A Wishful Thought: Daang. I am one bad cookie. :/ It feels like I haven't updated any of my stories in forever (which I haven't) but I've been so stressed out with all my schoolwork and such, that I haven't found time to go on. And I'm so irresponsible, that I typed up a one-shot instead of working on the update for my ongoing stories. O_O Ah, the guilt has really started to settle in.

Thank you SO MUCH to someonethatceebsloggingin, Gumi Harue, Misfortune XIII, Future X13, Sato Tadashi, KeybladeMaster97, and Unknown for reviewing, and all the new story alerts and favorites too! :D I literally spazz out for joy every time my phone dinged and I realized that I had another review. :D Since I wasn't able to respond to any of them, I hope no one minds if I respond to them all at the end of the story? :]

And without further ado, I present to you the latest update of N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +. (And I must apologize for it's somewhat filler-ness.)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of the characters. Unfortunately.

N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: Chapter Five- An Awkward Conversation and Dinner

"Roxas. . .? Roxasssssss . . ? ROXAS!"

I blinked, somewhat confused and at the same time kind of surprised.

"I've been trying to get your attention since like. . . forever!"

"Sorry, bro. I was just. . . thinking."

"You do that too much. Eventually your brain is going to explode from your over-thinking of things, and I will be sitting there, laughing at your pathetic doom in the background."

"Err. . . Thanks?"

"It's no problem. I'm just speaking the truth."

I nodded slowly before turning my attention away from Sora. Currently, he was kind of freaking me out. Well, he does that on a daily basis, but right now I wasn't exactly in the mood to put up with his. . . behavior. Yeah, let's call it that.

You see, although it would've been fun to come up with an insult to shoot at my dearest brother, my mind just seemed to be preoccupied.

With Naminé.

I know, I know. It's weird isn't it? I just met this girl last night, and all of a sudden, I just. . . She's all that I can think about.

Whoa, that sounded creepy. Let's try that again.

Okay, I can't get her out of my mind, but not in the way that you're probably thinking. I mean that I can't get her out of my mind because she's so weird.

Oh, that sounded mean.

What I mean is that she's just so. . . different than what I'm used to. Kind of almost like a mystery, you know? She acts so strange, it's just. . . like a new puzzle that you got, and you can't stop thinking about the said puzzle because it's so perplexing and peculiar and you want to understand the puzzle so that you—

Ugh. Words are failing me today. I'm not even going to try anymore.

Before I even realized it, Sora and I had arrived back at our house. Shocking enough, Sora had remained courteous enough to remain quiet while I thought. Either that, or he'd been blabbering the whole way back and I've just become adept at tuning him out.

So I'd say that the latter is what's most probable. This is Sora that we're talking about.

"—So I said that maybe we should. . .Oh look. We're home!"

Exactly.

Our house wasn't exactly big, and it wasn't exactly small. But it was perfect in my eyes. It was a simple single story, formerly white house. We hadn't been keeping up with the responsibility of repainting it every now and then, so even though it was supposed to be white, it just. . . isn't. We have a decent sized backyard in the back, but it's nothing special. My mom uses up all the space in the back for her flower garden. I can't really complain though. Those flowers are really pretty.

For a minute or two, Sora and I just stood awkwardly on the doorstep until I remembered, "Oh snap, I have the keys today!"

I shot a glance at Sora to see his expression, but suddenly all of his energy disappeared and he looked kind of nervous, but like he was trying to lie about being nervous. Then again, Sora's a terrible liar.

Though I was kind of suspicious about his sudden change of behavior, I shook the thought away, and began hunting in my backpack to find the keys. But then I took one look at my keychain (which just so happens to be a red Converse shoe) and instantaneously remembered something.

"SORA!"

My brother (who had been facing away from me, "admiring the shrubbery") turned to face me, eyes wide and guilt written all over his face. "I DIDN'T DO IT!"

I narrowed my eyes in silent anger. "You're a terrible liar."

He laughed nervously, as he always does when he's in situations such as these. "W-W-What're you talking about?"

I could feel my glare intensify, and some small part of me smiled when I watched Sora wince, though it was very slight.

