Waves gently lapped over Xion's bare feet. Sighing happily, she wiggled her toes in the warm sand, relishing the coolness of the water. Her discarded boots were thrown a few feet behind her in a haphazard manner; she was sick of wearing them.

Whenever she was at Destiny Island, Xion had all kinds of mixed up feelings, but those odd feelings couldn't keep her away. Not today.

Suddenly feeling exhausted, Xion let herself fall back onto the sand, not really caring if she got wet. Her mind wandered to her finished mission, which was actually quite uneventful. Fortunately for her, finishing it early allowed her the free time to relax here. Normally she went to Twilight Town with her two best friends, Axel and Roxas, but they were kind of…. at odds, at the moment.

Xion pushed the thought away quickly, afraid of the aching that was spreading across her chest. Siax always said that nobodies didn't have hearts, but lately, she hadn't been so sure about that. She huffed an irritated sigh and closed her eyes.

She had told herself not to come here. She just wanted to clear her mind and relax, and she should've known that would never get accomplished here. Another sigh escaped her. She couldn't lie to herself anymore. There was a reason she wanted to come to Destiny Island, and, as if on cue, that reason stalked up behind her and kissed her on the lips.

"What's with the huffy sigh?" Riku asked, a smile gracing his beautiful face. Xion had opened her eyes in surprise when he kissed her, but she immediately relaxed when she saw his familiar face.

The blindfold covering Riku's eyes always lent him an air of mystery- well that, and Xion really didn't know too much about him. But despite everything, Xion loved Riku with all of her nonexistent heart.

"You're thinking too much." He smiled gently as she sat up and turned to face him. He caressed her chin with a gloved hand, and kissed her lips once again. One of the many things she loved about Riku- he always knew what to say. He somehow always seemed to know how she was feeling, even though he couldn't see her. He was surprising, amazing, and interesting; everything she could ever ask for. And despite his knowing that she was a nobody, Riku didn't seem to mind it at all.

"It seems like you could use a break," Riku said, taking her hand and holding it in between his two much larger ones. Changing positions, he slid down next to Xion until they were lying side by side, and soon after he continued to kiss her compassionately.

Xion's mind felt like it had melted, and she didn't have a complaint in the world about it. Riku was the perfect medicine right now, and she couldn't thank him enough for it.
Things were going perfectly. Xion had an amazing boyfriend who loved her and took care of her. And once those thoughts had swirled through her head at least a hundred times, things weren't going so perfectly anymore.

Riku pulled away first, although Xion felt a sense of reluctance coming from him as he did.

"What was that?" he whispered in her ear. They both sat up and looked around. Xion didn't understand what was going on. It was the middle of the afternoon; what was Riku expecting, an ambush?

Maybe it was good intuition on her part or maybe just bad luck, but that's exactly what was waiting for the couple: an ambush. Of sorts.

It was a brown haired boy, their age, running full speed towards them. A duck and a dog wearing human clothing followed behind the charging boy, and they were quite frightening in Xion's eyes.

"Riku!" she cried, jumping up. She was about to call for her keyblade, but her boyfriend's gentle hand stopped her. He was standing beside her now, and before she realized what was going on, Riku was moving to meet the oncoming enemy.

"Riku what-" he cut her off with a wave of her hand, and her eyes widened in response. What was he thinking?

Almost comically, her mouth dropped open and her eyes managed to widen even further when the strange, brown haired boy hugged Riku. Now she was utterly confused, and it wasn't helping that Riku was forcing the other boy to whisper to him.

Xion pulled a pouting face and sat in the sand. She saw how things were. Riku wasn't telling her what was going on, and she didn't trust this stranger one bit.

Sora.

The name entered her mind unexpectedly, and Xion suddenly remembered who this stranger was. It was Riku's best friend, Sora. The one she was somehow connected to, and the one that she was always having dreams about. He and…Kairi. That was her name: the other friend of Riku's. Was she with Sora?

Sora was pointing with an excited air to the dog and the duck. She had no idea who they were, and she wasn't sure what to make of them either.

Riku seemed to be meeting them for the first time as well. He went over to them, and Sora seemed to be giving introductions when Riku suddenly went pale.

Sora was looking her way now and smiling oddly. Xion blushed and drew circles in the sand. What was going on over there? She wanted to get up, but she had a feeling Riku didn't want her to, and she didn't want to upset him unnecessarily.

Xion waited expectantly for something to happen. It was then that she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Losing interest in the boys in front of her, she whipped her head to the small pier poking out over the ocean.

A small rowboat was pulling up to the pier, and Xion watched as someone hopped out of it and tied it up. It was only after squinting through the brightness of the setting sun for a few moments that Xion identified the lone figure on the other side of the island as Kairi, best friend of Sora and Riku. Xion couldn't help but wonder if anyone had been expecting her…

Inspecting her from afar, Xion saw that Kairi was just starting to notice her friends. Interested to see how she would react, Xion sat perfectly still to observe the reunion.

