~No longer let you see

No longer let you know

No longer sorrow will show

But forever I will feel

The pain within my soul~

Chapter 4:That Girl

"Roxas? Roxas!""Wh-What?" The blonde blinked as a hand waved in front his eyes, finally breaking him out of his thought.

"Man, you've been out of it all day. Actually, make that all week." Axel sighed. "Your zombie impression is getting a little old."

"Sorry," Roxas muttered under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So that girl's her right?" Axel asked. "The one you made leave two years ago?"

Roxas didn't say anything. His mind had gone completely blank after the exchange with Naminé; he ended up skipping his afternoon classes.

"Well, now you can make up with her."

"What?" Roxas looked up at his red haired friend like he was crazy.

"I said, Make up with her. M-A-K-E U-P! Got it memorised?" Axel rolled his eyes. Roxas narrowed his eyes.

"No."

"Why not?"

"She-OOF!" Axel threw his arm out, catching him in the stomach, winding him for the second time that day.

"Will you stop that!" Roxas hissed in annoyance.

"Did you hear that?" Axel frowned, looking around.

"Hear what?" Roxas mimicked him, also looking. Both fell silent but Roxas couldn't hear anything. He opened his mouth to tell Axel that he's hearing things when he heard it. The sound of a struggle just down the street from where they stood.

"That." Axel raced down the street, Roxas on his heels.

They turned down the alley way and froze.

Her normal neat blond hair was messy, even from where he stood he could see that. Her black coat was thrown to the side, the normally white letters an eerie dark red.

Four guys were holding her down, two for each arm while a fifth was on top of her. Despite all the weight on her she still struggled.

"Larxene!" Axel hissed under his breath before running towards them.

Roxas, being faster than Axel, got to them first. He tackled two of the guys off of her. When they hit the ground he dug his left knee in the one guy's abdomen while punching the other.

He felt someone grab the hood of his coat, dragging him backwards. He struggled to get free, not even pausing when he felt knuckles collide with his face.

He kicked backwards, smirking when he heard the guy groan when he hit his target. When the grip on his loosened he back flipped over the guy, and then pushed him into his companions. There was a loud crash as they hit the garbage cans that lined the alley.

'That's three down' he thought, looking to see where the other two are.

One was already knocked out; blood still running from his nose which looked like it was broken.

Axel was in a struggle with the last one, the one who was on top of Larxene.

"A-VIII!" he called.

"Check on her! Now!"

"Right," Roxas hurried towards Larxene, who hadn't moved from her spot.

"Fuck…" She moaned.

"XII, what happened?" he asked, kneeling beside. His eyes widened when he saw all the cuts, deep cuts, on her arms and back.

"Jumped. Knocked me down with something," she mumbled before moaning again. "Fuck…"

"URG! SON OF A-"

Roxas turned to see Axel kneeling on the ground his hand over his eyes. The guy he was struggling with was gone.

"Fuck! He threw dirt in my eyes!" He hissed, standing. Blinking rapidly he came over.

"How is she?"

"Lost a lot of blood," Roxas told him. "She said she got hit by something."

"Head to the truck, start it and get over here."

"Right."

Once the blonde was gone Axel looked at the one on the ground.

"Where's the worst pain?" He asked.

"My head…"

Smoothing her hair back, he quickly found the spot where she was hit.

"Gonna need stitches," he said. "I'm going to pick you up, make sure your breath."

He waited until she nodded before he turned her over, slipping his arms under legs and shoulders.

"Breath." he reminded her before standing. She took a sharp intake of breath that sounded like a cat hissing.

He ran as fast as he could while carrying her, hoping Roxas would pull up soon.

"Axel…that guy…"

"He got away, sorry."

"No he…" That's when she blacked out.

"Shit!"

At that point Axel saw the headlights of his old truck and stepped back as it skidded to a halt. He climbed into the back, being careful to jolt the wounded girl in his arms.

Axel sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"How you holding up?"

"I've had worse."

They were in Larxene's room at HQ. Vexen left ten minutes ago, having finished stitching the blonde up. Literally. She had five stitches closing most of her cuts on her arms, six for the one on her head, and he didn't know how many she had on her back.

"True." Axel nodded, leaning back in his chair. "What were you doing there anyway?"

"I was going somewhere."

"Where?"

"None of your business."

Axel had a feeling where she was going but decided not to comment on it. Even he was right she wouldn't tell him. "We didn't have time to grab your knives. Sorry." he said instead.

"I don't care. They're useless to me now," Axel starred at her, surprised. She loved those knifes. Seeing his surprise, she sat up from her position of lying on her stomach to kneeling on the bed.

