Chapter One – The Fight

"Get back here!" Kairi laughed as she chased her new rabbit around the backyard. It was a little brown bunny with a diamond shape white spot on her head. Kairi spotted the rabbit chewing on some leaves over in the corner near the fence. She kneeled down and watched.

"I know what I'll call you…" She picked up the animal. "I'll call you Diamond."

"Hey Kairi." Kairi looked up and gasped. It was Sora Kiyamoto. She's had a crush on him since middle school.

"May I come in?" He asked at the gate. Nodding nervously, Kairi got up and unlocked the gate. She set Diamond on the ground and smiled at Sora. Sora had such a sweet smile… and Kairi could fall in love with those blue eyes of his… if she hadn't already…

"Kairi, I've come to tell you… that I really like you." His gaze stuck with hers. Kairi felt like she was going to melt. She didn't know what to say. How could Sora Kiyamoto, captain of the Blitzball Team, even notice her?

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"Kairi! Get up! It's time for school!" Yelled her mother from the other side of the door. Kairi turned over in her bed. "Aww, do I have to, mom?" She whined. Kairi stared at the wall. "It was… just a dream…"

Kairi sighed and went over to her closet. She pulled out her school uniform and put it on. Fastening the tie around her, she picked up her bag and turned off her light. She lived in a two-story house on the North Island of Destiny Islands. Her school, North Destiny High, was about a ten-minute walk away.

"Not eating breakfast?" Her mom questioned as Kairi reached for the doorknob. "I'll get it at school. If not, I'll be late." Kairi walked out. She looked at her watch; it was almost seven o'clock. School started at seven forty-five. She liked to get there before hand so she could either eat breakfast or chat with the few friends she still had. Kairi had been putting her hair up in a ponytail and braiding it lately. Jewelry wasn't allowed at their school except for class rings and no more than three bracelets on each arm. The socks had to be up to right below the knee and the shoes had to be tied. Any violations of the dress code resulted in suspension.

When she got to school, Kairi headed for the bathroom to check her look and walked out. Many girls did this in the morning; spending all the time in the world trying to be 'perfect,' but Kairi was different. She wanted to look nice, but she didn't want to spend hours and hours doing it. She wasn't too confident about her look, but she didn't have time to worry about it. She usually had loads of homework, which reminded her…

"Oh no!" She shrieked. Kairi rushed into her English class and set her things down. She reached through her bag and searched for her textbook. She had forgotten all about the questions she had to answer about the story they were reading.

Only a few other people were in the room before school started; everyone else was in the hallways, at their lockers, or talking in their little groups.

Kairi couldn't concentrate. The boy across the room was snoring loudly, and the noise from the hallway made it even worse. The noise from the hallway was unusually loud…

"Fight!" Kairi heard someone yell. She saw a crowd gather just outside the classroom. Overtaken by curiosity, she just had to see what was going on. But then again, she had homework to do. "I guess I can just take a quick peek…"

Kairi was just as unsuccessful as the teachers that were trying to get through and stop the fight. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear a whole lot.

"I'm sick of you, Sora!" Kairi's eyes widened. "You're always making us do everything!"

"Kairi!" A bit shorter brunette girl came up to her, jumping up and down. "What's going on, Selphie?" Kairi asked, moving out of the way so some others can push through. "Sora and Tidus are fighting!" She tried to stand on her tiptoes, but she was too short. "Aww, I wish I could see…"

The crowd "oooed." All the excitement stopped when the principal appeared.

"What is going on here?" The crowd separated to make way for him as he moved gracefully by. "Uh oh…" Kairi whispered. She looked at Sora, who was in full view now. His lip was bleeding. Tidus was laying on the floor glaring at him. The principal blocked them both as he went up to them. Kairi tried to move to a different angle, but the students were in the way.

"Come with me, both of you." He said sternly. He grabbed their arms and trotted off, not even looking back.

Everyone had gone back to their little groups chatting about the fight. "Oh my gosh!" Kairi still hadn't gotten her homework done. She waved goodbye to Selphie and rushed back to her seat. The first bell rang. She had exactly five minutes to get as much done as possible.

