Chapter Nine

The Fight

Sora tried to release his hand from Riku's, but Riku clenched it tightly. There was so much tension in the hallway, you could cut it with a knife. Sora's mouth hung open in shock. Riku's mouth clenched shut almost as firmly as his fists. Akuyo's head shook in disbelief.

"This can't be happening!" Sora shouted out. Tears were starting to form in his eyes and he turned back to Riku, "I'm so sorry, Riku, I—"

"You slept with her!" Riku yelped, finally letting go of Sora's hand, pointing a finger accusingly at Kairi.

"I didn't mean to," Sora whined. He buried his face in his hands in embarrassment. He couldn't believe this was happening.

Riku started over towards Kairi, who cowardly shuffled backwards seeing the look in his eyes. Would he really hit her?

Akuyo jumped in front of Kairi protectively, "Chill out, Riku," he scolded him, "If you hit her, you're only making more problems for yourself."

"Fuck you," Riku spat back, and then roughly pushed him out of the way. Akuyo stumbled sideways and then came reeling back with his fist connecting to Riku's jaw. The force from the blow knocked Riku to the ground, which sent Sora off into a rage. He planted a punch to Akuyo's chest, knocking him to the ground as well. Then he mounted Akuyo and started to land multiple punches into his face, missing most of them as a result from his blind rage. Riku attempted to stop Sora by pulling him off, but that only resulted in getting another punch to his face. Suddenly, all three boys were on the floor in the hallway fighting one another, all of them not even sure who they were hitting.

Four other boys came to break up the fight, Riku and Akuyo each being grabbed by one and Sora being grabbed by two, because of his increasing strength from the adrenaline rush he just experienced. The boys pulled them to three opposite corners of the hallway. Riku had a split lip. Akuyo was angrily holding his hand up to his bleeding nose. Sora had both a split lip and a bleeding nose along with a red mark already forming on his eye.

"Sora! Calm the heck down!" said one of the boys holding Sora back. It took him a minute to calm down and realize it was Tidus, "What happened, Sora?"

Sora relaxed his fists and breathed deeply. He shot a glance at Kairi, who was crying and being consoled by Selphie at the other end of the hallway. He just shook his head at Tidus, who nod and didn't ask again.

Riku and Akuyo were escorted to the principal's office and one of the hallway security guards came over to Sora and Tidus, asking what happened. Tidus explained to the guard about the fight, but not the details on why it happened. Sora just ignored the two of them and watched angrily at Kairi as she cried to Selphie, who held her arm comfortingly around her shoulders. Then the two girls hugged and walked down to the end of the hallway and out of the front door, leaving the building.

The security put his hand on Sora's shoulder, getting his attention, "Come on, son. We're gonna take you to the nurse to see if your alright. Then you're gonna have to go see the principal."

Sora held a tissue to his bleeding nose as he sat in the office of the school's principal, waiting for the principal to return from another room. After a few minutes, he came in and sat down at his desk across from him.

The principal sighed deeply, "So. Are you gonna tell me what happened?" he asked, "Because I'm getting nothing from the other two boys."

Sora shook his head, figuring if Riku and Akuyo didn't say anything, then he wouldn't either.

The principal sighed again and pulled out a file from one of his drawers. He opened it and skimmed through its contents, "I'm looking at your records right now. You have never been in my office before for any kind of reason. Your always at school on time, your grades are near perfect. It says right here you received that part in this year's school play?"

Sora shrugged in response.

"What drove you to fight two other students?" he asked Sora. He waited for an answer, but when he didn't get one, he sighed once more, "Well, I'm going to have to give you what Riku received. Two days suspension from school."

"What did Akuyo get?" Sora asked, sitting up a little.

The principal shook his head, "That's confidential. Your father has already been called, he's on his way to pick you up now. One of the hallway security guards will escort you to the front of the building and wait for your father with you," he folded the file back up and slipped in back in the drawer, "When you return back here in two days, I expect this not to happen again. Understand me?"

Sora nodded and got up with the security guard. He swung his back pack over his shoulder and followed the guard out of the building. He suddenly felt tears running down his face. Not only was he sure that he probably lost Riku forever, but now his father was going to get a hold of him too. He dreaded what would happen when he got here.

Riku's mom swerved into the driveway and shifted the car into park. She took the keys out of the ignition and gestured for Riku to get inside, giving him a look that meant she was not happy. Riku sighed and got out of the car. He walked up the pavement and opened the front door. He hung up his back pack in the closet and walked up the stairs into his room.

He slumped down on his bed and crossed his arms over his chest. He was so mad, he wanted so badly to punch a hole into the wall. He didn't know who to blame for his anger. If it hadn't been for Akuyo, Sora would have never left to go to Kairi's place. Then he would have never gotten Kairi pregnant, this wouldn't have happened. Then again, if it hadn't have been for Kairi, who had manipulated this whole scenario, this wouldn't be happening.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He listened to his mom rummage around her office downstairs. He knew she was angry, and that he would probably hear it from her soon. He guessed he kind of deserved it. Then again, it had been better to fight Akuyo and Sora than Kairi, whom he was originally going for.

Riku's mother stomped up the stairs and swung open the door to his room. She stood in the doorway with her hands planted firmly on her hips, "You guys are not to see each other anymore."

Riku sat up from his bed in a second, "What?!" he yelled.

"You heard me," she stated, "I'm not allowing it anymore."

"But why?"

"You guys were fighting. Riku, you guys got suspended. It's obviously not a healthy relationship anymore."

"But it wasn't our fault," he said. Riku's mom stood there waiting for an explanation. Riku took a deep breath, "I mean Kairi, she—"

"Now it's Kairi!" she pressed her fingers into her temple, "Just where did she come into all of this?"

