"Sincerely, Nobody" by ladydemelza

Chapter 4!

Reminder: this story is in the process of being updated from how it was originally posted. Thank you for your patience as I continue to work on it. :)

The first to meet were Riku and Naminé.

Naminé's father had just gotten a job offer in what was then a very small community known as Twilight Town. The town itself grew larger with every day that passed, and soon, it began to swell with new faces. Businesses went up more quickly than ever, and families were all vying for homes in the best neighborhoods. Sixteen years ago, Twilight Town was booming.

The wave of people slowly reduced to a trickle, and had remained that way ever since then. Naminé's father had received an offer he couldn't refuse, so, at the beginning of the rush, he, Naminé's mother, and their three-month-old baby girl had moved to town.

At barely four years of age, Naminé was invited to play with the only other child her age in her neighborhood—a boy named Riku who lived just across the street. Her mother took her over just after lunch, beaming all the way. Naminé had been a naturally quiet child, which was, of course, completely unnatural—who had ever heard of a child who was quiet? Her mother had been ecstatic to get her involved with other children her age.

She and Riku were introduced. Their parents kept watch on them in Riku's backyard as they played in his sandbox.

"I'm Naminé," she introduced herself timidly.

"I'm Riku!" he replied, grinning. "Do you like sand?"

"Yes," Naminé immediately answered, plopping herself down into the sand next to Riku. "I can dig really deep holes."

"Not as deep as me," Riku disagreed. "Let's race."

"If I win, you can be my best friend," Naminé suggested.

"But if I win, you can be mine," Riku said, smiling a little.

"Okay… go!"

And that was the first time that any of them spoke to each other. Introductions to Sora, Roxas, and Kairi came shortly after, and the small group remained inseparable throughout their grade school years. Even when they were in middle school and most groups of friends were experiencing rifts or dissolving completely, they remained closer than ever. Yuri, added into the mix near the end of 7th grade, had fit in nicely, almost like she had always belonged there with them.

Riku and Kairi's talk had lasted till dinnertime. She couldn't stand keeping all of the secrets—she spilled her guts to one of her oldest friends, and felt great about it. Normally, she would confide in Naminé, because telling a secret to Naminé was as if you had never told anyone.

The main thing that Kairi had wanted to talk about was Yuri. Her "thing" with Roxas was getting out of control, and she was considering taking advantage of Riku's friendship. Kairi couldn't let Yuri purposefully hurt Riku, so she decided the best course of action would be to warn Riku—and, Riku being Riku, the message would reach Sora within a matter of hours, and the group would be forced to think of a way to resolve this problem.

Which was, of course, loads better than Yuri using someone.

That night, Roxas couldn't help but delve deeper into the girl's diary—he kept hoping that she would slip up and reveal something small about herself that could give him something to go by. At last, he found what he was looking for:

It's as though looks are all that matters. I mean, really, girls rave about my blonde hair, but really, I don't deserve it nearly as much as one of them.

Jackpot. She was blonde. Feeling much better about his situation, Roxas went to bed, but couldn't sleep. He had thought he wasn't interested in something more than friendship with any girl, but he could not get this girl out of his head even though he had never met her. He wanted to know more about her, even more than he already knew from reading her diary, and he felt sick to his stomach when he realized there was no possible way this situation could end well for him.

He stared at his ceiling, anxiety continuing to roll in his stomach.

Upon their arrival to school the next morning, Roxas once again split from the group to return to the spot where he had found the diary. Sure, there would be loads of blonde girls around, but perhaps, by some off chance, one might be very obviously looking at the floor, or doing something else to indicate they were searching for it.

Before long, just as he had the day before, he ran into Naminé, who, for once, did not seem put together at all, but seemed in a hurry. "Morning, Roxas," she said cheerfully, giving him a little wave.

He smiled. "Didn't I run into you here yesterday?"

"It must be kismet," she said, feeling ridiculous. She shouldn't be flirting with Roxas—she needed to keep looking, just in case…

Roxas could sense somehow that Naminé, after 12 years of friendship, was finally coming out of her shell.

"How are you today?" he asked.

"I'm a little bit… tired," Naminé told him slowly, as though she was thinking over her answer to this question extremely carefully. "How about you?"

"Me too," he said. "Nightmares of failing things, you know. The usual!"

Naminé laughed. Since when did Naminé laugh? "Oh Roxas, I'm sure you didn't fail. You're just as intelligent as Sora, and he's never failed a thing!"

He chuckled a little at that. "Or so you think. Maybe I'm just a good at pretending."

"No, you're horrible," she confessed. "One of the worst liars I know, actually."

"Aren't we in an honest mood today," he said. "Really, though, was that supposed to be a burn?"

"A little."

Roxas almost fell over. What had gotten into her this morning?

