Rolling Girl
Chapter One

"They all died…"

Namine stared at her flowers dejectedly. Her eyes were wide and slightly disbelieving, like a bunny in the headlights- a true 'how could you do this to me?' expression was fixed on her face.

A voice suddenly sounded behind her shoulder-

"Hey, what's up?"

Namine jumped guiltily, and turned – shaking – to face her twin brother, Roxas. He wore a slight frown (Roxas always frowned), and had his arms folded. Namine instantly felt like she being scolded, and Roxas had barely said a full sentence yet.

Her blue eyes began to quiver, in anticipation of tears.

She squeezed her eyes shut, and brushed her arm across her face. Her fingers were stained with dirt- her pale skin stained ungainly brown.

"I-I'm sorry… I tried so hard…" Namine whispered. The warm sun above seemed not to fit her melancholy mood; she wished it would go away. When everything was shining and warm, why was her garden – the garden she slaved so hard over – filled with death and tangled stems and raked-up soil?

"Namine…" Roxas knelt down beside her on the ground. Gone was his 'more superior than thou' air; back was the guise of a loving brother. It was a personality he rarely showed, and Namine's heart felt slightly warmed to see him so considerate.

Roxas wasn't really a 'people' person.

It must have been awkward for him to try and comfort her.

"It's not my fault…" Namine said, her eyes still stinging. She bit her lower lip. She prayed not to cry. Don't be selfish and make it harder for Roxas. "I tried so hard… I watered them every day… But they still died! Why does everything I do end up like… Like…"

"Shit?"

"Roxas!"

Namine huffed at her brother's usual straightforward, charmless nature- and then, before she could help herself (she knew she should be a little more annoyed) she began to smile.

And then she laughed.

She didn't know why she was laughing, because her garden (the garden she had been tending for a whole month, devoting her whole heart to and feeling so overjoyed when her flowers began to bloom) was still ugly and blemished, and her hands and knees and face were still smeared with dirt, and nothing had really been sorted-

But suddenly, everything seemed warm and bright and sunny again.

And Roxas hadn't even tried.

The poor, spiky-haired blond seemed a tad bemused, if anything.

"Huh?" he asked. "What's so funny? I thought I said something offensive…"

"You did, you silly. But… I can't explain it." Namine shook her head, shoulders trembling not with grief, but with badly suppressed laughter. She snorted. It was unladylike, but she snorted, all the same. Being dirty and kneeling in the mud like a cavemen wasn't exactly sophisticated either. "It doesn't matter."

"…Sure. Whatever." And Roxas was back to being stoic and unmoving. In an instant, he seemed aware of how stupid he looked, hunkering down in he dirt, and jumped to his feet, brushing down his pants.

Namine watched as Roxas went back into the house, and her laughter died somewhat.

I wonder why he has to be so cold.

"Hey, Namineeee!" A high-pitched, girlish voice jolted Namine out her reverie.

"Huh? Oh…" The blonde glanced up, and saw the red-head of her neighbour, Kairi Amaha, peering over the fence. Namine blinked up at her. "Hello, Kairi…"

"What're you doing, Nami?" Kairi quirked an eyebrow.

"W-what?"

A pointed sigh. "Geez, you're such a bubblehead. I mean…" Kairi tapped the side of her head, then pointed at Namine. "You. Mud. White dress. Good combination? I think not!"

Namine's eyes widened for the second time that morning. "Oh no! I completely didn't think about it!"

"Yeah." Kairi flicked her expertly-curled red locks. "You don't really think too much, huh? I mean… Always off in your own little world? But I think artistic types are meant to be like that. Or… something. Heh."

Namine pouted childishly, and got – shakily – to her feet.

Her dress was, as Kairi pointed out, completely ruined.

"Maybe you could, like, keep that crud on it? As some kind of fashion statement?" Kairi giggled cheekily at Namine's glare, and flapped her hands. "Kidding, kidding!~ Boy, it's easy to wind you up!"

"Yeah, well…" Namine cast her mind back to her ruined garden, and suddenly the last thing she wanted was to be berated by Kairi. Kairi was… okay. She supposed. Namine didn't hold grudges, anyway- neither did she dislike people. Kairi just seemed bad at reading the atmosphere sometimes, and sometimes her jokes sounded horribly like thinly veiled insults. "I'm not in the mood."

"I saw your garden," Kairi continued blithely, rocking back and forth. "It's kind of bad, huh? Geez, does everything you touch die or something?" She mock-gasped, and took a step back. "Keep away from Sora! Don't go murdering my boyfriend."

"C'mon, Kai~ Don't be mean," said Kairi's boyfriend himself, Sora. The brunet placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder, and flashed her a dopey, heroic grin. "I'm sure Namine has other things to worry about?"

"Huh." Kairi folded her arms. "Where'd you come from?"

"I live across the road, Kai."

Namine watched their bickering, and sighed. Internally thanking Sora for distracting Kairi, she walked back into her house to change.

a.n: Ummm hi guys this is hana here C: I started a new story (XD no duh) and got my friend to beta read it to iron out any errors ^^;; So hopefully everything should be okay? Huh. I tried out a new writing style w/ more description and stuff, and I tried to tone down the kairi bashing because people don't like it? Then again, don't you tink that's really hypocritical? People always go on about having ur own opinion, but when you state it, everyone's like "SHUT UP. IF YOU HAVE NOTHING NICE TO SAY DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL." I mean… Sure, you can have an opinion if it agrees with ours. But if it doesn't, forget about it – we'll all hate you.
D:

OKAY RANT OVER.
C:

Sorry you guys, you probably aren't interested in listening to that. It's just, some stuff makes me feel pretty depressed, and people seem to be a bit silly atm D: It kinda made me feel iffy about the KH fandom for a while ;A;