C h a p t e r 4
psycho a n a l y s i s
I woke up pretty early, so I just dressed and dashed out, smiling and skipping away to Tifa's seventh heaven café. It was a short walk from my mansion, considering Tifa's adopted daughter Marlene was one of our top artists. She decided to move closer to her, to be able to support her and be a loving mother. The father, Cloud, was one of my father's friends, and was pretty much antisocial.
Seriously, put Kairi's dad, Leon, my dad, Noctis, and Marlene's dad, Cloud together, and you've got an emo party. Add Zexion, and then things get crazy.
I pushed the door open, being welcomed by the cheerful sound of bells, and I skipped up to the counter, smiling like an idiot.
"Namine!" a tall, skinny woman with long dark brown hair greeted. She was wearing her typical martial arts outfit, a black piece with matching gloves. "It's been so long! How are you?"
"Hey, Tifa. I've been great; did you hear? Marlene's album just went Platinum in the Pride Lands!" I told her. She beamed.
"Yeah, Marls told me. I'm so proud of her!" she squealed.
"Namine!" a shocked, still squeaky boyish voice called from the stairs. I turned to it, and found a young boy with shaggy hair covering his face staring at me.
"Denzel!" I called back, and he smiled, running up to give me a hug. We were close; I always babysat him when he was a kid.
"Wow, you grew! How old are you now?" I asked him. He had noticeable matured. He grinned at me.
"eighteen." he replied. I stared at him. Eighteen years old? He was short…and his voice was still high pitched….ouch.
"Aw, it's so good to see you guys!" I gushed, facing Tifa again. She smiled and started cleaning a glass.
"So what brings you here Nami?" she asked. I shrugged.
"A new kid at the company, don't know if you heard of him, recently started bunking at my place cuz he lit his hotel room on fire." their eyes widened slightly, but I continued. "he turned out to be pretty cool, and we became friends. I asked him to meet me here."
"Aw, Nami! You finally found yourself a boyfriend!" Tifa commented, giving me that 'how adorable!' face. I pouted.
"Tifa…I'm engaged…" I told her, holding out the ring. She started glowing, staring at the diamond in awe.
"You've just met the guy and he's already proposed to you?! How sweeeeeet!!!" she drawled out the word, bubbling over with excitement. I rolled my eyes.
"No! Roxas is a friend. Just a friend. Nothing more. I'm engaged to Riku now. Do you remember him?" I asked, pulling the ring away before she started kissing it.
"Oh! Riku? Your marring Riku?!" she asked, her excitement vanishing, incredulity taking it's place. What is with everyone and their grudges against my fiancée?
"Yes, Riku. Riku Kurosawa." I explained, rolling my eyes again. Tifa looked hurt and distant. I cocked my head to the side, confused.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked innocently. She seemed to realized I was staring at her and quickly composed her face, disappearing behind the bar.
"Tifa?" I called after her, in my whiny pout voice. She never returned. I faced Denzel instead, who had a look of disappointment on his face, as he shook his head sadly and sulked back up the stairs.
What's with emo people today?
"Hey, Namine." a certain voice sighed behind me. I smiled and whizzed around, excited to see a happy face, but only to be frustrated at the sight of a sad, mopey Roxas. I pouted.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked, annoyance leaking into my voice, he looked up, and I noticed the heavy set of bags under each eye.
"Didn't get much sleep. I was thinking." he answered, yawning and collapsing into a nearby booth. I sat down across from him, my past anger gone and replaced by worry.
"You ok? Or maybe we should meet another time…you look like you need some Z's." I told him truthfully. He just shrugged.
"Naw. I'll be fine. It's to good of a day to go back to sleep." he said, stifling another yawn. I raised an eyebrow but let it go.
"So, Nams." he said, looking me in the eyes with his elbows propped on the table. For some reason, the nickname seemed very familiar… "what do you wanna know?"
"Where were you born?" I asked, mirroring his posture and propping both of my elbows on the table.
"Here. You?" he asked right back.
