Some long belated credits to poohbearlover95, the 100th reviewer. Your review made my day when the alert arrived. ^^ Thankies!

Because I screwed with Naminé's emotions so badly last chapter, I decided to make it up to her in this one. A new major character is about to be introduced! ^^

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

I only own this story. Enjoy!

Xxx XXX xxX

Saturdays were generally supposed to be quiet and peaceful at Arthur Durand.

But.

"I don't recall a crowd of girls that big on the lawn this morning."

"Nobody's usually up this early except Sixth Floor, Naminé."

"I also don't remember there being a constant 'squee' noise loud enough that we're yelling at each other just to hear each other."

"Well, you have a point there…"

"So, what exactly is going on?" Naminé said.

"How should I know?" Xion replied, brushing a strand of jaw-length raven hair behind her ear. "Contrary to your expectations, I'm not exactly on top of all comings and goings at ADBS."

Two girls rushed past the two juniors, screaming something about 'a new student' and 'so hot'.

"Well, we have our answer," Xion declared. "C'mon, let's go check out the new guy."

The artist didn't move. "I've already got Roxas." But for Naminé, just saying the traceur's name hurt—if not as badly as five days ago.

Five days of Roxas not appearing in any of her classes.

Five days of futile waiting for him too.

Five days of trying to force down her emotions, stop crying, and pay attention in class.

Five days of...

Don't be emo. Don't be emo. Don't be emo.

She blinked back tears and forced away her reverie.

"He's gone right now, isn't he?" the traceuse said, trotting towards the crowd. "Admit it, you're interested in what's gathered that big of an estrogen brigade. I know I am."

Naminé sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine…" she mumbled, following her roommate.

It was tough going getting through the crowd, which in some places was ten girls thick, but the two (admittedly below average height) juniors managed to force their way through. After a second Naminé realized that the crowd was moving—either the guy at its center was attempting to escape getting crushed to death by the horde of fangirls, or said horde was herding the guy somewhere.

That last sounded more than just a little disturbing.

"Who is this guy anyways?" she muttered, weaving between a pair of seniors.

Just a trio of juniors to go…

The artist slipped past the first, leaped between the other two, and landed in a parkour crouch at the center of the crowd, then looked up—

Her ice-blue eyes popped open and she squealed in delight.

"Riku!"

The tall, green-eyed, extremely handsome boy with shoulder-length platinum blond hair, who was currently attempting to pry a particularly determined sophomore girl off his chest, whipped around at the mention of his name.

"Yeah, that's—Naminé!" the boy shouted gleefully, grabbing the blonde in a fierce hug and spinning her around. "How are you?"

"Great," the blonde grinned, burying her face in Riku's shoulder.

Xion trotted up, her hands on her hips. "Amazing, Naminé," the brunette said, grinning and shaking her head. "You've got not one, but two ultra-hot guys at your beck and call? What's your secret?"

Riku's expression instantly morphed from sunny to stormy. "Who's this other guy I hear of?" he growled, glaring at the blonde next to him.

"Mom and Dad didn't tell you?" Naminé asked, raising an eyebrow. Rather strange; even Ventus had heard about Roxas…

"No."

"Well, I've got a…a boyfriend now," she mumbled, forcing back the emotions surging to her heart. "His…his name is Roxas…"

"Wait, wait, wait…" A girl from the crowd stepped forth, her eyes glaring daggers at Naminé. "What's a hunk like you have to do with Miyamoto, exactly? Are you in a relationship with her?"

Murmurs of, "that slut," and, "what a whore," drifted out of the crowd.

However, Riku and Naminé's faces were locked in wide-eyed, openmouthed horror.

"What…?" the blonde girl whispered, forcing down her bile. "That's…that's disgusting."

"Are you kidding me?" Riku said in an incredulous tone. "Ew. Just…ew. Naminé's my little sister! Where the fuck did you get the idea that I might be in a relationship with my little sister?"

Silence.

"So…you're not taken?" The multi-track voice effect that came from the entire crowd reminded Naminé of the Borg from Ryo's old Star Trek: The Next Generation DVDs.

More silence.

"ACTUALLY," Riku said, smiling way too widely. He strode over to Xion and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her against him. She squeaked and turned bright red. "Will you go out with me, Miss…?"

