Chapter ELEVEN

Terra coming home was good for everyone, especially Naminé. With her brother in the house, she felt a bit more comfortable and at ease with herself. The constant sense of insecurity common in teenagers was a bit reduced in Naminé's case. About a week after Terra's return, she began to realize how she was acting a bit differently than usual. She took the initiative in greeting acquaintances in the halls, made small talk with teachers while soliciting help on schoolwork, and hung out a lot more with Olette and Hayner. It actually took Olette and Hayner's commenting for her to realize how much more open she was.

"You are," Hayner said, stuffing a fry in his mouth. "You never talked back to me before."

"That's because I didn't know you that well," Naminé argued.

"See, you just talked back to me!" Hayner exclaimed, completely disregarding Naminé's words. Naminé sighed. Sometimes, Hayner's one-track mind led him to ignore what other people said.

"Hayner's right," Olette chirped, "you are much more outgoing these days. Is there a particular reason? I mean, it's a good thing."

"I'm more outgoing?" Naminé considered the thought. These days she just felt a surge of energy in her, an extra skip to her steps, a rush of empowering strength in her. She didn't bother to identify the source of this emotion when it was such a positive, uplifting force. "Maybe. I mean, I do feel better these days. Probably because my brother's home from college."

"Are you two close?" Olette asked.

"Eh. I mean, we had a normal relationship I guess. We weren't confiding our deepest darkest secrets with each other but we got along. Do you two have any siblings?"

Hayner and Olette simultaneously shook their heads. "Only child," Olette said.

"Well, I gotta go," Hayner said as he gathered his things. "The tournament starts in half an hour and it's a ten minute walk home. Plus I gotta stock up on popcorn."

"What tournament?" Naminé asked.

Olette scoffed. "A gaming tournament. Seriously, it's not even a sport – it's gaming. I almost wanted to punch him when he told me he was staying up all night watching a gaming tournament. Have you heard one of his rambles about the proliferation of games and the expansion of the gaming industry in the coming decade?"

"One day, gaming will be considered a professional sport!" Hayner exclaimed. Olette whacked him on the side of his head.

"Yeah. So that's that. I actually gotta go too because I have a paper due tomorrow. Legit homework," she added, directing the last sentence at Hayner. "Are you leaving too, Naminé?"

Naminé looked around the café they were sitting in. "Yeah, I should probably go to – oh hold on, can you wait a moment?" Naminé asked as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Checking the caller I.D. – unknown – Naminé briefly wondered who it was before picking up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hello? Is this Naminé?" The voice was a guy's, vaguely familiar, but Naminé couldn't identify it.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"Oh. Hey, it's me. Sora."

"Sora!" Naminé exclaimed. She recalled Sora revealing he'd obtained her number to ask for help on media studies homework. Dimly, she wondered why he was calling now. "Sorry, can you gimme a moment?"

"Yeah, no problem." Naminé held her phone to the side and turned towards Hayner and Olette.

"Sora's calling you?" Olette asked. Naminé could hear the disbelief and curiosity permeating her words. Naminé grinned sheepishly and shrugged.

"Yeah. I don't know why but he is. I'll see you two tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, see you. Let's go, Hayner," Olette said. With a pleasant smile and wave, the two were off on their way home.

"Hello? Sora? You there?" Naminé asked, placing her cellphone next to her ear once more.

"Yeah. Sorry, did I call at a bad time?"

"No, not at all!" she exclaimed. "But what do you need?"

"Remember last time I went to your house? I may or may not have left my wallet there. And it has student I.D. card inside. I need my I.D. card for this thing my mom's signing me up for, so can I come get it real quick?"

"Oh right, your wallet!" Naminé recalled finding his wallet in her room after he'd left. She had kept telling herself to return it but apparently forgot again and again. "I have it with me! I'm actually outside now."

"Oh, okay. Where are you?"

"I'm in Comet Café."

"Alright, I'll be over in fifteen minutes. Sit tight!"

