I don't even know what prompted this one. I just got this mental image of Kairi's first day at school, and somehow thought that she'd be picked on, 'cause she's so different and we all know how cruel kids can be.

And, for some reason, even though the groups are clearly defined in KH1, I felt like it was likely that they were all one big group of friends when it came down to it.

Also, I picture Kairi Pre-KH1 as a rather spoilt little princess.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything associated with it. All rights to Kingdom Hearts and affiliated characters belong to Disney and Square Enix.

Summary: Kairi didn't remember it, but she knew that she'd always had trouble with other kids. On her first day at school, covered in mud and crying, she somehow made the best friends that she could ever have. "We'll look after you, promise!"

Rating: K

Genre: Friendship

World: Destiny Islands, pre KH1

Playground

The little girl clung to her guardian's hand, whimpering as the older woman tried to pry her hand out of the girl's tiny grasp. Wide blue eyes filled with tears as they stared up at the lady who had looked after her for the last four weeks; as long as she could remember.

"Now, Kairi, we talked about this." The older woman crouched down to bring her eyes level with the child's. "You need to go to school so you can learn stuff. And maybe you can make some friends so you wont be so lonely."

The little girl stomped her foot in a display of temper. "I don't wanna!" She whined. "Other kids are dirty and smelly and mean!"

Not for the first time, her foster mother wondered what kind of child this strange creature was. She could remember nothing of her past before waking up to the two boys that found her washed up on the beach the month before. She had seen many doctors in her short stay on the island, who had all declared that there was no physical reason that she could not recall anything; she was in perfect health and had sustained no injuries other than the occasional scraped knee or palm.

She had a feeling that, wherever the girl was from, her parents must have been important. She was a spoiled child. Whatever she was denied she wanted all the more, and often refused to eat until she got it. She was obviously from no where that they had ever heard of – not on any of the surrounding islands, or the mainland, even, were there people with milky skin and blood red hair.

Eventually, she managed to wrestle her hand out of the child's grip and left her in the care of the kindergarten teacher. The girl's lip trembled. She was being left all alone with strangers that she'd never seen before. A small part of her knew that she was going to be coming back for her later, but a larger part of her was terrified of the other children.

Young as she was, she wasn't completely ignorant of the differences between herself and her hosts. She looked different, she spoke different, and she was convinced that she even thought different from the people that she was living with. She didn't remember any other children from her home, but she knew that she had always had trouble with them. She didn't know how she knew that; it was sort of like how she knew that she didn't like carrots, but liked strawberries.

She clutched the teacher's hand like a lifeline as she led her into the classroom. She looked around at the other children as the teacher took her to a seat. They were throwing stuff at each other and pulling faces behind the teacher's back; she couldn't help thinking how strange they were. She did, however, recognise one of the boys in her class; one of the two that had found her on the beach. As the teacher called them to order and started passing out pieces of paper, he gave her a big smile.

Kairi surprised herself by smiling back.

Somehow, she survived until recess. She didn't speak to anyone, but instead sat at one of the picnic tables in the playground by herself. A fence around the kindergarten playground separated them from the Big Kids, and it was by this fence that Kairi sat. She liked watching the older kids play sports like basketball, and some were playing Catch 'n' Kiss (why they wanted to risk getting cooties, Kairi couldn't guess, but it was funny anyway).

"Hey, Freak!"

At first, Kairi didn't think the strange boy's voice was directed at her. She was having a grand ol' time watching a basketball game not three feet away from the fence, happily ignoring her classmates. Recess was half over, but Kairi was blissfully unaware of this fact, dreading going back inside.

"Hey, freak, I'm talkin' to you!"

This time, Kairi turned around, wondering who was being called such an awful name. Her wide blue eyes had to close very quickly to avoid the mud that splattered across her face; she could taste the awful stuff, feeling tears coming to her eyes as she tried to pick it out of her hair. Her white shirt was completely ruined, smeared with gunk and twigs. Kairi started to cry. This was why she hadn't wanted to come to school.

The three boys laughed at her, yelling to anyone who would listen; "The freak with red hair looks like a swamp monster!"

