BIRTH BY SLEEP SPOILERS.

Title: We Are All Connected

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts II

Characters: Naminé, Roxas, Terra

Table: #1

Prompt: #22 - Beggar

Word Count: 1588

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Naminé, Roxas, her overwhelming kindness, and a strong connection with the past.

Author's Notes: I can just totally imagine this happening. Enough said. Plus, I admit it. I'm a total Naminé x Terra or Naminé x Ventus fan. AQUA IS AWESOME.

BIRTH BY SLEEP SPOILERS

Naminé was given this one reprieve in her capture. In her surprise, Axel had deposited a rather heavy bag of munny into her hand, and Roxas had come to lead her to Twilight Town. She had taken her sketchbook with her. It was a small town but bigger than anything Naminé had ever seen before. Her eyes were wide with wonder, and she giggled at practically every sight. She tried her hand at a local's skateboard, falling off several times but caught by Roxas each time.

Then she turned her big blue eyes on the Organization member and pleaded. She just wanted to be alone for a while, explore on her own for a while. She didn't want anybody hanging over her. It made her remember that this was only one day, only one time (but hopefully more). Roxas simply nodded and forced himself to go hang out with the locals, hopping on a skateboard and skating with the best of them. He eventually lost himself in the intricate tricks and loops, losing track of time.

Meanwhile, Naminé cooed and awed over the art supplies in the local art store. She carefully selected a cheap large pack of colored pencils but not before ensuring that they were all of the upmost quality. The owner liked her. He smiled at her and introduced her to their paint section, saying that she looked like the kind of girl who would like to paint. Naminé simply smiled, wondering what it would look like if she painted the walls, floor, and ceiling of her prison with these bright colors.

Carefully, ever so carefully, she selected tubes of paint. Only the brightest red was selected so that she would have a better chance of capturing Axel in his flurry of movement. She selected a calm, gentle brown so that she would be able to capture that flower girl she had seen on the streets. Soon after, there came a pitch black which would serve her well with the Organization's cloaks. The store owner kindly pointed her to a section of sketchbooks made specifically for paint (her current one was made for crayon and colored pencils). She bought the paint, two sketchbooks, and some brushes, bagging them up and smiling as she walked out into the sunlight.

Weirdly her bag of munny was barely lightened, and Naminé heard the coins jingle as she walked along, marveling at the blue of the sky. Then she stopped as something caught her ankle.

"Spare some munny for the poor," the man wheezed. He looked to be not so young anymore but not yet old with thick stubble and heavily lidded blue eyes.

Naminé stuttered and fumbled before finally giving a few coins to the poor man. He stared down at them and then up at her, mumbling that nobody had ever shown him such kindness before let alone even given him the time of day. Naminé felt such a pain in her chest that she offered her very pale hand and introduced herself. She invited him to come with her for the day, inventing a lie that she was only in town for the day. She would pay for whatever he wanted for that one day.

The man's eyes widened at her offer, and he shook her pale hand, introducing himself as Terra.

"Earth?" Naminé asked, laughing. She had dabbled in a little Latin from time to time. After all, what else was there to do when she was a prisoner?

Terra shrugged, looking down at the young girl. She reminded him of times better forgotten. He wasn't strong. He knew that now. He had earned munny and then spent it all on frivolous items such as paintings or antiques. When he ran out of munny, he sold it all and turned to a life of destitution. People ignored him. That was fine with the man. It was better to be ignored than to be looked at as a real human, but then this young girl had come and offered her assistance. She was the first one to take notice in him and offer him help. The darkness had felt like it was consuming him until that one single ray of shining light pierced through the clouds. She reminded him of…Aqua though with much less spunk.

Naminé first brought the man to an inn where she set him up for a week, again barely scraping the munny in the bag. She jangled it again, wondering if Axel had used his special trick. The red-head had often boasted that he could fit an enormous amount of munny just in his pocket. It was how he cheated at poker games. Naminé supposed that it wasn't a lie like she had supposed before. It seemed like the bag was endless.

