Correspondence with a Demon

Chapter 12 – Rivalry

"You are dismissed."

Everyone stood. Larxene was the first out the door, followed closely by Xigbar. The rest walked by without a glance at the boy who stood next to the exit with a hand on his cheek, nursing his wound. Xemnas stopped next to him.

"I hope that you would have better control of your emotions during the next meeting. I do not want to see another one of those…unsightly outbursts," he glanced at him from the corner of his eye before he adjusted his cloak and walked out.

Naminé couldn't see his eyes, but she was sure that he was staring at the ground. His hand was clenched tightly.

She felt Sora's hand on her shoulder.

"You all right?" he asked.

She didn't reply. She kept staring at Roxas. All of a sudden, her feet started moving, and she found herself walking towards him. She took off her deep red cloak and knelt down next to him. She was going to press the cloth against his cheek to stop the bleeding, but he smacked her hand away. It stung for a bit.

She tried again to press the cloth against his wound, but he shrugged away.

"At least let me wipe the blood from your face," she said. He grabbed her wrist, stopping her from letting the cloth touch him.

"Don't touch me," he replied coldly. Naminé looked at his hand and found that the bandages she wrapped were gone and that he somehow got more scratches. They swelled and looked like it could be infected.

She reached her hand out to touch one of the wounds. "You're hurt again," she noted.

Suddenly, he stood, making her fall backwards.

"I said don't touch me," he stared down at her with a furious expression, "It's already bad enough that you had to go outside even after I told you that it was dangerous. Now I'm stuck with him," his head jerked towards the brunette, who was still standing at the same place. He glared at him before turning his cold blue eyes back at Naminé. "I don't need your sympathy or your pity," he spat. "I don't need your help."

"Hey, give the girl a break," Sora began. He stood behind Naminé. "It's not her fault that she was attacked. Besides, she was worried about you. Be grateful for that."

"You," Roxas said, "Shut up. This is not your business."

Sora raised an eyebrow and put his hands in his pockets. "Well, you obviously hadn't gotten it through your thick head: her business just became my business. And anything that involves her, too."

Naminé heard a low growl emit from Roxas.

"If you think that you're going to get anything out of this – "

"You're the only one who's thinking that," Sora interjected. "Don't jump to your own conclusions."

Roxas' eyes narrowed.

The atmosphere was very tense, almost to the point of suffocation. Naminé watched the two stare each other down. She swore she could see sparks flying.

"S-stop it," Naminé found her voice. Sora glanced at her, but Roxas kept his eyes on Sora.

Sora sighed. "Let's at least try to be civil. We're in this together now, and it won't help if we make our charge uncomfortable."

Out of the corner of her eye, Naminé saw a slight movement from Roxas. Suddenly, Sora was over by his side and clamped a hand over Roxas' wrist.

"Don't lose your temper," Sora asserted. "I know that you aren't happy with this outcome, but the fact of the matter is that you're stuck with it. So just suck it up and deal with it."

"Fine," Roxas replied, breaking away from Sora's grasp, "Fine! If you want to be mixed up in whatever messed up things she's in, fine! You should do quite well with your new job. Maybe I should have left all the contract business to you! Maybe that's what I'll do!"

Roxas started to turn to exit. Instinctively, Naminé reached out her hand and grabbed his cloak.

He paused.

He turned to half face her.

"Have fun with your new guardian," he spat. He tore his cloak away from her grasp and walked through the door.

"Wait!" Naminé called out as she followed him out. He was still walking away, obviously ignoring her call. She caught his sleeve again to stop him, but he kept his pace. She kept a grasp on his sleeve but stumbled as she tried to keep up with him.

"I-I'm sorry," she said. "I knew that it was dangerous to go outside, and I'm sorry that I disobeyed your orders. But please, don't give up on me. I don't know anyone here, and you're the only one who I can rely on."

He stopped suddenly, making her crash into his back. She waited for him to say something.

"You're getting to be a real burden."

"W-what?" Naminé stammered as she looked up at him. She knew what he said, but she couldn't believe her ears.

"I don't know how much more I can take of this. I'm tired of doing all of it, all of this...I shouldn't have saved you. You've been nothing but trouble ever since I made that contract with you. Maybe the one who saved you shouldn't have been me. Maybe it should've been him," he said.

His words stung her. It pierced through her heart, and Naminé felt vulnerable. Through her shock, Roxas' cloak slipped between her fingers.

