Chapter 4: The First Night

Two hours after we returned from the mall we finally managed to get Kairi's new wardrobe in her drawers and closet. Since boys were not allowed in the girls' dorm after curfew, Sora, Hayner, Riku, and Pence returned to their own dorm building, leaving me to help Kairi and Olette rescue their room from the piles of new clothes.

"Kairi, from now on you're only allowed to buy one outfit per trip to the mall, got it?" Olette said through her heavy breathing.

"Agreed." I said.

"Alright, fine." Kairi, who seemed to be completely unfazed by the heavy work we had just finished, said. "It's not that hard to deal with once you get used to it."

"That's the problem, Kairi." Olette said. "We'll never be used to it." A knock came to the door and Kairi got up from where she was sitting on her bed and opened it, revealing Xion on the other side.

"Hey," Xion said. "Have you guys seen Namine? She's not in our room."

"I'm right here!" I shouted, having finally returned my breathing patterns to normal, but still unable to talk at full volume. I got up from the chair I was seated in and joined Kairi at the door. "Sorry, I was helping the queen of shopping sprees here put her new stuff away."

"Alright. Just letting you know, our DA is coming around in about 10 minutes to check rooms, and if anyone isn't in their assigned room they have detention."

"Okay, I'm coming. Just let me grab my stuff really quick." I went back into the room and grabbed my two bags of clothes before joining Xion in the hallway. "Thanks for letting me hang out with you and your friends today, Kai."

"Any time." Kairi said. "And they aren't my friends. They're our friends." I smiled and said goodbye to my cousin and her roommate before following Xion back to our room. We walked in to find Larxene, the blond girl from lunch, sprawled out on Xion's bed.

"What brings you here?" Xion asked. Larxene looked up at us and smirked.

"Just getting away from my roommate for a bit." She said. "She's having a two hour phone call with her boyfriend again and it's starting to get a little too mushy for my taste."

"Who's your roommate?" I asked. Xion and I had taken a seat on my bed, seeing as Larxene was not likely to relinquish her spot any time soon. Larxene was silent for a second before she spoke up.

"Her name's Sulfur or something like that. I don't see her much so I never bothered memorizing her name."

"You mean Selphie?" Xion asked with a laugh.

"That's the one. She's dating some guy named Tidal and the two of them are way too gushy for me to handle for more than a few minutes."

"Tidus." Xion said immediately. "He's in my Biology class." Larxene waved it off.

"Whatever. Anyway, I'm just letting her finish her phone call without being interrupted by my having to lose my dinner, if you get my drift." Suddenly a brunette wearing a yellow dress burst into the room.

"Larxene, the DA is coming," the girl said. "We've gotta go." Larxene looked at the girl and sighed.

"Alright, Selphie. I'm coming." She stood up from the bed and headed for the door, where Selphie had already disappeared. "See you tomorrow, Xion. And Namine," I looked up at the girl. "Feel free to join us for lunch whenever you want."

"Thanks, Larxene." I said. She turned and walked out the door, waving behind her as she went. Xion took the opportunity to retake her now empty bed while I got up and closed the door before returning to my bed. I lay down on said bed, exhausted from an afternoon of shopping.

"So," Xion started, in order to get my attention. "How was your first day?'"

"A little confusing to tell you the truth. I don't know how I'll ever figure out the entire campus. It's huge."

"Well, what classes do you have? Maybe I can set up an escort with some of the Organization." I pulled my schedule out of my pocket and handed it to her, a feat that was made difficult by the position of the beds, and she looked at it. "Cool, we have almost all of the same classes. The only one you don't have with me is English with Mrs. Brooks, and Xeno and Roxas both have that class. Oh, I think Xeno and Roxas are in all of your classes."

"Good, I'm glad I'll at least know someone in my classes. What about the others?"

"Zexion has a few classes with us, but he already has most of the credits he needs to graduate so half of his school day is study hall. The others are all juniors so they don't have any classes with us. Except for Vexen who's just a stalker." We both laughed at the expense of the old man. Xion's phone suddenly started ringing from her bedside table, which she picked up and answered. "Hello? Oh hey, Marluxia. Where were you today? You missed practice. Uh huh. Yeah. Okay, sure. Umm… try the one on the left. Got it? Cool, I'll see you later then. Bye." She shut the phone and placed it back on the table.

"Who was that?"

