Disclaimer: I do not own Kairi, Sora, Yuffie, or Destiny Islands. But I do own Roxas. It's official.
Author's Note: Ummm…yeah. It's been awhile. And this story is delightfully easy to write, so away I went. I'll be sad when it's over. It's fun making up dares. But…like…oh, I don't know.
Warning: Some mature language, I guess. If you consider "hell" and "crap" as offensive, that is. And if you do, then what are you doing on Fan Fiction?!
Quick Author Babble: So, this chapter goes a little bit like this…
Chapter 13: Scavenger Hunt
Roxas sat in his living room, sipping at a glass of Coke while watching the weather forecast. He stared at the information without really absorbing it. Tomorrow the sky will be cloudy, but the chances of rain were low—at least, lower than usual. It would be a lukewarm day—a perfect day for a scavenger hunt.
He frowned and rested his chin on his hand. The week before, Yuffie had convinced everyone to sign up for the "Destiny High Scavenger Hunt", a day where the registered students get released from school for the entire day. Great, right? Well, there's a catch—the students have to go around town searching for the items on the list. If they don't gather all of them by five o'clock, then they have to write a thousand word essay on a topic of the student activity council's choice.
Obviously, Roxas wasn't up for that. He had enough work he wasn't doing as it was. The only reason he was going was because Yuffie had dared him to do it. It was a challenge. "Complete the scavenger hunt" were her exact words, with the final three words of death: "I dare you." Somehow, those words were always Roxas's weak point. So, there he was, hoping there would be flooding and the scavenger hunt would be cancelled.
"Can I skip school tomorrow?" he called to no one in particular, and his mother's hoarse, irritating voice replied.
"No."
"Ugh." He made a face. "Dad, can I please?"
His father entered the room. Mr. Hernandez was a big, lovable man, with light brown hair and kind, hazel eyes. He always looked tired but worked hard nonetheless. He looked at Roxas, trying to judge the situation fairly.
"Why don't you want to go to school tomorrow, sport?" he asked in that incredibly fatherly way that annoyed most teenage boys. Roxas really didn't mind that much though, because he didn't see his father often, and therefore didn't care how he spoke.
"There's some stupid scavenger hunt thing that Yuffie's making me participate in," he answered grumpily. "I don't particularly want to go. In fact, I'm positive I don't want to go."
There was a pause. "Is Kairi going?"
Roxas glared at his father. Mr. Hernandez had always really, really, really liked Kairi and approved so much of her close relationship with Roxas that he wanted her to come over all the time. Of course, Roxas never let her. But nonetheless, it was always "Kairi's such a good influence" and "Kairi's so responsible" and "oh, why don't you ask Kairi to help you study?"
The blond boy appreciated that his father didn't mind him always being with Kairi, but there's a limit at exactly how much Kairi-praising he could stand. Besides, it was especially pathetic when he was constantly compared to the redhead. It was never much of a competition.
"Yeah, but that just makes it even worse," he responded quickly. "I mean, it's a girl thing, Dad. And Kairi's so smart that if she loses at the scavenger hunt she could finish her essay in half an hour, tops. Mine will sit uncompleted for weeks…months, maybe."
"It's got nothing to do with intelligence, Roxas," his mother then said, walking into the room coolly. Her voice was sharp as usual. "You're just lazy. Kairi is prompt. If you were more like her, the world would be a better place."
Mr. Hernandez shifted his weight uncomfortably as Roxas glared at the middle-aged woman. She sent him one right back. Finally, Mr. Hernandez decided to intercept.
"Listen, your mother is right," he told Roxas. "If you exert yourself more, I'm sure—"
"This isn't about schoolwork, Dad," the blond interrupted, cutting right across the sentence. "This is just about a stupid scavenger hunt. Can I skip it or not?"
"Well—" Mr. Hernandez tried once again to answer.
"Absolutely not. Skipping school for such a ridiculous reason! Besides, it's not even school. Isn't that what you do all the time anyway, cut classes? Deal with it, Roxas." She said it so quickly that by the time she left the room, Roxas hadn't even registered it all yet.
Mr. Hernandez looked at his son. "Um…well…I'm going to have to agree." Roxas let out a grunt that showed he disapproved and sank back into the seat, rolling his eyes in a "so typical" kind of way. The middle-aged man tried to redeem himself. "I mean, look at it this way—if you don't go like you promised, then isn't it kind of a cop out?"
Roxas didn't reply, but sat there thinking about it for a little while. He could hear his father quietly sneak out of the room, and felt the words "cop out" ring again and again in his head. If he didn't go, then he wouldn't have completed a dare. He would have copped out.
