Just a tip, peoples. Don't bother threatening not to update until a review quota is reached, because you'll be the first to cave. The readers always win.

Or am I updating because I'm just a pushover?

I hate this chapter. Hate it.

And I'm gonna rewrite it, someday.

Someday...

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING MENTIONED IN THIS STORY.

Just the story. Enjoy!

Xxx XXX xxX

Naminé was practically bouncing up and down with giddiness. Her first date, ever, no joke, was everything she'd ever dreamed of. The guy was even more than that.

He came up in everything she saw—the beige walls somehow morphed into the exact shade and texture of his blond hair (slightly darker than hers), the sky blue curtains over the hallway windows shifted colors to his lapis irises…

She wondered if she was going insane. Then again, it was a good kind of—

Wait a second, was that sobbing?

The artist realized it was coming from Room 126—her and Xion's room. Come to think of it, she was hearing a raised voice, too…

Oh, no.

Naminé burst through the door and took in what was happening in the room with a sweeping glance. Xion was cowering in one corner, her eyes teary and her face twisted with an expression of utter shame; Sora was standing over her, screaming oaths and abuse.

"Sora, stop!" Naminé shouted. In that one instant all of her happiness from minutes before came crashing down like a jet with its wings blown off.

The chocolate-haired boy whirled around to give her a seething glare. "What?" he snarled.

"She's in pain, Sora, just by telling you!" Naminé argued. "Can't you show at least some understanding?"

Sora was unmoved. "If only you knew," he spat. "If only you knew why I was screaming my head off, why I'm so upset at Xion."

"I don't know," Naminé replied flatly. "Tell me."

For a second indescribable sorrow flashed across his face, and then it returned to rage. "Almost everybody at this school was dumped here by their parents."

"And?"

"What do you mean, 'and'?" he yelled. Then a sneer of understanding curved his mouth. "Right, you've had a perfect life, with both parents, all the attention you needed, everything that you ever asked for emotionally. Me and Xion had nothing."

Naminé tried to imagine what it would be like to be neglected by her parents. A trill of grief and pain rushed through her, making her heart skip.

"So you can imagine it?" Sora growled. "Good." He began pacing. "In the old days—when we still TRUSTED each other, I might add—me and Xion did everything together. We comforted each other, we had ice cream together, we did whatever together."

He stopped pacing and pointed an accusing finger at his distraught sister. "At least, until she began disappearing at night. I thought it was legit reasons—late-night studying, partying—our parents didn't give a fuck." Sora literally spat the word 'parents', with a gob of saliva impacting the carpet not five inches from Naminé's left foot.

She understood now. The reason why Sora had overreacted, the reason why Xion was so miserable—it all boiled down to one reason.

Had Xion done it to escape her horrible life? Naminé didn't know exactly, but she did know that the brunette girl was depressed and hated herself for what she'd done to her brother.

"She abandoned me, Naminé! You don't know how the loneliness and the pain feel—what it feels like when you know the one person who mutually gives a damn about leaves you!" If Sora hadn't been hysterical before, he was now.

"If you really do love her, then you wouldn't be yelling at her," Naminé stated. "You'd understand, Sora."

Betrayal flickered through his eyes. "I did—I do—love her," Sora said sadly, turning to the door. "More than you know."

When Sora's footsteps had faded away, Naminé stopped trying to glare a hole through the door and knelt down next to Xion.

The blonde knew better than to ask if she was okay.

Xxx XXX xxX

"Xion, you need to eat something."

"No."

"Then at least go to sleep!"

"No."

Naminé threw her hands up in frustration. "Look, Xion," she sighed. "I know Sora was being an asshole to you but that doesn't mean you get to stop living!"

Xion looked at her with eyes completely devoid of any humanity. "Do I look like I'm still alive?" the brunette moaned.

She didn't, really, but her blonde friend wasn't about to say that. "Yes!" Naminé declared. "C'mon, a shower might do you some good."

The broken girl was unresisting as Naminé dragged her into the bathroom. After fifteen minutes of fruitless waiting for the noise of rushing water, the artist lost her patience and stormed inside.

Xion was still standing where she'd been left. With an angry growl Naminé headed to her duffel to search for her swimsuit. Why she had brought it, she still didn't remember, but right now she was glad she had.

Because it was awkward enough to wash her friend while clad in a white-and-blue two-piece bikini.

"Raise your arms," Naminé ordered.

As expected, Xion didn't listen, so the blonde had to undress her friend herself before leading her into the shower.

It was a cramped fit, as needless to say, the shower was only designed for one occupant. Naminé set Xion down in the middle of the cage and circled the brunette with shampoo and soap in either hand like a Western gunslinger.

Apparently, not even the humiliation of being bathed by another person would faze Xion. The brunette girl looked a bit spacey even as Naminé viciously, and with full intent to cause pain, rubbed shampoo into her raven hair.

Fifteen tedious minutes later, a thoroughly annoyed Naminé pulled a thoroughly sanitized Xion out of the shower. The blonde thrust a terry towel at the brunette, waiting for her to take it.

She didn't.

At that point Naminé lost it. "Xion, WAKE UP!" she exploded. "I can't baby you day in, day out, you know! Just because Sora blew his top doesn't mean it's the end of the world, okay?"