"All these cuts-" She gestured towards them, ignoring the way the movement stung. "-are from them. He cut me up with my own knives."

"He what?" Axel's eyes narrowed. When she looked away, he knew she wasn't saying something. She was way too calm, too quiet. Too small…

"What aren't you telling me?"

Larxene glanced at him before looking away again.

"He…he knew my name. That's how they caught me off guard." she said quietly.

"Hate to tell you this Hellcat, but I'm pretty sure they know your name all the way to Halloween Town."

"Not that you idiot. He knew…He knew my real name."

"OW! Shit Demyx!"

"Well you need to put ice on it or it'll swell!"

Roxas slouched deeper into his chair, holding the icepack to his cheek.

"Explain again what happened." Roxas looked up, annoyed.

"I already told you Saïx. We were patrolling like we were supposed to, found Larxene, and stepped in."

"Huh. Think it was a gang of Heartless?" A man with black and grey hair pulled into a ponytail said. "There were rumours of some people roaming around here planning to jump one of us, and everyone knows Heartless have no loyalties. I just figured the Towel Boy would be the one to get it, not the Hellcat."

"Hey!"

"She was caught off guard." They turned to see Axel closing the door that connected the lobby to the staircase to the rooms. "But we will get them back for it."

"That's not your decision to make, Axel." Saïx said.

"I don't give a damn." Axel snapped. "If I have to defy Xemnas then I will."

"I don't think you will," Xigbar said. "You know how he gets when one of us gets taken on in an unfair fight."

"Exactly," Axel nodded. "Where is he anyway?"

"Not here," Saïx said, standing. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow before we decide on something." he and Axel disappeared through the door.

"So Roxas, you stayin the night?" Demyx asked, stretching out on the coach. Roxas took out his phone, checking the time. It was one in the morning.

"Yeah, I don't feel like going anywhere."

"That include school tomorrow?"

Roxas thought about Naminé. He didn't think he could face her after calling her by her old nickname.

"I'm not going. Just pick up my homework or somethin." Roxas pushed himself off the chair and headed for the door Axel and Saïx left in. He went up the staircase, down the hall to the farthest door. He paused to look at the one across from his before going in.

His room here didn't as much stuff as the others. Some posters on the walls, some books, clothes.

He shrugged of his jacket and shirt before collapsing on his bed, finally letting his worries show.

'It was Larxene' he thought. 'Not her' when he saw blonde hair, for a second he thought it was Naminé. What would he have done if it was her? Help her obviously but what about after that? He was hurting her as much as himself. No, he was hurting her more. But he had to do it, keeping his distance was the only way he can help her right? That's what he said anyway. But if she was back then that had to mean everything was okay now right? He could fix things…right?

'What should I do…Xion'

"Wow Naminé, you are very talented with pastel," The blonde looked up to see her art teacher standing beside her.

"Thank you," Naminé said. She looked at her paper, a picture of Destiny Islands where Kairi, Sora, and Riku used to live. Naminé remembered how she would beg to go visit her cousin there.

"By the way, do you know where Roxas is?"

"Um, no. I don't." Naminé said quietly. Roxas hadn't shown up to school for the rest of the week. She had a feeling it was her fault. Again.

'I should have kept my mouth shut' she thought. 'Or maybe he's just annoyed that he helped me pick up my things…yeah, that's probably it…'

It wasn't until Friday she saw him again.

Cloud dropped her off, and like he'd been doing all week he had to remind her to take the tablets.

"Sorry, with going back to school I just keep forgetting," She told him, taking the pills from him.

"I know but try," Cloud said.

Like all week she pretended to take them. Like all week she waited until his car out of sight before spitting them out. Like all week she crushed them with her foot.

But unlike all week, when she turned around, she walked right into someone.

"Sorry," she said quietly.

"What did you just spit out?" She froze. She looked up to see she had walked into Roxas. She noticed how his cheek was slightly bruised, obviously healing from a hit and was almost down recovering. But she didn't focus on that. What she focused on was the way his eyes narrowed at her.

"Wh-What?" She stammered.

"What did you just spit out?" Roxas repeated slowly.

"Nothing." she lied. She tried to walk away but he grabbed her wrist. She flinched at the contact but he didn't notice.

"Tell me."

"Why should I?" she snapped, suddenly feeling angry. Something about his tone bugged and hurt her. Why did she have to answer to him after all he's done? "It's none of your business-"

"Yeah it is!"

"Why?"

"Because I-" he stopped. She saw his jaw clench, the way it usually did when he was frustrated.

Silence fell between them. After awhile she said. "You don't care. So please…stop pretending too."

