Here's chapter two :)
To be honest I'm really proud of it and I like it, that's a plus anyway on the story!
Disclaimer: All characters and references from Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy that appear are property of Square Enix.
A commotion could be heard from the street outside a sand-colored two-story house in a tranquil suburb of Radiant Garden. Two windows of the four that were visible from the front, one on the top floor and another on the first floor were wide open letting the white curtains flutter in the wind.
On the upper floor room a girl sketched thoroughly with charcoal a pair of hands that were holding delicately to each other, her hair was tied in a messy bun and she could hear her mother's agitated movements on the first floor.
"Namine honey do you know where I left my ... oh forget it I found it." Namine sighed for the umpteenth time this Sunday morning.
A few hours ago her mother received a phone call from the General Hospital of Hollow Bastion and the receptionist informed her that her cousin Ashe had had a small accident in her home and was now hospitalized. The doctors asked her to go because they couldn't contact another relative. Of course she didn't deny. For this reason Penelo sought, packed, unpacked and threw things in and out of the suitcase.
"Namine do you know where I left my shoes? You know ... the white ones with blue dots" Penelo entered her daughter's room in a hurry.
"Mom don't you think it would be better if you pack only the necessary things?" Namine suggested, leaving the piece of charcoal on her desk.
"Mmm you're right, well I don't think I needed them, by the way dear your dad will catch up me there as soon as he leaves the office so he will not come home." Penelo informed the girl.
"Wait then, I'll stay alone at home?" Namine look at her puzzled.
"It will be just a few days and probably your dad will come back earlier but if you don't want to be alone I can talk to Kairi's or Xion's parents and arrange you to stay with them." Her mother offered gently touching her arm.
Namine saw that her mother was really worried about her cousin and though she didn't know her aunt personally she knew it was family and the family should be together in these circumstances.
"It's okay mom. I'll stay here; you don't have to worry about anything." The girl smiled at her mom. The woman smiled grateful and returned to pack.
A few hours later Penelo had two suitcases next to her and was saying goodbye to her daughter on the porch of their house.
"The emergency numbers and the number of your aunt's apartment are noted on the pad next to the phone, I'll have my mobile on all the time just in case and I left some prepared foods in the refrigerator, oh don't forget to close and lock the door and windows and - "
"Mom! Calm down I know what to do, this isn't the first time I'm left alone." Namine tried to soothe the woman before her.
"I know honey, I'm just worried." Penelo hug or rather squeezed her little girl against her. Namine return the gesture.
"I understand but if you don't hurry, you will not reach the fly."
"See you in a few days, Take care. I love you." The woman kissed the girl's forehead lovingly.
"I love you and Dad, take care okay and say hi to my aunt for me."
"Oh Namine I almost forgot ... no parties at home and we will be calling" Namine nodded smiling.
The taxi turned away slowly until it could no longer be seen. Namine walk into her home wondering what she could do alone these days.
Sunday passed without anything else to do except clean up the mess that was the whole house after Penelo's departure and thus it came the much-loved by all ... Monday.
Namine and her friends had a dreary expression although today was a sunny day.
"I hate Mondays!" Selphie groaned placing her forehead on the table.
"I think the same." Hayner seconded the girl sitting between her and Olette.
Thanks to good weather they had all agreed to have lunch at the tables outside the cafeteria.
"Oh come on Mondays are not so bad!" Pence replied, taking a picture at Selphie's bent head.
"Oh no! Care to enlighten me what they have of good?" She said sarcastically.
Pence tapped his chin with his finger thoughtful. "mmm well ... you can see your friends!"
"You can do that on weekends AND holidays too and you avoid the tedious duties and classes." Selphie retorted frowning.
The black haired boy opened his mouth but was interrupted by Xion.
"Don't waste your time trying to convince Selphie, she hates Mondays and she'll always do."
"She's not the only one." Riku added directing his gaze towards Xion.
"You hate them too?" Xion asked.
"It's not like I hate them, but as part of the student council I have to stay until late on Mondays." the silver haired teen declared resigned.
"That sucks man!" Sora patted his best friend on the back.
"Don't you stay until late today too Sora?" Kairi asked her boyfriend who gave her a goofy smile.
