Disclaimer: Idon't own KH or it's characters, or FF or it's characters, or the song Life on Mars

Chapter 5 Life on Mars

It was a warm morning; late August had gone over to early September. School went on as it always did, and always done at Starlight High. Students came and left but things always stayed the same. Troublemakers did the veni vedi vici. Almost anyway, they came, they were seen, but instead of winning, they left. It was a calm pace in a sleepy town, as it always had been.

These thoughts and others alike whirled through Naminé's mind as she walked her way to Kairi's house which lay on her way to school, so she always stopped by and they walked together. Today was no different. The air had a faint smell of flowers and not a cloud was in sight.

When she reached Kairi's house, she skipped up the stairs and happily knocked on the door. It was a lovely morning and she was sure it was going to turn out to be a great day. She slowly hummed to herself and waited for her wine haired friend to open the door. A good five minutes passed and still no one opened the door. Naminé raised an eyebrow in question and tried knocking again with no results.

The blonde girl backed off from the porch, picked up a small rock and aimed at Kairi's window. After a few rocks the front door flew up and a woman in her thirties stood in the doorway, dressed in a long red bathrobe, a sleeping mask on her forehead and hair a mess.

"What the hell is your problem girly?" Naminé swallowed hard. She didn't know Kairi's mom was home. If she knew she wouldn't have thrown the pebbles. Kairi's mom was never fun to deal with, and it was even worse when she was newly awoken.

"Um… I'm sorry; I just wanted to get a hold of Kairi so we could go to school." The woman in the doorway raised an eyebrow over a puffy eye.

"Kairi's not home. She said she would sleep at a friend's place." Naminé froze at the words. Where would Kairi sleep without telling her before?

"Oh. I'm sorry I woke you up... I will go now. Have a nice day." The doorway lady just waved her hand at her as she turned around and jammed the door closed behind her.

Slowly Naminé turned around and walked away from the house. Why hadn't Kairi told her that her mom was home? And why hadn't she said that she was sleeping at someone's place, and who's place did she sleep at?

Questions whirled through the blonde's head and she couldn't understand why Kairi never told her. She didn't understand, was she loosing the dear friend? No, now she was taking things beforehand. She would wait and talk to Kairi about it. She was sure there was a reasonable explanation.

Kairi wouldn't just leave her… Right?

xXx

When she arrived to school her clothes were soaking wet since it had started raining. She sighed and threw her wet bag into her locker. This day started out great but soon became chaos, but hopefully things would get better again.

She found Kairi in one of the corridors, hanging on Riku's arm, sporting a big purple hickey on her neck. She walked towards her friend who didn't see her.

"Hey Kai, where were you this morning?" Kairi gave her her million dollar smile.

"I slept at Riku's place." Naminé looked a tad hurt.

"Why didn't you tell me yesterday? Now I accidentally woke your mom, while trying to get a hold of you." Kairi let go of Riku's arm, grabbed Naminé's and took her to the side. Her anger was obvious.

"You woke my mom up! Oh my god, I'm gonna be in so much trouble when I get home! Thanks a lot!" Naminé looked down on her shoes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"Well, now you don't have to bother, I don't wanna see you again!" The wine haired girl turned around and walked away towards her friends. Naminé stood her ground and didn't know what to do or where to go. A passing stranger rolled her eyes.

"Drama queen. Somebody get her a show of her own."

Naminé spun around and ran towards the girl's bathroom where she found an empty stall, closed the door and sank down on the disgusting toilet. She only sat there a few seconds before she realized someone was having sex in the stall next to hers.

She flew up and ran out the bathroom again but didn't see where she was going and ended up with running in to someone, falling to the floor in the process.

"Jeez Axel, people have this weird habit of running into you and falling to the floor in the meantime. Are you all right girly?" Naminé looked up and saw one flaming red hair and one blond Mohawk thing with huge sea green eyes. The sea green eyes extended a hand towards her, which she accepted and he helped her up. She mumbled thanks and the Mohawk just smiled.

"Anytime. What's your name Blondie?" Naminé met the Mohawk's gaze.

"Naminé… and yours?" The Mohawk tilted his head to the side.

"Demyx… But are you okay? You look sad…?" Naminé shook her head.

"No, I'm fine… I need to go now… Bye." She turned around to walk away but didn't get that far before a hand caught the hem of her tank top. It was Demyx's red haired friend.

