's totally normal."

I leaned tiredly on my palm. "Huh."

She pressed her lips together. "Sora…is everything alright at home?"

I mumbled 'yes'.

"Are you telling me the truth?"

"Yeah," I lied.

She searched my face, obviously not believing me. "You've got potential, Sora. It's just up to you to exploit it."

I nodded unconvincingly. Sure—I knew what she meant by 'exploiting my potential'. But…I just didn't feel like it. The incentive—Kairi—had gone.

It was crazy how many aspects of my life she affected. I was fine before she came, wasn't I? So why did it feel like all the light in my crapped up life had just been flushed down the toilet?

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"I'm only gonna be gone for, like, a week."

"Yeah, but I'm still gonna miss you like crazy."

"Aw, I'm gonna miss you too."

"I'm gonna miss you more."

"No, _I'm _gonna miss you more."

"I'm gonna miss you more than more."

This carried on for a while. The corniness of it all was unnerving. I really hadn't thought Penelo and Vaan would be the lovesick dummy type. I'd thought that maybe they'd be the type who'd reserve their public displays of affection for the bedroom. Or something.

But no. They weren't.

It was Thursday, and we were at lunch. I groaned as Vaan and Penelo started kissing again. "Come on, you guys. I'm trying to eat here."

Penelo broke away, blushing. "Sorry."

Vaan rolled his eyes and went back to kissing her, and I sighed. "Serious…"

Snow laughed, patting my head. "Sucks to be the only single guy at the table, huh?"

This was true. I _was _the only single guy at the table. I felt like a fucking third wheel. And I hated it.

But I don't think I told him this. I mumbled something in reply, and he nodded sympathetically. "S'okay…it'll happen eventually. You have admirers though…nothing's stopping you from getting a girl."

"Except from the fact that Sora likes Kairi," Serah put in. I couldn't be bothered to ask how she knew. I didn't get, though, how everyone except Kairi seemed to know I was madly in love with her.

"God, get over her already," Snow snorted. "She's with Riku. Might as well give up."

I was pondering over this when Kairi appeared out of nowhere, and I flinched in surprise.

"Hey, guys!" She gave everyone a wave, her eyes lingering on me for a few seconds longer than the others.

Everyone mumbled something along the lines of 'hey' and 'you did great' and 'congratulations on the win' and stuff like that as Kairi plunked her tray down next to Penelo's. I realized she was taking a cucumber salad. Kairi hated cucumbers. "Thanks. Uh…I actually came here for you, Penelo."

"Me?" Penelo gasped.

"Yeah…" Kairi smiled as she poked her fork into a cucumber. "You're so good at rapping…and we need all the help we can get for the Nationals."

Penelo's eyes widened. "What?"

"How'd you like to join the Songstresses?"

Penelo face brightened, and she glanced at me, and then at Vaan. "Wh—I'd love to!"

"Great!" Kairi giggled, waving her fork around. I had a feeling she really didn't want to eat that cucumber. "Well…meet me today after lunch and we'll talk!"

"Sure!" Penelo waved at Kairi as she picked up her tray (with the uneaten cucumber still attached to her fork) and went back to her throne-I-mean-table. I soon found myself staring longingly at them. At Kairi and Riku, to be more specific. I watched as Kairi laughed at all his jokes and he tried to feed her her salad.

I was forced to look away when they started kissing each other again.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"You're hungry, aren't you?" I smiled, kneeling down to give Rodent his food. "I won't always be here to feed you, you know."

Rodent ignored me and started nibbling on his food. I sat down to watch him, taking out my homework. _I might as well get started on that._

I wondered what I was going to do with him. Let him stay at Kairi's, probably? Nah…she'd be too busy.

I sighed, deciding to get to work on rewriting my English essay. It was a creative writing assignment which usually would have been easy peasy for me…but ideas and creativity were lacking lately.

I chewed thoughtfully on my pencil. A love interest…?

_In a kingdom far away, there lived a prinsess whith a heart as pure as light—the princess of the light region. Her hayr was the puerst of reds, flowing down from her adorning crown in pristeen curls. Her eyes were a unique blend of all the purest bleus and violets, tainting gold in the sunset. These eyes that made sevral suitors do a doublettake, these eyes that made numrous guys fall head over heels, these eyes that can see right into your soul, unlock your very coar—_

"Hey."

I nearly jumped out of my skin, my pen tearing right across the paper. I cursed, turning around to see who'd crept up on me.

"K-Kairi…" I felt my face heat up and turned back to my paper, crumpling it up. "When did you get here?"

"Just now," she replied, taking a seat next to me on the grass. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Nothing," I lied.

Kairi raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged. I'd gotten pretty used to her short hair by now. "I'm not taking that for an answer." Her eyes widened as she saw something. "What's that?"

I spun around to look where she was pointing, and sighed when I realized what it was. "Oh…that's my pet squirrel."

She kept her eyes trained on Rodent. "I…I never knew you had a pet…"

"Well, I've had Rodent for a month now," I explained. I was pretty surprised he hadn't run off yet. Hm.

Kairi smirked. "Rodent? That's seriously his name?"

I shrugged.

She giggled. "I honestly thought you were more creative than that."

I rolled my eyes. "He's a squirrel."

"So?" Kairi tucked some of her hair behind her ear and crawled towards the bush where Rodent was nibbling on his food. "C'mere, boy," she whispered. I wasn't sure if she knew how to talk to a squirrel. Rodent obviously wasn't comfortable with her because he dropped his acorn and ran up a tree. "I won't bite."

I resisted the urge to laugh at her. "I don't think squirrels speak English."

Kairi huffed. "Well, how do you get him to listen to you, then?"

I shook my head, smirking. "You have to be quiet…"

So we sat next to each other, as quietly as we could. All I could hear was the soft chirping of the birds and leaves rustling. It was a particularly breezy afternoon, thank God. It had been scorching hot for the whole week, and I was sort of getting sick of it.

We waited and waited.

And then Rodent came crawling out from behind a bush. Kairi obediently kept quiet as he crawled onto my outstretched palm.

"Pascal," Kairi whispered.

"What?"

"Pascal. That's a much better name for the…rodent."

"Squirrel."

"Same difference."

I turned to her with a smile, and motioned for her to hold out her palms. She did. I let Rodent—now christened Pascal—crawl around in my hair for a bit while I put some of his food in her hands. He perked up when he saw Kairi now had the food, and, after deliberating a little, crawled into her palms.

I watched Kairi coo at him and play with his fur as he ate, giggling ecstatically, repeating over and over how cute he was, and how come I hadn't shown her before and such and such. As she did this, I noticed how her hair had grown a little since the time she'd cut it; it was a little bit longer than Xion's.

Pascal quickly came to like her; this was obvious by the way he jumped up into her hair when he was done with the food. Kairi jumped in surprise at first, but then she got used to it and went back to giggling. Pascal soon got tired of her hair—it probably wasn't as fun to play with as mine—and scurried back down her arm and onto the grass. We watched in silence as he ran around for a bit before falling asleep next to the flower patch.

"He's so cute," Kairi said after a while.

"Mmhmm."

"How long did you say you've had him?"

"A month," I explained. "Found him tangled up and freed him. He was a little injured at first, but he's gotten better." I smiled. "He's good enough to leave whenever he wants to, but…"

"He likes you," Kairi finished. I nodded, and she smiled. "Not surprising, really. You're really likeable."

I looked at her then, and she held my gaze. I didn't know how long we stayed like that, just looking at each other, but she eventually looked away.

She nervously fingered one of the flowers in the flower patch. "Daffodil…" She whispered softly. The yellow petals shone in the sunlight, and I got why she liked it so much. It was a pretty flower. And I had a feeling it would look good in her hair…

"You never did tell me what it meant, you know," I said with a smile, trying to break the awkward atmosphere.

It didn't work. She turned to me again, her eyes full with emotion. It was the same look she'd given me when we were singing 'Superhuman' that time in Drama, except this time it was stronger. I felt my cheeks flare up with heat as she continued to gaze at me with those questioning purple-blue eyes…

I wasn't sure what happened next, but one second we were staring at each other, and the next second her lips were against mine.

The kiss lasted barely five seconds—and it wasn't really that much of a kiss, per se. But the feeling that engulfed my senses made it feel a lot longer—this amazing warm feeling ran through my veins, I felt strangely aroused, and I completely forgot where I was. It was like the feeling I'd gotten the first time Kairi hugged me—times a million.

As I tried to deepen the kiss when heard her make a sound that was between a moan and a whimper, and I wasn't sure what I would have done if she hadn't stopped me.

Yes. She stopped me.

Her soft hands cupped my face and she firmly pushed me away, gasping. I was slightly disoriented, but I could see clearly that she wasn't happy.

"I…" Her hands dropped from my face, and she gave me a look that was in the middle of shame, disappointment and regret. "I can't…I can't do this to him…"

I lifted my gaze from her lips to stare at her. "Wh…"

She shook her head, and I realized her eyes had gotten teary. "I…I have to go."

And then she got up.

And left.

The disappointment I felt after hearing her say that was overwhelming, and I could barely bring myself to get up. I knew it was getting late and it was nearly time for my shift, but I felt so depressed that I ended up just lying there for god-knows-how-long. Pascal must have come to play in my hair, but it just wasn't as comforting as it usually was.

I hated this feeling.

Rejection.

Kairi was happy with someone that wasn't me, and it hurt more now than ever.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Kairi didn't talk to me at all the next day.

She even switched places with Demyx in English Literacy. Demyx talked a lot, but I wasn't in the mood for conversation, so the atmosphere basically went dead.

I didn't blame her. I was stupid to even think of kissing her like that. When she was obviously in a very steady relationship. Of course Kairi'd be the type who'd stay faithful to her boyfriend.

I had a feeling I'd pretty much ruined our friendship. I'd crossed the line. I'd tried to kiss her when I knew she was taken.

But…she'd kissed me back, right? Or was that just my imagination running wild?

Either way, I knew it was wrong, and it was totally my fault we weren't talking.

I figured it was a good thing we were going to Dad's for the three weeks of holiday—I wouldn't have to face Kairi. And Riku, of course. If she ever told Riku—which I figured a saint like her would do—I'd be toast for sure.

I wondered if Mom and Zack would stay in Costa del Sol forever and we'd have to change schools.

I was starting to hope that that would happen. School was starting to become more and more of a drag.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Vanitas was going to pick us up after school, and then we'd head home to pick up our suitcases before driving down to Dad's house.

I was in a hurry after my last class because Roxas finished earlier than me that Friday, which meant Vanitas and Roxas would be waiting in the car. I didn't want to spend too long because Roxas got crabby when he was made to wait too long, and, plus, we needed to get to Dad's before dark.

I sprinted through the throngs of students—who were busy babbling on about what they'd be doing during spring break, no doubt—to my locker, where Penelo was waiting. She was smiling, and I had to force a smile of my own.

"Hey," she said, adjusting her hold on her bookbag. "You okay?"

I forced a laugh. "'Nelo, I'm fine. Don't worry 'bout me." I patted her on the head. "Just…make sure you keep Vaan happy, 'kay?"

She grinned, nodding. "Okay."

I smiled back and continued packing up my stuff.

"I know I've said this before but…" I heard her sigh. "You're a really nice guy, and you totally deserve more than you get."

I shrugged. "Honestly, it's nothing—"

"I hate that Kairi is doing this to you."

The aching in my chest got worse when she said her name, and it was very hard to keep the smile on my face. "What are you talking about?"

Penelo looked like she was about to cry. "E-Ever since she…ever since the party, that glow in your eyes just…j-just completely disappeared. You smile a lot less than before, you always look tired, and it's like you've just given up on love altogether."

I sighed. "Look, 'Nelo—"

"I know I'm with Vaan—and don't get me wrong, I really, really like him—but…" She sniffed. "I can't bear seeing you this miserable. You may think no one's noticed, but _I _have, Sora."

I looked away. "…Penelo…I…you're right, it's not okay, but what can I do about it?" I stuffed the remaining books in my bag and shut the door to my locker. "She's with Riku now, they're happy, life goes on. We're nothing more than friends, and…" I sighed. "That's how it should be."

Penelo looked distraught, and, while it was pretty flattering that she cared about me so much, I felt a little guilty for making her this sad. I tried my best to smile and patted her on the head again. She was taller than Kairi, but still small enough to pat on the head. I wondered if I'd grown taller since the fall.

"Penelo, I'll be okay," I lied. "I'll get over it eventually."

She searched my face for a while, but eventually gave up, sighing. "Okay. If you say so." She squeezed my hand—a hand I hadn't realized she'd been holding—and smiled sadly. "Have a great Spring Break."

I said that I will, even though I highly doubted it, as she turned to leave. I sifted through the books in my bag, making sure I had everything, and cursed when I realized I'd forgotten my English notebook—the one that had all my stories and stuff—in Aqua's classroom. I realized it was getting late and that if I didn't leave soon Roxas would probably bite my head off.

I decided to run back to the English Lit classroom anyway, because I knew that even Roxas' wrath wasn't as scary as Aqua finding out about everything I'd written in that notebook. Because, you know, I'd written some pretty steamy stuff in there, if you know what I mean.

But that's beside the point.

The hallways had started to clear by now, and I passed a few people on the way who were talking about where they were going for Spring Break—one of them wanted to go to Disney Town because the prices were cheaper while the other wanted to go to Miami Beach to get a tan, even though she didn't need to travel across the ocean to get that when she could get that right here on the island.

The hallways got quieter as I neared the English Lit classroom, and I had to force myself to think of something else apart from Kairi. Ever since the sorta-kiss in my backyard I couldn't get the taste of her lips out of my head, and I felt myself thinking about her more and more, wondering what it'd be like to kiss her one more time…

I knew that—if we were ever to go back to being best friends—it would be almost impossible for me to ever look at her the same again, and this irked me.

I also knew that a good best friend wouldn't try and destroy the other's best friend's relationship. I felt really, really stupid. I'd completely disobeyed everything I'd read on the internet. I'd 'given in to physical attraction', and now our relationship had been changed forever.

The aching in my chest got worse, and I knew I couldn't have been imagining it. The empty feeling returned. I unclenched my hands when I realized I was digging into my palms too hard; I didn't feel the pain in my hands now, but I had a feeling I'd be feeling it later.

"…you didn't answer any of my texts, and when I called you it just went to voicemail."

I stopped short in front of Aqua's classroom, recognizing the voice immediately. It couldn't be…?

"I've…I've been busy." That sounded like Aqua.

"Huh."

It was quiet, and I slowly tiptoed so that I had a good view of the inside of the classroom through the crack in the door.

As I assumed, Aqua was there behind her desk, wiping the chalkboard, and Vanitas was leaning with his back against a desk, casually watching her.

He spotted something on her desk and walked up to it, picking up one of her pencils. Everyone who had Aqua knew she liked drawing faces on her mini erasers, and I supposed Van knew this as well, because he said: "You still do this, huh?"

Aqua turned to him, nodded, and turned back to the board. Van frowned, pushing himself up off the desk and walking towards her. I stared in shock as Van wrapped his arms around her torso, catching her off guard from the back and brushing his lips along her neck.

She set the duster on the chalkboard and slowly turned to Van before catching his lips in hers. I watched them kiss for a while, trying to figure out what was happening. Vanitas was kissing Aqua…in her classroom…on the last day of Spring Term…even though she hated him…and didn't even know him…_what_?

I was still trying to make sense of the situation—from the way they were kissing each other it looked like they'd known each other for a while—when Aqua pulled away from him, letting her hands linger on his cheeks for a while. It was like I was watching some sappy romance drama or something.

I couldn't really see his eyes from where I was standing, but I somehow knew he was smiling. "What's wrong?"

Aqua's looked at him a little longer, and then regretfully pulled her hands away, shaking her head. Vanitas' smile vanished. "H-Hey—"

"Van…" Her voice cracked a little, as if she was trying not to cry. "I…I think we should stop seeing each other."

Vanitas just stared at her for a while, as Aqua turned away and went back to wiping the chalkboard. I had a feeling she was just trying to keep her hands busy, because the chalkboard was squeaky clean.

"Aqua…"

She didn't answer, and Van didn't seem to like that. He marched up to her and turned her around, forcing her to look at him by tilting her chin up. "What the _fuck_, Aqua?"

I felt pretty uncomfortable watching this, but I couldn't really do anything. Vanitas would kill me if I did.

"I…this has to stop," she said, probably intending to sound confident, but her shaky voice kind of ruined it. "We can't…I'm engaged to Terra—"

"I don't give a damn about that, and you _told me_ you didn't either," Van snapped. "What—you suddenly changed your mind?"

"I—Van, this was a mistake from the start and you know it—"

"So what—the sex was a mistake as well?" Van growled. "I don't get what you're problem is—you say you want me, we fuck, and then you suddenly stop answering my calls and—"

"Van, I'm pregnant."

The room went silent, and it felt horribly awkward. It was only starting to make sense. All I'd gathered was that Aqua and Vanitas had been seeing each other for a while, they'd obviously…gotten intimate, and that now…Aqua was pregnant.

I didn't really know what to feel about it all.

Van stumbled backwards in shock, choking out a "what?"

Aqua looked ready to burst into tears.

And then I saw Terra turn the corner. He was typing on his cellphone, and hadn't seem me yet, but I knew I had to do something if I wanted to save Aqua's relationship and Van's life, and save myself from an incredibly awkward moment.

Which is how I found myself walking through the door five seconds later.

They both turned to me in shock, and Aqua immediately wiped at the tears that hadn't yet fallen. Van's eyes were still unfocused, as if he still hadn't gotten over the shock. I realized his face was stained with chalk, probably from Aqua's hands.

"Hey, uh…" I knew I had to think quickly. "Thanks, Aqua, I think he's understood all he needs to…um…thanks for my report card and I promise I'll work harder next term."

Aqua frowned in confusion. "Wh—"

Thankfully, as if on cue, Terra came in, gym bag slung over one arm. "Hey, baby…" His voice trailed off when he saw both of us. His eyes flitted between me, Vanitas and Aqua, before landing on me, finally. "Hey, Sora."

"Hey," I replied, picking up my notebook before turning to Van. "C'mon."

Van nodded, following me out of the room silently. I didn't really know what to say to console him.

We had just exited the building when Vanitas asked: "How much did you hear?"

I thought for a while, before finally deciding to reply: "Enough."

He nodded wordlessly.

We continued to walk in silence.

* * *

**FAILED CHAPPIE ENDING. BUT WHATEVER, RIGHT? **

**Cause you guys finally got the SoKai you've been craving since, well, EVER! The RiKai fans will be seething after reading this chappie. D: **

**You'll all understand what Kairi's thinking eventually…and, like I said, SOKAI ISN'T DEAD YET, SO DON'T KILL ME. I STILL NEED TO FINISH THIS FIC. **

**I loved writing this chappie. Sure, it was a little rocky at some parts, but it came out okay in the end, right? **

**Yes…so the mystery that is Vanqua has finally been revealed. A bit abrupt, doncha think? For those of you that hate Vanqua, sorry. XD **

**Would any of you guys be interested if I wrote a Vanqua oneshot? It'll kinda be based on this story…just to give insight into their relationship…or something. Just a thought. xD **

**Oh, and if any of you feel like a laugh, I advise you to check out 'Sora's band' on YouTube. YOU. WILL. LAUGH. Well, if you have a sense of humor that works, that is. xD**

* * *

**Sneek Peek:**

"_I'm sick and tired of you going on and on about how ugly you are!" _

"_Hey…Dad."_

"_Told you so."_

"_Riku?"_

* * *

**Haha, that'll give you something to chew on while you wait for the next update. :D **

**Til next time! **

**XXXX **


	28. Forget You

**A/N: HEY BAY-BEEZ! **

**Yeah, so I probably blew a lot of your minds away with the last chappie. :P Yeah…weird. Anyone seen the latest Glee episodes? GAYSEXWTFWTFWTFWTF—**

**Before you guys kill me, lemme just tell you I'm not prejudiced against gays or anything...BUT MAN IT WAS AWKWARD. I literally had to switch tabs as I watched 'The First Time' on Megavideo. **

**Replies, anyone?**

**Blank (please put your name...): Yup, she did, and poor Van. And I knew a lot of people would hate Kairi after the last chappie...xD I kinda made her a huge bish (NO SWEARING PEOPLE!). And I'll do the Vanqua oneshot...soon...**

**superpeanutbutter: Probably you won't hate Kairi so much after the next chappie of Angel... XD You're gonna like this chappie though...ohohoho...and, yeah, the last chappie WAS full of surprises... And yeah...I kinda stressed Sora's dyslexia a little too much in the last chappie. xD He only wrote like that because he was pissed...a lot of dyslexics don't write THAT bad...lol. As for Axel...he'll show up. Pretty soon. I think...but he's gonna have a huge part in Hero::Heroine, so you could wait for that...and YES, NEKU. I SHALL FIT HIM IN. ...SOMEWHERE. Anyway, enjoy the chappie! **

**The Traveler: Haha really? I thought I made the Vanqua pretty obvious, you know, stressing on how much Van was changing and all...oh well. xD Riku will appear...but not in this chappie, unfortunately. The next one, I promise. XD Enjoy! **

**About this chappie: Not really that much fluff…that's what I'm saving for the next chappie. Van/Sora bromance, SoRiku bromance…and all that. Oh, and, what you've all been waiting for…CLOUD'S FIRST APPEARANCE! Aren't we all excited? (No? Aw.) He doesn't do that much…but at least he's IN here. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own ANY of the songs mentioned, or the infamous Kingdom Hearts. 'Forget You', the name of the chappie, comes from the Cee Lo Green song.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Zack and Mom are going on vacation…_

"We're going to Costa del Sol!"

_Kairi cuts her hair. _

"I-I love it! It was just that you look so different…"

_The Songstresses win the Regionals…_

Which was probably a surprise to pretty much everyone.

…_and I kiss Kairi. _

The kiss lasted barely five seconds—and it wasn't really that much of a kiss, per se.

_Well, I get rejected of course. And…so does Van. _

"I…I think we should stop seeing each other. We can't…I'm engaged to Terra—"

_And it looks like he has his own share of problems to take care of. _

"Van, I'm pregnant."

_So, to put it simply, I lose my best friend, my parents desert me, and I find out that my older brother has knocked up my Sports teacher's fiancée._

…

_FML._

* * *

**Chapter 28: Forget You**

The drive home was uneventful. None of us talked. Vanitas didn't smile. Roxas gave up complaining about my lateness when he realized I wasn't going to reply.

Vanitas was in such a daze that he missed quite a few traffic lights and stop signs, but, thankfully, we didn't get caught. We arrived at home, and Vanitas ordered us to grab our suitcases.

Roxas gave Van and I confused looks, but I ignored him. He eventually gave up, mumbling something about not caring anyway.

Roxas had packed his stuff before school, so he was ready to go. I'd forgotten, so they ended up having to wait for me to pack mine. I threw in a bunch of shirts, sneakers, my toiletries…I left the severed Book tucked under my bed. I'd tape it back together later, when I cared.

My eyes traveled to the daffodil I'd kept sitting on a jar on my table. Kairi had let me pluck one from her garden a while back. Her love for daffodils had kind of rubbed off on me.

I felt myself smile, remembering when we used to hang out every day. It seemed so long ago, even though I knew it had only been a month that they'd been together.

And then I remembered…she'd never told me what daffodils stood for.

I decided to check for myself.

I quickly logged on to my computer (yeah, because dictionaries did not agree with me) and googled the definition of a daffodil. I found a pretty reliable flower meaning site and scrolled down to daffodil and—and—

'_The daffodil: A beautiful golden flower that represents __**unrequited love**_.'

I shut off the computer.

I frowned, fingering the stupid yellow flower that represented my life.

I soon realized that there was no point brooding over a stupid flower meaning. I packed up the rest of my stuff and was just about to head downstairs when my eyes fell on the drawn curtains. I realized how long it had been since I looked at Kairi through her bedroom window.

Which is how come I found myself heading over the window and pulling the curtains open.

And I wished I hadn't.

Because there they were, Riku and Kairi, making out on Kairi's bunk as if they thought the world was ending and they only had minutes left to be together. It was like some divine force was trying to tell me that, no, Kairi and I were never going to be together and that it was pointless even thinking we would ever be anything more than friends. As if the daffodil wasn't enough.

I drew the curtains back with such a force that I was scared I'd rip it straight through. The pain in my chest worsened, but I knew I couldn't brood for much longer. Van and Roxas were waiting for me in the car.

I clutched the stupid yellow flower, trying to figure out what to do with it.

I ended up throwing it in the trash.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It took barely an hour to get to the South Island. Van had started talking again, keeping us awake by cracking lame jokes and commenting on the lyrics of the several mainstream party songs that played on the radio. Roxas just rolled his eyes and turned up the volume on his iPod. His guitar was sitting next to him, seatbelt strapped. I was too depressed to laugh, so Van eventually gave up and resorted to absent whistling. My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I wasn't in the mood for answering it.

We eventually arrived at Dad's house. I recognized the clean garden, with the pristine green grass and the white fence and the picnic table. He'd apparently gotten a new motorbike—it looked expensive as hell, and I knew I should feel angry at Dad for wasting all his munny on himself when he could be helping Mum. But that was Roxas' job, to hate on people, I mean. I found it exceptionally hard to hate Dad, on any level. He was just that kind of person.

I hadn't been to Dad's since the previous summer, so it was pretty comforting. If I wasn't so miserable I might have felt excited.

Vanitas climbed out of the car and gestured for us to follow, lumbering our suitcases up to the front door.

"Hey…Dad."

Dad opened the door, and I realized how much I'd missed his unique smile and the way he always ruffled my hair—it was his way of saying hi. He looked sort of cool, for a guy who'd just hit forty, and I remembered people asking if he was my brother when we went shopping once. His platinum blonde hair was styled a bit like mine and slightly like Roxas'—except better. His eyes were the same old silvery blue, and he had the same casual smile that I wished I'd inherited. He was also a lot more muscular than I was, even after all the working out I'd been doing.

He nodded and gestured for us to come in, and that was when I realized he was on the phone. He was one of those kind of people who listened to calls through their earpiece and didn't care if it looked like they were talking to themselves.

Vanitas pushed past Dad with our suitcases, running upstairs and gesturing for us to follow. Roxas ignored him and headed for the living room, collapsing onto the huge couch and scanning through the channels on Dad's huge 3D flatscreen. Dad disappeared into another part of the house, laughing to some joke the guy on the phone had cracked.

_Wow...so much for an emotional family reunion._

I decided to follow Van. He'd already stuffed all our clothes in the spare wardrobe, and was busy going through my toiletries. He picked up my favorite bottle of _AXE_—the newest one I'd stolen from Zack—and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "You're still carrying this trash around?" He laughed. "No wonder your chick left you for that douche!"

His comment got to me so much that my throat clogged up and my eyes started to burn.

Vanitas must have noticed. "Sora? Hey…I was just…" He tossed my bottle of _AXE _back into my suitcase, walking over to me. "I was just kidding…" He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Why the long face, little brudda?"

"Because, for the first time since Riku and Kairi got together, I've realized how entirely hopeless I am." I sighed, falling backwards onto Van's bunk. It smelt of cigarettes and cheeseburgers.

Van rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Not _this _again—"

"I'm serious!" I groaned, absently fingering the band-aid on my palm. "Kairi is totally in love with Riku; I can't change that. You should see how they look at each other, how they kiss each other. I have to face it—Riku's won."

He huffed. "You can't be serious. I never thought you'd be the kind to be a drama queen in this kind of situation."

"Well, I guess you thought wrong," I retorted. "I can't win her over. I kissed her yesterday, and—"

"Whoa! She kissed you?"

"No,_ I_ kissed _her_, and she rejected me, but that's not the point." I sighed. "I can't…break them up. You should see the way she talks about him. I'm just her best friend—heck, I'm probably not even that anymore. They're probably having sex as we speak."

"Whoa! Wait a minute!" Vanitas raised an eyebrow, probably thinking I was acting ridiculous. "Aren't you moving a bit fast?"

"No, I'm not. I have to watch Riku practically undress her every single day at school, and then I have to come home and watch them undressing each other in her bedroom." My throat was starting to clog up. "I hate it. I hate Riku and his stupid good looks. I should have known I never stood a chance. Riku's pretty much _flawless_, with his hair and his eyes and his smile and his packs an—and I'm stuck being this ugly beanpole with absolutely no redeeming trait whatsoever—"

Vanitas suddenly slammed his fists on the nearby table, enthused, cutting me off. "I have had it up to _HERE _with all this _whining_!" I flinched at his tone. "You are _not _this hideous nobody you've conjured yourself up to be! Your seventeen, five-eleven, you share my awesome hairstyle, you've got Dad and Aerith's eyes…your parents look like movie stars, and on top of that you've got _talent_! Stop complaining about how you look—god, it's driving me nuts!"

I stared at him, shocked and…flattered.

He glared at me for a bit longer, before crossing his arms with a sigh. "But…if you think looks are _that _important in a relationship, then you've got a lot of work to do."

I blinked, lost. "What?"

He started pacing the room. "Starting tomorrow, you are going on a diet."

"A _what_?"

"A diet. A protein diet. You are also going to go running every morning at six—"

"Come _on_!"

"—and then you're gonna accompany me and Dad to the gym, every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, where we're going to work out for two hours."

"Two _hours_?"

"You are also going to go with me to the South Beach next Wednesday, where you are going to get a well-needed tan—"

My phone rang, interrupting him. It was Kairi calling. I was debating whether or not to pick it up when Vanitas snatched it from me. Before I could protest, he cut the call. "And I'm blocking that bitch's number."

"Wh…you can't do that!" I protested, pretty uncomfortable with people calling my best friend a bitch. Even if she did reject me, I couldn't be mad at her.

"Yes I can. It's high time you forgot about her. You need to see other women. Which is why you're gonna go with me to Seventh Heaven the Saturday after next."

I cringed. "To a 21-and-over club?"

He shrugged. "Tifa'll let you in; she owns the bar." He turned to me, his eyes determined. "I'm gonna make sure that by the time school comes back around, you're gonna be a Greek God yourself."

I stared at him to make sure he was serious. He was. "Yeah. Right. I can totally see that happening."

But I couldn't help but smile, nonetheless. The fact that Vanitas was willing to help _me_, despite everything he was going through, was pretty touching.

"That's what I was waiting for!" He whooped. "Your lady killer smile!" I grinned and he ruffled my hair, and then he headed back to the wardrobe. "Better get this done first. You get some rest."

I lay back on the bed, closing my eyes. "Van?"

"Hn?"

"Thanks."

It was silent for a while, and then he laughed. "That's what I'm here for."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Waking up a six a.m. wasn't as hard as I'd thought it'd be, probably because I'd been used to waking up early to go running with Riku. The South Island was a lot less developed than the North, so Dad's house always looked pretty odd amongst all the rundown houses.

Running with Van wasn't the same as running with Riku, but it was still relaxing. And I'd never thought I'd ever think of running as relaxing. But the feeling of the wind in my hair, the sound of my heart thumping in my ears…it was exhilarating.

For the first few days it was still as hard as it always had been, since I'd taken a little break. Dad came jogging with us on Wednesday, which was his day off work. He worked in a sector of Shinra that didn't require him to leave the island, which was pretty awesome. He still got paid loads, though. He explained that he'd decided not to be a SOLDIER, because it meant he had to be away from Tifa for lengths at a time.

Tifa…she's the kind of person you just _can't _hate, no matter how much you try. She worked late and worked through the day, so she didn't see Roxas and I until dinnertimes. She was funny and kind and I found it hard to visualize her as 'a husband-stealing bitch who'd ruined our family', as Roxas had previously dubbed her. She left us notes on the fridge every day with little messages, such as 'Hope you liked the pasta!' or 'Did you want me to get anything from the store?' or 'Roxas, you need new sneakers'. She'd try and be up early enough to see us off every morning when we went running.

Roxas probably felt left out or something, because he soon began joining Dad, Van and I on our morning workouts. Roxas didn't like Dad, and he hated Tifa even more, but he admitted he needed exercise. For some reason he didn't really go outside and skate. Anyway, Dad had a bunch of friends down at the gym, which I probably should have expected. Dad wasn't that social—he only had a few close friends—but I guess he had that look to him that made people want to be friends with him. He was also pretty strong and worked in one of the strongest companies in the area, so that might have had something to do with it.

Dad also had a bunch of admirers, which wasn't that surprising. Several women, and sometimes even highschoolers, came up to him and tried to flirt with him, but either Dad was completely oblivious or Dad was purposely ignoring them.

A lot of them diverted their attention to Vanitas as soon as he took off his shirt, but Vanitas was in a weirdly non-flirtatious mood and took to ignoring them. I had a feeling he still hadn't gotten over the Aqua subject. I'd decided not to push it, so I was still in the dark about exactly what had happened.

Van said a few of them attempted to flirt with me, but I had a feeling he was just making stuff up.

At first, eating only protein-based foods turned out not to be that bad, because it meant I could eat a whole lot of steak, and I liked steak.

On Friday Vanitas announced we were having a movie night. Dad went off to go drinking at Seventh Heaven, like he always did on weekends, so it was just Roxas and I. Roxas didn't look remotely interested. Vanitas had picked out the movie—500 Days of Summer.

"You watched this?" Van asked, already slipping it in.

I shrugged. "Yeah. 50%. Kairi—" I stopped myself at Van's glare. He'd also forbid me from saying her name.

"Well…50% isn't good enough. I'm gonna need you to watch the whole thing to get the whole message."

So we did. I was focusing on it more, now that I wasn't distracted by Kairi or anything.

_"This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story."_

It was a typical romcom romance—Zooey Deschanel playing the love interest, Summer, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing the male lead, Tom. I vaguely remembered seeing the first fifteen minutes of the movie, and then I concluded that I hadn't even seen up to half of it. I eventually started to really get into the movie, especially as everything started going wrong for him. As I saw him mope over losing Summer, I realized how pathetic I must have looked, brooding over losing Kairi. It was crazy how easy I managed to sympathize with Tom, especially since I was going through the same thing.

I still didn't get why Van had chosen the movie for me. Did he want to throw it in my face that, no, I wasn't ever going to get Kairi, and that I should just give up altogether?

I understood eventually, as the movie came to an end. When he found out Summer was married and asked why, she said something very thought provoking.

_"I don't know. It just happened."_

It just _happened_. What did that mean, it just happened? The movie didn't honestly want me to believe in fate or soulmates or any of the crap, did it?

Maybe it did. It ended with the male lead meeting a girl called Autumn.

It was crazy, really.

But I decided I liked the movie.

"So…what did you understand from that?" Van asked as the credits began to roll, to 'Go ask your Dad' by the Tyde.

"…that it's possible to have sex in the shower?"

He gave me an irritated look. "Were you listening to the narrator at all?"

"Okay…um…" I frowned, trying to think of the message, what the narrator had said. Tom had learnt that you can't ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. Fate wasn't what had made Summer and Tom meet...and it wasn't what had made Kairi and I bump into each other in the hallway, no matter how much I might have previously believed that. Fate or God or whatever hadn't intended for Kairi to meet me, fall in love with me and live a happy ever after together. Kairi was meant to fall in love with Riku, I was sure of that now.

I cringed as I thought: _What if Kairi and Riku were to...?_

I knew it wasn't going to help me if I thought that way.

I shrugged, deciding not to let Van in on everything I'd just contemplated. "That Kairi isn't the only girl in the world."

"And…?"

I turned to the screen, watching the credits roll. "And that I'll find another girl eventually…"

"And that there's no point mooching over one failed relationship," Vanitas concluded. "Get over it."

I gave him a look, leaning back on the sofa. Roxas had fallen asleep on the beanbag. I fingered the cinema ticket for _Tangled_, which I'd forgotten to trash. My pocket was starting to become a trash can itself. I sighed. "I'm not gonna forget about her that easily, Van."

"I know." He pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket. "Which is why I got you this."

He handed it to me. There was a list of what seemed to be songs, about forty of them. "What's this?"

"It's a list of songs." He deadpanned. "I expect you to know the lyrics to at least twenty of them by next week Friday."

"What?" I scanned the list again, knowing the complete lyrics of only a quarter of them, and barely recognizing any of the rest. "Why?"

"Because I say so," he snapped. "Look through it again. What do all the songs—well, most of them anyway—have in common?"

I sighed, reluctantly obeying. _Resolution_, Nick Lachey. _Feel Again_, Taio Cruz. _Annabelle_, A Rocket to the Moon. _Ridin' Solo, _Jason Derulo. _Halfway Gone_, Lifehouse. Plus a bunch of random party songs. Just by reading the titles I realized… "These are all break up songs, right?"

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Ugh. Good thing I had my inhaler. He gave me a small nod. "Yeah…close enough."

I thought for a while, as Van smoked and tried to nudge Roxas off the beanbag. "So…I have to learn _all _of these?"

"At least twenty," he repeated, taking a drag. "And you have to learn the guitar tabs to at least two of them."

"WHAT? Guitar? How am I supposed to make time for that?" I groaned. I didn't have that much free time, and adding this would mean I had even less.

"Trust me—you'll make time." He gave Roxas a hard shove on his side, waking him up. He cursed indignantly, drowsily throwing a punch at Van's calf, but missing by a longshot. "And, plus, you'll have this guy teaching you."

Roxas groaned, rubbing his side. "What the hell, Van?"

"You're drooling," Van deadpanned, shaking out the beanbag. "Go drool somewhere else."

Roxas muttered something under his breath, scratching his head. "What time is it?"

I told him that it was nine thirty. Roxas groaned and muttered something about us wasting his time.

He was in the middle of explaining how he hated chick flicks when Van cut him off. "You want one?"

Roxas perked up immediately, catching the packet of cigarettes effortlessly. He still kept his ever-present frown, though. "Thanks."

Van shrugged. "No problem." He waited until Roxas lit his own cigarette before speaking up again. "Oh—and you're teaching Sora how to play guitar."

"What?" Roxas protested immediately. "WHY?"

"I gave you those," Van mumbled with a shrug. "I think that's a fair exchange."

"You _tricked _me!" Roxas insisted. When Van didn't say anything, he groaned. "How do you expect me to teach him? His brain is fucked up—he can't even tell right from left and you want me to teach him how to play _guitar_?"

"Just one or two songs," Van mumbled, frowning. "I don't get how it's such a big deal. Sora isn't _dumb_—he can learn."

Roxas let out a kind of snort that made it pretty obvious that he didn't believe Van at all.

"Look, Roxas," Van snapped. "It's high time you got that massive tree out of your ass! Just because you feel like being emo doesn't mean you have to make everyone else feel like crap!"

"Ugh!" Roxas groaned, letting out another puff of smoke. "I'm sick and tired of people telling me that!"

"Well then you'd better change your attitude!" Van retorted. "My week's been a pile of shit, and you don't see me bitching about it, do you?"

I watched as they seethed at each other, feeling pretty uncomfortable. I'd known not to take offense for anything Roxas said, so I didn't really care. But Vanitas was outraged, clenching his fists as he held Roxas' glare.

After what seemed like ages, Roxas finally gave up, sighing. "Whatever."

I waited until he'd left the living room that Vanitas relaxed, smoke escaping from his lips. "God…you have no idea how long I've wanted to say that." He scratched the back of his head. "You okay?"

I shrugged. "No big deal. I'm used to it…he doesn't really mean it, you know."

"Well I'm sick of his moods anyway." He took a last drag before tossing his stick in the trash. "You go on up while I take care of…here."

At first I intended to ignore him and help him out anyway, but then I saw something in his expression that made it pretty clear he needed some time alone.

So I went upstairs. Roxas was lying on his bunk, strumming his guitar. I didn't know what song he was playing, but it seemed to be a riff to one of the songs on his iPod. He continued strumming as I sat down on my mattress, and I tried to follow his fingers. If I could maybe learn how to play by just watching him, I might save him the work of actually teaching me…

He stopped suddenly, sighing. "Look, Sora…I'm sorry for back there."

I blinked, surprised he was actually apologizing, but quickly got over it. "S'okay. I know you didn't mean it."

He stared at me, as if trying to figure out if I'd meant what I'd just said. And then he shook his head. "No…sometimes…sometimes I _do _mean what I say."

It took me a little more effort not to get offended by this, but I managed. "Oh. Oh well."

He sighed exasperatedly. "What—is it impossible for you to be mad at people or what?"

I felt myself grin. "What—you wanted me to be mad at you?"

He frowned. "Well…I…I just expected…" He sighed, fingerpicking a random guitar string. "I've never really understood how you stay so optimistic about stuff…" He hesitated. "Like…about Riku and Kairi."

It was hard to keep a straight face. "Yeah…" I shrugged. "Them…I…it's a bit harder to be optimistic about things like _that_ but…you know. You get over it eventually."

He ran his fingers over the strings again. "It usually takes me _ages _to get over stuff…you know that."

"Yeah, I've realized."

He smiled slightly. "But you…it takes you, like, two, three days at most, and then you're up and running again."

I laughed. "Two to three days? Are you serious? You haven't seen how much I've been brooding in the past month?"

He shrugged, his eyes impassive behind his sunflower bangs. "No, not really. You put on this façade in front of people…it's pretty convincing." He grinned. "For most people, at least."

For some reason, Penelo came to mind. She seemed to be one of the only people who realized I wasn't actually totally over Kairi yet. I inwardly wondered how long she'd had a crush on me…

Then I realized Roxas was still looking at me, and decided to push the embarrassing thoughts to the back of my head.

He gave another small smile, and then patted me on the head. "You'll be okay."

I felt myself grin. I knew this kind Roxas wouldn't last long—he'd probably be long gone by the next day—but I knew I had to take advantage of the situation. "So…you'll teach me?"

He sighed, as if the very idea tired him out. "Only because I have to."

I attempted to hug him, but he gave me a look that made it clear that I was totally pushing it.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Xion and Aunt Lulu came by the next day.

Xion was cosplaying—dressed in a wig of cropped mid-length brown hair with yellow ribbons tied in, and some kind of blue-and-white school uniform-looking outfit. She did a little twirl, showing it off. "How d'you like my newest cosplay? Bet you can't guess who I am!"

I tried. I really did.

She rolled her eyes, sighing in exasperation. "I'm Haruhi Suzumiya…?" _Haru-what?_ "Doesn't ring a bell?"

I shrugged. "I don't watch anime."

She huffed. "Even if you don't…most people I know know who Haruhi is…"

Aunt Lulu appeared, lugging two suitcases. I'd always wondered whether Aunt Lulu minded that Xion liked to dress up and act like fictional characters, but I figured she didn't. She was a bit of a strange person herself. She carried a Moogle plushie around, for godsake. And her skirt…I didn't even try to count the number of belts on it. She wore belts with almost everything she put on. I figured she thought it was cool.

Aunt Lulu—well, she wasn't really my aunt, like how Aunt Tifa wasn't my aunt, but everyone called her that—was Tifa's little sister. She was a single mother, and Xion was apparently the result of a fling she'd had at college. I'd overheard her sharing her college experiences with Dad and Tifa. Tifa had never really gone to college, you know, because of Vanitas. He was probably still a toddler when she graduated from high school.

Dad appeared, giving Aunt Lulu a small wave. "Hey…what's up?"

Aunt Lulu sighed. "There's this woman uptown who needs me to design her wedding dress…"

I resisted the urge to crack as joke about _Lulu _designing a _wedding dress_. I wondered how many belts would be on it...

Xion grinned. "Is Roxas here?"

Xion had always liked Roxas, which probably had something to do with the fact that he'd seen her a lot more than I had when he'd stayed at Dad's for the summer. Roxas didn't seem to mind Xion either, even though she was directly related to Tifa, who he hated with a passion.

I nodded. "Yeah…we're staying here for the Spring Break."

Xion whooped. "Awesome!"

Vanitas came down at that moment, scratching his bare chest. He stopped mid-yawn when he saw Xion and Aunt Lulu. "Ugh, not _you _again," he groaned.

Xion ignored him, giving her Aunt Lulu a brief hug. "Buh-bye."

Lulu patted her on the head, reminded her to take her pills, and finally left. Xion had already taken a seat on the couch, making herself at home. Vanitas groaned, rubbing his red eyes. "Ugh…"

"You okay?" I asked, heading to the microwave to retrieve my bowl of corn flakes. Van had let me eat either cereal or porridge for breakfast…which wasn't so bad, in comparison to having steak for breakfast. After a week of having nothing but meat, fish and eggs…I jumped at the chance of eating anything else.

He shrugged. "Meh. I've been better."

Translation: MY NIGHT SUCKED, GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME.

I decided to give him a little time to recover. Dad returned from dropping Xion's suitcases upstairs. He was in his work clothing, which meant his holiday was over. Aw.

"Not fair you kids get three weeks while I only get one," he grumbled, picking up a slice of toast…

My mind started to wander. _Toast…_

Vanitas gave me a look, and I managed to focus on my corn flakes pretty quickly.

Dad gave Van a disapproving look. "Do you honestly need to start your day with a drink, Van?"

Van just ignored him, taking another swig at his bottle of beer. Dad sighed, giving me a pat on the head. "Yeah…take care of your brother."

I nodded as he left the house, and then I turned to Van. "So…we going to the gym today?"

Van shook his head. "Nah…I figured we'd head over to the beach."

I blanched. _Hell no._

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Don't get me wrong—I loved the beach. I loved the sea, the sand, the seashells that dotted the shore. I liked splashing around in the waves and making sandcastles and attempting to snorkel. When you've lived on a group of islands for your whole life, you don't really have a choice but to like the beach.

So you're probably wondering _why _I was so against it? Well, that's simple. I was going with _Vanitas_.

And, as you all probably know, Van was a bit of a girl magnet. (Or repellent. It depended on the situation, though the latter was, unfortunately, less frequent.)

I also had a feeling Van had some kind of diabolical plan up his sleeve…involving _me_.

My suspicions increased when Vanitas declared that I was not allowed to wear anything but my trunks, which pretty much meant that I was to go shirtless. I also thought of stealing Roxas' headphones, but Van said that wouldn't be needed.

I figured out what he meant soon enough.

The South Beach was about as full as it had been when I'd come there for the anime convention with Penelo and Lightning—except this time there weren't just anime freaks. The beach was full of people—mostly teenagers and tourists looking for a good time. It wasn't surprising, since it was Spring Break after all.

I felt my face warming up as we gathered several stares as we walked past, though I figured most of them were checking Van out. Van brandished his surfboard nonchalantly, not even giving them a glance. It was a bit weird that he wasn't flirting with anyone. That was one of the signs that, no, Van had not completely gotten over the Aqua thing.

I still wasn't able to confront him about it, though. Van was pretty scary when he got angry.

Van set up our spot, which a bunch of girls happily provided for us, and then he said he was going for a swim.

"What?" I protested immediately. "You can't leave me here!"

He grinned, as if he'd been planning this all along, and then disappeared into the throngs of beachgoers. I frantically looked around, wondering how he managed to disappear into thin air. I eventually realized there was no point going to look for him—I'd probably just get lost—so I sighed and lay back on the sand, deciding to wait until he came back.

He took a while. It was unsurprisingly sunny, and I could feel the sun smoldering my skin. I had a feeling I wouldn't get anything but a sun_burn_.

I was closing my eyes, starting to drift off into a daydream when someone tapped on my arm.

It was a girl, who, yeah, looked pretty damn good, to be honest. Her strawberry-blonde hair was tied in a ponytail, and she looked about my age, if not younger. Her skin was golden, and I could see the beads of sweat that lined her forehead."Hey…you really should use sunblock."

I wiped at the sweat on my forehead, squinting at her through the sun. The sun was glaring down on us, and I figured she was right. "Hn. Thanks for the heads up…but I don't really have any…"

"You could use some of mine," she suggested. She slipped a tube out from her beachbag. I was about to take it from her when she smirked, shaking her head. "I could rub it on for you, if you want."

She didn't even give me time to answer. Before I could blink, she began massaging the sunblock onto my bare chest, while I tried to get a sense of what was going on. A random girl I'd just met was rubbing her hands all over me…and pressing her body dangerously close to mine…she wasn't really giving me any choice but to look at her chest.

My face felt dangerously warm.

She eventually finished, trailing her hands down my chest before climbing off me. I was too confused to say anything but: "Thank you."

She grinned, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. "No problem. I'll be over with my friends…if you need me."

She winked before running back to her friends, who were located not too far from us. The girl and her friends giggled, and she began babbling about something I couldn't make out.

I was still trying to figure out what happened when Van arrived, two bars of Sea Salt popsicles in right hand and his surfboard in the other. "Thought you might want one of these."

"Thanks," I muttered, taking one from him. He sat down next to me, wiping his forehead.

He sighed, turning to me. "How you been? Had any fun?"

My eyes unconsciously drifted towards Massage Girl. I wasn't really "Well…this girl randomly came up to me and offered to give me sunblock."

He chuckled. "Wow. They really don't waste their time, do they?"

I took a lick of my Sea Salt Popsicle. "What?" I asked, confused.

"The girls around here like doing that to new guys, and we get a lot of new guys around here," he explained. "It's sort of their way of flirting."

"Wait…so she was _flirting _with me?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "God, Sora, you can be so naïve sometimes. _Obviously _she was flirting with you."

"Huh…" I muttered, licking my popsicle. "I don't believe you."

"And why not?" Van persisted. "I have a feeling she wasn't the only one who had wanted to try that on you."

I was about to come up with a protest when I realized what Van was talking about. Almost all the girls around us kept glancing at me—well, at least that's what Van thought—and some of them winked.

I suddenly felt very self-conscious. "Man, this is embarrassing…why are they staring at me?"

"Because they're checking you out." Van smirked, pointing at my popsicle. "You want me to say what's on their minds right now?"

I cringed, eyeing my sea-salty treat. "Not really."

"Oh, and you probably want to check your trunks."

I turned to him, raising an eyebrow, which wasn't that easy, what with the sun blaring in my face and all. "Yeah, as if she'd actually—"

I froze when I felt something poking out of the elastic of my trunks. It was a tiny piece of paper, folded in two. I blushed as I read what was on it. A bunch of numbers I could barely make out, along with the words "_Call me. xxx._"

"...this is so messed up. How did...when did...what?"

Van laughed, falling back on the sand. "See, Sora? It's_ happening_."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Something weird happened on Monday morning.

I'd just finished having a shower and was pulling on my faded orange t-shirt when my arm got stuck. I tried pulling and pulling, but my arm wouldn't go through. I frowned, getting pretty frustrated, and then I heard the ripping sound.

_Huh. That's weird. _

I decided I must have outgrown that shirt, so I tried to pull on another one.

The same thing happened with the next shirt, and it might have happened with the shirt I tried after had Van not entered the room at that moment.

He stared in shock. "Whoa…"

"Yeah…" I blushed. "I think…I think the meat diet's made me put on a few pounds—"

"Idiot!" He exclaimed, giving me a swift whack across the back of my head. I groaned, and he let out a loud laugh. "Man, Sora! Don't you get it?" He grabbed my arm, waving it in front of my face. "This isn't _fat_—it's _muscle_!"

I stared at my biceps incredulously. He was right. I hadn't been paying that much attention, but...they actually looked larger. _How is that even possible? I've been working out for, what, barely a month! _"No way…"

"Yes way," he replied immediately. "And you know what this calls for, don't you?"

I frowned, confused and slightly scared. "What?"

His eyebrows knitted together in a devilish grin. "I think it's time you got a makeover."

* * *

**...**

**Yes. This chappie was supposed to be longer…but why not let's have TWO chappies of Sora's Journey to Recovery? (Lol…failed pun…)**

**Yeah…so Sora's slowly getting over Kairi…not so much angst in this chappie…I figured you guys had had enough. XD **

**Shoutout to TheShallowAbyss! WE'VE FREAKING REACHED 100 PMs! WOOT! **

**HOLIDAYS SOON! WOOT! **

**Sneek Peeeeeek…CAUSE YOU GUYS DESERVE IT.**

* * *

"_Snip-snip."_

"_Thank you."_

"_I fell in love with her."_

"_Told you so."_

"_Riku?"_

* * *

**Yeaah…some more Spring Break madness and SHOCKING REVELATIONS™ to come! Hope you enjoyed the chappie!**

**Read...review...and I shall PM YOU. XXXX **


	29. Transformation Pt 1: Regrets

**A/N: …**

**Okay, so first I have to say this. **

**WHAT THE FREAKING FRUITCAKES WAZZAT? I'm bad with numbers, so I'm not even going to TRY to count the number of reviews for the last chappie, but…**

**My Dad and I had a little scuffle a while back and he seized my computer (after I'd posted the chappie of course, lucky you guys), and then he disconnected the internet. So…yeah. Couldn't check my mail… Anyway, I stayed up late doing my little sister's hair (lemme just tell you—OMG DANDRUFF ATTACK), went to bed around one-thirty a.m., and woke up early the next morning to go preaching (…this is usually a really important part of my weekend, but back then I was pretty pooped and just wanted to LIE IN). Anyway, when I got back, my Dad STILL refused to connect the internet, so I cleaned the house, went upstairs and dozed off to my Taylor Swift soundtrack (and OMG T-SWIFT'S WIN IN THE AMAs FU-FU-FU—). When I woke up…the internet was connected…so I checked my mail…and…and…**

**WHAT THE FREAK? 30+ INBOX? (This is a big thing for me, because I use my second account, my gmail one, for everything else except fanficcy dot net…). And then…GOSH THE NUMBER OF REVIEWS! I went through FOUR T-SWIFT SONGS reading them! And we've hit FOUR HUNDRED! Gosh, I love you guys! You totally got me out of my little depressed bubble! (Cause I was feeling pretty crap back then, and—and—)**

…**I'm rambling now, aren't I? Have of you aren't even reading this Author's Note, right? I guess you've all skipped it cause you're in such a rush to get to the chappie, right? **

**Well…I DON'T CARE. I LOVE YOU GUYS. YOU. GUYS. ROCK. If it were possible, I'd give all the BRUDDAS who read this fic a big kiss on the cheek, and a HUGE hug for all the SISTAS! Hehehehehehe…**

**Okay. Enough with this. This A/N is getting way too long, and if I don't do something I'mma get flagged. :D **

**Review Replies, cause even the Anonymous Reviewers left me a review!:**

**ShadowSpooky: …um. Sorry I haven't had time to reply to that many of your reviews…I feel so bad…especially since you're not an anonymous reviewer…but…yeah, thanks for all your reviews, and I promise I'll reply to the next review you leave. :D Oh, and thanks for ur idea, which is showing up in this chappie. MUARRR. **

**Sokai-Bby: Haha I know…Sora's weird. XD You'll probably be a lot farther than the first chappie when you read this reply… **

**Ryukia: U A BLEACH FAN? YAY! *glomps* If you're not, ignore that. Anyway…thanks for the compliment! *blushes* I honestly don't think I'm the best writer…but I've gotten a lot of compliments for the character developments and stuff, so I guess I'm pretty good with that, then. Hehe, anyway…THERE SHALL BE SOKAI! Like, in the next chappie…a lot of it…yeah…**

**The Traveler: …revelations…revelations will be revealed…lol. That made no sense, but whatever. Get ready for an uber awesome bromance scene. And I'm totally using that quote… **

**Superpeanutbutter: Yeah…Man…sex… *barfs* Horrible. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a troll, or a hater, but…gah. I couldn't watch it. Anyway…you'll be wishen Sora picked up his phone when you read the corresponding chappie of Angel… *teehee spoiler alert*. Anyway, there shall be RokuShi bonding…but they're related, so there won't be that much romance. Maybe just a bit of sisterly love, or something. Yanno. xD NEKU…he'll be in the next chappie—PROMISE! **

**About this chappie: …what's the point? Most of you are already halfway through the chappie by now…**

**Disclaimer: If I owned the characters of any of the songs in this chappie…I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer right now.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

…_I angst. _

'The daffodil: A beautiful golden flower that represents unrequited love.'

_Roxas and I have a mini bromance moment. _

He gave another small smile, and then patted me on the head. "You'll be okay."

_And Van sets on a mission._

"I'm gonna make sure that by the time school comes back around, you're gonna be a Greek God yourself."

_And now he wants to give me a makeover._

_Wish me luck._

* * *

**Chapter 29: Transformation Pt. I—Regrets**

"You have got to be kidding me."

"No. I'm pretty sure I'm being serious here."

"Really, Van? Really?"

"Put the damn thing on, Sora."

I sighed.

We had been shopping for nearly three hours, and we'd bought everything from sneakers, to vintage hoodies and jeans, to dress shirts to cologne. Half of the shirts had obscene words printed all over them, and I had a feeling they'd stay buried in the back of my wardrobe until I graduated.

Now Van had dragged me to another shop—for evening wear.

I told him that I wasn't even going to need a suit because I never went anywhere fancy, but he insisted that I'd need it for future dates. I tried to argue that I wasn't ever going to get a date, but he just gave me one of those glares that made it clear he 'wasn't having it'.

So I disappeared into the booth and reluctantly pulled it on. I'd never done that well with ties, so I decided not to wear it.

By the time I emerged from the changing booth, Vanitas had gathered a bunch of girls by his side, which I'd gotten used to. He'd been doing that for the whole day—whenever we went anywhere, he called as many girls as he could to give their opinions on whatever I wore.

He looked me over, clapped his hands. "Sexy."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm serious," he persisted. He pulled one of the girls closer to him. "So…what do the ladies think?"

They all clapped and whooped and seconded Vanitas' comment, and I gave Van a look. He just grinned. "C'mon, we are so buying that."

I gave Van a wary look. "You sure we're not spending too much?"

He made a sound that wasn't quite a snort and wasn't quite a chuckle. "Naw. I've spend way more than this before." He flashed his credit card. "Plus—it's all on Dad."

That didn't make me any more comfortable with the reckless spending, but I decided to let him do what he wanted. I had a feeling he was trying to forget all the crap in his life as well.

He dragged me to a few other stores, and then he decided we were going to the hairdresser.

I protested, naturally.

"Why not?" He frowned slightly. "I know this girl, and her best friend is a hairdresser and she works in this mall…she'll give us a huge discount and everything—"

"Van."

