Author's Note: Here's part II of this week's update. I think you'll appreciate this chapter more.

Disclaimer: The characters, settings, and back story are copyrighted by Square-Enix and Disney. The storyline and original characters are mine. Stole the chapter title from another song, but you'll have to guess which.

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A Walk In Andante

25 – Feel

Sunsets were beautiful here. Sunset Hill was always the best place to watch sunsets in Twilight Town. Every time he sat there, his eyes fixed on the horizon, he felt a sense of thrill as the colors shifted with the hour.

Roxas looked down at the streets far below his feet, his eyes picking out the tiny dots moving up and down the streets. A train shrilled as it churned out of the train station. Roxas turned his head and watched it march on its tracks to somewhere in the distance.

He sighed and looked down at the last piece of starfruit. He wished he had more. It had a pleasant taste that brought to mind swimming pools, summer days, and piña coladas. The spices sprinkled on it made it taste even better. Too bad he didn't have enough munny.

"I really need the get a job," he sighed when the bulging face of the landlord loomed up in his mind, then looked up at the dark twilit sky. "I wonder…"

Stars. Bright pinpricks of light shining in the dark blue canvas. And there was that moon, the glowing white disk in the sky.

But it was only in dreams. He wished he could see the stars with his own eyes. Roxas closed his eyes, tried to remember the stars.

Have the residents of Twilight Town ever wondered about the stars in the sky? Have they ever seen stardust in the black night? Or were they simply blissful with the twilight they live in, the colors of the sunset?

Roxas shook his head and looked at the last piece of starfruit. He studied it for a moment, once again wished he had more, then pulled it apart in half.

"Hey."

He turned around, saw Kairi leaning against the wall of the clock tower. She was smiling softly, her face glowing in the light of the sunset. Streaks of color bathed her. She pulled her bangs back behind her ear as the winds above the city swirled around the high-rising building.

"Hey," he returned quietly, wondering a bit how she knew he'd be there. "What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "Don't know. Just decided to come up here."

She started towards him, then sat down on the ledge next to him. She stared off into the sunset and he followed her gaze, saw the faint glimmer of the beach bordering an edge of Twilight Town and the glow on the tops of buildings.

For a few minutes, the whistling wind filled in for them.

"So beautiful up here," she finally said.

"Yeah, I know…" Roxas agreed, his eyes pulled back to her happily peaceful face. "So beautiful…"

He then looked down at whatever was left of the piece of fruit in his hands and sighed. Kairi leaned over slightly and asked, "What's that?"

He looked at her. "Fruit I bought earlier. Do you want some?"

Kairi stared at the pale yellow piece with the light brown dusting in his hands. "What kind of fruit is it?"

Roxas smiled. "I'm not playing the name game, Kairi. Just try it."

"Why, most people don't eat it?"

"Guess they don't. Hayner really likes it, though. Went to the marketplace twice looking for it. Well, then again he does like tropical fruit."

"This is tropical?"

"Yeah."

"But not a banana."

"No, definitely not. I don't like those anyways."

"Yeah, I don't, either…unless they're in smoothies."

"Well, I have to agree with you on that one."

Kairi giggled, then held out her hand. "Okay, gimme. I wanna try it."

Roxas reached over and she took it. She looked at it, studied it with a rather quizzical look on her face, then raised it to her lips and took a small bite out of it. Roxas watched her, wondered if she was going to like it. He looked down at the remaining piece, then bit into it as well.

Silence and the wind filled in for what conversation failed to take place while they sat there and finished off the last of the starfruit Roxas had bought earlier in the day. At times he wondered why neither of them said anything but then Roxas knew they didn't need to talk at all. Did they?

"Roxas?"

He looked at her, at the faraway look on her face. He found himself rather…mesmerized, drawn to her soft smile.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

He felt the smile imprint on him. "Your welcome."

Then she suddenly leaned over and hugged him. Roxas looked at Kairi as she pressed her forehead against his shoulder, was suddenly acutely conscious of her arms around his shoulders. He felt content at the human touch, smiled as he touched the ends of her hair.

"Kairi?" he asked.

"Just…thank you, Roxas," she murmured. "Thanks for everything."

There was a pang inside him, a dreadful feeling.

