Sorry for being a so very late. More progression in with romance this time, but not rushed I hope. At this rate the story will be around 17-23 chapters. No promises. Enjoy!


Chapter 7: Stupid Cupids

Namine got out of bed in the morning, still half awake. Sleep hadn't come to her last night.

Namine's head was filled with thoughts, paranoid and misinterpreting thoughts, about Roxas. As much as she hated it, she couldn't stop thinking about him. "Ugh, stupid Roxas. Annoying me without even being here!" She whined, falling onto her bed after she just got ready for school. "Why did you have to do that...?"

Of course she was muttering about Roxas's little hand holding the night before. Namine never thought she'd be one of those girls who gets all dramatic when it came to things like this. She was, or at least wanted to be, calm and totally cool with whatever happened with anyone. Then again, Namine never had a boyfriend. No 'first kiss'...or even... a mere intimate hug from a boy. Before she'd been awake the previous night of extreme thinking and soul searching, it never occurred to her how anti social she was before living in Destiny Islands.

She was sixteen years old and was perfectly fine with things as they were. A non-existent love life? So what? Of course, I doesn't matter that she's surrounded by friends, most of which are meant for each other or are already dating. Or if she has met plenty of boys who had caught her eye, but she's never made a move.

But Roxas? This was exactly why she was up all night. Thoughts of something truly frightful. Roxas and Namine; as a couple.

'Wait, don't Xion and Roxas like each other?' she thought to herself, 'Yeah, maybe he thought I was Xion at the time.' But the more and more she repeated this in her head, the more she realised she was just fooling herself. Something did happen that night. But why?

"Damn it, I must be going insane or something. Thinking into something so pointless! All he did was hold my hand. Why did I have to be born a girl? It would have all been okay if I was a guy!" Namine yelled out. Her cats snarled viciously as if to say, 'Namine, get off your lazy butt and get to school you clown!'.


"Roxas, stop pretending." Kairi called, catching up to him as he speed walked down the school hallway, earlier on in the morning than usual. "I told you I saw what happened!" Once she'd finally caught up, she started whispering so no one could hear them. "I know you made your first move last night. It's about time too. Little things early on, right? I like the idea."

"Let's say what you saw did happen. So what? What am I meant to say about? 'Oh yes, there was a perfect moment and I just went for it. Whoop di do da!'"

"I get it, and don't make that stupid voice again! Have you seen Namine since then?"

"No. She should be at school already. I can't believe you ditched her this morning. You two always walk to school together."

"Maybe you can walk her, and I can walk Sora from now on. That'll be nice, right?"

"I would, but not now. Namine's pretty clueless, so I took last night a chance to hint everything to her. I'm not exactly the most brilliant guy when it comes to this stuff...you know." Roxas said, his cheeks glowing pinkish.

"Aw, Roxas is all shy. How cute! Da wittle boy has a crush." Kairi cooed, poking him like he was a baby. Roxas swatted her hands away.

"Whatever. I'm just trying to say that relationships are like...a house of cards. You have to build it up slowly and know when the foundation is ready, then you can start to build on top of-"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your little analogies to yourself. I get it. Basically, you've got to suck it up one day or... eventually."


Namine trudged into her English classroom groggily. Luckily, Mr Strife was in a good mood, so he didn't mind that she was a little late. The lesson went on as usual and Namine was grouped with Hayner and Xion to examine some boring text. Why couldn't English have more interesting stuff to read?

Towards the end of the class, conversation began. "Hey, Namine. Are you alright? You seem a little down." Xion said worriedly. Xion and Kairi were similar in so many ways. Both easy to make friends with, both give good advice, always cheerful, they even look the same and they lift a bad mood ninety percent of the time.

"She's right. You look like you spent the night in a dumpster." Hayner added. Namine gave a soft laugh. She was in a dumpster, mentally.

"Honestly, I'm not feeling so well. Some stupid stuff is messing with brain." Namine said, giving a genuine smile to show she wasn't feeling as bad as she seemed. It's not like she was depressed, just confused. She hated depression so did her best to avoid it at all cost.

Once the lesson had ended, Namine decided she had one person she had to consult. Riku. She walked quickly down the hall to catch up to him. For some reason he walked so insanely fast when going from one place to another. Namine was practically running after him.

