Roxas slowly opened his eyes, aware of the bright, artificial light above his face. He must be in the Infirmary; Zexion must be close by. He felt a slender hand place itself on his warm forehead carefully; Roxas smiled warmly to himself, admiring Namine's gentle and caring touch. "Hi, Namine," Roxas murmured, his vision still cloudy.

Instantly the hand recoiled sharply, as if bitten by a snake. "You think I'm Namine?!" came the disbelieving response. "Honestly, I check for your temperature, and you think I'm a girl?!" He threw his hands up in the air, slightly exasperated.

"My bad...," Roxas mumbled, clearly in limbo between being apologetic and embarrassed. "Sorry, Zexion."

Zexion brushed the apology away with an air of hurt pride. "And you wonder why I think you're all morons," he snipped quietly, loud enough for Roxas to hear.

Roxas blushed, but he blinked inquisitively when Zexion handed the boy something under his nose. A soft scent wafted from the liquid substance in the cup, and Roxas looked up, curious as to what it is.

"Medicine," Zexion explained flatly. "Drink it and you'll feel better."

Roxas obeyed--

--and immediately spat it out.

"What the heck is that?!" Roxas demanded, wiping his lip, his blue eyes wide.

Zexion looked as if he wanted to hold back laughter. "Nasty medicine that you just spat on your visitor."

"My-- Oh." Roxas froze mid-sentence and blushed furiously when he saw his visitor.

Namine looked thoroughly alarmed and was trying her best to wipe off as much of the medicine off of her dress. The futile effort went on for a few more seconds, until Roxas jumped up and out of his bed. Of course he stumbled and crashed clumsily to the floor. "Namine," he exclaimed, "I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean to! I didn't see you!" The Key Of Destiny scrambled to get to Namine, but he slipped once again, this time on the rest of the medicine that made it to the floor and not on Namine's white dress.

Zexion huffed in exasperation, his silver-blue eye glittering with amusement nonetheless. He reached down and hoisted Roxas up forcefully by his arm and planted him firmly in front of Namine. "Even I think you should apologize," Zexion said sternly. "Now go apologize and then go... go multiply or something. Just get out of my Infirmary as soon as you can so I don't have to wait on you."

Namine blushed deeply, the red color obvious on her pale cheeks; Roxas stared at Zexion, his mouth agape upon hearing the ludicrous statement. The Cloaked Schemer sauntered away, a smirk on his lips, and Roxas turned back to Namine again, quite embarrassed.

"I am so sorry about that," Roxas said, pointing shyly at Namine's stained dress.

"Oh no, really," Namine tried assuring, "it's fine, Roxas. It was an accident; you didn't mean to do it." The girl looked woefully at her favorite dress, and Roxas caught that look.

"Hey look," Roxas offered, "how about I wash it for you? Then return it to you nice and clean? It'd make me feel a whole lot better if you let me do that..." Roxas gulped nervously, feeling his stomach knot with the fear that he might stumble on his speech, or even stutter. Or maybe even forget what he was going to say...

Namine looked at him, inquisitive as she considered his offer. "Well, if you insist...," she relented softly.

Roxas's eyes lit up. "That's great!" he said enthusiastically. "I'll do it right now, even!" When Namine peered at him curiously, he hastily added, "I-I mean like, y'know... Kinda gimme your dress after you change into something else already... y'know?" Roxas chuckled weakly, scratching the back of his head.

This seemed to put Namine at ease. "Okay then, Roxas," she said, smiling gently at him. "Would you like it if I come meet you by the laundry rooms in about half an hour? That way you can take your... ah, medicine and get a little rest in."

"Great idea," Roxas agreed readily. "Thanks for your considerations, Namine." He flashed a big grin at the girl, and Namine giggled, her hand automatically going to her mouth.


Roxas rose from his bed from the quick catnap; he had taken the leftover medicine, and was now ready to head on over to see Namine, though he still had about ten minutes to kill. He turned his head to the entrance of the Infirmary upon hearing footsteps echoing down the outside halls. The doors open widely, and Axel stepped through with exaggerated regality. Larxene and Luxord were at his heels.

"We came as soon as we heard," Axel declared as he approached his best friend. Axel snickered before asking, unnecessarily, "Did you die?"

Roxas grinned. "I did, but then Saix scared me to life."

Axel chuckled as Luxord and Larxene came on either side of Roxas' occupied bed. "So when will you be let out, lad?" the Gambler Of Fate asked, flipping through a deck of cards on the dresser in front of him.

"Actually," Roxas responded, "Zexion wants me out as soon as possible because I'm not seriously injured or anything. I was just going to see Namine--"

"You're going to see Namine?" Larxene interrupted. "You finally cracked a date with her, am I right?" She winked, enjoying the sight of Roxas squirming at the question.

"N-No," he stammered. "I was just going to meet her by the laundry rooms..."

Larxene's eyes lit up. "Oh-ho-ho!" she laughed. "Axel! Roxas isn't going to be a boy anymore!"

The two stood up in front of each other and, grasping hands, shouted together jubilantly: "He's gonna be a MAN!"

"What are you two talking about--" Roxas' mouth was gently covered with one of Luxord's gloved hands. "Mmppft?"

Luxord shook his head, his clear blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "It's best you don't grasp what those two are talking about," the Gambler reassured, taking his hand off the boy's mouth now.

"But all I'm going to do is wash her dress!" Roxas protested.

Larxene's head snapped to Roxas' direction. "Seriously?" she asked, incredulous. "Holy crap, Axel, it's totally different! Namine has Roxas as her man-slave!" She clapped her hands together. "He's not a man," she corrected herself, "he's a bitch!"

Roxas' mouth fell open again as his cheeks and ears burned. "No, I'm not!" he yelped. "I'm washing her dress because I got it dirty!"

Axel's face took on the scientifically unexplainable expression known only as 'Did-you-do-what-I-think-you-did-with-her?' Perhaps better known as 'WTF?'.

"Wh... What...?" Roxas asked, wary. "Why are you looking at me like that for...?"

Larxene put her hand to her forehead slowly. "I take that last part back," she said to Axel. "He's a man."

"I'm only fourteen!"

"Then you're quite the young man, aren't you?" Larxene retorted playfully.

"Okay, you know what?" Roxas finally said. "I gotta go now! Namine's gonna be waiting for me, and I'm probably gonna be late because of you guys!" He kicked himself off the bed, to which he somehow slipped again. Scrambling back up, he pretended that he didn't just trip, and walked through a portal.

Of course, before the vortex swallowed him up, he heard Larxene and Axel's parting words:

"No glove, no love!"


A/N: Man, I really had to squeeze this in; I really didn't want to get lazy with this at all. But hey, track season's over for the school year, so I might be able to get chapters in faster. Until the next chapter, stay tuned.

P.S. Yes, Namine still has the kitten, more popularly known as Carne Asada, as Axel will argue otherwise.