I just read Kiome-Yasha's profile, and I hope Masks is up to par with her expectations of OOC high-school fics. I mean, badass Namine? Yeah…

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just the story itself. Enjoy!

I barged through the front door and slammed it shut. A shriek of surprise flew from the living room.

Aqua came into the foyer to find me sitting on the stairs with my head buried in my arms.

"What's wrong, Namine?" she gently said. At that point anybody could tell I was upset.

"I don't want to talk about it," I replied.

"You may be a good liar when you're calm, but not now. Tell, what happened?" she asked.

I lifted my head to reveal eyes rimmed red from too much crying. "I caught Vanitas with Larxene, that's what happened. Then the bastard tried to rape me. Then I kicked his ass. Then Roxas came to help me but not before abandoning Xion." The words streaked from my mouth too fast for me to close it.

"I'm sorry, Namine. But to tell you the truth," Aqua stated, "Heartbreak is something you'll have to learn to move past yourself."

"So that's it? Not gonna comfort me?" I retorted. "Some big sister you are."

"Namine," Aqua sighed as she sat down beside me. "It's not that. I want to help you. But every time I try, you tell me to go away."

"I didn't mean it. I was mad all those times."

"Well, how was I supposed to know?"

"Sorry…"

"It's okay. Let's get you to bed; a good night's sleep will do you some good."

When I refused to budge, Aqua just picked me up and carried me to my room. She tucked me in, brushing the strand of my hair that always settled over my eyes when I slept, and closed the lights.

I thought I would stay up all night crying like in the movies, but I probably never realized just how exhausted I was from that run home. I was out like a light in less than thirty seconds.

Come morning, I was refreshed and felt somewhat better. Somewhat.

After all, being awake magnifies the ache in your joints, the sores in your muscles, and the pain of the bruises that some jackass of an ex leaves on your face.

I tried to groan but couldn't, as my mouth felt like it was stuffed with desert sand, all dry and rough. I trudged into my bathroom and brushed my teeth to get rid of the unpleasant aridity of my mouth.

Next I decided to lose the B.O.—I reeked of dried sweat and tears.

I stepped into the shower, barely noticing that I had slept in my clothes, and turned the water to the hottest it could go.

"YOOOWWWW!" I yelped. "Okay, maybe not that high."

The warm water jet also helped to alleviate my pains, massaging my aching legs and shoulders as well as any masseuse.

The morning routine took twenty precious minutes of my attention away from last night, relaxing me. But I dreaded what I knew I had to do.

The first person I called was Kairi.

"Namine? WHERE WERE YOU?" her voice screamed into my ear.

"I'm sorry, Kairi, I was—"

"I'm sorry too, 'cause you're gonna have to do MUCH better than just sorry! Xion really got hurt last night!"

"But—"

"Always thinking of yourself, huh? Well fine, because I'm not talking to you!"

With that she hung up. I stared at the phone, stunned, before calling someone else.

"Sora?"

"Namine! What happened last night?"

"Vanitas dumped me, I kicked his ass for it, Roxas came out to help me, he ABANDONED Xion, I got pissed, and I ran away."

"I'm sorry about Vanitas, but what about Kairi? You left her hanging last night! What if something happened to her last night? God, Namine, you're so irresponsible!"

"Sora, I can explain!"

"I'm sure you can. TOMORROW."

And he hung up on me, too. Riku was similarly pissed off, but about Xion. I won't tell you what he said to me, only that it made me burst into a fresh round of tears.

Lastly, I called Xion. This was the call that I was most anxious about.

"Hi." Her voice was flat and a monotone.

"Xion? Can—can we talk?"

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to apologize about Roxas leaving—"

"You think you can understand?" Xion laughed in derision. "You've never had a man run out on you for another woman, have you?"

"Yes, I have."

There was silence over the phone. "You're mocking me, aren't you?"

"No, Xion, I'm not! Why did Roxas leave you?"

"FOR YOU! FOR YOU, DAMMIT! HE USED ME, NAMINE, FOR YOU!" Xion screamed.

I was stunned into silence. "Xion…"

"Don't talk to me. Don't EVER talk to me again, okay? I hate you."

"Xion wait—" Click.

"DAMMIT!" I hurled my phone at my bed in frustration.

Damn him. Damn Roxas to hell. He'd alienated all of my friends, the fucker.

More tears slid down my already dampened face, and I savagely brushed my face.

Suddenly I heard the doorbell chime, and I rushed out of my room to open the door, but Aqua got there first.

I stayed on the stairs, observing the door and wondering who was there. Aqua opened the door, to reveal…

Roxas.

"Hi, Namine!" he shouted cheerfully in greeting.

I turned away, refusing to even acknowledge his presence.

His eyes widened. "No, wait!"

I darted back to my room and slammed the door shut. The resultant bang shook the walls.

I could hear Aqua and Roxas arguing loudly downstairs, and finally a thud and a female cry of protest.

Footsteps pounded up the stairs and down the hallway to my room. My door opened and closed, and a click signaled its being locked.

Who else could it be but Roxas?