"Yeah, I'll be leaving on the dot. So be on time!" Naminé giggled. She hung up and set her phone down. She still half a turkey sandwich and her strawberry banana smoothie. Fishing out the required reading for history class, she began perusing the assignment while waiting for Sora.

To his credit, Sora arrived fourteen minutes after he called (yes, Naminé was counting). He rushed in and Naminé looked up to see who it was since the door made an annoying ring-ling sound whenever someone entered or exited. Sora smiled upon seeing her and immediately slid into the seat opposite hers. A waitress handed him a glass of complimentary water and he thanked her with a charming smile.

"Anytime. Would you like to order anything?" she asked. Naminé observed the waitress. She previously wasn't responsible for Naminé's table but apparently now she was. It was pretty obvious why she'd taken it on herself to do more than her job. Naminé shrugged. She had her smoothie and no stake over Sora – they could flirt away all they wanted.

"Umm, no it's okay. Thanks though." Sora was polite all the way through, and the waitress smiled and lingered for awhile longer than deemed necessary before leaving to take care of the other tables.

"Did you know she was trying to flirt with you?" Naminé asked, setting her smoothie down.

"What? The waitress?" Sora asked, jabbing a finger at her direction.

Naminé nodded. "It wasn't really obvious, thank goodness, but she was. It was entertaining to watch you shoot her down."

"Wait, what? She was flirting with me?" So apparently Sora had no idea the effect he had on the female half of the population. Naminé chuckled. His obliviousness was a bit adorable. Okay, that thought was meant in a completely platonic way. Cute like a little brother.

"I feel kinda bad for her…" Naminé continued playing on Sora's conscience, knowing he'd feel bad for unintentionally shooting her down.

"What? But I didn't—how was she—but it's not—argh!"

"Calm down," Naminé said, chuckling. "It's not your fault. I mean, at least you made it clear you don't want her leaving her phone number on a napkin or anything."

"What?" Okay, maybe Sora was just really unversed in the ways of society. Or maybe Naminé just watched too many TV sitcoms.

"Never mind. Ignore me. Do you want your wallet?" Naminé asked. Sora nodded and Naminé flipped through her bag to pass him his wallet. It was a worn leather one that was compact and practical. "I was going to give it back to you during the day but I kept on forgetting. Sorry."

"Yeah, I didn't realize I'd left it at your house until afterschool." Sora shrugged, receiving the wallet. "Thanks a lot."

"So what's your student I.D. needed for?" Naminé asked.

"Oh, this thing for college. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what. My mom handles most of the paperwork. I just give her whatever she asks for."

Naminé chuckled. She'd forgotten about the whole entire thing with college. "Right, college. So where are you thinking of applying to?"

Sora shrugged. "The local universities on Destiny Islands, and maybe some in Twilight Town or Radiant Garden. I'm not that keen on leaving Destiny Islands though. Those places have nothing on the beaches of Destiny Islands."

Naminé nodded in agreement. "I agree. I actually came from Radiant Garden. The weather's alright there, but there's a sharp divide between Radiant Garden and Hollow Bastion, considered the ghettoes or poorer part of the city. I'm assuming you're applying to a college in Radiant Garden though so you should be fine."

"Oh. Well, I didn't even know that," Sora said. He chuckled. "To be honest, I'm a bit apprehensive about leaving Destiny Islands. I've literally grown up on these islands."

"Well, change is inevitable. I believe you'll do great wherever you go."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Oh wait, sorry, lemme take a call." Sora picked up on a call and began speaking rapidly to his phone. Naminé tried to look around to pretend she wasn't listening in on his conversation, hoping to give him some space, but it was kinda hard to do so when he was talking in loud, angry words.

"Are you kidding me? What did you—okay, I see. I see. Hmm. Give me a moment, I'll be there as soon as I can. Alright. Thanks for calling me. Okay, bye." Sora finally hung up and looked towards Naminé, who was staring at him with wide, curious eyes.

She had to ask. "Who was that?"

