Second Best
Chapter #2
By MonkeyGirlxoxo
"Thanks very much." A young man told the secretary behind the counter. He picked up a package sitting on the ledge in front of him and then walked out of the building, causing the bell to jingle over the door as he left. Naminé's eyes followed him through the glass door as he walked down the pathway outside of the building. He soon turned a corner and disappeared from her sight, causing her to sigh.
She placed her chin in the palm of her hand and turned her head to the left, watching as yet another student walked towards the secretary. Both agents sat at the end of the room, waiting for their turn to be attended to. They had been waiting for about forty five minutes now, and time only started to pass slower.
Naminé closed her eyes and tilted her head, letting her hair fall to rest on the side of her face. She was getting sick of waiting, students that had walked into the office while they still sat a the back had been attended to before them, and quite frankly it was annoying her.
The bell jingled again as another student left the office. Naminé opened her eyes and looked around the room again. There were two other secretaries to the left of the room, each sitting behind their own desks. One, who had short silver hair, was talking quickly in a hushed tone into a phone, while the other, who wore her long blonde hair out with a few braids here and there, twirled around in her chair.
Naminé ruffled her eyebrows, wondering why this secretary wasn't attending any students. The woman soon felt the agent's eyes on her though, and picked up a pen, pretending to proof-read a document on her desk.
Knowing that questioning the secretary would get her nowhere; Naminé sighed and looked back to the main desk that sat in front of the two agents. The woman behind the desk was talking to a young woman now, the last person that needed attending to besides Roxas and Naminé.
Naminé watched as the brunette behind the counter nodded along to what the young woman was asking before turning to her computer and typing something quickly. She soon pulled a page out from the printer next to her and handed it to the young woman, smiling politely. "Here you are." Naminé heard her say, "Again, Welcome to the University Of Destiny Islands."
The young woman nodded towards the brunette before walking outside the building, the bells jingling again. Then, the brunette sighed, as if she finally finished her shift. She quickly turned to her computer and typed something in quickly before turning her attention to Roxas and Naminé. "Hello there." She smiled, "How may I help you?"
Next to Naminé, Roxas jumped in his seat. He looked around the room quickly, trying to take in his surroundings as he had fallen asleep. Naminé ignored him and got up from her seat, walking towards the seretary that had called them.
"We needed to pick up some dorm keys." Naminé said with a light smile.
The woman looked at Naminé, and then at her monitor. "You're Naminé Sakka, right?" The brunette asked.
The agent was taken aback, just as she was about to question the secretary, Roxas spoke up. "May I ask how you know that?" He had followed Naminé to the counter, positioning himself to her left. His voice was serious and one of his eyebrows was higher than the other in a questionning manner.
The brunette focused her eyes on Roxas now. He couldn't help but notice that one was blue while the other was green. "And you must be Roxas Faita."
"Who are you?" Naminé demanded.
The brunette's eyes widened, "You don't know?"
"No, we don't." Naminé replied.
"You were supposed to be informed about us." The woman with the short silver hair said from across the room.
"Yeah," The blonde woman added from beside her, "We weren't supposed to do the introductions."
"Well, the point is we don't know you guys, but you seem to know us." Roxas said looking at each of the woman, "Please, just tell us who you are."
"I'm Yuna." The brunette said softly, "That's Paine." She pointed to the woman with the silver hair, "And that's my cousin, Rikku." She pointed to the blonde, who waved back with a smile. "We're here to help you two on your case."
Naminé looked at Yuna over the counter, "Case?" She questioned. She wasn't sure if this was a trick or not, and so she decided to act unaware of the situation at hand.
"Yes, your case." Paine added from her desk. "About the missing girls around the university."
"Who sent you?" Roxas asked Yuna.
"The Organization's leader, Xemnas," Yuna said, "I'm guessing he's your boss. Take a look." She lifted her left hand up off of the keyboard and both the agents immediately saw the small black bracelet around her wrist. It was something The Organization handed out to helpers on cases, so that everyone would know that they were recruited by Xemnas. She took it off and handed it to Naminé across the counter.
