The teddy bear Mr. Brown can go to H-E-double-hockey-sticks for all I care.
In case you're wondering, yes, all of my stories (barring The Wanderer) sprang from plot bunnies or inspirations. But I always refine them, rethink them, rebuild them so that they become worth my time to write and worth your time to read.
I hope. And yes, I changed the name of this story.
FAQ time!
DSCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.
Just this story. Enjoy!
Namine continued to huddle behind Xion, switching to different sides of the brunette girl whenever he got close.
"What's wrong with you?" Roxas grumbled. "It's not like I want to kill you or anything."
She didn't believe it for a second.
"Roxas, what did you do to her?" Xion asked.
"I just annoyed her a bit…"
The brunette girl sighed and slapped her forehead, sliding the hand down her face.
"She's the new girl," Xion growled. "You don't do that to new girls you like. At least not yet…"
The blond parkourist flushed a deep crimson. "W-W-WHAAAAT?" he spluttered. "I don't like her!"
"Says you," Axel yawned. "I've seen the way you stalk her—OOF!"
Roxas had elbowed the redhead to shut him up, but it was too late.
"You stalk me?" she shrieked, disgusted. "Oh, my god."
"I wasn't sta—shadowing you because I like you!" he shouted, waving his arms over his head. "I do that so I can, uhhh…protect you, you know? Remember Seifer?"
Namine shuddered. She did indeed.
"Well, I guess that's okay then," she squeaked. "As long as it's just for that…"
He smirked. "I do know your room number," he observed.
She slapped him. "PERVERT!" she yelled.
"So you do like her," Xion smirked. "Thought so…"
Before Roxas could explode at the brunette, the floor indicator switched to a neon green symbol.
"Oh look, we're here," Namine interrupted, randomly groping for an arm to grab.
Her now claw-like hand clenched and she dragged whoever had been behind her out of the elevator.
"Okay, Xion, we need to—oh, hell."
She'd hoped—no, she'd thought she'd taken the brunette girl with her.
"I'm not Xion," Roxas frowned.
Namine gritted her teeth and stomped away from the spiky-haired blond. "Go away," she snarled, heading for the bend in the L-shaped hallway.
The party was nothing like what she had envisioned. Most of it was outside in the rather wide hallway, but she could see the light coming out of a few open doors.
Where was the loud music? The raucous laughing? The drunken partygoers and the drunken sex?
"I guess Xion was right," Namine muttered. She spotted a drinks table and made her way towards it.
Zexion, despite being behind Roxas, had somehow made it there before her. He tacitly passed a cup of Sprite to her.
"Thank you," she said. "But how did you know I wanted Sprite?"
"I didn't," Zexion replied, before pulling out a small novel.
There was, in fact, loud music, but it was nearly drowned out by the decibel range of the dozen or so conversations going on.
"Oh look, there's the new girl."
"Her name's Nami—Namine? Yeah, I think that's it…"
"I heard she's already met Roxas."
"Really? I wonder if he likes her."
Namine blushed a faint scarlet at that.
"He might. She's so pretty."
"I wish I was as thin as her."
The artist picked up the pace and strode over to where Axel and Demyx were talking to and laughing with a pair of girls.
Just as she was about to tap the redhead's shoulder, a finger tapped hers.
"Whoa!" Namine yelped, jumping. She turned around to find Roxas looking innocently at her.
"Hi," he smiled.
"What do you want?" she grumbled.
He pouted cutely. "I just wanted to talk," he said.
"About what?"
"I just wanted to…well…get to know you better." He scratched his head awkwardly.
Namine arched an eyebrow. She had nothing against that, but she wasn't sure if he was being sincere. Especially considering how much he'd annoyed her less than eight hours ago.
"Okay," she responded slowly.
Roxas grinned happily. "Cool," he declared. "Follow me."
She kept the eyebrow raised but obeyed. Roxas led her into a room and stopped by the window.
"Okay," she said slowly. "Now what?"
Roxas tugged open the glass pane. "You'll see," he declared. He motioned at his back. "Climb on."
"What are you doing?" she asked warily.
He sighed in frustration. "I said, you'll see. Now climb on; I swear I won't let you fall."
Fall? That didn't sound promising.
But somehow, against her better judgment, Namine found herself wrapping her sleeved arms around his neck.
"Well?" she said. "What are—WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Roxas had stepped onto the window sill and was now hanging onto the sides by his fingertips. "Trust me," he yelled over the rushing wind.
"No, Roxas WAIT—"
Namine's tongue was frozen in terror as Roxas jumped out of the window. Her life flashed before her eyes.
SHE WAS FALLING!
"OhmigodohmigodohmigodOHMIGOD—"
No, she wasn't. If so she'd be screaming her head off, not cursing.
Why couldn't she shut her eyes? She could distinctly see the school lawn far below her as Roxas shimmied along the wall. Air whistled through her ears and blew her hair nearly horizontal.
"Don't look down!" Roxas yelled.
Her response was a muffled squeak.
He swung to the left, crouched a bit, and jumped.
She screamed as they soared through the air. Roxas jumped and reached up, expertly locating a handhold. A powerful yet graceful contraction of his arms shot him skywards.
