Chapter 4: Potential Energy

Roxas groaned in exhaustion as he fell onto his bed. Just about everything Naminé said and did today annoyed him to no end. And why didn't the damn girl swim? It was freaking hot out there! If it wasn't for Riku separating Sora from Kairi, Roxas might have fainted from a heat stroke.

At least now he could enjoy his alone time. After a long and cool shower, Roxas threw himself on his bed and turned on his TV. He planned to spend the rest of the day watching the Power Rangers season from his childhood.

A knock on the door interrupted Roxas's thoughts. He threw a cold pillow on his face. Go away. "Don't come in. I'm naked." He heard the door to his room open regardless of his wishes. "What do you want?"

"How did it go?" Xion asked giddily as she jumped on the bed. She looked him over, noticing he was only wearing his boxers. "And sorry for interrupting your undie time. I know how much you enjoy it."

"You're not sorry. You wouldn't have come in if you actually cared." Roxas removed the pillow to see his best friend smiling back at him. He threw another pillow over his body to cover himself up a little more. "And it was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I think she tries to annoy me on purpose."

"Oh, and I suppose you genuinely wanted to befriend her, huh?" Xion raised a brow. "That's right. I heard some of what you said to her. Sounded to me like you were trying annoy her."

"There is nothing in our deal that says I can't do that. I'm abiding by your rules. I'm laying off the insults. She's the one that's throwing them out like candy."

"Don't be such a baby." Xion propped her head in her hand, staring at the back of Roxas's head. "Seems to me like things are going well so far. We're already seeing improvement."

"Well hopefully I don't see her again today. Everything I've done up to this point might be undone," Roxas mumbled tiredly.

"What exactly did you accomplish? If anything you made her dislike you more with your approach."

"Your losing term is 'Roxas and Naminé don't get along' so I'm playing this in my favor. If she is the one pushing me away, I technically win."

"So now you're going to put effort into continuing this fight with her?"

"I blame you." Roxas chuckled at Xion's pout. "You should have never enticed me to lose."

"That's an awful lot of time and energy to commit."

"Perhaps, but I think doing a year's worth of homework and projects is more work."

Xion slapped Roxas square in the chest, making him cry out in pain. "I knew you wouldn't play fair. You always have to cheat to beat me." She grinned wickedly, receiving Roxas's glare. "That's why I told your brother about our little arrangement."

"You did what?"

"Roxas!" Sora came dashing through Roxas's open door and also jumped on his bed.

Roxas groaned. "Are we all just ignoring the fact that I have no clothes on right now?"

"Forget undie time! You and I are going to Kairi's!" Sora said excitedly.

Roxas lifted his face from his pillow, looking around the room for help. His best friend did nothing to save him. "Why? Can't we just stay here? I'm tired."

"I thought you had to be around Naminé every time I was with Kairi." Sora raised a brow in confusion, looking to Xion for answers.

"He does. If he doesn't, he loses." Xion lifted Roxas's head by his hair, revealing his face from its fluffy hiding spot. "Hey, your brother here is going to be my enforcer when I'm not around. If I get word that you're not acting within terms, then that's it."

Roxas freed his head from Xion and sat up. "Yes ma'am."

"Man..." Sora shook his head with an impressed look on his face. "How do you make Roxas listen to everything you say? Whatever you have over him, I want it too!"

Xion giggled. "Trust me. You don't." She could tell Sora was about to get curious, so she quickly said something to throw him off. "You and Roxas would have an extremely immoral relationship if you did. And I'm pretty sure incest— or twincest, in this case— is illegal in most countries. This one included."

Sora grimaced when he understood what Xion meant. "Blech! Gross. Never mind then. It's all yours." He quickly ran out of the room, telling them that he was leaving in fifteen minutes.

Roxas turned to his best friend with a frown. "That's seriously the only thing you could come up with?"

"It's the only believable thing I could come up with." Xion poked his forehead with her finger. "You better get ready. And don't forget to pack. I hear Sora's sleeping over."

Roxas threw his head back and groaned. "Are you kidding me? I have to sleep over their house now?"

"Guess so!" Xion said lightly. "It's only one night though. You can handle that, right?"

