"Roxas, Pence, Olette, if you don't come back, you fuckers, I'll be so pissed!" Hayner yelled at the top of his lungs, "I've been here for thirty minutes now, joke's over!"

He waited and…nothing. No one was within hearing distance, and even if they were, the sounds of the crashing waves would've muffled his pleas. He exhaled, frustrated. Maybe they were busy. Maybe they forgot where he had been buried. Maybe they had really left him. Maybe they had finally gotten tired of him, and abandoned him. He frowned, furrowing his brow at the thought.

He didn't believe he was a bad person, but he knew that sometimes, he could be a bit much. Like the time he had pantsed Pence while he was talking up a girl at school that they both really liked. Or the time he deleted all of the songs off Roxas's MP3 player and replaced them with 600 tracks of Nyan Cat. Or the time he "accidentally" walked in on Olette while she was changing in her room and got an eyeful of her nakedness (and hairspray, of course). But other than those times and multiple other moments, he didn't believe he was a bad person.

…Okay, maybe he was. But he only did it because in the end, he didn't have much to talk about. Sure, he always made a topic out of girls or his hatred for Seifer, but other than that, he was kind of an awkward guy. Hell, he couldn't talk to a cute girl if he tried. All he could do was smile and scuttle away if his fake wall of charm didn't work. The only cute girl he didn't smile at and flirt with was Fuu, and that was because she was the enemy. And if he tried anything, he'd probably suffer the same ball-breaking fate as Pence (he had been in the school infirmary with him that day, and the sight wasn't pretty).

Come to think of it, he didn't ever interact with the girl personally. Well, besides the occasional glare or jeer. Not that he wanted to talk to the girl. Hell, she was so quiet and intimidating, he'd choose to talk to a wall before her.

On the other hand, she was prettier than a wall. Much prettier. Her neat, white hair, slender body, heart shaped face, and even her single crimson eye held some beauty. A lot of beauty, in fact. If he could, he'd probably stare into her shimmering crimson eye all day…

Too bad she was on the wrong side.

Suddenly, he heard the quiet shuffle of sandals against sand behind him. At first, he suspected it was his friends, but he heard only one set of feet walk towards him. He couldn't turn his head due to his position, and could only guess who it was. Seifer, who had seen him and come to finish him off before their Struggle? If it was, he couldn't fight back: he was trapped in his sand prison.

"Yo."

He let out an uncharacteristically girly yelp before realizing that the voice wasn't masculine, but feminine. And very lovely. He felt the person was standing right above him, and looked up to see a single red eye.

Her?

What was she doing here? And where was Seifer, Rai, and Vivi? Wait, was she…alone? In that case, how did she find him? And why did she approach him? So many questions to ask, but only one word left Hayner's parched throat, "Yo."

A wave of uncomfortable silence followed, echoing with the noise of screaming men, women, and children in the distance. Not a single word was uttered between the two for a long moment.

Fuu broke the silence with a single word, "Why?"

"Uh, why?" Hayner repeated, not completely understanding Fuu's question. Although, after a moment, Hayner realized the only thing that Fuu could possibly be asking about, and he felt like a dumbass for not knowing it before. He sighed, "You mean, why am I buried in the sand?"

She nodded, and Hayner struggled to explain, "Well, ya see…uh, the others were here-y'know, Roxas, Pence, Olette, those guys- anyway, they…buried me here and whaddya know? They left me. Just packed up camp, ran away, and left my head poking out in the middle of nowhere, just because they're no good lousy-"

Hayner stopped himself when he realized that he was ranting. He stared up at Fuu's face, slightly embarrassed that he let himself go off so easily. "I talk a 'lil too much, huh?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, I know."

Fuu walked around Hayner's head to stand to the immediate left of him, and he couldn't say he didn't enjoy the view. She wore white cargo shorts that ended just above her knees, so he could see her slender legs move gracefully and silently around him. Then, she sat down on the sand, crossing her legs in front of her and resting her hands in her lap. However, her back remained straight as a board, as if she were in the military.

As Fuu was getting herself situated, Hayner figured if he glimpsed at the right time, he could see under her shorts, but he knew if she caught him, he wouldn't even be a head in the sand: he'd be a headless body stuck in the sand and a decapitated head sent airborne by a galactic punt.

A few more moments of silence passed, with Hayner staring at Fuu in confusion and Fuu staring back with what seemed to be total objectivity. Her sight didn't waver, her lips didn't crinkle into a frown or smile, and she didn't even seem to be breathing at some points. The only movement Hayner could observe was the fluttering of her silver hair with the ocean breeze.

He wondered what conditioner she used. Or even if she used conditioner. That would be a weird question, and it'd seem slightly strange and perverted of him. Regardless, it looked soft. Did it feel soft, too..?

He felt like he was staring too much, so he broke eye contact and looked down at the yellow granules of sand just beneath his chin. Somewhere beneath this sand there was a body, and somewhere in that body was a heart that was going crazy right now.

He attempted to steady it as he broke the silence.

"So…er…whaddya doing here? At the beach, I mean?"

"Training."

"Lemme guess, Seifer?"

A slight nod that was neither polite nor dismissive. Should've been obvious, Hayner thought. A girl like Fuu wouldn't go anywhere this crowded unless she was obligated to by that meathead. He wondered why he chose to come down here of all places to train, when the sandlot was a perfectly good training ground. Maybe he also knew it was the last good beach day, and he was trying to take advantage of it like everyone else. It was funny, thinking a rebel like Seifer had the same mindset as everyone else.

