A/N: Sorry for the wait guys! Actually, this has been finished for more than a week (maybe even two!) but I never had the chance to edit it.

BUT it's extra long!

Thanks again to Sexy-Tacos-Emo-Waffles for reviewing! (And by the way, this is the chapter were Roxas gets jealous!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom hearts. Any other people appearing in this story are mine though, but they don't really matter. The song is Wicked Game again br Chris Isaak, because the song just really suits this story. (Everything he sings is true for this story, though some things are from Axel's point of view and some things won't happen untill much later - and some things are really out of context)

So on with the story!

Chapter V

Wicked Game (2)
What a wicked game you play
To make me feel this way
What a wicked thing to do
To let me dream of you
What a wicked thing to say
You never felt this way
What a wicked thing to do
To make me dream of you
And I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
And I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
-Chris Isaak

I could barely suppress the groan when Sora announced what we would do after the picnic. His version of some children's games we used to play. Of all the activities we could do, he had to pick that one. I could still feel the trauma from the last time. Normally I didn't really care about these games, but that was when I was surrounded by people I knew. There were almost no familiar faces this time around, and of course, there was The Axel Problem.

"Sora, don't you dare use this to your advantage to get me and Axel together," I whispered harshly in his ear when he sat back down.

"But Roxas, that would completely ruin my plan," he whined, "But all right. And especially for you, I'll tell Axel to keep it down too. On one condition." he held up his index finger to emphasize his point. I nodded hesitantly, raising one eyebrow. "You can't hit anyone like you did last time."

I laughed. Really, this was his condition?

"I mean it Roxas, no slapping this time around."

I snorted at his use of words.

"Yeah, Sora, I get it, no beating people up."

I rolled my eyes. This was going to be easy. So what if I'd hit someone a while back? The guy had just asked for it.

That reminded me of another idiot who was winking at some girl from Sora's school at the moment. The girl blushed in return, a small smile playing on her lips, before she turned to whisper all excited with her friends when Axel looked elsewhere. Ugh, girls, I thought while picking at a daisy absentmindedly. Well, it was not like I really cared.

"Roxas, you shouldn't abuse flowers, the poor things have done nothing wrong." Axel plucked the daisy out of my hand and stroked my cheek with it. I pushed his hand away, giving him a harsh look.

"Yes, that's a deadly glare, Roxas, one of your most prized possessions. Now tell me why you look like you got out of your bed on the wrong side."

"Well, you just disappear for two weeks and then act as if nothing happened, I seriously thought you had some kind of illness or something," I blamed, jaws clenched. I hadn't, but he didn't need to know that.

A small smile adorned his lips, and for once it wasn't his mocking grin, no. His smile almost appeared to be genuinely happy. I didn't have time to wonder about it, because he ruffled my hair and by the time I could jerk my head away, it had vanished, almost as if it had only been an illusion. I blamed it on my need for sleep.

"I knew you'd miss me."

So that was why. It was all just part of his stupid game. Just another way to play with me.

"It was nice being your entertainment. Hope you enjoyed it," I grumbled through my teeth, making sure my voice was laced with hatred to overshadow the sudden disappointment.

I stomped off to go sit with Xion and Namine, about five meters away. It wasn't as far off as I actually wanted it to be, but at least I could sit with my back to Axel. The nice thing about having female friends was that they always had something to talk about and what I needed the most now was some idle chatter to keep my thoughts occupied. I just wanted to get this day over with. Apparently they were having the usual girl chat.

"No really? She can't be Sarah's best friend, I mean, come on, their personalities are just opposites," Namine chirped. "We were in the same class when I was eleven. Roxas, you know, right?"

I met Namine for the first time when I was six. When you're in the same class, you're bound to get friendly with each other, and when she joined the drawing academy when she was eight, we became fast friends. I'd seen her less and less when secondary school separated us though.

"Uh, who exactly are you talking about?"

"Anais, that one girl that was extremely good at ball sports, but she hated gymnastics. Xion claims she's Sarah's best friend."

"Oh, come on, you make it look like it's some kind of sham. I go to Sarah's school, and the girl is constantly talking about Anais."

