Chapter 10: Something Blue

Previously: "Selphie," Selphie turned towards Naminé eagerly. 'Another win.'

"I want Kairi to be my spy, not you."

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Selphie's face paled, "W-What! B-But Naminé, I-I'm always your spy!"

Kairi shot Selphie a quick victory smirk before turning back to Naminé rather eagerly. She had beat Selphie. For once, Kairi Suki beat out Selphie Tanaka. It was news, front page news—well at least to Kairi anyway.

In a sense, the auburn haired girl knew that even with such a small win she shouldn't be so happy. After all, Selphie was notorious for her revenge plots directed at anyone brave (or stupid) enough to get in her way.

Naminé only arched an eyebrow, annoyed, "Your point?"

"It's just…I…but um," Selphie stammered helplessly. She couldn't anger the queen. She just couldn't. Her whole life would be ruined.

"Gawd, are you stupid?" Naminé said rolling her eyes as she took out her lip gloss and applied a fresh coat.

Selphie's cheeks flushed with rage but she bit her tongue. She would not become a loser, not even if she really wanted to tell the blonde where to stick that pole of hers. So, as any plotting popular would do, Selphie remained calm and smiled plastically at her master, shaking her head.

"Well," Naminé looked at Selphie for a moment making a brief judgment, "whatever just don't do it again. I can't stand it when people act like that." Naminé shook back her platinum blonde hair once before turning her attention back on Kairi.

"I want a weekly report on how things are going. Whatever Roxas related news, you tell me ASAP, kay?" Naminé asked though it was obviously more of a demand than a request as were most things that the blonde girl desired.

Kairi nodded her head with an eager obedience, "I'm on it!"

Naminé nodded her head in satisfaction. It seemed as though despite all of the strife that had invaded her life throughout the day, things were finally going according to plan. Selphie would get rid of her Xion problem, Kairi would provide her knowledge on her blond haired crush, and Naminé was going out to her favorite restaurant tonight with her parents.

Really? How could life get any better?

Naminé smiled at the thought, 'Well I guess I could think of few things to make life better.' Naminé's thoughts of course straying to Roxas and his mesmerizing blue-gray eyes.

Letting out a small, inaudible sigh Naminé put her hand under her chin and stared up idly at the clock hanging above the doorway.

Tick. Tick. Tick…

"Naminé?"

Naminé's gaze flickered over to the sound, petulantly, "What?"

It was Olette. Naminé internally rolled her eyes as she saw Olette flinch at the tone of her voice. That girl really needed to shape up if she was going to be a part of her group.

"Yes, Olette?" Naminé's tone softened a little as she straightened her aching back, rolling her shoulders as an attempt at releasing some of the strains.

Olette still lowered her eyes meekly, refusing to make eye contact as she gingerly held out a folded sheet of lined paper, "I-It's a note….I-I was told to g-give it to you."

Naminé snatched the note from Olette's hands, muttering a small and almost inaudible thank-you before adroitly unfolding the piece of paper and reading it. Olette only shrunk back into her seat as Naminé read, hoping his burning eyes weren't still on her.

Babe,

Meet me at my locker after seventh period.

-Riku

Naminé suppressed an eye roll. What did Riku want now? Really, what so important that she had to meet him at his locker for? She had far more important things to do with her life than waste her time on him. Things like planning her next outfit or spending more time with Roxas, or just anything else in general.

Sure, Riku was a top hottie but all he really was to Naminé was eye candy. A back-up plan. Someone who was always ready and always willing but could be dropped just like that. He was the type of someone that Naminé liked to flirt with on the occasion but Riku was definitely not the kind of person she wanted to have a real relationship with.

"What was the note about?" Selphie inquired as her jade, snake-like eyes tried stealing a glance at the note in the blonde's hands.

"Nothing, just some stupid note from Riku." Naminé said as she nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders and crumpled up the piece of paper.