"You suck," Roxas muttered as he got out of bed. He opened is drawers and pulled out the first pair of shorts and shirt he could find. "You're totally not playing by the rules. You told someone about our little agreement. Now Sora is going to want to hang with Kairi all day and I can't do anything about it."

Xion got up as well, only to leave the room. "I play to win. I warned you when we first met that I'd be an awful friend too."

"Yeah, you are." His best friend merely laughed at him.

"Whine all you want, but the agreement still stands. And Roxas..." Xion turned around at the doorway, a smile on her face. "Since when do I play by the rules?"

Roxas questioned why he ever accepted this stupid thing. But as he thought about Xion's parting words, a smile formed on his face.

"Since when do either of us play by the rules?"

Naminé was drawn from her thoughts when she heard the doorbell ring. She noticed her sister immediately leave her room to get the door. She placed her tablet down and looked down the hallway. "Kairi, who's at the door?"

"Oh, just Sora and Roxas," Kairi replied casually. She laughed when she heard the door to Naminé's room close almost immediately. How dramatic. She opened the door and smiled at the two visitors. "Hey guys!"

"Hi Kairi!" Sora greeted excitedly Roxas smiled and nodded wordlessly, following his brother inside. Kairi closed the door behind him. "Where's Naminé?"

"In her room. She's probably asleep," Kairi lied for her twin. "Long days at the beach really wear her out."

"Taking naps at this time make it hard to fall asleep at night," Sora said matter-of-factly.

"I suppose you would know the best times for naps, you lazy bum!" Kairi teased, ruffling his hair.

"Um, yeah! She might sleep through dinner and wake up thinking it's already morning! Trust me, evening naps are the worst!" Sora dropped his small backpack on the couch. "Roxas, why don't you go wake Naminé up?"

Roxas looked at Sora for a second before looking away nonchalantly. "Nah, I'm okay."

Sora's eye twitched. Was he really going to have to call Xion already? "No, I insist. I really think she needs to be woken up now."

"Let her sleep. Girl needs her rest." Roxas shrugged. He jumped onto the couch. "Anything good on TV?"

Sora grabbed the remote that Roxas was reaching for and held it above his head victoriously. Roxas merely raised a brow. "Roxas, I'm going to help Kairi unpack. I really think you should at least check on Naminé right now. Or maybe I should—"

"Fine," Roxas interrupted angrily. He glared at Sora, and then slowly got up from the couch. "Have it your way. But remember, keep your paws off Kairi." Roxas strode by a mortified Sora with a smirk on his face. "And Kairi, don't be afraid to call for help if he—"

"Good-bye, Roxas!" Sora rudely shoved his brother in the direction of Naminé's room. Kairi looked at the brothers, lost in the small argument that had just taken place.

"What was that about?"

Sora laughed it off, folding his hands behind his head. "Just ignore him. He's just mad because…" Sora caught himself before he revealed a crucial detail of Roxas and Xion's agreement.

"What? Why is he mad?" Kairi was surprised to find that Sora was keeping something from her and it intrigued her greatly. He never kept anything from her.

"Let's just unpack your stuff!" Sora made his way down the hallway that led to Kairi's room. "Do you have a lot left?"

"I only unpacked things that I didn't want you unpacking for me." Kairi followed Sora into her room. "Sora, you were going to tell me what that whole exchange was about."

"I was?" He looked around the room nervously. Why wasn't she letting it go?

"Actually, you were trying to avoid telling me. You still are." Kairi pulled a few hangers from her closet and threw them on her bed. "Why won't you tell me?"

Sora hated it when Kairi used that tone with him. Nothing in the world could make him feel so guilty. He squeezed his eyes shut. "I just can't."

"Is it a secret? I won't tell anyone. I promise." Kairi walked up to Sora, taking hold of both of his hands. "Please tell me? Please?"

Sora wanted to slam his face on a hard surface. He promised Xion that he wouldn't tell anyone, but he also made a promise that he wouldn't keep anything from Kairi when they were children. Surely an older promised carried more priority than a newer one.

Then again, Sora was keeping something from Kairi. He opened his eyes and blushed madly when he saw Kairi staring back.

But keeping his feelings a secret from her was necessary for their friendship! What if she didn't feel the same way? If he had told her everything and she didn't feel the same way, then he could only blame his promise to Kairi.

