Bloom Into Love
Chapter Ten
A/N: I realized that in Ch.6, Rikku seemed to know who Naminé is, (so wouldn't she know what she looked like?) but in Ch.9 she like…didn't realized that it was Naminé being dragged away. That was sort of my bad cause I forgot that Rikku knew who Naminé was, BUT if her Naminé's parents kept her within the mansion her whole life then no one in Twilight Town knows what she looks like, right? Well I may be just confusing you more so just on with the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
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"Well ummm… you see. R-Roxas, he uhh—" Rikku tried to think of an excuse as fast as her mind could go. Her boss waited, tapping her her foot impatiently. 'That is definitely not a happy look on her face!' She thought. "H-he ummm..."
"I'm FIRED?! What!? Rikku, how'd this happen!?" Roxas shouted at his cell phone. He was really stressing out. Naminé had been gone for more than an hour and now he was fired?!
"Well, you didn't show up for work today so I kinda lied to the boss saying that you were already here, and I decided to deliver your mail bag but she kinda caught me. And she said she knew you were lying to her about that one day I took most of your mail…so she fired you." Roxas groaned loudly into the phone. "Hey! I'M SORRY, OKAY?"
"Not that…It's just—Ugh! Never mind!""Hey, well maybe I can help!" She offered cheerfully.
"No thanks, Rikku."
"But I—" Roxas hung up his phone and start off to start looking for Naminé.
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Naminé's father dragged his daughter to the Mansion.
"STOP!" Naminé screamed, trying to pull herself away from his grasp, but his fist only clenched harder. It felt like he was cutting the circulation from her wrist or it was going to break it if held it any harder. "Lemme go!"
"SHUT UP!" Her father yelled back and punched her in her face. Naminé started crying. He dragged her inside, but instead of bringing her upstairs to her room, he headed for the basement door. He violently swung the door open and then threw his daughter down, Naminé tumbling down the steps until she reached the ground.
"YOU'RE NEVER RUNNING AWAY AGAIN!" He slammed the door shut and all light was gone except for the few shafts of sunlight that came from a narrow window on another side of the room.
Naminé was isolated, scared, and miserable. She couldn't feel her wrist anymore, her face stung, and it hurt to move her body even a little after her flight down the cold, hard cemented stairs. She let the tears drench her face as she stood still, half-expecting death to take her out of this pain.
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Roxas treaded up the hill in the Gardens, expecting to see Naminé waiting peacefully for him at its peak. But he didn't. "Huh?" He searched below and around the Gardens from the hill. "NAMINÉ!" He called. His voice echoed and was lost into the wind. "Where is she?"
By sunset, he must have looked all over Twilight Town, but couldn't find Naminé. He returned to the apartment, dead tired. He struggled to walk over to his bed without collapsing, but made it successfully. He then dropped into the soft pillows and sheets and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Roxas was drinking a cup of coffee on the small kitchen table, his hands over his forehead. Sora joined him.
"Hey Roxas, where's Naminé?"
"I'm…not sure."
"You lost your girlfriend?"
"Shut up, Sora. I lost my job and now I can't pay half of the rent and Naminé's lost!" Roxas said, frustrated. "For all I know she could have been kidnapped or raped or who knows what else!"
"Well I'm not sure what to tell you about your girlfriend problem, but don't worry about the rent…I can always ask my parents to help—"
"No Sora, you don't have to do that. Didn't you move to Twilight Town in the first place was because you hated your parents?"
"Yes, but—"
"Wouldn't that seem pathetic that you move out of your parent's house without saying a word and now you're asking for money from your them?"
"Yes, but—"
"I'll find a new job and I'll find a way to make money." But first Naminé. "But right now, I'm more worried about Naminé. I've been searching the whole day yesterday, but I haven't found her."
"Where exactly did you look? Maybe you could have missed a few places."
