IT. IS. FINALLY. DONE. Goodness, did this take forever to get out! If anyone read my bio, I mentioned that my computer crashed and that is the source of such an immense delay...and then the holidays came and the family get-together things started...but I am now back!

I hope all my awesome readers are still around, and I hope you'll find this chapter to your liking! I had previously done a chapter entirely from Roxas's POV, so this one is from Naminé's POV.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or Disney.


Unnoticed

Friday, May 22

"I promise you, nothing or anyone will ever harm you again."

The words danced around in her mind over and over endlessly; she looked deeply into Roxas's sky blue eyes and knew that his words were sincere. Roxas looked down at her left hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it, making her heart beat over 100mph. Naminé's cheeks burned and her lips quivered. Their eyes locked together and the world came to a steady halt.

Roxas let go of her hand and gently stroked her cheek; Naminé's eyes fluttered to a close as she instinctively leaned into his palm. She didn't know why her body reacted that way; it was as if her body was on auto pilot, as if her body just knew what to do. She felt his other hand stroking her other cheek, before his hands tilted her head upward.

Naminé opened her eyes and was rather surprised to find his face so close to hers. Her face heated up more when he leaned in and their noses touched. His right thumb lightly rubbed her lower lip, and her mouth automatically parted. Roxas placed small, tender kisses on her left cheek, slowly trailing and kissing her chin.

What is this feeling? My body is so warm and my heart feels like it's going to explode.

His lips lightly grazed hers, his head tilted to the side and her hands gripped his shirt. Her eyelashes fluttered to a close as his left hand moved away ran it down her neck. "Naminé…"

Why is it that my name has such a special ring to it whenever he says it? How is it possible that I have fallen in love with Roxas when I've barely known him for a week and a half?

but does that really matter anymore? Love has no logic, love doesn't need logic. Love blossoms unexpectedly without warning, like an uninvited guest. But a welcomed guest.

Roxas pressed his lips on her forehead, and she could tell he was hesitating. The reason for his reluctance was completely lost in her…was he nervous? But if he was nervous…then what was he nervous for?

His lips kept pressing against hers, but it wasn't a kiss that much she could tell. But even still her heart began to pick up speed as he pressed his body closer to hers, wrapping his arms tightly around her. His lips moved away from hers causing her to feel rather disappointed that he hadn't kissed her fully in the mouth, but rather he gave her small kisses all around her forehead and cheeks.

Roxas pressed his forehead against hers as they stood rooted in front of the Women's VIP bathroom vanity. Naminé's eyes briefly wondered to the vanity mirror behind Roxas and marveled at the reflection of the two of them embracing.

I want to be like this every day, safely nestled in his warm arms.

"Naminé," Roxas spoke in a serious voice. "I don't want you to think that I'll falter on my promise."

Naminé looked up at him and saw a fiery determination glowing in his beautiful sky colored orbs.

"I take promises very seriously." He said. "When I make one, I follow through with it. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever harm you again."

"I believe you Roxas."

And she meant it. Just as she believed his words, she hoped he would believe hers. She hoped that he would see the sincerity in her eyes, and that just like him, she took promises very seriously. They continued to gaze into one another's eyes for a few more moments when Naminé's ears picked up the faint sound of a throat being cleared.

The petite blonde looked over her shoulder to watch Kairi walking in with an expression on her face that clearly said that she was mentally kicking herself for walking in on them. Roxas let go of Naminé, but Kairi didn't pay any attention to this gesture.

"I really hate to interrupt you guys, but we have a bit of a problem in our hands." The redhead huffed.

"What is it?" Roxas asked as he stepped closer to Kairi.

"We need to leave here unnoticed." She replied. "I don't know if you've noticed that other than Riku, the rest of us are covered with facial injuries."

It was only then that Naminé became aware of a faint feeling of pain coming from her upper lip, along with a burning sensation on her right wrist. She also noticed the feeling of an oncoming headache and assumed that she had some sort of injury on her forehead.

"We can't just walk out of the place like nothing," Kairi continued. "Especially with all the paparazzi waiting outside Oblivion's doors."

Roxas sighed and scratched the back of his head. "So we can't just bolt of the place and straight into the limo…"

"Yeah, a limo isn't exactly inconspicuous." Kairi added.

"We could call up a cab instead." Naminé suggested.

"That's an excellent idea, but that still leaves the problem of getting out in the first place." Roxas said.

"Xion has the cabs covered." Kairi sighed. "Let's go see if either Xion or Sora came up with something."

The two blonds followed the auburn beauty out of the women's VIP restroom, down the main hallway, past the VIP room reserved for them and came to a stop by the stairs. There, they found Xion sitting down on the first step with Sora sitting next to her. Both looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Sora immediately smiled upon seeing Kairi, while she sat down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Sora asked hopefully as he rested his head on Kairi's.

"Other than calling a cab, nothing yet." Roxas murmured.

"Yeah about that…" Xion exhaled. "I can call a cab fine and all, but I don't even know what time to tell the dispatcher to send the cab here."

"We can't stay here." Kairi said in a rather worried tone. "Even if Riku tells Terra and Aqua that we're tired, they'll want to make sure for themselves that we aren't sick or anything. Trust me; they'll go Papa Wolf and Mama Bear on us when they see our faces."

Roxas pulled out his cell and scowled. "Shit."

"What's wrong Roxas?" Naminé asked.

"Terra and Aqua aren't the only ones to worry about." Roxas said as he texted back.

"What do you mean?" Sora frowned.

"Axel overheard Riku talking to Terra and Aqua, so now he wants to know where we're at." Roxas answered.

"Oh crap." Xion exhaled tiredly. "He's just as bad as the other two."

"But why?" Sora asked. "I mean, I get that you're best friends and all, but it's not like he's your brother."

"He certainly considers himself one." Xion replied. "Axel appointed himself my surrogate brother and by extension Kairi's."

While the two cousins and sisters continued talking about Axel and his big brother instinct, something stirred in Naminé's memory. Earlier that evening, Eraqus had mentioned that Oblivion had two different sides; one was for general public entry and the other was for social media events.