Just then we passed a Disney store, and Van took the opportunity to blackmail me. "Fine. If you agree to get your hair done, I'll…" He took a deep breath, as if it pained him. "…I'll buy you one of those…plushies you like."

"Really?" I gasped, before quickly covering up how much I wanted one. "Um…"

He grimaced. "I'm starting to think this Disney addiction is way too unhealthy for a seventeen-year-old guy."

"I'm not seventeen yet…" I argued weakly.

"Yeah," he replied bluntly. "Now…do we have a deal?"

I hesitated. He waited patiently. I sighed and headed into the store.

It had been ages since I'd been to a Disney store, and it gave me a feeling of nostalgia. I remembered being too small to reach anything on the shelves, and pleading and pleading for the expensive dolls and plushies that resided on the top shelves. I could reach them now, and I felt pretty awesome.

I spend a few minutes just staring up at them in awe, trying to figure out which one I wanted. So many to choose from…

"Sora, we don't got all day."

I sighed, turning around to glare at him. "I know."

He had his hands in his pockets, looking clearly peeved. He froze and looked over his shoulder, and then he sighed in relief. "C'mon, Sora, we'd gotta get going before someone sees me here."

I gave him a glare, but he just shrugged it off and told me to get a move on. I sighed and looked through the shelves for something I wouldn't regret buying later. I eventually found two Donald Duck and Goofy stuffed toys, and Vanitas looked at me like they were poisonous. "You serious?"

I nodded firmly. "You want me to get a haircut?"

He rolled his eyes and reluctantly pulled out his card.

* * *

Vanitas wasn't lying when he said he 'knew people'.

He actually did know a girl who had connections with a hairdresser—a pretty hairdresser, actually. She was probably still in college, but she had this way of keeping herself that made her look a lot older than she was.

She cringed as soon as she saw my hair. "What the hell is that?"

I was honestly pretty hurt by her comment, and I was pretty glad Van spoke up for me. "This is my little brother…his hair needs some, uh, work."

She scrunched her nose. "Ugh…I can see that."

She pulled me to an empty stall and ordered another one of her coworkers to go and finish whoever she'd been working on before. "I've got a hair crisis here."

"Ugh…it's not that bad—"

She yanked at one of my spikes with a comb, and I yelled in pain. "Yes…it is."

Vanitas chuckled nervously. "Hey, baby, take it easy on him—"

She cut him off with a glare and set to work with my hair.

After what seemed like an hour of pulling and scraping and combing and soaking, the hairdresser—who I realized was called Carla—pulled out a massive pair of scissors.

I nearly choked. "What the—?"

"Snip snip," Carla muttered.

"Hey…what are you doing?" Van asked, obviously surprised as well.

"Trust me—he needs this."

I glared at her across the mirror. "No, I _don't_."

She glared right back at me. "Yes. You do."

She started snipping, and Vanitas held her arm. "Hey. Leave him alone—he says he doesn't want a haircut."

She looked at his hand like it was poisoned. "Ugh…" She held his gaze, and they seemed to have some kind of telepathic argument before she gave a heavy sigh. "Fine. I won't make it _too _drastic…"

So Van let her go, and she set to work.

I decided not to object anymore, because most likely none of them were going to listen to me. So I shut my eyes and let the girl work on my hair while I had weird daydreams about traveling the world with my Donald and Goofy plushies, which I'd already sort of gotten attached to.

Van woke me up a while later—and he was grinning.

I couldn't see how my hair looked like, because Carla was standing in front of me, blocking the mirror. She and Van were grinning down at me, admiringly.

"Man…I think I'm going to be callin' you pretty often," Van said with a chuckle, throwing an arm over Carla's shoulder.

Carla didn't object this time—she was too distracted by me. "…you have no idea how proud I am. I think this is one of my best transformations yet."

I heard a few others whispering praises behind me, and I gave Carla a look. "Um…can I see what you've done with my hair now?"

Carla shook a can of hairspray and showered my fringe with it, and then she nodded. "Close your eyes."

I was already doing this by now, especially since the hairspray was starting to make my eyes itch, but I kept them closed as I heard her step out of the way.

And then: "Now…open."

So I did.

There was this guy in the mirror. His hair was this attractive brown color—chestnut brown—and it seemed like he was the kind of guy who spent every day in the sun, because it seemed like he had blonde highlights when it caught the light. Anyway, this guy 's hair was styled professionally—the ends were spiked and his bangs were gelled into a complicated yet sophisticated style that made him look…well, sexy. He looked about eighteen, and he gave me a calculating look, like he was trying to figure out who I was.

I opened my mouth to ask Van who the hell he was—and then I realized.

The guy in the mirror…

…he was _me_.

His eyes widened in shock, and I was pretty sure mine did, too.

"What?" I gasped, standing up in alarm. The guy in the mirror did the same. His hair did a little dance. "What the…what…?"

Carla frowned. It was pretty obvious she was upset. "What—you don't like it?"

"No…it's not that it's just…" I decided to shut up to let myself calm down, giving myself one more look in the mirror. It was now very obvious the guy in the mirror was me, because he was holding a Donald Duck plushie in his right hand, and he was wearing the Abercrombie t-shirt Van had gotten for me that morning. I cautiously touched the ends of my hair. "…how…?"

"Meh, don't get me wrong—it was hard," she began. "But, seriously, all it needed was a little straightening and some combing once in a while, and…hope you don't mind, but I put in some hair-dye. The other color bothered me a little too much."

Van replied that it wasn't a problem, and that my new hairstyle suited me a lot better. I was still a little wary about it—I mean, it made me look a lot older than I would have liked it to—but…

…I actually did look pretty good with the new hairstyle. Now that I knew it was me who looked like that, I wasn't sure I could call myself sexy without it seeming weird.

Vanitas paid Carla, and, indeed, she did give us a discount, but we still had to pay a lot more than we would have had to if Van had just taken me to the Corner-Shop-Up-At-The-North-End-Where-They-Didn't-Clean-Their-Scissors for my regular touch up. Van said it wasn't such a big deal.

I was feeling so guilty over all the munny he was spending on me that I almost suggested skipping lunch, even though I was hungry as hell. Vanitas said he was getting me lunch anyway, especially when he heard my stomach rumbling.

So we dropped off all our shopping in his car and drove down to McDonald's. I didn't want him to spend too much, so I told him to order the cheapest meal on the menu. Vanitas ignored me and bought me a Big Mac meal.

And then his credit card bounced.

He cursed under his breath. At first he tried to flirt with the girl behind the counter, but she said it was her job and she'd get fired if she gave away free food. We managed to scrape just enough munny to get me my meal, but Van couldn't get anything. He insisted he wasn't hungry, but I couldn't just eat knowing he wasn't going to have anything, so I let him have my fries.

He didn't object.

We munched in silence, savoring the greasy food. Even though I worked in the place and had seen what resided in the stove and had once found a family of rats living behind the deep fryer, I hadn't gotten sick of McDonald's, which most people would think was weird.

Van stuffed another handful of fries in his mouth, somehow managing not to smear his whole face with oil. "Oh, and by the way, Sora…you're quitting that fucked up job."

"What?" I protested through a mouthful of steak.

"It's unattractive," he said, like that explained everything. "And, plus, I've got you this new job that'll suit your new look perfectly."

I frowned. "I'm not becoming a male prostitute."

He stared at me, and then his lips widened into a smirk. "You know, you just gave me an idea—" I whined in protest, and he laughed. "Nah. I was just kidding." He wiped his hands on his shirt. "I have this friend—" I groaned, but he ignored me. "—and he's got this modeling agency downtown…"

He gave me a grin, as if waiting for me to figure it out.

I didn't. "Yeah…and…?"

He sighed. "And…well, I gave him a call yesterday and he says he's totally on board with seeing you next week."

I gave him a look. "What…you want me to be a model?"

"Yeah…for clothing magazines, and stuff," he explains. "It'll be awesome…you've got the face for it, and the smile…"

I groaned, not liking the idea already. "Van…I go back to school in less than fourteen days…and isn't there some kind of age restriction for that kind of thing?"

"Dude, it's not like you're going to be an underwear model, or anything." He shrugged. "And you have to be sixteen to get a job. And you're practically seventeen."

I sighed. "I really don't like this…he's probably going to say no as soon as he sees my face anyway."

Van gave me a look. "What did I tell you about putting yourself down?"

I sighed and focused once again on finishing my meal.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"All the girls are gonna get major vagina boners when they see you after break," Van chuckled laughingly.

I shook my head dismissively. "Yeah…I totally see that happening."

"I'm serious." He chuckled, plonking himself down on the sand. I did the same, patting down my hair as the sea breeze threatened to mess it up. I'd suggested hanging out on the beach, and he hadn't objected. We needed a while to relax, anyway.

I watched Van stare off into the horizon, his smile fading slightly, and I knew I had to say something.,

"So…" I prompted. I'd been avoiding the subject for the past week and a half, and I knew if I didn't say something soon, Van would think I didn't care. And…well. I cared. "…you gonna tell me about Aqua?"

He darkened visibly, looking away before lying back on the sand. I suddenly wished I hadn't asked him. I hated it when Van got into his…moods. He could be pretty aggressive when he wanted to. I'd watched Van and Ven fight enough to know how crazy he got when he was provoked.

It was a while before he spoke up. "Aqua…she is the best thing that had ever happened to me."

I stared at him. Hearing him say this was incredibly weird, because he'd been telling me over and over again that it's 'bros before hoes', that girls come and go and my crush on Kairi was going to go away and that it wasn't the end of the world for me. And now…

"I'm fucking in love with her, Sora. You don't know how it kills me everytime they…ugh."

I kept silent. I totally got how he felt. Our situations weren't that different, except he was older than me and he'd gotten Aqua pregnant while all Kairi and I had done was kiss…once. But we both knew what it was like to have to watch the girl you liked—or in Van's case, _loved_—be all over 'the other guy'. I felt pretty bad for Van now, because I really liked Terra and I'd given him relationship advice and he'd let me share some of his Powerade when I didn't have enough munny after Sports.

It sucked, because Terra was a really nice guy.

And, I guess…Riku was nice, in his own way.

He glanced at me, and then he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. "I guess I should start from the beginning." He sighed. "We first met in high school. She was the queen bee, Aqua Dolcetta, valedictorian, cheer captain…she was the stereotypical Mrs. Popular who every girl wanted to be and who every guy wanted to bang…but you know what was different about her?" He chuckled, and I felt myself smile. "She wasn't some sex-crazed slut who went around being bitchy to everyone or sleeping with every guy who walked her way…" He paused. "She was just…_nice_. Everyone—and I mean everyone—liked her. It was impossible not to get drawn in by her…

"Me? Well…I was, you know, one of_ those _guys who thought school was pointless and didn't do any of my homework and pulled pranks on the kids I thought were lame and smoked pot and went partying every weekend and got stoned and shagged pretty much everyone I could and stayed up way past my curfew…hell, I don't know what the hell Aqua was smoking when she said yes to me."

I gave him a confused look. "What?"

He was silent for a while. "I…I was…" He sighed. "Aqua…she'd never dated _anyone_. Sure, tons of guys had asked her out, but she'd _always _turned them down. I guess I was high or something when I decided to try asking her out…and to my surprise she said yes.

"And…and then we started dating. And I learnt all these stuff about her, stuff that I never usually bothered to figure out about the girls I 'dated'—like what she wanted to be when she grew up, the weird things she liked to do when she was alone, and her favorite colors, and her favorite foods, and her family, and her favorite places and her favorite movies and her favorite songs and…she told me all her secrets, leaving me completely confused. I asked her once, why she was telling me all this. Didn't she think I'd tell everyone I knew if I felt like it? And do you know what she said?"

I shook my head, but he wasn't even looking. He continued, anyway. "She said…'Because I trust you'."

I wasn't sure why, but Aqua sounded very…Kairi-like.

"And then I kissed her…and…damn. I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I couldn't get enough of her. I wanted to see her pretty much every day, and, sure, we'd fight about it and sometimes we'd get so mad at each other we'd yell out things we didn't mean…but we'd always end up making up, and…

"She was like my drug, or something. She messed with my head. She even got me to quit smoking pot for a while, to do my homework, to quit being a massive dick to everyone around me…I didn't know how the hell she did it—it was beyond me.

"And I had a feeling it shocked everyone else in school, because they knew me as the resident asshole, and Aqua as the school princess, and it was weird that we'd been going out for more than a week and hadn't broken up, and that I'd been Aqua's first boyfriend.

"And then…and then the Spring Formal came, and danced, and her parents weren't home, and we…and she…" He seemed to be struggling with his words. "We…we had…we had sex. And it felt…amazing. And she told me I was her first, and that I was an amazing person, and that…" He gritted his teeth together, digging his nails into the sand. "And that she loved me."

The look on his face made it pretty clear this was where everything went wrong.

"I…I freaked out. I'd never fallen in love with anyone before, and the whole idea scared me. I was young, I was stupid, and… I ignored her for days after the Spring Formal, and then I…I did something I'll regret forever.

"I deliberately cheated on her with this girl and made sure she was there to see it."

We were silent for a while. I stared at him in shock, immediately growing angry at him. I didn't get how anyone could be so…mean. Even if he was my brother… "Van…that's just—"

"I was stupid, I know," he muttered, groaning. "She…that was the first time I saw her cry. And she asked me why, and I didn't have an answer, so I just laughed at her and told her she was a bitch and the girl I was with told her to fuck off and said that I'd only dated her for the sex and I didn't stop her and Aqua believed it and she…" He cradled his face in his palms as his voice cracked up. "She avoided me for the rest of the year. She went back to her perfect life, putting on a smile and being nice to everyone…but I knew it wasn't the same. I knew I'd broken something…for good.

"She was a senior when all this happened, and I was junior, so she graduated and walked right out of my life. I didn't know how bad I missed her until she left…"

I realized I must have been in middle school when all this happened.

"I wasn't surprised when I found out she'd become an English teacher. She always did like kids." He chuckled bitterly. "Remember that day at the PT meeting? She pretended she didn't know me. I mean, I hadn't even recognized her, with her hair dyed blue and her no-nonsense attitude and…" He pulled himself up, so he was in a sitting position. Specks of sand speckled his black spikes. "I knew she still had feelings for me, and it turns out I was right. But…" His eyes darkened. "I guess telling her I loved her wasn't enough. It's too late. She's engaged to _Terra_, the rich, smart, handsome Sports teacher, and she's too _nice_ to call off the marriage because of some 'past love from highschool'." He groaned, resting his arms on his knees. "I've been such a bastard. I can't fucking do _anything_. I can't change, I can't get a good job, I can't impress my parents…I don't believe in all that 'fate' bullshit, but all I know is that I won't ever find someone like her again."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off before I could speak. "I tried to change for her—I changed my clothes, I wore that AXE crap you and your douchebag stepdad use, I tried to quit smoking, I quit drinking…I did _everything _I possibly could to get her to forgive me, to love me again. But…" He choked up, his fists clenching. I realized he'd started to cry. "It's too late, Sora. I can't…it's all over for me and her. I know how it feels now. We had sex again, but it means nothing because she doesn't love me anymore, and I screwed up by messing up her future. I was too stupid to see how much I needed her back then, and now it's too late for us, and it _sucks_—"

He broke off then, his chest racking in sobs. I watched him cry, as he leaned against his knees, sobbing dejectedly. I didn't know what to do. Van _never _cried. It was one of his rules.

And now here he was, the tears falling freely down his cheeks. And at last I saw the true extent of his pain, the hurt he'd been holding in for me all this time. He'd been killing himself inside, hiding it all behind his brave smile and his carefree, perverted sense of humor, using his eccentric personality to hide his pain.

It wasn't long until I felt myself shed a few tears of my own. Seeing Van crying like that. And I'd always been pretty emotional.

Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled him into a hug. "I'm…I'm so, _so _sorry, Van."

His body went rigid as he looked down at me. His amber eyes were blank. "Why the fuck are _you _apologizing?"

I hugged him tighter. "For…for not paying you enough attention. If I hadn't been so preoccupied with all the shit in my life, I might have noticed—"

He cut me off with a sad laugh. "Sora, of all the people…you have paid the most attention to me. Hell—if not for you, I might be dead by now."

I stared at him in shock, as he ruffled my hair. He wiped at his damp cheeks with the back of his free hand. "Yeah…I had my emo days. Even tried to kill myself once or twice—I'm not kidding. You know—I felt worthless and shit, especially when Ven graduated and went off to med school while I couldn't get accepted in any college, you know." He gave me a sad smile. "But…but then I realized how important I was to you and…I couldn't take my own life."

Now I did start to cry. "V-Van—"

"Hey, hey! Don't go all pregnant girlfriend on me!" He chuckled, like he'd just made the greatest pun in the universe, like his problems weren't that important. He wrapped his arms around me, returning to hug. His smoky smell was comforting, for some reason. I had no idea what I would have done if Van had killed himself. I probably would have done the same, especially since my first two years of high school sucked pretty badly, Roxas hardly talked to me and Kairi hadn't shown up in my life yet. "That's all in the past, 'kay? Sure, the Aqua shit has gotten me pretty messed up…but not _that _messed up. I wouldn't even _think _about it anymore. Aqua's gone, yeah. But you're still here. You're pretty much all I've got left." I felt him press his lips against the top of my head. It was quiet for a while, and all I could hear was the beating of his heart and the sound of the waves.

And then he laughed. "You know what, Sora? I think this is our gayest moment yet."

And I wasn't sure whether I wanted to laugh or cry.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"Sora, that's a C chord."

"You told me that was an 'F# major'…"

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"It's my guitar and I know what I'm talking about. Now quit fucking up and just play it already."

I sighed, giving him a stubborn glare. "I'm trying."

"Yeah?" He lit himself another cigarette. "Well you're not trying hard enough."

It was Thursday, and I'd been on break for more than a week and a half. I'd chosen two of the songs on the list, like Van had ordered me to—_Annabelle_ and _Love Drunk_. They were catchy, the lyrics were totally relatable, and they didn't seem _too _hard…

I was wrong, of course.

Dad had given me his bass guitar, which was nice of him, because Roxas insisted it was easier to learn than an acoustic and that I'd need it for the songs I'd chosen. He'd been teaching me for almost five days now, and I still hadn't gotten it.

Van, Dad and Tifa insisted I was getting better at it, but Roxas slammed me relentlessly, saying I sucked and that there was no way I was going to learn it before 'next weekend'.

After almost an hour of messing up pretty much everything, Roxas said we were done for the day, and he left to go out skating, because, he said, he felt like it.

I sighed, falling back on the bunk. I could hear Xion playing the piano downstairs. She'd taken it upon herself to learn as many songs she possibly could from my song sheet. Because, as she put it, she 'wanted to'.

Something else you should probably know about Xion was that she was…sick, in a way. We didn't know what she had—all we knew was that sometimes she cried for no reason and she had to take pills twice a day. I used to ask Tifa and Aunt Lulu all the time, but after I while I gave up when I realized they weren't ever going to tell me. Van said he suspected she had some kind of bipolar disorder, but we weren't sure.

Anyway, Xion liked playing the piano quite a lot, and I'd heard Aunt Lulu and Tifa talking once and Lulu saying that playing piano was what 'kept her sane'. I figured that was one of the reasons Lulu allowed Xion to cosplay as well…

Now that I was alone, my thoughts started to wander. I wondered if Mom was okay. She hadn't called us ever since she'd gone off to Costa del Sol. Roxas told me that Dad must have been rejecting all her calls, but I told him that wasn't an excuse cause she could have just called my phone, and she hadn't. Roxas had scared me by saying Zack had probably beaten her to death.

I knew that wasn't true, though. Zack really liked Mom—otherwise he wouldn't have married her. Dad married Mom out of wedlock, I guess…so it wasn't exactly the same thing, right?

My mind drifted again, to my new hairstyle, the new clothes that were piled on Roxas' bunk. It was way too much to take in—I had to learn the guitar by next Friday, I was going to have to quit my old job, and I was possibly going to be a clothes model.

I sighed.

I lifted my Donald Duck plushie so he could face me. "What do you think, Donald?"

He tilted his head, as if to say he didn't know.

I chuckled, ruffling his feathers. He didn't protest. I wondered momentarily what it would be like being a duck. Or a duck plushie.

I knew I was starting to overthink again, so I picked up Goofy. "Do you think this modeling thing is a good idea?"

Goofy shrugged. I gave him a look, and he just stared impassively back at me. I sighed. "You know…you guys aren't really being that helpful right now."

Goofy gave me a look, as if to say, _That's because it's not our decision to make._

I sighed. "…no, not really. I'm pretty sure Van's already decided it for me."

Donald shrugged, like, _He is trying to help you out. _

"Yeah…I guess." I was about to say something else when I had this feeling someone was watching me, and, sure enough, someone was. It was Dad, and he was holding a basket of dirty laundry. He cocked a platinum blonde eyebrow at me, and I felt myself blushing in embarrassment.

"Still talking to your toys again, huh?" He chuckled, ruffling my hair. "You always were a weird kid."

I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. "Hn."

"I don't remember buying these, though." He flicked Donald's beak, and Donald tried not to squawk in protest. "Did…Zack get this for you?"

I watched his face carefully as he said this, and I didn't see one trace of anger or jealousy in his features. "No. Van got it for me, actually."

Dad nodded. "Oh."

It was weird, since for as long as I could remember, Dad had either ignored the subject of Mom and her new husband or grumble over any updates we gave him. There was a question he always asked too.

"How's your Mom doin'?"

I was waiting for this question, because I always said the same thing every time we met. "She's fine."

Sure, now it was different, since Zack had momentarily turned into a bastard and walked out on us and disappeared for more than two months…but I had a feeling that Mom would never forgive me if I told Dad any of that.

Dad nodded, and then he said something completely unexpected. "I'm glad she is."

Before I could react, he stood up, gave me another pat on the head, and picked up the pile of clothes Roxas had left on his bunk on purpose, and then he left the room.

* * *

**Yeaaaaah…so you're all probably going to kill me now…**

**I think I should be finishing the chappies in advance, so I actually know what's going to be in the next chappie instead of annoying you with all the misleading Sneek Peeks. But…oh well. Guess what? We're having THREE chappies of Spring Break now! How awesome izzat? *someone throws chair at Spellbound* **

**Despite the lack of…stuff happening in this chappie, I hope you enjoyed it!**

* * *

**Sneek Peek (FORREAL THIS TIME): **

"…_a date?" _

"_You're hired."_

"_It's called moving on, Sora."_

"_Riku?"_

* * *

…**So I know how annoyed you must be by now, since I've been promising Riku's appearance for…well, a while now. But…yeah. He'll be in the next chappie. I promise. **

**Which means the next chappie's gonna be SUPERDUPER long! Awesome, right? **

**Well…read and—you know what? I don't even need to tell you guys that, since you did such a good job with the last chappie. **

**Oh, and as for those of you that don't follow Angel (which, honestly, I don't mind), I'm gonna repeat what I said in the A/N of the last Angel chappie…LOVE SICK! It's this awesome new fic by this guy called Jomatto on eff eff dot net…he's such a brilliant writer but he doesn't get the recognition he deserves! Anyway…his fic Love Sick is amazing, and I suggest you all read it and continue shouting it out, like the awesome people you are. XD **

**Anyway…this author's note is getting too long…so I guess I'd better get going. Hasta luego, and wish me good luck on my finals! (Yes…I'm writing fanfiction when my midterms are barely a week away. Shows how studious I am, right?)**

**XXXX LOVE YOU. **


	30. Transformation Pt 2: Learn To Fly

**A/N: LAST WEEK WAS ADDICTED'S ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! (12/12/11)! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDICTED! WHOOP WHOOP!**

…**you guys. *shakes head* You guys totally deserve, like, another one of those three updates in a week things…but…ugh. SCHOOL! *summons fire and launches it at school building (haha not really, she can't summon fire, so she gets Axel to do it)* **

**Ahem. Anywho…it's the holidays…have more time to write i.e. updates are faster…and Addicted celebrated its one year anniversary last week! (The twelth of November!). Hehe…as I begin this chappie, I'm in the car, on my way to TX to see my COUSINS! Who rock, by the way. The only thing that sucks about them is they hate manga, anime, fanfiction, Kingdom Hearts and Disney. I mean, DA FOOK? Meh…can't hate them, cause they're family. **

**SORRY TO ALL I DID NOT REPLY TO. IT'S JUST THAT I'VE BEEN AT SCHOOL AND LIFE'S BEEN SUCKING AND I'VE BEEN CATCHING UP ON THE LYING GAME AND ASDFGHJKL. **

**Also…ANYONE ELSE SEEN THE NEW 8-MINUTE KH3D TRAILER? I fangasmed. **

**Review replies? **

**Isabelz3Cookies: Aw thanks! I love Sokai too…but the Sokai will have to wait. Because I suck. Anywho…I'm not going to give out any spoilers. ^^ Enjoy! **

**Superpeanutbutter: YES! NEKU! HE HAS ARRIVED! MUARRR! As for Riku cutting his hair… *giggles manically* And, yes, you have to continue Glee. Though the latest episode sucked balls. (Call me a Grinch, but I seriously DETEST Christmas.)**

**The Traveler: Thanks! And, yes, Neku makes his appearance! And I'll take your requests into consideration… *is already planning out Neku/Shiki scenarios in her mind* Enjoy!**

**Squall17: Wow…you should be checking weekly. I've decided to stick to updating weekly. It's more ethical that way. xD Anywho…I'm a sophomore. I don't wanna grow up. I'm not really that excited to be a senior. Anywho, enjoy! **

**Urrrr…so…about this chappie? Some more bromance…some fanservice…and some long-awaited appearances! Not going to spoil it all for ya, but lets just say… NEKU SAKURABA FTW! For you TWEWY and KH3D fans who know who that is…**

**Disclaimer: LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALA—**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I get a haircut. Finally. _

The ends were spiked and his bangs were gelled into a complicated yet sophisticated style that made me look…well, sexy.

_I find out about Van and Aqua's past._

"Aqua…she was the best thing that had ever happened to me."

_And Van's got some more plans for me…_

"What…you want me to be a model?"

* * *

**Chapter 30: Transformation Pt. II—Learn To Fly**

I'd gone two weeks without speaking about or thinking about Kairi. Okay, so maybe I'd been thinking about her more often than not, but Van made sure to distract me with whatever he could to push her to the back of my mind.

Van had started making changes, too. It was as if spilling everything about him and Aqua to me that day at the beach had cleared his head, opened his eyes to something. He suddenly went back to his brash, perverted self, cracking sex jokes whenever he possibly could and spending afternoons on Playboy TV again. It was like the old Van has almost completely returned, which was reassuring.

But I was still worried for him. After hearing about what had happened with Aqua…and how she was pregnant…

What was gonna happen? Was the baby his? If so, was he just going to leave her alone to take care of it herself?

I wasn't sure what he was thinking. He'd always been unpredictable; just when I thought I could read him, he'd go and do something completely unexpected.

Like knocking up my English teacher.

The third week began, and I was getting pretty nervous. This was the last week until school started again, and I honestly wasn't ready to go back. I was still trying to get used to my new look. The workouts had really started paying off—I had to thank Van and Riku for that. Exercise wasn't such a pain anymore, even though I still hated sports and still couldn't catch a ball properly. Our frequent trips to the beach had left me looking a lot more tanned than usually, and my hair…god, I didn't think I'd ever get used to that haircut.

The huge selection of clothes I had now was overwhelming. I'd managed to convince him not to get anything too outlandish, and he complied, which was a relief. He'd went and gotten me everything—sneakers, jeans, t-shirts, dress shirts, underwear—from all the best shops with all the best brands. It was crazy; I guess the fact that he was having a crap week could have had something to do with it, but I wasn't sure if comfort shopping applied to guys as well.

But…well. Van was intent on forgetting about his love problems, so I guess that's why he was so intent on helping me get over Kairi.

I couldn't accept it though. That Van and Aqua were done for good. From what I'd seen, she actually really liked Vanitas. He actually stood a chance, unlike me, and I hated that he was completely giving up on her.

I didn't tell him this, though. I didn't think bringing it up was a good idea. I hated getting Van angry.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

_Oblivion Magazine_ is the most popular fashion magazine on Destiny Islands—and possibly the whole region. Hollywood celebrities, local actors and actresses and sports stars were frequently featured in _Oblivion_. The _Oblivion _had branches all over the region, and, luckily, there was a branch about half an hour away from the North Island.

This was where Van was taking me.

I was dumbfounded by what I saw inside the building. Male and female models, all busy trying on clothes, measuring waistlines, dying hair, reapplying makeup, posing for photos. The youngest model looked about my age, and the oldest had to be at least thirty.

But the thing that struck me the most was how strikingly _beautiful_ everyone looked. It was intimidating, and not to mention overwhelming. I didn't know it was possible that there could be so many good-looking people in one place. It was hard enough dealing with the Populars in school every day, but this…this was just too much.

"It's something, isn't it?" I heard Van chuckle, mussing up my hair. I'd learnt from experience that my hair was now resistant to pretty much anything. "Come on, we'd better go find Noel."

I decided not to ask who Noel was, because I was probably going to meet him later. We walked through the pristine corridors. I let my eyes wander. You could see the beach through the glass walls, and there were pots of flowers everywhere. Every once in a while we'd pass models, and they'd either wave at me or give me calculating looks, as if not sure what to make of me yet.

We eventually arrived at a reception desk, where a woman was filing her nails. I wonder if it was a rule that everyone who worked in _Oblivion _had to be uncannily pretty, or something, because…well, she looked pretty good. She frowned when she saw Van. "May I help you?"

"Hey," Van replied casually, as if he knew her. "Is Noel here?"

"…yes, he is." She glanced at me. "Who is he?"

"Oh, he's my little brudda," he explained. "Noel said I could swing by whenever I wanted, and…yeah."

"Hmm." She didn't look convinced, but gave in anyway. She handed him a slip of blue paper, and Van thanked her before heading down another corridor.

We arrived at a large balcony, overlooking the seashore. I had a feeling it was their private beach, because there wasn't anyone there, really, except for the swimsuit models and photographers. There were only a few people on the balcony—three guys and one girl, who I assumed were models. They all looked up when they saw us, and I immediately felt self-conscious.

The guy who I assumed was Noel stepped forward first, lowering the glass of what looked like sparkling Paopu punch from his lips. His unruly brown hair was just the right length and contrasted flawlessly with his striking blue eyes. His cheekbones weren't as chiseled as Riku's or anything, but they fit the rest of his image perfectly.

He looked somewhat familiar, and I had a feeling he'd gone to North Destiny College once before. I was probably still in middle school then, because freshman year was my nightmare year and I was pretty sure I'd have remembered him if he'd bullied me.

He didn't seem to recognize me either, but he obviously recognized Van. "Hey…this your brother?"

"Yup." Van positioned me in front of him, as if putting me on display. "Sora, this is Noel. Noel, Sora."

Noel nodded, smiling slightly. "Hey. I'm the head of this division—"

"_Co-_head," the only girl there reminded him. She was apparently a swimsuit model, wearing nothing but a bikini top and an expensive-looking denim skort.

"Yeah. Right." Noel brushed at his bangs, obviously not appreciating the correction. "Anyway…it's my decision who makes it into _Oblivion_."

I wasn't sure what to say to that. "Um. Okay."

Noel nodded. "Right. Phones, take Sora to Lebreau."

The guy who I presumed was 'Phones' made a noise that made it pretty obvious he didn't really want to. Noel gave him a look, and he grudgingly obeyed.

He looked about fifteen, a bit younger than me. His orange hair was styled in a unique hairstyle, and I wondered whether his hair was naturally spiky, like mine, or whether it was artificially altered to make it stick up all over the place like that. The difference between his hair and my previous hairstyle, though, was that his actually had some sense of direction.

He walked past me, and I figured I had to follow him.

I had a feeling 'Phones' wasn't his real name—he probably got it because of the huge blue Beats he had around his neck. The silence was awkward though, and I took it upon myself to break it.

"So…" I cleared my throat and tried to walk in stride with him. "I'm Sora."

"I know," was his blunt reply. I couldn't really see that much of his face through his funnel-shaped collar.

I fought back a frown. "Um…what's your name?"

It took a while for him to respond. "Neku. Neku Sakuraba."

"Neku." I grinned for the sake of it. "Cool name."

He rolled his eyes. They were a nice indigo color. I had a feeling that's what got him his job. "It's nothing special."

I decided to press harder. "Um…so you're a model?"

"Duh," he replied. "You haven't gotten that down yet?"

That kind of threw me off a bit. "Um…w-well yeah I…uh…"

Thankfully we were interrupted just then. "Neku~!"

It was the girl who was on the veranda. Neku made a face, obviously disgruntled. "Shiki…"

She looked about the same age as Neku, and was probably an inch or so taller, and her long reddish-brown hair fell by her shoulders. The fact that she was in a bikini was pretty distracting, but apparently she had a plushie fetish, like me.

"I was going the same way so…I thought I'd come with." She stepped in stride with us, bouncing on the heels of her knee-length brown boots. "So you wanna be a model, huh?"

"Well…not really." I shrugged. "I mean, this whole thing is Van's idea…"

"Van." She sighed wistfully. "Your brother is _so _hot."

"Really, Shiki?" Neku muttered. "He's way older than you."

"So? I like older men." She giggled, and I felt myself smiling. She was a lot more approachable than Neku, who was starting to seem more and more like an ass each passing second. "You're cute though…Noel will probably take you in. I mean, if your measurements come up good."

"What am I even gonna be measuring, anyway?" I asked. "I mean, it's not like you'll need to take my bust size or anything…"

"Well, there is your waist, and your biceps…and then there's the possibility of you being an underwear model…"

"Nuh-uh. No way. We've already established that I will not stoop to that level."

Shiki raised an eyebrow. "Um. Okay. Right."

Shiki started talking then, about random stuff, from her newest costume design—(apparently she was a designer)—to what she was naming her new cat. Neku remained silent, though he was probably too preoccupied with listening to his music to notice she was talking.

We arrived at Lebreau's place eventually. There were two other models there when we got there, and the woman who I assumed was Lebreau was talking with them. She flashed a smile when she saw us. "Hey guys, who's this?"

"This is Sora, Noel needs his measurements or something." He absently tugged on his collar. "Sora, this is Lebreau. And these are Beat and Joshua, private dick extraordinaire."

"Naturally," Joshua muttered, as if he'd been called that before. His blonde hair looked bleached and professionally curled, but the clothes he was wearing didn't look all that fashionable.

The woman, Lebreau, was in the middle of measuring Beat, the other guy there. He was wearing a black beanie with a skull printed on the front, which I guess was supposed to make him look tough, and it worked.

"Right. That's thirteen, fifteen." The tailor patted Beat on the shoulder and handed him a sheet of paper. "You're good to go."

Beat nodded and he and Joshua left the room, leaving Neku, Shiki and I with Lebreau.

"So…you're here for your measurements?" When I nodded, she clapped her hands. "Alrighty then!" She unsheathed her measuring tape and flashed a sinister smile. "Strip."

"Wh-what?"

I couldn't really protest, and they wouldn't listen to me anyway.

* * *

"Here you go!" Lebreau handed me my own sheet of paper minutes later, while I hurried to get dressed. Neku was listening to the music in his iPod, and Shiki was absently doodling outfits. She was apparently a junior fashion designer, according to Neku. Neku was one of the 'versatile' models—he did pretty much anything, from sneakers to, well, headphones.

He seemed to talk to Shiki a lot more when I wasn't in the conversation. I wasn't sure if he liked her or not—he didn't exactly seem to hate her presence, but he was acting pretty insulting and wouldn't quit calling her annoying and complaining about how he was invading her personal space.

The two walked me back to Van and Noel, who were seemingly in deep conversation. Noel was busy laughing to one of Van's jokes when we arrived.

He took the sheet of paper from me and scanned the results before nodding in approval. "Hm. This is pretty good." He glanced at Van before looking back at me. He circled me, looking me up and down, eventually stopping in front of me and looking pensively at my face. "I don't know…you're obviously not going to work with anything sexy—"

"Yeah, I figured you'd say that, so we've already cleared it out that he's not gonna be doing anything 'risqué'." Van chuckled, patting my shoulder. I wasn't sure why I felt insulted by Noel's comment.

"Good." Noel tilted my head, and I felt weirdly insecure. "Hmm. I think you'd work if we're going for the 'stunningly cute' or something."

"'Stunningly cute'?" I raised an eyebrow. "Are you high?"

Noel shook his head. "No."

* * *

It felt beyond awkward having people dabbing makeup all over my face and stripping me down into my underwear—again. Apparently they just wanted a 'natural' shot of my face, to see how I'd look without any altering. I didn't see why all the foundation was needed, then.

I was new to the whole modeling thing, so it was hard not to feel uncomfortable when cameras were flashing away at your face and random camera men were yelling at you too 'try and look fierce'. I'd heard that good models and actors were able to speak with their eyes, and I had a feeling that if I'd managed to 'speak', I was probably giving off the impression that I was freaked out, because I was.

Anyway, they flashed away at me for almost a quarter of an hour before they let me go and dress up. Shiki was clapping when I came out, and Neku was listening to _Three Days Grace_. "How'd it go?" she asked.

I shrugged, buttoning up my new checkered orange dress shirt. It looked pretty good on me, to be honest. "I dunno. I'm not entirely comfortable with the fact that I had to take the photoshoot in _my underwear_."

"Yeah…Noel likes people knowing he has power." Shiki shrugged her tiny shoulders. "He's co-head and he acts like he owns the place…I remember the day Neku first showed up."

Neku frowned. "Shiki…"

Shiki shook her head. "Don't worry, I won't tell him _everything_. Long story short, he was as awkward as you were."

"Really?" For some reason I found that hard to believe. Neku looked like front cover material.

"Yup!" She patted Neku on the shoulder, and he shrugged her off. "Neku and you are actually pretty alike!"

Neku was either too engrossed in his music to hear or he was just pretending.

Shiki sighed. "He's not usually like this…he's a bit unsociable at first, but he's nice once you get to know him."

I smiled, for lack of anything else to say. "Thanks."

Shiki and I talked about random stuff while waiting for my photos to be published, and I realized that Shiki was actually really pretty and that Neku looked at her frequently and that she liked placing her hands on her hips whenever she could. I also noticed that Neku was shorter than me, and that he had a pin collection.

Shiki informed me that she and Neku's parents were from Shibuya and that they had moved to Destiny Islands when they were toddlers. They apparently both went to South Destiny High, where Xion went and where Vanitas had gone, and came to _Oblivion _after school.

I was eventually called over—the photos had finished developing.

"Fuck, Sora. I know you're my brother and all, but I feel totally turned on right now."

I stared at him, trying to register what he'd just said. "…what…the fuck…_god_—"

"Look at these!" He picked up one of the photos and waved it in front of my face.

I took the photo from him and looked at it. And looked at it a little longer. It was in black and white, and was a portrait shot of me from my shoulders up, and I was staring straight into the camera. And…I looked pretty good, to be honest. Which was something I thought I'd never admit.

"That's it—you're hired." Noel reached into his pocket and handed me a card, with my name on it. I didn't even have time to wonder when he'd had the time to find my credentials. "These photos are fantastic. You start on Monday."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"Van, honestly, don't you think this is all a bit much?"

"No, no I don't. You need this, and you know it. To take your mind off…_her_."

I felt the empty feeling in my chest growing deeper once again, and immediately tried to change the subject.

Thankfully, Van did it before me. "I'm gonna go get us some pizza—you want some?"

I nodded and told him that pepperoni would be nice, and he set off. I decided to go join Xion in the piano room, because Roxas wasn't in and I hated leaving her there alone. We were told never to leave her alone for long periods of time, in case she got unstable.

She was playing a familiar tune on the piano, and I tried not to interrupt her. But, of course, being the clumsy person that I am, I ended up slamming my foot into the tea table and making a huge squeaking noise on the tiles.

Xion immediately turned to me, but she didn't seem all that bothered. "Oh. Hey, Sora!" She scooted over on the bench and gave me an expectant look, so I sat down next to her.

"Whatcha doin'?" I asked, though it was pretty obvious.

"Playing the piano, duh." She giggled. "Well…actually I was trying out some of the songs on your list…on piano."

"You have way too much time on your hands."

Xion was always on her piano, and she'd apparently written a few piano melodies of her own. She'd even made some for Roxas, Ventus, and I, but hadn't gotten round to making Van a theme. She'd said his life was too complicated, and that it'd take her years to come up with one.

"I know, right?" She sighed. "Well…I've only got one of them a hundred percent perfect."

I told her to play it, and she did. I recognized the song immediately, and I felt the searing pain in my chest again.

The song's lyrics had gotten to me the first time I'd heard it, but I hadn't chosen to sing it for several obvious reasons—it was too slow, it was soft, and it wasn't a revenge-themed song at all, which I guess Van was hoping for. But now, when it was only Xion and I in the piano room, I didn't see how it would hurt.

I found myself singing against my will, closing my eyes and singing along with the tune as Xion played the piano.

"_Here's my resolution_

_I'm letting go…_"

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It was Wednesday. I was wolfing down Paopu Stars when my phone rang.

It was from an unknown number, but I picked it up anyway. "Um…hello?"

"Hey!" It was a girl. Weird. "It's me, Krile."

_The fuck? _"Um…okay."

"…" She giggled. "The girl who helped you with sunblock a few weeks ago at the beach?"

"Oh!" I nodded dumbly, feeling stupid. Then I started wondering where the hell she'd gotten my number from. "Um."

"Uh, yeah." I could almost hear her grinning. "I…wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out for lunch together, or something. I mean, there's this new sushi place downtown I've always wanted to try and…yeah. I just thought maybe…"

She trailed off as I tried to figure out what was happening. Was a girl actually _asking me out_?

"Um…" I swallowed, nervously tugging at the collar of my shirt. "I…uh…sure, we could…um. Yeah."

I heard her laugh at the other end of the line. "Sure thing. Well…see you in an hour."

She hung up then, and I started panicking. What the hell was I doing? I'd never been on a date before, and I had no idea how I was supposed to act. What was I supposed to wear? Was I supposed to pick her up or what? What was her name again?

I was too busy spazzing to notice Van had entered the room.

"Whassup?" Van patted me on the shoulder.

"Van…I just got asked out."

"On a date?"

"On a date."

"Aw, baby!" Van laughed and ruffled my hair. "We need to get you spruced up, then."

"Wha—" Before I could protest, Van began rummaging through my clothes. "You don't even know where I'm going yet."

"To a sushi place, right?" He pulled out one of my new Hollister tees. "This should be alright."

"Wait—how did you…?" I sighed, deciding to drop the subject. I'd long given up trying to figure out how Van seemed to know everything.

* * *

'The sushi place', which was actually called _Sushi Heaven_, wasn't that far from the house, about five minutes by foot. Van had picked out a 'sophisticated-yet-casual' outfit for me—a bright blue t-shirt, dark skinny jeans, and navy high-tops—but I couldn't help feeling self-conscious. I mean, being bullied for almost all your life did that to you.

I'd thought of bringing flowers, but Van said that was unnecessary. I still felt totally unprepared for the date, though. I couldn't believe someone had actually asked me out. I couldn't even blame it on my makeover, because I was pretty sure I'd met Krile _before _Van had forced me to get a haircut.

I was still trying to understand all this when Krile arrived, wearing a crop top and hot pants. I suddenly felt overdressed.

"Hey." She gave me a wave as she approached me. I waved back, and followed her into the restaurant. I did the courteous thing and pulled out her seat for her, which she seemed to appreciate.

"So…" She leaned on her palm, scanning the menu. "You ever eaten sushi before?"

"Um. Yes." I cleared my throat. "I mean, not really. No."

She giggled. "Huh. Well you're going to have to try it today, then."

"I guess so." I was so nervous the letters on the menu started swimming.

The waitress came to take our order, and I let Krile order first so I could take the same thing she did. Krile tossed some of her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder and cocked her head at me. "So…how old are you again?"

"Sixteen." I paused. "Almost seventeen, actually."

"Oh. When's your birthday?"

"Next month, actually." I absently played with the salt shaker. I was starting to get shaky. Stupid ADHD.

"I just turned seventeen last week." She nibbled on a breadstick. "That makes me older than you."

"By a month," I couldn't help but add. She gave me a playful smile in return.

We talked about random stuff for a while—just the usual conversational questions, like which school I went to and what I liked to do in my spare time—and I realized how much easier it had gotten for me to talk to complete strangers. I didn't know when it was that I'd suddenly stopped being shy around other people. Probably after Kairi arrived.

Krile liked bunnies. She did gymnastics. She loved the color orange. She didn't get what I liked about Disney.

That immediately sparked an argument from me.

"You have no idea how many lessons you can learn from Disney movies," I argued over a mouthful of sushi (—which tasted amazing, by the way). "Take Tarzan, for example. That's all about two worlds, one family. Beauty and the Beast? Don't judge a person by their appearance. Cinderella? Follow your dreams. The Lion King—"

"Yeah, I get it, but what if you look at it differently?" She took a sip of her Paopu Squash. "Cinderella _lied_ and sneaked out at night to attend a party. Snow White lived alone in a house with seven other men. Jasmine was in a _forbidden_ relationship with Aladdin. Tarzan walked without clothes on. Pinocchio was a liar. Sleeping Beauty was kissed by a stranger and ran off with him."

"Ugh…that's—you just—" I let out an exasperated sigh. "You're just twisting everything—Tarzan went around half-naked cause he was brought up by gorillas, a-and Jasmine and Aladdin…" I trailed off when I realized she was laughing at me. "What?"

She giggled into her fist, shaking her head. "God, Sora. You're so damn cute."

I didn't really know what to say to that, so thankfully the waitress came then, with our bill. I paid for the both of us, because I was pretty sure that was the courteous thing to do. I was lucky I had any munny on me, though. I wondered if Van had slipped it in my pocket for me.

We decided to take a little walk on the beach before parting ways. To be honest, Krile's company wasn't all that bad. She was cute, and funny, and attractive, but…

"Krile?"

She pulled her eyes away from her phone to look at me. "Hm?"

I took a deep breath before pulling her close and kissing her.

It was a simple kiss on the lips, nothing more, nothing less. Her eyes widened at the gesture, but she eventually relaxed, kissing me back.

And then we both pulled away.

I looked at her, and she looked at me.

And then she laughed.

"Wh—what was that about?" Krile giggled.

I blushed. "I…I just wanted to know if I was in love with you or not."

She laughed louder at that. "Ohmigosh…seriously?" She pinched my cheek, even though I was at least a head taller than her. "You're so cute!"

"Um."

She arched an eyebrow. "We've barely known each other for more than three hours and you're already trying to figure out if you're in love with me?"

I blushed harder. "When you say it like that…"

She shook her head, patting me on the shoulder. "Damn, Sora. You've got a lot to learn."

I sighed, feeling beyond embarrassed. And then I froze. "Wait…how did you know my name?"

Her eyes widened, like she'd just been caught opening her Christmas presents early.

I frowned. "And how did you get my number? And my home address? I never told you any—"

And then it clicked.

_Oh._

I facepalmed. "Van paid you to go out with me today, didn't he?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he did."

"Huh. Well. This is awkward."

She giggled. "No, but seriously, I actually had a lot of fun today. I honestly thought going out with you would be torture, or something, since he made it seem like you were too much of a loser to get yourself a girlfriend, but…you're actually a pretty nice guy."

"Thanks?" I chuckled. "But, really, I kind of suck. I've never had a girlfriend before in my life. If it wasn't obvious enough, this was my first time going out on a date with anyone—ever. I'm not even kidding."

She laughed. "Well…they don't know what they're missing." She patted me on the shoulder. "You're a really nice guy, Sora. And one day, a really nice girl will come along, a girl who deserves you."

* * *

Van wasn't there when I got home, which was pretty annoying since I'd been planning to give him a piece of my mind for setting me up with a girl without warning me.

In the end, everything had gone pretty well. Krile and I had both admitted that we felt absolutely no romantic feelings towards one another, and that it was better if we stayed friends. She agreed to help me plot revenge on Vanitas.

The door was unlocked when I got back. There was no one in the living room, or in the kitchen, or in the piano room, so I figured they were probably all upstairs.

As I climbed the stairs, I heard voices coming from Van's room, and tiptoed as quietly as I could, eavesdropping on the conversation.

"—that was ten years ago, Roxas." It was Dad. "I've changed since then—"

"But what you _did _hasn't. You think I can ever see you in the same way after all the bullshit you put Ven and I through?"

_What…? _I frowned. Great. Roxas was being an asshole again.

"…Roxas, I said I was sorry—"

"Well sorry won't cut it."

I waited patiently for the silence to pass. I was too scared to move, in case they heard me and stopped talking altogether. It was good enough that Roxas and Dad were actually talking, because for as long as I could remember, Roxas had been ignoring Dad and going out of his way to avoid speaking to him.

I heard Dad sigh. "What do you want me to do, huh? Break up with Tifa?"

"…well—"

"I _can't _do that, Roxas. You know that."

"But—"

"Bitching about it isn't going to change anything either. I made a mistake, I paid for it. _Nothing_ gonna make me and your mother get back together."

The silence was deafening. I was considering going out for a walk and pretending I didn't hear anything when suddenly Roxas stormed out of the room, bumping into me.

"Um…" I took a step back, forcing a smile. "Hey! I, uh, just got back and…" I trailed off when I realized I wasn't fooling anyone. He gave me a cold glare and pushed past me, storming downstairs.

I heard Dad sigh as he walked past me, going after Roxas. "Roxas…Roxas, wait—"

He was cut off by the loud slamming of the front door.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Van decided that he was going to create a Facebook account for me.

I'd never really been that interested in social networking, because I'd learnt that it was a playground for pedos and cyberbullies, and that it was a total waste of time. I'd heard a bunch of bad things about Facebook, and Twitter, and all those other things, and it just didn't appeal to me. I didn't see what was so appealing about telling random people you barely talked to in school about your life, or whatever. It was all nonsense to me.

But Van insisted, so I let him.

"Name? Sora…Kyumuke…" His fingers flew across the keyboard. He was a lot faster at typing than me. "Birthday…May 24th…Hometown, Radiant Garden…"

I smirked. "I don't remember telling you any of this."

"Hm, me neither." He continued filling in my profile, while I played some Super Mario on his Xbox. He had a bunch of other games, but I hated blood and anything violent, as you've probably realized by now. "Right. Now…likes and dislikes?"

"What I like? Um…" I thought for a moment. "Well, I like singing…and Disney movies—"

"Ew, hell no." Van shook his head. "That's a complete turn-off, man. So not sexy."

I paused the game and crossed my arms. "Well…who said I was trying to be sexy? You asked me what I liked…"

"Yeah…but I'm also giving you a makeover, and this is part of it." He opened a new tab and logged in to his account. He had a total of one thousand three hundred friends. I had a feeling that was a lot. "This is _my_ account. Wondering how I got this many friends? Well, first of all I started by making myself look sexy."

"I don't need—"

"Yes you do, Sora. I don't care if you say you don't, because I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you."

I sighed and let him do what he wanted. I stopped him once or twice when he was getting ridiculous and too disgusting. He let me keep a few things I liked that he 'approved' of, though.

By the time he was done, my Facebook profile looked a bit like this.

* * *

**Sora Kyumuke **

**Sex: **_Male_

**Interested in: **_Women_

**Relationship Status: **_Single_

**Favorite Quotations: **_"It's not illegal, it's frowned upon. Like masturbating on an airplane." _

**Family: **Vanitas Lockhart—_Brother_

**About Sora: **Independent

**Music: **Anything

**Likes: **Partying

**Dislikes: **None

* * *

"Van…what the hell is up with the quotation?"

"You ever watched the Hangover?"

"Yeah…but…there're a bunch of better quotes you could have put in there…you make it seem like I'm some sex maniac…"

"That's what I was going for."

I rolled my eyes. "Van. I'm not _you_."

"I know that. If I thought you were me I'd have you be interested in men and women and add that you like teabagging—"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

He uploaded my profile picture—the photo I'd taken at _Oblivion_—and I wondered when he'd managed to get the digital copy of it without me knowing. He activated my account and left me to find my 'friends' myself while he went to get a snack.

I skipped the 'tutorial' and decided to check if Penelo and the rest had Facebook first, and was kind of surprised to find out they did. I searched up Shiki, Neku and Krile, and found out that they all had accounts as well. I sent them all friend requests, and then I thought about what to do next.

I didn't really have that many people I could call friends apart from them, so I felt kind of lost.

And then I found my mind drifting toward _her…_

It was crazy how many Kairis there were on Facebook, and it took me a while to realize that it would help if I used her last name. I eventually found her, and was completely taken aback.

She had more than two thousand friends, which was more than twice the school population. I couldn't see her wall—she'd blocked it from 'strangers'—but I was able to see her photos. Seeing her face again triggered the pain in my chest again, though this time it was out of longing. It was crazy how much I'd missed her, even though Van was still trying to drill it into my mind that she was a bitch and that I should forget about her. I tried, but I couldn't.

She was so damn beautiful. I knew it was probably unhealthy, but I went through every single one of her photos—even the ones where she was with Riku. There were professionally taken photos of the Sectionals and Regionals, pictures of her and Riku on the beach, in restaurants, dancing…

There was an album that particularly caught my eye. It was called _Kairi_, and, if I'd read the date correctly, it was created when she was fourteen. There were several pictures, of her in the park, in a supermarket, in what seemed to be her front yard in Radiant Garden, with all the flowers she used to talk to me about. There were pictures of her in her room, in her warm, slumber-party pajamas, her ice skating in the snow, her on a trampoline, her in a pool. The thing that was unique about this album was that in all the pictures, it was just her, and no one else.

It was the final picture in the album that I fell in love with. It was Kairi, of course, standing on a bridge that overlooked the purply-blue ocean of Radiant Garden. She was wearing a stripy green beanie, and her red hair fell loosely by her shoulders. She was bundled up in a coat and a scarf, and I assumed it was autumn there.

The sun was setting, kissing the horizon, sending splashes of oranges and yellows and reds across the rippling waves. The camera captured the picture beautifully, but that wasn't what got to me the most.

What got me was Kairi's smile. It wasn't flirty, it wasn't wild, it wasn't cheerful, or anything like that. She was just looking straight into the camera, and the edges of her lips were tilted up into a small grin.

It was that smile. The _Kairi _smile, the smile that I fell in love with. The smile that healed wounds, told stories…it was like everything I loved about her was tied together with a smile.

It was then that Van came in, and I had to quickly leave the page. I quickly typed in Riku's name into the search bar, and let it browse as Van sat down next to me. "Sorry, I had to make a call."

I nodded and let him take the mouse again. He laughed. "What—you're adding this douchebag?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. He may be a douche, but he's my friend."

Van mumbled something about me being too forgiving, but sent him a request anyway.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I was practicing the guitar chords to _Love Drunk_ that Thursday, which I'd almost perfected, by the way, in the piano room with Xion, when the bell rang. At first we didn't take any notice, figuring it was the mailman, or something, until we heard the voices getting louder.

"Where are they?" It was a guy. His voice was strangely familiar.

"That's none of your business." That was Van, of course, though I wasn't sure why he was angry.

"Actually, Vanitas, it _is _my business; they're my brothers."

I felt my breath hitch in my throat. _No way…it couldn't be…_

"What?" Xion stopped playing, looking worriedly at me. "Hey, isn't that—"

"They don't need you—" We heard footsteps approaching the piano room. "—hey, get the fuck away—"

"They're in there, aren't they?" Their voices got closer, and then the door swung open.

And, sure enough, there he was.

Ventus.

He was wearing a pinstriped black suit, and he looked even taller than he had the last time I'd seen him, which had been more than a year ago. He still had the same windswept mane, identical to the one that Roxas had, though his hair seemed cleaner, blonder. He had Mom's eyes, like me. He was clean-shaven and looked professional, with his spotless thousand-dollar suit and his expensive shoes and his classy bleached hair. It was hard to believe that he was only twenty-one, in his last year of college, and not a spanking rich businessman.

It was hard to believe he wasn't older than Van, who was still in his undervest and jeans. He was glaring at Ventus relentlessly, as if wishing he'd disappear.

"Sora!" Ventus chuckled, giving me a wave. I was impressed he'd remembered my name, after the way awkward phone call last time. He walked up to me and pulled me into a hug. He smelt of expensive cologne. He pulled away from me and searched my face. "Wow…it seems like it's been years since I saw you guys!" He paused. "Where's Roxas?"

"He's not here," Van cut in bluntly. "I'll tell him you dropped by."

Ventus frowned. "Come on, Sora, we're going."

"Wh-What?" I stammered. "Why—?"

"Mom called me and said since I was in town I should check up on you guys," Ven explained as he dragged me up the stairs. "I've been on break for almost a month now."

"And you're just coming to visit them now?" Van snapped, following us up. "Some kind of brother you are."

Ventus ignored him, opening Van's wardrobe and starting to pack up my stuff. "Is this yours?" I nodded dumbly, not sure what was going on. He smiled tersely and continued packing everything into my suitcase. He ordered me to do the same with Roxas', and I obeyed, though I wasn't sure why.

"Are you serious?" I met Van's eyes, and he gave me a heated glare. "You're actually going with _him_?"

"Yes, he is." Ven zipped up my suitcase and slung my backpack over his shoulder. "I'm his brother."

Van's eyes narrowed into slits. "Oh really? Then where have you been the past year?"

Ven snapped then. "Look, Van, you're just jealous that I'm going places in life while you're stuck in this…place! You think you're smart, huh, calling me names? You think I'm not trying to be a good big brother to him?"

I hesitated, glancing between Ventus and Vanitas. "Ven—"

"Why do you think I worked so hard to get a scholarship, huh? Without me, Sora and Roxas wouldn't even have a home to live in—"

"Where were you when this kid was getting bullied to death by everyone at school, huh?" Van interjected. "Where were you when this kid was battling depression? Where were you when this kid got his heart broken? _**Huh**_?"

Ventus was obviously taken aback. "I—"

"And Roxas?" Van continued, fists clenched. "What about him? Do you have _any _idea what he's been up to?"

Ventus remained silent, looking confused. And then he frowned. "Whatever." He picked up my suitcase again and handed me Roxas'. "Come on."

I had no choice but to follow Ventus out the door, leaving Van staring helplessly after us.

