Roxas sat quietly in the library, reading a book. It was the serene, light moments like this that he lived for. Away from loudmouth Sora, snobby Riku, and Axel- was there a word that would work for Axel on its own. Uncontrollable? Nonsensical? Dangerous? The first word would suit him best, but there was more to him. For one thing, he would lay his lips on anything that could kiss back. First, he'd been eyeing Sora, then he saw Riku, and before all that was Larxene, and he'd had a fling with Marluxia for a while, he had flirted around with Namine, but she was too innocent to sense anything out of the ordinary. And she was kind of awkward. He'd just been introduced to Selphie. Roxas chuckled. She had an even bigger gob than Sora did. How long would Olette and Hayner last? Roxas frowned. He wouldn't let Axel near his best friends. There were also Pence, and Seifer and his gang. No one was safe- except for Roxas of course. He and Axel had been friends for so long that their current relationship was pretty much set in stone.

'Wait a minute!' Roxas thought to himself, gripping his book tighter. 'I'm not supposed to be worrying about Axel! I'm supposed to be having a relaxing read at the library!' He chuckled, putting his book up to his nose and inhaling the scent of- hair gel?

"HAYNER YOU FREAK!" Roxas barked, throwing the book down and toppling over in his seat. Hayner climbed off the table and bent down over Roxas. He was laughing pretty hard as he helped Roxas up. "If only we had Pence's camera!" he sighed, wiping his eyes off onto his shirt. Olette came up behind Roxas and poked him in the back. "Hey, bookworm. Why are you in here all on your own? You've gotten quieter since last summer- you're almost always 'pondering.'" She finished, reminiscing. Hayner nodded seriously. "I know. You know, you can't hide from your friends. We're always here for you!" he patted Roxas on the shoulder.

"Is this an intervention?" they heard from behind them. Looking around, they all saw Pence peeping out from behind one of the book aisles, trying to look serious. Hayner shook his head. "Stop makin' fun of me, Pence!" he scowled. As Pence and Olette started to laugh, Roxas let out a deep sigh. There was no getting away from anyone these days.

"Come on Roxas, you're coming with us whether you like it or not!" Hayner decided, pulling Roxas by his arm.

"I'm not arguing." Roxas replied. He noticed that Pence had a book on the occult tucked under his arm. "You know, if you seek out stuff like that, you'll find what you're looking for." Roxas said, pointing to Pence's book. Pence looked puzzled for a minute, then he looked down at his book, and the light bulb came on. "Well, let's just say that I'm investigating it, okay?"

"Speaking of which, I wonder about that 'haunted mansion' that we tried to do our summer project on that one time? You said you saw a strange girl in the window, right?" Hayner looked towards Pence, who was nodding his head vigorously.

"Yeah, yeah. I still believe what I saw was real, too. I'm gonna find out more about that girl. And if I happen to see her, I don't really mind. She doesn't seem like a mean ghost, anyway."

Roxas looked back on their last summer, and of meeting Namine for the first time. "Yeah, I bet she's really nice." He said slowly. Wouldn't it be funny when he introduced them? Pence would flip. But then again, if they knew Namine, they'd have to see Sora again- and Riku, too. And they'd also like to see Sora's friends. And if they knew Sora and Riku and Namine, they'd want to find out about organization thirteen. And if they wanted to know about organization thirteen they'd want to know about Axel- which wouldn't necessarily be good for the pride of Hayner or the innocence of Olette. Would Axel go for Pence, too? Roxas started to worry. Why was Axel so prone to romance? And why did he make all his ex's so angry? Roxas groaned.

"Something wrong, old boy?" Pence said in a weird accent, reading through the contents page of his library book. Roxas shook his head. "Nah, nothing's up. I was just thinking about stuff."

Hayner looked back at Roxas. "Well don't think too hard, you'll just end up worrying. Excess thinking turns into worry. Don't do it. It sucks."

"I didn't think that you worried at all, Hayner! If anything, I thought you needed to think a little more rather than you thinking too much!" Pence nudged Hayner. "Am I right, or am I right?"

With that the two boys were off, chasing each other around, dodging behind trees and over park benches. Olette ran after them, occasionally looking back at Roxas to see if he was still behind them.

