So, here's a silly little thing. I originally wanted to do a series of stories that were rewrites of my old Namiku fics, but I ended up giving up the idea after this one—the first one. Regardless, I decided to post it after ages of having it on my computer. This one was based on the story "Sweet." Read it and marvel at the improvement…or cringe at the horribleness.

Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own Kingdom Hearts. Dear lord, you'd be able to tell if she did.

Original Story: "Sweet" published 7/11/2006.

X-X-X

Ordinarily, their lunchtime was spent in the company of others, but today, it seemed that only Riku and Naminé were in the empty classroom. Most of their little group was out sick thanks to a bug that was going around, and Kairi was busy attending an emergency club meeting, so lunch was relatively quiet compared to previous days. It wasn't necessarily because Riku and Naminé didn't get along well—they got along swimmingly, in fact. They just weren't the sort to start the kind of small talk that dominated their lunch break. That fell to the likes of Sora, Kairi and Ventus more than them.

Riku had been multitasking between eating his sandwich and getting an early start on the homework he received in this morning's classes, when he decided to glance at Naminé. The blonde girl sat in the seat opposite of him. She was just staring at a blank page in her sketchbook, tapping the head of her pencil against the desk with one hand while the other was holding the stick of a bright red lollipop. She ran the candy part of the lollipop across her lips as if it was a stick of lip gloss, and then licked her lips.

It was then that Naminé happened to glance at her neighbor, who jumped with a start when he finally realized that he may have been staring for too long. After her questioning look went unanswered, she decided to ask, "Is there something wrong?"

"Just wondering what you're drawing." He hoped that she would believe that he was staring at the blank page and not at her lips. When she looked back at the page, he wanted to exhale.

"Well, I had an idea, and when I took my book out, it just…left," the blonde said, gesturing her lollipop this way and that. "I'm trying to remember what it was."

"Good luck with that…" Riku mumbled and went back to focusing on what was on his table. But he was only able to answer two questions and polish off what little was left of his sandwich before his eyes wandered back over to Naminé.

She seemed to have decided to just doodle absentmindedly while she resumed sucking on her candy. Again, the silver-haired teen started to focus on his friend's lips. They puckered up when she pulled the lollipop out and parted slightly as her tongue slid out to childishly lick it. He couldn't help it when his cheeks heated up with a blush. She then slid the candy back into her mouth, and when she pulled it out seconds later, the stick was clean. He wondered if Naminé forgot that someone was sitting next to her, or if she was so comfortable around Riku that she didn't mind looking a tad childish.

But when she suddenly stopped and again glanced at the taller boy out of the corner of her eye, she started to blush. "Am I…disturbing you?"

"Of course not!" Riku wished he hadn't raised his voice as loud as he did. He tried to brush aside his suspicious behavior with a short laugh and started scratching one of his cheeks. "I was, uh…just noticing how into that lollipop you were."

"Into? I was just…" Naminé's gaze shifted to the candyless stick that was left. "I…" The blush on her face became darker.

"Calm down. I didn't mean anything serious about it." His blush now faded, he turned his attention back to his homework. Then he muttered to himself, "I'm kinda jealous…"

And while he hadn't intended for her to hear him, the blonde did, and repeated, "Jealous?" Riku immediately opened his mouth to clarify—which, of course, actually meant lying through his teeth about what he meant—but Naminé interrupted him. "You want a lollipop, too? I have more, so I could give you one if you want."

It was the sort of innocent response he would've expected from the likes of Sora, and Riku knew Naminé wasn't as dense as his childhood friend when it came to amorous matters. Inexperienced, maybe, but not totally witless. Or maybe her reaction showed how she viewed him. Riku was a friend who was just watching her with envy as she ate, not some boy who was enamored with what she did with her mouth as she ate a lollipop. And while he didn't consider himself an intentional pervert and did feel ashamed about staring at her twice, something about her jumping to her innocent conclusion upset him just a bit.

Of course, Riku didn't say a word of that. He just watched Naminé as she took out a pair of lollipops still in their colorful wrappers and held them out to him. He plucked the one with images of grapes on its wrapper out of her hand and spoke, "Thanks." The blonde girl just smiled and nodded before unwrapping the remaining lollipop, revealing its bright yellow candy. She slid it into her mouth and continued her doodling. Riku did the same, putting the grape-flavored lollipop into his mouth and resuming his homework. This time, he told himself, he would focus on what was in front of him and not on the girl beside him.

But he couldn't. Because he felt like there were eyes on him. Even though the silver-haired teen stared down at the questions before him, he may as well have been looking at a blank page since his mind was totally on the girl next to him. So he slowly turned his head to look beside him and saw Naminé staring at him with her lollipop in her hand and a blush on her face. He had expected her to look away the moment their eyes met, or maybe start apologizing, but she continued to stare at him without a word. Riku returned her gaze as he continued to suck on his own lollipop. After about a minute of doing so, he opened his mouth, about to ask why she was staring at him.

That was when the classroom door opened and Kairi stepped in with a cheerful greeting of, "Hey! I'm here!" With her entrance disrupting the mood that had been settling in, both Riku and Naminé looked away from each other. "So, what'd I miss? Hm? Why are your faces all red like that?"

"Nothing!" Naminé raised her voice, unable to hide the sound of her nervousness.

Riku abruptly stood up soon after, saying, "I gotta use the bathroom. Be right back." He then walked out at a brisk pace, resisting every urge to run.

Kairi arched an eyebrow and pointed to the open door. "Uh…are you gonna tell me what I walked in on?" Naminé could only stick the lollipop in her mouth and bow her head, trying to hide her guilty expression.