Ah, I could be so evil.

"YOU DIDN'T PICK UP MY SHOE LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD!" I yelled, before dropping my bag on our porch and turning away from my twin.

"Hey!" I could hear Sora stomp the short distance over towards me, and I couldn't help but growl when he grabbed my shoulders and roughly forced me to face him. "I NEVER SAID THAT I WOULD PICK UP YOUR STUPID SHOE! YOU SAID YOU WOULD FORCE ME, AND IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU FORGOT!"

My brain scrambled for an angry retort so that I could yell at him, but nothing seemed to come. And so I blurt out something random that would probably succeed in confusing Sora.

But I'll have to be honest here, that's how I usually win these arguments against Sora.

"YEAH, BUT I WAS THINKING ABOUT . . . STUFF. SO I COULDN'T POSSIBLY HAVE REMEMBERED TO FORCE YOU TO PICK UP MY SHOE!" Realizing how lame that sounded, I scrambled for something to add on. "You should've reminded me."

Sora frowned, as though thinking my statement through. Slowly though, a smirk consumed his features, and I couldn't help but flinch. That smirk. That stupid, smug smirk.

"Ooooh laalaaa! Here I was, thinking that you were thinking about something weird and nerdy, but the way you said that. . ." He trailed off before moving in closer to me, and nudging my side. "What kind of stuff were you thinking about?"

I felt my face go red, and I turned to stare at him in shock, eyes wide. My previous anger was gone and was surprised by a sort of. . . astonishment. I mean, how did Sora catch that? I'm pretty sure I hadn't done anything to give it away. My twin brother was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively which only made me go redder.

"I. . . I. . . I. . ."

I think that I must've done something to get on God's good side, because he saved my sorry old butt once more.

Just when it seemed like Sora had grown twenty feet and a Hitler-style mustache, our front door swung open, revealing the welcoming face of our mother.

"Sora? Wait a second. . . I thought that Roxas was the scary one. . .?"

Instantly, Sora turned, a huge grin on his face. "Mommy!"

On the other hand, my jaw had dropped. "Whoa, the scary one? I'm not scary!"

My mother smirked, her bright green eyes twinkling mischievously. Before she could respond, Sora engulfed her in a giant hug. I guess we had grown more than I thought we had, since our mom was barely at Sora's shoulder.

While still hugging her, Sora turned his head to shoot me a knowing smile, one that was enough to make me realize that he wasn't going to let the subject drop. When he would decide to bring it up again, I had no idea.

Part of me desperately wanted to stomp off angrily into the house, lock myself in my room, and refuse to answer the door. But when I took a step forward, my mother came back into view, and I felt a pang of guilt for not greeting her better. I mean, I hadn't seen her for three freaking weeks.

Before I could think of what to do next, Sora grinned and screamed, "GROUP HUG!" then grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the embrace.

Though I was a little annoyed with him, I couldn't help but smile.

But just a little bit.

"You boys took care of the place well. Part of me expected our house to be in ruin when I got back."

Sora and I nodded carefully as we trailed after our mother. She didn't have to know that we cleaned the entire kitchen this morning because Sora had managed to make pancake batter explode. Naw, that was something we could probably keep to ourselves.

"Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

Mom had taken a seat on the sofa. A majority of her chocolate-brown hair was pulled back with a familiar pink ribbon, and the rest of her hair framed her face perfectly. She had layered two thin dresses over one another. The dress that was on the bottom was the exact same shade as the pink ribbon in her hair, and the dress that was over that was pale blue with pink flowers spread around it. Together, they went down to a little bit above her knee. It doesn't really seem like a motherly outfit of any sort, but our mom isn't that old at all. In fact, she had just turned thirty-five this year. But she honestly looked like someone in their mid-twenties.

"We have a bunch of new students. Kairi's cousin is one of them!"

Mom's eyes flashed towards Sora, and for a second I thought I saw a flash of worry spread over her face, but I must've been mistaken, because instantly her expression changed to one of surprise. "Oh, really? What's her name?"