Terra thanked her profusely and took an hour to freshen up while Naminé sat and drew a little in her sketchbook, capturing the rustic feel of the room of the inn. When Terra came out of the bathroom, he gaped in awe at her drawing and asked if he could look at the rest. Naminé simply nodded, watching as he flipped through the sketchbook and frowning slightly as a scowl marred his face at some of the pictures.

"Why do you draw so bad?" he demanded, putting down the sketchbook and fixing Naminé with a heated blue stare. "You can draw better than what I see in some of those drawings."

Naminé shrugged daintily. "You cannot force someone to draw," she replied simply, taking her sketchbook and picking up her bag of art supplies. Terra offered to carry them for her while they traversed town. Naminé agreed with a grateful smile, and they went to a small diner where Terra ravenously gulped down a huge lunch. There he learned about Naminé's hidden sadness. There she learned about the darkness consuming Terra.

They went to the park next, Naminé using her munny to buy two sticks of sea-salt ice cream for her and the man. She felt the need to pamper him for a while. He had obviously lived a hard life, and somehow he reminded her of Roxas in a strange way. She got him to talk about her friends.

"I love them," he admitted. "I miss them."

Naminé said nothing.

"Do you miss your friends?" he asked, frowning as Naminé stiffened.

She absent-mindedly licked at her sea-salt ice cream, swinging her legs. They were sitting on a well-worn bench, simply watching the people pass by. If Naminé admitted it, Terra was rather handsome and didn't seem to be that old. It made the atmosphere slightly awkward. "I am nobody," she finally settled on.

Terra protested, listing off Naminé's kindnesses to him. She simply smiled and shrugged, repeating her previous statement. They sat for a long time in silence before Naminé broke it, asking Terra to tell her more about his friends. She bought two more sticks of sea-salt ice cream for them, and they eventually decided to wander town.

When Naminé gauged the time since she had left Roxas, she scrambled to Sunset Hill with Terra jogging beside her. Naminé couldn't help but notice his fast reflexes when her sandals slipped. He caught her without a blink of his eye and then helped her up to the top of the hill. Sitting down with her brushes and paints, she quickly and masterfully captured the beauty of the sunset before slipping and sliding down the hill with Terra hollering after her.

"I'm out of time!" she exclaimed, taking a short pause to brush some dirt away from her skinned knees and blow a little at the scrapes on her arms. Terra caught up but was panting for breath by the time. How could such a little thing be so fast? He pulled her to a stop, handed her the bag of art supplies, and parted with her with a fond hug but not before receiving the bag of munny in return.

"Naminé!"

Terra squinted at the figure in the distance, running to meet Naminé. The spiky head of locks reminded him so strongly of Ventus that he turned away, not daring to look at the boy's face in fear of dredging up more memories. He had enough reminders of Aqua during the day. He didn't need to be reminded of Ventus too.

Naminé skidded to a halt in front of Roxas, panting heavily and apologizing. She made an excuse saying she had lost track of the time and sincerely hoped the young boy wouldn't get in trouble with the organization. Instead of being mad, Roxas took the time to check on her scrapes and skinned knees, scolding her for being so childish.

"But I met him," Naminé protested, batting Roxas' hand away gently as he prodded at her knees.

"Him?" Roxas queried, glancing sharply at Naminé.

Naminé nodded furiously, pointing at the other end of the street. "That brown-haired man. He was begging on the street, so I gave him some money. He smelled of the darkness, but he acts of the light."

"How many times must I tell you not to speak to strangers?" Roxas asked angrily, grabbing Naminé's arm. "Come on. We're going back."

"His name was Terra!" Naminé exclaimed, placing a hand over her heart. "I feel like somewhere…somehow we might have known each other."

Roxas froze when he heard the name. "Terra," he repeated, feeling the name roll off his tongue. Suddenly he didn't feel so angry or exasperated at/with Naminé. He even felt like he might be…happy. "Let's go, Naminé…"

Naminé wondered why Roxas was crying.