Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.

Sonic Dawn

Lemonhead

It was Saturday the third of January, and my band mates and I were sitting in the basement of a church, watching a local band play through a handful of covers and two original songs. They played on an elevated part of the floor that was only about 3 feet high, but still constituted a stage. They were good, but the crowd stood around or sat unenthusiastically during the entire set. What made the situation awkward for us was that they were basically doing what we had planned on doing.

"Thank you everyone, and enjoy the rest of the show," the lead singer of the band said as he and his band unplugged and walked off to generally warm applause. The band dispersed into the crowd as people started to kind of wander about, getting snacks and going to the bathroom. Demyx, Riku, Sora, and myself all stepped onto the stage at this time and started grabbing our equipment that was laying in a back room found to the side of the stage.

After a few minutes, everyone was plugged in and I was given nods of approval to begin from the other three. I quickly scanned the room to see where our friends were. Sure enough, Axel, his girlfriend Larxene, and Xion were all right near the front with big smiles on. After another quick glance, I saw Hayner, Pence, and Olette walk into the basement, with big smiles on coming up front too. I was disappointed that I didn't see Kairi and Naminé, but knew for sure Kairi must've been around if her sister was. I supposed that Naminé must have been around if Pence was too. I felt an extra yearning to see Naminé; she always seemed to show up. In fact, I remembered how two and a half years before this gig, when I was still fourteen, she was the first to ever hear me play besides family.

"I feel kind of dumb doing this," I confessed to Sora. We were outside of my house, in the front yard on a warm and sunny perfect summer day. I had my acoustic guitar in my hands, but I still hadn't started yet. Sora was with me and had a bongo drum.

"Roxas, we're going to be in high school in a few months. We'll finally be able to start a band with Riku since he's been taking lessons and we could find maybe even another person for out band. Trust me, we should get experience while we can," Sora explained.

"You have a point, but we're just sitting out front at noon and know one's even passing by," I responded. As if they heard what I had said, a figure walking on the sidewalk had just turned the corner at the end of our block and was headed out direction. Sora nudged my arm and I started playing a Beatles song, specifically "Yesterday". Sora quickly caught on and provided a beat as I opened my mouth and sang at a moderate volume.

We were about halfway through the short song and I could feel the person's presence. Instead of looking up, I just kind of stared at the sidewalk ten feet in front of us. I also noticed that the figure slowed and had come to a complete stop in front of us as I could see a pair of somewhat curvy legs. I continued to stare at the ground as Sora hummed the ending with me and the person started clapping.

I finally looked up and saw a fourteen-year-old Naminé, clapping with a big smile on. She was wearing a white summer dress and looked as beautiful as a fourteen-year-old girl could hope to look to a fourteen-year-old boy. I suddenly felt a little underdressed as Sora and I were wearing khaki shorts and he wore a red shirt while I wore a black and white checkered shirt. I couldn't tell you the expression on Sora's face because I couldn't look away from Naminé's face and pretty blue eyes.

"I really love that song!" she said soon after.

"Yeah," I started, chuckling. "I was a little worried we'd mess up but it turned out okay I guess."

"Better than okay! Don't you think so…?" Sora said, trying to get her to say her name.

"Naminé. My name is Naminé," she said with a smile.

"I'm Roxas. It's nice to meet you," I said, with a smile I was able to let free.

"And I'm his brother Sora," Sora added. "Do you go to school here? We haven't really seen you around."

"I just moved here last week actually, a few blocks over," she explained, waving her hand in the general direction of her home. "I decided to take a walk to kind of get a feel of the town. It's really nice here!"

"Yeah, we've been here pretty much our whole lives. We could show you around if you want," I offered.

"Yeah, you can meet our friend Kairi too, I get the feeling you two would get along," Sora said, laughing a little.

"I'd love that!" Naminé said, basically agreeing to be a new best friend.

Now however, I couldn't see her in the crowd. I still felt that same rush whenever I looked to her in the crowd. One of the few differences was that my shorts were dark jeans and my shirt was now a checkered fleece jacket. I had a crazy urge though, so I went for it. "Guys, are you okay with starting with lemonhead?" I asked, quickly trying to gauge the rest of the band's reactions. They all looked a little confused, but shrugged in agreement. I spoke into the microphone to start the show. "Thanks for sticking around everyone! We're going to start off with an original song called lemonhead. I'll give you a hint about what the song's about: My favorite something." Some people in the crowd "wooed" in response and we began.

Lemonhead was a bit of a slow, easy listening kind of song. It was influenced by the Beatles song "Yesterday", but a little quicker and brighter. I began churning out the sunny day-like lyrics.

You are my favorite.

You are the tastiest flavor of all.

Unlike any other,

You know how to sweeten

Everything I taste

And all I will.

It was such a fun song to sing, and I could tell people enjoyed it, despite the lack of rhythmic moving to the music.

Our time is always

Just temporary.

But you're too sweet.

I just can't forget.

I always dream of the next time

You and I will be together again.

My eyes caught Naminé and Kairi towards the back of the room after I was sure they weren't there before. I figured they must've just been in the bathroom. My smile from singing the song grew larger and we wrapped up the short, two and half minute song. We got warm applause and whistles from Axel.

