Magic Fate String
Naminé sat at the front steps of the towns library sketching. "Hey, Naminé!" came the sudden voice of Sora as he came to a sudden stop because of the steps railings. "What'cha sketching He asked craning his neck to get a good look. Namine held up the sketchpad so that he could see better. It was a rough sketch of the bench in front of her, occupied by two boys and a girl, with another boy standing next to them. It wasn't detailed and they were only the figures but you could still tell that they were laughing.
Sora looked up at the actual bench seeing the one of the boys and the girl still sitting on the bench talking, the boy that was sitting was now standing a little away from the bench cheering on the other boy who was skateboarding. "You drew Hayner, Ollete, Pence and Roxas?" Sora asked.
"Yup," Naminé answered with a smile "They were there, and they looked so picturesque …"
"Then take a picture." Sora stated. Naminé shook her head, "Then I'd be a stalker." She said.
Sora shrugged "Well, I'll see ya later 'k?" Sora turned on his heels and headed for the direction of his other friends; Riku and Kairi. Naminé stared after him and sighed dreamily, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. She then turned back to her 'models' and saw a tall red-headed man by the name of Axel, had joined Pence in cheering on for Roxas while eating sea-salt ice-cream.
"Naminé," She heard her name again and turned to her left. Her best friend, Xion, ran up to her, "Check this out" Xion handed Naminé a card. Naminé read the announcement but remained confused "What is it?" She asked
"This, my dear Naminé, is kinda like a traveling shop. These people collect things from their travels and sell them." Xion explained, "But that's not the reason I showed you this." Xion leaned closer and lowered her voice "This place has people like you."
"Xion" Naminé groaned, ever since Xion found out about Naminé's memory ability she's been obsessed with getting Naminé to meet 'real' psychics.
"I swear it's not like last time" Xion sat down next to Naminé "Look, I already went over and checked it out; these people are the real deal. I swear Naminé."
"I don't know." Naminé looked away towards Sora and his friends. It looked like Riku was teasing Sora about something and Kairi was laughing about it.
"Even if you don't go to talk to these people, can we at least go for this?" Xion grabbed the flier and turned it around. She pointed to a small box, "This little thing is that they tie a string to you finger and it's supposed to 'magically' connect to the person your fated to be with." Xion explained.
"What?" Naminé looked skeptic, "Do you honestly believe that would work?"
"Maybe, I just wanna go, pleeease, Naminé" Xion begged.
"Ok, fine, but I don't think I'll feel comfortable going with just the two of us."
"Then let's go in a group." Xion said cheerfully standing up.
"Where are you gonna get-" Naminé was cut short when Xion yelled, "Riku, Sora, Kairi!" and ran off in their direction.
Naminé quickly picked up her things and followed Xion. The three friends looked at Xion in surprise, they weren't the only ones, though, all sorts of kids turned to look a Xion. Many glance at her with disdain, and disgusted sneers. Xion was the kind of girl who was cheerful and happy-go-lucky, but wore nothing more than black clothing; and if it wasn't black she'd wear a long black coat over it to hide it, like today.
"Do you guys want to go out tonight?" she asked the trio when she reached them.
"Where are we going?" Sora sprang up asking with a grin.
"The Marketplace has this traveling shop that I really want to go to." She showed them all the flier. "I was wondering if you guys wanted to come, since you guys like the whole traveling idea."
"Sounds ok."Riku said conforming he was going. Sora nodded, "I'm there!"
"What time should we be there?" Kairi asked.
"How about seven?" Xion suggested with a large smile.
"Are we invited?" Axel asked from behind. Xion turned around "Of course, Axel." She grinned looking up at him. Compared to Axel, Xion was a midget. Roxas rode up on his skateboard next to Naminé. "Where we going?" He asked totally lost.
Everyone laughed and told him what they were doing. Roxas looked thoughtful for a bit then said he'd be there.
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Night had fallen and as agreed, the group consisting of Naminé, Xion, Riku, Sora, Kairi, Axel and Roxas showed up in the marketplace. Axel decided to bring along his girlfriend Larxene, she was a genuine bitch most of the time, but when it came to Axel she made an effort to not be such a bitch.