One she crashed into him, he turned around to finally realise she was there. "Oh, hey Namine." He said plainly. Namine was breathing like an old man and couldn't believe Riku wasn't tired.

"Why do you walk so fast?! Anyway, I had something I wanted to ask you about. You being a genius at, well, everything."

"Homework help again?"

"No. Something a little embarrassing, actually." She said shyly.

"Er, I know I'm a close friend and all, but some girl problems aren't my call."

"Oh... Wait! Oh gosh, that's so not what I meant. That was awkward. I meant, about Roxas. What were you thinking?"

"For some reason, every girl we know has ranted on to me about their problems. I was hoping it wasn't your turn. It's like I'm some kind of guidance counsellor or something."

"It's a sign your well trusted and a good friend, right?"

"A friend. Right. So what did you want to say about Roxas?"

"Uh...Let's go somewhere less open. I've got a lot to say." Namine said, dragging Riku away to some place she had in her head. Riku had some clues from past places he'd been dragged off to.

After finally arriving at the back off the school building, Namine and Riku sat at a bench in the shade, and the counselling session began.


"Never!" Roxas declared, his voice heard from down the hall.

"Roxas, I'm going to poke your eyes out if you don't give it back!" Namine yelled, running after him. Everybody (meaning Kairi, Sora, Roxas, Namine, Xion and Riku) was gathered for a movie night at Kairi's house. Namine clocked her head left and right, unable to find the blond boy who'd taken a certain phone, that had a certain picture on it. Namine crept around, busting through doors hoping Roxas would come out. The boy was nowhere to be seen.

"You two, stop running around! We're going to start the movie soon!" Kairi ordered from the living room. Kairi often had invited people to come over since she had plenty of sofas and a very big house. Not to mention she loves playing the hostess.

Namine heard a rustling from the large closet door. She looked around the room some more, then flung open the closet door. Immediately, she grabbed Roxas but tripped on her feet. Roxas caught her, but the sudden shift sent the two tumbling onto the bed in the guest room. "None of this would happen if you'd stop being such a child." Namine moaned, resting her head on the incredibly soft duvet. She tilted her head and saw Roxas beside her, seeming so much calmer. His body would fill with air and deflate irregularly, his face was a pinkish red.

Roxas turned his head cautiously to face Namine, who was staring right back at him. There was a silence, uneasy at first but Namine became relaxed quickly. After a few long seconds of thinking, she came to the conclusion that Roxas was only tired from thirty seconds of running.

Namine decided to speak. "Rox-"

"I'm so going to show everybody!" He said excitedly, flashing out of the room. Just when she thought he was being normal. Namine ran after him, but she too late. Everyone was already having fun and laughing their heads off, reminiscing about a past they weren't a part of.

"Yeah, yeah, have your fun." Namine said grumpily, slumping down onto a sofa and crossing her arms. The picture, was in fact, on Namine's phone. It was of her as a seven year old at a park.

"Who would have known you were so chubby?" Xion giggled alongside Riku, who wasn't even holding back his loud roar of laughter. Namine wasn't exactly as slim as she was now, as she was back then. Her days of eating burgers and chocolates were long behind her. It had been a glorious, slimming, seven years since then.

"She was so cute though. Little Namine still loved art back then you know." Kairi said smiling and trying to make Namine feel better.

"Can we start watching a movie already?" Namine yelled out. Her friends wiped away tears from laughter and puffed out their last laughs. It was already eight-thirty and it was the sky was a dark blue. Roxas gave back the phone and sat beside Namine. Sora and Kairi sat together, while Xion and Riku sat in separate, one-seated sofas. The lights turned off and mindless comedy glared from the TV in the dark room.

Kairi, being Kairi, had prepared snacks and had them laid on the coffee table neatly. Most of the food was eaten by Sora.

Namine felt stiff throughout the whole of the movie so far. Sitting next to Roxas would usually make her gag, but know she was just wondering what was going through that head of his. She realised she didn't really know a single thing about him, but he was easily learning everything about her. Namine knew plenty, or enough, about Riku and Sora, and lots about Kairi. She and Xion got along great and they thought the same way about a lot of things.