"Yep but for soccer practices and they are much more interesting than Riku's meetings."
"You bet man!" Hayner added bumping fists with Sora, the silver haired boy face-palmed at his friends' child-like behavior.
They all laughed at Sora's remark and Riku's helpless expression.
"Changing the subject, Nam I heard that your parents went traveling, right?" Sora asked the silent blonde sitting beside him beaming at her.
"Eh, ye ... yeah a cousin of my mother is on the hospital and well ... they had to go see her." Namine fidgeted in her place gazing at her sandwich.
"I hope it's nothing serious." Sora placed a hand on the girl's shoulder reassuringly. Namine's cheeks were stained slightly red and her heart beat a little faster.
"You know you can rely on us Nam." Olette took one of the girl's hands in hers.
"Please take away your hand Sora, please!" Namine's mind pleaded while she remained silent and deaf to all her friends' voices. "To be honest I don't know this person, well I've heard of her but I don't know her personally." Namine smiled sheepishly scratching her cheek with her index finger.
Suddenly the bell rang signaling the break was over and they should return to class. Kairi and Riku went to Biology. Olette, Hayner and Pence went to PE. Sora had English and Selphie went to Literature while Namine went To Chemistry.
The little artist walked down the crowded aisles, clutching her backpack tightly against her.
She opened the door and saw that the teacher wasn't there yet. She quickly entered and sat in her usual place near the window in the penultimate desk.
"Just in time Miss Evans." The teacher came after her. "We will do a practice in the lab this Friday so please don't forget to bring your lab coat. The practice is going to be in pairs that I'll assign. Now pass for the copies of the exercise."
One by one the students took the copies while the teacher gave them the name of his companion. When was Namine's turn the teacher looked at the group looking for someone who she didn't find.
"Fuu Aldrich is on a trip and we don't know when she'll return so you work with ... Roxas Knight" the professor declared reassigning a companion to the artist.
Several girls muttered things that Namine couldn't understand but had a small idea of what they said.
She turned around to see the boy who sat behind her. Today he wore a gray hoodie with the hood down and open revealing his deep red T-shirt, from his neck hung a chain with a pendant in the form of X only with sharper corners.
He looked uninterested at the window until he noticed that the girl was watching him he returned her the gaze.
"He... Hello" Namine stuttered at the intense look in his eyes. He didn't answer; he only looked at her with an emotionless face.
"It seems we're partners." She tried to make a little conversation but failed because the boy turned back to the window as if she hadn't spoken.
"What's wrong with him?" Namine felt a little confused.
"Is this what we're supposed to do on Friday?" Roxas spoke for the first time sounding bored.
"Eh ... Ah yes, here is the explanation of the practice and uh we … we need to decide how to divide the work." She replied. At first she was surprised to hear him speak but seeing that at least he was paying attention relieved her.
"Just tell me what to do" He sighed deeply tossing the copy in his backpack.
"That's not how it's supposed to work." Namine muttered.
"..."
"Hey Roxas-" she started calmly, his name rolling from her tongue neatly.
"Don't say it" he snapped making her flinch startled.
"Say ... what?" She was dumbfounded.
"My name, don't say it, ever." He muttered looking away annoyed.
"Why?" the girl asked bewildered by his attitude.
"I don't like you." He stated bluntly.
"... What? How can you say that, you don't even know me!" Namine said a little too loudly clearly offended.
"I don't need to know you. I know exactly the kind of person you are." Roxas replied frowning in disgust.
"Excuse me but I don't understand what you mean by that?" Indignation was emanating from her mouth.
"I don't need to give you explanations, just tell me what the hell you want me to do and don't ever call me by my name." he replied exasperated.
The bell that indicated the end of class rang distracting momentarily the blonds' discussion.
"Do what you want, for all I care!" She angrily grabbed her backpack and strode from the classroom before everyone else.
Roxas look warily, sighing heavily as he remembered how his name came from her mouth.
"The way she pronounced it was the same as that person." Roxas thought melancholic.
Namine walked without paying attention to the people too immersed in her tantrum to pay attention to something else.
