Roxas bustled toward the Boy's Dorms. He wanted to get to sleep as soon as possible.
His day at college had been absolute murder. He was just coming back from many torturous hours trapped in the Campus library. Every teacher seemed to have decided the best way to end the day before winter break (the glorious two week long vacation the teaching community generously gave to the student body every year) was to give each and every student a pile of work the size of a full grown quarter horse. Roxas decided he wanted to get all his work done and not have to work over break. He was so tired he swore he was going to pass out right there on the street. He broke into a run at the street corner. Then he stopped dead.

There was a noise coming from the music hall. He stood there a while, trying to decipher the sound. It was... music.

WOW! It was music! The most beautiful sound he'd heard in his life. Someone was singing and playing at the piano. If the voice wasn't so sweet, the beauty of it would almost hurt. Who was singing? He had to know.

"Roxas, you're crazy," he laughed at himself. Why was he acting like this? He didn't even like music, all that much. His major wasn't even close to music! But, then again he couldn't help it . It was amazing! It just filled him with joy. He just felt like singing along! And he didn't even know the song!

He stepped forward. He began to walk toward the hall. He took a small shaky step toward the door. His hand stretched toward the handle and he opened the door. Simple enough.

"Hello! Anyone here!?" He called out to the wide open area. It was completely...empty?

"Hello?" His voice echoed off the walls. He turned to leave. But, there was another door.
And, still the music. The angelic voice carried on her tone. She seemed to have started a new song.
The piano melody flowed and eventually she started to sing.

chiisa na koto de daiji na mono wo ushinatta tsumetai yubiwa ga watashi ni hikattemiseta "ima sae areba ii" to itta kedo sou ja nakatta anata e tsuzuku doa ga oto mo naku kieta

Roxas walked through the doorway. This place is kinda creepy, he thought. It was so large and spacey. The effect was mostly from the amount of space, but the the space created the great acoustics.That made up for the unusual amount of space. But what really bothered him was the fact that there were no lights on.

anata no shiawase negau hodo wagamama ga fueteku yo soredemo anata wo hikitometai itsu datte sou dareka no negai ga kanau koro ano ko ga naiteru yo sono mama tobira no oto wa naranai

He walked into the room. A small light shone in the corner. It was slightly obscured by the petite figure hunched over the piano fingering away at the keys. He plunked down on the seat nearest the enterence, he didn't want to interrupt a genius at work.

minna ni hitsuyou to sareru kimi wo iyaseru tatta hitori ni naritakute sukoshi gaman shi sugita na

She stopped abruptly and looked over at him.

"Excuse me. I don't want to sound rude or anything, but -"

"Why am I here?" He could feel red blush creeping up on his cheeks. This was sorta embarrassing...

The shadowy figure nodded. "Exactly", she whispered softly.

"I heard the music and it was so...so- beautiful", He felt his face further burning."Could you- could you.
p-p-please...please... continue. What is that song, anyway?"

"It's a favorite of mine. It's called Dareka No Negai Ga Kanau Koro by Utada Hikaru." She informed him.

"It's pretty. Can you start where you left off?" He inquired nervously.

"Sure. I've never really had an audience before. Why don't you come over here?" She patted the space on the piano bench next to her.

Roxas reddened considerably more. "U..m..uhhhhhhhhh...A-are ya s-sure...?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Realization hit her. "Oh, you're embarrassed about walking in on me"
She paused for a second. "That. That sounded awkward, didn't it?"

"Yep." They both laughed. She had a pretty laugh, Roxas observed. Like, a bell, almost.
Wait a second...He didn't know her name. Wow. He felt like an idiot. Better late than never, he thought.
"Hey, what's your name?"

"Naminé. And you, what's yours?"

"Roxas." Nothing special. Naminé. What a beautiful name!

"Roxas," Naminé whispered softly. Then her voice grew louder,"Don't you want to here the rest?"

"Of course, I'd love to hear it!" He answered without hesitation.

"Come over here." Naminé quietly said as she began to play that lovely melancholy song again.

