A/N: Sorry all that it's been a while since I've posted, the summer has been keeping me pretty busy. Anyway, please be patient with me, working out some of a few kinks in the story, which I will be wrapping up here hopefully soon (I say that now but it's so easy to keep it going). Anyway, enjoy the chapter! Please let me know what you all think!

I rode the train with Axel. I focused on the bag at my feet. The air was stiff from the events of our meeting. The train came to our stop and we left together in silence.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Axel asked slowly.

"No." I quipped, keeping my eyes straight ahead as we walked.

The air was suffocating. I stopped walking and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"I just want to get my mind off it." I spoke, finally looking at Axel. "Let's go see what my goofball brother is up to." I gave a slight smile, I would never admit it, but I was excited to see my brother, he had a way to make me forget about my problems.

"After you Capitan." Axel gave a salute as we made our way to the one place I knew he'd be.

The first thing I noticed once I got to the beach was the spikey brown hair of my brother, bouncing about, as we got closer I noticed silver hair, also moving but not quite as erratically.

We approached. I smiled. Sora and Riku both held wooden swords, Sora playfully jabbed at Riku, and Riku skillfully blocked.

"Teaching him any good tricks Riku?" I asked, announcing myself.

Sora's face perked up as he brought his sword to his side. "Roxas!... You're here!..." He said between breaths. "I was…. Just….. about…. To win!"

Riku smiled as he reached his arms over his shoulder. "You wish!" he laughed.

"Oh yeah?!" Sora, swiftly, got low and brought his sword up, ready to fight.

Riku took his fighting stance in response. "Let's do this!"

"They're not fighting again are they? Sora always throws a fit when he loses…" A soft voice cut in behind us, defusing the battle before it began.

"No fair Kairi! I never lose!" Sora protested.

I finally turned to greet Sora's childhood friend.

The first thing I saw was the long blonde hair, some of it almost covered one of her eyes. And her eyes… the blue pierced through me like a tidal wave. She smiled shyly as she played with her dainty fingers.

"Sora, Riku, you remember Namine." I turned my back as Kairi spoke.

I had never felt this way about a girl before.

"Oh Roxas," Kairi called, I turned slowly, hoping my face didn't give anything away. "I don't think you've met my friend before. This is Namine." She gestured to her blonde friend and gave her a slight nudge as she fumbled a few steps forward.

"Hi…" Her quiet voice rang in my ears.

I nodded, unable to find any words. "Nice to meet you…" I finally mumbled. "I'll be back…" I quickly walked away while Kairi made the same introduction with Axel.

"Hi." I vaguely heard her soft voice as I made my way out of ear shot.

I stood from a distance as I watched her interact with the group. She was so captivating, I didn't understand why I couldn't take my eyes off her. She looked my way for a slight moment. My heart started racing, I looked down at my hands, which were staring to sweat.

"You ever gunna come back or what?" Axel asked as he approached. "Or are all you gunna do is stare all day?"

"That girl…" I started.

"She's cute…" Axel responded, he stood next to me, also observing.

"It's more than that… She's different. I donno how I know, but I can just feel it."

Axel gave me a quizzical look. "I sense something big here…"

I looked Axel straight in the eyes. "I'm telling Xemness I quit."