I wonder…maybe there's a door somewhere around here that could lead us to the public area. We can have a cab meet us there and avoid the press members! We're not known yet, so it's not like people would be able to pin point us!

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps coming from behind her. Naminé turned around to see who it was and smiled upon seeing Riku's figure. Her smile faded somewhat when she noticed the odd expression on his face, like if he had just woken up from a nightmare. He looked up and gave Naminé a quick, forced smile as he stood beside her.

"What happened?" Naminé asked the silveret. At this, the other four looked over and noticed the arrival of the tall silver haired youth.

Riku sighed and dug his hands inside his loose-fitting jeans pockets. "I told Terra that we were all feeling worn out from this whole ordeal."

"What did he say?" Sora asked.

"He gave me a rather unconvinced look." Riku replied. "But he nodded and said that we could go home, though he did assure me that he'd call tomorrow."

"We'll think of some excuse to say." Roxas said.

"But what do we do about our injuries?" Xion murmured as she touched the cut on her left eyebrow.

"Not to mention Aqua's involvement is imminent." Kairi said tiredly. "She'll want to make sure we're okay personally. Again, Mama Bear."

"Let's worry about Papa Wolf and Mama Bear later." Roxas insisted. "We still have to come up with a way of getting out of this place without being seen."

"Um…" Naminé piped up. "Is there a door that leads to the public area from here?"

"There should be." Xion answered as she stood up and looked down at the first floor below.

Sora stood up from his seat and helped Kairi to her feet. "Wanna go look for the door?" he asked brightly.

Kairi smiled radiantly. "Bet you I'll find it before you do!"

"Not likely!" Sora beamed.

As the two ran down the stairs, Xion fumbled around with her beaded purse muttering as she did. "Stupid phone!"

"Having problems there Xion?" Riku asked causally with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah." She puffed her cheeks. "As always, whenever I need my phone, it magically disappears into the vortex inside my purse."

Naminé tried her hardest to refrain from giggling, while Roxas snickered and Riku chuckled. The silveret pulled out his own phone from inside his jeans and looked over at the small-framed brunette. "Who are you trying to call Xion?"

Xion looked up from her purse and faced Riku. "I wanted to call up a couple of taxis. If we leave on a limo, we'll draw attention to ourselves."

"Good point." Riku replied. He extended his hand for her to take and then helped her stand up. "Here, go ahead and call."

Xion smiled warmly and took his phone. "Thanks Riku."

Roxas pulled out his own cell phone and his eyes widened. "We should leave this area. Like right now."

"What is it?" Naminé asked as he ushered her forward.

"Axel."

The quartet hastened down the stairs before the fiery redheaded man found them. After all, he would ask questions, and right now, none of them were willing to answer.

"Where do you think Sora and Kairi are?" Riku asked no one in particular.

"No clue," Xion replied. "But let's start by the reception area."

They rounded a corner which would lead them to their destination, where sure enough, the jovial brunet and red haired beauty were spotted by the reception desk.

"What are you guys doing?" Roxas asked.

Sora turned around with a panicked look on his face. "I think I know why the receptionist didn't call for help."

"What?"

Naminé gasped in horror; on the floor was the orange haired Vanille, completely unconscious. Her head was resting on her left arm and there was a small trail of blood running down from the back of her head.

Sora and Kairi kneeled downward and helped Vanille sit up, but the young woman kept falling to the side, having to yet regain her bearings.

"What are we gonna do?" Naminé said worriedly. "We can't just leave her like this!"

"At the same time we can't risk being seen." Xion added in an equally worried tone.

Kairi looked up at Sora and gravely whispered. "…Vanitas did this, didn't he?"

Sora's expression darkened. "More than likely."

"What are you all doing?"

All six of them jumped at the sound of Axel's voice. It was only Riku that turned to face the lanky redhead, as none of the other five could.

"Axel, can you get some medical attention for Vanille, the receptionist?" Riku asked.

"Sure okay." Axel's voice was dripped in bewilderment. "Not to sound like a jerk, but why haven't you guys called anyone?"

"We can't." Riku answered.

"And why not?" Axel asked in a puzzled tone.

"We just can't." Riku answered firmly.

"Okay then…" Axel said dryly. "I'm going out on a limb here to guess that it's the reason why you're the only one looking at me."

Naminé felt her heart hammering inside her chest as guilt washed over her. From her peripheral vision she could see Roxas looking equally guilty. She looked in front of her and saw that Sora and the two sisters had their backs facing Axel.

"You are correct." Riku said bleakly. "Look, we need to leave here and fast. We also cannot be seen."

"You know I'm all up for sneaking around, but in this case you're gonna tell me what the hell is going on." He said in an imposing voice. "Unless you'd rather explain yourselves to Terra and Aqua."

At this, Naminé's heart picked more speed, especially when she saw that Xion had turned to face Axel.

"What the hell happened to you Xion?" Axel hissed worriedly. "I want a name right now! And don't you dare lie to me!"

"Axel, just please help us find a way out." Xion pleaded. "I promise that I'll tell you everything, but we need to leave first."

Sora and Kairi also decided to face Axel, though they looked incredibly uncomfortably in doing so. Having little to no choice, Roxas and Naminé decided to follow their example and turned to look at the redhead as well.

Axel's jade eyes widened at the sight of the injured quintuplets. "What the hell…what the fuck happened? Start talking. ALL of you."

"We can't." Roxas replied. "Not right now. We need to leave unnoticed, we can't draw the media's attention."

"No, I demand an explanation." Axel hissed.

"Dammit Axel!" Xion hissed in desperation. "I already told you that I'd tell you everything later! What part are you not getting!"

"What part are you not getting?" Axel snapped. "You seriously cannot be expecting me to help you make a great escape without at least knowing who did this to you!"

"It was my brother." Sora replied darkly.

"How the hell did he get in here?" Axel growled.

"He had invitation, how else?" Kairi grumbled.

