A/N: To MORTMYRE, why did you copy my fanfic? To all of you, if you find another fanfic with the same tile (PENS), report an abuse. If you doubt on which one is the original fanfic, you can always check the publishing date. The other author is SURELY, PURELY COPYING MY IDEAS.

Pens

He pressed the doorbell again. Come on, come on, come on… It was freezing cold and he didn't know how long he could stand it.

"Naminé!" he tried calling as he pressed the doorbell again. Was she ignoring him? "C'mon…c'mon…just one more chance…c'mon… Naminé!" He had said her name loudly, and then—

"D'you know what time it is right now, boy?" barked the neighbour, obviously irritated. "Go home!"

Roxas quietly cursed the man. He pressed the doorbell for one last time. When no one answered yet again, he gave up (he had the urge to pee so badly) and so he left. But he couldn't help looking back at Naminé's house, just in case she was standing there looking at him or something. But he saw no one. No Naminé, no one.

When he got back (and after spending a few minutes in the bathroom), he found Sora still in his bedroom. He was sitting on the bedroom floor along with the pens and colour pencils. He was still figuring out the messages, and he had a piece of paper on which he wrote down the messages that he'd hacked. He grinned when Roxas came in.

"So, any luck?"

"Nope. She didn't answer the door," Roxas replied, throwing himself onto the bed. He took a few minutes to think of how idiot he'd been. "So what didja get?"

"You owe me 180 munny!" Sora provided happily, pointing at the pens. "Dude, you have these things with you all the time and you've never noticed…she's confessed to you hundreds of times!"

Yeah, thanks for making me feel worse, Sora.

Sora went on. " Look, these pens say 'distance should bring us closer' (he pointed at several colour pencils and pens). This was back then when you had to go to Zanarkand for that Struggle competition, remember? You were wondering whether she missed you or not, but it turned out that you've got the answer all along in that box!"

Yeah, it was a year ago when Roxas had to go to Zanarkand for the Struggle competition. Naminé didn't even call or send any letters to him, and he felt bad about it. Didn't she miss him? Not as lovers, but as friends — didn't she miss her friend? Then it struck him: she must've felt bad when he had no clue about this whole message-through-pen-tossing thingy.

"Plus, remember that day when all the girls fussed about how beautiful the rainbow was?" Sora continued. "You were like, "Girls are silly, liking rainbows and all", right? Well, actually Naminé was shy — she loved rainbows too, but since you think it's silly, she didn't say anything. Instead, she gave you this: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple — rainbow colours! She likes rainbows too, man…you just didn't know that…"

Roxas rolled to one side and groaned. Roxas, you're pathetic. "I'm pathetic…"

Sora cheered. "Now you're talkin'!"

Roxas gave him a glare. "If you're so good, solve this: a man is 3 times older than his son. 6 years ago, the product of their ages was 420. Calculate their current ages!"

Sora blinked. "Uh. Repeat?"

"A man is 3 times older than his son. 6 years ago, the product of their ages was 420. Calculate their current ages."

Sora blinked, and looked up to the ceiling, counting something using his fingers and muttering things under his breath. "3 times…6 years ago…hmm…" He finally looked at Roxas. WHAT? Could it be? His cousin, Sora Strife, could solve something like that (not that it was hard) only by staring at the ceiling?

"Gee, I dunno, Roxas."

Roxas fell of the bed anime style.

Question to ponder: Should you or should you NOT look at Sora as a smart person? Insert a huge question mark here.

Roxas sat back up, sweatdropping, and changed the subject. "Okay, never mind… Listen, if you be my Code Breaker and crack all the messages, I'll treat you Sea Salt ice cream for a year."

Sora's eyes lightened up. "A year? Really? You SERIOUS?"

Roxas pulled on his "serious business" face. He was serious about this. "Positive."

"Yosh! To work! To work! Bring it on, bebeh!"

And only God knows how tiring code breaking could be.

—X—

Roxas woke up the next day at the sound of Cloud's motorbike outside. He was lying on the bed, clutching a bunch of pens while Sora was asleep with his face pressed against the floor and saliva was oozing out of his mouth. Roxas pulled a disgusted face and thought that he might cancel the ice cream treat for a month for this…

He sat up and looked around. On the floor and study table were tons of pens and colour pencils, with notes attached to them. Last night, he, O' Glorious Roxas, only managed to crack a few messages while Sora did the rest. They got messages like "your hair is nice today", "I hope you feel better now" and other messages that actually made Roxas feel so stupid. How come he'd never noticed any of these messages?

"Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic — you're PATHETIC, ROXAAAAAS!" he shouted as he got out of bed and stretched.

"OI! Shuddup, up there!" Cloud shouted.

"Sorry!" Roxas shouted back. He then woke Sora up and demanded that he clean the floor. By the time Roxas was dressed up, his bedroom floor was saliva-free, and his room was Sora-free — which was good, because he needed some time alone. He and Sora had arranged the pens and colour pencils in groups and stuck a note on each group. Roxas stared at them. Sora had added the 'a.k.a.'s to make the message clearer.

'Don't worry :D (a.k.a. be happy).'

'Notice me now?'

'Happy White Day (a.k.a. Valentine's Day).'

'Good luck.'

'Lots of love from Wave (a.k.a. Nami a.k.a. Naminé).'

'Get well soon.'

The message went on and on, and it actually amazed Roxas how Naminé could think of passing messages through pens. It must've taken her ages to find the right pens and colour pencils to form the correct messages…and yet he, O' Not-So-Glorious-Anymore Roxas, noticed nothing. Pathetic Roxas. How was he ever going to make it up to her?

Making up his mind, Roxas grabbed the phone and dialled her number. Man, even his fingers could automatically dial those magical numbers…yet; he himself didn't notice her messages…

It was school break (for a week or so) and he was hoping that Naminé was not on a holiday trip r something. And then, thank God, someone picked up.

"Hello?" It was her mother.

"Uh, hi Mrs. Kamiya. It's Roxas."

"Aaah, right, right — Roxas," said the lady. Uh-oh. Was she going to kill him for hurting her daughter so badly? Roxas swallowed hard.

"Umm, I was wondering if…if Naminé's at home?" he asked, his voice sounding as calm as ever. That was him, all right — Mr. Super-Duper Calm. Tsk.

"Naminé? Well — she left this morning. Quit a few came to send her off."

Send her off? Left? Quite a few? "Uh…I don't really understand…?"

"You don't? Why — oh! Didn't Naminé tell you that she's going to that Art school? It's a boarding school — arts boarding school."

"WHAT?"

Roxas heard Mrs. Kamiya going, "Ohmigod!" and he guessed that she'd jumped away from the phone when he had shouted.

"Oh, I'm sorry — but she didn't tell me ANYTHING!" Roxas said over the phone.

"What? I thought you'd be the first to know," Mrs. Kamiya said.

Think, Roxas, think! AHAH! The 'meet me at the Glorious Fountain at 3.20 p.m., THAT must be when she wanted to tell him! Gee, you're such an idiot, Roxas. "Uh, she's gone already?"

"Yes, she is. She's all excited about the new school — new students have to register by tomorrow and lessons start right after the holidays, so, she had to go today. Why did you ask?"

"I have to meet her — I have to return her the things that I've, umm, borrowed."

"Well, I'm so sorry, dear. Maybe you can give it to her when she comes back home."

"When's that?" Roxas asked urgently.

"Next month."

Roxas felt like dying right there on the spot. Stupid — idiot — pathetic — Mr. — Roxas! He said thanks and hung up later on. He opened the windows of his bedroom and literally jumped out of it. Thank god he knows how to glide in the air by now…

—X—

"Hi, umm — can I speak to Kairi, please? Me? I — I'm Roxas. Yep. Yep. EH? NO! That's SORA, my cousin. Yeah. I — wait — NOO!"

But too late, Kairi's elder sister was already screaming, "KAIRI, YOU LEFT SORA FOR ROXAS, DIDN'T YOU?" on the other line. Roxas smacked his forehead. Kairi's elder sister loved gossips, even though they weren't at all true.

Then he heard Kairi's voice. "No, you silly. We're still together, Sora and I. Roxas is our friend — hello?"

"Why oh why won't your sister let people finish their sentences first…?" Roxas mumbled. Kairi laughed a bit.

"Sorry. So, what's up?"

