Title: At the Beginning

Rating: PG-13

Chapter Summary: The first time that Cadet Kirk and Commander Spock meet. Both have immediately varying feelings towards each other, neither one ever foreseeing a life-long friendship to form between them.

Disclaimer: Star Trek characters are not mine.

Author's Note: This is my opinion on what would happen if after the whole 'you cheated on the Kobayashi Maru test' thing, if they hadn't been interrupted by the distress call from Vulkan. I expect this to be a few chapters, because I have more to play with this idea – but, you let me know if I should or not. :)

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The Starfleet cadet shifted his weight from one foot onto the other, his long-held composure threatening to slip past his over-bearing gaze and flood down to his mischievous mouth. He stared blandly upon the pale-faced Vulkan who stood a mere few feet in distance from himself, returning the extremely cold stare with a narrowly raised yet strangely arched eyebrow. The huge hall surrounding the duo was full of cadets as well as academic counselors – otherwise categorized as highly-ranked teachers who had nothing better to do with their lives on this particular day, apparently, except to bring forward a curious case of "cheating". Or, at least, that's what this pointed eared Vulkan character claimed to be the matter; James T. Kirk had "cheated" his way through the Kobayashi Maru. Now, if one was to look at it in that light, one could see it as "cheating" but cadet Kirk saw the whole test in itself to be a cheat. It was an un-passable test that was, according to the Vulkan, made to teach a being to become completely calm in the face of certain death. Easily, one could argue, it is truly impossible for one to become completely composed when one knows that one is most certainly going to fly through the window and crisply burn to death – but, oh no, this Vulkan man insisted that this was what the test was designed for.

Rolling his tongue around in his mouth for a moment, wetting the dry patches that began to form in his cheeks, cadet Kirk placed his hands haughtily on his own chest and pressed down on the fine red material that hung off of his shoulders. It was obvious to tell that the elder men in the room had already sided with the 'advanced Starfleet Commander' who was more than less likely a compliant pet, and that the cadet had not a fleeting chance to convince them that he was in some way innocent. But, what the hell? Arguing was what he did best…

"Well, pardon me, but I do not believe in no-win situations." The cadet said sharply, dropping his arms to his side and shrugging his shoulders for emphasis, glancing towards the group of seated men before him in hopes that one of them would show some slight sign of compassion. A murmur from the large group of cadets behind him echoed and hummed throughout the room, until the soft melodic voice to Kirk's left sounded off yet again.

Of course, 'ears' had something to say. Typical. He had had something to say about everything Kirk had thrown in his direction. He was a valuable debater, with gallantry in the boundaries he crossed such as the mentioning of the cadets deceased father; which, though it was not exactly a furtive subject, it was not one to be brought up in such a publicized place without some kind of consequence.

"As I just stated, cadet Kirk, the Kobayashi Maru was created for the purpose of loss. It is necessary for a captain to learn how to maintain complete control of himself as well as his crew when placed in the certainty of death." The Vulkans voice rolled over his mouth in a melodic hum that both pissed Kirk off, adjacent to throwing him into a warp of heated emotion. This pointed eared fellow gave the cadet a mingled feeling that tore and tugged in the pit of his stomach, twisting around like an encased, highly aggravated snake. In the three years that Kirk had been involved in Starfleet he had never once seen, or heard of, Commander Spock – yet this Vulkan in front of him just radiated in the illusion that practically sang to the cadet, promising the human that he should have know this Commander all along.

"I think you just don't like that I beat your test." Kirk shot with an amused, concaved smile, cocking his head slightly to the side. A few cadets chuckled at this, and a few others mumbled in either disagreement or approval. Commander Spock squared his shoulders and narrowed his eyes upon the man, sending a chill up the cadet's spine; a chill that wrapped all the way to his neck and fleeted goose bumps along his bare skin. Oh, oh, did that upset the Vulkan? Pity. Smiling again, which probably was not the most adult-like approach to take in the moment, Kirk watched as the commander's jaw dropped open to retort what was undeniably another revolt – but he was cut short by a council members booming voice.

