A/N: Well, here it is, folks. My first Rion one-shot as requested through my poll. Dundundun! XD This is probably one of my longer one-shots, but I really wanted to impress you fans of this pairing. I wanted it to be as good as possible. And here are the results. Though I don't plan on playing Days (feel free to groan at me), here is how I had these two crazy kids meet.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Kingdom Hearts.

Stumbling into Romance

A bored Xion spent one afternoon watching a certain blond prisoner sketch the facial features of a certain boy. However, Number Fourteen preferred to gaze out the window, which showed nothing but the dark sky and restless Nobodies plastering themselves to the castle. Usually, she would waste her afternoons with her random guy friends Roxas and Axel, pulling pranks on the most worthy members. Today, though, Xemnas forced those two to go off in a surely mind-bending mission to Wonderland in order to avoid any trouble being caused. If the Superior possessed less control over his Organization, then Axel and Roxas would be more than able to usurp the entire World That Never Was. Thus occupied with staring at these Nobodies devoid of any thought whatsoever, Xion yawned dully.

"Ugh, Namine, Xemnas is always so intent on ruining our fun!" she groaned rather irritably, starting to swing her legs back and forth. "Seriously, I wonder if he's ever had a fun day in his life. Maybe he should ride a roller coaster or something...Let's ditch him at Wonderland!"

Her lips twitching, the dainty artist attempt to suppress a beaming smile. "I doubt he would last one day there. If he ever met the Mad Hatter there, he would run for the hills."
"I bet," Xion replied, showing her sly grin with pride. "It wouldn't be his preference, would it? As for me, I love crazy people. Why do you think I hang out with Axel and Roxas?"

Shading in the eyes of the person portrayed in her sketchbook, Namine blushed crimson at the mere mention of Axel, the redhead with so much spirit rare in any Nobody.

At first, she had taken a strong liking to the other boy in their trio of friends. But, once knowing Roxas, she found that they were better off in relationship that had the semblance of a brother/sister one. Axel, on the other hand, was a naturally charming flirt who wormed his way into the place where young Namine's heart would have existed. Despite the five year age gap between them, they really hit it off. Once romance blossomed between the two, Xion, spontaneous as always, held a party for them as well as for the others. Ever since, Namine and Axel were considered a very unlikely yet official couple. In the mean time, while boasting confidently that she loved her single status, Xion couldn't help but feel left out. Why couldn't she have someone fill the romantic void for her? She doubted Roxas could, for she saw him as a friend only.

Noticing the obvious blush on her female friend's face compelled Xion to recollect all of those thoughts from that sort of mindset. And it left her quite put out and in a rarely self-conscious state. She proceeded to drum her fingers on the ivory table as she asked, "So…Namine, Axel is a really devoted guy toward you, isn't he?"

Face brightening from previous knowledge of this fact, Namine nodded. "Yeah, and we do such romantic things together. I brought him a drawing of him yesterday, and he looked so happy to get it."

"Mmm-hmmm," Xion absentmindedly agreed as her thoughts wandered elsewhere, to a place that only they could discover. What a cute couple those two made. How was she to find anyone compatible with her, as frightfully selfish as this sounded?

To see what her friend and confidante expertly drew on her paper, the spirited girl peered over her shoulder. There, on the page, was a handsome young man gazing at her with paper aqua eyes behind a fringe of silver hair. If she did have a heart, Xion assumed, it would pound its way out of her chest and up toward the sky. She seemed rather out of vogue at the moment, her gaze practically froze to this attractive depiction. Truthfully, she pondered over whether this could remotely be considered love at first sight or not.

"Wow…He's cute. Who's that guy?" Xion asked curiously, hoping this guy wasn't fictional.

Turning around in her little chair, Namine fully displayed the picture. "His name is Riku."

Please don't be made-up. Please, please don't be made-up, Xion thought fervently.

After all, artists generally sketched people they considered characters, who merely existed within the confines of paper. Namine drew real people, though, so maybe this would turn out in her favor.

"If you want to meet him, I heard that he lurks about in Twilight Town at night," the blonde pointed out currently, possessing the keen intent that Xion was instantly attracted to this boy. The one with the silver hair and the eyes resonant of the sea that washed over the beaches of his islands; only Namine knew his true history. With that aside, she resolved to try playing matchmaker for her good friend, who blushed at present.

