Don't Stay Down

"He just had to ask an obvious question…." was the first thing that came to her mind. Sighing, she gave the stack of papers to him. "What does it look like I was doing?"

There was a pause for a moment, until he responded. "Letsee…. reading?"

"Well…. at least he got it half right…"

………………………………...

Next Morning

"WHAT?! HE'S NOT HERE?!" a familiar voice cried out, surprising everyone around

her.

"Kairi, calm down… same goes for your voice. Anyways, I didn't "say" that Sora left. I just told you that he wouldn't be working at this shift." Riku explained

Her eyes blinked a few times. "What?"

Leaning over to her friend, "In that case, it means that Sora is working at a different time." Namine whispered.

"Then…. why would he work at a different time? That doesn't make sense."

"You're asking too many questions. It's making my head hurt." Riku complained.

Putting her hands on her hips, she pouted. "Well maybe, you could be hiding something from me! Right Namine?" as she glanced over to her, only to see that she disappeared. "Namine?"

……………………….

"Where did Sora go?" Namine tiredly thought to herself while running. "I checked almost everywhere, and he's still not here, he better not-" but before she could finish, she ran into someone, making him fall down.

"Ow…." was his only response.

She looked at him. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, and I have this habit of running into people, and Sora!" realizing that it was the brunette boy she was searching for all along.

"Namine?" he asked. "Well, if it was you, I'm fine."

"I've been looking all over for you!"

"Yeah, I can tell. I've never seen you so active like that." noticing the fact that she was in the state of passing out, from running too much.

"Sora!" she glared, giving him an annoyed glance. "I've already had enough from Roxas, I don't need any from you."

"Okay, okay. Just relax, if you keep that up, then you'll end up like someone I know." he laughed, and got up to walk over to a small vendor.

She looked over at him and sighed. "I'm turning into someone he knows?" wondering to herself who it was. "Is he talking about Kairi? Wait, I don't act like her!". At that very moment, she noticed Sora coming back with something in his hands. "Oh, don't tell me it's…"

"Sea Salt Ice Cream?" he grinned holding out a blue popsicle in front of her.

"What is it with everyone thinking that, "that" - (pointing to the blue popsicle) can solve your problems?"

Sora laughed nervously. "Well… it's summer…and it tastes good."

……………………………

They sat next to each other in silence as they ate, not sure of what to mention first. "You were talking about Kairi right?" Namine questioned looking away.

"Huh?" he asked, surprised that she suddenly asked him something.

"I mean, earlier. You told me that I'm turning into someone you knew, it was Kairi right?" repeating what she said.

"Well… yeah, you're right." he admitted. "Is that what was on your mind the whole time?"

"There's that. I mean you do know that you're keeping Kairi in the dark, not telling her anything." she gently reminded him.

"I know…." he sighed. "She's probably mad at me right?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Worried would be the word for her. Especially, today when she found out that you were going to work at a different shift, when she's not around."

"I just needed time to think." he mumbled.

"Sora, you never think. Well…. usually. If you were, you always thought out loud and asked Kairi for advice."

"I don't know what to do. This time, Kairi isn't the person I can go to ask for advice at the moment."

"Then…" she began. "Finally tell her what's going on. Before the worst happens. Tell her that you're moving."

"I was hoping for a less obvious solution. It's better than her getting mad at me for not saying anything to her." as he stood up along with Namine. "Fine, I can't resist your cute face anyways." he joked.

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, but I bet it's different with Kairi!" as she giggled at his reaction.

"Oh yeah? What about Roxas? I know you like him!" he shot back, laughing at her reaction this time.

Watching them walk away, they didn't realize that someone was listening to their conversation the whole time. "Sora's leaving?" Selphie gasped.

"Sora! Is that your fifth Sea Salt Ice Cream?!" Namine exclaimed from far away.

"Actually, this would be my sixth." he chuckled as he opened a new one.