"Marluxia. He's our number XI. He wasn't at lunch today because he was busy finishing some homework. You'll probably meet him Thursday. He's got Biology with you."

"What about tomorrow?"

"We're free for the rest of the week. The Organization resumes training next Saturday, so we won't be eating lunch together until then."

"Oh, alright." A knock came from the other side of the bathroom door, which made both of us jump in surprise. The door opened and Kairi poked her head into our room.

"Hey, Namine!" she greeted. "I just found out we share the same bathroom!" Xion looked at my cousin like she'd grown a second head.

"And you had to nearly give us a heart attack because of this?" Xion asked. "Besides, we've shared that bathroom since I moved into this dorm last year."

"I know, I just never thought about that meaning I share it with Nami now too." Kairi walked into the room and sat down on the bed next to my feet.

"Um, Kairi, shouldn't you be in your own room?" I asked.

"Yeah, but I wanted to invite you to go to the pool with us tomorrow. It's the last day the pool's going to be open to students and we want to get our fill before school starts." I thought for a moment before nodding my head.

"Sure, why not. I haven't been swimming in forever." Kairi smiled and turned to look at Xion.

"Of course, you're free to come as well, Xion."

"Yeah, I might as well." Xion said. "I don't have any other plans tomorrow anyway."

"Okay, so I'll chalk down two more for the pool trip tomorrow. See you guys then." Kairi got up and returned to her room through the bathroom.

"Alright, is it just me or was that completely random?"

"A little bit." I agreed. A knock came to the door and I got up and opened it, revealing a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties with a clipboard and pen in her hands.

"Dorm check." the woman said without looking up from the clipboard. "Xion Martin and Namine Locke?"

"Yes, Janine." Xion called. The woman, Janine, glanced up at me from her clipboard and jumped.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't notice that you were new here. You must be Namine."

"Yes, I am." I confirmed with a nod.

"I'm Janine, the Dorm Advisor for this floor. If you ever need anything I'm in room 278, at the end of the hall on the right."

"Thank you, I'll remember that." Janine smiled and walked away to knock on Kairi's door. I closed the door when she walked away and slumped on my bed for the second time that night. Xion laughed at my groans of pain.

"Oh, come on." the girl said. "Shopping can't be that painful, even if it is with Kairi." I glared at my roommate with half closed eyes.

"Fine, then. Next time she goes shopping why don't you go with her, then tell me it doesn't hurt."

"I'll pass, thanks."

"I didn't think so." We sat in silence for a few minutes, and then Xion got up and stretched.

"Morning or evening?" she asked. I shot her a questioning glance.

"What?"

"Your shower. Do you shower in the morning or evening?"

"Oh, either. When do you and Kairi and Olette shower?"

"I usually shower at night, same with Olette. Kairi showers in the morning, but she takes hours in there."

"Evening, then."

"Good choice. I'll go first, and you can have it after. I think Olette's already done." Xion grabbed some clothes out of her drawers and walked over to the bathroom door. She knocked and waited for a few seconds before entering and closing the door behind her. I heard the shower turn on and a few garbled words between my roommate and our neighbors, then silence. I decided I'd get my things together to shower while I was waiting. I got up, although painfully, and grabbed some stuff I'd need: toothbrush, toothpaste, pajamas, shampoo, body wash, etc. I was just closing my drawer from getting my pajamas out when the water turned off. A minute later Xion walked into the room in a dark green tank top and black sweats while drying her damp hair with a white towel. "There's towels and washcloths in there if you need them."

"Alright, thanks." I grabbed my stuff and walked into the bathroom. It was fairly large, two shower cubicles and two sinks situated next to each other, with a toilet on the opposite wall next to a bath tub, which I made note of the existence of in case I ever felt the need for a bubble bath. I placed my toiletries on the sink and grabbed a towel off the rack hanging over the toilet. I then turned one of the showers on and adjusted it to my desired temperature: warm, but not so much that it burned. I checked that both the doors were locked, as I enjoyed my privacy while I was showering, stripped off my clothes, grabbed my shampoo and body wash, and stepped into the shower, groaning in happiness as I felt the warm water running over my sore muscles. Ten minutes later I reluctantly turned off the water and got out, picking up the towel and drying my body. I threw on my pajamas, a pair of faded blue gym shorts and a white t-shirt. I picked up my discarded clothes and walked back into my room before being stopped by the sheer force of surprise that hit me. I stared, wide eyed, around the room. "What did you do?"