Most all the stores were closed at this hour, except for the twenty-four hour ones. They all made their way to a tent pitched in between a building wall and a closed store. They entered and found it was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. There were a few tables against the tent walls exhibiting a variety of items ranging from jewels to swords and helmets, to aged parchments, etc. A curtain, hung near the back marked the end of the tables.
The group stared in wonder and awe at all the different things on the tables and dispersed around the inside of the tent looking around. From behind the curtain, a man and a woman stepped out. The man took a spot behind one of the tables and crossed his arms gazing at the group. The woman headed for the other side of the tent, where most of the group clustered staring at the same item, explaining the origin of the item and its history, holding all of their attention.
Naminé stood at the table where the man was and eyed him nervously. Should she just talk to him like Xion suggested?
The man noticed her and turned his blue eyes on her, "Can i help you with something?" he asked.
"Um... no, thanks." She lied and turned her attention to one of the jewels in front of her.
"Are you sure?" The man insisted. "I sense you're troubled by something."
"Sense?" Naminé looked up, the man nodded "I'm hyper sensitive to certain things, such as your troubled mind, the light you radiate and the fact that you posses something special."
Naminé found herself shocked that he would say those things, but she was most shocked that he said she possessed something special. "Something special?" She repeated.
The man nodded again, "Something of a power or ability, special or different, but you have it, I can tell." Naminé lowered her head "My friend came by and told me you guys were 'the real deal' are you really psychic?" she asked
The man looked at her, closed his eyes and smiled, "No," He said "at least not me." Naminé looked at him and he motioned to the blue-haired woman that was now talking to Kairi, Xion and Riku only while holding up a jade necklace.
"She's psychic?" Naminé wondered. "No," the man answered "More like telekinetic."
"Wow..." Naminé stared at her in awe. She stopped herself by asking herself if she really believed him.
"Terra?" A voice said behind her, Naminé turned around to find Roxas. "Roxas, that you?" The man said smiling.
Roxas smiled and reached over the table to shake his hand. The man, Terra, clutched his hand and pulled him over the table into a hug. "What you too old to hug now?" Terra said.
Terra released Roxas, who scratched the back of his head blushing lightly. "Where's Ven?" Roxas asked him. Terra smiled and pointed behind the curtain with his thumb "out back." Roxas made his way to the back of the tent disappearing behind the curtain.
"You know Roxas?" Naminé thought aloud, she covered her mouth as soon as she realized she had spoken. Terra turned to her and smiled, "Yeah, he's the young brother of our friend Ventus, who travels with us." he explained.
"I didn't know Roxas had a brother..." Naminé commented softly. Terra looked at her, then reached into a box next to the table and handed her a card. "Here, we're not staying in town for long so you can always call us if you want to talk."
Naminé accepted the card and decided to trust this man, especially since one of her friends already knew him. "My ability…" she started, "I've been called Memory Witch before. I can see people's memories, manipulate them even." She said almost shamefully.
"Really? Can you see my memory right now?" Terra challenged her. Naminé smiled at the floor "Of course."
"What is it?" Terra asked. "Your first kiss with that lady." Naminé answered pointing to the blue haired woman.
"Describe it." Terra Challenged.
"It was on a beach, both of you were sharing a star-shaped fruit, while sitting at the base of a palm tree. The sun was making it way onto the horizon. You just looked at her and kissed her, spontaneously. She was shocked and you just munched you fruit a bit harder than necessary. Then, she leaned on you eating her half of the fruit, waiting with you to see the sun set." Naminé described the vision in her head perfectly. "How was I?" she asked
Terra stood mouth agape and blushing. When he regained his composure he said grudgingly "A little too accurate."
"Sorry" Naminé apologized
"No worries, that just proves to me that you're not bluffing. It's hard to tell sometimes. We run into many people like us in our travels. That's why we have cards so that whoever we meet, like us, can talk to people that are going through the same thing."
