Kairi and Namine's Trip to Twilight Town

Namine leaned against the rail of the boat that was taking them across the water to Twilight Town. Her blue eyes were distant as she looked out at the horizon, a sign that she was thinking deeply about something. The wind playfully tugged at her hair and dress, making her feel at ease.

"Hey, Namine." Kairi said as she joined her friend at the rail. She rested her arms on top of the rail and looked curiously at the blonde. "Something wrong?"

Namine snapped out of her daze and gave Kairi a smile. "Nothing's wrong. Don't worry. I was just thinking, that's all."

"No worries then. Now, if you were Sora, then I'd be worried." Kairi said with a laugh.

Namine managed a small laugh before she looked back out over the water. "I would be too. Sora and thinking don't mix too well. Bad things always happen."

"Like the so-called 'great prank war'." Kairi reminisced. "Do you remember that?"

"The one that Sora and Roxas started against Riku and Tidus?" Namine asked curiously, not really remembering which prank war it was that came to be called the 'Great Prank War'.

Kairi shook her head. "No, that was the mini prank war of year 2000. I'm talking about the one where Sora, Riku, Tidus, the girl Rikku, Baralai, and Zack teamed up against Roxas, Wakka, Lulu, Yuna, Gippal, and Cloud. The big one that just happened last year."

Namine giggled at the memory of the huge prank war. She and Kairi had stayed out of that one until the very end, when Kairi went and joined Sora's team and Namine joined Roxas's team. "I do remember." She said, smiling. "That was something else, wasn't it? How many places did we get banned from? Do you remember?"

"No!" Kairi said with a laugh. "I lost count after the first five places. I don't even remember exactly what places we got banned from either. Do you remember any of them?"

"Applebee's is one I really remember." Namine said. "That one and the big supermarket that we can't stand not going to at least twice a week. And the roller-skating place." She added as an afterthought. "But that was all Sora's fault because he rolled into the costumed guy when he 'lost control' of his skating."

"Because Wakka pushed him." Kairi defended her friend. "Wakka shoved him out into the skating rink and Sora couldn't slow down in time."

"Or swerve?" Namine asked.

Kairi grinned. "Hey, the guy was lucky enough that Sora didn't run over the guy's d--"

"Kairi!" Namine exclaimed.

"I was going to say 'dog', what were you thinking?" Kairi teased.

"You were not!" Namine said, blushing. "And you know very well what I thought you were going to say! I'm not saying that out loud!"

The two continued to playfully bicker and tease each other for the rest of the boat trip and even as they got off the boat at Twilight Town. That was when Kairi saw Pence for the first time in real life. She blushed.

"Kairi?" Namine asked curiously, poking her friend in the side. "Kai? Are you alright?"

Kairi slowly nodded. "Uh-huh. I'm fine." She gripped Namine's arm and looked straight at Pence. "It's him."

Namine followed Kairi's gaze and smiled. "Yes, Kairi. It is him. Way to point out the obvious."

Kairi self-consciously smoothed out her hair and then tucked it behind her ear. "What if he doesn't like me?" She whispered. "What if he think's I'm just a spoiled rich girl and wants nothing more to do with me?"

Namine almost snorts and rolls her eyes, but instead she pats Kairi on the back comfortingly. "He'll like you, Kai. And I'm sure he won't think you're just a spoiled rich girl." She resists the urge to say, "Even if you are, a little." because she knows it won't help her friend at all. "Now go say 'hi' to him before he thinks you forgot to come." She gives Kairi a gentle push toward the brunet boy, who was craning his head to search for them.

Kairi stumbled forward and then stopped. Namine sighed and then took her friend's hand and led her over to Pence before she let go.

"Kairi?" Pence asked, a smile slowly making it's way across his face.

Kairi shyly smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear again. "Hi, Pence."

Namine watched the two interact with a small smile on her face. She couldn't help but think, 'Maybe things will turn out alright after all. This could be just what Kairi needs.'

