Disclaimer: If you recognize it, chances are that I probably don't own it, yanno?

Author's Note: I know, I've listed this as Namiku. (And I promise, it will end up being Namiku) I just didn't think it made sense at first for Namine to like Riku as more than a friend at first – nor did I think it made sense for her to like Roxas for himself. If I remember correctly, they didn't spend too much time together – hence why I list Namine's love interest at this point as Sora. Don't kill me, please?

Night One

Using darkness to travel shouldn't have been so natural. Riku'd been surprised when I had originally suggested it: after all, his power over heartless and darkness should've been all but gone, right?

That hadn't been the case. Believing that his power had just been dormant, we used it as a catalyst to open a portal to another world.

... Riku was oddly late. Sure, he had brought along money (I'd never realized before now how rich he was - the money seemed to be literally flowing out of his wallet). And he did have to go see his parents off.

No one else knew that we were going. I doubted that neither Sora nor Kairi (well, everyone on this island) even knew that I still existed as a separate entity.

(I knew I shouldn't have let Roxas talk me into this! He had said that we should've run away from destiny – I had used darkness to teleport him to Twilight Town yesterday afternoon. I honestly think that Roxas just wanted an excuse to see his friends again. That's all fine and well, but he could've just said so instead of pulling the destiny card, right?)

So, Riku had told me that we should probably start the search in an urban town. It made sense logically, rather than starting in places like the undersea kingdom or the jungle, from what I remembered him telling me.

He'd really changed. Compared to the carefree guy I knew, he had become slightly more somber - he made himself take charge of our travels, and how we traveled. Whenever I'd asked him for details, though, he wouldn't say anything, just, "It's a secret, Naminé. You'd think I'd tell you so soon?"

... I hate to admit that it bugged me. But only a little, I promise. (I think)

Once we had arrived in the outskirts of the town, it dawned on me that... really, Riku probably wanted a chance to see this town again.

What was this town called again? Radiant Garden?

It was a bustling town; people constantly passed with shopping bags or construction materials. Even after all these people've been through, they're still willing to rebuild their homes.

I admired their devotion, though it was an odd feeling.

I'd never been here before. You'd think that the world would seem so strange and unfamiliar because I had never ventured beyond the borders of Twilight Town (and Castle Oblivion, if you really wanted to be technical). But that wasn't the case.

Surely it wasn't possible to know that I used to go to that park as a child. I couldn't have known that my grandmother visited that library over there – I didn't have a grandmother.

It couldn't be possible… these all had to be Kairi's memories, right?

"Naminé… you okay?"

Oddly enough, it was comforting to have Riku by my side. Glancing over at the tall boy, I smiled at him, nodding. "Yes, I'm fine."

He wasn't reassured by my voice, no matter how calm I had made it sound. Frowning, he walked closer to me, yet still crossing his arms. "You don't sound fine," He pointed out.

Well, how could you sound fine when memories that aren't even yours come in from all directions? I merely kept silent as we continued to walk; what could I say to him that would make him feel better? I doubted that anything would.

"False memories," I murmured, sighing lightly.

It was too bad that Riku wasn't who I thought he was. He raised an eyebrow; unfortunately, he was one of those teenagers who seemed to have unusually good hearing.

"Kairi's memories, huh," He remarked, crossing his arms. "I'm not too surprised. After all, didn't Roxas have some of Sora's memories while he was in Twilight Town?"

I was about to ask him how he would know about such a thing.

The memories flooded back before I could even open my mouth. I had spent a while year with Riku, working under DiZ's control. My assignment had been to restore Sora's memories; Riku had been the one who brought Roxas in my hands. At the time, I didn't think that the man in the hooded cloak was Riku – he sounded so different back then.

It made me almost wish Riku hadn't been the kind of boy who remembered every little detail about the people he spent time with. He motioned over to a nearby store, glancing down at the clothing that we were currently in.

True, they were a bit old and worn. But… I felt almost a certain sense of loyalty to this dress. Tugging on it, I wanted to shake my head no.

I didn't want to go shopping; I had sketchbook pages to find.

Why did he have to drag me in all ready?

"What's with the long face, Naminè?" He asked me, placing one hand on his hip casually as he let me go. "We'll probably be spending a while looking for your sketchbook, so why not look nice too?"

I couldn't argue with that logic. I meekly nodded.

He, on the other hand, grinned. How could I not be able to stand up to someone like him? As nice as he seemed at times, Riku was also known to be quite the mischievous kid who always knew what to say to make you listen to his bidding.

In short, he was the opposite of Sora. Where Sora was totally clueless about everything (and I have to admit, it was a little nice to see him like that), Riku had that air about him that said 'I know everything. So there'.

That clueless feeling that Sora gave off was why I had liked him so much. He... and I could never be, though. In short, these feelings I had had for him were why I couldn't ask him to go with me.

And if I had asked Roxas, I don't know what the outcome would be. It was bad enough that I only liked him because he was a part of Sora. (I hadn't been able to get to know him well enough to really see what I liked about Roxas himself)

I had asked Riku because... I wouldn't be distracted. I wouldn't be thinking about that cute guy next to me, no. I'd only think about my sketchbook, and how I needed those pages back.

