After a hectic week at school, Naminé wanted nothing more than to relax at home for her mini 2 day break from school. The events almost replayed itself in her head. From being humiliated and bullied by Larxene as always and to meeting Roxas in the same week. Definitely a hectic week, well, but not all bad.

Just a mention of his name in her head was enough for her to stop whatever she was doing momentarily just to appreciate the fact she was able to meet him. But she couldn't but sometimes wonder why he wanted to be friends was someone like her.

He was someone who's always cheerful, smiles almost every second of the day, and wasn't afraid to stand up for himself, or his friends, including her. Maybe he took pity on her?

Dread caught a hold of her a split second. Why would she think like that? She knew Roxas couldn't be like that? And Naminé knew she wasn't the only one. It seemed like, a lot of her classmates also grew to like the new transfer student. He was indeed very social, within the first day she noticed that he was even laughing along with some of them.

Another point on how different he was from her.

She could almost recall the first day when she arrived at Radiant High. She came to school with her mother and the two of them had a conversation with a principal. And by conversation it was more like her mother explaining to the principal about her, condition. And the principal reassuring her that anyone would always be welcomed at the school with open arms, disabilities or not.

How badly she wanted the principal to eat her words.

She came across Larxene on the first day and the bully had found her target. From then on it was just the same treatment from her over and over again, and she didn't want to tell her parents. There was no reason to trouble them any further as they were worried enough for her when she was at school ever since that day.

Her mind shifted back to her throat which was covered by the collar of the whit vest she was wearing. Most of her clothes consisted of collered shirts or vests, it was uncomfortable at times, but it was a good way to hide it. She hated seeing it, it was just a painful reminder of herself.

Her thoughts of herself was cut off as she felt a force bump into her by her legs. She looked down and saw a small little boy holding an airplane figure in his head. The boy shook his head for a moment before looking up.

"Sorry miss," he spoke in a cheerful tone. The boy turned and started running around, waving the airplane figure around while sticking his tongue out, making raspberry noises as engine noises.

She smiled at the child enjoying the time of his life.

Wait. The smile disappeared from her face. What was I doing again?

She got her answer when she was greeted by the multi bright colors of a color pencil packet that was held on display.

That's right, I needed more supplies.

She had the weekend planned out, which was mostly consisted of staying cooped up in her arm and draw her next piece of art. She could imagine the colours that would fit so well with a scenery esk drawing she wanted to make, problem was, her color markers had unfortunately ran out of ink.

She could always ask her parents but both were out, invited to go have lunch with other friends. She cursed herself for not checking her markers earlier before being asked if there was anything she wanted. So this was her only choice. She would just find her markers and then back to her comfort hole of a room.

Her eyes scanned through the assortment of coloring material that was for purchase on the shelf. There were crayons, coloring pencil, acrylic paints, water coloring set and many more, all from different brands. The Mall definitely doesn't disappoint anyone when it comes to it's various products for sale at shops and entertainment.

Her eyes lit up when she finally saw the markers she wanted. Grabbing a set, she went over to the counter, handed the money, patiently waited as the cashier put her items in a plastic bag and walked out of the store.

Finally, she could head home. She scurried down the escalator a little too fast, ignoring the stares she got from the other users. She walked pass through sliding glass doors and and the warm summer air hit her again. People filled up the area, mostly teenagers as it was a weekend after all.

She looked over to the pedestrian crossing of the street she wanted to cross to get back home and there was already a large group of people passing the time by staring at their phones or checking their watches. She sighed.

She walked down the steps and over to join the large group from behind, hugging the given plastic bag which stored her purchases. She could already imagine how she wanted to blend the right colors for her next piece. A red and yellow blend for a flower drawing? Or should she go with purple or pink?

"Excuse me miss," a gruff voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned her head to see a man wearing a business suit. He was almost the same height as her and his figure made her assume that he just so happen to have multiple lunches in a day, on a daily basis.