He wouldn't tell them.

Larxene examined herself in the mirror, making sure every little hair on her head was in the right place. 'I look sharp!' she thought to herself. Then she turned, adjusted her knickers, and walked out of her bedroom. Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door. 'Damn door to door solicitors!' she thought to herself bitterly. Never were they good looking, never did they cease to exist. Never did they stop badgering you to buy products you wouldn't need, or donate money that you could use selfishly. There weren't enough selfish people in the world.

A few more knocks came from the door, and then they rang the doorbell twice. Larxene was getting irritated. "I'm coming, I'm coming already!" she bellowed from halfway up the stairs. She took her time getting to the bottom step, and then she examined herself in the hallway mirror. She looked pretty good. Crossing her fingers, she prayed for a good looking man. "Good looking man, good looking man, good looking man…" she chanted to herself as she opened the front door.

It was…Namine.

"Ha!" she snorted looking her guest up and down. "The little witch has come back to haunt me, eh?" she snarled. Namine looked extremely uncomfortable as she handed a small envelope to Larxene, who snatched it out of her hands before Namine had a chance to explain what it was. Larxene feigned surprise, gaping dramatically as she opened the envelope. "And she brings along a letter for me, too!" She smiled hugely at Namine, who cringed. "Let's read it out loud, shall we?" Larxene gushed, pinching Namine's cheek as hard as she could.

"Dear honorable Larxene- getting fancy, are we now? - I regret to say that as the original guardian of Namine, you have enormous responsibility for this young girl. She is not yet of the age to live on her own, and I cannot support her because, well, I'm only a year older than her-"

At this, Larxene snorted loudly. "Only a year older than her? What a pushover." She cleared her throat, continuing to read the letter.

"After you were temporarily incarcerated for conning guests of 'Castle Oblivion' into giving you valuable pieces of information from their past, Namine was adopted by the philosopher and inventor, DiZ, otherwise known as Ansem the Wise. Unfortunately, just a little while ago, Ansem died in one of his own experiments, leaving young Namine to fend for herself. My family took her in for a short time, but my mother threatened going to the police if she couldn't find her own home. She said she couldn't support a young growing girl, like Namine. It did not help when she found out that Namine's original guardians were all sent to jail. So, I beseech you. Please take in Namine again. If you need any help or want any information on her whereabouts up until now, please contact me. My phone number is at the bottom of the page. Thank you, Riku."

Larxene folded the envelope up and handed it back to Namine. She was still feeling a little suspicious about one little thing. "Hey Namine, how many letters did that kid Riku mail out?" she asked, and Namine shrugged in response, going a deep shade of red. Larxene knew that she was hiding something. "Namine, by any chance did he send thirteen letters, one for each member of organization thirteen? Tell the truth Namine." She leaned in very close to Namine's face, sneering at her. Namine broke under the pressure, nodding. "Give me the letters." Larxene snapped, and Namine gave her all the letters. Larxene reopened the envelopes one by one, reading out the names and asking Namine why she didn't stay with them.

"Vexen, what about dear old Vexen, Namine?"

"He's moved off somewhere to be an inventor. Nobody knows what's happened to him."

"Then, what happened to Zexion?"

"He didn't want to deal with me. He's got bigger plans."

"Is that what he said to you?"

"Yes."

"Alright, then what about Demyx?"

"He's a drunkard."

"Xaldin?"

"He's got anger management problems."

"Xigbar?"

"He's getting married."

"Really? I always thought that he was gay. Well, okay, how about-"

"Everyone said no."

"Really? Everyone's too good for little old Namine?" Larxene pinched Namine's cheeks again, and then pushed her away.

"Well, you know what Namine? Maybe I'm too good for little old you, too! Maybe I don't want a little brat toddling along after me wherever I go. I wanna get drunk. And I wanna have sex too. Can you handle all that? Or are you too sweet and innocent to be around that kind of behavior? Also, I don't know what to think of you, seen as you plotted with Axel against me, and got me arrested. To be honest, I don't even know how you got the nerve to come here." Namine was sweating bullets under her little white dress that she usually wore, but Larxene gave her no peace of mind. "You know, maybe I could let you stay, and clean the house for me, mop the floors, do the dishes, wash the clothes. Really, it would be the same as when we were all together in castle oblivion. Speaking of which, I thought that Marluxia and you got on pretty well all the time. I'm surprised that he said no."

