Correspondence with a Demon

Chapter 1: A Stifling Stare

Naminé felt a familiar tingling up her spine. Her palms started to sweat, and she could feel the heat rising to her face. She fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat and unconsciously twirled a bunch of her blonde hair that rested on her right shoulder. She casted her eyes down to look at the half eaten dessert to serve as a distraction. She could faintly hear Kairi, her closest friend, tell her about her day, complaining about whatever the teacher had assigned, but her mind was on the feeling that was making her uncomfortable: the feeling of being watched.

Kairi noticed the silence from Naminé and tilted her head to the side. Some of her dark red hair fell from her shoulders; her hand stopped midway as she was about to reach for her iced tea.

"Hey, are you okay? You suddenly got really pale." Her violet-blue eyes searched over Naminé to check for more symptoms.

"No," Naminé replied apprehensively, "I-I'm fine, really. What was it you were saying about Mr. Strife?" She gave an uneasy smile, which was not overlooked by Kairi. She spent a minute to see if Naminé was okay like she said before continuing onto her conversation.

"So like I said," she continued, "He was really disappointed with the results of the last quiz and ended up giving another pop quiz today. Seriously, if he wanted to see better results, he should've told us about the quiz so we could have more time to prepare before – "

Naminé drowned out Kairi's conversation once again as she felt the tingling up her spine once more. She's been getting these weird feelings and tingling up her spine ever since last week when she went with her friends to the annual Destiny Islands festival. At first, she thought it was only because there were a lot of people and that it could've been some random boy staring at her. She even found it a little flattering since she didn't see herself as physically attractive. Kairi wins that one out, hands down. But she didn't think it would last throughout the week. Every day, she felt that smoldering stare on her back, and every time she turned around, no one was there. The feeling wouldn't return until sometime later, but she couldn't help but feel as if it was following her.

She felt more restless over the weekend as she walked along the streets, because it increased tenfold. With every passing day after that, she's growing increasingly threatened of this person and frightened of this feeling, so much so that she began having headaches and feeling sick to her stomach. Since then, she came to the conclusion that she had a stalker on her hands.

With that thought, Naminé felt her stomach stir. She even felt a headache come about. She could feel the bile rising from her stomach as she hunched over the table with one hand covering her mouth.

"Naminé!" Kairi immediately rushed over to her friend, rubbing her back to provide comfort. After making sure she was okay to move, she put her arm around Naminé's shoulders and gently lifted her. She looked over to the waiter, who rushed over to see if her friend was okay.

"She'll be fine," she smiled reassuringly, "She just feels a bit under the weather." With that, she gave the waiter a few bills to cover the meal and tip and left with Naminé under her wing. The waiter, concerned for his customer, politely escorted them.

When they stepped through the door, Naminé felt the feeling go away as if the person had shifted his gaze. She felt a little better but still a little queasy. She let Kairi lead as she continued to hold up the poor girl. They headed for the nearby clinic.

After getting a check up and a diagnosis, the doctor found that Naminé was just under stress and that she should take a nap on one of the beds in the other room. Kairi asked for permission and was allowed to stay with her as she recovered. Naminé protested and told Kairi to go home, but Kairi shrugged and said, "It's okay. I'll just read my book while you're napping."

Even though there were other unoccupied beds, the nurse directed them to a vacant white-sheet bed on the farthest end of the room that had a window beside it. The nurse, who had a pleasant smile that would make anyone feel safe and reassured, opened the window, the white transparent curtains gently swaying and flowing.

"There. A bit of fresh air for the young lass would perk her right up," said the nurse with a charming accent. Both girls gave her a smile in return.

Naminé felt the light breeze on her face, her bangs tickling her forehead. It felt good. She could feel her stomach settle. She slowly lay on the bed and pulled the covers over her. The nurse nodded and drew the curtains.

"For your privacy," she said, "Have a good nap, miss." They heard her soft footsteps walk towards the door.

Kairi sat in the chair next to the bed so that she was facing Naminé and her back was facing the window. She propped her legs on the bed and got her novel from her bag. Naminé stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before sighing contentedly into the sheets.

"Hey, Kairi," said Naminé.

"Hm?" she glanced at her before opening her book.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem," she replied. She closed her book. "Are you okay now? You've been acting a little strange since last week. Want to talk about it?"

Naminé's eyebrows furrowed. She pushed back the queasiness that was slowly returning.

