Okay, I'm finally back with this one. Here's the first chapter in Life in Radiant Garden II. As usual, I own nothing.

-miano53

New Semester and Picture Day

At Radiant Garden High School…

Early that morning of January 15, Ven ran out of the house as Terra was waiting for him in the car. Once in the car, he told Terra, "Okay, Yuffie need a ride. Isa needs one and Luneth needs one too."

"Okay, just tell me where they live," Terra told him and drove to the first house, Isa's. Once the car arrived at Isa's the two saw a somber Isa walk out of the house and into the snow.

When he entered the car, he told Ven, "Hey Ven. I couldn't sleep last night…"

"Why not?" Ven asked (the two were back on good terms after Isa gave Ven peanut butter for Christmas).

"Blame my brother, Saïx. He tore the house up trying to find the remote. He didn't stop until 3 this morning," Isa said, tired.

Terra drove off and the car arrived at the next stop: Yuffie's house. There, Yuffie came out of the house, texting on her new cell phone. She entered the car and sat next to Isa. When she saw that he was exhausted, Yuffie asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"Saïx kept him awake, looking for a remote," Ven replied for the sleepy Isa.

"Oh. Why?" Yuffie asked.

"All to watch Jimmy Fallon and Mad Men…" Isa replied.

The car left Yuffie's house and headed for its last stop: Luneth's. There, Terra saw that Cloud and Tifa were headed for work and Luneth ran out of the house. Luneth entered the car and saw the now sleeping Isa.

"What's wrong with him?" Luneth asked.

"Saïx…" Isa said in his sleep.

The car headed for the school and Terra dropped off his little brother and friends. After doing that, he sped off, heading for the University. Once Terra was out of sight, Ven saw that Zack, Vivi, Lea, Zidane and Garnet were standing outside waiting for the school to open. Since it was in the dead of winter, the students stood outside, freezing.

"Hey guys," Ven said.

"Hey, Ven," Zack said.

Looking at Isa, Lea said, "What happened? Did Saïx keep you up again?"

Isa, half-sleep and leaning on Yuffie, mumbled, "Uh-hmm."

The small group then saw Firion, Yuna and Demyx head over to them.

"Yay! We're together again!" Vivi yelled.

The group of eleven stared at Vivi and Yuffie said, "Scary…"

The school bell rung and all the students headed inside. Once inside, the students headed for the gymnasium to find the board that stated which homeroom the students belonged to. Ven headed to the billboard and saw that Lea, Vivi, Garnet, and he were in homeroom (room 204 with Prof. Zexion). Sadly, they shared the homeroom with Marluxia, Kadaj and Braig.

Ven announced that and Lea, Vivi, and Garnet screamed in terror. Yuffie was the next to look at the billboard. Zidane, Zack and Demyx shared the homeroom (room 403 with Coach Jecht) with her and a few other people. When she saw that Larxene and Loz were in the same room, Yuffie screamed as if someone was trying to kill her.

The last to look at the billboard was Yuna. She looked at it and saw that Firion, Luneth and herself shared a homeroom with Yazoo and a few others (room 516 with Prof. Xehanort). When she saw the name Kuja, she turned to Zidane and said, "Your brother's in the same room as us…"

Zidane turned to Yuna, place a hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm so sorry for you. Just don't talk about his…appearance. He'll get upset if you do…"

The three groups headed for their homerooms and once they did, each had different and unique experiences.

In Room 204…

Ven, Lea, Vivi and Garnet headed inside and saw many students sitting at their desks, talking and throwing the random paper airplane or two. Ven sat next to Vivi, but in front of Lea. Vivi was in front of Garnet and Garnet sat to the right of Lea. To the left of Lea was a new kid that he really didn't know about.

The kid, who had blonde hair, blue eyes, tan skin and wore the uniform of the school (but was kind of raggedy), looked quite bored with what was going on. Two seats behind the new kid were Marluxia and his gang. Braig, with a few of the archers, sat in the back and looked at the new kid as if saying, "Fresh meat."

Ven, who turned around to see the new kid, said, "Heya, I'm Ventus Pellegrino. Ven for short."

"I'm Tidus Zanar…son to Coach Jecht," Tidus said, smiling.

"Oh, well I'm Vivi Orunitia. This is Garnet til Alexandros and that's Lea Ignis," Vivi said, pointing at his friends.

"Oh, well…Do you guys know a girl named Yuna?" Tidus asked.

"Yeah. She hangs out with us a lot. Why," Ven said.

"She's my girlfriend," Tidus said.

"Huh?" the group yelled.

"She is?" Garnet asked.

"Yeah. We got together when she was living on Besaid," Tidus replied.

"Oh," the group said and Prof. Zexion entered the room.

"Okay, since everyone's here…I'll pass out your new assigned classrooms. Oh and on tomorrow, the school's having a picture day. So, wear your best," Prof. Zexion said, passing out the students new class assignments.