"Cadet Kirk, the point here is that you cheated. You did not follow the rules, and therefore you cannot be trusted aboard a ship if your attitude is to be rebellious." The dark-skinned council member then stood up from his seat and nodded to the men around him, summoning something to each of them that no one else in the room even cared to understand or fathom.

"Well, quite frankly, I don't want to be on board a ship with a captain that has been trained to accept death -"

"We will discuss what is to become of you, Cadet. Until then, everyone is dismissed." The man ran over Kirks words quickly, followed by the excited rush of people who made their way in highly-organized fashion from the room.

Kirk sunk his shoulders forward, rolling his head backwards with an aggravated moan as the busy group of cadets rushed around him, brushing his arms with their own identical red suits. When the majority had cleared, the cadet brushed the back of his sleeve against the top of his brow, lulling his gaze back to his left where he had expected the Vulkan to be absent from – though, he still stood there, his dark eyes staring with what threatened to be amusement, or admiration; either way, it sent uncomfortable notions throughout the cadets body, and he couldn't help but catch his breath in confusion. The two stared at each other for a long while until the familiarly warm palm of Dr. Leonard McCoy collapsed upon Kirk's shoulder.

"Ready to go?" McCoy, Kirks befriended partner, suggested roughly while slightly shaking the man's arm beneath his grip.

At this, Commander Spock straightened his posture to a sickeningly perfect stance and walked aggravatingly slowly from the room, avoiding the slightest crinkle in his navy blue outfit. When he had safely exited out of an ear-shot distance, Kirk twitched his cold blue eyes onto his taller friend and blew out a hot breath of air that happened to furtively sit in the cage of his chest. "Who was that pointy eared bastard?"

Leaning forward as to make a curious stare around Kirk's muscled torso, McCoy glanced after the direction in which the Commander had disappeared and raised both of his eyebrows. "I do not know," He mumbled, returning to his narrowed-back stance and throwing Kirk a wry smile. "But I like him."

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Every steady footfall that padded against the marbled floor rang and rattled throughout the Vulkans ears as he walked slowly towards his office, noting the incredulous distance from the session hall to his private quarters. However, the recent occurrences of the day which left his mind full of encircling ponders might have had a different effect on his mood as opposed to any other day. Therefore, the distance from room to room may have seemed longer because he was so impatient to get into the privacy of his office – where his mind and emotions could have a very serious 'come together'.

The hallway he walked down was uncharacteristically empty, only revealing the intensity of the meeting he had just renounced from. It was no doubt people were all 'buzzed' about the idea that Cadet Kirk had somehow found a way to cheat his way into winning the infamous Kobayashi Maru test; the test in which Spock, himself, had created. Sighing angrily out of his nose, grasping a hold of the most immediate calming notion that floated through his brain, Spock shook the image of the blue-eyed cadet with his wicked-aggravating smile from his mind. That man – how did he even find a way to surpass the locked segment? Was he some kind of advanced-minded human? Not likely. The only positive thing that roguishly standard cadet had going for him was his father's legacy, nothing more.

Finally rounding the corner into his familiar office, Spock ran his pale hand along the smooth white wall as the door hummed quietly shut behind him. Finally, he was at peace to try and decipher what exactly had occurred on this present day. Placing the palms of his hands atop his rather empty desk, the Vulkan slowly sat down in his chair and twisted his mouth in a sideways smirk as his mind wrapped around copious opinions of the matter… and then the door hummed open.

His dark eyebrows rising in unison, Spock watched as the attractive silhouette of Cadet Uhura sank into his office. The woman's oval-shaped eyes fell adoringly upon him as he stared blankly back, and both were silent for a few moments with mutable negligence. Spock's teeth sank into his lower lip and he nodded towards the chair opposite his own. "Take a seat, Uhura."

Obediently, the dark-skinned beauty took a quick step around the small chair before her and caved into it softly. Her doe-eyes still stared upon him, full of emotions that he did not quite understand or care to master at this particular moment in time, but Spock could certainly point out the obvious pique of questions forming behind her tender lips. Batting her eyelashes, chest caving upward in a deep breath of preparation, the Starfleet cadet straightened the tightly-fit red uniform around her bosom and smiled sheepishly. Inwardly, Spock had to admit, she certainly did those blandly colored suits justice…

"That trial was a bit rough. Are you doing ok?" Finally, the inquiries began to spill.