"Just a little redecorating." Xion said with an innocent smile, looking up from her book. The beds had been pushed together in the center of the room with the drawers positioned on the side walls on either side of the beds, with just enough room for someone to walk and open the drawers. Our desks had been pushed next to the drawers and the television was now seated on a third desk, which was placed against the wall next to the door. A Wii, PS3, and XBOX 360 had also appeared and were plugged into the TV.

"A little redecorating? I don't even recognize this room. How did you do this? Those beds and drawers must have been at least 80 pounds!"

"I'm a lot stronger than I look," was all my roommate said. She set down her book and walked over to the television, turning it on along with the 360. I noticed Sonic The Hedgehog loading on the television.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you move things around?"

"To make us more comfortable now that it's two to the room. You'd be surprised how easily two people can make these rooms feel overly tight. Plus, the school doesn't care, so long as we move everything back before we leave the room at the end of the year." I looked around and noticed that it did look a little roomier.

"And the beds are together because…?"

"Because now we can talk into the night about whatever we want and not have to worry about a thing." I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Xion participating in girl talk. "What?"

"Sorry, you just don't strike me as the type to do the whole girl talk thing."

"Well, I do. I just don't seem like it because I've never really had anyone to do it with. Larxene has always been too experienced to talk to about anything, and I don't have any other female friends. At least not until you came." I continued to laugh, but dropped the subject and sat on the floor next to Xion after discarding my clothes in a laundry bag I had sitting under my desk. Xion had just completed a level as Shadow and got an S rank, something I knew to be near impossible.

"Wow, you're really good. I heard it's almost impossible to get S ranks in that game."

"I've had lots of practice. All you need to do is know how to exploit the glitches to your advantage, and the S's come right to you. So, are you a gamer?"

"I've played my fair share of videogames, if that's what you mean."

"Cool. Maybe we can play sometime. Are you any good at Super Smash Brothers Brawl?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm a beast at that game."

"Sweet, maybe you could knock Roxas off his high horse. He's the self-proclaimed king of Brawl." Xion looked at the time and nodded slightly. "Speaking of Roxas, it's time we had some girl talk." Xion turned the 360 off and switched the television back to cable. She got up and turned off the light and turning on a lamp sitting next to her bed before lying in her bed, remote in hand. "Come, sit. Talk." I got up from my seat on the floor, groaning as my muscles protested every move I made. I got in my bed and we sat in silence for a few minutes, watching some television show I didn't recognize. Something about killing Kenny. (A/N: South Park FTW) "So, when do you plan on telling him?" I glanced at her.

"Telling who what?" Xion sighed.

"When are you going to tell Roxas you like him?" I could feel the blush from earlier that day returning to my cheeks at the mention of the blond boy. "See? That's what I'm talking about."

"Well, I'd kind of like to get to know him before I just walk up and say 'Hey, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to got to the movies even though we've only known each other for two days because I really like you and I hope you return my feelings because my heart will be completely shattered if you don't.' That would be a little bit awkward."

"…And creepy." Xion said after a moment of silence. "Do you really think of him like that?" I felt the blush on my face redden, but I shook my head vigorously,

"No."

"You lie so badly. Your tomato mask says it all." Xion laughed.

"Oh, yeah? What about you and Xeno?" I noticed Xion's face begin to redden at the mention of the boy.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Xion, I may be new here, but I'm not completely oblivious to everything. You and Xeno definitely have something going, and it's not just friendship."

"You can't exactly call it love, either." I noticed Xion had settled deeper into her bed and was staring at the ceiling.

"What is it, then?"

"If I had to give it a name, it's probably a hero's crush."

"Hero's crush?"

"You know, when you think you love somebody after they do something that changes your life. That's what's going on between me and Xeno."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

"I don't mind at all. In fact, I'd sort of like to get it off my chest." I settled down as well, sensing that this was going to be a long story.

"Well, it sort of happened a couple of years ago, when we were in eighth grade…" Xion began.

A/N: Wow, that chapter was a little longer than the others. 2,790 words and 7 pages… if only I could get something like this on Prince's Return again. I'm highly considering making this my active story to do over the summer, since I'm really getting into it and I sort of want to finish it before I go back to school in September. What do you guys think I should do? Please review and tell me your thoughts!

P.S: This chapter is dedicated to soluvepink, who was kind enough to review again, as well as LittleKeybladeNinja, my newest reviewer! Thank you both for supporting me!