* * *

Ventus had a Porsche. That was new.

It even had a TV, and cup-holders, and a convertible roof. He was listening to _Foo Fighters_.

"I was thinking we'd go down to the beach for a bit," Ven suggested, tapping the wheel to the beat of the drums. "You know, since I haven't been there for a while. There aren't that many beaches in the Garden."

I remained silent. I wasn't sure how to talk with him. For some reason, it just wasn't as easy to converse with Ven as it was with Van. I guess Ven's not being around most of the time had something to do with it.

"You heard of the protests going down there?" Ventus continued, though I wasn't really listening. "There's rumors that there's gonna be a civil war—it's crazy." He chuckled. I noticed he had a new watch. It must have cost hundreds. "Remember how I said I was starting that Psychology class? Yeah…well I got Mum to pay and all…and it's so fun! You know, cause I get to learn how to read minds and all." He laughed again. "No, not really…but you know what I mean."

I nodded and tried to smile.

"Meh, enough about me." He glanced sideways at me, not wanting to take his eyes off the road. "What about you?"

"Huh?"

"How's your life been?"

"…good. It's been…okay."

"You sure?" Ventus frowned slightly, though he tried to hide it behind a smile.

"Yeah."

"Hm." His grin returned. "Well…how're your grades? Gotten any better?"

"Mmm."

"Awesome. You know, if you want to get into a good college you'll need to work really hard. College isn't just sorority parties and alcohol and nightclubs—it's about learning and planning the rest of your life…"

As I tried to pay attention to what Ventus was saying, my mind began to drift. To how much more fun it was having a car ride with Vanitas. How Van always made me laugh. How Van let me play my Disney CDs, how he'd frequently make fun of Donny Osmond's voice. How he'd sing off tune to pop culture songs, how he'd yell at people, how he'd wind down the windows and we'd feel the wind in our hair and just laugh at nothing, and at everything, and at anything.

And suddenly long-forgotten memories resurfaced from the depths of my mind. Like how Van had scared off the other kids when I was in elementary with his squirt gun and called them jackasses. And how he'd given a wedgie to the guy who'd thrown my clean clothes in the pool back in seventh grade.

And all the little things he did that Ventus hadn't.

And I realized I didn't want to go with Ventus. That I didn't care if Ventus was rich, or a better influence on me, or better for my health—because Van had always been there for me, through thick and thin, while Ven had always been in the distance, growing farther and farther away from us.

And I needed to be there for Van as well.

"—I've had flings but no real steady relationship, because, hey, who has time for that anyway? I mean—"

"Ven?"

"Hm?"

"I don't want to go home."

"We're not going home; I told you we'd stop by my friend's—"

"No." I cleared my throat. "I mean…I want to go back to Dad's. Van…needs me."

Ven stared at me incredulously. "What?" When he saw I was serious, his eyes darkened. "You mean, you want to go back to live with Dad?"

"Until Mom comes back, yes."

Ventus' grip tightened on the steering wheel. "You're serious?"

I sighed. "Ventus…this grudge you have against Dad…you have to get over it."

"I can't just 'get over it'," he snapped. "This isn't a grudge. You _know _what Dad did to her."

"Yeah…but that was years ago. He's sorry now; he apologized, even."

"Well sorry won't cut it." His jaw was set in a frown. I wondered if Roxas would look like Ven when he was older. I was surprised he didn't have a girlfriend. "Dad's a bastard, that's not going to change. I don't know how you manage to stay there when you know there's that whore who ruined our family—"

"Tifa isn't a whore, Ven," I snapped. "You don't even know her."

"I don't need to," he retorted. "She's the reason Dad left us. She's the reason Dad started hitting Mum."

"It's not her fault everything happened, okay? We can't just go blaming her!" I sighed. "Tifa's really nice—"

"Do you have any idea how different our live would be if she hadn't gone and hooked up with Dad and had _Van_?"

I didn't really know how to answer that.

"Don't you get it?" He lowered his voice. "Dad would still be with Mum. You'd have enough munny to have birthday parties and get a proper Christmas tree. Mum would never have met Zack—"

"Ven, we don't _know _that," I interjected. "People change. Dad and Mum could have fallen out of love, even without Tifa or Zack in the way."

Ventus sighed in exasperation. "Who's side are you on?"

"I'm not on anyone's side!" I yelled. "I don't care as long as Mom and Dad are happy, Ven! Why can't you understand that and quit being such a dick to Dad?"

Ventus stared at me for a long time. And then he sighed. I hadn't realized when we'd stopped the car. "You don't remember, do you?"

I frowned, confused. "Remember what?"

He shook his head, sighing deeply and switching on the engine again. "I guess you want to go back to Dad's, huh?"

I nodded slowly, trying to understand why Ven was acting so weird. The car ride back was uneventful. Ventus refused to talk to me.

Roxas was in the driveway when we got back. He looked pretty furious.

"What the hell, Ven?" Roxas snapped as soon as Ven got out of the car. "What the fuck did you think you were doing, taking off with my clothes and my brother like—"

Ventus cut him off by pulling him into a hug, and Roxas' sentence got stuck in his throat. Before I could figure out what was going on, Ventus used his other arm to pull me into the hug. "I'm…I'm sorry…for everything."

Ventus pulled away before we could react, looking at someone over our shoulders. "Take care of them for me, okay?"

I hadn't realized Van had been standing at the door, smoking and looking like he couldn't decide whether he was pissed or relieved that I was back. He frowned slightly, but nodded. "Sure. Whatever."

Ventus' smile came back then. "Good." He patted us both on the head. "Well…I'd better get going."

"Wait—you're going already?" I felt pretty bad for rejecting his offer to spend the afternoon with me and Roxas, though I was happy he had decided to let us stay with Dad.

Ventus nodded, crossing his arms behind his head. I guess I'd picked up that habit from him. "Mm."

"Really?" Vanitas crossed his arms and looked away when he realized we were all staring at him. "I mean…you could at least…stay for dinner or something…" He seemed to realize what he'd just said, and immediately tried to cover it up. "…not that I'd want you there, but, you know…for them and…yeah…"

It took a while for Ven to get over his shock, but he eventually smiled. "Nah. I'd love to, but…I just can't face Dad yet."

We remained silent for a while, just looking at each other and waiting for someone to talk.

And then Ventus cleared his throat and explained how he was meeting one of his friends up in the North and that if he wanted to get there before sundown then he'd better get going soon.

"Ven…" I hesitated. "I'm—"

"It's fine, you guys, really." He chuckled. "And you're right—I really do need to grow up. And I'm the one who always complained about people treating me like a kid."

He gave Van a look at that, and I heard him chuckle, as if remembering something. "Yeah."

He seemed to realize he was smiling and immediately stopped, putting on sulky frown again. "So are you gonna leave or what?"

Ventus chuckled, handing Roxas his suitcase. "I head back this Sunday, so…yeah. Sucks." He sighed. "I guess I'll see you guys…when I see you."

He gave us one last professional wave, jumped into his expensive-to-the-MAX convertible blue Porsche and drove off into the horizon.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Van informed me that we were going to join Tifa and Dad at Seventh Heaven that Friday. He said they needed some help, and I asked him how come they'd never needed help before. He said I asked too many questions.

I probably should have realized what was happening when Roxas was putting our guitars in the trunk, but I guess I just wasn't concentrating.

I'd gotten _Love Drunk_ stuck in my head, and was in the middle of practicing it when Van cleared his throat. "Oh. Uh…I probably forgot to tell you this, but you're performing in the Seventh Heaven tonight."

"WHAT?" I exclaimed, staring at him in shock. "Are you serious?"

"Completely serious." He grinned sheepishly.

"How come you didn't ask me before dragging me into this?" I persisted.

"Because I knew you'd say no."

"Well, of course I would've said no." I groaned. "What the hell, Van? What made you think I'd be okay singing in front of dozens of sweaty adults? In a _**nightclub**_?"

He chuckled. "Chill, Sora. You'll do great."

"Van, I'm not doing it."

"Yes, Sora. You _are_." He pulled his eyes away from the road to look at me, looking pretty serious. "You need this."

"No…I don't."

"So what—you're just going to leave all those people expecting a show to be disappointed because you're too much of a pussy?"

I couldn't bring myself to say yes. I was nervous beyond belief, and really, _really_ didn't want to sing in front of several drunk partygoers…but I was also too nice to disappoint people without feeling guilty. I knew my conscience would nag at my nonstop afterwards if I turned them down.

I sighed. "Fine. I'll…I'll do it."

We arrived at the Seventh Heaven not too soon later, and Roxas took our guitars out of the trunk. I wondered if he'd known all along. He probably had. Roxas was a lot faster at figuring stuff out than I was.

The club was already filling up—all the tables were filled, and soon enough the tables were going to be stacked up and pushed to the corners of the room to make room for tall the dancers. I noticed that there was a stage set up at the other end of the room, with microphones and everything, near the mixer. I'd never really been to the Seventh Heaven at night—whenever I went, it was usually just to drop a message for Dad. Kesha's _Backstabber_ was blasting through the speakers, and a few were dancing, but no one was really that drunk yet.

"Tifa's at the bar." I didn't really know my way around, so I followed Van.

I saw Tifa waving at me from afar. She was in her bar outfit—a white tank top that exposed her midriff and a black mini skirt with a belt and suspenders. It's pretty weird seeing someone related to you wearing that, especially when she's old enough to be your mother, but she looked pretty good in it, so I guess it was okay.

I had a feeling she was what brought in most of the male customers.

I waved at her and walked up to the bar. "Hey, Tifa, what's all this Van was saying about—"

I froze when I saw that she wasn't alone. There, sitting in front of her at the bar, was no one other than—

"Riku?"

His eyes widened when he saw me, and his jaw dropped open. "Sora?"

* * *

…

…

***gets shot* **

**HAVE MERCY! HAVE MERCY ON ME, PLEEEASSSE! **

**I know this was cruel, and heartless, and evil…but I just HAD to split this chappie again! Don't kill me! **

**Honestly, though. This chappie would have been almost forty pages long had I not stopped it here. And the structure would have gone all wack. And I would have failed as a writer, once again. **

**I'm so bad at this. I know I promised that this would be the last Spring Break chappie…BUT I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT, OKAY? SPARE ME!**

**Plus…I gave you guys some Neku…and…stuff. **

***dodges chair* AHAHA! YOU FAIL! **

**Sneek Peek, because you guys deserve it:**

* * *

"_If she's happy, I'm happy."_

"_It's called moving on, Sora."_

"_You've really changed."_

"_Kairi?"_

* * *

**Hehe. Hehehehe. **

**Lol…I'm not going to make any promises. I'm just saying this in advance: When I make a sneek peek, it doesn't mean that whatever's in it will necessarily be in the next chappie. So…yeah. Don't do anything rash, like kill me or anything. **

**Any other Hunger Games fans out thur? Anyone heard 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift? ASDFGHJKL I'M IN LOVE WITH THE SONG NOW. SO STOKED FOR THU MOVIE. HURR DURR. **

**I don't do Christmas. Don't ask me what I did for Christmas. I did nothing. I find Christmas dumb. I'm a modern day Grinch, only I don't set out to destroy Christmas for everyone. I troll Christmas from the safety of my home. (Lol feel free to throw pie at me.)**

**Well…I'm gonna go now. Read. Review. And stuff. **

**And say hi to my buddy Jomatto. Cause he rocks. And he cannot get enough shout outs. Oh, and check out Versavilia's new fic called Seldom Love, Simple Life.**

**Word Count: 10,736.**

**Over and out. XXXX**

**P.S: Oh, and if any of you guys want me to give you a shoutout, just tell me in a PM! Or in your review…or whatever. ^^ **


	31. Transformation Pt 3: Resolution

**A/N: ZOMGWTFBBQ? FIVE HUNDRED REVIEWS! AM I DREAMING? WUT? HUH? I…I CAN'T BELIEVE… *faints***

**No, but seriously. You guys deserve a thousand cookies. And strawberry parfaits. And cupcakes. With whipped cream. And sprinkles.**

**I LOVE YOU. SO FREAKING MUCH. I never thought this day would come—EVER. I remember the days when getting 50 reviews was my goal…those youthful days…I admit I DO think my writing has improved since then…but I honestly don't think I deserve THIS! Half a million…yeah, baby! I wonder how many I'll have by the time this fic finally comes to an end… *_* **

**Anyway, we'd better get this chappie on the road before the author's note gets longer than the chappie. Lulz. Oh, and kudos to my good buddy **_**Jomatto **_**for being the 500****th**** reviewer! Who writes a lot better than me, and should be the one getting FIVE HUNDRED REVIEWS, not me! I'M SERIOUS, GUYS. **

**Squall17: Aw…that almost made me tear up, honest! I can't believe I'm an INSPIRATION to people…I've always been the one saying that to others…wow… *flattered smile* Lol…seriously, though, thanks for dropping that review. Anonymous reviewers count too. *hugs through the screen* Thanks for dropping your review! Without you, 500 would still have been just a dream. **

**Squall17 (again lol): You should do that. :D Oh and sorry for the Christmas trolling…it runs in the family. Lol. I've just never done it since I was born, so I guess it's given me a realistic outlook on it. Anyway…yeah, Hunger Games and Peeta for the win. Only TWO MONTHS LEFT! Can you believe it! Oh, and Sora's still not through with character development just yet, so I'll try to build up his character as much as I can before this fic is through. Van and Roxas…same goes for them. Jomatto is awesome, nuff said. Thanks! **

**Jellybean2799: Haha thanks, though I personally thought it was a load of bull. But, what the heck, I always think that. xD Lol…but as for Sora going back to school…that'll have to wait until the NEXT chappie…yeah, you can say I suck…but it's needed. And I'm glad Neku fit in…I was afraid I'd totally screw up, but apparently I didn't lol. Enjoy, and thanks for reviewing! **

**Superpeanutbutter: Yeah, it was long. Lol. Haha, and, yeah, Neku's cute. Cutey McCutey-kins. Muarr. (?) Lol anyway…the pic Van liked is, yeah, kind of like the one of the back of the KH2 case, except it's in black and white, and Sora's staring straight into the camera, and there's no random bluish-black 'Realm-of-Darkness'-type stuff in the background…you know? Like the kind of pictures you'd see in magazine ads…Lol. Anyway, yes, the suspense was needed. And I bow down to you for reviewing. Without you, I'd never have reached 500. **

**The Traveler: Haha, wow, thanks! Riku's back! Whoop! Lol…yes, I have outdone myself. I outdo myself a lot, just for you guys. *proud smile* Lol…Neku and Shiki will have to be another little subplot, but I won't dwell on it that much. I've already dwelled on the VaanxPenelo thing for more than half the fic, so…yeah. Lol…here's the next epic chappie for ya! Thanks again for all your wonderful reviews, cause without you I wouldn't have made it to 500! *kisses on the cheek, even if you're a girl* **

**BluWaves: I SHALL.**

**Isabelz3Cookies: Yeah, Riku does look weird. Un-sexy haircut. FAIL. Lol…and, yeah, I included Neku, due to popular demand. YAYZ. Van is a creeper, a stealthy creeper. But he is just trying to help. Well, here's the update! Enjoy, and thanks again for all your reviews! **

**Well…about this chap—HAHA LIKE I'MMA TELL YOU THAT. **

**Disclaimer: Cheesecake?**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I land a new job._

"That's it—you're hired."

_I go on my first date with Krile. _

"Van paid you to go out with me today, didn't he?"

_Ventus finally pays us a visit. _

"And I'm the one who always complained about people treating me like a kid."

_And Friday has finally arrived. _

"…I probably forgot to tell you this, but you're performing in the Seventh Heaven tonight."

_And…yeah._

_Oh, I almost forgot—guess who decided to show up out of nowhere?_

* * *

**Chapter 31: Transformation Pt. III—Resolution**

"Riku?"

"Sora?"

For a while we just stared at each other, too shocked to really say anything else.

And then Tifa broke the awkward silence. "You know Riku?"

"U-Um…" I cleared my throat, scratching the back of my hair awkwardly. "We go to school. And we're…sort of friends."

Tifa nodded slowly. "Oh. That's weird."

I took a seat next to Riku at the bar, shaking away the initial confusion. "Didn't expect to see you here."

He obviously still hadn't gotten over his shock. "I could say the same for you."

I smiled. "So…how do you know my stepmom?"

"Stepmom?" He looked from Tifa, to me, then back to Tifa again. "Wh…the…what?"

"Hehe, well she's not actually my stepmom, but half-mom sounds too awkward…" I shrugged.

Riku still looked beyond confused. "Um…well I…"

"I've known your buddy Riku here since he was a kid," Tifa explained, filling another glass with liquor. "What—he didn't tell you?"

"I didn't think I needed to," Riku cut in. "I mean, if I'd known you two were related…"

"Oh, well this all works out, then." Tifa gave the guy his drink, ignoring his flirtatious wink. "I was thinking of introducing you guys soon anyway."

She left us then to go take someone else's order, leaving Riku and I to talk between ourselves.

"Long time no see, huh?" I began.

"Hm." Riku brought his tumbler to his lips, taking another gulp of whatever it was he was drinking. The disco lights were making shimmering reflections on his silvery hair, which was tied in a ponytail. I realized he had a bandage on his right arm, and I was about to ask him about it when he spoke up again. "You look…different."

I felt myself starting to blush. "Um…yeah. I guess you could blame my idiot brother for that."

He looked confused. "Huh?"

"Yeah…he's the one who forced me to get a haircut, completely transformed my wardrobe, and made me work out more."

"You say it like it's a _bad _thing."

"That's cause it kind of is. I was totally fine with my old lifestyle." I paused. "Sorta."

He rolled his eyes and took another gulp of his drink. I frowned slightly; he was strangely not talkative today.

I guess it was pretty awkward. I mean, we hadn't talked to each other since before Spring Break. And things weren't completely clear between us. And he was Kairi's boyfriend, but I knew that wasn't exactly it.

An upbeat Ludacris rap started to play. I cleared my throat. "So, uh…how's your break been?"

He took a long swig out of the tumbler before placing it down on the table again. He tapped the sides of his cup for a while before answering. "It's…it's been good."

"Hm. Done anything worth telling me?"

"Not really. Just hung out with my friends and…stuff."

"Cool." I forced a smile and tried to keep my voice fairly neutral. "How's Kairi? I haven't seen her in weeks…"

"She's—"

We were interrupted by Van, who joined us at the table. "It's time to rock the house, little…" He stopped when he saw Riku. "Wait…what're _you _doing here?"

"This is Riku, the guy I told you about, the other guy who'll be singing tonight." Tifa butt in. "He and Sora are apparently friends."

"No shit," Van muttered, still not relenting his glare. Riku squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. "What are you _really _here for, _Riku_?"

"Hey, Van, leave him alone," I laughed. "He's my friend now."

Van mumbled something under his breath, inaudible over the loud party music—Lady Gaga was playing. Riku cleared his throat. "Um…well if it's really gonna be a problem I could—"

"No, Riku…" I sighed before giving Van a glare. He just glared back at me for a while, until he realized I was serious.

He sighed. "Fine. We're getting ready to start, though, so you'd better hurry the fuck up."

"Sure thing." Van gave Riku one last hard glare before heading back into the crowd. I sighed. "Excuse him, he's…"

"…your brother?" Riku was smiling slightly. "You're lucky, you know. To have a brother who sticks up for you like that."

"Sticks up for me?" I laughed. "Yeah. Right. You have no _idea _how much a douche he can be. Everyone else in my family thinks he's a waste of space, and, honestly, I can understand why."

"He seems okay to me."

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he let out a small laugh. I felt myself grin. "Well, I guess we'd better get going…" I scratched the back of my head, slipping off my seat. Riku nodded and followed me through the crowd. I could barely remember my way around, but Riku seemed to know, so I followed him. We pushed ourselves through the many sweaty party people, some of who'd already started to get drunk. I wondered whether there was really point performing for them. I mean, if they were too intoxicated to focus, what was the point? I mean, I wouldn't be letting anyone down, now would I?

It was too late. We arrived 'backstage', where a bunch of mechanical guys were setting up the sound system. One of them asked our names, and passed us each a mike of our own. Tifa had just headed onto the makeshift stage, judging from the cheer of the crowd. The DJ lowered the party music to a minimum as she began to speak.

"Hey, everyone! Hope you're having a crazy night!" The crowd cheered in response, and she let out one of her giggles. "I'm Tifa, as most of you should already know, and welcome to Friday Night! Today we've got something special planned, so don't go anywhere!"

The nervousness started to wring at my insides, and I was pretty sure I was going to throw up any second. I gripped the strap of my guitar so firmly it threatened to cut through my skin.

Riku seemed to notice my discomfort. "You okay?" I nodded, though it was pretty obvious I wasn't convincing anyone. Riku frowned. "You're nervous?"

"I don't want to do this…" I found myself mumbling. The electric guitar strapped around my shoulder suddenly felt way too heavy. My face felt too warm, and I was pretty sure I'd started to sweat under my arms. I felt my lunch threatening to rise back up my throat.

"What?" Riku hissed, lowering his voice. "You can't be serious."

"Well I am," I persisted. "I don't want to go up there on that stage and sing stupid party songs in front of a crowd of people I don't even know—"

"You never let that stop you before."

I stopped, looking at him. He had that determined face he'd had on when he suggested helping me work out. Steadfast, unmovable.

I swallowed. "What do you mean…"

"Remember in the Drama auditions, for the school play? You were a whole lot nervous that you are now, and you still went for it. And look what came out of it." Riku chuckled. "We somehow ended up becoming friends."

I couldn't hold back a smile. "True. But back then I was acting on impulse."

Riku seemed like he was about to say something else, but Tifa was about finishing her introduction.

"Give it up for Sora and Riku!"

Riku gave me a menacing grin. "Impulse, huh?"

"Wh—"

I barely had time to react before he gave me a firm shove, making me stumble forward onto the stage.

As soon as I saw the crowd, all of their eyes glued to me, I felt my heart jump into my throat once again. I didn't know what was wrong with them. Weren't they supposed to be drunk? How did they all manage to keep their eyes trained on me, giving me all their attention?

I swallowed, hard.

I heard footsteps follow me onto the stage and a few in the crowd whistling in approval, and there was Riku, brandishing a guitar of his own. He gave me a smile, and I realized what he was trying to tell me. _I'm right behind you._

I nodded, taking a deep breath before clearing my throat and turning back to the audience.

"Um…hey." I forced a smile and wiped at my damp forehead. "I'm Sora…"

"…and I'm Riku," Riku finished, with one of his signature grins. "And we're gonna be taking over for the DJ tonight."

A few in the crowd laughed at Riku's tiny joke. He motioned for me to continue, and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I tried to do what I'd done last time, pretend I was the only one in the room.

It didn't work all that well, so I tried to pretend I was somewhere else.

And then I was in Kairi's garden with her, and she was talking about flowers and her friends and her little sister Namine and television shows and I was just watching her lips as she spoke, thinking about how badly I wanted to kiss them…

I strummed the first note on my guitar, and it felt weirdly natural. "You guys know what it's like to love someone who doesn't love you back, right?" I felt myself smile. "You've all probably met this one person—your soulmate, or whatever—who you swear you'd do _anything _for. Well…I met someone like that…and her name was Kairi." I strummed the note again, still in my happy place. "When I was with her, I could barely think of anything else apart from how amazing she was, or how much I wanted to kiss her…seriously, in my eyes she did nothing wrong." I chuckled. "But I eventually came to realize that, no, she wasn't perfect, and that she did make mistakes, and that I was just so _love drunk _to see it."

I finally turned to the crowd, looking at no one in particular. "So that's what my first song is gonna be about. This is _Love Drunk_."

* * *

By the time I'd reached the bridge of the song, my nervousness had completely disappeared. I didn't know how. For some reason I suddenly had confidence, and I didn't mind that everyone was staring at me. I managed not to mess up on the guitar, not to mess up on any of my lines, or do anything really stupid, like fall off the stage or something.

It was amazing.

I realized then how much I liked performing. Judging from the cheers and claps as I finished my first song, they all seemed to like it. Which was a total confidence booster for me.

I immediately launched into the next song I knew the guitar chords for, Riku doing the back-up vocals and strumming along with my guitar. I wondered when he'd learned how to play it, but decided not to dwell on it too much and focus more on my singing. It was a real crowd-pleaser too, even though it was basically about not caring about the girl I just broke up with. Not that Kairi and I were ever dating…but they didn't need to know that.

_Baby you're pretty _

_But I'm pretty sure _

_I'm over you_

The cheers were even louder by the time I'd finished my second song, and I couldn't help but laugh. It felt so good, knowing that they were cheering for _me_…and Riku of course.

But mostly me.

With the song, though, came the realization that, yeah, maybe I _was _going to get over her someday.

* * *

After that we abandoned the guitars, since those were the only two songs we actually knew the chords for, and went into basic party music. We sang a bunch of the songs on the list (—while I wondered how the hell he knew the lyrics to almost all the songs I did—), and Riku took the lead in quite a lot of them. He was a better performer when it came to songs about sex and partying anyway.

We took a break after about thirty minutes of nonstop singing, and the crowd actually protested. Riku was able to calm them down, promising we'd be back after having a few drinks.

It was only when we'd descended the stage that I realized how sweaty I was. I wiped my forehead and my hand came back damp. "Wow…that really takes a lot out of you."

Riku nodded in assent, slipping off his coat as well, revealing his dark grey t-shirt and the darker patches underneath his arms. He grimaced. "Ugh…I need to change this shirt…"

We headed back to where we'd been sitting down before, where Tifa was standing with her hands on her hips. "Well, well, well. That was quite a show."

I grinned back at her, taking a seat. "Thanks…and thanks for not telling me in advance."

She grimaced slightly. "Oops. Sorry about that."

I was shaking my head when we were interrupted by a loud high-pitched yell.

"Riku-kuuuuun~!"

I turned around just in time to see Xion slam into Riku's chest, tackling him in a hug.

Riku cracked a smile as soon as he got over the pain of the impact, giving her a pat on the head. She was at least two heads shorter than him. "Hey, Xi-chan."

"Riku-kun? _Xi-chan_?" I stared at them, confused and slightly irritated that Xion has somehow infected Riku with her unhealthy obsession with Japanese everything. I didn't even know they knew each other. "…what the hell?"

Xion and Riku shared a glance, and then Xion broke out giggling. "Yeh…I've known Riku for a while now…he's almost like my best friend."

"I thought I was your best friend." We were a little startled by Roxas' random appearance. Well, all of us except for Xion, that is. It was like nothing scared Xion.

She laughed, giving Roxas a totally platonic peck on the cheek. Roxas gave her a half-hearted smile. Riku raised an eyebrow, obviously confused at their weird relationship.

"…you guys were pretty good," Roxas said finally.

"Thanks." Riku chuckled, placing an arm on Roxas' shoulder. "And it was all thanks to you."

Roxas obviously didn't like that gesture, so Riku quickly withdrew his hand. Xion frowned. "Quit being a jerk, Roku."

Roxas just shrugged. Tifa shook her head at his antics and passed us all drinks. Sometimes I felt like she forgot to realize Roxas and I were barely seventeen, and Xion was even younger than that.

Xion was obviously used to taking alcohol, since she downed her drink professionally, like she'd been doing it for years. She scrunched her face up as it got to her head, and then she let out a tiny burp.

Riku burst out laughing.

I was still gulping down _my _drink (not liking the way it made my throat burn) when I heard Vanitas shouting my name.

He patted (—more like whacked—) me on the back and ruffled my hair, the way he always did. "My brudda from anudda mudda! That was some serious shit, man!"

I grinned, knowing that that was his own way of complimenting me. "I was that good, huh?"

Van nodded fervently. "You've got a hella lot of admirers, no joke." He turned to Riku. "And I'm talking about the both of you. I mean, _you_ were on _fire_!"

Riku blushed at the compliment, which was weird because he'd always been the one to flip his hair and grin cockily whenever he felt flattered.

Van patted Riku on the head, even though they were pretty much the same height, and then he paused. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, grinning when he saw the caller. "Guess who's getting _lucky _tonight?"

He didn't even let us answer, and in a flash he had disappeared into the crowd.

Seemed like Van was back to his usual, promiscuous self.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

* * *

Roxas got dragged onto the stage by Xion and a bunch of other clubby girls, and they forced him to sing a Jesse McCartney song, since, in their opinion, his voice kind of sounded like his.

Riku and I were sitting at the bar in a companionable silence. The sound of Roxas' acoustic guitar flooded the room, along with his soothing voice. Everyone had stopped dancing momentarily just to watch him sing, swaying to the music.

I didn't think it was possible for a club to be so peaceful.

Vanitas still hadn't showed up, so I figured he was probably off with some girl somewhere. I sighed. I was happy for him; it meant he was getting over it and everything.

But…what about Aqua? And the baby she was carrying?

To be honest, I didn't know what he was supposed to do, but I didn't think the way he was doing was the smartest way to deal with it.

I sighed, taking another slow sip of my drink. Riku was already on his third glass, and he didn't even look that drunk.

Riku had been strangely quiet ever since Roxas and Xion had left the table. I didn't know…there was something _off _about him. I wasn't sure if it was the dark circles under his eyes that I hadn't noticed before. His smile was weaker than it used to be, and…I didn't really know. I just knew something was wrong.

He did speak up eventually, though. "Sora…there's something I need to tell you."

I shrugged. "Hit me."

He hesitated. "…it's about Kairi. I'm—"

I cut him off before he could continue. "It's okay, Riku. You don't need to apologize about it…I'm over her." I paused. "Okay, so maybe I'm not, but if she's happy, then I'm happy."

Riku searched my face with his eyes, as if not sure if I was serious or not. He looked like he was about to say something else when Dad appeared.

He was wearing his 'club' outfit—a high collar black shirt with no sleeves, thick black pants and boots. They were probably insulated, which would explain why he was wearing it in the middle of summer.

"Hey." He slipped in next to me, giving Riku a dubious look. "You must be Riku."

"Yup, this is him," Tifa confirmed, appearing from seemingly nowhere with a tray of empty glasses. "Riku, this is Cloud. My husband."

"And my Dad," I mumbled, for the sake of it.

Riku gave a slow nod and stretched out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr.…Cloud."

Dad glanced between Riku and I, barely holding back a smile. "No need to be so formal with me." He took his hand anyway and gave it a firm shake. "Tifa wasn't kidding—you're eyes really are unique."

Riku opened his mouth to say something, but we were interrupted by a few Cloud groupies who immediately flocked him as soon as they realized he was there. They all looked in their early twenties, though the youngest looked about Riku's age.

"Sing a song for us, please?" One of them pleaded. The rest of them seemed to agree with her, murmuring along with her with beseeching eyes. Riku let out a low chuckle at them, and I figured it was because he was used to having fangirls as well.

Dad didn't really seem cool with the idea, but apparently Tifa did. She slipped out from behind the bar and wiped her hands on her blouse. "Come on, Cloud. Let's give them what they want."

Dad groaned, but obliged anyway, and the groupies broke into cheers. Everyone had now been distracted from Roxas' performance, and I felt pretty bad for him, but he didn't seem to mind one bit that the spotlight was off him as he slipped down from the stage.

The crowd cheered as he and Tifa took the stage, Dad with a guitar in arm. He adjusted the microphone so that it was right in front of his lips when he sang before clearing his throat and calling everyone to attention. "Well…since you _begged_, I guess."

He strummed the guitar, and I immediately recognized the song.

* * *

"_Like a lighthouse on the coast_

_Like the father and the son need the Holy Ghost_

_I need you…"_

I gripped the sides of my glass as I watched them sing. Dad still hadn't forgotten the words, and apparently Tifa was equally familiar with the song, because she got every note and every lyric spot on.

The song…it was the exact same one he used to sing with Mom every Christmas.

And now he was singing it with Tifa.

The crowd seemed to be pleased with the song choice, though, even if it wasn't completely club-worthy. The Cloud groupies were over the moon, though. The guys were probably just clapping out of respect.

"_I wanna wrap the moon around us, lay beside you skin on skin_

_Make love til the sun comes up, til the sun goes down again_

_Cause I need you…"_

Roxas was standing not too far from the stage, and Xion was resting her hand on his arm, whispering something in his ear. He obviously wasn't listening to her, as the frown looked perpetually etched onto his features as he glared up at them relentlessly.

I met Roxas' eyes, and suddenly I realized that I wasn't completely okay with Dad leaving Mom and going off with Tifa. And I understood what Roxas was feeling.

Because Dad was looking at _her_ the same way he used to look at Mom, and smiling at _her_ the same way he used to smile at Mom, and…

Suddenly my stomach didn't feel so good.

"Sora?"

I couldn't bring myself to look Riku in the eyes. I was afraid I'd burst into tears. I wasn't sure if it was the drink that was going to my head, but I suddenly felt way overemotional.

"I…I need some air…"

I stumbled through the crowd and burst into the cool night island air. It was soothing, really, after being in that stuffy bar for more than three hours. I didn't even know what time it was. Probably past midnight.

I realized Roxas had already made it outside before me. He was holding a bottle of alcohol, taking gulps out of it every few seconds, and leaning against the wall. He gave me a noncommittal glance when he saw me, before returning his gaze to the gravel on the ground.

I leaned next to him on the wall, closing my eyes and inhaling deeply to calm myself down. It hadn't been this cool in a while, and I knew that once summer came there'd be no more cool evenings until winter came around.

We stood there, in silence. The noise of the partying going on inside was muffled, but I could still hear them cheering.

Roxas took another swig of his drink, before holding it out to me. I took it from him and took a few swigs of my own before handing it back to him.

I sighed. "Roxas…I sort of get it now…why you're so mad at him. I mean, Mom did have him first and—"

"No, Sora." He interrupted me, raking his fingers through his messy blonde hair. His voice was slightly croaky, and his cheeks were flushed red. I had a feeling he was drunk. He didn't usually talk to me, after all. "That's…that's not it…that's not…why I'm mad."

"It's not?"

Roxas took another gulp, leaning the cool bottle against his head when he was done. "No…it's-it's just…you probably don't remember, cause he never ever did it to you, but…"

"What?" I persisted when he trailed off. "What don't I remember?"

I might have found out had Dad not come out then. He seemed to have been looking for us for a while, cause he let out a sigh of relief when he saw us. "Thank _god_ you guys are here. I thought you guys had run off or something."

"Well, actually I was just about to," Roxas mumbled, pushing himself off the wall. He seemed to momentarily lose his balance, but he recovered himself and marched over to Van's car, pulling it open (—Van never really kept it locked when he went clubbing, in case he met a hot chick or something—) and locking himself inside.

Dad sighed. "What's…he's just so difficult sometimes—" He must have seen the look on my face. "Look, Sora, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have accepted to do that…especially in front of you two. I mean, I should've known you'd—"

"What happened?" I demanded. "What happened when we were kids to make him hate you so much?"

His jaw tensed as he clamped his mouth shut and averted his gaze. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "What…what did Roxas tell you?"

"Nothing!" I yelled. "He's told me _nothing_. There's something that Ven and Roxas know that I don't and—"

"I_ hit_ them, okay?"

Whatever I was trying to say earlier died in my throat. "…what?"

He leaned against the wall, slowly collapsing to the ground and leaning his arms on his knees, covering his face. I stared at him, still trying to digest what I'd just heard.

That…that explained everything.

Why Roxas hated him so much, why _Ven _hated him so much. I suddenly remembered several things I'd shrugged off as Roxas just being his usually grouchy self. Like the time when I was five, or maybe six, and I found Roxas crying, and Ven hugging him and whispering stuff I couldn't make out, and I remember them yelling at me to go to my room before Dad got home, and…

I couldn't believe it. So, yeah, I'd remembered he'd hit Mom once or twice, but I never knew he'd actually…

I felt sick.

I wanted to yell at him, I really did.

But then I realized that yelling at him wouldn't accomplish anything. It was pretty obvious that he was really, really sorry about everything…he had been trying to get through to Roxas for years. I'd seen him trying.

I'd also seen the way he looked at Tifa, and I knew it was stupid, really, to think he'd ever be coming back to Mom.

I sat down next to him, wordlessly. He looked up slightly, unsure what of what to say. I sighed and tiredly leaned against his shoulder. I felt him tense, but eventually relax and wrap his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. I felt my head spinning a little, maybe because of the alcohol.

"Sora…I'm—"

"Dad."

He kept quiet then, and we just sat there, letting the silence speak for the both of us.

I'd never be able to forgive him for what he did to everyone, but, if I tried hard enough, maybe I'd be able to forget it.

* * *

Riku had to take over for the both of us for a while, but he seemed to have the crowd on his fingertips. They all seemed to like him. Like, a lot.

He and Xion were doing a sorta-duet when I came back. Well, Xion wasn't exactly singing—she was playing the piano, and Riku was singing along with it. He wasn't smiling, but I figured he was just being a good performer—he was singing an emotional ballad about a bad breakup. I always envied his acting ability.

The crowd clapped as his song came to an end, and he and Xion took a bow. I chose this time to arrive on stage, and Xion suggested we sing the song we'd practiced.

I hadn't been planning to sing it live, really, but Xion insisted, and she even got the crowd into a chant. I shook my head in resign, taking the microphone from Riku. "Fine. But I hope you guys know that this isn't a happy song." I took a seat next to Xion on the piano bench (—which they'd somehow managed to roll up onto the stage—) and cleared my throat as she began to play the intro. "…um…well, there's always this part of a relationship where you realize something: maybe you're just not meant to be together." I closed my eyes as memories of _her _started replaying over and over in my mind. "Well…I think it's about time I realized that about Kairi, don't you agree?"

Xion replayed the intro, and I began to sing.

"_Nothing but an empty page_

_Breathing in an open space_

_Captured by a moment's grace...again…"_

Singing the song was what I felt was my life-changing moment. The lyrics got to me even more as I sang it in front of everyone in the Seventh Heaven. And I felt that maybe…Kairi saying yes to Riku was what I needed all along. It kind of opened my eyes a little.

There were so many other girls out there, and, like Krile said, maybe I'd meet another Kairi in the future.

Maybe.

"_Here's my resolution_

_I'm letting go _

_All i need to learn is along this road_

_And I just wanna be the best man I can be…"_

* * *

After the two depressing songs Riku and I sang, I decided it was time the crowd needed some hyping up, so we got back to singing more party songs. We sang for at least one more hour, and then we let the DJ get his job back.

Riku and I celebrated our successful performances with drinks. Dad and Tifa were totally okay with this, for some reason, but they didn't allow Xion to take anymore.

"A toast…" Van raised his glass. "…to staying sexy!"

We all repeated the toast, clinking our glasses against each other in the traditional gesture.

"I don't get it…" I said with a laugh. "I just feel so…free. It's euphoric."

"It's called being smashed," Van replied, burping loudly as if to emphasize his point. The girl on his lap recoiled in disgust, but didn't seem to have any intention of going away anytime soon.

"Actually, it's called moving on, Sora," Dad corrected, with a sage nod. The others seemed to murmur in agreement.

We spent the rest of the night drinking, dancing and singing along to every party song that came on. At least, that's what I assumed. I can't really remember most of what happened that night—I was so wasted I could barely formulate a proper sentence.

What I did remember, however, was that I had one of the best nights of my life that night. And I assumed Riku did, too.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I cracked my eyes open the next morning, and immediately wished I hadn't. I had a throbbing headache, and my eyes burned. I coughed and groaned at my raspy throat, trying to pull myself out of bed. It was crazy how hard it was to do so.

I was all about ready to give up and just go back to sleep until the pain went away when I heard Riku speak up.

"You awake?"

I groaned and turned to the guy speaking to me. It was Riku, and he was sitting up in my bed, shirtless. His hair was all over the place and his face was smudged with lipstick.

"Riku?"

"Hm?"

"Why does it feel like someone poured an ashtray in my mouth?"

"It's called a hangover."

A _hangover. _I never in my life thought I'd have one of those.

"I'm _never _drinking again…" I groaned, propping myself up on my elbows. The sunlight coming through the window was almost blinding.

Riku passed me a cup of water and some aspirin. "It helps."

I nodded and took it from him as he clambered off the bed. My stomach felt like it had just been ripped out and thrown in a tumble-dryer. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what happened last night, or what I looked like after seeing what happened to Riku.

Riku left to go have a shower, while I tried to get the blood flowing again. I felt like someone had put a hedgehog in my underwear, and I realized that it was just a piece of paper. Okay, _lots _of pieces of paper. They all had names and phone numbers scrawled on them, and I saw a lot more spilling out of the pockets of my jeans, which were on the floor.

I moaned, waiting impatiently for the aspirin to hurry up and work already. I didn't get how people in TV shows made it look so simple, getting drunk I mean.

I probably should have known, though, after watching The Hangover. But whatever.

I rubbed at my eyes and decided I'd better get out of bed. I retrieved my phone from under my pillow and realized it was almost two in the afternoon.

I headed to the bathroom, thinking of brushing the horrible taste out of my mouth and having a shower of my own before heading down to breakfast.

I nearly screamed when I saw my reflection in the mirror. Someone had scribbled all over my left cheek with eyeliner, and I had a darkish red bruise on the right side of my neck. (I hoped it wasn't what I thought it was). My shirt was stained with what seemed to be dried up puke. My hair looked like a bird's nest and there was a line of dried up drool running from the edge of my mouth to the bottom of my ear.

I grimaced at my reflection. "I said it before but I'm gonna say it again: I'm never drinking alcohol ever again."

I washed my face—managing to get rid of everything except the bruise on my neck—and opted to fix my hair after taking a shower, since Riku was still using it. I changed my shirt and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Van and Roxas were at the table, having what seemed to be their breakfast. They'd probably both had hangovers too, though on Van it seemed less apparent. Van used to get drunk almost weekend, so his body had developed a higher immunity to alcohol, or something.

There were about three girls in the living room, one of them who was passed out on the sofa, while the two others fought over what show they wanted to watch. I had a feeling Van had brought them home from Seventh Heaven and forgotten to return them.

Van cheered when he saw me. "My little Sora's finally become a man!"

I blushed. "What are you talking about?"

"Your first hangover!" He stood up to pat me on the head. He smelt of cigarettes. "You should have seen yourself last night, man! You were totally hammered!"

I muttered something about being hungry and headed to the fridge. Then a thought struck me. "Hey…what exactly happened last night? I can't remember a thing…"

"You can't remember, huh?" Van grinned. "Oh, well…where do I start? Um…you smoked weed, you shagged about a dozen chicks—"

"WHAT?" I choked, my heart skipping several beats.

Van laughed, like what he'd just cracked the funniest joke on earth. I didn't think it was funny at all. "No…no way…I can't…I can't have had _sex_ yet!" I grabbed the Van's collar. "I…I can't…what was her name? What did she look like? Did…did we use protection? Is she…is she _pregnant_?" I started hyperventilating."I was meant to do it with a girl I liked! And…and we were supposed to go on dates first, and get to know each other, and make decisions, and plan it out, like, in a hotel or something, and—and—"

"Whoa, slow down!" Van grabbed my wrists, trying to make me let go of his shirt. "I was just kidding!"

I stared at him. "Really?" He nodded, and I let out a sigh of relief, letting go of his shirt. "Don't you dare scare me like that ever again."

"I'll try." He sat back in his seat, tossing me a carton of orange juice as I sat down next to him. "You did do some crazy shit last night, but nothing _that _crazy. Riku and I made sure of that."

I frowned. "You mean Riku didn't get drunk?"

"Of course he did," Van continued. "But the guy knows how to hold his liquor."

I nodded, pretending to understand what he meant by that. I heard footsteps on the stairs, and Riku appeared, donning one of Van's tees and a pair of jeans. "You mind if I borrow these?"

Van shrugged it off. "No problem, man. And don't bother returning them"

Riku gave him a small nod before leaning down to tie his laces. I frowned. "Wait—you're leaving already?"

"Yeah…" Riku sighed, stretching his arms. "I'm late already as it is."

"Late for what?" I asked, curious.

He shook his head dismissively, as if to say it didn't matter, and I tried not to look disappointed that he was leaving so early. "Um…okay. See you on Monday, then?"

Riku paused momentarily, but eventually nodded. "Yeah. Monday…"

He closed the door behind him, and I sighed. "Great. Now I'll never be able to figure out what happened last night."

Van smirked. "Well, I did take a few videos."

I blanched. "Really? Where are they?"

"I'll show 'em to you later." He looked at his watch. "Your brother'll be here in a few to take you home."

"Already?" I groaned.

Van shrugged. "Yeah. Your Mom and Soulja Boy'll be back this evening, so she asked him to pick you guys up later."

One of the girls appeared behind Van and started kissing Van's ear, which kind of put me off my breakfast, so I excused myself and decided to get ready.

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to go back. I'd had the most fun here than I'd ever had back home. I'd made a few friends—some of them who I couldn't exactly remember. I'd gotten a new, better job. I'd finally come to terms with who I was…and learnt a bit about moving on. A part of me wanted to stay there forever.

But another part of me was excited to see how everyone would react to my sorta-makeover. I also wanted to see if what Van had said was true—if I'd actually been able to build my confidence.

And, of course, I couldn't wait to see Kairi. I was okay with it now, her and Riku being together I mean. I just wanted us to be friends again, to get past the whole backyard kiss thing and move on.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Ventus came exactly on time. He was dressed casually this time—dark jeans, crisp green American Eagle graphic tee and sneakers—which was a relief. His business look was a little intimidating.

Van got the girls to help with our stuff (which I personally thought was uncalled for, but, whatever, they didn't seem to mind), and Ven gave him a disapproving look. "Seriously? Do you even know one of those girls' names?"

Van shrugged, obviously not caring. "No need."

Ven just shook his head, taking our suitcases from the girls and giving Van a glare. "You have no respect for women."

Van chuckled and patted me on the head. "You should go to Ven for advice—you could really learn stuff from him."

I rolled my eyes at his sarcastic comment. "Sure."

Van laughed and poked my cheek. "Well…call me if you need any help, or advice, or whatever."

"Van…"

I pulled him into a hug, just for the sake of it, and I heard Ven and Roxas groan while the girls crooned at how 'adorable' I was.

He ushered me to the car. "I'mma drop by sometime next week, so don't act like you're never gonna see me again."

I laughed and gave him a final wave goodbye before heading to the car.

* * *

"Where're we going?"

Roxas was the first one to ask. At first we thought he was taking another way home, but we eventually started to get uncomfortable.

"Somewhere I should've taken you guys ages ago."

He parked the car Porsche next to the pier, ushering us out of the car. He walked ahead, gesturing for us to follow him. The beach was full in the afternoon. My imagination started to run wild, considering the possible places he could've been taking us.

Until we started nearing the end of the beach, and I realized where he was referring to.

It was the Cove Riku and I had found a while ago.

Ventus gazed up at the large hole in the wall, wistfully. "It's up there."

"What's up there?" Roxas demanded. "You were supposed to be taking us home."

Ven ignored him and looked around for a possible way to climb up. I was about to suggest climbing a tree when he spoke up. "I'll be right back."

He disappeared down the beach and reappeared not too soon later with a huge wooden box. He was lifting it on top of his head as if it weighed nothing, and he seemed to set it on the ground with ease. "This'll do."

I watched him climb on top of the box before taking a jump and managing to clamber into the hole in the wall that led to the Cove. I hesitated at first, but eventually followed, Roxas not far behind me.

Ventus was already there by the time we got through. He was looking off into the horizon, mesmerized. I had a feeling Ven hadn't been to the ocean in a while.

Roxas tried not to look like he was impressed. "This is it?"

"Yeah. This is it." He sighed. "Me and my best friends…Terra and Aqua…we used to come here all the time."

"Terra and Aqua?" I repeated, knowing it couldn't have been a coincidence.

"Yeah." He chuckled. "I doubt they remember me, though. We haven't spoken to each other ever since middle school. Terra went off to high school somewhere else, and Aqua went to the South Destiny College." He sighed. "…I can't believe how fast time flies…"

I decided to keep quiet. I didn't know if I wanted Ven to know that Terra and Aqua taught at my school. I didn't know his past that much and I didn't know if he knew about Terra and Aqua being engaged. And, apart from that, there was the possibility of him finding out about _Van _and Aqua…

He gasped, suddenly. "Oh my god…" He ran off to the spot where I'd kept the Keyblade, picking it up and laughing as if it brought back memories. "Wow…this is still here! I thought I'd lost it…" He held it backwards, which I thought was pretty weird. "Terra made this for me…well, it was his, but then he said he gave it to me." Ven took a strike with it, looking a lot more professional than me, before shaking his head and laughing at himself. "Wow…I remember back then…"

I decided to ask the obvious question. "Why is it shaped like a key?"

He blushed slightly. "Oh…we used to be huge fans of this video game that was trending back when we were kids…" He decided not to finish the sentence, sighing instead. He gazed longingly at the Keyblade before handing it to me. "You…wouldn't mind taking care of it for me, would you?"

I shook my head. "Not at all."

He grinned at me before sighing again. "Well…"

He headed to the shore and sat down, slipping off his sneakers and soaking his feet in the seawater. I did the same, and Roxas joined us soon after.

We sat in comfortable silence.

"This is nice," Ven commented.

"Mm."

Ventus sighed. "Van was right…I've been too distant with you guys. Some kind of big brother."

"You have your reasons," Roxas muttered.

"No, I don't." Ventus shook his head. "Maybe I thought I was doing it all for you guys, but…You guys are supposed to be more important than some education or some job. I guess I was so eager to get out of here, which was why I rushed into college and working so quickly. Yeah, and then there's the thing about wanting to get my own back on Dad…" He sighed, lying back on the sand. "Sometimes I wish I could just rewind and start over."

Roxas shrugged. "Well, you can't. But you can change the future."

Ven chuckled. "Right."

For a while we just smiled at each other, and then Ven gestured for us to lie down next to him. We did.

"Come on, you guys. I've missed almost six years of your life. Fill me in."

So we spent the next hour telling him about everything that had happened (—leaving out the parts we wanted to keep secret, like Zack hitting Mom, cause we were sure he'd go ballistic if he found out about that—). I told him about Kairi, and Roxas told us about Namine. I had a feeling he was keeping some things to himself, but I didn't blame him. I told him about Riku, and being bullied for more than two years in high school. Roxas told him about me trying to turn that around. We all talked about Vanitas. Ventus told us about college, about girls, about dorm rooms. About missing us, about missing Mom…about missing Dad.

And all the tension disappeared, and it was just us three, and the sea, and the sand, and the sun.

Until it started getting dark and Ven decided we'd better get going.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Mom and Zack weren't back yet when we got home, and I thought of asking Ventus to stay over until they came, but he said he had plans and needed to get back before the rain fell.

I looked up and realized he was right—it looked like one of those rare spring days where there was going to be a random rainstorm.

I tried not to show how scared I was of rainstorms and just waved him goodbye as he got back in his car.

I turned to Roxas as we lugged our suitcases into the house, discarding them in the living room. "Well I guess it's just you and me…" My words died in my throat when I realized he'd picked up his skateboard and was heading out the door already. "Hey—"

"I have plans," he muttered, uncannily similar to Ventus. "I'll be back in an hour."

I knew he meant he'd be back by midnight, and I attempted to persuade him to stay, but he had disappeared through the doors in a flash. I sighed, feeling scared already at being home alone.

I lugged my suitcase upstairs and decided to find something to keep myself busy. I thought of using the computer, but I hated being in my room alone, so I headed downstairs to the kitchen and fixed myself a snack.

I could hear the rain pattering against the roof of the house, and held back a shiver. I pulled on a sweater, turned the heating up to the MAX and cosied up on the sofa with my sandwich and the remote.

I was halfway into the latest Glee episode (—I hadn't been following the storyline, but apparently Finn and Quinn were back together and Rachel broke her nose and she wanted a nose job—) when the bell rang.

I was hesitant at first when I realized Zack's car wasn't in the driveway, and I thought about ignoring it until I realized that maybe it was Roxas coming home early. The rain was pouring down more heavily now, and I knew that Roxas would kill me if I pretended I didn't hear him.

Pulling myself off the sofa and abandoning the episode (and my sandwich), I tiptoed towards the door.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw who was on the other side.

"…Kairi?"

* * *

…**you happy? You happy now? YOU HAPPY? **

**Please don't kill me for the cliffhanger. Or for the late update. **

**THIS CHAPTER WAS MEANT TO BE UP YESTERDAY! UGH! STUPID LIFE! Y U INTERVENE WITH MY FANFICTION UPDATE SCHEDULE!**

**Lol…**

**So, I hoped you liked this chapter. Life-changing for Sora, and everything.**

**A SHOUTOUT TO VERSIVALIA, WHO TURNED…14 RECENTLY! Or is it fifteen? Lol sorry, I don't do birthdays…so I forget everyone's ages…even mine… x) (oh and don't worry, I haven't forgotten your ideas…hurr gurl.)**

* * *

**Songs? Sora: **_Love Drunk_** by BoysLikeGirls, **_Annabelle _**by A Rocket To The Moon, **_Resolution _**by Nick Lachey, **_Feel Again _**by Taio Cruz (as random party song). Riku: **_The Mess I Made _**by Parachute. Roxas: **_Beautiful Soul _**by Jesse McCartney (acoustic). Tifa & Cloud: **_I Need You _**by Tim McGraw & Faith Hill. And then there's the average party songs from singers like Taio Cruz, Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, Enrique (particularly **_Tonight I'm (Lovin') You_** lol), Kesha, Rihanna…you name it. I'll leave that to your imagination.**

* * *

**Um…no sneek peek. My brains running dry. And I'm hungry. AND I'VE GOT HOMEWORK TO DO FOR TOMORROW. AND PRETTY LITTLE LIARS TO WATCH. **

**But here's a line for you guys to savor for the next chapter…**

* * *

"…_make her suffer."_

* * *

**#Evilgrin**

**(Yah, cause I got Twitter. Spellychan everybody.)**

**Well…drop a review. Not that you need to…I mean FIVE HUNDRED! REALLY! *faints* **

***cue Taylor Swift's astonished 'OMG I JUST WON AN AWARD' face***

**Word Count: 9,974**

**XXXX **


	32. Beautiful Mistake

**A/N: …lol?**

**Review replies…**

**The Traveler: I'm glad you like it! Haha...hope you'll like this chapter as much as you liked the last one...**

**Satomi: THANKS for reviewing! Here you go!**

**Squall17: It's like the Hunger Games is gonna be the new Harry Potter! *refuses to believe the Twilight thing...IT IS NOT LIKE TWILIGHT. AT ALL. THE GIRL ACTUALLY HAS PURPOSE AND ISN'T A MARY-SUE.* Yay! And i'm looking forward to your not-anon reviews from now on! Enjoy! **

**Blank Person Who Forgot To Sign In: Haha yeah...I put off my homework to WRITE it, so I guess we're on the same boat. Lol. Enjoy! **

**About this chappie: Haha. Hah. **

**Disclaimer: No…I don't own Kingdom Hearts…sadly…but it's been thirty-two chapters and I thought you would have known that by now. Title taken from the song 'Taken' by One Direction. Yeah. I got the infection. **

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I perform at a 21-and-over nightclub. _

"I'm Sora…"

"…and I'm Riku. And we're gonna be taking over for the DJ tonight."

_I figure out why Roxas and Ven hate Dad so much._

"I_ hit_ them, okay?"

_I get my first hangover. _

"Why does it feel like someone poured an ashtray in my mouth?"

_We bond with Ventus. _

"Come on, you guys. I've missed almost six years of your life. Fill me in."

_And I'm pretty sure I'm over Kairi. So what if she's with Riku? If she's happy, I'm happy. _

_Right?_

* * *

**Chapter 32: Beautiful Mistake**

Her hair was soaked with rain, a tangled red mess on the top of her head, her lips were chapped and she looked like she hadn't slept in ages. The rain trickled down her face, making it impossible to determine whether or not she was crying.

And she still managed to take my breath away.

We just stood there, staring at each other, as the rain continued to pour down. I was at loss for words.

I took a deep breath, trying to level my breathing before opening my mouth to speak. "Kairi…what—"

And then her lips crashed against mine.

And we were kissing again.

And it felt amazing.

And I felt my resolve crashing down, my emotions taking over…and she tasted of watermelons and milkshake and strawberries…and KFC chicken.

…and then she sneezed, and I realized we'd been kissing in the rain and that she was in nothing but a faded t-shirt and that if I didn't get her warm soon she'd catch a cold. I pulled her inside, still half-dazed, wiping my bare feet on the carpet and shaking the water out of my hair. I wiped at my soaked fringe before turning back to her. "Um—"

She cut me off again, pulling my into another heated kiss, and it was starting to get really hard to keep up with her. She was addicting, and it started to grow increasingly hard for me to pull away until the ground disappeared from beneath my feet and we fell back onto the sofa.

"Ow," I groaned, pulling the remote out from underneath my butt before turning back to Kairi. I realized the awkward position we were in—she was sitting on top of me, her legs were draped on either side of my torso, and she was staring down at me with wide purply-blue eyes. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and I had a feeling my face wasn't any different. I cleared my throat, struggling to keep my eyes level with hers. The heat on the tips of my ears began to spread from my face, to my stomach, maybe even lower—

"Um, Kairi…" My words came out raspy, and I had a feeling this probably had to do with the fact that her face was now barely inches from mine and I could see her bra through her soaked t-shirt.

She trailed her fingers down my cheek before letting them hover over my mouth as she leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Ssh…"

I didn't know what was happening. This had to be a dream. I mean, I'd had dirty dreams about her before…occasionally…

Before I could think it over any more, she pressed her lips against my ear before making her way back to my mouth, and I wasn't sure what would have happened had the doorbell not rang at that exact moment.

Before I could blink, Kairi had leaped to the opposite end of the couch, hurriedly straightening out her blouse. I did the same, realizing that she'd almost completely unbuttoned my sweater, before hurrying to answer the door, trying to contain my blush. I realized the TV was still on. I'd missed some important plot point, because now everyone was wearing shirts with letters on them and dancing to a Lady Gaga song. My brain was too busy trying to come to terms with what had just happened to try and unscramble the words on their shirts.

I opened the door. It was Mom…and Zack. Mom pulled me into a hug as soon as she opened the door, before placing her hands on my shoulders and looking up at my new hairstyle in awe. "Your hair! He…you got a haircut?"

