A/N: We apologize for the delay; writer's block, AMV's, and summer assignment deadlines have been a bitch lately. We also apologize to readers disappointed by the lack of accurate details of inebriation in this chapter…I've never actually been drunk, so I'm sorta winging it here.

I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the phrase with the 1 next to it.

2. An Impromptu Picnic

"Hey, Roxas!"

He recognized Sora's chirping and overtly cheery voice as it rant out from across the street. Roxas caught sight of Sora across the way, waving exuberantly with both hands. Like every time he went to hang with his friend of two years, he felt like the older one, even though Sora was eight months his senior. For some reason he couldn't place, Roxas found the native islander a bit too…peppy. Maybe it was something about people from the tropics.

Today Sora was looking unusually sober, but still lighthearted compared to Kairi, the weepy female clinging to his arm, and the impassive boy (old enough to be called a man – if you were willing to compromise) leaning against the wall, staring across the street. Kairi was Sora's girlfriend and Naminé's sister, a rising senior just like her boyfriend and Roxas. Riku Davies, the boy with outlandish silver hair (Roxas was positively certain he dyed it), was a year older than them and made a point of telling education, via his college-free lifestyle, to go fuck itself.

"Hey guys," Roxas greeted the posse as he approached from the other side of the lot. Kairi managed a wobbly smile; Riku simply arched an eyebrow and grunted to Sora without bothering to disguise his scorn, "You brought him here why?"

Sora shrugged and replied, "He's Naminé's friend too." Riku rolled his eyes behind Sora's back as the younger boy turned and flashed a wide grin at Roxas, who couldn't help but think that cheesy smiles weren't exactly appropriate in the current situation.

"So," he asked when the small talk teetered on the edge of awkward, "what'd you call me for?"

Sora held up a brown paper bag, its contents bulging heavily. "We're having a drink in honor of Naminé."

Roxas' first reaction was something along the lines of anger. "You drag me over here when I'm still reeling from the fact that my friend-" he jabbed himself in the chest for emphasis-"is missing, something I just found out this morning. For what? A drink? The hell did you get it from, anyway?"

Sora glanced towards Riku, who raised and dropped a shoulder in an affectation of humbleness that clashed with the cavalier smirk on his face.

"And anyway, aren't you only supposed to do that at funerals?"

Riku snorted at this comment. "I'm pretty sure she won't be coming back."

"What?" Kairi asked, her bloodshot eyes widening at such a bold prediction. Riku ignored her and directly addressed Roxas.

"Well, how many people do you know that have come home after going missing for a week?"

Roxas shrugged and stared at his shoes. "None," he mumbled.

"Exactly."

x

According to Sora, the only good place to have an impromptu picnic such as this was in the woods. Fortunately (or perhaps not), there was a forest just on the outskirts of Twilight Town. By the time they arrived at the wall marking the perimeter of the town, the sky had begun to darken and Roxas was wishing he had a watch.

"You know, our parents will be pissed if they find out about this," he mumbled to nobody in particular as they ducked under branches and stepped over bushes. Kairi was tearing up again, Riku was brooding and Sora was far ahead of them, scouting out the ideal clearing.

As if on cue, said brunette leapt nimbly over a bush, only to clip his foot on the brambles. He lost balance and tumbled forward, skidding to a stop at Riku's feet.

"Look, it's a flying Sora," the silver-haired boy said dryly. Not disheartened in the least, Sora bounced up to his feet, trying very hard to pretend that the incident hadn't transpired. The red tinge in his cheeks was making this difficult.

"We have our spot," he announced broadly, gesturing with a sweeping motion to something beyond the shrubs. With pointed caution, he took a ginger step over the brambles and called over, "C'mon!"

Riku crossed over with little effort expanded; Kairi followed almost immediately, taking care to keep her skirt from hitching up. Roxas alone remained in the small clearing, arms crossed and frowning at the offending shrubbery.

"Damn it all," he grumbled, taking a step. His toe caught on the root of a tree and he crashed into the bush. Branches scraped his face, and he could have sworn that a leaf went up his nose. Cursing under his breath, Roxas managed to get to his feet, and waded through the rest of the brambles. When, after falling down three more times, he was out, brushing leaves off his clothes and combing branches out of his hair, Roxas glared at the three people watching him shaking with suppressed giggles.

"Don't say a damn word," he growled.

x

Roxas and Riku sat by themselves, the former with his knees curled into his chest, the latter draped across the roots of a large tree. Sora and Kairi kissed and cuddled for some time, stealing sips from each other's beer. Once everyone's bottles were half-empty, the drunken murmurs started with the only girl present.

"Painting," she whispered, rocking back and forth. Sora burped and lifted his head from her lap.

"What?"

"Painting," Kairi repeated, smilingly fondly as she caressed her bottle. "Naminé loved painting." Sora tugged the beer from her hands and took a deep swig, ducking as she swatted his head and snatched it back.

"She sometimes locked her room in herself for hours," the girl burbled, leaning dangerously forward. "Yelled at Mom when she tried to make her come out for dinner." She grinned lopsidedly and cackled.