Naminé took the accessory from the brunette and turned it over in her hands, searching for a small silver button. The button resembled an upside down heart, with pieces missing from the middle. When Naminé found the button, she looked out to the door to make sure that no other students were coming and then pressed it lightly. A hologram of Yuna lit up from the bracelet, along with some text to the side. As the hologram of Yuna rotated, Naminé began to read the information, with Roxas skimming it over her shoulder.
"So you're here to help us find the criminal." Naminé stated as she pressed the button on the bracelet once more, causing the hologram to disappear. She handed Yuna back her bracelet as the brunette nodded.
"We were going to investigate this case ourselves when we found out about it." Yuna stated.
"Then we found out that you guys, The Organization, had already made plans to come here." Paine added from her desk.
Yuna nodded, and then turned back to Roxas and Naminé, "Instead of two different teams working on the same case, we thought we would join together with The Organization for this mission."
"So we contacted Xemnas and got the okay." Rikku said, "Now we're working here to help you guys out."
"Here?" Naminé questioned as she crossed her arms over her chest, "You're going to be working in the office?"
Rikku nodded.
"Wouldn't you be more effective on the field?" Naminé asked.
"Not necessarily." Paine said.
"There are thousands of students at this university." Yuna stated, "And any one of them can be our guy."
"By working here we have access to every student's files." Rikku added, "So when you guys are on the field you can give us the information you get, and we can search the school's database for possible suspects."
Roxas nodded from her comment, "So will we have any contact with you guys outside the office?"
Yuna looked to Paine and Rikku before shaking her head, "I doubt." She said with a shake of her head, "We'll be spending most of our time here."
"Alright," Roxas smiled, "That's fine."
Naminé sighed and then placed her hands on the counter, "Now that the introductions are done, can we get our keys?"
~~~Kingdom Hearts~~~
"Three new people on this case?" Naminé exclaimed as she and Roxas made their way down the pathway. Both agents pulled their luggage behind them, "I've went from working solo to being part of a group of six."
"It's not that bad." Roxas told her from a few steps behind, "We'll all work together to get this case done quickly."
Naminé ignored him as she continued to walk, quickening her pace to create more distance between them. The agents were walking down a stone pathway, palm trees were on their right and some bushes were on their left, in front of a lush green field. The sun was high in the sky, and its bright rays shinned through the trees' leaves to brighten the path. There was a constant sound of waves rolling in on the shore, as the beach was right beyond the trees.
Soon enough, buildings started to appear on the left, and Naminé pulled out their folder of information. "You're res. house 21." She called over her shoulder to Roxas.
"Okay," He replied, letting her know that he got the information. "What about you?"
"13." She told him. "And the missing girls all came from res. house 9."
"Alright." Roxas said, "We'll probably search for that res. house later today or tomorrow."
By now Roxas and Naminé were starting to walk by the houses, and they both observed the structure of the buildings. All of the houses were one story and very long horizontally. There was one parking spot for each home, most likely encouraging carpooling, and there was a small mailbox at the end of each driveway. Naminé looked at the res. house number they were currently standing in front of, 4. She then looked farther down the path, realizing that they weren't necessarily in chronological order. The next house was labelled 7, and the house after that 11. Res House 9 was nowhere in sight. Behind the first row of houses lay many more, they probably followed an order that Roxas and Naminé weren't aware of yet.
The two blondes continued to walk down the path, and about four houses later they were standing in front of res. house 13. It was a brown brick house, with a bright red roof. The mailbox was also red, matching the roof along with the front door to the house. In large silver letters next to the door, 13 was written.
"You go on in." Roxas told Naminé, "I'll find my dorm and come meet you here in a few hours so that I could carry you back to my house to introduce you to Demyx."
Naminé nodded, "Freshen up." She told him.
He smiled, "You too."