"Oh, no one." Obviously, he was hiding something. "I have to go though. My mom's still waiting for this student I.D. Sorry to cut this conversation short."

"Oh, it's okay. I'll see you tomorrow?" Naminé asked almost hopefully.

"Of course. See you." Sora got to his feet and then left quickly without another word. It worried Naminé as to who exactly he was on the phone with. He had obviously left the café aggravated and a bit impatient. Naminé watched him through the glass panel that served as a wall for the café.

She blinked. Was he meeting up with—Hayner?

Naminé watched as the two of them exchanged rapid conversation. Hayner was making wild gestures with his hands and Sora was mostly listening. Then, the two of them were taking action. Naminé rose to her feet. For some reason, she felt compelled to follow. Her curiosity was nagging and had been nagging at her ever since she'd watch Sora and Hayner's exchange in media studies class more than a month ago. Grabbing her belongings, she dashed out of the café just in time to watch them rush down the street around the corner.

It was a bit ridiculous and foolhardy for her to decide on a whim to stalk the two but she was dying to know. She had tried asking Sora about it before but he'd skillfully diverted the subject to something else with his natural flair for articulation. She had then tried asking Hayner but he'd suddenly closed himself off and refused to reveal anything pertinent. In other words, both tries were failures. This seemed like an opportune moment to figure out something about the two of them.

Spying was harder than she'd thought. She was constantly afraid that they'd discover her and ask her what she was doing following them. Many times Hayner or Sora would look up and around, and out of fear, she'd duck behind a fire hydrant or a corner, her heart beating loudly in her chest. After what she felt like was a sufficient moment of time, she'd peek around and realize they were far away once more. It was hard gauging the distance between them such that they were far enough for them to not see her but close enough for her to keep them in her line of sight.

Finally, they arrived at their destination. Naminé looked around. They had been walking around for over fifteen minutes and they'd come to one of the poorer parts of the islands. The streets were desolate and full of garbage and fallen leaves. A chilly wind blew by. It was growing dark and Naminé was worried what would happen.

At the far distance she could make out Hayner and Sora approaching a gang of other people. She found a favorable spying position from behind a fat trash can and situated herself there. Peering around the trash can, she tried to listen in our their conversation.

"What the hell is going on here?" That was Sora's loud voice that came out when he was trying to assert himself. He was rushing to tend to someone on the ground – Naminé focused her eyes on the fallen individual and realized to her horror that it was Roxas! She blanched – what was Roxas doing getting caught up in gang wars or whatever had just happened?

"This punk thought he could graffiti our walls and get off scot-free!" one of the thugs exclaimed. "We're just showing him who owns these streets!"

"That doesn't mean you just beat him to pulp!" Sora exclaimed. Though outnumbered, Sora did not show fear or trepidation in face of the possibility of being beaten up. Hayner was flanking his side and together the two were standing up against the gang.

"Tch. You're Sora, eh? The kid's cousin? We've heard of ya. You're a good guy and you normally don't trouble others. We'll let you off today but tell your cousin that if we see him again in these streets, it'll be more than just a beating that he'll get. Boys, let's go." Under the lead of one guy, the gang left the three boys to tend to their own affairs. They were surprisingly rational, Naminé thought.

"Is he okay?" Sora asked as he kneeled back down next to Roxas. Hayner was helping Roxas up into a sitting position. Roxas wasn't speaking but he seemed conscious and was spluttering coughs.

"Well, he's better off than I'd expected," Hayner said. "When I called you, I saw him running away from those guys. I would've intervened but Olette was with me and I didn't want her to get involved."

"I understand," Sora said. "Let's take care of him first."

Oh my goodness. Naminé didn't know what to think. Roxas had gotten in a fight? Roxas did graffiti? The Roxas that had helped pick up her papers and was always kind and polite when she saw him in school? It was hard to reconcile these two contrasting images of him that she had. She leaned on the trash can further, continuing to listen to the two boys' conversation.

"He seems to be fine. I'm no doctor but I think he's just bruised. Nothing worse. He'll wake up in moments I think," Hayner said. For a teenage boy who seemed disinterested in his studies, he sounded like a potential doctor to Naminé.