Had his mother—unintentionally, maybe—just saved him from making a huge mistake?
xXx
When Roxas arrived the next day, he could already see Kairi, Yuffie, and Sora in the relative-sized group of teenagers standing outside the school. He made his way towards them, but as he was doing so, another person caught his eye—Naminé Clark was waving at him rather flirtatiously. She was wearing a little denim skirt with a beaded pink tank top, since they weren't required to wear school uniform for the day. He blinked and found he could not look away from the sight. When he gave a jerky wave in return, she giggled and blew him a kiss, which, of course, gave him the usual experience of losing all feeling in his legs and have heat radiate from his face.
Sora let out a loud cough, and Roxas turned in his direction to see him signalling to Kairi and Yuffie, who seemed to be quite unpleasant to deal with at the moment. Roxas smiled back shyly, and immediately noticed Kairi's face change from annoyed to depressed. When their eyes met she looked away quickly and turned to chat with Yuffie. Thinking he was sort of in the clear, Roxas took the daring step towards the group.
"…so we should just split up and meet back here at five," Kairi was saying, and Yuffie nodded in agreement. At those words, Roxas grabbed the redhead's shoulders and grinned.
"Looks like we're in a group then, Kai-ri," he chirped, singing out her name with exuberance. She quickly pulled away and frowned at him.
"I was thinking we could all go our separate ways, actually. Then we'd be able to cover more ground." It was painfully obvious that she was mad at him. Roxas couldn't think of what to say in response to the statement.
"Sounds like a plan," Sora remarked, and as soon as he was done with the last syllable, there was a loud, magnified voice that broke through the chatting of the crowd.
"The scavenger hunt is now commencing. Please come up and get the required sheet for your group." Each group had different things on their list, to make it less obvious where the different items were. Roxas lagged after Kairi and Yuffie as they bounced up and collected their sheet. The four friends were group two. Kairi barely looked it over before ripping it into quarters. Each person ended up having five items to find. Kairi handed Roxas's his last, and without another word marched off down the sidewalk. Yuffie followed her for awhile, talking things over before separating.
"Well, good luck," Sora said with an uncaring nod before walking away.
"You too." They'd better have good luck, otherwise Roxas would be stuck with some lame essay to write over the weekend. Roxas looked at the first item on his list:
A free promotional pen (must have company's info on it).
"A pen…?" he muttered under his breath. "Lame." You'd think the student activity council would've come up with something better than that. Promotional pens were everywhere.
He walked towards the side of town where most businesses had planted themselves. He entered a real estate office, went right up to the desk, where he was met with a surprised young secretary wondering what a teenager was doing out of school to go there. Roxas casually looked around her desk, and spotted the promotional pen almost instantly, sitting in a mug to the side of a stack of papers. Just then, the phone rang. The woman turned her back to him to answer it, and immediately he swooped for it, slipped it into his pocket, and promptly took his exit. Ah, the things they teach you at school!
xXx
A family recipe from a local resident.
"Oh, great. Socialization skills, huh?" Roxas sighed, rubbing his chin, knowing the student activity council all too well. This would be a little more difficult than getting a pen, but there were other ways of going about it.
His eyes wandered around warily, searching for other people from Destiny High. There were some freshmen that Roxas thought he recognized, but he wasn't sure. Plus, he couldn't just walk up and be like, "Hey, man, you live around here? Oh, yeah, cool. Say, you have any family recipes on you?" Of course he couldn't do that! Plus, who could remember a family recipe? That's just so stu—
"Problems, Roxas?" a familiar voice chimed behind him, and he turned to face Kairi, who had a pen tucked behind her ear and a clipboard held firmly in her right hand.
"Just a little one," he replied, relieved to see her. Since Kairi was in his group, she had to help him some way or another. "I need a family recipe of a local…"
She took his part of the sheet from him, laid it flat on her clipboard and scribbled away. In a minute or two, she handed it back to him.
"There," she said firmly, looking him straight in the eye. "That'd be the Thomas classic ravioli with spinach. It's been in the family for generations."
He stared at it. Leave it to Kairi to remember every single ingredient.
"Thanks, Kai," he remarked gratefully. "So, what brings you to this area, exactly?"
"Heading to the post office," she replied curtly, her tone suggesting she was still a little irritated with him. "I need a one cent stamp. Where are you going now?"
Roxas looked down at his list. "Palm Street, apparently. To the telephone booth."
"Well, good look with that. See ya." And then she was gone again. Roxas hated when she was frustrated with him. He wondered what he had done that was so bad as he strolled towards Palm Street.
xXx
Roxas browsed through the local restaurants, feeling a chilly wind sail past him. The afternoon was getting the better of the weather channel, and the grey clouds blocked the warmth from the sweet sunshine. He had forgotten to bring a sweater, and he was only wearing a vest, so goose bumps were all over his arms.