It was obvious that Kairi was taken aback that anyone was on the little island. It seemed that she had come here to be alone, what with the way she had been looking behind her every few moments. From Xion's perspective, it was easy to see that Kairi was afraid someone had followed her.

Watching from her vantage point of the shore, Xion saw Kairi make her way down the pier, notice the boys, and stare at them angrily for a few moments. It was actually kind of amusing to watch Kairi's pale face change from mild irritation, to recognition, and then to pure happiness.

Even from where she was sitting, with the sounds of the surf loud against her ears, Xion still heard Kairi cry out the names of her two best friends. In the picturesque scene, Kairi ran as fast as she could towards the boys, who simply stood in shock and waited for her to jump into their arms. She knocked them into the sand and hugged them fiercely, earning a small giggle from Xion.

Feeling warmth spread inside her chest, Xion took mental notes of the scene before her. It was so nice and heartfelt; Xion wished to feel that way someday. Still watching avidly, Xion saw the trio pick themselves up and begin talking in earnest. She wished she could hear what they were saying, but she didn't want to interrupt either.

As Xion watched the trio converse, she couldn't help but be reminded of Axel and Roxas. Had they looked as happy when they sat on the clock tower and talked? Did they laugh as often, or smile as brightly? Or was their friendship just a facade? From how they had been acting towards one another lately, Xion felt that it was.

As if she had called out to them with her thoughts, Xion was extremely surprised to see Axel and Roxas step out of a corridor of darkness.
What could they possibly be doing here? Xion thought, her mind racing. They didn't even know that she came here! And they knew absolutely nothing of Riku, of that she was positive. Unless they found out somehow and they were coming to confront her….

Axel and Roxas were only a little bit farther down the beach. She watched the waves licking their boots, and wondered if they had seen her yet. Picking herself up stealthily, she looked over at the reunited trio. Riku was listening to an excited Sora, and Kairi was smiling brightly. It seemed that they hadn't noticed the newcomers yet.

It was Roxas who noticed her movement and pointed it out to Axel.
"Drat!" she muttered. Now what? Despite herself, Xion crouched into a fighting stance, as she was apt to do when feeling threatened. And, as if on some demonic cue that Xion hadn't heard, Sora looked over at her. "Perfect," she growled sarcastically.

Now Riku was standing, since he had been told by Sora about what was going on. She had a feeling this was going to turn into a huge misunderstanding, and it was going to take a while before everything was figured out.

Trying to relax, Xion took a deep breath and smiled at Sora. Hopefully he would take that as a sign that she had everything under control.

He didn't.

Within just a few moments, Sora had his keyblade out and was standing next to Xion. Riku and Kairi weren't far behind. Axel and Roxas, who had been amiably making their way over to Xion, now stood very still.

Xion saw Axel pale considerably at the sight of the keyblade master, though she wasn't quite sure why. Xion always thought that Axel was the strongest guy in the world, so it was kind of confusing to her that he would be afraid of anyone. While Axel was turning white as a sheet, Roxas was turning an unnatural scarlet. Apparently, this scene wasn't sitting too well with him.

"What's going on here, Xion?" he growled, staring down Riku and Sora.
"Well…. I.. umm.." she tried to begin, staring at the sand uncomfortably.
"I guess you've made some new friends to replace us?" he spat, making it more of a statement than a question.
"No! It's not like that at all!" Xion cried.
"Wait, you didn't tell your friends?" Sora asked dumbly, looking back and forth at the nobodies.
"Didn't tell us what?" Axel asked, now looking a little upset.

If she had had the ability, Xion felt like she would've started crying right now. This was all going so terribly! She couldn't tell Roxas and Axel that she was in love with the enemy, especially when she couldn't even love! And Sora couldn't be told that they were nobodies, or he would probably annihilate all of them, which made this a really inappropriate moment to have this conversation.

And then, right in the middle of Xion's thinking, another corridor of darkness opened up.

The corridor of darkness opened up only a few feet away, causing everyone in the group (except Kairi) to call their weapons. They all stood rather close together, not sure what to expect. And Xion was almost entirely sure that no one was expecting a girl in a white dress with no weapon of any kind.

Everyone stared at the new girl, and she shyly looked back at them. It was Roxas who spoke first, much to Xion's surprise.

"Namine?" he asked, stepping away from Axel's side and making his keyblade disappear. Xion's eyes widened, and continued to widen even further as Roxas rushed up to the blonde girl and embraced her. Everyone stood in silence as Roxas questioned Namine.

