hey, peoples. I just wanted to say that this is my first fanfic... and that's all. so, onwards with the story!

Roxas PoV

Sometimes, I hate my best friend.

Wanna know why? He has pyromania, and he has it bad. He's one of those cases where the mental disorder has gotten so bad that he's burnt down a building—or two—just to see those orange and blue flames dancing. Actually, he's the whole damn reason Twilight Town High School is being rebuilt and we're having our classes outside in the back field. In the rain.

I'm fucking freezing.

Well, thank goodness only he and I know that he burnt down the entire east wing of the school. Otherwise… well, juvie hall for Axel once again.

I sigh and lean back in the soggy dead grass, ignoring the teacher ramble on about whatever math shit we're learning this week. I'm not the only one; I know this without even looking around. My blond mullet wearing friend Demyx is fiddling with his black guitar and his emo boyfriend Zexion is talking annoyedly to him. Probably because Demyx always wants him to sing. Besides them, the whole class is sleeping, beating each other up, screaming for no apparent reason, making out, or in Axel's case playing with a lighter and burning the tips of his fingers and his extremely expensive studded leather jacket.

Yeah… I don't know if this is obvious, or anything, but this school is kinda filled with juvenile delinquents. Most of us don't really care for learning; we mostly just come here to escape our depressing homes or abusive parents.

I stare down at the long cut I'd received a while ago from my mom. It's scabbing over now, thank god, but it looks disgusting. I'd pissed her off by asking where the salt was. Heaven forbid. She'd been holding a knife… can you put it together? Not fun for Roxas.

She'd licked by blood off of the blade then passed out, vomiting. I could only hope she'd drowned in it or slit her throat as she fell… but of course not. The bitch still lives to ruin my life every day.

If I went home to find her dead today, I wouldn't care. That is how much I hate her.

Axel clicks his lighter, interrupting my train of thought. "Wanna smoke?"

I shake my head. Honestly, I'm probably one of the best kids in school, and smoking is not high on my list of things to accomplish in life. Actually, it's not even on there. Anyway, the worst thing I've ever done was vandalize the east wing of the school, before it got burnt, with Axel and Xion. Xion, she's my other best friend, a small girl with black hair and scared blue eyes, with ADHD. Or that time that we three had beaten up Seifer's gang from the other high school where the rich kids go, that was pretty bad too. Still, I'm one of the best. I've never been caught.

Okay… fine. I don't have a very good reputation around town, but at least I've never had to spend the night behind bars.

Axel shrugs. "Suit yourself." He then lights one up for himself. Growling slightly, I grab it out of his mouth, throw it out in the distance, grab his pack of ciggs and his orange lighter, then burn the whole pack. All in the matter of ten seconds. The gross scent of tobacco fills the air.

"What the fuck, Roxas?" he yells as I cough, trying to get the smoke out of me. The teacher doesn't even bat a mascara lathered eyelash.

"Stop fucking smoking, man," I snap. "You're going to die of fucking lung cancer before you turn eighteen."

He grumbles but otherwise ignores me as he goes back to playing with his lighter, staring at the flame the same way a child would stare at candy before devouring it. I roll my azure eyes. Sure, I love this guy, but he's an idiot.

Xion crawls over to me from where she'd been sitting with her other friends, Naminé and Kairi. She whispers, "Nami dared me to kiss you." Her big blue eyes look close to tears from under her uneven raven bangs.

"Why?" I ask curiously, sitting up straight.

"Because she thinks I have a crush on you," she says apologetically.

"Do you?"

"No! I mean, yeah, you're really hot and nice, but I only like you as a friend, Roxie."

"Okay," I say, happy with her answer, because if she'd told me that she liked me, I may have laughed, and that would have hurt her feelings. Then she'd be pissed. "So, kiss me then."

"B-but, Axel—"

"Screw Axel, what's he gotta do anything?"

"Gee, thanks," he mutters under his breath.

Xion gives me a watery smile. "Okay, Roxie." She holds her hair back and leans forward, meeting my lips timidly.

I close my eyes, kissing her back boredly. Letting her explore my mouth with her tongue, doing the same back. Not feeling anything the whole time. No sparks, no fireworks, nothing.

This sort of worries me. I mean, I'm a hormonal seventeen year old male teenager. Shouldn't I be getting turned on by this?

A voice suddenly interrupts my worried thoughts. "There will be new student enrolling here…"

People start snickering and throwing stuff at us, ignoring the voice which I recognize as the principal's. I raise both of my hands and give the finger to everyone around.

Xion stops suddenly, noticing at the same time as me that Axel is watching us curiously. She blushes furiously and smiles shyly at him. He sticks his tongue out and smirks at her. She blushes even harder, now resembling a tomato, and runs back to her friends. I wonder what'sgoing on here… she's been so shy around Axel lately.