"By the way, I already made adjustments to the contract. From now on, you'll have to rely on him," he said. With a swish of his cloak, he walked further down the hallway and rounded the corner. She could still hear his footsteps hitting the tiles.

Naminé stood, still in shock. After all he did for her, after all the effort he made to protect her, he was just going to abandon her like that? Could it be that easy to make changes to the contract even without her permission? Even though he was mean, crude, blunt, and vague, she thought that if she was in danger, he would protect her.

She trusted him. So how could he have given up so easily?

Sora put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder.

"Let's go," he said.

Naminé had no choice but to follow him. She walked a little ways behind him in silence, still in shock and still hurting from what Roxas said to her. Sora didn't say anything either.

She didn't know where he was taking her, but after a few twists and turns, she found herself at the entrance of the infirmary.

"I just want to check up on how Olette and Hayner are doing," Sora said. "I know that you must be tired after all that's happened, so you can go take a nap after this. Unless," he hesitated, "You want to go back and rest now?"

Naminé shook her head. "It's all right," she said, trying to be reassuring. "I also wanted to know if they're okay."

When they entered, they saw Hayner snoring away in a bed. The covers were half on him while the other half was on the floor. If he didn't have the bandages, Naminé would've thought that he was sleeping happily.

Olette, meanwhile, was in the bed next to Hayner's and woke up when they entered. Her arm was in a sling, and she winced as she sat up to greet them.

"How're you doing?" Sora asked as he pulled up a chair next to her bed. He sat in it backwards and rested his head on his folded arms. Naminé sat gently at the foot of her bed. She took off her red cloak, finding the room to be a little too hot. She draped if over her lap.

"I would feel much better and well rested if this dog didn't snore so loudly," Olette joked as she glanced over at the spiky-blonde boy as he gave an extra loud snore. He stopped midway and turned, scratching the back of his head. It became quiet for a while.

"Other than that, I'm all right. It looks like I have to take some time off of work, but it's nothing I can complain about," she said quite cheerfully. "But enough about me, how are you?" she asked Naminé.

Naminé shook her head. "A lot of things happened at the meeting…"

Naminé quietly explained what went on while Sora added some comments here and there. Olette's eyes widened as they went further into their explanation, especially at the part where they explained about Sora's new role.

"So what's the plan for that now? She obviously can't stay in Roxas' room each consecutive night like before," Olette pointed out.

"That's why I'm the new guardian," Sora replied. "Xemnas wanted us to take turns looking after her. So tonight, she'll be staying in my room. Then I guess she'll be staying in Roxas' room some other night."

Naminé looked at him as he said that. This was news to her. All of a sudden, she'll be changing rooms? She felt uncomfortable about this.

"Oh, sorry! I should've told you before," Sora smiled meekly, noticing Naminé's expression. "Now that I'm your new guardian, it's better if you switch rooms on a different night. So that, you know, just in case something happened…" He didn't need to finish his sentence.

Naminé nodded slowly after some thinking. What choice did she have?

"That's...all right. Thanks..." she said, a bit unsure about this decision. The words "You're getting to be a real burden" kept ringing over and over in her ears, keeping her mind a bit preoccupied.

"Speaking of which, I have to go have a talk with Roxas. He should be cooled off by now. Is it all right if I leave you here? You'll be safe, and I promise that I'll be back in no time," Sora asked as he stood from his seat. Naminé nodded.

Once Sora left, Olette looked at Naminé, whose mind was still on the conversation she had with Roxas.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "You look a bit down."

Naminé bit her lip, wondering if she should confide in Olette. She didn't have anyone else to tell though, and she really needed someone to talk to.

"Before he left…Roxas said that he shouldn't have saved me and that…it would've been better if Sora had done it," Naminé looked down at her lap, saddened. Her eyes started to water. "He said I was a burden."

Olette's eyes softened. "I'm sure he didn't mean that. Sometimes he says what he doesn't mean when he gets angry. You know, all the blood rushes to his head, and he can't think straight."

But Olette's reassurance didn't make Naminé feel better. She wondered if she really was a burden to him and if it was better to just let Sora be her guardian instead of Roxas. She regretted ever stepping foot out of the room. If she didn't, then things could've been better, right? She wouldn't have been attacked, and Roxas wouldn't have gotten so mad at her.

"Hey," Olette said to get her attention. She put her hand on Naminé's. "You're not a burden."

"But you and Hayner got hurt because of me! Roxas also has to deal with more than he has to," Naminé protested. "There's something about me that these creatures want, and it's causing everyone so much stress. If I wasn't here then maybe everyone would be happier!"

