A/N: It's me again. Chapter 6 here. Sadly, term starts on Tuesday. -sighs- Chapters will probably get posted weekly or even bimonthly. Call me lazy or anything but I take school really seriously (so forget the times I wasted a whole afternoon doodling on paper when I should've been listening to the teach). Don't get me wrong, I love Sora, I really do... but I made him that angry at the whole world because he's so...so unnaturally happy. I think he feels much more differently on the inside than what he's showing on the outside. You guys remember the companion fic I mentioned? Yes, it's up already, and you'll know it's a companion fic 'coz it's obvious. Oh yeah, I'm still stuck with the posters. Read on...
Summary: It's the little things that hurt the most. Between love and duty is a decision he will regret for the rest of his existence.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts won't be mine until midnight tomorrow. So go away and leave me be.
VI: Step Out
Riku's eyes snapped open. He sat up, drained, as he stared out his window into Destiny Islands' night sky. His Keyblade flashed to life on his comforter, the Heartless Keychain flashing in the moonlight.
Kingdom Hearts had been disturbed this very night.
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Toc.
Toc.
The pen in her hand slipped, creating a huge jagged line in her diary where the date should've been. She silently (of course, being the demure girl she was) cursed as another piece of rock (she supposed it was a rock) bounced against her window. Kairi bit her lip as she slipped the notebook under her mattress and (toc) turned off her bedside (plastered over with stickers) lamp, plunging her room into partial darkness.
"Stupid rabid fangirls," she muttered as she climbed back into her bed. Riku's groupies had taken to keeping her awake with their insane marathon pebble-throwing sessions. They really did act like immature ten-year-olds.
Toc.
"Go away," she shouted, muffling her voice with a well-placed pillow (although she knew the fangirls would stop right around three in the morning--really the lengths they would go to).
Toc.
"Kairi! Open up!"
She was so irritated (and so groggy) that she was imagining Sora was calling out her name.
Sora. His forlorn face still haunted her dreams.
Toc.
She shut her eyes tight, but every pebble jolted her awake.
Toc.
"That's it!" she huffed as she sat up and threw her covers back. She was going to give, no, throw those girls a piece of her mind (the one that had swear words written all over it.)
Toc.
She flung the windows open, half expecting to get a pebble in the face. Instead, Roxas fell down, facefirst, into her room.
"You are so dead," she muttered, staring down at the boy, who was now muttering something along the lines of 'girls' and 'barging in'. He stood up, brushed off (highly imaginary) dust off his shoulders and grinned.
(He grins so much like Sora)
"Thank you very much for inviting me in," he said dryly. "Now, Kairi, let Naminé go."
"What on earth do you think you're saying? And where the hell is Sora? How'd you two get---"
He put a finger to his lips. "Naminé, come on. We're going back." He prodded Kairi's forehead.
"Roxas!"
"Roxas."
She gave a startled squeak as she fell backwards, leaving her Nobody standing in her place.
What's going ON! she wanted to scream (which was highly unpractical, considering she would wake up the entire Island if she did just that) as she looked up at the two figures silhouetted by moonlight.
Naminé shrugged as she helped Kairi up. Then she stared, wonderingly, at her reflection at the mirror hanging behind Kairi's bedroom door.
"Is this...real?" she asked weakly to the room in general.
"Let's go, Nam," Roxas offered his hand to the blond-haired girl. "Later, Kai. Thanks for keeping her safe."
She watched, bewildered, stunned beyond comprehension, as half of her soul grasped Roxas' hand in her pale one, and they both vanished in jagged strands of darkness, before she herself fell into darkness' embrace.
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Riku looked around nervously. Kairi's grandmother still hadn't come back with that tea she was supposed to be making. Speaking of tea, who would have, of all things, tea in the morning. He shifted uncomfortably on the overstuffed sofa he was sitting on. It really was hard to believe this was the mayor's house.
"Oh, good morning, Riku," he looked over his shoulder at Kairi, who was coming down the stairs.
"Are-are you okay now?" Riku climbed to her side, noticing how she clutched the railing for support.
She nodded in response but clung heavily to Riku's arm regardless. "Let's go. We're going to be late."
Kairi had been taken ill about a week earlier, when her grandmother (told to him over tea, of course) found her slumped on the floor unconscious. She had been running a dangerously high fever and had been lethargic, sleeping almost the whole day. Riku stayed by her side whenever he had free time (between academics and co-curricular things that was not a whole lot of time) until late at night, when her father would come in and ask him whether he would like to stay the night, whereas Riku, being just Riku, would decline and walk back home and dream of Kairi anyway.
She slowly got better, and she woke up yesterday, but she was still unusually quiet.
"There you are." Her grandmother was back from the kitchen. "Kairi, dear, are you sure you're well enough to go back to school?"
She managed a weak smile. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Her father, the Mayor of Destiny Islands (a large, imposing man) appeared from behind her grandmother, clutching a steaming mug. "That kid's tough, Ma. No bug can get her down."
