A/N: I'm starting to realize it might be hard to balance this story, I mean for the AkuRoku fans, and the Namiku fans. Most people seem to be only interested in one or the other... The AkuRoku will be coming up sooner, but I hope the Namine and Riku fans will stick around, there will be Namiku eventually, I swear!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything else. I think you should know that by now...
"Well aren't you a lovely shade of pink today?" asked Roxas, a teasing smirk on his face.
"Gee, thanks," Namine said dryly.
...she was though. Her cheeks, nose and forehead were still a soft pink color from all the sun yesterday. She poured herself a bowl of cereal before sitting across from Roxas.
"Seriously, did you forget sunscreen or something?" he seemed quite amused.
"Nooo, It's just this new look I'm trying out," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well, whatever you're doing, it's working," Roxas laughed.
"You always know just how to make me feel better."
Roxas shrugged with an innocent smile, "I try."
Namine sighed. He could be quite the annoying brother sometimes.
When they arrived at the band room, everyone was gathered inside. Cloud had been right, it was rainy today. It looked completely miserable out.
"I'm sure you've all noticed it's a little wet out, but we'll still be outside today," said Cloud, "When it's show time, we'll be performing rain or shine, so this should help prepare you for that. But first we'll be doing basic marching, so we can do that in the gym."
The band walked across the hall to the gym. It was weird being in the school when it was so empty. You could hear the rain pouring on the roof as it echoed in the large space. The first thing to do was the daily game of Simon Says.
"Ready to bite the dust?" Axel called from behind Roxas.
"Tch, yeah right. You're going down again, just like last time."
"We'll see about that... How about we make this game a little more interesting? You need a ride home again, right? If you win, I'll give you one, and if I win, I get to laugh while you walk home in the pouring rain."
Roxas didn't particularly feel like either walking through the rain, or hanging around the band room for an hour waiting for his dad to get off work. He also didn't want to back down from the challenge.
"You're on. It shouldn't be too hard to beat you. Wasn't yesterday."
"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you..."
Cloud began to call out instructions. Namine actually made it through the first few commands. She was still the first out again though, and she made her way to the sidelines.
I really hate being the first one out... she thought, as she took a seat and watched the others. Riku was the next to get out, which was strange because last time he was in almost till the end. He came over and sat next to Namine.
"Hey, good job out there," Riku said. At first Namine thought he was joking, but then she noticed the genuine smile on his face.
"Ha, are you kidding me?" Namine laughed, "I suck."
"You did a lot better than yesterday,"
"Yeah, well that's not saying much... besides, I was still the first person out,"
Riku shrugged, "Someone always has to be. If you're really worried about it, maybe I could help you out sometime,"
"Really? That would be great," Namine smiled. She could really use the extra practice, and being with Riku wouldn't be so bad either. He was starting to seem like a really nice guy.
The game continued while they chatted. Eventually it was down to just Roxas and Axel again, and it was getting pretty intense. They marched back and forth across the gym, the commands coming at high speed.
"Simon says halt!" They stopped.
"Hey Roxas, still think you're gonna win?"
"No doubt."
"...Hey who's that guy hitting on your sister?"
"What?" Roxas asked, looking over to where Namine was being chatted up by some silver-headed guy.
Huh? Who is that?
"Left face!"
Roxas almost moved to pick up his foot, but caught himself and froze, making him twitch slightly. He had almost messed up, barely stopping himself.
"I saw that Roxy..." said a smirking redhead, quietly.
I thought I told him not to call me that! Roxas twitched again, angrily.
"Simon says right face!"
Roxas missed the turn, as he stood there flustered.
"Looks like someone's walking home in the rain..." Axel said, with that stupid smirk still stuck to his face, "Gotta keep your head in the game."
"You cheated!"
"Now how would I do that?"
"You know how you did it! You distracted me!"
"I don't see how that's cheating... It's not my fault I'm so 'distracting'" Axel said making air quotes, "You've gotta focus Roxy."
"DON'T CALL ME THAT"
"What? Roxy?"
"YES, THAT"
"Why not?"