"Thanks, Roxie," she yells back as Kairi and Naminé giggle and make kissy faces at me. I nod, ignoring the other two girls, and prop myself up on my elbows. Axel elbows my side and grins at me.

"You lucky bastard."

"What?" I ask, slightly confused.

"She's hot." Axel raised an eyebrow as he very obviously gave Xion a once-over. "You just got to make out with her."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah, I really am. Lucky bast—"

"Shut up, Axel." I rip some dead grass out of the ground and throw a handful at him. It gets stuck in his fire truck red hair, and he frowns.

"No way, dude, my hair." His eyes narrow and he gets right up in my face. I stare at him coolly as he mutters, "Get it out."

"Who are you, Marluxia?" I glance over at the pink haired botany major, who is filing his nails, completely obsessed with his looks. "Just shake it out; I am not touching your hair."

He grumpily does so and suddenly jumps on me.

"What…the fuck, Axel?" I glare at him, gasping slightly because he'd just knocked the wind out of me.

He grins, then suddenly crushes his lips against mine, making me gasp again and quite a few girls giggle.

"I think I just creamed my panties!" a girl named Selphie squeals. I groan. I so don't need this right now. Girls barely leave me alone as it is.

"Omigod, french!" another girl, Yuffie, exclaims.

Axel's hair brushes my forehead, snapping my attention back to him. This is highly unusual, I think. He never does this at school or in public. Sometimes, when it's just us, he'll kiss me. Sometimes he'll leave it at that, but other times… well, you can put the pieces together. I'm still a virgin, but it has gone… pretty far. He slips his tongue past my lips after I decide to be stupid and accidentally open my mouth. I punch him in the jaw after playing along for a little bit, not wanting to admit how much I like it. I mean, I don't like Axel like that, but damn, he knows how to kiss.

"Are you high?" I yell, then hiss, "In public?"

He starts laughing. "I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not."

I open my mouth to snap out a reply when a terse voice interrupts.

"Could you two save that for later? Don't scare off the new kid already."

My gaze snaps up as Axel rolls off me. The blue haired principal, Mr. Saïx, is glaring at us with his unnerving orange eyes. I grin sheepishly and stare at the kid standing beside him.

He's about my height, with very sexily tousled chocolate colored spikes that add a few inches to his shortness. His eyes are such a bright blue that they seem to glow in the hazy drizzle. The skin that isn't covered by grey skinny jeans and a bright red t-shirt is the precise color of caramel, and looks soft. A silver crown necklace flashes in the slight sunlight. He wears a faint cocky grin on those perfectly pouty lips.

"I'm Sora," he says, and I almost die at the sound of his voice.

Someone snickers. "He won't last a week."

I don't say anything. I can't. I find myself completely speechless, staring at Sora. His cerulean eyes stare coolly back, right into my own azure eyes. His style says different, but something in those eyes screams mess with me and I'll fuck you up. My heart is beating so hard I'm surprised no one can hear it, and my throat feels oddly dry.

Somehow… I feel some sort of connection with him. But that makes no sense. I don't even know him. All I know is that I want to. Ireally, really want to.

His grin never wavers as people begin throwing insults at him, in fact it grows wider. I swear he just winked at me. I look away, unable to believe my behavior.

"I don't agree with that," I mutter, fighting the slow flush creeping up my cheeks. What's wrong with me? This is how I should react when I see a girl, not a boy.

"What?" Axel asks from beside me.

"Nothing."

The bell rings, announcing the end of the day. The class immediately disperses, without even waiting for the teacher to finish her speech. Oh, well. It was boring anyway.

Sora immediately comes up to us and asks very bluntly, "Are you guys gay?"

I look away, my face feeling hotter than Axel's lighter. The pyro snickers. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Axel and I'm straight. Roxas here…isn't."

I punch him in the stomach, hard. Sora grins very slowly. I swear if Axel laughs any louder I'll kill him with his own lighter and my keyblade. Yeah, that's right; I have a weapon that looks like a giant key. Got a problem? Kiss my ass.

Anyways, it will be gruesome.

Sora raises a thin eyebrow in an interested way. "But you two were just…"

"Just what? Deal with it, kid. In this school, it's very likely you'll get raped," Axel says flippantly. "Gotta go. Come on, Rox."

I begin walking with Axel, looking back to smile awkwardly at Sora. He smiles back. A genuine smile, thank you very much, not a mocking one or a disgusted one or even a scared one. As we head off towards Axel's house, taking a short cut through the woods, I just hear him murmur, "Roxas, huh? I like it."

I blush but otherwise pretend I didn't hear that. Xion catches up with Axel and me. She walks a safe distance away from Axel, who is now lighting a stick on fire and waving it around.