Hayner looked back up at Fuu. A fair hand was on her chin now, and she seemed to be observing a hermit crab that was crawling at a considerable speed toward Hayner's left ear. "Aagh!" Hayner instinctively felt himself jerk back, although he was still trapped in his sand prison.

Right when the arachnid was about to make a home out of Hayner's ear canal, Fuu snatched up the crab and tossed it lightly towards the ocean shore, watching it scuttle off toward the water.

"Thanks for the save," said Hayner, laughing a bit nervously, "Dude was about to make a home in my head. I wonder why?"

"Hollow."

"Huh?" Hayner didn't get the joke at first, until he saw Fuu's signature smirk grace her face. He cried, "H-hey! That's not a nice thing to say!" Realizing who he was talking to, he added, "Although, you're not the type to say nice things, are you?"

She didn't reply, and Hayner didn't expect her to. So the two sat in silence, watching the waves crash against the shore, the cries of seagulls filling the air. The sound of crashing waves was almost hypnotic, and in this unbroken silence, Hayner would've been lulled to sleep. Probably would've been bad if he did, since his face would fall into the sand in front of him and he'd suffocate. But still, the beach ambience was getting to him, and he yawned loudly.

A moment later, he noticed that Fuu was now yawning as well, although she masked her open mouth with a slender hand, her red eye fluttering shut, then open again. He couldn't help but laugh.

She shot an annoyed and confused look down at him, "What?"

"I dunno, it's just funny how yawning is so…what's the word?"

"Contagious?" Fuu offered.

"Yeah, that's it!" Hayner said. Come to think of it, that was the longest word he had ever heard her say. Well, besides annihilation.

They returned back to silence, and this quiet state was slowly starting to grow more…comfortable. Hayner no longer felt the need to break it with awkward small talk or observations, and Fuu was…well, as far as Hayner knew, Fuu was content with this from the start. After all, utter silence was her most common mode of operation.

But he still wanted to know why she had stayed here for so long. The first thing he expected her to do was take advantage of his dire situation and kick sand in his face, or put a bucket on his head, and then be on her merry way back to Seifer. But, surprisingly, she was still here, watching the ocean with him.

It was then he realized she had a plastic bag next to her.

"Wuzzat?" he asked non-eloquently.

Fuu glanced at the bag, and an unfitting shock of realization passed over her face. She muttered something to herself and stood up.

"What was that?" Hayner asked. But Fuu didn't respond, and instead started to walk away from him.

"H-hey!" he cried, "Where ya goin'!?"

But in moments she was gone, leaving Hayner puzzled, and a bit sad.

How could Fuu have forgotten? She was supposed to be back at Seifer's with the sea salts. By now, they were probably melted, and he'd be pissed. She looked at her phone. Five messages.

32 mins ago Fuu, it's Seifer. Make sure you get two for Rai, k? We'll spot you when you get back.

27 mins ago We found a spot by Lifeguard Tower 3, you should be able to see us!

16 mins ago Fuu, get here quick, I'm starving!

10 mins ago Where are you?

5 mins ago Fuu?

Crap, there were also two missed calls. She tried to call back Seifer, but her signal was too low to connect. Stupid prehistoric, prepaid phone. She looked around. The nearest lifeguard tower was number 7, and given the far spacing between each tower, she was very far from the others. Maybe if she ran, she could get there in time, but it was very uncharacteristic of her. Maybe Seifer would understand. Although what would there be to understand, other than that she was late and wouldn't pick up her phone?

Oh, god, what if they wanted to know why? Would she tell them the truth, that she was with Hayner, or would she have to come up with some lie? She wasn't the type to lie, but if they knew about Hayner…

She stopped in her tracks.

What was there to know? Nothing! Absolutely nothing was going on between them, and Fuu was making such a big deal out of it! He was just some stupid, smiling, happy-go-lucky jackass who she couldn't help but think about all the time. And why? Because-.

"Fuu!"

She looked behind her and, of all people, Roxas, Pence, and Olette ran up to her.

They all were out of breath, and looked very worried.

Catching her breath, the brunette girl asked, "Have you, by any chance, seen Hayner?"

The fat one added, "Yeah, seen any sunburnt heads sticking out of the sand lately?"

"Pence!" The girl snapped.

"What!? He's probably got a sunburn by now!"

"Or he's dead." deadpanned Roxas.

"Can both of you just shut up?" said Olette, "This isn't funny anymore. We seriously need to find him, guys. He could be dehydrated, or somebody could've tripped over him."

The two boys snickered at the thought, to which the girl slapped them both on their heads, "Ow!"

"Idiots."

A strange bunch, Fuu thought. She was most amused that the girl seemed to hold the most power in the group. It was a nice change of pace from what she was used to.

The girl then turned back to Fuu, "Look, we kind of…buried Hayner in the sand and left him there as a joke, but we can't find him anymore. We know we were around Tower 7, but we just can't…"

Fuu was surprised. There was a genuine glint of worry in the girl's eyes. In all of their eyes, actually. Joking aside, they all were concerned for the wellbeing of their friend. Not at all different from her relationship with Seifer, Rai, and Vivi.

She looked back towards where she was walking from. If she squinted, she could make out the annoying blond head again.

…

"Follow me."