"Ah…uh, ah, uh, uh…I don't know! He'll distrust me or something," Xion suspected aloud in a nervous tone.

Quickly shading in the rest of her portrait, Namine smiled, amused at the black haired girl's anxiety over this. Like any ordinary teenager (as she ardently vowed that she wasn't), she had been petrified with infatuation. Being relatively new to her, it blocked her senses and practically took the wind out of her. Heck, Larxene might as well have punched her. To distract herself, she resumed staring at those platinum colored Nobodies. "What if this Riku guy, the sexiest guy since…since some Greek god, throws me off a cliff? Beats me to a pulp? Or, worst of all…he takes my chocolate cake that I just baked yesterday?!? Ahh!"

This terrifying thought compelled Xion to run about in circles, screaming at her mental image of a gruesome looking, silver haired teen stabbing her cake with knives for fingers. Oh, the horror!

Concealing her unbelievably large grin behind her hand, Namine giggled at the randomness that Xion was famous for. At the same time, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. Judging by Roxas' account of Riku, he held a hatred for Nobodies. Considering this was a male teen encountering him, though, he surely didn't know the charms of a female Nobody.

"Trust me," she told Xion wisely. "All you have to do is remain calm and be yourself."

The Keyblade wielder abruptly stopped her screaming and proceeded to grin cockily. "Of course, Namine, of course. Riku won't resist my feminine charms. Maybe he'll think I'm a sexy beast! Oh yes, wouldn't that be a great first impression! Excuse me."

And Xion insanely teleported to the privacy of her bedroom to apply numerous amounts of make-up all over her face. Since she was an inexperienced tomboy, though, she virtually caused her face to appear rather clownish. Once vainly showing off her cosmetics job to her best friend, she giggled in response.

"What? What is it? I'm perfect to meet Riku…right?"

After Namine offered a hand mirror to her, Xion peered at her reflection, which looked extremely deplorable. Smeared scarlet lipstick smudged her face, glittery shadow was too heavily applied, and the mascara was much too thick.

"Ah, I'm hideous!" declared Xion, who nearly dropped the mirror. "I look worse than Larxene when she wakes up! Ah, oh well—obviously, make-up's not a good option. This isn't Halloween, after all."

Pretending not to snicker any more than she needed to at the moment, Namine flipped the page of her sketchbook to a crisply clean one. "It is in Halloween Town, you know."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. May you drive your gummi ship into Monstro! Because Kingdom Hearts knows how frustrating that place is," Xion joked, though was sincere regarding her disdain of the whale.

Taking out a red crayon, the artist replied, "He'll like you for who you are, Xion. Now, head out there tonight before I'll force you out. You two will be great together."

The Organization member puffed out her chest like a confident soldier ready for battle as she prepared to depart for Twilight Town. How did Namine know where he would be anyway?

No matter, she hoped to seek a future boyfriend in him anyway, someone she could truly fall in love with. If Namine and Axel could pull it off, then so could she. With a snap of her spindly fingers, she teleported to Twilight Town, entirely dark outside at this point. Xion could hardly locate the stars due to the lofty buildings blocking them from view. On most nights at the World That Never Was, she felt as though she could touch the stars, to hold them in the palms of her hands. Now, the dark settled unnervingly everywhere in this small town, save for a few streetlights here and there. What would be warm during the day was now cold to her. Even the breeze was somewhat chilly, whistling through her hair.

For some eccentric reason, Xion got the sense of being in a horror movie setting, but this "scene" would be the calm before the storm so to speak. Curse her vivid imagination!

"Man and I thought night at home was fun," she murmured to herself sarcastically, disliking the hollow atmosphere. She loved to find herself in a place buzzing with activity, bursting with the sights and sounds of life. This place seemed mostly dead—not even the barking of a dog could be heard. Rubbing her arms to warm up her suddenly chilled body, she meandered about the empty town, searching for Riku. Perhaps he could help her figure out why this place could be so creepy. She would like to know herself.

"Ah, heck," she decided after a few minutes of looking. "No one's around, so I might as well dance to my not heart's content. It's not like anybody will see me."