But then again, was keeping this promise really necessary for their friendship? If Kairi knew about it, maybe she would help…

"Sora, what are you thinking about?" Kairi asked impatiently. She threw Sora's hands down in frustration. "Just tell me already!"

Sora gulped. He couldn't keep it from Kairi. Sorry Xion. "Well, you know how Roxas and Naminé are our siblings?"

Kairi looked at him disappointingly. Some secret. "Uh, yeah. Are you going to tell me that they don't like each other now?"

"Um, there's that…" Sora rubbed the back of his neck nervous before speaking as fast as he could. "And there's the fact that Roxaminé have t' spen' ti'gether."

Kairi deadpanned. "Sora, enough with the games already! Just tell me! Slowly this time."

Sora inhaled. "Roxas and Naminé have to spend time together. That's it."

"That's it? Really?"

"Yup. Well," Sora felt itchy all over for betraying Xion. "He only has to spend as much time together as…" he mumbled off, turning away to put a hanger through a shirt.

"As?" Kairi asked. She was growing even more impatient. Sora didn't usually make her fish for answers.

"Us." He said with a shrug.

Kairi blinked. "Us?"

"Roxas only has to spend time with Naminé if we're… together," Sora finished. He braced himself for Kairi's reaction.

Kairi's hands fell to her side as she digested the information. "So anytime you and I are together, Roxas and Naminé have to be together?" Sora nodded slowly. "That… is… brilliant!" Kairi broke out into a fit of laughter. Not knowing what else to do, Sora slowly joined in. "Sora, that's hilarious! And it's brilliant! You know what I think? I think they'll both secretly enjoy it anyway. Something tells me those two have a thing for each other…"

"Kairi, you've been saying that for years. Their relationship hasn't really improved. Plus, I think Roxas likes Xi—"

"It hasn't improved because they've always tried avoiding each other! Do you get it, Sora?"

Sora shook his head. "Get what?"

"Well, we obviously have to spend as much time together as possible! That won't be hard for us, obviously, and it'll force Roxas to be around Naminé too!"

Sora couldn't pass the offer up. Spend as much time as possible with Kairi? Yes please! But what about those times when Roxas had to work? Xion had told him that Roxas only had to utilize his own free time and didn't have to make up for any of it.

But spending as much time as possible with Kairi… the idea was too good to be true. Sora grappled with his options. Should he tell Kairi that they only needed to be together when Roxas was actually available? He looked at Kairi. He'd get to spend almost all day with her if he didn't say anything…

Kairi, therefore, didn't need to know about that condition. "That sounds like a great idea!" Sora smiled at his crush.

He figured that Kairi only offered the idea to fix the problem with Roxas and Naminé, but if he could actually gain something from it— more time with the girl he liked— then how could he pass it up?

"Then we're set! Until Roxas and Naminé are dating, we are going to be inseparable!" Kairi pumped her fist into the air enthusiastically.

"Yea— wait, what?" Sora stopped mid-fist pump as he processed what Kairi had said. He wanted to tell her that Roxas and Naminé didn't have to like each other per se. They just had to stop fighting.

But did Kairi need to know about that condition too?

"Is something wrong?"

Sora found himself staring at Kairi again. Did she really have to know that? He vocally answered both his own question and Kairi's.

"Nope!"

Naminé was thoroughly confused with the day's events. She ran through her thoughts as she played with her tablet, dabbling with all the cool features and applications she recently acquired.

Her whole morning with Roxas was spent fighting with him because he was being such an ass. Then, in the afternoon, he suddenly wants to be friends, but does everything he can to annoy her. It's like he started expressing his anger toward her in a different way. And it did nothing but make Naminé even more sure that she just couldn't stand the boy. She didn't know why he chose to sit on the beach with her and attempt to annoy her— for example, throwing sand at her to ask if she thought it was hot— instead of swimming with his friend.

Speaking of his friend, what exactly did she do to him? Naminé thought she liked Xion, but now it was up in the air again. She was definitely behind Roxas's change in attitude. She had to have been involved. But how? What did she say to Roxas that made him more infuriating than he already was?

She understood why Sora was here, but why did Roxas come? Was he seriously trying to be friends with her? Impossible.

Naminé was surprised to see the door to her room slowly open. She mentally cursed for not locking the door, for on the other side of the door was none other than Roxas.