"Naminé I…" Roxas ran his free hand through his hair. "I don't-"

"Roxas." both jumped, turning to see Axel and Zexion walking over. Naminé used this distraction to yank her arm free and hurry to the school, leaving an even more frustrated Roxas behind."I assume that's the girl Axel told me about," Zexion said.

"Mind your own business," He muttered.

"You know Roxas," Zexion went on, obviously ignoring what the blonde said. "Not many people get the chance to fix a friendship."

"What's your point?"

"No point at all," Zexion shrugged, walking past him towards the doors of the school. "I'm just saying don't be ignore a chance fate has given a hopeless loser like yourself."

"Wow, I forgot how blunt Zex can get," Axel commented before glancing down at the blonde beside him. "He is right though. Look at me a Saïx. Actually, bad example, we still hang out sometimes. Me and Marluxia. We were friends then stopped when we got into that fight. It's too late for us to ever fix it but you still have a chance."

"That's different!"

"How?"

"Naminé…nothing will happen to Naminé."

"You sure about that?" Axel asked. "Zexion saw what she spit out. They arrive around the same time and according to him she's been doing that for awhile now. And if it's what we think it is, and what you think it is, then things aren't looking well with her."

"Shut up." Roxas ran a hand through his hair. "I know…"

Naminé leaned against her locker, trying to control her breathing. She was glad that the hall was empty, even though that meant she was later then she thought she was.

'My…my legs are feeling numb…' she thought. 'I'm so dizzy…"

"Naminé?" Startled, she would've fell to the floor if it weren't for the firm grip that caught her arm to help balance.

"Whoa, careful."

"Ri-Riku?" Naminé looked up, surprised to see the silver haired boy.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah, I-I…" She stopped, sighing. As good as she could be at lying for some reason she never could with him. Riku looked at her, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Do you mind missing your morning classes today?" he asked. "It's been awhile since just you and I hung out."

Naminé thought about it, and was surprised at how appealing it sounded. "You know what? I don't. let's go."

Naminé looked around, her lips forming a small smile she knew this place very well. It hasn't changed at all since she was last here. Even the table they always sat at (Top floor, by the window. It had a great view of the raising sun) was still the same. They were at a café called, 'Road to Dawn'. It was a spot only they came to. Now that she thought about it, she didn't think Kairi and Sora knew where this place was, or what it was called.

"Remember when we would skip your home schooling when you were in Gr.7, and came here?" Riku asked.

"Yup," Naminé nodded, her smile growing. "Kairi freaked, saying you have to stop kidnapping me."

"No, she freaked when we visited over the summer," Riku shuddered, making her laugh.

When Kairi, Riku, and Sora came to visit during their summer vacation last year, Naminé still had some home schooling classes about once or twice a week. So one day Riku snuck her out of the house so they could hang out and Kairi didn't take waking up to find her cousin missing too well.

"It wasn't that bad."

"She's almost thirty pounds lighter than me and she still managed to tie me to the ceiling fan."

"Hey, when Kairi's determined," Naminé shrugged, giggling.

Their order came then. She got Chiai Tea while Riku got coffee. She had no idea how he drank that stuff. She grabbed two of those sugar packets on table, mixing it with her drink.

They sat in silence for a while, which wasn't unusual for them. Five minutes had passed before Riku spoke.

"I saw what happened between you and Roxas outside." he said. Naminé, who had just raised her cup to take a sip, froze.

"O-Oh," She said, lowering her cup back to the table, her hands gripping it tightly.

"What happened?"

"N-Nothing important." she said quietly. "Don't worry about it."

"Naminé-"

"Do you…do you remember why my mother left?" She interrupted.

"Yeah…" he looked confused, and even more so when she didn't continue. Naminé knew he would be able to put two and two together and saw she was right when she saw his grip tighten on his cup.

"Naminé, at first I was going to tell you to forget about whatever Roxas did to make you leave when you did," He said. "But…now I know why you can't. Still, you never stuck me as the type of girl who would stay depressed over a guy like this. I know you and Roxas were good friends once. But you've both changed. Especially him."

"What do you mean?" Now it was her turn to be confused.

"Being part of that gang changed him in the last two years." Naminé's eyes widened.

"He's still…"

"You've seen the jacket they wear." Riku leaned back in his chair, glaring into his coffee. "The only difference from then and now is their name. They went from being Organization XIII to just The Organization."

"Why?"

"Hard to use the name XII when some of the members have gone missing." Riku turned his head to look outside. "If you ask me, they're really dead."

"Riku…" There was something in his tone that worried her. Never before had she heard Riku speak with such abhorrence towards something.

He shook his head, making his silver locks sway slightly. "I digress." He looked back at her. "Kairi doesn't know what Roxas did, does she?"