"Thanks, Hayner. I don't know what I'd do without you," Sora said.

"I don't know what Roxas would do without you." Pause. "Have you talked to him about all of this before?"

"I have," Sora said. "He was drawing himself away from me when high school began. When I discovered he was involved in this…Organization XIII, I asked why in the world he would even join. He gave me some vague answer about fitting in and belonging. I didn't really take him seriously and supposed it was just a phase. Well, looking at it now, it seems like more than just a phase."

"Yeah," Hayner said. "He used to hang out with us at the usual spot everyday afterschool. That was middle school though." He snorted. "Good days. Now he's just running around with this Organization everyday and I don't know what to think of it." He then proceeded to give a long sigh. "I'm worried. I've tried talking to him but he shut me out."

"I know. He does the same thing to me. Once I mention it to him, he begins to close himself off from me. I…I have no idea what to do." Sora sighed helplessly. "I just want him to be happy again."

"Yeah." The two paused, perhaps reminiscing memories of the good old days. Naminé didn't know what to think of the situation. There was apparently so much between them that she never knew. She didn't want to assume anything based on biased accounts so she tried to keep her judgments neutral.

"Hey, I gotta go. Olette said she'd talk to me through IM and she'll be suspicious if I'm not on since I'm always on my computer." Hayner chuckled. "Can you manage?"

"Yeah. He'll be waking soon, right?"

"Should be. Call me if you need anything."

"Yeah. And Hayner, thanks again."

"No problem. Anything for a friend." Hayner chuckled. "Really. Despite everything, Roxas is still one of my friends."

"I'm sure he'd be glad to hear that."

After farewells, Hayner went on his way. There was a long stretched period of silence. Naminé's feet were growing sore from her awkward kneeling position. She wondered how long this would before Roxas woke up. Soon enough, her unasked question was answered.

Roxas' coughs grew louder. "Hey, you okay?" Sora asked and Naminé saw him pat Roxas' back. After a moment, Roxas seemed to wake up and get up into a sitting position. It took him awhile to speak.

"S—Sora?"

"Yeah. Your cousin. Remember?" Sora's tone was light and jocular, making light of the situation despite the state of Roxas' wellbeing. Naminé heard Roxas manage a small laugh.

"Yeah. I don't think I have amnesia."

"Just checking."

A long, stretched pause of silence. Naminé wondered what would happen now that the two finally had the chance to confront each other.

"Do you want to tell me what just happened?" Given Sora's words, he sounded strangely like a father.

"No." And Roxas like the rebellious teenager. "It's my own business."

"You're my cousin. Your business is my business."

"We can argue all day and still go nowhere. Just leave me alone."

"No!" Sora's emphatic declaration startled both Naminé and Roxas. "This has been going on long enough. Why were you doing graffiti in the first place? I know you love art and all that but you could've found a more peaceful, lawful way of expressing it! You should be thankful that it wasn't the police that caught you or this would be going on record!"

"So are you saying I should be thankful that those thugs beat me up instead? You don't understand anything, Sora. Don't pretend you do."

"If I don't, then tell me! The only reason I don't know anything is because you keep on shutting me out! How do you expect me to know things you don't tell me?"

"I'm not telling you for a reason." Roxas was resolute in his tone and he stubbornly looked away from Sora.

"Why won't you tell me?" Sora asked. "You've been pulling away from me ever since you began high school. I thought it was because you joined the gang but I asked around and found out you joined the gang in 8th grade. We were fine in 8th grade. Why the sudden change when your freshman year began?" Sora paused, giving Roxas a chance to speak but the blond remained silent. "There was only one thing that changed over the summer from your 8th to 9th grade. And that was that I began dating Kairi."

What? Kairi? Naminé wondered what in the world Kairi had to do with the two cousins' feud.

"Did you have something against her? Why did you pull away suddenly? Tell me!" Sora demanded.

