Names

Chapter One: My Name is…

A/N:

Well, this is my first time writing in the Kingdom Hearts archive, so please be gentle! Also, I apologize in advance for the lack of extra mark in the 'e' of Namine's name. it's just so hard to get that to work! If I can find a way to get it, then I'll fix it in later chapters.

This is an AU story, so if that's not your thing, then I apologize.

Well, I'll see you at the bottom!

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

"Sora, why am I still here?"

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

"Because you're the star of the club. If you quit now, we won't make it to the tournaments."

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

"I know that, idiot. I don't have a problem with waiting until the new season to quit, but what I really meant is…"

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

"Why are we still practicing at nine at night? I could be eating sea salt ice cream with Axel and Demyx right now."

I could tell Sora was exhausted just by the increasingly sloppy swings of his Shinai. Not that his swings were that controlled in the first place, but that's beside the point.

"Because you're training me to fight against different styles of kendo."

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

"Yeah, but why are we still practicing at school?"

True to what I said, we were still in our school's gym, practicing alone. All the other club members went home hours ago, and all other clubs had already left as well.

"Heck if I know. We just never really stopped."

"I see," I said, giving myself a mental facepalm. Of course, with a Shinai in each hand, I couldn't actually do it. "Well, why don't we pack up shop and go home? You're exhausted, and I need to go buy some ice cream for Axel and Demyx. I promised them I would meet them tonight."

Sora sighed. "All right. I promised that I would meet up with Riku and Kairi later anyway."

After taking off our gear and packing it up, we began to walk through the school to the front door. Then, I remembered that I had left some things in our classroom, which was on the other side of the school.

"Hey, Sora? I think I forgot some things in our classroom. I'm going to go get it, so you can go without me!" I told him, turning around.

"Okay, don't take too long!"

"I won't!"

Walking through the hallway, I marveled at how dazzling the full moon looked through the hallway windows.

"You never get to see anything like this in the daytime," I whispered. "There's something about being here at night that feels… calming. I know it's a school, and I hate school, but still…"

When I arrived at my classroom, I tried to open the door with the key that the teacher, who I had a close friendship with, gave me.

I wonder how Saix is doing… having a substitute just isn't the same. Wait a second… the door isn't locked!

I walked in cautiously, then stopped when I heard the sound of pencil scratching on paper.

"Who's there?" I asked the darkness. Immediately, the scratching stopped.

"I'm not kidding, who's there?" I said a little louder.

"Eep!"

The sound came from the corner of the room by the window, alluding me to the source's location. I walked closer.

"P-please, don't come closer!" a feminine voice squeaked.

"Wha…?"

"Don't come closer! I have pepper spray!"

"W-wait, you have the wrong idea!" I said nervously, not liking the idea of being sprayed by the nauseating substance. "I'm a student here. I'm just coming by to pick up some stuff I left in the classroom."

"O-okay," the female said, stepping out of the shadows and into the moonlight that came through the windows.

When I saw her, I was taken aback by her… beauty.

She was a bit shorter than me, with platinum-blonde hair and blue eyes. She had pale white skin, most of which was covered by a long, white dress. She held a sketchbook in her right hand, and a pencil in her left.

Why is such a beautiful girl here? She isn't wearing a school uniform, so she can't be from around here…

"Jeez, if it were snowing outside, you'd be perfectly camouflaged!" I joked, trying to ease my own nervousness.

The girl gave me an indignant pout, to which I responded by laughing. Eventually, we both started to laugh, desperately struggling to keep our voices down.

Once our laughter died down, I said, "So, what're you doing here? You don't have our school uniform, so you can't be from around here…"

"Oh, that's right! You see, I'm from America, and I'm moving here to stay with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. I came to check this school out, since this is where I'll be attending. I'm supposed to go to this class. Wait, is this your classroom?"

"Well, yeah."

I just told her that a few minutes ago…

"Well, it'll be nice to know someone already. I'll have a familiar face to show me around!"

Though unless you get real popular real fast, you probably won't see me very often… then again, she is a foreign student, so she'll have some hype for a while.

"You're my first friend from another country," I said with a smile. "What's your name?"

"You're my first friend from japan, too! My name is Namine."

I outstretched my right hand. "Well, my name is Roxas."

She shook it, and then I looked at my watch. "Crap! I just remembered! I have to meet up with some friends!"

I got my stuff and turned to leave. "I'll introduce you some other time, okay? Well, I'll see ya!"

With that, I left, running out of the school.

Sitting on the couch at Axel's house while eating sea salt ice cream, I thought about the girl I met.

"Damn… I forgot her name."

"Who's name?" Axel, my redheaded best friend, asked with a smirk on his face. "Did you meet a cute girl?"

"Yeah, you could say that," I said. "She was in my classroom after school when I went to pick up some stuff I forgot. We got to talking, and that's why I was late getting here. Speaking of which, why didn't Demyx come?"

"He's out with his girlfriend, Larxene. They're supposedly on a date, but he said he'd be here after the date ended."

"Ah."

Just then, the front door opened, and a man with short blond hair ran in, carrying a guitar case on his back.

"Hey, Demyx!" I called. "How are you doing? How's Larxene?"

"We're doing fine," he replied.

A few minutes later, we were all sitting on the couch, eating sea salt ice cream while watching TV.

"So, any progress with Sora and Kairi's relationship?" Axel queried, looking at me briefly.