Selphie's eyes widened, taking a brief moment to stifle the sudden pulses of jealousy she felt, "Really? What did he want?" It was obvious Selphie was dying to know for more than just the sake of satiating her gossip hungry appetite.

Naminé sighed, finally giving into the urge of rolling her eyes, "Ugh, he wants to meet me after to school so we can," Naminé paused to make air quotations, "talk."

"Talk?" Selphie licked her suddenly dry lips. Why did Riku want to 'talk' with Naminé? "Why does he like want to talk to you?"

"No clue."

Selphie nodded her head having to keep her bubbly demeanor up despite her inner disappointment, "Oh, well I'm sure it's just like about something stupid anyway."

Naminé snorted, "Knowing Riku, it probably is."

Selphie forced herself to crack a smile. She had to. It was for the crown.

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It was three o' clock now. School had just ended and Naminé clutching her Gucci handbag to her body securely stood in front of Riku's locker, now waiting for the silver haired boy to arrive.

Students passing by acted as spectators, watching their Queen intently. Some even bothering to stay behind in case any new drama unfolded—a crowd favorite. It was something Naminé ignored rather well despite some of the lustful stares of her male classmates.

She waited another minute, checking the onyx Juicy watch on her wrist irritably.

'Gawd, I'm not even the one who wanted to meet him here.'

"Sorry I'm late, the math teacher held me up. Something about raising my grades or whatever," Riku said shaking his head apologetically as he made his way over to Naminé from the other end of the hall.

Naminé merely fluffed her hair, "Whatever, just like can you tell me what you want so I can go home?"

Riku scratched the back of his head, "I just…wanted to know if anything was up with you and that new kid?"

"Roxas?" Naminé's voice was suddenly sugary sweet, as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yeah," Riku looked at her accusingly, "I just thought that…"

Naminé's eyes blinked up him oh-so innocently; alluringly "You just thought what?"

It wasn't that Naminé suddenly decided she didn't like Roxas or anything it was just…well she was Naminé Misaki. Things with her and Roxas weren't official yet so why not keep Riku in the dark? Save him a little bit of heart-break for now.

"Uh..Never mind," Riku shook his head as if nothing happened and gave his signature smirk, "but if you want I can give you a ride home?"

Naminé smiled to herself. He was so easy to fool.

"That's okay, I already have a ride but maybe some other time," Naminé winked, at the frowning teen before readjusting the strap of her purse and walking off.

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It was almost four by the time Naminé was actually able to arrive home. It had taken the blonde a little longer than usual because of some early traffic but now she was finally able to pull up into her family's large and luxurious estate.

Rows of colorful flowers and well sculpted topiary greeted her shaded eyes as she continued up the long spindly drive way. Various people Naminé's parents had hired were still out grooming the family's greenery to perfection and just to the left of the walkway was a tall steel gate leading to the outdoor pool.

It was a paradise away from paradise and Naminé for the most part loved it. She had all the freedom, comfort and luxury in the world at her fingertips. It all seemed so perfect.

Naminé smiled to herself as she pulled the car up to the driveway, removing her expensive Dior sunglasses as she stepped gracefully out of the car.

Tonight was the night. Five o' clock on the dot and she and her parents would be on their way to Naminé's favorite restaurant where the blonde would have her parent's full attention.

Yet, at the same time Naminé was nervous. She had wanted this dinner for a long time but….Naminé shook her head as she made her way into the house. But what would she actually talk about? Would her parents want to talk about anything other than their work?

Or how she could fit into their work.

It's what always happened. Her parents normally took over the entire conversation, including her only when it included themselves or how exactly she fit into their business. Naminé was never mad that they did this though…she was just happy they were around.

"Good afternoon, Miss Naminé. I see your home from school," Lucille, one of the family's maids, greeted as soon as the blonde entered through the set of ivory doors.

Naminé looked back at the small, stout woman and gave an acknowledging smile back. Lucille had been a part of her family's staff for as long as she could remember and to Naminé was almost that of a maternal figure as well.

