Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Disney and Square Enix.

Princess

Chapter 4

A blonde girl around the age of seventeen stood in front of her art easel, thoughtfully tapping her paintbrush against her hip. Already sketched out on the crisp, white board was a simple drawing of the view outside her window. A gentle sigh fell from her lips and she laid the brush down on her paint table before turning around to look at the door. "Roxas, I know you're there."

A boy with spiky blonde hair stepped out from around the doorway and walked unsurely into the room, dragging his sneaker clad feet against the floor. If he and the girl were to stand side-by-side, one would assume that the two were siblings. Aside from their sunshine-blonde hair, they both were pale, had blue eyes, and wore white.

"It's almost April, Naminé." Roxas said, sounding upset.

Naminé cast her eyes to the ground. Every year around that time the entire castle seemed to sink into a depression because of the upcoming birthday of the missing member of the royal family.

"It's been over ten years." She said softly. "Maybe it's time we moved on."

"How can you say that?" Roxas demanded, sounding deeply offended. "How can you even think that? I can't believe you would say something so cruel! How heartless can you be?!" Abruptly, he spun on his heel and ran out of the room, fighting back tears.

Naminé flinched when he slammed the door behind him. She stood there for a few minutes, staring unseeingly at the floor as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm tired of being sad." She whispered to herself, wrapping her arms around herself. "I don't want to be sad anymore."

"Kairi, where are we going?" Selphie asked.

"You'll see." Kairi replied.

Three weeks had passed since the trio arrived in town and they were finally beginning to get plans finalized so they could leave for Radiant Garden. They were beginning to count down the days until they were leaving. Sora even made up a little tune to go along with his chant of, "Four more days! Four more days!"

In the remaining time, Kairi was determined to show them her favorite places around Twilight Town. That day she was taking them up to the station to see the clock tower. The next day they had plans to go over to Sunset Terrace and the day after that they were going to the beach.

"Hey, I see the clock tower!" Sora exclaimed. "Looks really cool against the sky. Hey, do you suppose we could go up there? I bet the view is amazing from the top."

"It is." Pence agreed. "You can see practically all of Twilight Town."

Sora looked excited. "Are we going up there? Today? Hey, Riku!" He ran forward and took Riku's hand and began chatting with him excitedly. Pence shook his head in amusement.

It was hard for him to believe how three people could just show up and change everything in such a short amount of time. Normally he and Kairi would be hanging out with Hayner and Olette, but the two were avoiding him and Kairi, upset that they were listening to the three strangers and actually believing them.

'They'll get over it, I hope.' Pence thought. 'They have to. They just have to.'

"Cloud?" Naminé questioned, peering into the kitchen. She waved at the scarred brunet sitting at the table and then focused on the blonde-haired man in the apron who was hovering near the stove.

"Cloud." She repeated his name and got his attention. "Have you seen Roxas anywhere?"

"Not since breakfast." Cloud said. He peered anxiously at a large pot and then looked over at the brunet man. "Have you, Squall?"

"He ran past here an hour or two ago." Squall said. "He's probably hanging out with the Firehaven prince. I don't see how those two are best friends."

Naminé rolled her eyes. "They're about as best friends as you and Cloud are."

Cloud narrowed his eyes. "Naminé…!" He said warningly.

"What are Aunt Aerith and Uncle Zack going to say when they learn there won't be any mini-Squall's or mini-Cloud's running around because the two of you are gay?" Naminé asked teasingly. "Aunt Aerith has always dreamed of you marrying Princess what's-her-face and having kids. She'll be crushed."

"Her name is Princess Rinoa." Squall informed her. "And Queen Aerith will have to get over it. Cloud is mine and he's not marrying anyone but me."

Silence settled over the room before Cloud zoomed across it like a rocket and nearly tackled Squall to the floor. "So you do want to get married! Why didn't you say anything all those times I tried to bring up the topic?!"

Naminé enjoyed the panicked look on the younger man's face for a moment before a hissing noise from the stove caught her attention. "Hey, Cloud, the pot is boiling over."

With a curse, Cloud leapt off his boyfriend and ran over to the stove. Ignoring the glare she was getting from Squall, Naminé left the room to hunt down Roxas. Figuring that she would most likely find him and Prince Axel Firehaven in the stables, she headed in that direction first. Instead of finding them there, she found the three Ross brothers- Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj. After promising Loz that she would paint him a pretty picture of a weeping cherry tree in full bloom, she hurried off to the courtyard to see if Roxas and Axel were sparring. She found several of the soldiers there, but not sign of Axel or Roxas.

