A/N: Hey, guys. I like to write... A lot... So, this is happening. Sorry. Not really. If you're coming from my other story "Not So Simple", welcome back! This one is gonna have a lighter tone than that one. If you're new, check out my other story! Sora's a cop, Kairi's a singer, it's a fun time... Thanks! Oh, and please leave a Review. I would very, very, very much appreciate it. Now, without further adieu...

Rising and Setting

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters presented in this work of fiction. They are owned by Disney, Square Enix and other affiliated groups and franchises. In addition, any songs that appear in this story are owned by their respective artists. Thank you.

The morning started out as any other. The sun rose gently over the horizon and cast a shimmering glow over the waves. The sound of said waves hitting the shore was rhythmic and created a natural ambiance of relaxation throughout the island. Early birds and insomniacs alike drifted through the streets looking for a purpose. And on a house overlooking the water, a boy lay sleeping peacefully in his bed.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"AH! What?! Who?! Where?! Oof!" Or not... Sora Fair awoke with a start and flailed his way out of bed. He hit the ground with a thud. "Ugh..."

"Sora! Are you okay, honey?" The voice of woman, Sora's mother, sounded from down the hall. It was a small one-story house, so everyone could pretty much hear everything.

"I'm fine..." Sora reached up and turned off his alarm. He grunted with effort as he pulled himself off the ground. He groggily made his way to the bathroom and started getting ready, "Are you working an early shift today, Mom?" Sora's mother worked as a nurse at the local hospital. She was a very caring woman who worked hard to help put food on the table.

"Yes. Your father is sleeping in today, so he won't be able to drive you to school," Sora's mother poked her head into the bathroom to see Sora brushing his teeth, "You'll probably be home before me, so would you mind fixing dinner for tonight?" Aerith Fair was a beautiful woman with long brown hair. It was currently tied back with a pink ribbon that matched her pink scrubs perfectly.

Sora's shoulders slouched in disappointment, "Why can't Dad cook?"

Aerith merely chuckled, "You know what happens when your father tries to cook."

Sora pouted, "Fine... But he's cleaning up afterward..."

She chuckled again, "Fair enough." She checked her watch, "I have to go..." She kissed Sora on the cheek, "Have a good day at school!" And then she was gone.

Sora sighed, "Well... This is gonna be fun..." He was thinking out loud. He looked at his reflection in the mirror to evaluate the damage sleep had done to his face and hair. Beside the fact that half his spiky brown hair was flattened from sleeping on one side, he looked fairly normal. His hair was gravity defying with its spikiness and his deep, blue eyes matched the hue of the sky on sunny day perfectly. He finished getting ready and returned to his bedroom. He checked the clock, 7:32. "Crap!" School started in a half hour and he wasn't even dressed yet. Where did the time go? Sora threw on a pair of tan, cargo shorts and a white polo and was out the door. He didn't even have time to eat! He would have to start waking up earlier.

He was walking down the street of his neighborhood when he heard a shout from behind him, "Yo, Sora! Wait up!"

Sora spun to see his best friend, Riku Masamune, jogging towards him. Sora smirked, "Slept in, too, huh?"

Riku reached him without breaking a sweat and nodded, "Yeah. I spent the night texting Selphie, if you know what I mean..." Riku winked. Sora just rolled his eyes. Riku was not only on the High School Football Team, he was a class A ladies' man. With his long silver hair reaching his upper back and his icy, blue eyes, it was no wonder why the girls thought he was attractive. He wore a black, sleeveless shirt with white, basketball shorts. It made him look very sporty, but he was, so no one questioned it.

"I thought you were 'texting' Rikku..?" Sora didn't care much to pay attention to Riku's most recent "toy". He just resigned himself to being the wall at which Riku would talk about them.

"Yeah... But it just got weird, you know? We have the same name... It just felt like I was talking to myself all the time," Riku reasoned.

"And God knows two Riku's would be the worst thing that could ever happen to this world," joked Sora.

Riku shot him a glare, "Well, at least the ladies like me..."

Sora shrugged, "I'm not really interested in that right now."

Riku rolled his eyes, "Yeah... I'm not buying it. I'm thinking that you either A. Like someone and won't tell me about it, B. Are gay and haven't told me yet or C. All of the above with the person you like being me, of course." Riku winked again as he laughed.