"Sounds like a nice thing to do." Naminé said lowering her voice with every spoken word.
"Have anything to get off your chest?" Terra asked, Naminé nodded and began to tell of her worries.
Terra leaned closer to hear her and urged her to keep going. When she didn't he would talk about his own problems with his ability and sometimes about the blue-haired woman, whom he called Aqua, difficulties with her telekinesis. Al throughout the conversation Naminé found herself trusting in every single word Terra said. She knew they were just like her now and she took advantage of that. As her friends wandered around the tent looking at wares, sometimes buying them, she spent her time talking to Terra.
Eventually Xion came up to her and Terra asking about the string thing. Terra told her that Aqua knows more about that than him. Xion thanked him, grabbed Naminé's hand and dragged her away.
"Hey, I was talking to Terra." Naminé complained
"But I want to do this before we leave." Xion pouted. Xion walked up to Aqua and asked her about the string. Aqua smiled and said "You're a romantic aren't you?" Xion looked at her as if she didn't know what she was talking about. Aqua laughed and said she'd be back. Aqua disappeared behind the curtain, just like Roxas. "Roxas, is he still back there?" Naminé wondered aloud.
"Back where?" Xion asked. Naminé explained that Roxas knew these people and that his brother travels with them. "I didn't know Roxas had a brother." Xion said after Naminé finished.
From the curtain emerged Aqua followed by Roxas and a boy identical to him. "That must be his brother." Naminé pointed out. The group with them looked at the two, obviously confused. Roxas folded his arms, uncomfortable with all this attention; his brother, on the other hand, grinned crossed his hands behind his head and greeted everyone. "Hi, I'm Ventus, Ven for short."
"He even sounds like Roxas." Xion commented.
"Woah, Roxas, you have a clone!" Sora yelled out at Roxas. "Shut up." Roxas snapped at him. Sora grinned triumphantly. Ven proceeded to tell everyone that he was Roxas' brother and refused to say anything other than that.
Aqua walked up to Xion and Naminé "Give me you hand." She instructed, Xion outstretched her right hand and Aqua tied a pink string on her pinky finger. "You want one too?" She asked Naminé. Naminé thought about it and decided, why not? She was so hoping to have that string tied to her crush. Aqua tied the string on her pinky finger as well. Kairi caught sight of this and asked what was going on. Aqua explained that the string that gets tied to your finger will eventually find it way to the person who you're destined to be with.
Kairi's face lit up and excitedly asked to get one too. Somehow, someway, everyone in the group had one, even Larxene.
"Now, this string is special, I made sure of that." Aqua told everyone, tying some string to her own pinky. "This string will reach out to the invisible bonds between people and will tie itself to your one special person; the person for you. Though it may not work right away, it will work. It will also stay on your finger for a few hours. Not even cutting the strings will work" to emphasize her point she produced a pair of scissors and tried to cut the string off the pinky but it didn't cut; then she took a piece of cloth and cut that with scissors, in case anyone accused her of having worn out scissors.
"Even after it has tied to the other person it won't let itself be cut for another few hours. For example," Aqua lifted he hand for everyone to see, the string had extended across the room and tied itself to Terra's own pinky. Terra looked away from the group, trying to hide his blush, Aqua chuckled slightly and turned back to the group "See?" she tried to cut the string again but it was resistant.
Everyone in the tent was muttering and exchanging theories on how that small string tied to her hand grew like that. It was then Naminé fully accepted that they were unique people, special like her. She felt relieved.
"Now, I don't charge for tying string to people's pinkies, but I do need you all to get going, we need to close for the night." Aqua said, politely kicking them all out.
Naminé turned to Terra before she left "How long will you guys be here?" she asked.
"A few days," Ven answered her "Be sure to tell Roxas, ok?" he smiled at her as he waved goodbye.
Outside everyone headed to the center of the Market place. "What do we do now?" Sora asked.
"It's only, nine thirty, we could always go around town." Riku suggested.
"Nah, not us," Axel spoke up for him and Larxene "unlike you lucky youths, we have to work tomorrow."Axel said turned to leave waving over his shoulder, Larxene left not saying anything.