"Hold it there Shortie, there's this un-written law that everyone who runs into me has to hang out with us for the day. So don't just run away with the 'K thanks bye' deal here. You're stuck with us today. Come on, this way Short-stuff." He turned her around and they walked towards the main corridor again. Naminé raised a hand in protest.

"I have art class in the C house, so we're walking the wrong way." Demyx smiled.

"That's okay. I have music, so I'm going that way too. Come on." They walked together out of the green main building towards the big pink one with a big black 'C' over the entrance.

"So… Sure you're okay..? You didn't look too well back there." Naminé's gaze fell on the asphalt.

"Yeah… I just had a fight with my best friend." Demyx looked sad.

"I'm sorry, that's never fun. Axel and I fight a lot but it's all in good fun."

"Yeah.. but she said she never wanted to see me again." Demyx slung an arm around her narrow shoulders.

"I'm really sorry there Naminé. But you can hang out with us all you want 'till you work it out. We're here for ya babe." Naminé smiled.

"Thanks."

xXxXx

Art class ran smoothly as always. She loved this class, this was where she could be herself and get lost in the colors, just forget everything. Xigbar, the art teacher, was a pain in the ass since he wasn't that good on teaching, nor painting and he probably had some serious anger issues but she had learned to shut those things out.

Xigbar had given them free hands on what to paint, since he thought the lesson would be cancelled. No one knew why he thought this but on the other hand no one complained. It was a rather nice silence that laid over the room, everyone too caught up in whatever they were painting. Naminé spaced out with oil on canvas and let the colors flow.

"That looks pretty nice you know." The voice behind scared her and she accidentally pushed the brush too hard again the canvas, making a big blue blob in the middle of the painting. She turned around to see who the voice belonged too and was met by a pair of beautiful green eyes with a mischievous, yet calming spark, under red hair and a charming smile. She answered the smile shyly under her bangs.

The guy was rather tall and really handsome, but she had no idea who he was or what he did here. She was just about to ask when -

"HEY YOU!" Xigbar's voice cut through the air like a speeding bullet and the young man turned his head towards the older art teacher and waved his hand.

"Yeah yeah, coming! Sorry Pumpkin gotta go." He gave her a wink before he turned around and started walking away, walking like he owned the world. It took Naminé a few seconds to get back to reality, before she quickly changed the color from blue to red.

xXxXx

She walked away from the big pink building, completely in her own world. The young guy that had complimented her work had glued himself to her mind and she couldn't get him out no matter what. Rai was also there, but this guy was... Wow. She wished she knew who he was.

"Hey, Naminé!" The voice from behind brought her back to reality and she looked over her shoulder to see Demyx coming running up behind her.

"Hey." She gave him a small smile and they started walking towards the school.

"Do you also have lunch now?" The petite blonde nodded and they walked towards the big blue building with the big "B" over the entrance that was their cafeteria. Demyx smiled towards her.

"We're gonna met up with Axel and everyone inside, come on." They walked inside and grabbed trays and food before they looked around and before they found Axel's bright hair and walked over to them. Demyx took a seat across from Axel, leaving Naminé to sit on the edge next to a girl with slate colored hair that gave her weird looks and Naminé was sure she growled at her. Hmm, weird.

She slowly picked at her salad, not daring to say anything, afraid that creepy-girl next to her would smack her if she even made a sound. And she was sure she kept growling as soon as Naminé moved.

Two guys across from her, both with brown hair, in different hair-dos seemed to have an argument of some sort. The one with the spiky hair shook his head.

"No Pence, I'm telling you chocolate muffins are better." The one named Pence look up from a laptop in front of him.

"No, blueberry muffins are the shit."

"Chocolate!"

"Blueberry."

"Chocolate!"

"Blueberry."

"Chocolate!"

"Blueberry."

"SORA! Give it a rest." Axel threw one of Demyx's fries on the brunet with the spiky hair. Sora, obviously, crossed his arms over his chest.

"Pence. I will throw your laptop out the window. Do I need to mention that we're on the third floor?" Pence quickly hugged his precious laptop.

"Chocolate actually is pretty good." Snickers spread across the table and Axel shook his head while he laughed and stole another fry from Demyx who smacked his hand. Axel raised an eyebrow.

"Oh bite me." Demyx started growling towards the redhead.

"I will if you don't leave my fries alone." Axel rolled his eyes.

"Come on Demyx, stop being overprotective. It's just fries."

"Yeah yeah, comes from the guy who sleeps with a teddy." Axel's face shifted to the color of his hair and he looked away, slightly mumbling something like "You leave Mr. Schnookypoo out if this…" before he looked back and laughed. A slate haired guy sitting next to Demyx face palmed.