"Are my parents home?" Naminé's voice was hopeful as she looked at the aging maid.

Lucille smiled lightly, the lines in her face creasing, "They were home a few hours ago and told me to tell you that they left a note for you in the kitchen."

Naminé nodded her head, and Lucille resumed her cleaning duties. The heels on the blonde's feet made a reverberating clacking noise as she proceeded into the kitchen.

Stainless steel appliances and marble countertops were the first thing Naminé saw when she walked into the kitchen as well as the family's chef Arnold who was still in the room, hard at work perfecting his latest concoction.

"Good afternoon, Miss Misaki," Arnold greeted with a formal nod of the head, Naminé nodded back before resuming her search.

Arnold seemed to notice her wandering gaze as he added another sprinkle of salt into the pot, "Anything in particular, you need, Miss Misaki?"

Naminé looked up abruptly, "Huh? Oh…well," Naminé paused to readjust the thick belt around her waist, "Lucille told me my parents left a note for me in the kitchen—"

"Like this one?" Arnold offered, holding a thin, neatly folded vanilla card with his clean hand. The little card had her name on it neatly written in cursive. Her mother's handwriting.

"Yes, I think that's it," Naminé said walking over and politely taking the card from the old chef's hand, "Thank you Arnold."

"My pleasure, Miss Misaki," Arnold replied with another polite nod of the head before turning back to his now bubbling pot.

Naminé opened the small card as she exited the room. The words were perfectly scrawled across the paper and Naminé's face fell as she read those perfectly scrawled words.

Naminé

Your father and I had a last minute meeting with one of our clients and are with heavy regret unable to attend dinner with you. Arnold will make you something if you get hungry later.

Oh and remember to start gathering things for the big charity dinner coming up in a few weeks.

Love, Mom & Dad.

Naminé inhaled sharply as her well manicured nails dug into the paper, crumpling it and throwing it violently on to the floor. From a distance, Lucille shot her a sympathetic look but this look went entirely unnoticed by the blonde as she hastily and angrily made her way up the stairs.

The one day, the one day that she asked them tobe there for her—they can't. Naminé had even planned with them for over a month and they still pulled this same stunt. It made her insides boil to even think she had been stupid enough to believe that they would actually come.

They never came. It was a simple, unavoidable fact. Her parents were far too absorbed in their own lives to even care about hers—not that they should. She was only their daughter after all.

Naminé rolled her eyes at the thought, 'Their only daughter and child…yeah way to go mom and dad.'

Naminé opened the door to her room and flopped onto her bed with a dejected sigh. "Well at least they left a note…normally they'd forget even that" Naminé leaned over the side of her bed and let out another sigh. She couldn't get mad at them.

It never worked. They always told her that she was merely over reacting and that she needed to learn to take things more maturely.

A small yip brought Naminé's attention to under her bed where her tiny and rather well dressed yorkie was laying wiggling her stumpy tail happily.

Naminé giggled bringing the small dog onto her lap, "At least you're always here for me, unlike some people I know."

The little dog let out another happy yip before jumping off of the bed and prancing cutely to her own on the other side of the bed. Naminé smiled lightly at the dog before unzipping her purse and bringing out her cell phone.

Fifteen new texts messages. Naminé's old Queen Bee smirk returned. Of course she'd have that many new texts only an hour or so after school was done. Three of the texts were from Riku only one of which she replied to, another three were from Selphie about some new juicy rumors she wanted to stir up. None were from Kairi though. Not yet anyway.

Naminé tossed the phone back into her purse almost carelessly and got up from the bed. "No use moping about might as well just start finding some totally out of season clothes to donate."

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"Ugly, ugly, can't believe it was actually in my closet," Naminé commented as she carelessly threw old articles of clothing onto her floor. She had gone through the majority of her closet and had already found almost an entire bag full of hideous or completely un-wearable pieces of clothing.

In a way Naminé felt good about her work. She was helping out some poor people and she had almost entirely forgotten the fact that her parents ditched her.