Or so I had thought.

As he dragged me inside the shop, I couldn't help noticing the giggles by various people passing by. (Did they think we were a couple? Oh, please. Don't think that – it's not true. I don't love him. I love Sora… though I'd never admit it out loud.)

"Riku?"

He glanced over his shoulder at me. "Hrm?"

I watched as we stopped in front of the jewelry section. He let go of my hand (reluctantly, it seemed), letting me browse the store with my own hands. "I was wondering," I said slowly, as if not quite sure how to phrase this. "….if you'd overheard the girls watching us."

Much to my surprise, he simply shrugged. "It's nothing new," He said, grinning as he eyed the blue disc necklace I held up to the light.

"I mean, there's always people fangirling over me for reasons that even I can't comprehend," He admitted, crossing his arms. "But are you going to buy that? I'd bet it would look nice on you."

Really? This little blue disc? I suppose it had a nice shine when you held it up to the light. "Sure," I replied. "It looks nice."

He took it into his hands. "All right," He murmured under his breath, motioning for me to follow him to another part of the store.

I wasn't quite sure how he knew this place inside out; it was a large department store, from the looks of it. Citizens were wandering the aisles and pathways by the dozen, vendors were pestering you to look at their various goods… this place may as well have been another world to my eyes.

In the past, when I needed to buy something new, I just went in one of the smaller variety or specialty stores. Never had I dared of going into a huge department store!

As we stopped in front of a rack of dresses, Riku gestured for me to look through them as he simply watched. For a guy, he seemed to be pretty used to the whole shopping experience; unlike Sora (and Roxas, probably), he wasn't too upset by it, either. Hrm, that was actually odd.

So, I turned my attention back to the dresses.

As I passed the racks, my eyes didn't see anything that really appealed to me. Sure, there was the occasional dress that popped out. Nothing stood out among them.

My hands rested on an ankle-length white tiered skirt. Pulling it out of the racks, I eyed it more closely. I pressed my fingers against the material; it appeared sturdy enough. As I then rested the skirt on my arms, I headed to the shirts. Taking a shell, baby blue, tank top from the racks, I was so focused on my task that I had yet to notice his breath on my shoulders.

I merely smiled. "What do you think, Riku?"

As awkward as it was to have him right behind me, it was oddly comforting at the same time. It was hard to explain, but… I didn't feel awkward with him. There was no uneasy silence – either of us always had something to say.

Glancing over my shoulder, I turned just in time to hear him reply with a, "Looks nice."

He smiled. "If you're done, then we'll get my threads---"

"Hold on," I interrupted, taking a teal sleeveless diffle coat from the rank. (Or at least that was its name – a diffle coat would be a thick coat with a hood, and wooden log-like fastenings on the front. It's a little hard to explain, really)

I smiled, letting the choices fall on my arms. "Now I'm done."

He cocked his head at me. "Geez, Naminè," He amusedly stated. "You really are a girl after all."

I blinked, following him over to another side of the store. "What's that supposed to mean," I asked, weaving through the other customers and aisles of the store as I tried my best to keep up with him. (And if you've ever tried to keep up with him, you'll know what I mean. If you haven't… Riku tends to walk pretty quickly. As in, he often doesn't turn back when he's trying to accomplish something in less than an hour.)

"What you think it means," He retorted, picking out a silver, sleeveless turtleneck from one rack. Next came extremely long, baggy, dark denim jeans from the next rack (how was he going to walk in those?), along with an amethyst-colored belt. I tossed teal fingerless gloves into his arms, adding a powder blue quill necklace in at the last minute.

He looked a little amused at my style in accessories, but said nothing. Draping his own clothing onto his arm, he led me (more like dragged) to the cash registers.

The clerk's eyes lit up; she immediately gave us both discounts that I believed would not occur if Riku didn't look the way he did. It was only natural that Riku paid for our clothing, yet… I couldn't help feeling bad about the whole ordeal, as if I was a burden on him.

We changed into our new clothes in the store restrooms, and then walked out with our bags stuffed with our old belongings.

Something white glimmered inside my bag. I picked it up, unsure exactly what I would find. My hands brought out a crinkled page – I could make out the two boys in the picture, but just barely; it had gotten wrinkled and smudged with the clothing stuffed on top.

"A sketchbook page," I murmured in bliss. "And to think it was with our clothes."

Riku grinned, peering over my shoulder at the picture. "Huh, it's Sora and Roxas," He remarked. "Is… Sora's back to Roxas?"

I nodded. "Yeah," I confessed. "There's one where Roxas's back is to Sora, so... I figured I should do the reverse here."

I gently placed the page into the sketchbook. We finally walked out of the store (but it did yield a new page, so I couldn't be too upset). I listened to my footsteps, noticing how I appeared to automatically walk beside him.

Looking up at Riku, I couldn't help starting to ask, "Um…."

He blinked. "What is it, Naminè?"

"I'm… sorry," I responded, pressing my lips together. "I didn't mean to be such a burden on you."

Much to my surprise, he leaned in, ruffling my hair. "You, a burden?"