At this point, Namine had gone paler than the dress she was wearing. Larxene sensed she wasn't getting the whole truth yet again. She shuffled through the letters that Riku had given out to everyone, and found Marluxia's hidden beneath Xigbar and Xaldin's letters. It was unopened.

"You didn't even ask Marluxia if he would let you stay at his home, did you, Namine? What's the matter with him? Do you not trust him or something? He was never mean to you. He was always playing with your hair and looking at your drawings and stuff. He'd say that they were great when I knew that they were crap. Really, for all that practicing that you do, you're not very good." Larxene noticed that Namine was close to tears. She bent down lower, examining Namine's face closely. Then, she felt a tiny pang in her chest for the little girl. Noticing this, she straightened up, shaking it all out.

"Ugh. I just felt really sorry for you, like I wanted to help you. Ah, I thought I never had a heart. I've been trying to beat feelings like that out of me ever since my last boyfriend. I'll have to work harder at being selfish."

Turning, Larxene began to go back inside the house, but then she stopped, turning back to Namine with a pitying expression on her face.

"You know, Namine. When we first met, you were a scared, lonely little girl. And now, after almost three years, you're still just a scared, lonely little girl. You haven't changed one bit." Namine looked hopeful at this, trying to edge her way inside the house. "But that pity of mine does not extend to letting you sleep under my roof. Marluxia will look after you. If you need a girlfriend to talk to, don't call me" she began to close the door, but then she popped her head back out, scratching her chin. Then she smiled at Namine "in fact, don't call me at all! Bye!" And with that, Larxene shut the door in Namine's face.

Namine stood for a moment, assessing her feelings. She did not feel dumbfounded. She did not even feel surprised. In a way, she was expecting this answer. It should have given her relief, not having to stay with this woman who made her feel like dog dirt. But it only added to her anxiety. She didn't want to stay with Marluxia. She did not trust him alone with her. So, the only logical thing now was to go ask Axel. She had been dreading this part most of all. She'd be heartbroken if he said no. See, Namine had liked Axel from the first moment she'd laid eyes on him. Over time, she had fallen madly in love with him. She had tried to conceal her affections, and she thought she'd done a pretty good job of it. But it sure was tough, watching him messing around with the whole town, working his way through every house on the block, and waiting for her turn. Maybe it was because she didn't have a house to sleep in. Ha ha.

Namine wiped her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Larxene's house. "Big fat ugly stupid!" she muttered under her breath as she walked away from the house. She kicked Larxene's trash can over as she walked down onto the sidewalk, then she looked back at the house cautiously to see if Larxene had seen it. There wasn't a noise from inside the house, so Namine suspected that she hadn't heard or seen a thing. So, Namine took a deep breath and walked over to Axel's house. It would be a miracle if he was there, but she figured that she'd try anyway. If he wasn't there, she could go back through organization thirteen and try everyone again.

She knocked on the door loudly, a sudden boldness taking over her. Then, when Axel answered the door, it all disappeared.

"Hello, Axel." She smiled serenely as she said this, trying to appear mature and majestic. Axel smiled fondly. "Cut it out, Namine, you don't have to act all motherly around me. We're friends, aren't we?" he patted Namine on the head and beckoned for her to come inside. She followed him in and took a seat on one of the chairs in his small apartment. Surprisingly, he kept his lodgings pretty clean.

"So, Namine, tell all. What's up? Your eyes look a little puffy." He handed her a glass of water, and then sat down beside her. She looked into the glass, and then looked back up at Axel. He shrugged. "There's no juice left in the house. I haven't gotten a job yet so I'm just holding off on buying stuff. Pathetic, right?" He broke into a laugh, and Namine forced a laugh herself. "Yeah" she said weakly, looking down at her glass. "Pathetic, yeah, sure…" Then she snapped back to attention, and gave Axel the letter.