"Naminé Soto. She's kind of weird if you ask me," Sora said calmly. He had dropped his backpack off at the front of the house, and was striking his signature lazy pose. You know, the one where he puts his arms behind his head?

Even though I had thought something extremely similar in my head, I couldn't help but feel a sudden rush of anger at my brother for actually saying it out loud. I mean, no one's actually weird, right? There's always a reason, right?

My mom's eyebrows instantly furrowed at his words, and she stood up right away, an expression of anger evident on her face. "Sora William Hikari!" Sora flinched at the usage of his full name. "That was so rude! You can't just say that about someone! I'm sure you know absolutely nothing about her!" She took a few deep breathes as though to calm herself down more. She wasn't exactly angry. No, our mom never really gets that angry. But still, she hated raising her voice on us, and hardly ever did it. When she seemed to regain her composure, she smiled at my brother apologetically. "What I mean is that maybe you should get to know her before you jump to conclusions. It's kind of unfair, don't you think?"

It took a while for Sora to get over the initial shock of the fact that our mom seriously yelled, but when he got over it, he nodded slowly before smiling. "I think I'm just going to get something to eat then."

And like that, the subject of Naminé was dropped.

I don't know if I expected more out of it, or what, but I stood there for a while as though waiting for my mom to say something else. But she had resumed her seat on the sofa, and was absentmindedly flipping through channels on the TV.

I felt my brows furrow in slight confusion, but the feeling quickly passed. We're the Gainsborough-Hikaris. This is practically a daily event in our little family. We question just enough to annoy each other, but we stop before we actually dig into each other's lives. So I guess we're just a tight-knit family that appreciates privacy if it makes sense.

Not knowing what else to do, I turned to walk to my room and play my guitar or something, but my mom called for me to stop. "Roxas?"

I turned around again to face her. "Yeah, mom?"

She smiled at me before speaking, "I'm having some friends over tonight for dinner."

I nodded, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "Just the usual?"

The smile was still on her face, and her eyes were looking far-off into the distance as if she was thinking about something else while she talked to me. "Yeah."

"It's not a problem with me."

In fact, it would be exciting. A majority of my new teachers coming over tonight to eat dinner at my house? Fun.

At around six, the doorbell rang, signaling our guests' arrival. Or at least, some of our guests. Not wanting to be rude, I put down my guitar back down into its' case, and exited my room to greet our visitors. I heard footsteps behind me, so I didn't have to turn to know that Sora had gotten the same idea as me.

"Evening, Aerith. Enjoy your trip?"

"Aerith! I haven't seen you in a while, huh?"

I smiled. Of course Zack and Cloud arrived first. I might just be imagining things, but I think they both have a thing for my mom. And though I find that just a little bit creepy (I mean, they are my teachers after all!), I have to admit that they'd each be awesome step-dads. They, along with Tifa, have known my mom since elementary school, so the four of them are the best of friends. They met Uncle Cid when they were in middle school, and when he was in high school or college. The story's kind of old, so I'm not very sure which one it is. My mom's only slightly acquainted with our crazy Gym teacher, Miss Kisaragi, so I don't think she'll be coming tonight.

My mom grinned widely at the two of them, and seemed to have raced over to the door in excitement. "Zack, Cloud! I've missed you two so much!" She tackle hugged the two of them, causing them both to stumble back slightly.

"The feeling's mutual, Aerie," Zack chuckled, and I couldn't help but smirk at his nickname for my mom.

Okay, remember how I said that I think that they each have a thing for my mom? Well, Sora thinks so too. And so, between the two of us, we have a little bet. I'm Team Zack, while my brother is Team Cloud. I'm pretty sure that I'm right, since Cloud and Tifa have known each other practically since birth and are probably going to get together, but Sora begs to differ.

Is it weird that we're both betting on our own mom's love life?

"Come in, you guys." The smile was still on my mom's face. But now she had grabbed Cloud's wrist and was dragging him off into the kitchen, while Zack trailed after them.

Soon enough, Zack caught sight of me, and if possible, his grin widened. "Why, if it isn't Roxie!"

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Well, of course. I do live here after all."

