Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts (II), Sora, Kairi, Riku, etc.
Author's Note: I just had this sudden urge to write a Sora x Kairi story. WHY? No one knows. But this is going to have chapters in it, so I'll write if people review. I hope my readers of Kingdom Hearts III and Say Those Words will also review in this, because I'll advertise it. And if you're reading this and you haven't heard of those stories, you should check up on them. The first one's a Roxette and the second's kind of a Soriri. I doubt Say Those Words people will be reading this because they're more into the Roxette type, not the Soriri type, but Kingdom Hearts III people, I AM DEPENDING ON YOU.
Warning: Riku is totally RETARDED…well, more retarded than usual.
Quick Author Babble: Mind the title of the story. It symbolizes something, and I really wish I could tell you…but…oops, I can't.
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Chapter 1: It's a Start
It wasn't going well for Sora at Destiny High. He'd only moved here a couple of weeks ago, and already he'd been bullied, laughed at, cheated off of, and absolutely humiliated. Sora didn't know what to think of this place.
On one hand, his teachers and neighbors loved him, and on the other hand, all the students at Destiny High hated his guts. He'd hardly met any of them, of course, but he didn't know if he wanted to. He'd already met Riku, Selphie, and Tidus, and that was enough for anyone. Riku was apparently the coolest guy in school, and he was one year older than Sora, and much taller and much stronger. Selphie and Tidus were just these random freshmen that followed him around. Selphie followed through with orders faster than anyone Sora had ever seen, and Tidus had his share of beating up harmless school kids.
They were the last people you'd want to meet on your first day of school.
But of course, Sora had. He was beginning to think he was jinxed when it came to Destiny Islands. Riku was very happy to see the stick-resembling boy, because to him it meant more fresh meat—another life to ruin. Once he started to pick on Sora, the rest of the student body followed, like obedient little soldiers.
Sora tried to ignore it all. He wasn't going to back down just because of one bossy sixteen-year-old. Sure, the whole school happened to follow this one bossy sixteen-year-old, but Sora wasn't just going to give up and give him the satisfaction.
But after three weeks of it, it gets really irritating. Just standing your ground and not doing anything while people throw spitballs, paper airplanes, sticks, and sometimes even rocks at you is so aggravating that almost every morning Sora wouldn't want to leave home.
The idea had seemed simple at the time; ignore them and they would eventually go away. But to Sora "eventually" had passed a long time ago, and he knew it wouldn't be much longer before he cracked.
Sora walked down the hallways. His throat was dry from the walk here—he hadn't had breakfast so he hadn't had anything to drink that day. He stopped at the water fountain and leaned down to drink from it. As soon as he pressed the button the water came out and splashed his face. Sora sighed. It was a rigged water fountain.
Of course, Sora thought miserably. I should have been prepared for that.
He heard laughing from behind him and he sighed. Turning around, he faced Riku, Selphie, and Tidus.
"Good job, Selphie," Riku complimented. "That was brilliant."
"Actually, compared to what the rest of the students have been doing to me, that was quite amateur," Sora said coldly.
"You don't give up, do you?" Riku asked.
"Well, what do you mean by 'give up'?" Sora replied. "If you expect me to run home crying, then you're so wrong it's pathetic."
Riku gave Sora a steely stare and turned to face Selphie and Tidus.
"Come on, you two," he said. "Let's go to someone who's worth being in my presence."
As soon as the three people disappeared down the hallway, Sora rolled his eyes.
"'Worth being in my presence'?" he repeated. "Who does he think he is…the king of England?"
Sora shook his head and ran to his next class. It was Miss Gainsborough's class. Every single student loved that class. Miss Gainsborough must've been the nicest teacher in the entire universe.
Sora plopped down in his desk. He was still extremely thirsty—he wasn't going back to the water fountain again. He would have to wait until lunch. There was soda and bottled water there, and even Riku couldn't mess with that.
Unfortunately, he'd have to wait for a couple of hours. After Miss Gainsborough's class he had to go to Mr. Ansem's class. Mr. Ansem was brilliant, but he wasn't very good at socializing with students…or anyone, for that matter.