"BECAUSE-"
Cloud cleared his throat. Roxas looked over and realized that everyone was watching him and Axel. His face immediately turned red.
"Are you about done?" Cloud asked. Roxas kept his mouth shut. "Well then, cheating or not, Axel won the game. Now it's about time we moved on."
"Alright, it's time to head outside now," Cloud said. Marching practice was over and everyone was back in the band room.
"I don't want to hear any complaining. Luckily the school has provided us with rain parkas, so everyone grab one and let's go." Cloud picked up one of the 'parkas' and demonstrated how to put it on. He then went outside.
Namine walked up to the bin of parkas and picked one up. It looked like some kind of clear poncho with a hood. She sighed and reluctantly pulled it over her head.
Well this is quite the fashion statement, she thought.
She heard someone behind her whistle.
"Lookin' good!" Kairi said laughing.
"Oh, it's not me, it's all the parka," Namine joked.
"Could have fooled me," said Riku, casually. Namine felt herself blush. Did he really just say that? And was it just her or did Riku look adorable in a rain parka?
"These things are ridiculous!" said Sora, his voice sounding strangely muffled. Namine looked over at him and burst out laughing. He had the parka on backwards with the hood pulled up over his face.
"Sora you have it on backwards!" she exclaimed.
"...Oh. But I thought this part was to keep the rain off your face..."
"Wow Sora..." Kairi giggled, shaking her head, "We'd better get out there before Cloud freaks."
Roxas was still pissed at Axel. He wondered how he had gone from being a pretty cool guy to being a jerk this morning. He saw him walking onto the field—without a rain parka.
"Aren't you going to wear one of the raincoat things?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"As attractive as they are, I'm gonna say no."
"You're going to get soaked."
"It's not like I'm gonna melt."
"You're crazy."
"So I've been told. I'm not the only one though," he said, gesturing to Demyx who was also parka-less, currently dancing around in the rain, with his mouth open, trying to catch raindrops on his tongue.
"Don't come crying to me when you catch cold."
Axel scoffed, "That's a myth."
"Whatever," Roxas said, before walking off. The idiots could get themselves soaked if they wanted too.
Cloud was getting impatient with everyone fooling around and started ordering them to hurry up and get to their spots. It was hard to take him serious though. It's difficult to command respect whilst wearing a plastic rain parka.
Once everyone was ready, drill practice went on like usual until suddenly the sky flashed. A bolt of lightning was clearly visible against the dark sky as it illuminated everything around, like turning on a light. At the same exact time as the flash there was a loud crash of thunder. It sounded as if it were right there. Namine gasped in surprise, and Kairi and Selphie were screaming.
"Everyone inside!" ordered Cloud.
"Unfortunately we will be inside until the lightning stops. Luckily it was almost time for sectionals anyways. Split up into your groups. You can go to various parts of the room, and the hallway," Cloud commanded.
Namine went over to where Riku, Olette, and Marluxia were setting up in the corner of the room.
"That lightning was terrifying!" Olette said quietly. She still seemed a little shaken.
"It must've been really close..." said Riku.
"Did you see Cloud? He didn't even flinch." said Marluxia, suspiciously.
"Seriously?" Namine asked, suddenly intrigued.
"Nope, he didn't react at all."
"That's weird... Say, is he always like this? I mean... he seems kind of ... cold."
"Yeah, actually. Now that I think of it, I've been in this band for three years, and I don't think I've ever seen him smile..." Marluxia said, he seemed surprised by his own realization.
"I've always thought he seemed, kind of... broken," said Olette, a look of concern crossing her gentle face.
"That's so sad... I wonder why he's like that." said Namine.
"Who's to say? No one really knows much about him," Marluxia answered.
"It's true," said Riku, "None of us know where he lives, or where he disappears to during lunch, and he never talks about himself, or his past."
"He's an enigma," Marluxia sighed, staring off dreamily, "A man of mystery."
Namine looked over at Cloud. He had pulled off the rain parka, but still wore a blank expressionless face as always. She hadn't noticed before, but his lips seemed almost pulled into a pout. She wondered if she were closer, could she see sadness in his empty eyes? Suddenly she felt the urge to make him smile, to make him happy. She couldn't stand seeing that look on his face, it was making her sick. She wanted to just wash it away.