"Goddamn." Axel muttered. "Where is he now?"

Riku shrugged. "He took off after the beating we gave him."

"That's one good thing." Axel grumbled. "Okay fine, I'll help you out. But don't think I'll let this go; expect me to drop by at your house tomorrow guys."

"Oh um…" Xion mumbled. "Kairi and I are gonna spend the night at their house."

"You're what?" Axel hissed sharply. "Not happening."

"Axel what other choice is there?" Kairi said despairingly. "You can't expect us to go home to grandma looking like this!"

Axel mouthed soundlessly for a few seconds, clearly trying to come up with a good reason why the two sisters couldn't stay at a house with four men. After a few seconds he threw his arms in the air as a sign of resignation.

"Fine!" he hissed. "But let me warn you boys; if either of my little sisters is deflowered, I'll incinerate you alive until nothing but dust is left."

"Axel!" the two sisters hissed.

"Dude, come on!" Sora huffed. "You seriously think any of us would do something like that?"

"For your sake, I hope not." Axel deadpanned.

Vanille stirred from behind them as her viridian orbs tried to gain focus. "Wh-what happened?"

"Do you know how we can get to the public are?" Xion hissed urgently at Axel.

"Go around and you'll see the door that will lead to the other side." He replied. "You can't miss it."

Sora was the first to sprint in the direction Axel spoke of while holding onto Kairi's hand. Roxas followed second, then Naminé. She heard Xion thank Axel before she ran behind Naminé with Riku ensuring the sister's wellbeing.

After running down a wide hallway they came to a stop, Sora and Kairi stood in front of a door by the back wall. Sora was talking animatedly with the redhead, his arms moving about with every word that he spoke. Kairi looked quite endeared with his peculiar way of expressing himself, as she smiled warmly and lovingly at him. Sora's attention was momentarily torn away from Kairi when he spotted the approaching quartet and he looked quite please with himself as he pointed to the door behind him.

"Are you sure that this is the right door?" Riku asked skeptically.

"Of course it is!" Sora grinned. "We made sure of it ourselves!"

"Kairi, can you confirm this claim?" Riku asked seriously.

Kairi tried to suppress her laughter as Sora rolled his eyes. "Why yes, Riku. This door does indeed lead to the public area."

"Oh good." Riku sighed in relief. "I was worried that Sora would lead us in the wrong direction."

"Gee, thanks Riku." Sora frowned. "Good to know you trust your best friend."

"Sora, don't misunderstand." Riku chuckled. "I trust you with my life, but not with directions."

"When have I ever gotten us lost?" Sora looked mortally offended.

"Even I can think of a few times." Roxas grinned. "There's the time we went to the zoo, when we went to Disneyland, that time we got lost at the mall 'cause you wanted to go to the toy store but you refused to use a directory, oh and on –"

"I get it, I get it!" Sora fumed.

"And who could forget that time when you were six?" Riku snickered. "You went the wrong way and you made you and Roxas miss the school bus and missed the trip to the Aquarium?"

It was becoming progressively harder to maintain a straight face and Naminé wasn't sure how much she could last. Kairi and Xion had already given in to the hysterics.

Sora rolled his eyes. "Oh for crying out loud, I was six!"

"And then, when we were ten, we were in a museum field trip and you went in the opposite direction and we missed the bus back to school." Roxas added, continuing to add to Naminé's problem of keeping in her laughter. "And to make matters worse, when the museum staff called our parents, they had told us to stay put. But genius over here said that we could make it back home on our own and like a bonehead I followed him."

Naminé covered her mouth; she was literally seconds away from cracking.

"An hour later and we ended up farther away from home and into the desolate, unpopulated jungle area of the main island." Roxas shook his head.

"I remember that you guys made the 5 o'clock news." Riku snickered. "My dad went over to the police station to help search for you guys."

"Wait, there were search parties involved?" Naminé asked Riku.

"Two ten year old boys lost? You better believe it." He chuckled.

"How did you guys get back home?" Kairi chortled.

"We were found two hours later by a search crew in the middle of the jungle." Sora muttered. "They took us back to our house and my mom completely fell apart when she saw us."

"Poor Stella." Naminé said warmheartedly.

"Your poor mom." Kairi said with a crooked smile. "What a way to make her worry, Sora."

"It was unintentional!" Sora sputtered defensively. "It's not like I meant for us to get lost and make headline news!"

The other five let out a wave of laughter as Sora scowled. Kairi loped one of her arms around his and rested her head on his shoulder.

Riku looked up at the stairs and his emerald eyes widened in panic. "I suggest we get going unless you want Terra to see your injuries."

"What?" Kairi and Xion both looked up to the second floor.

Sora opened the door behind him and ran off with Kairi, Roxas pushed Xion forward and grabbed Naminé's hand and they ran down the hallway before them. Riku closed the door behind him and Naminé extended her hand to him; he took it and she pulled him forward as she was being pulled by Roxas. Xion ran in front of Roxas as Kairi was now holding her sister's hand and the other was holding onto Sora as he ran forward. Sora reached another door and quickly pushed it open as one by one, they all ran past the doorway.

The lobby of the public side was identical to the VIP one, with the sole exception that this area was packed with people.

"Everyone hold hands!" Sora yelled over the loud indistinct chatter of the crowd.

Xion quickly took hold of Roxas's free hand as they attempted to make their way through the sea of people. As they went, they all muttered 'excuse me' and 'sorry', Naminé decided to bow her head at the risk of being remotely recognized. It was highly unlikely, but she refused to take that chance, especially with her facial injuries.

She had o idea where they were going or what direction they were taking; her eyes could only see the shiny floor beneath her and the shoes of other passersby's. She didn't like the feeling of being pulled and then stopping abruptly only to be yanked again. She knew it was unavoidable given their situation, but she really wished that they would reach the main entrance already.