Miss Gainsborough's class was all about studying different races. There were many around the known universe, so it had become a very important subject, especially for those who wanted to become Gummi Ship pilots.
Miss Gainsborough walked into the classroom, her pink skirt and long, brown braid billowing behind her. She stopped at her desk and beamed at her students, the sunlight making her emerald eyes sparkle.
"Good morning," she chirped. "It's a lovely day, isn't it?"
Most of the students nodded and smiled back.
"Well, class, today is also a lovely day to continue our study on the Agrabanians," Miss Gainsborough said. "I hope we all did our homework yesterday."
Most of the students groaned. Sora felt very out of place. It looked like he was the only one who'd done his homework.
"I'm sure you did, since you're all such wonderful students," Miss Gainsborough remarked, completely ignoring the groans. "Now who can tell me what kind of landscape the Agrabanians live in?"
No one put up their hand. Sora didn't either—it only caused more pain to his reputation if he got the answer right when no one else knew.
"Let's see…Sora!" Miss Gainsborough chirped. "You're my best student! Come on, don't be shy!"
Sora sighed. He felt like kicking himself. Now he needed to make a decision—popularity or good grades.
Aw, to heck with it, Sora thought with a sigh. I'm already at the bottom of the food chain, and I won't get any higher.
"The Agrabanians live in a dry, sandy landscape, but underneath all the sand is lots of water and damp caves," Sora answered. "That's what makes Agrabah so unique."
"That's absolutely correct!" Miss Gainsborough sang out with a smile. "Good job, Sora."
All the students were glaring at him. Sora shrank down in his desk, suddenly wondering if he made a mistake. Should he just have lied and said "I don't know"?
"You see, class, the landscape really affects the way the race acts," Miss Gainsborough explained, turning to the blackboard. "It also affects the way they eat, sleep, and revolutionize. With Agrabanians…"
Sora was distracted as something hit him in the back of the head. He looked down and saw a paper airplane. He picked it up and noticed writing inside it. Nervously unfurling the note, he began to read.
I thought you were just a loser, but it turns out you're a nerd too!
Sora angrily ripped the note until it was nothing but confetti. He looked around the classroom, trying to find the person who had written it. They were all looking pretty suspicious, so it was impossible to tell who had done it.
"So you see, Agrabanians mostly live on dry fruit, spices, and nuts," Miss Gainsborough finished, turning back to face the students. "Any questions?"
The students at the front shook their heads and Miss Gainsborough smiled.
"Good, so you all understand," she remarked. "Now, let's move onto their achievements…"
Sora was the first to race out of Miss Gainsborough's classroom. He couldn't take another second of those students. He picked off some spitballs that were still stuck to his clothes and sighed. With any luck, Mr. Ansem's class would be better.
It was science class. At least it was a class Sora could handle—peaceful, quiet, science class. Mr. Ansem tolerated absolutely no sound in his classroom, and his orange eyes were pretty sharp too.
Sora gulped as he walked into the classroom. The students were looking pretty normal—they just sat there talking innocently, and they didn't seem at all interested in Sora…yet.
Sora sat down at his desk, warily watching the students. He hadn't received as much grief in this classroom as he did in the others, but you never know.
As soon as Mr. Ansem walked into the classroom, the students were immediately silenced. Sora had never seen a room filled with teenagers go quiet so fast.
"Students, today I am feeling a bit generous, so all we're going to do is answer a few simple questions and you might be let out early," Mr. Ansem said. "It depends on how well you do."
Sora breathed out in relief. He was practically dying of thirst, and the sooner he got to the cafeteria the better.
Mr. Ansem, to Sora's joy, did not turn to him to answer the first question. Instead he turned to a fair-haired, blond boy with brown eyes. The boy was looking quite at ease as he leaned back in his chair, his feet up on his desk as if he wanted everyone to see his camouflage shorts.
"Hayner, what makes your hands prune up when soaked in water?" Mr. Ansem asked.
The whole class turned to Hayner, eagerly awaiting his answer.
"Do my hands look like plumbs to you?" Hayner remarked smartly, making the whole class laugh.
