21 reviews! Thankies, loyal readers!
Sorry about the irregular updates; I thought I uploaded Chapter 8 but when I checked my e-mail it turns out I never got the confirmation of my updating. So...I hope you're not too mad...
I love writing these shopping chapters for no other reason than to poke fun at the characters.
By the way, if you want to type Naminé's name with that little thing over the 'e', type Ctrl+apostrophe and then type in 'e'.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.
Just this story. Enjoy!
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"Naminé, wake up!"
Neither the shout nor the subsequent shaking stirred the blonde. The earphone connected to an Ipod turned up to ELEVEN, on the other hand, did.
"CAUSE EVERY SECOND I—"
"GAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
She ripped the earphone away and glared at the giggling Xion.
"What?" the diminutive artist demanded. "It's Saturday!"
The brunette grinned brightly. "I know!" she declared. "Sooo…"
"I don't like that tone…"
"We're going shopping!" Xion cheered.
"Why?" Naminé shouted a bit more loudly than she'd intended.
Her friend simply pulled her out of the comfortably warm sheets. "Your date, silly!" Xion grinned. "Now get dressed, chop-chop!"
Naminé growled something incoherent before dragging herself to her duffel, shivering in the cool morning air all the way.
"No, no, no—go to the bathroom, I already have an outfit for you!"
Lying on the counter was a pile of clothing. Naminé mindlessly changed into them and examined herself in the mirror with the automation of routine.
She was wearing a spaghetti-strap white top with a blue flower design on the left shoulder and a light green miniskirt—
Wait.
"I can't wear this!" Naminé shrieked, rushing out of the bathroom.
Xion quizzically raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"This—this—this skirt!" the blonde said in disgust. "It's so…short."
Her friend rolled her eyes. "And your point is?"
"I look like a—"
"You already used that excuse."
"But why?" Naminé whined.
"Because you want to impress," the brunette explained. She sighed in resignation. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm wearing the same outfit."
Xion flapped her arms up and down, slapping her hands on her thighs. Her version of Naminé's outfit was almost exactly the same save the shirt being green instead of the skirt.
"But you're comfortable in that miniskirt. I'm not," Naminé growled, crossing her arms.
The raven-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
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"The school has a garage?" the artist gasped, bewildered. She would have expected the students to not need one. The weekend was the weekend, no more and no less, but still…
"That was rhetorical, right?" Xion replied, leading her blonde friend to a sleek gray sedan.
"You have a car?" Yet another surprise.
"I got my provisional license last August."
Naminé slid into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt just as Xion backed out of lot 126.
"So why don't you have a car?" the brunette asked.
The artist slumped down and mumbled something.
"I couldn't hear what you said," Xion said.
"I failed the test," she muttered.
Her friend's sudden guffaw startled Naminé.
"Little Miss Trig Genius FAILED the driver's test?" Xion cackled. "Pull the other one!"
"Xion!" Naminé whined, burying her face in her hands. "I didn't study, okay…?"
"Sure…that's what they all say." The cheerful tone only enhanced the teasing intent.
After twenty minutes of driving, the car reached a massive intersection. In the forward right corner, relative to Naminé and Xion, a mammoth building towered over an equally gigantic square like a Himalayan mountain atop the world-famous plateau.
The mall was of an ultramodern design—stainless steel frames bordered the opaque glass panels making up the walls. Concrete and polished stone made up the lowest ten feet of the building.
The interior was even more impressive. Multiple levels were connected by escalator and catwalks; the sunlight illuminated everything inside via a massive glass pane in the middle of the ceiling.
Thousands of people bustled to and fro in the shopping center. The chatter of hundreds droned in the air, louder than any background music.
Given that this was only Naminé's second time inside a mall in nearly ten years, her awe was understandable. Xion wasn't quite as speechless.
"Come on, girl!" she exclaimed. "We have to move or all the good stuff will be taken!"
"I seriously doubt that," the blonde muttered under her breath as she and her roommate raced towards an escalator.
First they went to an American Eagle outlet. There were dozens of people jammed inside the store—maybe Xion had been right.
"Try this on first!" The words and a yellow sundress were tossed at Naminé literally the second she stepped through the metal detectors. God was Xion fast.
The blonde was unceremoniously shoved into a dressing room. She let her eye twitch out her annoyance for a moment before she slipped into the dress.
"The color doesn't suit you," Xion commented. "Next!"
"Why are you allowed to judge?"
"One, I've a better fashion sense than you. Two, I'm bi, so I'm a better choice as a judge for this than anyone else."
Naminé rolled her eyes and went back inside with another outfit.
Baby blue jeans and a short-sleeved cotton shirt—
"Too modest. Next!"
A purple, sleeveless, knee-length dress with a choker neck—
"Too tacky. Next!"
A gunmetal gray T-shirt and a knee-length pleated skirt—
"Too dull. Next!"
After some thirty minutes, Naminé stepped out of the cubicle for what seemed like the thousandth time. She hoped Outfit #36 would satisfy, because frankly, she was getting irritated with the constant rejections.
This time Xion gave a low whistle. "Perfect," she observed. "Not too tight and not too loose, and with suitable colors to boot…we have a winner!"