Naminé closed her eyes, reasoning that things would hopefully go much faster this way. The pulling and the stopping continued for several minutes before she felt the cool night breeze washing over her. She opened her eyes and saw the busy sidewalk and the streets filled with cars as they were speeding by. The street lights were a welcomed sight and their running came to a slow halt. But neither Roxas nor Riku's hands loosened their grip on her hands, even when they stood completely still.

The crowd outside waiting to get inside Oblivion stared curiously at them, the six of them were panting heavily as if they had run a marathon.

"What now?" Sora huffed.

Xion let go of Roxas and Kairi's hands, walked over to the curb and looked to her left. "We'll get on the first cab we see."

A few seconds passed when she held out her hand up and a taxi van stopped in front of her. She looked back over her shoulder as the rest walked up to her.

"Any particular seating arrangement?" Xion asked.

The rest shook their heads as Sora hopped inside the vehicle first. After he sat at the very back, Kairi followed and she sat down next to him. Naminé felt Riku letting go of her hand and then saw him walking to Xion.

"Get in." he said in a nonthreatening tone. Xion was a bit taken back but she nodded. She got inside the van and took the space next to her sister, while Riku turned to look back at Naminé. "You're next, Snow."

It was only at this point that Roxas's grip on her right hand loosened. He walked with her towards the taxi van and helped her climb inside. As soon as Naminé had sat down on the middle seat she felt someone sitting down next to her.

Roxas closed the sliding door, rolling his eyes in annoyance. He then sat down next to Riku, as the silveret had been the one to immediately sit next to her. Naminé looked at Riku beside her as he rested his head against the seat. Naminé leaned against the window, the cool glass sharply clashing with her heated face.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"358 Kingdom Key Street." Sora replied from the back seat.

The cab pulled away from the curb and into the streets. The ride to their home was a rather quiet one, as each youth was drained out due to the earlier events. Naminé herself felt a bit hollow; images of the fight with Vanitas flashing in her mind repeatedly. Her small hands balled up into fists, her heart felt immensely heavy with boiling anger.

I don't like feeling this way, all these negative emotions stirring within me…it's frightening. I feel angry that I couldn't do much to defend Kairi, Xion or myself. I feel guilty that we had to lie to Axel, and more than likely, we'll have to lie to Terra and Aqua. I feel horrible that Roxas blames himself for what happened when it wasn't his fault. But more than anything, I…

She shivered and sunk in her seat. I'm terrified of seeing Vanitas again.

Naminé looked outside her window, watching the city lights become blurs as the taxi continued its way across the city. It looked like a rainbow kaleidoscope, like pieces of crystallized colors creating abstract shapes that seemed to dance around. It looked almost like two figure skaters spinning all around the street, as if that was an ice rink. The more she looked at the crystal lights, the more they looked like a bit like her and Roxas.

He was wearing a powder blue shirt and black pants and she was dressed in an orange like tutu with a yellow ribbon tied to her waist. Naminé watched these crystallized versions of themselves skate towards each other; their hands closed together as the crystal Roxas picked the crystal Naminé up and they spun around together. But like the glass figures they were, they fell apart into little pieces as the crystal lights returned to the street lamps they belonged to. Naminé blinked as she realized that they had arrived at their home, she had been so busy watching the crystal versions of herself and Roxas that she hardly noticed that the trip had ended.

Roxas opened the sliding door and jumped out. One by one, each of the tired out occupants jumped out of the taxi van, and by the looks of it, it appeared that Sora and the two sisters had fallen asleep during the ride. The three of them looked rather drowsy as they stumbled slightly when they got out of the vehicle. Once Sora had gained his footing, he along with Roxas and Riku, paid the driver. After the driver had received his payment he pulled out of their drive way and drove down the hill side road. Sora walked up to the main gate and pulled out a pair of keys. He inserted a classic skeleton with a gold colored guard that had an odd blade-like length and the teeth were crowned shaped. Sora inserted the key into the gate's keyhole and pushed the gate open.

The six of them trudged up the stone paved path to the house, with Riku being the last as he had closed the gate after them. Sora pulled out his keys again and opened the front door, leaving it wide open for the rest of them to enter the house. They all kicked off their shoes absentmindedly and walked off in different directions. Naminé walked over to the kitchen, opened the fridge and pulled out a cool water bottle. It felt like her throat was on fire, and the icy fresh water quenched it as it went down her throat. Her eyes looked around until they had landed on the microwave and noticed the time.

It was 11:47pm.

They had left for Oblivion at around 7pm, had nearly five hours already passed? Naminé looked at her reflection on the microwave's door saw her wounds. She touched her cupid's bow and she flinched slightly; she then noticed a big bruise under her left eye, and what appeared to be a gash on her forehead. She touched her gash lightly and felt a faint pang of pain, but then her eyes fell on her right wrist. She hadn't stopped to think of how much her wrist was hurting, but then again, given the past events in the last five hours she didn't have the time to think about much of anything.

She looked back at her wrist and felt tears welling up…she could clearly hear Vanitas's maniacal laughter echoing in her mind.

"Does it hurt?"

Naminé jumped into the air at the sound of the voice. She turned around and saw Riku walking in with an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said softly. "I should have announced myself."

"It's okay, don't worry about it." Naminé smiled.

"Does it hurt when you move it?" Riku asked as he moved closer to her. He gently took her hand and moved her it, carefully watching her face for any signs of pain.

"A little bit." She replied.

He let go of her wrist and walked over to one of the drawers on the kitchen island and pulled out a clean kitchen cloth. He then walked over to the refrigerator and opened the freezer door. Naminé could hear him rummaging through the ice box and sure enough, Riku grabbed a couple of ice cubes and wrapped them inside the cloth.

"Follow me." He smiled.

The two walked over to the dining room where Riku pulled out a chair for her and then pulled out a chair for himself, so that they would be sitting side-by-side. Once they had sat down, Riku took her right wrist and gently placed the icy cloth over Vanitas's long finger imprints.

Naminé shivered when the coldness of the cloth came in contact with her skin. Riku slowly moved the cloth around her wrist in a circular motion.

"I'm doing this to bring down the swelling." He said warmly.