With her odd resolve set, Xion proceeded to dance under the glowing moonlight and sing a rather catchy tune she heard on her radio the other day. The power of good music had truly set her free. No one stopped her from being as random and spontaneous as she wished. No "Stop being a thoughtless fool" from that strict idiot Saix or a "Find something useful to do" from resident flower freak Marly. Nope, not in the slightest would anyone prevent her from doing what she pleased. She felt a sense of liberation as she danced and sang. Boldly, she even stepped under one of the streetlights while thinking to herself about how wonderful this all was. Unbeknownst to her, a lone shadow off in the distance watched her whimsically solo waltz and twirl her way around the town square. In the mean time, Xion thoroughly enjoyed herself, even adding some backflips to her hitherto formal dance routine.

At one point, her feet managed to find a jutting (very slightly jutting) brick of the stone ground. This caused her to inevitably tumble off her precarious balance...

...and into someone's comfortably warm arms, saving her from a sprained ankle.

"Remind me, stranger," she started to say, pretending to be unfazed by the catch, "to never do anything that random again. As for my singing—well, I have to apologize for my lack of talent."

A low, decisively male voice muttered almost threateningly, "Well, you're really not that good at singing...Nobody."

"Whoa, hold on!" she yelled, startled by the veiled hostility in his tone. "You can be a critic all you like, but don't kill me. Yeesh, I never heard of a critic killing people he didn't like before."

Xion abruptly removed the mysterious stranger's arms away from her waist as she continued talking, her back remaining toward him. "Besides, even if I am a Nobody, why would you kill me? It's not like I'm friends with most other Nobodies. I suggest you lay off the paranoia, before you get too hyped up from all that unhealthy caffeine it has."

Gazing at her blankly as he tried to ward off an approaching smile, the stranger asked, "Paranoia has caffeine?"

"You bet it does! It would definitely explain why my good buddy Roxas is set on taking things personal and thinking everyone's after him. I kid, of course. Besides, why'd you catch me when I fell?"

"Um..." He scratched his head unsurely. "I don't know actually...something about you..."

Her eyebrow cocked in puzzlement, Xion finally decided to turn around to see the stranger for herself. He had silver hair that caught her blue eyes, which then fastened to his brutally handsome face.

Her mouth agape, she only made unintelligible noises that barely made a bit of sense to her, let alone him. He was...Riku, the teenager Namine had informed her of, the attractive drawing.

Nearly caught up in her stare as well, Riku could barely conjure a smirk. "What's the matter? Did you suddenly get shy around me? It would be a shame if that's the case."

Gathering her wits about her, Xion gulped down her worry before talking again. "No...it's just...you're Riku. My friend told me about you."

His smirk widened. "And does she know me?"

"I don't know. She says she feels connected to everybody. Don't ask me! She told me—it's her fault!"

To her surprise, the stoic actually laughed at her eagerness to get so defensive over this situation.

What he deemed cuteness Xion considered a personal failure. Great, the aspiring Greek god was laughing at her like it was nobody's (pardon the pun) business. How was she supposed to discover any romantic prospects now? Abashed, she hung her head.

"If you weren't so cute, Greek god, I would make a friggin' comeback," she muttered to herself, not expecting him to eavesdrop on her supposed soliloquy. When a finger forced her chin up, however, she knew she was in for a shock. Even though he wore a blindfold, she instinctively thought that those beautiful aquamarine eyes sparkled amusedly. Great, Xion thought grudgingly, more laughing.

"Are you comparing me to a Greek god? Hm, I'm flattered."

An obvious crimson blush stained her normally pale face, a fact that she thoroughly disliked. She may be attracted to this boy, but that hardly entitled him to make her feel exceedingly awkward.

Pouting her lower lip in indignation, she replied with, "I was talking to Apollo, thank you very much! He lured many goddesses in his day might I add."

"You know Apollo?" Clear entertainment resonated in his tone now.

"Yes," she said, standing on her tiptoes to attempt towering over him. "I had tea with him last week."