I shrugged. "Yeah…" I decided not to mention Van had forced me to. She _really _didn't like Van. "I was long due for one anyway."

"But…you never let me cut your hair…" She whispered, running her hand through the weird spiky patch in the front of my head. She gasped again, feeling my arms. "Oh my…you've been working out?"

I felt myself starting to blush, especially when Zack patted me on the back. "Finally! I was actually starting to get worried you'd stay as scrawny as a stick for the rest of your life!"

"Zack!" Mom reprimanded, looking nervously at me. I shrugged, not really taking offense. She laughed fondly, squeezing my hand. "Ah…I've missed you…and where's your brother?"

"He's…he went for a walk or something…" I suddenly remembered Kairi was there, and quickly slipped my hand out of my Mom's. "Um…"

"Hello, Aerith," Kairi greeted semi-politely. "And…Mr. Zack."

"Oh, I forgot you two have never formally met yet. Um, Zack, this is Kairi. Kairi, my husband."

Kairi nodded politely, flashing Mom her signature smile. She tucked some of her scraggly hair behind her ear and cleared her throat. "Well…I'll leave you guys to…um."

"See you tomorrow then," Mom said airily, already beginning to head for the kitchen, Zack following her with the shopping bags. I turned back to Kairi, who was standing next to the door.

"Well…I'll see you tomorrow then." She tilted her head, the edges of her lips tugging upwards in an almost seductive smile. Or maybe I was just imagining things, seeing as she'd just been kissing me—

_Holy crap_.

She smiled again, turned on her heels, turned the door knob and disappeared into the night.

I felt like my face was about to erupt into flames.

* * *

I spent the rest of that night in a daze.

I didn't know _what _had just happened. I'd been watching Glee, Kairi had shown up, and then suddenly we were kissing…in the rain.

It was so incredibly cliché.

What exactly had happened after that? Because all I remembered was that Kairi had been _on top of me _and if we hadn't been fast enough, Mom and Zack would've…ugh. I didn't even want to think about it.

…okay, so I did. Kairi. Kissing me.

_What the hell…?_

"…are you okay?" Zack asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "You're…"

I didn't get what he was talking about until after he cleared his throat about five times.

"I'm…" I tried to stop myself from blushing harder, trying to conceal the...uh. "I'm gonna go…have a shower."

"Really?" Mom looked confused. "You didn't have one this morning?"

"Um…yeah…I did but Ven took us to the beach…I think I have sand in my hair…"

I made my way out of the kitchen and rushed upstairs the bathroom, not daring to go back to my room. Especially since I knew Kairi was going to be in her room…

I stared at myself in the mirror, frowning at the red-faced spiky-haired guy I saw. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. It was so embarrassing. I wondered if Kairi had noticed when she…

I decided washing my face might help.

After realizing that wasn't helping and taking a cold shower instead—which worked unbelievably well, actually—I changed back into my PJs and climbed into bed.

And then I realized:

I was the other guy.

Kairi was cheating on Riku. With _me_. After I said come to terms with her and Riku's relationship and settled things with Riku.

What kind of friend was I?

I sighed and buried my head in my pillow. Wasn't this what I'd been dreaming about since…ever? Being able to kiss Kairi like that?

What if it was all a dream? Maybe I'd fallen asleep in front of the television and I was having some kind of sick dream…it couldn't be real, could it? Kairi had clearly told me she didn't want to be with me…right?

It was way too confusing. It hurt my head just thinking about it.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

It took me a while to get to sleep, and I woke up to the smell of beef. It smelt so good I thought it couldn't possibly be Mom, because that was one of the things she'd never been able to cook.

I rubbed my eyes and propped myself up on my elbows, looking around the room. I could hear Roxas snoring, and realized he was sprawled across his bunk, head seemingly embedded in his pillow. I wondered when he'd gotten back last night, and made a mental note to ask him about it.

I realized someone had placed a vase of fluffy pink camellias on the window sill, and that the curtains were opened wide, letting the sun shine freely. The room felt hot as hell, and I realized it was almost summer already. I wondered if there was going to be a heat wave. I slipped out of bed and stretched, yawned, changed into cleaner underwear, and headed downstairs.

Mom was in the kitchen, with Zack. Zack was animatedly explaining something I was too tired to care about, and Mom was smiling and jumping up and down like a five-year-old.

She saw me and stopped immediately, a blush creeping up on her cheeks. "Um…morning, Sora. How was your night?"

_Filled with horny dreams about Kairi_. "It was good." I retrieved the milk carton from the fridge and took a swig out of it. "When did Roxas get back last night?"

"Not too late, thankfully." Mom nervously gnawed on her cuticle. "Um…Sora…I was thinking of telling you and Roxas this at the same time, but…" She hesitated. "…Zack suggested I open up a flower shop."

I poured myself some cereal, raising an eyebrow. "A flower shop?"

"Yeah," Zack inputted, passing me the cereal jar. "She could start by selling around the park or something, since now its spring and all. Then maybe when her flowers'll be in so much demand, we could open a shop…right here." He waved his arms as if to emphasize his point. "We can't put all those flowers Aerith's been growing to waste, now could we? What do you think?"

I glanced at Mom, and saw how hopeful she looked. Her emerald green eyes hadn't been so lively around anyone since the day she and Zack got married. She just looked so damn happy, and I knew she really wanted to do this. I also knew Zack's idea was pretty badass, and that it was worth a try. The pay would be less of course, but at least it'd be better than Mom working five to nine in some stuffy office.

So I said "Sure. It's a decent idea."

And Mom's smile seemed to grow even _wider_. Zack whooped and then they were hugging again. I wondered what had happened in Costa del Sol to make them fall in love with each other again. I guess it wasn't my business. It was good enough that they were happy now. That's all that mattered, really.

It was about time Mom had found someone she deserved.

* * *

I was halfway through my breakfast—and, yeah, the stew tasted just as good as it smelled—when I got a phone call. From Van.

I escaped up to my bedroom to answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Sora!" I heard his lively voice from the other end of the phone.

"Hey…" I scratched the back of my head absently. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" He laughed. "What—does something have to be wrong for me to call you? I can't just be calling you cause I want to?"

I sat down on my bunk, watching as Roxas turned onto his stomach. "I guess…but it's barely been 24 hours."

I could almost hear him shrug. "Meh. So what's up?"

I was about to reply with 'nothing much', like I usually did, when I realized that something actually did happen, and that it was a lot more than nothing. And that Van kind of had to hear that his makeover on me had kind of worked. Or something. "Well…Zack and Mom are back…Kairi kissed me…I got me a new pair of sneakers—"

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_." Vanitas sounded like he was about to choke. "Back up. What did you just say?"

"Oh…I got a new pair of sneakers?"

"No, the other thing—"

"Zack and Mom are back?"

"_No_—"

"I grew an inch taller?"

"Don't fuck with me, Sora." Van sighed, obviously irritated. "What was that you said about Kairi kissing you?"

I knew I was smiling like a maniac now. I was glad Roxas was asleep. "Kairi…well I was home last night and she rang the bell and I said hi and…yeah. She just…jumped me. I think. I'm not sure. We ended up on the sofa."

"So…she just kissed you randomly? For no reason _what_soever?"

"Well…yeah."

"Hm."

I frowned, slightly. "What was that?"

"What?"

"That 'hm' thing. I thought you at least would be sort of happy for me…at least a little."

"Yeah, I…I don't know…" He chuckled. "It just doesn't make sense. Didn't you say she was with Riku? What the hell is up with that?"

My heart deflated at that; Kairi was Riku's _girlfriend_. It didn't make sense. Why would…why did she kiss me then? Unless…

"Maybe…maybe they broke up?" I hated how excited I sounded when I said that. Some kind of friend.

"And what if they didn't? That'd just make you 'the other guy'…and even worse, the _rebound_. And even then, Sora, what the fuck was the point of the past three weeks then?"

"…I…" He had a point. Kairi hadn't exactly given me any explanation, and jumping into a relationship with her would be just stupid. But for some reason I felt irritated that Van had just totally shot down my happiness like that. I was just about to yell at him when my phone buzzed again, signaling that someone was on the other line. It was Kairi.

I felt my heart do a little somersault. "I…I've got to call you back."

"Hey—"

I pressed hold and picked up Kairi's call, swallowing hard as I felt my heart going crazy again. And to think I'd sworn I was over her.

I guess kissing someone did that to you.

"Hey! Um…it's me. Kairi." I could hear her giggling. "Um…I was thinking maybe we could go out somewhere today, you know, enjoy our last day of break or something? I mean…"

I drifted off then, Van's words repeating in my mind. I knew I was starting to swoon again. It wasn't healthy. How could one girl completely destroy my resolve like that? She hadn't even told me anything about when or how she and Riku had broken up…

Maybe Van was right. I knew I had to do something. And I also knew I didn't want to be her 'rebound guy'.

Steeling myself for her pleas, I cleared my throat and took a deep breath before launching.

"—I haven't been out of the house for ages, and it'd be really cool if maybe—"

"Kairi…what're we doing?"

"…what do you mean—"

"What exactly happened between you and Riku?"

She sighed, sounding pretty irritated. "Sora, we can talk about this later—"

"No," I snapped. "I want to talk about this now. You've given me no explanation whatsoever…and it's confusing."

"I don't _need _to explain anything to you! Why can't you just forget about that and accept that I like you and move on? It's not that important—"

"Well I think it is, Kairi." I didn't exactly like the way the conversation was going. "I don't want to be the other guy, and I don't want to be your rebound either. And if you don't think it's that serious, then maybe we should just stick to being friends."

"What? Wait—"

I hung up then, before she could start pleading.

And I realized how much I _wasn't_ shaking. I didn't know where the random bout of confidence had come from. I'd just _rejected _Kairi. Which was something I thought I'd never be able to do—_ever_.

And it felt…_good._

I also realized the thudding in my chest had slowed down…though I wasn't sure if that was a bad or a good thing.

Of course, I knew the confidence wasn't going to last forever, and that if I wanted to prevent myself from panicking and dialing her back, I needed to distract myself.

So I switched back to Van's call, clearing my throat. "Um. Yeah. That was Kairi."

"Really, now?" He didn't sound impressed. "What did she say?"

"Uh…she asked if we could go out this afternoon."

"And you, like the massive pussy you are, said—"

"No." I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "I said no."

Van paused for a moment, before breaking into a cheer. I could hear him clapping his hands. "Now that's what I'm talking about! You know what you need to do now, right?"

I shook my head, not sure what he was getting at.

He must have taken the silence as a no. "Now, Sora, is the part where you make her suffer."

"What? I can't do that! She's—"

"I'm not talking about putting pesticide in her shampoo or putting snakes in her underwear drawer or anything." I heard him chuckle. "What I mean is, now you know she's got feelings for you…exploit them. Play with them. Make her _beg_, and don't give in until she gets down on her knees and begs to suck your cock."

"Whoa. Van."

"I'm kidding. Sorta." He laughed raucously. "But seriously. You have to be absolutely sure she actually _needs _you before you accept her. But I'd be more than happy if you just forgot about her and moved on. Your choice."

I raked my fingers through my hair. I did that a lot, now that it was so simple to do so. I'd longed for the day where I'd be able to do that without getting my fingers stuck halfway. "I think…I dunno. I'm going to go for a run."

"Never thought I'd ever hear that coming from you."

We said our goodbyes and hung up, just as Roxas woke up. He yawned, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, and threw his legs over the side of the bed.

"Rise and shine," I muttered, for the sake of it. He muttered something incoherent, scratching his torso, before freezing all of a sudden, like he'd just remembered something. "What time is it?"

"Uh…it's almost ten-thirty. Why?"

"Fuck." He leaped out of bed, ripping off his shirt and disappearing into the bathroom. I sighed, knowing he wasn't gonna tell me anything, and decided I'd better go out for a run, like I'd told Van.

Mom had apparently gone out to buy some more flower seeds, and Zack was having one of his rare lie-in days…on the couch. He smiled when he saw me, though his smile was slightly hesitant. "Sora. Has it really been only three weeks? You look really grown up."

"Thanks," I replied. I still wasn't that sure how to talk to him. It was just hard to trust him, since he'd been the same as Dad for a bit, hitting Mom and all. I figured if I could forget what Dad had done, I could do the same for Zack. I mean, it should've been easier, even, since Zack had apologized. I decided it'd be better if I just waited and saw what happened.

"You going out?" He asked, scratching absently on the scar on his cheek.

I shrugged, pulling out a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge. "Yeah. I was thinking of going for a run, since it's so nice out." The sky was clear and the sun was out, showing no indication that there'd been a rainstorm the previous night.

Zack chuckled, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Great. I was starting to think you were some kind of hermit or something."

I forced a smile.

"You think it'd be okay if I joined you?"

I shrugged, though I'd been hoping I'd get to run alone, since I needed some more time to think. About what Van meant. And if it was a good idea. And if I really wanted to 'make Kairi suffer'. And if she even cared.

Roxas came downstairs, as if on cue, skateboard in hand and his wet hair spraying pellets of water everywhere. He frowned when he saw Zack. "Actually, Sora and I've already made plans. Sorry."

Before I could protest, he yanked my arm and dragged me out the door, slamming the door behind us.

I glared at him. "What the hell, Roxas?"

"We can't trust him, Sora," Roxas muttered. "He hit Mom. You know that."

"God, Roxas!" I yanked my arm out of his grasp. "Stop being such an asshole! Zack said he was sorry—how many times do we have to repeat it for you to get it?"

"Sora, calm the fuck down—"

"Listen to me!" I snapped, the anger rising. I guess Roxas being a douche bag coupled with The Kairi Thing made me crack. "You think you're too good for everyone and try to destroy _everyone's _lives just because yours didn't work out the way you wanted it to! Mom's happy with him—why can't you see that? I don't care if he hit Mom; he's sorry and they're happy and I guess that's all that matters!"

"But he—"

"Not everyone is like Dad, Roxas! Get over it!"

It seemed to take him a while to realize what I meant. He looked confused for a bit, as if unsure how I'd figured it out, and then his gaze darkened to a frown. He shook his head and dropped his skateboard to the ground. "Fine. Do what you want. See if I care."

I sighed in exasperation. I knew he wasn't going to talk to me for at least another week now. "Roxas…"

He'd already long since raced down the street, disappearing round the corner, going off to wherever he usually went off to. Probably to hang out with the redheaded guy, Axel, and his prostitute/thug friends. I'd long since stopped caring about what he did. It wasn't my problem anymore if he wanted to ruin his life. I'd had enough of him ruining everyone else's with his 'woe is me' attitude.

I sighed and went back inside. Zack was peering through an old photo album when I came in, and he hurriedly placed it back on the shelf when he saw me looking. I shrugged. "You can look through if you wanna."

He hesitated, then nodded, grinning nervously. I walked up to him and stood next to him, looking with him. I felt a weird sense of nostalgia as we browsed through the pictures of summers on the beach, springs in the garden, evenings in front of the TV, Seventh of June fireworks in Radiant Garden, chocobo racing…I started to notice things I'd never noticed before, like how Roxas and Ventus hardly ever smiled in any of the pictures after our fifth birthday. I assumed that's when Dad had started hitting them. I wondered how I hadn't noticed Dad hitting them for two whole years.

"Cloud…" Zack sighed. He glanced at me. "Ever wonder how your Mom and I met?"

I pretended to seem interested. He deserved that, at least. Zack launched into a story about how he and Dad used to be friends in high school, and then in college. Apparently they'd both dropped out of college after their first year to join the Shinra Military Service, since at that time there was national unrest, or something. Zack had apparently met Mom through Dad…which was kind of ironic. They'd started dating almost a year after Mom and Dad divorced.

"I know what you're thinking—it was kind of fast…but we had a long talk about things before and sorted everything out first before we decided to start dating. We also agreed to keep you guys in the dark about it, since you guys needed time to recover from your Dad upping and leaving you guys."

I nodded, feeling pretty stupid. I hardly ever knew what was going on. I wondered if Roxas had known about them before I did, because as far as I knew Zack and Mom had started dating while Ventus was in his second last year of high school and I was struggling to get through middle school.

He sighed, closing the photo album and placing it back on the shelf. "Sora…you're okay with us being together, right?"

"Well if you're what makes her happy then…" I shrugged. "Roxas…he's just had problems accepting anyone really after what happened with our Dad."

Zack raised an eyebrow, confused. I waved it off as unimportant. "Anyway…don't take him seriously. He's gonna be an insensitive douche bag for the rest of his life, so don't let him bother you."

I knew I wasn't really being fair, but I was pissed at him and tired of looking for his approval. I honestly didn't care if he didn't talk to me for the rest of my life anymore. I was sick on depending on people and being the scapegoat for everything and having to fix everyone's problems.

Zack shook his head. "No…he's…I understand if he hates me, I mean I haven't exactly been…" He trailed off, crossing his arms and leaning back on the edge of the sofa. "…I'm really sorry for…everything. I just thought you should know that. I really love your Mom and you guys as well…even if I don't—"

"Why did you hit her?"

He froze, his greenish-blue eyes widening at the question.

I didn't waver. "I just want to know. What is it about her that…that makes you want to…" I didn't understand how anyone could hit someone they loved. It just didn't make sense. If someone even raised a hand to hit Kairi...

Well. Let's not even go there.

"I never _wanted _to hit her." He sounded like he was about to cry, which was weird coming from Zack. "She…it was just bad timing. I don't like having to live so far away from her, and getting transferred all the time…and they were thinking of transferring our entire sector back to the Gardens back then…but I didn't want to leave you guys, and Aerith didn't want to move, and there was all this crap going on at work with this girl hitting on me and people spreading rumors and…"

"That isn't an excuse."

"I know." He sighed shakily, and I realized his face was stained with tears. "I'm really, really sorry. I swore I'll never hit her again—"

"It's...really hard for me to believe that."

"I know. But please. I swear. If I ever do anything to her again, you're free to chase me out of here. And Roxas is free to kill me."

I stared at him. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I am. I don't know what I'd do if I hit her again. I can't even…"

We just sat there for a while, just sitting in silence. I looked at Zack, and I realized there wasn't really any point in hating him. Maybe there was…but I didn't care anymore.

"Zack…" I sighed. "Look, I have every reason not to trust you, but if you love Mom like you say you do, I guess I should take your word for it. I'm tired of all this."

Zack nodded in agreement. "Me too." He chuckled, patting my head. "You've always been the easy one, though. I'm not giving up on Roxas, even if you say I should. I'm going to get him to warm up to me eventually."

"Good luck."

He shook his head at me, a smile on his face, and it was hard to believe he'd just been crying.

I felt myself smile. "You still up for a run?"

"You bet."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Kairi didn't come knocking on my door or anything that day. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

I spent most of my afternoon in front of the TV, and then I decided I'd better get working on my Phys/Chem lab. Paine probably hadn't done anything, and I didn't want her blaming me for getting an F—again.

I collapsed on my bunk and pulled out my bookbag, fingering the red ribbon that was sewn into the rim. I sighed, remembering that day in the infirmary when I'd gotten mad at Kairi for laughing at me. It all seemed so far away, when I'd been 'unpopular', so to speak. Okay, so I still wasn't popular, like I'd been hoping to be…but I still had a few months left, right? And I'd finally gotten 'the right clothes'…kinda.

I hated basing so much on someone's appearance, but it was kind of nice to look good for once. To just look in the mirror and see yourself and not hate what you saw there. And what's the saying? When you look good, you feel good? Or something…

The lab proved to be impossible, and I remembered I hadn't been focusing when it had been given, probably because I was still suffering from Kairi withdrawal.

So I decided to cheat.

I switched on the desktop and navigated to Yahoo!Answers, thinking maybe I'd be able to figure out how to determine the empirical formula from someone else.

I was still browsing when I remembered I had a Facebook account…and that I'd better check it out.

I was shocked with what I saw.

Everyone had accepted my requests, leaving me with almost a thousand friends—_already_—and I realized I had several others who'd sent me requests as well. But that wasn't what shocked me the most.

It was like someone had hacked into my account. My status had been changed to 'Feeling sexy', it had gotten several likes, and several other pictures I hadn't even realized I'd taken had been uploaded onto my account.

They were from that night in Seventh Heaven, and I supposed most of them had been taken when I was drunk. Riku was in a few of them too, though he didn't do much but smirk and put on his usual, I'm-too-sexy-for-the-camera look. A lot of the pictures were taken with girls…and most of them weren't wearing that much.

I started to blush, though I wasn't sure if it was out of anger or embarrassment.

After spazzing and freaking out and almost having a panic attack, I realized there was only one person who could have possible done this.

_Van_.

My panic rapidly converting into anger, I picked up my cell phone and dialed Van's number.

He picked it up on the first ring, as usual. "Hey, liddle brudda! What'sa goin'—"

"_What the hell, Van?"_

He cackled. Like, a Scar-from-the-Lion-King cackle. "So…I guess you've seen the videos then?"

"_Videos_?"

I rapidly scrolled to the video section, and realized about twenty videos had been uploaded the previous day, and that several people had commented on them.

I felt like my face was on fire. "Delete them. _Now_."

"What? I didn't do anything."

"Stop lying. I _know _it was you. You were the only one who had these videos!"

"Okay, so yeah…I posted them on Facebook. So what? People seem to like them…have you watched them yet?"

I clicked on the first one, which was a video of me singing 'I Like It' by Enrique Iglesias. I couldn't remember singing it, so I figured I was drunk when it happened. It was actually an okay performance…until I asked this random girl to come on stage…and started dancing with her.

The crowd whooped appreciatively, and so did the guy holding the camera—Van, of course.

I was hoping the camera would be blurry and shaky since it was in a nightclub, but _no_—it was so obvious that the guy practically dry-humping the random brunette girl on stage was unmistakably me.

The videos got worse. Most of them were videos of me singing, but one or two of them were videos taken in video-diary type style, Van holding the camera as if doing a documentary.

(For example, "Now we observe the Sora in his natural habitat, doing his mating call…" The camera zoomed in on me moaning the lyrics to 'I Wanna Love You' by the Maine and making obscene gestures to a group of girls who were lounging at one of the booths. I heard Riku laughing in the background. Then there was a video of Van asking me a bunch of questions while I gave a bunch of half-assed answers, my words slurred and almost incoherent. I knew people did stupid things when they were drunk, but this was just crazy.)

"I am going to _kill you_, Van," I muttered, desperately looking for some way to delete the videos. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing! It wasn't hard to find out your password. And you know that saying, 'you only see the real side of a guy when he's drunk', or something like that?" He laughed manically. "Well I thought I'd show everyone your wild side."

"I hate you."

"Love you too, liddle brudda."

I hung up on him then, beyond pissed. It was at times like these when I really disliked Van.

I couldn't figure out how to take the videos down, so instead I just changed my password and personalized my profile so it sounded less like Van and more like me…though not too much like the old pre-makeover me.

I was scrolling through the videos, blushing at all the comments—I mean, there were even some from _Yuna _and _Lenne_ of all people—when I saw one that caught my eye. It was called 'Taken' and I immediately recognized the song as I clicked play. It was one of the backup songs I hadn't really practiced that much, but apparently I knew the lyrics well enough to sing the song drunk.

Even I was impressed at how well I sang while intoxicated. The video was basically just me sitting on a stool in the middle of the stage, singing the song in karaoke-style. The song was about moving on, and the main message was something like: 'Fuck off, I'm over you'. It was extremely convenient, considering the circumstances.

"_Now that I finally moved on_

_You say that you missed me all along…"_

And then something clicked in my mind, and suddenly it hit me, with the power of a yellow school bus. I jumped off my seat, rummaged through my backpack and pulled out my notebook and pen.

And then I began to write.

I wrote and wrote, through pages and pages on end, until my palms got sweaty and my words started to scrunch together. But I didn't stop. The ideas came pouring out from seemingly nowhere, and it was as if I was running on adrenaline. The writer's block I'd been suffering from ever since Riku's eighteenth birthday party had vanished completely, and I'd finally figured it out.

I threw the pen down as I finished off my short story, wiping my damp hands on my jeans. I looked at the clock and realized I'd been writing for almost three hours, and that the sun was setting over the horizon, and that I hadn't gotten anywhere on my Phys/Chem lab. Oh well.

I knew I'd made spelling mistakes all over the place, but it was accomplished. I let out a relieved laugh as I picked up my notebook, which had barely a few pages left. I just had to show it to Aqua again tomorrow, so she could help me edit it or something and tell me if it was good enough.

School was tomorrow, which meant back to impossible homework, back to annoying teachers, back to being Benchie. And, of course, it would mean facing Kairi.

But for some reason I felt ready. Confident, even. I realized I didn't feel scared anymore.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"Roxas?"

"_What_?"

"…you ready for school tomorrow?"

"Whatever. It's not like this is our first holiday."

"Hm. I guess."

"…"

"…you and Namine okay?"

"…"

"Roxas?"

"Yeah. Yeah we…well. She hasn't been picking up her phone, but that's…it's not that big a deal."

"Oh."

"…"

"…"

"You think you could ask Kairi about it tomorrow, just in case? I mean…"

"Yeah. Sure. We're friends, after all."

"Mm."

"…Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"…I think…I think you're going a bit overboard with Zack. I mean, he said he was sorry…and he really means it. He swore he's never going to hurt her again. I think maybe you're just finding it hard to believe him because of what Dad—"

"Sora. Shut the fuck up. I don't care. I need to sleep."

"…fine. G'night then."

"…"

I sighed, giving up on him and slowly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

…**this is what happens to me. Every. Single. Time. **

**I just write, and write, and write, and before I know it I've passed my intended word limit. NOOES. So…if this chapter disappointed you, I'm sorry. I know it's unfair…but that's just how this story is structured. Deal with it. *arrogant smirk fail***

**Songs used/referenced in this chapter…'Taken' by One Direction, 'I Like It' by Enrique Iglesias, 'I Wanna Love You' by The Maine… **

**The next chapter will start the next arc of this story…the SECOND LAST ARC. ZOMG. WE'RE ALMOST DONE. Kind of…like eight more chapters to go or something. xD Maybe even less…it just kind of depends. Hopefully this story will end at forty chapters…excluding the prologue of course. **

**Sneek Peek:**

* * *

"_Dress to impress."_

"…_front cover material!" _

"_Will you go out with me?"_

_"This...this is amazing!"_

"_Who _are _you?"_

* * *

**Be expecting some more Neku Sakuraba and friends...and high school drama…cause next chapter is BACK TO SCHOOL. *dances* I promise this time. Like…truly promise. **

**R&R! Next chapter due on the 26****th****, though I might just update earlier! :D Love you guys loads! HAPPY SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! GO GIANTS! *doesn't even watch football/understand the game, but who the hell cares?* STAY AWESOME. **

**Word Count: 7,387**

**Total Editing Time: 45 minutes. WOOT. **

**XXX **


	33. Ridin' Solo

**A/N: ARE YOU READY?**

**Replies: **

**Isabelz3Cookies: …couldn't PM you cause you disabled the PMing feature…but yeah, the kissing seems random right now, but all shall be explained. Without being too much of a filler lol. **

**Traveler: Yes. The random glompage seemed random. Because it was. *trollface* Nah just kidding…there's a reason…and everything shall become clear…eventually. xD **

**Oh, btw…did anyone see the new SPESHUL Valentine's trailer? Did you fangasm once again, like I did? CGI ROXAS OMFG. AND AXEL/LEA OHMAIGOD I CANNOT EVEN— *dies* **

**HUNGER GAMES FANS? HEARD 'EYES OPEN' YET? AND OMFG WAITING FOR THE MOVIE TO COME OUT IS LIKE HAVING A CHOCOLATE CAKE SITTING RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU AND NOT BEING ABLE TO EAT IT.**

**These late updates can only be blamed on my current 1Direction Obsession and the truckloads of homework our teachers insist on pelting us with. I know, that shouldn't be an excuse, and you are free to yell at me forever. **

**About this chappie: …lol. **

**Disclaimer: WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE YEAYUH.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Kairi and I have a snogfest._

She trailed her fingers down my cheek before letting them hover over my mouth as she leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Ssh…"

_Van gives me some brotherly advice._

"Now, Sora, is the part where you make her suffer."

_Zack and I settle our differences. _

"Look, I have every reason not to trust you, but if you love Mom like you say you do, I guess I should take your word for it. I'm tired of all this."

_And Van continues on his quest to morbidly embarrass me. _

"Well I thought I'd show everyone your wild side."

"I hate you."

_And now we're going back to school. And…I'm actually kind of excited._

* * *

**Chapter 33: Ridin' Solo**

"RISE AND SHINE, LIDDLE BRUDDA!"

Monday morning. I was rudely awakened from a particularly pleasant dream about chocolate mousse.

I groaned, rubbing my eyes, reluctant to pull myself up from the bed. Was it morning already? My eyes lazily searched the room for the owner of the voice, though I knew who it was already. "What are you doing here? …And what time is it?"

"It's seven-thirty." I found him rifling through my wardrobe. "And I'm here to make sure you dress to impress."

I rolled over onto my stomach, resolving to ignore him and get back to sleep. "Van, if you haven't realized already, our school has a uniform. Which means I'd kind of be violating school rules—"

"Actually, this week's free choice. Checked your email and Yoshida says there's a risk of a massive heatwave, and since there won't be enough summer uniforms in stock until next week, it's free choice."

I waited for him to confess that he was just kidding. He didn't.

"Wait, you're serious?" I propped myself up on my elbows, not really concerned with the fact that he'd been reading my emails. Again. I'd known for a while now that Van knew pretty much all my passwords and regularly invaded my privacy. There wasn't much I could do about it. Van had helped me make most of the cyber-accounts I owned, especially since my dyslexia was a lot worse back then. "Sure you're not doing this to embarrass me?"

"Now why would I do that?" He pulled out a t-shirt, frowned at it, and tossed it over his shoulder. He ordered me to go take a shower while he looked for a proper outfit for me to wear.

I didn't bother protesting.

I dragged myself off the bed and entered the bathroom, trying to shake the sleep away. I undressed, groggily stumbled into the shower and spent a good five minutes just soaking myself.

Van had already picked out several outfits for me by the time I was done, half of which I wasn't even sure I owned. He seemed like he was debating which one he thought would look best on me.

I let him experiment; I had time to spare. I spent the next half hour trying on these outfits, before finally settling on what he deemed was a summer-worthy outfit, with the shades and all.

Van grinned as he finished fixing my hair, seemingly proud with his work. "I like what I'm seeing. Sexy. Very sexy."

"I'm going to school."

"Yes. I know that. Duh." He rolled his eyes. "You do remember what I told you right? About Kairi?"

For some reason, her name didn't even make me cringe. "Yeah. Make her suffer, or whatever."

He clapped his hands, surprised I remembered. "Yes. And the best way to do that is by making her jealous as fuck."

"Right. And you're thinking dressing like this will make her jealous?"

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

He spent at least another ten minutes on my hair before finally announcing he was done. Mom was in the kitchen when we got downstairs, and she wasn't alone. Zack had his arms wrapped around her torso from behind, and he was whispering something in her ear. It was either something dirty or just a really funny joke, because Mom couldn't seem to stop giggling.

It was like the first year after they'd gotten married all over again. I cringed at the scene, debating whether or not to let them know about my presence. Turns out I didn't have to, because I managed to somehow walk into the table anyway, startling the both of them.

"Oh, morning Sora." Mom edged away from Zack, sheepishly adjusting her bathrobe. "You're up early."

"Yeah, thought I'd have an early start," I lied, pouring myself some breakfast.

"Hmm." Mom walked up to me, brushing her fingers through my hair for the umpteenth time since Saturday evening. "What about your brother?"

I honestly had no idea where he was, but I didn't want to make her worry, so I lied and told her he'd left early as well. She was probably too busy with Zack to notice anyway.

Zack was picking up his sword as we spoke, getting ready to leave for work. I honestly had no idea why he still insisted on carrying it around everywhere when he wasn't even working on the frontlines. Maybe it was for self-defense, but no sane person on Destiny Islands would pick a swordfight with someone on the military. I concluded that Zack just liked to shove it in peoples' faces that he was in the army, and that he had the huge biceps to prove it.

"Well, I'd better be off." He gave Mom a peck on the cheek and patted me on the shoulder. "You need a ride?"

I was about to remind him that I took the bus when Van walked in, cigarette and all, feeling the need to interrupt. "Actually, that won't be necessary. He's riding with me."

Zack gave Van a wary look. They'd never really talked; Zack just found talking to his wife's ex-husbands' second wife's son somewhat awkward for some reason.

"Okay then." Zack took his leave then, but not without planting another kiss on Mom's lips once again.

I could be a hopeless romantic when I wanted to, but PDA can be disgusting. Especially coming from your Mom. And nobody wants to hear their parents having sex.

"So Vanitas is taking you?" Mom asked, though I knew she'd heard him. Mom did this thing where she'd ignore Vanitas' presence whenever she felt like it. I had a feeling this was one of those days. Vanitas knew how to get Mom pissed in barely a matter of seconds.

"Yeah, and we're leaving now." I trashed my breakfast before picking up my bookbag. I decided I needed to get rid of Van for Mom before she exploded.

I absently glanced over to Kairi's house, wondering whether she was awake yet. Whether she'd heard about the heat wave. If she was going to wear her purple bra—

Um.

I slipped into the passenger seat of Van's car, which had that familiar 'Living Hardcore' smell. Van had the courtesy to wind the windows down.

"No more school bus?"

"Nope."

"Should've known."

He went on to explain how people who took the school bus were generally thought to be losers who were too poor to pay for a car of their own. I told him that that was true in my case. Van didn't like that answer.

He was too distracted to notice he missed the appropriate exit, and at first I thought it was just a mistake, until it happened again. And again. And again. And then I started panicking, sure he was trying to make me late for school on purpose.

"What are you doing?" I snapped. "I've only got ten minutes until class starts! Are you _trying_ to get me in trouble or something?"

"You want to make an impression, huh? Haven't you watched all those movies where the queen or the princess or whatever comes in late on purpose?"

"If you haven't noticed, Van, I'm not a _queen _or a _princess_, and in my generation, if I'm late all I get is a detention slip."

Van rolled his eyes. "God, Sora. You need to loosen up."

He relented though, heading towards school at a speed that was surely way above the speed limit, and we arrived with barely five minutes to spare.

I thanked Van, and he gave me some meaningless advice on 'girl-pulling', whatever that was, before finally releasing me.

The heat was threateningly warm. I knew it would be scorching later on in the afternoon. I was lucky Van had made me put on sunglasses. Not only did it help guard against the sun, but I was able to look at people without them knowing I was.

It was pretty awesome.

I adjusted the hold of my bookbag on my shoulder as I headed into the main building.

The halls were packed with students, hurriedly picking up their books from their locker, getting ready for their first class, while others were loitering just for the sake of it. It was weird seeing everyone in casual clothes. The girls had taken the liberty to put on light summer dresses and the sluttiest outfits school policy allowed.

I realized it was pretty weird wearing sunglasses inside, and, since I knew I was going to have to remove them sooner or later anyway, I decided to take them off. I brushed my fringe away from my damp forehead with a sigh.

Then something weird happened.

Someone gasped, and suddenly everyone's eyes were on me. From the computer club to the cheerleaders and sports jocks. They just stared, like they'd seen a ghost. Or something. I couldn't really decipher the look at first.

Then they broke out into whispers. I didn't know if they thought they were being discreet or not, and if they cared if I heard what they were saying. Because I could.

"_Is that Sora?"_

"_That's SORA? The weird kid who always follows Kairi around?"_

"_What HAPPENED to him?" _

"_God. I never thought I'd say this, but he actually doesn't look ugly today."_

"_I know right? I'd totally hit that."_

I tried to tune it out after that, because it was getting too awkward. I headed to my locker, giving myself something to do before the bell rang for homeroom.

The weird stares persisted as the day went on. It was like no one was sure what to do with me. Especially since Riku didn't show up.

Yeah. Riku was a no-show. No one really knew why.

I guess I really had changed in appearance, I mean. It was like half the teachers didn't seem to recognize who I was. I honestly didn't think I looked _that _different, but apparently everyone else did. The whispers didn't relent, but I tried to remain oblivious.

At lunch, I sat at the usual table, with Vaan, Penelo, Serah, Snow and Lightning. They'd all probably seen or heard about my 'makeover' by now, but they all still looked shocked by my appearance. I rolled my eyes, taking a seat next to Penelo. "Hey."

It took them a while to respond, but Snow was the first to speak up. "What the hell did you do to your hair?"

Sharp and blunt, that was Snow for you. "I got a haircut. I needed one, anyway."

He nodded, falling back into silence. The awkward atmosphere was getting heavier. I didn't get why nobody was talking. Snow and Lightning were usually the most talkative at our table, believe it or not, but this time when I tried striking random conversation they'd shut me down with either a blunt answer or outright ignoring me.

I eventually snapped, of course. "What is wrong with you guys? Why aren't you talking to me? Did something happen? Did I miss something—"

"Sora, people are staring."

I glanced at Penelo, who was nervously chewing on a carrot. She shrugged, sharing a look with Snow.

"Nothing's wrong, honestly," Snow continued, his voice low. "It's just so weird. Everyone's looking at us. And by everyone, I _mean _everyone."

Now that he'd brought it to my attention, I realized it was true. I could _feel _them staring. I honestly preferred being ignored completely to being stared 24/7.

Lunch was uneventful, and awkward. Snow eventually managed to strike up a conversation, but it just wasn't the same. They were all obviously still taken aback by my appearance.

Penelo seemed to be the only one unfazed—or at least the only one who got used to my look pretty quickly and continued acting as she usually did. It was quite refreshing, actually. Seeing as Kairi wasn't there to fill that gap.

Kairi and me…I didn't know. She hadn't come to meet me at my locker the way she usually did. For the whole school day we'd pretty much stayed clear of each other. I guess we just weren't sure how to act around each other yet. I'd rejected her, and I had a feeling I'd crushed her confidence or something. I'd told her we could stay friends—because, to be honest, I kind of needed Kairi's friendship—but she was a girl. Girls were complicated. I had a feeling I'd spoken some kind of taboo by telling her that.

* * *

Kairi managed to stay completely out of my way until English.

With my new looks, unfortunately, didn't come intelligence. I was still as bad at math, spelling and concentrating on pretty much anything as I used to be. Literature was hard enough, since we were starting this book called _Wuthering Heights _by Emily Brontë, and Genesis had gotten those revised editions where the letters are extra small and there's a whole 'nother hundred pages of analysis. It was torture. I dreaded what we were doing next in Literacy. If it involved spelling I was screwed.

I sighed, absently tracing side of my bookbag with my index finger. The ribbon was still there, holding it together. I was pretty sure if I looked hard enough I could write myself a symbolic poem just based on my bag. Writer's intuition.

I was interrupted by the sound of the chair next to me scraping slightly across the floor as someone took a seat next to me. I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was; the familiar strong-smelling perfume hit me like a gust of wind.

"Hey, Sora."

I swallowed hard, trying to will myself not to look her way. "Hey."

I sensed her nod. My eyes fell on her hands as she unpacked her bag. Her nails were painted a bright fuchsia color. I'd always thought she hated the color pink. My eyes drifted from her hands to her arms, and then to her V-neck yellow halter top…

I looked away before I got to her face. I didn't want to look at her face. I didn't know what would happen if I looked at her face.

Aqua walked into the room then, thankfully, giving me a distraction.

She looked horrible.

Well, horrible might be an overstatement, but she looked beyond tired. She had dark bags under her eyes and her blue hair wasn't as perfect and prim as it usually was. She looked like she hadn't bothered to put on that much makeup that morning, and she was wearing a rumpled white dress shirt that was at least two sizes too big for her.

I'd been too distracted by Kairi to realize that she hadn't been in class when I came in, like she usually was. Aqua was one of those teachers who was never absent and who always came in on time, so seeing her come in late, looking messy and completely exhausted…

The class had already started murmuring. Aqua didn't even bother to say hello before she started writing on the board.

I felt strangely guilty. I had the feeling that Aqua's behavior had a lot to do with what had happened before Spring Break, where she'd told him she was pregnant…

Great. I knew I'd never be able to look at Aqua the same way ever again, knowing she was carrying half of Vanitas inside of her…

God. Van had totally gone and screwed things over. Van claimed to know everything there was to know about girls, but he obviously didn't. She had told him she didn't want to see him anymore, but it was obvious she still did. I didn't know what had gone on behind the scenes, but the way they looked at each other…

I'd watched enough Grey's Anatomy to know how people looked at each other when they were in love. And enough Desperate Housewives to know how the female mind worked. Sort of.

I just didn't think it was fair, that Van got to be so happy and carefree when Aqua was stuck looking like…this.

I was still musing over all of this and thinking of how I was going to tell Van when I felt Kairi's arm brush mine, and I remembered where I was. I suddenly felt way hotter than usual, even with the school air-conditioning. I was pretty sure I was visibly sweating. My hands felt clammy, and the pencil kept threatening to slip through my fingers.

"As much as I'd love to sit here and ignore your horrible spelling, I can't." I watched her fingers find my pencil, lingering slightly before disappearing, along with my notebook. My heart beat was racing, and it felt like the skin she touched was on fire.

She leaned over to correct my notes, while I tried to calm the fuck down. I'd been totally fine the previous day, when we were on the phone, but now that we were in person…

I tried to keep my eyes trained on the table, on Aqua, on the courtyard outside the window—anything but Kairi. But I found myself getting more curious each passing second. I wanted to look at her, and at the same time I didn't.

My curiosity got the better of me. _One look couldn't hurt, right?_

..._WRONG. _

She looked like a cross between a Barbie and a Victoria's Secret model. Her cropped hair was done in perfect waves, most of it held in a high ponytail while some was left to fall over her left eye. She was wearing more makeup than I'd ever seen her wear since her Sectionals performance, and looking at her felt akin to staring into the sun.

I didn't know what was wrong with me. Whenever I looked at her, my stomach felt like it was made of cotton candy. If she was trying to get my attention with this outfit, it was working.

"Done."

I immediately looked away before she met my gaze, mumbling something along the lines of thank you as she handed me back my notebook. Now that I'd looked at her once I had the urge to look at her again; I felt like I could stare at her all day, and I knew that wasn't healthy, and that she wasn't supposed to be doing this to me when I'd sworn I was over her.

The rest of class passed by painstakingly slowly. Every once in a while our arms or knees would brush, or she'd ask for an eraser, or something like that, to make me look at her. I swear she was doing it on purpose. It was almost irritating how turned on just sitting next to her made me feel now.

I sprung up from my seat as soon as class ended, eager to get out of that stupid classroom, but Kairi stopped me before I could escape.

It was like she'd sent an electric current up my arm.

"Sora? Hey…" She appeared in front of me all of a sudden, her face dangerously close to mine. She was frowning. "You've been avoiding me all day."

"No I haven't," was my immediate reaction. My mind was on autopilot by this point. I was still on the search for the confidence I'd had earlier that day.

"Hmm." Kairi shrugged her tiny shoulders, biting down on her lip slightly in thought. She frowned slightly, reaching up to adjust my collar, the way she usually did. Her fingers grazed my collarbone. "See you after school, then?"

She let her hand linger there, even though it was obvious my collar didn't need any fixing, and looked up at me with a look that was so _not _Kairi that it almost scared me.

All of a sudden, I started growing irritated. Kairi wasn't usually like this. Kairi never acted _sexy_, at least not on purpose. Kairi was one of the prudest people I knew. Well, usually. Around me at least. And most importantly, Kairi never wore _pink_.

Before I knew what I was doing, I took hold of Kairi's hand and firmly slipped it off my shoulder. She glanced at her hand, looking slightly shocked, before trying to pretend like she hadn't realized she'd been letting her hand rest there on purpose.

"Um, actually…" I cleared my throat, trying to steel my face. "I can't hang out with you after school. Got work."

Which was true. I'd almost forgotten about that.

"…work?" She said the word like it was foreign to her. She seemed confused. "You mean you got a job?"

"Yes." I decided to take my leave before she could ask more. "See you around then, Kairi."

I didn't wait for her to answer, because I was pretty sure if I hanged around her any longer I'd end up regretting it.

* * *

I'd figured Sports was going to be weird, since Riku was absent, and he was usually the only person who bothered to hang out with me, but it was different this time. People seemed to suddenly realize I existed, and one or two of them came over and were able to hold decent conversations with me.

With the Nationals coming up in barely a month, everyone was getting pretty tense, even though Terra urged everyone to relax. Terra didn't really have the right to be saying that, since he was obviously stressed, since everything seemed to irritate him today.

He looked tired as well, though he hid it better than Aqua did. Something seemed to be bothering him, and it killed me that I knew what it was.

I decided to steer clear of Terra. I didn't know what would happen if he confronted me about it, like he'd done so long ago.

It obviously irked him that Riku was absent. Riku was, honestly, our best player in the team next to Tidus, and he was the general confidence booster, so not having him there kind of made everyone else sloppy.

By the end of class, Terra looked about ready to explode.

He dismissed the class, and we all headed back to the locker rooms. I still wasn't good at sports—even if running was a lot less demanding now—so I'd spent most of the period running around and just doing what us benchwarmers and substitutes did, which was watch our superiors or lazily play kick football until the bell rang. I'd tried making friends with the other substitutes and benchies, but they didn't seem that keen on talking with me. I had a feeling they thought talking to me meant they'd get even more unpopular than they were before or something. Now it just seemed like they were scared of me. I honestly had no idea.

I had just finished taking a shower—I had to take one this time; it was so damn hot out and I had a feeling if I went to Oblivion smelling like I did, they'd fire me immediately—and was drying myself down when someone tapped on my shoulder.

It was Tidus.

Now I'd seen a lot of surprising people who had just acknowledged my presence that day, but I have to say I was honestly surprised to see Tidus. He'd generally ignored me ever since we'd stopped being friends, only speaking to me when he needed to, which was very rarely. He'd never been as mean to me as Riku and Wakka had been, but…well. He'd always been either the bystander or the partner in crime when it came to making my life hell.

Not that I cared anymore. That was years ago. Well…not really, but it felt like it.

"Hey." I cleared my throat, forcing a smile. "Tidus. What's up?"

He gave me a blank look, and then he sighed, raking his fingers through his hair. "I just…do you have any idea where Riku is? Have you heard from him lately…?"

"Huh?" I frowned slightly. "Yeah, I just saw him this weekend…"

Tidus' eyes widened. "What? You…you saw him? Where?"

"Um…" I wasn't sure if Riku would have wanted me to tell Tidus he was at a nightclub, so I decided to play it vague. "Around. Why?"

"I…" Tidus stopped himself, taking a sharp breath. "Never mind. Just…" He shook his head and took his leave, still looking bothered. I thought of asking him what was wrong, but I figured there wasn't any point, really. Tidus was most likely going to brush me off, like he usually did whenever I asked him a question in Literature.

I quickly changed back into my usual outfit, feeling my phone buzz in my pocket. It was Van, informing me he was waiting outside to take me to Oblivion.

Van immediately launched into the obvious question as soon as I got in the car. "So? What did they think of your new look?"

I didn't really know what to say. "Um…I don't really know…"

Van stared at me incredulously. "What? What do you mean you don't know?"

"Well they didn't really say anything…much." I shrugged. "They did seem pretty shocked though. Maybe—"

"What about Kairi? You had to have gotten a reaction out of _her_."

I knew I was blushing. "I…I don't really know what was up with her today. She wouldn't stop touching me and she was wearing so much makeup and she was wearing _pink_. _Pink, _Van. Something's wrong with her, and—"

I stopped myself when I saw the grin on his face. He looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh.

"What?"

"Damn, are you really that oblivious?" He snorted. "She's trying to make you want her, dumbass!"

"…what—"

"You probably hurt her pride by rejecting her, so now she's trying to get you so horny you'll forget about everything in between."

I frowned. "…I think you've got it wrong, Van. Kairi's not like that."

"Seriously, Sora? You're innocence annoys me. I always used to think you weren't 'like that' either, but you kissed more girls on Saturday this weekend than I did. And that's saying something."

"I was under the influence."

"Yeah, and who's fault was that?"

"…"

Van stopped in front of the traffic light and reached over to pat me on the head with his free hand. "Look, all I'm saying is, you've got to embrace the fact that you're totally bang tidy right now."

"Van."

"I'm serious." He grinned. "If you keep acting like you don't know you're hot, it's going to be a total turn-off."

"So you want me to act like a cocky douchebag?"

"Yes."

I thought it over for a moment. "Don't think I could do that, Van."

"It worked for Riku, didn't it?" He chuckled. "He got the whole school population groveling at his feet. And he looks at himself in the mirror a lot. He's, like, the archetype of douchebaggery."

"Um. Right." I rolled my eyes at his use of vocabulary. He'd surprise me with random new words every once in a while.

We arrived at _Oblivion_. It looked even grander than it had back then, with the sun glinting off the glass doors and the sound of birds chirping in the trees that stood by the building.

It was hot out so I'd slipped off my blazer, leaving me in nothing but my white undershirt, but I immediately regretted it as we entered the building. The air-conditioners were blasting on full force, along with several ceiling fans.

I rubbed my bare arms, wishing I'd bothered to bring my blazer out from the car, getting curious stares from the other models. It didn't look at all like anyone had been affected by the heat wave going on outside.

They didn't seem at all bothered by my intrusion, but none of them waved or anything. They almost looked like statues, the way they moved as if they were being controlled and kept their faces expressionless.

Van dropped me off at the reception, and in barely minutes Noel emerged, dressed in some kind of exotic beach outfit that looked like the kind of outfit that was always in fashion magazines that no one in real life would actually wear.

"You made it." Noel nodded, expressionless. He looked me up and down, nodding in approval. "Nice outfit."

"Thanks." I followed him deeper into the building, passing by several models that looked like they spent every single day in the sun. We eventually arrived at the balcony I'd met him the first time, where Neku and Shiki were waiting.

Well, Shiki was at least. Neku didn't look exactly happy to see me.

"Hey, Sora!" Shiki waved before running up to me. "You're here!"

Noel ordered her to take me to the 'studio' again, where I'd be taking the photoshoot. I honestly thought it was a bit fast, since it was my first day and all, but no one protested.

Shiki forced me to take a shower, because apparently I stank, and when I emerged they put me into some outfits and flashed away with their cameras. I'd never really seen myself as a photo person, and I thought it was all a bit awkward. They kept asking me to 'look fierce' or 'look brooding' and stuff like that, and for a while it was utterly impossible for me to do so when I knew everyone was watching me.

But eventually the photographer started getting irritated with me and I started getting irritated with him so it got a lot easier. Thankfully they didn't make me do anything remotely sexy, because I was positive I sucked at that.

It was pretty awkward seeing the photos when we were done. To be honest, with all the makeup and touchups they'd done to my face, along with the totally not-me outfits and the professional lighting, I looked totally different. I wasn't sure if I could say sexy, but…

Okay. Yes. I did look kind of sexy.

Not that it mattered. Not like I was ever going to say that out loud.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

As the week went on, everyone seemed to figure out how they felt they should act around me.

Though several people still stuck to ignoring me, including the Populars, many actually bothered to speak to me. People said hi to me when I entered classrooms. People offered to help me copy my notes from the board, since they knew about my dyslexia.

It was weird, all the sudden attention. Especially since I knew that as soon as Riku came back, it would disappear. I had a feeling they just needed a new person to fawn over, since Riku was absent. That's just how the school worked, I guess.

Speaking of Riku…he was absent the next day. And the day after. I thought of calling him, but his number was always unavailable. From what I understood, he'd probably lost his phone and had to change his number. I should have been worried for him, but that week I had too many other things to think about that I kind of forgot about it, brushing it off as Riku being sick or something. I kept telling myself I'd pay him a visit to find out if he was okay, but I just didn't have time anymore, with modeling, school, and…trying to figure out Kairi.

Kairi…

I wasn't sure when, or how, but suddenly it was like we were competing against each other. We never said it out loud, but we both knew the rules to this—this game we were playing. Game, challenge, I honestly didn't know. But what I knew was that she was trying to get me to crack, and that there was no way in hell I was letting that happen.

We'd act like we were still best friends, meeting each other at our lockers, sitting next to each other in class, greeting each other in the hallways…but it just wasn't the same. Now we both knew we liked each other—or at least I knew I liked her—we couldn't act the same as we used to anymore.

Kairi…she managed to make looking sexy seem effortless. I didn't know how she did it. Everything she wore just seemed to be the perfect fit, everything she did just seemed to come naturally to her, and she seemed to know exactly what to say whenever I was near her.

She knew she was winning. I knew she was winning.

Which is why I decided to take Van's advice. And fight back.

It wasn't really fighting, actually. I just smiled at people more. And laughed at people's jokes all the time, even if they weren't even that funny. And winked at girls. They seemed to like that.

I was new to this whole thing, so I just decided to wing it. I tried not to say anything stupid, like the way I usually did. Van making me work in Oblivion was more beneficial to me than I ever would have imagined it would have been, because it did help boost my self-confidence, kind of. It was easier to act like I knew I looked good when I actually felt like I looked good.

I knew people had started to notice the unspoken war that was brewing between the two of us, but no one had bothered to speak up about it. I had a feeling they felt it'd all blow over. Because in their eyes, Kairi and Riku were still dating.

Roxas skipped pretty much all his classes, and then he just decided to not come to school at all. He'd never let Mom know, though. She was under the impression that he'd stopped skipping ever since Namine came along. Which was true, except now Namine had mysteriously disappeared.

Well, I wasn't sure if disappeared was accurate, but she wasn't there in any of the classes I usually had with her—not even in art. I wasn't really comfortable with asking Kairi about it either. We were supposed to be friends, but still…

I brushed it aside. Roxas could sort out his mess by himself.

It was Thursday. Kairi and I were on our way to Drama after an hour of Health (SexEd had been changed to Health Class for the final trimester). We weren't really talking that much, due to the huge elephant in the room that neither of us wanted to address. We occasionally said a few things to each other, but the conversation wasn't really going anywhere.

Kairi was dressed in a slightly more _Kairi_ outfit; her summery floral-printed dress showed off her seemingly never-ending tanned legs. Her hair had grown a little, and it was crimped and styled over her right shoulder. She'd laid off on the makeup, probably remembering I preferred her without it all anyway.

I didn't realize I was staring until I almost bumped into someone.

It was a brunette I assumed was a freshman. She made a tiny squealing noise when she met my eyes, and her face erupted in color.

"Sora!" She giggled, and then covered her mouth in embarrassment. She looked pretty cute to be honest. And nice. She had pretty eyes. "Um, my…I've been tr-trying to—"

"We kind of have class right now…?" Kairi grabbed my hand. "We're really sorry, but—"

"Kairi, why don't you go on ahead?"

Kairi stared at me like I'd grown a second head. I shrugged. "I mean, you don't want to be late for class, right? Don't let us keep you waiting; I'll catch you later."

Kairi seemed to hesitate for a bit, and then her face steeled. She dropped my hand, her face contorting in a stern frown. "Fine."

I watched her march off, hoping what I wasn't misreading anything, because Kairi was acting an awful lot like she was jealous.

With that delightful thought in mind, I turned back to the girl, who was blushing even harder now. I wondered if I looked that red whenever I blushed. I wondered if Kairi noticed.

"U-Um…" She nervously played with her hands. "I…I've always wanted to say this since the f-first time I met you and—"

"We've met before?" I asked dumbly. I honestly had no idea who she was, even if her face was slightly familiar.

She tried not to show how hurt she was when I said that. "Yeah…I lent you a pencil. I'm in your Art class."

"…oh."

I felt pretty rude, but I didn't have time to apologize. She immediately continued to babble until finally getting to the point. "The truth is I really like you Sora and I always have and will you go out with me?"

At first I felt flattered that someone was actually asking me out for a change, but then I realized that I'd have to give her an answer. I couldn't say yes, because I obviously didn't want to date her. Playing with girls' feelings just wasn't my thing. And sure she was cute and seemed pretty nice, but I couldn't see myself being with her anytime soon. And it was a bit creepy that she was already sure she liked me when we hadn't had a single conversation before now.

"Go…out with you?" I repeated as I tried to think of a polite way to say no.

She nodded fervently. "I really think we'd make a cute couple! I mean, you like singing, I like singing…"

I was pretty sure she didn't sing, but I decided not to push it. "Um…okay. Well…I'm really sorry…but I can't."

"Why not?" She protested immediately. I wasn't sure whether she was crushed or just angry. "Is it because of _her_?"

"No…" I lied. "I mean, we could go out, but I'm just telling you now it's not going to go anywhere."

She pouted before looking down at her shoes. No matter how much I tried to tell myself that I was doing the right thing, I couldn't help feeling sorry for her. This frequently happened with girls.

"Tell you what…" I patted her on the head. She had to be at least two heads shorter than me. She was probably barely fifteen by the looks of it. "Come back in a year from now, and maybe by then I would've changed my mind."

"Why are you talking to me like I'm five years old?" She frowned and marched off, looking pretty pissed.

I shrugged. I guess she felt it would have been nicer if I'd rejected her the normal way. I figured that's how the girl's mind worked.

I headed to Drama then, and I was greeted once again by stares and whispers. A few of the Blitzball guys gave me a wave, so I waved back.

Sephiroth wasn't happy about my lateness. He'd been grumpy for the whole week. We'd finished with the script, and now we were just going over the choreography and stage business. The costumes were meant to come in soon, and Sephiroth was evidently irritated Riku was missing out on all this.

I thought of asking him about Riku, but then I remembered he didn't know Riku had told me they were related, and it would be pretty awkward if I asked him in the middle of class. I waited until he was done reprimanding me about getting to his class on time before heading back to my friends.

I was halfway there when I was stopped by—you guessed it—Kairi.

She wasn't smiling. "Hey."

"…hey?"

"Um…why don't we go over our lines?"

I stared at her. We both knew we knew them off memory. We'd spent enough afternoons with each other to know that. I had a feeling she just wanted an excuse to talk to me.

I went along with it, letting her drag me to the far end of the room.

I cleared my throat. "Which scene do you want to rehearse? I mean, I was pretty sure we'd gotten all of this down, but whatev—"

"You know that's not what I called you here for."

