A.N.) This is loosely based off a Shakespearian play, Romeo & Juliet. It's all for funsies, but I apologized if anything written was offending or angering in any way. I hope you enjoy this first chapter.

Disclaimer) I do not own Kingdom Hearts. (I've been doing this disclaimer. Always will do it.)

At First Sight

Chapter 1: Alike

"The next Struggle tournament is close by, Pence, and Seifer won't know what hit him," Hayner declared raising his fist high to promise his victory to the sunset slouching in color, like goopy honey. "I refuse to lose to him again. I rather lose to a girl."

"It's those kind of comments that will push yours and Olette's marriage a few extra years," Pence laughed, clearly more interested with the sea-salt ice cream in his hands than fueling his best friend's ego. The more reasonable and optimistic of the two, he lent his knowledge that, "If you were expected to lose, Seifer would not even be bothered with you. But he is clearly obsessed with trying to intimidate you specifically. You and Roxas."

The streets of Twilight Town were pounded mercilessly by rushing teenagers in and out of shops. It seemed to the two boys had wandered into the district with the most clothing stores. Plenty of young girls were buzzing about their collective hive for the perfect outfit for one of the more valued holidays of Twilight Town-youth besides Christmas and Prom.

The festival of the winter solstice, something explicit to Twilight Town, which rarely has a long night. There the town has a night-long celebration, on the longest night of the year. There are games, foods, costumes, places to dance, carnival rides, plenty of stars for those quiet areas to rest at, and a fireworks show when to moon rises to its very peak!

For Pence, it was just a fun party to indulge in as much as possible before returning to the routine of the school life. For this night-long, he had no obligations other than to enjoy himself and assist his more serious friends.

To Hayner, this was a challenge. At the end of such an enchanted evening, a Struggle tournament is the decided method to be the resolution of the evening, and the start of the day. It's as if the whole town was daring him to stay up all night and still find the strength to defeat his rival.

And last year did not work well for him.

He lost.

All the more ammunition to flare his over-energized determination.

The two continued trudging to the Usual Spot, Hayner roaring with protest to Pence's earlier comment about their female member of their trio. All's normal, in a way, ended normal too. Pence's shoulder was knocked by a thrusting shove that sent the short boy down on his rear, his frozen desert flattened to the dirty pavement.

"What the hell was that for?" Hayner's voice belting from the gut of his liveliness had caused Pence's shock to quickly flicker away. He rose and recognized Seifer and his friend, Rai, looking as smug and prideful as ever, but Pence, again, wanted to avoid confrontation. A destined great evening was too close by for this child's play. And from the looks of it, Rai bumped him. Maybe it was an accident?

"Did you mean to do that?" Pence asked, with an edge in his voice. He may be short and a little pudgy, but that only surprised people when they found that was no push-over; and he could fight rather well. Though, of course, he had to give others a chance.

"He did it on purpose, Pence," Hayner growled, readying to pounce.

"Did what?" Seifer asked through his Cheshire grin.

"Push me!"

Rai could hardly control his snickering. "It was an accident, you know?"

"Can't live without the ice cream, Pence?" Seifer pushed out, then let his chuckles go.

That was the very last straw for Hayner. He let out a scream of battle, tackled Seifer, and began walling on him. As thick as thieves to their significant best friend, Rai and Pence duked it out shortly after. The crowd to form around the boys disturbingly did not try to break them up. Some of them ran off to either ignore the situation or find bigger boys to stop them; but most of them cheered the fight on. For some time, the only sound available to cover the gossiping shoppers was the sound of these boys beating each other.

Pence's chubbiness might actually have been muscle because he was able to get Rai down long enough to go after Seifer, who knocked over Hayner and was unhesitant to kick his opponent's in the torso with his dense combat boots.

"Cut it out!"

The fighting stopped, and the four of the feud had beheld the sight of "The Keyblade's Chosen One": Sora. He looked both annoyed and disappointed to see friends and mutual enemies creating a dispute, most likely for a dumb reason.

"Save it for the Struggle ring, guys. Quit acting like a bunch of kids."

Ashamed, the crowd disperse back into voluptuous spoiling of shopping, and the boys let go of one another. Seifer dusted off his white jacket, grunted, but still left. He turned back for a glance, but kept on going.

Sora wondered why such a narcissist like Seifer accepted his chiding without any backlash. An especially rare moment in history.

The friends, pouting like they were just given a time out, looked to Sora to ask the obvious "What are you doing here?" in croaks.

Taken back by their grumpiness, Sora's confidence faltered only for a second, but then the next, he was back to grinning with his arms crossed behind his head. "Come on, guys! I just saved your life," he teased. Yet, when the annoyance did not fade from their faces… his smile thinned into a line of tension. "I need your help with something."