"Here. What school did you go to from first to fifth grade?" I shot back. I now felt like we were in a game show, and we had to quickly answer each other and then launch another question all under a strict time limit.
"I went to Destiny Islands heritage academy for first and second grade, then I moved to Twilight town and attended Back alley Elementary third through eighth." he answered quickly, then nodding for my answer.
"I've been to Destiny Islands heritage academy for all my years." I replied, then paused, thinking. "Did I know you when we were kids?" same school, familiar nickname…and I recall a blonde boy who used to give me his graham crackers all the time. Could it…? Naw.
"No." he answered quickly, too quickly. He pulled his gaze away from mine then shot another question.
"Where did you go to high school for the first few years?" he asked me. It seemed like he already knew the answer, but I answered anyway.
"Same school. I moved to Twilight town after eighth grade with Kairi and Sora." I said, nodding to him to answer.
"I was at the same high school all four years." he murmured, still refusing to look at me. I blinked.
"You did?" I asked incredulously, leaning forward on the table slightly. He finally turned to me, his voice reproachful.
"Yeah. I remember. You were the top class clique. I was in the bottom." he sighed. Resting his chin on his clasped hands. I fidgeted around and put my chin in my hands, crossing my legs under the table. I remember that clearly. Kairi's wealth and my position as her best friend had landed us at the top of the lists. We were called the queens, per say. Under us were the pretty people, the average Joes, the weirdoes, and at the very bottom was the loners.
"You, Roxas Akamura, senior heart throb, was a loner in freshman, sophomore, and junior year?" I asked, that pitch of incredulity still high in my voice. He chuckled and simply nodded his head. I still stared at him, wide eyed.
"Is that really too hard for you to comprehend?" he asked, slightly amused. I nodded my head.
"It is. I always thought you moved to Twilight High in senior year." I told him truthfully. His lips pressed down into a hard line.
"I was always there, getting bullied by those friends of yours." he said quietly. I scowled.
"Is that why you bugged me to death in senior year?" I asked, slightly ticked off. He shook his head frantically.
"Good heavens no! I only picked on you because your so easily picked on. I did it once, and It became addicting." he admitted, grinning deviously at my glower. I decided to ignore that comment.
"Which one of my friends picked on you?"
"Selphie, for the most part, but I understand that she's gaga over me now." he laughed once with out humor, "Hayner, though he's my best friend right now, Seifer, whom I still hate to this day, Larxene, who is now a close friend, and who could forget Riku." he scowled at the mere mention of his name.
Great. I thought. Another Riku hater.
"What's with everyone and their problems with my fiancée?" I asked grudgingly. Roxas blinked. He opened his mouth to say something, then bit his lip and shook his head. He wore a pained look.
"He's my friend now. So it's all good." he said instead, looking away from me again. I narrowed my eyes.
"What are you hiding?" I asked him. He turned back to me, his expression composed.
"What do you mean?" he asked innocently. I rolled my eyes.
"I have a theory. When you look away, your either lying or skipping important details of the truth. You just did it right now." I explained. He blinked, then to my surprise, he chuckled.
"You notice everything, don't you?"
"I'm pretty observant."
"Well, Mrs. Observant, I'm not telling you what I'm hiding."
"Why not?" I pouted, uncrossing my legs.
"Because. I'm allowed to have my own secrets, am I not?" he asked, playfully smiling. I rolled my eyes and smiled back, defeated.
"Fine. Tell me more about your second grade crush slash best friend." I asked. He immediately paled, taking a sharp intake of breath and never exhaling it. I could see it was a touchy subject. "Or not…"
"I prefer 'or not'." he sighed, releasing his held breath and looking down sadly. He just shook his head and faced me, jaw set.
"How many boyfriends have you had?"
I immediately blushed at that sentence. "To tell you the truth, Riku was my only boyfriend, ever. But I remember having a crush on a boy when I was younger." I admitted, grinning sheepishly. Roxas only blinked, astonished.
"What about you?" I asked. He shrugged.
"Never. But I've had plenty of crushes." he said, grabbing the salt dispenser and playing with it. "Where did you go after high school?"