"Where have you been? Are you alright? I was so worried!" Roxas exclaimed quickly, giving Namine no time to respond to any of his questions. And as Namine stood and practically shivered in his gentle grasp, he leaned in and kissed her passionately on the mouth.

Xion was so surprised, she actually dropped her keyblade. It disappeared before it even hit the ground, and Axel chuckled quietly. He moved over to Xion, whose mouth was wide open, her mind apparently stuck between trying to shift gears.

Axel leaned down and gently pushed on Xion's chin, helping her close her mouth. He then looked back over at Roxas and Namine, who were simply staring at one another.

"I guess I should have seen something like this coming." Axel chuckled. "Everything makes sense now." Xion looked up at him, completely lost. "You don't get it?" Axel asked, genuinely puzzled. "You practically know Roxas better than me! You know Roxas is a terrible liar, and lately he's been practicing, as we can so plainly see." Axel explained, gesturing towards Namine. "All those fights we've been having? It's because Roxas over there was feeling so conflicted over lying that he couldn't keep himself straight. It's easy for one to lose their temper when they feel so tense all the time."

Xion thought about what Axel said, and realized that he was completely right. It did make sense. Xion had to admit that she was a little upset that Roxas didn't want to tell his two best friends the truth, but she really had no room to talk, seeing as she was in the same position as he.

Xion looked over at Riku, who still hadn't said a word throughout this whole fiasco. What was he thinking about right now? Did he want to tell the others? They had mutually agreed that it would be a bad idea to tell Roxas and Axel that they were dating before, but would he understand if she wanted to change her mind now? It just didn't seem right to lie to them anymore, despite the consequences.

"Ri-" Xion started.
"It's Axel, right?" Riku asked, as he walked up to the much taller red head.
"Uh, yeah." Axel started, very confused. Riku extended his hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Xion's boyfriend." Riku said, barely managing a half-smile. Axel's eyebrow's shot up in response.

Xion could've exploded with happiness at this moment. She felt so much love for Riku it was crazy. Xion knew exactly what Riku was doing, shaking hands like that with Axel. Riku hated the Organization- despised it really. And here he was, shaking hands with one of its members, simply because he was Xion's best friend. It was too much.

Axel looked over to see Xion's beaming face. She knew that he didn't trust Riku, not for a moment. But Riku didn't trust him either, so she supposed that it was only fair.

"Nice to meet you, Riku. The only thing I have to say is that if you ever hurt Xion I'll burn you alive." Axel smirked, releasing Riku's hand. Riku replied cockily, "I've heard from Xion that you've hurt her plenty as of late. Will you be burning yourself alive anytime soon? I'd love to watch."

Xion smacked her forehead with her hand. Well, no one said they had to be friends. As long as they don't kill each other, she would have to deal with that. Axel looked away silently, anger and guilt crossing his features. Riku scoffed and moved to stand next to Xion.

Sora and Kairi watched from the sidelines, not really knowing what to do. Unexpectedly, Kairi asked, "Where are you from, Xion?"

Xion stared down the normal looking girl. Kairi: the normal one of this oddball group. What was Xion supposed to say? "Oh, I'm not from anywhere, since I don't formally exist. Pretty cool, huh? I'm sure that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Oh, and don't worry, I'm sure to break Riku's heart someday, since I don't have one." Oh yeah. That's totally what she should say. Fortunately, Riku cut through her nasty train of thought by wrapping his arm around her and facing his best friends.

"She's from another world, Kairi. One of the many that Sora has stopped at and explored." Riku explained. Kairi looked at Sora lovingly.
"Wow! That's so cool, Sora!" She turned back to Xion. "You'll have to tell me all about it sometime." Xion nodded and looked up at Riku. He smiled, leaned down, and kissed her gently.

Right before he pulled away, Riku leaned towards her ear and whispered, "Everything's going to be fine, Xion. Just relax and maybe we can leave with everyone being happy." Xion nodded almost imperceptibly, and Riku nodded back.

"So is this where you've been hiding out all this time, Xion?" Roxas asked, sounding a lot less angry than he had before. Now he sounded more… resigned.

Xion nodded guiltily. Roxas was referring to all of those times when she hadn't been accounted for, or when she had shown up to the clock tower late.

"I'm sorry. It just didn't seem like a good idea at the time to tell you." Xion explained dumbly. It was an awful explanation as to why she had been lying to her best friends, and they all knew it. But with the keyblade master in their conversation, no one could really bring up the issue that Xion was dating the enemy- not without telling Sora that they were, in fact, the enemy that he had been searching for for so long.

Looking closely at Riku, Xion was finally beginning to see all that he was giving up to be with her. Riku could have sold her out, could have told Sora the truth. Telling him might save Sora a lot of grief and hard work. Why wouldn't Riku want to help out his best friend? Would he really keep quiet just for her?