"About what?" Pence piped, eager to show his loyalty.

"Roxas. Something's wrong with him."

Hayner huffed. "Aren't you like his brother or something? Would it be more effective if you handle it?"

"He won't tell me anything. And he won't tell anyone else on Destiny Islands. You guys are his friends too though, so maybe he'll talk to you," Sora shrugged.

"I saw him a few days ago…" Pence started, staring more intensely. He told the tale of walking to school but spotted Roxas walking aimlessly in the street. He tried to talk to him, because he was obviously weighted by something. But Roxas just kept on walking, blending into a dark alley.

He felt a bit guilty, because if Roxas really was in trouble, he would have tried harder to help him. At the time, Roxas just seemed confused to frustration, not depressed or threatened. "If you think he'd tell me what's going on, I'll try."

Sora's toothy grin returned to his face. Jumping slightly, he pointed the way to the train station. "Thanks a lot, Pence! He should be at that clock tower he always goes to."

Hayner rubbed his shoulder a bit and began the opposite direction. "If you got this, Pence, I'm going to go practice beating Seifer. (Check if Roxas will compete too.) See you, Sora."

Sora bought Pence another ice cream, one for Roxas, and sent him on his way. As the boy with the sweatband approached the massive landmark of Twilight Town, he looked up and confirmed his friend was there, spotting the bulky sneakers and baggy pants hanging off the edge. With each step he took on his way up to the balcony of the tower, Pence could sense a radiation of exactly what he suspect the last he saw of his blonde, spiked-haired companion: confusion. Roxas was probably becoming more secluded and seeking of quiet places just to think.

But why was there also this sense of hostility? Was Roxas in trouble with the mafia or something? Was he dying? Did he accidentally murder someone? Did he sell his soul?

What could possibly be causing this obvious humidity of disdain and irritation like that of the suspense before a scare in a slasher film (a good one at that).

Maybe he would only be annoying him. Maybe it'd be best to turn back and let him continue to think on his own.

Alas! He was already given ice cream. He now had a duty.

Pence slowly pushed the door to the clock towers edge, completely ignoring the sign that warned of the dangerous ledge as always. Wining from the tight mental screws, he knew Roxas flinched slightly, yet patiently awaited the intruder.

"… Roxas?" Pence called. It was the ice-breaker that only seemed to make the atmosphere even more ominous. Pence picture himself being pushed into a lion's den then entering a sanctuary of placid sky to console a friend.

"Pence?" Roxas answered when the familiar face hesitantly peaked from the corner. "How are you?" his politeness voiced on instinct.

He seems to be normal, Pence thought. "Good! Thanks for asking," he piped to lighten the air.

"I saw you and Hayner got in a fight with Seifer again." Roxas had an uncanny ability to say these things with a straight face.

This topic, Pence chose to ignore. "Yeah, but I just thought I'd bring some ice cream and enjoy the sunset if you don't mind."

"Of course not. Have a seat," Roxas smiled a scooted down the railing.

Pence got comfortable and gave The Thirteenth his ice cream. Roxas had some time to unwrap the Adonis of frozen treats and take a few licks before beginning with some light talk.

"The festival for the winter equinox is coming up."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'm guessing the topical Destiny Islands doesn't get snow either, huh?"

"No. But Sora said he knew a few places. I don't think I'm up to go though. I've been up here for what feels like days, yet it's not even nighttime. These confusing situations are just dragging down my hours. I can't even comprehend what exactly I'm feeling or what to do about it or what she said—!"

"Who's 'she'?"

"Naminé!"

Pence sympathized with Roxas and anyone he'd already tried explaining this to. The poor boy was already just as conflicted! "That blonde girl that hangs out with Kairi? What'd she do?"

"She told me I only liked her for her face!"

An antithesis of just randomly tossing out information like they were playing cards seemed to be doing nothing but boiling their blood with no results.

Roxas rushed to eat some of his ice cream. Sighing, he looked deadpan at the sky straight ahead. "Sora and Kairi are going to that festival, you know, as a couple…"

"Okay…"

"But they kept telling me I should go with Naminé. I didn't see the harm in it, because I kind of think she's really pretty, nice, and a good friend. So I found her at the beach and asked her."

Pence got an idea were this was going and it relived his anxious muscles. The problem was completely normal for teens like them! This was 100 percent, reasonably mendable! Believing he was safe from an extremely awkward situation, he chuckled slightly; his lips curved up a tad without him noticing because of his healing heartbeat.

"This is okay, Roxas. Everyone strikes-out at least once in a while. You can just hang out with me, Hayner, and Olette instead! You can compete in Struggle! Hey, since Hayner won't do it, maybe you could just be Olette's date! She wouldn't mi—!"