I blinked. "But… you bought all this for me, and I didn't really think that I needed to buy stuff," I pointed out. "I felt bad."

He attached a key keychain to his belt loop (it looked handmade; I would guess that either Kairi or Selphie made it for him as a present). "Don't worry about it. I wanted to buy it for you, remember?"

Leaning in, he silenced me by pressing a finger to my lips. "And no buts," He added. "I don't want you to protest over something as silly as this."

Two figures could be made out from the corner of my eyes. I blinked, trying to point over to them. Who were they? Kairi's memories made them seem so familiar, as if I had known them from some other place and time…

Riku sighed. "Naminè," He began, taking his finger off. (Did he think that I was just going to keep protesting?)

"It's not about the protesting," I insisted, pointing in the direction of the figures. "It's about… them."

"About Cloud and Aerith? What about them?"

So that was their names… I forced my hand down, letting the not-so-satisfied feeling claw at my heart. I wanted to know more about them, yet it didn't feel right. Maybe Riku wasn't on the best terms with them?

He blinked. "Are you really okay?"

We continued walking, following a path that only Riku seemed to know by heart. I nodded, managing a smile. "Yeah," I insisted. "They just seem a little familiar, that's all."

"If you say so."

It sounded horrible coming from him. Even if it wasn't intended to be taken coolly and rude, it kinda sounded like it. I tried my best to ignore it, continuing on until we reached some odd house by these long, metal stairs.

"Ah, here we are," Riku appeared pleased with himself. "Leon's supposed to be here right about now."

Leon? The name sounded familiar enough. I shrugged the feeling off, following Riku into the house.

Well, I had never imagined that I would be in Merlin's house. I believe that Kairi had been here before, but… me? Here in the flesh? It was odd, because it felt so nostalgic... but I had never set foot here before in my entire life.

A tall man turned from his posts at the computers. His brown hair was on the long-ish side, reaching just to his shoulders…. And was that a scar on his face? He crossed his arms, greeting us with a confused look.

"You must be Riku," He said, looking straight at me.

Riku coughed. "Um… that would be me."

Talk about an awkward situation. The man coughed, adding, "Sorry about that. But from the way Sora described you…"

"I'll have to take a mental note about that," Riku replied, nodding wisely. (I felt quite sorry for Sora right about now) "Anyways… you're Leon, right? I wanted to ask you something."

Leon brushed his hair out of his face. "All right. What do you want to know?"

"Do you know where we could get our hands on a gummi ship?"

Gummi ship… that was the vehicle that Sora used to drive to other worlds, right? It sounded so familiar and vague at the same time – just like everything else these days. It was driving me crazy.

"Hrm, a gummi ship," Leon looked thoughtful for a moment. "Cid probably knows where you can get your hands on a spare. Though, I have to ask… how'd you get here?"

"Used my last bit of darkness," Riku grimly confessed. "But that's helpful. Thanks."

Leon nodded. "It was nothing." He turned back to his computers, his gaze still on the ever-flowing amount of data contained within.

"Let's go, Namine," Riku called, taking me by the hand as we left.

I wish I could have heard what Leon called to us as he left (was it, "Good luck," or something that sounded more like, "…huh. Crazy kids"?) Yet, the feeling that we were going to gather the rest of my pages felt exhilarating.

Looking up at the sky, I smiled weakly. "Looks like it'll be nightfall soon."

Something white flickered in the corner of my eyes. I was left speechless – unable to reply to Riku's incoming words (whatever they were).

"Namine?"

I couldn't respond.

"Uh, Namine….?"

He finally looked up. "Oh, your sketchbook pa--" The reality hit him immediately. He turned to me with a grin. "Your sketchbook page!"

Taking a skateboard from the door, he used it to jump onto the stairway rails. I cringed – what if he got hurt? – unable to see what was going on around me. I wanted my sketchbook page, yes, but I didn't want him to be hurt either…

I opened my eyes briefly to see him flip, clutching the page in his hands. He landed down beside me, opening his palm to give me the crinkled page.

"Here," He said, sounding a bit remorseful. "Sorry it's wrinkled."

"No," I insisted, clutching the page close to my chest. "It's fine… at least it's back with me."

Make that especially glad that it was back with me. I could just barely make the outlines of an attempted portrait of me and Kairi together – she had her back to the page, while I was directly in front. I didn't want Riku to see it; what if he would voice his opinions on it? (He hadn't said much about the Roxas and Sora one, yes, but I knew he would have a stronger opinion on this one. He'd say something about my lack of confidence, wouldn't he?)

"Heh," He laughed. "That's good to hear."

He left the skateboard where he found it. Motioning for me to follow him, we once again continued our walk around town. (I hope this time that we were looking for a hotel). The stars glittered above; oddly enough, I felt just as special as they tonight.

"Hey, Riku?"

He looked over at me. "What?"

"I hope… we can have a lot of fun days while we're looking for my pages," I confessed.

"Yeah? Well, I hope so too."

The rest of the walk to the hotel was in silence. I didn't mind – there were just some things that couldn't be said in words.

12 Nights Left.