Before she could stop hiccupping long enough to throw back some rather scathing words, the leader of the group was pelted in the forehead with a rather large pebble. Two more rocks soon followed, hitting his friends; one on the arm, another in the stomach. The boys gave angry yells and forgot about Kairi for the moment; they were too focused on beating up the people who had hurt them.

Kairi looked at where they were heading. Two boys with spiky brown hair, and one girl carrying a skipping rope, were apparently the ones who were responsible for the flying rocks. Kairi recognised one of them as the little boy who first saw her on the beach; she couldn't remember his name for the life of her. The other two were in her class as well; she sat next to the other boy and the girl was three seats to the right of her.

"Leave her alone!" The boy who found her yelled at them, angry. "She ain't done nothin' to you, Ryuu!"

"Make me, stupid!"

More rocks followed this dare. The boy, Kairi realised, must have been the first one to throw them; he had good aim. After a few rounds of rocks, the bigger boys finally backed down and ran away.

Kairi was still crying as the three children approached her. She blinked as a handkerchief was thrust in her direction. Sniffling as she took the offered cloth, she blinked and looked up at the boy who had given it to her. She managed to wipe most of the mud off her face, but she could still feel it clinging on her cheeks. It wasn't a nice feeling.

"I'm Sora." The boy supplied, frowning as he realised that she might not remember him. "Me 'n' Riku was the ones that found you on the beach, 'member?" Kairi nodded slowly. The three kids made themselves comfortable on or around the seat; the boys sat on top of the table, and the girl started playing jump rope a foot or two from the table – far enough to avoid hitting anyone with it, but still obviously included in their little group. "This is Tidus," Sora pointed to the boy, "and that's Selphie." He indicated the girl, who beamed at Kairi. "Riku's in the first grade, so he's playing in the Big Kid playground."

"What's your name?" Selphie asked, panting as she jumped.

"K-Kairi."

Sora and Tidus looked at each other, then over at Selphie, who nodded. "Kairi," Sora caught her attention, "do you wanna play with us?" Kairi looked at him like he was crazy, picking at her shirt, trying to get the mud off. "I promise we wont throw stuff at you or nothin'." He said. "Ryuu's just a big bully, that's all."

"We'll take care of you." Tidus promised.

"W-why did he throw stuff at me?" Kairi hiccupped.

"'Cause you look different, with your red hair." Selphie shrugged, stopping her jumping to sit next to Kairi. "It's not 'cause you did nothin', he just likes to pick on people." She lifted a hand to Kairi's mud-encrusted bangs. "I think your hair is pretty. And," she shot a look to the two boys, who had since gotten off the table and were now wrestling each other to the ground, laughing, "Sora said you might need us to look after you. Lotsa people here are mean to outsiders." She frowned. "And we'll look after you, promise!" She repeated Tidus's words eagerly.

Kairi found herself smiling. "Can I wash my face?" She asked timidly.

Selphie was dirty as well – not as dirty as Kairi or the dirt-dusted boys were – and didn't quite understand why Kairi would want to wash (she was a tomboy herself, for all she wore a dress), but called out to Sora and Tidus that they were going to the toilets, and grabbed Kairi's hand. Holding onto it, she took Kairi into the girl's toilets at the edge of the playground and pointed her to the basin. "You can wash your face here."

"Thank you." Kairi set to work, managing to get all of the mud off her face, most out of her hair, and some off her shirt. Taking Selphie's hand again, they exited the classroom just in time to hear the bell ring. Sora and Tidus waited for them at the door, all smiles and looking for the life of them that they'd been rolled in a mud puddle – which they probably had been.

Smiling at her new friends, she sat down at her desk, next to Tidus, and poked her tongue out at the boy named Ryuu as he passed.

Hmmm… I dunno. I really, really don't know. I think I made them sound too grown up, but in the end my spell checker was having a field day with little red marks. And, I remember talking like that when I was a kid, so there!

Justified!

I guess part of the inspiration was from Hands, which is another one of my oneshots, and from some of my own experiences in school. Unfortunately I didn't have anyone to save me like Kairi did.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

Feedback is appreciated.

Sparkly Faerie.