She looked irritated. I decided to feign ignorance. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, don't give me that," she snapped. "You know I'm talking about that…the girl."

I rolled my eyes, slightly amused by how annoyed she was. It was like she wasn't even trying. She was really cute when she was jealous. "Right."

"…so?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "What happened with her?"

"Well…she asked me out."

Kairi's eyes widened. "And…? What did you say?" She frowned. "You didn't say yes, did you?"

I decided to roll with it. "So what if I did?"

She was visibly shocked, confused, and then her expression darkened. "Well…you don't even _know _her."

"Well the goal of dating is getting to know someone, after all." Hm. I wanted to give myself a pat on the back for that reply.

"B-but…" She seemed to be wrestling for words. "But you…you always said…she's…"

I knew she was jealous; it was hilarious. And kind of flattering. Since I knew she was jealous. Over _me_.

I tried not to dwell on that, because I was pretty sure my confidence would disappear if I turned into a giggling schoolgirl.

I decided to just grin, hoping I came off as slightly cocky, because cocky always seemed to work in these kinds of situations. I wasn't sure what I was aiming at, but Kairi was really fun to tease.

Kairi frowned. "You're not serious about this, are you?"

"So what if I am?" I chuckled.

"She's a _freshman_."

"Age is just a number." Another pat on the back.

"Yeah, and a jail cell is just a room."

I laughed at that. "Whoa…you're being way too over-the-top about this. What's wrong, Kairi?" I leaned closer to her. "Jealous?"

I didn't even get a chance to brace myself before she slapped me across the cheek.

It hurt.

I stood there in shock. I couldn't believe I'd gotten her so mad that she'd actually _hit _me.

Kairi was livid; she looked about ready to explode. Her cheeks were burning red—out of anger, frustration or embarrassment, I didn't know.

I was pretty sure my cheek was swollen. "What…the hell…?"

She looked seriously pissed. If looks could kill… "**I am **_**not**_**jealous.**"

It was only as she stormed out of the Drama hall that I realized how much attention we'd attracted.

Everyone either looked confused, amused or shocked, while Sephiroth just looked pissed.

I landed another detention, but I felt strangely nonchalant about the whole thing.

And instead of feeling sorry for Kairi, or annoyed with her, even, I felt kind of…smug. Content. Being cocky felt _so _much more satisfying, and I didn't know why.

* * *

And everything went downhill from there.

* * *

…**PLEASE. FORGIVE ME FOR THIS EXTREMELY LATE CHAPTER. THREE WEEKS? WHAT? WHY? WHAT HAPPENED, YOU MAY BE ASKING? **

**Well…ONE DIRECTION HAPPENED, THAT'S WHAT.**

**But I'm not going to annoy you guys with that. Onto the sneek peek:**

* * *

"_Who _are _you?"_

"_Happy birthday!" _

"…_what?"_

"_Neku…"_

"…_front cover material!"_

* * *

**So…yeah. Expect another update in a month, maybe less. My updates won't be as fast as they were before, unfortunately. The year's coming to an end, after all. And I spend at least two hours a day on Tumblr and Twitter now. It's so sad. But 1D is like my second fandom now. KH will always stand victorious, but…you know. I am a girl. I do get fangirl crushes. **

**So there wasn't so much Neku in this chappie. I apologize. He'll be there in the next—I REALLY NEED TO STOP MAKING PROMISES SINCE I SUCK SO MUCH AT KEEPING THEM. **

**HUGS AND KISSES! R&R!**


	34. The Tear Heals

**A/N: …VAS HAPPENIN, PEEPS?**

**I've been listening to Hot Chelle Rae recently and I realized that the song 'Honestly' really fits the previous chapter. Haha. Douchebag Anthem for the win. **

**Replies: **

**Razyx: Thanks! Haha I've been trying to work on character development and description and I'm glad to see I'm improving! :) **

**Lil Lief: All I do is essential to the plot. Asshole Sora included. And as for updates I'm trying to still stick to a schedule and make it that the intervals are no longer than two weeks. **

**The Traveler: Yeaah haha role reversal ftw! :D**

**SO REPLYING TO REVIEWS INDIVIDUALLY IS GETTING HARDER AND HARDER BUT I PROMISE IN THE FUTURE I WILL TRY AND REPLY TO ALL OF YOU IF I CAN. YOU GUYS DESERVE IT FOR STICKING WITH ME THROUGH ALL THIS SHIZZLE. **

**About this chappie: Sadness, revelations, turning points. Bleurgh. **

**Disclaimer: Never have, never will.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Back to school. _

"Sora, people are staring."

_Kairi and I are on rocky shores. _

But what I knew was that she was trying to get me to crack, and that there was no way in hell I was letting that happen.

_And I get some wise words of advice from Van…_

"So you want me to act like a cocky douchebag?"

_Which sort of work…_

"**I am **_**not**_**jealous.**"

_Riku's still a no-show…not sure whether this dream will persist just yet…_

* * *

**Chapter 34: The Tear Heals**

I actually found myself feeling kind of excited to go the Oblivion after school.

Recently Neku had actually opened up and started contributing to conversation—at first only muttering a few words or correcting Shiki's vocabulary, and then eventually spewing out full sentences and even laughing at one or two of my jokes. They were really easy to talk to, and the same went for Joshua and Beat, though Joshua was a little less talkative. It was crazy how much Neku reminded me of the old Roxas…I guess that's how come he kind of started to grow onto me.

I'd noticed Shiki and Neku seemed to tease each other the most out of the group, so I concluded that they liked each other. I'd always been a bit of a romantic when it came to pairing other people, and to me pretty much anything triggered my matchmaker side.

I worked better with a partner, and I considered telling Kairi about them, until I remembered she didn't know I was a model and things were still way too weird between us. She'd ignored me for the rest of the school day, after I'd embarrassed her in Drama.

So I decided to take it slow. I had all the time in the world. By the end of the school year, they were bound to be together.

Modeling was actually starting to get fun. It was a lot easier for me to fake a smile, a laugh, a brood, a pout…it was kind of like acting, really, except without words.

The pictures we'd taken that week looked pretty awesome, to say the least. The techies who printed the magazines and all had already gotten to work editing the photos. Photoshop did wonders, honestly. They'd eliminated all remaining baby fat on my cheekbones and cleared my skin of any blemishes. The green tint in my irises was even more noticeable now and my skin looked strangely glossy…they'd turned me into some kind of perfume model.

"I love Photoshop," I deadpanned. It was weird, realizing that almost all the models on teen magazines were edited to perfection. Kind of made me feel better about myself.

I saw the pictures of Shiki and Neku too—Shiki was a juniors swimsuit model while Neku modeled electronics, which looked like a pretty cool job. All he had to do was put on some headphones or grab a handheld or something and play while the cameraman took photos from every possible angle. It was the kind of modeling I wouldn't have minded doing.

Noel, along with the rest of the people editing, seemed mesmerized by the way the photos came out. I'd gotten past the feeling-embarrassed-for-myself stage already, so it didn't really bother me when Noel picked up a photo of me wearing a designer leather jacket that I knew I'd never be caught dead wearing in real life.

"This. This is what I've been looking for."

I didn't get it. The picture looked completely ordinary to me… "What?"

"This. This look." He pointed to my face. "You're communicating with the audience, with just your eyes. Only a select few can master this, and you're one of them."

"Master?" I had no idea I'd even been communicating when those photos were taken. "I didn't even…it just kind of happened, really."

"You're one of those 'naturals', then." Noel crossed his arms over his chest. "You still go to school with Riku, right?"

"Yeah." I shrugged.

"Hm. I remember him. He was perfect at that. Speaking with the eyes, putting on facades. I'm kind of an expert on facial expression." He gave me an almost invisible smile and told me I was done for the day.

Everyone was getting ready to head home as well, and I thought of inviting them out for lunch or something. It hadn't even been a week yet, but still. Maybe it'd help us get to know each other better, or something.

I proposed the idea, but no one really seemed that keen on going.

"Well actually I gotta go pick up my little brother from school," Beat lied.

"Yeah and I have this huge paper due…" Joshua.

"Swimming practice?" Shiki lamely finished, before following the other two out of the room.

That left me with Neku, who was too busy listening to music to know what was going on. He took a long sip out of his can of Red Bull and raised an eyebrow at me. "What?"

I sighed and brushed him off. Oh well. I'd just try again some other time. Maybe they weren't used to me yet.

I took a bus home, since Van wasn't able to pick me up. Then I played with Pascal in the garden for a little while, before deciding to do my homework.

I gave Riku a call again, like I'd been doing since the start of the week. He didn't pick up. He hadn't been picking up.

I really hoped he was okay.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

My parents had always been the kind of parents who were never there. It had never really bothered me that much, and I had never thought that maybe one day it would play to my disadvantage.

Mom was going to the South Island for the weekend, to pick up a few supplies for her new florist business—seeds, fertilizers and all that. I told her I didn't see why she couldn't just buy it at the local stores, but she insisted she needed the crème de la crème, the cream of the crop, and that there was some huge florist store in the South which sold everything she needed.

So, yeah, I couldn't exactly argue with her after that. She seemed really eager to go and Zack was totally on board with it. He loved it when she smiled.

I promised to keep an eye out for Roxas. He'd been coming home later and later each day, sneaking out at midnight and sometimes not reappearing until the next afternoon a lot more frequently now. I decided by myself that there wasn't really any point letting Mom know all this. Roxas could solve his own problems by himself; we'd wasted enough time attempting to help him and putting up with his crazy moods.

Neither Roxas or Namine were in Art Friday morning. I wasn't sure if they were connected or not. I thought about asking Kairi about it…though I wasn't sure if she was still mad at me or not.

She didn't seem mad. She was all smiles when she came up to me and sat next to me, cheerily saying hi. It was like she'd totally gotten over what had happened the previous afternoon, with my totally out-of-character taunt and her whacking me across the cheek and everything. She seemed totally chill.

I tried to be careful with what I said, though. I didn't want to accidentally say something that would upset her…again.

Class started and we were paired up and asked to draw portraits of someone else in the class. Kairi volunteered to work with me, though I wasn't sure why. She replied to my questioning look with a smile that looked both warm and smug at the same time.

She offered to volunteer to draw me first. I thought this was a good idea.

"So," Kairi began. "What's up?"

I shrugged. She continued. "Well I went out shopping this weekend…with my Mom." She used her free hand to gesture to the top she was wearing. It was a simple and white with a large sunflower imprinted on the front, and had to be at least two sizes too big for her, falling barely inches before the frayed edges of her baby blue denim shorts.

It was such a _Kairi _outfit. She looked innocent and playful and I almost forgot we were ever fighting.

"You like?" I nodded, and she frowned, giving me a playful shove. "Come on, say something, you're being boring."

So I forced myself to start talking, telling her random things I did on break, carefully dodging around the Seventh Heaven incident because I was pretty sure I didn't want Kairi to know about that. I told her pretty much everything else though, from Pascal's progress to latest updates on Aerith and Zack, while she listened, laughed and commented when necessary, and for a while I almost forgot about the ridge between us.

But then…

We'd just finished having lunch, and I was at my locker, getting my stuff for the next class. Kairi's friends had come over to talk to her while she waited for me to be done. Rikku had said hi to me but the other two remained silent. They seemed to be the only ones in school who didn't seem to know what to do with me yet.

"…it's your birthday come Monday, right?"

I could almost hear Kairi blush. "Yeah…yeah it is."

"Awesome!" Rikku clapped her hands, her golden braids looking odd in contrast to her tanned skin. "So…what're you planning?"

Kairi squirmed uncomfortably. "Well…I wasn't actually planning on doing anything to be honest…maybe just go out for a drink with my Mom or…"

She seemed to realize how stupid she sounded, and clamped her mouth shut.

Yuna frowned. "Ew."

"You're kidding, right?" Lenne scoffed. "You can't just do _nothing _for your _birthday_."

"So lame," Rikku agreed, shaking her head. I was done with my locker by now, but I'd never been one to butt into Kairi's 'girl' conversations, so I decided to wait it out since we had to go to class together anyway.

Kairi shifted on her feet. "Well…" She turned to me as she tried to think of a reply…

…and then I saw it. That glint in her eye. The same one she'd had that morning in Art, the look I'd thought I'd imagined.

I knew something was about to go wrong.

"…Sora, your parents are out of town this weekend, right?"

_Oh hell no._

All four pairs of eyes were glued to me. They'd all seemed to have forgotten I was there, but now they were all waiting patiently, expectantly, for my answer.

I opened my mouth to say there was no way in hell I was letting whoever host a party in my house, but something in their looks stopped me. They were judging. I knew if I said no, they'd never accept me, and I'd be forever known as the boring guy who crashed Kairi's birthday party, stole five thousand munny from her Dad and killed her cat.

Because, you know, that's how the story would end up being told. Rumors morphed.

Plus, on top of that, they were all looking at me with those goddamn pleading faces and the fact that they were hot girls in summer outfits didn't help at all.

"Um…" I was still pretty unsure. "Yes, they are out of town, but…"

"Please?" Rikku pleaded. "We'll only invite a few friends! And we'll be gone before your parents get back, promise!"

"Uh…"

"Do it for Kairi?"

I turned to Kairi, who's expression had turned smug. She knew I wouldn't be able to say no. This was her form of payback from yesterday.

I had to admit, it was pretty impressive.

I took a deep sigh. "Well I guess I have no option."

They cheered.

I didn't even realize what I'd gotten myself into.

* * *

By the time the day came to an end, everyone seemed to be buzzing about the party. It was apparently going to be the coming Saturday, since Kairi's mom was conveniently out on a night shift and her Dad was in some foreign country again. Seriously.

Admittedly, I'd almost forgotten about Kairi's birthday being that Monday. It had just sort of slipped my mind. Kairi hadn't reminded me either.

I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to get her a birthday present or not. I wasn't sure whether people still did that after their sixteenth.

I started regretting succumbing and saying yes as the time drew nearer. Mom was planning to leave Saturday morning, but she spent forever packing her stuff and fussing over her gardening utensils and I had to pretty much chase her out of the house.

She finally left at around three in the afternoon, giving me time to tidy up the house. I honestly wasn't sure how many people were coming, but Rikku had said it would be only a few friends…so I took her word for it.

I made sure to hide anything that might get broken—like the vase Zack got Mom for her wedding—hid all the photo albums, got rid of any loose cables, and gave the house a little clean. I'd hoped Roxas would have been there to help, but he'd left early that morning and had been gone ever since. It was starting to get frustrating how he always disappeared, but, as usual, I brushed it off.

Kairi hadn't come to help, like I'd thought she would. Well it was her birthday, I told myself. I'd thought of calling Van over, but then I realized I didn't really want him at my party. He'd probably end up doing more damage than anyone, and when he got drunk he went crazy and I had a feeling he'd forget half the girls were underage.

So I was on my own, and by the time I was done my arms ached like hell. I was happy with my work though. For once the house actually looked remotely clean. Not spotless, but clean.

I took a shower and put on one of my best outfits, and as I was brushing my hair the bell rang.

I took one last look around the house, took a deep breath to compose myself, and opened the door. "Hey—"

I was almost pushed off my feet by the influx of people flooding into the house.

* * *

It started off as just a few people, but more and more people just kept on coming, and I could do nothing to stop it. Someone had brought over loudspeakers and their iPod and the party music was turned up so loud I was sure the whole street was aware of the party we were holding.

Someone had brought booze and ordered pizza, while others were raiding the fridge. I had to run all over the place trying to prevent possible spills and falls, but even then I wasn't able to stop them messing up the place. It was disheartening, especially after all the hard work I'd put into it.

I didn't even recognize half the people. "You said you were only inviting 'a few friends'?" I reminded Rikku as more people poured in.

Rikku just giggled. "Yeah I did…but you know, they invited their friends and their friends invited _their _friends…"

"No but seriously…" I was starting to panic. "This…I didn't know there was gonna be this many people—"

"Look, you're getting popular, and if you want to stay that way then you're gonna have to get used to this," Rikku snapped bluntly. I stared at her, and her stern looked disappeared and was replaced with a nonchalant smile. "Plus, we'll help clean up if it gets to crazy. Just relax and stop being such a party pooper."

As if on cue 'Super Bass' came on, and Rikku cheered and joined a few of her other friends dancing on the table.

In amongst them was Kairi, who'd arrived not too long after the first guests, wearing a black high-rise skirt that hugged her perfect hips and a lime green crop top. She was even wearing pumps, and for some reason, on her, the whole outfit just worked. Everyone had sang happy birthday, while Kairi just laughed and acted like her usual adorable self, glancing at me every once in a while, as if waiting for me to say something.

She'd been partying ever since, dancing with pretty much everyone, and I'd been too preoccupied with trying to stop everyone for destroying all my furniture and burning the house to the ground to feel jealous.

I thought of telling them to get off the table, but then I realized that there really wasn't any point, and that I might as well join in the fun.

So I did.

* * *

At some point in time, a group of us broke off and found an empty room—the guest room—and it was announced that were going to play Never Have I Ever or Dare, which was apparently a mix of the two party games. The rules were similar to that of Never Have I Ever, except the bottle had to be spun on those who didn't take a chug and whoever it landed on had to take a Dare. There was something about the atmosphere that made me cool with the idea. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the fact that I'd been dancing for at least an hour and just wanted to relax.

We sat in a circle and it went round, starting with Rikku. The game began. They started easy. "Never have I ever…been kissed."

Everyone took a chug, even me. A few normal questions followed, stuff everyone of us seemed to have done, and every once in a while I would feel Kairi's eyes on me, like she couldn't believe I'd seen a girl naked—(which I had; Van's choice in entertainment was responsible for that)—or made out with someone for more than a minute—(Seventh Heaven…).

I was actually starting to like the game until Wakka decided to turn things dirty.

"Never have I ever…gone down on someone."

A few of the girls groaned at that question, and I cringed as pretty much every guy and about two of the girls—Lenne and a random blonde girl—took a swig of their drinks. They span the bottle between the rest of us, and it landed on Yuna. She rolled her eyes, glancing at Tidus.

Wakka gave the dare, since he'd asked the question. "Okay…I dare you…to switch shirts with Tidus."

"Are you serious, man?" Tidus protested, going red in the face. I stifled at laugh. Yuna was wearing a crop top.

Yuna shrugged and ripped off her top, holding it out for him. We all struggled to keep our eyes away from her chest as they switched shirts.

My eyes fell on Kairi once again, catching her looking at me with an unreadable expression. She averted her gaze almost immediately though, pretending to be engrossed in the game.

The game continued. The questions got dirtier and dirtier, the bottle was spun a lot more often, and the dares…the dares went from saucy to downright porn in a matter of minutes.

By the time the bottle finally fell on me, the dares had ranged from Rikku doing a strip tease to homosexual kissing.

Understandably, I was concerned from what I was going to be asked to do.

It was the random blonde girl who'd spun, and she looked around the room as she thought of a dare. "Hmm…I dare you…" She clapped her hands. "Seven Minutes in Heaven with that girl!"

That girl, the girl she was pointing at, was Kairi.

…

…of _course _it was.

Everyone cheered at the dare, and Kairi's face remained strangely nonchalant. She shrugged, got to her feet and motioned for me to follow her in. One of the boys thought it'd be oh-so-funny to start playing Rude Boy by Rihanna, which didn't help get rid of the annoying tugging feeling in my gut.

I made a mental note to give them all the worst dares ever if I ever got the chance, and awkwardly followed her into the closet. The door shut, blocking out pretty much all the light. The closet wasn't that big at all, barely big enough to fit us both, so I had to literally press myself up against the wall to avoid faceplanting on her boobs or something. I could hear the party music thumping outside. I cleared my throat, looking up at the ceiling, at the old cardboard boxes on the shelves, anywhere but at Kairi.

It was quiet, and so, so awkward. My head had already started to spin a bit from all the chugging I'd done. The closet felt too warm.

She smelt like mangoes.

I cleared my throat. "So…um. This is…awkward." I bit down on my lower lip, suddenly interested in my shoes. My eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness already. "So…we have to stay in here for seven minutes right? ...cool. Um—"

My breath hitched in my throat as I felt her hands stroking my cheek, and I couldn't stop myself from looking at her since she was right up in my face.

My heart was thumping so hard I could hear the blood pounding in my ears, and the tugging feeling in my lower region got worse. She was too close, I could taste her breath and I could vaguely make out her face in the dark.

She started kissing me then, and I melted.

I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I found it incredibly hard to pull away. She was addicting, and I didn't even know what I was doing, and I found myself not even giving a damn if Kairi'd won, so what if I'd lost, all I knew was that I wanted her and that if I restrained myself any more I'd probably explode.

And it was only just as I started slipping off my shirt—I honestly had no idea how that had happened, to be honest—that it hit me.

Riku. For some reason he appeared in my subconscious, his smile, the warm look in his eyes when he talked about Kairi, and the possibility that she was cheating on him and I was helping her out occurred to me. The guilt…she was someone's _girlfriend_. Riku's girlfriend.

It took a lot of self-control to pull away, especially when she started kissing my neck almost immediately after, which pretty much set me off again. I had no idea how long we'd been in that closet but I was pretty sure it had already been more than seven minutes.

"Kairi…" I groaned as she started repeatedly kissing me on the lips. "Kairi…wait…_wait_—"

"What?" Kairi hissed finally, sounding pissed and ever-so-slightly tipsy.

"I…I don't think…" I took a hard gulp. "…we should…"

I could almost hear her rolling her eyes. "Ugh, what is _wrong _with you?"

"Wh…what—"

"You like me, don't you?" She hissed. "You kissed me back. You like it when I kiss you, don't you? Or am I just not a good kisser—"

"No! No it's…it's not that…"

"Then what is it?" She huffed. "Why are you being so difficult?"

"Maybe because I'm confused as fuck here and you're not giving me any answers."

She was silent for a while. I could hear my beating heart and the rest of the group singing along to another mainstream pop song. I heard her swallow, and then sigh in exasperation. "Whatever. I'm done."

She pushed open the closet door and marched out before I could stop her.

I cursed underneath my breath. Great, she was mad at me again, but I wasn't just letting her get away this time. I needed to find out what was up with her because honestly it was driving me insane.

Apparently everyone had returned to the party already, figuring we weren't going to come out any time soon. The living room was more packed than ever, if that was even possible. I looked around for Kairi, trying to figure out where she'd disappeared, and was still looking when Roxas came out of nowhere, looking absolutely furious. "Sora. What. The. Fuck. What is going on here?"

"Roxas, have you seen Kairi?" I yelled, hoping she hadn't gone home or anything like that. It was her birthday and I kind of needed her to be there otherwise the whole purpose of holding the party was ruined.

Roxas teeth were clenched. "I just saw her go out to the backyard, but—"

"Thanks!" I ran away before he could stop me, heading out into the garden.

Kairi was there, thankfully, and I let out a relieved sigh. "Kairi…"

She was clutching onto a red plastic cup, and she grimaced and brought it to her lips when she saw me.

"Kairi—"

"Go away."

I started getting irritated then. "I need some answers, Kairi. None of this is making sense. You rejected me before and said—"

"But that was then, this is now, can't you just forget about it? God!" Kairi groaned.

"No, I need to know what happened between you and Riku."

She stiffened, her nails digging into the side of her cup. She could barely hold my gaze and let her eyes fall to the ground, suddenly finding everything else interesting. "We…"

"You what?" I probed. She hesitated, and I lessened the gap between us to look her straight in the eye. "_What _happened."

She took a deep breath and suddenly her composed face had returned again. "I've told you already, we broke up—"

"Why though? I mean, you and Riku—"

"I don't want to talk about it, Sora."

"Well I don't care. I'm talking to you about it anyway." I crossed my arms. "Something about this whole thing doesn't make sense. You guys pretty much had your tongues down each others' throats and now you're just breaking up?"

"Yes, Sora." She tossed her empty cup into the bushes and sauntered up to me, her eyes unreadable. She wrapped her arms around my neck, leaning in for a kiss, but I stopped her before our lips could brush.

That pissed her off.

"Why are you being such a douche, honestly?" She hissed, looking about ready to slap me in the face.

"Well you're not telling me what happened, are you? I'm not just some pushover, I'm not going to just bend over backwards for you—"

"He _hit _me, okay?"

I swear my heart stopped. Her words seemed to echo into the night, over and over again. She seemed to have just realized what she just said, letting out a small wince and biting down on her lower lip as she took a small step back from me.

"No…" I whispered. "You can't…what—?"

"I…" She'd started to shake now. "I-It was—he got mad at me and h-he wanted to leave and I tried to slap him and then he—he—" She'd started to hiccup already, her words jumbling up, and I figured she was an emotional drunk. I didn't actually give a fuck about that at the time, to be honest. I was still trying to get over the fact that Riku…

I took a deep sigh. "So he just hit you? Like, why? Why would he—"

"I didn't want to…I just couldn't…it's j-just his hands were everywhere and he didn't want to stop and I pushed him away and—I can't, nothing's been the same ever since my fifteenth birthday, and I hate it, it's ruining my life, it would have been perfect if I didn't—I'm—"

"What?" She wasn't making any sense. "Kairi…slow down…what…what happened on your fifteenth…?"

I knew from the look in her eyes that it was something big. She blanched, stiffened slightly, looked at the ground. Just when I thought she wasn't going to say anything…

"I…my parents were out for their anniversary dinner, and some girls in my class decided they were going to organize a party for me…so…so they did, and it was in some rich guys' house, and I was too naïve at the time to possibly see anything wrong with this…and there were all these seniors there, and I remember feeling like hot shit because upperclassmen had actually bothered to show up at _my _birthday party, you know?" She swallowed hard. "And then…" She rubbed her bare arms, her voice getting dangerously quieter. "He…there was this guy, he was pretty popular, and he—we started kissing and then he—" Her words caught in her throat; she'd started shivering now.

"He what, Kairi?" I persisted, immediately fearing the worst.

Her voice was barely a whisper. "I…he r-raped me."

I stared at her, a shivering, stuttering mess; my mind pretty much in the same condition. It was like a thousand thoughts were chasing after each other and jumbling together and nothing made sense anymore. And I was pretty sure this time it wasn't just the ADHD.

She met my eyes, swallowed thickly, pressed her lips together. It was like she was waiting for me to say something, but I was speechless. I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to that. The air was growing thick and heavy and I didn't even know why. I was struggling to untangle the mess that was my mind and form a coherent sentence.

She shook her head, her face looking paler than ever; she looked like she was about to throw up. "I…I think I should go."

"Wait—"

She was gone before I could stop her.

"…happy birthday."

* * *

It was only after she'd left that I realized how bad it was.

Kairi'd been raped. Which meant she'd been forced into having sex with someone she didn't even know…on her fifteenth birthday. I couldn't even imagine the painful memories having a party must have triggered…just thinking about it made me want to punch somebody. Someone had actually been heartless enough to rape someone on her birthday.

I started to wonder whether that was why she had been so adamant on not telling me what had happened between her and Riku, because of the memories it brought back. She'd wanted to forget it had ever happened, but I'd insisted, and now look at where we were.

I had dozens of raving teenagers—half who I didn't even know—partying in my living room, raiding my fridge and making out in every possible corner, and Kairi had just confessed the reason she and Riku had broken up.

I didn't want to remember what she'd said he'd done to her. I needed to take one step at a time.

First, I needed to find Kairi. I couldn't just let her run off like that; I knew Kairi that much, she needed me, or at least someone, to cry on. I didn't know that much about rape or how it made you feel, so I wasn't sure I'd know how to sympathize, but I had to try, for Kairi.

I buttoned up my top, took a gulp from someone's abandoned glass just because, and searched the house. When it was obvious that she wasn't there, I decided to go next door.

I knocked on her front door until it was evident that she wasn't going to open up, and then I took the back door, which she usually left open. The living room was empty, and so was the kitchen. I concluded she was upstairs in her bedroom.

I used her coffee maker to conjure a professional-looking coffee cup. Van had told me once that coffee helped level out the fluids or something like that, sober you up. I wasn't that much of a coffee fan, but I kind of needed the both of us to be sober.

I could hear her muffled sobbing on the other side, and I felt my heart tighten painfully. "Kairi?" I knocked on the door. The sobbing stopped momentarily. "…Kairi?"

"Go _away_!"

I sighed. "Look…Kairi, whatever you say, I'm not going to leave until I'm sure you're okay."

"I'm fine."

"Kairi you know I know you better than that."

"Just fuck off seriously."

"You're gonna have to try harder than that."

I heard her sniff. It was silent on the other end, and I was considering falling asleep at the door when I heard the lock turn and it creaked open.

Kairi was there, her flushed pink face streaked with tears, looking beyond miserable…and tired. She refused to look me in the eyes. "What is it…why are you here?"

"I thought maybe you'd…" I hesitated. "…need someone there…you know…" I paused. "I brought coffee."

She gave me a noncommittal glance, lingered by the door, just looking at me, before finally stepping to the side and letting me in. She closed the door behind me and took a seat on her bed. Her shoulders were bare and she was still shivering slightly. She kept her eyes on the floor, nibbling absently on her nails.

I handed her the cup of coffee, and she took it wordlessly. I headed to her wardrobe and pulled out one of her sweaters, draping it over her bare back. She remained silent.

She looked so small, helpless, and I felt the rage starting to resurface once again. Whoever had done this to her…

I didn't know that much about dealing with people who were victims of rape—I mean, it wasn't every day you heard stories like hers. Kairi had always hidden it so well. I didn't know how rape victims felt, or what went on in their heads, but Kairi looked pretty shaken, and I felt compelled to help her.

I took a seat next to her—it just seemed like the right thing to do—and started gently rubbing her back. I wasn't sure what I was planning to accomplish from that, but it seemed to be working, because after nearly a minute of rubbing her back, Kairi leaned into a side hug.

I brushed at her unruly red hair, wiping it away from her eyes and away from her mouth. "Kairi…if you ever, you know, want to talk about it…I'm here."

Kairi looked at me then. At first it looked like she was trying to look impassive, but her trembling lower lip gave it away and she subsequently broke down sobbing.

She cried against my chest for almost half an hour, while I tried to sooth her, handing her tissue when needed, stroking her back, telling her over and over again to stop saying she hated herself. It took her a while to calm down. Her sobs reduced to sniffs. Her tears were almost all dried up.

She took small, dragging sips of her coffee cup, which was almost lukewarm by now. She made a comment about it tasting like puke.

And then we just sat there, in the silence, relishing the comfort of each other. I could hear the music from next door. It produced a totally inappropriate soundtrack for the situation. Pitbull.

Kairi looked down-in-the-dumps miserable, even when she'd stopped crying. So I took it upon myself to get her to smile.

I wasn't thinking when I blurted out: "…you know I can see your room from my bedroom window."

She stiffened in my arms, and for a second she said nothing. And then she relaxed again. "…so can I."

I'd had so many different scenarios in mind when it came to wondering how Kairi would react when I finally confessed. Not that I'd been planning to confess. I had wondered what would happen if she ended up finding out though…I'd expected her to yell at me or something, not…

_Wait_.

"You mean you…?" My face was heating up at an incredibly fast rate.

"Guilty. Not that there was that much to look at, really."

That did kind of hurt a little. "Ouch."

"I'm just kidding." She sniffed, the edges of her lips tugging ever slow slightly upward. It wasn't a smile, but it wasn't a frown. "You're actually pretty impressive. Especially since you started working out."

I tried to change the subject. "…thanks for taking care of Pascal while I was gone."

"No need to thank me." She shifted slightly in my arms. "Pascal is co-owned by me, after all."

"No he's not—"

"If not for me he'd still be going around called Rodent; I think I deserve a mention."

"Well wouldn't that just make you the godmother then?"

We exchanged retorts, the banter filling the silence of the empty room. The tension reduced between us, and for a short while it felt just like old times, like the lazy afternoons we spent together, talking about anything and everything, without any of our stupid feelings getting in the way.

Every once in a while we'd wander too close to the dreaded topic again, and as much as I tried to dance around it and change the subject, eventually it was unavoidable. I had to ask.

"Kairi…did that…did what you told me before…did it actually happen?"

The small smile she had on disappeared immediately. She was holding back a frown. "Of course it did. Why would I make something like that up?"

"I just…" I sighed. "You hid it so well. Like, no one would have guessed you—"

"You should have seen me at my old school." Her expression was strangely neutral. She rubbed her thumbs across the rough lining of the coffee cup, pensive.

"The rest of my freshman year, the rest of that summer, all through my sophomore year…every day was torture. Like, every day felt worse than the last. Sometimes I'd just stay in bed until my parents dragged me out and forced me to go to school.

"I had to see the guy who...who'd done it to me every day in school, at least until he graduated. And when he did graduate, it didn't get any better. The nightmares only increased. I was bullied, on top of all that, because after it happened I was so freaked out I called the police on the party and a bunch of people were arrested for drug possession and everyone made me out to be the Tattler."

She paused to take a breath. "I hated myself. I hated everyone around me. I'd come back from school and cut off any contact with the outside world. I'd fall asleep sometimes hoping I'd never have to wake up. It was _that _bad."

I stared at her incredulously. "You mean…your parents don't know about any of this?"

She shook her head solemnly. "No one does. You're…the first person I've told. Not even my therapist."

I didn't even bother to ask when she'd started going to a therapist. I felt like _I _was about to cry. To think that someone like _Kairi _had gotten bullied, gone through the shit I'd had to go through, except worse because she'd actually had a real life trauma, unlike me who'd been bullied over doing something as stupid as spilling my lunch…it made pretty much every single problem I'd been facing seem petty and ridiculous.

I just wished I'd known. "…why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because I knew that if I told you, you'd never look at me the same." She bit down on her lip. "I just wanted someone to listen to me, and understand. NOT pity me, or judge me. Just…understand."

"What made you think I'd look at you any different?" I scoffed. "No matter what happens or what you tell me, you'll always be the same Kairi." I reached over to wipe at her dark red fringe that was shading her eyes. "And I'll always feel the same way about you, nothing will change that."

She stared at me, like she was shocked at everything I'd just said, as was I. And then she leaned over to press her lips against mine in a soft, lingering kiss.

She pulled away, as I held back a sigh, and she softly stroked my cheek, giving me goosebumps. "Thank you. Don't ever change."

I gave her a silent promise that I wouldn't.

* * *

We talked about nothing and anything up until Kairi finally fell asleep, in my arms, on her bed. The music coming from the party next door, along with our beating heartbeats, was our lullaby.

At that moment, it didn't really matter to me that there were more than fifty hormonal teenagers getting high and smashed and most likely making a huge mess in my house. It didn't really matter that Roxas was going to kill me when I got back. Nothing really mattered.

And I swear I would have given anything to stay locked in that moment with her, forever.

* * *

**Total Editing Time: 2 hours, approx. Editing in between studying for my Math exam and Spanish and French oral finals.**

**So…who to blame this time? **

**Well, finals are coming up in barely two weeks, 1D have been getting up to all kinds of shizzle these past few weeks, and I wanted to make this chapter extra special. I hope it lived up to your expectations…or surpassed them, idk. **

**Shiz went down in this chapter…for those of you who haven't read Angel, that whole thing must have come as a shock. Meh. Sorry. **

**Sneek Peek:**

* * *

"_Has Kairi told you anything?"_

"_That's the whole point."_

"…_front cover material!" _

"_Who are you?" _

"_You coward."_

* * *

**So…some drama on the horizon. I might not update for a while, I mean I have the finals to take care of. Struggling to get my Government and Algebra grades to at least a B-minus. Seriously though. I cannot end my year with two Cs. **

**So…read, review, all that kersquizzle. May the grace of Harry Styles' nipples be with you. (Lolwhut idek). **


	35. A Bit of LoveHate

**A/N: Things are about to get fun. **

**Replies: Thank you. All of you. If I still had the time to reply to each of you individually, I would, but you're most likely more interested in the chapter anyway. Ily all. **

**About this chapter…idek.**

**Keep in mind this chapter is highly unedited. I'll probably have to come back to correct all the mistakes, but for now here it is. :) **

**Disclaimer: Lol we're 35 chapters in…**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I host my first house party._

"We'll only invite a few friends! And we'll be gone before your parents get back, promise!"

_Never Have I Ever or Dare…_

"Seven Minutes in Heaven with Kairi!"

_And Kairi's got a secret. A huge secret. _

Kairi'd been raped. Which meant she'd been forced into having sex…on her fifteenth birthday.

_We have a little heart-to-heart…_

"Thank you. Don't ever change."

_And yet I still don't know what we are. What this is._

* * *

**Chapter 35: A Bit of Love/Hate**

"_Sora…_"

I felt warm breath in my ear, someone whispering my name. I let out a sigh in pleasure, mumbling something drowsily.

The '_Sora_'s just got more persistent and arousing and my mind was starting to drift into a particularly dirty dream when I was rudely awakened by a slap on the cheek.

Hands clamped over my mouth, muffling my yelp in pain, and I cracked my eyes open to see a livid Kairi glaring down at me, her bright auburn hair tumbling messily beside her face. The sun poured in through the open window, making her hair look redder and her eyes look shinier and just everything about her look fucking beautiful—

She blushed under my stare and retreated slightly, her grip loosening around my mouth. I raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, and she took a nervous gulp. "It's…" she whispered. "…my mom. She's here."

"WHAT?" My scream was barely muffled once again, and she only glared at me harder this time. She gave me an incredulous 'are you serious?' look, and I tried my best to look apologetic.

"Do you _want _to get us caught or—"

"Kairi?"

Kairi cursed under her breath, scrambling off the bed. "Sora you've got to get out _now_."

I hurriedly pulled on my jeans—don't look at me like that, it was almost the beginning of a Destiny Island summer; no sane person slept with all their clothes on unless they had a death wish—and caught the shirt she tossed at me. "Why?" I whined.

"Do you honestly think my Mom will believe me if I told her we spent a whole night together without…_you know_…" If I wasn't mistaken, Kairi seemed to be blushing even harder. "If she finds you here she's going to flip."

"Fine, fine," I dismissed, pulling on my shirt. I brushed at her messy fringe and leaned in to kiss her, just because I felt like it. She didn't protest, pulling me closer even; I felt her smile against my lips, her hands slip onto my shoulders—

"_Kairi_?"

Kairi pushed me away and started ushering me out, trying to look angry at me for distracting her but the laugh in her eyes giving it all away.

* * *

I managed to jump out the window without suffering any serious injuries; my ankle was a bit shaken but that was about it. If Kairi hadn't taught me how to land on my feet safely I would have most likely sprained several joints.

I felt like I was floating, the feel of Kairi's kiss still fresh on my lips. To think that I'd been able to wake up next to her, been able to lean over and kiss her like that…it felt surreal. I didn't even know where I'd gotten to confidence to engage the kiss anyway; now I just felt like a schoolboy with a crush.

But by the time I crossed Kairi's garden and arrived at my house to see the litter cluttering my front lawn, the feeling started to fade away as what happened the previous night came rushing back. The party. The truth or dare game. The drunken kisses and the faint headache that came along with it.

I rubbed my forehead. I was too on-top-of-the-world to really feel it before, but now I could feel the faint throbbing of a hangover. The coffee must have helped a bit, because I was pretty sure that the quantity I drank would have usually had me stuck in bed until at least two in the afternoon.

I kicked at a half-empty red plastic cup, watching as it spilled its contents onto the grass. I cringed, almost too afraid to see what was inside.

I opened the door and the wind was literally knocked out of me. It was worse—a lot worse. The sofa was upturned, cups, plates, bottles, _clothes_ and half-eaten food were literally everywhere. Some of the cupboard doors were ajar, and I could smell something burning in the kitchen.

I ran as fast as I could to the kitchen, my heart thumping. What if something was on fire? What if the house burned down? My mom was going to _kill _me—

It turned out nothing was burning—well not literally. Someone was frying bacon on the stove, but that was about it.

I heard someone rummaging in the fridge and pulled back the fridge door to find it was one of the guys on the Blitz team, munching on a chocolate donut while holding a half-prepared sub sandwich in his free hand. He gave me a sheepish grin—or at least attempted to without losing grip on the donut.

"What…are you doing…?" I demanded, snatching the sub can of Coke away from him. "This is my kitchen, you didn't even ask me to—"

"Well chu weren't hur," he mumbled through his mouthful.

"That doesn't give you an excuse to _raid my refridgerator_."

He just shrugged, patting me on the head dismissively and heading to the stove to check on the bacon.

I was starting to get pissed.

I switched off the stove and grabbed his sandwich before heading over to the trash can.

"What the fuck, man?" He protested, not at all amused. He was on the Blitz team—you don't mess with Blitz players and their food. At that moment I honestly didn't give a shit. "Give me my sandwich!"

"Get out of my house!" I countered.

He snorted. "Are you serious—"

"Yes, yes I am."

He gave me a once over and then burst out laughing. "Right." He retrieved his sandwich effortlessly and patted me dismissively on the head again. "Nice try, Porcupie."

The return of that ridiculous insult struck a nerve, and I felt the anger start to fade and get replaced with a sore miserable feeling. I'd forgotten—I still technically didn't matter, even if I had held a stupid high school party in my house. I couldn't believe I'd actually thought their attitude towards me would change. Now that Riku wasn't there to defend me and no one else was there to judge, obviously they'd start calling me names again.

I watched helplessly as he continued making his sandwich. The nervous stutter had returned as well—that stupid nickname had that much of an effect on my confidence. Plus, he was taller than me. "But—can you—please just—"

"If I were you I'd leave."

I snapped around to see Roxas, who looked irritated and not at all in the mood for playing around. I felt a bout of relief that he'd arrived—pretty much everyone at school was scared of him, for obvious reasons. He wasn't wearing all his stupid dark makeup but he still had that threatening look in his eyes and that was enough.

The Blitz guy frowned, gave Roxas a once-over, and then rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He finished up his sandwich, gave us both a half-wave and disappeared out the door.

I sighed in relief, turning to Roxas. "Thanks, man—"

"Sora, what the fuck is wrong with you?" He only looked angrier now that the guy had left, to be honest. "Whose bright idea was it to hold a freaking _party _in here?"

"I-It was Kairi's birthday and—"

"Do you have _any idea _how pissed Mom will be when she finds out—"

"You mean _if_ she finds out."

I felt myself smile at my mini Disney reference. Roxas didn't look at all amused. "If you think I'm going to help you clean up this mess…"

"Please, come on," I started to plead. "You know I can't do this all by myself…"

He snorted sarcastically. "Oh and this just only crossed your mind."

"Well no, Rikku and the rest said they'd stay back and help clean up but—"

Roxas looked utterly confused. "Wait, you're hanging out with Yuna's gang now?"

I shrugged, making it pretty obvious that I didn't want to talk about it, and Roxas thankfully seemed to understand. He let it drop, though he was still obviously uncertain. Roxas had never really liked the 'Populars', as they were called. Hell, he didn't really like anyone that went to our school—except maybe Hayner and previously Olette—but he especially disliked the Populars. He'd never told me why, but I knew Roxas enough to know it wasn't out of jealousy, or anything like that. He probably just disliked social ranking in general.

Roxas sighed and finally gave in. We scrubbed and mopped and cleaned up until our hands were raw and aching, and by the time we were done it was almost noon. I'd expected Roxas to give up and leave me to clean up myself halfway through, but he surprisingly stuck around, which was nice of him.

We were picking up the last of the trash when the bell rang, and for a second we just froze in place.

Roxas cursed under his breath and ordered me to take the rubbish out back while he got the door. I disposed the trash behind the large bin outside and tried to make sure it was obscured from general view before returning back inside.

Mom was there, her hands full of shopping bags—obviously plant-related stuff, from the looks of it. She was practically glowing, her cheeks rosy and her long brown hair in its usual braid. She looked young and fresh and happy, and I felt my heart swell a bit. It had been a while since she'd looked like this.

Roxas helped her with a few of the bags and she disappeared into the garden, humming a tune. We waited until we were sure she was out of hearing range before releasing breaths we weren't even aware we were holding.

I wiped my forehead. "That was close."

Roxas relaxed his shoulders, giving me a stern glare. "Don't you even think about throwing another party."

"I won't," I promise. "Thanks, I owe you one."

"You owe me a lot more than _one_, you dolt."

But he was smiling now, albeit faintly, but honestly if you'd lived with Roxas for as long as I had, you'd know that any slight curve of the lips was more than enough.

I grinned back at him, and that's when he realized he'd been smiling and decided to put on his usual scowl, clearing his throat and awkwardly heading after Mom into the garden.

I let out a relieved sigh, looking once more around the living room, making sure everything is in place, before heading upstairs.

* * *

It's only once I'm in the shower that I finally had time to think about everything that had happened. I'd actually thrown a pretty damn successful house party and gotten away with it, for one, and on top of that—Kairi. Just…wow. She'd come on to me and no matter how awkward I'd felt at the time, the giddy feeling deep down in the pit of my stomach was kind of hard to ignore.

But it was short-lived. I remembered what Kairi had told me last night, and suddenly everything else seemed trivial.

What was that saying? The worst things always happened to the best of people, or something along those lines.

Rape. Someone had actually forced her to have sex with him. I felt myself bristle, clamping my eyes shut tightly as horrible images flashed before my eyes, imagining a fifteen year old Kairi, imagining someone else who wasn't me touching her…I couldn't understand how anyone could be so _cruel_.

All this time, Kairi had been hiding a secret this big. And she'd done a pretty good job.

At least I assumed she had. I was completely clueless to how rape victims were supposed to act. Rape was one of those things people knew, shunned and then basically never talked about until the subject was brought up again, which was rare. Honestly, I'd never thought about how serious it actually was, or how I was supposed to react, or what it did to people. Kairi had said she'd been depressed for more than a year after it happened, and I'd seen the way she'd been shivering and looking like she was about to collapse any second, and all I knew was that I never ever wanted to see her like that ever again.

Vulnerable. Scared, no—terrified.

It just felt wrong. The day before, when she'd confessed, I'd honestly been at loss for words. What was I supposed to say? "I'm sorry"? That was the default response, but honestly, it didn't feel enough. I'd managed to change the subject and distract her for a while, and at the time I'd assumed it was because I wanted to take her mind off it. But to be honest, there was an underlying reason—I was utterly clueless at what to say to her.

It was shattering; it was absurd but I couldn't rid myself of the feeling that I could have somehow prevented it from happening, that I could have somehow seen something was wrong before and been able to help her. I felt utterly powerless and confused and it was depressing, almost.

But I'd tried to stay strong for her, not to let her see I was on the verge of collapsing. I said what I could, and thankfully it seemed to help.

I felt a strange warmth in the pit of my stomach as I remembered how it had felt like, spending the night with Kairi. Strangely enough, I hadn't thought of the fact that she was wearing probably the shortest skirt in existence, or that her top was sleeveless or that ample cleavage was on display—it hadn't even crossed my mind to be honest. I'd just gotten lost in her warmth and her embrace and the way we just seemed to fit perfectly together. She'd fallen asleep in the crook of my neck, my chin on the top of her forehead and her legs were tangled with mine and it seemed so _natural_…

I could still feel the ghost of her lips brushing my neck, her fingers in my hair and her persistent open-mouth kisses—I honestly had no idea how I'd been able to pull away. Just thinking about the fact that we'd been making out...in a closet...was dizzying. I leaned back in the shower, feeling a shudder of pleasure rack my bones, and I was pretty sure I had the stupidest grin on my face.

I shook my hair, feeling it style itself, still thinking as I got dressed. My feet independently led me to the window, but instead of seeing some delightful image of Kairi strutting around the room in her underwear, like I had almost gotten accustomed to seeing, the window was blocked by some kind of brown cardboard. I tried to ignore the gutted feeling and fell back on my bed with a sigh, trying to think of something else to do. Usually I would have called up Riku.

But now…

I felt my fingers clench into fists as I remembered what he'd done. It was almost impossible to believe, but at the same time it wasn't. Riku had always had a temper problem, I knew that much. But I'd always thought Kairi was an exception…and apparently I was wrong. Riku had gotten pissed at her because she didn't want to put out, and now I knew why she'd rejected him, it just made it worse.

The heat was starting to rise to my face, and I'd started to get extremely irritated. I felt betrayed. Riku had broken his promise, forgone the only condition I'd had when it came to him and Kairi. I wanted to yell at him, and before I knew what I was doing I'd logged on to my Facebook and begun to write on Riku's wall.

_**Sora Kyumuke [11:52]; I actually can't believe you. Hitting a girl because of your selfish 'needs'. That was low Riku. Even for you.**_

I pressed 'post'.

And to those four sentences, my notifications exploded.

* * *

I honestly hadn't expected so many people to jump on the status, but I honestly didn't give a shit at the time. I was beyond pissed, all the anger I'd been trying to contain since Kairi had revealed to me that he'd fucking hit her came rushing back and, like my usual impulsive self, I'd unleashed my anger on a social network. I told myself it was the only thing I could have possible done to contact him. It's not like he was picking up his phone.

It was getting slightly depressing, watching everyone rage at him and reveal what they really felt—apparently Riku had pissed off pretty much every single one of his friends one way or the other, and they all had secrets to tell and harsh words to say, and I managed to learn a lot of things about him. Just how many girls he'd hurt. How many girlfriends he'd stolen. How many friends he'd paid off to keep his secrets. It was kind of shocking, really, how easily his 'friends' jumped on the opportunity to trash-talk him. I thought of deleting the post, but decided against it and settled on logging off instead and taking a walk.

It helped clear my head, in a way. Helped me think.

I was honestly curious to how things were going to take place the next day, now that I'd revealed what had happened to Riku. I wondered if it was the right thing.

I wondered if it was odd that I felt strangely guiltless.

* * *

"So you threw a house party and didn't invite me?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "You know why. You'd have gone completely out of control and I'm pretty sure if you'd been there things would have been a lot worse."

"You're killing me," Van feigned hurt, giving me a playful nudge. "So…anything interesting happen that you wanna share with me? Hell—that's not a question that's a command. Spill."

I shrugged in a way that I hoped seemed offhand. "Nah. The usual. You know. Drinks and…stuff."

"'The Usual'. Cute." Van leaned forward on the counter, watching as I put the pack of popcorn in the microwave. "So did Little Red show up?"

I grimaced at his nickname for her. I honestly had no idea when he'd started calling her that. "Uh—yeah, she—she did." I cleared my throat.

Van's lips curved upward in a smirk. "Anything happen with her?"

"N—Nope."

"The party going on in your pants says otherwise."

I unconsciously looked down at my crotch and gave him a glare when it became obvious he was just teasing me. I hesitated, debating whether to skirt around the subject or not before realizing Van wasn't going to let me go until I told him. "Well, I spent the night at hers—"

My half-brother let out a whoop of approval. "Go Sora! Congratulations on the sex! Finally become a man, eh?"

I was pretty sure my face was on fire at this point. "I—I never said we—we had—_sex_…I just spent the night…like, in the same bed as her but not…you know."

Van's ecstatic look faded and his grin slumped into an unimpressed frown. "Oh. Well that sucks. Though I am impressed you managed to spent a whole night with her without losing it because damn—"

I cut him off before he went any further. "She was drunk and emotional because of what happened with her and Riku so I just went by to cheer her up and we talked until we fell asleep. That's all."

Vanitas gave a slow nod. "She tell you anything new?"

I worried on my lower lip for a second, thinking about whether I should tell him about Kairi. I decided not to. That was something she'd told me and me only. And plus, Van kind of had a big mouth and would no doubt end up blurting it out at a totally inconvenient time. "Um—not really. Just about how Riku dumped her and all that. She was really…hurt." I was starting to bristle slightly again. Riku's name was starting to sound sour coming from my lips. I didn't really know why. I was starting to dislike him more and more each second.

"Hn. He was acting a bit weird at Tifa's…" Vanitas observed. He nodded slowly and gestured to the popcorn, which was finished microwaving. I started pouring it into a bowl as he continued. "Enough about him. Guess what? Actually don't—I'm going to tell you anyway. You're going to be on the front cover of _Oblivion! _magazine!"

"…what." I stared at him for a full ten seconds before it processed.

And then I screamed. "What the fu—are you serious?"

Van just nodded, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning. "Yes! Noel—or as I call him, Queen Bitch—was so impressed by your photoshoot he though 'hey—why don't I throw him on the cover?'!"

"And you didn't stop him because…?"

"Because I'm your older brother and I want what's best for you."

"And how the _hell _do you think THIS is what's _best _for me?" I was starting to have a panic attack, I knew it. Okay, so for the past week I'd been getting a lot of attention, and getting quite used to the attention to be honest. It did feel kind of nice. But this was different. I was going to be on the front _cover _of the most widely distributed fashion magazine on the Islands. It made me sick just to think about it.

"Confidence, grasshopper." Van ruffled my hair fondly. "You're well in need of some of that. Hell, Sora, you _know_ you're serious man candy, why are you so afraid of showing it off? Plus, they'll airbrush all your flaws and make all your good features look even good-er."

I squirmed uncomfortably. "But—"

"Too late, it's already being printed, sorry."

I wanted to yell at him, to demand he go back to Noel and tell him to stop all production of the magazine immediately before I sued him…but I just didn't have it in me. Instead I opted for sighing and carried the bowl of popcorn to the living room, Van following close behind me.

He lifted his arms in a yawn and fell back onto the sofa. "Ugh, I'm beat."

I nodded in assent and sat down next to him, browsing the channels idly to see if there was anything on. I thought of watching Grey's Anatomy since there was some kind of marathon going on, but I didn't dare do that in front of Van. I kind of wasn't in the mood for his teasing, to be honest.

I settled on a random sitcom which was terrible in that really addicting kind of way.

We lounged in a comfortable silence, stuffing our faces with popcorn. It was too hot to go outside—the heatwave hadn't struck until the weekend, thank god—so we'd opted on staying in for the day. Mom had retreated upstairs as soon as he'd arrived, as usual, and Roxas…he was AWOL, which wasn't really that much of a surprise.

I'd thought of texting Kairi, but per Van's advice I'd decided to wait until_ she_ texted me. She still hadn't texted yet. I assumed she was busy.

I felt my eyes wander to Van, who was leaning on his palm, eyes half-closed. Or half-open. It was only then that I noticed the darkish smudges under his eyes, the slight frown on his lips…I wondered if he'd been sleeping at all. I wondered if it had to do with Aqua.

I was curious about their relationship. About Van and what he was planning on doing about it. He'd become so focused on mine lately, like he was trying to forget about his. Van had a habit of running away from his problems. I wasn't sure if it was healthy for him.

He was looking at the TV, but he wasn't really seeing. His amber eyes were blank and distant, like he was thinking about something. It was kind of sickening to watch.

We were halfway through the episode and almost done with our bowl of popcorn when I finally couldn't take it anymore, grabbing the remote control and switching it off.

Van gave me a half-hearted glare, obviously trying to act like he'd been actually watching it. "What the fuck, man."

"Van…I think—we, uh." I was becoming tongue-tied all of a sudden, though I wasn't sure why. I cleared my throat. "Aqua," I said finally, like that explained everything.

His eyes softened for a second at the sound of her name, and then they darkened, his brows creasing and a weakly concealed frown. "What about her?"

"She…I don't think you're handling this the way you…should…" I trailed off at the sour look he was giving me.

"Oh, you don't? Allow me to enumerate the sheer number of fucks I do not give."

I cursed under my breath. I should have known this was going to happen. He was getting pissed and I'd barely started. "I just—I just think maybe you guys should talk about it—or—"

"Sora, let me remind you that this is between Aqua and I and you are completely irrelevant." His jaw was tight and his frown had deepened. "You know nothing—there's nothing left for us to talk about. Aqua is happy and I'm done with that bitch anyway."

It stung me for some reason, his sour tone and sheer nonchalance, especially since I'd seen how she'd been in school. "Look, I might not know the full story but—"

"Drop it, Sora."

His tone was dark and final, and there was something in his eyes that told me continuing wasn't an option.

He averted his gaze finally and turned back to the TV. I did the same. We didn't talk on that subject for the rest of the afternoon.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I woke up in a slightly hyped mood on Monday.

I'd gotten so used to just pulling myself out of bed and going to school like that without spending that much time on my appearance, but ever since the spring break 'counseling' that had inevitably changed. Van had given me this new shower gel—not AXE, he hated AXE—and insisted I wear cologne, insisting girls thought it was sexy. I used the shower gel but decided cologne was taking it a bit too far.

I'd been spending a while on my hair too. Conditioning was vital, the hairdresser had said, so that added a good fifteen minutes onto my usual routine schedule. It was still hot as hell, but our summer uniforms had arrived in the mail the previous evening so that wasn't much of a problem.

At least I didn't need to shave. There were actually benefits to not having any facial hair at nearly seventeen.

Van dropped me off at school once again, making sure to drop me off right before the bell went off. I had barely set foot in the building when a group of presumably freshmen girls bundled up to me, clutching onto a painfully recognizable fashion magazine.

I winced. I couldn't believe I'd completely forgotten about that.

"Sora is this _you_?" The one holding the magazine shoved it in my face, like that would make me see it any clearer. I took it from her and nearly threw up when I saw myself on the cover.

It was one of those really embarrassing photos, where I was staring broodily into the distance wearing some designer outfit. All in all I looked pretty decent, and it was obviously ridiculously photoshopped, but the fact that I was on the front cover made me want to burst into flames.

"Um—yeah. It's me." I forced a smile and dismissed them with a wave, trying to ignore the whispers and murmurs on my way to Kairi's locker. I grinned at everyone I could on the way, trying to build up my self-confidence before I saw her again.

She was just about closing her locker when she saw me, the smile she had on falling off her face as she stared at me, her eyes widening. I ignored her change in expression and attempted to carry on as normal, giving her a hug and smiling as wide as I could. I honestly had no idea how I was supposed to act, after everything that had happened, so I decided to just go with it.

She stiffened in the hug, and her eyes were trained unnervingly on my face as I pulled away. "What?"

Her eyebrows knitted together. "Hi."

I didn't have time to ask what was wrong because some of the girls from Literature came over and then the bell rang and we had to head to class.

* * *

The morning passed in a blur.

It was all over school. Everyone knew. Not only about how I was on the front cover of _Oblivion_, no, though that was also general knowledge.

I'd almost completely forgotten about the Facebook status I'd posted.