"Yeah," Naminé sighed, ready to confide in Kairi, "It's…just this weird feeling I had. Since the festival, I felt like someone was watching me. I couldn't get rid of the feeling, and it just followed me everywhere. I got really frightened and worried, and I think today I felt the result of it." Her voice was shaking, but she felt better as she spoke more about it. Whenever Naminé had to get something off of her mind, Kairi was always the first person she would tell. She always had that effect on her.

"Oh, gosh! Did you tell your parents? I'm sure they'll be really concerned."

Naminé shook her head. "I wasn't really sure of it until a few days ago that someone was watching me. I couldn't even tell the police, because I didn't catch a glimpse of him. Sometimes, I would wonder if I just imagined the whole thing. Maybe I'm going crazy." Naminé recalled the numerous times she felt it. She was almost completely sure that there was someone right there. Her stomach started to ache in response. She sat upright, clutching it.

Kairi was immediately by her side, rubbing her back to comfort her. "Shh," she said, "It'll be all right. Try not to think about it for now. Just rest and try to go to sleep."

Naminé nodded. They waited a few minutes for the spell to pass before she felt ready to lie down. Naminé felt her eyes droop. All of a sudden she felt really sleepy. Kairi sat back down at her chair, taking the book she laid on the bed and resting it on her lap. She exhaled as a light breeze entered the room; some strands of her red hair flowed with it. Naminé glanced over and thought that the soft light of a sunny afternoon made her look more angelic. She mentally noted down the colors and the lighting for future reference for a drawing or possibly a painting.

"Hey, Kairi," she said sleepily, changing the subject to take her mind off of things. "Have you ever had that kind of experience?"

Kairi stared at her blankly.

"I mean," Naminé added, "You're like the prettiest girl in town. Surely you've had your share of…" She didn't want to say "stalkers" for fear of having a relapse.

"Yeah, I think there was this one guy," Kairi's eyebrows furrowed, trying to remember. "But I think he's in jail right now for some other reason." She didn't say anything more.

Naminé let a few minutes pass between them before asking her next question.

"Are you sure you don't want to date that guy? You know, what's-his-name. He seems pretty nice." Right around the festival, Kairi was confessed to by a shy boy around their age. Kairi politely declined, and the poor boy left disheartened. She felt bad afterwards.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I hardly know him. I'm sure he's a nice boy, but I don't think it was my charming personality that attracted him," she chuckled. "It sounds a bit silly, but I feel as if there is someone out there for me. As if he's waiting for me, you know? I feel like I should wait a little longer to find him," she laughed lightly.

"What about you, Naminé?" she inquired.

"Hm?" Naminé was getting more and more sleepy, but she was still listening. "I don't know. It would be nice if I would somehow magically find 'the one,' but at the same time I feel as if I have to wait a few more years to find him."

"Besides," she added teasingly, "I'm not as attractive as you, Kairi, so I probably won't be able to find a boyfriend any time soon."

"Oh, stop thinking like that!" she playfully swatted Naminé's covered foot, earning a smile from Naminé. "You can't compare yourself to me, okay? I am me, and you are you. There are so many amazing things about you! If you ever date a guy who can't see that, I'll chase him off!"

Naminé laughed. Kairi always knew how to make her feel better. "Mm, I think I'll go to sleep now," she said.

"So stop talking to me and go to sleep!" Kairi jested, roughly propping her legs at the end of the bed.

With that, Naminé pulled herself away from the world and dreamt of faraway lands without a dark cloud looming over her head.

When Naminé woke up, the sun had almost already set. She stared at the incandescent lights for a bit. Then she looked over by her bedside and found Kairi with her legs still propped up at the end of the bed. She was reclined in her chair, and her book rested on her chest.

Naminé rubbed her eyes as she poked Kairi into wakefulness. Kairi jumped with a start, almost falling over. Naminé laughed.

"You feeling better?" Kairi asked, blinking a few times for her eyes to adjust. She brought a hand to get the sand out of her eyes. She stood and adjusted her school uniform.

"Much better," Naminé replied as she swung her legs over to the side of the bed. She stood up, stretched for a bit, and also straightened her uniform while Kairi gathered their things. As they made their way out, they said their thanks to the doctor and even gave a big smile to the kind nurse who returned it with a wave.

"I called our parents to tell them we were going to be late. And don't worry," she added as she saw Naminé's apprehensive glance, "I didn't tell your parents about your dizzy spell today. But you do have to tell them, Naminé. You can't receive help if you don't ask for it." She was right about that.