"What is it?" Roxas asked cautiously. Something about people spontaneously bursting into giggles made him anxious. Kairi's grin widened as her eyes settled on Riku.

"Naminé painted Riku once, like, the first time Sora introduced them. It was actually pretty good, but he got piiiiiiissed…"

"Why?" Sora inquired. Roxas' ears perked up as well; the fact that Riku and Naminé knew each other personally was news to him.

Riku scowled and crossed his arms. "Need I remind you that in this masterpiece of your sister's I was wearing a bunch of grapes draped across my groin and a Roman wreath?"

Fortunately, Roxas swallowed a mouthful of his drink just before the grape reference, and so did not suffer an untimely death by drowning in alcohol. Sora almost went down that path, however, but instead spluttered beer on the ground, along with the contents of his stomach, judging by the smell.

"No fuckin' way!" he cried. "And I never heard about this?!"

"Personally, I feel bad for the grapes," Roxas snickered. His mirth decreased some as the odor of Sora's bile wafted over to where he was sitting. He gagged and began breathing through his mouth.

"Of course you didn't hear about it; I burned the damn thing." Riku stated flatly, as if that had been the obvious course of action. "Naminé needed better outlets for her creativity."

"Bull," Kairi retorted. "You just didn't like how your hair looked."

Sora tittered and drained the rest of his beer, thankfully holding it in.

x

One hour and several slurred rambles later, Kairi set a record as the first one to pass out.

"Well…" Roxas looked from her comatose form to the other boys. "What do we do now?"

Riku gazed intensely into the depths of the woods. "I don't know," he stated, making it clear that by know, he meant care. The contempt projected into three words was so astounding, even crickets paused in their chirping. Roxas fiddled with the hole in his pants. Kairi snored.

Timely as always, Sora hopped up and brushed himself off. "I gotta pee."

Riku followed suit and gestured to some far-off trees. "C'mon, Sora."

Sora called, "I'll be right there!" despite the fact that Riku was still only a foot away. He bent over Roxas, a bit too close than was altogether necessary, and panted (ensuring that Roxas' nose didn't escape his alcohol-sodden breath), "Watch Kairi, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he straightened up and ran lopsidedly after Riku, arms flapping and flailing as he struggled to match his friend's pace.

Roxas jumped up and yelled to Sora's retreating and erratically-tilting back, "She's your girlfriend!" As anticipated, he was ignored. "Dammit," he growled, flopping back on the ground and punching the grass viciously. Stuck with his best friend's unconscious girlfriend in the middle of the forest, when for all he knew there could be insane chainsaw-wielding -

"You know…" Kairi began thoughtfully, making Roxas jump, "It kinda looks like a sugar cookie."

"Ahm…what?" he floundered, tugging at his bangs and brushing grass off his pants in an effort to calm his racing pulse.

The brunette rolled her eyes, and as she did, her entire head swiveled on her neck. "Dummy…" Kairi waved one arm in the general direction of the sky as she spoke. "The sky is like…one big blue sugar cookie, and all the little star things are like the little rainbow sprinkles."

"Sprinkles," Roxas said flatly.

"You know. The little thingies that go on the cookie, you put them on it…?" She raised her eyebrows as if perplexed by her own words. "They don't really taste like anything, I don't know why you put sprinkles on them anyway." Kairi dwelled on this revelation, allowing silence to fall on the forest unmolested by slurred voices.

Lured into thought by background noises of wind rustling through leaves and Kairi's heavy breath, Roxas ran the day's events through his mind. In truth, he thought he'd dealt with the shock of losing Naminé pretty well. He'd yet to have an emotional meltdown, if you didn't count the sulking in his room for about five minutes. But then again, had he really been given a chance to grieve?

"Do you miss her?"

Roxas glanced at Kairi, who was watching him with her head lifted slightly above the grass.

"Of course I do. She's my best friend."

Kairi nodded, as if this answer satisfied her. As she settled back on the ground, Roxas continued, "What I don't understand is…why would anyone do that? It just…makes no sense." He sat up, expecting an answer or at least agreement from Kairi, but hearing none.

"…Kairi?"

He got on his hands and knees in order to better see Kairi, whose head was buried in her arms. Roxas flinched. If there was anything that worried him more than spontaneous giggling, it was spontaneous crying.

"Are you...okay?"

Kairi lifted her head, and Roxas was quite surprised to see that her face was completely dry.

"Don't tell Sora. Or Riku. Anyone."

"Kairi, what-"

"Shut up and listen," Kairi hissed, cutting him off. She glanced around the clearing and grabbed Roxas by the collar, pulling him towards her. Murky blue eyes searched his as she panted, "I think I know who kidnapped Naminé."

A/N: I am glad to be done with that. -headdesk- I need INSPIRATION, DAMMIT!!

Anyway.

In completely unrelated news, I have yet to get any messages regarding the fate of 'Carnival.' (See my profile, under the Stories section) Please, please, give me a yay or a nay, delete or update? That's what readers are for, eh?