Half an hour later found the two girls and Pence sitting in the corner of an alleyway with two other people, a blond boy named Hayner and a brunette girl named Olette. They called their corner of the alley the 'Usual Spot' and had decorated it with a couch, a dark board, posters, and various other things.

The five were laughing and carrying on like they had been friends forever, although Hayner and Namine had clashed at first. Hayner swore that he had seen Namine before and Namine politely informed him that she hadn't been in Twilight Town in years and that even when she did live there that there was no way they could have met.

"How long are you guys staying?" Olette asked excitedly. It wasn't often that the three of them got to meet people from out of town. Especially not people like Kairi and Namine.

"Just a few days." Kairi told them. "We've been on spring break for a little over a week now, so we only have a few days left."

"Man you're lucky!" Hayner exclaimed. "We're lucky if we even get a week off around here. Stupid school system." He muttered under his breath, hoping that Olette wouldn't hit him or yell at him. She'd do that whenever he'd say something against the school.

Olette merely glared at him and then turned her attention back to Kairi. "Do you guys ever get projects to work on over the breaks? We've got one in our class to go around and pick one of the seven mysterious of Twilight Town. Hayner, Pence, and I chose the mysterious old mansion through the woods."

Namine seemed to stiffen at the mention of the old mansion, but no one else noticed.

"Old mansion?" Kairi asked, sounding interesting. "What's so mysterious about an old mansion?"

"It's been abandoned for years." Pence said. "No one knows who lived in it last, but there are rumors that someone died there. You see, whenever someone is dared to go into the house or camp out front for a whole night, they're frightened away by what everyone calls the 'White Ghost'. It's really creepy."

"I think it's a bunch of nonsense." Olette said, rolling her eyes. "It's just an old abandoned mansion and there are woods all around it, so of course it's going to be creepy. But there is no ghost."

"Yes there is!" Hayner argued hotly. "I've seen it!"

Olette sighed and gave Hayner a look. "You've seen it." She repeated, tonelessly. "Hayner, when did you ever go to that house without me or Pence with you? And why would you go without one of us?"

"Seifer dared me to." Hayner muttered.

Olette frowned, unable to hear what he said. "What was that?"

"I said, 'Seifer dared me to'." Hayner repeated. "So I went."

"Well, there you go!" Olette said in a decided tone. "Seifer dared you to stay there one night and then he and Fuu and Rai went out there and scared you. End of story."

Hayner wouldn't let the topic go that easily, and the two spent the next half hour arguing over it. Namine, Kairi, and Pence watched them argue, amused, but after a while they got tired of the argument and talked amongst themselves.

"Fine!" Hayner suddenly yelled, attracting the attention of Namine, Kairi, and Pence. "Then lets go to the old mansion right now and I'll prove to you that there is a ghost!"

"Fine!" Olette yelled, standing up. "And then you'll see what an idiot you're being when you see that there is no ghost!"

"Why don't they just kiss already." Kairi whispered to Pence, who laughed and attracted Olette and Hayner's attention.

"And what's so funny?" Olette demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "You three are coming with us too. I'll need someone there to back me up when Hayner finally figures out that there is no damn ghost!"

Pence's eyes widened. "Olette, did you just--"

"Cuss?" Olette interrupted. "Yes. Yes, I did. And it's all Hayner's fault!" She whirled around and glared at Hayner. "See what you've done!?"

Instead of backing down like a normal person would have, Hayner gets up and takes a step forward, matching her glare. "What the hell have I done?! You're the one who cussed! You can't blame me for that since it's you who said it!"

Olette stomped over to him and grabbed his arm roughly before she started to drag him from the Usual Spot. "Lets go. NOW!" She turned and yelled at the others, who jumped to their feet and followed the two, wide-eyed. None of them dared to argue with Olette when she was that angry. Hayner was the exception, obviously.