He waved goodbye to her before continuing to walk down the pathway. She didn't bother to watch him go, and she made her way up to the front door. She slipped the folder back into the suitcase before she knocked the door three times and stepped back, waiting for someone to answer. She didn't want to use her key and allow herself inside, as she would most likely end up startling her new housemates.
She heard someone moving inside the house, and then the front door creaked open. A young woman with long brown wavy hair that ended near the center of the chest stood in front of Naminé.
"Hi there." She said pleasantly, "Can I help you?"
"Hi," Naminé said politely with a smile, "I'm Naminé Sakka, your new housemate."
The woman's eyebrows went up in surprise, "Oh! Hello!" She said happily, a grin appearing on her face, "Yes, we were notified about getting a new housemate, come on in." She stepped to the side, allowing the agent entry into her new home.
Naminé walked into the house, pulling her suitcase behind her, and found herself standing in the living area. There was a couch to her right, facing the same direction and a TV hanging off the wall. Next to the door was a long wooden table. On it, sat a phone, an extra pair of house keys and a small cell phone which probably belonged to the brunette. Farther down in the same main room, a half wall separated the living area from the kitchen. Tall appliances filled up the left wall, and along the back, the wall was glass. To the right was a small dining table, which looked to be able to seat a maximum of four people. In between the dining table and television, the wall opened out into a hallway, which most likely lead to the bedrooms and bathroom.
"It's not much, but it works." The woman said as she closed the front door and moved to stand in front of Naminé. The woman then outstretched her hand, "I'm Olette, it's nice to meet you."
Naminé shook Olette's hand, "It's a pleasure." She smiled. The blonde then looked around the room, searching for another person, "Don't we live with someone else?"
"Ah, yes." Olette said as she clapped her hands together, "Kairi. She's at class right now, but she should be back in about fifteen minutes, her class ends at four."
Naminé looked around the room, trying to find a clock. When her eyes landed on the one sitting on the end table in front of the couch she realized it was three fifty.
"Anyways, why don't I show you your room?" Olette said with a smile. She started to walk towards the hallway, then turned around to make a gesture towards Naminé to follow her.
The agent wrapped her hand around her suitcase's handle, and then followed the brunette down the hall. There were two doors on either side of the hall and another against the back wall, making five rooms in all.
Olette pointed to both rooms on the right of the hall, "That's me and Kairi's rooms." She informed. She then pointed to the room at the back, "That's the bathroom," And then she turned to the left, pointing to the room closer to the end of the hall, "Lastly, that's the study."
Naminé nodded, then pointed at the other room on the left of the hall, "So this is mine?"
Olette smiled, "Yup." She said popping the 'P.'
The blonde walked towards the wooden door and opened the door. Inside was a large room with light blue walls. There was a window to the left of the back wall, and next to that sat a large double bed. To the left was a dresser with a long mirror to the side, and on the other side of the room lay a wooden desk with a chair. Naminé walked inside, Olette close behind her, and sat down on the edge of the bed. "This room is great." She smiled at the brunette, "Thanks."
Olette wore a grin of her own, "I'm glad you like it. Are the sheets alright?" She asked pointing to the bed.
Naminé looked down at the bedspread, and passed her fingers over the yellow fabric.
"We weren't exactly sure what colour you would like, so we guessed." Olette explained.
The agent looked up at her housemate, "They're fine." She said warmly.
"Alright, well just get yourself settled in." Olette said, "If you need help unpacking, just call me." With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the blonde's new room.
Naminé heard her footsteps carry her into the kitchen, and then the agent sighed. She got up from the bed and lay her suitcase down on the floor before unzipping it. She took the folder out first, and lay it down on the ground. She then proceeded to take out her clothing, carrying pile by pile over to the dresser.
A few moments passed before Naminé heard the front door open, "I'm back!" A loud voice called through the res. house.
"Kairi!" Naminé heard Olette call, "Come on, our new housemate came when you were gone."