Everyone has a back-story... I wonder what pain he carries with him...
Meanwhile Rikku had dragged Roxas into the hallway. They passed the percussion group of Axel, Demyx, and Yuffie who were sitting in the lobby. It had started really pouring before they came inside and Roxas noticed that Axel and Demyx were both completely drenched.
Idiots...
Demyx was holding a strange stringed instrument in his hands. It looked kind of like a guitar, but not really.
"What is that?" Roxas asked, pointing to the unusual instrument.
Demyx brightened at the question. "It's my electric sitar!" he grinned.
"He plays it during Real Emotion, has a solo at the beginning," said Axel.
"But how does he march with it...?"
"Um he doesn't." said Yuffie, looking at Roxas like he was slow.
Axel smirked, "You didn't notice him standing on the sideline for the whole song?"
"No actually." He heard a chorus of laughter.
"At least I'm not the one currently sitting in a puddle because I was too dumb to wear a raincoat."
"Touché," said Axel, "You're going to be looking just like this soon enough though..."
Roxas remembered the stupid bet. He just glared at Axel. He watched as a drop of water ran down his face before dripping to the floor. Now that he was busy glaring at him, he noticed that Axel's hair was still in its usual spiked position, despite the fact that it was dripping wet and should be plastered to his face and neck.
That's really weird... Oh right, glare. Roxas thought.
"Stop undressing me with your eyes," Axel said with that smirk of his, "Seriously, it's making me uncomfortable."
Roxas' face instantly turned red. Demyx tried not to laugh and ended up snorting, with his hand over his mouth and falling off his chair.
Yuffie rolled her eyes, "Perverts..."
Rikku noticed the suddenly intense 'I'm going to kill you' vibe coming from her saxophone buddy. "Well, we should get going. Gotta practice you know!" she said, grabbing Roxas' arm to pull him away before he killed someone.
Yuffie looked at Rikku and gave her a discreet wink. For a second Roxas thought she had been winking at him, but then he saw Rikku wink back... It was the cheesiest thing Roxas had ever seen. She gave an open mouthed smile, while raising her eyebrows, and moving her whole head when she shut her eye.
He burst out laughing as Rikku pulled him down the hall and around the corner.
"What's up with you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Roxas was still laughing. "Your face..."
Rikku looked confused.
"That... was the most ridiculous wink I have ever seen..." he managed to get out between laughs.
"Oh... you noticed?" Rikku had a disappointed look on her face, "I was trying to be subtle..."
"Well if this-" he imitated her wink, "Is subtle, then you've got it down,"
"I do not look like that!" she exclaimed, punching him in the arm.
"Like what?" he asked, making the ridiculous winking face over and over, "I'm just being 'subtle',"
"Okay, okay, I get it," Rikku giggled, "You don't have to make me look like a ruh-tard!"
"Haha..." Rikku hit him again, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Roxas said, smiling.
"Yeah, I thought so." she said. "Soooo... why are you so mad at Axel?"
The smile faded from Roxas' face and was replaced by a scowl. "Because he's a jerk?"
"He was only joking."
"Well, he's not as funny as he thinks."
"Well, maybe you shouldn't be checking him out like that..."
Roxas narrowed his eyes and gave her a death glare. "Not funny."
Rikku laughed it his expression, "I'm sorry, but you so deserved that,"
"I guess you're right. So are we going to practice or not?"
"Meh, I don't really feel like it,"
"Do you ever?" Roxas smirked.
"Hmm..." Rikku put her hand to her chin and looked up as if she were deep in thought. She shrugged, "Not really."
"So, what are we going to do?"
"Well... the teachers are here getting ready for the school year aren't they?" Rikku said, a mischievous smile growing on her face.
"What do you have in mind?" asked Roxas.
"Heheheh..."
A/N: My cousin really winks like Rikku when she's trying to be discreet. lol, it's hilarious...
Also, it's sad when I can see that people are reading this and adding it to their favorites and storyalerts, but no one will leave a single review. Quite sad. :(