"Ugh!" He relinquished an unhappy grunt as a particularly bad blast hit him right in the face. Seeing the nearest restaurant—a charming little Italian place—he ran for it. So there he stood, between the two entrances that led to the set tables, trying his best to resist the welcoming scent of tomato sauce.
"Roxas?" The voice was melodic, but a little poisonous-sounding. He turned to see Naminé—beautiful, blonde Naminé, still looking perfectly gorgeous despite the terrible weather. He blinked to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
"Ah, Naminé, what are you doing here?" he asked. He didn't know if he should be embarrassed or not to be caught rubbing his arms and breathing out hoarsely in a public place.
She held up what appeared to be a scavenger hunt sheet. He breathed out in relief. So he wasn't a total loser for signing up for this thing. If Naminé had done it, then most likely he'd be able to get away with it.
"I needed a take-out menu," she explained, and then held up a kids' paper colouring sheet that had some meals scribbled on it. "How about you?"
Roxas gestured to the list of items clenched in his hand. "I'm looking for the restaurant that's open latest on Saturday nights."
"Oh, well, I can help you with that one," she said coolly. "It's Ernie's Roadhouse. Open 'til twelve, usually past. My friends and I hang out there all the time."
"Oh…um…thanks," he remarked gratefully, scribbling it down on his sheet and beaming at her. It accidentally came out as his lady killer smile. Naminé's cheeks turned a light pink, and she seemed a little flustered for a few seconds before looking up at him again.
"What's next on your list?"
"Hmm…let's see…the business card of a cosmetics salesperson." He grimaced. "How the heck am I going to get something like that?" Yuffie or Kairi should have gotten something like this, not him.
"Oh, that's easy. Here, come with me." Naminé took his hand and together they left the restaurant. Roxas wasn't embarrassed, but a little taken aback that he was suddenly walking hand-in-hand with Blondie Queen Naminé. The only person he had ever held hands with was Kairi. And that was a long, long time ago, and they were so young the redhead probably didn't even remember.
He looked away and tried to maintain a cool head. Somehow, no matter what he was doing, his thoughts always drifted to Kairi. But he didn't want to think about her. No, he refused. She was angry with him and kept coolly brushing him off, so why should he care? Any other guy in this situation would be thinking only about Naminé, not some other girl who they were only friends with. But Roxas wasn't just "any other guy", and he understood that. He was the guy. The top. The male idol. The celebrity among teenage girls. His mind was allowed to think other thoughts than any average Joe. Him being with Naminé…it was almost expected. Him thinking about Kairi while being with Naminé…now that wasn't planned. He chuckled half-heartedly. And there his brain went, after Kairi once more…
"Roxas?" Pale blue eyes looked upwards into his. "Why are you laughing?"
"Uh…no reason, really. Just thought of something funny." She looked satisfied by this answer and they continued walking ahead.
xXx
Naminé had been right. It was easy. The blonde attracted salespeople like a magnet. It took mere seconds of walking downtown before finding a cosmetic salesperson. She handed over her business card without hesitation, but as more started crowding around, the duo raced off, leaving a group of disappointed business people in their dust.
He laughed as they finally swung around a curb. "Wow. That was scary. Does that happen to you often?"
She nodded with a slight giggle. "I guess they think that if people see me with their makeup on, it'll raise sale rates or something. It can get pretty annoying."
"I can imagine." He slowed to a jog, then a walk, and allowed Naminé to catch her breath. She paused, releasing a big puff of air that showed a little in the cold air, before resuming walking by his side. "Well, that was my last item. Thanks a bunch!"
"No problem," the girl replied. "I finished my part awhile ago at the restaurant."
They nodded at each other, and as they approached Destiny High, Roxas couldn't help admonish the blonde girl again. At school, she was always really flirty and kind of threatening, and they were almost formal with each other—putting on a performance for their classmates more than actually conversing. But outside, alone, it was different. She had related with him, more than Kairi…more than anyone. Naminé was bold. He liked that. They were similar in that way. And it kind of made him want to bond with her more.
"Well, this is where we separate," he said coolly, and he had expected that he would turn around and walk away like he usually did, with that sort of mysterious air that left most girls swooning.