"She's here?" The first voice questioned, but before Olette could answer, Naminé heard quick footsteps on the ground coming towards her room. She stood in front of the dresser, placing her last pile of clothes inside, and when she looked up she saw a redheaded woman standing in her doorway.
"Umm, hi." Naminé said as she walked over to the suitcase. She kicked the folder underneath the bed, just in case the young woman came further into the room and saw it.
"Hi there!" The redhead called. She took a few steps inside and extended out her hand, "I'm Kairi! It's a pleasure to meet you."
Naminé reached over her suitcase and shook Kairi's hand, "Naminé, the feeling's mutual." She smiled.
"Naminé," Kairi repeated and she pulled her hand back, "That's a pretty name."
"Thanks." The agent said before kneeling down to pick up her toiletries from the suitcase. She carried them over to her desk and placed them down on the wooden surface. She then walked back to the suitcase and began to zip it up.
"Well, I'm going to go and take a quick bath." Kairi said cheerfully, "When I come out we can talk."
Naminé smiled up at her, "Sure." She nodded.
Kairi walked out of her room and down the hall, leaving Naminé alone once again. The blonde slid the suitcase underneath her bed and then walked outside into the kitchen. Olette was sitting at the counter, her back to Naminé, as she ate an afternoon snack.
Naminé looked out the glass wall as she approached the brunette. She realized that they could see at least four other res. houses from their view. She wondered if any were res. house 9, the one that all the missing girls used to live at.
"Hey, Olette," Naminé called, "Do we know everyone that lives around here?"
Olette turned to the side, looking up from her cereal, to see Naminé leaning over the counter as she gazed out their glass wall. "Mostly." She replied. She then pointed to the house directly in front of them with her spoon, "That's res. house 12, three girls live there, Mulan, Tifa and Aerith." She then pointed to one farther away to the left, "Res house. 14 four girls: Jasmine, Alice, Ariel and Belle." Now, she pointed to the house in closer to them in the same row, "Res house. 8, two girls: Megera and Esmerelda." She took another spoonful of her cereal, and then pointed to the house farthest away to the right, "Res house 9. Four girls used to live there: Selphie, Yuffie, Larxene and Xion."
Naminé blinked a few times. Did she just say Res. house 9? It couldn't have been that easy, could it? "I see." She finally made herself say, "You guys have a lot of friends."
A light laugh escaped Olette's lips, "And we haven't even introduced you to the guys yet."
Naminé smiled at Olette's comment and then walked closer to the glass wall, her eyes glued to the house farthest away from them, res house 9. She looked at how the curtains were closed, covering the insides of the empty home from preying eyes.
Just then footsteps clanked down the hallway, and Naminé turned around to see the redhead once again. She wore a simple pink tank top with some denim shorts as she dried her hair with her towel. "Hey guys." She greeted them happily.
"Hey." Olette and Naminé said at the same time.
Kairi opened her mouth, and was about to say something when then doorbell rang. She pouted; annoyed that she was interrupted, before walking through the living area and to the main entrance. She opened the door, and was surprised to see a young blond male standing outside. He smiled at her before sticking his hands in his pants pockets, "Hey, is Naminé there?"
"Yeah," The redhead said softly, still taken aback by the boy's appearance. She turned around, "Naminé, someone's here to see you."
The young woman walked through the living area and wasn't surprised to see Roxas standing outside; he had said he would stop by after all. "Hello." She greeted him with a nod.
"Is it alright if I come in?" Roxas asked the two women, looking back and forth between their faces.
"Sure." Kairi said casually. She stepped to the side, allowing him into their home, and then closed the door. "Naminé, why don't you introduce us to your friend?" She said as she moved to the living area and taking a seat on the couch.
"I'm Roxas." The male said quickly, "Naminé and I are friends." He glanced at the small blonde next to him as he spoke.
"I see." Olette said from across the room. She had turned around on her stool, her cereal clearly forgotten.
"We aren't really." Naminé said to herself as she crossed her arms, however Kairi heard her comment.
"You aren't?" The redhead questioned.
