Challange fic for warm.summer.nights: friendship. My one-word prompt was "crayons". Obviously it inspired another fic with Sora as a little kid, which I absolutely cannot resist. Also, I thought of Naminé, and I realized I hadn't written much of her at all.

So, here's my fic, I hope you all enjoy!

"I'm done, Sora! Look!"

The brown-haired boy looked up and saw Naminé's drawing: a lovely setting sun on the beach of the little island on which they spent countless summer days. Sora found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the drawing, and he knew it was Naminé's uncanny talent at drawing that kept him so attatched to it.

"Do you like it? Do you think it's okay?"

"Its awesome, Naminé!"

"Thanks. Can I see yours?"

Sora looked down at his drawing: he had worked so very hard to draw his home of Destiny Islands, but the hills were rather peaky, and the trees rather floppy, and the homes were rather squished. He felt his face flush, and he avoided Naminé's eye.

The eight-year-olds in Sora's classroom cherished their art time, except Sora himself, who would much rather be outside playing tag with Riku, or sword-fighting with him, even though they couldn't bring their toy swords to school. He felt that he was no good at painting, so he simplay blotched away on his paper with crayons on the table he shared with Naminé. He sometimes regretted sitting next to her: her beautiful drawings would make him feel ashamed of even showing her his. Riku was no help either, since he often made fun of Sora's drawings, and most of the time, it was right in front of Naminé.

"Umm...it's not done yet..." Sora quickly made up, folding up the piece of paper and tucking it away in his bag. He folded his arms on the table and plopped his head down. He didn't feel Naminé's gaze on him anymore, and he was sure she had returned to her drawing: he could hear the crayons scraping softly at the paper.

Riku always did something for Naminé: he helped her climb the trees on their island, and he had helped her learn to swim. Sora had offered to teach her how to fight with a sword, but she had reacted nervously, saying that she would never be able to fight with him and Riku, nor Selphie or Tidus or Wakka. Yet she had done so much for him: she defended him against the other cootie-filled girls who taunted him, she helped him make a lovely card for his mother's last birthday, and she often drew him amazing pictures that he had plastered all over the walls in his room.

He'd never done anything for her, and he suddenly felt his tummy ache: what if she started to not like him? What if she thought he was a horrible friend?

He lifted his head and saw Naminé putting her blunted crayons back into their box. School was about to be over, so Sora leapt up and placed the rest of his belongings in his bag.

"Hey Sora?"

He turned towards Naminé, who brushed her short hair out of her face.

"Yeah?"

"Are you gonna go to the island today?"

"Maybe, why?"

"Oh, just wondering. I wanted to draw a picture of you and Riku fighting, so can you take your toy sword?"

"Sure! Oh, but, Naminé..." he puffed out his chest as Naminé, who had started to walk away, turned to face him again. "Get ready to draw me winning, 'cause I'm gonna beat Riku for sure this time!"

Naminé giggled, and walked out the door. Sora's smiled fell. There she goes again, doing brilliant things for him, and he wasn't able to repay her. Winning wasn't enough for her...he had to do something else...

He headed for his home alone, wondering what in the world he could do for his best friend (his best friend that was a girl, since his best friend was Riku). Naminé was sweet, and she would more than likely accept anything he gave her, but he wanted to make her beam. He'd once seen Tidus give Selphie some flowers, and he had never seen such a happy girl before.

Naminé might like flowers, but Tidus had already done that. Sora frowned. Stupid Tidus.

He entered his home, recieved his welcome from his mother, and stomped up the stairs into his room. He changed out of his school uniform into a much more comfortable attire of a loose, white t-shirt and red shorts. He then rummaged through all his toys and clothes in his closet to try and find his sword, but it wasn't there. Sora looked around his room, then dove under his bed, tossing out even more toys and clothes into his already-messy room. He felt his hand grope the scratchy hilt of his wooden toy sword, and he triumphantly pulled it out from underneath his bed.

To Sora's surprise, he saw the sword's blade scoop out his long-forgotten box of crayons, and they spilled out from the box. Sora made no move to pick them up, but instead, he gazed at them. Naminé's crayons looked very worn and blunt, and he wanted her to draw him beating Riku with nice, fresh crayons.