"I'm actually on curfew. I gotta get home at ten." Xion lamented "I guess I'll see you guys later." She waved taking off in a direction opposite that of Axel and Larxene.
"I know a place that's still open" Kairi said "it's a teen club if you guys want to go."
"Sure!" Sora agreed happily. Riku nodded his consent, as did Roxas. "I don't have to get home early tonight" Naminé explained "I'll go too." She agreed with a smile, mimicking Sora's smile.
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The five of them arrived at the center of town, next to the park, following Kairi; they descended some stairs and entered into a club. They all spent most of the night Partying. Riku flirted wit some girls, Sora stuffed himself with finger dogs, and Kairi and Naminé danced the night away. Roxas appeared to have disappeared. It wasn't until Naminé couldn't dance anymore that she saw him; turns out he was doing exactly the same as Sora, except with hot wings.
"Kairi, do you know what time it is?" Naminé asked her over the blaring music. Kairi, shook her head and set out to find Riku who had a watch. When she found him, he said it was around twelve.
Naminé thought it was a more than reasonable time to get back home; she didn't want her parents to worry. She left the club alone assuring her friends she'd go through the lit paths of the park to get home, and that she was going to call them as soon as she got home.
She exited the club and entered through the gates of the park. She walked tiredly through the park, then sitting on a bench facing the large fountain in the middle of the pond. She thought it was an amazing sight and wanted so bad to sketch it, but she didn't have her sketchpad.
She sighed deciding to come back tomorrow to sketch it. As she stood she felt a light tug of her hand, she looked down at her hand and found the string had grown, like Aqua's had. She was surprised and didn't know what to do; eventually she decided to follow the string. She took a few mere steps before Roxas stepped out into view.
"Roxas?" Naminé was startled at his sudden appearance.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized explaining why he was here "I heard from Sora you'd gone home alone, so I came to make sure you got there safely."
Naminé could swear she saw him blush, but in the dim light she can't tell "I'm fine, thanks Roxas, but I can get home just fine." She said, then raised her hand "I was just heading home when I noticed this" she pulled on the string that hung from her pinky.
"Watch it." Roxas complained.
"Why it's not like it's going to break." she said with a tired smile. Then she saw why Roxas complained, when she pulled on her string, she was pulling on his too. Roxas was connected to her. He was her fated someone.
Roxas seems to have noticed too and kept his head low, not making eye contact. Naminé had conflicted emotions. It worked the string connected; just not to the person she wanted. Not to her crush, the kindest boy she's ever met. Not to Sora. This made her sad. So sad she actually started to cry.
Roxas lifted his head hearing her sobs. He saw her disappointment and was thoroughly hurt, but that didn't stop him.
"Don't cry…" He said wiping away her tears "I know I'm not the one you hoped for. But …" His hesitation made Naminé stop sobbing waiting for him to speak.
"You are the one I hoped for." Roxas confessed. Naminé's tears flowed from her eyes unbidden now; she didn't know what to say. She was flattered, that's for sure, but… Roxas liked her?
"Come on, I'll accompany you home." He said, walking forward in the direction of her house, letting the string that bound them together pull her along. They kept about that distance from each other, a foot, as long as the string was. They were silent, not knowing what to say, not feeling up to speaking. It was a little uncomfortable, but they made it to Naminé's house.
"Problem," She declared, breaking the silence. "The string won't cut remember?"
"Yeah, I guess." Roxas shrugged "Think it'll break?"
"I don't think so, but we could try." Both grabbed onto their shared string and pulled on it. It stretched and grew an inch or two, but it didn't break.
"Crap." Roxas swore under his breath. He tried pulling the strings from his finger but they were firmly tied. "We're stuck." He gave up.
Naminé sighed thinking of what to do. "Let's just sit on the porch until it decides to let go of us." She suggested and sat down on the swinging bench her family had on the porch. Roxas hesitated but sat next to her.