In Room 403 with Yuffie, Zidane, Zack and Demyx…

Yuffie, who sat next to Demyx and Zack and behind Zidane, looked around the room, waiting for Coach Jecht. 'When is he gonna get here?' she thought.

She looked around and saw that Loz looked a bit lonely. He began tapping on his desk and began to look sad. Yuffie then looked behind him and saw Larxene and a few of the cheerleaders were throwing paper balls at him.

Zack was about to come to Loz's defense when he heard the classroom door open. A sullen looking Jecht entered the room and looked at the students with sadness. He then walked to the front of the class and said, "The days of reckoning are upon all of us, people. It is here that we shall all be mercilessly judged." Coach Jecht then began passing out all the students' new classroom assignments, but his comment worried most of them.

In Room 516 with Yuna, Firion and Luneth…

Yuna, who sat to the left of Firion, waited patiently for Prof. Xehanort to enter. Luneth, who sat by Firion's right, stared at the classroom door as if it was the "gateway to the abyss". Firion, however, began staring at the chalkboard as if it was the "tormentor of all".

When the door opened, everyone expected Prof. Xehanort to come in. Instead…it was Zidane's "fabulous" brother, Kuja. Firion, Yazoo, Luneth and the rest of the boys had to stifle a snicker as they could've sworn that Kuja was wearing makeup on his face. Kuja quickly glared at them and Prof. Xehanort entered, holding a stack of papers.

"I'm sorry I'm late everyone. Here are you new classroom assignments. Kuja, would you pass them out please," Prof. Xehanort said, handing his new student assistant, Kuja, a stack of papers.

As Kuja began passing out the papers, Luneth poked Firion and said, "Kuja must really think that he's 'fabulous'."

"What does that mean?" Firion asked.

"I think he's going for the 'androgynous' look…" Yuna said.

Kuja had arrived in front of them and glared. "You all don't appreciate the time and skill that goes into my appearance."

"So, you mean that looking like a girl is art?" Luneth asked.

"I do not look like a girl!" Kuja yelled, receiving awkward looks from the rest of the class.

"Oh sure. Sure. Being mistaken for a girl all the time is okay," one of the other boys said. The class then burst into laughter.

Kuja, angered, turned to Luneth and said, "You will rue the day you made fun of my appearance!" He then slammed Yuna, Firion and Luneth's class assignments on their desks and walked out of the room.

Later that day…

Ven, who was picked up by Aqua, entered the car and looked at his class schedule. The schedule was listed like this:

Student Name: Ventus Angelo Pellegrino Grade: 9th Date: 15 January 2010

1st hour: Orchestra Teacher: Prof. Nobou Uemetsu

2nd hour: English Teacher: Prof. Edea Krammer

3rd hour: Algebra Teacher: Prof. Xehanort

4th hour: Lunch

5th hour: Astronomy Teacher: Prof. Cecil Harvey

6th hour: History Teacher: Prof. Zexion

7th hour: J.R.O.T.C. Teacher: Capt. Laguna Loire

After Ven was done reading, he sighed, causing for Aqua to ask, "What's wrong, Ven?"

"I got classes mostly with people that wanna kill me," Ven whined.

"It can't be that bad, Ven," Aqua said.

"I have a class with Larxene. She still wants to kill us over the clown incident last year," Ven whined, pouting.

"She can't be all that bad," Aqua said, driving them home.

"Yes she is. She went to jail twice already for clawing someone's eye out," Ven yelled.

The next day, Picture Day…

The whole school was lined up near the gymnasium wearing their very best. The principal was at the front of the line. The teachers were near the front while the students, from the ninth grade to the twelfth grade, were behind them. Yuffie, wearing a black dress and sweater, waited in line for her friends.

The first to arrive was Ven, who wore a simple suit and tie. Yuffie stared at him as the suit looked kind of old. "Um, Ven, what's with the suit?" Yuffie asked him.

"Oh, it's Terra's old suit when he was seven," Ven said.

Noticing that Ven was at average height for someone his age, Yuffie said, "Terra was too tall for a kid…"

The next to arrive was Zidane and Garnet. Both wore business suits and Yuffie noticed kiss marks on Zidane's face. "Ooh, what were you two doing?" Yuffie said in a sing-song voice.

"N-nothing," both Zidane and Garnet said, lying and blushing.

Noticing Zidane's tail, Ven screamed, "Oh my God! What the freak? Is that a tail?"

Zidane looked at it and said, "Uh, yeah. Everyone knows that I got one, 'cause I'm a Genome. Is that a problem?"

"Uh, n-no…not really," Ven said, calming down.

"Doesn't Kuja have one too?" Yuffie asked Zidane.

"Yeah, but he hides it, thinking that it makes him look less human," Zidane replied.