"Xion," the traceuse mumbled, knitting her fingers together. "And yes, I-I-I'd l-love to g-go out w-with you, M-Mr. Riku."

A collective groan of disappointment erupted from the crowd and the (approximately) two hundred girls surrounding the three slowly broke apart into individual groups.

Riku let out a sigh of relief and released Xion, who stumbled away. Naminé poked her brother's arm hard enough to elicit a flinch from the elder Miyamoto.

"What the hell was that?" the blonde hissed, glaring at Riku.

"I could ask you the same thing," Riku growled, rubbing the new bruise on his arm. "Since when did you get strong enough to be able to actually hurt someone?"

Naminé ignored the jab and furiously stamped her foot. "Why'd you ask my best friend out?" she snapped. "You know you can't deliver on that!"

"How do you know I can't?" Riku sniffed, adjusting the strap of his messenger bag slightly.

"Because—because—because…because…" Naminé slumped in defeat. Her brother had a point; not once had he ever shown he was capable of actually hurting a girl.

Well, there was that one time where he threw her down the stairs when she accidentally spilled orange juice on his hair…

He wouldn't hurt a girl's heart, then. Not like…

"Besides," he grinned, eyeing Xion's legs and licking his lips. "I wasn't serious about that date; I'm not interested in your friend at all."

Xion began nervously rocking back and forth on her heels.

"…right," Naminé said. She was completely unconvinced. "Riku, what's your schedule? And where're Mom and Dad?"

"Mom asked Uncle Eraqus to drive me here," Riku replied, fishing a slip of paper out of his bag. "And my schedule is English with Lockhart first, Trig with Leonhart second, Art with Gainsborough third, and Shop with Wallace last."

Naminé raised an eyebrow. "That's my schedule."

"What a coincidence," Riku said, scratching his head. "You think we were put together because we're siblings?"

"Maybe," she frowned. "That doesn't really explain why well enough, though."

Could Vanitas have had something to do with this? Possibly, but there wasn't really anything the guardian spirit could fix with a pair of siblings' schedules.

Xion clasped her hands behind her back. Naminé rolled her eyes when she noticed that Riku was staring at the brunette's chest.

"I think that your having the same schedule is too much of a coincidence," Xion said. She sighed and looked up at the sky. "Ever get the feeling that somebody's writing up our daily lives like…like…like some writer or something?"

They stared at each other for a second—then burst into laughter.

"Good one, Xion."

Xxx XXX xxX

"So what're these teachers like?" Riku asked.

"Well…" Naminé stroked her chin as her mind worked to put together appropriate descriptions of her four teachers.

Xion had returned to Dorm 126, but Naminé was giving Riku a tour of the campus like Sora and his sister had when she came to ADBS. She remembered—that was the day she met Roxas…

"Ms. Lockhart and Mr. Leonhart are both kind of strict, but they're great teachers and they're fair to the students, too," she said. "Ms Gainsborough is really nice, but heaven help you if you screw around in her class. Mr. Wallace is ex-military and he seems like a mean old drill sergeant, but he's also fair to his students."

"They sound good to me," Riku remarked. He gave his sister a piercing look. "Now, tell me more about this Roxas boy."

"He's just as old as you, Riku boy."

"He's dating my baby sister and it's my responsibility as an older brother to judge him."

The younger Miyamoto glared at her brother. "Dad already put him through the meat grinder," she retorted. "And he approved of Roxas. So there."

"But I haven't," Riku replied. "And I have a feeling I won't."

"Roxas is a sweet, kind, and caring person," Naminé said a touch angrily. "Don't you dare say anything bad about him."

Riku defensively held up his hands. "I wasn't going to."

"Good."

"Has he slept with you…?"

The blonde recoiled at that image. To be honest, she had to admit it was one she kind of liked, but still...

"What? No!"

"Good, because I'd have ripped his balls off if he had," Riku said coolly. "Now, what does he look like?"

Naminé might've called Riku a sadistic bastard if A) she didn't know better and B) he just plain didn't know what he was doing to his sister by asking her these questions about Roxas, so she swallowed her desire to take her pain out on her brother.