"It's from Riku." She said quietly. "It explains pretty much everything. I wouldn't do a better job by trying to tell you myself." She stopped, noticing that Axel had a worried look on his face. He never looked worried. He rubbed his chin, mulling things over in his mind. "Uh, did you ask the other members of the organization about this?" he chanced. Namine's shoulders fell, and Axel apparently noticed, revising his previous comment. "Uh, I just meant that does anyone else know about this? Like the employees in Castle Oblivion?"

"They were all given a letter."

"And all of them said no?"

"All of them said no."

"Even Marluxia?" At this Namine began to get exasperated. Why couldn't anyone figure out that she did not want to stay with him? "I haven't asked him yet." Namine said flatly. Axel sighed in relief. "Why don't you go ask him, and then if he says no, come back to me anytime. He might be able to provide for you better than I do. He's done very well for himself since he got out of jail. He even owns his own flower shop now. He's thinking of turning it into a chain."

Namine traced her finger around the rim of the glass of water she was holding. Then she drank her water and got up. "Do you have any lunch?" she asked politely. Axel chuckled at this. "Not today." He said, scratching his head. "Sora's friend Aerith is having us all over for dinner tonight to celebrate this guy Leon's birthday. She said that he hates parties. It'd be funny, and I'm a good partier, it's kind of like they're employing me for the night, and my pay is dinner and cake!" at this thought, Axel roared with laughter and Namine let out a forced chuckle. Then, a haze passed over Axel's eyes, and he narrowed his eyes, smirking sensually. "But you know- that Aerith is not bad. She's not bad at all. Maybe I could do a little more than just partying tonight." He chuckled to himself after saying this, and Namine clenched her glass a little tighter, frowning.

"You make all these girls so angry when you just play them like that."

"And boys." Axel added mischievously. Namine ignored him.

"If you continue on this way, you'll have no friends left- just enemies."

"That's not true at all!" Axel exclaimed. "I'll still have you and Roxas!" he smiled at Namine, and she stood up to go. "Sorry that I don't have anything interesting to do at my home." Axel commented as she walked towards the door. "That's probably one of the reasons I don't stay here that often." Axel laughed at this, and Namine smiled back at him, and opened the door. "See you later, Axel." She said weakly. Axel was already walking back into his kitchen to clean the glasses as he waved back to her. She shut the door.

That was another no. She checked in the little purse that she always kept with her. She had her sewing kit, 1,000 munny, and a ball of fluff. Then she checked in the big plastic bag full of everything that was either too big for her little purse or what she had acquired when she had been staying with DiZ. In that bag was her drawing book, her pencils and oil crayons, the fake lucky charm that she had given Sora when he stayed at Castle Oblivion (long story), 100 munny in various coins, and an old stencil. She sighed sadly, wondering what 1,100 munny could buy. Maybe she could sell pictures on the side of the road, like all those starving artists she'd read about in the library. Somehow that life didn't sound too hot, though. Maybe she'd do something else. But, all she had to do was ask Marluxia if she could stay with him, and if he said no, she could go back to Axel. But Marluxia wouldn't say no. He would say yes.

Namine ran her fingers through her hair, and noticed that she had just walked past an arts and crafts store- which would probably sell poster board. Giddily, she ran into the shop, looking through the different sections. The cheapest poster board was 100 munny, the same price as a strudel from the bakery next door. So, with 1,000 munny left, she went over to Sora's house. His dad was bound to have some old wood in the house. He had taken the care to pick up all the old bits of the raft he and his friends had made a long time ago, storing them in the basement of their house. Namine knocked on his door, and his mother answered the door. "What is it, dear? Are you looking for Sora?" Namine explained that she was a friend of Sora.

"I just needed to borrow a plank of wood to make a sign, and perhaps some other odds and ends to make a little stand for myself. The profit will be enough to pay Sora back."

Sora's mother nodded, just a little bit confused, and told Namine to go out into the back yard. "Sora and his father had wanted to build a tree house a few years ago, but now he's too old for all that kind of thing. It's all laid against the back fence, dear, take whatever you want. Do you need something to carry it in?"

"It's okay ma'am, I have a trolley from the supermarket. Of course, I just borrowed that for the time being." Namine added in at the end, to dismiss any implications that she was a tealeaf. (Petty thief)

So with her trolley of wood scraps, tarp, and poster board, Namine found a suitable place in between the grocers and the adult movie rental store, and set to work making her poster. Then, she nailed together some wood, nailed the poster board to the wood, and set it on the ground beside her. Then she made a crude stand, with a tarp over hang in case it decided to rain.