Roxas sat up straighter. "Umm, it's about Naminé." He could almost see Kairi folding her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"What about her?"

"Are you folding your arms and raising your eyebrows right now?" he asked hesitantly.

"What about her?"

"Okay fine — d'you know she's moved away from our school? She's going to an art school starting today."

"Yes, I know that."

She knew? "Then why didn't you—?"

"Why didn't I tell you about it? Well, Naminé said she has everything under control, that she was going to pass you a message through her pens and—"

Suddenly, Kairi gasped.

"I shouldn't have said that…! I'm not supposed to…oh no…I mean—"

"Don't worry about it," Roxas said glumly, "I already know about the messages through her pens."

Kairi sort of squealed. "You do?"

"Uh-huh."

She squealed again. "She's marvellous isn't she? I mean, instead of cards or anything —pens! Who would've thought, right?"

"Yeah, she concealed it a bit too well. I was clueless until Sora helped out," Roxas admitted. "Anyway, that's not the point…the problem is…"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no — you were too late? You got her messages a bit too late?"

"More like…a LOT too late," Roxas said, feeling horrible again.

"Roxas! How could you!" Kairi said.

"Whaat? What am I supposed to do? I didn't realise it — I just did, okay, and it's—"

"But she's been hoping for you to get it since, like, years ago!" Kairi said.

"I know, I know…"

"I'm sorry, Roxas. But I can't — I mean, she's my friend. You've disappointed her so much… I'm sorry, I won't talk to you. Solve your own problems, okay? Say hello to Sora for me." With that, she hung up.

"I — hello? Hello?"

Duuuuuuuuuu…

"Dammit…"

As he passed by the computer where Sora was playing a game, he said, "Your girls friend says hi."

—X—

"C'mon, Olette, pick up, pick up — ah! Hello? Olette?"

He could hear Hayner singing in the background (more like yelling though). "Hello? Hey, who's this? Speak up, please!"

"It's Roxas!"

"Ooh! Roxas! So, what's up?"

Hayner sang louder and louder in the background.

"Jeez, could you ask him to—"

"Whaaat?"

"NEVER MIND! This is about Naminé!"

"About whooo?"

"NA — MI — NÉ‼"

"OH! Naminé, right, right! What's up?"

"I didn't know that she's—"

"WHAT?"

"TELL HAYNER TO SHUT THE CHOCOBO UP!"

"OH!" She then moved away from the phone. "Hayner, SHUT UP FOR A WHILE!"

"What?" Roxas heard Hayner said. "Oh, okay…whatever Olette says…"

Olette then returned to the phone. "Yes, you were saying? About Naminé?"

"Yes, about her. Look, I didn't know she was going away—"

"Because you obviously didn't know about her pen codes."

"So everyone else knows, but I don't?"

"Only us girls do. Anyway, Roxas, you broke her heart so badly—"

"I know, that's why I—"

"ROXAS, YOU NIMROD! POOR NAMINÉ!" With that, Olette hung up.

Duuuuuu…

"Dammit, dammit!"

—X—

"Hello, Selphie?"

Selphie shrieked. "ROXAS?"

"Umm, yeah. Listen—"

"Olette and Kairi told me about it — eep!" With that — yep — she hung up on him.

"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!"

—X—

"I feel bad."

"Hmm." (Cloud).

"I feel horrible."

"There, there." (Sora).

"I feel pathetic."

"Yeah…" (Cloud).

"I feel stupid."

"This is love, Rox." (Sora).

"I'm such an idiot."

"Yes, you are." (Cloud).

"You two brothers are useless twerps."

"Yea, we are — hey!" (Sora).

Cloud gave Sora a "way to go, brother" look, and continued to polish his shoe. He wasn't a very helpful cousin (very much like Sora when it comes to home works), but he listened to Roxas complaining anyway. And yep, like the one you just read, he wasn't much of a help when it comes to problems and solutions. Roxas stood up quickly.

"Right! I am Roxas Hikari! I'm a gentleman!"

"You are?" Cloud said, raising his eyebrows, but his eyes didn't leave his shoes. Roxas glared, but he didn't seem to see it. So Roxas ignored it.

"Why yes, I AM. Now…an apology must be made to Naminé," he said, more to himself. He stood there, thinking. And then, making up his mind, he ran upstairs.

