Summer Blues

Chapter Two: I Want A Shake

We got to the car still talking, and I was very happy. Kairi didn't seem to mind the fact that I constantly groped for a topic; in fact, she led most of the conversation with witty comebacks and quirky replies. She was the most amiable person I'd ever had the fortune to meet, and I was glad.

"Looks like you're having plenty of fun, huh."

I jumped, turning to face the male who had spoken. A boy slightly older than us was leaning against the passenger door of a sleek-looking car, with a custom paint job of black flames licking its side [A/N: I know, cliché, much? Ugh, I've no car expertise at ALL. D: Bear with me, please.]. I looked at it (the car) a little apprehensively, before glancing back at the speaker.

He was spouting a mischievous type of grin, one of his hands casually stuffed inside his pocket, and the other playing absently with a lighter. His hair was just a little brighter than Kairi's, but even though his eyes were a playful green, I guessed this must be her brother, Axel.

"So this is your little friend, eh, Sis? Hm. My name's Axel. Got it memorized?" He straightened, grinned at me, and shoved the lighter into his pocket. "We good to go?" he asked, coming over to get my bags from Kairi. I bit my lip, wondering what to do as he put my luggage in the trunk.

Thankfully, I felt Kairi tug on my hand. "Nami, come on," she said. "Axel's all bark, he rarely bites." At that I laughed, and let myself be towed into the car beside Kairi. She resumed talking to me animatedly as we drove along, and from the window I could see the beautiful coastline beside the road.

"Will we go to the beach?" I asked.

"Of course we will, Nam," Kairi laughed. "It's tradition, but not right now. We need to get you home so we can drop your bags off. Then you're coming with me to meet my other friends." She paused thoughtfully. "Unless you're too tired, then I'd totally understand if you wanted to stay in bed the rest of the day."

I shook my head. "I slept during the whole flight. Don't worry. I'm game for anything." She grinned, then launched into a description of the friends I'd be meeting later.

"Well, there's Olette, and Hayner, and Pence, those three are inseparable, seriously, they're like stuck with glue; then there's Selphie and Tidus, those two are together, together, it's really sweet, honestly, but you'll see that when we get there; and of course there's Sora"—here I noticed that Kairi went a little pink, and I giggled—"plus Riku, and Sora's brother, but I'm not sure when he's coming to Radiant, though Sora did say today. His name's Roxas. Then there's—"

"Wait," I said, cutting her off. "Did you say Sora—whoever he is—did you say his brother's name is Roxas?"

"Well, yeah, I did, why?"

I paused, wondering if I should share my little tidbit of information. Maybe not now… There's really no point, since we're seeing each other again, anyway, right? Mother of all funny coincidences. "It's nothing," I brushed off. "And what's the deal between you and this Sora guy? You can't deny it, Kai." I laughed.

She was blushing again. "Shh!" she said, bemused, jabbing a finger toward the front, where Axel was driving with a pair of headphones covering his ears. He was bobbing his head to whatever music he was listening to, and I could hear the sound of it from this distance, so it seemed unlikely he could hear. I jerked my head and pointed at his headphones.

"Whatever," was all Kairi replied, but I could tell she was still a bit flustered. "Anyway, there's also Xion, my cousin, and I'm pretty sure Axel's gang is there too." She shrugged, then, seeing my confused (and probably slightly horrified) expression, continued. "Of course it's not that kind of gang. Sure, they get into fights every now and then, but I'm pretty sure they're harmless. They're called the XIII. Axel's the eighth."

"If you put it that way…"

Kairi just laughed. We continued chatting until we reached a set of imposing white gates. They weren't exactly big, but they were…kind of intimidating? I don't how to explain that. Anyway, the gates were opened and we pulled up to the front door, and it was beautiful. Kairi's home was gorgeous! There was a garden surrounding the two-story house; exactly what you'd have imagined if you were living in the country.

I stepped out of the car, still looking around in awe, and had to be led into the actual structure.

"Stop gaping, Nami, and hurry up, I want to go meet up with the others!" Kairi told me excitedly. I chuckled, following her inside, while Axel grunted with the slight effort of carrying my bags.

Kairi led me to what I assumed was the dining room, where a middle-aged couple was sitting, munching on what I also assumed was breakfast.

"Hey, Mom, Dad," Kairi chirped coming over to kiss both of them on respective cheeks, before straightening and motioning to me. "This is Naminé, the friend I was telling you about? Nami, these are my parents."

I smiled and bowed slightly. "It's very nice to meet you. Thank you for having me."

The woman, who had dull red hair, smiled in a way that made her look homely. "Welcome, dear. Please, feel free to treat this as if it were your own home, and us as your family. It's a pleasure to have you here."

"Well, I'm sure Kairi found a good friend in you, Naminé. Enjoy your stay," Mr. Koichiru had a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes; he looked very pleasant.

I thanked them again before Kairi whisked me off upstairs to where my bedroom supposedly was. At the second door on the right side of the corridor, she stopped and turned the knob. And wow. This room was just as beautiful as the rest of the house! The walls were painted a minimal white, small flowers scattered here and there, the carpet was plush—off-white—the bed seemed soft and comfortable, and the closet looked promising. Best of all was the desk, and the easel beside it. Kairi knew my art tendencies, thank the heavens. But I only had several moments to let all that sink in, before Kairi took my carry-all, dropped it onto the bedside table, and pulled me back downstairs, laughing.

