Faded: well, it's here! chapter 13!! the contents of the note are finally revealed! -dun dun dunnnn-

Riane: well it's about time.

Faded: shut it. anyways, this chapter was a pain in the ass to write... x.x so sorry it took so long, but this chapter wound up being waaaay longer than intended...so yea. enjoy anyways!

Riane: TFG does not own KH in any way, shape, or form. she only owns the actual games and her OC. Arisa and Naomi belong to Mad Hatter Fallon and Inokana.

Riena's POV

As soon as I was sure I was alone, I locked the door (Not that it would stop any of my roommates unless they all forgot their keys.) and took out that little crumpled excuse of a note. I couldn't make out the name on the front of the note, but the handwriting did look familiar. 'Could it be…? Nah…' I shrugged off the suspicion and opened the note. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when they saw the shape the note was in, sure I saw that it was pretty crumpled, but once I opened it up, it was AWFUL!! It was super crinkled and tore in some places, and looked like it had gone through editing multiple times. A whole bunch of stuff was crossed out with red or blue pen. I recognized the red ink to be Axel's handwriting, and the blue ink to be…oh god…Roxas' handwriting. It took me a moment to comprehend this, considering that the note was originally written in blue ink, but once that sank in, I was able to read and (sort of) understand the note, which has been included here for your convenience.

My dearest Riena,

Riena, for the time I've known you, you have sparked something in me that I never knew was there. When I see you, my heart stops. In your eyes, I see stars, and every time you take my hand I get goose bumps. Ever since that first day I found you on campus, I knew you were the one. I know that you may not feel the same way I do, but I will still treasure our friendship. If I was too forward to tell you this way, I apologize and understand.

Forever and Always yours,

Roxas

As I finished the note, I felt my face flush. 'R-Roxas…likes me?! No way…'

Roxas' POV

"Why do you think she wanted the room to herself?" I asked, lounging on one of the benches out in the parking lot.

Axel shrugged. "Maybe she's got a secret boyfriend," he answered with a slight smirk.

Naomi shook her head at the suggestion. "She would have at least told me," she pointed out.

I nodded. "True, true…"

We sat in silence for a few more minutes until Axel suggested I show Naomi the note I had written. "You mean his little love note?" she asked.

"How do you know about it?!" I demanded, crossing my arms.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Please. You're always messing around with it, and I thought I saw Riena's name written on it, so I put two and two together," she answered. "It wasn't that hard to figure out."

I scowled at her, but gave in. "Fine, fine…I'll show you." I reached into my pocket to show her, but…it wasn't there. "That's weird…" I muttered to myself. I stood up and patted all my pockets, but it was nowhere to be found. "Shit! I don't have it!" I exclaimed, panicking.

Axel shook his head. "Nuh-uh. That's impossible," he said. "You watch over that thing like it's your child!"

"Well I don't have it!!!" I nearly screamed at him.

"Chill out!" Naomi said, making me sit back down. "Okay, when did you last have it with you?"

I thought about it for a moment and replied, "In detention."

"It might have fallen out of your pocket," she said.

"Oh no!" I yelled. "Riena could have found it!" Right as the words came out of my mouth, my cell phone started ringing. "Dammit…" I mumbled, glancing at the caller ID. Axel peered over my shoulder to see who it was.

"Is it Riena?" Naomi asked.

He nodded. "Mm-hmm."

The two of them backed of a bit, apparently thinking that I needed the space. Which, all things considered, I probably did. I took the still ringing phone out of my pocket, took a breath, and answered the phone.

Riena's POV

"Hello?"

"Roxas?" I asked, hoping Axel hadn't stolen his phone as some kind of joke.

"Yeah? Whatcha need, Ri-chan?" he asked, obviously confused.

"I, uh, kinda need to talk to you," I answered, trying to keep the quiver out of my voice.

"Okaaay…shoot."

I almost laughed. Guys could be so dense sometimes… "No, I meant for you to come to the room."

"Ah…um…o-okay…" he muttered a bit nervously.

"And don't bring Naomi or Axel."

"Eh? Why?"

"I need to talk to you, um…alone."

"Sure thing Ri. I'll be right over."

"Kay then. See ya in a bit."

I hung up the phone and released a breath I didn't know I was holding. Who knew talking to him would take so much out of me? I sat on the bed waiting for Roxas to show up, but he never did. Even by the time dinner rolled around, he still hadn't shown. I sighed softly to myself. 'I knew it was too good to be true.' I dragged myself out of the dorm and down to the dining hall, avoiding my usual table to go sit with Arisa and Demyx instead.