"Sorry to disturb you on this fine day, I was just on my way to work until I saw you," he said in a voice that made Naminé on alert. He stood there, probably waiting for a reply but he took her stare as a reason to go on. He reached into the inside of his blazer, she noticed that the buttons looked like they were ready to pop off any second, and he pulled out a card.

"Here is my card, I actually worked for a modelling agency and I'm currently looking for people, particularly teen females, who are interested in a modelling career," he breathed out as he handed the card. He sounded like he was out of breath. "And I was wondering if you would be interested to model?" he rubbed his hands together, grinning in a disgusting smile that sent shivers down her spine.

The light turned green and the crowd started to move. Taking note of this, she quickly handed the car back to the man, shaking her hand to show her refusal. She was about to walk forward when something grabbed her hand. She turned around and saw the man grabbing ahold of her arm, tightly.

"Now hold on, you never let me finish the details," a smile slowly etched itself onto his chubby face. Naminé tried to tug her arm out of his grip but it was no use.

Worry started to slowly grow in her. This man was bad news and she knew it. She took a quick look around, there were a lot of people, but none paid attention to her. Those who did merely walked on, ignoring the scene. Her lips started to tremble as the man got closer, tugging her harder.

"Our models get paid quite well you know," he bounced his eyebrows, furthering Namine's dread feeling. "And we take care of them very well as well," His eyes were darting up and down, eying Naminé's figure. Fear started to grow as she felt as if the man's eyes were burrowing into her.

Pulling her arm out of his grip clearly wasn't going to work. She tried mouthing the words,Let go of me please. He pretended not to notice, tightening his grip on his arm.

"I'm sure we have a spot which you can fit in just nicely," he discreetly licked his lips. Naminé was on the verge of tears. Thoughts were processed in her head, all of this wouldn't have happened if she had just stayed at home and did something else.

"What do you say? Want to join us?"

She tried to pull once more but the man wasn't letting go. The dread started to spread further and further in her body as she couldn't move. Wanting to move away but not being able to.

"Let me go!"

"Shut up!"

Tears slowly gathered at the corner of her eyes. It was too much. This, it reminded her of what happened. He was pulling her closer now. She could see a lot of people walking pass by, none of them were looking at her. She shut her eyes tight, wishing so hard that this was just a nightmare and that she would wake up. A nightmare that wouldn't serve as a reminder of what happened to her that night.

Someone….please, help me.

"Excuse me," a voice called out, a voice that was all to familiar to her. Her wet eyes opened and she saw a hand holding onto the man's wrist. Her eyes widened as she momentarily took note of the black and white ring on the hand's fingers and turned her head to see none other than Roxas standing there.

Without saying anything, his grip on the wrist tightened and he twisted it around.

"Hey!" the man grumbled as the sudden movement caused his grip on Naminé's hand loosen, letting go of her hand in the process. Naminé felt a hand come up from behind, holding her shoulder and pulling her close to a body. She started to blush when she found out it was Roxas who pulled her in.

"What do you think you're doing!" the man shouted in anger. Roxas returned his remark by just smiling.

"Sorry buddy but you got a little a too close to my friend here," he said, stepping in front so Naminé was behind him. The man got so angry that she swore steam was slowly coming out from his ears.

"And my business is with her, not with you, you damn punk!" he spat.

"If you have business with my friend, then you have business with me as well," Roxas replied. "And my friend didn't look to comfortable talking with you so I would appreciate it if you would leave her alone,"

The man's face was slowly turning red. Gritting his teeth his anger, he stomp his foot down.

"You teenagers deaf or something? I wasn't even doing anything to her!"

"Yet," Roxas finished for him.

"Why you little punks, you better learn to respect your elders!" He reached his hand out, stepping forward. Namine flinched when another hand came up from behind and grabbed the man's hand, stopping him.