The warning bell clanged, and Roxas wanted to smack himself. How could he have let Naminé distract him? "Guess I'd better get to class," he said, starting off in the direction of his first period class. "See you later!"

"Yeah, bye!" she called after him, heading in the opposite direction. She popped her earbuds into her ears and selected one of her favorite bands from the long list on her iPod. Music blared into her ears as she tried to drown out the horrible sinking feeling inside of her—she had been distracted from the search for her diary by Roxas yet again.

When Roxas got to first period, Sora was already there. He was reclined in his seat, a blank look about him. Roxas followed his seemingly blank line of vision, only to find him staring at a student who was obviously new. Her long, black curls tumbled down her back and around her face becomingly. Even Roxas couldn't help but notice that she was very good looking.

"Class," the teacher called out. "This is Korin, and she's just transferred in from up North, so please make her feel welcome!"

The class stared.

"Korin, why don't you take the seat next to Sora?" the teacher suggested brightly, gesturing for Korin's benefit.

"Okay, thank you," Korin replied politely, taking her seat. She smiled at Sora in an overly-friendly way that seemed strange to Roxas.

Sora seemed to be getting along with her okay—the teacher had assigned him to help explain the homework assignment to her. Roxas could hear most of the conversation, and could tell that the last thing she wanted to talk about was homework.

"So, who do you hang around with?" she asked casually.

"Mostly Roxas and Riku," Sora replied. "Riku's not in this class, but Roxas is right over there…" he jabbed his thumb in Roxas' direction.

"What, no girls?" Korin prodded.

Why is she so interested? Roxas wondered.

"Oh, yeah… one of my best friends is a girl, actually… her name is Naminé… we also hang around a lot with a couple of other girls."

"I don't really have any friends, so I'd love to meet them," Korin said. Roxas thought to himself that she was trying to sound casual, though he couldn't say why.

"They're the best," Sora said earnestly. "I can introduce you… have you found out which lunch you have?"

"I've got… second," Korin replied, quickly pulling out her schedule and examining it.

"Then you should sit with us, we've all got second," Sora suggested.

Roxas was puzzled. Though they were all nice, welcoming people, they had never allowed someone new to sit at their lunch table. They were tight, and normally, there was no disrupting the careful order of their lunch arrangements. The last time the order had been disrupted was when Yuri joined the group in 7th grade.

Roxas decided to tune the rest of the conversation out and begin on his work, feeling uneasy. There was something about her, he knew there was…he just couldn't place it.

As Korin retrieved her lunch, she was carefully watching the group that Sora was talking to. She dug deep into her gut, summoning her powers, and immediately identified the one who did not belong—the loud and friendly girl with black hair. Something about her looked familiar, but there was no trace of the magic in her that the others had, even after being away from her world for so long.

Narrowing her eyes as she thought of the last time she and Naminé had met, she grabbed her milk and continued through the line. She wanted to kill Naminé more than anyone else, but knew that acting on old grudges would most certainly lose her the job she had been assigned, and probably her life as well. In any case, she had to act fast.

When she arrived at the table, the look Roxas cast her sent her reeling—how could he know? Did he suspect? She remembered well of his power, but couldn't imagine that it was useable to him at the present time, unless…

He had broken his spell on his own.

Naminé decided rather quickly that she hated Korin. She wasn't sure where this hot, bubbling feeling of hatred had come from. She studied Roxas carefully and realized that, as ridiculous as it sounded, he could feel it, too.

"Hey, Roxas, would you come with me to the library for a few minutes?" Naminé asked the moment he finished his lunch. "You're the only one that's finished, and I don't want to go alone."

"You don't want to go alone?" Sora repeated, confused.

"Yeah," Naminé said awkwardly, brushing her hair behind her ears. "So, Roxas?"

As Yuri glared, Roxas reluctantly agreed, and they got up and left the lunchroom.

The moment they were out of the room, Naminé put her suspicions out in the open. "Something is weird about her."

"You're not the only one who thinks so."

"I hate her, and I don't know why."

"I just feel so…uneasy…when she's around," Roxas said slowly. "I don't really know how to place this feeling. It feels like danger."

"Well, luckily enough for us, she's getting to be best of friends with Sora," Naminé said bitterly.

Once again, Roxas noticed an energy that had recently lit up Naminé—never had he seen her so angry or passionate about something. He had noticed the glare Yuri had shot Naminé when they had left the cafeteria, and that only wove the web of confusion even thicker for Roxas.

Every day for the past few years had felt the same, he realized suddenly. He didn't truly believe anything about his quiet life in Twilight Town would change, but it felt like everything was changing now. He thought of the diary safely tucked in his backpack, and vaguely wondered what the girl was doing right at that moment. Did she ever feel like time was just shifting around her, and there was nothing she could do?

Thanks for reading!

Love,
ladydemelza