The third to arrive was Zack, Tidus, Yuna and Vivi. Each of them wore their best and Zack noticed Zidane's tail. "Nice tail, buddy," Zack told him.

The last to arrive was Demyx, Luneth, Firion and Tidus. Each teen boy wore suits and got in line. When Yuna noticed Tidus, she yelled, "Huh? You're here too?"

"Yup. I got to stay 'cause my mom wants me to spend time with my dad," Tidus told her.

"Oh, so you're parents are still separated?" Yuna asked.

"Yeah, my mom wants a divorce. Dad doesn't. The two argued over the phone and now it's worse," Tidus replied.

Behind the KS group was the Jenova Brothers. Kadaj, wearing preppy attire, stood in line first and looked at a nearby mirror. Loz, who wore his usual clothes, put…a snail on his head. "I'm so pretty. Oh so pretty," Loz said, pushing Kadaj out of the way and checking himself in the mirror.

"Seriously Loz, won't Grandmother be disappointed seeing a picture of you with a SNAIL on your head?" Yazoo, who wore a suit, tie and shirt, yelled.

He then looked over at Kadaj who kicked Loz out of the way. "Er, perpetuating our vanity, are we?" Yazoo asked him.

"No, we're practicing for my school photo," Kadaj said.

"Why?" Yazoo asked.

"Guess who gets to move into Big Brother's cool bedroom?" Kadaj asked.

"Huh?" Loz and Yazoo asked.

"Here's a hint: ME!" Kadaj yelled.

"Really?" Yazoo asked.

"Really! Granny just dangled these keys in front of my face and said, 'You can move into Sephiroth's old bedroom IF this school's picture is nice for once, Kadaj,'" Kadaj replied.

"A perfect picture and no more Baby Brother Kadaj!" Kadaj yelled.

"Yay!" Loz yelled.

In the middle of the line, Marluxia, who wore his usual mafia suits, talked to Larxene and the two saw Kuja. "Oh crap," Marluxia said.

Kuja was wearing the same suit as Marluxia and Larxene said, "Well, it looks like ya ordered clothes from the same catalog…Weird.

"I'M SO GENERIC! AAH!" Kuja yelled, running away.

In the gym, the first of the KS group to get their photo taken was Vivi. He struggled to get in the hi-chair and when he sat in it, he smiled and was blinded by the camera's light. He leaned forward to get out of the chair and fell off. "Ouch!" Vivi yelled.

The next was Yuffie. She smiled sweetly and when the photo was finished, she mumbled, "This stupid dress is giving me a rash!"

Firion was third. Due to his fear of taking photos (due to them almost always turning out the way he didn't want them), he sat in the chair in fear. "I'm ready to have my soul pilfered from my very eyes," he said.

He smiled and the photo was taken. "Thank God!" he said and tripped over the still on the floor Vivi.

"Ow!" he yelled and moved Vivi and himself out of the way.

Yuna and Garnet were next to have their photos taken. In both instances, the boys of the school stared at them (and Zidane and Tidus glaring at them). "Ah, what a joy to be able to capture such beauty with my humble camera," Yazoo said, staring at Yuna.

After most of the ninth graders took their photos, Kadaj was next. He sat in the chair, ready to give his grandmother a good photo. He breathed in and out and turned around dramatically. Kadaj, holding up a sign saying 'My Granny's the Best!', smiled and the camera man was about to take the picture.

That ended when Braig leaned over and said, "Dork."

That caused for Kadaj's picture to be ruined.

Lunch: 4th hour…

Ven, Zack, Yuffie, Tidus, Garnet and Zidane all sat together and the mood was a bit sullen as the rest of their friends had 5th hour lunch. Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz (who sat at the same table) were even more sullen. The reason why that was everyone received their pictures back.

Kadaj slumped in the chair and said, "I can't give this to Granny! It looks like I'm getting my temperature taken…"

"It can't be that bad," Garnet said.

Kadaj showed the picture which had him with his mouth open and his face overall was sad. "Um, isn't your Granny farsighted?" Zack said.

"Aw, you look like an onion! Granny's love onions!" Loz said, still in a happy mood.

"Oh, I'll give you an onion!" Kadaj screamed, ready to punch Loz in the face.

"I was so close! I could almost smell Sephiroth's old Materia collection!" Kadaj yelled.

"Well, I'm in the Journalism club now. I'll just retake your photo after school," Garnet said.

Kadaj piped up and said, "I like that! It'll be like this crap photo never existed! Thanks Garnet!"

He then headed for the garbage can to throw away the photo. He threw it in and walked away. Sadly, Braig and the Archery Team saw this and grabbed Kadaj's photo and snickered. "Hey, get a load of prune face," Braig said.

"I've seen prunier," one of the archer said. That gave Braig an idea and he headed for the library.