But Roxas was nothing like her. She suddenly thought she was sitting next to a stranger, yet she felt like she knew Roxas her whole life. It was a confusing feeling for Namine. She didn't like it so tried to take her mind off it.


*Several Hours Earlier*

"So, you like Roxas huh." Riku said, lying back on the bench feeling slightly hollow. Namine had just finished explaining everything and venting out all her thoughts to the wise, silver haired young man.

"N-No! It's just that, I want your take on what you think happened. Do...Do you think it meant anything. You know, what he did?" Namine stuttered. Explaining such awkward things wasn't really Namine's forte, then again, that was Riku's job.

"Well, knowing Roxas," He said slowly, "it definitely means something."

"How can you tell?"

"Well when Roxas told me he starting liking his first girlfriend-"

"First? He's had girlfriends before? How many?" Namine said leaning closer, wide eyed with suspicion

"So your the jealous type."

"Of course not! I'm just curious. I know practically nothing about him."

"Fine. But it's not really my choice to tell people about Roxas's love life."

"Cut the morality, okay? This is useful information! And if I'm his friend, I should know, right?"

"Okay then. When Roxas was fourteen, he liked Olette and the two went out for like a year and a half. Olette broke up with because she started liking Hayner. Luckily, they were pretty cool about it so there weren't any bumps in the friendship between them."

"Seriously? Him and Olette? That is so weird..."

"Well, Roxas is pretty close with Hayner, Pence and Olette. It makes good sense to me."

"So how were the two of them? Did you think he likes someone else now?" An obnoxious bell rang and Namine's face scrunched up knowing that time had caught up to her.

"I guess that'll be for you to figure out and for Roxas to say." Riku said.


*A Few Hour After That*

Kairi was sipped her herbal tea after Riku finished his sentence. The two were at the Destiny grill and having a little discussion. The fact the Riku had to spill the beans on what Namine told him made him feel slightly guilty. He was the kind of person who lived by strong morals.

"So Namine really is thinking about him." Kairi said with a smirk pulling her lips. "Or re-thinking her view on him at least. Roxas is a genius. He knew something like this would happen from just a slight gesture. He's trying to get her to dig up any feelings she might have for him."

"Maybe we should keep out of it. This is Roxas's deal. Meddling with people personal lives, especially with thing like this, can't be good. What if things go bad? Then we'll be to blame. Well, you will."

"We are not going to say a word in this. It's just that we knew when to let them build up a mood. For example, if the two want to go somewhere and we're invited, we say no. Make sense?"

"I still don't like it. Things happen for a reason. If it works out for them, great. If not, then maybe it was never meant to be."

"You sound like Buddha or something."

"You sound like Scooby Doo." There was silence until Kairi broke into a cheesy smile.

"Hardy har har. Meddling, Scooby Doo. What a bad pun."

"At least you get the point."

After a few moments of the two eating, Kairi was stuck by a miraculous idea. Riku imagined a light bulb above her head when she stood up. "We should invite everyone over for a movie night!" She declared. People in the restaurant turned to stare at her in silence. She sat down again in embarrassment and whispered, "Okay, so let's invite a few of us over, and get Namine and Roxas to come too. I've got a plan from there. Listen up."


*At The Current Time*

The happy ending music sang from the TV screen as the movie credits rolled in. Kairi switched on the lights, and shock met her eyes as she realised that the living room was littered with popcorn and chocolate crumbs. "Sora!" Kairi yelled. The spiky haired boy jumped in his seat and turned around, food still stuffed in his mouth. "You animal! How could you leave such a mess?!"

The boy gulped down the last of his food. "It wasn't me! It was you, Xion and Namine! You girls are the pigs here!" He said defensively. Kairi went quiet , unable to deny the slight truth in what he said.

"W-Whatever! It was mostly Sora. Anyway, Xion, Sora. You two are coming with Riku and I."

"Why? What crazy scheme are you up to? And what about Roxas and Namine?" Xion questioned. Suddenly Kairi felt the holes in her perfectly woven plan.

"I need to speak to you guys about something I'm planning. A sporting event, at school. Those two were really useless at the meteor shower event so they don't have to come. Right Riku?" Kairi said innocently.

"Uh, yeah. What Kairi said." Riku mumbled.