Sora sighed, "Trust me, Riku, if I swung that way, and I don't by the way, you would definitely not be my type."

Riku feigned offense, "And what's that supposed to mean? I'm not good enough for you?!"

Sora just laughed, "If this bothers you as much as you let on, I'm thinking that I may not be the gay one here..."

Riku laughed along, "You caught me, Sora. I'm gay for you." They continued to joke and laugh as they made their way to school.

Finally, the school came within their field of vision: Destiny Island High School, or DIHS. Sora groaned, "You think this year is gonna be as bad as last year?"

Riku raised an eyebrow, "I didn't think freshman year was that bad."

"Well, you also didn't nearly fail all of your classes," Sora reasoned.

Riku thought about this for a moment, "Well, if you're so worried about grades, why don't you just get a tutor. Sign ups start today. You just gotta go to the main office."

Sora nodded thoughtfully, "Maybe I will..."

Roxas had gotten to school early like usual. He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the previous night. Ever since his best friend, Axel, had gone off to college the previous year, Roxas had felt very alone. He didn't think he'd ever make another friend as great as Axel.

Roxas sat alone in the art room. Even the teacher wasn't there yet. He'd taken it as a free credit because he didn't want to actually work first thing in the morning. Hopefully, he'd just be able to sleep through the class and no one would bother him. He rested his head on the table and closed his eyes. Seemingly no time passed when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He didn't look up, "Go away..."

"I'm sorry..." The voice was gentle and sweet. It was a girl, definitely, but not one he'd ever come in contact with before. "It's just that I thought you'd want to know that since it's the first day, we're supposed to report to our homerooms, not our first period..."

Roxas lifted his head to properly respond to source of the voice, but his words were caught in his throat. It was, in fact, a girl. There was no mistaking that. She had long blonde hair that rested gently on her shoulders and sparkling blue eyes. The eyes were filled with worry and a tinge of fear though probably as a result of Roxas's crude response to her initial prodding.

She looked absolutely stunning in her outfit. It was simple consisting of nothing more than white tank top that was covered by a light blue hoodie and dark blue, skinny jeans. The hoodie was zipped up most of the way and the outfit altogether hugged her petite figure nicely and complimented her slight curves. In her left hand, which rested at her side was what looked like a notebook, or a sketchpad and she had a small, white backpack slung over her shoulder.

Roxas shook himself out of his daze and cleared his throat, "Uh... Thanks... Sorry about what I said. I was, uh..."

The girl merely smiled sweetly, "Don't worry about it. It's early and you were probably just a little grumpy from being woken up."

Roxas just nodded, "Y-yeah. Thanks... Uh, but if I may ask... If we're supposed to go to our homerooms, why are you here?"

The girl looked a little surprised by the question, but her smile quickly returned, "Oh... Well, I wanted to talk to the teacher about something but he doesn't appear to be here. I just happened to stumble upon you and thought it would be a good idea to wake you up." She giggled slightly. He had looked so innocent while he slept. She had to admit that it was pretty cute.

Even now, when he was awake, he was still attractive. He had spiky, blonde hair and light, blue eyes that seemed to see right through her. He wore a short-sleeved, gray button-down and blue, denim shorts. He had the top button unbuttoned which gave him a look of nonchalance that complimented his unruly hair nicely. Naminé wondered if his hair was like that because he'd just woken up or if it was always like that.

"My name is Naminé," she stuck her hand out formally to the boy as she continued to smile. She had been a little wary of him when he had been so rude to her, but he appeared to be remorseful and he clearly wasn't always like that. Maybe they could be friends. Naminé wasn't usually so forward with people, but something about this boy just made her feel more at ease with herself.

The boy gave a half-smile and grabbed her hand, "Roxas..." He quickly released her hand as he looked away suddenly, "Uh... Thanks again for waking me. I should probably get to homeroom now..." He rose from the chair and bolted from the room.

Roxas shook his head as he struggled to figure out his feelings towards the girl. Who was this Naminé and why did he feel so nervous around her? Was it because he thought that she was attractive? No... He thought plenty of girls were attractive. So, what was it?