"OK," he walked toward the piano. Soon he reached the bench and sat softly down upon the seat.
The piano light illuminated her face. She had brilliant golden-colored blonde hair. Her face was thin and pale. She concentrated heavily, lost completely in the song.

jibun no shiawase negau koto wagamama dewa nai desho sore nara anata wo dakiyosetai dekiru dake gyutto watashi no namida ga kawaku koro ano ko ga naiteru yo kono mama bokura no jimen wa kawakanai

anata no shiawase negau hodo wagamama ga fueteku yo anata wa watashi wo hikitometai itsu datte sou dareka no negai ga kanau koro ano ko ga naiteru yo minna no negai wa douji ni wa kanawanai

chiisa na chikyuu ga mawaru hodo yasashisa mi ni tsuku yo mou ichidido anata wo dakishimetai dekiru dake sutto

The tempo slowly decreased, leading to the end. Her voice grew quiet as she finished.

Naminé turned to Roxas and smiled. She had a heavenly smiled and her eyes were a bright sky-blue.

"What did you think of that song?" She asked, her eyes growing wide in expectation of the answer.

"I loved it! What was it about?" He was curious to know what such a beautiful song could be saying. He didn't recognize the language, but he felt he'd heard it before...somewhere. Why did he even care? He didn't really like music, but it seemed to touch him. It was really hard for him to explain it, even to himself.

"It's sort of hard to explain. It's about love, I guess and about who's happiness is more important, and selfishness and losing something you love. Or, at least that's what it says to me."

"How do you play and sing like that? So...so- beautifully?" Roxas wondered. It was beyond his belief that something so complicated in it's sound could come from just her fingers gently taping the keys. There must be something to it.

"Oh, just practice and hard work. I'm actually not that great." She replied, modestly.

"No way! You sound amazing!" Roxas returned.

"Not really. I'm just an amateur. I haven't been playing very long. Just since I was about 14."

"Here I'll prove it. Teach me to play this. I'll sound terrible." Roxas had never played a piano in his life. He obviously not going to sound well.

"OK. Here." She picked up his hands in hers and gently draped them over the keys. She pointed at the sheet music placed over the keyboard. "You see that note?" She pointed at the beginning of the music.

"Uh, huh." Roxas nodded.

"OK. You see all these specks on the paper? Most of them are notes. And notes make up measures, and the measures make up the song. All the pieces go together, and make up this beautiful thing we call music. Sort of like people. Made up of so many layers. So intricate. Each beautiful, if you look and listen carefully and long enough. Got it?" Naminé smiled at him, her blue eyes sparkling and radiating with the light of her joy.

"Yeah.. So.. that means each note is important, and together with everything else it makes up a song."
Roxas questioned carefully.

"Yep." Naminé beamed.

"So how does this measure go?" This was probably where Roxas would get completely lost.

"Humm, maybe we should do an easier song. This may be a little too hard for you." Naminé frowned.

"That's OK, I sorta like this song." Roxas defended.

"Fine then." She flicked her fingers over a few keys. "You play those first."

"OK," Roxas mumbled. He tried them out. It didn't sound right. He tried again. "Wait a sec, don't I have to learn those scale things, and some other stuff first."

"Yeah," Naminé giggled uncertainly and went red in the piano board light. "As you can see I'm not a good teacher at all. I just don't know where to start!"

Roxas looked around the room. It was rather dark out there. Must be 12 O'clock, by the looks of it.
"Maybe we should stop now. Are you staying here for break?" He was. There really wasn't anywhere to go.
His parents were divorced and all both of them wanted to do was complain about the other. In short, they were annoying and he really didn't want to deal with it.

Naminé grew very still and even quieter than she'd been all this time. After a long pause she spoke up.
"No, I'm not going to go anywhere." There was a note of sorrow in her voice. She sounded a little upset.

"Are you OK?" He asked, genuinely concerned. He'd help in any way he could. If only he knew what was wrong...

"Nothing," Naminé choked out. Was she...crying? Her head collapsed into her hands, banging her elbows on the key board. It emitted a sour tone.