The four scrambled out of the house as Kairi herded them together and threw them out along with herself, closely the door with a cheeky smile. "Have fun, while we're gone."

The door slammed shut. The two felt a deafening silence. Roxas shifted in his seat. "You do realise Kairi's up to something, and she almost definitely dragged Riku into it." Roxas said.

"You sound like Riku, know-it-all. Well, we've got some time to do stuff. Let's go out and do something. Sitting here is boring."

"Sure, were do you want to go."

"Hmm... Let's go to your house. I'll thrash you at video games. I promise." Namine smirked. She felt like it was her turn to annoy Roxas.

"Oh really? You're on." There was a thud and everything went black.

"What? The power's gone out." Namine said.

"I can see that. Let's go tell Kairi her house died." Roxas said. He took hold of Namine's hand and led her to the door. Roxas rattled the door knob countless times. It wouldn't budge.

"Roxas, open the door already." Namine said.

"I would if I could." He said under breath.

"Quit playing. Let me try." Again, the same result. "Great. There goes kicking your butt at your own game." After further bickering, stepping on each other's feet and looking for a light switch and a torch, some time had passed with no productivity.


"Do you think it worked?" Riku whispered, rumbling through a bush to meet up with Kairi. He had just executed his first deed for Kairi's master plan.

"Yeah, those two are crawling around in there somewhere. Good job on turning off the lights. You had perfect timing. I wonder if those two will ever guess it was us." Kairi said excitedly. She had a pair of night vision and looked through a peak in the window. Riku was given a pair by Kairi. "Take these. Roxas and Namine are such morons."

Riku took the binoculars and joined Kairi, as much as he didn't like peeping. "Says the girl who got this whole idea from a dumb nature program."

"Hey! It worked with the gorillas, it'll work on them!" Kairi argued. There was more rumbling through their bush and Sora had joined them as he was passed a third pair of binoculars.

"I did as asked, Captain Kairi." He said, "Xion has been led away." Sora's duty was to leave Xion out of the whole plan. Kairi had the feeling she would say this whole mischievous idea was wrong, and blow up the whole operation. Riku, on the other hand, could easily be convinced by Kairi to do anything. She had a way with people.

"Captain Kairi? Whose idea was that?" Riku laughed, "I think it should be King Kong - Lord of the Gorilla Documentaries." Kairi gave him a sour look but Riku took no notice.

"They aren't doing anything much right now. I think Namine broke Roxas's foot on purpose. Are they looking through your cupboards?" Sora whispered, loudly.

"It's okay, Kairi and I took out the torch lights and candles beforehand. They're in the dark for the next hour or so, I guess."

Kairi was evilly stroking a cat in her mind and said, "Don't worry. Things will pick up in a bit. Just wait and see..."


Namine and Roxas sat on a sofa, bored from searching for lights that weren't there. "Let's just crawl out of a window or something." Roxas suggested.

"What are you? Five? The windows don't open enough for a person to enter or exit. Otherwise a criminal could bust in. You know what, why do bad things happen when your around? You're like bad luck." Namine moaned, making Roxas laugh at her misery.

"Really? Good things happen to me when I'm near you."

"Paint spillage was lucky? Detention was lucky? This blackout is lucky?"

"Yes, in its own way. Speaking of blackouts, this house is the only one with the light gone out. And didn't the light go out just after everyone left?"

"Oh yeah. I'm going to check the door again." Namine said. Roxas stood up to follow and stumbled off the sofa and onto Namine. The two were lying on the floor groaning in pain.

"Sorry, I couldn't see."

"Roxas, you perv. What the heck was that for?"

"What? What did I do?"

"You you practically slapped my- Ugh, just never mind. Just don't walk in the dark with me again, ever."

"But I didn't..." Roxas mumbled. Namine gave up on the light switch as the effort was useless. They just went back to the sofas, back at square one.

There was a silence again. "Hey Roxas. Can I ask you something?"

"You already have."

"It's about Olette. She was your girlfriend before. Right?"

"And who told you that?"

"I promised not to say." Namine lied, trying to keep Riku out of trouble.

"It's true. About Olette and I."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did it all...end?"

"She started liking someone else. It's not for me to decide to keep someone from who they really want. It's not fair."