"Nah, not really. They're both still as dense as ever. By the way, stop asking. It's none of your business."

"Ah," Axel said quietly, ignoring my last statement.

"Hey guys, let's all have a sleepover tonight," Demyx suggested.

"Dude, seriously? Don't just invite yourself over like that!" I said.

Axel sighed, giving us a smile. "Don't worry about it! Besides, the only way you won't get in trouble for being lat home now is to call your mom and say you're having a sleepover at my place. Look at the time."

I looked at my watch.

Eleven thirty?! How in the?!

"You have a point…"

"Told ya!" Demyx exclaimed.

Later that night, after I had called my parents to tell them I was staying at Axel's for the night, I lay in Axel's spare futon in his cluttered room, thinking.

Today has really been a weird day… but I guess that's a good thing. Uneventful days are a bore.

"Hey, why are you going to sleep already?" Demyx asked me.

"I don't know about you two college bums, but I have school tomorrow."

"True enough," Axel said before adopting a devious smirk. "Wait a second… you just want to see that cute girl again, don't you?"

And like that, I found myself in a headlock.

"Wait, what's this about?" Demyx queried.

Axel released me from the headlock, saying, "Roxas here met a cute girl at school before he left."

"Please just let me sleep, guys!"

When I woke up the next morning to the sound of the alarm I set the night before, I immediately got up, careful not to wake Demyx.

He's really grumpy in the morning…

"Hey, Axel? I'm gonna use your shower, okay?"

"Kay!" Axel shouted from the kitchen, where he was presumably making breakfast for me and Demyx.

In the shower, I began to think yet again.

I don't even remember falling asleep… I just remember being grilled for info all night by Axel and Demyx. Well, I guess it doesn't matter, as long as I fell asleep. Now I won't fall asleep at school. Wait a second… that's right! That blonde girl is starting school today!

I quickly washed and got out, putting on spare clothes I always kept in my backpack in case of unforeseen sleepover invites.

I walked into the dining room, where pancakes resided at the dinner table. I began to eat, thinking about that girl all the while.

I heard yawning coming from the stairs, and I instantly knew that Demyx had woken up.

"Morning, Demyx," I said in between mouthfuls of pancakes.

"Where's Axel?" Demyx asked me, a yawn escaping him afterwards.

"Probably in the kitchen. He was the one who made these pancakes."

"Pancakes?!"

After eating and saying goodbye, I left Axel's house to meet up with Sora on the way to school.

I wonder… why did he want to meet up with me so early? It's still about an hour before school, and both Axel and Sora live about fifteen minutes away from school…plus, the place we're going to meet at is even closer.

When I got to our usual meeting spot, I found Sora, Riku and Kairi sitting on a bench, waiting for me.

"Hey! How are you guys doing?" I said as I neared them.

When I got to them, Riku held out his fist. I met it with my own, and then I said, "So, the whole group is here? What's the occasion?"

"Kairi's cousin is coming from abroad, and Kairi wants to introduce us to her," Riku informed us.

"I see," Sora and I replied.

Wait a second… does that mean…?

"When are we going to meet her?" I asked casually, trying not to rouse suspicion.

"Oh… my… god… are you actually looking for someone now?!" Kairi practically screamed in my ear.

I shouldn't have said anything… Kairi is crazy when it comes to matchmaking.

"No, I'm not. Seriously, does matchmaking ever get old to you?"

"You're no fun~! And to answer your question, no. It never gets old."

"Figures."

"So yeah, we were waiting for you so that Kairi could lead all of us to where she would introduce us," Riku elaborated.

"I see," I replied.

Why do I have the feeling that it's going to be that girl from last night…? Still, I guess that wouldn't be all bad…

When we had almost reached the school, Kairi led us down a different path. We started walking to her house, which happened to be a few blocks from the school.

"Wait, why couldn't you have just told us to meet you at your house?" I asked Kairi, deciding to point out the obvious.

"I wanted to have some dramatic buildup for my cousin's appearance!"

I tried to resist the urge to facepalm, ultimately failing. "You seriously made us walk so far just for 'dramatic buildup'?"

"Get mad if you want, it won't change her spontaneous way of thinking," Riku said flatly.

"Hey!"

She gave us a pout, and soon we all found ourselves laughing; even Sora, who had stayed quiet for the entire walk.

When we reached Kairi's abnormally large house and she opened the door, I was greeted by the sight of art supplies all over the floor.

What?! But Kairi's family is full of clean freaks! Why is it so cluttered?!

"Uh, Kairi?" Sora spoke up for the first time. "Why is your house so cluttered?"

"Oh, that. My cousin is sort of a klutz, and she accidentally dropped all her art supplies on the floor in the front room. We decided not to pick them up yet, seeing as it was really late at the time."

"Okay then, where is your cousin?" Riku asked her, clearly getting impatient.

"Hey, Kairi! Are those your friends I hear in the front room? I told you that you could introduce us after school!"

Kairi laughed nervously, turning to us and whispering, "She's not very social…"

I heard footsteps walking towards us from the stairs that I knew where around the corner, and when Kairi's supposed cousin came into view…

"Y-you?!"

"Roxas?!"

A/N:

So… how did you like it? A little short, I know, but hopefully you guys got at least a little enjoyment out of this.

This is more of a pilot than an actual chapter, so if you want more, then please leave a review or PM telling me to continue!

Well, that's about it! Here's a putrid line that nobody actually likes to read for you!

I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything I use from it!

Until we meet again!