"Who the hell he thinks he is to talk to me like that! I don't understand what on earth I did to provoke him like this ... for God's sake I just said his name!" The more she remembered the conversation the more irritated she felt.
"Someone had a bad day" Sora pointed out stopping his blonde friend with a finger on her forehead.
"You have no idea" Namine looked annoyed at him.
"mmm do you know what you need?" Sora said. Namine looked at him questioningly raising an eyebrow.
"Ice cream!" The chestnut declared eagerly beaming at her.
Namine giggled amused by the logic of her friend. Something that she cherished of Sora was his ability to make her feel better even in the worst times.
"We will go when school is over, okay! See you later Nams" Saying this he turned and left.
At the end of the day Sora was waiting outside the artist's classroom patiently.
"Hey Sora, sorry to keep you waiting" Namine greeted him with a shy smile on her lips.
"In fact my class just finished so I actually don't wait that much."
"Sora, is something wrong?" Namine asked him seeing the boy was watching her face carefully.
"It's nothing, just ... this" With his thumb he brushed her cheek gently.
Namine felt the blood rising to her face and she touched the spot where Sora passed his finger.
"What ... why-?"
"A stain of paint" He grinned at her. "Let's go for that ice cream, I'm hungry." She nodded still affected by his touch.
The ice cream parlor was quite popular as it wasn't far from the school and it was Namine's favorite because they had a huge variety of flavors but she almost always requested the same, sea salt ice cream.
The artist waited for her friend at one of the tables outside the shop drawing in her sketchbook an eager boy eating his ice cream cone.
"You are a very good drawer." Sora said giving her treat and sitting in front of her.
"Thank you. It's one of the things I like to do and I'll never cease to." Namine put down her sketchbook closed and biting her ice cream.
"Just like that flavor, you have some obsession with it." Sora teased her biting his own ice cream bar.
"I'm not the only one with an obsession, you also order the same papou fruit flavor when you come." She replied smirking making him chuckle.
"I think you're right, now would you tell me why you were so upset?
"I, well ... it don't really matters." Namine defeat sighed.
"Oh come on! You don't trust me?" He gave her that smile. The smile that made Namine's heart throb almost painfully.
"That's not true, of course I trusted you ... it's just that the guy who was assigned as my lab partner is a complete jerk." She ranted nibbling at her ice cream finishing it.
"And what did he do to make you that mad?" Sora asked tossing both Namine's and his popsicle sticks into a nearby trashcan.
The blonde girl explained the whole incident to his friend who just listened silently. When she finished a wave of relief overwhelmed her.
"Mmm I have a PE with him and I haven't heard him to anyone but beside that I don't think he's a bad person. May be he has a reason for not wanting to call him by name."
"You may be right but he didn't have to be so rude." She pouted puffing her cheeks cutely.
"I agree with you on that yet … why don't you give him a chance Nam, he may not be as bad as you believe"
"I will try but I don't really think he is any different." Both teens grabbed their backpacks and walked to the street.
"I'll walk you home" Sora kindly offered.
"I…don't worry, you know I don't live far away plus I don't want to cause you trouble." Namine quickly declined the offer trying to calm the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. "He's just being nice, it doesn't mean he sees you as something more than her friend so calm down, dammit!" She repeated in her head.
"No problem, let's go." Sora said with a silly expression.
They walked for several minutes until reaching the home of the petit artist and he accompanied her to the door.
"This was nice," The boy mumbled with a pleasant smile on his face.
"What do you mean?"
"To go out like this, you and me. Since I'm dating Kai I feel like we have shunned and I don't like that, you are my friend Nam" Sora's sky blue orbs met the light blue ones of Namine as he spoke.
"I know ... I'm sorry it's just that I've been busy and you know ..." She didn't completed her sentence not wanting to say something embarrassing biting her bottom lip.
"It's okay, I gotta go see you tomorrow Nams!" He ruffled her hair and took his leave.
"See you tomorrow, sleepyhead!" She said more animated this time, waving good-bye.
She went into her home shutting the front door and sliding her back on it until she was sitting on the floor.
"After all it wasn't such a bad day." She closed her eyes letting a sweet smile appeared on her pale lips.
thanks for reading and please leave your comments, questions, suggestions or concerns :3