Naminé was starting to worry. Roxas wasn't in his room or in Axel's room. He wasn't in the library or the kitchen. He wasn't in the stables or out for a ride or sparring in the courtyard. "Where is he?" She whispered.

"Where is who?"

Naminé jumped in fright and then turned around to see the pink-haired gardener, Marluxia, standing behind her with his green watering can. "Have you seen Roxas?" She asked, unable to hide her worry. Something about Marluxia always made her want to tell him everything and hope that he could help fix whatever was bothering her.

"Sorry, haven't seen him." Marluxia said, sounding distracted. "Say, have you seen Larxene? She was threatening the lives of children this morning over breakfast and I want to make sure she's not following through with her plans." Larxene was his on-again off-again girlfriend who was much like a firecracker; beautiful, but deadly when set off.

Naminé thought for a moment and then nodded. "I saw her about twenty minutes ago in the library. She seemed pretty engrossed in her book. I think it was called 'Men: The Weaker Sex' or something."

"Great." Marluxia said with a groan. "I'll go check on her once I'm done watering my babies. Why don't you go see if Roxas is with Axel in the dining hall with Yuffie, Zexion, Xigbar, and - uh- what's-his-face- Oh! Demyx. Yeah, go see if he's with all them."

Naminé thanked him and then hurried off to the dining hall. She had forgotten that the two liked meeting up with their friends there.

Sure enough, Axel and Roxas were there hanging out with their usual group of friends. Roxas glanced over at her and then immediately looked way and focused all of his attention on the story that Demyx, another blue-eyed blonde, was telling. He was still angry at Naminé for what she said earlier. Pursing her lips, Naminé marched over to the table and took a seat beside a raven-haired girl who wore a headband.

"Hey!" The girl happily greeted, giving Naminé a quick hug. "Demyx was just telling us about the time the two of you visited Atlantica Port and met Princess Arial. Sounds like she was tons of fun to hang out with."

"Nice to see you too, Yuffie." Naminé said with a laugh. "And yeah, she was. I think Demyx here was especially taken with the red-haired beauty." She teased.

Demyx blushed. "I- I was not!" He protested. "And anyway, she's engaged to that Prince Eric guy."

"And you're gay." Axel said with a smirk.

Demyx's jaw dropped and he looked at Axel in shock, hurt that he told everyone just like that. Beside him, the eye-patch wearing sharpshooter, Xigbar, howled with laughter and fell out of his chair and collided with a man with dreadlocks, who in turn fell over onto a blonde man with multiple piercing's who was playing card games with a silver-haired man and a blue-haired man with an x-shaped scar on his face. The cards went flying into the air and scattered across the table and floor, a few hitting nearby people. The surprise chain reaction sent the normally calm blonde gambler into such a rage that he ended up strangling the nearest person, a sickly-looking guy with long blonde hair, until Xigbar pulled out his sniper gun and shot it into the air.

The dining hall instantly went silent, broken only by the sound of a slate-gray-haired man turning the page in his book, disinterested in the chaos around him.

Xigbar looked around, wondering why everyone was staring at him. When he realized why, he put away his gun and then marched over to the two blonde's and pulled them apart before saying, "Everything's fine now! Go back to eating!" He waited until most of everyone's attention was off of him and proceeded to tell the two off before leaving them in the hands of the silver-haired guy, the superior in their "organization", Xemnas.

Happy that he got to shoot his gun and tell off two people, Xigbar rejoined the others. "So, what's this about Demyx being gay?"

Demyx groaned and let his head fall against the table. "Axel, I'm going to get you for this later."

"No thanks." Axel said, reaching under the table to lay his hand on Roxas's keg. "I've already got an adorable blonde who's even more molestable than you."

Roxas glared at him and smacked his hand away. "I am not adorable."

"Yes you are." Axel said, putting his hand right back on Roxas's leg. "He's adorable, right guys?"

Demyx looked uneasily at the redhead. "The last time I answered that question you hit me. I'm not taking the bait this time."

"He's absolutely the most adorable!" Yuffie squealed, not worried about Axel hitting her. She could easily knock him out if he tried. "And Demyx is a close second, right Naminé?"

"Can you please not ask me how cute I find guys I'm related to?" Naminé asked. "It's kind of weird."