"Pence! It's not that she said no! It's that she told me I didn't actually like her more than a friend, and that I only considered it because of her face!"

They blinked for some time, unsure exactly how to mend how uncomfortable this conversation was becoming.

"So… her face?"

"Yup. She said 'You only admire my face, but it cannot be too long before you see my face on someone else'," Roxas mimicked with his best Naminé impression. Very soft, yet almost emotionless.

Now that he said it, it was obvious to Pence that Roxas was only sad in that he could not understand. This relationship was bringing complications that Number XIII suspected was not average for other relationships. Sora had never mentioned Kairi saying anything similar.

After telling Pence this train of thought, Pence replied, "Though it's sappy to say it, love can hurt."

"But she swears I don't even view her in that way. Does everyone have to deal with things this confusing?"

"Not exactly. Or at least not this type of explanation, but the situation as a whole could be considered usual, I guess."

Eager to leave this topic and staple the consultation of his friend, Pence suddenly turned the subject back to what soften this company enough to even begin.

"Stop thinking about it! Go to the festival anyway, Roxas. What's done is done, and we still have a chance to turn this thing around."

They made arrangements were to meet on the anticipated twilight just as the sun had finally set. Closing the day and the conversation. Pence left in a panic about his mother eating him alive for missing dinner.

Roxas was left to his own thoughts again. The first star of the night began to glisten above his head. He supported himself with his locked wrist, enabling him to eye that one star. A world far away, shining with life and potential. His mind scrolled through his new home in Destiny Islands. Of Sora, and his sort-of adoptive parents. He had family; his best fiend, Axel; plenty of wonderful friends.

It was his memories that plagued his mind. They were not complete; his heart knew it. Somewhere, inside him, he could catch a whisper of a feeling strong as life itself. It was a fuzz in his mind and heart, forcing him to look inside, which only made him more depressed when never came any closer to fathoming it.

"If only I could shut my heart off for a while. I've live with it for some time, so then why am I still confused?" As the sun had nearly disappeared, that one star shined brighter than the newer one joining in the painted sky.

"I think I should feel love for her, but my feelings for her is not as compelling as my feelings for my other friends.

"In fact, when I look at Naminé and Kairi… I feel… pretty sad. Something is still missing inside—I know it!" He pushed himself back to a straight sitting position with the grace of a nimble warrior, and brought out his keyblade, observing the finery of the Kingdom Key design. "Maybe it's already here. I just need to look harder."

The reflection of that one star on his key blade beckoned him to look up. Putting his hope (something his heart was coming around to trusting) in that one star, he wished that he'd find clarity soon.

"Do you think it is a good idea or not?" Seifer asked with a raised voice as threatening as a slippery mountain side. He and Rai trudged down to the Sandlot of Twilight Town to meet up with Fuu, Vivi, and their newest friend. The source of the conversation. Only about a month prior did the four stumbled across such a blank slate by chance.

"Free," Fuu signed happily.

Crew and all, she, Seifer, and Rai were headed to the praised clock tower, said to be a great hang-out after a long day. And with the sun down, they got ice cream and looked to celebrate surviving their mid-terms at school. The next day would be introduction to new projects, but they wanted to stay out till dawn and enjoy everything the darkness had to offer them. If they fell asleep through class and missed all the details for the new assignments, they'd just ask/beat it out of a brain. Olette, for example, was one of those students all too eager to retell the entire lecture for them. Though she was too lengthy for their patience most of the time.

A sea-salt ice cream (the bestseller of Twilight Town) in their hands, they climbed the steps to the top balcony of the tower, discussing the latest movie to be called 'the greatest movie ever', that two-faced girl that gets under Fuu's skin, Seifer's training for Struggle, and so on.

They were bullies big-time, but they were still kids. Violence made sense to them most situations; not everyone could be a pacifist. Only the current moment mattered to them and they wanted the most of it. Besides, they still had some sense of honor and dignity. They would try to intimidate their enemies but only to flex their own egos then to get others to falter.

Fuu, the only girl of their little group, realized how unfulfilling it felt at times to never have another female companion. Seifer, Rai, and even Vivi had enough sympathy to indulge her problems and her interest at times, but she did have to compromise often just to stay close to her best friends.

But that was a moment ago. Today, they were together and careless to the future. Fuu could live with the burden at least one night longer.

Rai was the first to make it to the top. As he turned the corner, Fuu and Seifer bumped each other semi-roughly to make it around first.

"Hey, Seifer, there's a really creepy girl here! What should we do about it, y'know?"

Fuu took Seifer's absent mind from being called as the perfect opportunity to nearly knock him off the side of the tower and make it around.

Seifer flapped his long arms about to keep enough balance from flying off the tower. "Are you trying to kill me, Fuu, you little runt!"