Naminé noticed that the girl next to her just rolled her eyes and took a bite out of her sandwich. The blonde continued picking at her salad and smiled to herself. These people were so weird, yet a part of her found them cool and fun. It was a mystery to her how they could be themselves and they still liked each other. If she ever showed her real face to Kairi, Kairi would leave her in two red seconds. She wished she could hang out with them more often, but Kairi would never approve. But on the other hand; maybe Kairi maybe had nothing to say about the whole deal.

"What are you smiling about?" Naminé looked up to see who talked but right at that moment a new person entered and sat down across from her so she never got the chance to see who it was. He had blond ruffled hair and gigantic electric blue eyes.

"Yo ROXAS." The new blond just rolled his eyes at Axel's comment and started munching on a chicken burger. When he noticed Naminé he swallowed what he had in his mouth.

"Yo, who are you?" Naminé swallowed her piece of salad.

"I'm Naminé, Axel and Demyx invited me to hang with them today…" The blond guy just shrugged his shoulders.

"Kay, whatever." Demyx, who just came back from grabbing a soda, smacked Roxas upside the head.

"Come on Roxy, be nice." Roxas just growled and continued eating on his burger in silence. Naminé continued with her salad and took a sip out of her drink. Axel and Demyx were once again fighting over fries; the slate haired guy next to Demyx had picked up a book and was currently reading. It was a mystery to Naminé how he could focus on the book with all the yelling. All of a sudden Axel rose.

"Smoke break" Everyone gathered their stuff and they walked out of the blue building. Axel fished up a package of cigarettes from his pocket, took one and lit it. He offered one to Naminé who just shook her head. Demyx was just about to steal one as Axel withdrew the package, making Demyx snap a cigarette in two.

"Oh my god! Dude! You broke it!" Axel crossed his arms and looked at Roxas who was currently kicking a pebble.

"Yeah! Bad ROXAS bad!" Roxas looked up at him, confusion written all over his features.

"What did I do!"

"You broke it! Bad Roxas." Axel just kept blaming him, a smug grin painted on his face.

"Broke what!"

"Exactly." Roxas just shook his head and went back to his little pebble.

"Whatever." Axel sniggered and took another drag. Demyx stole another cigarette, this time without breaking it and lit it. He inhaled the smoke and started softly singing. Naminé smiled to herself and leaned against the warm wall, the slate haired boy sank down and picked up his book again. Crazy-girl walked off, Axel played with his lighter and even Roxas stopped with the pebble. The older blond had an awesome voice and Naminé closed her eyes towards the sun.

"It's a god awful small affair
to the girl with the mousey hair
But her mummy is yelling 'no!'
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is no where to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
But the film is a sadd'ning bore
For she's lived it ten times or more."

Naminé felt good for the first time all day. The song made the whole thing magical; Demyx's voice was just plain… Wow. Unfortunately the magic was broken by Axel screaming a "Cowabunga!". She felt like hitting Axel real hard but the redhead just grinned. He flicked away the remainder of his cig and nudged the reading guy with his foot.

"Come on Zexion. We're going in." Zexion looked up, closed his book with a sigh and rose. Together they walked in, but Naminé still had some of the magic left inside of her.

xXx

Leaving Starlight High behind for another afternoon, Naminé slowly made her way home, swaying gently to the melody of Demyx's song from earlier. She was amazed at how quickly her day had turned around. First, she'd thought it would be the worst day ever with waking up Kairi's mother, getting yelled at, then it starting to rain on her way to school, Kairi getting mad at her and practically disowning her as a friend.

But things had turned out alright. She was surprised at how different those rebel freaks were to how she and the rest of her group thought. Naminé sighed anew at the image of them laughing together at lunch. They were an odd bunch, but they got along, even when they were fighting.

She sometimes wished she could just be herself around her friends and not have them judge her.

Pushing open the door to her house, Naminé took a deep breath and kicked off her shoes. She wandered into the kitchen for a snack, and then went out into the living room to do her homework. Nobody enjoyed homework, except maybe nerds, but Naminé suffered through it, since it meant she got more time to draw.

She was almost finished when the phone rang. She picked it up automatically, convinced it was just another random person asking for her mom. Naminé already had her mouth open and was prepared to say that Evelyn wasn't here, when Kairi's wail had her snapping her mouth shut.

