A/N: Late update, I know :( But it's here! Thanks for your patience and kindness! It means a lot to me! Glad to hear everyone is enjoying the story and are okay with the changes! :D

Disclaimer: Meow!

Five: Partners.

"Namine? You been walking around the room like that for a long time! Are you okay?" Nora asked me that night. Dad was gone doing who knows what, so I made Nora and I some mac and cheese, simple and delicious. Now, here we are in my bedroom. Nora was drawing in my sketch pad while I continued to pace back and forth in front of her like she said.

"I'm fine, Kitty." I replied, but I wasn't.

How could I be okay when I actually have the chance to hang out with people my age when I have a drunken/abusive father and helpless little sister to take care of? The biggest part about it is that I don't even care about being social!

So why now all the sudden?

"We can give you all the advice you want to know about Roxas!"

Ah, right. Roxas...THAT'S why.

Why Roxas?

"BECAUSE HE STARES AT ME LIKE A CREEP!"

"Who does?"

"Hm?" I turn around on my heel to see Nora looking up at me from the page she was scribbling on, her wide blue eyes were patient and her head cocked slightly to her right side the way she always does when something seems to catch her interest. I give her a warm smile and walk over to sit besides her on the edge of my bed.

"Did I say that out loud?" I asked and she nodded briefly. I shook my head and peered down to get a better look at the little stick-figure drawing of Nora and I holding hands with many orange cats around us. It never bothered me that Nora drew in my sketch pad, actually a good third of my sketch pad is full of Nora's drawings and my mothers, I was just starting to use it since I preferred painting over drawing.

"Wow, is that all your cats?" I asked Nora, caressing her back gently. She was so thin, so fragile...like she were about to break at any moment. The poor kid, and what's even more sad about it is that her disease bothers ME more than it bothers her, and she know's that too, but at least someone cares because dad sure as hell don't.

"No.." She shook her head gently. "They're our cats, and this is the special world were mommy is at! See? I drew her in the sky with wings and a ring over her head...because she's an angel and that's what angels have!"

I felt my chest tighten and it was suddenly hard to swallow. I wanted to praise her for her art work but only air escaped my lips, Nora was looking at me like I had three eyes.

"Namine, why are you crying? It's suppose to be a happy picture!" Nora said, and I hadn't realized until now that I was crying like a baby, in front of my five-year-old sister.

"H-Happy tears...Nora, they're happy tears...I love it." I reassured her, my voice was hoarse and shaky.

"But...I don't like seeing you sad! Will you stop crying if I let you have the picture?"

That caused me to crack a smile, I nodded. Sniffing loudly as I gently pulled my little sister in my lap, hugging her close to me and just wishing that my arms were some sort of strong barrier to protect her from the outside world...and everyone in it.

An empty street. With most of the bulbs on either broken or flickering, giving very little light. The road is cracked and graffiti painted beneath my feet. The buildings besides me were no different, and some had broken windows.

I had no clue where I was...The slums maybe?

But...Twilight Town seemed way to peaceful to have an area like this...

"Hey Sugar! Were ya heading!?"

I froze in my tracks as the smell of alcohol and drugs lingered around me. I dared myself to look up in front of me to see three guys wearing baggy clothing and dirty hoodies. They were all looking at me like I was some piece of stake or something...

"Hey baby, you lost?" One of the guys said while the others laughed.

I just stared. To shocked to move.

"Maybe we can have a little fun..." Another said. I did not like the way that he said 'fun'

"N...no thanks...please..." I stammered backing away from them, they laughed and stepped closer to me, I kept backing away from them until a pair of warm and strong hands grabbed my shoulders, I screamed and whirled around...

"WOW...what is THAT?" Xion asked, almost scaring me out of my thoughts from the weird dream I had last night. "Oh...It's my X boyfriend, Roxas! Hey, Roxas! You have any eyeliner I can borrow? I seem to be running short!" Xion shouted over to Roxas once he had entered the art room.

Dressed in a black sleeveless sweater, black skinny jeans, along with his usual wristbands and X pendent. He looked over his shoulder at Xion and Fuu who were laughing. I was expecting him to tell her to go fuck herself or something but he just narrowed his eyes at her before they shifted over to me, and that caused his gaze to soften...a lot.He stared at me, and I stared back for what seemed like years before he finally turned around to walk over to his usual table.

What the hell!?

"He...is such a loser...why did you ever go out with him!?" Fuu asked Xion, and it was probably the most I've ever heard her say in one-sentence. Xion scoffed and rolled her eyes in response, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You should have met his mother...gosh...all she ever talked about was her stupid little daughter, Marlene! When I was over it was always 'Marlene this!' and 'Marlene that!' did I mention that I had to babysit the brat while she ran the bar and while her loner of a husband was off on his stupid bike?"

Fuu's jaw dropped. "No way..."

"YEAH! I'm just...SO glad I'm done with that...did you know how great it was when I-" Xion started but Fuu smacked a hand over her mouth, leaving the rest of Xion's sentence to just sound like a bunch of soft muffles.

"Shh! We're in a public place...you and I are the only one's that know!" Fuu snapped.

Okay, I'm not a gossip hag, and I avoid being one as much as I can but...this was getting interesting...However. my question was...why did that make Roxas' parents so weird when they asked her to babysit for them? I was still having a hard time believing that Xion came from Aeris!

"You can tell me." I blurted out.