I hadn't checked it since that afternoon, and I didn't even want to find out how many notifications I had now. It was all anyone was talking about. Even some of the teachers seemed to be in on it, the staff, even. Suddenly Riku, Kairi and I were the subject of everyone's conversation, everyone wanted to talk to me and know the full story, everyone seemed to notice and care about my existence.

The Populars still steered clear from me. I wasn't sure what they wanted, what they expected from me. Maybe they weren't sure I was telling the truth, whether it was okay for them to address me in person yet.

Everyone knew, it was almost scary.

But in a way, I felt almost…smug.

I wasn't sure about Kairi. We didn't exactly have that much time to talk. I spent the whole morning explaining what had happened, explaining the status and how I ended up on _Oblivion_—("Um, I needed a job and they had an open slot so…yeah")—and generally telling the same story over and over until I was sure I was rambling. It was all moving so fast I almost had no idea what I was doing, or how it was affecting anybody.

I'd never had to deal with so many people looking at me and so many people wanting to talk to me, so it was a bit of a shock. I tried to be nice and smile at everyone but eventually it got a bit exhausting, especially when the bell rang for lunch and I was in a hurry to meet up with Kairi and the rest and a group of editors for the school paper insisted on knowing my thoughts on domestic abuse.

I met up with Kairi and gave her an apologetic smile, which she returned with a half-smile of her own. She looked stiff and worried and mostly tired as hell, and I pulled her into a side hug as we headed to lunch.

She sighed, still not saying a word to me. She hadn't said a word all morning.

I hadn't had time to dwell on the fact that I'd let everyone in on what she'd told me the previous night. I figured telling them about what Riku had done wasn't so bad. I mean they deserved to know that at least, right?

It didn't cross my mind to ask Kairi what she thought on this.

She mumbled something about sitting at our table for the day, and I didn't complain. She seemed to be her usual smiling, bubbly self again as lunch went on, and it was nice to watch, even if she refused to address me directly and seemed to be solely focused on the rest, asking about Vaan and Penelo's relationship and Lightning and Serah's summer plans and generally avoiding the subject that everyone was just dying to ask about.

I was still trying to read Kairi, to figure out what was wrong with her, if things were still normal between us, when someone walked into the cafeteria and the room fell silent.

One look at him and all the anger I'd been bottling up seemed to come tumbling free.

He looked a mess. His hair was done in a half-assed ponytail and the dark bags under his eyes were hard to miss. His cheeks were hollower now, like he hadn't had enough to eat in ages, and he was still in last season's uniform.

I felt Kairi stiffen next to me, face blanching. Everyone seemed to have resumed conversation, though Riku was obviously the subject of it now, even though he seemed entirely oblivious. He walked straight past us, not even giving Kairi a second glance, a ghost of his usual smile present on his face.

All these little details, the obvious evidence something was wrong with Riku, seemed to evade me completely. I was blinded by the stupid overwhelming fear of rage—the way Kairi was gripping onto her skirt sparked something in me—and before I knew what I was doing, I'd gotten to my feet, grabbed Penelo's dessert and launched it at the back of his retreating head.

I must have hit him pretty hard, because he ended up losing his balance and falling unceremoniously to the ground.

* * *

The amount of collective cheers, gasps and 'ooh's that followed was insane.

It felt good, towering over him like that, being _bigger _than him for once. I'd never thought about it before, but I'd always had this inner desire to make him see what it was like to feel like the smallest fucking thing on the planet. And it felt amazing.

Words were coming out before I could stop them. "Riku. Ha. Nice of you to show up, after a week in hiding. You coward. I can forgive just about anything, Riku, but when it comes to hitting a girl? You completely crossed the line."

He just stared up at me, his eyes wide. Shocked, scared. I completely missed the pleading look in his eyes, desperate, pained, betrayed. He was trying to tell me something, and I was ignoring it, pushing it down as secondary, letting all the stupid primary emotions take over.

Riku was irrelevant. Riku didn't deserve my pity. Riku was an asshole. Riku was the bastard. Riku deserved no say in anything, because he'd hit Kairi and he'd bullied me for ages so why did he deserve any redemption anyway?

The murmuring, the cheers and the boos increased, a mass of voices jumbling together in an array of confusion. It sort of reminded me of a Greek amphitheater, where I was the victor and Riku was the fallen gladiator and at that moment it just felt awesome.

Riku stormed out of the cafeteria, taunts and jeers left in his wake.

* * *

Lunch seemed to flit by in a blur as well.

The Populars seemed to take my episode as an indication that it was finally time they move on from Riku and migrated to our table, squishing in next to the rest of us. Fang had disappeared immediately after Riku had ran out, and Tidus dismissed himself on the pretense of needing the bathroom and wasn't seen until the bell rang for afternoon classes.

Kairi had completely closed me off after what I'd done to Riku. I'd somehow expected her to be happy, or at least to appreciate what I'd done, at least a little. In my eyes I'd done nothing wrong, to be fair. It was maybe a little over the top, in front of the whole school and all, and maybe the pie thing was a little unnecessary...but in the end I'd simply been defending her…wasn't that what she wanted?

Riku was there again in History. He had his summer uniform on now, and his hair was damp. People nudged him in the hallways; it was almost like déjà vu. He sat silently at the back of the class, trying to pretend like he was listening when it was obvious he wasn't. I tried catching Kairi's attention, but she seemed intent on listening to whatever was being taught, so I let her be.

Until the end of class, of course.

She's telling me something about glee club but I'm not listening. My eyes are trained on Riku, and he's looking between Kairi and I, and before I know what I'm doing I pull Kairi into a kiss.

She's shocked at first, but ultimately melts into the kiss, like she's been waiting for me to do that all day. And it feels nice, and sweet, and for a second I almost forget I was actually intending to make Riku jealous.

Kairi pulls away as the few people left in class cheer and catcall, her cheeks flushed an adorable shade of pink, a sheepish smile on her face, and she looks like she's about to laugh before suddenly she stops, looking over her shoulder at the same place I'd been looking a split-second before, just as Riku's retreating figure disappears out the door, and she turns back to me, her eyes dark, livid, before giving me a harsh shove backwards into the desk, a look of pure disgust harshening her features, and storming out of the classroom.

I caught up with her not too long after that. She was on her way to the Music Room—she was off for the rest of the afternoon because of her competition, I knew her agenda—and had been ignoring my calls and kept on ignoring me until I had to grab her wrist to stop her.

"Kairi, what is your problem—"

"What is _my _problem? Are you serious, Sora?" She turned to me finally, ripping her arm out of my grasp. She was glowering at me, and to be honest it was kind of scary. "Do you honestly think you of all people is in the right place to ask me that?" I opened my mouth to say something, and she snorted. "Wait—don't answer that. I can't stand you today. You've been acting like an absolute asshole lately, I don't even recognize you anymore. Kissing me to make Riku jealous? _Really_, Sora?"

I wavered. "Ok so maybe that was a little uncalled for—"

"Who are you, honestly?" Her question took me aback, stung a little. She seemed to realize that, but she honestly didn't seem to care. "I'm just…I don't get this. I don't know why you're acting like this…I thought—" Her voice cracked painfully and she looked like she was about to burst into tears. "Just…just leave me alone."

"Kairi—"

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The rest of the day was a drag. Literacy passed by excruciatingly slowly, since Aqua seemed to be growing more and more tired each day. Shuyin said something about picking me up to take me to Nationals, which was that evening. I must have said yes or something.

I was eager as hell to get home and just stay cooped up in bed or something. Kairi was mad at me—I hated it when she was mad at me. And what was worse—I actually wasn't sure why.

"She's pissed with me—like, royally pissed." I sighed, leaning forward on my desk sulkily. Van was lounging on my bunk, flipping through the newest issue of _Oblivion_, with his hands down his pants. I'd seen him do this so many times I'd almost gotten used to it.

He snorted. "So you're saying Riku beat up Kairi, you defended her and she went apeshit on you?"

I shrugged. "Well I—I don't know I was just mad at Riku and the pie was just there so I threw it at him and she's been pissed with me ever since."

"To me it sounds like you didn't do shit wrong."

So I hadn't exactly told Van all the details…I just didn't think it was right. I'd told him about Riku hitting her, but not because of why…I had a feeling Kairi would never forgive me if I told anyone else that. She was already angry enough as it was.

"I—I don't…" I groaned. "I'm just confused, I don't know what she wants…Riku _hurt _her…she was a mess yesterday night and I guess I did get a little carried away today but I don't get why she's defending him! What does she want from me, honestly? She's messing with my head—"

"Then maybe she's not worth it."

I stared at him, trying to see if he was serious or not. "What?"

He shrugged, zipping up his jeans and shrugging nonchalantly. "I don't know. You've wasted so much time on this chick already and if she's going to be a bitch then you might as well drop her and move on."

"…are you serious—"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" He snorted, lighting himself a cigarette. "Of course I'm fucking serious. Do you have any idea how much pussy you could be getting right now if you weren't still wasting your life away chasing after_ Kairi_? You have potential to be getting laid pretty much every single weekend and you still won't give up chasing that uptight bitch—"

"Shut _up_, Van." I sounded bitter and darker than I'd intended, but the things he was calling her were literally making me livid. "I'm starting to think you're actually trying to ruin everything on purpose."

"Well maybe I am?" Van laughed darkly. "Maybe that's the whole point? Look you need to get over her and realize she's not the only girl out there; you can bag literally any girl in school and you're letting Kairi push you around; she's holding you back, Sora! I honestly don't get you sometimes, it's frustrating—I thought at least after all this you'd realize that there're so many other girls—"

"I don't _want_ any of that!" I was on my feet now. My nails were digging into my palms and I was literally fuming. "I didn't start this whole thing because I wanted to get _laid_; I don't want to go partying every weekend, I don't want to get high and sleep with every girl who throws herself at me! I'm not trying to be that person—I don't get why you can't understand that! I'm not just going to sit around and let you ruin everything—the fact that you—that you _**fucked up**_ with Aqua doesn't give you any right to—"

I stopped myself abruptly at the look on his face. His nonchalant expression had momentarily contorted into some sort of pained frown at the mention of her name, and I felt my throat tighten. I knew I'd gone too far, bringing that up, and I attempted to sputter out an apology. "—I-I didn't mean—"

My apology obviously fell on deaf ears. He raised a hand, obviously signaling that he didn't want to hear it, and pushed past me with a not-so-accidental shove and stormed out of the room.

"Van—"

He had slammed the door on me before I could even reach the bottom of the stairs.

* * *

…**I honestly have no explanation for this late update. Like…why. **

**Thank you for waiting. Sorry if it came out crap, sorry if you hate me after this chapter. Meh.**

**Fun fact: Apologize is on hiatus, and if you've been reading it, you'd know why. Angel and Addicted should be updated quicker than usual...hopefully. Thanks for sticking around, honestly, ily all. **

**Preview?**

* * *

"_I didn't ask for any of this…"_

"_There's something I didn't tell you about Riku…"_

"_If he's not here for Nationals—"_

"_He kissed me."_

* * *

…**don't even try and guess who said what. It's probably not who you think it is.**

**Peace, love, rubber gloves. **


	36. Maybe

**A/N: Missed me? This chapter will hopefully be a bit brighter and not full of depressing shiz, so don't stress lol. **

**Oh, and I joined the Olympics fandom. I ship Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps hbu. Hashtag Team GB. **

**Disclaimer: I have said this a thousand times…**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I ruin Riku's life, to be honest. _

I can forgive just about anything, Riku, but when it comes to hitting a girl? You completely crossed the line."

_Kairi's pissed with me. _

"Kissing me to make Riku jealous? _Really_, Sora?!"

_And so is my brother. _

"This is between Aqua and I and you are completely irrelevant."

* * *

**Chapter 36: Maybe**

I slipped into the car next to Shuyin that evening, when he came over to pick me, ready to take me to Nationals. He gave me an unsure smile and I smiled back, and then he focused his eyes on the road.

The radio was on, on some kind of soft rock/indie station. I vaguely remembered hearing the song from one of Roxas' CDs. He asked if I liked the song and I said yes. He said it was Mumford & Sons.

He kept trying to strike up conversation, but I just wasn't in the mood. It felt weird, sitting in the back seat of his huge car.

"That was sick, you know, what you did." Shuyin began, glancing at me. "Today…in the cafeteria?"

I swallowed. I wasn't in the mood for talking about that, to be honest.

"He deserved it. Even though he's been an asshole to pretty much everyone in school since forever…hitting girls is an all-time low, even for him." Shuyin chuckled. "He had it coming."

I nodded, hoping he'd just shut up already.

He did.

We didn't talk much after that. Shuyin fiddled with the radio and tapped a beat on the steering wheel, while I faced the window. I was feeling a little burned out, to be honest. I hadn't exactly had the best day…I was on the front cover of a fashion magazine, I'd publicly humiliated Riku, and both Kairi and my older brother were angry with me for god-knows-what reason.

I didn't really know why I was even bothering going to watch her sing. She most likely hated me by now, and I wasn't even sure I'd even get to talk to her. She could be stubborn when she wanted to.

But then again…I'd been to every single one of her competitions. She needed moral support, I knew that much. She got stage fright, and the fact that the audience this time would be almost tripled, it wasn't exactly the best time for me to just _not _show up.

I glanced at Shuyin, and contemplated asking him for advice, since he'd been in a relationship for more than a year which meant he must have been doing _something _right. It was worth a shot.

"Hey, um—you're in a relationship, right?"

"That I am."

"Hm."

"Yup. Any reason why you asked?"

"Yeah I…I kind of need some…advice…"

He cocked an eyebrow, obviously somewhat amused. "_You_ need some advice?" He tried to disguise his urge to laugh with an awkward cough into his fist. "Um…okay, sure. Hit me."

"Uh—ok." I kept my eyes trained on the dashboard. "Say a girl asked you to leave her alone…"

"Then you do the exact opposite."

"What—?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well it does depend on the status of the relationship. If you're asking her out or something, then repeatedly asking her out probably isn't the best idea, I guess all that does is make you look like a stalker or some shit, but if you're seeing this girl and you've done something to piss her off, then, no, leaving her alone is the absolute worst thing you could possibly do."

"Oh." I paused. "Then—then what should I do?"

"I don't know; I'd probably start by apologizing."

"But I haven't done anything wrong—"

"Trust me—if you think you've done nothing wrong, then you've obviously done something wrong."

I stayed silent, thinking this over for a second. I wasn't exactly sure how it made sense, but girls were complicated.

"So…who is this mystery girl then?"

I didn't answer; I had a feeling it was pretty obvious.

"It's Kairi, isn't it?"

My silence made it pretty clear I didn't feel like talking anymore, so he turned back to the road and left me alone once again.

We picked up Wakka, who thankfully had enough banter to liven up the basically dead atmosphere. It was obvious Shuyin was relieved—he'd looked bored to death of me, to be honest. He and Wakka got into a lively discussion about a recent Blitzball game and which teams they were looking at playing for once they got into college—(Wakka said he was hoping to play for the Spira Summoners—the biggest and most prestigious team in one of the neighboring countries, Spira—and I tried to disguise the fact that I thought that was outlandish in itself)—while I stayed silent and preoccupied myself with worrying about what I was going to say to somehow fix the mess I made.

The venue was at least an hour and a half away by car, since Shuyin and Wakka insisted taking the underground train was out of the question, even though it would have taken us half the time. The arena was located on the bank of Palumpolum, the closest island to Destiny Islands. Palumpolum, unlike Destiny Islands, was far from being a tourist attraction—it was more of an industrial spot, useful for their abundant seafood supply and electric branches. Half of Destiny Island's electricity came from Palumpolum, so obviously it was beneficial that the Mayor was on good terms with them.

Nationals was kind of a big deal. The arena was at least three sizes bigger than the previous ones, and it was obviously a somewhat formal event. I felt kind of out of place in my scuffed trainers and jeans, and I felt people's disapproving eyes on me as I walked past them and followed after the others.

We found some free seats not too far from the stage but not too close either, and we met up with some of the guys from the team, who were obviously just there for moral support, or because they felt they were forced to, or because they wanted sex later. None of them looked that happy to be there.

Kuja was one of them, sporting a painful looking black eye. I was considering asking him what had happened but thankfully Shuyin beat me to it, grimacing sympathetically. "God, what happened? Fuck, you look like you wrestled a bear or some shit."

Kuja hissed, gingerly poking the bruise, but he remained silent. He was scowling and it was pretty obvious he didn't feel like talking about it.

He didn't have to. The lights dimmed and the chatter began to dwindle to nothing as the room fell silent.

* * *

The overwhelming amount of talent was astounding, to say the least. For the first time since the first show I'd watched, I actually doubted the Songstresses were actually going to succeed.

The choreographies were flawless. The voices were perfectly pitched. The outfits were eye-grabbing and it was hard to believe it was nothing but a show choir competition. I felt like nothing in comparison, and I could only imagine how Kairi felt.

I remembered how Kairi had told me once she felt nervous before shows, how she constantly felt she wasn't good enough…which was the exact opposite of the truth. Sure, the talent this time was tripled and borderline professional…but Kairi had something they didn't have.

She had her eyes.

Those unique, violet-blue eyes that could change destroy even the strongest convictions and make people question every single decision they made. She could change people's minds in a heartbeat, make people fall in love with her with the inexplicable aura that emitted from her when she was on stage, and she was completely oblivious to her power.

I just prayed she wasn't nervous, that she didn't let the gravity of how big this was get to her. She needed to be the best she could be, and all previous thoughts I had about leaving disappeared. As much as I knew she was pissed off with me, I knew that in the back of her mind she somewhat needed me there.

The acts came and went in a blur, and even though the acts were beyond entertaining, I found myself growing impatient. There were at least thirty acts competing and twenty acts in, Kairi and the Songstresses still hadn't shown up. I had just about reached my limit when their names were announced and I kept my eyes trained on the stage in anticipation.

The Songstresses, in comparison to pretty much every other act, brought modern music to the stage, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing yet. Yuna must have known what she was doing though, she always did.

The first song was a fun, catchy Rihanna song with an infectious beat, which didn't show off that much of their vocals, but was obviously there for a reason—to make their next performances look even better than they actually were.

And they did.

They absolutely smashed it.

Kairi's vocals were flawless during her solos, her voice powerful and her overall stage presence mesmerizing. She was serious when she needed to be and knew when to smile, and it was obvious she was pretty much the star of the show.

Up until the final song. I'd almost forgotten Penelo was part of the glee club now, (terrible friend, I know), and her arrival was beyond shocking to say the least. She was dressed in an outfit that reflected the slight harshness of the lyrics she rapped, and the spotlight was on her for the whole song.

The idea to add rap to the setlist was genius, to be honest, and the audience was on their feet by the time it came to a close.

I figured if Penelo was there, Vaan and the rest would be there, and I excused myself saying I needed a bathroom break and went to look for them.

It took a while of aimless ambling before I finally found them, talking animatedly with Kairi and Penelo, who were practically glowing with mirth. Vaan pressed a casual kiss to Penelo's forehead and she giggled before giving me a wave.

I greeted her with a congratulatory hug, unable to stop myself from smiling. I was proud of her, to say the least. She was slowly becoming more and more confident in herself, it was nice. "You were amazing."

"Thanks." I could almost hear her smiling into my neck, and she pulled back beaming before sliding her fingers back in between Vaan's. Serah was perched on Snow's back with her arms around his neck, his arms under her legs holding her in a secure piggyback. They looked adorable, as usual. I felt somewhat bad for Lightning, being the constant third wheel in pretty much every situation.

I let my eyes fall on Kairi, who I was sure had been looking at me ever since I'd found them and the rest of the group. She didn't avert her eyes like I'd expected her to though; she just smiled, even if it was a little off. I pulled her into a congratulatory hug, feeling her shoulders tense before relaxing. I felt her sigh, her breath lingering on my neck as she pulled away with a slightly brighter smile.

"You weren't so bad either," I quipped, earning a playful shove and a hardly fierce glare from her, but nothing much else. I considered apologizing, but I barely had time to say anything before we were joined by the rest of the girls and Shuyin and his troupe and a few cheer girls who'd apparently been backstage doing makeup. Strangely enough Fang was absent, and when I asked why, no one really had an answer for me, so I let it drop. I'd never really liked her that much and she'd never really liked me that much anyway.

The intermission flew by way too quickly, and before any of us knew it they were being whisked off back to the stage and we were forced to return to our seats. I decided to sit with the usual group for the rest of the show, and my new troupe obviously took this as an invitation to migrate and move in next to us. Vaan was obviously slightly peeved and so was Lightning; out of the whole group, they'd always disliked the Populars the most, but there wasn't exactly anything we could do about it as the lights dimmed and the almost-too-bubbly announcer strutted back onto stage.

All thirty groups were called out onto stage, and the announcer read off a gruelingly repetitive speech while the audience and all the glee clubs waited impatiently for the results to be called out, for which ten groups would be making it through the final round. I searched for our school's group on the stage, my eyes finding Kairi and Penelo who were gripping onto each other's hands as if if they let go they'd fall apart.

And then they began calling out the names and the tension and anxiousness started to get to me as well, my stomach tightening painfully as I watched each name get called out. Each name that wasn't theirs. Seven names left, six names, five, four, three, two…

And then—

"From North Destiny College, Destiny Islands, the Songstresses!"

* * *

The cheers were deafening—I was pretty sure we cheered the loudest. The half-hour that followed was a blur, nothing but ecstatic screaming and tearful smiles and emotional sobbing and hugging and excessive kissing and it was almost surreal. I wasn't exactly sure why it affected me so much—it was probably how much it meant to Kairi, and the look on her face, the brilliant smile and the euphoric glow she emitted as she jumped into my arms.

I half expected her weight to push me off balance, but it didn't, and I just stood there as she cried into my shoulder and I actually forgot where we were for a moment until she pulled away. She was laughing and her cheeks were damp and her arms were around my neck and we just looked at each other, and it was another one of those moments where I started asking myself whether or not she was even real and fuck my fucking life—

"Um, you can—you can put me down now."

It took me a while to register that she was speaking to me, and she giggled as I dropped her to her feet, her smile still plastered to her face.

She took me by the hand and ushered for me to follow her, and I waited for her as she said goodbye to all her friends and changed into her regular clothes and listened to Yuna saying some stuff about impeccable performances and dreams and determination and the like, and she and Yuna shared some kind of hug, and then everybody hugged each other, and then out of nowhere Yuna and Tidus were kissing, and Kairi took it as our cue to leave.

The air was crisp and fresh outside, a pleasant change from the slightly humid early summer air we were used to. There were trees decorated with lights that served as lampposts, and I assumed they were artificial since there was an alarming absence of dirt on the ground. It was almost too clean and I absently wondered whether the air was artificial. Hey, anything was possible.

Kairi was still smiling, which, to be honest, was starting to worry me; it looked almost painful. She seemed to hear my thoughts. "It actually hurts to smile this much. God."

I laughed. "This really meant a lot to you, didn't it?"

She shrugged, but it looked far from nonchalant. "Yeah it…it kind of did. I like singing, and performing, and I guess I like winning as well…knowing I can do _something_ right. And it does help take my mind off…other things."

The silence that followed wasn't exactly tension-filled, but it was slightly less comfortable than it had been barely seconds ago. Her smile had waned a little, but she still looked somewhat blissful. It didn't quite reach her eyes though.

I decided to start by apologizing. "Kairi, about earlier today—"

"Already forgotten."

"…you mean you forgive me?"

"I never said that."

I stared at her, trying to figure out what the fuck she meant. She raised her eyebrows expectantly at me before turning away again, her eyes absently wandering and taking in the sort-of scenery. If you could call brick houses and skyscrapers scenery.

"I—okay."

We fell silent again, walking in some random destination. "Do you have any idea where we're supposed to be going?"

"The train station's somewhere around here, we're going home aren't we?"

"Yeah." I kicked at the cobbled ground. "I don't have any munny on me; Shu was kind of my ride."

"'Shu', huh? So you guys are on nickname basis now?"

Her tone put me off a little. "No—not exactly."

"Huh. He gave you a _ride_, in his new car. He doesn't give rides to just anyone you know."

"Well I don't know what he thinks about me, but he offered so…" I trailed off at the look she was giving me. "What?"

"So you guys are friends now?"

"Well—I don't—yeah we are, I guess."

"Just like you and Riku were friends?"

"Look I'm completely lost here—what are you even saying?!"

She faltered, her eyebrows knitting together. She attempted to say something, failing miserably and settling on a sigh. "I…I don't know. I don't know what…" She shook her head. "I just…I guess I'm still trying to get over everything that's happened today. With you and…and Riku…"

I sighed. "I'm…I guess I should apologize for that…freak show in the cafeteria…"

"No you don't have to—"

"Yes I do. It was wrong, it was unfair, I just—I wasn't thinking rationally, I was just angry at him because of what he did to you and—"

"Stop it." Her voice was firm. I hadn't even realized when we'd stopped walking. She dug her teeth into her bottom lip, shaking her head. "This isn't…I didn't think this would happen—everything's happening so quickly. I didn't think telling you would make everyone…would make the _entire school_ hate him."

I attempted to interrupt her again but something in her eyes made me think twice. I kept my mouth shut instead, waiting for her to finish.

She sat down on a nearby bench and waited for me to do the same, tugging at some loose string on her cashmere sweater. It was sort of windy. I wondered if the wind was artificial in Palumpolum.

"There's something I didn't…tell you about Riku. I didn't exactly tell you everything—about what happened." She licked her lips, trying to formulate a sentence. Her eyes were flitting everywhere and if I wasn't mistaken she looked almost…_guilty_. "I know I told you about him—hitting me—only once by the way, and it was hardly anything serious I was just emotional and drunk—"

"He still hit you though."

"Y-yes—"

"Is this some kind of relationship thing?" I asked, dubious. "You're still not over him yet, are you."

"No, that's not—"

"There is no excuse for hitting someone, Kairi. I don't care what reason you feel justified it, I might have gone a little overboard making a scene in front of everyone in school, but that doesn't change the fact that—"

"He's being _abused_, Sora!"

My words caught in my throat, and suddenly everything just seemed to stop entirely. I stared at her incredulously, trying to formulate a coherent sentence and failing miserably. "What—are you—"

"He bullies people because he's been bullied by his 'family' ever since he could walk. And it's not just mentally, it's physically and emotionally and I know it probably doesn't justify hurting other people but—I didn't want to tell you before because he made me promise not to tell anyone and I'd already thrown my stupid problems at you and I didn't want—"

I zoned out then, the same absolutely helpless feeling from two nights ago coming back like a crushing weight on my shoulders. I felt sick; suddenly things I'd always pushed off as trivial came rushing back as glaringly important; that shifty look in his eyes he always had whenever he was made to talk about his family, the eerily dark look in his house, the absence of family portraits, the way he never held parties at his house, the faded bruises on his neck and arms I'd always assumed were from Blitzball training or heated hook-ups or harmless scuffles. The almost recent occurrence when he'd come to school looking like death with the bruise on his arm he'd said was from a motorcycle accident—

And the helplessness and guilt turned into anger. Why hadn't he told me anything? Why hadn't he told anyone about what he was going through? Why hadn't Kairi told me before I'd—

I was pretty sure the pleading, terrified look he'd given me before he'd ran out of school would haunt me forever now.

"I think…I think I'm going to throw up." I stumbled to my feet and barely made it anywhere before throwing up in a nearby garbage bin. It smelt like sugar, which was odd for a trash can. The wrenching feeling in my gut refused to let up, and I hurled until the sugary smell turned sour and I was pretty sure I'd gotten rid of everything I'd eaten that day.

I wasn't sure when Kairi showed up, but she waited until she was sure I was done before passing me a water bottle, which I robotically accepted. It tasted bitter and manufactured and did nothing to settle the hurricane taking place in my stomach.

She dropped her duffelbag and sat down next to me on the ground, taking my free hand in hers. I wasn't sure when she started crying. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry—"

"But why…why didn't he tell us? We could have helped—"

She sniffled, shaking her head. "I…he doesn't like feeling weak. He likes being on top of things…he likes being in control. If…if people knew about what was going on—"

"He didn't want to be pitied, is that it?" My voice came out croaky and it was actually starting to get hard to talk. "Because he's Riku Harada, he's too _good _for pity, he doesn't need anyone's help. He's obviously been doing a good job handling everything by himself, hasn't he?"

The words were bitter and cruel and I knew it, but the conflicting emotions were getting too much to bear and in all honesty…I was starting to grow tired of it all.

Kairi just shook her head at me, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before letting out a shaky sigh. "Look, Sora, you have _no idea _what it feels like, having everyone treat you like you're some sad case, like you're glass, like you're completely fragile and that anything they say will _break _you. You don't know what it's like to have all these people who just yesterday didn't give two _shits _about you suddenly acting like they fucking care when they fucking don't—"

"You don't know that—"

"Do you think I'm that stupid, Sora? Really?" She let out a dry, humorless laugh, so empty it almost scared me. "I'm not clueless. I know no one really gives a shit that I got beaten up; I've heard what they're saying. I can't just pretend I don't hear them—talking about how I deserved it, how I'm a skank, how Riku deserved better, how I'm probably making this whole fucking thing up." She was fighting back tears now, biting back sobs and letting out choked gasps as she attempted to make it look like she wasn't on the verge of breaking down. "And then there's all the crazy rumors and I know I've tried to tell myself it's not getting to me but it is, Sora, it really is. I'm sick—sick of everything right now, and I get it. I get why Riku kept everything a secret. You know what everyone would be like."

I tried to think of something in response, but nothing sounded right, so I just kept silent and inched closer to her until our knees were touching. I took her hand and squeezed, hoping it helped calm her down, at least a little. She relaxed slightly, curling her fingers around mine and leaning onto my shoulder. "I'm…I'm sorry, I just—"

"You don't need to apologize," I said sincerely. "You're going through a lot…"

She laughed. "I really am a mess, huh."

"I can't disagree."

She nudged me, sighing sadly. "I wish things weren't so complicated."

"They don't have to be."

* * *

We bought train tickets and boarded the train, sitting in an almost empty cabin. The train raced on at seemingly the speed of light. The tracks were smooth and the cabin was so quiet I could hear her breathing.

I spent the silence thinking about everything she'd said. It was probably the most insane thing I'd ever done, exposing Riku over Facebook, of all places, and especially now that I knew his secret…

"I guess I kind of owe him an apology," I sighed. "I swear to God if I'd known—"

"Sora, don't beat yourself up over this. There's no way you could have known." She leaned against my shoulder.

"Ok then, Kairi. From now on, we tell each other everything. No more secrets." I held out my pinky to her. "Promise?"

She pursed her lips, trying to hide a smirk as she entangled her pinky with mine. "Only if you promise to stop acting like a jerk at school. Cockiness is so not a good look for you."

I laughed. "Promise." I paused, frowning a little. "But seriously, Kairi, is this whole…" I gestured to my outfit, which wasn't exactly spectacular but I expected her to catch my drift. "—thing…" She frowned, confused, and I sighed. "Look, if it's what you want, I'll get rid of the new clothes, the hair, everything—"

"No-no-no-no—that's not what I'm saying…" There was a bit of a laugh in her voice, though her eyes were completely serious. "I just…don't want to lose you. I didn't ask…for any of this and…I'm—I'm scared you'll end up…changing because of them."

"Changing into what?" I poked her cheek. "I'm not going anywhere."

Her eyes softened and she shook her head at me, her cheeks a lovely shade of pink. "You'd better not."

We got home nearly an hour later, and I walked Kairi up to her door, like I always did. We stood there, on her front doorstep, just looking at each other, and I didn't even realize I was leaning in until Kairi shook her head, gripping the front of my shirt and softly pushing me back. She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and let go of my shirt, an almost apologetic smile on her face. "I'm sorry, I just…need a little time…to figure things out."

"Okay," came my immediate answer. She nodded and gave me a quick goodbye hug before disappearing into her house.

When I got upstairs and instinctively opened the curtains, there was a message written in thick black Sharpie on the cardboard that was Kairi's curtain. It was impossible to stop the ridiculous smile from breaking out on my face.

_dream about me tonight ;) xx _

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Riku didn't show up at school the next day, and I tried not to let it bother me. Drama was definitely a lot more awkward, since I now knew about what Sephiroth had been doing to Riku, but for the sake of everyone in the room, I attempted to carry on as normal. Riku was the second protagonist and the reason most people had even bought tickets to come and see _Kingdom Hearts_ in the first place. Even though 99% of the drama class hated the play, we'd been working hard on the stupid play since the beginning of the year; it would suck if it ended up being a waste of time all because of Riku.

Or more technically me, though no one really knew that.

Riku's absence was also frustrating for the Blitzball team. He was, honestly, the star player, and not having him on the team was not only crippling but essential.

Tidus seemed to be the most hurt by the situation. I was almost a hundred percent sure he inwardly hated me for what I'd done, and I didn't blame him. He and Riku had been close, so close it made me a bit jealous.

Sports was a mess, Terra being absent—replaced by a lame substitute who spent the whole period on his phone—and the whole team in a riot and at loss for what to do, seeing as Nationals were in barely a week.

"We're fucked—"

"—how are we supposed to score any fucking goals without that dumbass?"

"Who does he think he is—"

"—I need to get into college, man—"

"If he's not here for Nationals—"

"We'll figure something out."

It was exhausting, and I knew they were all trying really hard not to blame me, even though it was undeniably my fault.

Kairi and I were back to what I hoped was normal, and even if we were just friends, it was better than nothing.

I'd spent enough time worrying about Riku the previous night, and I decided to go visit him after school, if he was home, that is. I'd apologize to him, probably somehow get the rest of the school to get over it, and that would be it. It seemed simple, at least in my head.

I tried to steer conversation away from Riku as much as possible, which was proper hard since that was all anyone was talking about, but people seemed to get the hint that I didn't feel like talking about it, so they stopped, which was nice. It was weird though, having everyone hang onto my every word, like anything I said was law. I wasn't really sure I liked it, if I was comfortable with everyone 'worshiping' me.

So I tried to be nice to everyone, to make it pretty clear I didn't "rule" the school or anything, and people seemed to appreciate it. It only made sense though. I knew how being bullied felt like, and I didn't want anyone else to go through the same thing, much less be the one bullying.

I wasn't about to break my promise to Kairi, and to be honest if felt nice, knowing she cared about me that much. I didn't think I was changing that drastically; I was just learning how to stand up for myself more, but it never hurt to be careful. I'd always been somewhat of a sucker for peer pressure, I'd been wishing for this—for popularity—for most of my life, but now I was actually at the top…

It was pretty obvious it wasn't all it was put out to be. Sure, it was better than being bullied, but I was absolutely certain I'd give it all up if it meant I could be with Kairi. Our friendship—or whatever it was we had—was way more important than good seats in the cafeteria, countless party invites, everyone knowing my name.

It was even more obvious from the top how prejudiced the social ranking was at our school. Destiny Islands was basically a cesspool of good genes, but obviously, only the cream of the crop reigned supreme. No one cared unless you were rich, good-looking or had connections. Everyone basically fell into cliques, because that was basically the only way anyone survived around here.

And it irked me. I hated cliques, I hated social ranking, and I knew the only way anything would change was if I at least attempted to do something about it. And since it was basically follow-the-leader at North Destiny, I decided I'd start by treating everyone equally and hoping everyone else would at least try to do the same.

* * *

I asked Kairi to come with me to go see Riku; I guess I needed the moral support, and maybe with her there he'd be more inclined to listen. Kairi was a little wary at first, but she agreed. We took the bus to Riku's street, and as we approached his house, my steps started growing heavier and my stomach contorted painfully. I had no idea what I was doing—I was winging it, as usual.

I was 99% sure I'd get the door slammed in my face.

I asked Kairi to knock, since I couldn't stop my hands from shaking, and as she knocked I started counting down the seconds, trying to figure out what I was even going to say to him…

We waited. Kairi knocked again. The door didn't open. She knocked a few more times, and then called his name. No one answered.

"Maybe—maybe he just isn't home yet."

"Maybe."

I'd only ever been to Riku's house a few times, but I remembered there being a back door. I was about to go round the back when a car pulled up in the driveway, and my heart lurched to my throat.

It was Sephiroth.

Kairi looked terrified, looking like she was about to make a run for it, and I held her hand tightly as Sephiroth emerged from the car and walked up to us, his briefcase in hand and his oddly ever-present sword slung over his back. He gave us a deadpan glance, eyes lifeless and bored. "You do realize what you delinquents are doing is called trespassing, and could get you two arrested."

He started unlocking the front door. I felt Kairi tug my arm, motioning for us to go. I shook my head, determined to get something out of him. "I'm not leaving until you tell me where Riku is."

He paused his actions, the name seemingly striking something within him. He turned to me, and he just looked…tired. He looked at least ten years older than he usually did, and it scared me. "I am just as clueless as you are, though it is funny that you should ask."

I swallowed thickly. He glanced at Kairi, a look of recognition flashing through his eyes, and then they went back to being empty, and he turned back to the door, and he closed the door behind him.

* * *

"Maybe he'll be back tomorrow."

"Maybe."

* * *

Kairi had to go to therapy—she'd started seeing a therapist during spring break, apparently, but she refused to tell me why—and I had to go to work, so we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

Work was uneventful; I didn't have any photoshoots for another week while they brought in the new outfits for the fall/winter issue. Neku and Shiki had a pointless fight, and Beat was obsessed with an irritating Jay-Z song and by the time Noel let me go I was in a less than stellar mood.

I bought myself an ice cream, to cheer myself up after the disappointing evening, and then walked home, the sun beating down relentlessly. The wind was barely doing anything, and by the time I got home I had sweat patched under my arms bigger than a Blitzball.

I was about to open the door when someone opened it for me—it was Roxas' friend, that redheaded guy I'd seen with him a few times. He barely glanced at me, muttering an apology before pushing past me and climbing into the truck he'd parked haphazardly next to a tree.

Mom wasn't back yet, as usual, and I assumed Roxas must have been upstairs since he wasn't in the living room. "Roxas?" He didn't answer, and I frowned, curious, heading to our room.

Roxas was there, leaning against the only wall that wasn't covered by posters (my wall), his mouth half-open and his eyes distant. He wasn't really frowning, but he wasn't really smiling either—he just looked mindblown and sort confused, like he'd just discovered something shocking.

I set down my schoolbag and cautiously approached him, waving my hand in front of his face. "Hello? Earth to Roxas?"

He let out a pained groan before sinking to the ground, cradling his head in his hands. "God, fucking fuck this is so fucking fucked up, Jesus."

I stared at him, trying to figure out what kind of internal battle was going on—I'd dedicated the past few weeks of my life to basically giving up on him since he refused to talk, but I wasn't about to let him drift out of my reach like I'd done with Riku. Plus, Roxas was my brother. I tried to think of what his problem was—did it have to do with Dad, with Zack, with Namine…or maybe— "Axel?" I barely remembered his name. "Does this have to do with Axel?"

Roxas swallowed thickly, running a tired hand down his face. "Yes." He leaned his head back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling before letting his eyes fall back in level with mine, and before I could say anything he mumbled: "He kissed me."

* * *

…**DON'T KILL ME. **

**I'd like to start by saying I wrote 50% of this on a plane, so yeah. And I'm running on jetlag right now; I'm determined to post this before I go back to school in two days. Woop de doo.**

**So yeah plot twist upon plot twist. Don't worry, this isn't becoming an AkuRoku fic…I suck at writing slash anyway. ;)**

**I promise you more fluff in the next chapter, and a whole lot of other…stuff. Yadda yadda. **

**I'd like to thank all the reviewers, and I'm going to try and get back to replying to all of your reviews etc etc. You guys deserve it.**

…**also have any of you guys played KH3D. I don't want to give any spoilers but KH3D IS BASICALLY INCEPTION YOU WILL CRY AFTER FINISHING IT IT'S BASICALLY A BIG GIANT MINDFXCK TBH. **

**And Riku looks like sex on a cracker and—what am I even saying.**

* * *

**Sneek Peek:**

"_This is Kairi."_

"_You can't fix everything, Sora."_

"…_what does this mean?"_

"_Thank you."_

* * *

**Read, review, like you always do. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MANY REVIEWS THIS STORY IS GETTING THOUGH OMG. THANK YOU SO MUCH. **

**XX **


	37. Young Blood

**A/N: HEY GUYS. MISSED ME. I BET YOU DID. **

**I KNOW YOU ALL HATE MY BY NOW. TWO MONTHS IS UNFORGIVEABLE. I ACTUALLY CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S TAKEN ME THIS LONG TO UPDATE, AND I FEEL LIKE A TERRIBLE PERSON, AND WHAT EVEN IS ANYTHING RIGHT NOW TBH. **

**In all honesty, I've been busy, and, on top of that, I've been procrastinating. Probs not the best combination huh?**

**So without further ado, the thirty-seventh chapter of Addicted. I'm probably going to wrap this up at forty tbh. Wooo. **

**About this chapter: A lot of fluff and yeah. Sort of a filler chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH or any of the songs used in this chapter, unfortunately. Sigh. **

**This chapter was inspired by **_**Young Blood,**_**The Naked And the Famous.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_The Songstresses win. Duh._

"It actually hurts to smile this much. God."

_Kairi and I decide to stick to being friends. _

"I'm sorry, I just…need a little time…to figure things out."

_We go looking for Riku. _

"I am just as clueless as you are, though it is funny that you should ask."

_And Roxas has a whole nother issue to deal with. _

"He kissed me."

* * *

**Chapter 37: Young Blood**

I stared at Roxas, watching as the color spread rapidly across his cheeks, tingeing the tips of his ears. His lips were parted, slightly swollen and curved in an almost-frown, and he winced as he realized what he'd just said.

I didn't know much about Axel, apart from his name and that he hung out with Roxas a lot. From the few times I'd bumped into him, I knew he and Roxas were close—just not_ that _close.

I took a seat in front of him, folding my legs beneath me and making myself comfortable. "Um." I cleared my throat, preparing myself for a long, awkward talk. "Roxas, if—if there's anything you want to tell me—"

"I'm not _gay_," Roxas cut me off immediately, shooting down my first suspicion altogether.

"Are you sure? Because if you are I'm completely okay with it. It's not like I've never had my suspicions—"

"Sora. Shut up."

I laughed as his cheeks only colored a darker shade of red. "I'm just kidding." I added, serious. "But is Axel…? Like I said, I'm not going to judge—"

"Shut up for fucksake—I never should have told you…" He groaned into his palms.

"I'm just trying to help." I shrugged, not letting his cold demeanor put me off. I shuffled closer to him, placing my hands on my lap. "C'mon then."

His lips were set in a thin line, but he hesitated. "I—Axel and I…he was mad at me and we yelled at each other for a bit and then he out of fucking nowhere kisses me—I've known him for years and he's always been a little hands-on and touchy and he makes jokes about banging guys and—I just never thought he—fuck what if he and Dem—and Larxene—"

"You need to _breathe_," I suggested, giving him an awkward pat on the shoulder. He was saying almost everything in one breath, and it was starting to get hard to hear what he was saying.

He gave a slow nod, cursing under his breath and rubbing the base of his palms into his eyes. He drew his bottom lip between his teeth and let out a frustrated sigh before getting to his feet. He pulled out a pack of smokes, digging in his pocket for a lighter, and started heading out the door. "I need to get out for a bit."

I didn't protest, even if I was a little miffed we'd been cut short, and let him leave. I decided to clean up the mess the room was in—Roxas had obviously been sorting through his mixtapes a lot and hadn't bothered to do the laundry, judging from the huge pile of dirty clothes next to his bunk. The pages of the Book were still littered all over the place from when I'd had what I'd dubbed an 'episode', and the whole room looked like an absolute pigsty.

I sighed and got to work, starting with Roxas' side of the room because he hadn't cleaned it in at least half a year and I'd gotten tired of waiting. I stacked up his mixtapes and wrote a note threatening to burn them if he didn't stop leaving them all over the place, took out his laundry and threw away his trash. The room looked somewhat empty without his guitar—I assumed Namine was still borrowing it.

I finished cleaning up Roxas' mess and moved on to mine, and I was picking up the ripped out pages when one bold title in particular caught my attention.

It was obviously from the last chapter of the book, or the epilogue, and for some reason I felt like it was directed to me.

_~*~So you've achieved the unachievable, what now?~*~_

_So you've gotten to the top of the social ladder. What happens now?_

_First of all, enjoy it! Don't turn down invitations unless abs necessary, and don't be too forward. If that football player asks you out and you aren't interested, decline, but don't come off as a bitch. If you're all for it, accept, but don't come off as desperate. _

_But remember—if you don't want to do something, don't do it! Make it clear what you like and don't like. Sometimes popularity can make you forget who you are. Change the bad but keep the good. Don't let your morals change all that much just because of your newfound ranking. _

_And here's the last thing: __**don't ever forget who your true friends are**__. Popularity can be nice, but don't ever leave your old friends just to obtain new ones. Introduce them! Carry them up the ladder with you! Never turn on an old friend—it can cut deep._

I stared at the paper, not bringing myself to turn it over and read the rest of the bubbly Paris Hilton narration, and just feeling like absolute shit. It was like God was out to make me feel as guilty as I possibly could.

I crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash with the rest. I swallowed down the growing lump in my throat and focused on finishing up, ignoring the voice in my head screaming at me to go look for him. I knew that was ridiculous. I had no idea where he was or where I was supposed to find him. I'd thought I'd known a lot about him—his favourite coffee shop, favourite food, where he bought his underwear, where he got drunk on weekends (or so he told me), where he and his friends went on ditch days. I knew his favourite song, his favourite movie, TV show, shoe brand—but I knew that Kairi knew more. She probably had a good idea of where he might have been right now, maybe we could—

I stopped myself before I let that thought continue. I didn't want Kairi feeling any guiltier than she needed to. I'd ruined everything, yet she still insisted on taking the blame.

Asking her to go look for him with me would probably just make everything worse.

She needed a break, after everything she'd gone through, and I didn't want to admit it but I did too. Zack and my mom, Roxas and his relationship problems, school in general, Riku, Xion, Namine and whatever was going on with her…I'd go look for him, but for now I just needed to take a step away from it all. And so did Kairi.

We both did.

And so I dedicated the next week to making her forget.

* * *

_We're only young and naive still_

_We require certain skills_

_The mood it changes like the wind_

_Hard to control when it begins_

* * *

I didn't know what it was, but all of a sudden I felt restless, eager to do things, to go places. Ideas were swarming around my head like bees, almost spontaneously, and I could barely concentrate on school since all I could think about was what else I could be doing instead of sitting in class.

I tried not to let it show though, especially when my friends were involved. The Blitz team were stressed as hell for their game, and the school in itself was still trying to come to terms with the recent events and slip back into normalcy. Thankfully enough, people had gotten the hint that I wanted to put the Riku thing behind me, so they didn't bring him up.

As I got to know everyone who I'd previously been too scared to even walk past in the hallways, I began to appreciate waking up for school every day. I'd always liked people, finding out about their likes, dislikes, secrets, peeves, what made them tick, what got the cogs turning. I'd never really had the chance before, since everyone either avoided me or made my life miserable, but I'd managed with Riku, and Kairi, so I thought why not?

I started out by finding out common facts about them from mutual friends, like who their first kiss was or their favorite TV show. I lied to a few of them—the guys especially—about my favourite television shows, but I let myself go with the girls, because at least then we had a common topic to discuss.

As time went on, I discovered Shuyin. He was a surfer who'd lived on the islands for most of his life. He'd been adopted by Tidus' parents at a young age, and they'd moved from Zanarkand, their hometown, to the Islands to start a new life. Shuyin wasn't bothered that much by the fact that he never knew his parents because he was too young to remember anything about them, and he liked his life as it was anyway. He and Lenne had started out as friends with benefits while she was dating Riku (he didn't elaborate any further and I didn't even try to asks questions) and then as soon as they'd broken up they became a couple. Shuyin liked seafood, surfing and sparring, and he liked Blitzball but didn't want it to be his fulltime job, unlike Tidus, who basically worshipped the sport.

Yuna and Tidus were the new power couple and a lot brighter as a result. Yuna no longer had that judging scowl on permanently—Tidus seemed to have that effect on her. It was cute. They weren't as nauseating to be around as Lenne and Shuyin at least. Yuna was sweet and Tidus was obviously still a bit wary of me, but I noticed him gradually starting to soften around me and letting his boyish personality shine through a little bit.

Lenne was pretty and sassy and talked about sex a lot, but she was fun and likeable when she wasn't playing tonsil hockey with her boyfriend.

Rikku was athletic, loud and really touchy. When her hands weren't in my hair they were around my neck or on my shoulder, and it only slightly relaxed me knowing she was the same with everyone else.

Yuffie, well, we already had a little history, what with that afternoon we'd spent together in my bedroom, and she was just as quirky and bouncy as she had been back then. She was the easiest to get along with, and her bubbliness was almost contagious. Hanging out with her was refreshing, and she brought a certain liveliness to the group.

Wakka was the hardest to crack of them all—all I managed to find out about him was that he liked Blitzball and was raised on the same island as Yuna. He called me Porcupie every once in a while because apparently the nickname stuck, but he smiled when he said it and it stopped feeling like an insult.

I got to know little things about everyone I could, and soon enough I felt comfortable enough to call them my friends. It was all a bit much to take in at first, but I got used to it.

My only worry was that they wouldn't warm up to the rest of my friends as they did to me. Snow and Vaan weren't a problem, since they were on the team and talked to the guys at least thrice a week anyway, and Serah was already somewhat relevant since she was on the glee club, but Penelo and Lightning were a lot harder to get used to. Lightning was relatively cold with people she didn't know, and Penelo had had that whole episode with the cheer team.

But luckily enough there wasn't really anything to worry about, at least not that I knew of, and Penelo seemed to fit in effortlessly with them and Lightning quickly discovered that Rikku was also into cosplay and Serah fluttered around with Snow looking adorable and Vaan and Tidus acted like we'd all been friends for years and everything was just perfect really.

And soon enough arrangements were being made and I quickly discovered that they had this tradition where all the guys crashed at each other's' houses at least once a week and all of a sudden we—or I, especially—were being called up for a movie or a few drinks or some video games. And Shuyin started to grow on me and Tidus seemed to be slowly forgetting and Snow and Wakka were best mates and we had inside jokes and for the first time in ages I got to experience what it was like to be in a friend circle.

Of course there were times when they'd make a joke that left me completely clueless, or when I had to basically fork through the Swear Jar for enough munny to afford whatever outrageously pricey chill spot we were going to, or when my dyslexia and ADHD and all round clumsiness earned me odd looks, but other than that I seemed to fit in quite nicely, without losing myself in the process. And there'd be times I'd imagine Riku there with us when we were playing Grand Theft Auto because I knew he swept the floor with Grand Theft Auto or when we were practicing for Drama and we'd all be singing and there'd be the strongest voice in the room that was painfully missing or when we'd be going out for a drink and I'd swear I'd heard Riku's teasing laugh and his playful taunts about how I was such a lightweight and what did I think I was doing going out drinking when I was 99% insured to pass out after the third shot.

But those times were few and almost insignificant and I quickly learnt to brush it off. I really did like spending time with them.

But nothing beat spending time with Kairi.

* * *

_The bittersweet between my teeth_

_Trying to find the in-betweens_

_Fall back in love eventually_

* * *

We both had our plans, but I always made sure my schedule was clear and that every day we had something different to do. When we'd just started out our new friendship at the start of the year, Kairi had been the adventurous one; she'd been the one who'd reminded me of how much fun going outside and doing random things had been for me before high school had ruined it all. The summer had brought back the thrill and the surge of ideas I'd lost for so long. We went down to the beach once or twice—because it was summer and you couldn't just not go to the beach when it was seven hundred degrees outside. We'd run into some people from school there quite a lot though, so sometimes we went to the Cove. It had been Riku and I's private spot, but Kairi didn't need to know that.

We'd talk as we'd stroll and I'd watch her talk and I'd watch her stroll and we'd sometimes just sit on the sand and consume popsicle after popsicle until our hands and faces were sticky and we were too full to move so we'd just lie down on the sand and soak up the sun until is sank into the horizon.

Other days were a bit more adventurous. We got some leftover paint from Kairi's garage and decorated our street, since the grey concrete had gotten boring ages ago and it needed a little livening up anyway. Kairi was a lot better at drawing than me, but it was paint so it honestly didn't matter. We were both pretty happy with our artwork, but we were busted and forced to clean it up by the pregnant lady from across the street who dubbed it "vandalism" and said threatened to report us to the police. We'd always been on good terms, pregnant lady and I, but she was obviously in a bad mood and I didn't want to have to deal with her hormonal rage, so we spent the rest of the evening hosing down the concrete—and eventually each other.

I had the brilliant idea to say yes to every opportunity that we were presented with starting from three thirty after school, and Kairi ended up tagging along with me as I ended up doing everything from accepting a few flyers here and there to signing up for a contemporary dance class and renting a motorbike.

"Do you even know how to ride one?"

"Not in the slightest, but life's all about taking risks isn't it? A wise young woman once told me nothing good will ever come out of being afraid of the unfamiliar."

"You're crazy."

"Batshit crazy."

She talked me out of agreeing to shelter a dozen abandoned cats and insisted we go home before I did anything else stupid, but she was fighting back a smile, I could see it in her eyes.

Of course there were days when schedules conflicted and we couldn't always spend as much time with each other as I would have liked—Kairi had her therapy and I had _Oblivion_. We did try to work around it, but eventually she demanded to know why I couldn't just take her along with me, so I did.

We went after school when she didn't have glee club practice, and despite the fact that it was practically summer Noel was already preparing for the autumn/winter issue. The studio was busy as usual, with the swimsuit models still busy shooting for the several products and fashion magazines they'd be plastered on during the upcoming months, and the assistants running around with carts of clothing and tape measure and the general miscellany. Neku and Shiki were hanging around one of the water fountains, arguing over something pointless again, but Shiki stopped mid rant when she saw us, her eyes lighting up with a mix of curiosity and alarm.

She was in front of us in barely seconds, her smile blindingly white. She adjusted the newsboy cap that was seemingly glued to her head, even though it was a billion degrees even with the loud air conditioning and wearing a hat inside was stupid anyway. "Hello, Sora, Noel needs you in the lounge." Her eyes flitted towards Kairi, who had been scanning the vicinity in awe since we'd set foot in the place. "Who's your friend?"

"Shiki, this is Kairi. Kairi, Shiki." I gave Shiki a light tap on the shoulder. "When she's not flirting with every breathing member of the opposite sex or pissing everyone off she can be a pretty decent designer."

She stuck out her tongue at me, feigning hurt, and I pouted right back at her just as Neku came strolling over, his hands in his pockets and an odd look on his face as he looked Kairi up and down from behind his collar. He gave a small nod and muttered his name, still obviously bristled by something Shiki had said before we interrupted their argument.

"Neku," Shiki provided, looking like she was about to throw her arm around his back, but deciding against it at the last minute. "He models for electronics. Headphones and shit?"

Neku shifted his head slightly in some sort of nod, not making any move to extend his hand for a handshake. He said something about needing a drink and I waited until I was sure he couldn't hear me before giving Kairi's shoulder a consolatory squeeze. "He's like this with everyone, at least until he warms up to you."

Kairi nodded absently, her eyes still roaming the place curiously. A pack of male models walked past us on their way to some kind of erotic perfume photoshoot judging by the fact that they all had ridiculous spray tans on and nothing much else. A few of them whistled obnoxiously at Shiki and Kairi, Shiki showing them the back of her middle finger, as usual, and Kairi lifting her hand up slightly in a nervous wave.

We took her to see the others—Rhyme, Beat and Joshua—who took a liking to her immediately. Rhyme commented on Kairi's hair color, Joshua smiled, and Beat and Kairi launched into a debate on the relevance of R'n'B and whether or not dubstep was considered music. Disregarding the fact that about fifteen minutes into the discussion they looked about ready to rip each other's hair out, they seemed to hit it off pretty well.

I left her with the rest while I went to get measured and try on a few more outfits, and by the time the hour rolled around and I was let off, Kairi seemed to have completely melded with the group, looking like she'd been part of the circle for years.

She was in a good mood on the way home, all smiles and bright eyes, which meant I'd accomplished what I'd been hoping to. She seemed to have, at least momentarily, forgotten about everything that sucked. I didn't see the familiar worried crease in her brow, or the tentative look in her eyes she'd had ever since Sunday.

She was still glowing as we stopped off at the corner store for some groceries, and I shook my head fondly at her as she spoke about how Rhyme was and how talented Shiki was and were Neku and Shiki dating cause— "What?"

I laughed, snapping out of my train of thought, feeling strangely light. "I don't know. I just. You really seem to've hit it off with them."

Her smile reached her eyes. "They're lovely, I've only known them for like an hour but they're funny and tight and—I feel like I can start over with them, you know?"

I did know. Her lips thinned as she tried not to let me notice her smile wavering, but I'd known her long enough. I reached out to take her hand, pressing the bases of my fingers into her palm in a comforting squeeze. She looked at me from underneath her eyelashes, some sort of weak, choked laugh bubbling from her throat. She slipped her hand out of my grip and leaned into my chest, letting her hands fall loose beside her. We stood there, in the middle of the store, her forehead pressed against the crook of my neck. I could feel her breathing and it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable—it just felt _right_, like she was always there to begin with. I could barely remember what it was like without her there.

I felt her fear, the faint shiver that racked her bones; if I wasn't pressed so close to her, I might have missed it. I could almost feel how helpless, lost, and most of all _tired _she felt, behind the smile she'd plastered on and won me over with. Every inch, every ounce of my being ached in the insatiable desire to stop it, to alleviate the pain she was living with. I wanted to hold her and keep her safe and whisper promises I vowed to keep until the pain, hurt and fear dissolved into nothing, to keep that bright smile forever on her lips.

But I knew I couldn't do it alone. Keeping a secret this big between the both of us, it wasn't only selfish but damaging, dangerous. I wasn't experienced enough—I was eternally capable of saying the wrong thing. I didn't know what could trigger her or if I'd know how to handle it if she had another breakdown. And she had to tell someone else, someone who wasn't me. I had to push away my desire to be her knight in shining armor and think about what was best for her. I'd probably fall off my horse if I tried too hard to blindly gallop to her rescue.

