Five-year-old Roxas dragged his feet along the ground, sighing. There was never anyone there to swing with him, except Sora, but he was too slow. Nobody used this park anymore anyway except Roxas, but now he was starting to get a bit bored with it anyway.
He swatted a bee away from his ear absentmindedly. He would have to go home soon anyway for dinner.
He gasped.
About a hundred yards away from him was a little girl about his age. She was wearing a pure white dress and blue flip-flops. Her blonde hair was in a plait over one of her shoulders.
"She must be an angel," Roxas whispered. Being a little boy, that was the type of thing he thought.
The little girl was looking at the ground, apparently in some type of sadness. Roxas began to swing again.
The girl approached him slowly.
"Hi," Roxas said.
"Hi," the little girl murmured, turning her gaze back to the ground.
She was a calm girl, Roxas concluded.
"Can I swing with you?" she asked. Roxas's face lit up.
He held the swing out to her with a flourish. She sat, although reluctantly.
"Do you live here?" Roxas asked.
"Yes. I live over there," she said, pointing a tiny finger over to Roxas's street. "I just moved in."
"I live over there too," Roxas smiled. "I've always lived here."
They sat for a little while. Roxas couldn't think of what to say.
"What's your name?" he asked. He had to know.
"My name is Naminè."
"That's a pretty name."
"What's your name?"
"Roxas. Roxas Alden."
Naminè smiled slightly.
"Well, I have to go home now," she said, lifting her petite frame from the swing.
"Naminè?"
She turned back to him.
"Yes?"
"Wanna be friends?"
She smiled shyly.
"Okay," she agreed.
Roxas watched her and made sure she got home okay. Then he ate the sandwich he had packed and started the walk home himself.
"Mommy!" he called. She came into the foyer.
"Yes?" she asked tiredly.
"I made a friend! Her name is Naminè, and she's an angel!"
Sora stood in the doorway.
"You met an angel?" he asked excitedly. Roxas nodded.
"Where does your friend live?" his mother asked.
"Across the street!"
"I'm glad you made a friend."
"A friend who's an angel…"
His mother smiled.
"Naminè is her name?"
"Yes."
"That IS a name fit for an angel."
Roxas stood in Naminè's driveway.
"Should I knock on the door?" he asked.
He gulped and nodded.
The glass door had a rose imprinted into the center. Roxas knocked on it.
A tired looking woman opened the door. She had a little girl clinging to her skirt and she was carrying a baby.
"Yes?"
"Does Naminè live here?"
"Hang on a moment."
She shut the door.
Roxas could hear, to his shock, muffled yells inside. He heard, just briefly, the engaging voice of Naminè.
"Please, please, can't I go?"
He heard a male voice, but it sounded too distant to understand.
Then Naminè's again.
"Okay."
Roxas heard footsteps and quickly lifted his ear from the door just as she opened it.
"Hi, Roxas."
"Hi."
They stood in silence for a moment, but then Roxas broke the ice.
"Wanna come over to my house?"
"Okay."
They walked across the street hand in hand, because that's what little kids do, they hold hands. Naminè looked a bit shy about it at first, but she gripped it tightly. Roxas saw her look over her shoulder more than once, but made no comment.
They opened the door to reveal Roxas's beaming mother. She grinned when she saw Naminè.
"Oh, hi, Naminè," she said happily.
"You know who I am?" Naminè asked in apparent disbelief.
Mrs. Alden nodded.
"Roxas told me about you yesterday," she explained, her grin widening with each word she said. Naminè looked at Roxas.
"You did?" she asked, seeming shocked that he had done this.
"I did." Roxas smiled.
"Mm-hm. Now please come in. You look hungry."
Of course, Naminè and Roxas didn't really look hungry, but Mrs. Alden wanted a better look at them. They were so cute, the two little blond munchkins.
Naminè followed Roxas nervously over the threshold. Mrs. Alden handed Roxas a platter of crudités. Roxas didn't eat any. He didn't even know what they were made of.
"Mom, can I show Naminè my new pet?"
"Yes, but make sure she doesn't run away, Roxas," Mrs. Alden said, watching the two kids with admiration.
Roxas nodded and gestured toward the staircase. Naminè politely took off her shoes, but Roxas didn't really mind either way.
"She's a gerbil," Roxas explained as they headed up the marble steps. Naminè nodded, her mind apparently on something else.
As Naminè held the tiny animal, Roxas explained her origins.
"I got her yesterday. She's cute, isn't she?"
Naminè nodded.
"What's her name?" she asked, stroking the gerbil avidly.
Roxas shrugged. Then it came to him, all of a sudden.
"Naminè," he said. It fit, definitely.
"Yes?"
"That's her name. Naminè."
Naminè blushed, the red creeping up her cheeks like overgrown vines.
"After me?" she asked, her breath catching.
"Yeah. You're an angel."
The two looked at each other, and in that beautiful instant, a bond was formed.
A strong bond that would be complicated sometime in the future, but would not ever break.
For a while.
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