They both looked at me like I was crazy before looking at one another then back at me again.

"Why do you care?" Xion snapped.

"Um..." Because I'm curious about your X and why it was such a big deal for you to look after his little sister when his parents were working?

"Because...we're friends..." Not. Not. NOT! "Right?"

Xion shrugged. "We'll see...you may be a gossiper for all I know?"

A quiet person like me? Ha, funny. Wanna see a gossiper? Try looking in the mirror.

I stayed quiet. Not really sure how to respond to that.

"Ugh, fine! I'll just tell you this...that his mom is always talking with my mom! Bitching on and on about shit nobody cares about! Except for my mom because shes like...nice to everyone and best friends with Roxas' mom...sadly...that's how we met."

"ATTENTION CLASS!" Mrs Bird shrieked before I could get a word out to Xion.

Xion gave me a warily glance before she turned around in her stool to face Mrs Bird.

"Today, I will be assigning you all a project...you will each work with your partner that I've paired you with and you will both be drawing each others face profile! Paper and pencils will be at the back desk, and I don't want to hear any complain about who I've paired you with!" Mrs Bird shouted before looking down at her clipboard.

For the next few moments she started naming off peoples names and who they were paired with, then it came to Xion, then me...bet you can guess who I was paired with.

"Xion Fair! You will be paired with Axel Turk!"

"Are you KIDDING!?" Xion shrieked throwing up her hands in disbelief, I had to fake a cough to hide a smile. Axel didn't seem all that thrilled on working with her either, of course...could you blame him?

"As for Namine Shinra...you will be paired up with Roxas Strife."

Oh Shit.

I slowly looked over at where he was sitting, but to my surprise he was scribbling on a piece of paper while listening to his iPod I watched his right hand dancing furiously over the paper as he continued to write while his left fiddled with the wolf stud in his left ear. Swallowing hard, I slowly got up from my seat and over to the back table to get our supplies but I didn't go far when someone grabbed my wrist.

"Wah?" I spun around to see it was Xion, her blue eyes were even darker than usual.

"Listen here, Blondie...if you repeat anything...and I do mean anything of what I said about his mama...you're dead."

Yeah, like I'm going to actually talk to him!

"Sure, whatever..." I muttered shrugging out of her grip. I was really starting to get sick of her sass.

I felt the heat rising to my cheeks when I walked over to Roxas' table, he was the only one sitting there and his eyes were still focused on whatever he was writing...even when I approached him and sat down besides him. I could hear some kind of punk-rock music blasting from his ear buds.

Geeze, get death why don't ya?

I did not know if I should tap him or just sit and wait for him to notice me, since I couldn't really draw his face profile if he was all hunched over and his eyes were focused on that stupid paper. I decided to give it a few moments and just wait to see if he noticed me...the girl he's been staring at since shes move here.

I couldn't stop myself from staring at the muscle definition in his arms.

Not Bad.

Of course at the worst time, that's when Roxas looked up from his paper and lock his dark-blue eyes on me...they seemed to be glowing. There was a little green circle around his pupils that I haven't noticed before...they were dark blue...but at the same time they were bright...

So beautiful...

I stared at him agape as he slowly pulled his ear buds out, his gaze never turning from me. Giving me the same look he had when I first ran into him, eyebrow arched and eyes shimmering with amusement. As if he were mocking me...

Ugh, I guess I have to do the talking...

"We'repartnersandI'mNamine." I said wishing that I hadn't because it all sounded like I was speaking gibberish.

Great way to introduce yourself Namine.

Roxas' eyebrow raised further, causing my heart to skip a beat.

"What was that?" He asked in his deep and mild voice.

I knew I was blushing by the way he was staring at me, the corner of his mouth rising slowly into a smirk.

"U...uh...uh...I'm...N-Namine...and...well...we're ...uh...we're sort of...partners..." I stammered now feeling like a real big idiot. Wanting nothing more but to just vanish into thin air.

His smirk grew wider, and my heart sunk deeper. Why was he so sexy!?

"What kind of partners?"

"W-w-what!?" I shrieked, my heart was doing cartwheels now. It got even worse when he laughed.

The way his broad shoulders bounced, the way his mouth curved...and the way his eyes sparkled...would give you all the evidence needed that he was one of God's perfect angels.

"Well...there is all sorts of partners." Roxas said still smiling that perfect smile. "Business partners, company partners,dancing partners..." He paused to give me a smirk. "Sex partners..."

I must of blanched a ghostly white because Roxas started to howl with laughter. I just stared at him wide-eyed and gasped when he placed his hand over mine. It was warm and slightly calloused...but it was twice the size of my own and it just felt right...

"I'm just messing with you..." Roxas paused before he slowly moved his hand up my arm.

I could feel my heart pounding against my rib cage, and my face flame from how much I was flushing.

"Hmm...you have very nice skin...that's gong to be tough to draw, but we'll manage...may I see that?" Roxas pointed a finger to the paper with his free hand while his other still held onto mine.

I could only nod in response, I almost had to force my left hand to grab for the piece of paper.

I see trust and Hope as a waste of time.

I see life as a time period full of challenges. Some we risk to take, some we avoid.

From this day on...I was positive of one thing, that I was in love with Roxas Strife, and that this was a challenge I will risk to take...to have...

A/N: Eeehh...sorry if this chapter sucked...it was a bit rushed...I still hope you've enjoyed :)