"Oh, thank you." Naminé smiled at him. She looked up at Riku's face and was met with soul-piercing verdigris orbs. Naminé felt her cheeks heating up under his intense gaze, her mind screaming at her to look away but her eyes wouldn't obey. She was completely immersed in his jade pools.

How much of me does he know? Roxas is pretty convinced that Riku knows I'm a girl, but…does he really know?

She finally managed to break eye contact with the handsome silveret, which didn't go unnoticed by him.

"Is something wrong?" Riku's smooth voice was laced in concern; he even stopped the circular motion on her wrist.

"Riku…" She had rasped his name out, but cleared her throat and spoke in her normal feminine voice. "How long have you known?"

"From the beginning." He replied. "I recognized you as the girl I bumped into at the audition."

Naminé looked up at Riku, but didn't meet his gaze. "How did you recognize me? I had longer hair then."

Riku chuckled. "Honestly? It was your eyes…and your hands."

Naminé raised an eyebrow in confusion. "My hands?"

"Yes." Riku spoke in an affectionate tone. "No two people have the pair of hands, not even twins. And each hand feels different from the other."

She looked down at her own small hands. "How do mine feel?"

Riku placed the ice cloth on the table and took her hand, so that their palms were directly touching. "Soft and delicate, but firm. They're smooth, warm, and feathery light…like that of a mother."

Naminé looked down at her slender fingers as they began to automatically intertwine with his. He can feel all of that?

She moved her palm a bit, feeling the texture of his larger hand. It's quite rough, but yet it's still very moisturized…he must use a lot of lotion. Maybe they feel rough due to playing bass so much, or maybe he's worked a lot of manual labors. But despite the tough exterior, his hands have an unmissable tenderness.

"Your hands feel very nice, too." She said warmly. "A bit rough, but still gentle."

Riku smiled at her and ruffled her hair with his free hand. "Thank you."

She blushed slightly and turned her gaze back to their joined hands. "Riku…why haven't you told anyone about my secret?"

"Because it's not my secret to tell." He replied. "You must have your reasons why you're doing all of this and it's not my place to judge you."

"Thank you." Naminé said softly. She wanted to ask him if he was keeping her secret in exchange for anything sex related. But if he hadn't judged her, why should she judge him?

"Don't worry," he smiled at her, as if he knew where her train of thought was headed. "I don't want anything lewd in return."

Naminé looked away feeling completely embarrassed that he correctly guessed what she had been thinking of. Riku chuckled at her expression and ruffled her hair again. "I know you haven't known me for that long, but trust me when I say that I mean you no ill will."

His gaze and tone are so unfeigned, there's no way he's lying.

"I trust you, Riku."

Riku smiled tenderly at her. "May I have your real name? Something tells me that Snow isn't your real name."

Naminé faintly blushed. "You're right…Snow isn't my name, it's my older twin brother's name."

"So what's your name?"

"It's Naminé."

Riku placed his other hand over their clasped hands, specifically over hers. "It's nice to meet you at last, Naminé."

She let out a small giggle. "It's my pleasure, Riku."

His warm expression changed to one of curiosity. "If you don't mind me asking…why are you here, taking your brother's place?"

"Because…" She let out an agitated sigh. "My brother was the one who was supposed to sign the contract three weeks ago…but he got food poisoning that day and he wouldn't be able to make the trip to the meeting."

"So you decided to take his place?" Riku asked with a small smile.

"It was my brother's idea." Naminé replied tenderly. "He suggested the idea of dressing me up as him so that I could sign in his stead. Aqua had said that if the contract wasn't signed that very same day, then it would be void. I have to say, those are the silliest terms of contract I've ever heard of."

"That seems to be the general consensus." Riku snorted. "When we heard the terms ourselves we thought we were being trolled. But as you know, they were quite real. Anyways, please continue."

"Okay." Naminé nodded. "So Aqua called up Kairi and got the necessary garments for my disguise and we went to the meeting. I signed the contract and I assumed that would be it, I would go back to being myself and that those events would be a fond memory to laugh at in years to come. But when we arrived back at the orphanage…an ambulance appeared just minutes after us."

"What happened?" Riku asked concernedly.

"It turned out that my brother had been stubborn enough to try to leave the infirmary after being repeatedly told to stay put." Naminé wistfully replied. "In his haste to make it to Traverse Town, he fell down a staircase and suffered a hip fracture."

"And this time," Riku spoke in a soothing tone. "Whose idea was it for you to take Snow's place?"

"Mine." Naminé sighed. "I couldn't let his dream got to waste, not after I had signed the contract. Funny thing is, I had vowed that no one would discover my secret and look…"

"I'm sorry." Riku said sincerely.

"It's not your fault." Naminé said tenderly. "I should have worn gloves, that's all."

Riku let out a hearty laugh. Naminé placed her free hand above Riku's, all four hands stacked together. She met his gaze once again, no longer feeling the intensity from moments earlier. "Tell me about yourself. How did you meet Sora and Roxas?"

"That's quite a long story." He exhaled.

She leaned forward in her seat with a curious look on her face. "I've got time."

Riku raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Alright, I'll tell you."

Naminé's attention was briefly taken away from Riku as her hears picked up noises coming from the living room, then she heard a voice saying "Mario Kart, wahoo!"

Both the blonde and the silveret laughed as indistinct chatter from the two cousins and sisters began increase in volume. Something along the lines of Kairi wanting to team up with Sora, while Roxas and Xion insisted on individual races.

"They're going to get pretty loud if any of them lose." Riku snickered.

"Let them." Naminé smiled playfully. "You have a story to tell me, right?"

"When I was five, my parents decided to move from our old apartment by the beach to a two-story home in a rural area. While the apartment had been much closer to my mom's work, she wanted me to grow up in a more family oriented environment. So we moved to an area called Door to Light, it was about ten miles away from my mom's job, who works in a retirement home and ten minutes away from my dad's job, who's a middle school music teacher. My parents were always rushing in the mornings and would often be gone by the time I had to get up for school. My mom would always leave a lunch prepared for me, which was usually a PB & J sandwich, a juice pouch and some animal crackers."