"I won't! I don't have to and I'm not gonna tell you! You're not my father or even my brother—you're just my cousin! Can you just leave me alone now?"

"Fine!" Sora exclaimed. Naminé was surprised that Sora was actually conceding to Roxas' demand. "Fine! I'm tired of trying to care for you but getting my help rubbed right back in my face! If you want to ruin your life, go ahead! I could care less!" Sora's spiteful words were biting—Naminé didn't think he could be so…mean. She supposed even Sora's patience and kindness had a limit.

"Fine. I never asked for your help anyways." Roxas' statement was quiet but deadly. A long stretched silence later, Sora stomped away from the scene. Naminé frowned. What was happening? Why was this so? It might have been perhaps from her mother's sessions that she knew the reason for this was miscommunication. Certainly there was a way for the two of them to reconcile.

"I know you're there, you know." Roxas' voice spoke to no one and for a moment, Naminé didn't realize that he was probably addressing her. "Yeah, you, the blonde girl hiding behind the trash can. Aren't you afraid what's rotting in there?"

Naminé guiltily came out of her hiding place. "You knew I was here the whole time?"

"Well, not the whole time." Roxas smiled serenely in comparison to his demeanor when he'd argued with Sora. "Perhaps halfway between talking with Sora. Your hiding skills aren't that good, you know."

"Like you would know," Naminé murmured as she slowly approached.

"I actually do know. I was always found the last when we played hide-and-seek as kids." Roxas' cheeky response was a breath of fresh air given the tensions in the air. Naminé approached and took a seat next to him.

"Are you okay?" she felt the urge to ask despite the obvious answer.

"I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle," Roxas said.

"Do you need anything? I have…" Naminé flipped through her bag to see if she had anything useful. "Band-Aids, a towel, water?"

"Water sounds good." Naminé passed him her bottle of water and he downed half the bottle in one gulp. "Ahh. That tastes good. Thanks."

"No problem. You can have the rest."

Naminé paused. She wasn't sure what was supposed to happen now. She had gotten herself into quite the predicament. She wasn't afraid of Roxas. Instead, her curiosity was begging to know more.

"I'm sure you're dying to know what just happened," Roxas mentioned. Naminé nodded. "Normally I'd love to entertain a pretty girl, but I gotta brush up and get home before curfew." Naminé blinked. Had he—was he flirting with her? It was just one comment but Naminé couldn't help but wonder. Despite being beaten up, there was a small smile on his face. Naminé figured this was just his way of dealing with the awkwardness of the situation. "I'll give you three questions. So choose wisely."

"You make this sound like one of those stories where I'm an ingénue and you're the knowledgeable wizard who doesn't want to spoil the story so he limits the girl to ask three questions." Naminé had no idea why she had to bring that into the conversation.

Roxas laughed. "Interesting comparison. But I'm a bit disappointed I'm just a knowledgeable wizard. Shouldn't I at least be the dashing vagabond who seems to be a viable love interest for the girl?"

"Perhaps. I answered one of your questions so can I get another question?"

"Sure. You just did, so we're back to three."

Damn. Roxas was good. Easy tricks weren't gonna work. She could tell by the smile on Roxas' face that he was amused with the given situation. She seriously considered what her three questions would be.

"What happened?"

Roxas laughed aloud. "Well, that's a vague question. Smart, I suppose. Let's see. My dad met my mom and as you know, when a man and a woman love each other, they—"

"Seriously!" Naminé exclaimed. She made a fist about to hit him but realized he was injured all over and decided otherwise.

Roxas laughed. "Alright, alright. Just don't hit me!" He cleared his throat. "Let me see. First, let's start with the fact that I'm a member of Organization XIII. It's a band of misfits for people who feel like they don't belong. So I guess that's why I joined. Well, another reason is because my friend Axel is in the band and he dragged me to one of their meetings. And before I knew it, I was a member."

"Huh." Naminé processed the information. She was tempted to ask a question about who this Axel was but he seemed quite irrelevant in the long run and decided to save the number of questions she had for something more pertinent.