I rolled my eyes. Girls. Sometimes I just couldn't understand them. Knowing that this conversation wouldn't be enough to stop my mind from wandering, I decided to study my surroundings. It was almost December now and luckily it was quite warm for the time of the year. There were only a few teens wearing thick jackets. The grass was covered with fallen leaves, but there were enough picnic blankets for everyone to sit on. It was rare for Sora to be so organized, but I had the impression he'd got some help from Riku.

The park was usually flooded by people on sunny days like these, but the locals knew Sora – him being a local too – and they turned on their heels upon seeing the boy, in order to find another, calmer spot.

While getting lost in thought about grannies grumbling things along the lines of "youngsters these days… If I'd tried to do something like that, then…", Sora stood up and asked if anyone knew a good game to start with.

"Seven Minutes in Heaven!" a girl shouted, eyeing Axel.

Kairi looked at her as if she was a speaking cow before shouting back: "Shannon, we're at a public park. Do you see any closets in here?"

"Well, we could play Spin the Bottle," the girl beside Shannon, who looked a bit smarter, answered.

Sora nodded and turned to the whole group. "All right, Spin the Bottle it will be. Everyone, go sit in a large circle! Make sure there's place for everybody!"

While the teens sauntered about to obey the orders, Sora took a beer bottle out of his bag and placed it somewhere in the middle of the forming circle. Then he pointed to the girl that was still sitting next to Shannon. "Debbie, since you suggested it, you go first."

Debbie was on her feet in an instant, but Sora motioned her to wait a bit.

"I'm pretty sure you all know the rules, but just to be clear: Player one spins the bottle and has to kiss the person the bottle points at. This is player two. Then player two has to spin it and has to kiss a third person or, when it points to player one again, he has to kiss them on the mouth. When the bottle points three times at the same couple, it's a French kiss. Twenty seconds at least. You can refuse, but the group will give you a suiting punishment."

Sora went to sit in the circle before nodding to Debbie to indicate she could spin. She was disappointed to see it pointed to a boy sitting beside Axel.

The game was kind of boring when you didn't know who was kissing who, but it was interesting to see people try to hide their disappointment or joy when the bottle stopped. Though I could go without all the longing glances some girls casted towards Axel and I would really rather that idiot there didn't make that girlish squeak when the bottle pointed to him. Ahum, back to the point. The game was quite uneventful. I had to kiss Namine, Riku and some random girl once, and then Xion on the mouth, but it wasn't like I hadn't done those things before in other games. The only couple who had to do a French kiss refused, and even though the punishment was kind of funny, it could only amuse you for so long.

A quick glance at Sora made it clear he was thinking of moving to the next event when a little, girlish shriek vibrated through the air. When I looked up, I could see Axel standing up and walking towards Debbie.

Oh, god. Another lovesick puppy gets to kiss the beautiful boy. I wish you luck when you realize the heartbreaking truth that he's already kissed six girls today.

"Who's going to time it?" Shannon asked.

What?

"I'll do it," Sora said, stopwatch already in his hand by the time Axel flopped down next to the girl.

"Ready, start."

I could hear the watch beep as Axel slowly bowed down, turning Debbie's chin up with two fingers. I didn't want to see this. He softly nibbled at her lower lip, before caressing it with his tongue, playfully letting only the tip inside her mouth and pulling back not soon after, probably when their tongues touched. I could just turn away. He grinned when his tongue darted out again, slowly tracing her top lip and it disappeared into her mouth to fully begin the kiss. He was enjoying it. Somehow I felt like this really wasn't fair. He was starting quietly, probably to make it more enjoyable for the girl, but she'd enjoy it anyway. So why couldn't he just stop caressing her cheek like he actually cared.

Shouldn't those twenty seconds be over by now? Twenty seconds wasn't very long, not even when you were holding your breath. Well, it could be long, for example when you were performing a spin, twenty seconds seemed like an eternity. Especially when you were only a beginner, it was very easy to get dizzy. And Debbie had been spinning long enough already.