"Mom, just listen!"

She shook her head and raised her hand to cut him off, "All three of you used to be friends. Now you're cheating and fight one another. What happened all of the sudden?"

Riku opened his mouth to explain further, but lowered his head in defeat, for he knew his mom was right. He bit his lip as he tried to suppress tears.

Riku's mom took a deep breath and then walked over to his bed, sitting down next to him, "Riku, this is going to be the last time I stress this to you. You can't throw your life away over this boy. You have to do what's best for you and in return, let Sora do what's best for him. And if that means not being together, then let it be. There will be others."

Riku angrily wiped at the tears leaking from his eyes, "But how do I even know anymore if I can't see him?"

Riku's mom nodded, "I'm sorry, maybe I jumped the gun a little, but I'm forbidding you to talk to him until your suspension is over. That way, you can both get some time to calm down. So hand over the cell phone," she held her hand out for him. Riku reached into his pocket and placed his cell phone in his hand, "Thank you. And as for Kairi…"

"I don't want to reconcile with Kairi," Riku interrupted, "She's caused so much drama for us."

She nodded again, "It's only a suggestion, but maybe if you guys make peace, everything will be better than this," she paused for a bit, but when Riku didn't respond she continued, "Well, don't worry about Sora returning home to his father."

Riku's head snapped up, suddenly remember Sora and the harmful relationship he had with his father.

She smiled at Riku, "I called him when I was at work today. I don't think he'll be mistreating Sora anymore, not after the scare I gave him."

Riku smiled, too. He knew if anyone could turn someone's head around, no matter how crazy the man would be, his mother would get the job done.

Sora nodded at the security guard and slipped into the car with his father. He didn't say a word, not a single sound came from his mouth. He closed the door behind him and Sora's father drove off from the school grounds. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father's hand tightly clenching the steering wheel, like he was holding back something. The car turned down a side road that didn't have any cars or pedestrians nearby and Sora closed his eyes, counting down the seconds until he would feel his father's hand across his face.

Four…three…two…

"Son," his father cleared his throat. Sora's eyes shot open upon hearing his father's voice. It didn't sound angry, which was something he wasn't used to.

"Yeah, dad?" Sora asked quietly.

He cleared his throat again and stood quiet. They drove in silence for a little. Sora saw that his father was continuing to clutch the steering wheel hard, his knuckles white with strain. He tried to breathe easier but the tension building from the silence was making him panic, almost. Finally, the car swerved over to the shoulder of the road and his father slammed it into park.

Sora looked around. There still wasn't any cars in sight. No pedestrians, either. And it didn't even seem like there were many people at home, either. The panic inside him started to bubble even further.

"Son…" he began again, "How are you feeling?"

"Huh?" Sora said, finding the courage to look at him. And when he did, he was taken by surprise. The expression on his father's face was fear, not anger. He swallowed hard, "I'm fine. Why, dad?"

He kept his tight grip on the steering wheel, "You're not hurting from, you know, last week?"

Sora looked at him question, "No…not really anymore."

His father nodded a little, "I went a little too far," he admitted, but then didn't say anything else. Not knowing what to say in response to it, Sora just shrugged. The father took in a long deep breath and closed his eyes. He held it in for a long time and then exhaled it loudly. Then he shifted the car back into drive and slowly began to drive down the street again.

They rode in silence again. Sora saw his father continue to hold onto the steering wheel like it had been a stress ball.

"I'm thinking of going back to work again," his father murmured loud enough to hear, "Or quit drinking or something."

Sora felt something inside him relax a little, "That's great, dad."

And, almost instantly, his father relaxed, too, loosening his grip on the steering wheel.

"Kairi!" Tidus said as he came running down the hallway. It was the next day at school. Everyone was talking about the fight between Sora, Riku, and Akuyo. Kairi stopped halfway into her classroom and came back out to talk to Tidus.

"What's up?" she said, smiling.

"Why did you lie?" Tidus wasn't smiling.

"What are you talking about?" she asked innocently.

He sighed in frustration, "Akuyo was expelled," he explained. Kairi suddenly lost her smile, "He called me last night. Why did you lie about being pregnant?"

Kairi blushed deeply and looked around to see if anyone heard. Hardly anyone was paying attention, but it didn't help her any, "I never lied. What you heard from Akuyo is true."

Tidus shook her head, "But that's not what you told Selphie when she asked you what started the fight. She says you told her it was about something else."

"How do you know what I told Selphie?"

"Because she's my girlfriend and she's honest with me, you get everything by lying and manipulating people!"

Now there were people listening and Kairi hung her head, blushing even deeper.

"And you want to know why I know you're lying?" he said, "Because there's no way you can eventell you're pregnant...not this early. You never even took a test."

Kairi rolled her eyes, "I did so take a test," she said weakly.

"Whatever," Tidus said, shaking his head and staring off down the hallway. But he turned back around and shouted, "You got two people suspended and one expelled because of your stupid lie."

Some people in the hallway started laughing and pointed at her. Kairi covered her face and rushed into her classroom. She sat in her usual seat next to Selphie, who immediately got uncomfortable and looked at Kairi from the corner of her eye.

"Uh…you ok?" Selphie asked.

"I'm fine," she said with a smile, "Your stupid boyfriend kinda flipped on me is all."

Selphie shook her head slowly, "He's not stupid," and then she got up and walked across the room to sit somewhere else.

Kairi didn't care. She knew that her plan was starting to work. There was no way Riku and Sora could stay together now. She had basically won, yet why was everything shifting?

A/N…FINALLY! I got a new chapter on this darn story. I'm not really sure how I did, so please review and tell me what you think. I'm also open to suggestions, should anyone have any. I'm hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter. It's taken me nearly 2 years. lol