Spock furrowed his brow and clasped his hands together softly, placing his elbows atop the desk before him. "I assumed your resignation would last longer," he started with a bemused smile, wetting his upper lip as the cadet flushed before him. "To answer your first inquiry, however, yes. I am pleasant."

Uhura's eyes promised to be completely un-believing to that statement, but she would not dare to press the matter any further. She knew better than to question the man who taught her – the same man that she had grown unhealthily attached to. And, for clarification, 'unhealthily attached' was the most immediate label for an emotionally involved relationship between a student and a teacher; though, in this case, it was something neither one could prevent. When Spock was a young boy, his mother had explained to him that you could not help who you loved; often referring to his Vulkan father, her being a human and all. Leaning forward from her chair, Uhura clasped down furiously on another question that seemed to be burning beneath her heart and soul, bubbling her sanity to the core.

"Something is troubling you. Inquire, and I will answer." Spock said softly, staring gently upon her narrowed cheek bones that were haunted with sympathy.

"I just," She began, dropping her head and shaking it back and forth with a short laugh. "I just want to know what you think is going to happen to Cadet Kirk?"

Spock leaned his back deeper into his chair and swiveled slightly to the left, staring upon the white blank wall of his office. What was going to happen to Cadet Kirk, especially after his attitude towards the council? Smiling slowly, Spock relived the same feeling he had at the end of the 'trial', when he had realized how much the human cadet had replicated his own younger self once. A time ago, neither long nor short, Spock had stood before the same number of council members back on his home planet of Vulkan, and had rebelliously chosen to deny them the pleasure of his enrollment. Again, the placid half-man chuckled and lulled his head to the side, facing the woman before him. "What do you expect will occur to Cadet Kirk?"

"I do not expect anything – I just hope he will be grounded for an extremely long while!" She snapped inclusively, backtracking with a look of apology as she regrouped her emotions, biting down on her tongue as to forbid anymore outbursts.

Spock raised his eyebrows again, scooting his chair closer to his desk. "You have much pent-up anger towards Cadet Kirk. Why?"

Uhura rolled her eyes towards the ceiling and calculated a decisively mature way to state her opinion of the man, grasping the only description that seemed fitting. "He is a terrorist." When Spock merely blinked his eyes amusedly at her response, never daring to chuckle, she smiled and leaned forward again with a broad smile on her face. "Kirk and I have hit it off badly from the beginning. Three years ago he got intoxicated in a bar, before he had enrolled in Starfleet, and engaged in a very messy interrogation of my personal life – which, I assume, he found was flirtatious. Shortly after our little encounter, he was beaten to a pulp by a few of my companioned cadets. Oh – and I caught him sleeping with my roommate last night." She glanced past her teacher cautiously and narrowed her eyes upon a non-exultantly fascinating spot on the wall, concentrating on hiding the piqued flush of her cheeks at the recollection of standing half-naked before the ruggedly handsome cadet the night prior. "Let's just leave it at that."

Spock placed his hands back atop the desk and nodded his head. "He copiously reminds me of myself…"

Looking extremely offended by that, Uhura reached forward and took the commander's hands within her own, grasping his pale palms tightly inside of hers. She demanded his eyes fall respectfully into a shared gaze with her own as she pushed her body roughly forward, the musical voice that rolled through her lips dropping to a low whisper. "He is not half of the man that you are – and, well, you are only half man. Which is saying something."

Spock's mind felt as if it was flooding at a dizzily alarming pace, erupting him with feelings that should not be ever allowed into a Vulkan's mind – but, she was right, he was only half. Somehow that cadet had managed to erase all of his worry-swept thoughts from his mind, causing the world to seemingly revolve only around them. Grinning warmly, he squeezed gently at her hands and leaned a fraction closer, closing the space between them into an even smaller gap. This preferment shot an excited flare to spark within the cadet's brown eyes, and the rate of her heart was notably rocketed to a dangerous speed.

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This isn't supposed to be a oneshot. I have, like, a few more chapter ideas to make this an extremely short story – but I dunno if I'm going to add them in or not. Let me know if you think I should?