Both of them stared at each other without muttering a word: Naminé sat on her bed with wide eyes, meeting the indecipherable blue eyes of Roxas at her door. The staring contest broke when he did something strange. He looked behind him for a few seconds before turning back to Naminé. He repeated the action again, as if he was seeing something that she wasn't.

"What?" she asked impatiently.

He smirked at her. "It's almost dinner time."

"And? What's your point?"

"Oh, it's just funny I guess," he replied cryptically. "I'm just a tiny bit confused because I see you here..." He pointed at the floor of her room. "But… the kitchen's over there." He pointed with his other hand in the opposite direction. "Doesn't really add up, does it?"

Naminé swore her blood pressure rose the second she felt her eye twitch. There was no way in hell he was trying to be friends. He was probably trying to act all friendly in front of Xion. With her gone, the real Roxas was back. The annoying, sexist pig— the douche bag— had returned.

"Get out of my room. Now." She said shortly. Naminé couldn't remember the last time she was this angry. Unfortunately, Roxas appeared to be unfazed.

"No can do. I'm stuck here."

"Get out." Naminé said as sternly as possible.

"Is this your laptop?" Roxas walked over to the desk and picked it up. "Pretty high end tech you got here. How much did—"

"Don't touch my stuff!" Naminé jumped off her bed and walked toward Roxas, but he quickly backed off. "Why the heck are you here? Just leave already!"

"I already told you I can't." Roxas seemed genuinely entertained by Naminé's anger. "How many times do I— wait, is that a tablet?" He ran over to Naminé's bed and picked it up. "Whoa! A laptop and a tablet? If that's not the most redundant thing I've ever seen… what the hell do you need both for?"

Naminé growled. "Roxas! Get out of my room now."

"You seem genuinely pissed now," he stated plainly. His demeanor only infuriated Naminé even more. Was he really not taking her seriously?

"I'm just about ready to castrate you," she said in a low voice. This time, Roxas let on that he felt threatened.

"Hey, easy…" He held his hands up in a defensive posture. "I'll get out now. Yup. I'll just take this with me!" Roxas darted out of Naminé's room— iPad in tow— before Naminé could tell him to leave it.

She followed him out of the room, only to watch him run into the bathroom down the hall. She attempted to catch up, but he successfully locked himself in the bathroom in time.

"Roxas! Get out of there this instant!"

"You just told me to leave you alone! Make up your damn mind, woman!"

Banging on the door, Naminé yelled at the annoying boy, "I want my iPad back!"

"No! We're friends now! Sharing is caring!"

"Like hell I care about you! Now open this door!"

"No! I'm already pooping!" Roxas laughed on the other side of the door.

"Hey Naminé!" Kairi greeted her sister cheerily with Sora in tow. "Sora and I are going to the store to get some groceries. Do you want anything?"

"Whatever! Just make him get out of the bathroom! He has my iPad!"

Kairi turned to Sora, a questioning look on her face. "Is he allowed to do that?"

Sora scratched his head. "I'm pretty sure he's allowed to poop in private, and vice versa. That'd be gross if they couldn't…"

Kairi clapped her hands together. "Okay then! Sorry Nam, we can't help you. Bye-bye now!"

Naminé looked at the pair in disbelief. What the hell were they talking about?

"Hey, do you have disinfectant under the sink here? I smeared a little—"

Naminé, thoroughly revolted by what he was suggesting, threw her fists against the door and screamed at the top of her lungs, "ROXAS!"

"Never mind, I found some wipes!" Roxas chirped teasingly.

"You're a freaking asshole!" She made one more go at the door knob before giving up. "As soon as you get out of there, I'm going to cut you and enjoy every second of it!"

Roxas was silent for a while, listening to Naminé's labored breathing. "Well that's a little blown out of proportion. All I wanted to do was use your tablet."

"Are you sure they'll be all right? Something tells me it wasn't a good idea to leave those two alone in the house."

"For the last time, drop it, Sora! If Naminé really wanted to kill your brother, she would have found a way to open that bathroom door while we were there!" Kairi laughed heartily. Sora bit his lip. That did nothing to reassure him.

"I don't know, she sounded pretty angry…"

"That's bound to happen when they're together. Let it go." Kairi parked the car right in front of the pizza restaurant they ordered from. "Pick the pizzas up?"