"These poor people better like appreciate these clothes," Naminé muttered as she picked up another too small sweater and tossed it into the donation pile. Naminé began to close her closet door when she noticed something blue hiding in the corner.

Curious, Naminé opened the door wider and bent down to pick up the strange object.

Naminé's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at it, 'What the? Why do I have a marble in my closet?'

Naminé shook her blonde head, confused, and walked over to her trash can but then gazing at the small blue object again hesitated.

'It's a crappy piece of blue plastic…it belongs in the garbage…but," Naminé's hand clenchedaround the marble protectively, 'I-I just can't get rid of it…'

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"Hello sweetheart, how was school?" Aerith Strife greeted once her son came through the door. The brunette haired woman had her pink apron on as she worked busily in the family's tiny kitchen.

Roxas smiled, walking towards the sound of his mother's voice, "It was good."

Aerith gave a sly smirk to her son and though he couldn't see his mother's face he well knew by her tone the very smile she had on, "Any cute girls you like there?"

Roxas' face turned bright red as Naminé's face came into his mind, "N-No! I-I mean well…sort of."

Aerith arched an eyebrow, "What do you mean by sort of?"

"MOM!" Roxas' face if possible turned an even brighter shade of red.

Aerith giggled, "Alright, alright. I won't bug you about it, but anyway dinner should be ready in a few minutes so you can take a seat."

Roxas nodded and proceeded to find his way to the table. His mother watched with an anxious frown. She knew it was better that he do this on his own, but her motherly instincts were fighting against those thoughts and to say in the least it was a difficult thing to fight.

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"How does everyone like the stew?" Aerith asked once everyone was at the table. It was known fact in the Strife household that Aerith was always worried about the taste of her food.

She had only a little money to spend on groceries during the week due to her and her husband's income or rather lack thereof, and with the increase of bills especially those of their son's it was at times almost impossible to make anything that seemed edible.

Cloud merely swallowed and shook his head, "It tastes great Aerith, like it always does."

Both Roxas and Larexene nodded their heads in approval before resuming their focus on the meal. Roxas struggled for a moment as he attempted to bring his spoon to his mouth and the rest of his family did their best not to notice.

Aerith smiled brightly, "I'm so glad to hear that," Aerith shook her head, "but um Cloud wasn't there something you wanted to say? You were trying to tell me earlier, I think."

Cloud swallowed as the whole room suddenly focused on him.

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Okay so I'm horrible with updates as always but I'm hoping that these seven pages will make up for it. My life as I've stated before has been a rollercoaster(but it's actually getting better now) and writing this chapter was hard to do and I don't want to update until I finish this summer paper I have to do.

As for our story: I'm really hoping people are beginning to feel at least a little bit bad for Naminé(even if only a little) and also see the differences between Roxas and Naminé's home lives.

And Finally, I just want to give a HUGE thank you for allowing me to get over 100 reviews! I mean honestly that's just beyond amazing! And I'm truly grateful for all the support!: D

Nobody—I know hallelujah! Thank you and it'll be quite the scene, won't it? And I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

SillySally—Thank you and yeah Xion is a bit annoying lol, and hee hee well she just knows her and Sora are meant to be XD and I know, lol he's so adorable in this story(as opposed to some of my other stories where he's all moody :p) It's gonna be a very interesting plan and thank you again.

Random KH Fan Girl—Thank you for your compliments, I appreciate it tons! And that's okay, you took your time to write out this one which is really cool by itself. Thank you I really wanted to be different because I do agree with the whole innocent thing. It's true but sometimes you need to read something where that's not the case. Haha I know Selphie has never been one of my favorite characters either. Lol I would jealous too. Yeah, I thought it would be neat just because I mean not everyone whose popular wants to be mean but are afraid to do something because they'll lose their status. And I really wanted to portray that struggle. Haha Xion is a bit annoying and well I am a fan of Haynette…and thank you. Things have gotten hard but are actually getting better and lol I guess.