But he didn't. It felt like his shoes were glued to the ground. He was locked with Naminé's stare, as much as she was with his. And, he noticed her stand on her toes to reach up a little, and he found himself automatically leaning down himself…
The rest was just kind of blurry. He could feel this warm sensation on his mouth, but he couldn't concentrate at all, like his brain had temporarily left his body and was just hovering over him, laughing at him as he tried to get a grip on his surroundings. When he finally found the strength to straighten his posture, Naminé came into focus. She wasn't blushing anymore, but staring at him with this look of mischief on her face.
His intuition was telling him that he'd been tricked. But he wasn't quite sure why.
The moments afterwards escaped him. Naminé didn't say anything, just turned around and left to go join her group. He stood there, staring after her, slowly registering the fact that he had just gotten kissed. Roxas wasn't unfamiliar with the subject, but he had never thought too much into it—hormones made his head hurt.
But now, he was just standing here, completely immobilized. All thanks to that girl. Or angel. Or demon. He honestly couldn't tell.
Steadily, he took step after step backwards along the damp grass, looking up at the darkening sky and breathing in the cold air. He licked his lips to keep them from going dry to be met with the sweet taste of vanilla lip gloss. And that was when it hit him.
Naminé had just kissed him.
Roxas's eyes widened. His hands shook. Then, after a moment of stunned silence, he opened his mouth and let out a loud, "ARGH!!!" He turned to face the right away and dashed at full speed towards the quickly approaching Sora and Yuffie. Then, without really thinking, he tackled Sora to the ground.
"SORA!!!" he yelled, and then proceeded to share with him all the cusses he knew.
"WHAT THE HELL??!" shouted the second party, so furious he started shrieking out unmentionables, and they both just sat there screaming swear words at each other until Yuffie dragged Roxas off of the brunet boy, dumping him on the grass.
"What's going on?" she asked them. Sora shrugged and brushed himself off, cringing in discomfort as he realized the backside of his clothes were all wet. He stood up and glared at Roxas, who glared right back. Sora was the one who'd always been like, "Naminé's a fine piece of work" and "oh, she's got you all flustered" and "jeez, you must be really into her" and all that crap. Bastard.
Yuffie glanced at Roxas, her dark brown eyes examining him for any clue as to why he was so alarmed. Finding none, she repeated her question, and the blue-eyed boy relinquished a sigh.
"I guess it's nothing." He got off the ground, frowning at his horrible exaggeration of how "unimportant" it was. "Where's Kairi?"
Sora and Yuffie exchanged glances before shrugging and shaking their heads.
"What? You mean she's not here yet?" He glanced around in minor alarm. Kairi should've been back already. He had glanced at her list before, and she had already had four items. She should've been done at least an hour ago. He pulled his vest tight around himself. "Crap, she could be in serious trouble!" That premature worry was settling in. Kairi being a girl was mostly why he was worried, and her being not so skilled in self defence was the rest of it. "I'd better go take a look around. She's probably at the shopping centre…" He was talking as he was walking away, glancing over his shoulder at the two friends, whose brows were starting to furrow in concern. "Sora, look around the school for her, and Yuffie, start making phone—"
He walked into someone. This caused him to stop talking and look up in frustration at the person in front of him. This was not the time to be interrupted.
"Sorry," he grunted not-so-politely, but when he saw that it was none other than the very redhead he had just about to go searching for, he screeched to a halt and veered to look at her. "Kairi?!"
She stared at him with dulled, blank eyes for a few seconds before realizing that he had just talked to her. "Oh, Roxas. Hi."
He looked at her oddly. "Where have you been? We were just about to go look for you."
"Where have I been?" she repeated slowly, then looked up at him with sudden alarm. "N-Nowhere! I mean…around." Then she was out again, like a light, and was no longer looking at him, but kind of looking past him, like he was invisible or something.
"Kai…?" He waved a hand in front of her face, but she was lost. With a sigh he grabbed Kairi's forearm and led her over to Yuffie and Sora. Judging by her expression, he would regret it if he asked what had happened to her. Just too many things had happened that day.
Ooh…cliffhanger! But life is full of cliffhangers. So this is how it goes, alright? I'm too lazy to write anymore…
Alright, T-H-A-N-K Y-O-U V-E-R-Y M-U-C-H to all who reviewed! I'm really happy and honoured (getting formal here) to be instilling interest in Roxiri…or Kaixas. Whatever.
Anyway, ADVERTISEMENT TIME!!! This is the part of the show where I tell everyone about my new Fiction Press account! Because it's brand spanking new and it's the GREATEST! Well, no, to be fair, it is not the greatest. But it's fun, I guarantee you, so if you're interested at all, it would make one happy writer if you dropped by! (Go to my "perfect sorceress" profile for more information.)
Okay, so, see ya, chicas! I'm procrastinating on my science lab to post this…
Read and review!
Goodbye!