Feeling happy for reasons unknown to him, he hurried to his drawer and pulled out his munny jar. He pocketed some of his earned munny (household chores were a LOT of a work for a person his age), and, still not bothering to clean up the mess he had left in his room, Sora hurried out of his room, his toy sword over his shoulder. He shouted a hasted "bye-I'll-be back-in-time-for-dinner-mom", and ran up the lane towards the little shopping district in the Town Square.

Naminé needed new crayons. Even newer than the ones he had, which had probably only been touched once or twice. She deserved them, since she had had that same crayon box for ages. Feeling enthralled, he pictured just how much more beautiful her pictures would be now with this new box of crayons...and when these were all blunted and worn, he'd get her another box, and another...

Sora happily trotted into a small shop that sold toys and crafts for children. He hurried over to the art section, which sold figner paints and paper. And crayons. Sora found the biggest box, which held hundres of colors, and made sure he had enough munny. He hurried over to the shopkeeper and handed his munny to the smiling lady. Gripping his sword and the box of crayons, he sprinted towards the docks, and lowered himself into his boat when he found it. His friends' boats were no longer there, so he figured that everyone was already on the island. He untied his boat from the dock and took up his oars, quickly paddling, excited as he came closer to the island.

He found them all on the beach: Wakka and Tidus were in a duel (judging by Tidus's glazed face, Wakka was probably winning), with Riku, Selphie and Naminé watching and cheering, Naminé off to the side a bit. He hurried over and plopped down between Riku and Naminé, cheering with the others as Wakka threw his blitzball in the air in victory. Riku stood up to battle next, and Sora found his chance to speak to Namine without being bothered by Riku. He noticed her sketching pad on her lap already, and the blunt, old crayons in the sand next to her.

"Those are really old, aren't they?"

"Yes, I've been wanting to get new ones for a while, but I haven't been able to save up my allowance munny..."

"Well, now you don't have to!"

Naminé turned and looked at him in slight confusion, and Sora gave her his wide grin, before pulling out the crayon box from behind them and holding them out to her.

At first, she stared at the box, wide eyed, and Sora wondered whether she even liked the gift or not. He then saw her face break into a brilliant smile, far more happier, brighter, and prettier than the one Selphie had given Tidus when he had given her those flowers. She slowly took the box and gazed at it, and turned once again to face Sora, positively radiant, and threw her arms around him in a quick hug, to which Sora was both very surprised and very pleased.

"Thank you so much! But Sora, why...?" she asked, pulling away from Sora and looking down at the numbers of colors she now had.

"You give me all those nice drawings, and I can't draw a nice picture to give you. Plus, I saw your crayons were really old," he stood up and stretched, than grabbed his wooden sword and gave her another self-confident smile. "Also, that picture you're going to draw right now...it can look even cooler when I beat Riku!"

Naminé giggled, and chose her first crayon as Sora marched out to meet Riku, very happy with himself. He was going to win for sure this time.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The blue crayon dropped onto the stark white table, and for a moment, the room remained silent and motionless. The tear that splashed onto the face of the jubilant youth broke the stillness in Naminé's room, and she wiped her eyes.

Her new crayons were spread out across the table, although she didn't want to use them. Although they were new, they hadn't been handed to her by friendly, caring hands. They hadn't been handed to her by Sora, who would probably have given them to her with that same, caring look in his eyes, who were content by simply knowing that she could be happy.

No. They had been handed to her by cold, pale hands that belonged to the pink-haired lord of the castle. They had been given to her for the sole task of causing despair to the heart of a brave, wonderful boy who thought he needed to help her, because he thought he had made a promise with her to always protect her.

She sighed, looking down at the drawing of the boy leaping into the air, his silver-haired friend kneeling on the ground in shock, surprise, and defeat. She had never been able to give him the drawing, drawn with her brand new crayons.

She couldn't give it to him, because she had never been there to draw him in the first place. Kairi had been there for him, and he had been able to make Kairi smile. Not Naminé.

I'm rather proud of this...my first challange fic! Wish me luck!

Reviews are much appreciated!