"Yeah, I got it." Sora exited Kairi's car and walked in, disappearing from sight. Kairi sighed. Was she doing a bad thing by using Roxas's… whatever it was… to spend more time with Sora? She genuinely did want Roxas and Naminé to like each other, but it wasn't her only motivating factor. It wasn't even the biggest factor, and it definitely should have been.

But she really wanted to spend more time with Sora this summer. Over her spring break visit, Kairi became sure of one thing: she liked her best friend. She wholeheartedly desired a deeper relationship with him, but the switch from platonic to romantic was exceptionally difficult when it had been steadily "just friends" for so long.

She shook her head, willing the thoughts away. Kairi felt bad about her motives, but at least she was helping Naminé and Roxas too.

Pulling out her phone, Kairi opened an app to check her location in. She was surprised to find that Roxas had befriended Naminé online. That was fast. Moreover, she noticed Naminé's strange status. "Why in the world would she… oh." Then Kairi remembered what Roxas had run off with. "Oh boy." She was about to let Naminé know about the embarrassing headline, but Sora returned to the car with the food.

"We did order one cheese, one pepperoni, and then one with half of each, right?"

"Yup!" Kairi forgot that she was supposed to tell Naminé about her status. "Can you and Roxas really eat whole large pizzas by yourself?"

"Of course! I like to think I eat more than he does though. I have pepperoni on mine, after all."

"Yeah, Naminé only eats cheese too." Kairi said off-handedly. Then, a thought occurred to her. "Those two are more similar than they think. I mean, they like a lot of the same thing. Like the breakfast order this morning? What were the chances that they liked the same thing?"

"That's true. And then you have cheese pizza. Does Naminé drink coffee?"

"Yup. Two creams and two sugars."

"Roxas gets it the same way!" Sora said excitedly. "He drinks a lot of coffee during winter. It's his favorite season."

"Well lo and behold, it's Naminé's too!" The two shared a laugh. "I swear, it's like they were made for each other."

"Yeah. They really do share a lot in common. Like us!" Sora smiled as he stared at Kairi. "We like a lot of the same things too."

"Yup. Our love for strawberry ice cream, our favorite color, our favorite school subject…"

"Our favorite pastime, our favorite holiday…" Sora continued off the list. "Say, do you think we're also…" He stopped himself as a blush crept onto his face.

Kairi felt her face grow warmer. By her logic, she and Sora… "You know, forget I said anything. A lot of people share the same likes and dislikes!" She laughed unconvincingly.

Sora played along. "Psh, yeah! Just because I have the same favorite cereal as a terrorist doesn't mean we're meant to be together… ha…"

"Yeah, I know right?" Kairi laughed again. As soon as their eyes connected, they looked away.

Neither of them could muster the gut to look at the other the rest of the way home.

Naminé sat in her room, brooding. She never did that before. Correction: she never did that unless Roxas was somehow involved.

She sat on her bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, and stared down the hallway. She didn't know how much time had passed— perhaps thirty or forty minutes— but she kept her eyes on the spot where Roxas would. The plan was simple: jump the bitch before he could run.

She was patient, too. Not many people would sit in the same place for such a long time to exact revenge. But Naminé would. She was willing to wait as long as she needed to if it meant getting the chance to kick Roxas in the groin.

A cruel smile formed on Naminé's lips. Oh, the satisfaction she would get with one good kick…

Her cell phone rang once, notifying her about a change. She picked it up, surprised to see that six people liked her status.

Weird. I don't remember putting a status up. Her brows curled as she opened her own profile. She read the status aloud. "Nam… likes to braid her butt hairs?"

What the hell?

Confused at first, she looked through the list of names that liked her status. Most of them were boys, but the first caught her attention. "I'm not friends with Roxas…" She looked up immediately.

Coincidentally, she looked up at the exact moment when Roxas looked back to see if Naminé noticed him leaving the bathroom. He froze like a deer in the headlights.

Neither of the blondes moved from their spot: one too surprised (and probably pissed) to actually move, the other too afraid to see what would happen if he did move. A heavy silence hung between them for a good minute.

After the staring contest, Roxas was the first to gather himself and boldly speak. "Hey. We're officially friends online now, if you haven't seen already."