"Hey, can I join—?" Sora began.

"NO!" Roxas said, and slammed the door shut. This was between him, Naminé, and the pens and colour pencils. "Right…let's start," he said, taking out all the pens, colour pencils and the notes containing Naminé's messages.

—X—

A month at her new school was kind of fun. She wasn't too happy with the fact that she had not much friends (only her roommate and a classmate as friends), but she was always looking forward to going back home when the time comes. When the time did come, she quickly packed her bags the day before and went to bed early. The next day, she was almost jumping with joy when she finally arrived at her beloved hometown.

There were a lot of stories that Naminé told her mother: about the so-called haunted bathroom, about a guy named Demyx trying to flirt with her, about a student who didn't like her at all, about her two friends, and so much more. Her mother had some things to tell her too: how much she missed her 'little princess', how she'd managed to bake a cookie without destroying the kitchen, and how a boy called Roxas kept sending stuff to their house.

"Stuff?" Naminé repeated, her heat beat increasing at the sound of Roxas' name.

"Yes, dear. Stuff," her mother said, pouring more lemonade into her glass. "Or presents, to be precise. They're all nicely wrapped. I placed them on your bed and I didn't open it. I don't want to be rude," she added, smiling. Naminé smiled back. She had the nicest mother in the world.

"Thanks mum," she said. "Umm, I'm gonna go and check them now."

"Okay, sure."

With that, she sprinted upstairs, climbing the stairs in twos, and quickly entered her room (she hadn't gone there yet — the moment she got into her house, she sat in the living room to chat with her mother). She was shocked to see around twenty — or more — boxes stacked neatly on her bed. When she had recovered from the slight shock, she closed the door and sat on the bed, staring at the boxes. She reached for the nearest one, and read the card on it.

February 15th 2003.

Ah yes. Now she remembered: that was when she first thought of the idea. Why not pass him love messages through pens? She came up with that idea after Valentine's Day, anyway — when she'd finally decided it was best for him to know. She didn't expect Roxas to get the messages any sooner — and she was right.

With trembling hands, she carefully unwrapped that box of present. When that task was done, she took a deep breath, and held it. She opened the box.

Inside were her old pens and colour pencils (she didn't expect to see them again at all). Also in the box was a scented piece of paper. She felt her face going red. Was this really from Roxas?

She picked up the paper and read:

Your message: Happy White Day

Sora's translation: Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to you, too, Naminé. I know it's like…umm…three years after you sent this message to me, but I still mean it. Happy Valentine's Day. I'm so sorry for being such a jerk. And for being a coward for not wishing your 'Happy Valentine's Day earlier'. Please forgive me.

She was smiling and her eyes were watering at the moment. Roxas actually figured it out with Sora's help. She didn't mind with the fact that Sora helped — in fact, she was glad that Roxas didn't admit that he figured it out by himself. It showed that he appreciated Sora's help.

She didn't notice it earlier, but there was a heart-shaped chocolate inside the box. She picked it up. The violet wrapper had the sentence "Please Forgive Me" on it. Laughing and crying at the same time, she placed it carefully aside and reached for another box. And another. And another. Each of these boxes contained presents such as perfumes, small stuffed toys and even new sets of colour pencils.

Naminé spent hours unwrapping the boxes and reading the notes inside.

Your message: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Sora's translation: You love rainbows.

Okay, it does seem a bit silly to me for girls to go 'ooh' and 'ah' over stripes of colours, but I don't mind if you like it. I mean, if you do like it, I'd try to like it too. Again, I apologise for my stupidity for not realising your messages. I'm so stupid. I'm sorry.

That was the Roxas she knew: straightforward and honest. He didn't say he liked rainbows just because she liked them. Instead, he said he'd try to like them as well. Smiling for the umpteenth time, she carefully placed the box aside, and took another one.

Your message: Distance should bring us closer.

Sora's translation: The same.

Yes, I know distance should bring us closer. I was soooo sad back then when I was in Zanarkand for that Struggle competition. You sent me no letters, you didn't call me, nothing, nada. I thought you didn't care at all…turns out I was the one who was too blind to see your messages. I sure did miss you back then. Again, I apologise for being blind. Forgive me please?

Your message: Erasable colour pencil, permanent ball pen liner.

