Hey guys! I'm starting a new story; it's currently in the prototype stage, though. I'll call it "The Wanderer". It's about a mysterious amnesiac and her quest to find out who she is.

Back to Chapter 10. I've the greatest idea for ending VanitasXNamine, but it will have to come later. Sorry.

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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR ANY OF ITS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES AND CHARACTERS!

I just own this story. Enjoy!

Oh my god.

This was impossible.

I have no face.

Why can't I scream? WHY?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The laughter of the faces flooded my ears, drowning out my thoughts. They swarmed around me, pressing in. One leaped forward, slamming into my face. I tried to rip it off, to no avail.

"My body! My body!" They all shrieked. Then they laughed some more.

I kicked and thrashed and lashed out with my fists with all the strength I had.

"Namine!"

The shout was lost in my terror. I ignored it.

"NAMINE!"

This time a stinging pain cut through my…my…dream?

Was I dreaming?

I opened my eyes to see Aqua kneeling on my bed next to me. She had a frightened expression on her face.

"Namine, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"N-Nothing," I replied, confused. "What—?"

"You were screaming," Aqua said. "I thought—I thought—" She broke down, shaking.

I held her shoulders until my sister stopped moving.

"Aqua," I started. "I had a nightmare. Nothing more." My voice got stronger as I continued.

"Okay," she answered, obviously less than convinced. "I just wanted to tell you. Today's Roxas's birthday."

At the mention of Roxas's name, I suddenly remembered last night's serenade. I decided not to tell Aqua about it, but a small grin somehow made it past my mental blockade.

Aqua must have misinterpreted it as something else, because her face brightened.

"Roxas invited you, me, Terra, Kairi, Sora, Riku, Xion, and Ventus," she smiled. "We're going to the beach!"

My face fell. This time Aqua correctly guessed what I was feeling.

"Oh no you don't, sis," she said menacingly. "You're going and that's final!"

"But why?" I whined as she tossed me off the bed.

"Because!" she yelled. "You're going to look like a woman today!"

"I already did! Remember Tuesday!"

"Yeah, I do. But the beach is the beach, and you are gonna wear a bikini!" Aqua roared, heading into my still messed up closet. She rummaged through it for a few seconds before tossing a blue two-piece at me.

"Are you kidding me?" I spluttered. "These aren't clothes!"

"Well duh!" Aqua snorted, rolling her eyes at my perceived idiocy. "Bare essentials, numbnuts!"

I growled something that would have gotten me spanked by Mom, before undressing and putting on the two-piece.

Why didn't I argue further? I knew there was no use. For some perverted reason Roxas always invited everybody to the beach on his birthday, and insisted the girls all wear revealing swimsuits. The first time he did it I argued with Aqua about if I could just stay home. She just recruited Terra to help her haul yours truly into the car.

"But why does it have to be a two piece!" I griped.

"Because it's the only one that fits you," Aqua replied without taking her eyes off the road.

I angrily folded my arms across my chest. All I was wearing above the bikini was a pair of short shorts and a ragged T-shirt. In my opinion once the top layer of clothes went off I'd look like some random slut. Call me extreme if you want, but that's how I felt about it.

Aqua had on the same outfit as I did, but her swimsuit was a far less revealing white one-piece.

"Come on," Terra grinned. "Why do you never want to show off your body? You're this beautiful woman's sister, and it shows!"

"Terra!" Aqua yelled. "Are you trying to flirt with my sister?"

"I'm trying to convince her to…argh," he groaned, slapping his forehead. "Women…"

I snorted at the triumphant smirk on my sister's face.

Finally we arrived at the beach. It was some twenty feet below the parking lot, so we had to scale down the cliff.

Terra went first, lugging the ice chest on his massive shoulders while grasping natural handholds as he carefully climbed down.

I went down next, going just as slowly as Terra had. There was no point in being reckless with the climb.

But even shrewd judgment and extra caution doesn't hold a dime to the fickleness of fate.

I slipped on a particularly smooth stretch of rock.

"AHHHHH!" I screamed, struggling to get a grip on the granite face.

"Namine!" Aqua and Terra shouted, horrified.

I jumped.

As I fell, as I hurtled towards the sand and braced myself for the coming agony, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of spiky blond hair race below me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting…waiting…waiting…

There was no impact. Somebody had caught me.

"Close call," he sighed. "Damn."

I opened an eye a crack and peeked up, searching for my rescuer.

It was Roxas.

"Uhhhh," I stammered, blushing furiously.

I could smell his cologne treated skin, that's how close I was to him.

I could feel every muscle in his arms as he clutched my body.

I learned my mind actually could totally go blank when in close proximity to a guy.

And at that moment, yes I'll admit it; I realized Roxas was smoking hot. And for some reason, I didn't feel ashamed at all thinking that. Wow…

"Could you let me down now?" I asked meekly.

"What, no thank you?" he said teasingly.

"Fine. Thank you," I grumbled. "Now put me down, I'm not a baby!"

He chuckled and set me on my feet.

I staggered a bit. "Whoa," I murmured, holding a hand to my ear.

Roxas grabbed my shoulders and steadied me. "Careful now," he cautioned.

My sense of balance quickly realigned itself and I trudged towards the shore.

Sora, Kairi, and Xion were on the shore. Riku was standing on the dock.