"College. In Radiant Gardens. You?"
"Same. College, but in Twilight Town." he said, then launched into the next one with out a pause. "What did you do afterwards?"
"I built the Rinasaki slash Suzumiya empire with Kairi. You?"
"I started singing at a nearby café. Record label found me there, and I got signed. But I hated the dude, pain in my butt, so I left and came here, where you found me and not so nicely asked me to sign Rinasaki labels." he explained, eyeing me with a raised eyebrow. I recalled what I had threatened and smirked.
"Didn't think I had that in me, did ya?" I asked, crossing my arms. He shook his head and chuckled.
"Never knew. Caught me off guard; it was the first time I was ever, truly afraid of you." he said, now laughing more loudly. I joined in.
"Hello! You must be Roxas. I'm Tifa, owner of the café. Can I get you anything?" Tifa asked, literally popping up out of no where. I flinched and Roxas jumped.
"Um…h-hello Tifa. Can I have some water?" he asked, stunned by her sudden appearance. It was as if she was listening in this whole time…
"Nami?" she turned to me, a smirk evident on her face. I scowled.
"The norm."
"Alrighty then! Coming right up!" Tifa said dramatically, disappearing again behind her counter. We both just stared after her, unmoving.
"ok then… um…your favorite color?" I asked after a while. He turned back to me, still slightly dazed from the unexpected encounter.
"I have two favorite colors. Black and White. Like night and day, the light in every heart evens out all of the darkness." he said, looking out the window and speaking softer and softer.
"Your deep, you know? Like, real deep. Bottom of the ocean deep. And emo. Really emo. Like Zexion emo, but not quite. What happened to you?" I asked. He made a face at my descriptions.
"College happened. I couldn't goof off anymore. Sucked. But here I am, singing and using nothing I learned in that damn school. So I wasted four years of my life! But if this singing thing doesn't work out, I'm going to be a vet." he said. I understood immediately. College was such a pain. Even though I went to art school, it was still such a pain.
"And your favorite color is white." he pointed out, smirking. I narrowed my eyes again.
"How do you know?"
"Honestly Nams. You wear nothing but white, your house, your walls, your carpets, your ceiling, even most of the floral decorations around there are all white. I notice things like that. Take Kairi for example. He favorite color is Pink. She wears nothing but pink, most of her designer brand dresses are pink, and even her wedding dress had a tinge of pink in it. On their first date, Sora gave her pink flowers, and she loved them. She told me once her favorite animal was a flamingo. She wanted one for Christmas when she was five." he chuckled. He was right. About everything.
"How do you know about Kairi?" I asked skeptically.
"Um, hello? I'm practically related to the girl. Her husband is my cousin? I was the best man at the wedding? Does any of this ring a bell in your little head?" he taunted, chuckling again. I pouted.
"You were best man? I was the only bridesmaid. That's not cool! Why didn't I notice you?" I wined. His humor vanished for a second and he looked hurt.
"Well, maybe I was wrong. Your not as observant as I thought." he said, amused, an evil glint in his eye. Tifa returned then, placing a cold glass of water in front of Roxas and a steaming cup of green tea in front of me.
"What about Sora's favorite color?"
"Well, Sora is different than most people. His favorite color depends on his mood. Sometimes, it's green. Sometimes it's blue. You never really know with Sora. He's…out there." he explained, struggling to find the right words. I giggled.
"I know. I practically grew up with him. Ok. So then… what type of people did you hang out with?' I asked. People always described me as someone who needed to know the little things-things that actually didn't matter at all in the real world-but they mattered to me. I give them a psychoanalysis and if they answer all the questions correctly to my favor, they're worthy enough to be my friend. So, as you can see, I don't have many friends.
"Well, normally I hang with the class clowns. When I'm exercising, I'm with the jocks. But for now, I hang with Sora, Hayner, and Axel." he explained. "you?"
"I don't have many friends." I admitted. "so basically, it's just Kairi. I've tried to get along with Xion, Olette, and Selphie, but they're more ambitious than I am." I paused. "And Xion kind of hates me for some reason."