Olette shook her head vigorously. "Don't say that! Naminé, you are our friend now. Hayner and the kids were glad to meet you. I'm glad to have met you. We would've protected you since you are our friend. That's just who we are."

"And if this is about the contract thing, then it's fine. Once a contract is made, then it sticks to whoever made it. There's no backing out of it. Besides," she added, "Roxas isn't the type to give up so easily. He might be really angry right now, but having Sora as a second guardian will lighten his burden, I'm sure."

Olette smiled, and Naminé couldn't help but give a small smile back.

"I know that it's also a little weird with all the sudden room change, but Sora's really nice. It'll be a good change for you. Roxas can be so serious sometimes that it's depressing," Olette added. She made a face that made Naminé laugh a little.

At that time, Sora entered, looking a little bit more cheerful. He spotted Naminé and waved her to come over. Naminé said her goodbye to Olette, who finally gave up and threw her only pillow at Hayner to stop him from snoring. He woke up a little confused before falling back asleep, cuddling his new pillow.

"You look a little better," Sora noted as they walked through the corridors.

"I feel a little better," Naminé smiled, but deep down she still felt hurt.

"That's good," he said as he put his hands behind his head. "Now that's over and done with, I'm really tired," he sighed, "Being too serious for hours on end can be really exhausting. I don't know how Roxas puts up with it."

"You almost seem like a different person," Naminé pointed out. She found it much easier to talk to Sora when he's like this. They rounded a corner.

"Yeah, well…" Sora scratched his nose. "I guess you can say that the Sora at the meeting was in 'leader mode.' Xemnas once told me that if I was going to be his successor, I had to be firm and assertive with everyone so that I would seem more 'leader-like.' But I don't like all the tenseness. It's just not me, you know?"

"Oh yeah," Sora said as he looked up. They turned another corner. "I just remembered. I'm going to have to take you to the lab tomorrow for some testing. But it's okay. They're probably going to just stick some of those pads on you and measure something. None of those injections," he shivered, making a disgusted face. It felt reassuring and even easy-going with Sora, not at all like it was with Roxas.

"Here's my room!" Sora announced as they stood in front of two huge doors. Unlike the others, he didn't have a number. However, there was this paper with a crude drawing of what looked to be Sora and a star. Underneath the picture, it said "Sora's room." It was pinned on the door diagonally.

When he opened the double doors, Naminé saw that it was completely different than what she expected. The room was so much brighter, so much homier than Xemnas' ornate room or even the fanciness of Roxas' room. The walls were paneled, like Roxas', but the floors were all wooden paneled. There was a big round blue rug in the center, and there were the same crude drawings placed in random spots on the wall. The afternoon light shone through the windows. Naminé could see the forest from where she stood.

All the furniture was simple. On the far right side, there was a white desk and white dresser that had a ship in a bottle and two seashells, and a four poster bed made of some kind of dark wood. The covers were plain blue, while the sheets underneath was white. On the far left side, there were two doors side by side with a white fireplace next to them. A blue couch faced it, and there was a green blanket resting on it. The room itself was a bit messy with some piles of clothes here and there, but overall it was quite neat.

"You're room is so…"

"Yeah, I know. It's a little childish, but I almost never change it. I like it better this way," Sora said embarrassingly.

"No, it's really nice," Naminé said as she walked in, looking at all the drawings displayed on the walls. He wasn't good at drawing at all, but she smiled at his childishness.

"Thanks. It's a bit messy, but please make yourself at home," Sora replied as he gathered some stuff off of the floor and threw it into his closet, the second door from the fireplace. "By the way, you're free to use my bed. I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight."

"Oh, please don't mind me," Naminé took her eyes off of a drawing of a tree. "I wouldn't want to keep you from your own bed."

"Nah, you go right ahead. It's no trouble for me," Sora grinned as he took a pillow from his bed and threw it on the couch.

"Thank you…and sorry for the trouble," Naminé replied. She looked over at the bed and found a change of clothes that were sitting on the bed. Sora must've informed someone that she'd be staying in his room for the night. She walked over and saw that it was a different nightgown than before. This one was frilly and a little too pink. She didn't say a thing though. It wasn't her place to complain.

"Like I said, it's no trouble at all," Sora said. "The bathroom is over there," he pointed to the door next to the fireplace. "You can just leave your clothes in a pile by the door. Someone will come to get them in the morning."

After Naminé changed, she went out of the bathroom to find that Sora had changed into a t-shirt and shorts and was currently setting up the couch. He was getting ready for bed even though the sun was just setting.