"Well I looked in the Back Alley, Sandlot, Tram Common, Sunset Hill, Station Heights, Central Station, and even the Usual Spot! But nothing! And—and it isn't as easy as it seems!"
"Dude—calm down…You forgot some places like the Woods and the Underground Concourse. And have you even checked her house? She could be there." Roxas slapped his forehead.
"First of all, maybe I'll check the Woods later, I'm not sure why she'll be there though. Second, she's terrified of the Underground Concourse, I really doubt she'll go there—alone." Well it's not that bad there…She was only afraid last time because it was almost completely dark. "And—she first came here because she was running away from her home! Why would she go back there?"
"Well my bad, I'm just throwing ideas around! So the choices are the Woods and the Underground Concourse. They both seem unlikely as you say, but it can't hurt to try."
"Fine."
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After that Roxas set off again to the Underground Concourse. For some reason Sora tagged along too, saying that he didn't want to miss out in the fun. They entered the area, which was now fully lighted, they split up and started searching around.
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Naminé opened her eyes only to realize that this wasn't a nightmare. Her head ached and all the world around her seemed to spin around her in blurs of dizziness. She was still in the same position from the day before and her tears were dried over her cheeks. Roxas—shouldn't you be here by now? She shut her eyes back closed.
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After what seemed like hours, the two finally crossed paths and rested in a corner. "We searched the entire area and no Naminé!" Sora complained and slid down a wall.
"Obviously she's not here then…" Roxas said frustrated. He growled in anger. "WHERE IS SHE!?" He got up and punched the wall behind him. Hard enough that the light above them flickered and a cloud of dirt and dust gently floated down and to Sora's head from the wall.
"Hey calm down!" Sora shook the dirt off of his hair and stopped Roxas from hitting the wall with his other fist. His right fist, though, was red and blood trickled from it. "Roxas—let's take a break for awhile. I'm exhausted!"
Roxas was silent for a few minutes. "No…" Sora stared at him, dumbfounded. "I'll keep looking for her."
"But Roxas, you're exhausted too! You're going to overwork yourself!" Sora shouted.
"Sora! If Kairi went missing, you'd be searching your heart out for her. You know why? 'Cause you love her... I love Naminé. Nothing you say is going to change my mind…" Sora looked down for a second, and smiled.
"Well you've got something right. I do love Kairi. Heh, go ahead and look for her, I'm not stopping you anymore." He patted him on the shoulder. "But you're on your own! I'm going back to the apartment to rest!"
"Good enough. Now I won't have anyone dragging me down now!" Roxas joked.
"I'll call you if she turns up at the apartment again. Just—try not to overdo it. Remember there's always tomorrow to look for her."
"Thanks…and I will." Roxas smiled and walked off in the opposite direction, continuing his search for Naminé, while Sora slid back down the wall to rest.
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Hayner, Pence, and Olette were sitting in the Back Alley. "See! Roxas isn't here! AGAIN! Before, on the days we were off we always met here, even if we didn't plan it or anything!" Hayner complained irritably.
"Well the plan is simple. We just simply plant cameras all over areas in Twilight Town and see if we can track Roxas down with it." Pence said.
"No! You guys are so mean! If Roxas has his own stuff to do then let him be! It's not like he's a serial killer or something!" Olette countered.
"But don't you wonder what he's doing this whole time without us? He's always ditching us now without telling us why! C'mon, I know you wanna know!" Hayner said. "Besides, it's this our last summer together? Together, not all separated!"
"Yeah, but…ummm—" Olette was torn between the two choices. Finally she said, "But where are we going to get all the cameras to do this? And we better not be stealing them from any stores!"
"Of course not! All we have to do is—"
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Roxas searched behind almost every tree and bush in the Woods and under every single fallen tree. Sweat dripped down his cheeks as he felt his anger rising again. He balled his hands into tight fists and tried to control his anger. He exhaled and looked at the mansion off in the distance.