To my dismay, Axel made no attempts to stop when the watch beeped. But he did open his eyes and stared right at me.

Someone whistled and Debbie's friends were laughing, but it was a nervous sound and their postures emitted jealousy.

After what felt like an eternity, Axel finally stopped. She got one last peck, one last kiss before he smiled and turned away. But she didn't get even one glance, because the whole time, his eyes were locked with mine.

Did anyone else notice how the world suddenly seemed so quiet, and the seconds lasted for hours, while I tried to fight my blush and get one eyebrow to rise in a questioning way, looking unfazed by it all?

Sora said something, but the words just flew through me. It looked important, probably something about the next game, because Axel turned his attention to him. There was a pleased smile on his face and the fact that I didn't know the meaning behind it was strangely frightening.

I wrote a letter to my mother. The game was as easy as it was boring. It was just another version of duck duck goose, but we had to sing a few lines and instead of saying 'goose', a handkerchief was dropped behind someone. Sora's addition was that you had to kiss the 'handkerchief person' – his words, not mine – when you normally only had to tag them. The kiss could go anywhere, making this game slightly more innocent. It was just something to pass the time, a nice intervention. Some sprinting would do me good and I was waiting for the handkerchief to land behind me while dutifully singing: "A tisket, a tasket, A green and yellow basket, I wrote a letter to my mother, on the way I dropped it, and one of you has picked it up and put it in your pocket. Not you, not you, not you, not you…". Unfortunately, I wrote a letter to my mother was not ruled by fate, but by the arbitrariness of the players.

I should be amused by how girls on high heels failed miserably at outrunning Axel and other girls trying to look as if they were doing their best to run away, while they were just waiting for Axel to catch up with them. They would be 'out', but who cared? As long as they got their kiss. Yes, I should be trying to hold back my giggles, like Namine was currently doing, but I only felt annoyed with those fools.

More and more girls had to sit in the middle of the circle and the contrast with the few boys was almost comical. Or just plain stupid, depending on your point of view.

Some guys seemed anxious, not comfortable now the probability they had to kiss or would be kissed by another male was increasing. Hello, you can just kiss a hand if you're such a homophobe. We've been playing spin the bottle like, twenty minutes ago. Maybe I'd been too bored to notice someone being ill at ease then.

I got the urge to seriously hit someone, but at that moment, Riku threw the handkerchief on my head and ran away. I directly started a chase. I'd been playing I wrote a letter to my mother for as long as I could remember and things like this had almost become a reflex. Riku excelled in athletics, but during ice skating training, I often had to do spurts and I was a fast runner, too. If the circle had been any longer, I would have failed without a doubt, but as it was, we were a match for each other. The fact that Riku stumbled and lost a bit of his speed was a great help too. Some people were urging us on and someone yelled my name, but I had no time to think about it.

I was closing in on Riku, but at the same time, my spot on the grass was coming closer too. I reached out to grab his wrist – an easy target to kiss once caught – but the taller boy ducked away and the following moment he was sitting. I stopped beside him to catch my breath.

"Ah, I shouldn't have chosen you, that was way too close," Riku panted, "But you looked like such an easy target, being so lost in thought."

That's when it occurred to me Riku had stopped me from hitting the boy next to me. He'd stopped me from breaking my deal with Sora. I suppressed the urge to thank him, because he wouldn't get it anyway and settled for a nod before I absentmindedly started to walk, not really hearing the people sing.

Really, was it that hard to not hit anyone? Did I have so little self control? I put the handkerchief down behind a boy I didn't know and sprinted away. When I looked back, I saw the boy wasn't running, but walking with a slow pace. When he noticed me looking, he made a face that just screamed: 'What, you thought I'd run to kiss you? You stupid fag.' And it took all of my willpower to just start running again.

By the time I sat down again, I was too irritated to notice the others had started playing again. Too annoyed to notice Axel had taken the place next to me. I hid my surprise with a scowl when he started to talk to me.

"Why didn't you encourage me?"

"Why should I?" The grass under my feet had suddenly become unusually interesting, but it was way too green and lively for my liking.

"So mean, I did encourage you."

