Chapter 3: The Girl With the Sketchbook, Part 2

"…so her mommy was the one taking all the pictures of everybody, and she said it would be okay if we played together, but that girl wouldn't do it! She wouldn't talk to me or look at me or do anything!" The day after Sora's aunt's wedding, he went right to the playground to describe the strange girl to Riku. "I dunno why she didn't like me," he said, kicking at the dirt around the slide.

Riku pondered the matter. "Maybe she was just shy."

"What's that mean?"

"It means she's afraid to talk to people. So she didn't wanna talk to you 'cause she was scared of you."

"But I wasn't acting scary!" protested Sora, "I just wanted to play with her!"

Riku shrugged. "Maybe you just gotta try again. What was her name?"

"Um…" Sora frowned. "Na…Na…mi…Nami…I forget. Her mommy said it but I don't remember."

Putting the matter aside for the time being, the two of them went back to exploring the playground with their swords in hand. And as it happened, while they were running past the swings, Sora spotted a familiar figure clutching her sketchbook. "HEY!" he shouted, "Riku, LOOK! There's that girl I told you about!"

His shouts startled the girl. When she laid eyes on him, she dropped her sketchbook and tore off running again, this time screaming, "DADDY!"

"She said a new word this time," Sora observed.

"Yeah, and she dropped her book," said Riku, "Maybe she'll be your friend if you give it back to her." That sounded like a decent plan, so they picked it up and headed to the other side of the playground. The little girl peeked out from behind the legs of a blonde man who must have been her father.

"Hi," Sora greeted them; "She dropped her book so we're giving it back."

"Well, that's very nice of you!" said the man, "Are these your friends, Naminé?" She shook her head. "Why don't you thank them?" Naminé shook her head again and buried her face in his legs. "Sorry about that," said the man to Sora and Riku, "Naminé's just a little shy around strangers."

"I told you so!" cried Riku triumphantly.

"We were just about to play with our colored chalk. Do you guys like to draw?" asked Naminé's father.

The boys shrugged. "No, we like to play with our swords," answered Riku, "You wanna fight me again, Sora?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna beat you this time for sure!"

"Ha! No, you're not! I'm gonna knock you on your face!"

They took off running again, forgetting all about Naminé. They didn't notice that she watched them as they clashed their swords and chased each other all over the playground. Sora jumped, dived, spun around, and flailed his arm back and forth, but Riku continued to stay one step ahead of him. They sparred in between the swings, up and down the slide, through the trees, and in the sandbox, until Sora fell down. "I…I give up…" he gasped.

"Told ya." Riku smirked.

All of a sudden, they heard the sound of someone else's footsteps pattering towards them. They looked up. Naminé approached them, threw a sheet of paper at Sora's face, and ran back to her father. "Huh?" said Sora.

"What is it?" asked Riku, crouching down next to him to get a better look. Sora held it up for him to see. Naminé had drawn a picture of the two of them fighting with their swords. "Woooow! She drew ME!" cried Riku.

"And me too!" squealed Sora.

"She's really good!"

"Yeah!"

For a split second, they admired the drawing. Then they raced each other back to Naminé and her father, yelling at the top of their lungs: "Hey, come back! You're really good! Can you draw me fighting a sea monster?"

"No, draw ME fighting a sea monster!"

"No, draw us BOTH fighting a sea monster!"

"Draw all three of us fighting a sea monster!"

Out of breath again, Sora stopped in front of the two of them and managed to say, "You're…really…really…good…thank you…can you draw…more…please?"

Naminé, still hiding behind her father, poked her head out from around his waist. She looked up at him. He smiled and nodded. "Do you want to play with them, Nami? Go on."

Finally, she smiled too. "Okay."

"YAY!" they cheered, high-fiving one another. She still wasn't very talkative, but Sora figured they could work on that.