"He's got dark blond hair done up in spikes," she recalled. Memories of Roxas before seemed to help a bit with the ache in that part of her heart. "And he has just these amazing, beautiful blue eyes, and this deep, kind of raspy voice that just draws you in, and his arms are so strong and warm and you feel like nothing can hurt you when he hugs you…"

Her brother chuckled. "How hard did you fall for him?"

The artist blushed. "Way too hard for my own good," she mumbled. She smiled a bit. "But he caught me…did I mention how being hugged by him feels?"

"Yes," Riku snorted in an amused tone.

She opened her mouth to speak further, but an unpleasantly familiar (to say the least) smug, condescending, contemptible voice interrupted her.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Don't you already have that rebel of yours, Miyamoto? Or have you two broken up already?"

Naminé gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Then she turned around, hoping…hoping…

Seifer, Rai, and Fuu were walking towards her and Riku. Fuu seemed distinctly reluctant to approach, but Rai was gently coaxing her on, every so often shooting an angry and confused look at Naminé. Beanie-head just had that usual self-satisfied smirk on his face.

"Can't you just leave me alone, Almasy?" she groaned. "And for your information, this is my brother."

Almasy pretended to do a double take. "Incest? Seriously?" he asked in a mocking voice. "I've never found you to be that desperate, Miyamoto."

She narrowed her eyes and made to fire back a cutting remark about his manhood around Roxas, but her brother set a calming hand on her shoulder.

"Who the hell are you, anyways?" Riku asked coolly. "And what're you doing insulting my sister?"

"I'm a person who's better than you," Seifer replied equally as coolly. "And I don't really give a damn about your opinion on my treatment of your sister."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then why don't you order away your lackeys and tell me that again to my face?"

Seifer's smirk was unchanged. "Because unlike other people, I actually use tactics in a fight," he said, and then he nodded at Rai.

The tall, dark-skinned boy dove at Riku, knocking Naminé's brother to the ground. The elder Miyamoto almost immediately took the advantage, rolling over and smashing punches into Rai's face without mercy, but then Fuu jumped him as well.

"Well, why don't we finish what we began on the Formal, hmm?" Seifer said, looking at Naminé.

She swallowed at the memory, but she gathered her courage and looked at him straight in the eye. "When Roxas gets here, you're dead, Almasy."

Beanie-head just grinned widely. "But he's not here, is he?" he cooed, taking a step forward.

Naminé found herself involuntarily taking a step back. "He will be," she said bravely, but she felt a tiny twinge of nervousness. What if he wasn't…?

"Oh, really?" Seifer said, taking another step—

And then a rock clunked into the side of his head, making Almasy stumble back with a cry of pain and shock. Both he and Naminé whirled around to see…

"Roxas!"

The traceur glared at Seifer, a vicious look on his face, and drew a finger across his throat. The body language was crystal clear.

You touch her, I kill you. Capeesh?

"Told you," Naminé said, crossing her arms. "You better run, Beanie."

Seifer's face was a mix of fury and rage and fear. He glanced once at Naminé, then back at Roxas, and then he ran for it. As their leader fled, Rai and Fuu abandoned their brawl with Riku and followed.

But Naminé wasn't paying attention to them anymore.

"Roxas," she breathed, stepping towards him. One step turned to two, to three, and then she was flat-out sprinting towards him. "Roxas! Roxas!"

He flashed a loving smile at her, and for a moment it seemed like they were reunited, like she could knock him to the ground and hug him blue…but his expression changed to guilt just as quickly, and he ran in the opposite direction too fast for her to catch him. Naminé slowed, already knowing he was too fast, too far away, too painful to simply think about, again.

Don't be sad…don't be sad…don't be sad…

She hadn't even run a hundred steps, but she felt as if she couldn't breathe, as if Seifer was still strangling her against the bleachers…

Don't be sad…don't be sad…DON'T BE SAD…

"I'm guessing that was Roxas?" Riku asked hesitantly, walking up from behind her. Her brother was a little scuffed up, but other than that he seemed fine.

"Y-Yes…" Naminé choked, and then she burst into tears.

Xxx XXX xxX

ARGH. I FAIL. *begins slamming head against desk*

I know I should've updated yesterday; I apologize for not doing so. ARGH.

And now for the usual shamelessly blatant request for reviews. :D

Review, please!