I huffed, but didn't answer. Would those stupid blades of grass start to burn if I stared at them for long enough? I could only try. Anything would do to take my mind away from how close Axel was sitting. Why didn't he just go away? I wasn't in the mood for this.

There was no way Axel could have missed the way I suddenly held my breath when his shoulder brushed against my shoulder blade. Exactly how close was he sitting?

The grass clearly didn't want to burn, and looked up in the hope to find something more interesting. I found myself staring at a pair of grey eyes. They belonged to a blonde girl who was watching us as if we were a high school drama, which was quite ironical, because my life sure felt like one at this moment. Such a pity I hated them.

I actually knew this girl – at least I recognized her face, I had no idea about her name. I'd seen her before on a few of Sora's picnics and unlike many other girls, she was wearing shoes that allowed you to run, which meant she must have had a decent pair of brains. But she still had no business with us. Wasn't there some kind of social code that said: 'don't stare?' So annoying.

"Glaring won't get you far with the girls you know?" I could hear Axel say, his voice way too loud in my ears, before he whispered: "Or do you prefer some other kind of attention?" I tried not to think about the fact that he didn't need to lean in to make every whispered word reach my ears perfectly. I hoped he didn't feel me stiffen a bit.

"Didn't Sora tell you to leave me alone?"

As per usual, Axel instantly had an answer ready.

"Aw, always so grumpy. It's so damn refreshing."

Before I could think of some witty comment, I got interrupted by Sora, who suggested playing another game – not that we had a choice. I was relieved to hear an excuse to not talk to Axel again for a few minutes, but my face fell instantly when I heard his next words.

"There's a little story behind the following game. We have to form a circle, while one person stands in the middle. This person will be the prince, gender doesn't matter."

No, not that game.

"The prince has to find the princess, one of the people sitting in the circle. To find out if someone is the princess, you have to sit on their lap. If that person is the princess, they'll have to kiss you – it doesn't really matter where. The princess' symbol is a rose, but that doesn't really matter either. But the prince will have to watch out. Amongst the people sitting in the circle, there's only one princess, there are three jesters and everybody else is a soldier. The jester's symbol is a sundew. When you sit on the lap of a jester, they'll lick your neck. The soldier's symbol is a cactus. When you sit on their lap, they'll tickle you. When the princess is found, she becomes the prince for the next round, the previous prince chooses a new princess, new jesters and soldiers and the game starts again."

I used to like this game. I was quite good at it, actually, always had been. All you had to do was close your eyes and listen in what direction 'princess' is muttered. Then you just opened your eyes and use your brains – most people didn't randomly choose a princess.

Being kissed by the person who played the princess wasn't too horrible. There weren't many places you could kiss from behind, and most were harmless. Being tickled wasn't that bad either, I had a real violent reaction to tickling, like when I was young, Sora only had to say 'I'm going to tickle you' and I'd be laughing. I didn't mind it though.

And until recently – last picnic to be exact – I had never had the misfortune to accidentally sit on a joker. I'd never really worried about it, because, what could be so bad with having your neck licked? It would be gross, but not the end of the world.

And that's when I found out my neck was very sensitive.

And that's when I hit someone.

And that was why Sora had made that stupid deal, and why we were playing this stupid game. I should cruelly murder him in his sleep and write 'haha, that was a cruel game' and 'too bad you lost' on his head with a sharpie that couldn't be erased.

So there I was, sitting in the circle, tickling everyone who sat on my lap, hoping that this game would be over soon, while praying to God that I wouldn't be chosen as a princess.

Apparently, God wasn't in the mood to grant wishes today. Maybe he just hated me. I made a promise with myself to ask the devil for help next time.

I kissed the prince on the cheek when she sat on my lap. It had taken her quite some time to find the princess, and during that time I had recognized her as the high-school-drama-good-shoes-nice-brains girl who stared too much. I had to admit that I was guilty of the staring crime, too, but at least no one noticed it.

So the current flow of events found me standing in the middle of the circle, playing a game I thoroughly hated, while I was listening for a whispered 'princess' from the blonde girl. I turned in that direction, but only opened my eyes when she said so.

