A/N: Oh geez. I've never even played Kingdom Hearts, but you bet I want to! And also I've learned as much as I could about the game, so…please enjoy the show

Thanks to my Godfather, who was my awesome beta for this story!

The Sounds You Make

When people first meet me, they always smile and tell me their name, shake my hand and do whatever else people do when they first meet. Then, sooner or later, they find out I'm deaf.

Things can go pretty downhill from there.

Sometimes, the person's smile falters for a second, but then they put on a brave face. These people try to treat me as normally as possible. I really do appreciate their efforts, but there's always that small period of awkwardness.

More often than not, people suddenly go all wimpy on me, deciding that I'm the saddest case they've ever seen. Was I born deaf, how did it feel, can you understand what I'm saying, blah, blah, blah…the questions are annoying.

Sometimes I pretend I can't understand them so I don't have to answer anything.

My family doesn't care a lot, luckily. Especially my brother. Sora's my fraternal twin, so he grew up with me being deaf. However, he's normal. He can hear.

And when we were young, he was always trying to tell me what hearing was like. He said it was a sense, a feeling, like sight or smell or taste. But sometimes, some sounds were more beautiful than other sounds. Like how salty ice cream beats brussel sprouts any day.

Sora also listens to this thing called music. He even took me to a concert once, and my eyes hurt from all the flashing lights and moving bodies. But I could feel this thing in my entire body, this vibration…and I know that somehow, that feeling translates into sound for other people. That so called music was the reason everyone was going crazy.

I couldn't understand it at all.

Right now, Sora's tapping his foot to some beat that comes from a small radio in the hospital waiting room. We're here for my annual appointment, the one I get each year a week after my birthday. I turned 17 a few days ago.

Waiting is boring, regardless of being deaf. Although maybe I had it even worse. I didn't have some beat to tap my foot to.

Finally, finally a nurse comes through the door and calls my name. Both Sora and I stand up and follow the steadfast nurse until we find ourselves in a doctor's room. I hop myself up on that table thing you can lie down on, and Sora plops down in a chair and pulls out his phone.

We don't really talk to each other, but it's cool. He's there for me, and even though I can speak, we don't do it often or else it gets awkward.

Besides, we're both bored out of our minds as we have to wait again.

Apparently, we never were patient as kids. "Terror Twins" was what the teachers called us. When our mom bought some weird parenting book, she called us "Kinetic Learners". Sure enough, we both got into teams in middle school. I do track, and Sora does soccer.

There's a reason I like track, though. In soccer, you have to listen to people as they shout out to you and what not. But in track, it's just you and the finish line. And if I do well…

The crowd goes wild. It is truly a sight to behold.

Someone taps my shoulder, and I look up.

"I'm gonna go to the restroom," Sora mouths. We communicate by actually talking because I didn't like not being able to communicate with normal people when we were younger. Sora would practice with me for nights on end.

"Okay." I reply.

He smiles at me and then leaves.

Now it's just me and this empty white room. Wonderful.

…

When a good ten minutes pass and neither Sora nor the stupid doctor has arrived, I jump off of my seat.

Maybe I can find that bathroom and drag my brother back here…

Reaching the door, I look both ways before I go left, which takes me deeper into the hospital. Sometimes, the halls split, and I have to choose one. But I take careful notice of which way I turn, and keep it in my mind…

'Right, Right, Left, Right, Left, and Left…'

I keep on repeating it, all the time looking for signs that show me to a bathroom.

Did I…go the wrong way? Hospitals are so confusing.

It's suddenly a surprise when I bump into someone.

"AHHH!"

I fall back onto my back and bump my head against the floor. Ack, that freaking hurt!

"Hey, watch where you're…" I turn my eyes to my collider, and then I'm face to face with the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.

Her hair is soft and wispy, and loosely braided to one side. She's wearing a white hospital gown with a pink…jacket or something over it.

But her eyes. I swear, in all my seventeen years of life I have never seen eyes like that.

She looks at me curiously and then stands up.

Huh. I would've thought that she'd yell at me or something.

But no. She moves right past me and continues to walk.

I shake my head and turn away from her. Aw crap. I lost track of all the turns I made!
'Now was it Left, Right, Left, or wait I think it started with a Right, but if I go backwards…'

Flipping my head around, I notice there's no one else in this hallway but her.

I quickly catch up (my track training wasn't for naught), only to find her slipping into a room.

Before I enter, I read the outside.

Naminé Otani. Patient #67510. Department of Mental Health.

My heart had a weird frozen moment when I reached the bottom of the page. 'Department of Mental Health'…it had a logo and everything! I wondered what she had, but seeing as she acted normal enough before, I decided I'd ask her where the bathroom was.

"Excuse me," I say, knocking on the door. Apparently, if I do it hard enough, the sound catches people's attention. Like bright colors, Sora once said.

Her face suddenly lifts from a sketch pad settled on her lap. I open my mouth to ask her where the bathroom was, but no sound came out as I notice her room.

There are pictures everywhere, hand drawn. It ranges from random abstract scribbles to still life that looked like the real thing.

They are all amazing. Each time my eyes land on one, I can feel the emotion, the message it was trying to say. However, most of the images seem sad somehow, as if the artist was drawing with a broken heart.

It was…hauntingly beautiful.

