Disclaimer: Still don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Warnings: This chapter contains a rather Out-Of-Character, very PO'd Namine about halfway through. It does make things rather funny though...

Princess

Chapter 7: Chaos

"…and when I finally get ten minutes to be alone with Sora, I find out that he's out shopping with his brothers!" Riku loudly complained to Selphie. "So there went a whole ten minutes of my free time down the drain."

"At least you get to spend time with family." Selphie told him. "And at least you have things to do. The only thing I've found to occupy my time with is helping out at the library."

"I guess that's true. But they're not even my brothers, they're my cousins!"

"They're still family, Riku."

"No, they're annoying as fuck is what they are."

Selphie rolled her eyes and gave up on getting anything out of Riku that wasn't a complaint of some kind. She tuned him out as she worked on painting her nails bright yellow and then continued to ignore him after that while she painted her toenails as well.

Riku noticed that she wasn't paying attention after a while and decided to have a little fun. "And then a big pink elephant wearing a tutu pranced into my room singing 'you are my sunshine' before it put on my pants and performed the 'hokey pokey'. Then it flew out my window into the sun."

"Uh-huh." Selphie said distractedly. "That's nice, Riku."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "So then you walk in wearing a suit and wanting to know where the elephant went, so I told you that it flew out the window. So then you flew after it, except your wings melted and you crashed down to the ground and died. The end."

A clapping noise from the doorway got his and Selphie's attention. There stood Naminé, looking more hassled and tired than ever. "Great story, Riku. You should write a book." She paused a moment and looked over at Selphie. "Selphie, someone managed to track down your family. They're waiting for you in the Advisor's Hall. You know the way, right? I'm in the middle of tracking down someone to get something to take to someone else, otherwise I'd take you down there myself."

Selphie carefully slipped on her sandals and stood up. "It's okay. I know the way."

Naminé nodded and then hurried off.

"Will you be okay here wallowing in your misery?" Selphie asked Riku, half teasing.

Riku rolled his eyes. "I have things to do and cousins to avoid."

"And a Sora to track down?"

"That too."

"Good luck." Selphie said before leaving the room.

Naminé hurried into the Banquet Hall, dodging around other people as they rushed around the large room. She made her way over to Queen Aerith and dropped off a stack of papers before picking up a finished stack and leaving the room. Her next stop was the greenhouse to deliver the papers regarding the flower and plant arrangements.

There, Marluxia stopped her so they could talk for a minute or two.

"Naminé, Xemnas wants to have a meeting in four nights." He informed her. "We tried to talk him out of it. Larxene even threatened him, but he insisted on it. Make sure you tell Roxas and Demyx. You know how Xemnas gets when some of us don't show up."

"That's easier said than done." Naminé said. "Roxas has been spending all of his time with Sora lately. He won't be happy about leaving Sora alone to listen to our beloved Superior ramble on."

"Have him bring Sora. We can make him an honorary member like you. Then you won't be the only one." Marluxia paused and glanced back. "I gotta run. Lots to do."

Naminé nodded. "See you tomorrow." She said before going on her way. She had tons more papers to deliver and other errands to run.

'As soon as this is all over, I'm going to take a nice, long soak in the tub.' She thought. 'Or a vacation. A vacation sounds really nice.' The thought of a possible vacation put a little extra spring in her step and kept her cheery for the rest of the day.

The day of the ball was fast approaching and the halls of the palace were busier than ever as guests began arriving. More and more people were starting to avoid Naminé and the Queen, as the two got cranky from lack of sleep. For once, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo stayed out of trouble, although whether it was fear of Naminé and Aerith's wrath or because they were keeping so busy remained a mystery.

Demyx had taken to locking himself in his room for hours at a time in order to finalize things for his musical performance. Sora got the job of dragging him out when he'd forget to come out for food.

Everyone else went about business as usual, until the night of the Organization XIII meeting. Donning black hooded coats, the thirteen members plus the two honorary members met in an old dining hall. The room itself was ordinary with curtains and a long table with chairs. The only odd thing was that everything, even the table and chairs, was white.

The fourteen people took their placed behind their chairs as Xemnas walked into the room and over to his chair at the head of the table.

"Welcome," He spoke grandly, his voice easily carrying around the room. "to the thirteenth meeting of the Thirteenth Order. It gives me great pleasure to see all of you here on time."

"Yeah, I bet it does you huge dick." Naminé muttered.

Xemnas ignored Naminé, knowing full well that she didn't really mean it. "We have much to discuss since our meeting one month ago, but first we must welcome our newest honorary member. Sora Faire, brother of Number Thirteen, the Key of Destiny, rise."