The two separated hands and Naminé rested her head on her palms, but still giving Riku her undivided attention as he spoke.

Riku leaned against his chair and continued. "I remember that the first day of school at my new elementary was rather daunting; while I didn't have friends at my old school the faces were the same and I was used to it. Here, I didn't know a single kid. So I did my best to remain from standing out as much as a new kid can. The moment that the final bell rang, I bolted out of the school. I ran back home as fast as I could, in the scorching heat of summer. I was glad that kindergartners got out an hour earlier from the rest of the school, I hate crowds. I remember that when I was nearing my house, the house from across the street caught my attention. Out in the front yard were two boys playing around with a variety of toy trucks."

Naminé smiled warmly; she knew exactly who the two boys were.

"One of the two boys noticed me as I neared my front door and waved at me yelling 'Hi!'." Riku smiled.

"Sora, right?" Naminé giggled at the mental image.

"Of course." Riku chuckled. "I hesitantly waved back at him, then just as I was about to open the front door I heard yelling at me to wait. I stopped and turned back to look at him and to my surprise, he was already sprinting his way across the street."

"How cute." Naminé cooed. "Even as a child Sora is always energetic."

"I don't think he'll ever change." Riku smiled.

"And he shouldn't." Naminé said bracingly.

The both jumped a bit in their seats when they heard Sora letting out enthusiastic cheers. Naminé covered her mouth as she laughed and Riku shook his head.

"Anyways, Sora ran up to me and asked if I wanted to go over to his house and play. I told him that I had to ask my mom for permission and he smiled saying that he'd wait. I opened the door and I found my mom sitting on a couch in the living room. I told her about Sora's invitation and she was more than thrilled to know that I was making a friend." Riku looked up at the chandelier above the dining table with a reminiscing smile. "I changed out of my school uniform and ran outside. As I ran I realized that I had agreed to play with some kid I didn't know. At school, if anyone invited me to play with them I would have said no. But there was something about Sora that made it okay to trust him, something that to this day I can't put into words."

Naminé knew what Riku meant; as she herself wouldn't have been able explain how Sora had won her trust in a short period of time.

"I got to the front yard where Sora and Roxas were playing 'construction' on the sand. After we all introduced ourselves to one another I wasted no time and joined their game." Riku said with a small smile on his handsome face.

"I bet you all got along pretty well." Naminé smiled.

Riku sighed and pursed his lips pensively. "Sora and I clicked immediately. And by that, I mean we started competing in who could demolish a sand mound the fastest. As for Roxas…I guess he felt like I was taking his cousin away from him, which to be fair, is easy to assume at that age. I only realized that later, but at that time I assumed Roxas didn't like me because I was a complete stranger. He was constantly trying to gain Sora's attention or to get Sora to play with just him. It certainly made me feel unwanted, but I also didn't know Roxas's past."

Naminé's curiosity increased at that, but she felt it was best to ask Roxas directly. After all, Riku would probably feel offended if she asked him to talk about Roxas's story.

"But aside from that, I had the best day of my life." Riku said blithely. "From then on, every day after school was out, I'd go over to Sora's house. My parents ended up becoming friends with Stella and Noctis, and every Saturday we'd go out to a small island and play there. Our parents would take us there since we were too young to row out on our own."

"Wait, you guys had your own island to play in?" Naminé asked in amazement.

"It wasn't ours necessarily," Riku chuckled. "it was an island accessible to anyone that had a row boat. My dad and Noctis built a wooden light tower for us, a small little clubhouse and a few other things to keep us busy. We were so competitive with each other in everything; we raced, we swam, we climbed every palm tree in sight. We found a small cave in the island and we drew all over the walls."

Naminé watched as Riku's face was light up with nostalgia. "We even had competitions on who could collect the most seashells. Or who could chew gum the fastest. But as we got older, we began competing in other ways."

"Like what?" Naminé smiled coyly. "To see who could get the most girlfriends?"

Riku laughed. "No, not that, I meant academically. At least it seemed like it at times. Sora was never one to be bothered with studying, as he was completely proud of his average grades and he would rarely pick up a book to read other than comic books." His tone then changed from reminiscent to dislike. "Roxas on the other hand was completely determined to best me at marks. He would claim he didn't need to study, that he could take his tests blindfolded and ace them. That would really piss me off as I would spend hours preparing for my exams. He didn't, and he would always parade his grades around. He wouldn't even consider Sora's feelings."

Naminé frowned he brows in confusion. "That doesn't sound like Roxas, at least not the one I know."

"I'll admit that he has deflated his ego a bit." Riku huffed. "But this was when we were in school, when we were kids."

"People change over time." Naminé said wisely.

"True, very true." Riku sat up in his seat, grabbed the kitchen cloth and wiped away the water on the table as the ice cubes had clearly melted. He then folded the cloth into a square and placed it on top of the plastic orange table mat. "Although he certainly continues to have his moments, you should have heard him when we were learning to play our instruments."

"What did he say?" Naminé asked but then rephrased it. "How did the band get started anyways? I mean, I know Roxas was the one who came up with the idea, but did it come to be? How did you and Sora chose your instruments?"

"Whoa, one question at a time." Riku smiled as Naminé's cheeks flushed a faint pink. "When we were in high school, specifically my Junior year and Sora and Roxas's Sophomore year, Roxas became obsessed with the band The Organization. I mean, he was talking about this band nonstop, if given the chance to talk about it, he'd take it. I know he bought a bunch of merchandise from the group because his and Sora's room was covered with The Organization posters. Anyways, one day before the school year's end, Sora called me up and asked me if I wanted to join a band."

"You said yes right away, right?" Naminé smiled, knowing that Riku wouldn't have.

"Honestly? No." He laughed. "I genuinely thought that Sora was joking, but as you can tell, he wasn't. Since my dad is a music teacher, I asked for his opinion on the matter. He told me that he thought that the idea of starting our own band was a waste of time, but that the choice was entirely mine and that it was up to me to discover if being in a band was worth it."