The sign read, "Graphic Artist, Namine- here to answer to all your artistic requests. 300 per request." After ten minutes of men coming up to her from the adult movie rental shop and asking her what kind of 'requests' she meant, she decided to change location. She settled for a new destination between the bakery and a clothes shop. At first she was very excited. The people going in and out of the bakery seemed like a lovely bunch. She'd beam at them and point to her sign, but either they'd ignore her, or they'd give her an 'aww, how cute' look and mouth 'no thanks'. It was very frustrating. When the big purple clouds began to roll over, Namine began to worry a little bit. Would her tarp covering be enough to shield her and her stand from the rain? It looked as if it was leaning over a little bit already in the wind.

Suddenly, a woman came up to her with a worried expression on her face. Namine forgot about the rain, and pointed to her sign, asking the woman if she would like to employ Namine for a project. The woman waved the comment away dismissively and looked Namine in the eye.

"Little girl, you do know that a terrible storm is coming, don't you?" the woman asked Namine. Namine shook her head cheerfully. "I don't watch the news, but wouldn't it be nice to hug a lovely picture while in the middle of the storm?" Namine tried on her saleswoman persona. It wasn't working.

"You are a silly little girl, where is your mother?"

Namine laughed a little bit. Originally taken in by organization thirteen to work in the hotel, Castle Oblivion, cleaning and such in exchange for bedding, Namine had been roped into some of the members scheme to extract data from Sora so they could take over matters in the hotel and steal money from the company funds. It was something to do with Sora's dad's job. Axel had been sent in to monitor the employees there, and he got them all sent to jail. In time, it turned out that the whole organization was conning their clients and they were all incarcerated, except for Axel, who had only been hired by them. He was still scrounging around for a job. Namine was left on the side line, with no one in particular to cheer for. She didn't have any parents, or family. Unfortunately, she was too old to go back to an orphanage. It would've been nice to have a mother, a steady family that loved her. Kairi had been so lucky. She'd been adopted by the mayor and probably got whatever she wanted.

"Are you listening to what I am saying? How old are you, anyway?"

This made Namine snap out of her journey into the past. "I'm 16 now." She said. Why did this old bat want to know how old she was? What did Namine care about what she said?

The woman scoffed at her, and walked off.

Within twenty minutes the rain had started. Within twenty five minutes the rain began to howl. Within thirty minutes it began to pour, and in forty minutes it was like a hurricane outside. Not a soul was in sight except for Namine. She sat under her tarp trying not to worry. "I bet it's pretty strong, nothings gonna fall on top of me." Just as she said this, she heard a crack, and one of the poles holding the tarp above the stand snapped, sending all the water that had collected in the tarp covering all over Namine. The water had been so heavy that it snapped the poles supporting the tarp. Quickly, Namine grabbed her little purse, and stuffed it into the plastic bag that (luckily) was still dry from lying under the stand. Then, she stuffed the plastic bag under her white dress, which was soaked all the way through and began to slosh her way down the street, holding onto anything attached to the ground. There was a crash from behind her, and she watched helplessly as her stand and her poster crumbled to the ground, and was carried down the raging river which had collected in the middle of the street. She sloshed down the road, water up to her ankles. Luckily, all the buildings were built on at least a little bit of a slope, and in some cases up on top of hills and such, what with being so close to the ocean. None of the water flooded into the homes. The water rose in some places on the road, and potholes in the sidewalk were especially dangerous if you could not see them.

The water was now up to Namine's knees, and as she tried to take a big step she fell down into the water, and the contents of her plastic bag emptied from under her. With a cry, she watched as her notebook, her money, her sewing kit, and her lucky charm were all washed down the street away from her. She had managed to save her oils, and she tied them to her head with the strap on her purse, which was now ruined. Then, she swam down the road after her supplies. Gaining momentum, she caught up with 500 munny, stuffing it down her bra. Then, she caught another 200 munny, depositing it into the same place hastily. But the lucky charm was going so fast! It would reach the ocean before she could catch it! But Namine was determined, so she held her breath, put her head down, and swam as fast as she could towards what she hoped was the lucky charm. Suddenly, she felt her head hit something, and she cursed under her breath as she sat up, the water up her chest. She had swum into a street lamp. But, miraculously, the lucky charm had blown out of the water, and was dangling from the top. Namine caught it just as it fell, and cried with delight as it fell into her hands. She beamed around her to see if anyone was looking, but no one was in sight. Slowly, she stood up, trudging back in the direction that she had come.