When we're well cut off from civilization, I grab his arm furiously. "What is wrong with you, Axel? Why would you tell him that? I'm not—"

"Oh, shut up, Roxie. I could read your thoughts from the second you saw him. You liiike him." Axel elbows me. "I gotta say, he's pretty damn hot."

I don't even bother denying it, because I know that he won't shut up about it if I do. I also know it's true. I just scowl silently, pissed at him.

"Well, I thought you were straight," I mumble after a long silence.

"It's called being bisexual."

Xion, thankfully changing the subject, says, "That Sora, is he following us?"

"I dunno," I say vaguely, hoping to come across like 'I don't give a shit if he is or not. Even though I do. What the hell is wrong with me? Still, I can't resist a little peek back. Nothing.

"I think I was imagining him," Xion continues.

"Yeah, I think so too," I tell her, hearing a large cracking sound. I jump and look back. "Holy shit, that scared me. A tree fell." Suddenly feeling something hot on the sleeve of my black hoodie, I hiss, "Fuck!"

I wave my arm around, trying to put out the fire. Axel stares at it, seeming dazed. I yell, "Axel! Be careful with that shit!"

He kind of just stands there, staring at the fire. The light dances in his acid green eyes, and I can tell this isn't going anywhere good. He's in one of those insane moments of his where he goes all spacey. It's like he doesn't know anything except for his flame exists. This is exactly what had happened seconds before the school was burning down, and now, we're walking through a forest full of dead trees.

Axel seems to notice this. He grins like a maniac and throws the torch at a tree before I can stop him. I remember it's raining out and let my breath out in relief. Then the fire finds the dead wood and begins consuming all around it. These woods are so thick; the rain isn't even reaching the tree trunks. But it's so humid out, how—

Whatever. I decide I really don't care as some bushes go up in a whoosh! "Fuck!" I yell again, grabbing both of my friends' hands and turning around, running full speed away from it. Axel makes a whining sound and I tell him, "Shut up, Axel!"

This seems to snap him out of whatever daze he was in. horror dawns in his green eyes and I can tell he's thinking, not again. Then, something totally weird happens. Axel yells, "Stop!" but not to me, to the fire. And the weirdest thing: it does. For a second, the fire stops, completely.

Before I can dwell on how fucking freaky that was, it starts up again, leaving me to wonder if I'd imagined it. Axel makes an odd choking sound as we whirl around to get the hell out of this forest before we get burnt to crisps.

I see a hazy figure up ahead, on the ground, and realize with a pang that it's Sora, unconscious. So he really was following us? Or maybe he just lives down by where Axel lives? Whatever. I debate leaving him there, but that thought makes me feel sick. I turn to Xion.

"Take Axel and run. Ignore everything and go!"

"We can't just leave you, Roxie—"

"I can handle myself!" I yell, seriously starting to panic.

She catches on to the seriousness of the situation and nods. "Alright. Come on, Axel."

They run off, and I rush over to Sora. He's trapped under a huge tree branch, barely breathing. I put my fingers to his neck and thank the gods that I feel a heart beating. Very faintly, though, and he's freezing cold and bleeding in some places. I remember hearing a tree fall and murmur to myself, "Shit, did it fall on him?" How did he survive?

The fire behind me is devouring everything, getting closer fast. I try pulling Sora out from under the branch frantically. Oh God, he's stuck. I let go of him and shove the tree. It's so heavy!

I panic some more when I feel heat on my back. Looking back, I see that it's only twenty feet away and approaching fast.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I mutter, pushing the tree blindly with all of my strength. "Damn you, Axel!"

Honestly, sometimes I hate him.

After one final shove the tree shifts enough for me to get Sora out of under it. Without a second thought, I lift him bridal style and run as quickly as I can from the quickly gaining fire.

I can feel my energy draining, but I push myself, seeing light ahead. Almost there, almost there!

The fire is so close I can feel my sweaty skin sizzling from the heat. I squint through the smoke, coughing and gagging. My lungs feel like they're on fire like the forest, and the rest of me isn't any better. The cut on my leg is stinging like someone is pouring acid on me it. My vision is blurry I'm so dizzy it's a miracle I can make my legs move. I know dumping Sora on the ground would be what most of classmates would be the ideal plan. But I can't do that.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity of this hell, I see the blue sky again. Safely out of the fire, I drop Sora and collapse next to him, relishing the cool rain on my skin and breathing in the fresh air. A weird sound rings in my head, but I ignore it, just to trying to breathe.

It dawns on me that the weird sound is sirens and that I'm being picked up and set on a gurney, as well as Sora. I squint up at the man carrying me, the edges of my vision blurring with darkness.

I choke out, "What…"

"Don't worry kid; we're bringing you to the hospital. You'll be okay."

"But… what about… nngh…"

The darkness consumes me as I black out.

so... that's chapter one! please review! don't be too harsh though, okay... please?