"No," Naminé shook her head. "She knows he did something but…doesn't know what."

"She's been trying to plan a way to get you two to be friends again," Naminé's eyes widened in surprise. "However, I got her to back off for now. I told her to wait before she does something."

"I see. Thank you."

"I'm a bit of a hypocrite for saying this, but Naminé," Riku leaned forward, supporting himself with his elbows on the table. "You're almost sixteen. Well, in May you will be. You're still young. You shouldn't keep your self depressed over someone, especially over a jerk like Roxas, for as long as you have."

"I know." She wanted to say more but then Riku's phone started ringing.

"Yeah?" He said. "Oh Kairi, we were just-"

"STOP KIDNAPPING MY COUSIN!" Kairi's voice screamed through the phone. Riku's jerked back, wincing."OR I'LL CUT OFF ALL YOUR STUPID PRETTY BOY HAIR!"

"Kairi, calm-"

"GET BACK HERE OR ELSE!" she hung up

Riku sighed, starring at his phone.

"She sounds mad," Naminé commented.

"Sad thing is," He said, standing. "You heard all that and I didn't even have it on speaker."

From his position on the roof, Roxas could clearly see Riku drive into the parking lot on his motorcycle. He was surprise, and annoyed, to see that Naminé was with him.

"Keep it up and lasers are going to shoot from your eyes."

Roxas ignored him. "How's Larxene doing?"

"Ah, well," Axel stretched, yawning. "You know her. Pride and dignity severely wounded. Physically she's healing just fine. But mentally…" he scratched the back of his head, ruffling up his crimson spikes.

"She's still shaken up?"

"He knew her real name Roxas," Axel nearly growled. "Only one person outside our gang knows it."

"True."

"Hey, what exactly is wrong with that girl?" Axel suddenly asked. Roxas's eyes snapped back towards the parking lot. Even from where he was he could see Kairi yelling at Riku about something.

"She's really…sick." he said vaguely.

"I gathered that," Axel rolled his eyes. "I mean, what will happen if she doesn't take her meds?"

"You should have said that in the first place."

"Just answer the question."

Roxas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Axel, that's really something I don't want to think about."

"It's also something you can't avoid."

Roxas hated when he was right.

Naminé laid on her bed, starring at the charm bracelet in her hand.

Throughout art she thought about what Riku had said to her at the café. Some students in her class were away on a field trip so there were tables free. She used to her advantage to sit away from Roxas, who avoided looking at her whenever he could.

Naminé knew Riku was right. She herself never really liked it when girls let what guys thought about them hurt them so much. That's why she couldn't get into the Twilight Series. Or at least the second book of the series. After some harsh words from Edward, Bella got depressed and isolated her self. She basically became a shell of what she used to be.

And Naminé had done the exact same thing.

"What is wrong with me?" she muttered to herself. There was a soft 'mew' and a second later a slim cat jumped up onto her bed.

"Hey Alonzo," she whispered. Alonzo was black and white, looking identical to the Alonzo from her favourite musical, CATS.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" she asked him. He starred at her with amber eyes before yawning and padding over, laying down beside her head.

Sighing, she looked back at the bracelet

"…you never stuck me as the type of girl who would stay depressed over a guy like this…"

Naminé sat up, tossing the bracelet to a random corner of her room.

No. She wasn't going to be that girl anymore. She wasn't going to let him do this to her. Yes, he hurt her, and obviously wasn't sorry for it. Sure, he confronted her this morning but that didn't mean anything. It could have been out of instinct, or even an excuse to get mad at her.

But she was tired of being upset whenever she went to school. Tired of being scared she might see him outside class. Tired of…everything!

So the next day at school, when she was walking to her locker with Riku beside her she didn't flinch when she saw him in the hall. Instead, she said with composed politeness, "Excuse me please."

"Uh, Naminé?" Riku looked as confused as the blonde boy they passed.

"I thought about what you said," She said quietly. "And I've decided…I don't want to be that girl. The girl who cares too much about a guys opinion of her. So now," she looked up at Riku, a smile playing on her lips. "I'm not going to burden people with my problems anymore."

A/N: Eight pages. This is eight pages long. I think that's the longest chapter I've ever written.

So now Naminé has decided not to let her problems with Roxas weigh her down anymore just when Roxas starts having thoughts about fixing things with her.

This chapter sheds some light on Naminé's health. Now, I'm having some trouble with the next chapter. Not exactly writers block more of…indecision towards something I should add. Okay, so it's basically the same. But I'm sure I'll have it solved by next week.

No chapter fact this time. Nothing really interesting happened, nor any important thoughts.