"Hey," I greeted, waving slightly. "You don't mind if I…?" I gestured to the empty chair in front of me.

Arisa shrugged. "No problem. Looks like you're taking Zexy's old spot," she said with a slight smile.

"Heh…yeah."

About halfway through our meal, Demyx had seemed to remember something extremely important and started badgering Arisa about it. "Oh! Risa! Risa! You have to tell her!" he exclaimed, bouncing in his seat.

"Tell her what?" she asked, a spoonful of fried rice poised to be eaten. He leaned over and whispered something to her. "Fine, fine," she sighed. "I'll tell her. Just calm down."

"Hehe…okie dokie."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "So what's this big important thing you need to tell me?" I asked, stabbing at my barely touched food.

Arisa bit her lip before quickly replying, "DemyxandIaregoingout."

I'm pretty sure I felt my jaw hit the floor. "OH MY GOD!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?" I asked, jumping out of my seat.

"Shh!!" she said, pulling me back into my chair. "Ya don't gotta announce it to the whole damn school!" she hissed.

I opened and closed my mouth several times, trying to think of what to say to her. Finally I just settled with; "How? Why?? A-and when???"

Arisa just sighed and put her face in her hands. Demyx took this as his cue to take over storytelling. "Weeell…I'm not really sure how or when, but as for why; well she's really nice to me and we like a lot of the same. And I really do like her."

I poked Arisa and gave her a sarcastic smile. "Jeez, Arisa. You sure know how to pick 'em."

"Shut up, Riena."

Zexion's POV

"So why isn't Riena sitting with you guys today?" I asked, more than a little curious as to why she seemed to be avoiding her roommates.

Naomi just shrugged. "Guess she didn't feel like it," she answered, spooning salad into her mouth.

"Well no shit, Sherlock," Axel said, rolling his eyes. "Anyone with eyes could've figured that out."

I glared at him, until he got the hint to shut up, giving me a certain look that only I could read and returned to eating. "Actually," Roxas said, speaking up for the first time the entire meal, "I think it's kinda my fault…"

Naomi tilted her head slightly. "Do tell," I said, eyeing the blond inquisitively.

"Well, I think she found the note I wrote her," he sighed, fiddling with his checkered wristband. "And I think she wanted to talk to me about it."

"And…?" I asked, waiting for him to finish.

"Duh," Axel cut in. "He didn't show up."

"Shut up, Axel!" Naomi said, punching his arm probably harder than she intended. "Roxas is telling a story."

He huffed angrily and nodded at Roxas to continue. "Anyways, before I was to rudely interrupted," Roxas continued, looking pointedly at Axel. "She wanted to talk about the note, so I said I'd drop by the room but I chickened out at the last second."

"What a heart-warming story," I drawled. "Though it seems to me that you've passed up your only chance to confess your undying love to her," I told him with a smirk.

"Shut up, Zexion…" he muttered, earning him a slap to his head from Naomi.

Arisa's POV

"So when do you plan on telling everyone else?" Riena asked, referring to mine and Demyx's relationship.

I sighed. "I dunno…probably at Christmas."

Demyx nodded enthusiastically. "That would be awesome! Like a Christmas surprise or something!"

"Naomi's gonna like, explode," she pointed out.

"Explode with happiness?" Demyx asked, hopefully.

"If she gave you a black eye, I don't think that's gonna be the case," I told him, patting his shoulder.

"Aww maaan…"

The rest of dinner passed by uneventfully, and I still didn't have any idea what to get Demyx for Christmas. When Riena left to go back to her dorm, I decided I was done as well and told Demyx I was going. He nodded and got up as well. While we were walking, he tugged my sleeve and asked, "What are you getting me for Christmas, Rissy?"

"You'll just have to wait and see!" I replied, tapping him on the nose. I really had no clue what to get him, and that made me feel terrible! I knew I was getting Zexion a My Chemical Romance CD, Riena and Naomi were getting friendship bracelets, Roxas was just getting the gift of my approval, and Axel…Axel was getting nothing.

The days went by quickly, and I could think of nothing to get Demyx. And then it came to me while I was talking to Riena. Well, actually, she was doing most of the talking, trying to analyze Roxas' love note to death, I was mostly listening. "Anyways," she was saying. "I think this part—"

Before she could finish her sentence, I had something like and epiphany…or whatever it's called. I jumped up, hitting my head on the upper bunk and (almost) exclaimed, "Ouch…I KNOW WHAT I'M GONNA GET HIM!!!"