"What now- " the man's words were cut off when he turned around, and felt suddenly felt all will to speak. In front of him, was the menacing face of Axel, whose right eye was widened and his left eyes was narrowed. A disgusted look was on his face, a look that even managed to catch Naminé off guard..

"Then you horny adults better learn to respect women first you piece of shit," he spat with a voice full of venom, leaning his face closer.

Suddenly, the man lost all will to speak. It was as if Axel's face was more than enough to send shivers down his spine. Sweat started to drop down as he gulped.

"O-Oh what's that?" he quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone and puts it up to his ear, as if he was taking a phone call. "Oh sorry I have to go now, bye!" and he scurried off without a glance, running as fast as he could away from the scene.

Xion appeared from behind Axel's tall figure and put her hand at her forehead, as if she was looking at something afar.

"Damn dude you really did it this time," she grinned.

"The Axel Stare, works everytime," he wiggled his eyebrows at her. Roxas chuckled at the moment and then turned to Naminé.

"Did he do anything to you?" his face was replaced with a look of concern. Despite being distracted, she still subconsciously shook her head.

It happened again. She was in trouble and Roxas stepped in to save her again. She noticed he smiled once she shook her head. It was that gentle smile that managed to wash away the fear she had in her. Xion walked up to her.

"Really? Because I swear if he puts his hands on places he shouldn't have put then I'll make sure he won't have hands," she cracked her knuckles, a menacing aura emitting from her. Naminé was taken aback from her reaction, they barely knew each other and she was already acting like they known each other for ages.

She shook her head again and held her hands up as a way to ensure them that nothing bad happened to her. She felt another shiver up her spine and looked up to see Axel staring down at her. Well, down was a suitable word considering the major height difference.

Roxas seemed to notice this. "Axel stop glaring,"

"How come you won't speak?" he asked. Roxas flinched at his question as Naminé's stomach did a 360. A memory of the event that caused her to be a mute flashed before her eyes and her body started to tremble. Roxas was about to respond when Xion beat him to it by kicking his shin.

"OW! Hey what was that for!" the redhead responded angrily.

"It's not that she won't dumbass," Roxas retorted. He looked at him with an exaggerated heartbroken look.

"You too?" he gasped

It was times like these that Naminé thought about Roxas' real personality. When he's with other classmates or other people he always have a gentle smile that could almost radiate positivity with everyone around him. But she noticed that when it came to Xion and Axel, it was like he wouldn't hesitate to push them to a busy road.

"But anyway," he ignored Axel, "Sure is a coincidence we ran into you here," he said, a smile growing on his face.

"It is a Sunday after all," Xion continued as she eyed the bag. "If you don't mind me asking, what's in the bag?"

The gears started to work. Should I tell her? It wasn't anything special, just simple coloring materials. If she asked why coloring materials then what can she say? It was for a hobby that she didn't really want to speak too much about because of how insecure she is about her art?

"Oh, you draw?" Axel asked.

Naminé felt as if someone had thrown a rock at her.

"How'd you know?" Roxas asked.

And now Roxas practically confirmed it. She could run away already.

Axel pointed to the plastic bag Naminé was holding and she felt idiocy creeping up to her. The shop's logo was clear on the plastic bag. With nothing else to do, she turned her head away from them and gave a small nod.

"Her drawings are really awesome actually," Roxas cheered. His eyes practically shining like stars. "Like there was this one cool drawing of a cherry blossom scenery and she- mmrph"

His words were cutoff as Naminé acted on impulse and found herself grabbing his head slapping his hand over his lips to prevent him from speaking any further. It was bad enough already that they knew she does art but the fact that Roxas was now describing it. She wanted to just crawl back into her room already.

The hand that was holding his head was digging into his hair as a way to hold him still. And it was if he cries were going in one ear and out the other.

His golden strands felt like pillows for her fingers. I-It's so soft…..

"Damn Naminé you got some muscles in ya," Axel whistled as he watched Roxas struggling to get out of her grasp. Even Xion seemed to be focused on the sight as Axel's rested his cheek on the palm of his hand, the arm of it which was resting on top of Xion's head.