He shook his head, thinking that would be the last place she would be.
When is he coming for me?
The sun was setting when Roxas reentered the Tram Common and decided to take a break for now. He walked to a store and ordered, "One sea-salt ice cream." The man behind the counter reached into a freezer in the back and gave Roxas the popsicle in exchange for 10 munny. He walked off and leaned on a random brick wall and began licking the salty-sweet ice cream. He slid down the wall and closed his eyes, trying to relax and trying not to fall asleep at the same time. When he finally reopened his eyes, he saw a pair of green swirly eyes staring upon him.
"WHOA!" Roxas flinched and dropped his ice cream.
"Oh thank goodness, I thought you passed out or something—" Rikku helped Roxas get up. "So what are you doing here all by yourself?"
"Why are you here all by yourself?" Roxas countered. She wagged a finger in his face.
"Don't change the subject, stupid!"
"I'm looking for Naminé. She left my apartment without telling me and now she's missing. I can't find her anywhere…"
"Well maybe—WAIT! She was at your apartment!?" Roxas rolled his eyes. Geez, if someone of the opposite gender stays with you for the night, EVERYONE insinuates that you slept with them! What is wrong with the world today?! "Ooohhh—Roxie getting a little ahead of himself! Hehehehe!"
"Shut up! She's just staying there for awhile and no, nothing freakin' happened!"
"Sorry, sorry! Hehe…Anyways—hmmm, what was I gonna say? Oh yeah! What does she look like? Sure, I've heard of little Nami, but I never actually seen her before! Sooo, maybe I can look out for her when I'm not busy or something—"
"Well—ummm…she has really pale skin…and flaxen-colored blonde hair. Oh and she has a pair of beautiful, angelic blue eyes that—"
"Okay, just shut up now I got the idea…"
"Oh sorry about that…" Rikku rested her fingers as she thought if the appearance rang a bell. Then the events earlier that afternoon flashed into her mind.
"Wait a sec! Does she have a white dress and hair that flips out like this?" She tried to make her long ponytail flip out to her right shoulder, but couldn't get it exactly right.
"Yes! Yes! Have you seen her before!?"
"Yeah, I saw her earlier this afternoon, but—" She paused.
"But?!"
"She was being dragged away by some creepy guy…" Rikku saw Roxas's eyebrows furrow. "He was shouting at her something like—" She cleared her throat and tried to make it sound deeper. "'YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO RUN AWAY EVER IN YOUR LIFE!' (Roxas's eyes widened) Or something like that…And I couldn't see where they went."
"No need…I already know where they are." He faced the way to the Woods. "Rikku, thanks for all your help."
"No problem! But what are—" Roxas smiled and ran off.
Namine barely opened her eyes. "R-Roxas?" Her fingers twitched.
It was nighttime when Roxas made it to the Mansion. He stared at the house and crossed his fingers.
Roxas managed to climb over the gate, using some of the decorative metal linings on the gate as footholds for he decided not to go through the front door. He remembered, though, that's Naminé's room was the front window in the top-left. He used the growing ivy on the side of the mansion as a rope to pull himself up until he secured himself on a small ledge by her room's window. He tried to smear off some of the dirt and peeked inside.
No one was in there. He scanned the room further but only saw an empty bed, a dresser, some other furniture, and several wilted petals scattered among the floor. Roxas cursed to himself as he jumped below and walked to the back of the house.
It was physically impossible to check all the windows in the house for many were inaccessible for him to reach up to. "Naminé—" He called out softly. He stumbled several times on what looked to be giant rocks of some sort and had to squint for he could hardly see. He walked through some bushes when he noticed something glimmer from the side of his eye. When he investigated it more, he realized it was a narrow window.
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A/N: DundunCLIFFHANGER! My bad if I got some of the places in Twilight Town wrong when Roxas and Sora were listing them, cause I haven't played the game in a while and I obviously tried to write them from memory but yeah...