"Sure?" Roxas didn't want to see her cry, but what could he do? He'd only met her today! He reached out to touch her lightly on the shoulder. She shook slightly under his fingertips.

"Why- d-don't you...come back tomorrow? I can teach you a little...more later. Come in morning..." Naminé's muffled voice cried out from under her fingers. Her honey-yellow hair splayed out around her shoulders, far out of the neat position over her shoulder it had rested the whole time. "Early...Maybe 6:30. I'll be here."

"Alright, but are you sure your OK? I could get you back to your dorm?" Roxas was really unsure of what to do. Maybe, Naminé didn't want him to be here. It might be bothering her. He was practically a stranger. She didn't know anything about him. And he didn't know anything about her, either.

"That's alright. Don't bother I'll get back, by myself." She moaned.

What was Roxas going to do?!

Nothing, that's what he did. Absolutely nothing. He just walked out and left sending a remorseful glance back at the depressed figure hunched over the piano. He was such an idiot. What if she got hurt? Kidnapped? Ran over by a car going far too fast to know anybody was in front of them? Murdered? Roxas gulped. That sort of stuff happened on collage campuses all the time. He couldn't live with himself if somebody died and it was all his fault. Especially somebody like Naminé.

WHAT was he thinking?! He barely even knew her! He didn't know her at ALL, actually. It was ridiculous to be like this. Was this love? He was such a loser. He'd never even been on a date!

Roxas sighed deeply, his breath coming out in white, cloudy billows as it hit the cold air of winter's dark mantle of night. He looked up at the sky. Sparkling stars spangled the dark banner of night. The winter sky had the most beautiful stars.

Roxas tore himself from the amazing sky view and continued to walk. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jean jacket and tried not to think too much.

Once he almost turned the corner, he looked back and saw a slight silhouette leaving the music hall and going the way opposite him.

He quickly reached his destination. He pulled out his key and slid it into the door. Roxas carefully opened the door and slipped in.

"Whatcha doing? Some one as unpopular as you shouldn't be out this late. What Happened?"
Axel, Roxas' roommate and one of his best friends, teased lightly. He reclined on a chair in front of the room's much fought over TV. "I had about two hours of free TV time without you or Demyx coming in and changing it to something lame show, that anyone in their right mind wouldn't watch."

"Well I was just going by the music hall and- I met this amazing girl!" He looked toward Axel.

"Do tell," He nodded, waving at Roxas to continue. Roxas soon found himself spilling out the whole of his day's events. Axel listened thoughtfully through the whole thing.

"Roxas has finally got himself a girlfriend!" Axel laughed.

"You don't get my point, do you? I think I made her upset. I don't know what to do!" Roxas let out a sigh of frustration. Axel wasn't going to be serious at all.

"You're going over there tomorrow, aren't you?" He offered.

"Yeah, I guess so." Roxas replied.

"Then that's perfect, don'tcha see? You can just fix up what's wrong and- WHAM- you finally have yourself a girlfriend!"

"No, I don't see! Come on! How can I do anything?! I barely even know her!" Roxas' frustration blew over the top. He just didn't get it. What was even going on? Why did he even care so much!?

The door opened and Demyx came in.

"Howz it goin'?" He called cheerfully.

"Roxas is all depressed about this girl he met only today!" Axel summarized.

"What's wrong?" Demyx inquired, turning to Roxas. Roxas began to once again recount today's events. Demyx listened. He actually looked very concerned.

"I think that you should just get some sleep, and then go over to the music hall, just like she said. If she invites you to anymore, then go. Just wait awhile. Get to know her a little. Then, as kindly as possible, ask if she's OK, by then she might be alright by then. Try not to say anything too touchy, it might make things worse. Never EVER try to pry anything from her." Demyx offered.

"That's ingenious! Thanks Demyx!" Roxas thanked him. "I think I'll go to bed now guys,
I'm kinda tired." He walked past them, plopping straight down onto the bed. He'd only just realized how so very tired he was. His mind buzzed and twittered, filled to the brim with thoughts.
He forced his eyes shut. He would've been awake for hours, but he was so completely burned out. As soon as, he closed his eyes he drifted off to sleep.