"you wonder why…" he mumbled under his breath, intentionally so I couldn't hear. But my hearing is like a hawks. I pretended not to notice. "That's weird. She's pretty friendly; she's one of my many friends." he said afterwards in a false cheerful voice. What he said peaked my curiosity; many friends?
"Who are these friends you speak of?" I asked, mocking him with curious eyes. He smiled in response.
"Well, after high school, I joined a gang." he said, smirking at my wide eyes. "They needed one more member and I gladly accepted. My gang was this: Xemnas 'Mansex' Furakawa, was at the top of the ladder, the founder, number one. Zigbar 'Free shooter' Nagato, was second in command. Then came Xaldin 'Whirlwind lancer' Furude. Vexen 'Chilly Academic' Watanabe, number four, though he scared me. Leaxeus 'Silent Hero' Kobayashi was number five, but he didn't talk much. Zexion 'Cloaked Schemer' Saito was number six, shocking, I know. Siax 'Luna Divider' Yamada though as I call him creeper was number seven, Axel 'Flurry of Dancing Flames' Rinasaki was eight, and yes, Kairi's brother Axel was in a gang. Demyx 'Melodious Nocturne' Kato was number nine, though he was such a baby it was funny. Luxord 'Gambler of Fate' Hayashi was ten, and as his nickname states, he liked to gamble, a lot. Then came number eleven, Marluxia 'Graceful Assassin' Mochizuki, and I always thought he was gay cuz he had pink hair but whatever. Then came the only girl in our group, Larxene 'Savage Nymph' Maruyama at number twelve. She really was something, always finding some reason or another to beat me to a pulp. And finally, me, myself, and I. Roxas 'Key of Destiny' Akamura." he listed, using his fingers when trying to remember. I sat there, mouth agape.
"A-a g-gang?!" I managed to spit out. He just chuckled again, taking a sip of water and nodding his head. "A-and Zexion?! And Axel?!"
"Yes, Namine. A gang. We didn't do bad things. The whole point of us coming together was because we'd been outcasted. More the less, we found comfort in each other." he explained, and I calmed down slightly.
"You didn't do anything bad, did you?" I whispered, frantically looking around for signs of police.
"Your absurd. What are you thinking? I'm gonna kidnap you right here on the spot? Please Nams. It was more of just a large group of friends, rather than a gang." he explained, trying hard to contain his laughter. I glared at him.
"What? Are you blaming me for being a paranoid freak? Have you noticed, I have five to six deadbolts on each of my doors? Wait! What if your whole plan was to kidnap me right from the start? What if you were taunting me in high school, trying to see if I would put up a fight? What if-"
"Namine, your rambling on about stupid things."
"Oh. Sorry…my imagination is immense." I said, looking down and blushing in embarrassment. He laughed out loud now, unable to hold it in. I glared.
"I'm sorry. It's just your face! It's hilarious." he said between giggles. I huffed and glanced at the clock, scowling.
"Time for work." I sighed, draining the last of my tea and standing up. Roxas sighed as well.
"Aren't you going to pay for that?" he asked my retreating form, gesturing to my empty cup. I smirked.
"Nope. Tifa knows me pretty well. She always gives me free drinks. And you just got water, so it's fine." I said. He shrugged and followed after me.
I'm sorry to all you Riku fans out there, but i suddenly decided to make Riku bad. really bad.
it started like this: i was cheerfully reading someine's lovely review during the first chapter when she asked me, "i'm kinda sad how riku's already cheating on namine... what was his reason?besides liking xion?" *cough* Naminecries4Riku *cough* and that really had me thinking.
is there really another reason why he's cheating?
so i thought, and i thought, and i thought. let me tell you; thinking hurts my brain. XD
so i'm gonna make Riku bad. hint the Tifa and Denzel hatred reference. There's a reason Why Tifa doesn't approve; and it has something to dso with Denzy.
ps. i love Denzel. he's the cutest little boy who tends to cus like a truck driver when fully angered. XD
review pwetty pwease? OwO