His feett caught a solid hold on the upper sill and he fired every muscle in his legs, propelling him and his passenger up to the next window.
As Roxas scaled the building floor by floor, Namine could hear him chanting something.
"From the halls of Montezuma—"
Floor 10 flashed by.
"To the stars of Ori III—"
Roxas jumped to a window on his right.
"We will fight our planet's battles—"
The eleventh row of windows was conquered.
"In space, on land and sea—"
Namine could've sworn she saw a shocked face behind the twelfth story window.
"First to fight for rights and freedom—"
Ten fingertips hooked onto the stainless steel of the rooftop.
"And to keep our honor clean—"
He pulled up with every ounce of power in his chiseled muscles, grabbing a hold of the railing.
"We are proud to claim the title of—"
Roxas swung over the metal bar, with just a little too much power.
"The Allied Space Marines—WHOA!"
For a few moments she could neither contain her thundering heartbeat nor convince her arms to release Roxas.
Mostly because they had ended up in a tangled heap.
Namine realized she was lying on top of Roxas and immediately rolled off of him, a blush already shading the alabaster of her cheeks. She hoped it was dark enough that he couldn't see.
"I think I overdid the railing," he groaned, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not used to carrying someone…"
"How did you do that?" Namine wondered. "I mean, I'd never have thought climbing a wall like that would be humanly possible."
Roxas smiled slightly. "Lots and lots of practice," he replied, hopping to his feet.
The blond parkourist walked over to the railing and lay down, resting his head in his hands.
"Come on," he invited. "Sit down."
Namine carefully positioned the delicate sleeves (they were Xion's, not hers) before lying down next to him.
For a moment the two simply gazed at the night sky and the faintly visible stars floating in it.
She broke the silence. "So, do you usually come here?" Namine asked.
He nodded. "I found this spot the night I joined the XIII. It was a place where I could just…get away."
"Why?" she asked. "Why would you want to get away?"
Roxas didn't answer.
"Well?"
"I have an idea," he said abruptly. "Can we play a game?"
Namine was somewhat confused by his changing the subject, but she decided to play along.
"Okay," she said. "What are you thinking of?"
"How about we play a guessing game—we ask each other a question about our lives and the answerer has to guess why or when or how or whatever."
"Basically, twenty questions."
He winced. "Pretty much, but I'd hoped I could be a bit more creative."
She rolled her eyes. "Okay…Who goes first?"
As it was, Roxas happened to have a spare quarter in his pocket. He chose heads and Namine chose tails.
"Tails," Roxas announced, squinting at the silver disk illuminated by the wan moonlight. "You go first."
Namine thought for a moment. "Okay, I draw a lot. Why?"
A sad smile curved his handsome face before disappearing so quickly she thought it merely a trick of the light. "I'm guessing that you draw to escape from your worries."
She smirked.
"Did I get it right?" he asked.
"Nope," she replied, popping the 'p'. She sighed. "I draw to vent my imagination."
"Oh. So it's an outlet."
"Yep. Your turn."
"I came to ADBS in the eighth grade. Guess why?"
"Ummm…because…You were smart enough to compete with high school students?"
It was a perfectly logical answer, and indeed, she'd seen it happen often enough, but her gut told her that she was fundamentally wrong.
The sad smile materialized again in all of its depressing glory. "Wrong."
"So why were you sent here in the eighth grade?" Namine asked, toying with a strand of her hair.
"I'd rather not say," he responded in a cheerful voice that also happened to be totally incongruous with his eyes' heartrendingly broken look.
His eyes…They were a darker shade than her twin ice-blues—she struggled to recall the name for that color.
Was it cobalt? Or was it lapis?
Either way she was falling into their bottomless depths. She could see her wide-eyed reflection in his irises leaning ever closer…
"Hey."
The one word snapped Namine out of her spell. She noticed that her nose was not two inches from his.
Apparently, he noticed it too, because his face was somewhat red, as was hers.
Somewhat? Her face felt like someone had shoved a cattle brand into it!
Both of them looked away. Namine hugged herself in embarrassment—had she really been about to…ummm…
Her realization that he might have been leaning in as well only made Namine blush harder.
"You're blushing, aren't you?" an amused voice said.
She rolled onto her stomach; she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing that.
Roxas sighed. "Wait…" he said, a malicious smile slowly spreading across his face.
Namine didn't like the tone of that 'Wait'.
"What?" she asked.
He snickered. "I bet that you can't last the next five minutes with me without blushing."
"Yes I can!" she declared indignantly. "And I can prove it!"
"Yeah, right," he snorted. He smirked again. "And if you can't, then…"
"Then what?"
"You have to go out with me this Saturday."
Namine's eyes widened and a gentle chuckle from him indicated that she had already lost.
Yippee, the first Namixas fluff of Jump! (other than Roxas stalking Namine, but that was just for comic relief)
Too bad this chapter didn't go the way I wanted it to. *sigh* Can't have everything, I guess.
FAQ!
Will there be a SoraXNamineXRoxas triangle?
Perhaps there will be a love triangle (or two, ;) ), but Sora is no match for Roxas in my mind. It'll have to be someone who's a charmer…Riku, maybe?