"You have to tell someone," I said, finally. I felt her flinch and curl her fingers into fistfuls of my shirt. She stayed like that for a solid five seconds before releasing her grip. I could hear her teeth pressing together, purse her lips. She tilted her head up slightly, keeping her eyes trained on the base of my neck, like she was reluctant to look me in the eye.

"But—I already—"

"No, I mean." I sighed. "Someone who isn't…me. Like. I don't know if I'm enough, if I can deal with—" I backtracked as she started to squirm. "Wait—I mean, this isn't just some secret about your crush, Kairi. It's big—and I have absolutely no experience with this. Like, none. I just feel like—like telling someone else could really help."

"But I'm _fine_—"

"I don't mean anyone from school, just someone who you can talk to—"

"I said I'm _fine_," she insisted, getting irritated. "I don't need this—"

"_I need this_." And I did, it shocked the both of us how sincere I sounded. I knew I'd eventually go crazy if I had to keep everything bottled up any longer, and I needed to know I wasn't the only one she could rely on. Sure, it was flattering, but it was horribly scary being the only one able to keep her from teetering off the edge.

Kairi seemed to see this. Her irritation faded, her frown waned and she inhaled deeply through her nose. "Fine. Fine I—I'll—yeah." She nodded slowly, playing with my hands. "I'll t-tell Arecia, after school tomorrow—"

"I'll go with you."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

We left immediately after the final bell, blowing off any plans we might have had and jumping on the first bus to Arecia, who I assumed was Kairi's shrink. Kairi was nervous, anxious even—I could feel it in the steel grip she held on my fingers.

She was pale white by the time we got to the clinic and looked about ready to throw up. Her feet dragged all up until we got to the front doors, stopping entirely and pretty much gluing her in place. "I don't—"

"I'm here with you, okay?" I assured her, not letting go of her hand—not like I could anyway. She nodded slowly, turning to the front desk to get her hall pass. The receptionist asked for my name, and Kairi mumbled something about how I was relevant before taking me along with her.

Arecia was a pretty middle-aged woman with glasses and a pouf of wavy hair. She looked calculating but warm at the same time, a look that only shrinks knew how to master. It baffled me. Her lips thinned in a faux-warm smile, but her eyes looked genuinely curious. "Hello, Kairi. Seen you've brought a friend?"

"Yeah, this…this is Sora."

Arecia's eyes seemed to widen for a second in recognition, but the look disappeared in a splitsecond; I could have been dreaming. "Ah. Sora. Nice to meet you."

We exchanged pleasantries for a solid five minutes and I was about to get into an in depth rant about my dad before I realized what she was doing. I scowled at her and she laughed, her eyes shining with private delight. "Right. Now that I've had a little fun getting into your friend's head, let's talk about you, shall we? How was your day?"

Kairi hesitated, opened her mouth to say something, stopped. She glanced at me, pulling her eyes away slowly to look down at her clasped hands. "There's something I need…to tell you." She licked her lips, squeezing my knee. "In—in private."

I stared at her, met her gaze, mouthed "you sure?". She gave me a short nod, yes. I thought of attempting to stay but thought against it. I trusted her enough to tell, and if she wanted to tell her in private, who was I to stop her.

I got to my feet and gave her a pat on the forehead, because I wasn't sure kissing her in the same spot was acceptable just yet. And then I took a seat in the waiting lounge and waited.

She came out at least an hour later, cheeks damp yet glowing. Her eyes were slightly swollen and she looked like she'd been crying, but there was a certain buoyancy to the way she walked, like she was walking on clouds. It was weird, but I could almost see the enormous weight that had been lifted off her shoulders. The peaceful smile. She might not have been _happy_ per se, but she felt safe.

And that was all that mattered, really.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Friday rolled around and Riku still hadn't shown up. It had been two weeks now, and it was more than obvious the rest of the team had given up hope.

"Well we might as well wave goodbye to any chance of winning in Sunday," Shuyin muttered, leaning back into the locker in defeat. His hair was still damp and he hadn't even bothered to put on his shirt yet. Neither had that many others—it had been a pretty disastrous week for all of us. Not having Riku had a bigger impact than I'd thought it would have. He was the glue that kept everyone together; there was a big hole where he'd used to be and now the whole team was falling apart. It wasn't like they weren't good players—because they were—but not having a team captain kind of threw them all off. The two obvious choices were Wakka and Shuyin, but Shuyin lacked in leadership skills and no one understood a word Wakka said, so.

"Maybe we should just pull out," someone suggested. "We don't stand a chance without—"

"Stop putting yourselves down!" I urged, getting a bit irritated with them. "You're all great players—Riku wasn't the only one scoring."

"Don't even try and say he's not the reason we made it this far, though."

I shook my head. "He isn't. The reason you guys got this far is because of teamwork, and because you're all pretty kickass players if I'm being honest. So yeah—Riku isn't here anymore, and I guess I have to take the blame for that—"

Shuyin looked guilty all of a sudden. "Don't—"

"No, it's okay, it was my fault, and because it's my fault, it only makes sense that I repay you guys in some way."

An air of confusion swept the room.

My mind was doing that thing where it let me speak before processing what I was about to say first, which sucked. "I'll take his place. I'll take you guys to the Finals."

They all stared at me, a few of them even snorting.

After a while, Shuyin laughed. "Funny."

I frowned, and Tidus looked bemused. "Wait—you're serious."

"Yeah." I added. "You guys need a frontman, and I'm a sub, so it works, right?"

They started murmuring, and the taller blond scratched the back of his head. "Look, Sora, I love you and all but you can't actually…you're not the best…um…"

"I don't _have _to play," I reasoned. "Like, I can just be there to be the eleventh player, to block people and like. You know."

They still looked dubious. I huffed a sigh in exasperation. "I'm offering a lifeline here. I don't actually give a fuck if I can't play for shit to be honest; I'm here and it's my fault Riku's not and it's the least I could do. If you really don't want me in the arena and would rather take any of the others then fine, but I assure you even if I might suck I'm the best of the worst and if you don't have eleven players you can't play on Sunday."

I dumped the pile of towels I was holding on a nearby rack, grabbed my water bottle and bookbag and stormed out of the locker room.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I told Kairi what was going on that afternoon over noodles and a rerun of _Gossip Girl_, and she was less than impressed.

"Taking Riku's place as team captain. Really, Sora."

"Why not? I mean, they need an extra player and it's sort of my fault Riku's—" I recoiled. "Yeah."

"You honestly think this is a good idea?"

"I don't—they need my help—"

"No they don't." Kairi sighed. "You need to stop being so damn generous with everyone. You can't fix _everything_, Sora."

"Well I can at least _try_."

We sat in silence, slurping on microwaveable noodles and squirming on the long-due-for-removal couch that sucked at being a couch. I'd long gotten used to the loose springs and I honestly wasn't in a hurry to get a new sofa. Kairi had convinced me enough to welcome change, to an extent, but—

"I don't know." Her eyes hadn't strayed from where Nate Archibald and Serena van der Woodsen were on the verge of making out. "I just feel like—like you're spending so much time worrying about other people's problems that you don't spend enough time focusing on your own."

She looked pretty sincere. I laughed. "Kairi, don't. I'm—I _like_ helping people out, playing the hero, whatever. I'm fine." I patted her on the knee with the hand that wasn't holding lunch. "And if I ever need help, you'll be there for me, right?"

She smiled. "Yeah. Of course I will."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

As Sunday drew closer, the nervousness I didn't know I was harboring got worse and worse, and by Sunday morning I was about ready to pull out altogether. I almost considered sleeping in and making up some lame excuse for not showing up, but then I got a text from Shuyin and about six other guys on the team and I couldn't bring myself to betray them. I'd seen enough games and friendlies to see how much it meant to them, especially Shuyin and Wakka, who were graduating this year. Their dreams of getting into colleges sort of depended on them winning this game. Apparently there'd be scouters at the game—there always were at National tournaments, and this was their chance to show them what they had.

My mind strayed briefly to Riku, and what he was planning on doing about college. He'd missed two weeks of school and we barely had a month and a half left before the end of junior year and the standardized testing…and then there was senior year and preparing for college and if he wasn't back before then—

I tried not to focus on that for too long, instead thinking about what my action plan was. The whole decision had been impulsive.

The arrangement was to meet up at Shuyin's and take the plane to Radiant Garden, where the Nationals were taking place. It was a forty-five minute flight, but I hadn't been on a plane in ages so I spent the whole flight with my fingernails digging into the upholstery. When we finally got off the plane, I barely had any time to gather myself; we were hit by a swift breeze, the cold hitting us like a slap on the face.

Radiant Garden was a lot chillier this time of year than back on the Islands—hell, it was fucking freezing. Gardeners were walking around in shorts and sleeveless tops like it was the middle of July, something I absolutely failed to comprehend.

"How the _hell _are we going to swim in this weather?" I demanded, my teeth beginning to rattle together already. "It's the fricking Arctic."

"We brought suits," Tidus said, like it was obvious. He didn't seem to be that bothered by the cold—but the warm-looking snow-coat he was wearing probably had something to do with it. "Plus the water's warm once you get used to it."

I took his word for it and followed along as we headed to the away school. Terra was leading the way, his jaw set in a line, the way it had been for the past few weeks. He'd been reluctant to let me on the team at first, but Shuyin had somehow convinced him and the fact that he was running a little low on willpower recently helped and he yielded.

I marveled at how different the Garden was from the Islands. I hadn't been here since I was born. Not only was the weather like a billion degrees lower, but the people there looked different too—more urban, metropolitan, not as crazy and fun-loving as those back home. Yuffie had told me once that she had relatives who lived there. I'd seen a fair share of Radiant Garden fashion—thick boots, fur jackets and shorts, denim and wool and hardly any polyester, but I'd always thought it was just a caricature. Just like Islanders wore excessive amounts of thin, sleek beach clothes, the Gardeners were decked like it was constantly snow season, even though the sky was clear. Or at least I thought it was. The sky was such a complex colour—blues and purples and oranges and pinks—and I wondered if it somehow reflected the conflicting emotions of the residents of the Garden, or if it was just the industries ruining the environment.

Pence from the Yearbook Committee—who'd insisted on coming along to take photos for the Yearbook in case we won—informed me that the reason the air smelt like flowers and fresh bread was to ward off the stench of radioactive waste. _Nice. _

I was so busy reminiscing on what it would have been like to grow up in this place, like Kairi had, that I barely noticed when we arrived at the school. It was a lot larger than ours, probably because it was the only school in the city, apparently. I wondered if Kairi had gone to school here. I wondered if she liked it.

I wondered if…that guy…the one who'd hurt her…I wondered if he was here.

I didn't really have that many leads. Kairi had never brought up his appearance—I never asked her to. I was content assuming anyone there could have been her assaulter, which put me on edge. I figured this was a good thing, since I was going to be competing in barely minutes.

The arena was larger than ours, and a lot more fanciful. The stands were full and bustling, and the water in the Blitz Arena looked spotless. I wondered if it was warm.

Our swimsuits were a lot more convenient than the Speedos or swim trunks the team wore back in the Islands, and I was more than grateful. They may have been navy and white and looked a little ridiculous, but they were better than nothing. I could pass off as a mildly-attractive surfer or something.

Before the coach called us over to gather, Shuyin pulled the team into a huddle. They all gathered around me, and it took me a while to realize. "Oh—you want _me _to say something?"

A few of them groaned, and I let out a nervous laugh. "Um. Okay then." I cleared my throat, spouting out the first thing that came to my mind.

"Children, gather round! No retreat, no surrender; that is Spartan lore. And by Spartan lore we will stand and fight…and die. A new age has begun. An age of freedom, and all will know, that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it!"

They all stared blankly at me by the time I had finished.

"Did…did you just quote 300."

"No."

For some reason they found this funny, and as they all dispersed to give their outfits one last touch-up, Shuyin even gave me a pat on the back (and the only reason I didn't topple over was because I'd become accustomed to his whacks every once in a while).

Terra called us over, looking like he was holding back a sigh. His eyebrows knitted together as he put on his serious face, trying to push back his inner turmoil and focus on giving us all a pep talk. He hadn't been succeeding that well for the past few weeks. "You're going to go out there and kick ass, understand me? You've been working too hard for this." He glanced at Shuyin and Wakka as he said this, the only two seniors in the team. "There're scouters out there—from Spira and all those other top colleges—and you need to show them that you deserve a place on their squad, understand?"

We all chorused in response, and he attempted to give us a group hug until he realized it was impossible and just patted a few of us on the back instead.

We all assembled at the gates, waiting for the blare of the klaxon horn.

* * *

Thirty minutes later and we were in the arena, the opening processions had come and gone, and the game had begun.

And I'd been hoping by some stroke of luck I'd have miraculously developed the ability to launch killer throws right across the enemy lines, outswim all the hunky players on the offensive and possibly hold my breath underwater for more than five seconds.

But the reality was exactly the opposite.

I still, for lack of better word, sucked.

I knew enough about the rules of Blitzball from months spent watching happily from the sidelines, but once we were in the arena I threw it all into the wind. I tried throwing the ball and catching passes and possibly even blocking a few people from scoring, but I soon realized I was doing more harm than good. By the time the Gardeners scored their fifth goal of the game, the rest of the team were visibly getting fed up with me.

I made it my goal to stay out of the way after that, doing my best to avoid any ball that came my way and serve as a distraction instead. And for a while this worked. We slowly but surely climbed higher up the score chart, Shuyin and Tidus an unstoppable force without me in the way. Their passes were flaw-free and they seemed able to hold their breath underwater for impossible amounts of time, and I felt incredibly inadequate.

We were a point behind the opposing team five to six when the ball came my way again, ripping through the water at an unreal speed.

Now I could have ignored it and let it bounce harmlessly off the side of the arena and probably into one of my teammates' waiting arms, but they'd all been too busy tackling another opponent and were obviously not going to get to the ball in time to retrieve it before one of the Gardeners did.

Before I even had time to think about what my next plan of action would be, the ball had already landed in my hand, choosing this one time to stay in my grasp, and for a split-second everything stopped.

And then I saw Shuyin, somehow managing to yell underwater, gesturing wildly for me to run with the ball.

So I did.

I wasn't the fastest swimmer, but I was easily the skinniest in the arena, which played to my advantage. By the time the rest of the offensive finally got round to acknowledging my existence, I was halfway across the pool, frantically swimming to the goal. I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but I was high on adrenaline and I could hear the current rushing through my ears and feel the water bubbling as the opponents grew closer and closer. I could almost hear the sound of my bones cracking when they finally caught up with me and snapped me in half.

I was sure I was dead meat when just at the last moment I heard another figure appear out of nowhere and tackle my pursuer out of the chase, and I would have let out a sigh of relief if I wasn't, you know, running for my life or underwater.

I was rapidly approaching the opposing goal, the line pretty much paved for me, and I stopped right before the goal line, frantically looking for someone to pass the ball to.

But no one was free to take the ball, and time was rapidly running out. We had barely a minute left in the game, a minute left before it was all over. And I was running out of air—I was pushing my limits enough as it was.

I panicked, completely at loss at what to do, feeling the water pull me in nine-hundred different directions, hearing the indignant screams of the people in the stands, hearing Shuyin and Tidus and Wakka's desperate muffled calls—and then, seemingly out of nowhere, came Yuffie's voice:

"HURRY THE FUCK UP AND THROW THE GODDAMN BALL YOU TWAT!"

…and so I did.

It was a clumsy throw, and with hardly as much power I would have wished it to have, because I was still relatively scrawny and we were fucking underwater and—

It hit the goalpost, stumbled, and fell gracefully across the goal line.

It took a while for it to sink in.

And then I opened my mouth, and screamed.

I'd actually scored. I'd actually scored a fucking goal in a Blitzball tournament game and _not _failed. I'd done it. I'd taken us to a draw. We actually had a chance of winning I couldn't believe we—

…and then I realized I was still underwater, and that humans couldn't breathe underwater, and—well, fuck.

* * *

**Not my best, and probably not worth the wait—like, at all. But I'm already working on the next one and the next chapter of Angel and I honestly would have made this longer but I feel you guys have waited long enough already, so yeah. **

**Sneek Peek:**

* * *

_"…what does this mean?"_

_"Thank you."_

"_Don't worry about it."_

"…_Riku…left this?"_

* * *

**So yeah. And what are your thoughts on KH 1.5? R&R and all that jazz. I'll make it up to you, I promise. **

**X **


	38. Girls Like You

**A/N: Thirty-eighth chapter. I'm both excited and scared. **

**About this chapter: Fluff-filled to the brim, trust me. **

**Disclaimer: Nope.**

**Song of the chapter: **_**Girls Like You**__**, **_**The Naked and the Famous.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_I have an epiphany._

"_Never turn on an old friend—it can cut deep."_

_I help Kairi speak._

"You have to tell someone."

_And I make another reckless decision._

"Taking Riku's place as team captain. Really, Sora."

_Which may or may not have backfired._

* * *

**Chapter 38: Girls Like You**

I woke up to a warm towel on my forehead and a roaring in my ears. My throat burned when I inhaled and a harsh cough shook me awake. I grimaced as my eyes got into focus, finding Yuffie looking at me pityingly. She answered the question before I could even ask it. "We didn't win."

Oh.

_Shit_.

"Shit." I groaned, leaning my head against the wall. I was propped up on a bench, in what seemed to be the school infirmary. "_Shit_."

"Hey—don't beat yourself up. We did our best." She patted my knee. "'Sides, you totally showed them up—if you didn't drown right after you scored it would have been a Kodak moment."

I groaned again. "God. How embarrassing."

"'Least you went out with a bang. You look like a freaking octopus on bath salts when you swim, but it's sorta hot."

"Thanks."

"Serious though. Saw some of the flower-bitches checking you out."

I didn't have time to blush before the nurse came in, looking a lot less friendly than the one back home. She sighed, checked my temperature with the back of her hand and patted my shoulder. "You swallowed a lot of water but we took care of it. You might get a sore stomach later on but that's about it. Take some cough drops for your throat; you should be fine." She rattled on like she'd said it a billion times; she probably had.

We headed out after I'd pulled on proper clothes and picked up my stuff, joining the rest of the guys outside. An air of disappointment and unease hung on the air, and no one was smiling.

I felt terrible and guilty and all-round upset and didn't even bother trying to life everyone's spirits up; I was sure they were all pissed with me and I wasn't about to make it worse.

It wasn't until we were back in the train on the way back when I spoke up, to Shuyin. "Look, I'm sorry I—"

"It's not—don't apologize." Shuyin sighed. "Don't take the blame for this. You got us to a tie and we went out on penalties. It's just bad luck I guess."

"But if I didn't suck so bad—"

"It doesn't _matter_, Sora." He attempted to smile. "You were there. That was enough."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I woke up on Tuesday morning to the Winnie the Pooh theme song, and at first I thought I was dreaming—I was sure I'd broken the alarm clock on the first day of school—until the noise was only accentuated with the squeal of party-blowers and someone yelling 'happy birthday' through a megaphone.

I turned over in my bunk, groaning into my pillow as the singing continued. It was Zack and Mum without a doubt, her softer, soothing voice being completely overshadowed by Zack's loud, lively one. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU – HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SORA AND ROXAS—"

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM," Roxas groaned into his pillow. I'd known from experience that tired Roxas was the worst kind of Roxas, and I winced sympathetically for Mom and Zack.

I rolled over on my side, rubbing my eyes. It was obvious I wasn't going to get anymore sleep if they had anything to say about it. "What _time _is it?"

"Seven-thirty. I think." Zack was beaming. "Hurry up and get your ass out of bed—don't you want your presents?"

I sat up immediately. "What." I hadn't had a proper birthday in at least five years, especially with Zack waltzing into our life and everything with work being a bit messy for a few years. My Dad would mail me Disney character plushies every year since he left up until I was twelve and he figured I was too old, and then he just stopped sending anything altogether. I'd stopped being granted parties and I'd stopped asking, but I'd secretly always been envious of people like Riku who got to rent out entire amusement centers.

Roxas perked up as well, but if he was as excited as I was he was doing a much better job not showing it.

Mom and Zack ordered us to get dressed and meet them at breakfast, and I swore I'd never taken a shower so fast in my life. Roxas and I were practically wrestling each other down the stairs, and when we got to the kitchen I choked a gasp.

"Heart Attack!" I almost squealed. Bacon, eggs, sliced bananas—all pleasantly burned to a crisp, just the way they always had been. We hadn't had a fry-up in months and the taste nearly brought tears to my eyes. She'd never been good at frying things and all the good food my Mom had been making lately almost made me miss when she used to suck.

I shoveled the meal into my mouth hungrily as Roxas plunked himself down on the seat opposite me, eyeing the meal unsurely. Zack waltzed into the kitchen holding two packages I assumed were our presents. Mine was considerably smaller than Roxas', which was long and rectangular, while mine box-shaped.

Roxas turned his package over in his hands once or twice before his eyes widened and he hurriedly ripped off the wrapping. He choked back a gasp.

It was a new skateboard. Of course.

Roxas looked like he was struggling not to smile. "I—I don't know what—"

"Don't thank me." Zack patted him on the back. "You needed a new one, we all knew that."

He stared at the skateboard for even longer, running his eyes over the designs. It was sleek and sturdy and urban and looked fricking awesome. "…but thanks. Really."

Zack just smiled, and then he turned to me. "Go on."

I went through the same protocol as Roxas did, feeling up my package curiously, but when a minute passed and I still had no idea what it was, I gave in and started peeling off the gift wrap.

It was a camera, one of those huge, professional old-fashioned ones. It looked antique and had a slot underneath I assumed was where the pictures printed out. It felt good in my hands and had an earthy smell, making it smell both old and new at the same time.

I loved it.

"It's a fairly new model—it was my friend Angeal's idea. A prototype—never kicked off the ground. So I thought—why not?" He grinned. "It's digital but you press that button and you can print them out like a Polaroid. Plus, I think it has a built-in underwater feature…"

I snapped a picture of Roxas to try it out. He had just stuffed an entire fork of fried bananas in his mouth and his expression was priceless. I pressed print and watched as it slowly whirred its way out. "It works!" I waved the developing picture in Roxas' horrified face.

"Don't you dare."

"I don't know, I've been running low on blackmail…"

Roxas made a grab for the picture and I yanked it out of his reach, and he looked about ready to pounce when the school bus beeped its horn outside, signaling our cue to leave.

"Don't make any plans for tonight, ok." Mom kissed us both on the forehead and shooed us out of the kitchen. "We're having dinner—as a family."

A rare occurrence. I assured her I'd be on time before heading to get my bookbag.

I was packing up my things, still admiring my camera when I had an idea.

I honestly didn't feel that much like going to school today.

Besides. It was my birthday. I'm pretty sure being allowed to ditch school on your birthday was in a lost bible verse.

I ran upstairs and switched my bookbag for one of my old backpacks and zipped up my new camera before slipping out the back door. I waited until the bus had gone—Josh didn't really like me anyway and he was more than happy to drive off without me—before running across the lawn to Kairi's.

She smiled when she saw me, her eyes dropping from my face to my backpack. She frowned; "Hey…what—"

"No questions, get your shoes, let's go." I looked nervously over my shoulder for Kairi's bus. When I turned back to her, she was still looking me over skeptically. I rolled my eyes. "C'mon—I'll tell you on the way."

She relented and pulled on her shoes, disappearing inside to pick up her things before slipping her hand into mine.

We broke into a sprint, Kairi lagging a little behind me, not stopping until we reached the bus stop of the park. I still wasn't sure where I intended on going, but I'd watched a movie about this guy who did a bunch of unpredictable stuff including hopping on the first flight out of the city and even though I knew that was impossible, taking a ride to nowhere on the public bus seemed reckless enough for eight in the morning on a school day.

Kairi seemed to think otherwise. "We're not going to school are we."

"Nope."

"Which m-means we're skipping class."

"Well…yeah?"

"Does your Mom know about this? What if—"

"You mean you've never skipped school before?"

Believe it or not, I had. A bunch of times during middle school with Roxas, actually, while Dad and Mom were still on the rocks and too preoccupied with trying not to rip out each other's' hair to notice, and a lot during freshmen year—mainly because I was too scared to set foot on campus.

Kairi apparently hadn't.

"Well there's a first for everything, right?" The bus pulled up and we climbed on. The bus driver looked dubious. "It's senior ditch day," I lied, and she bought it. I started heading to the back of the bus, but Kairi stopped me short. Her feet seemed to be glued in place, and her face was rapidly heating up, like she was about to have a panic attack.

I immediately thought the worst. "Kairi?"

She seemed to snap out of it a little, letting me drag her to some window seats, and I waited until she was sat down before holding her by her shoulders and making her look at me. "Hey, you okay?"

She hesitated. "Next time give me a warning before you _kidnap _me."

I tried to hide how relieved I was with a snort. "'Kidnap you'? Is that what's making you look like you've seen a ghost or something?"

"Yes, plus the fact that we've got, like, ten minutes until class and if we don't get to school before then, we're going to be marked absent and…" She trailed off.

I sighed. If Kairi didn't want to skip then there really wasn't any point, really. I was disappointed she wasn't as enthusiastic, not gonna lie. "Look, if you really want to go back to school then fine, we'll go back to school. I…I just—" I stopped myself. I didn't want to worry Kairi or guilt her into wanting to go. I shook my head. "Yeah, this was a stupid idea anyway, I'm sorry…we'll—there should be a school bus we could take if we get off at the next—"

"Sora, stop." She sighed. "Look—forget what I said okay? I was just panicking; I really _do_ want to go…wherever it is we're going."

"Really? Cause if you don't—"

"I _want _to go."

I studied her face for a while. She looked pretty convincing. "Sweet!"

She hesitated. "As long as we're, like, not doing anything illegal or…"

"Do you trust me?" I stretched out my hand in front of her, hoping she'd get the reference. She did.

* * *

"A mall. You made me ditch school to go _shopping _with you."

"Not exactly." I reached into my backpack for my new camera, switched it on and before Kairi could object, I snapped a picture.

She protested immediately, making a grab for my camera. "Ew, no, give me that—"

I printed the photo and handed it to her, and took another. She looked up from the photo in her hands, giggling and subconsciously fixing her perfect fringe. "Sora, what are you doing?"

"Making memories." I snapped another photo. The camera felt good in my hands, and I might have been an amateur photographer but it I didn't really care. I'd always liked taking photos. "Memories are important, Kairi. One day, I want to be able to look back on today and smile and think—wow, what a seventeenth birthday. You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? Well I think it's more—make that a million. I mean photos capture a moment that's gone forever, impossible to reproduce, but when you look back at them you can relive them over and over and over again for as long as you like."

"Deep."

"I know, right."

She laughed, and I took a photo, which she returned with a glare. She seemed to reach her limit when I took another photo of her glaring at me. "Come on, that's enough."

I relented and strapped my camera around my neck, and she shook her head, smiling playfully. "Well…we're here. Might as well do some shopping."

* * *

We didn't.

And I honestly didn't mind.

We spent hours taking the most ridiculous selfies everywhere we could—at the water fountain, on the escalator, posing with mannequins. We tried on outrageous outfits, pretending to be millionaires and filling our shopping trolleys with ridiculously overpriced designer clothing only to abandon them at the exit.

We tried to pretend to be different people, to come up with as many characters as we could, and see many people bought it. At the _Oathkeeper Jewelry_ we pretended to be engaged, at Burberry we pretended to be bickering siblings, and at Victoria's Secret we pretended to be a sex-crazed hormonal couple—which was honestly my favourite out of them all. We 'flirted' with each other almost obnoxiously, and hid in the changing rooms fake-making out and making the most obscene noises possible until we ended up getting kicked out by the blushing intern.

Kairi didn't make me pick her a bra this time.

By the time afternoon rolled around we'd been kicked out of almost every store in the entire mall and taken enough photos to fill an entire album.

I let Kairi choose where we went next. She made us take the bus and we got off at the bus stop nearest to the forest, and I couldn't object when Kairi led the way in. No one really went into the forest that much—I mean, why would they, when we had the beach—so it was next to empty. I tried to take advantage of the situation and snap as many photos as I could, but after a while trees started getting boring and the road started getting steeper and it got harder and harder to breathe and for a second I thought maybe this was the way I was going to die.

Kairi took the camera from me and started snapping away while I struggled not to collapse, and I had pretty much sweated right through my shirt by the time she slipped through a parting in some underbrush and signaled me to follow.

It was a panoramic view of the islands; I could see the ocean that stretched for miles, the seashore and the city—I could see next to everything from where we stood. We were standing near the edge of a _cliff_.It was at that part of the day where the sun hit the trees just at the right angle that we got an ample amount of shade. I could feel the ocean breeze all the way up from where we were, I could hear the waves and I swore I could taste the saltwater.

It looked beautiful. It was almost funny that I'd hardly set a foot in the forest since I'd lived here all my life.

I took a puff from my inhaler and made myself comfortable on the grass, sighing deeply. "Wow. This is…nice." I closed my eyes. "I could get used to this."

"Let me guess—you've never stepped foot in the forest before."

"You guessed correctly." I added: "Not everyone's willing to climb Mount Everest while there's fricking Miami Beach five steps from my house."

She laughed. "Charming."

It was quiet for a while. The waves hit the edge of the cliff, over and over, almost like a lullaby. It felt nice. And serene. It was one of those moments I wanted to capture forever and keep it in my pocket and revisit again whenever I wanted to…but unfortunately you couldn't capture sounds, or feelings, or smells. Pity.

I heard the familiar click of a camera. I smirked. "Like what you see."

"Hm. I'll need to do a little airbrushing though."

I tried to shove her but quickly realized that my arms still hadn't recovered from the hike. We fell silent again. I heard her snap a few more pictures before she lay down next to me. We were so close I could feel her skin, but we weren't touching. I wondered if it'd be okay if I took her hand.

I didn't.

The waves were starting to lull me to sleep.

"Can you believe it's been a year since I moved here?"

"Wow. Feels like you've been here forever. To think I had no idea who you were six months ago." I feigned a wistful sigh, grinning innocently at her when she glared. I waited a little, before: "Seriously, though. Do you think…if we'd never met the way we had…we'd still be friends right now?"

She seemed to think about it for a while, her teeth mulling on her lower lip. She looked at me. I did my best to shrug with my eyes. Her smile was sad. "Maybe not. But—that doesn't matter; what matters is that we're friends now, understand?"

"…I'm glad I met you, Kairi."

Her smile was answer enough.

* * *

I felt the grass rustle next to me, and at first I thought nothing of it…until I heard a soft thump – and another one – and another one – and it got increasingly hard to ignore.

I cracked my eyelids open to see Kairi in nothing but her uniform skirt and a bra.

I almost choked. "What – what are you doing?"

She pulled down her skirt and kicked it aside to join the rest of her clothing like it was nothing. Her tanned skin glowed caramel, and I might have started pursuing a dangerous train of thought had she not said what she said next.

"Thought I'd go for a dive."

I shot upright. "What."

Her expression was laughing. "I heard the water's warm during the summer, specially this side of the island, huh?"

"Do – Kairi, do you have any idea if it's even safe?"

"We'll never know if we don't try, right?"

Sure, I should have been happy I'd been able to bring back the whole 'wild and reckless' Kairi from earlier in the year, but…this was a little too far. I wasn't that much up for retrieving all her remains and having to explain to her parents how I'd let her fricking _jump off a cliff_.

"Kairi, wait—"

She arched an eyebrow. "What – are you scared?"

I got to my feet as she started backing towards the edge. I was about to scream.

She placed a finger to her lips, turned her back on me and before I could even move another muscle she was gone.

We were on the outskirts of the Destiny Island woodlands, with almost no service in our phones, and she'd jumped off a fricking cliff into the fricking ocean in nothing but her underwear. I didn't even have time to think about how I'd probably have to put up an ad for a new best friend, or why the hell I'd fallen for this girl, because before I could even realize what I was doing, I'd stripped off to my boxers and thrown myself as far as I could off the cliff.

The cliff was high, I realized, once I'd commenced my freefall. My breath was hitched in my throat, I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing with my lungs, so I just shut them off, trying to stop my brain from exploding. Eventually, of course, I had to open my mouth, to let air into my lungs…and then I was screaming. The sheer gravity (pun intended) of the situation hit me like a gust of wind (ditto) – I'd hurled myself off a cliff for this girl. I was plummeting to my death. There was a 99.96% possibility that I was going to be met with jagged rocks.

It didn't take me that long to catch up with Kairi, who was still drifting aimlessly, probably because she was as light as a feather while I was most likely weighed twice as much and couldn't stop myself from turning upside down in mid-air.

The wind roared in my ears as I reached her, barely eye-level and grasping frantically for her hands. I saw her face crinkle in the way it always did when she laughed, but I could hardly hear her. She grasped onto my splayed out hands for a second before she let go, yelling something incoherent before dipping her body downwards.

I was panicking, and I would have shattered my bones if I hadn't realized we were about to hit the water barely seconds before we did.

I did the only thing I thought I could in that situation – I wrapped my arms around my knees and curled myself into a ball – and then the entire world was an explosion of roaring bubbles.

And then it was quiet.

I opened my eyes, and all I could see was blue, for miles and miles. For a second I thought I was dead, until I saw Kairi.

She looked like a fucking mermaid—well as much as a girl with mismatched underwear and mid-length hair could look like one. She swam over to me and I prayed to whatever power existed that she couldn't hear how my heart was threatening to burst right through my ribcage. She took my wrist, her hair floating all over the place and her eyes impossibly violet, and started swimming upwards, and that's when I realized we were still underwater and I wasn't about to let myself drown again.

We broke the water finally, me taking a huge gulp of air I hadn't realized I needed, and Kairi collapsing into a fit of giggles. We headed towards land, the shore at the bottom of the cliff, and it was almost scary how quick it took us to feel sand beneath our feet. I didn't want to think about what could have happened had our jump been any steeper.

She could barely stay upright, laughing uncontrollably like jumping off a cliff was supposed to be funny. Her hair was flat on her scalp, tangled and soaked and unbelievably red. "Your face!" I tried not to think about how the red in her hair matched her lips, which looked so much more appealing now they were damp and framing her Colgate smile. "You were – you…"

Her words disappeared, and there was a question in her eyes I wasn't sure if I wanted to answer. The setting sun cast shadows across her face, tinting her eyes gold and showering her hair in light, and for a second I just looked at her. Her eyes and her lips and her face, and I wanted to take every sappy love song I'd ever heard and make it about a girl with wine-red hair and violet-blue eyes. (And I didn't have my camera. Well.)

I reached for her, my hands ghosting her arms but not really touching. I wanted to—it was like every nerve ending in me was up against the surface, yearning for her. She was right there in front of me, five feet of sunshine and the only person on the planet I was a hundred percent confident I'd bend over backwards for and for once – for once I wanted to give in. I wanted to fly blind, to take a jump and think about the repercussions later, to be reckless and not think twice.

But then I locked our gazes again, the question still hanging in the air unanswered, and I knew I couldn't do it. I couldn't take the leap from friendship to relationship; I couldn't knowingly backpedal on what I'd said. We were friends – that was all we could be for now – and the past week had been the best we'd had in a while, we were recovering and if I ruined everything because of my selfish urges I'd never be able to forgive myself.

So I didn't. I pulled away, dropped my arms and tried to ignore the sound of my body screaming bloody murder. I nodded cautiously, and I was just about to turn away when she clasped her hand around my wrist. Her gaze spoke a thousand words at once, and I forgot to breathe.

This kiss wasn't like the others – it wasn't rushed, heated crunching of our lips, or a drunken mess. I didn't hear blood roaring in my ears, her hands weren't all over the place, and I didn't even give the fact that we were standing next to each other in barely anything. There weren't any fireworks – it wasn't an explosion. It was soft, and slow, and precise – like an autumn stroll. She was warm, and small, and suddenly everything exuded Kairi – the sky, the birds, the slow, rolling waves, the spring-summer air and the little space between us. Her hands were curled behind my neck and I could feel the small of her back and it was just.

It was nice.

The sun was still sinking by the time we both pulled away, the sky stained red, like her hair. A smile danced on the edges of her lips, but she didn't move. We just stood there, looking. She looked warm and beaming and made to be kissed.

Naturally, that was when the rational part of my brain started to kick in, and I wanted to be angry at myself for succumbing, but. She had stopped me from pulling away, which meant. Which meant.

I had no fucking idea. "…what does this mean?"

I was breathless, and she was gorgeous, and I felt like an idiot – but this wasn't the first time so who the hell cared.

"Sora." She pressed her lips against mine, slow and lingering. "And Kairi."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

We kissed a lot more after that, until our lips felt swollen and the sun had almost completely disappeared and we decided we'd better figure out how to get back before it got too dark. We kissed a lot on the way up to pass time, and for a while once we'd reached the spot we'd started. We made out on the bus, getting yelled at by an old pensioner, and we fell onto our street in a fit of laughs and I felt like I'd swallowed sunshine.

I told her I had dinner plans, and I kissed her pout away, and after what felt like five seconds but was actually five minutes, we pulled away and said our goodbyes.

Roxas was already home, lounging about on the sofa, and Mom was just finishing setting the table. Zack was corking open some wine, and his eyes lit up when he saw me. "You're here, finally! Started getting worried…"

"Yeah, I got a little carried away." I gestured, setting my new camera down with the rest of my stuff.

He grinned, pleased I liked it, and Mom called us all to the table. She'd cooked turkey, Shepherd's Pie and something that looked like it had been pulled straight out of a cookbook – and she'd even bought a birthday cake. There weren't any candles – she knew how much Roxas despised them – but it still made me want to cry.

She hadn't put this much effort into our birthdays since…since.

"Mom—"

"Don't even think about thanking me." She was smiling. "I haven't exactly been the best mother and…I should be thanking you—for understanding. You've been here when no one else was…and I can't believe you're both seventeen. It feels like just yesterday I was cleaning up after Sora throwing up all over my shirt and buying Roxas his guitar and…" She choked up.

I may or may not have a shed a tear. Even Roxas looked a little moved.

Dinner started. It felt like Christmas in the middle of spring. The food, the idle talk, the warmth of the kitchen. Mom talked about how she'd been selling what she could at work, and Zack talked about how close he was to finishing the flower wagon he was working on. Roxas tried not to seem as distant as usual, thanking Zack for his new skateboard, which was saying something, because Roxas hardly exchanged two words with Zack on the daily basis. They asked about my day and, though I was convinced they weren't going to give me flack for it on my birthday, I decided not to tell them I'd skipped school entirely.

They sang the happy birthday song horrendously off tune and then they let us dig in. The cake tasted like heaven and I was just about ready to declare it my best day ever when Zack decided to ruin everything.

"I didn't want to tell you guys until tomorrow but…" He drew in a deep breath. I noticed Mom looked about as confused as I was. "I…I'm going to be away for a while. I – um. I've gotten another promotion, sort of – uh." He poked absently at his slice of cake nervously, completely avoiding Mom's eyes.

"Oh." I tried not to sound disappointed. "When are you leaving?"

"In a week are so."

"And when are you coming back?"

He hesitated. "I'm being sent to the front lines." He said, like that answered everything.

Oh.

_Oh_.

I felt the world stop. The kitchen felt cold. The cake tasted like sand.

Everyone knew about the Civil War in Radiant Garden, but next to no one paid it any attention. It seemed so abstract, so far away, even if Radiant Garden were among our allies and most of the elite and middle class worked for the military in one way or the other. The news kept reports of the war to the minimum – and that's how the Mayor liked it. Destiny Islands was supposed to be a utopia; no one was supposed to pay the war any attention, so no one did, and for a long time neither had I.

Until now. My stepdad, who I'd just recently started not to dislike, was about to go to the front lines, which meant he had a good chance of never coming back, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

Actually I kind of was. It was fucking terrifying.

The creak of Mom's chair sounded like nails on chalkboard as she stood up and stormed out of the room.

Roxas looked like he'd swallowed a lemon. "What the hell is wrong with you."

Zack frowned, opened his mouth to say something. A door slammed upstairs. He sighed.

Roxas was the next to leave, only he actually left the house entirely, leaving me alone with Zack, who I really, _really _wasn't in the mood to talk to.

"Sora—I need you to understand that I didn't do this to hurt your mother…or anyone for that matter—"

"Then why did you? Why are you…" I didn't want to finish. I couldn't. My throat still wasn't cooperating.

His frown weakened. "I'm in the military, Sora. It's my job. I've been trying to get somewhere since I was sixteen, I've been in the force for years and hardly done anything useful…I want to feel like I'm worth something. Why do you think I signed up for this—I worked hard for this, for my promotion…I thought your Mom at least would understand that…"

His answer was weighted, and he wasn't done, but I wasn't sure I wanted to listen to him anymore. I couldn't eat anymore cake either—dinner had been pretty much ruined—so I left the kitchen, went upstairs and locked myself in my room.

I tried falling asleep, but that proved impossible, with Zack and Mom screaming at each other in the second room.

After what felt like hours of trying to block out the sound of heated insults and harsh accusations being thrown recklessly between them, I finally cracked. I ended up outside, sitting on my front porch. I had no idea what time it was, probably around eleven. The street was next to empty, and it was warm enough to be out there in my pajama bottoms, so.

Kairi's bedroom light was on, which meant she was still awake. I thought of going over to see her, but thought against it; her parents liked me, but not _that_ much. I just really needed to talk to someone, and since Roxas had disappeared...well.

I suddenly had an idea, and I slipped back upstairs, pulled my desk chair up to my bedroom window, and texted Kairi.

She replied immediately, and I waved as she pulled back her cardboard makeshift curtain. She smiled, disappeared for a second, and came back with a notebook.

_You ok? _

I felt kind of flattered that she read my face so easily. I shook my head, and pulled out a notebook of my own. _not rly. theyre fighting agian. _

_want to talk about it? _

I hesitated, and then I got my phone and dialed her. She picked up immediately. "Aw. I was really starting to like the whole old-fashioned, Taylor Swift-esque mode of communication."

"Yeah, but I suck at spelling and you know it."

She laughed. "True." She paused. "This isn't that bad. I like hearing your voice." Another pause. "And I like seeing you blush."

I had no idea since when I'd gone back to turning into a flustered mess around Kairi again. It was the kiss. It must have been the kiss.

"So. Talk to me."

I did, spending an excessive amount of time elaborating on the orgasmic nature of the meal, just to make her laugh, before telling her about Zack and Mom and everything else that sucked, while she listened, and I watched her listen. And for some reason i remembered the last time I'd told her—or anyone for that matter—about what was going on at home. We'd been friends for barely a month and I'd spent an afternoon moaning to her about how much life sucked. And she'd listened, the same way she had now, and I think that's when I started to fall for her.

I remembered what I'd seen in the nurse all that time ago—what Namine hid under all the layers she usually wore—and everything Kairi had told me, and suddenly I felt guilty again. "I'm sorry, I'm probably boring the crap out of you and – "

"Stop it, Sora. I like – I want to listen to your problems. Stop acting like you don't have a right to complain about anything, because you do, and I want to be the one you complain about them to."

"Nicely put." I saw her smile. "But, thanks." I paused. "I don't know what to do. Today was going so well too." I ran a hand down my face tiredly. "I'm never going to catch a break am i."

"Probably not." I heard her yawn. I wanted to put her out of her misery, but at the same time I didn't want her to hang up, ever.

I talked as animatedly as I could about whatever I could think of until she'd started to fall asleep on the window sill, and then I let her go. With a sigh, I moseyed back to my bed, covering my head with my pillow. Zack and Mom had made up by the sound of it, albeit temporarily. I just wish they didn't have to make up so...noisily.

Roxas came back around midnight, smelling like smoke and beer. He was obviously drunk, and probably high, and I watched silently as he plunked himself down onto his bunk. His hair was a mess and I wondered if he had anyone to talk to. If he had anyone that cared about him enough to ask what was wrong. If he let anyone in. Whether or not there was a point in trying again.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

When Kairi said we would be 'Sora and Kairi'…she didn't at all mean what I thought she did, which I should have figured, because my life was a giant asshole.

Basically, she meant that things weren't going to change. We were still Sora and Kairi, still best friends, that much was true. At least in school.

In school we held hands now and then, but not any more than we had before. We still hung out, she still hugged me whenever she possibly could, and she even kissed me on the cheek a couple of times.

But she never referred to me as her boyfriend. We weren't dating, she didn't tell anyone we were dating, and as far as anyone knew, we were still the same old Sora and Kairi. I had no idea what the hell was going on.

If not for the fact that whenever we were alone she became a hell lot more affectionate with me—we made out on the couch too many times to count in the space of one week—I might have said I was back to square one.

Maybe I was. I wasn't really sure what mine and Kairi's relationship was, or how it was supposed to be defined, but I got to hear her voice on the phone every morning and taste her lips on a daily basis so I honestly couldn't complain. It was enough. I didn't really need to call her my girlfriend anyway. The term was overrated.

I guess I was satisfied—I didn't let myself think otherwise. Any time I thought about asking her, she'd kiss me and I'd remind myself how freaking lucky I was that someone like her was even sparing me a glance, and I'd shut up.

I was just happy nothing changed between us. There was no awkwardness; we weren't competing with each other in some sort of battle of the sexes anymore. It was just me and her and furtive glances and idle kisses now and then, and it was nice.

* * *

**Not half as long as I wanted it to be, but for the sake of plot structure. **

**About two more chapters to go, maybe three, and then the epilogue. WEY HEY. **

**Also it's 2013! And I really need to hurry up with my updates…**

**Read/review, the usual fodder. Really though. I need to know you guys are still here after the ridiculous waiting intervals I give you…I'm trying to work faster. Next chapter should be out in the next few weeks, don't worry. :)**


	39. It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy

**A/N: Missed me? **

**About this chapter: Things happen. The plot thickens. I'm not spoiling it for you. **

**Song of the chapter: **_**It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy **_**by Passion Pit.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_Nationals._

"You were there. That was enough."

_It's my birthday._

"We're not going to school are we."

"Nope."

_Zack and Mom are falling to pieces. _

"I'm being sent to the front lines."

_We make out. Again._

"Sora." She pressed her lips against mine, slow and lingering. "And Kairi."

_Only…what the hell does that mean?_

* * *

**Chapter 39: It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy**

Zack and Mom started pulling away from each other again. It was painful to watch. I guess Mom figured the more she pulled away, the less it would hurt when he had to leave. Zack tried and failed to hide how much it was hurting him. I wanted so hard to hate him, but I couldn't, even though I was fully aware of how badly it was hurting Mom.

I still had no idea what was going on with Roxas, and no idea whether I needed to help him, or whether I wanted to. He wasn't eating and he'd spend more and more time out of the house. Even worse – Mom barely noticed. It was like she'd stopped caring.

Home didn't feel that much like home anymore.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The play was approaching at an alarming speed, and a sense of nervous apprehension whispered across the senior and junior classes. We'd been working on this play for months, it counted as our yearly drama grade, and there were going to be, as usual, performing arts college scouters in attendance.

Tidus was taking over for Riku's original role, since most of us had given up hope that he was coming back. He'd always been the understudy, and, no, he wasn't perfect, but he was decent and he remembered his lines, so.

Kairi was nervous, which wasn't a surprise – and to be honest so was I. I was trying not to start thinking about the what ifs, especially the ones involving Riku. And plus, Kairi had glee to worry about. She'd qualified for Finals, which gave her an even bigger chance of being picked up by a producer. I knew she wouldn't ever accept signing to a record label – she just wasn't like that – but it'd be huge for her if she got offered. Plus it'd look amazing on her college applications.

I guess the fact that we were both nervous was comforting, in a way.

And with the end of the year on the horizon, everyone was talking about college applications and where they were going over the summer and the future.

Yuna was planning on majoring in a vocal class and minoring in psychology. Kairi had told me once or twice about how Yuna was interested in music therapy. That kind of said a lot about her, in my opinion. I hadn't expected that from her, but it just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover.

Rikku was convinced she was going to be famous one day. Shuyin was still bummed out about losing Nationals, but he said he'd applied to a few backup colleges just in case he didn't get in to the one in Spira. Most of the guys on the Blitz team were convinced they were going pro. Yuffie joked that Lenne was probably going to become a Kardashian.

I honestly had no idea what I was planning on doing – I'd always just shelved the entire subject of Future for later. I was more of a living-in-the-moment kind of guy. I'd figure it out eventually. For now I was focusing on the present.

And the present was Kairi.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Three days before the play and I felt more than ready.

We'd had an awesome rehearsal, and it was almost revision week, and the air was crisp instead of humid for once, and we both felt generally spiffy and high on life, so we decided we both deserved an evening on the beach as a celebration – which was probably code for making out, but whatever. Kairi had agreed to meet at mine, and I was just about done packing when the doorbell rang.

"Coming." I zipped up my backpack and opened the door. "You're here early –"

I nearly choked. It was Van.

I hadn't seen him for nearly three weeks, which was an actual record. Van had always had the habit of dropping by whenever he deemed fit and staying for as long as he wanted. If he was absent for more than three consecutive days I usually worried, but we'd had a fight – more than one fight, actually. I could barely remember what it had been about anymore – I was just so relieved to see him.

"Missed me, bruh?" He was grinning from ear to ear, and even looked like he'd gotten a slight tan. His hair was still sticking up like mine used to before the haircut, and he was wearing an obnoxious safari t-shirt and light jeans. Ray-Bans were perched on the top of his forehead, somehow managing not to fall off, and he marched into the house and straight to the kitchen before I could even say a word.

"What are you – "

"Was in town, thought I'd stop by." He beelined straight for the fridge, his eyes scanning over its contents quickly before settling on two cans of beer and some leftover birthday cake. "Jackpot! I love chocolate." He dipped his hand into the icing and stuck a whole chunk of it into his mouth. "God. This cake is sex."

I held back a snort, still wary. I hadn't seen him in almost a month, and here he was, acting like he'd never left. I did a quick scan of his profile, and he looked…normal, even.

I should have been used to this. Van and I had had our spats in the past, during the few years post my parents' divorce, when Van was being obnoxious and Ventus always forced Roxas and I to side with him, or when I'd accidentally thrown away and entire box of his porn. And he always ended up coming back like a few days later, smiling and cursing and acting like nothing had happened.

But this time it hadn't been just a few days – it had been weeks – he'd missed my birthday, and this was about something a lot more serious, so I couldn't just _brush it off_.

"We need to talk," I blurted. His back tensed, but loosened almost immediately. He closed the fridge, chewing on some leftover turkey. His plate was piled high with remains of my birthday dinner and he'd stuck his unfinished cigarette in his pocket. He raised his eyebrows. "Sure. What about." He took another bite, getting sweet-and-sour sauce all over the tip of his nose.

I shrugged. "I didn't get to properly apologize for – "

"Stop." He let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm trying to enjoy this chicken – I'm not in the mood for your sap, m'over it."

"Turkey." He rolled his eyes, and I cleared my throat. "Yeah, but I thought – maybe – "

"Hey, what's the situation with you and Kairi? Like, you on speaking terms or frenching terms or fuc—"

"We're friends," I mumbled.

"Great. So it's ok if I kidnap the both of you for the weekend."

I frowned. "What?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain full of keys. "Dad lent me the keys to the beach house. Could do with a plus one." He smirked. "Or two."

"We can't just _leave_. And Kairi has stuff to do, I don't think she'll—"

"C'mon, I missed your birthday. S'least I could do." He wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "Plus, it's nearly summer. Doubt you're gonna learn anything with one week of school left anyway."

"Two if you include finals."

"Fuck finals."

He didn't look like he was letting up, so I gave in. Plus, I secretly did want to go. I hadn't been to the beach house since I was barely four years old. I hardly remembered what it looked like – I'd forgotten we even had a beach house. "Fine."

"Sweet!" He cheered obnoxiously while I ran upstairs, sticking an extra shirt, swimming trunks, my toothbrush, a towel and my new camera in my backpack before heading back downstairs. Van was already outside, sitting in a screaming red convertible like he was shooting a music video.

"You got a convertible too?" It looked new and expensive. I wondered how much money Dad really had and what the hell happened in court after the divorce.

"Nah, I borrowed this piece of junk from one of my friends. Borrowed being a loose term." He lit himself another cigarette while I looked at him in horror. He laughed, shoving my shoulder. "Just messing with ya. Totally legal. Bought it myself, with some money I saved up."

"It's red."

"I'm bisexual."

"True."

Kairi came out then, with a large floral purse and a straw sunhat. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw the convertible. She looked at Van like he was Jesus. "Is this yours?!"

Van nodded, and she screamed. "SHOTGUN!" I watched as she scurried to the passenger seat in awe. Who knew Kairi loved expensive cars.

"You really need to get a car, little bruh." Van winked. "Guys with cars get all the bitches."

I slid into the back seat, giving Van a look. We headed off. Van switched on the radio. We sang along to several irritatingly catchy Top 40 as the car zoomed on, Kairi hitting all the right notes and me botching them on purpose to make Van feel like he sucked less, though I doubt he cared. Whatever, if you haven't sung off-tune to ear-numbing pop songs on the highway with the volume turned all the way up you haven't lived.

An hour later and we'd calmed down a bit, and Kairi had gotten bored and started switching stations. "Wait – wait – keep this one on!"

_But if I wait for a holiday_

_Could it stop my fear?_

_To go away on a summer's day_

_Never seemed so clear_

She frowned. "What?"

"I love this song. _Vampire Weekend_."

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Vampire what?"

I wasn't sure how I knew that either. Probably Roxas. "I think Roxas listens to them."

Van snorted. "For the love of God, Sora, if you turn into a hipster-wannabe Debby Downer like him I will kill myself."

I didn't get why they hated it so much. Roxas actually had a decent music taste, behind all the songs about death and suicide and lamenting existence. "This is a good song, though?"

Kairi scrunched her nose. "Not feeling it. I brought some _Destiny's Child_."

"You just happened to have a random _Destiny's Child_ CD in your possession."

"_Number #1s_, actually. For emergencies?" She gave me an innocent smile.

She slipped in the CD and Van groaned. "You serious? This is even more depressing than the Vampire shit."

"~_Kelly, can you handle this? Michelle, can you handle this? Beyoncé, can you handle this? I don't think you can handle this?_"

"Sora, shut her up, _please_."

* * *

When we got to the beach house it was nearly sunset, but it showered a clear, glowing light onto the building. The beach house wasn't huge, but it was pretty convenient, with four bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a game room and a veranda overlooking the beach. The backyard was a beach, actually. You didn't live on Destiny Islands and not have a beach house…unless you couldn't afford it, that is. Which I always thought was our case.

Van immediately called dibs on the master bedroom. I somehow ended up finding my old bedroom, feeling a wave of nostalgia. It was mostly empty bar the double-bunk bed and a toy box, but I distinctly remembered the frieze. It was decorated with animated red-and-yellow fish and I remembered it giving me nightmares.

I told Kairi and she laughed. She picked Ventus' room, which had been completely cleared. There was still a bed, though, but Ventus had made sure not to leave any mark.

We headed to the living room, which was already equipped with a new flat-screen TV, a Wii and an Xbox360. There was even a home theatre installed. The kitchen was opposite the living room, and there was a blonde guy I'd never seen before heating something up in the microwave.

Van answered the question before either of us asked it. "He's the kitchen bitch. Don't worry about dinner, he's got it covered."

I absently wondered whether or not Kitchen Bitch was more than just Kitchen Bitch, but I didn't ask. I noticed the ashtray was half-full, and there was an empty bowl of popcorn on the centerpiece. "How long have you been living here, exactly?"

"Few weeks." He shrugged. "Hey, Layle, I thought I told you I was having guests?"

The blonde guy, Layle, sighed and retrieved the empty bowl, and Van switched on the TV. We watched _Friends _reruns while sipping non-alcoholic cocktails (vodka for Van, of course) until it got dark, and then Van and I played Grand Theft Auto. Kairi fell asleep on the couch and Van eventually got too drunk to play and we ended up dozing off in the middle of a police evasion.

The next morning Layle, who was still there, served us breakfast-in-bed – I had no idea how I'd gotten from the living room floor to my bunk but I didn't complain.

Layle was in boxers and, well. I guess my suspicions were accurate.

Kitchen Bitch could cook, I had to give him that. I hadn't had bacon and eggs that good in years.

After breakfast we all took a shower and headed down to the beach. It was a private beach and only owned by the four other beach houses in the compound, so it was pretty much just us on the beach. We sunbathed and ran up and down the beach, built and destroyed sandcastles, splashed around in the ocean and gave each other piggybacks. We took a shitload of photos and Layle the Kitchen Bitch served us even more cocktails and popsicles and food that looked way too fancy to be edible.

And it was nice to unwind a little, and not think about the play that Monday or everything that was going on with my parents or life in general. I felt, for once, like everything was going to turn out okay in the end. And if it didn't…at least I had these memories now to think about later.

We were eating sea salt ice cream Layle the Top Class Chef had apparently made from scratch and labeling all our pictures with black Sharpie – like the total hipsters we were – when Kairi took my ice cream and shoved it into my face, getting melting blue sludge all over my nose and mouth.

I spluttered. "What was that for?!"

She giggled, licking hers gingerly. "That's for ruining my sandcastle."

"That's not fair – your sandcastle sucked."

She batted her eyes innocently, and I waited until she wasn't focusing before I pounced.

She squealed and dropped her ice cream into the sand, and I rubbed our noses together until her face was as sticky as mine. She struggled to push me off her in protest, but eventually her whines turned into laughter. We laughed until our lungs ached, and then we just fell silent, looking at each other. Kairi leaned over and slowly kissed the leftover ice cream off of my mouth and nose, and I tried not to think about how much this reminded me of Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in _the Notebook,_ and how sad it was that I even knew that.

Van made a barfing noise. "_Ugh_, will you stop it already. You guys are like a newly married couple fresh off their honeymoon and high off wild sex."

Kairi shoved his arm. "You're just saying that cause you're single."

"Maybe."

"We really need to hook you up with someone."

"And what makes you think I need hooking up? I'll have you know I have frequent sexual intercourse, thank you."

"TMI, Van," she giggled. "No, but like. An actual relationship. You're likeable, I know a few people who'd be perfect for you."

"Thanks, but no thanks. Flying solo. I like not being tied down."

