A/N: Well, here it is. Finally. Sorry about the wait. My other story is kinda taking priority right now.

Please enjoy and review!

Chapter 5: Existence

The only time that I ever saw Sora, as a general rule, was when we were looking in a mirror. Which definitely wasn't the case right now, because I didn't feel any of the emotions that were written across the face before me.

My eyes never left his and his never left mine, but when I moved my arm, his remained stationary. Which meant that he definitely wasn't a reflection…

I lifted my hands and looked at them in blatant disbelief. They were eerie and somewhat transparent in the space before my eyes, but they were still… mine. When I willed my fingers to flex and bend, they did my bidding.

This had happened only once before. I'd been able to leave Sora for the briefest moment so that I could have a minute conversation with Naminé…

Naminé! I whirled around.

She was kneeling before me with a gentle smile on her face. Not far behind her, Kairi was sitting back on her heels just like Sora.

Kairi didn't seem surprised. In fact, there was a gentle smile on her face as her eyes flickered over Naminé and me. It was as though she'd been expecting something like this to happen for some time now.

But how had it happened? From what I could see, it looked like Sora and Kairi had broken their kiss and pulled apart, but Naminé and I hadn't. And so we'd simply been left behind, still clinging to one another. We were like a pair of ghosts kneeling between them.

For the longest moment, the four of us looked back and forth, from one face to the next. As my roving eyes finally fell on Sora, I found his expression somewhat amusing. He looked like he'd been clubbed over the head. I could picture the befuddlement that would be gluing the cogs of his brain together right now.

But he knew me. There was no reason for him to be so surprised.

"Hey," I said in my own clear, carrying voice. I laughed at the series of emotions that played across his face—shock, confusion, and finally recognition.

"Hey," he returned, hesitant and still somewhat disbelieving.

I turned back to Naminé. The girl was smiling up at me, not only as though she'd been waiting to see me for a long time, but as though she'd been expecting it. "Roxas," she said simply. The way she said my name had always made me feel a little giddy, but it was even better than I remembered it.

I took her hands in mine. They were warm and soft, in spite of the fact that I had a pretty good view of the floor through them. And the sensations flooding through me were just as strong as they had been before. It was as though we really had bodies of our own.

Without another thought, I sprang easily to my feet, pulling her along with me. Her eyes never left mine.

She was just as beautiful as ever with her long coils of hair twisting and fraying around her neck and shoulders. She was dressed in white and looked slightly luminous in the moonlight, only adding to my previous suspicions that she might be an angel or some other type of heavenly being.

We looked down at Kairi, and then Sora. Kairi was smiling serenely with her hands in her lap, and Sora's confusion seemed to have subsided into something along the lines of quiet surprise.

There were another series of explosions, and the tree house was filled with green and gold light. Naminé looked up at me and said, "I think we might have a few minutes of our own. You know. Before we have to go back." She gestured toward Sora and Kairi.

I gaped at her. "Really? Like, we can go somewhere… without them?"

"Yes. For a while, at least," she said, smiling lightly.

"Okay. Um…" I turned back to Sora. "See you in a bit?" I laughed at how casual it sounded.

Sora didn't answer, but Kairi beamed at us and said, "Okay. Have a nice time."

Naminé smiled back at her and even graced her with a small giggle; you'd have thought they were best friends. "We will."

There was a long pause. And I could tell that they we were all wondering the same thing. How long could the four of us be separated? And what effect would it have on them? And us?

Finally, I broke the silence. "Well… have a nice date, you two."

That seemed to wake Sora up. He looked up at me, then exchanged glances with Kairi. Without any hesitation, he reached out and took her hand in his. "We will," he said softly, without dropping her gaze. Her answering smile was exultant.

And then it was time to leave them alone. Finally.

Naminé and I walked out into the night, hand in hand. We climbed down the ladder together and walked across the moonlit beach in a comfortable sort of silence. We were still getting used to the feeling of being in control—of having our very own bodies again, or something similar to them anyway.

It was a pretty awesome feeling. I resisted the urge to go running, whooping, and hollering down the beach, although I'm pretty sure she would have come along with me if I'd asked her to.

"Naminé?"

She looked up at me as another explosion illuminated her skin. "Yes?" she asked, just as serene as always. I could tell by the subtly wry expression on her face that she wasn't surprised by the fact that I was asking her yet another question. It had been my role from the very beginning.

But I knew she didn't mind it. "How is this happening?" I asked.

I was sure that she'd know the answer, so I was a little taken aback when she said, "Who knows? I don't think there have ever been Nobodies quite like us before."