Sora's translation: An easy-to-forget person, yet would stay with The One forever.

Look, I know you're very upset. And I'm very sorry. No, like, very, very, very, very, very, very sorry. You're not an easy-to-forget type! I mean, not to me. Try to remember back when my chocobo pet died, who did I turn to? Who did I share my sadness with? Back when my parents died, who was 'that girl' who saw 'Strong Roxas' cried like a little baby? Who was that girl who used to throw pens at me to pull me back to reality? Who is this girl reading my notes right now? Is she THAT easy to forget? Again, I'm so sorry. Forgive me please, Naminé.

Naminé reached for another box. However, this box had two dates on it. It was the two last days before the school holidays started — before she went away.

Your messages: Red, blue, Itex, Lovely Utah, and Meet me at Glorious Fountain 1520.

Sora's translation 1: Roses are red, violets are blue, I just want to say I love you.

Sora's translation 2: Meet me at the Glorious Fountain at 3.20p.m.

She frowned as she saw Roxas' message:

Roses are red, violets are blue, meet me Glorious Go! Go! Multimark 1520 when you read this.

Did he mean… Did he want to meet her…? She swallowed, and stared back at that message. Slowly, she looked at the clock hanging on the wall: it was almost five. Should she…? Would he still be there…?

Naminé stood up and thundered out of her room.

"MUM! Did you tell Roxas I'm coming back today?"

"Why, yes dear. Why—?"

"Thanks mum!" she said, already running out of the house. She raced as fast as she could towards the Glorious Fountain. On the way there, she met Riku, who was out jogging with three of his (insane) brothers, Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj.

"Hey, Naminé."

"Hey Riku! Bye Riku!"

"Bye."

She kept on running (and she almost ran into a Moogle), and several people greeted her and she hastily greeted them back. When Glorious Fountain came into view, she slowed down. She could see him from this distance. Breathing hard, she stared at Roxas' back (which was facing her). He was sitting with his head bowed. Obviously he was still waiting. But should she go and meet him? …She didn't know…

Slowly, she walked closer. Close enough for him to hear her calling, "Roxas."

Yet, he didn't even lift his head. She tried again.

"Roxas!"

No response.

She took out her 'emergency pen'. After looking at the pen for a few seconds, she stepped closer, aimed, and threw it. It hit Roxas on the head.

"Oww!"

Man, she hadn't done THAT for a month at her new school.

She walked up towards him while he frowned, rubbing the back of his head repeatedly. She noticed that there was a sign stuck on his back. She frowned a bit at read it. Okaaay. What a weird thing to paste on your back…

She sat down next to him. Her heart was hammering loudly, and she was very, very nervous, trust me on this one. But she managed to keep her voice calm.

"There's a 'kick me' sign on your back," she began.

Roxas smiled a bit. How she missed that smile… "I know."

She lifted her eyebrows. "…Why do you have a 'kick me' sign on your back?"

"Because I put it there."

"Why did you put it there then?"

"Because I am such an idiot for not noticing your messages."

Naminé felt her face grew red. This was Roxas, Mr. Straightforward. "Right… Umm, so, has anyone kicked you yet?"

"Yeah."

She lifted her eyebrows again.

"Let's see," he said, raising his hands to count on his fingers, "Cloud and Sora were the first people to kick me, and then there were Riku and his three brothers, and then Kairi, Olette and Selphie kicked me, and Hayner too. Hayner made Pence kick me since Pence was too kind, so that makes it eleven kicks, and then Seifer passed by and even though he didn't know what was going on, he kicked me anyway. Fuu and Rai joined in soon after, and then Tidus and Wakka did it too. Sixteen kicks." He examined Naminé. "You can do the honour of making the seventeenth kick, you know."

She smiled. "How about the first kiss instead?"

With that, she leaned in, and kissed Roxas. This one sure did pull him back to reality!

Pens final chapter — owari desu—

A/N: I think you guys should know this, so here goes:

Main pairing: Namixas.

Other pairings: Kaiora, Cloti, and Hayner x Olette.

I know usually people write this in the first chapter, but I didn't want to spoil the fun. So, yeah. And no kidding, the Faber-Castell Multimark 1520 marker pen really exists, though the real one is actually 1526. I have one.