"It sounds as if he's had a similar experience." Naminé said thoughtfully.

"I think that too, though he's never really talked about it." Riku said slowly. "That very summer, I began working at a Blitzball shop along my other friends Tidus and Wakka."

"Blitzball?" Naminé asked.

"It's a really cool but hard to understand underwater sport." Riku replied off handedly. "I spent two months working there until I had enough money to buy a bass. Now, I'm not sure how I came to the decision of buying a bass, it just looked cool and I wanted to try it. But other than that, no real reason."

"Boo." Naminé pouted.

"Sorry the heavens didn't part and a beam of light didn't illuminate my brain to help me choose my bass." Riku said in mock indignation. "But I did feel immensely proud of my bass; it was after all, the fruit of my hard labor."

"That bass must mean a lot to you." Naminé said warmly. "Did you give it a name?"

"I debated about what to call it at first. I ended up with Soul Eater, but I changed my mind and later decided to call my bass The Way to Dawn." He gave Naminé a shamed look. "Pretentious name isn't it?"

"No, I like it!" she said with zest. "My art room back at the orphanage is called Ocean Waves."

"You have your own art room?" Riku asked in amazement.

"I worked as an art teacher there." She smiled proudly. Though the smile faded when she realized that she had been away from her children for almost a week. She wondered if any of her kids missed her, if any of them had drawn pictures for her. And it hit her; she wouldn't see any of their faces for an unspecified amount of time. She wouldn't be able to take her beloved class outside so that the kids could paint beautiful nature backgrounds onto blank canvas. And she had plans to teach the kids about watercolors.

Naminé felt the tears welling up in her eyes as her mind recalled how much she had looked forward to that lesson. There were so many things I wanted to teach the kids…who knows when I'll be able to.

"Naminé?"

She had lowered her arms and bowed her head so that Riku wouldn't see her tears. "Don't mind me, please continue."

He reached out and grabbed her left hand which had been resting on the table and closed his fingers around it. "Are you sure? Do you want to go lay down instead?"

Naminé shook her head. "No, I'm alright. I want to hear more of your story."She finally looked up at him, completely aware that he'd see the trail her tears left.

"Okay, if you insist." He sighed. "As I was saying, I was really proud of my bass, it was the first big purchase I had made with my own money."

Naminé noticed how his expression changed in a matter of seconds. He looked resentful and his tone of voice was bitter.

"When Sora showed me his drum set, I was genuinely happy for him. Even when Roxas showed me his electric guitar I congratulated him. But that didn't last too long when Roxas mentioned that their instruments had been gifts from Stella and Noctis." His expression darkened and he scowled. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous. I mean, there I was working my ass off to buy my own instrument and they got theirs as gifts."

While Naminé knew that Sora's parents treated Roxas like a son, she clearly understood Riku's frustration. It wasn't fair to have to work for something so hard and to watch loved ones get everything served in a silver platter.

"I sound bitter, don't I?" Riku muttered.

"I get where you're coming from, Riku." She said softly. She sat up straight in her seat and wiped her cheeks. "Is that the reason why you hate Roxas? Because he got his guitar as a gift?"

Riku let out a heaving sigh and slouched in his seat. "I don't hate Roxas, I really don't. But he's no saint worthy of my devotion."

"But why do you dislike him so much?" Naminé asked intently.

"Because he thinks he's the shit and acts like he's better than everyone else." Riku hissed. "For the longest time and even recently, he loved to remind Sora and I that if it weren't for him there wouldn't be a band in the first place."

Naminé was having a hard time believing that Roxas would be such a jerk. "He just seems so different to me."

"Of course he does." Riku snapped. "He acts differently according to whom he's talking to."

Naminé heard loud cheering from the living room and she looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen area. "Sounds like Sora is winning."

"Naminé, be careful around Roxas." Riku said seriously. I don't know what he'd do if he found out your secret."

"He wouldn't do anything harmful towards me." Naminé replied in soft voice.

Riku gave her a thoughtful look, taking in her words and the expression on her face. "I hope you're right, but Roxas has severe trust issues."

But I'm not a stranger anymore. Even before Roxas found out my secret, he thought of me as a younger brother. I keep hearing that Roxas has severe dislike of strangers and yet, he's surrounded by them and he seems fine.

Naminé was about to open her mouth when another thought popped in her head. Wait, Riku speaks as if Roxas doesn't know my secret…

"Riku…" Naminé said quietly. "Do you think Roxas might know?"

Riku leaned forward so that he was closer to her. "I can't say he knows because I'm not a 100% sure, but there is a possibility that he might suspect something."

Naminé bit her lower lip. What would happen if I tell Riku that Roxas knows? What would happen if I tell Roxas that Riku knows? She looked up at the silveret with a worried face. I have to be honest with the two of them, they've both looked after me and I can't let them be distrustful of each other.

"Riku, the truth-"

Riku placed both of his hands on top of her left hand. "Don't worry too much about this, Naminé. I promise I'll look out for you."

"But Roxas kno-"

"Don't worry about Roxas, I'll keep my eyes on him."

"HA! TAKE THAT BLUE TEAM!" Sora roared enthusiastically.

Naminé nearly jumped out of her seat, but Riku managed quickly to hold her in place by grabbing her shoulders. Her heart was hammering rapidly as Riku sniggered.

"You cheated!" Xion snapped. "You took a shortcut on the last lap!"

"It's not cheating if the game places shortcuts for the gamer's convenience!" Kairi said playfully. "Or that Sora is awesome."

"Awesome my ass!" Roxas laughed. "Rematch Sora!"

Naminé couldn't help but giggle at the quartet's banter.

Riku shook his head and moved his hands away from Naminé's shoulders. "We better get over there before they tear themselves apart."

He stood up from his seat and held out his hand to her. She took it and he helped her up, before making their way to the living room.