He smirked before ruffling my hair and gesturing for me to follow him into our kitchen. It seemed as though Sora had run off after Cloud, since he was already in the kitchen when Zack and I got there.

My brother was looking between the two of the older men, before glancing at my mom and sighing exasperatedly. "But where's the food?"

Zack chuckled, while Cloud simply smiled. "Tifa said she'd pick it up."

Sora nodded while I groaned. "I'm guessing we're having pizza again?"

Cloud laughed lightly, "What do you mean again?

Zack's eyes had widened and his jaw had dropped. "How can you not be ecstatic about having pizza for dinner?"

And my mom simply giggled.

Sora turned to look at me, mischief dancing in his eyes. "Yeah, Roxas. You should be thankful!"

Thankful my ass.

Once again, the doorbell rang. I stepped forward as though to answer it, but Cloud waved his hand, signaling that he'd go get it.

"Y'all better 'aven't started this lil' shindig without me, right?"

Upon hearing the voice, my brother instantly turned, a creepily large smile on his face, before running off in the direction of the front door screaming, "UNCLE CIDDDD!"

I heard a loud oomph coming from the front door, but decided I wouldn't bother looking too much into it. I heard the sound of the door opening again, and a startled, "Oh mon Dieu!" rang throughout the house, along with the heavenly scent of freshly baked pizza.

Maybe pizza for dinner isn't so bad after all.

It took a while, but eventually we all sat down at the table, and began marveling the extra large sized boxes of pizza that rested before us, along with the several liters of soda and the several boxes of breadsticks of course. Then, we all shot each other a quick glance before standing up and throwing as much food as physically possible onto our plates.

"Hey, I wanted that slice!"

"Ya snooze ya lose, sucker!"

"Ah! Sora, that was my finger not a slice of pizza you dimwit!"

Oh, the joys of a dysfunctional get-together.

I dramatically lifted a piece of cheese pizza to my mouth, inhaling its intoxicating smell. Just by smelling it, I could tell that it was going to be impossibly fattening and greasy, and that I'd probably regret eating it later, but none of that mattered at this point in time. I was going to eat some freaking pizza. I opened my mouth slowly, relishing the moment, even though there wasn't a real point to relishing it. Just as I was about to stuff the entire thing in my mouth, the door bell rang.

It seemed liked no one else had expected the ringing either, because we all looked around, kind of puzzled, trying to think if there was anyone that was supposed to be here but just wasn't. And it seemed like no one had come to mind, because everyone (including myself) was shooting curious looks at my mother.

With a sigh, she stood up out of her chair to get her door. And just like that we commenced eating again. I mean, my mom would take care of it, so there wasn't really a problem anymore.

"Oh, I think it's Kairi!"

My brother's eyes widened, and he instantly dropped his slice of pizza back onto his plate. He stood up hastily, and began wiping off the pizza grease onto his jeans. All the men at the table either smirked at him or gave him a knowing look, while Tifa simply shot him an encouraging grin, which only made Sora blush lightly before he ran off towards the door.

Remember how I said that my family always respects each other's privacy? Well whenever we have guests over, that whole philosophy just goes down the drain.

As soon as Sora left the room and my mom re-entered it, we kind of just sat at the table awkwardly, no one even touching their food anymore, the same exact thought plaguing us all. Slowly, our gazes seemed to mesh with each other's, the exact expression on all of our faces. And just like that, we all seemed to make an agreement. Even my mom.

Quietly, we snuck closer to the front of the house. Close enough that we could hear what was going on, but far away enough that we were out of sight.

"—didn't expect you over tonight."

I had to fight the urge to crane my neck to see the two interact. But I imagined Sora nervously wringing his hands together behind his back where Kairi couldn't see him.

"Uh, yeah. Um. . . Can I talk to Roxas?"

The surprised eyes of the five adults immediately shifted towards me. It had been known by practically everyone that Kairi and Sora were meant to be together, and they probably thought that I had done something to make her suddenly want to talk to me. But that wasn't the case. I mean, I didn't even know why she wanted to talk to me!