Naminé found that she, too, was tired from all the events from the day and decided that she should also get ready for bed. She walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers. She yawned.

"Good thing we're turning in early, huh?" Sora grinned. He lay down, disappearing from Naminé's view. She saw him pull the green blanket over him.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Naminé heard Sora's voice call out. She put her feet under the cool covers and pulled them over her lap.

"What is it?" she asked as she laid her head on the soft pillow.

"I was just wondering…did Roxas do anything strange to you, anything at all?"

The mere mention of his name made Namine's heart sting. But after realizing what Sora just asked, Naminé's face immediately went red, and she brought the covers over her face. Her thoughts went straight to the kiss the night he returned, battered and bruised. It was definitely strange, but she never told anyone about it, not even Olette.

"No," she lied, "He didn't do anything strange. Why?" Why did she have to lie? Shouldn't she have told Sora, her new guardian?

"It's something I was curious about," Sora replied. "I'm just worried about him, you know? He's been acting strange lately, and I was just wondering if something happened. He may hate me and try to start fights with me, but it doesn't mean that I don't care. I mean, I should care since I'm his twin and all."

"You're his twin?" Naminé sat up, shocked.

"Yeah. We don't look a lot alike, do we? We're fraternal twins and couldn't be more opposite."

"But then, why does he hate you so much? Aren't brothers supposed to be close?" Naminé asked. She didn't have siblings so she wouldn't know. Her heart stung a bit as she remembered her parents. She missed them dearly and wondered if she'll ever see them again.

"I don't know when he started to hate me either, but I think it was because I was chosen to be the next leader. Roxas was also supposed to be a candidate, but Xemnas decided against it. He said it was because Roxas wasn't good enough or maybe it was because he wasn't qualified for it. But after Xemnas announced me as his successor, he started to treat me differently…"

"I'm sorry," Naminé said. "It must've been painful for you to have Roxas hate you so much because of that."

"It's all right," Sora sighed. "I'm used to it now. I think he has his reasons for acting the way he does, but I wish that he would be more open so that we could get through this. We've been through so much and should at least support each other. That's what brothers do, right?"

"Yeah," Naminé agreed. She thought about a lot of things after what Sora said. If he hadn't told her that, she never would've guessed that they were brothers. But she felt as if the rivalry between them was only a partial reason as to why Roxas hated Sora. There seemed to be something…more, as if there was another reason.

"But, hey. We should get some sleep. We've also been through a lot today," Sora yawned.

Naminé turned on her side, facing away from Sora. She looked through the window and stared at the top of the forest that was bathed in moonlight. It was a very pretty view, but Naminé's eyelids drooped. She yawned.

"Night," Sora said. She heard him shift his position on the couch.

"Goodnight," Naminé replied. She brought her legs closer to her and put a hand over her chest.

Her heart still hurt.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note:

I admit, I was a little bored with this chapter. It took me so long to write, and it was so slow. There wasn't even a lot of action, but it was refreshing to see a bit of the Sora that we're used to. It wasn't too much like Sora, but maybe it was because he was tired. I'm not even that cheerful when I'm tired. XD He's quite the talker, isn't he? I'm just relieved that I added in Olette and Hayner. Those two make me laugh. Because of them, I'm thinking of making either a bonus story involving them or writing an original oneshot for just the two of them. What do you think?

Speaking of new stories, I was thinking of writing another KH RokuNami story after I'm finished with this one and "My Obstinate Familiar." That and another one shot. So in total, there are three new stories I'd like to work on. So take your pick: which one should I do first?

Just letting you all know, I'm going to a family outing tomorrow that will extend throughout the whole weekend so I might not reply until I get back. I would've updated either tomorrow or Sunday, but because of my plans and the fact that you guys were waiting for me (and I didn't want to make you guys wait so long like last week.), I tried my best to complete and update by today. It's not the best chapter I've written, but I hope you guys are okay with it.

Before I go and sleep, I'd like to thank all my wonderful reviewers, new and returning ones: Kutlessrocker, Roxa-XIII, TheDormantOne, MsEvilbabe, Draco Oblivion (sorry that Sora took up most of the chapter. ^_^;), eion sairy, lizzyytx33, Q-A the Authoress, poohbearlover95, soluvepink, Tsuraya-chan, TAG, Namine-Kairi0123, Redeeming Endeavor, peanut, Pink Star Art, midnight-heart, Dragginninja, Misfortune XIII.

Hope you guys have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! :D