Roxas had never seen Naminé move so fast in his life, and it was absolutely terrifying. He shrieked and ran into the dining room, running to the other side of the table. Naminé was hot on his heels, skidding to a stop across from him. Every time she made a move to run around the table and grab Roxas, he slinked away by running in the opposite direction.

"You freaking moron! You asshole! You douchebag!" Naminé hurled the string of insults like daggers.

"Hey! That's no way to talk to a guest!" Roxas chuckled as he ran around the table. "That's actually very mean!"

"You're not my guest! That would entail that you're welcomed here, and you're definitely not!"

"But aren't we friends?"

"Are you out of your freaking mind?"

"Hey guys, could you help us with the groceries— oh my god!" Kairi immediately clamped a hand over her mouth as Roxas ran past her like a frightened squirrel. "Sora!"

Sora quickly ran over and wrapped his free arm around Naminé's waist, keeping her from chasing Roxas. Kairi quickly took the pizzas out of Sora's other hand so he could hold her in place.

"Let me go! Your brother is driving me crazy!"

Roxas looked down at himself before grinning cockily. "Well I do have that effect on some people…"

"When I get my hands on you—"

"Oh you'd like that huh—"

"Naminé, calm down!" Kairi yelled at her sister. "And Roxas, cut the shit and give Nam her stuff back. You guys are like children!"

"She started it," Roxas mumbled.

"You started it!" the restrained blonde yelled back. "He hacked my profile and put some stupid status up!"

"What'd you put?" Sora asked curiously.

"That Naminé likes to braid her butt hairs."

Sora snickered.

"Sora!" Kairi slapped her best friend's arm.

"Sorry, sorry…" He fought down a smile. He knew he shouldn't have sided with his brother.

"Roxas, give me that. Now." Kairi held her hand out to receive Naminé's tablet. Roxas gingerly placed it in her hands. Kairi, in turn, placed it in Naminé's hands. "Sora, let Naminé go now."

Sora released her. Much to everyone's relief, Naminé didn't lunge at Roxas. She merely went through her tablet and eyed it suspiciously.

"Now, can we all sit down and eat pizza?" Kairi looked around the room, making sure no one would attempt to kill the other. "Good. Let's eat."

Wary that the two would start fighting again, Kairi and Sora made sure to stay directly between their siblings. It didn't take long before the insults started flying again.

"Pull something like that and you'll wish you never started this fight." Naminé scowled.

"Oh really? What are you going to do? De-friend me?"

Needless to say, Roxas returned home feeling rather victorious. Not only did he manage to get himself out of an unwanted sleepover, but he also pissed Naminé off in the process. It was oddly satisfying to know that he won tonight. A small part of him was also confident that he'd win— or Xion would lose, whatever— the little arrangement he preemptively agreed to. If things kept up like this, he was in good shape.

He laughed to himself as he lay in bed, happy with the results of the night. Sora was probably a little mad at him for ruining his time with Kairi, but his brother would get over it. Sora wasn't one to dwell on the past and hold grudges. Roxas got all of that.

He sat up from his bed, changing into his sleeping clothes. Remembering that he had messed around on Naminé's account, he walked over to his computer and booted it up. He friend-requested her (and accepted it under her name) just so he could see how many people liked the status he gave her. He snickered again. Sora definitely would have found that funnier if Kairi had let him.

Never before had the little red numbers made Roxas so happy. Seeing the amount made him grin wider. Perfect. Looks like everyone else saw Naminé's status.

But when he opened the notifications, he frowned as he read through them. "My status?" he asked aloud. He checked the name in the top right, and sure enough, it was his profile. "I don't remember putting…"

Blue eyes widened in horror at the realization. He was on his profile when he had to give Naminé her tablet back. That could only mean—

Roxas quickly checked his profile with a frown, which soon changed into shock and mortification. Right next to his name, Naminé had taken the liberty to leave him a status— one that more than fifteen of his friends liked and commented on.

Following his name were the words "Just pooped out of my vagina. Might need help. Don't think that's normal :-)"

Naminé and 16 others like this.

"Urgh! Naminé!" the computer desk shook as his closed fists made contact. Roxas was beyond pissed now.

That was it. Roxas forgot all about his agreement to be nicer to Naminé. Nope, that was not the priority anymore.

This was war, and the most wanted public enemy on this summer's list was none other than a blonde named Naminé.