I should have known that the moment I opened my eyes, I would be staring at his piercing green eyes, but I still cursed inwardly. He was the only person close enough to the whispered 'princess' to logically hold that title. Damn girls.

"So, did you make Axel the princess?" Anne asked her the moment she sat down.

Britt sighed. She could have known Anne's reaction. Ever since she's seen Axel, she had been infatuated with the boy. She seemed convinced that he was actually a model or rock star in disguise, which had been funny at first, but now just… stupid.

"You know the boy? The new prince?"

Anne looked at her questioningly, a bit irritated that Britt had dared to change the subject.

"What about him?" she half snarled, not really interested, before she resumed staring at Axel, hoping he would look up at her and get lost in her eyes. He was staring at the boy in the middle circle though, his expression a bit calculating.

"He always comes to Sora's picnics, though I think he doesn't always enjoy them. He's the boy who slapped Ive last time. It seems like he has some kind of weird relationship with Axel," Britt answered calmly, asking herself why she ever thought coming here with Anne would be a good idea.

Anne on her part, didn't like this new information, especially since Axel was still looking at the boy. She suddenly hoped he wouldn't be the princess in the next round. She didn't really want to see him kiss a boy. Her eyes became slits.

"What kind of relationship?"

By now Britt was beginning to doubt if her decision to tell this all to Anne had been a good one.

"I don't really know. Sora made a deal with the boy though, I don't know what it is about, but I heard Axel's name."

"So, did you make Axel the princess?" Back to the first subject. The girl was so predictable.

"Who knows?" Britt shrugged. "But this will probably be interesting to watch," Britt added, and she continued to stare at the two boys as if they were a funny drama.

I sighted as I sat down on Axels lap, I really didn't want to do this, but at least I wouldn't be tickled. That would count as some kind of bright side to it all, right? Better get this over with quickly.

For a short moment, nothing happened. Then I could feel long arms around my waist, trapping around my belly to hold me in place. I fought the urge to turn my head. No way in hell I would give him something more interesting to kiss than my cheek.

And there was no way in hell I would have expected what happened next. He slowly, oh, so very slowly, dragged his tongue from a bit above my shoulder-blade, over my neck, over my pulse, up to my ear. I was sure that he knew about the chills running down my spine and that he was aware of that stupid little shiver my body made.

So I did the first thing that came to my mind.

I turned around and hit him.

And oh, I wished I hadn't.

The aim had been a bit off. Instead of bitch-slapping him on his cheek, I had hit his collarbone, and the spot was turning slightly red. I stared at him in mild shock. That must have hurt. Why didn't he let me go? He still had his arms around my back. I couldn't get away like this.

"Roxas!" Sora shouted from the other side of the circle.

Oh, shii…

"Roxas, I thought we had a deal," Sora tried to be serious, but he couldn't hide his excitement. This was not good.

"What should I do now, you even slapped Axel." Yes, I know, no need to empathize that.

"Oh, I know," Sora sounded like he had just stumbled on the most amazing idea in the whole universe. Why, oh why did I ever come to this picnic? Oh yeah, I was kind of forced to by him and Xion. I really should murder him in his sleep. It's a pity I couldn't do the same to Xion. Xemnas would chastise me, Oh, how happy I was he wouldn't murder me, no, just some good old torture; I was only useful to him while I was alive.

I noticed Sora had stopped talking, so I turned around. He was waiting for that. He probably wanted to see my reaction.

"It looks like the only way to solve this is for you to kiss him."

What. The. Hell… No. Way.

A/N: First of all, Xemnas and Xion are not in a relationship. One of my friends was reading this and she was like: "You have a Xemnas and Xion pairing?" That would be totally weird. Their relationship will be explained later in the story.

I was going to write a oneshot for Akuroku day, but I'm never going to finish it in time, blah. Maybe I'll finish it someday.

Also: I am looking for a beta reader whose mother tongue is English so they can get some faults out of my writing. Even though I read it three times, I'm sure there are still lots of faults. Anyone interested?

Random fact of the Day:
All the swans in England are property of the Queen.