"Some people may call us a gang but we really aren't. We just find expression in…ways that are at times frowned upon by society. I do graffiti. Axel likes fire—don't worry, he isn't an arsonist. He just likes watching things burn. Okay, that totally sounded like an arsonist but it's not like that. Trust me." Naminé giggled watching Roxas give an explanation for his friend's aberrant interest. She gestured for him to continue. "Yeah. So I was doing some graffiti work and those guys caught me. It's technically their property so they decided to beat me up for it. That's the story of what happened," Roxas said.

Naminé nodded. She decided on her second question. "What are you hiding from Sora?"

Roxas sighed heavily. "You sure know what questions to ask. Smarter than I thought." Naminé took that as a compliment. Roxas continued speaking. "First, you have to swear you won't tell Sora this."

"Of course," Naminé said.

Roxas drew a deep breath. " The Organization doesn't really get along well with the group of people Kairi hung out with. When I found out Sora was dating Kairi, I didn't want to cause them any trouble so I began to pull away from Sora. That's basically it. I don't want to tell Sora because he has a damn guilt complex and will blame himself for everything. I was hoping he'd just blame my behavior on the gang." Roxas sighed and then chuckled. "Yeah, even I call the Organization a gang. I really need a break from life."

Naminé nodded. She had one final question. She supposed she could get to know more about Sora and Kairi's situation but what did that matter? She wondered why Roxas was being so open and honest. Even after telling her he'd answer three of her questions, he could've refused to answer the hard one or come up with a lie—she'd never know. Naminé concluded Roxas was a decent guy. He was someone she wouldn't mind befriending.

"Why are you still with the Organization?" Naminé asked.

Roxas blinked. "You're not gonna ask anything else about Sora and Kairi?"

"No." Naminé shook her head. "I want to know why you're still with the Organization when you obviously don't want to."

"I obviously don't want to? Are you—" He laughed. "Man. Is it that obvious?"

Naminé shrugged. "Well, not really. I had a gut feeling. You just confirmed it."

Roxas laughed. "You're good. You manipulative little girl. Who would've known behind that sweet innocent exterior was the mind of a witch." He paused. "I meant that as a compliment," Roxas added awkwardly.

"I know." Naminé smiled. For some reason, she hadn't taken Roxas' words in a wrong way. Maybe because Roxas struck her as a very honest person with his sincere answers to her questions.

"Well, where to start?" Roxas sighed. "To be honest, I've wanted to quit for awhile. It's not that hard to quit, just this small fee and farewell ceremony, but I never have. It's mostly because of my friend Axel. He's stuck with the gang because he owes a lot of money to the superior. And he's my friend. I can't…I can't just leave him there like that. So I do what I gotta do—join meetings, paint graffiti, and remain a member. Even if I don't really like breaking the law. I mean, I used to, but the rush wore off eventually."

Roxas had never struck her as the sentimental type. He seemed like he always had his things together. So when he began rambling, Naminé didn't know what to do or say. "I have no idea what I'm doing with my life sometimes. I try to be a good friend to Axel and tell him to quit but he needs money and he's a college dropout. The Superior of the gang gives him small tasks every once in awhile and it's easy money. I tried giving him money before but he rejected it. Pride, or something stupid like that. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I hate lying to Sora and Kairi. I felt horrible when they broke up and I thought it was my fault. I didn't have anyone to talk to. I want to tell Axel sometimes but he's busy working off that debt. I can't tell my parents—they don't even know I'm with the Organization. Because of the Organization, I've blown off so many people—Sora, my parents, even Hayner and Pence and Olette. You know them, right? I used to hangout with them everyday in middle school. They were nice people. They still are. When Olette sees me in the halls, she manages a smile and friendly wave. Hayner still tries to invite me to the usual spot to hang out every once in awhile. Pence tried asking me what exactly went wrong. My life is a mess and what I really need—what I really need is—"

"You just need a break," Naminé said. She took his hand in hers. Naminé heard her mother in the back of her head composing her words for her. "You just need to get away from this all. Take a good look at what's important to you in your life and figure out what you should do." Naminé counted off a few dates in her head. "It's almost Christmas break. Go somewhere away from all of this—your parents, the Organization, Sora, and even Axel. You owe yourself at least this much, Roxas. You can't always be thinking of others—you need to consider yourself."