Aerith looked out of the window in the kitchen, sighing sadly. There would be no garden party for Lion tonight. Of course Cid and Yuffie were there, but Sora and Kairi had been forbidden to go by their parents when they heard about the storm that was in. It was rolling across Hollow Bastion a few hours ago, and it all seemed to be collecting in Destiny Islands. Riku, Axel, and Roxas were at Aerith's house, too, but Selphie decided not to come because Axel was going to be there. She had been Axel's last fling. And she was angry with him because he was trying to avoid her.

Aerith turned around abruptly, hearing the phone ring.

"I'll get it!" Yuffie barked, jumping up and pouncing on the phone before Aerith could go near it. "Hey, Leon, you old fart! Why aren't you here yet? So what there aren't any trains going to Hollow Bastion from where you are? The walk can't be that bad!"

Aerith maneuvered her way in between Yuffie and the phone, and she sent Yuffie off to entertain what little guests that they had. "Hello Leon." Aerith said calmly. She noticed Axel standing in the kitchen out of the corner of her eye. "That was just Yuffie, you know her. If it was her, she'd have come here no matter what, rain or shine. No I'm not trying to make you feel guilty." Axel came up behind her, and started to play with her hair. "I'm sorry that you can't come tonight, we were having your favorite dinner for your birthday." Aerith flinched a little bit as Axel brushed his lips against the nape of her neck, and she heard him laugh quietly behind her. She blushed. "I know it's a terrible birthday present right now, but it will be lovely and green tomorrow. We'll have your birthday then." Axel was tracing his fingers along her back, and kissing just under her jaw. "No, I didn't invite anyone over. It's just us." Aerith said softly into the phone, and she thought she could sense that Axel was smiling behind her. "Bye Leon." And she hung up the phone.

Slowly, Aerith turned around so that she was facing Axel. He ran his lips along the side of her neck and then her collar bone as she turned, and pulled her closer to him as he kissed her under her neck. "What are you doing?" Aerith said softly, resting her hand on Axels head. "Kissing you." Axel replied, continuing to run his lips across Aerith's jaw line. "Why?" she asked, smiling slightly. Axel held her face in his hands, and leaned in close to her. "Because I want you." He whispered in her ear. Aerith looked him straight in the eye, without a blush, not even a change in expression. Then, she smiled at him serenely, and bent in close to his ear, so that her lips were just barely touching the side of his ear and cheek. She sighed in his ear, and then chuckled. "I've got guests." She said softly, and then patting his cheek, she walked out of the kitchen, and into the living room to talk with Riku about 'how on earth he got to the house without his parents having a fit.' Axel stood in the kitchen, dumbfounded. Then he slowly straightened up.

She had been teasing him the whole time. "I think I'm gonna love this girl…" he sighed to himself, and waltzed back into the dining room, beaming.

Namine stood in front of Marluxia's door, trembling. She clutched her plastic bag to herself uncomfortably, trying to put the fact that her dress and her underwear were now completely see through and muddy at the back of her mind. She heard a latch undo, and the door opened. Marluxia stood in front of her, shirtless. "Namine, I haven't seen you since Castle Oblivion. You look…" Marluxia looked her up and down, his eyes resting on her trembling legs. "Terrible." He finished, and went back inside. "Please come in" he called after her, and with a deep breath, Namine stepped inside the house and closed the door behind her. Marluxia looked back at her smugly, and pointed towards his couch, which he'd put a towel on top of. Namine sat down.