"Are you-are you leaving already?"

"No, silly. I'm just saying, "Thank you". You realize I never got a chance to tell you that in your face for all you've done for me?"

"You-you don't need to…"

She was practically rubbing her face against his shirt sleeve, like only a cat would. "Can you…can you walk me back to Olette's place?"

"Scared?"

"Depends. Remember what other people said?"

"About those strangers?"

"I don't want to run into one of them, especially if they really have business with the both of us. Don't you agree?"

Roxas shrugged. "As long as they don't mess with us, nothing'll happen. If you let me go, Kairi, we can go to Olette's."

"Oh…sorry," Kairi said rather sheepishly, then pulled back. Roxas touched his shoulder then looked at Kairi, saw her busily looking at some smokestacks in the far distance. Then she turned her head to her feet dangling off the side of the clock tower, was swinging her legs back and forth. Something seemed to be bothering her.

"Kairi, what's wrong?" Roxas asked. He reached over and touched her hand, which was resting on her lap. She looked at him and he saw something in her eyes, a troubled look.

"I was just…thinking. That's all. That's all…"

He had a feeling it was about what he was saying earlier today.

"Is it me?" he asked softly. He wrapped his fingers around her slim palm, held it tightly. "Was it…was it what I said today?"

Kairi shook her head for a moment, then nodded. "You made me think…about things. About…whether or not there's any point in all this at all."

She looked at him. "I don't know what you've been through, Roxas. I really want to know. Why won't you tell me? I want to…I want to know where your words are coming from. I want to know what you mean. Why won't you…say anything?"

Her voice was pleading, raining guilt upon his ears. Roxas hesitated, then hesitated again, while his mind tried to imagine how a conversation would carry out if he tried to explain to her his origins. His past. His connection to Sora. Sora.

Do you really want to know why I don't want to talk about it, Kairi? Do you want to know why I won't talk about my past? I hate it! It's worse than living, being a Nobody. You feel worthless, pointless, stripped of what others around you have. You walk down a street and while you don't look any different you act different. You have to study how other people react to certain things in order to be more like them. I loathed Sora, and yet I always wanted to meet him. I thought it was over when I went back to him but here I am and I met you. I met you and now I don't want to go back. I have no desire anymore.

I don't know what to do, Kairi. What do I do with you? I'm the darker half of Sora, the angry dark side of him you'll never see. You'll never see that side of him. It's the side you've never seen, never met, and if you do meet it, see it, it'll be Sora. It'll never be me.

He just couldn't bring himself to say it. He couldn't understand why he couldn't just come clean with his past but he knew if he tried to explain it now, it'll destroy everything between them. He would have betrayed Kairi. And everything between would have been destroyed.

He didn't know why he didn't introduce himself as Sora's Nobody when he first met her, after he had destroyed all the Neo-Shadows that had attacked her and his friends at the sandlot. He knew who she was – Naminé had accused him rightly of watching her a few days after he suddenly found himself in Twilight Town – but he didn't introduce himself the way he thought he would. He pretended Sora had never existed in his life and the similarity of appearance between them was sheer coincidence.

And that was what she believed. That was until she started questioning his past.

"Roxas?"

He pulled back into reality, slipped out of his thoughts, and his eyes focused on Kairi's face. Her oval face, with the soft expressive blue eyes, the slight blush on her cheeks, her rose-pink lips. The auburn bangs swept over the right side of her face, now burning in the light of Twilight Town's sky, reflecting the beautiful sunset. A slight wind was beginning to blow and it ran its long transparent fingers through her long hair, tossing it into the evening breeze. She pulled her hair back, pressed it against her neck, and looked elsewhere. She bit her lip; her face had gone darker, a darker shade of red. He felt her hand tense.

He didn't say anything. Roxas didn't need the words, knew she was feeling uncomfortable now, with his silence and his stares. He wondered if what he said earlier made her think about Sora, about what she was doing right now. Did she ever wonder if she was betraying Sora, doing things behind his back, for instance? Or did she realize that it was her choice, that she chose to befriend someone who looked like Sora but wasn't like him at all?