However, she couldn't stop thinking about the look Sora had on his face when the principal was approaching them. He looked concerned… for once. Kairi had always known Sora as the bold, confident type. He was always proud of something, even if it was for the littlest thing.

"Argh… no, no, no!" The second bell rang, which started class. The teacher walked in, carrying a huge binder that she always held. Mrs. Rogers was strict, but also could be very nice. It depended on how the class acted in the first few minutes if it was going to be a good or a bad day. Usually with first period… there were problems…

However, Tidus was in this class, but he was in the fight, so things would probably run smoothly today without him. Tidus was a smartass. It was that simple. Mrs. Rogers and him did not get along, which caused a lot of extra work for the class. Tidus complained about everything. Kairi remembered when Tidus liked her and practically forced her to go out with him. Luckily, Yuna was there. She's his… well, ex-girlfriend. Ever since that incident, they never talked to each other again. Yuna and Kairi were friends now.

Namine, another friend of Kairi's, ran into the classroom. She handed Mrs. Rogers a note anxiously and sat down next to Kairi. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out as if she was meditating.

"Homework goes on my desk, right now." Mrs. Rogers said calmly as she walked to the back of the room where her desk was. Kairi only had three questions out of twenty complete. She crumbled up the paper and went to throw it in the trashcan.

Namine handed her homework in and came to sit back down. Namine always made straight A's in every class.

"What's the matter, Kairi?"

"I didn't finish my homework…" She sighed.

"You knew I would've let you copy mine… if I had gotten here on time." She said worriedly. "I know. I guess I'd better take the consequences though."

The bell rang. Just before Kairi was about to leave, Mrs. Rogers called her over to her desk. Kairi said goodbye to Namine and walked slowly.

"Yes, Mrs. Rogers?" She asked politely.

"I noticed you didn't turn in your homework today. That's the third time this week…" Mrs. Rogers had a concerned look on her face. "Kairi," she paused, "this is your senior year. If you fail this class, you can't graduate." Kairi nodded. "Yes mam, I know." "Get it together." Mrs. Rogers said. Kairi nodded and walked out.

This was her last year in High School. Kairi didn't really think about it much. Did she really want to relive her senior year with a bunch of juniors? Did she want to watch her friends graduate while she sat back, still in high school?

"I can't do this. I must get my priorities straight… just five more months…"

It stormed on the way home. Kairi didn't have her umbrella, so she ran.

"Kairi! Wait up!" A boy with shoulder-length silver hair caught up to her. He opened his umbrella and put it over the both of them.

"Thanks, Riku." She was grateful for having him as a friend.

"No problem. So how was your day?" Kairi shrugged. "It was fine."

"Are you going to that Blitzball game against South Destiny High tomorrow? It's going to be sweet!" Riku exclaimed. Kairi wasn't really into bliztball. "What about…" she hesitated, "Sora and Tidus? They're the two best players on the team." She pointed out.

"Oh come on," Riku rolled his eyes. "They still have Wakka. I'm serious, I don't think that guy gets enough credit. He has a killer kick, and can swim really well! Much faster than Sora ever could…"

Riku and Sora used to be best friends, but at the beginning of their freshmen year, they got into a huge argument. Kairi didn't really know what it was about, but they hadn't talked to each other since then. Riku was smart enough to walk away whenever Sora would talk to his friends about him behind his back and snicker with them, so Kairi didn't think they would get into a fight.

Sora wasn't your typical kind of 'jock' though. He only talked about people he knew or used to know. He was nice to pretty much everyone, but when people got on his bad side, Sora was not to be messed with. However, he hung out with the popular people, so Kairi knew that he would never even think of talking to her.

"Why do you wear your hair like that? It looks better when it's down." Riku mentioned. Kairi shrugged. "I like it this way. Is that a problem?" She glared. Riku raised an eyebrow. "Whoa, don't get pissy on me, now." He laughed. Kairi rolled her eyes. "Well, here's my house. Thanks Riku." He nodded and she walked inside. She was going to make sure to get her homework finished this time…

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A/N: Hmmm, I know what you're thinking. "Why is she working on a new story when she's got like a bunch of others to work on?" Oh well! Review, por favor!