"Thanks, Dad."
"Young man (Riku's heart sped up, it always did when he was being spoken to by Kairi's father), we appreciate you looking out for my little girl (at which Kairi pouted at her father)," he took a sip, "so see to it that she gets to the Academy in one piece."
"Dad, I'm not that sick."
"Uh, yes sir."
Kairi laughed. "Thanks, Riku, for coming here and checking up on me," she said, staring up at him (and, as predicted, making him blush) and smiling even more.
"What are friends for?" he coughed out.
"Sorry if you caught my bug," she grinned as she pulled him out of the house, lethargy gone as the last night star winked out.
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He stole another glance at her as they walked to the Academy. She was still quiet.
"What's on your mind?"
She shrugged. "Nobody."
"What do you mean, nobody?" he asked again as they crossed the Academy's threshold (oblivious to the glares of various people).
"My Nobody's gone."
Riku stared at her.
She stopped walking. "I didn't catch a bug. It's Naminé. She's gone."
"Gone?" That made him stop too. He remembered the night he was jolted awake by his Keyblade.
"Roxas came and took her."
"Roxas." He winced at the memory of that name.
"Riku!"
His breath went out of him in a sudden burst (in short, he got the wind knocked out of him) by something, no, someone colliding hard and fast with his chest.
"Riku, it's so nice to finally be able to hug you," a blonde-haired girl squealed against his chest, wrapping her arms tighter.
"Naminé, you're suffocating him," the boy next to her said, folding his arms and grinning amusedly at the both of them.
Speak of the devil. Maybe he was just dreaming all of this. The crushing sensation in his chest sadly told him that this was no dream. "Naminé, geroff me."
"Oh!" She immediately let him go. "Sorry. Got kinda... carried away."
"Naminé?" Kairi half-screamed her Nobody's name (which effectively made the whole quad stare at her). "Roxas!"
The bell rung.
"Bother." Roxas said as the bell tolled the start of classes. "This school better not have independent studies." He went together with Naminé to what he supposed was their first class.
Riku sighed as he watched the two vanish into the crowd and turned to Kairi. "Let's go. Someone can explain later."
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Kairi tapped her foot impatiently as she kept stealing glances at the wall clock, longing for the moment it would ring and announce the end of this period (Lifestream Physics, she hated physics). Why? Next period was homeroom, and from the scribbled note Roxas bounced off her head last period (Worlds' Literature) she had the same homeroom schedule with the both of them.
"Come on, ring, somebody has a lot of explaining to do," she muttered under her breath, watching the professor write something (or was it draw?) in her trademark unreadable handwriting (how was she supposed to pass the subject when she couldn't even read the lecture?).
She did pass a note back to Roxas, but he was being eyed by the teacher, being a new student and all. When he tried to pass the note back she shook her head frantically (and that earned her a sharp "Do you think my class is boring?" lecture).
The bell rung. She fought back the urge to whoop as she hastily gathered her things and threw them haphazardly in her bag.
"Kai!" Selphie, her best friend, called to her in the corridor. "What's the rush?" she peered up at Kairi, those brown eyes scrutinizing her face.
"Uhhh," she grimaced. She couldn't tell Selphie that yes, there were two new students in homeroom, and they held half of Sora's soul and hers, and---she'd never believe it. "I heard there's some transferees, and that we share homeroom."
Selphie clapped her hands excitedly (the very image of an Energizer Bunny) at the prospect of new people on the Dance Commitee.
"Oh, goody, we could use new blood around here..."
"New blood...?" She arched an eyebrow as they entered the classroom. "Where'd you get that?"
Selphie was already shaking hands with Naminé, who looked quite disconcerted at the mere idea of a dance, let alone being on a dance commitee.
"I'm Selphie Tilmitt!" she was saying energetically (like she said, Energizer Bunny), smile growing wider with each passing second.
"N-Naminé...Dalmasca," the blonde girl glanced at Kairi nervously.
"You, like, have the same surname as Kairi here!" she exclaimed (and drawing the attention of every person in the room to herself in the process), staring at Kairi and Naminé alternately. "And... Naminé, you're like Kairi gone blond...! Are you guys identical twins or something?"
"Oh, ignore her, she's kinda on a sugar rush right now," Kairi said hastily, seeing her Nobody (she was still her Nobody, after all) was squirming uncomfortably under Selphie's scrutinizing. "Haven't I already told you, Selph, Naminé's a cousin of mine."
At which Naminé's eyes widened and her mouth shaped itself into a small 'o'.
"Ahhh... cousins, that explains it..."
"Well then, you should see Roxas," Naminé said offhandedly, averting her gaze. "He's a dead ringer for Sora."
Don't use the words 'dead' and 'Sora' in the same sentence, she seethed inwardly, narrowing her eyes at her 'cousin', who looked like she had just bitten into an unripe paopu fruit.