Realisation of what she was doing hit as she quickly let go of Roxas. She quickly gave a short bow up and down and was going to reach for her usual sketchbook, only to remember that she left it in her room. So instead she whipped out her phone and opened the notes app.

Roxas rubbed the spot where Namine had forcefully held onto earlier and winced a little. Her phone screen was the next thing he saw with the text "I'M SORRY!" with a bunch of emojis that depicted a person holding their hands together in an apologetic manner.

"It's fine," he chuckled. His face suddenly lit up, an idea. "Hey, wanna join us for ice cream?" he suggested, he turned towards Axel and Xion. "You guys don't mind right?"

Axel gave a dumbfounded look. "What? Bro but seas salt ice cream is our- OW!"

His shin was kicked once again by Xion. "Of course not, she can join us if she wants to," she smiled.

Sea salt ice cream? What a weird flavor. Roxas turned back to her. "Basically back in Twilight Town we used to have Seas Salt Ice Cream almost every day and it is the one flavour that you will never regret blessing your tongue with!" Roxas praised as if some almighty being was right in front of him. He enhanced his statement by kneeling on the ground, the stars appeared back in his eyes.

"What's Roxas trying to say," she said as she grabbed Roxas by the collar to let him stand up straight to avoid getting any more attention, "is that the best ice cream flavour ever. I thought it was weird at first but you get used to it once you get pestered to eat it almost everyday,"

"And you loved it!" Axel finished for her.

But Naminé wasn't really paying attention. Another thought came to life in her head.

Was this how friends were supposed to act? It's been so long since she had someone who she could call a real friend that she forgot what it felt like. She watched as the trio could keep arguing, but at the same time, laughing. And being around them, especially seeing Roxas smiling laughing, a fuzzy, warm feeling emerged in her heart.

She clutched her chest, ignoring the wrinkles it may cause to the shirt. Why is my chest so tight?.

"Naminé!" Roxas called out, snapping her back to reality. "So you down for ice – cream?"

Honestly, why did she say yes?

All she wanted to do was to stay cooped up in her room and draw. Especially after what had happened earlier, she was already tired and just wanted to be alone. So why did she say yes? Here she was now, sitting on a bench with Xion, aka a person who she barely even knew while waiting for Roxas and Axel. Xion had decided to stay behind to keep Naminé company. It had been a good 10 minutes before she stood up.

"Actually Naminé, would you mind if you look after our stuff for awhile? I need to use the restroom real quick," Xion asked. Naminé responded with a nod. What else was she supposed to do anyway?

"Great! Thanks a lot!" she said as she ran to a different direction.

Thanks a lot. Those words were definitely something to her. Words of gratitude, it wasn't new but, almost long forgotten to her. It's been awhile since she heard someone other than her parents say it to her. She couldn't help but smile at the comment, she had to admit, it felt… nice.

"You should really smile more often," Roxas words cut her off from her thoughts. She felt like this was slowly becoming a reoccurring thing. She looked up to see Roxas holding a plastic bag. Only then he noticed that she was the only sitting there.

"Where's Xion?" he looked around. Naminé pointed her phone at Roxas.

"She went to the bathroom,"

It also hit her that Axel was nowhere near Roxas.

"Guess that makes two of us first, that guy wondered off to do his own business to who knows where. Turn around for one second then turned back to see the guy disappeared," he sighed as he sat down next to Naminé.

She moved to the side a bit to give Roxas more space to sit. When he saw this, he gave a fake sad look on his face.

"Wow, you don't want to sit next to me that badly now do you," he whined. Slowly getting used to his personality, the blonde just gave a straightforward nod.

"Oh you wound me too much," he sat down next to her and took out a plastic wrapped popsicle. Tearing one open, he handed it to Naminé.