Sora and Kairi were once again sitting in the loveseat couch while Roxas and Xion sat on the bean bag chairs in the middle of the living room near the TV. Naminé looked at the screen and saw that it was divided in four individual squares, one for each player character.

"Who's who?" Riku asked as he and Naminé walked past the kitchen doorway.

Sora looked up with a mildly surprised expression. "Whoa, we thought you guys were already asleep!"

"What made you think that?" Naminé smiled as she followed Riku to the leather couch near the wall. Her eyes glanced over at the back of Roxas's head.

"We didn't see you anywhere." Kairi replied, her oceanic orbs focused on the TV before her.

"Did you try looking for us?" Riku raised an eyebrow as he sat down nest to Naminé.

"Yeah, but we couldn't find you." Xion answered.

"I looked out by the pool." Sora said.

"I checked the kitchen." Kairi added.

"I knocked on your bedroom doors, but no one replied so I assumed you were passed out." Xion said pensively.

"…I checked the parlor." Roxas said in an emotionless voice. "And the dining room."

What? But that's where Riku and were talking…the…entire…time. Oh no, of course he saw us together! Please tell me he didn't see us holding hands! I hope he didn't hear us talking about him!

"How did you not see us then?" Riku asked in a suspicious tone. "Snow and I have been there since we got back."

"You weren't there when I checked." Roxas answered dryly.

"But we have been there the entire time!" Riku hissed.

"I didn't see you at all." Roxas hissed through gritted teeth.

He was angry, there was no denying that. Naminé wanted to talk to Roxas privately and reassure him that nothing romantic happened between her and Riku. But much to her dismay, Roxas was completely absorbed in the game he was playing and would only join any of the conversations if they had anything to with the game.

"Kairi, Xion, did you call your grandma to tell her you're staying at 'Aqua's' place?" Naminé asked, hoping to somehow draw Roxas's attention.

"Oh crap, I totally forgot to do that!" Kairi paused the game and jumped out of her seat. She ran into the kitchen and a few seconds later, Naminé could hear Kairi speaking.

"Aren't you girls afraid that your might call up Aqua to verify if you're really at her house?" Sora asked Xion.

"Not really." Xion yawned. "Our grandma knows Aqua and trusts her wholeheartedly. Our grandma loves Aqua to pieces and wouldn't think that we'd be lying about staying over at Aqua's place."

Kairi walked back from the kitchen with a guilty look on her face. "Everything is all set, except for giving Aqua grandma's love. I hate lying to grandma; it makes me feel like I'm some delinquent."

"I know Kairi, but we really don't have much of a choice." Xion relied solemnly.

The racing continued and at a few times, Naminé and Riku took turns. At around 2am, Naminé found it increasingly difficult to keep her eyes open, even with all the loud cheering and arguments going on around her. She leaned her had back and slowly watched as the white colored ceiling began to swirl, before her eyes came to a close. The hardness of the leather couch began to soften and become rather warm for some inexplicable reason. The noises from the game became distant, and the voices of her friends became distorted, like if they were covering their mouths when they spoke. She felt something warm cover her body and curled up automatically.

Did someone put a blanket over me? How nice of them…wait…

She opened her eyes and tried to gain focus. She saw that Roxas, Sora, Riku and Xion were playing Brawl while Kairi was sleeping on the loveseat. Sora was sitting at the foot of the loveseat, right next to Kairi's head. Naminé looked down at her body and saw that indeed, someone had draped a blanket over her. She sat up in her seat and Xion looked over at her.

"Snow?" Xion blinked. "Oh no, did we wake you?"

"No." Naminé replied drowsily. "I woke up on my own."

"Hey you wanna play Brawl?" Sora asked brightly.

"No, but thank you Sora." Naminé rasped. "I see Kairi passed out."

"Yeah, she crashed about an hour ago." Xion giggled.

"Wait, what time is it?" Naminé was sure she'd been asleep for at least ten minutes.

"It's 4:45am." Riku replied.

"What?" Naminé gasped. "I was out for two hours?"

"Yup!" Sora grinned. "You talk in your sleep, by the way."

"I do?" Naminé asked worriedly. "What did I say?"

"You don't talk in your sleep, Snow." Xion smiled. "Sora's just kidding."

Naminé shook her head. "You scared me Sora."

"Sorry." Sora pursed his lips sheepishly.

Naminé watched the quartet fight for a few minutes. The three guys had picked the same character from the last time they played and Xion was using another swordsman with blue hair and a quick, lethal fighting style. At least it looked like a man, Naminé wasn't too sure.

"Well, I'll be going to my room." Naminé yawned. She stood up and began making her way to the stairs when she stopped and looked over at the sleeping redhead. "You know, she could sleep in my room."

Sora paused the game and looked at Naminé with a stiff expression. "No need for that Snow. Kairi will sleep in my room while I camp over in Roxas's room."

"You are?" Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Sora smiled.

Naminé held back her laughter. "Okay Sora. Xion if you want, you can sleep in my room."

"I'll take you up on your offer, Snow." Xion smiled as she stood up and walked over to Naminé.

"Cool, we can sleep in my bed." Naminé yawned.

Sora looked from Naminé to Xion and grinned in a suggestive manner that made Naminé feel rather uncomfortable. "Have a good night you two."

"Ew, get your mind out of the gutter." Xion frowned. "We're just friends."

"With benefits?" Sora grinned widely.

"Sora…" Riku said in a warning tone. "It's rather late for risqué jokes."

"You're taking this the wrong way." Naminé rasped pleadingly.

"Uh huh." Sora smiled in a smug manner. "That's what they all say. But just remember to use protection!"

"Sora!" the other four snapped.

He laughed but stopped when Riku threw a couch pillow right into his face. As the girls walked up the stairs they heard Sora snapping back at Riku, until Roxas stopped the fight.

"Men." Xion rolled her eyes. "Can't live with them, can't live without them and you definitely can't ever understand them. They're life's greatest mystery."


Hope this was worth the wait, folks! Please don't forget to read and review! See ya next update!