"Yes, Roxas looks like Sora gone blonde," Kairi agreed in a voice too hearty for her liking.
"Settle down, Tilmitt, Dalmasca, Dalmasca." She blushed, realizing that their professor was most probably been standing in front for at least five minutes earlier. She sat down hurriedly in the nearest vacant seat.
"Class, I'd like to welcome---Hikari, where have you been?"
Kairi stared at the front-side door, where a very dishelved Roxas was leaning, panting hard. He had obviously been involved in some scuffle of a sort. Naminé hissed beside her, motioning for him to sit down. Selphie (not to mention the whole class) had fallen quiet, probably stunned by Roxas' features.
"What?" Roxas muttered as he sat down. "Is it 'Annoy Roxas Day' today?"
"As I was saying, I'd like to welcome two new students who transferred from Twilight Academy." Miss Fujhin flipped the clipboard she was holding open and traced her pen down the length of the paper. "Come up in front, please, Roxas Hikari and Naminé Dalmasca."
Naminé looked like she had frozen in her seat. Roxas whispered something (and Naminé bither lip before whispering something back) in her ear before the both of them got up and walked down in front of the blackboard. Kairi eyed the both of them; she was going to wring the truth out of them later.
"Uhm, I'm Naminé Dalmasca, and I've just transferred from Twilight Academy," she said (obviously) nervously. Kairi rolled her eyes, she was just repeating what Miss Fujhin said a while ago.
"Yeah, as Miss Fujhin said, we're both from Twilight Town. Roxas Hikari." He cut in, scratching his head. "She draws really well, and then.. well, I like to skate."
"Would you please answer the burning question on our minds now," the teacher smiled at the both of them, "are you two related to Kairi Dalmasca and Sora Hikari?"
"Uhhh... I'm one of Kairi's cousins."
"Me? One of Sora's. Maybe that's why people say he looks so much like me."
Wrong, Kairi wanted to yell. It was Roxas who looked like Sora. She watched as the pair made their way back to their seats and Miss Fujhin took to the front of the board again. She bounced the note she had carefully prepared off Roxas' head.
"Now, class, the Annual Halloween Dance is only about a month from now, and Miss Tilmitt---"
Roxas unfolded the crumpled ball and shot a glance at her.
"Attendance is not required.. if you don't want to go, it's perfectly fine, but think of the party you'll be missing---"
Kairi stifled a giggle. Coming from a teacher who was so boring, talk of what they would miss at a party was unbelievable (hey, at least she stifled her giggle, some of the people inside the room laughed out loud). She caught the paper ball Naminé thrust at her under the pretense of searching for a dropped pencil on the ground.
I told you, we don't know anything, Kai. Ask Naminé, she was the one who woke up first.
She slipped another torn page of notebook on the top of Naminé's armchair table, who looked at her, then shot a scorching look at Roxas.
"Starts at around six and ends at one in the morning... The only requirements are a guardian's permission and that you come in costume (at which a collective groan rose from the class, whether from joy or annoyance, nobody knew). There is a Bssest Costume award, with a prize of---"
Kairi stared down at Naminé's neat, round letters. Sorry, Kairi, but memories are hard to come by, or, in short, WE DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING. You can pester Roxie more later. And ignore him just now, he's a bit cranky since girls were all over him in the corridors.
She stifled another giggle. Roxie? Ah, so that's why he looks like he just came out of a prizefight, she scribbled and passed the note back.
Roxas' face darkened as he read the note over her shoulder.
Kairi passed another note (fervently hoping for the right reply), this time to Roxas.
"---One thousand munny."
She almost let the crumpled ball of notebook paper miss her grasp as she felt her mouth fall open. One thousand was a lot of munny (apparently so, whispers had broked all over the classroom) for a teenager.
I can't feel him, Kairi, it's not like we're connected or something anyway. Sorry. The last word was written jaggedly, like the hand that wrote the word was shaking badly. She looked at Roxas, hoping to catch his eye. It looked suspiciously like he was avoiding her gaze vigilantly, and Naminé was doing the same. She wanted to scream.
"Dalmasca, Dalmasca, Hikari," Miss Fujhin said sharply. "Are you listening?"
"Yes, ma'am, " Kairi said tonelessly, slipping Roxas' note into her skirt pocket. She slumped back in her chair, her hope of finding Sora vanishing with the two Nobodies' missing memories.
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Chapter Six done. Updates will most probably be weekly, so I'm expecting reviews , both positive (I love you guys...free cookies!) nd negative (flamers... don't worry, I still love you, but the cookies will cost you dearly), lots of them. -Laughs evilly-
Those guys who want more of the Nobodies' side of this story (more Organization XIII! Yayness!), check out the companion fic subtitled Nobody's Perfect. Tell me if you like my idea... please.
Those who like Roxas and Naminé pairings... read that oneshot I made, Alive. Review and tell me if I am delusional when I say that I can write a good oneshot.
Thanks. See you around.