Sora looked nervously around the table as he stood.

"Henceforth you shall be known as Number Fifteen, the Light of Hope. We bid you welcome into this Order. You may be seated." Xemnas waited until Sora was once again sitting down before he continued. "Our illustrious Order has once again been vitiated into something it is not. We must act in clearing our name."

"What's your 'great plan' this time?" Larxene loudly asked. "Because I refuse to watch little kids again."

"No, I have a much grander scheme in mind." Xemnas said. "There is a ball approaching and at that ball we shall have a little performance."

There was silence for a moment while everyone stared at Xemnas like he had lost his mind and was talking gibberish. Then everyone clamored for attention, raising their voices and rising from their seats.

Naminé abruptly stood and slammed her hands against the table. "Shut up!" Her voice cracked around the table like a whip. "Let him speak so we can get this over with."

"Our performance," Xemnas spoke as everyone quieted and sat back down. "Will be a song and dance routine."

"Sweet!" Demyx yelled, jumping up from his chair. "What are we performing? When are we performing? You know we only have a few days left to practice, right?"

"Number Nine, take your seat." Xemnas ordered, suddenly sounding very tired.

Larxene jumped up as soon as Demyx sat down. "I refuse to take part in your idiotic plan." She hissed, her green eyes narrowed.

"As do I." Luxord agreed, rising for a moment.

Xemnas tried to call for order, but failed miserably as everyone else began arguing or complaining that it was too stupid an idea.

"Is it always like this?" Sora asked Roxas.

"No, usually Xemnas has better ideas." Roxas said with a shrug. "And this is nothing. You should have been here the day that Demyx and Xigbar arrived while playing 'Mission Impossible'. They got Xemnas so mad that Axel started making jokes about frying an egg on his face and that steam was coming from his ears. Come to think of it, we all joked around about that for nearly a week until Xemnas started hiding out in corners to sulk."

Sora glanced over at Xemnas, who was sinking further and further down into his seat the louder the yelling got, and then looked back at Roxas. "So, why is he your leader?"

Roxas looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know… I have no idea. I think he's the one who started the whole mess."

"Makes sense." Sora said.

The two stayed to watch the chaos for a while longer and then left, making sure to take Naminé with them so she wouldn't start throwing chairs at people.

Looking out at all of the people dancing and having fun, Naminé was pleased to see that the ball was moving along smoothly. She was sure there was nothing that could possibly ruin her good mood.

"Ahem." A blonde man saddled up beside Naminé, waiting patiently for her to direct her attention toward him.

Naminé ignored him, hoping that would make him leave her alone.

"Lady Naminé, may I have a moment of your time?" He suavely asked.

"I'm busy Rufus." Naminé said, walking away from him.

To some, that would have been a very clear dismissal, but Rufus Shinra wasn't like most people. He was an annoyingly persistent person who was used to getting exactly what he wanted. He quickly followed her, easily keeping up with his long strides.

"Lady Naminé," He tried again. "It's important."

Naminé wished she could turn around and punch him in the stomach or yell at him or do anything to get him away from her, but knew from experience that he could easily overcome her. "It's always something important for your, but something I could care less about. I don't have time to listen to you right now."

"Naminé," Rufus grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. "It's about Sora."

Naminé went rigid and for the first time in years she turned around and regarded Rufus seriously. She thought over her options for a moment and then nodded. "Fine. But not here." She led him across the dance floor, pausing once to whisper something to Larxene, who narrowed her sharp green eyes at the young businessman.

The two settled in a corner of the room where there wasn't many people.

"Okay, explain." Naminé said, sitting down.

Rufus took a seat beside her and was careful to leave some space between them. "I know who sent Sora away."

A surprised expression flitted across Naminé's face for a second before she hid it away. "You have my attention."

Rufus glanced around to make sure no one was listening in and then he leaned forward. "Working for my father is a man named Hojo. He's the head of our science department. Remember that name. It's important." He leaned back with a satisfied gleam in his eyes. "I'll send you the book tomorrow. I think you'll find it interesting." He discreetly winked at her as he stood and took her hand. "Nice talking to you, Lady Naminé." He said, kissing the back of her hand. He turned around to leave, but stopped when Naminé stood up and called his name.

"What are you getting from this?" She asked.

"Ah, that's not part of the game." Rufus said, sounding amused. "Don't you worry your pretty little head, my dear. All will reveal itself in time."

Naminé watched him leave with a guarded expression on her face, wondering what she had gotten herself into that time. Then she turned and walked in the opposite direction of him, blending easily into the crowd.