I walked up to Kairi and asked, "Where's Ventus?"

"He said he couldn't handle a nosebleed," she sneered. "You know why."

I gave a short bark of a laugh. "Little pervert," I muttered, with a smirk of my own.

Yes, this was about Aqua.

I sat at the edge of the small dock, splashing my feet in the water.

Xion and Kairi had somehow sent me on a guilt trip that led to me finally stripping down to my bikini. Why on earth I hadn't put my clothes back on when they weren't looking was also a subject bouncing around in my head. Exactly what they had said was also uncertain.

You can guess, based on my having nothing more to do besides think about stuff like this, that I was bored.

Oh, how right you are. I was bored to freaking DEATH.

Alas, that lovely isolation was not to last.

Roxas suddenly plopped down next to me, causing me to shriek, startled.

"Were you sneaking up on me?" I demanded, clutching at my shoulder. I willed my racing heart to stop. It disobeyed.

"No, your brooding just drowned out the noise of my steps," he chuckled. Roxas placed an arm around my shoulder without warning, and I had to physically prevent myself from jerking away.

"Hands off, mister," I warned. "I already have Vanitas."

His face darkened for a moment at the mentioning of that name. It was so quick, I wasn't sure I had seen his angry expression.

He immediately returned to his sunny disposition, though.

"You want some ice cream?" he asked, changing the subject. "My treat!"

My eyes gleamed maniacally. I love ice cream. "Give it to me, or I'll hurt you," I said in a deadly calm voice.

"Gotta catch me first!" he yelled, springing up and darting away.

I glared at Roxas before leisurely getting up. I was, after all, pretty darn fast.

In less than thirty seconds I'd caught him, tackling him to the ground. We rolled in the sand for a few moments, viciously struggling for dominance and giggling all the while.

I stopped when I felt somebody was watching us. Roxas got on top and pinned me, holding down my shoulders.

"Roxas," I said sweetly.

"What?" he teased. "Giving up already?"

"No, but there are a bunch of people watching us," I answered.

He looked up and his face turned the color of cherries. Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Xion were standing there, sniggering at me and Roxas's…errr…position.

Roxas hastily pulled me up. "There's the shop," he said, ostentatiously pointing. "I'll go get some ice cream, 'kay?" He ran off.

Kairi came up to me. "Are you okay?" she inquired concernedly. "I mean, with the locker room and all…"

I looked calm on the outside, but in reality I was fighting tooth and claw in an attempt to avoid shaking like I was connected to a car battery.

"No, I'm fine," I said earnestly.

Kairi looked doubtful.

"Really, I am," I assured her.

"Whatever you say," Kairi murmured, trudging towards the shop. "But just tell me if you need support, okay?"

"Okay," I replied. "By the way, Sora's favorite flavor is paopu."

"Got it," she called.

I gave her a small thumbs-up, before heading back to the dock. Quickly scanning around for anyone, I drew my legs to my chest in a fetal position.

I shook and shuddered. Tears leaked out of my tightly shut eyelids despite my best efforts to control myself.

In my mind's-eye I could see his half-naked body as it pinned me down, smothering me, violating my personal space. I could see myself screaming and screaming as he leered at me with unhinged eyes.

Two powerful arms wrapped around me in a bear hug. I shrieked and smashed my fist into whoever was there.

Vanitas reeled back, clutching at his nose. "Ow," he groaned. "Girl, you sure as hell can punch. Owww…"

"Sorry," I stammered. "I'm so sorry, Vanitas, I didn't know it was you!"

"Don't worry about it," he said, waving me away. "I probably shouldn't have snuck up on you in the first place, anyways."

"Were you stalking me?" I asked, creeped out. "I don't remember you being invited to Roxas's birthday party."

"I wasn't," Vanitas replied. "I always come here on Saturdays to surf."

"Oh."

"Namine!" someone shouted.

I turned, finding the other mystery guy to be Roxas. He didn't look pleased.

"I don't recall inviting you here," Roxas snarled.

Vanitas sneered. "I always come here, sophomore," he retorted.

"Go away," Roxas said in a deadpan tone.

"No," Vanitas said in an equally serious tone. "I'm staying here with my girlfriend."

Roxas narrowed his eyes as Vanitas possessively slid an arm around my waist. The blond looked like he was going to kill the brunette for doing that.

I intervened at that point.

"Guys, do you want to go get some ice cream? Together?" I said, putting emphasis on the last word.

"Not with him, no!" both of them shouted, glaring daggers at each other.

"Please?" I said forcefully.

Vanitas submitted, relaxing his hold on me. Roxas didn't back in inch.

"Roxas?" I said.

"Fine," he huffed. But he didn't take his hate-filled eyes off of Vanitas.

I sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Roxas vs. Vanitas. WHO SHALL WIN!

Well, okay, you already know who wins, I've told you, but hey. Can't pass up a chance for theatrics, after all.

By the way, I'm giving you guys the locker room incident piece by piece. I think I've matured as a writer beyond blunt description.

So how'd you think of Chapter 10? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it too random? Is it an epic fail?

Please, please, PLEASE review. I love reviews. Everybody does.

Thanks, with all my heart, those of you who reviewed,

Shadowofthenightxx,

ComicalXMysterious,

Lovely In'sanity,

CheezeIsMyName,

And, of course, ever faithful

Ken08002.