Xion's cobalt irises finally seemed to show emotion. "I thought you said you'd support me through this," she mumbled, toweling off her face.

"So you're not brain-dead after all," Naminé replied sarcastically. She shook her head. "Yes I said I'd help you through this, and I will."

"How? All you've been doing is yelling at me."

"Because you were acting like a zombie."

"Don't I have a right to?"

"Don't I have a right to not have to essentially grope my best friend?"

Both of them began giggling uncontrollably at that for some reason; quite soon that giggling grew into lung-bursting, stomach-clenching, cheek-reddening laughter.

Xion smiled mischievously. "I'll bet you enjoyed that."

"Enjoyed what?" Naminé retorted with a reciprocating sly grin.

A shadow of pain crossed Xion's face just like with Sora's. The brunette turned away, water brimming at the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "But—but you just look way too much like Kairi."

Now that was random.

"What?"

"This might come out as a bit of a shocker." Xion's voice was its normal dry tone. "But I was once in a relationship with Kairi."

"Holy shit," Naminé breathed, sitting back. She didn't usually swear, but this time…

Kairi? With Xion? The image didn't really compute, mostly because of its utter spontaneity, at least to the flabbergasted artist.

"But she called you that…that word."

"She's straight, but she made an exception for me. I don't know why she hates me now," Xion admitted. A single teardrop gained enough mass to slide down her cheek.

"Did Sora ever like her too?"

"Like? Hell, he loved her. And I could've sworn the feeling was mutual."

"So are you two fighting over Kairi?"

"No. He won Kairi fair and square after I lost her; I'm not bitter about it. Besides, they make a cute couple."

"So why is she with Seifer?"

Xion winced. "Because…well, nobody really knows. All that is known is that she broke up with Sora out of the blue," she elaborated.

"That's terrible," Naminé murmured. "No wonder you got so mad at her."

The brunette's oval face hardened. "She's turned into a manipulative, vindictive bitch who doesn't give a damn about anyone," she snarled.

The sudden change of Xion's stance on Kairi wasn't lost on Naminé. "I thought you might've still seen her as a friend after you two broke up," the blonde said.

"I did," Xion replied. "But now, she's not the Kairi Sora and I used to know anymore. The real Kairi wouldn't act like some snobby preppie, she wouldn't turn on her friends, and not for a hot second would she ever, EVER, EVER treat Sora like he was nobody."

Xxx XXX xxX

As it was, Naminé and Xion didn't have to hunt down Sora; he came to them.

"Xion?" a voice from outside the door called. "I—I wanted to—"

"Sora!" Xion flung the door open and embraced her brother. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for you to—"

"YOU!"

The wrathful shout made the siblings pull away from each other to see who had called them out.

"How dare you show your pathetic face around here after what you said to Xion—" Naminé punctuated her mini-rant with a punch.

Sora staggered back, clutching his jaw. "What the hell, Naminé!" he yelped. "I just wanted to apologize!"

"You think an apology will be enough?"

If Xion hadn't had the presence of mind to hold Naminé back, Sora would have been torn limb from limb by the enraged blonde.

"Naminé, calm down!" Xion shouted while attempting to evade her friend's flailing arms. "Don't kill him!"

"Nobody talks like that to my friends!" Naminé hollered. She strained for Sora's throat. "Get back here so I can rip you apart!"

The chocolate-haired boy took three steps back, his hands out in the universal gesture for peace.

"I thought you were the quiet one," he said nervously.

"AAAAAAAGH!"

"What? That was a compliment!"

"DIIIIIIIIIIE—"

She froze in shock. What was she doing? She was Naminé, Naminé, not some psychotic girl!

"Sorry," she muttered, casting her eyes to her feet.

Xion wrapped her arms even tighter around the mollified blonde—understandable, considering that she had pulled the same trick on Axel and Zexion, and it would be humiliating if she fell for her own tactic.

Naminé did not resist; she let herself go limp in Xion's restraining embrace, and simply waited for both brunettes to accept that she wasn't going to try and kill Sora.

"No funny moves, okay?" Xion warned as she finally released her friend.

Said friend merely nodded. Sora took another three steps back to take cover behind a potted plant, just in case.

The artist rolled her eyes. "Come out, Sora," she sighed. "I promise I won't try to kill you."

"How am I supposed to believe you?" he retorted.

"We can wait out breakfast," she offered.

Sora immediately jumped out. "Never!" he declared.

"Now do you trust me?"

"Not really. But breakfast is more important."

The two girls laughed at that before strolling to the elevator. Sora hurried to join them.

"By the way, Sora—" Naminé began.

"Yeah?"

"You have to be Xion's personal slave for a week," she said.

"What?" he exploded. "WHY?"

"Because you made her cry."

"Okay, fine…wait a minute, who gave you the authority to do this anyways?"

Naminé smirked and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "No one."

Xxx XXX xxX

Why is ADBS not portrayed accurately?

Because a normal portrayal would interfere with the plot. Besides, ADBS isn't a boarding a school, it's more like an…academy with dormitories.

Yeah...

Do you think that Xion let Sora off too easily?