"I guess that is kind of weird." Yuffie admitted. "Okay, change of subject time! Who's excited about the upcoming ball?"

For the rest of lunch they talked about the ball and how much they were either completely excited about it or absolutely dreading it and searching for a way to get out of it.

"Sora…" Riku gritted his teeth and tried to avoid looking at his boyfriend. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and snapped, "Sora! Will you get off the rail before you fall and kill yourself?!"

Sora laughed before hopping down from the rail around Sunset Hill. "Relax, Riku. I wasn't going to fall."

Riku crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't know that." He argued. "You could easily slip and fall and-… and then what could I do?"

The smile slipped off of Sora's face and he padded over to Riku and hugged him. "I'm sorry for scaring you yesterday." He whispered as Riku wrapped his arms around him. "I'll be more careful. I promise."

"Good." Riku murmured, closing his eyes. In his mind, the scene of Sora nearly falling off the top of the clock tower replayed. If it hadn't been for Pence and Kairi's quick thinking, Sora wouldn't have been standing there with him or anywhere else for that matter.

"I can't leave the two of you alone for five minutes, can I?" Selphie remarked as she returned with Kairi and Pence. The three of them had left to go hunt down some ice cream as well as to give the boys a little alone time. Like usual, Selphie couldn't help but tease them.

"We found the ice cream stand, but it was closed." Kairi said. "We'll have to go into town to get some."

"Oh, that's okay." Sora said, trying not to sound too disappointed. "Hey, lets work on a bit more dancing while we're here! We've only got a little while before we'll be at Radiant Garden."

Selphie nodded. "Good idea. Sora, you help Kairi and Pence while I help Riku. He still doesn't know how to tell his left foot from his right."

"I can too!" Riku said, glaring at Selphie.

"You suck at dancing, Ri." Sora said, planting a kiss on his cheek before walking over to join Pence and Kairi.

"Your ass is mine tonight!" Riku called after him.

"Ew, too much information." Selphie remarked.

Riku scowled. "Not like that, Sel. You're such a closet pervert."

Selphie shook her head. "Nope. Unfortunately for you, I'm a fully out-of-the-closet pervert. If you want proof then I'll show you all of the pictures of you and Sora that I've accumulated over the years."

"No thanks." Riku said. "Now, remind me how it goes."

With a sigh, Selphie showed him the steps for what felt like the hundredth time. She winced whenever he trodden on her feet and after a while she grew tired of it and had to stop.

"I give up." She said. "Riku, are you even trying?"

"Of course I am!" Riku exclaimed. "And I can't give up! I want to learn. I have to." He glanced over at Sora to see him gracefully spinning Kairi around before pulling her back. "It'd help if we had music."

"We do have music." Selphie said dismissively. "It's just, uh, invisible."

"Invis--?" Riku paused and looked down at the brunette with an amused half-smile on his face. "Invisible music, huh?"

"Yes, exact--ly." Selphie paused and then smacked Riku's arm. "Shut up! You know what I mean!"

Riku chuckled. "Invisible music. You're something else, Sel."

Selphie scowled and then stomped his foot, making him yowl in pain. Once he recovered, she led him back through the routine again and again and again until he had it memorized.

"It's getting late, guys!" Pence announced around the time that everyone had had enough practice for one day. "We're getting up early to go to the beach, right?"

"We leave at seven." Selphie replied. "How can you tell how late it is? It seems a little darker, but it's not a huge difference."

Kairi shrugged. "You grow up here and you learn pretty fast how to figure out the time by looking outside. That and Pence has a watch."

Pence raised his hand so everyone could see his wristwatch. Laughing, they began the descent from Sunset Hill and headed back into town.

Naminé carefully mixed her pink and white paint until it was the exact shade she wanted. Picking up her small brush, she dipped it in the paint and turned around to look at her newest painting. She had already finished the clear blue sky and puffy white clouds and the snowcapped mountains and spring green grass. She had even gotten the tree trunk and branches finished. All that was left was the paint the flowers and sign and date it. She took a deep breath to center herself, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. With a sigh, she set aside her brush, having a feeling that it was either her brother or her cousin. "Come in."

The door opened and Demyx walked in. When he saw that he had interrupted her while she was painting, he grinned sheepishly. "Hey, you're looking lively."

"Something you wanted?" Naminé asked, wanting to get back to her painting as soon as possible.

The grin slid from Demyx's face and was replaced by a look of nervousness. He glanced around the hallway before shutting the door. "I need some advice."