"What's not fair is you got dumped for someone else." Namine said. Her voice was louder and she practically lashed out without realising. Roxas was silent from confusion. "Oh come on! You deserve better. Even if you're a total butt half the time, you're not a bad person. Your too nice."

"And why," Roxas said slowly, "Would you say that?"

"Because...I don't know. To be honest, I don't even know what to think of you. It gives me a headache. The worst part is, you haven't told me a thing about you, and I tell you everything about me!"

"That's a result of you rambling on. And the reason I don't tell you everything," Roxas said, "is because not everything is for everyone to know."

"Oh. Well, we're friends right? Kind of. I think. Okay maybe not really. But we're close!" Namine said firmly. She suddenly started laughing.

"What is it now?"

"Sorry..." She breathed. "Your name popped up in my head but it was pronounced Rox-ass."

"You know what just popped up in my head? A word that shouldn't be said. Anyway, what got you so curious about my relationships?"

"Uh, you know. Just making conversation."

"Bad excuse. As punishment, tell me about your past relationships."

"Zero. Nothing. Non-existent."

"Really? Have you ever been asked out?"

"So far, its four times- Wait, you got it out of me again, and I still don't know a thing about you."

"Four times!?"

"Yeah. Not too much right? Three of them were guys in my art class and one was a friend."

"Oh."

"What's with the reaction?"

"Sorry, I was just expecting something different."

"Get to the point, different how?"

"Never mind."

"No, tell me. Come on."

"Seriously, it wasn't important."

"But I want to know!"

"Forget about it, okay?" Roxas said, getting up from his seat.

"And where are you going?" Namine said. She stood up and started looking for where he went, blindly. Roxas knew that she could only find her by sound and crept around as quietly and carefully as possible. After a few minutes, they wandered into the wide hallway. Roxas hoped that since it was carpeted, there would be less creaks. All it would take was one sound and Namine would maul at him like an animal.

Roxas bumped into a telephone stand, making a rumbling noise as it wobbled. Namine took hold of his arm. "There you are! Listen to me Roxas. I've got something important to say too. I want you to stop all...this. Not telling me a single thing and being all vague doesn't help with what you call cluelessness. Pleeeeaaase be honest with me, okay? Are you there? This is awkward."

Roxas was silent and thinking about what Namine had said. He always told himself to get the timing perfect, to not rush anything. At that point, he threw away every once of uncertainty, and was ready to break all the rules he'd made. "Okay. I promise, alright?"

"I still don't believe you. Your really sketchy with things like this."

"Fine, how about I prove it to you? We'll spend all day tomorrow together. Just you and me, and you can ask me whatever you want. Will that make you feel better, Nami-neigh?" He said, purring like a horse.

"Finally got me back. But that sounds like a good plan to me. But no tricks! I feel like getting out of here already."

"Oh damn."

"What?"

"We have our phones. We could have called Sora and the others all this time."

"Seriously? How annoying. Let's go back to the living room. Not being able to see is annoying."

The two walked back to the large window when some light seeped through and opened the window. There was a strange rustling in the bush but the two took no notice. Roxas phone started ringing as he dialled Sora. The little tune went off, but from two different places. One from Roxas's phone...and once from the bush. "What the- was the bush ringing?" Namine said, startled. There were murmurs in the bush and a blur of voices. One was a familiar girl and two boys.

"Kairi, Sora, Riku." Roxas said, as the rose up looking guilty. "What the hell were you guys doing hanging around in a bush?"

"Uh, surprise!" Sora said happily. "We were planning on scaring you guys by turning the house into a haunted mansion!"

"A what? Why?" Namine said. "Riku, you'll tell me what's going on, right?" Namine demanded.

"This was all Kairi. I had no part in this." He said, raising his hands to surrender.

"How about you three go on home. I'll have a little talk with Kairi." Roxas said, shooing the lot of them away.

"Well, I'm going to the principal's office. Bye guys!" Kairi cheered.


This chapter was a little under done, sorry about that. I had a writers block. Well a writers I-changed-my-mind. I hope the chapter was decent, because I'm going to have a little fun with the next one. It's actually the part I've been wanting to write the most. Next chapter won't take as long, just saying. I should have given the chapter the alternative ending I had in mind...Oh well, you'll never know now. And that'll be for another time.