"What she means to say is," Roxas improvised, "we just met each other a few weeks ago. Our friends introduced us when they heard we both wanted to come to this university, so we aren't very close yet." He said with a smile.
"Oh, that was nice of your friends." Kairi said cheerfully. She then started to make a casual conversation with the male agent, telling him about the island and the school.
Naminé didn't listen though, her mind wondering as to how she was going to tell Roxas about res. house 9. She never had to work in a team before, and so she never had to share information. She looked up at him, and how he nodded along to the things Kairi was saying, every so often he would scratch the back of his head or straighten the chain around his neck, how was she going to get him alone to tell him the news?
"Um, Roxas?" She spoke suddenly, causing everyone in the room to look at her. "I-uh," She didn't know what to say without sounding suspicious to the others, "Um," She lowered her arms now, fiddling with her thumbs as she tried to think. "Well, I-"
"Do you have everything?" Roxas asked her.
"What?" She questioned, clearly taken aback.
"Well, I came to pick you up." He said, "Do you have everything you need from your room before we leave?"
Naminé just looked at him, her blue eyes focused on his face as she tried to make sense of what he was doing.
"Because if you don't, I could come help you get the things from your room." He said raising his eyebrows with the last word. He seemed to have picked up the fact that she wanted him alone, and so he tried to help her out, however he wasn't sure if she got the message he was trying to send her.
It took her a few more seconds to process his plan, and when she realized what he had set up she nodded, "Yeah, can you help me grab a few things?" She asked, "Follow me."
She led him through the living area, into the hallway and to his room. When he entered the blue room behind her she closed the door.
"What is it?" He asked her.
Naminé walked towards the window on her back wall and looked outside, trying to find the res house. It was closer now than it was from the kitchen, "There." She pointed to it, she then realized that the res house had a deep green roof, "That's res. house 9."
Roxas walked closer to her, and stood behind her, peering out the window. "Seriously?" He asked.
Naminé turned to him and nodded, "Olette told me."
"The brunette?" Roxas questioned.
"The brunette." Naminé confirmed.
"That was easy." Roxas said with a grin.
Naminé walked towards her bed and bent down. She found the folder she had kicked under the bed earlier, and picked it up. "Come on." She said as she stood up, "We should probably go."
"Yeah," Roxas agreed from the window, "Demyx really wants to meet you."
Naminé turned around and started to walk towards the door, when she suddenly stopped. "Thanks." She said without turning around, "For helping me make an excuse." She didn't know exactly why she said it, but she should.
Roxas watched her back as she spoke. He tilted his head to the side, finding her thanks a bit strange. Even though he didn't know her for very long, he couldn't help but think thanking others was something she didn't do often. "No problem." He said.
He watched as she started to move again, opening the door for them to walk out into the hall. When they stepped into the main room; both Kairi and Olette turned to look at them.
"We're gonna head out." Naminé told them. "I have a key, so you don't have to wait up for me." She told them with a smile.
Roxas watched as she spoke, surprised by her behaviour. She was so much more calm around these two.
"Alright." Olette said, "Have fun you two."
"We'll talk more when you get back." Kairi told her. "It was nice to meet you Roxas." She said, shifting her attention to the male.
"Same here." He said casually. He then followed Naminé out the front door, closing it shut behind him.
Both Kairi and Olette remained speechless after they left, just staring at the front door in awe.
"I didn't know she had a friend." Kairi said from the couch.
"Me neither." Olette replied, "She didn't mention him." She paused, "He's pretty good looking."
"Pretty?" Kairi called, "That man is beautiful."
Alright, so this was Chapter 2 everyone. :)
It was pretty long, over 4000 words, I'm not exactly sure if all of the chapters will be around this length, so please don't get your hopes up. :)
So, do you guys like the new characters introduced? There are still more to come, remember, Olette hasn't introduced Naminé to the guys yet. :P
Please forgive me if there are any spelling or grammatical errors. :)
Please Review!