Roxas sighed. "I suppose." His voice was steadier now and the slight tremble in his hands was gone. "I suppose. Your mother's a psychologist, right?"

"Y—yeah." Naminé blinked. She wondered where that came from.

He chuckled. "Maybe I should enlist her services. You're pretty good at this thing too."

Naminé scoffed. "Sure. I mean, what's another Hikaru over at my house during weekend sessions?"

"Wait, what do you mean 'another Hikaru'?" Roxas asked.

Shit. Naminé just blurted out Xion's secret. Naminé knew through her mother that patient privacy was of utmost importance, especially to psychologists and their patients. It wasn't easy telling someone you had a psychological disorder. She thought Roxas knew. While she was searching her brain for the right words to say, Roxas spoke.

"Oh, do you mean Xion? She was talking about visiting a psychologist recently."

"Oh, so you know?" Naminé asked. She sighed in relief—at least she wasn't breaching patient confidentiality. Her mother would kill her if she found out. "Yeah. She and Sora come around every week."

"Wait, Sora goes?" Roxas asked.

Shit! Naminé sucked at this thing. Well, at least it wasn't that important. "Yeah. He said his parents are busy."

"I see…" Roxas said, trailing off. "So while Xion is having her sessions, do you and Sora hang out?"

"Yeah. Sometimes we talk, sometimes we just do homework in my room."

"In your room? That sounds scandalous to me…" Roxas said, a smirk on his face.

"Shut up! It's just doing homework."

"In your room."

"Roxas."

"Alright, got it," Roxas said, backing off from the teasing. He checked his watch. "Well, your three questions are way up and I gotta go. Care to help me up?"

"Yeah." Naminé rose to her feet and helped Roxas onto his. He hobbled a little and Naminé reached out to support him. "Are you sure you can get home?"

"Yeah. As I said, nothing I can't handle." Roxas took a few steps to prove he was fine. Naminé was still dubious but didn't say anything.

"Hey. Can I ask one last question?" Naminé asked. She knew she was pushing it but she had a questions dying to get off her chest.

Roxas chuckled. "As I said, your questions are way up. But I suppose. I really need to go though, so my answer's gonna be short."

"Okay. Why did you tell me all that?" Naminé asked.

Roxas blinked. He then laughed. "Well, let's see. You're Sora's friend, you seem somewhat trustworthy, and you're turning out to be way more interesting than I thought. Plus, I think you and Sora can help each other out. And it doesn't hurt that you're cute."

"W—wait, what?"

"That's it!" Roxas said in a cheery tone. "See you tomorrow, Naminé!" Roxas hobbled away quickly, given his injury, and crossed the road just in time so the stoplight turned red when Naminé reached. She saw him shoot her a cheeky grin from across the road and she returned it with a raspberry. Alright, she was being childish. But what else was she supposed to do?

She pondered Roxas' words. One in particular stuck out to her. "I think you and Sora can help each other out." What exactly did Roxas mean by that?


A/N: Omg two months guys, much love to those who have stuck with me. The good news is that I'm going to college! The question now is where exactly I'm going—choosing between two decent public schools: Berkeley and University of Michigan. Any suggestions of the such? I should have a final decision at the end of this month.

Enough talk about me. The story's reached it's second half. I foresee this story to end in 20 chapters so we're finally getting there. Once college is decided on, I'll have more time to devote to this. I really want to finish it before college so this will be one of the few pieces I've completed in high school.

This chapter is admittedly a bit raw—it's unedited. But I owe it to you guys for the two-month wait. It's slightly longer too! Leave comments and reviews, especially if you find any mistakes. Thank you so much for all the continued support, especially my reviewers!