Befriend. We're friends. It sounded so incredibly wrong in his mind but it just wouldn't click, his mind just wouldn't pinpoint why. He looked at her more closely, and suddenly that label had slipped away and now she was a stranger. Someone new, someone different. A beautiful stranger.

Roxas reached over and his fingers, trembling slightly, touched the side of her face. He felt warmth, exquisite living warmth, and he nearly pulled back, was suddenly fearful.

What am I doing? What the hell am I doing? Is this-is this wrong? Or…is this what I…what I want? Is this what I want? What…she wants?

Gently he turned her head towards him. She stared at him, looked at him in astonishment. He knew she didn't expect this from him, but he didn't either. He had no idea what he was doing. And it frightened him. It scared him so much.

He shook but he didn't pull away. He leaned forward even more, cupped the side of her face in his hand. She looked at him, seemed to be warily watching him, but then she slowly closed her eyes and pressed against his hand. The heat, the warmth, the life he felt caressing the palm of his hand stunned him.

The human touch was an amazing thing.

He could feel her breath against his hand, the slight movement of her lips as she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She was watching him, but he no longer squirmed under the steady blue gaze. Then she raised her right hand and covered the back of his hand, the one caressing her face. Then the hand slid down and she reached over, hesitantly touched his face. He felt her fingers slide along the length of his jaw line, sensed the slight pressure of her fingertips. He felt cold and hot all over and his body shook with each touch, each caress.

For a moment all was still. Even the wind had died.

Then he pulled away, broke the connection. Her hand slid away, too, left behind a sensation he couldn't define with words. Roxas took a deep breath, dared himself to look at Kairi. She was touching her face, where his hand was. Her eyes were fixed on her knees. She was flushing bright sunset red.

A train whistled. He looked up at the sky, feeling flustered and hot. He rubbed at his face as he stared at the darkening firmament. It was time to go.

Roxas slowly rose to his feet, then reached over and touched her shoulder. She jolted under his hand, then looked up at him.

"Let's go," he whispered.

She nodded and pushed herself up onto her feet. Roxas hesitated, contemplated for only a moment, then took her hand in his. He pulled her close to him, then led her into the clock tower and all the way down to where the trains were.

It took only a few minutes, at least seven, to reach to the residential district, where Olette lived. The whole way Kairi held onto his hand, oftentimes tracing circles on the back of it with her free hand. Roxas looked at her, then at the few people around them. Most weren't paying attention but there were a few watching them, watching, smiling, and nodding. They seemed to understand something. And for some reason, he understood, too. He didn't know what it was but a sense of contentment settling deep in his mind told him there was no reason to question them. No reason at all.

She never let go, when they stepped off the train and left the train station. She held on as they walked down the streets, meandering slowly under the glow of the twilit sky. Roxas wondered if they were walking slowly on purpose. Then his mind turned on itself and told him to stop wondering.

Don't think so constantly about the 'why'. Just think about the 'now'.

He kept an eye on her the whole way, couldn't help himself but watch her, the peaceful smile on her face. And as he watched he realized he no longer felt that crazy twisting feeling in his gut, the nervousness that nearly drove him mad at times. He felt a warm and pleasant hum deep inside him, something completely different from everything he has been experiencing the last several weeks.

He felt peaceful for once. Utter peace. Utter content. No worries. No stress. No questioning. Nothing else. Not even nothing.

He hadn't felt this way before. There was never a time when he never felt the ceaseless worrying, the anxiety, the sense of loss that plagued him for long. They all died away. Being with Kairi drove away them all.

He wished he could thank her for that. Roxas wanted to tell her that her presence made him feel this way. But he wasn't sure how to tell her that. He felt rather awkward, and when he tried to open his mouth, nothing came out. He realized that maybe he didn't have to say anything at all.

And then he had a strange feeling that if he did try to say anything, something could happen. This rhythm, this continuum, could break. And he didn't want that to happen.

For now, Roxas finally decided, he'll keep quiet. He'll keep quiet and enjoy what peace they had. Together.

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Author's Endnote: If you want questions regarding this story answered, please go to my LiveJournal. If you want answers to my other story, check my Bio page for the Freewebs address.

Comments, questions, compliments, etc. accepted. Flamers flame at your own risk. You have been warned.

Arigatou goziamas'!