"OH MY GOD, SWEETIE, I'M SO, SO SORRY!" Kairi cried. Naminé rolled her eyes, sighing as Kairi went on with her dramatics. She supposed she should have expected it. Kairi was the greatest drama queen of all time. "I didn't mean to yell at you! I don't hate you, Nami! You're my best friend in the whole world! I don't want to lose you! Can you ever forgive me?"

Realizing that Kairi had actually stopped her entirely fake bawling to hear an answer, Naminé huffed out a breath and brushed her hair out of her face. "I know you didn't mean it. I made a mistake. You made a mistake. We learn from them and move on, right?"

"Yes! That's exactly right!" Naminé could practically see the girl's cocky smirk as she nodded her head. Kairi thought she had the whole world at her beck and call didn't she? "So, you forgive me?"

Naminé thought about it. She was about to say no, thoughts of the day spent in the company of the school rejects still whirling around in her mind, but this was Kairi. Her best friend. She'd known Kairi for years and the rejects for a couple of hours, and she was ready to just throw it all away?

Shaking her head, Naminé blinked. "Yes…of course I forgive you, Kai-Kai." Even if your apology was entirely faked. Axel and those weirdos were just too odd for her taste, anyway. She liked what was normal. And Kairi, Riku, Olette, all her friends, they were what was normal.

"YES! Thank you, sweetie! I am really, very sorry." Kairi went on. Naminé jumped a bit as a small beep interrupted her friend's tirade.

"Oh, hold on, I've got another call." When Kairi agreed to hold, Naminé switched the lines. "Hello?"

"Um, Naminé? It's Rai." Naminé's eyes went wide at the deep voice on the other end. How did Rai even get her number? She didn't recall ever giving it to him.

"Oh…hello, Rai." Namin´3 brushed her hair behind her ear. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering…um…if you'd like to…maybe…sometime…date me? Like. This Saturday, if you aren't busy."

Stunned, Naminé replied, "Hold please," switched back to Kairi's line, she whispered fiercely, "Rai just called and asked me out!"

Squealing, Kairi responded, "Oh honey, that's wonderful! Did you say yes?"

"I…I put him on hold." Naminé admitted shyly.

"Silly girl!" Kairi shrieked. "Tell him yes! Come on, Rai's totally into you. We've had this conversation before. You can't be a loner forever! This is your big chance to score big with the school's star jock!"

Nodding along, Naminé swallowed the lump in her throat. "O-okay…alright. Hang on." She switched back to Rai. "Um…I'm not busy…a date sounds…nice."

"Really? Great! I'll pick you up at seven." He hung up before Naminé could even ask how he knew where she lived. She didn't remember ever telling him that either.

Back to Kairi's line, Naminé took a deep breath. "Okay…I said yes. He's picking me up at seven on Saturday."

"Awesome!" Kairi giggled. "Well, sweetie, I have to go. Good luck with that!" after they hung up, Naminé sank back into the couch, confused and a bit dizzy from all that had just happened in the past five minutes.

The door opened and in came her mother, blonde hair a bit messy and her blue eyes aglow with happiness. She spotted Naminé sitting on the couch, dazed, and swooped in to hug her daughter fiercely. "Hello, my sweeting!" she giggled like a little girl, startling Naminé back into her own mind.

"Um, hi mom."

"Oh dearest, this man I've been seeing is simply the greatest! He's so wonderful! I can't wait to see him again." Naminé blinked up at her mother as Evelyn swept out of the room as quickly as she'd shown up. While it was strange to see her mother flouncing around the room, she wasn't surprised at all to hear those words. She'd heard them before. About every other guy her mother had ever dated. And there'd been a lot.

It was always the same. She'd come home starry eyed and claim he was the greatest man in the world, and then just drop him off and search for another one. This time wouldn't be any different than the one before. But she wasn't going to say anything aloud to her mother.

"That's great mom."

-That Weekend-

Naminé fidgeted as Kairi did last minute touch-ups on her makeup. She was dressed in a nice, rather low-cut white top that Kairi had suggested and a pair of crisp, light blue jeans. Her hair was as it always was, brushed over one shoulder, but Kairi had added hair-spray to make it stay in place and had brushed it until it shone.

"You look fabulous!" Kairi giggled, firmly gripping Naminé's chin to keep her face straight. "Stop moving, you'll ruin all my hard work!"

She forced herself to do as her friend said as Kairi finished up applying a rather heavy layer of blush.

"You're so pale, Nami! We've got to get you an appointment at a tanning salon soon."

Naminé just shrugged delicately as Kairi helped her to her feet. They both glanced up at the clock, seeing that it was almost seven. Rai would be coming to pick her up soon.

