Disclaimer: …No.


Tifa Lockhart smiled weakly at the growing boy in front of her. "I'm so proud of you, Roxas," she congratulated, her hands on his arms. She leaned in and gave him a small kiss on the top of his crowned head.

"Aww, Tifa!" He complained. "I'm eighteen! No more kisses, remember?" The woman smirked at the so-called 'brat' and chuckled. There was a coming-of-age ceremony held for him because of his next step towards being a true adult. In comparison to his cousin, Sora, he seemed a lot more mature.

"No matter what age you are, you're still my little Roxy," she said, ruffling his already-messy hair. "Little Roxy, the one who used to play in the sandbox and lie down on the grass."

"Whatever happened to Kairi?" Roxas asked. "I remember she used to make me listen to her sing all the time."

Tifa laughed at the memory when Roxas, trying desperately to take a nap, covered his ears in an attempt to drown out the redhead's voice. "She moved out of Vincent's house and into the house next to her friend's."

"Who's her friend?"

The woman raised a brow and frowned.


That night ended up being a bit weird for Sora Hatsu.

First of all, he was faced with the guilt of knowing that his aunt didn't approve of him taking the throne. It's not like he wanted it, but it would've been nice if she actually complimented him once in a while. Second, he got caught up in a ditch in the middle of the road. It came out of no where, and the horseman claimed it actually did come out of no where. Third, he faced the wrath of Roxas's slight irritation phases and the digestion of last night's dinner. Fourth, just as he was about to catch up to his blonde cousin, he forcefully was pulled away by the wrist.

Just as he was about to yell, a soft, small hand clamped itself over his mouth. He was pulled behind the cashier counter and practically thrown on the floor.

"Augh!" he hissed in pain, clutching his head. "Why did yo—!"

He was met with a pair of deep cerulean eyes. "Ssh," the girl gestured, putting her finger up to her lips. She pointed out towards what was on the other side of the counter, and the two peeked from the top.

Fifth, he secretly hoping that the girl who caught him didn't notice he was gaping at her and blushing at how blue her eyes were.


"In any case, I'm glad you could make it," Namine smiled and bowed slightly. Roxas almost freaked out when he saw her bowing and grasped her shoulders before she got any lower.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, trying to cover up his action. He wished to feel like he wasn't a prince…he wanted to feel like a commoner for once. "I'm sorry, if people bow to me, it kind of makes me uncomfortable." Namine nodded her head in comprehension and stood correctly, and the warmth of his hands left her petite shoulders. "Anyway, it was a great show. Your friend, Miss Constell, sings great. And you sound beautiful on the flute, as well."

Namine turned pink. "Thank you," she murmured, "I'd love for you to meet Kairi, but…" Her head turned around a couple of times to look for any sign of a redhead in the room. "…I can't seem to find her." The blonde girl sighed and looked apologetic. "She always disappears whenever I'm not paying any attention to her."

Roxas chuckled. "That's all right; I can always meet her another time." This was partially true. "My cousin went missing as well, so it looks like I'm going to have to keep my own secret or tell him later."

The person in front of the prince tilted her head cutely. "Is your cousin some sort of 'secret-keeper'?"

She hit the nail on the head. "You can call it that, yeah," He scratched the back of his head. "He's really reliable, so I trust him completely."

The girl looked at her new companion in hidden awe and saw his ability to trust someone. She saw the purity of his heart, but also a secret he intended to keep.


"Why can't I go with Roxas to his friend's house, Auntie?"

"Not yet. You are still a child, so you don't understand."

"What am I supposed to understand? The only thing I get is how I'm Roxas-less in this boring place."

"Why only Roxas, Sora?"

"Because Roxas is my only friend!"


The next day, Riku and Hayner wondered why Namine painted all day and didn't go out of her room except for food.

The next day, Sora struggled to keep up with Roxas and his skateboard, no matter how many times Leon scolded them for running and boarding in the castle.


Eventually, Leon finally got to his boiling point that he told Roxas not to go out that day. The blonde nearly went in a small fit, but Sora said he'd buy something for him from the marketplace. Sora wasn't the one chastised, anyway.

"I'll get you something…like a papou fruit or whatever," Sora last said to Roxas, and he chuckled after hearing his cousin's cry of indignation. Roxas, no matter how much he loved his cousin in that brotherly way, did not want to be destined to stay with him…forever. It was predetermined anyway.

So, Roxas came up with a plan. Yes, a plan better than Jesse McCartney being his voice actor! He opened the window to his own private balcony and looked at his surroundings. Mm…Not bad, he thought to himself. Wind is going northwest, more west than north, nice day with a few clouds in the sky…

"ALL RIGHT!" he exclaimed to practically no one. "I'M GOING TO FLY!"


Aerith looked up from her book and looked across the large library to find the brooding man she was looking for. "Leon," she called loudly.

"You're in a library, Aerith," he said, his eyes not shifting about from the words in the book. The pink-dressed girl shook her head and smirked.

"I'm the librarian, remember? Plus, it's not like anyone but us is in here."

"…You make it sound so…suggestive."

"Dear Lord! What have those Penny Jordan books do to you?" (1)

Leon slapped his forehead. "What do you want?"

Aerith put her finger on her chin as if she was in some kind of thinking mode. "I have the weirdest feeling," she started, "that something just went missing right now." She paused to stare at the dark-haired man. "And I think it's your fault."

Leon scoffed…slightly. "What would go missing at a time like this? The only thing that would go missing is that huge vase Roxas broke because he was boarding inside the castle."

"…Roxas?"