Later on the sixth floor…

Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo "left class early" (or should I say skipped their last class), walked down the halls of the school to their lockers. Kadaj noticed that the students were snickering and there were notices on their lockers. Yazoo grabbed the notice off his locker and said, "Oh look. Perhaps a noticed from our esteemed faculty."

When Yazoo saw the photo, he immediately closed it. "Aren't we supposed to meet up with Garnet and Zidane to take my photo?" Kadaj asked, opening his locker.

When he saw the photo fall from his locker and onto the floor, Kadaj screamed. "M-my photo! It's all over…t-the…!" he screamed, looking around the school.

He then raced around the school, grabbing the copies from the lockers. Sadly, he slammed into a wall trying to make a turn. "Ow!" he yelled and saw where the photos were coming from. It was coming from the library.

He had Loz grab the photocopier and Yazoo yelled, "Hey! That photocopier's school property! Students use that, Kadaj!"

"If that photo gets out for Granny to see, I can kiss Sephiroth's room goodbye!" Kadaj yelled. Loz placed the photocopier in one of the janitorial closets and shut the door.

Much to Kadaj's dismay, a group of students was wearing the photo as a mask. "It's a nightmare I tell ya!" Kadaj screamed.

He was then grabbed by Larxene, who wore one of the masks, and was dragged into the girl's bathroom. She then started, kissing him with the mask on. "Stop kissing yourself! Muah! Stop kissing yourself!" she taunted, torturing the poor boy.

"Help me!" Kadaj screamed as Yazoo and Loz ran to find Zack and the others.

Ven, who was going to the boy's bathroom on the first floor, stopped when Yazoo accidentally crashed into him. "Ouch…" Ven said, lying on the ground.

"Ven? Oh, it is you. Quickly, no time to explain!" Yazoo yelled, grabbing Ven and running with Loz to a nearby empty hall.

"I really have to go to the bathroom and Captain Laguna was about to give me my uniform," Ven said.

When they entered the hall, the three entered one of the empty classrooms. There, Yazoo explained what was going on. Afterwards, Ven said, "Okay, I'll help."

Yazoo (after letting poor Ven head for the bathroom), created a makeshift microphone and hacked into the P.A. system. "We can save Kadaj's reputation yet…If he has one…"

Turning it on, Ven deepened his voice and said (impersonating Yen Sid, who was out for the day and sounding like Vanitas), "Ahem! Good afternoon, students of Radiant Garden High! This is your principal speaking with a very important announcement. All copies of student Kadaj Jenova's photo are to be returned to him immediately. Failure to comply will result in detention for everyone…for the rest of the…semester. Um, thank you."

Yazoo turned off the microphone and Ven immediately felt terrible. "I…didn't do that, did I? I JUST IMPERSONATED THE PRINCIPAL!" Ven screamed.

The three left and didn't know that a very happy Kadaj was dancing in the six floor halls…

Later in room 305 (Journalism Department)…

Garnet, who prepared a room to take Kadaj's new photo, turned on her digital camera and saw that there was only enough memory for one picture. "Drat! Due to yesterday's assignment, I don't have enough memory to take multiple photos!" Garnet said.

"Can't you just delete it?" Zidane asked.

"No. It's for a project," Garnet said.

"Don't worry. 'One shot Kadaj' is my middle name!" Kadaj said.

"Makeup!" Loz yelled and slammed an eraser into Kadaj's face, putting chalk on him.

That knocked Kadaj out of his chair and the two began fighting. "Okay! Loz, don't do that again!" Garnet yelled.

Kadaj sat back in the seat and Garnet said, "Ready on three. 1…2…"

"Three!" Braig said, entering the room and putting the terrible photo in front of Kadaj's face.

"Hah! You miss one!" Braig said, throwing the photo, walking away and laughing.

Garnet looked at the photo and griped. Kadaj looked at it and said, "He did it again!"

Garnet was about to take another picture when everyone in the room heard an explosion on the sixth floor.

A little bit later…

Kadaj, who was forced to clean the school of his photo, left the school in a huff. Outside, he saw Yazoo and Loz. "Look. This is a picture of Kadaj getting the key to Big Brother's room! See! Granny's giving him the key and it's made of…potato salad!" Loz said, showing Yazoo the photo.

"Aw, that's nice. But you should give it when he's not so upset," Yazoo said to him.

"Two hours of clean up and a week's worth of detention for impersonating the principal! I don't even remember doing that!" Kadaj yelled.

"A week? Really? Gracious, um…Loz has something for you, Kadaj!" Yazoo said.

"Do I ever! Here ya go!" Loz said, giving Kadaj the photo.

"Huh? I'm not pulling a stupid face in this one. Big Bro's room, here I come," Kadaj yelled, running off.

Sadly, Kadaj never got the key to Sephiroth's old room…

Poor Kadaj…Okay, review please