I KNOW THAT IN KH2 RIKU DOESN'T KNOW WHO NAMINE'S SOMEBODY IS!! I WILL EXPLAIN LATER!! IT WILL EVENTUALLY MAKE SENSE, I PROMISE!!

Okay, for the time being this will appear somewhat AU since in the beginning of KH2, Riku was asking whose nobody Namine was. However, I promise, eventually I will explain. For the time being, just, just go with me here. Kay? Namine has the ability to manipulate memories...just...remember that. Please.

Hey, does anyone know if the same guy who voiced DiZ/Ansem is the same guy who plays Count Dooku in Star Wars Ep. 2 and 3? Cuz it was just on, and it occured to me how similar they sound.

Yep. Early update. blackrogue123-these DiZ hating chapters are for you. Cuz DiZ should totally be in the bad guy catagory.

Disclaimer: If I did, I'd be taking Roxas to prom. (drools) Or Riku...but then again Roxas is closer to my height, but Riku's my age...If I owned it, I'd be taking BOTH of them to prom!! Heck, if I owned it, I'd take Roxas, Riku, AND Sora! And Axel! I'd take the whole Organization as my entourage. 'Cept Larxene...

That'd be weird filling out the Out-of-School date form... Do normal school have those, or is it just mine?

Much Ado About Nothing

Namine, With Extra Sauce

"…It's been nearly a year and he's only at ten percent! At this rate Sora'll be incapacitated for another decade…how many times must I tell you to make haste!"

Naminé rolled her eyes. DiZ would continue to fuss at her about Sora no matter how fast or slow she went.

"And how many times must I tell you that putting memories back together is a tricky business. Memories are what hold the heart together. If Sora doesn't have a solid foundation of memories of Kairi then his heart will reject the rest of them. The ensuing confusion would rip his heart to shreds. I have to start with his earliest memories and work from there." She explained, not even looking up from her drawing. "Taking memories apart is easy. Putting them back together takes time. Once I've got the foundation firmly reinforced, things will start going much quicker."

DiZ watched her draw silently. He could only argue so much with her; in the end she always managed to say something like that; something he did not understand enough to refute. She was getting saucier and saucier; Kairi's spunk was finally catching up with her. Diz had liked it better when she was meek and diminutive.

"What are you drawing, Naminé?" He asked, stepping closer.

Naminé didn't answer.

Diz looked over her shoulder. "Who is that?"

"…Roxas."

Diz was taken aback. "Roxas? Sora never met him. What does this have to do with Sora's memories?"

"It doesn't. It's for my own personal enjoyment." Naminé replied, still not looking up.

Diz frowned. "Naminé…Your task is to repair Sora's memory. Not to fill the world with pretty pictures. If that is a goal you want to pursue then you may pursue it after-"

"The better my abilities the clearer I can depict Sora's memories," at this point Naminé actually bothered to look up. "And I don't see why I can't take a break every now and then."

"Because you are a witch. Witches don't get free time." (AN 1)

Naminé raised an eyebrow and went back to her drawing. "Larxene used to call me something else that rhymed with that word. It didn't start with a 'w' though…" Naminé smirked as Diz rolled his eyes. He hated when she compared him to her former captors. "…It started with a letter a bit closer to the front of the alphabet…"

Diz frowned contemptuously. "This is beside the point. While you waste time doodling the Organization is gathering hearts. I need Sora to stop them. And obviously he cannot do that if he is asleep!"

Naminé rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll have him fixed as soon as I can. But you yelling at me isn't going to help Sora remember anything. If nothing else it makes me want to work less." Diz frowned at the young Nobody. He hated having to argue with her. She was such a pain sometimes…He knew there was a reason he never had children. It was because he hated dealing with teenagers. Why couldn't she just be quiet…She'd been so shy and silent when he'd first come across her. Now she and Riku both were starting to talk back to him.

"Just do not forget the importance of your mission." And he portalled away.

Naminé rolled her eyes.

"You really should go faster."

Naminé slammed down her pencil. "Oh, not you too!"

Riku turned his head to peer at her through his blindfold. "I'm just worried…You have been working on Sora for quite a long time for him to only be at ten percent."

"Riku, leave me alone." Naminé picked up her pencil and began sketching again. They simply didn't understand…They couldn't believe that she had made so little progress in a year…Naminé thought it was a miracle that she'd managed to fix Sora's memory that much in one year. It infuriated her that they kept nagging her. Had she not told them from the beginning that this would take a while? And had she not tried to tell them that maybe bringing Kairi here might boost Sora's recovery?

But no. Nobody listened to the witch. Not even Riku took her side anymore. She understood that he was worried about his friend…but still…was she not still his friend too?

"Why are you drawing Roxas?" Naminé jumped. She turned to see Riku standing right behind her. She had been so caught up in her art that she'd failed to notice him sneak up on her. "Because I can."

"But he's dead."

Naminé clenched her pencil tighter. "…I know that…"

"Well…why don't you draw something else for a change…I mean, I don't want to sound mean or anything," Riku began; and Naminé could have sworn she detected a hint of jealously in his voice. "But, I mean, come on. It's been like, a year. Shouldn't you just…move on?"

Naminé squeezed her pencil even tighter. "You lost Kairi to Sora years ago. Shouldn't you just move on?" She said bitingly.

Riku was silent for a moment, and Naminé knew she'd struck a nerve.

"That was low."

"And bringing up Roxas wasn't?"

Riku was silent again.

"…He's dead."

"And Kairi loves Sora."

Silence.