"Alright, one last check-up," Kairi announced, looking Naminé over again and again, circling around the blonde one last time. "Okay, I suppose you're fit for a first date. Now, remember, be coy, but leave him wanting more, don't give it all away too fast. Make him work for it. And soon, you'll have him wrapped around your little finger like I've got my little Riku."

She wasn't so sure about that, but Naminé nodded regardless, and jumped in surprise when the doorbell rang. "He's here?" she took a final look at the clock and saw that it was already five minutes past seven. She cast an almost helpless look at Kairi, who just gave her a thumbs up and shoved her at the door.

Rai stood on the other side, dressed as he always was in his football jersey and baggy jeans. He hadn't even tried to dress up for the date. Naminé scrunched up her nose, but quickly let the expression melt away before he could see. She wasn't supposed to judge. He was just being himself. She had to respect that.

"We gonna go?"

Naminé nodded and took his arm, waving goodbye to Kairi as they headed down the walkway.

So far, so good.

xXx

This is probably the most awkward date ever… Naminé thought as she twisted her napkin nervously in her lap. They'd hardly spoken to each other. Well, whenever Rai tried to engage her in conversation, Naminé just led it into a dead-end. She wasn't that great at talking, and she'd found Rai easy to talk to before. So why now, was she finding it difficult?

"You look nice," Rai began again.

Naminé nodded over at him, blushing. "Um, thank you. So do you." Even if it wasn't true, it was only polite.

Silence settled between them again. They'd already ordered and had taken the past ten minutes to simply pick at their food. Rai seemed too nervous to try and talk anymore, and she just didn't have it in her to speak. Was she really nervous? Was that why she kept calling up an image of that guy from her art class?

Naminé shook her head. No, that was the last thing she should be thinking about while on a date. She didn't even really know what that other guy had looked like. She'd just gotten a glimpse of him. She didn't even know his name! Why was she thinking about him at a time like this?

Rai suddenly took her hand and Naminé jumped, pulling it away. "Sorry…you just looked…troubled. Is something wrong?"

"N-no, thank you. I-I'm fine." Naminé forced a smile, shaking off the last vestiges of that redhead from her mind. She was probably only dwelling on him because he'd complimented her work, when no one else really did. That had to be it. She was just flattered that he'd noticed she had any talent. Rai had his finer points, she was sure. All she had to do was give him a chance to show them.

"Alright then, so…" Rai trailed off, his expression going blank. "I forgot what I was gonna say."

Naminé laughed lightly at that. See? She told herself, Rai's funny. Just by being himself. Spending the day with the misfits had just temporarily confused her, but now she was back on track. This was where she belonged; on the arm of a popular, handsome jock, not a nameless nobody who'd just been passing through. What had she been thinking?

xXx

Once they got back to her house after dinner, Naminé was more than ready to just run into her house and forget that the night had ever happened. If she could, she would've gone back to that afternoon and say no to Rai's date offer. She'd thought that they'd had a lot in common. But apparently, she'd been wrong.

Rai walked her up to the door and said goodbye. When she reciprocated, he leaned in to give her a kiss, and Naminé quickly turned her head so his lips met her cheek. She smiled shyly up at him to soften the rejection. "Um, goodnight. Thanks for taking me to dinner. I had fun." She lied. He nodded and she quickly darted inside, pressing her back against the door and sighing in relief.

"So, how did it go?" Kairi asked, in her face instantly.

Naminé shrugged. "Not so bad…but…"

"But what?"

"Well…it's like…we have nothing in common. I thought we got along great when we talked at school. But just now…it was really awkward."

"Well, of course it was awkward," Kairi snorted, rolling her eyes. "I mean, it was your first date. All first dates are awkward."

Filled with hope, Naminé brightened. "Really?"

"Oh yeah," Kairi waved a hand. "Always. You two just need to spend more time together. And then you'll see how great a couple you really are."

Naminé nodded along with her friend's words, as she always did. "Okay. Well, thanks for the help, but I'm really tired."

"As you should be." Kairi nudged her towards the stairs and put on her shoes. "I'm off to find my Riku." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively before blowing Naminé a kiss and leaving.

Shaking her head, Naminé climbed the stairs to her room and flopped down on her bed. Kairi's words had reassured her. First dates were always awkward. So that meant, if they went out again, they'd have more fun. Yawning, Naminé got up and washed off her make-up and changed into some pajamas.

First dates were always awkward, she repeated to herself until she fell asleep.