"I don't understand-" Sora began, but fortunately, Kairi stopped him.
"It's not really your business, now is it, Sora?" Kairi asked, making a huffy face. Sora stared at the ground guiltily.
"I guess not…"
"That's what I thought!" Kairi said. Addressing everyone else she finished, "Please excuse us. This is obviously none of our business, so we're just going to go stand over here." And with that, she began pushing Sora further down the beach.

Everyone left behind stood awkwardly. Well, at least that's how Xion perceived the lengthy silence. To Xion's surprise, Namine was the one who broke the silence that permeated throughout the group.

"So you're dating, Riku? That's interesting."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Interesting?" As if on instinct, he wrapped an arm around Xion and held her close.

"Well everyone knows that you hate the Organization. What drew you to one of its members?" Namine asked.

Riku didn't answer that. He just stood there, looking into Xion's eyes. Was there something he didn't want to tell her?

She couldn't see his eyes, but Xion could tell from the way he was holding himself and the shape of his mouth that he didn't want to talk about this right now. She would get it out of him some other time. When they weren't surrounded by people he wasn't particularly fond of.

"And what about you and Roxas? Who are you anyway?" Xion asked, evading her previous question.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

Is she talking about the question she just asked Riku, or the fact that she didn't introduce herself? Xion wondered.

"I'm Namine." The small blonde said as she extended a hand. Xion shook it and smiled. She didn't really like the girl, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be civil. Unlike the guys.

"Namine and I met during the first few days that I was a nobody. We only started dating recently though." Roxas explained, sounding a bit shy.

Xion suddenly turned on Axel. "Don't tell me you've been hiding a girlfriend too!"

Everyone stared at Axel, and he, in turn, stared back. His eyes had widened considerably for a moment, but then he just burst into laughter.

"Why- What would even give you that idea?" Axel managed in between bouts of laughter.

"Well everyone is confessing about their girlfriends and boyfriends except you. I was afraid you would suddenly tell us you were dating Larxene."

Everyone, including Namine and Riku, blanched considerably.

"Please don't tell me you're dating Larxene. I think that would be the only way that I could hate you more." Riku said. Xion punched him in the stomach for that one.

"No. No no no." Axel said, shaking his head furiously. "I would never ever date that evil witch. Ever."

A collective sigh ran throughout the group.

"You scared me there for a minute, Axel." Xion admitted.

"No fair! You're the one who brought it up!" Axel cried.

Another awkward pause snaked its way into the conversation.

"And you're O.K. with dating a nobody? Even though I don't have a heart?" Xion asked Riku, feeling a bit sorry for herself.

Riku wrapped himself around her tightly. Smiling in her ear, he told her: "Do you really think I would be here right now if I didn't love you? Let's not get into all that psychological stuff today- not with Sora around. Besides, it looks like you could use a break from that."

"What about the keyblade master over there?" Axel asked Riku, changing the conversation quickly, "Thought he was your friend."

"He is. So what?"

"Isn't this, I don't know, fraternizing with the enemy?" Axel asked, a hint of a smirk on his face.

Riku shrugged. "After today, I don't plan on seeing you two ever again, and you two are the only enemies I see here." Riku explained, pointing at Axel and Roxas.

Roxas looked about ready to knock Riku out, but Namine gently put a hand on his arm and shook her head. Xion stood by silently. She didn't like that her boyfriend and her friends couldn't get along, but that's what happened when you fell in love with an adversary. Right?

"So should we worry about Sora?" Xion asked. She knew Roxas and Axel must be worried that the keyblade master would decide to hunt her down or something.

"No. He probably won't even be here long. He's always got to be doing something." Riku said nonchalantly.

"Well Xion, as long as you're happy and safe, I have no problem with this." Axel said, smiling.

Xion beamed. They both knew that she didn't need his permission, but this meant that he trusted her and was happy for her. She needed to hear that after all this craziness.

Now everyone was looking at Roxas expectantly. Xion and Roxas stared at the ground, both feeling beyond awkward. Unexpectedly, Namine pushed Roxas over to Xion so that they were standing face to face. Roxas rubbed the back of his neck, while she drew circles in the sand with her toe.

"I…uh…" Roxas spluttered.

"Forgive me?" the pair said at the same time. They both blushed profusely and stared at the ground some more.

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk lately and practically ruining our friendship and I'm sorry for lying and-"

"I forgive you, Roxas." Xion smiled at her best friend after completely cutting him off from his embarrassing rant.

"I forgive you too, Xion."

They hugged then, and their dates didn't seem to mind. Friendship was so very important, especially for those two, but it wasn't until later that Xion learned how truly important friendship was.

…

"And that is how you guys learned that Riku and I were dating." Xion finished.

Her audience didn't clap, didn't even respond. She wished that he would though. Roxas had been comatose for so long now, and she wanted to hug him again. Like she had that day….