Meanwhile, Naminé stood in mild shock. He had been so friendly in one moment and then suddenly he was running away from her. Had she done something wrong? Was he just shy like she was? She pursed her lips, "Well, I'm gonna have to talk to him again and find out, now won't I?"

Sora had separated from Riku when he realized they'd be going to their homerooms. Riku's last name started with an "M", so there was no way he'd be in the same homeroom as Sora, whose last name started with "F". Sora pulled out his schedule as he walked, "Room 166..." He started on his way to the room. He'd figured out the layout of the school in his first year, so now he could get pretty much anywhere without thinking about it.

On his way, he passed the main office and decided he should check out that tutoring program. He made his way over and entered the office. It was very formal looking with paintings and motivational quotes framed all around the walls. He approached the front desk and waited for someone to notice him. A woman sitting at a computer behind the desk glanced up, "Can I help you?"

Sora put on a smile, "Hi. Yes... I'm, uh, looking for a way to sign up for tutoring..?"

The woman looked a little surprised, but she smiled at Sora, "It's a little early for someone to be looking for tutoring."

"Yeah. I know..." Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "It's just that I didn't do so well in classes last year and I'd like to improve is all."

The woman smiled and nodded, "Well, that should be no problem at all. Let me just print up a sign up sheet for you and you can fill out the information required."

Sora nodded, "Thanks!" He waited patiently while the woman typed something in and clicked a couple times on her mouse. Then, she stood and walked over the printer which was printing out a form. She grabbed it and placed it on the desk in from of Sora.

"Just fill this out and place it in that container when you're done." She indicated a small black box that read "Requests".

Sora smiled, "Got it." He grabbed a pen from another little receptacle and began to fill out the form. It was all standard information: Name, Grade, Class(es) in which tutoring will be required. When Sora finished he placed it in the request container, thanked the woman again and headed for the door. Well, that's done. He opened the door and heard a small yelp of surprise from the other side. It was quickly followed by a series of thuds as various items hit the ground.

Sora quickly stepped outside to see that there was a girl on the floor surrounded by books and papers. She had crimson hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and glasses covering bluish, violet eyes. She was wearing long-sleeve, white blouse and blue skirt. She looked very studious, but she also looked pretty cute. Sora wouldn't admit that though. In even thinking it, he was giving Riku clearance to tease him relentlessly until death.

"I am sosorry." Sora quickly started picking up all the girl's things as she did the same. He offered to help her up, but she stood on her own and dusted herself off. "Here you go." Sora tried to smile as he handed over the rest of her things, but she just avoided his gaze and accepted them quietly. She muttered a slight "thank you" and walked away briskly.

Sora stood confused for a few moments before the warning bell rang. "Shit!" He rushed the rest of the way to homeroom and walked through the door just as the final bell went off. Sora collapsed into a random chair and glanced around. Same people as last year... Sora sighed. He'd secretly hoped that the girl he'd bumped into would be in his homeroom. He didn't like her or anything he was just looking for an explanation as to why she'd rushed away.

Kairi made it to homeroom with plenty of time. Bumping into that boy had set her back a minute or two, so she hadn't made it before the warning bell like she'd liked to, but that was fine. Thinking back to the moment, Kairi hid her face in shame. She totally lost her cool there. Normally she would have scolded that guy for being so careless, but he'd surprised her. Not only had he stopped to help her, but he was... Well, he was quite attractive. She almost got lost in his sky blue eyes, but she managed to collect her things and escape the situation before things got even more awkward. Hopefully, she wouldn't run into him again because he just had the strangest effect on her.

Ever since Kairi moved to the Destiny Islands from her home in Radiant Garden at the end of last year, she hadn't really met anyone. Well, except for her best friend, Naminé. Besides her though, Kairi had kept to herself. She couldn't afford to distract herself with friends. She had to focus on her schoolwork. The final bell rang and Kairi turned her attention to the front of the classroom.

This would be one hell of a year...

A/N: Let me know what you guys think! Feedback and Reviews really help me become a better writer, so please if you can, just drop a review. I'll try and keep these Author's Notes to a minimum as I did with my last story, so don't be surprised if you don't really hear much from me in the next few chapters. Anyway, thanks for reading! See ya!