"What do you want?" I asked dully, hugging my pillow.

"I just wanted to talk, Namine," he answered.

"I don't. Go away."

"Namine, hear me out. I'd do anything for you…because…because…"

"Because what?"

"Because…I love you."

I cackled and guffawed and otherwise let out my incredulity. Tears of disdain slid down my face as I clutched my belly, warring with myself to stop laughing before I suffocated, but I lost, because his words were just SO DAMNED FUNNY.

"Bullshit," I abruptly responded.

"I'm not lying when I say that, Namine. I love you. Plain and simple." He had his earnest face on.

I rolled around, facing him upside down.

"Do you know how much you hurt Xion? Do you know how you made me lose all my friends? DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU MADE ME FEEL?"

My words hit him like punches, making him shrink back.

"How do I make it up to you?" he asked timidly.

"You can't."

"What do I do? Kill myself?"

"Go ahead." He was probably going to chicken out anyways, I thought. I closed my eyes.

When next I opened them he had a switchblade in his hand and crimson liquid was spilling out of one of his wrists.

"What the fuck, you idiot!" I practically screamed. "What are you doing?"

"You told me to kill myself. So I am."

"I was kidding, moron!"

I helped him dress the wound with a first-aid kit in my closet, purposefully making it sting as much as possible.

"Now go away," I told him bluntly.

"Why?"

"No why."

"But—"

I lost my temper. "GET OUT THIS INSTANT!"

He stared at me, pleading wordlessly. I was having none of it.

"I hate you." My tone was flat and emotionless, just like Xion's had been.

Roxas flinched, and ran out the door with something glistening in his eyes.

I slumped back down onto the bed, before deciding to check on Aqua.

She was unconscious. Fury rose within me as I saw my sister slumped against the wall of the foyer. If she was hurt, I was going to shoot Roxas.

Luckily for him, she wasn't. I shook her awake, gently saying, "Aqua. Aqua, wake up."

"Mehhhh," she moaned, slowly coming to. "Owww…" she complained, holding the back of her head in her hands. "What—what happened?"

"Roxas came in here, and knocked you down," I replied. I straightened. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," she said, gritting her teeth. "I've got a massive headache, though."

"Come on, sit down," I instructed, assisting her to walk to the living room. "Steady…"

"I get first dibs on that motherfucker's head," Aqua growled as she plopped down.

I pouted. "I wanted it!"

We both laughed, and then I called the police to let them know what had happened, for the bastard's own safety. If I ever came across Roxas again, he was a dead man.

"Alright, I'm gonna go take a walk. Call me if you need me," I said.

"Okay, just be careful!" she called.

"I will! See you!"

I ambled down the street, wondering who I should ask for help.

Kairi? Out of the question. So were Sora and Riku.

I didn't even think about Xion or, gods forbid, Roxas.

There was only one other person…

I checked my list of contacts.

He didn't pick up, and after eight rings the message informing me of my options came on.

I sighed and tapped the 1 button.

"Hi Ventus, this is Namine. Can I come over?"

I texted him when nobody called me back. Nobody responded to that either.

I kept on calling Ventus, but I stopped after the fifth time.

I hoped he wouldn't mind my dropping in, but I doubted it. Ventus was quite good-natured; he'd understand my predicament.

That is, if Kairi and the others hadn't already called him first. Ventus could be quite vengeful, as well.

I shook the discouraging thought out of my head and headed for his house. It wasn't too far away by car, but I spent half an hour on the street walking there.

Nobody answered my knock, or the fifteen after that.

Was Ventus deliberately not answering? Maybe.

I sighed again and sat down on their front lawn. I noticed that a few flowers had been cut away from the house's shrubs, their clipped heads lying on the grass.

A childish game of "he loves me, he loves me not" might calm me. To my surprise, I ended up with "he loves me". Did chance not see what happened last night, or worse, was it agreeing with Roxas?

I shuddered at the thought. I would never forgive that bastard for what he had done.

Wait a second... The flower I had picked up, a small azalea, had a jagged tear along its stem, a sign of having been torn off. Weird.

Might Ventus or one of his parents have accidentally torn it off? Maybe…

But it didn't sound too likely, considering his entire family all had green thumbs.

"Goddammit, I'm not a detective," I grumbled. I stood and brushed myself off, before walking to the door. The wait was getting ridiculous—how had they not seen me yet? I was in full view of every window in the front of the house!

Something in my gut told me that breaking and entering might not end well, but I overruled it. I had to see somebody, anybody, even if it was Ventus.

I tried the door. To my surprise it was unlocked.

"Weirder and weirder," I muttered, and opened the door.

My face went ashen as a horrifying scene appeared before me.

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Ah, another cliffhanger! What did Namine see that gave that reaction to her?

By the way, I thought up another story. It's called "The Artist and the Rebel". Beta readers are welcomed—I want TATR to be better than Masks in every way.

REVIEWS PLEASE!

I got 21 reviews now (YES!), but…

I won't update until I get at least 25+ reviews! So please, please review!

Although, I think I'm going to upload anyways. I just know I won't be able to stand putting you guys under stress.