They walked and talked and laughed for a bit more before coming to the corner where they had to part ways. Kairi's house was more towards the square (more like center) of the town, while Naminé's was a little more north, up the hill. Kairi looked a bit hesitant.

"Are you sure you'll be okay getting home? I mean, maybe I should ask my brother to come meet us here so that he could escort us to your house and then he'll walk with me home," she suggested.

Naminé shook her head. "I'll be fine. It's only a few blocks up north." Kairi still looked doubtful, but Naminé finally convinced her through the promise of contacting each other the time they reached their house.

Kairi walked a few steps before stopping and turning around. "Hey! We should try and see if we could go to the beach with the others this weekend! You know, a little R&R time!" Naminé laughed and agreed. They decided to talk more about it once they both reached home. They both waved goodbye.

Naminé chuckled as she walked up the small hill that lead straight to her house. But as she walked a few paces more, she began to be increasingly aware of her surroundings.

It was a little too quiet tonight.

Usually, Naminé would still see or even hear the clinking of glasses or laughter or even the sound of music, but out of all the nights she had to be walking home alone, they choose this night to be silent.

Naminé kept glancing behind her to make sure no one was following her. Her ears grew sensitive to the smallest of sounds. She jumped when the wind blew a can across her path. Suddenly, all the shadows around her started to look more threatening. The branches of the trees started to look more like claws. The streetlights started to flicker, causing her to take second glances at a trash can's shadow. She could have sworn that she saw something there.

It was going to be okay, right? Maybe she should have asked Kairi to call her brother. But her house was only a few blocks up, so it would have been a little too out of the way. Maybe she should run the rest of the way.

No, no. She shook her head. She encouraged herself to not think of scary things and to shove it to the back of her mind. It would only make her more frightened. Besides, she was almost to her house. She could even see shadows of the sunflowers in the garden of a neighbor a few houses down –

Naminé stopped. She thought she heard something from a few yards behind her. She was too scared to look, but it sounded like a sharp swishing noise.

There. There it was again.

Another. There was another.

Naminé started to shake as she tried to take another step. She was so close to her house. Only a few paces more. Why wasn't her body moving? Move! She urged it.

Then she felt it.

She felt it with more intensity than ever before. As if he was standing right behind her. As if he was there, placing his finger at the bottom of her back and was trailing it lightly, teasingly, ever so slowly up her spine.

She shuddered. Her breath quickened its pace.

All of her body functions just shut down. Her foot planted itself on the pavement, not moving even when she wanted it to. She was like a mouse being entranced by a snake, too scared to move even when its mind is yelling danger. She could feel her quickened heart beat through her ribs.

She heard a low growl.

With that, the spell was broken, and Naminé swiveled around to find herself looking at a pair of eyes in the darkness, a few yards away from her.

Big. Blue. Glowing. Eyes.

It looked hungry. It looked angry. It looked ready to pounce.

Whatever that thing was, Naminé knew that she had come face to face with her stalker. She felt her whole soul be possessed as she was looking at those big eyes. But with all the strength she could muster, she willed herself to start running.

And running she did.

She didn't look back. All she just wanted to do was to put more distance between her and that.

Everything looked like it was going through slow motion. She felt as if she was running for forever. With tears already streaming down her face and a knot forming at her side, she finally reached her house. She fumbled with the keys, her hands shaking. She swung the door open, rushed inside, and slammed it shut.

She stood leaning on the door. She started to catch her breath as she felt her heart beat quickly within her chest. She didn't bother looking through the window. She didn't want to. She couldn't.

"Naminé, is that you?" she heard her mom call from the kitchen.

Naminé slid down the door, relieved that she made it home; her eyes were still wide from her encounter.

"Naminé!" her mom rushed over after seeing the state her baby was in. She vaguely saw her dad peek through the door of his study before he also rushed out to help her.

Then the shock of it all came crashing down on her.

It overwhelmed her so much that Naminé brought her shaking hands to her wide eyes.

She started to sob as she had realized what just happened.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Hey, guys! Nice to meet you. This is my first time writing a RokuNami fanfic. Come to think of it, this is my first time writing a Kingdom Hearts fanfic. Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. I know it's a little slow, but I needed to build things up and to establish how I portrayed the characters and to show the friendship between Kairi and Naminé. I promise that the next chapter will be better. Heck, you might even see some action!

*coughcough* I bet you guys even know who was staring at her this whole time. Haha.

Stay tuned, and please review. It's always nice to see some feedback.