"Okay, have a seat." Naminé said, gesturing to the plain white couch against the window. She sat down on her stool and waited until Demyx was comfortably seated. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong exactly." Demyx said, fidgeting. "It's just that, well, Axel told everyone at lunch that I'm gay and ever since then he's been avoiding me!"

Naminé raised an eyebrow. "I'd think you'd be glad that Axel's avoiding you. Although--"

"No, no!" Demyx exclaimed, shaking his head. "Not Axel. I wish he'd avoid me, then I could actually concentrate on my music. No, he has been avoiding me."

Naminé was puzzled for a moment and was about to ask, "He who?" when it clicked in her brain. "Oh! You mean the guy you like! Okay, so do you usually see him every day?"

Demyx nodded. "Uh huh! Every day at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sometimes he comes down to the music room and listens to me play while he reads his book or writes in his notebook. But he wasn't at dinner yesterday or breakfast this morning or lunch today! I even went up to the library to look for him but the only person there was Larxene and she scares me so I got out of there as soon as I could and--"

"Demyx!" Naminé interrupted before he could get too hysterical. "Calm down and breathe! I'm sure there is a perfectly logical explanation for why you haven't seen him. Now think, are you sure he was at lunch yesterday."

Demyx nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"Okay, have you asked the others if they've seen them?" She asked.

Demyx nodded again.

"Did you check the hospital wing?"

Demyx looked alarmed. "I didn't! Oh no, what if he's hurt or dying and I'm not there to help him get be--"

"Demyx!" Naminé interrupted again. "I need you to breathe and not talk until you've calmed down. If you're not careful you'll end up having an asthma attack and then you'll be the one in the hospital wing for overtaxing yourself." She paused to breathe and gather her thoughts. "Okay, I'm sure he's not dying or anything like that and if it's who I think it is, he's too stubborn to go down there for something like a common cold. Have you checked his room?"

Demyx nodded.

"Was he there?"

Demyx shook his head.

"Did anyone answer?"

Again, Demyx shook his head.

"Do you think that if he were sick he would get up to answer the door?"

Demyx nodded. And then he frowned and shook his head. Then he nodded again before whimpering, "I don't know."

Naminé sighed. "How about this: I'll walk upstairs with you to check on him and if he's not there then I'll help you look."

"You'd do that?" Demyx asked, surprised.

"Of course." Naminé said, glancing briefly at her painting. She forced a smile on her face and stood up. "Lets go hunt down your elusive mysterious crush." She walked over to the door and opened it.

Demyx got up and followed her out the door. He couldn't help but ask, "How did you know who it was?"

"There were only two people missing at dinner, breakfast, and lunch." Naminé replied. "I very much doubt that you have a crush on Lexaeus, so that leaves only one other person. Hey, did you know your two's numbers are inversions of one another's?"

Demyx looked amused. "Kind of like how if you add the numbers in thirteen together you get half of eight?"

"Exactly!"

Demyx grinned. "You're such a fan girl, Nami."

Naminé easily linked arms with Demyx. "My one flaw." She said jokingly. "Now come! Lets go find the one whose name rhymes with--"

"Naminé!" Demyx exclaimed, going pink.

"I wasn't going to say that!" Naminé exclaimed. "I'm not Axel! I was going to say 'hex', I swear!"

Demyx raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Well, no." Naminé admitted. "I really was going to say--"

"Don't say it!"

Naminé grinned deviously. "Sexy."

"Aww!" Demyx groaned. "You said it! Why'd you have to go and say it? Now I'll be thinking about that when we find him! He'll kill me if I call him Sexy Zexy again!"

"Not my problem."

"Naaaaaamiiiiii!"

End Chapter

It probably would have been better if I had brought in Naminé and the others earlier, but it's too late now. I didn't really have anything to write about them earlier anyway. And I love writing Naminé this way instead of having her be all quiet and sitting in the background. I feel like in the game she had to sit in the background to stay alive for as long as she could. In this story she doesn't have to deal with that and can be all teasing and stuff.

If the paragraph where Xigbar bumps into people from laughing too hard is a little confusing, I'll be happy to answer any questions. I like it when I get to guess which characters are which to see if I'm right when their names are given, but I know some people don't like that.

And I don't know what it is with me and making Cloud enjoy cooking. Maybe it's the image of him in a frilly apron.

So, next chapter things get a little more serious and the plot really starts rolling.