"Kai, slow down," I prodded. She stopped, thankfully. I brushed imaginary lint off my dress and turned to her. "Do I look okay?" I asked hesitantly.

My redheaded friend studied me thoughtfully. "I think you could do without the jacket, Nam. The rest is good as it is." I smiled and slipped it off; it had been cold in the plane, but I had no need for that here, now.

"Now we can go," I said, and laughed again when Kairi pulled me out of the house, explaining that we were going to walk to a local smoothie bar and joking on the way.

LINE BREAK

"Kai! Kairi!"

A brunette with gravity-defying spikes waved enthusiastically at my companion, reminiscent of how Kairi had waved to me at the airport. "I'm guessing this is Sora," I murmured, when I saw Kairi's instant winning smile, the enthusiastic kind that really made you smile too.

"Hey, Sora!" she called back, waving and confirming my guess. I chuckled as she pulled on my arm and practically dragged me over to where the brunette and several—no, make that a lot of—others were sitting.

I smiled at all of them weakly when we stopped. "Guys," Kairi said, "this is Naminé. Nam, these are my friends. You guys introduce yourselves on your own, I think it'd be more confusing if I pointed and stated." Everyone laughed. "I'm off to buy our shakes, what do you want, Nam?"

"Oh, I'll have a vanilla shake, if it's okay," I replied. Kairi nodded, then turned on her heel to head over to the counter, which was manned by some blonde guy with hair styled in a mullet. Hm. Sora motioned for me to sit on one of the chairs surrounding the table.

"I'm Sora, nice to meet you!" he said, the light in his blue eyes dancing.

"Riku," smirked the boy to his left, one with curious silvery hair.

"Selphie here!" said a brunette girl enthusiastically, who had the arm of a blond boy around her shoulders. "I'm Tidus," he said, waving lazily from his seat.

"Olette, Pence, and Hayner," said yet another brunette, motioning to first herself, then two other companions on either side of her, who were bickering over a pastry—I thought it was a lemon square.

I felt my smile widening with every introduction, already warming up to this group of teenagers, who seemed nice enough. "It's really a pleasure to meet you all," I told them sincerely. They all mumbled respective replies, just when a voice exclaimed, "Axel, you idiot!"

I whipped my head around and saw Kairi looking murderously at her brother, who had a sheepish expression on. "You almost burned my hair!" she complained, touching the ends of the strands delicately. "Be a little more careful, will you?"

"Sorry, Sis." At least his tone was apologetic, though his grin was half-back. "I'll make it up to you—I'll treat you those shakes." He motioned to the drinks on the counter.

Kairi rolled her eyes, but I could see she wasn't really mad. "Just don't do that again," she grumbled, scoffing. She picked up the shakes, stuck her tongue out at Axel and came to join our table.

"You okay, Kai?" Sora asked almost immediately, beating me to the punch. Was something going on with them? They were quite obvious and adorable, I thought, laughing silently.

"I'm fine," she replied, waving it off, and handed me my shake before sipping her own.

Sora grinned at her and she grinned back. "Axel's dead meat if that happened again, isn't he?" he asked laughing. Kairi's grin widened into a devious smirk when she answered.

"More or less."

At that moment, Tidus interrupted. "Okay, enough with the murder schemes." Again, everyone laughed. "Who wants to play volleyball?"

Sora and Hayner rose to the challenge. "You're on!" the latter said, pumping the air with his fist. "Riku and Sora are on my team!"

"No fair!" Tidus exclaimed. "You got them last time!"

Hayner considered this a moment. "…Fine. You get Riku. But I get Kairi!"

Quickly, teams were formed, while I wondered where they would be playing. I shook off Kairi's pleading about me playing, reasoning out that I was a walking disaster just waiting to happen when it came to physical activity. In the end, though, I was shot down, and I was forced to join Hayner's team as well. Our group was a little small for a real six-on-six volleyball game, so we settled for four-on-four.

Kairi, Sora, Hayner, and I were in one team, and Tidus, Riku, an older kid named Wakka, and Kairi's cousin (who came late, therefore we had belated introductions, but she seemed nice), Xion on the other.

"Let the games begin!" Hayner shouted as he ran down to the beach, excited, the rest of us following him, me falling a step behind everyone else. I groaned inwardly. Oh no…

A/N: Well. That was longer than I'd originally intended. :P But, here's to finishing the second chapter! Sorry for not giving any Roxas love, boohoo. I just wanted to get that out of my system; the second chapter, I mean. I think I'm probably going to work on the third chapter later tonight as well. Sorry, I'm really on a roll! XD It's been a while since I actually had fanfics posted here.

Which reminds me. I was looking at my past two accounts this afternoon, and I swear, I died. I faaaiiil. -_-" I really hope my writing's improved. But, anyway, yeah. Random story.

Please review (flames are a big no-no [oh, and many, many thanks to the ones who reviewed the first chapter! 3]), and be patient for the next part! I have school, so I'll be working on it sparsely, but bear with me. Thank you! :D

-Hikari