Sora had probably been openly surprised too because, I mean, Kairi and I aren't really that close. Out of all the girls in our friend group, I'm closer to Olette, not Kairi. Knowing that Sora was probably making a fool of himself while trying to cover up his shock, I carefully strode towards them, making it look like I had come from the dining room table. "I heard my name?"

Sora nodded slowly, and shot me a look. I didn't exactly have time to decipher what it meant though, because Kairi grabbed my wrist, and pulled me out onto the porch. Before I even knew it, Sora had shut the door closed, and I could only imagine that he was probably upset with me.

Oh, I'd have a lot of explaining to do this time.

"Uh, so what's up, Kai?"

She was wearing exactly what she had worn to school, and there was a serious sort of expression on her face, one that was making me nervous. Her auburn hair was messier than it usually ever is which told me that she had probably rushed over.

"What in the world did you do to Naminé?"

I blinked. Okay whaaat?

I guess that Kairi caught the puzzled expression on my face because her eyes softened a little, a bit of the seriousness disappearing. "She didn't even wait for me so that we could walk home together, and when I got home worried sick about her, she was all sunshine and rainbows and happy polar bears."

I nodded slowly. Why did Kairi think that this had anything to do with me? "Um, Kai, I don't think that—"

And then it hit me.

Naminé was looking away from me now, and down at her lap. "I-I'm sorry. . ."

I blinked. Huh? "Why are you sorry. . .?" I could practically feel the dangers of the water that I was beginning to tread on, but I knew that I'd just have to tough it up.

She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I should just forget, right? Just forget it all?"

I was seriously becoming more confused by the minute. "Forget what?"

I couldn't help but widen my eyes slightly in realization. Was she actually serious?

"You're right." I didn't know what to say, so I settled for not saying anything at all. "I promise. . . I promise that I'll be happy now. That I'll forget. Is that better?"

I honestly didn't know what to do. What was she talking about? I stumbled over the words in my head, and when I finally managed to get some words out, they didn't even come out the way they were meant to. "W-Wait. Forget? Don't, you don't have to. Uh, any of that. You don't need to forget, or. . . or. . ."

But all of a sudden, the bell rang, and she picked up her things and left. No waiting for Kairi or Hope, no words of goodbye, she just left.

"Oh, Kairi. . . I—"

Kairi put up her hand to stop me from talking, and I could tell that it was something she didn't really want to do, but that it was something that she felt like she had to do.

"You don't have to tell me, I understand that it might be private." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. What did she think that I did? And why did she come here if she didn't even want to hear what happened? "I just wanted to say thank you."

This was getting more and more confusing by the minute.

Kairi actually giggled at my confused expression, before sitting down on the steps leading up to the porch, and patting the seat next to her, gesturing for me to sit with her. I hesitated at first, but I mean, what the hey?

Once I sat, it got quiet for a while. I was still trying to comprehend everything that had just happened, and Kairi was maybe just stalling for time because she didn't want to go home. Who knows?

"You know, Naminé hasn't smiled for more than five seconds the entire time she's moved in with us." I felt my eyes widen once more in minute surprise, and I turned to look at Kairi, who was now watching the wonderful oranges, reds, and pinks of the sunset. "Not until today. When I got home, she just seemed so. . . happy. I haven't seen her like that since. . . well since a very long time."

Whoa. Did I do that?

"Maybe she was just happy that she got to see someone from her childhood. Her and Hope seem pretty close." Even as I said the words, I knew that they weren't really true. Sure, Naminé was probably happy on seeing him, but she wasn't all smiley after they had reunited. It seemed like she hadn't gotten like that until after we had our awkward little conversation.

Kairi's eyes flickered towards mine, and in them I could see that she didn't actually believe what I had just said. "Rox. . . I don't know what you did, or how you did it, but thank you so much. She's been through a lot, you know?"

No, I actually didn't know, but I couldn't find it in me to interrupt her.

"Just keep. . . Doing whatever you're doing, Roxas."

And with that, she pecked me on the cheek and ran away.

Dude. What the hell?