"Here," he offered. The blonde reluctantly took the popsicle, watching Roxas taking out another popsicle. The girl stared at the ice blue colored desert for a few second. Roxas plopped his into his mouth almost immediately.

"Man this tastes so good," he voiced in satisfaction.

A bite wouldn't hurt. She slowly opened her mouth and tasted the popsicle. A salty flavour filling her tongue immediately, making her pull back in disgust.

"That's definitely the first reaction," Roxas chuckled, taking a small bite of his popsicle. She hesitated taking another bite, just one tase of the salty flavour was more than enough for her but was it worth it? She took one glance at Roxas who already ate half of his. With a sigh and a mental push, she took another bite.

There was the familiar salty flavour, but this time, it was rather…. sweet. The sweet feeling wasn't as strong at the saltiness as Naminé doesn't really have a sweet tooth to begin with but it was enough for her. A smile crept up on her face as she took another bite of the ice cream.

"Hey look now there's that smile!" Roxas cheered, causing Namine to turn away quickly. Roxas laughed more as he took more bites of his sea salt ice cream. Naminé slowly took more bites of the cold treat, savouring it's salty sweet flavour. Silence filled the gap between them as they ate while waiting for Axel and Xion. At that point, having no idea on what to have a conversation about, she was glad Roxas decided to break it.

"Hey, by the way, I never actually got to hear your answer," he said.

Answer? That's when it hit her. He asked her to teach him more about art. That question sunk in to her. Why? And to answer that question, she took out her phone.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you want learn?" she flashed her phone screen to her.

And for the first time, a different look appeared on Roxas' face. Even Naminé couldn't tell what he was feeling, a mixture of shock and sadness. A look that even Naminé was surprised to see. His face was usually accompanied by his happy go lucky demeanour but for that split second, it was the opposite.

"Oh it's just something that I loved doing as a kid, but I'm just very, very terrible at it," he smiled. "And that's why I want your help,"

The popsicle melting, dripping down to her finger snapped her out of the trance when she momentarily got sidetracked staring at his smile. She gulped, still trying to take in his words. What reason does she have to reject? Thinking she was bad artist was already at the surface of her mind, and now being a teacher? Could she really be someone like that?

"Oh yeah!" Roxas exclaimed, "this doesn't mean you won't get anything out of this! If you help me I'll…I'll….uhhh…" his words trailed off as he rested his chin between his thumb and index finger, thinking hard on how to repay Naminé.

The blonde was taken aback by his statement and was about tot ap his shoulder, trying to let him know that she didn't really need anything in returned.

"I know!" he hit the palm of his hand, "I'll repay with free sea salt ice cream! Everyone loves that!" Stars were practically shining in his eyes as Naminé sweatdropped. Just how much is this guy obsessed with sea salt ice cream?

Suddenly, an opportunity came into mind. Her lips trembled as she typed in a new note.

"Ok I'll help you, but on one condition,"

"Awesome!" he cheered at first, reading the first part, but his eyes darted to the second part. "What condition?"

"You teach me on how I become like you"

"Like me? Well," Roxas pushed a lock of his hair upward, making an L shape with his fingers and positioned it at the bottom of his chin, "I know everyone wants to become like me," he said, raising his eyebrow up and down. Naminé responded with a straightforward, uninterested face. "Ok ok, I get it," he said, "But what do you mean, like me?"

She typed more on her phone.

"How I can stand up to others,"

Roxas donned a serious look for a moment. "When you mean others," he started, "You mean Larxene, don't you,"

She was caught off guard at the fact that he knew her name already. Roxas read the look on her face and explained "I mean, it's not hard to not know her name if she's quite known for playing the bully card in school,"

Understandable.

"Well, in the end if I do get to learn to become a better artist, then I'll try my best to help you as well," he said as he stuck out his hand. "Shake on it?"

With trembling fingers, she reached out her hand and grabbed his hand, circling her fingers around his palm.

Done deal. He was going to learn on how to get better at art. She was going to learn on how to stand up for herself.