Huh. I shook my head. "Probably not. Do you think…" I swallowed hard. "Do you think it will ever happen again?" I gestured at our luminous, transparent bodies.

She lifted one tiny shoulder, then let it fall. "Who knows?" she said again. "We'll have to be sure to make tonight last, in case it doesn't."

I lifted her fingers to my lips and kissed them. She watched me with large, soft eyes and a gentle smile on her lips.

"Naminé?" It came more tentatively this time.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think…" I took a deep breath, because the idea I was about to present had only just occurred to me, and it was a painful one. "Do you think that the only reason we feel this way is because of Sora and Kairi? Because we've lived inside them, and we feel how they feel?"

She didn't flinch. Could nothing faze this girl?

"Well…" she began, releasing my hands and taking short, deliberate steps toward the ocean. "It's possible, I suppose."

Another firework crashed and flared on the horizon; its iridescence was mirrored in her eyes. The lashes pulled over them, and she stood quietly for a moment, breathing in the smell of the sea and thinking.

Her words should have made me feel like my heart had been torn in two. But I found that the only thing I could dwell on right now was how stunning and unreal she looked, standing there with wisps of pale, soft hair curling around her neck. If I didn't really love her, then what did that mean?

Suddenly she spoke. "After the first time I met you, I couldn't leave you alone. DiZ didn't want me to contact you at all. He said it was best that you didn't know the truth." She turned and looked at me again; her hands fell to her sides. "But I found that I wanted you to know. I cared a little more than I should have."

I was startled to see that her eyes were glistening; I moved toward her, arms extended, but she shook her head and stepped away from me, palms raised.

As I looked at her, I could feel the hurt register on my face.

"I wanted you to know who you were," she went on, looking away. "It didn't seem fair that anyone, heart or no heart, should have to go through what you've been through. And then on top of that, there was something about you that just…" she brushed at the tears that stood on her cheeks, sparkling with each flash of light in the sky.

"Pulled?" I suggested hopefully.

She smiled through her tears. "Yeah," she said, wrapping her arms around herself and looking at the waves. I followed at her down the beach, but didn't touch her. When we reached the water, she immediately removed her shoes and took several steps through the wet sand. She shivered and looked out to sea.

I remembered how, not so long ago, I'd wondered if she was a monster—a monster that had taken Xion from me for no good reason at all. But now all I could see was a gentle and vulnerable girl that held her elbows in her hands and watched the waves as they brushed and pulled at her toes. She had never thought of herself—not for one moment in her short half-life. And now it occurred to me that she harbored some kind of guilt in confessing her feelings for me. As though they were a fault.

"Naminé," I said softly, reaching for her. She didn't flinch away this time, so I took her in my arms and cradled her against my chest. She buried her face in my shirt.

"I feel like I don't deserve you," she said, her voice muffled and forlorn. "I feel like I've done something to you… something that you should be angry at me for."

I was slightly stunned. Of course, she wouldn't be able to remember Xion; she wasn't a part of Sora like I was. But I was fairly certain now that she had some sort of a trace of guilt left. Guilt for something that had never been her fault, really.

"Don't worry," I assured her in a soft voice. "You've never done anything to be ashamed of, Naminé. Trust me." Or trust Xion, at least.

"How do you know?" she whispered. Her eyes were glazed over with pain.

I wasn't sure how much to tell her. I took a deep breath. "Because… I found a lot of peace while I was living inside of Sora. I know who I am now. Probably for the first time in the entire course of my existence. And I know the truth about you. You're a perfect person."

She looked up at me, so weepy, and yet so heartbreakingly beautiful at the same time. "Really?" There was hope in her voice.

"Really," I replied. Weird. It felt like our roles had been reversed. Usually she was the one comforting me.

She sighed, as though an enormous weight had been lifted from her tiny shoulders. Then she reached up and placed a hand on my cheek. "So… it's okay? Truly?"

"Yeah," I said resolutely. What had happened to Xion was over now. She was at peace with Sora and I. The blame didn't lie with anyone, really—least of all this ghost of a girl before me, who'd just pretty much just admitted that she loved me.

That she loved me…?

I took her chin between my fingers and tilted her face toward mine. In the dark, her eyes were like the ocean at night—tranquil and reflective of the moonlight. They eased closed as I leaned toward her and touched my lips to hers. She ran her palms up my chest, then wrapped her arms around my neck, just like Kairi had wrapped her arms around Sora.

We kissed for a long time, breathing and touching and feeling. There was nothing else like it in the entire world—and therefore nothing for me to compare it to. But the stirrings I felt inside me were stronger than they'd ever been.