She led them, still dragging Hayner by the arm, through town and past several buildings before they came to a hole in one of the walls that went around the town. She shoved Hayner through first and then went after him. The others followed and found themselves in surprisingly dark and dense woods. Namine seemed to grow paler the further they went into the forest and Kairi stepped closer to Pence, a little nervous about being in the forest.

Hayner knew the path very well and soon they were out of the forest and standing in front of a tall cast-iron gate that barred their entrance into the mansion. Kairi went to get a closer look with Olette, Hayner, and Pence, but Namine hung back and looked at the mansion nervously. Eventually, Kairi noticed and waved for Namine to come over and join them.

"Namine, come on!" She called. "Come take a look at this place! It's bigger than some of the houses back home!"

Namine shook her head. "No, that's okay. I'm going to stay over here."

Kairi frowned and jogged over to join her friend. "Nami, what's wrong? You look awfully pale. Are you feeling all right?"

Namine shook her head. "Nothing's wrong and I feel fine. I just…" She rubbed her arm uncomfortably. "I don't like it here. Something bad happened here."

"Something… bad?" Kairi repeated, confused. "Like what?"

"It's nothing." Namine said, avoiding the topic. "It doesn't matter anymore. It happened years ago."

Kairi frowned and put her hands on her hips when she realized that Namine wasn't going to tell her. "Namine Skye Trepe! You are hiding something from me!"

Namine flinched at the use of her full name. "I am." She admitted. "But only because… because you don't need to know!"

If Kairi was surprised at all by Namine's small outburst, she didn't show it. "You don't have to tell me, Nami. If it bothers you that much, then I won't ask you again."

"I'm sorry, Kairi. I just… I'm not ready to talk about it." Namine apologized.

Kairi gave her friend a smile. "Okay. But you at least have to join the rest of us at the gate. Less questions will be asked that way."

Namine nodded and together she and Kairi walked over and joined the other three. Hayner was diligently searching for any sign of the ghost and Olette was glaring at him and had her arms crossed over her chest. Pence had been watching Namine and Kairi talk, and gave them a smile as they joined them.

"I didn't know your last name was 'Trepe', Namine." Pence remarked.

Namine's eyes widened. "How did you know that?"

"Kairi. She said your name loud enough for us to hear, although I doubt those two were paying any attention." Pence said, trying not to sigh at his friends' behavior. They were acting like five-year-olds.

"My last name is Trepe." Namine acknowledged. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, really. It's just that the last people that owned the mansion was the Trepe family. Are you related to a Quistis Trepe?" Pence asked.

Namine nodded. "She's my cousin. My older cousin."

"Quistis?" Olette asked, taking her attention off of Hayner. "Isn't her mother the one who was murdered here in the mansion?"

"No!" Namine yelled, alarmed. "She wasn't murdered. She died in childbirth. Whoever said that she was murdered… that's a very cruel thing to say. No one would have ever even considered killing her. She… she was a very nice woman. She was kind to everyone, even the people who didn't like her."

Olette bit her lip. "Namine, I'm sorry. I didn't mean… I'm sorry."

Namine looked away from the others. "It's okay. It happened a long time ago. I barely even remember her. Quistis does, though. She missed her mom so much that she swore she saw her around the mansion for months afterwards. It scared my uncle so much that they finally just moved out, but no one else wanted it because they all thought it was haunted."

"Oh…"

After that, the subject was dropped. After a while, Hayner finally gave up on proving that the ghost was real. For the rest of Namine and Kairi's visit, they stayed away from the mansion and didn't bring up the topic again.


This one I like, although I think I hurried too much at the very end. I very much doubt that I'll go back and edit it. Right now, I just want to be done and over with this story so that I can finish up Herutsu no Oukoku and concentrate on some of my original stories. I'll probably continue to write KH fanfiction, but they may just be one-shots. And after HnO, I really want a break from the fanfiction world. (sighs)