"Did you draw all of these, Naminé?" I turn around and smile at her.

She stares at me blankly.

"Oh whoops. I forgot, I know your name because of the plaque outside but…oh! I'm Roxas!"

I stick out my hand, but she looks at me curiously before she takes my hand and shakes it tenderly.

I start again. "These are really cool though. I like them a lot. Did you…draw them?"

This time, she smiles at me a little and nods. Man, she was awfully quiet for a girl. Most girls I knew were chatty and always seemed to be talking nonstop. Not that I minded, though. The silence was something I've known all my life, and if she did say something…

…I feel like I'd want to know what her voice sounded like. After all, I had no clue what mine was.

I notice her slowly rise from her seated position on her bed, and come towards me. She tugs on my shirt sleeve.

"What's up?" I asked.

She tears off a sheet of paper from her sketchbook and gives it to me.

My eyes nearly pop out of my head. It was a drawing of me…and it was done so quickly! She really was professional.

"This is good!" I exclaim, honestly. She smiles again, and I decide that she really looks lovely whenever she does that.

"Can I…keep it?" She nods curtly and sits back down, but her eyes don't leave mine.

I then notice that I have ear buds in my ears in the picture, connected to an iPod. I guess I look disgruntled for a moment, because she frowns a bit.

"No-! I mean, no. I like it. It's just that…I'm deaf."

Her eyes widen, but then she lightly pounds her fist into her hand, as if she suddenly got something.

I wait for the questions, the unwanted sympathy…but it never comes.

As I watch her, she takes out her sketchpad and starts drawing again.

I'm pretty sure I'm gaping. "Wait…you don't care?"

She stops, looks me straight in the eye, and then shrugs.

Shrugs.

I start laughing, partly from relief and partly because she was such a weird girl.

Why did I find that suddenly attractive?

We sit together comfortably, me looking at the drawings she's finished and Naminé just working in her sketchpad.

It's incredibly relaxing.

Sudden movement at the doorway causes both of us to look up.

"Oh, Roxas! Finally found you!"

It's my doctor, Dr. Ansem. He's a stern, but pretty okay overall man.

But by the look on his face, I'm in trouble.

"Where were you? And how did you end up over here, in Naminé's room?"

"I…got lost?"

"Hmph. Well, I could've told you that! Now come along, we have to do your check up."

"Wait for a sec, okay Doc?"

I turn around to face the room's owner.

"Hey Naminé, I have to go now, but is it okay if I see you on Saturday or something? I'll bring you a new sketchpad." Her current one is looking like it might be empty soon.

Her clear blue eyes brighten and she nods enthusiastically. Shyly, she hands me her latest drawing.

It's of the both of us this time, sitting next to each other.

I smile. "Thanks."

She smiles back, and suddenly I realize how nice it is to be able to connect with someone without any pressure or prejudice. It's…freeing.

"Hey, Roxas, I might die if you take any longer."

"Shut up, old man…" I mutter.

He sighs but starts walking away. Not wanting to be left behind, I wave one more time to Naminé.

I catch her wave just before she leaves my sight completely."

…

"Hey Doc, why's Naminé in the mental patients ward?" She seemed perfectly sane to me when I visited, and so I'm curious.

"Eh? Roxas, you didn't know?" His eyebrow is raised.

"Didn't know what?"

"Naminé is mute."

"…Oh." Suddenly, everything makes sense. Why she didn't speak. Why she didn't think my being deaf was strange.

"Her grandparents say it's a mental problem that started when she was about fourteen or so. Her parents died, you see, in a car accident. Ever since then…she hasn't spoken." He signs, even though he knows I can just read his lips.

I swallow roughly. Dr. Ansem looks at me to make sure that I want to know more, and continues.

"However, about half a year ago, her grandparents went to live in a retirement home. Because of her condition, they decided it was best for her to stay here. However, she's made slow progress…"The doctor stops abruptly and his brow furrows with worry.

I feel sad. I can at least speak to people; let them know if I'm happy or sad. Naminé has to use her sketches.

But more than that feeling, it seems like now we have something in common.

We both know that silence can be incredibly lonely. And from now on, we might have someone else to share it with.

I touch the pictures in my pocket, just to make sure they're there.

…

As soon as I'm back in Dr. Ansem's office, I'm assaulted.

"ROXAS! WHERE WERE YOU I CAME BACK AND YOU WEREN'T THERE DID YOU KNOW HOW WORRIEDI WAS!"

"Um…Sora…you're hugging my windpipe." He immediately back off.

"Oops, sorry, sorry. It's just, we can't call you over the intercom or anything, right?" He cracks a smile.

I smirk myself. "Yeah, but I wouldn't have left if someone wasn't taking so long to crap."

Sora blushes and I can tell from the shape of his mouth that he's yelling at me some more. I ignore it and flop down on the examination table.

"Hey Sora…I met this girl…"

He stops ranting and his eyes grow big.

"Really?" his face looks like a cross between curiosity and excitement. "What was she like?"

I smile and take out her pictures from my pocket, running my fingers over the lines of her drawn face.

"Well for starters…she has the most beautiful voice that I've ever heard."

x.x.x

A/N: Thank you for reading! Btw, did anyone get that the italics were used whenever someone else than Roxas spoke, because he couldn't hear them? Ah well.

Please leave a review on your way out.