We continued to play the show, mostly cover songs, and I would make quick banter between songs. It would always be whether what the song was about or why we picked it. The crowd seemed to really warm up to us as they started dancing a bit at one point and by the end, no one was sitting.

It was finally time for us to wrap up the show, so I finished and advertised quickly. "That concludes our set. You've been great! We're playing another show in a few weeks hopefully; just follow us online and hopefully we'll see some of you there too." We got plenty of applause before people started shuffling around again and we packed our stuff. We got off stage and met with our friends who greeted us warmly. We got a few slaps on the back and hugs in support.

"Great set you guys!" said Xion. Everyone heartily agreed.

"That lemonhead song you guys played was really cool," Axel began. "I don't see you eating them that often though Roxas." I chuckled a bit looking at the ground and rubbed my head.

"Yeah, it was mostly just for fun. They seemed like a good subject to sing about," I responded. "I'm hungry by the way, who's up for getting something to eat?" I was given mixed responses as most had either gotten full on snacks already or were going to eat dinner with their families. After figuring out who wanted to go and driving arrangements, the group consisted of the band minus Demyx, Hayner, Olette, Pence, Naminé, and Kairi.

We drove over to a cool Mexican place in the hub area of town and all walked in. We ordered and got our food then sat at a long table. The place was painted in warm pastel colors and was obviously well kept and clean. The food itself was great too. I got a steak burrito with the usual ingredients plus some extra. The show had made me work up an appetite.

"So school starts on Monday again," did you guys get all your homework done?" asked Olette, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Mostly, yeah. Just a few last minute things," Hayner responded quickly.

"Yeah, same," added Sora. He continued eating his food quickly; clearly glad we came to eat.

"Jeez Sora, slow down," Kairi said, laughing a bit. "You might choke."

"Would you perform CPR?" Sora asked slyly.

"Hmmm… Maybe," Kairi responded, looking purposely indifferent. We all chuckled a bit at the two. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit jealous, but felt that Sora was somehow justified automatically when it came to flirting with Kairi. They were the two who subconsciously liked each other, but never seemed to realize. About two months ago however, they seemed to become more aware. No one except them knew why, but it was funny and cute to watch. It kept making me think that maybe I only liked her because she seemed like such a good option since we were friends since we were kids, but Sora being with her kept coming into my mind.

We all continued talking about dreading the start of school until we finally decided to leave, about twenty minutes after being done eating. We quickly reviewed rides as we got into the parking lot and Sora and I got into his car, but Kairi got shotgun. We were the first ones to leave as the others were still shuffling around. I looked back and saw Pence lead Naminé to his car along with Hayner and Olette and felt a quick sting in my chest. I looked slightly away and then looked forward as Sora kept driving.

"You guys were great, really," Kairi said with a smile, looking between the two of us.

I let out a quick snicker of enjoyment. "Thanks Kairi. Thanks for coming too of course."

"No problem!" she enthusiastically responded. We reached her house after a few more minutes and saw that it was very dark out already. The sky was gray with winter.

After pulling onto her driveway, I got out of the car ready to take shotgun. She opened the door and gave me a hug still sitting. She and Sora then leaned in to hug but neither moved their heads that much and almost kissed by accident. The both awkwardly laughed as they pulled away from one another, and then tried again, being careful with their heads.

She got out of the car smiling and walked to her door, with her head slightly bowed. I got into the car and noticed Sora watching her with a big goofy grin on his face. I stayed silent, smiling at the moment. Finally Sora seemed to snap out of it and began the way to my house.

It was a relatively quiet drive. Sora still had a bit of a grin on his face, which got me thinking if someone could warrant a similar look on my face. Just then, we passed Naminé's house and I could see the light in her room was on as we passed. We reached my house, only a few blocks away. Sora pulled into the driveway of my simple, light orange home. It blended in well with the setting sun.

"Thanks for the ride," I said with a smile. "I'll see you later, probably tomorrow."

"Of course," Sora responded with a matching smile. He gave me a quick hug and I got out, grabbed my guitar from the trunk, and walked inside. The lights were on in the kitchen and living room, and I saw my mom was in the living room watching T.V. She turned to face me, looking excited and pretty tired.

"How was the show?" she asked happily.

"It was great! The original songs we wrote went over really well," I said, genuinely satisfied.

"That's good! I'm proud of you Roxas," she responded. "I'm going to try even harder to be at your next show."

"Ha, thanks mom, but don't worry about," I responded truthfully. "Work is important, I know. I'm going to get to bed, I'm tired now."

"Okay, good night son," my mom said with a smile.

"Good night." I headed upstairs and received a text as I finished getting ready for bed.

"Great show tonight!"

From: Naminé

I smiled and responded: "Thanks, for coming!"

"No problem, I'd never miss a show!"

"I know, thank you, honestly. Good night."

"Sweet dreams!"

I sighed with a smile and thought to myself about that girl with lemon blonde hair, "What a sweet girl."

I realize things might have gotten a bit congested with the characters, but I plan on focusing on specific relationships soon. Also, the time between chapters is gonna be a lot more (in the story, I don't mean updates) to make it easier to span over a year. There might be instances where one chapter immediately takes place after another, but it'll vary. The next will probably be based a few weeks after this. Thanks for reading and all reviews are welcome!