This was how it had been between them lately. Riku had accepted that he had lost Kairi to Sora, but he hated that even though it had been a year since Roxas's death, Naminé was still mourning losing him. Naminé knew the real reason for Riku's contempt towards Roxas. He'd lost Kairi to Sora and he hated the thought of losing her nobody to Sora's. Especially when Sora's nobody was no longer in existence.

It was ruining their friendship. At first Riku had given her her space concerning Roxas, but after all this time he was beginning to get disgruntled that she still cared. Riku's flirtation with darkness had humbled him a great deal, but he was cocky by nature, and his pride had the unfortunate side effect of turning him into a bit of a jerk when he was annoyed.

A year ago Naminé would have ignored his temper for the most part. She would have hidden behind her sketchbook and hoped he wouldn't get mad at her. But after a year of Riku's and Diz's aggravated abuse, Naminé was rather getting tired of walking on eggshells. She would talk back and argue with them if they fussed because why wasn't she done with Sora yet? Well, if they wanted her to do a decent job, then they'd just have to wait.

To a great degree Naminé was over Roxas. She still loved him…a part of her always would. But he was gone…and as hard as that was to except she was trying to move on. Hence her interest in Sora and Riku. Kairi had swallowed Sora's heart whole, so he of course was out of the question. Riku on the other hand…

A part of Naminé didn't want to fall in love with Riku not only because she still cared for Roxas, but because she knew Riku only liked her because she was Kairi's shadow.

But she was lonely…She wanted to believe that there was good in Riku. She'd seen it before. But he was getting so cold and so distant. A strange mixture of guilt and pride pushing him away from her. She'd tried to get him to go see Kairi…maybe that would make him feel better. But Riku couldn't bring himself to face his old friends.

And for some reason that just attracted her to him.

Valentine's Day was approaching. And for some reason Naminé couldn't help but hope that Riku might make something of the holiday…

XIII

"Riku, I can't draw when you hover like that." (AN 2)

Riku took a step back. "Sorry. I just have to be close up to be able to really see." Naminé smiled apologetically. She had the tendency to forget that while Riku's blindfold didn't completely blind him, it did make it much more difficult for him to see.

"I'll show you when I'm finished," she told him.

"What's it of?" Riku asked, sitting down at the other end of her long white table. He spent most of his time in here with her, or in the large white room in which Sora was kept. Naminé had told him that Sora might be able to hear him, and that Riku's words might aid his friend's recovery. He was mostly silent, just watching her, but occasionally he would try to get her to talk.

Naminé hesitated. "When Sora was seven Kairi kissed him on the cheek and it was the highlight of his year. I'm drawing that moment. You might remember it…you were there…"

"Hn." Naminé sighed. She knew Riku would be disgruntled by something like that. Like he needed any more reminders of Sora and Kairi's infatuation; or to remember such a moment. Naminé resolved to draw him something later. Maybe she'd plant a memory of Kairi kissing Riku; just to make him feel better. Then again, she may not have to. The redhead may have given Riku a kiss at some point in time.

"Valentine's Day is coming up…" Naminé commented casually.

"Hn." Riku grunted.

Usually Riku had to pry words out of her. For once Naminé wanted to pry a response out of Riku.

"Maybe you should go see Kairi." That was by no means what Naminé wanted Riku to do on Valentine's Day; she wanted him to spend it with her. But for some reason she'd said it.

"I'm not the one she wants to see."

Well, duh. Naminé thought idly. "Well, do you have any other plans for that day?"

"Why?"

"Just curious." Naminé bit her lip. Well, Naminé, that was brilliant.

"I'd much rather spend it here with you."

Naminé was so surprised that she dropped her crayon. "…what?" Her response came out a little bit more shocked and confused than she'd have liked, but she didn't sound…happy, which she supposed was all that kept the moment from being totally awkward.

She picked up a crayon and continued her coloring. She then suddenly felt something soft and strange and foreign touch the side of her head, and it took her a moment to realize it was Riku's lips.

"See you later." He turned and left her room almost as silently as he had come.

Naminé shook her head to clear it. Riku…no. What was she thinking…he didn't…he liked Kairi. She didn't want him to like Kairi…Why?

"I'm confused." Naminé shook her head again. Now she was thinking out loud. Wonderful. But, how did she feel about Riku?

She loved Roxas.

But, Riku was right. Roxas was gone. As much as she hated to think that…he was gone. And…maybe Riku was right…maybe…maybe she should move on…and if Riku was interested…

Now; it had been about a year since she'd tried to turn on that womanly charm.

How did that whole flirting thing work again?

AN 1: Insert Sunny throttling DiZ here.

AN 2: "Your majesty, I can't concentrate when you hover like that!" From A Bug's Life

Not a whole ton going on here. But contrary to what you may think, it is not a filler. Every chapter holds a piece of the puzzle...

Once again, I promise that I eventually will make sense of Riku's current knowledge of Namine's identity. For the time being, just GO WITH IT!

Also, for clarification from 'One Short Day part 2 (?)' When using the verb love in terms of saying something like, 'I love you', the verb 'aimer' is used instead of 'adorer'. So someone would say 'Je t'aime' I don't feel like fully explaining the grammar right now. Kay? I didn't feel like doing it correctly in the story, because I didn't feel like answering all the reviews where people were confused. Neither do I currently feel like going back and changing it in the story. Nevertheless, a big thanks to FallArbor for pointing it out.

This will end Namixas, I promise. Leave a good review and I will try to reply with something other than simply, 'Thanks!!' I'm not uber articulate in normal conversation...Go figure.