"But this is my original outfit!"
"I know."
"Then what was the point of coming here in the first place?" Naminé spluttered.
Xion smirked. "No reason." With that she dashed away.
The angered blonde caught up to her friend outside a shoe store. The inside was all polished ebony shelves and glass display cases; the entire place was designer, not just its wares.
"This place looks a bit expensive…" Naminé muttered. "I don't think I have enough munny—"
"I'm paying," Xion cut in.
The blonde looked at her brunette friend, shocked. "You don't have to—"
"I will," the night-headed girl said flatly. "And don't try to argue, it's just a friend helping out a friend."
Naminé stared in surprise at Xion before following her to the first shelf.
The shoes came on and off a lot more quickly than clothing, and so their stint in the shoe store was over much faster than in at American Eagle. Eventually they settled for a pair of white leather sandals.
As they headed for their last stop, the Macy's, Naminé noticed a loud, persistent rumbling. She glanced at Xion.
"That was me," the other girl said, embarrassed. "Can we get lunch now?"
"Sure," the blonde smiled. "I'm kind of hungry myself."
Like everywhere else in the mall, the food court was packed. Naminé was forced to hold down a table to prevent it from being taken while Xion was away ordering food.
After five minutes of waiting, she got bored and pulled her cellphone out of her bag.
There was a single message:
Meet me on the roof at six. R.
Out of reflex, Naminé checked the time. It was three thirty—she had plenty of time left.
"Food!" a cheerful voice stated.
She looked up to see Xion, sporting a huge grin, holding a red tray with two plastic plates.
As the two girls ravenously tore into their fried noodles and chicken, Naminé remembered something Axel had said.
"Xion, Axel told me you were already a parkourist before you joined the XIII," she said.
The brunette tensed. "What about it?" she asked tersely.
"I was…just wondering if it was true…" Naminé mumbled. "Sorry…"
Xion sighed. "Don't be," she said. "Yes, it's true."
"Why didn't you tell Sora?"
"Because…"
"Because what—"
Without warning Xion began crying, large drops of saltwater sliding from the corners of her sapphire eyes.
"Xion, are you alright?" Naminé asked in alarm.
The girl sniffled and wiped off her eyes. "Yeah," she choked. "I-I haven't told S-Sora t-the truth because I d-didn't tell him the first time a-and I was scared he'd get mad at me and h-hate me…"
Tears began sliding down her face again, but Naminé wiped them away with her own hand.
"Sora could never hate you, Xion," the artist said gently. She smiled. "He's your brother."
Xion smiled back sadly. "I guess you're—" She suddenly stiffened.
The blonde followed where her friend's eyes were glaring. At the far end of the food court was the familiar auburn hair.
"It's her," Xion snarled. She got up and stalked towards Kairi and a group of the redhead's friends.
Naminé cursed under her breath and got up to follow the fuming brunette. She got there just in time to see Xion stamp her foot to get Kairi's attention.
Her rant immediately cut to the chase. "Do you know what you're doing to Sora?" Xion spat.
The redhead took one look at the other girl and rolled her eyes in contempt. "Forget Sora, you need a new sense of fashion," Kairi said dryly.
Xion turned red with rage. "How DARE you talk about Sora like that, you FUCKING WHORE—"
A slender hand set itself on the brunette's shoulder. "Xion, calm down," Naminé said firmly.
"You should listen to your girlfriend, faggot," Kairi sneered. "And next time, don't pick out her clothes for her."
Naminé ignored the insult but just barely managed to contain her enraged friend.
"One, I'm not her girlfriend," the blonde said coolly. "Two, you should shut up—like all bigots should."
Kairi's lip curled as she looked at Naminé. "You're one to talk, new girl," the redhead snorted. "All you are is just a dumb blonde without the looks."
Xion was much too strong and much too fast and much too unpredictable for Naminé to restrain, but even so the artist tried her best.
That best proved inadequate.
"Xion, NO!"
"SHUT UP!" the brunette roared, raising her hand.
The distinctive noise of palm with a considerable amount of power behind it connecting with cheek instantly silenced all conversation within the gigantic space.
WHAP.
"AH!"
The only sounds then were Xion's heavy breathing, Naminé's horrified gasp…and Kairi's sobbing.
And then, like a tsunami exacting its terrible toll on a shoreline, the noise came flooding back.
"It's okay, Kairi," one of the redhead's friends assured. "It'll be okay…"
"What a bitch," another girl muttered, glaring at Xion to leave no doubt as to whom she was referring to.
"She-she-she hit me," Kairi stuttered. "She—"
At that point Naminé used both hands to grab Xion's arm and drag the brunette away from the gathering crowd. Several shouts of abuse followed them.
"Xion, WHAT the HELL?" the infuriated artist demanded. "WHY did you that?"
The brunette shrugged off her roommate's hands. "If you knew what she did to Sora, how she twisted him around her finger and broke him like a fucking toothpick, you'd have cheered me on," she muttered darkly.
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Yes, I know Kairi's a bitch right now, but I swear the why will be cleared up ASAP.