She gave me this look like I was insane. "Get who what?" she asked.

"What I'm getting Demyx!" I cheered. "I just remembered something from when I first came here."

Flashback

It was my first day at D.I. Prep, and whoever I was sharing my dorm with, was not letting me in. I knocked on the door again, this time MUCH harder. Finally I heard the sound of footsteps and someone undoing the lock. When the door opened, I saw a guy with some sort of weird silvery-bluish hair done in one of those emo cuts. He was about 2 inches shorter than me, and dressed head to toe in pretty much all black. "Can I help you?" he asked, almost glowering at me.

"I'm your new roommate," I replied, gesturing to my bag, and then moved him out of the way. I surveyed the room and noticed another guy with dirty blonde hair done up in some sort of cross between a Mohawk and a mullet hairdo. He was holding an ice pack over his face, so I could only assume that he had been punched earlier that day. "Great," I mumbled to myself. "I'm rooming with an emo and a frickin' pansy."

"FYI, we do have names," Emo boy told me.

"Yea, and…?"

"Name's Zexion," Emo boy said.

"And I'm Demyx!" said the pansy, waving at me with his free arm.

"And I'm Arisa, aka, the girl who will now be ignoring you," I greeted sarcastically, sitting down on the bunk I had claimed. I took out my iPod and started listening to Fall Out Boy. I was almost in my Zone when Demyx came up and asked, "Whatcha listening to?"

"Music," I replied simply, trying to ignore him.

"Well I know that," he said, as if it were obvious. "But what band?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Fall Out Boy."

"COOOOL!!! Fall Out Boy is awesome!" he exclaimed, bouncing slightly.

"Demyx, shut up," Zexion told him, looking up from a pile of papers. "I'm trying to finish my project."

"Sorry Zexy!" Demyx whispered. "Anyways, Fall Out Boy is pretty cool. I just wished I had their latest album."

Okay…so maybe this guy wasn't so bad. He seemed to have good taste in music…but to not have the latest album?! My jaw just about hit the floor. "You don't have Folie à Deux?"

He shook his head sadly. "Nope."

End flashback

"So you just remembered that he doesn't have the CD?" Riena asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Yep. So can I borrow 20 bucks?" I asked, grinning.

"Hmm…lemme think…" she said sarcastically. "How about no?"

I sighed. "Fine. I'll use my own money."

"Not like you don't have any to spare. You are the only one that works," she reminded me.

"True, true."

I stood up, about to leave when it seemed to finally dawn on Riena what I was doing. "Wait, you're leaving me?!" she whined.

I shrugged. "I have to buy the CD, so yea."

"Fine. Leave me."

"Okay, I will. Bye!"

Riena's POV

'And there goes another friend who's in love…' I thought sadly. There were times when I couldn't help but wonder if the note I had found was a prank. I contemplated this and the possible meanings of the note for days before realizing that Christmas was officially the next day. Between my musings and meals, I had managed to buy presents for everyone and had stashed them (already wrapped!) under my bed.

As I fell asleep on Christmas Eve, I could only hope that Christmas would turn out better than my depressed side thought.

***

When I woke up on Christmas Day, I was completely worry-free. I wasn't thinking about Roxas, the note, nothing that would get me down. The only thing on my mind was Christmas, presents, and the 0.00000000001 percent chance that the Islands might actually get some snow. I bounded out of bed and grabbed my robe. As I pulled it on, I was saying, "Get up guys! It's Christmas!" I went around shaking everyone awake, and once I was sure they were up I yelled, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!" at the top of my lungs.

Naomi covered her ears and said, "Jeez, Riena. It may be Christmas, but does that give you the right to wake us up at…" She glanced over to the clock. "Nine in the morning?"

"I guess it does…" Roxas muttered, yawning loudly.

Axel just fell back onto his bed and announced, "I'm going back to sleep."

"Oh no you're not!" I told him. "You get up and get ready. The gift exchange is in our room."

"Whaaaaaat?" Naomi whined. "Why??"

"Because somehow, our dorm is cleaner that Demyx, Zexion, and Arisa's," I answered. "Now you guys all get ready while I go get the rest of the gang."

I skipped down the hall (still in my PJs and robe, mind you) to Arisa's dorm. I banged on the door until I heard Arisa tell Zexion to "just open the goddamn door." He opened the door, glaring at me and asked, "What the hell are you waking us up for at nine in the morning?"