A Wishful Thought: What did I just do here? I have no idea. It seemed kind of dragging, didn't it? I meant to throw in some humorous stuff, but I guess it didn't really work out. And I TOLD YOU that this chapter would end up kind of filler-ish. XP But at least I threw in some foreshadowing. I wonder if any of you caught it. . . ? ;D

I think that at one point in the middle of the story I switched from past-tense to present-tense, but I'm not even sure anymore. I just really want to get this chapter out. XD

And I'm not sure that I caught Aerith's personality very well. Any tips for it?

Someonethatceebsloggingin: XP Such a creative nickname. Haha, I love Hope too! He's just adorkable. Thanks so much for reviewing!

Gumi Harue: :D WOOT! I'm so glad that you like Axel's name. I was trying to think up a last name for him, but all I could think up was one that a different author had used, and I didn't want to take it from her. So I was thinking about it, and I was just like, "Oh, what the hey. Axel would probably think it's cool." XD Oh, yay! I wasn't really sure how I wanted their brotherly relationship to be, so I just started writing and went with my gut. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HOPE TOO! At first, I was debating whether or not I should throw him in since he's not from the KH franchise and that it might throw some people off. And then I also realized that I couldn't really think of anyone else that would be able to play his role in my story. Who knows about the love triangle business? As I made Olette say in the last chapter, ". . . Love is quite the conditional thing." ;D

And I'm hoping that I'm not rushing her sudden brightness, but it feels like I am. XD I just really want to get into the main plot of the storyline! Anyway, thank you SO MUCH for your kind review and for reading my story. :') Even though you said that you don't usually review, I hope that you tuned in for this chapter and got to read it! :D

Misfortune XIII: Yay! :D I hope you had a good birthday, even though I missed it because of all my stupid schoolwork. -_- Whew! I'm glad that you liked the chapter. When I was writing it, I was trying to make it more descriptive, because I was hoping that when someone was reading it, they might be able to get the same mental image that I got in my head when I thought of Sora and Roxas and their friends and all their strange ways. XD Hope is adorable, ain't he?

Love triangle? I have no idea what you're talking about. . . *whistles innocently*

TEEHEE. (Thank you for reviewing! ;D)

Future X13: Oh yay! I'm glad that you liked the chapter, and I hope that you liked this one too. :] Thanks for reviewing!

Sato Tadashi: I originally wasn't planning to do something like that to Roxas. XD But when I was thinking about the future of this story, I figured that I might as well throw in Hope. He's just so cute! I know, I think I'm making Naminé a little on the loony side which wasn't supposed to happen. It just kind of. . . flowed so I went with it. XD

Thank you so much for your feedback! :D I hope that this chapter was a little less dragging, but I kind of doubt it. XP *dies*

KeybladeMaster97: I know, the whole Panera guy thing was pretty random, wasn't it? XP I think that the whole lunchroom scene was probably the easiest (and funnest!) part of the chapter for me to write because I could practically see it happening in my head. I think that I gathered inspiration from my friends though. XD I could definitely see them pulling something like that. Actually, I think that I based a majority of the friend group's random antics on things that me and my friends have actually done. XD I was planning on making the passing of the notes longer, and then I realized that it would be terribly difficult to carry on a note-passing conversation with so much people, and so I just got lazy and made it short. And threw in Axel of course, because I haven't thrown him in in a while. XD I'm glad that you liked Sora and Roxas' short conversation on their way to Gym! I saw it on your profile, and it absolutely made my day. :3

Thank you so much for reviewing the last chapter, and I genuinely hope that you liked this one too! :D

Unnamed: I'm starting to wonder the same thing now. XP I think that I may be rushing the whole lovey dubby thing. XD You know, that actually makes so much more sense than what I had written. Ah well, I guess we can just say that whoever their dad was wasn't entirely on the genius side if he had an affair in his own house when his kids were supposed to be coming home, huh? XD

ANYWAY, thank you SO MUCH for reviewing! :D I'm glad that you like my story, and I hope that you'll continue to read it. :]

Next time. . . A short time skip (just a few weeks) to the weekend! *breaks out into Friday by Rebecca Black* Ahem. It shall be filled with all those wonderful college freaks, begging for forgiveness, and a day in the mall/park/outside the school. ;D

Please REVIEW. :D