Demyx bounded happily over to Axel and leapt onto the redhead's back while he was talking to Roxas. "Hey guys," He interrupted their conversation. Aunt Aerith is going to have Cloud announce his engagement to Rinoa soon! What do you think Squall is going to do?"

"We'll see." Roxas said, looking over at the stage. "Squall's going up there now. I hope dad's nearby to catch mom when she faints."

Demyx grinned at the mental image he got and looked around for his aunt and uncle before getting off of Axel. "They're over that way talking to Cloud." He said, trying not to squeal in excitement. "Lets go closer! I want to see Cloud's reaction."

The three pushed their way to the front while Squall worked on getting everyone's attention. It wasn't long before the entire room was quiet and looking expectantly at the stage.

"Thank you." Squall said calmly. Inside, he was fighting off the urge to vomit. He wasn't used to having so many people staring at him. "Cloud, could you come up here?" He asked, scanning the crowd for his handsome blonde. He smiled when he spotted him walking up to him with a confused look on his face.

"What are you doing?" Cloud hissed.

Squall said nothing and instead took Cloud's hands. He looked at his lover and the thought of all of those people staring at him slipped from his mind. Nothing else mattered but him and Cloud. "When I first met you, I know that you were someone special. It wasn't because you're the prince, but because you were so gentle and caring. For four years you've been my best friend and the one stable thing in my life." He paused a moment and looked into Cloud's deep blue eyes. Then he lowered himself to his knees. "Cloud Faire, I love you. Will you marry me?"

Cloud's breath caught in his throat at Squall's words and it took a moment for him to react. When he did, it was to throw his arms around Squall and kiss him passionately in front of everyone.

Somewhere in the audience, Zack fainted and was caught by Aerith with help from Sephiroth.

"So is that a 'yes'?" Squall breathlessly asked as they separated.

"Yes." Cloud said before going in for a second kiss.

Roxas looked away from the stage, feeling uncomfortable watching Squall and his brother kiss.

Axel whispered something to Demyx, who then nodded and ran off. He tapped Roxas on the shoulder and smiled when the short blonde looked up at him. "Walk with me?" He asked.

Roxas glanced briefly at the stage and then nodded. "Okay."

Giddy with happiness, Axel took Roxas's hand and led him out of the ballroom so they could have some peace and quiet. The two ended up out in Aerith's garden.

"So, Squall proposing to Cloud. That's a little unexpected." Axel remarked.

"Not really. Namine found out that mom was going to have Cloud propose to Rinoa, so she told Squall about it." Roxas said with a shrug. "Cloud will probably yell at him for it later, since he did it in front of so many people."

An awkward silence fell around them.

Axel cleared his throat. "So, uh, I saw Sora with Riku earlier." He mentioned. "That Selphie girl was with them too."

"Yeah," Roxas muttered distractedly. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice Axel moving closer to him.

"Rox," Axel gently touched his arm. "You know…" He sighed. "I'm leaving in a few days. I've got to go home."

"Why tell me this?" Roxas asked, not looking at him. "I don't care."

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Axel asked, his voice rising. "I'm trying to ask if you'd like to go with me to Destiny Islands because you've always said you wanted to visit, but if you're going to be this stubborn then forget it!"

Roxas looked up, his royal blue eyes wide with surprise. "Y-you want me to go with you? For how long?"

"A month or two. Then I'll be able to come back with you." Axel said. "What do you say, Roxas?"

"But what about Sora? I can't just leave!"

"Of course you can! Listen, Rox, Sora's not going anywhere. You know he won't. Please come with me?"

Roxas hesitated a moment. "Okay. But if you do anything stupid then I'm coming back home! You got that?"

Axel chuckled. "Yeah, I've got it memorized, Roxy."

"Don't call me that!"

"Aww, but Roxy--!" Axel yelped when Roxas punched him on the arm. Without a second thought, the redhead took off running through the garden.

Roxas chased after him. "Get back here, Axel!"

Axel's laughter echoed around the garden.

End Chapter

You know, bringing in Rufus was never part of my plans until he just randomly showed up to talk to Namine. I blame me getting Advent Children and watching it. Although... getting him in the story gives me a way to explain Sora's disappearance better. Makes things more interesting too. Unfortunently, the side effect of this is that it drags out the story and puts the focus on Namine more.

So, aside from the whole bizarre Rufus/Namine thing, this story is almost done. Then I will once again be taking a break to concentrate on getting a job, choosing my college classes, and getting a nice head start on my next story. The way it looks right now is that I have one or two chapters left.