Silence reigned among them once more. Roxas stared out at the sky not shifting his gaze, and Naminé rested her head on the swing bench and closed her eyes. She pushed the bench with her foot so that it would swing and lull her to sleep.
Roxas felt the rocking of the bench and felt his eyelid get heavy. He stopped the bench by planting his feet firmly and shook the sleepiness away. Naminé opened her eyes and tried to move the bench, but Roxas wouldn't let her.
"Roxas, move you feet." Naminé ordered him.
"No," he ignored her order and kept his feet firm, not even glancing at her.
Naminé tried to move the bench but couldn't, so she leaned back crossing her arms and pouting. "It's my house you know." She muttered.
"Acting like a little girl won't help." Roxas said. Naminé sat up straight, still crossing her arms and glared at the back of his head. "Look, I'm tired and my eyes sting too; I just want to sleep."
"I suppose it's your fault for crying." Roxas said spitefully a trace of sadness evident in his voice.
Naminé knew she hurt his feelings when she cried. She couldn't help it, not after crushing on Sora for so long. Naminé was too tired and cranky, to think of a nice way of saying things.
"If you liked me that much, why didn't you ever come up and talked to me?" She asked him with quite a sting.
"I wouldn't have known what to say." Roxas admitted still not looking at her.
"Gee, I don't know you could have said: 'Hey, Naminé, how are you?' you could have started there." She said sarcastically.
Roxas lowered his head "I know…"
"Are you really this shy?" Naminé wondered.
Roxas shrugged "I don't think so; then again… it would explain why I have so few friends."
"I always thought you had lots of friends. Since you're never around" Naminé admitted.
"Nah, I either spend time alone or with Hayner, Pence, Ollete, Axel, or Xion." Then added softly, "Sometimes with the others…"
"With Sora, Riku and Kairi?" Naminé asked.
"No, Others… Don't ask" 'I don't want to get you in trouble' he wanted to add, but decided against it.
Naminé stopped to think for a sec, she felt compelled to ask more about Roxas, so she did. Every question about him that sprang into her mind she asked him. Roxas answered, sometimes kindly, others with spite, and others and others with confusion, which amused Naminé very much. He also asked his questions, which Naminé answered as best she could. Sometime in the early morning, they fell asleep on each other, the bench rocking slightly on account of the wind. Neither noticed that the string connecting their fates had lost its magic and turned into an average piece of string sometime during their conversation.
In the morning, as dawns light fell on them, Naminé opened one eye, closing it quickly, recalling yesterday's events. She remembered her conversation with Roxas and came to a decision. She'd give him a chance, just as she had done with Sora. She'd get to know Roxas; she'd find out what he loves, what he fears, what he hates and she'll try to love him. 'I don't think it'll be that hard, though' a voice in the back of her head said, making her smile against Roxas' shoulder.
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A/N: Well, what'd you think? I got inspired by a picture I found on photobucket of Roxas wiping Naminé's tears while both had strings connecting them.
I hope you like it. And if I get enough reviews I may add more chapters. Trust me when I say my ideas for this will probably not end anytime soon.
In fact I'll give you all a preview of the next chapter if I choose to post it:
(Ps. I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or he picture I described earlier.)
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Roxas awoke when the light of dawn hit his face; he remembered Naminé, sleeping on his shoulder and didn't move much. He laid his cheek on Naminé's head and thought about the night before. He said so much about himself, he hoped she would, to the very least, give him a chance. One chance is all he needs to win her heart.
Roxas felt Naminé stir and straightened himself a bit, when, she stayed on his shoulder he relaxed and stared out at the street. He closed his eyes, tired once more and rested on Naminé again.
A few minutes later Roxas heard a sound, a jiggle. 'Oh, crap' he thought. Roxas knew what it was without looking. Naminé's father had opened the front door, probably worried and wondering where his daughter was.
"What is going on here?" Roxas heard her father's voice loud and clear in the morning silence, startling him, causing both he and Naminé to jump. "Uh…" Roxas found himself at a loss of words. How was he going to explain this?
"Well?" Her Father insisted. Both teenagers looked at each other looking for the others assistance.