A/N: This is my first attempt to write this fandom/pairing-- please don't bash my head in. Standard disclaimer... I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the characters, but I do own this story. Please review, it makes an author smile. :O
Namine felt like an animal at the zoo.
Not that she knew what a zoo was, of course, but she did know that she was in a cage and she did know that there were six curious faces passing by a bit too often to be sheer coincidence. This happened the first week of her 'birth'; she grew used to it and continued to doodle in between visits from the Superior, who tutored her.
But when Xemnas-- she called him by name-- moved her to her own little room next to the library inside of Castle Oblivion, it happened again. This time, the curious faces… other members of the Organization… weren't on the other sides of bars. They would come through the Corridors of Darkness and pretend to be getting something, but she could see them staring at her. At first they didn't stay long, just long enough to hastily grab a book they hadn't even looked at and retreat, but after a while they began to stay longer.
Sometimes they brought her things. The one called Lexaeus would bring her colored paper or new pens. He was intimidating but soft-spoken, and she thought him kind. Sometimes he would bring another one of the members, Zexion, who often brought her interesting books from the library. Two other members usually came in together, too, but the blond and red-head usually did the stare and scurry routine; they never brought her anything but a sneer. Once, the scientist named Vexen brought her an orb that glowed different colors depending on her mood; it was usually a soothing blue. It was her favorite object and she kept it nearby when she drew the pictures Xemnas asked of her.
There was another member who visited, less often than Lexaeus and Zexion, but more often than the other pair. He always seemed to arrive when she was gazing into the orb, lost in thought or pondering the next stroke of the pen. Namine would look up at him; like always, he would be empty-handed, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall and watched her. Namine would go back to her drawing, silent.
And like always, he would eventually walk closer, slowly, purposefully. He was the only one besides Xemnas who would approach her, and the only one at all who would kneel at her side, looking at what she drew. At first Namine had continued with what she had been doing before during these visits; now, she made sure to have a fresh piece of paper at the ready. When he came to her side, she would pick the paper up and would begin a new drawing. At first it would often be a landscape, or perhaps an animal of fancy with wings, stripes or fins, but now more often than not it was simply a single flower. Rose, lily, orchid, camellia... The books she had read taught her their names. She learned them for him.
When she was done, he would take her picture, look at it for a long, long while, then hand it back. He would smile that faint, broken smile, perhaps a figment of the imagination; he would always turn away before she could see. The man would leave the way he came, without a word through the Corridors of Darkness. She would then look back to her drawing once he was gone.
Always these days, the drawing would be mysteriously replaced by a real, living flower, the same that had been in the drawing.
Always these days, the calm, blue orb would turn red.