"Hehe…your girlfriend asked me the same thing!" This didn't seem to amuse him in the slightest as he only continued glaring at me. "Gift exchange time~!" I told him happily. I walked in and over to the lump that was Arisa. "Wake up Risa!"

She peeked out from under the covers and asked, "Did you come down here in your pajamas?"

I nodded. "Yep, yep! Now hurry up," I said. "I'll see you guys back at my dorm."

When I got back to my dorm, the first thing I noticed was that Axel was missing. "Where's Axel?" I asked, looking around. Roxas nodded toward Axel's bunk and went back to looking for…I don't know. Gifts, probably. I climbed up to Axel's bunk, but only found a mountain for sheets and his comforter. "Oh ha, ha, Roxas," I said, rolling my eyes. "Where is he?"

"He's up there!" Roxas insisted.

I sighed and poked the pile of blankets. "Is anything in there?" I asked. When I got no response, I picked up a pillow and whacked the "mountain" with it. "Hellooo?" I called. "Anyone home?" There was groan followed by foot popping out to try and kick me off. "Come on Axel! They're gonna be here soon!" Another groan, and something moved under the pile. By the time Naomi had come out of the bathroom, Axel had finally poked his head out from under his pile of blankets.

"What?" he asked, his hair still bed-headed.

I suppressed a laugh and said, "Everyone else is gonna be here soon, so get ready."

"Meh," was all he said. He pulled his head back in and shoved his covers off. "I'll try and hurry…" he mumbled, heading toward the bathroom.

The second the bathroom door closed, someone started pounding on our door. "Coming, coming!" I called. I opened the door and Arisa, Demyx, and Zexion walked in. "Hey guys!"

"Can we get this over with?" Naomi asked, pulling Zexion down to sit next to her. "I wanna go back to sleep."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "Ok, fine." Once Axel came back as ready as I could hope for, I told everyone to sit in a circle with their presents in front of them. I somehow ended up between Roxas and Axel; while Axel was acting perfectly normal, Roxas was acting slightly odd, but I thought nothing of it.

So present-wise, everyone seemed happy with what they got. Some of the highlights were that Axel got a 12 pack Red Bull from me; which, now that I think about it, probably wasn't the best idea, but he was happy so I guess that's all that matters, right? Demyx got his new CD from Arisa, and Zexion got Naomi that hair dye she had been begging for. And then right before we could wrap up (Roxas and his present for me somehow wound up being last, so we weren't entirely done yet.) Arisa stood up saying she had an announcement.

"Oh my god, did some asshole get you pregnant?!" Naomi asked, almost falling over.

Arisa laughed at the suggestion and replied, "No, but I am going out with Demyx."

An awkward silence filled the room. Apparently Demyx wasn't a very smooth sort of guy, considering all the guys were looking at him with "WTF?" looks on the faces. Naomi was utterly speechless. "You know guys," I said, breaking the silence. "Every time there's an awkward silence God smites a kitten." This broke the silence well, getting everyone to crack up at my comment. "Alright, seriously now, guys. We have to wrap this up," I said, still laughing a bit. I turned to Roxas and asked, "So what's my present, Roxy-kins?" I grinned widely and batted my eyelashes like the retard I was.

Roxas' POV

I felt my face flush at Riena's eyelash batting. She was way too good at making me nervous. 'No way man! You have to do this!' I told myself. I cleared my throat slightly and told her, "Well, I didn't get you a material object. Instead I have something else to give, which I hope will be just as good." She cocked her head in that adorable way she does when she's confused. I took another breath, feeling my face heat up even more and continued. "Riena, you can't begin to understand how I feel about you. But I will tell you this…" The room and everyone in it seemed to be holding their breath as they waited for me to finish. I leaned over to her and whispered the one thing that would seal my fate. "I love you so, so much, Riena Takashi." I gave her a light kiss on the cheek and asked, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

She hugged my tightly and said, "You have no idea how long I've waited for you to ask that."

"Is that a yes?" I asked, hopeful.

"Roxas Hikari, you fool; of course it is," she answered.

I heard the others laugh and Arisa say, "Finally!" But none of that mattered at that moment. No…the only thing that mattered in that moment was Riena. My beautiful and precious Riena.

Faded: whew! how was it? like it? didn't like it? too sappy?

Riane: LONG CHAPTER IS LONG. Dx

Faded: yes. but don't stop reading yet! there's still more to come!

Riane: shall we give them a hint?

Faded: yep. remember Riena's fight with Larxene? well that's gonna rear it's ugly head again! just goes to show...revenge doesn't solve anything.