Oh why couldn't she acknowledge that she indeed talked about Riku with dignity? Maybe Xemnas had a Mad Hatter in his very own castle, except she was female, and her name was undoubtedly Xion. She wondered whether she should get a 10/6 hat or not; honestly, it would give her a decent excuse to go shopping.

Sighing heavily, Xion knew before Riku even told her that he saw right through her horrific lie, one that would make her friend Axel say, "You can do much better, my friend."

Yeah, much, much better.

Holding her hands up in the air, she inquired of her silver haired companion, "Why aren't you fighting me?"

She really wondered about that, considering that was his way of dealing with Nobodies. Probably. OK, she didn't know, but that was because Namine conveniently neglected to give out specifics. Meanwhile, Riku seemed to contemplate her question, judging by the studious frown on his lips.

"I don't know."

"Good answer."

"No, really, I don't."

Now it was his turn to sigh irritably, which impelled Xion to rip off his blindfold to see what emotions played out in his eyes. Perhaps the time for games and weird tidbits of conversation had ended. She wanted to seriously get to know him. Approaching him with soft footsteps, she placed her hands into the crook of his arm for assurance. Under the cloth of his robe identical to hers, she sensed that muscle hid under the sleeve. Oh, muscles...No, she had to be solemn! She had scarcely any time to just drool over manly perfection.

Finally, Riku spoke to her, much more gently this time. "I guess it's because you're not like the other Nobodies I've met. You look like someone I know...and you seem more...human."

Wow, Xion suspected, that was practically like calling an alien a giraffe; the whole idea of bestowing a name to something that wasn't that was ludicrous. A slight smirk played on her lips, since she could barely believe why he would call her human.

"Correction, I'm half a human," she clarified, her smirk distorting into one of bitterness. "If you think otherwise, you're insane. Hmph, almost as insane as me. Let's get lost in madness."

Her sneer turned into a rueful small smile that inadvertently sent a pang of empathy to Riku's heart. It was ironic how he could feel a pity for a creature who could feel nothing. And yet, she was far more than a creature to him. She was someone he could already imagine himself with, already on their first encounter. She looked like a combination of his two good friends...so much so...

Out of the corner of her eye, Xion thought she espied a soft, regretful smile that matched her own. She then discovered that, even through their differences, they were one and the same. Together, they drifted in a forsaken oblivion that they struggled to break free. Until then, they had each other to keep them from being whisked away.

"If you want to be insane, that's fine," he stated almost jokingly. "But, should I come with?"

Turning away to conceal her grin, she admitted, "Maybe...but that's your choice."

"Then my mind's made up."

Before she could even comprehend the meaning of his cryptic sentence, Riku's lips landed gently on hers. In a matter of twenty minutes or so, she was already kissing the guy Namine had sort of set her up with. She should certainly thank her later.

But, what was his deal? They barely knew each other! In fact, he was very distrustful toward Nobodies like her. And she thought he mocked her. Yet, maybe this chance meeting was enough to put their theories to rest.

Still, she inquired, "Why'd you do that for?"

"Consider it a substitute for fighting you," he said rather cheekily, suppressing a humongous, arrogant smile. "Oh, and one more thing. What's your name?"

"Not 'Nobody'," Xion retorted, causing him to chuckle. "It's Xion. Don't wear it out."

Riku tucked some stray hairs of hers back behind hear ears tenderly as he wondered what to say next.

There had to be some clever comment he could leave behind for her thoughts, one that would be flirtatiously sincere. He had the perfect words in mind.

"Well," he smirked, "I am going to wear you out. How about we meet again, Xion, next week? Same time, same place?"

Xion couldn't help but smile as she nodded. "Yeah, I would like that a lot, Riku."

It was the first (but certainly not last) time she addressed him by his name, and he genuinely smiled out of noting that detail. Once they said their goodbyes, Xion good-naturedly walked away. She could hardly wait to tell Namine what went on between her and one cute Greek god who induced her with exhilarating giddiness.

A/N: I absolutely COULD NOT resist putting in all those "Alice in Wonderland" references. This has been happening lately for me, probably because it is one of my HUGE obsessions. But, anyway, will you kindly review? I really want to know what you guys thought of this.

Also, I plan on a Zexette (I know, random!) in the future, since it was second place in the poll. It's something I really want to write.