The shiny oak doors of the library opened, if not loudly than slowly. Aerith and Leon turned their heads towards the door as a fast reflex, and a lady in black stood at the door. Her hair covered one of her eyes, and the head ornament was certainly pretty to look at.

"Lulu!" the librarian called, smiling. "What brings you here?"

Lulu, a well-known girl around the castle at only age 19, smiled slightly and bowed. "I'm afraid I have bad news," she said.

Aerith tilted her head. "What? Do you want to talk about Wakka?" Lulu remained silent, and Leon had to fight back a chuckle.

The dark girl cleared her throat. She liked to keep her relationship with the energetic man her own secret, but it looks like her own secret won't be kept secret anymore if Aerith just shouted that across the library. "It appears that the bird found a treasure and took flight with it."

The other two just blinked.

Lulu sighed. "The prince got his hands on the Liberali. He's gone." (2)

The other two just blinked.

Lulu's eyebrows scrunched together in slight annoyance. "Leon, you had put it underneath his bed to hide it from him. Apparently, he was watching when you did."

Aerith turned to him at the same time Leon did to her. "I told you it was your fault," she said.


"Hey! Leon!" Sora called, catching the attention of Roxas and the brooding guard. "What's that you got there?"

Leon gripped the backpack-like object in his hands tighter. "Liberali," he recited and resumed to put it away.

Roxas thought for a minute. "That almost sounds like 'libertas.'"

"Yes, it's derived from the latin word for freedom." He got on the step ladder to put the sack on the highest possible height in Roxas's closet. "I'm glad someone—" Leon's eyes averted to Sora suspiciously, "—paid attention to their Latin class."

Sora flushed. "Who needs Latin anyway?"

Leon decided to ignore him for the time-being. "The Liberali was a gift that your father received," he said pointing to Roxas. "A strange man had sold it to him just because the king liked the intricate wing design on the sack."

Roxas shrugged when Sora looked at him weirdly. "My dad likes wings."

Leon nodded. "Precisely. This sack, once you put it on, actually gives you a set of wings to fly in."

Sora jumped up in excitement. "WHOA! MAGIC! How does it do that?"

The guard shook his head after he stepped down the ladder. "Don't ask me, Aerith's better at magic than I am." He gave a quick glare to the two teenagers. "I better not catch any of you wearing that pack without a good reason."

Unfortunately, for the next few years, he has.


"Mama! Mama! LOOK!" a little boy in the crowd exclaimed. "It's a bird!"

His exasperated mother sighed, caring more about the expensive price of milk nowadays than her son's sudden interest in an animal that flies. "Yes, honey, a bird," she said. His mother was more concerned about the rising price of milk nowadays more than her son's sudden new interest in flying animals.

"Look, mama, look!" he whined. "Its wings are like angels!"

There's something about the word 'angel' that strikes everyone's attention and memory. In most cases, most people actually would know what an angel is. Perhaps it is the fact that angels are a symbol of miracles and hope that makes everyone's brain levitate towards seeing something more remarkable than their own lifetime.

At his exclamation of "angel," not only did his mother look up, but almost everyone else who heard him.

Lo and behold, they saw a tuft of hair, white clothes, and the purest white wings that ever touched the sun's rays.

"Crap," Roxas muttered to himself, "fly higher, damn you!"

-------------

Now at a higher elevation, Roxas could barely see any building in the detail that he wanted to. However, he did spot his cousin one time when he was at a lower altitude. What made the blonde worry was how he saw him at the papou fruit stand.

He was either buying him a fruit or buying someone else one…? Hmm…Roxas decided he shall speculate on that later.

From afar, he saw a lonely house…a lonely large house, accompanied by another lonely, large house in a lonely, large empty space that only those two lonely, large houses occupied. He even spotted a balcony!

"Rest for the weary," Roxas said in relief and flew towards the balcony he spotted.


Namine smiled in content as she continued to sketch a funny little drawing in her beloved sketchbook.

The whole concept was weird, she knew, but it just had to be drawn.

"There!" she said in satisfaction and stared at her art. "I finished!"

Her stool was right in front of her huge window, and she sat right in front of it for reference. What she drew, with different hues of light blue and gray, with an angel landing on her balcony. The only other color that she used other than blue and gray was the yellow that she made his hair.

It was kind of funny to her because she somehow wished it was reality. But in all honesty, she always wanted some sort of sixth sense that had something to do with angels. They really were her symbol of hope, and every piece of art she drew of angels had that prolonging feeling of hope that she poured into it.

So what was she hoping for? She didn't know, but a miracle is always a good start. Yeah. Miracles make life less boring.

The next moment, she looked up from her sketchbook, and her artwork came alive.

An angel landed on her balcony.

And his blue eyes looked way too familiar.


(1) Penny Jordan is a writer for those adult books. My mom reads them. ...I'm so exposed to such weird things. D:
(2) Liberali? Like...the Liberali Garden school thing in Final Fantasy 8? Yeah. That one. I like the name though. It makes me feel giddy.

OH NO! Does Namine think Roxas is an angel?

Okay, I'm horribly, horribly sorry for the UBER delay. I went out of the Kingdom Hearts 2 fandom for a second…for a month…and the chapter is really short, too! Oh my gosh, I really hope all of you forgive me. All of you SO great for the reviews and alerts. I just checked my stats, and I squealed at the long list of story alerts. Thanks SO much for liking my fic. Q.Q;

Well, the Namixas is coming close. VERY. CLOSE. It's summer and school's out, so you can expect Tsuri to start working on the fics…and more fics to come. That 4 Minutes in my profile is currently being worked on, along with a Naruto multi-chapter fic.

…I think I'm going to die by this summer just working on this stuff. D:

Thank you for reading! I'll try my best on the next chapter!