"Hm. Fine. Suits yourself."

* * *

Kairi and I headed down to the beach for a little while before sun set, waiting for the tide to roll in and reenacting scenes from the Notebook – _"If you're a bird, I'm a bird"_ – because apparently Kairi had seen the parallel too and had thought it was hilarious and insisted we act out all the ridiculously cheesy scenes. I didn't mind, really, because the Notebook was ninety per cent making out anyway.

When the sun set we headed back, took another shower each and lazed about in the living room in front of the TV again. We decided to watch a movie – arguing over several before landing on _Definitely, Maybe_ – because Kairi was there and I wasn't in the mood for an R-rated movie anyway.

Layle cooked us dinner and I didn't even have it in me to wish Layle could go away because it's not like he talked or anything, and plus, his food tasted like heaven.

"10/10 would bang Ryan Reynolds."

"Right."

"And Elizabeth Banks."

"Ok."

"And Megan Fox."

"She isn't even in this movie."

"Just thought she needed a mention. You can't make lists and not include Megan Fox – pretty sure that's blasphemy."

"You know who else is hot?" Kairi mumbled, half-asleep. "Ryan Gosling."

"Meh. Too scruffy." Van dismissed. "He has a good ass, though."

She muttered something incoherent before completely blacking out. Layle hauled Kairi off to her room, bridal-style.

We watched the rest of the movie in silence. It sucked.

"Well that was a waste of time," Van sighed as the credits started to roll. "I told you we should've watched _Inglourious Basterds_."

I yawned. "Too late now."

Van nodded. "So…what's the deal with you and Kairi?"

I thought of telling him we were just friends again, but he'd seen us make out on the beach. I sighed. "I…I don't know. We're…us. We made up and we talked and we're friends…up until this Tuesday we were at least, and then on my birthday she jumped off a cliff and we made out on the beach and suddenly we're friends who make out all the time."

"Wait a second, she jumped off a cliff?"

"Long story." I leaned into my palm. "Basically…I don't know what we are. But I don't frankly care, because we're happy right now and—"

"You need to straighten this out with her man," he sighed. His words were half-slurred. "Fucksake. I don't want to fight with you again but you need to grow a pair and tell her. Stop letting her push you around – give this thing you have a name. Stop with all this friends-with-benefits bullshit, because people like you guys actually have a chance to go somewhere and watching you both fuck it up is just…I swear Sora if you let her fucking get away I will never forgive you."

I groaned. "Van…"

"I'm _serious_, for godsake – you guys have been 'just friends' for what – six months now? And you can't even admit to each other you're in love. You guys could be anything, dammit – but you refuse to just talk to each other! You love her, Sora – you fucking do – and if you don't tell her and you mess this thing up, if you don't find the fucking problem and fix it before it all goes down in flames…" He sighed in exasperation. I wondered how many drinks he'd had. He lowered his voice. "I was wrong about you both. I've tried so, so hard to find something real, and you two fucking stumbled into it and now you're not even trying to hold onto it. So excuse me for being a little bit frustrated."

Silence. I didn't know what to say, really, so I didn't say anything.

After a while, I nodded. _Definitely, Maybe_ arrived at the title screen. Layle yawned and disappeared into Van's room.

I cleared my throat. "I…I'll talk to her."

"Good."

He switched off the TV, got up and went off to join Kitchen Bitch.

* * *

Kairi came into my room at almost 3 am.

"What – what…" I propped myself up on one elbow, rubbing my eyes. "What time is it?"

"I went to pee and I couldn't find the bathroom and then I did and when I came back I couldn't fall asleep, so."

"What an eventful start to the day."

Kairi told me to push over, and she slipped into bed next to me. Her skin exuded warmth. She was like a heater.

She pressed her nose into the side of my neck. Her legs were tangled in mine and her hair felt soft between my fingers.

She was quiet, then – "Sora. I'm worried about Namine."

"Namine? Whatever it is, I'm sure Roxas is – "

"She's pregnant." She didn't even wait for me to ask. "Roxas…is the father."

I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. I shot upright, staring at her in disbelief. "How…how long have you known she…"

"…about a month."

"And you didn't think you should _tell me about this_?"

She panicked. "I wanted to – I swear I did – but I didn't think…Namine gets really unstable and I'm the only one she's told I just – I thought…"

"You thought what, Kairi? What happened to know more secrets? Roxas is my _brother_. This is kind of a big fucking deal."

"Well Namine is my sister, and it's not my fault Roxas couldn't keep it in his pants –"

"Are you honestly blaming this on Roxas? Really?"

Kairi remained silent.

I pulled angrily at my hair. "I don't – I just don't _get _you. We promised we'd be more open with each other, and you…you don't make any sense anymore, it's driving me nuts."

"I don't _have _to tell you everything," she argued.

"Right, because it's not like we're a couple or anything?"

She flinched, like I'd just punched her. "What?"

"What, Kairi? What are we, exactly?"

She shrugged uneasily. "We're – we're friends…"

"Since when – since when did _friends _make out?"

"Why does it matter? You're happy, I'm happy, we both know how we feel—"

"No, Kairi, I don't." I forced myself not to look at her, not wanting to see her face. "I don't know how you feel. I just don't get what you want from me. You say you want to be friends and then you go ahead and make out with me and every time I think we're getting somewhere you push me away – I don't know if I'm addicted to you or something because I keep coming back."

"What do you want from me, Sora?" Her voice was croaky, and I felt myself melting. Shit.

"Just – if you don't want to label anything, that's fine, I just…I just need a definite answer."

I looked at her. She had a pained look on her face, like I'd just asked her to throw a basket of kittens into a lake. And then she said: "Sora…I can't…I can't give you that."

And I couldn't decide if I was more sad or angry.

I tried to swallow. "Do you – is this…do you still have feelings for Riku, or – "

"I'm – I'm tired," she whispered suddenly, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and getting to her feet. "I think I'm gonna…" She sounded like she was about to cry. I could barely see her face in the dark.

I waited until the door closed shut behind her before collapsing back onto my pillow. "Fuck."

I wanted to be angry at her – I had every right to be – but all I could be was angry at myself. It was a miracle I was even friends with someone like her. And I was happy – we'd gone from being friends to friends who kissed sometimes to friends who kissed all the time, and I didn't mind that. It was just confusing. I needed something concrete, an assurance that she wouldn't wake up one day and decide she was tired of me and move on to someone else, probably someone with a car and actual abs and lungs that didn't suck. She could have anyone on the planet, but for some reason she'd chosen to hang out with me, and I really, really didn't want to screw everything up.

But she was just so frustrating, and I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to take this. Her pushing and pulling and infinite mixed signals. It was like I was in some sick cheesy rom-com.

And then there was my brother, who I'd pushed away for the past month and a half, who needed help more than anything now. The guilt was almost painful, and I was determined to help him…somehow. Ventus wasn't here to fix everything, so I was left having to deal with Van and Roxas' problems by default.

My 'problems' felt insignificant in comparison.

I buried my head into my pillow and definitely, definitely didn't think about _her_.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

The next morning was beyond awkward.

We had cereal for breakfast – nothing fancy because, apparently, Layle left early, which was disappointing. We watched TV for most of the morning. Things were still tense between Kairi and I, and Van was unusually silent.

He livened up as the day went on, and by the time it was time for us to go he was strangely bouncy. I wondered if he'd smoked anything. He probably had.

The ride home was uneventful. Van attempted to sing along to every song that came on the radio while Kairi and I…well. Kairi had been sulking since she woke up and I wasn't that much in the mood to talk to her either, so we didn't. I think we were both scared that if either of us said a word to each other we'd just start yelling again.

The trip back felt twice as long, and when we finally did arrive back home I was strangely exhausted. And then I remembered that I'd left Mom, Zack and Roxas with nothing but a post-it note and _well shit. _

Kairi got out of the car first, without even saying goodbye, and before I could leave Van grabbed my shoulder. "Ok, what the hell happened."

"I took your advice and talked to her." I laughed darkly. "Thanks."

Van looked as confused as he did angry. "What?"

I sighed into my palms. Mary J. Blige wailed on. I wanted to punch the radio.

Vanitas cleared his throat. "Well…you'd better get over it. Your play is tomorrow, right?" _Shit_. "I'm actually taking time out of my busy schedule to be there so if you mess up I'mma make you regret it."

I nodded dumbly. He tousled my hair, relaxing me a little, and then kissed me on the forehead, which was totally random, but comforting in a way. He looked sorry and I suddenly felt bad for getting mad at him. "Van – "

"Just don't mess up tomorrow, aight?" He laughed. "Now get the hell out of my car."

* * *

Mom was pissed.

Ok, pissed is an understatement. She was _livid_.

I let her yell at me though, because I deserved it. I let her shout until she'd run out of words, and then she just looked at me. She cupped my face, brushed at my hair. She was trying not to cry.

She sighed. "I – I'm just. You should have told me."

"I'm sorry."

She looked exhausted. The Savings-Jar-turned-Swear-Jar lay emptied on the table. There was a lot more munny in there than there had been at the start of the year. Mom's business had been going really well, now that it was almost summer and the tourists had started pouring in. We didn't even have it in us to be happy about that.

I wanted to distract her. "Mom, I'm watching _Love, Actually_ – you interested?" _Love, Actually _was her favorite movie, and she had a soft spot for Hugh Grant, so. She nodded, I heated up some popcorn and we curled up on the couch in front of the TV.

Roxas came home around the time the credits began rolling and Mom had fallen asleep. I wriggled out of Mom's embrace, made her comfortable with some throw pillows and tiptoed after him.

He was already upstairs, rummaging through his bedsheets for something. He kept digging his hands in his pockets and coming up empty, and I assumed he was out of smokes. Of course.

I cleared my throat. He looked at me. He looked twice as exhausted as Mom did, only slightly wilder. His hair was messier than it ever had been, and his leather jacket looked way too warm for the weather.

"Roxas."

He scowled. "Go away."

"This is my room."

He pulled open another drawer, poking through my underwear. "I need it."

"But I need to talk to you – "

"Sora, I don't have time – "

"I _know _about Namine."

He stopped short, spinning around to look at me in disbelief. "What…"

"I know she's _pregnant_, Roxas."

"Fuck. Fuck my fucking life."

I rolled my eyes. "Um."

He laughed sardonically. "This is just _great_. Fucking great, as if I don't have enough to deal with."

I snapped. "Roxas, what is your problem? I'm _trying _to help you! Kairi told me – "

"What? That I'm a direct descendant of Satan and deserve to be impaled and burned on the stake."

I stared at him in horror. "Why would you even…?"

"Kairi isn't exactly my biggest fan?" He reached in his pocket again, like he believed a packet of cigarettes would appear if he tried hard enough.

"Well maybe if you didn't act like everyone is out to get you and actually cared about something other than yourself for once…?" I suggested. Roxas rolled his eyes. I continued. "Roxas, I've been _nothing _but supportive for the past few years, and everytime I think I'm finally getting somewhere with you, you close off and fence me out and I don't…I don't know what you want from me anymore."

"I want you. To leave me. _Alone_."

"No you don't. You can't keep doing everything by yourself! I know I haven't exactly been around for the past two months, but I hate this…I hate being so disconnected. I miss…I miss when you actually used to talk to me about things. Seems like forever but…" I took a deep breat through my nose. "I know hardly anything about you and Namine and it upsets me. All I know is you two care about each other – a lot – and I want to help both of you get through this."

Roxas stared at me. His eyes looked slightly red, and I wondered if it was lack of sleep, withdrawal symptoms or him struggling not to cry. "Sora. I want…I'm not doing this on purpose. I want you…to know that." I waited. He sniffed, rubbed his eyes. "I…there's things…things I can't tell you. Even if I wanted to – it's safer if you didn't know."

I nodded, trying not to be upset. I hated being excluded, but I remembered what Namine had told me all that time ago. About what Roxas did in his spare time, when he wasn't home.

"Fine…if you really think I shouldn't know, I won't push you. Just…be safe." I paused. "And let me help."

He sighed, nodded slowly. And then he pulled me into a hug.

I didn't know how long we stood there. I can't remember if either of us cried. All I knew is that I'd never felt closer to him than in that moment. There were still things left unsaid, but they hung in that silence. It was a hopeful kind of silence, a patient kind of embrace, and I was convinced that I'd get the old Roxas back. Eventually.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Forgetting our last conversation was a lot harder than it sounded, and the next day Kairi and I were still avoiding each other…and the fact that the play was that evening didn't help. At all.

Kairi didn't change seats – it was our last week after all so what was the point – but she didn't speak all, and I didn't ask her to. She left immediately after every class with her friends, and I tried not to care.

If anyone noticed, they didn't say. Tidus was too busy going over his solos, most of the guys were practicing their dance sequences, and everyone else was working on memorizing their lines.

We were both doing a good job of ignoring each other up until the school day ended and we headed to the theatre building to get ready.

Roxas and Namine actually showed up, which I honestly hadn't expected. Roxas looked cleaned up and a lot better than he had yesterday and I could hardly notice Namine was two months pregnant. They were holding hands, and before he went off to change he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

I looked to Kairi, hoping she'd noticed, but she was busy going over her dance routine, which basically meant she was still avoiding me, because we both knew she was more than ready and could do it with her hands tied behind her back.

Time was running out, and no one could decide whether they were excited or terrified, and for some reason it felt like it was unfinished, that the sets weren't ready enough, that someone, somehow, was going to slip up, and it was all going to be a disaster. That's how Sephiroth felt, at least, with having his understudy playing the lead role and nearly a hundred kids scheduled to be gyrating around the stage for at least three hours that night. We were only doing one performance, and it was either going to be a hit or miss, and…well. We were all fairly certain that if it was a miss Sephiroth would shoot himself in the head, or commit seppuku with his _Masamune_. As appealing as that sounded…

He'd barren all the lousy dancers to stage lighting and electricity, and the incapable actors to set painting. Their grades all depended on the cast. For some of us – not including me of course – this was the only class preventing us from having a perfect GPA. The pressure was off the rails and we could all feel it.

Vanille, who'd been giving the job of make-up artist along with Paine and Marlene, was first to notice something was up with Kairi and I. We were both getting our make-up done when she suddenly snapped. "Okay what the hell is going on? Why aren't you guys undressing each other with your eyes like you usually do what the hell happened."

"Vanille…" Kairi groaned in protest, which was the most I'd heard from her since Saturday. "Just stop."

She scowled. "The play is in like an hour – "

We were suddenly interrupted by a chorus of gasps coming from somewhere else backstage. There was a crowd of people, all looking in one direction with aghast, shocked looks on their faces, and –

"…Riku?"

* * *

I nearly forgot how to breathe.

He was there. Riku was actually there.

He'd gotten a haircut – his hair barely brushed his shoulders – and I could have sworn he'd gotten thicker. Wherever he'd been, he'd been working out. His eyes looked different, he looked taller, and I had no idea how I was supposed to feel.

He rolled his eyes. "Are you guys done staring or…"

"Riku," Tidus muttered. "What are you doing here?"

"To save this thing, obviously." He pulled off his shirt. He still had his costume. I'd half expected he'd thrown it away, after disappearing for at least two months.

"Save this thing?" Shuyin laughed darkly. "Right. Like you saved us at _Nationals_?!"

I couldn't tell if Riku was hurt or not. I couldn't read his eyes anymore.

"Riku, you _disappeared _and left us all for eight fucking weeks and you walk back in here expecting us _not _to have a problem with it?! And what makes you think we need 'saving' anyway? I don't know where the fuck you've been for the past two months but – "

"I know I've not been here, alright?! I know I messed up, with Kairi, with the team, with all of you – I know you all have your issues with me and a lot of you fucking hate me – but this play starts in _half an hour_. You've all been working on this since September, you've stayed late on Fridays to go over these stupid routines, and as much as you hate it your grades depend on this and your parents are sitting out there waiting for a fucking show. Put away whatever stupid issues you have with me, put away whatever issues you have with each other – for one night at least, God – and put everything you have into this performance." He wasn't yelling, but it sounded a lot like it. Everyone was silent, listening to him like he was a political campaigner. "And I know you all probably think this has nothing to do with me, and you all think you can do this without me but my…my _dad _has been working on this for so long you have no fucking idea and we are going to make this perfect, do you understand?"

Everyone broke out into gasps and hushed whispers, shocked by the revelation. Riku carried on like it was nothing. I'd never seen him so determined…it was almost scary.

"_**Understand**_?!"

Everyone nodded, suddenly full of nervous energy – it was like Riku's determination had rubbed off on everyone…even me.

"Right. Let's do this."

* * *

Riku, Kairi and I had the first scene.

"…the senior and junior classes of North Destiny High have spent the past seven months in preparation for this production, showing exceptional determination…"

"_Riku."_

He stared straight ahead. Kairi was still off stage, and it was just Riku and I.

"_Riku." _Still no answer. _"Riku –"_

"_Sora, I don't care about anything you want to say to me right now, alright? You just have to promise me you're going to kick ass out there." _

I smiled. _"Promise."_

"Now without further ado, _Kingdom Hearts_."

And then the curtains rose, the audience cheered, and we stepped into the light.

* * *

**You know when you have an idea and then you just keep writing and writing and writing and before you know it you've reached nearly seven thousand words and…yeah. That's what this chapter is.**

**Was it good enough? Because I'm actually somewhat happy with this. **

**SO IT'S HALF AN HOUR LATE. I'M SORRY. It's still Friday in New York yet, right?**

**Still like two, three chapters left. Woot woot.**

* * *

**Sneek Peek: **

"_I love you."_

"_We'll tell her together."_

"_What did you do, Roxas."_

* * *

**DRAMA! PLOT! FLUFF! ANGST! CLIMAX! NEED I SAY MORE?**

**R&R! And be honest… xx **


	40. Shot in the Dark

**A/N: I WOULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT HOW MUCH I CRIED AND SCREAMED AND HYPERVENTILATED AND WRITHED AROUND ON THE FLOOR AFTER THE E3 CONFERENCE BECAUSE OF KINGDOM HEARTS III AND FINAL FANTASY XV BUT I'M BETTER THAN THAT.**

**Also excuse any typos…it's 12am and the only reason I haven't proofread is because y'all have waited long enough. You can deal with a few typos if it means I give you an update, right?**

**SO LET'S GET ON, SHALL WE?**

**Song of the chapter: Shot in the Dark by Augustana.**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY, IN ADDICTED…**

_So Van is back…_

"I've tried so, so hard to find something real, and you two fucking stumbled into it and now you're not even trying to hold onto it."

_Kairi and I fight._

"…I just need a definite answer."

"Sora…I can't…I can't give you that."

_Roxas and I sort of make up._

"Sora. I want…I'm not doing this on purpose. I want you…to know that."

_And Riku shows up out of nowhere._

"You just have to promise me you're going to kick ass out there."

* * *

**Chapter 40: Shot in the Dark**

The applause was deafening, louder than the school cafeteria on pizza day. Everyone was on their feet, everyone was cheering, even the janitor, who I was convinced hated everything and everyone on the planet. It was a great feeling – a mix of relief and happiness. We'd done it. We'd all remembered our lines – even Riku – no one had messed up any of the dance routines or forgotten lyrics or messed up with the lighting.

Kairi had been flawless, and – thank God – being on stage dissolved whatever tension there had been between us. The audience had laughed when they needed to laugh, gasped at every plot twist the story had taken, and completely bought the convoluted plot. Sephiroth's obsession with props, stage lights and special effects had paid off – they bought into the fantasy and cheered on the fight sequences, and I swore I saw one of the teachers cry at the end when Riku's character finally met his end. Roxas and Namine's dance duet was unexpected to say the least, but everyone loved it. I had no idea either of them could dance – but even that wasn't as shocking as the completely unplanned kiss they shared at the end of the song. Sephiroth muttered something about it being unprofessional, but I doubted anyone cared if the applause was anything to go by.

Despite everything that happened, Riku was unarguably the show-stealer. He became a completely different person on stage – it was like he was born to be there. He delivered his lines impeccably and everyone fell for it – including me. For the entire time we were on stage, I forgot he was Riku and not his character, up until the final song and closing applause.

The standing ovation lasted forever, the feeling was amazing, and we could still hear them clapping even as the curtains closed. Sephiroth just stood there, basking in the applause, like it was all for him. And I had to hand it to him – he'd done a pretty good job putting it all together.

Everyone was cheering, hugging each other, slapping each other on the back. The seniors were jumping around like gorillas, fucking ecstatic that they were done with their final high school event ever. Some people were crying, which I thought was a bit much, but whatever.

Kairi appeared out of seemingly nowhere, jumping up into my arms once again and burying her face into my shoulder. I span her around once before dropping her to her feet again, and she pulled back, laughing. Her hair wasn't exactly at its best, and she was still wearing her character's outfit and the ridiculous eye makeup. She was sweating from all the exertion, and she looked like her face was about to break from all the smiling. There was a hint of freckles on the bridge of her nose, and her makeup was a little smudged, but for some reason that was the moment I knew.

So I told her, in front of everyone, on the middle of the stage behind the huge curtains and surrounded by everyone we knew, and I didn't even care. I wasn't scared anymore. "I love you."

She stared at me, shocked, her eyes wide.

I just smiled. "I'm not saying it because I want an answer. I just…I just wanted you to know."

So. It was out there. Now I just had to hope she didn't, like, vomit or something.

Her eyes teared up, and for a second I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea, but then she pulled me into a kiss that made my knees weak. I could hardly hear the noise anymore – it was one of those kisses where it was like we were the lead couple and this was the season finale.

When she pulled away she was crying, and she kissed me a few more times before finally looking me in the eye. "I…I just need some time, okay?"

I nodded. I was willing to wait for her forever – it sounded as dramatic as it was true. Now I'd figured out I loved her, everything seemed a lot simpler.

Backstage started getting flooded with parents, relatives and friends, and Kairi and I decided to look around for ours. We found Xion and Van with Namine and Roxas, who were still holding hands. Namine was laughing at something one of them had said, looking happy for the first time in a while. Xion gasped when she caught sight of us, barreling into me with a bone-crushing hug.

"You were _amazing _ohmygod…" She bounced back onto the soles of her heels. Her hair was dyed light blue and she had red contacts, which should have been weird, but Xion was always cosplaying, so. "Rei Ayanami. Evangelion. You should watch." She clapped her hands. "I had no idea you could sing! And act! And dance…well, sort of."

"What's that supposed to – "

"And you…" She paused, like she was about to say something. Then she smiled and reached out her hand. "…must be Kairi. I don't think we've properly met yet…"

Kairi shook her hand. "We met once or twice. Starbucks, I think," she explained.

Xion nodded, looking weirdly on edge. She gave Kairi one last hard look and shook her head. She placed her hands on her hips, her eyes scanning the room. "Where's Riku? I wanted to say hi…"

"He's…" I paused, suddenly, realizing that, in fact, I had no idea where he was. He'd been right next to me during the final bow and the curtain close, and – _shit_. He must have seen Kairi and I make out and decided he hated me again and – "…well fuck."

We didn't have time to worry – apparently a lot of people had come to see me. Noel, Neku, Joshua, Shiki and the others from _Oblivion_ showed up. Lulu, Tifa and Dad, Zack and my Mom. It was odd, seeing them all there, and I had to smile knowing they were all there for me. I knew they'd all come because this was the first relevant and social thing I'd done since I was in kindergarten, but I decided to ignore the fact and just hug everyone.

Zack didn't show up. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Disappointed? Maybe a little.

I didn't hug Dad though – we were past that. We shook hands, he patted my shoulder. "You were great up there."

"Thanks."

He glanced at Roxas, who was trying and failing to ward Xion away from Namine. I wasn't sure what to say, so I said nothing.

Dad announced he was taking us out for a dinner – he'd initially said drink but it was a school night and the number of disapproving looks he'd gotten from people around us was enough to remind him – at a new place called _Turtle's Paradise_.

Kairi tugged on one of her extensions – I think my Dad made her nervous. She saw me looking. "Hey – you go ahead, okay? I'm not really hungry, and you guys need some family time – "

"No no no no – absolutely not." Tifa slung her arm around Kairi's shoulder. "Not an option. We've been waiting for the day Sora would bring a bird back to the nest for years – we aren't about to let you run away."

Kairi laughed, which was a relief. I gave Tifa a look, and she stuck her tongue out at me. "But – I don't want to be a burden; you've probably already made reservations…"

Dad waved his hand in dismissal. "The owner and I go way back. We'll have enough seats. Hell – everyone should come. I had no idea Sora even had any friends."

"Hey…" I mumbled, but he had a point. I didn't even know how I had friends either. It was almost surreal.

After about half an hour of introducing Kairi to everyone who didn't know her and saying thank you to everyone who walked by us gushing over our performance, we all decided we'd better get going.

"Wait – you go ahead; I forgot something." Dad shrugged and the rest of the group headed off stage and out to the parking lot. Kairi was with Shiki, Xion and Namine, and Roxas was trying and failing to get out of Mum's side-hug, so none of them really noticed as I headed back.

I searched around for Riku, wondering where he could have gone. It pissed me off that I hadn't noticed sooner. _Some kind of friend you are. _

Not that Riku and I were even friends anymore. I wasn't sure. That's what I'd been hoping to find out.

I headed to the backstage bathrooms, the store rooms, the dressing rooms. There weren't that many people left backstage, so it didn't take me long to realize he wasn't there. I asked the few left and none of them could give me an answer. I figured as much.

I found my way back to the dressing rooms to pick up my stuff and change back to my regular clothes, and I was all ready to resign when something caught my eye. It was sticking out of the front pocket of my chinos – a folded piece of paper that looked like it'd been ripped out of a notebook.

I slipped it open and, sure enough, scrawled in quick, messy letters – a handwriting that was undeniably Riku's – were four words. _'Take care of her._'

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Van explained that Dad had gotten promoted and gotten drunk in the middle of the day to celebrate, which explained why he strange he was acting. My dad didn't usually smile all that much.

I forced myself not to think of the note, what it meant, why he'd given it to me, where the hell Riku'd disappeared off to again. Was he trying to give me yet another reason to be mad at him? Because it was working, that was for sure.

_God. Riku._

_Turtle's Paradise _was actually pretty neat – nice and medieval. It reminded me of _The Snuggly Duckling _from Tangled, except a hell of a lot cleaner. There was a bar in one of the adjoining rooms and a beer keg next to the jukebox, to which Van made a beeline as soon as we stepped foot inside.

Considering the circumstances, I didn't blame him. As if two dozen of us weren't enough, Dad decided to invite Aqua and Terra, who just happened to be passing by as we were about to leave. I didn't have a problem with them at all, but Van sure as hell did.

Terra was oblivious to everything, strangely happy considering how down he'd been the past few months. He laughed and joked and his arm seemed to be glued to Aqua's shoulders. I didn't get why they were so touchy until later.

The meal went nice and smoothly. The food was almost as great as the fact that we were eating for free. Conversations were going on everywhere and there wasn't a shortage of things to talk about. Family reunions were always fun, even if my massive family did get on my nerves sometimes, I was lucky. Not everyone had as many people surrounding them as I did. And Mom and Dad were getting along, for the first time in years. Van said it was my performance that had made them decide to put the past behind them, or something, but I just figured they were being polite. They weren't saying much except casual sentence fillers and stuff like "pass the salt", but it was a step forward I guess. Mom and Tifa were almost getting along as well, which was great, because I liked Tifa. She was a great person. It wasn't her fault my Dad had been a manwhore in high school.

We hadn't had a big family reunion since our first Thanksgiving after the divorce, which ended in Mom throwing the stuffed turkey at Tifa and Dad nearly burning the house to the ground. Long story.

My friends being there did help a little, though. My parents couldn't exactly go Call of Duty on each other with everyone watching. Neku, Shiki, Joshua and Beat who I'd known for barely two months. Penelo and Vaan who had been the first friends I'd ever made this year when I decided to turn my life around. Terra and Aqua, who were my teachers, but still sort of my friends, all things considering.

And Kairi, of course. Who I'd said I was in love with.

It felt strangely nice knowing it was out there. A weight off my chest, in a way. It wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be, and it'd have been nice to hear her say it back, but the fact that she knew and hadn't run a thousand miles away from me was a good sign. I didn't need her to say anything, as long as she knew.

Plus, telling her kind of wrote off us being anything less than a couple, right?

* * *

"If I may," Terra said while we were all having dessert, standing up with his tall champagne glass and a smile on his face. "I have an announcement to make." He placed his hand on Aqua's shoulder. "Aqua and I are _finally_ getting married."

Everyone cheered, even though I was pretty sure hardly anyone at the table knew who they were. Marriage was something to celebrate, though, so everyone congratulated them, begging for details.

I looked around the room for Van, wondering how he was taking all this. I couldn't find him anywhere. He'd left for a smoke break right before dessert and never come back.

Kairi carpooled with us on the way back. Roxas sat in the front with Mom and Namine and Kairi sat with me in the middle. It was past midnight and Namine had accidentally taken half a glass of champagne and had completely passed out on my shoulder.

I was nodding off myself when I got a text from Kairi which knocked me wide awake.

_I don't really know how to say this but Aqua's cheating on Terra with your brother. _

I had no idea how she knew. Had Van told her? Had something happened that I didn't know about? How long had she known? I texted her back: _I know. _

_What do you mean 'I know'?!_

_Long story. When did u find out?_

_At the restaurant when I went to go pee I saw them making out on the back porch. Then Aqua stopped and said that they had to stop cause she couldn't cheat on Terra anymore and that everything was a mistake…and then Van yelled at her and she told him they were getting married oh and apparently Aqua's pregnant and Van's the father and this is sounding an awful lot like a soap opera but that's what happened I'm literally so confused._

I waited until she was done. I texted Van and asked if he was ok. Knowing him, he'd probably gone to get drunk in a club somewhere. Still. I told Kairi about Aqua and Van, leaving out some of it because I wasn't sure how Van would feel if I told her everything.

Kairi didn't seem to see it the same way I did. _Cheating is cheating. Van knew she was engaged._

_It takes two to tango, Kairi. Aqua was the one cheating. _

_Still. He called her a whore._

We agreed to disagree. Of course I was going to take Van's side, and Kairi was one of those people who took morals way seriously, so there was no use wasting time.

She asked me if I was going to the wedding. I'd only been to one wedding in my entire life, and that was Mom and Zack's. Dad and Tifa had never gotten married – Tifa told me once that they just didn't see the need to. I loved weddings, and I really wanted to be happy for Terra and Aqua…but I just couldn't do it to Van. Family came before friends, after all.

I said no.

Kairi said she wasn't going either.

* * *

I called Kairi as soon as I'd gotten into bed, to say goodnight. I ended up saying 'I love you' instead. It just kind of slipped out.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Wednesday was the graduation ceremony for the seniors. It was odd, because months ago I wouldn't have known half the people graduating or even cared enough to show up. Funny that.

Destiny College always held their graduation ceremonies on the beach – why wouldn't they. The dress code was Hawaiian-themed, and everyone wore sunhats. With everyone lined up on the beach, underneath the palm trees in their beach outfits and sunglasses, it looked more like a sunscreen commercial or fashion shoot than a graduation ceremony, but no one cared.

Spirits were at an all-time high. The sun was shining, seagulls flew overhead, and everyone was stoked to get on the road to the rest of their lives.

Shuyin had gotten his acceptance letter to that college he wanted to go to in Spira, which he was ecstatic about. So had Yuna. Tidus and Lenne were pretty bummed, though, which was understandable. Goodbyes sucked.

Principal Yoshida gave his speech, and for the first time in what seemed like history, everyone in the audience actually paid attention. It was cheesy and corny and not really anything they hadn't heard in an inspirational pop song, but they weren't going to see him for the rest of their lives. They owed him this much.

All the teachers were there, including most of mine; Genesis, who had told me on my last official day of class that I had "an insightful mind" and that I should try and "tap into my analytical side" every once in a while. Aqua and Terra, who to anyone else looked like a happy couple. Squall-it's-Leon, who actually congratulated me on finishing my semester with a B- in Calculus. Barrett, who I'd never really figured out. Rufus-sensei, who eventually gave up trying to teach us Japanese seriously and just let us watch bad anime for the rest of the term, which everyone was more than okay with. And Rinoa, who'd brought her stupid dog with her. (If not for Kairi sitting next to me and reassuring me that, no, Angelo wasn't about to break free of his leash and he wasn't after my blood, I might have ditched the ceremony altogether.)

Fang was valedictorian, so she had to give a speech as well. She looked different, in a way. She didn't look as scary as she usually did. She looked at peace with herself. Nice, even. For the first time since I'd known her she wasn't scowling. Her speech was gripping, persuasive, moving. She talked about what it meant to be a leader, about life and love and friendship.

And then she went on to talk about bravery. And something in her speech got to me.

"They'll come a time in life when you'll feel lost, when you'll get hurt, heartbroken, betrayed. Life isn't always sunshine and rainbows. There are people out there who just suck, who will walk all over you and tear you down." She paused, for effect. "But only if you let them. You can't let your past control your future. You can't use what something someone did to you as an excuse to do the same to someone else. If you go around trying to make everyone as miserable as you are, you're not going to get anywhere. You are the one who's responsible for stopping the cycle, for making a change. You have the power to be who you want, to change your destiny, and maybe the destinies of others. You can't let your entire life revolve around your mistakes. Forgive, forget, and move on. That's the only way you'll ever accomplish anything, trust me."

It wasn't the most eloquent speech I'd ever heard, but it stuck, and I guess that's all that mattered. I had a feeling she knew what she was talking about. And it got to me, because so many things had happened this year – I'd gone from being the school punching bag to actually have a friend circle. I wasn't failing any classes for the first time in my entire life and I actually had a sort-of-almost-girlfriend. So much had changed because I'd decided I'd had enough to letting people walk over me…it was nuts.

It made me think, and you could hear it in her voice that she meant every word. I'd always seen Fang as a little two-dimensional, as the popular girl with boobs and legs who used to bully me and dated Riku once upon a time. It was obvious now she was a lot more than that, and, honestly, it kind of sucked that we'd never really gotten that close.

The ceremony concluded with the handing out of the diplomas and Principal Yoshida announcing, slightly teary-eyed (?), the dismissal of the graduating class. Everyone threw their sunhats – yes, sunhats – in the air and cheered, and it was like a scene out of the third High School Musical movie, except not really.

* * *

Shuyin and Tidus were in the waves before anyone could blink. The sun was hot and the sky was clear and it was, honestly, the perfect day for a beach party.

In seconds, almost everyone was in their bikinis and trunks, ready to party. Selphie had really outdone herself this time – cocktails stands, massive drink coolers, a barbecue…the smell of sizzling hotdogs and ribs made my mouth water.

The waves looked great for surfing and I thought about joining the others in the water, but Kairi forgot her bikini so I stuck with her. I ate way too many hotdogs and drank at least three (virgin) cocktails before I fell asleep on the sand to the sound of crashing waves and seagulls and laughs and Kairi's breathing.

It was a kickass summer's day and I was on the beach with the most popular group in school. It was funny, because this is what I'd dreamt of every summer for as long as I could remember. I'd spent countless summers lounging on the living room couch with the air-conditioning turned all the way up, devouring tub after tub of ice cream watching terrible TV specials, not showering for days on end, sleeping until well into the afternoon, reading comic books and rewatching Disney movies and talking with my Donald and Goofy plushies and pretending I liked it that way.

I'd watched Riku and all the Populars arrange trips and parties and plans every single summer like it was nothing, almost masochistically browsing through album after album of trips to Ibiza and Jacuzzis and shiny cars and surfing pictures and photos of Riku with girls flanking both sides…and pretending I wouldn't have traded anything to live his life.

I was, relatively, living it now. It was going to take a long time to get used to.

Vaan – who was pretty much part of our group now – said that he'd heard there was supposed to be a meteor shower that night, so the party lasted well into the evening. Shuyin made a campfire and started making s'mores. I sang the Campfire Song until Tidus elbowed me in the gut.

Selphie burst into tears in the middle of a story Shuyin was telling a gripping tale about the 7th grade camping trip. I vaguely remembered the 7th grade camping trip as the trip where Riku gave me a swirlie in the porta-potty and stuffed my pillow with worms and made me fall face-first into an ant-hill…but no one else seemed to remember, so I didn't bring it up.

"I love you guys – so much," Selphie said between sniffs. "You have to – to promise to keep in touch, okay?"

Everyone nodded, some more convincingly than others. Rikku and Selphie hugged and it was all a bit _Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants_ for my taste. Maybe it was because I hadn't known them that long enough.

It was weird thinking that next year would be my final year of high school. Which meant I only had one more year to pick a college…if I was even going to one that is. Destiny Islands didn't have any universities, which meant almost everyone who graduated had to leave the Islands. Money had always been a little tight so I'd concluded I was giving up on college entirely. But now Zack was going to the front lines – most of our bills would be covered by the army – and Dad and Mom weren't fighting anymore - Dad more than enough to send the both of us – I was starting to consider it.

Especially after what Genesis had said about me having "amazing potential" and "a unique voice." I wasn't half good enough to be a professional writer – I knew that. But I believed I could learn. And college seemed like a good idea…

Of course, though, my parents would never pay a hundred thousand munny per year for me to study _creative writing_, of all things. Dad had always assumed we'd join the military, and Mom assumed we were all going to follow Ven's footsteps and become lawyers or stockbrokers. They weren't going to throw away all their savings so I could write _books_.

"We're gonna be seniors next year…" I said out loud, to Kairi, a while later, while we were lying down next to each other under the stars. It would have been almost romantic if, of course, I wasn't sweating like a walrus. "Can't believe it."

Kairi's hair had grown since the haircut. She wasn't any Rapunzel, but it was a comfortable sort-of-mid-length and still smelt of cinnamon. "I can."

_Of course you can – you're Kairi_, I wanted to say, but I didn't. "I just realized I don't have a single idea what I'm doing after I graduate."

She attempted a shrug. "Huh. You're a pretty good writer."

"Thanks."

"No, really. You could become a writer, maybe."

I almost laughed. "It takes _ages _and like a billion rejection letters for books to get published. And even then, the chance that people will end up liking what I write enough to buy it…" Ok, so I'd thought about this kind of a lot. Usually in the middle of the night, on the verge of an existential crisis. "Your future's all set out for you, huh?"

Her eyes laughed at me. "No, it's not."

I thought she was joking. "You can sing, dance, act, cheer – you've got a face that would impress Aphrodite, even…Aphrodite's the goddess of beauty, by the way – "

"I know. I read that Percy Jackson book you lent me." She paused. "But you don't get it. I guess I'm good at a lot of things, but not _great _at anything in particular, you know? It sucks. You – you've got writing, and singing, so you could make it as a songwriter, or an author…and I'm not the one whose face was on the cover of a fashion magazine this month."

The fact that she saw me as so much more than a really was annoyed me, almost. She was a billion times better than me in every single shape and form, she was Belle and I was freaking Cogsworth, if even that. It still didn't make any sense that she considered us friends, that she'd kissed me a lot more than once without being dared to, and that she hung out with me when no one else did. I kept expecting her to wake up one day and realize how much I sucked and find someone of her species to live happily ever after with.

I didn't tell her this, of course. Instead I said: "You could be a model if you tried."

I could read it on her face that she didn't believe me, even though she didn't say so.

The midnight sky stretched on for miles on end. The stars reflected in Kairi's eyes and the dancing light from the campfire painted pictures on her skin. I may have stared at her longer than I should have but…damn. I wanted to protect her from everything, like the protagonist in a cheesy action movie. She was holding my hand which wouldn't stop sweating and looking at me like I'd said something. Had I said something? I had no idea.

I turned away before she could read on my face what was going through my mind, pretending to doze off. I tried thinking about Roxas and Namine, and Van, and Riku, and other things, instead of how her dress hugged her chest in all the right places and how the corner of her mouth was a darker shade of red than the rest and how much I wanted to lick her collarbones. The closest I'd ever gotten to kissing her neck was that one time I attempted kissing her jaw and it was the most terrifying thing I'd ever experienced.

"All this talk about the future got me thinking, a little. Which reminds me…" Kairi said, thankfully interrupting my thoughts. She poked me on my side until I looked at her. "I made you this."

She placed something in my hand – some sort of charm made out of thalassa shells. It was made up of five shells wound together with string. It looked breakable but it was sturdy and fit nicely in the palm of my hand, each edge poking through the spaces between my fingers. One of the shells had a smiley face painted on it, with a tiny head of dark-brown hair, and…oh. Was that supposed to be me?

I didn't realize how hard I was smiling until my jaw started aching. "For me?"

"It's my lucky charm. Well, yours now." Her voice was soft and dazed, sort of. "It's for protection. Like, you know, it might be a far way away but we'll be off to college soon, and no one knows where we might end up. Different sides of the globe, maybe. And one day you might be some bigshot writer with a dozen bestsellers, and I'll still be trying to get a record deal…" I smiled at that, because, _really. _"But what I'm saying is…wherever you go, I'm always with you."

My heart was crying, the marching band in my brain was in hysterics, and the girlish squeal never escaped my throat, thank God. "That has to be the cheesiest thing you've ever said."

"It's your fault. You rubbed off on me."

We laughed, her laugh like Christmas bells and my laugh bordering on Porkie the Pig. And I wasn't sure whether she wanted to kiss me as much as I did her at that moment.

And then the meteor shower started.

Since I'd grown up on the islands, I'd seen meteor showers before, from the sanctuary of my bedroom window, and once or twice with Van on accident. But I'd never seen it like this, surrounded by people I'd come to call my friends, and a stomach full of marshmallows, and an actual girl lying next to me.

Kairi was completely enraptured, a look of absolute awe on her face. She looked like a child, and there was sand in her hair, and she kept reaching her hands up to the sky, like if she tried hard enough she'd catch one of the comets. It was a moment I'd regret not capturing with a camera for the rest of my life. The look on her face as the lights shot across the sky was indescribable, and for a while I just stared.

Man, did I have it bad.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

Van dropped by the next morning.

He looked a lot better than I thought he would've, after what happened. He was undoubtedly hungover and smelled like an unhealthy mixture of booze, but he had life in his eyes. He ruffled my hair as soon as I opened the door and made a beeline for the sofa.

I wasn't sure whether or not it was too early to ask him about Aqua, or if I should've asked him at all, so I said nothing. He read me like an open book, though, answering the question I never asked. "Sora, I'm fine, really. I tried my best, but she's decided she's staying with him. No idea what the shit she's gonna do when he finds out, but." He shook his head, smiling a little. "Sometimes you just gotta know when to give up."

"But – "

He gave me a pat on the head and looked at me in a way that said "you're too young to understand." Which was odd, because Van never really cared that I was nearly half a decade younger than him. I knew all I needed to know about sex by the time I'd reached middle school, and Van had given me a box of flavoured lube for my fourteenth birthday. He'd never cared about cursing around me, and he'd always just assumed I knew what he was talking about even when I obviously didn't. The fact that he thought I was too young to understand his and Aqua's relationship problems kind of annoyed me, but I tried not to let it show.

He tugged at one of my spikes. "Your hair's grown out again…I could get Carla to set you up for another haircut if –"

"No thanks." The whole purpose of the makeover was kind of moot now that Kairi and I were almost-dating. Plus, I'd come to embrace my porcupine hairstyle. Van lit himself a joint, perfectly comfortable getting high in my living room, and I added: "I told Kairi I loved her by the way."

His eyes widened so much I thought they'd fall right out of his sockets. "WHAT?"

I shrugged, and then told him about the kiss, the meteor shower, the lucky charm, the moment underneath the stars. By the time I was done, he was already clapping.

"You done good," Van said, wiping an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye. "To think just a few months ago you were destined to be the 40-year-old virgin."

"Hey…"

He laughed. "No, really. I'm happy for you. So happy I'm almost jealous."

* * *

Roxas and I had made plans with Kairi and Namine to meet up at their house at noon – to study, we agreed, but we all knew that wasn't happening.

Ariel was home, which explained how cleaned up Roxas was upon arrival. His shirt was crisp and you could barely smell a hint of smoke on him. He and Ariel baked cookies while Namine scuttled around poking her tiny hands in the cookie dough and pretending to help. It was strange, since none of us even knew Roxas could bake. They tasted like heaven on earth, with chocolate-chips and pecan of course.

Ariel left around four pm to join my Mum at the park, where she was undoubtedly still selling flowers, so we had the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves.

Namine and Roxas were like a single unit, finishing off each other's sentences, conversing with their eyes, smiling and laughing at jokes no one else heard but themselves. It was ridiculous. It was like he would be there with his arms outstretched before she even knew she was about to fall. I had never seen any two people more compatible with each other than Namine and Roxas, and the most annoying thing was they didn't even seem to realize how special they were.

Van had said something like that about Kairi and I, but if he'd seen Namine and Roxas together he'd probably have imploded.

It was strange. Namine, the shy, quiet girl who looked constantly on edge, ready to break into pieces any minute. Roxas, my brother, a self-proclaimed delinquent who seemed to hate everything and everyone and could scare people off with one look. Somehow they'd found each other and ended up smoothing out each other's flaws. She actually talked now, and Roxas' temper had gotten a lot better. He actually smiled, she actually laughed. The dark lines on Roxas' wrists he never thought I noticed and I'd always pretended weren't there had long since faded.

Presently, they were stationed next to each other on Kairi's bed, Namine sitting cross-legged in front of her Geometry book while Roxas span a strand of her hair between his fingers. They were so perfect together I forgot to be jealous.

"So, you know, about the baby…" I said before I could stop myself. I'd been holding off the topic for a while per Kairi's command, but I couldn't help it. "I just wanted to tell you guys I'm really happy for the both of you and…if you need anything, anything at all…"

"We're good." Namine's smile was soft and inviting, while still a little shy. "But thank you." She was so cute I wanted to hug her, but Roxas was there, and I wasn't sure how he'd take the gesture.

I just smiled back at her instead. "When it's time, we'll tell them together."

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

After hours of attempting to understand organic chemistry, Kairi gave up and suggested we watch a movie. I was more than happy to oblige.

The movie started off with that guy from Teen Wolf meeting an actress I didn't recognize at a high-school party, and by the time we were an hour in we'd both gotten a little tired of it. It was called _The First Time_, and was about exactly what I'd wished it wasn't. I could barely concentrate when Kairi was so close anyway. Still, I didn't think it could've gotten any more awkward, until Kairi said:

"What was your first time like?"

My neck felt warm. Not only was Kairi fully aware that I was probably the biggest virgin on the planet, but it was a completely ridiculous question to ask. In the middle of a movie about sex. With Roxas and Namine on the couch next to us. (Ok, so they were asleep, but it didn't change the madness of the situation.)

Kairi must have read the look in my eyes. "Fine…what've you ever thought your first time would be like? Where, when…"

I looked at her, trying to figure out if she was being serious. It was hard to tell. We'd never talked about sex before, for obvious reasons. "That's personal…"

"Come on; no secrets, right?" She pouted, which sealed it, basically.

I didn't get Kairi anymore. I took a deep breath, trying not to think too much about my answer, because whenever I overthought anything it never ended well. "Well…for a while I thought it would never happen, I mean, you know why. But…" I turned back to the TV, not really watching, but it was easier than looking at Kairi's face. "I always thought, maybe, if it ever did happen, it'd be after prom, at a suite in a hotel, with scented candles and French cheeses and sliced paopu and classical music playing from a gramophone."

"Our school doesn't have a prom."

"Well." I couldn't believe I'd just said that. She was smirking, and she looked like she was trying her hardest not to laugh. I should have said something sexier, maybe thrown Megan Fox or Mila Kunis in there just to make it sound more Horny Teenage Boy and less Desperate Effeminate Loner. It was too late now though. Shit.

"Fancy. I never thought you'd be the type. French cheeses are a bit much though."

_God_. "I dunno…I think the first time should be special, you know?"

She shrugged, shaking her head a little. Her eyes dimmed a little. "Sex isn't all it's made out to be, Sora. Trust me. My first time was kind of a bummer."

The conversation was heading into dangerous territory and I knew I had to turn it around quick before it got worse. Just thinking about what had happened to her made my blood simmer, but I held it back and tried to sound bright and optimistic. I'd embarrass myself a hundred times over if it kept her from remembering. "Well, I think it is. I think the first person you take that step with should be someone important. Like a first kiss, except with…" I paused. She was looking at me like I just said I liked to play dress up with dead rats or something. "Look, you said the same thing about a first kiss, right?"

"Yeah, but that's different." Her voice sounded strange, like she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince me. "Sex is different. It's just a physical act, there doesn't have to be anything Biblical about it…"

"Maybe." I lowered my voice. "But I know you don't believe that. I think nothing is your first time unless you want it to be. Like…I could say my first kiss was at a party. Or I could say my first kiss was with you."

It was odd how easy it was to say that. It was odd that I was able to say that without blushing. Everything about the conversation was odd. I was starting to wonder whether I was having some kind of twisted nightmare.

I decided it was time I stopped talking before I could embarrass myself even more than I already had. "Your turn."

She played around with my fingers while she thought. "Well there wouldn't be any French cheeses, for starters." She smiled wanly. "Namine and I always said we'd wait until marriage. Is that old-fashioned? I don't know. We both used to be such hopeless romantics. I grew out of it, but…I think there's something special knowing the person next to you is the one you're going to spend the rest of your life with." She looked me in the eyes, then. It was dark, but the glow of the TV screen enveloped her face in a soft glow. She smelled like vanilla…and cinnamon, and her hands were soft in mine, and I could feel her toes brushing against my ankle, and I loved her so much, god. She looked away, eventually, smiling a little flippantly. "I'd like my first time to be at a beach house though. Somewhere I could hear the waves. And after it's over we'd order pizza."

"Sexy."

"We could eat it off each other?"

"If you tell this to anyone," Kairi said later, when I'd finally stopped laughing and the credits had begun to roll. "I'm telling everyone about how you talk to your stuffed animals."

I blanched, remembering the fateful day when Kairi had found Donald and Goofy and Mickey and – to make a long story short, it was dreadful, and I knew she was never going to let me live it down. She had video proof too. "You wouldn't dare."

Her smile made it painfully clear that she would. Kairi could be a crazy bitch when she wanted to.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

"No."

"Yes."

"I won't do it."

"But Sora –"

"He's perfectly fine with me!"

"He belongs in the wild –"

"What if he doesn't? I mean, look at Tarzan, he turned out perfectly fine –"

"_Sora_."

It was getting painfully clear Kairi wasn't about to budge, and I knew she was right. Pascal had to go back to the forest. I'd grown so accustomed to him I could barely think about what it'd be like not having him there. I'd given him a name, saved his life, spent hours with him in this garden. It had only been a few short months, but I felt like I'd known him for years.

Kairi told me to meet her after therapy with Pascal. I didn't have a choice.

I headed to school first, though. It was still open for students who wanted to come to school for study hall, or to ask questions or use the library. I went under the ruse that I needed to pass time, but once I arrived I knew that wasn't the case.

I knocked on Aqua's classroom door, not quite sure what I was doing, but feeling I needed to do it anyway. She was there, sitting at her desk. She had a copy of _This Side of Paradise _laid open on the desk, but she didn't seem to be reading it.

I knocked again and she looked up. I thought I saw her grimace, but she hid it immediately, attempting a smile. "Sora! Glad you dropped by. I've been meaning to talk to you, actually."

"Really?"

"Yes." She got to her feet, clasping her hands. "Great performance, by the way. You were brilliant."

"Thanks."

She smiled. "Welcome." She cleared her throat. "It's just…I was in the staff room earlier this week, and you were brought up. I don't think you realize how much of an impression you've made on teachers across the board, Sora. Your grades are at an all-time high, everyone's saying you've improved…they all had nothing but good things to say about you. You're a social enigma – I didn't have you last year or the year before but everyone saw how much you were struggling, and it's just. It's enthralling to see how much happier you seem now. Everyone loves you, you know. The students have said school's a lot better with you running things, per se." She laughed a little. "Keep it up and next year you could be elected President."

I didn't know where to look. I wasn't used to compliments. So I just said: "Oh."

She licked her lips, waiting for me to say something else, and when I didn't she cleared her throat again. "Genesis…Mr. Rhapsodos and I were talking and both of us agree that you're a brilliant writer, Sora. I don't think you realize just how much potential you have. I read some of your essays and I have to say you have one of the most unique voices I've ever seen…" She paused, nagging on her lower lips for a while before hesitantly patting me on the shoulder. "You're an amazing student when you apply yourself, Sora. I've really loved teaching you…I just thought you should know that."

I stared at her. My face was probably beet red. I span Oathkeeper – Kairi's lucky charm – round and round in my pocket, just to keep my hands busy. I moved to loosen my collar until I realized I didn't have one and scratched the back of my neck instead. I was at loss for words. Aqua was a great teacher, but, like Genesis, I'd barely shared four words with her during the course of the school year. It was even more awkward with her, since she'd been sleeping with my brother and everything. As for the rest of the teachers, I'd always sworn they hated me. I had gotten better in the past year, but still. 'Enthralling'? Really?

On top of all that, I'd never really thought of myself as amazing. Or talented. Or unique. And I'd never thought much of my writing either. It was strange.

I managed a smile. "Uh…thanks."

She nodded, beaming. I turned on my heels, deciding that was enough awkwardness for one day.

"Wait. Didn't you want to ask me something, or…?"

I stopped. I studied her for a while. She looked confused, and a little apprehensive. I exhaled slowly. "I just…thought you should know all he really wants is for you to be happy."

Her eyes dropped to the floor. After a while she said, a little hesitantly: "I am."

I nodded. "Good."

"How…how is he?"

"He's good," I said. It was nice not having to lie.

She nodded. Her smile was nervous, and a little guilty. "Good. I'm…I'm glad he's happy."

I didn't know whether she meant it or not, but it was like Van had said. I needed to learn when to let it go.

So I did.

-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-ADDICTED-

I met up with Kairi after she'd finished therapy, Pascal in tow. He looked miserable, stuck in the birdcage I'd kept him in, and he wouldn't quit scratching at the wooden caging. I tried not to look upset, but Kairi was grinning enough for the both of us when she came out. Apparently she was finally done with therapy, which she was ecstatic about.

The bus ride to the forest was way too short. I walked as slowly as I could as I followed after Kairi, but it still wasn't enough. We found a nice shady area with tall, winding oak trees.

She patted my shoulder, whispered: "It's time to let him go."

I kneeled down, setting the birdcage on the ground. Pascal looked up at me, his eyes large and brown. My throat felt tight. "Ok, little guy. Guess this is goodbye."

I opened the cage. He scurried out immediately, chasing after his tail repeatedly. He stood alert, sniffed around a little, and – just when I thought he was about to run off – he climbed up my arm.

He scampered around in my hair for a while and it was hard not to tear up. He sat on Kairi's lap, his tiny feet pacing her bare skin. She was laughing and saying his feet tickled, and I took a few photos with my camera. For keeps.

* * *

Eventually, Pascal made a very anticlimactic exit when he spotted another squirrel in one of the oak trees and disappeared up it. I waited for another half hour, just in case he came down again, but Kairi started groaning that she was tired and we eventually had to go home.

I trashed the birdcage as soon as I could – if I didn't I'd just end up losing it – and Kairi kept me distracted the entire ride home. Mum was out at work, Roxas was out making amends with Axel (that's what he told me anyway), and Namine was volunteering at the shelter. I knew this because we'd all agreed to meet up later, and I demanded to know everyone's plans, because I was meticulous like that.

We had another hour or two left until we were scheduled to meet up, so we opted on sunbathing in the garden in the meantime. It was hot and the sky was clear and the trees weren't giving hardly enough shade, but Kairi was sweating through her shirt, so it wasn't all that bad.

"So what are we doing this summer?" I asked, too lazy to wipe the sweat from my forehead.

"Well you did sign us up for those dance classes…"

"And the Korean lessons. Right. Can't forget about that." I tried to sigh, but it took too much effort. Talking was getting exhausting. It was so _hot_. "We'll see what happens." I brought Oathkeeper out of my pocket, running my fingers against the cold shells absently. "I've spent every summer on this island, so." It wasn't a bad thing. Kairi had always told me I was lucky to have grown up on an Island, and I guess I agreed…but it did get boring, year after year after year. Kairi's life was so much more interesting.

"My parents love traveling…I heard my Dad saying something about going to Gran Pulse, maybe. They have great landscapes, apparently. If I asked they'd let you come along."

I liked the fact that she was thinking ahead. That she wanted to spend her summer with me. _Me. _"Maybe."

Her stomach growled suddenly.

I pocked her side. "You hungry?"

"No," she lied, cheeks coloring. She was so cute when she was embarrassed. She was so cute whenever she did anything, honestly.

I gave her a kiss and got to my feet. She lifted her arm to try and stop me, but the heat had obviously taken its toll on her as well. She gave up, frowning weakly instead. "I'll go get ice cream. Be right back."

I headed down to the corner store, bouncing on the balls of my feet. The queue was fairly long – it was ice cream season, after all – but I wasn't in any hurry. I stopped on the way back to buy a flower for Kairi – a bright yellow daffodil. It was corny, and cheesy, but what the hell.

If I hadn't been so blinded and blissfully unaware, I might have found something odd with the fact that the front door was ajar when I got back.

It was only after I walked into the living room that I started to feel something was wrong. "Kairi?" She wasn't in the garden – there was nothing there except the picnic blanket she'd been lying on. The tub of ice cream felt even colder in my hands.

I began to think that maybe she'd just gotten tired of waiting for me and run over to her house to grab something to eat. That made sense.

I exhaled in relief, setting the tub of ice-cream down on the living room table…and that's when I saw the note, with a dark red stain at the end that looked and smelt suspiciously like blood.

My heart stopped.

* * *

… ***insert trollface here***

**NINE THOUSAND WORDS HOLY COW. If I let it run on longer it'd just be tedious. Gomen. **

**I think you all deserve a sneak peak though. I mean. You waited this long. And you've all agreed not to murder me for this cliffie. Right? Hehehe…hehe…**

* * *

"_Roxas…what did you do?!"_

"_Isn't this romantic?"_

"_Let her go…or I-I'll shoot."_

* * *

**AHHHHHHHHH.**

**Til next time!**


End file.

Kingdom Hearts, Humor, Romance