"Yes, very funny, Mr. Hayner," Mr. Ansem said, glaring at the teenage boy. "You can also be just as funny as you wash the blackboard after school."
"Aw, man!" Hayner cried.
Mr. Ansem walked away from Hayner's desk and went back to his own.
"Since Mr. Hayner obviously thinks science is just a big joke, I'm going to send you all home with extra science homework today," Mr. Ansem said. "Maybe after that you'll take it more seriously."
The whole class groaned. Sora wasn't enjoying this, but it wasn't like he was upset about it. After all, what did he have to do after school? He didn't have any friends to hang out with, and he certainly wasn't going to just sit outside alone.
"As for the answer to my question, it has to do with the way your fingers are made," Mr. Ansem explained. "The tips of fingers and toes are covered by a tough, thick layer of skin. When they are soaked for a prolonged period it absorbs water and expands. However, there is no room for this expansion on fingers and toes, so the skin buckles and you get wrinkles."
Sora jotted it all down in his notebook, even though he wasn't really paying attention. He was wondering if there was one person in this school who didn't hate him—one person who didn't care about what Riku thought.
He shook his head. What a crazy idea! Everyone at Destiny High was practically mindless zombies, the way they followed Riku around.
Mr. Ansem walked over to a brown-haired girl with green eyes. She looked quite kind, and Sora knew for a fact that she had never picked on him. She was one of the rare few. Sora kind of felt sorry for her as Mr. Ansem blasted her with a question.
"Since monkeys and gorillas have hands similar to ours, are they right-handed or left-handed?" he asked.
"Uh…" Olette stuttered, biting her lip. "Right-handed?"
"Close," Mr. Ansem replied, giving her a small smile. "Primates often show preference towards one hand or the other. But unlike humans, it doesn't appear that the overall primate population has a preference for one hand or the other. Most humans are right-handed; and gorilla 'handedness' is equal in the population."
Boring, Sora couldn't help thinking. Who cares about what hand a gorilla uses? What Mr. Ansem should be asking is how many gorillas does it take to crush Riku?
Sora drew a gorilla stomping all over Riku in his notebook.
Just one, he thought, smiling.
"Mr. Sora!"
Sora snapped up instantly. He turned to meet the tantalizing, orange eyes of Mr. Ansem. He was looking at his notebook.
"My, what interesting notes you have there," Mr. Ansem said. "I suppose you don't mind if I show these to the class?"
Sora gulped. If the class saw the picture of Riku, the person they all honor, being crushed by a gorilla, Sora would go through unimaginable torture.
"No, don't!" Sora cried, launching up and snatching the notebook away from Mr. Ansem.
The class gasped. Most of them were looking quite intrigued by the notebook, and the rest couldn't believe Sora had just snatched something away from a teacher.
"Very well then," Mr. Ansem said, raising an eyebrow. "Since you think you're too educated to pay attention in class, give me all the information about cork."
"A-All of it, sir?" gulped Sora.
"That's right," Mr. Ansem replied. "You should know this. After all, we did study it a couple of weeks ago."
Sora racked his brain for the right lesson. It was very difficult to concentrate since Sora couldn't help noticing Mr. Ansem was smiling at him rather evilly, as if he knew there was no way Sora could answer this right.
"The bark of the cork tree (Quercus suber, a type of oak tree) is made up of unique cells," Sora explained. "Each cell has fourteen sides, and, in a cubic centimeter of cork tree bark, there are about forty million of those cells. Cork cells are separated from each other by a layer of air. All the air in this intercellular space is what makes cork float."
It had all just come out, and Sora had to admit it was a bit strange. Everyone in the room—all the students, even Mr. Ansem—was gaping at him in awe.
"That…that's absolutely right!" cried Mr. Ansem, looking more stunned than ever before.
It was so quiet that you could hear a pencil drop. Mr. Ansem shakily turned to the class.
"You are dismissed," he said quietly.
All the students filed out of the room, and Sora was going to follow them when Mr. Ansem stopped him.