She was smiling blissfully when we finally broke apart. Then she sighed: a sweet and satisfactory sound. "I don't think their love was ever ours."

Her voice was alluring and, unless I imagined it, a bit smug. She continued, "It may have strengthened ours, but… ours was always there. All along."

"Yeah," I breathed.

I kissed her mouth once—twice—a third time. Then my kisses wandered to her cheek, pulling and sucking and reveling in its softness. I ran my lips across her cheekbone, then caught her earlobe for a brief taste. She shivered beneath my hands as I fondled the smooth, prominent bump behind her ear with my lips.

She was so beautiful. Her neck flowed, pure and undisturbed, like a waterfall to the cool pooling of skin at her collarbone. She smelled so sweet. And so I traced the contour of her neck with the tip of my nose. I would memorize her. And this night would be with me forever, no matter what tomorrow would bring.

She ran her hands through my hair as I kissed her collarbone. Her fingers traced each coarse blonde spike and she occasionally kissed the top of my head. It was as though she were indulging herself in its smell.

After a while, she caught my face in her hands and pulled it back to hers. We shared three long kisses, and then she sighed and wrapped her arms around my waist. I buried my face in her hair.

There was a sudden smattering of explosions in the air. We looked toward the mainland. Firework after firework exploded, sending their shimmering fingers outward until it seemed that they were taking over the entire sky. The noise was enough to make Naminé's tiny frame vibrate beneath my arms.

Boom, boom boom boom…. piff… piff… crash… and then a shower of sparks that fell like ashes to ocean below.

And after that brief moment of splendor, the show was over.

"Hmm," Naminé murmured against my chest. "That was beautiful."

"Very," I agreed, running my hands up and down her arms. "Too bad it has to end."

"Mm-hmm…" she sighed. "It really is."

I looked down at her, curious as to what she really meant, and was startled to see that she was gazing down at her own hand with nothing short of misery written across her face.

"What? What is it?" I demanded, grabbing the hand. I couldn't see anything wrong with it—not yet at least.

She pulled it away, then held it up against the sky.

I could easily see the moon behind it. I could see the landmarks and imperfections on its silvery surface—and I could even see a couple of stars that twinkled behind her pinkie and index finger. She was fading. And fast.

"What the heck?" I cried, looking down at my own hands. They were just as faded. Through them, I could see my legs and the beach below. When I looked up at Naminé, I could see the outline of the island behind her head.

"It's time to go," she said forlornly. "We can't exist outside of them like this. Not for very long, anyway."

I looked at her for a long moment, then reached out and pulled her into my arms. "This is the most I've ever existed," I said, almost fiercely. There was a certain tightness in my throat.

"Me too," she said. Her hands were a little too light on my back; her body entirely too weightless. There was hardly any substance to us, now.

We held each other for a long moment. "Why does this hurt so much?" I wondered aloud.

She didn't bother to answer. Because what words would change the fact that it did hurt? Existence was a painful thing. It was a thing we could have escaped if we'd faded back into darkness like most Nobodies.

But it was also a thing that allowed kisses to be trailed down its neck. It was a thing that smelled salt on the wind and a thing that tasted Naminé on its tongue. It was a thing that almost made it all worthwhile—the pain, the lacking of a body of its own. Everything.

I sighed and touched her vastly transparent cheek. "Well… we'd better go back."

She nodded. "Sora and Kairi need us."

I thought about that for a moment, then laughed. "Yeah, you're right. They really do."

She smiled. I put my arm around her, and we began our somewhat heavy-hearted walk back toward the tree house. The moonlight flooded through us as if we weren't there, and we left no shadows on the ground. Our feet barely seemed to touch the sand. We were like the wind—stirring the lives of the living, the lives that were like the waves and palm trees that bent beneath our influence. And yet we weren't really there at all… we were merely a force. A force that whispered and shrieked and sighed in its frustration.

Then again, we existed. And I could still taste Naminé on my lips.

"Naminé?" I asked again.

She turned her face upward; it looked like nothing but an etching on a sheet of glass, now. "Hmm?"

"I'm glad we exist."

It wouldn't have meant much to anyone else. But she understood—the pros and cons of our half-lives were a constant weight on both of our minds, after all. And so she ghosted up on her tip-toes and planted a feathery kiss on my cheek.

"So am I, Roxas," she breathed. "Whatever else there is or isn't in this life, at least there will always be you and me."

I gave her one last kiss, a kiss that neither of us could really feel anymore. After we had broken apart, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wouldn't kiss her again for a long, long time. But that fact was almost as weightless as we were in the moonlight—because existence reigned supreme.

"Always," I repeated.

And then we pointed our feet toward Sora and Kairi.