All three eventually crowded to the ledge, where a frail girl with short, black hair and snow white complexion lied as flat as board on the ledge where people usually sat. Her blue eyes had a hazed pupil, with little life, little desire, little thought.

"Beat it, girl! This is our spot now, y'know?" Rai yelled at her, trying to look thuggish in front of his buddies, but this girl did not even flinch at his shrilled, high voice. The eyes looked straight to the stars, at all the worlds, yet seemed wondered nothing about them.

Seifer, oddly enough in Fuu's opinion, looked only slightly annoyed but more interested than anything.

"Nice coat," he said lowly. Fuu observed the girl's black, leather coat that draped over her like a thick winter dress. It was like a designer suit from a sci-fi or action flick. With such a stoic expression, all she needs is the glasses, Fuu thought.

"She's cool, guys," Seifer declared to his two friends, but still admiring the girl's coat and toughness to not cringe at Rai's outburst. Fuu decided she admired the girl as well.

"How about you sit up so we can hang?" Seifer offered giving his suave-guy smile. But when the girl did not move or even acknowledge he existed, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Sit up, will you!"

At the command, the girl rose and curved to sit over the ledge as normal. Yet her expression stayed the same. She didn't flinch, Fu noted. She wondered why Miss Expressionless obeyed Seifer when she clearly did not give a damn that he was even there.

Shrugging, Fuu sat down next to this new acquaintance, Seifer on the other side, and Rai on the other side of Seifer (he was sulking for being shown-up).

"Name?" Fuu asked the girl, hopeful that this was the beginning of new friendship.

Finally a female companion to be a female with… Fuu could already picture the quiet company of each other with no really conversation needed to know they were best friends forever.

She was so busy daydreaming, Fuu took a minute of silence as an answer.

"Tell us you name," Seifer commanded very stern, almost as if he was subconsciously housetraining a dog. Seifer was only being forceful because this girl was so difficult to coax. At least, that's how his mind reasoned it.

"Xion," was this black-cloaked girl's title. Again, when the question was turned into a command did she comply, Fuu had observed. She was like a puppet or a robot that needed specific orders to fulfill.

"So…what are you waiting here for, y'know?" Rai caved, but still pouting in his tone.

"Tell," Fuu added.

"Waiting."

"For who?" Seifer joined.

"Tell."

"My friends…"

"What's their names?"

"They must not be good friends to leave you here all night, y'know?"

"Tell."

"Can't… remember…"

"Well, then just forget they even exist Xion! 'Cause you're with the greatest guy in town now!" Seifer slugged his arm over Xion's shoulders. Fuu scooted slightly closer to the newbie, and glanced at Rai to see he got over his grudge.

So, it turned out that Xion did not go to school.

Or even lived anywhere.

And did not have any parents to speak of.

And probably hadn't eaten for a while, what with waiting there for who knows how long.

And she had refused to budge from that ledge until Seifer demanded that she march.

Fuu brought her home that night and about three after that.

Then she went to stay with Seifer for a few days.

Then Rai.

That process was repeated over and over for Xion's living arrangements. They enrolled her into school with them, but because she did not do any work unless she was outright ordered to, her new crew was more than happy to steal homework or pressure some nerds to do it for her. Seifer took her out some times. Vivi was very polite and kind to her. Rai tested his jokes on her for when he'd hit on other girls (of course, she never laughed).

She and Fuu went shopping and just hung out. There was something comforting about having someone like Xion as a friend that made her feel like she had a more secure role in the lives of others. Though Fuu often felt self-conscious, Xion's calming willingness made her braver about opening up. It was like she was the older sister; she had to appear confident and teach Xion things about living in society and living in the world.

Eventually, Xion could move on her own will, but still awaited direction from others. She was still waiting on those friends that didn't bother to remember her loyalty.

Returning to the present, Rai was trying to appear as concerned for the topic as Seifer, but he… kind of wasn't. "She's kind of small, y'know?"

"Vivi competes sometimes, and he's the height of a ruler." Exaggeration? Yes, he was aware.

"She's only been training for a short time. She might not be ready, and get hurt, y'know?"

"I guess having her on the sidelines to view my fights would give me a boost."

"Maybe she'd have to compete if Roxas enters. If it were just Hayner, you could take him, no problem, but she could help ware Roxas down for when you get to him, y'know?"

Seifer huffed and adjusted his black beanie. "Yeah, I know. I think we should see how she fairs through the festival and if she's in good shape, we'll have her enter. Fair enough."

A.N.)This is a project I've been juggling around for quite a long time. I hope I can pull through it. I'm unsure if I will keep it on the next chapter's outline or move it to chapter 3, but this was sparked but a specific part that plagued my brainstorming sessions.