"Son, you have a gift," Mr. Ansem told Sora in a soft tone that Sora had never heard him use. "I am very impressed with your skills. Not one student in my class has ever gotten a pop quiz question right, and you…you explained cork perfectly. You didn't miss a single word! I must say, Sora, you must be the best student I have ever had. Good job."
And with that he shooed Sora out of the classroom. Sora stood out in the hallway for a second, stunned. Mr. Ansem had never used that sort of tone before. Sora couldn't help but think it was a curse. Science was the only class he had where he wasn't the best student, and now it was all ruined.
He had picture perfect grades.
"Well, well, I heard you gave Mr. Ansem quite a shock."
Sora turned to face Riku.
"You're more of a loser than I thought!" Riku cried. "You're a complete and utter teacher's pet."
"I really don't have time for this," Sora snapped, somehow managing to push his way through Riku, Selphie, and Tidus.
"I bet he's going to have coffee with a teacher," he heard Riku joke, making Selphie and Tidus laugh like madmen.
Sora felt enraged as he burst into the cafeteria. He couldn't believe Riku was so popular. Riku insulted everyone he passed. Yet somehow people still thought he was worth honoring.
As Sora stormed through the cafeteria, he caught sight of a girl with long red hair, perfect, peach skin, and gorgeous, violet eyes. His heart started beating quickly and his cheeks flushed. The girl was sitting at a table with a two other girls—one with blond hair and one with black hair. Both girls were really beautiful, but Sora couldn't help but notice the red-haired one.
She looked up and met his gaze and she waved. Sora blushed like crazy and tripped over his own feet. He fell on top of a garbage can and soon garbage was scattered everywhere, Sora in the middle of all of it, with a banana peel on top of his head and a half eaten pizza slice in his lap.
Sora cursed his clumsy feet as he saw everyone in the cafeteria turn to look at him. Since all of these people already hated him, they were more than overjoyed at this moment. They all started laughing as hard as they could. Riku stood up and took out his cell phone to take pictures.
"Stop!" someone shouted.
Sora and everyone else in the cafeteria turned to look at the cause of the shout. Sora's blue eyes widened as they met with a pair of purple ones.
"What?" Riku snapped.
"You heard me," the red-haired girl said. "Stop it."
Sora's jaw dropped at the amount of disrespect she was showing towards Riku. Everyone else was pretty dumbstruck as well.
"Why are you all picking on him?" she asked. "What has he ever done to you?"
The cafeteria was silent. The red-haired girl sighed and shook her head. She walked up to Sora and, throwing off the banana peel, helped him up.
"Come on," she whispered. "Let's get you out of here."
She took Sora out of one of the exit doors in the cafeteria and a good distance away from any eavesdroppers.
"I'm sorry about that," she apologized.
"Sorry?" Sora asked.
"Yeah," the girl said, nodding. "They all laughed at you."
"But you stopped them," Sora stated. "Why'd you do it anyway?"
The girl shrugged and smiled innocently.
"I guess…I guess it's not right, that's all," she said. "I've been trying to get Riku out of the habit for a couple of years, but he's addicted to it."
"Only a couple?" asked Sora, raising an eyebrow.
The girl nodded, and she pushed a strand of red hair back behind her ear.
"Riku used to be my best friend," she explained. "But then he met with our old top of the food chain, Xemnas. He was completely amazed by the power he had, and no one could stop him after that. He barely talks to me anymore. He doesn't even remember that we grew up together."
Sora looked down.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize!" cried the girl. "You haven't done anything! What's your name, anyway?"
"Sora," Sora replied. "And yours?"
"Kairi," the girl responded, grinning at him. "I wonder if we'd be allowed to eat if we got back to the cafeteria…"
They both turned to face the big building of the school in the distance.
"Well…people might be quiet around us, but it might be worth a shot," Sora stated.
Kairi shrugged and they both sprinted back to the cafeteria. Sora smiled and looked at Kairi.
"It's a start," he muttered under his breath.
"What did you say?" Kairi asked, turning to look at him.
"Oh, nothing."
I need reviews badly. Like, REALLY, REALLY BADLY. I want SOMEONE to review in this so I may continue on. Old readers, new readers, I'll take 'em all!