"You know, Larxene called me. She hasn't called me in almost two years, you know that?" at this comment, Namine sat rim rod straight, deliberately looking away from Marluxia. "Crazy, but she said that you'd turned up on her doorstep with a letter asking her to become your guardian, and to house and feed you. She said that you'd gone to every member of the organization, and they'd all said no, but that you had not gone to me. Of course, she made it sound like you didn't even want to stay with me… but I knew better. You always liked me didn't you, Namine?" he leaned in close to her, stroking her cheek. Then he held her chin in his hand, and pulled Namine towards him. Namine whimpered and tried to turn away from him as he made her look into his eyes. "You think I'll hurt you, Namine? I was nothing but nice to you at castle oblivion, that is, until you started blabbing on us. Two years in jail, two years, Namine, is not fun. Other privileges were permanently taken away from me, too. This was all because of your cowardice." He snarled their faces inches apart. "For a while I hated you, but then I thought to myself that you were just a little girl who was being stupid. I know Larxene was lying about your current behavior, because I would've thought that you'd grown up, and stopped being so cowardly and unfair towards me" he then let Namine go, and stood right in front of her, inching himself just the slightest bit between her legs. "Grown up girls cooperate."

Namine knew what was coming. She'd known all along. Marluxia cleared his throat and smiled down at her. "I don't require much of women. All I ask for is love and affection. I could teach you what it is if you like." He was poking fun at the fact that she had no family or friends. Namine hated him. "A mature, grown up, brave young girl would admit that she was wrong, say that she was sorry, and ask for help when she needed it. If you do all these things, I'll know that you're not the cowardly little girl you were before, and I'll go easy on you. But, if you refuse my help, and come back to me again- which I know you will- begging for me to take you in like street trash, I'll have to punish you harshly." He leaned in towards her again, playing with her hair. "I'll have to teach you the right way to behave, no matter how much it hurts you." Namine looked down, and noticed drops of water were rolling down her hands and into her lap. She was crying heavily. "There's no need to cry Namine." Marluxia said, rocking Namine back and forth and trailing his fingers down her back and leg. "All you need to say is please, I'm sorry, and thank you. You know the magic words. Please take me in, Marluxia. I'm sorry for treating you the way I did. Thank you Marluxia for showing me the error of my ways. The end."

Namine thought for a moment, walked towards the door, and turned around, bowing to Marluxia. "Please…" she started off, not believing that she was about to do this. "Lower." She heard Marluxia say softly. She bent over lower, feeling like dirt. "Please…" she said again, swallowing hard. Then, she noticed that she had stopped crying. She slowly straightened, finally looking Marluxia right in the eye. He nodded. "Wonderful. A brave, honest woman can look any man straight in the eye." Namine smiled serenely for Marluxia. He was lapping it up like a fat puppy.

Namine cleared her throat, inched towards the door, and began. "Please eff off." She started, and Marluxia's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry that you don't have a proper cock like every other guy." Namine was doing the tango in her mind. "And thank you for being so repulsive that I don't even have to think twice about refusing this offer. Have a nice day." She bowed again, and then ran out, tucking her plastic bag under her dress once again. She was at the end of the sidewalk when she heard Marluxia scream her name. When she turned around, she noticed how angry he was. "Namine." He seethed. "Come back in here right now. Come in here right now, or I will make you wish that you had never been born when you come crawling back to me." he was enraged.

But Namine stared at him for a moment, and then sloshed back out into the rain. She looked back once more to see if he was still there. He was waiting for her just inside the door. "Five hours Namine. I'll give you five more hours. The storm's forecasted to get worse- much worse." Namine turned and continued to slosh through the water on the sidewalk. She would not give in. Five hours were not so bad. He would think of her differently after those five hours. Then she began to worry. He was giving her another chance. If she didn't take it now, it would not arise again. But she could not think about that. She gaped.

The party! Axel had been talking about Aerith having a party for Leon! Maybe she could go there and say that she was sloshed off the road on the way there! With new determination, she plowed through the streets, trying to find the train station. When she got there, she found that the gates were closed.

"No!" she thought to herself. Then she thought about Axel's house. It was her only hope. Larxene would ship her back to Marluxia. Back she went to Axel's house.

She tried the front door. Then she tried the back door. They were both locked. She tried to see if he'd left any windows open, but they were locked, too. Shivering, Namine slumped down to the ground. Water ran past her fingers and down into the street. She could catch hypothermia staying out here. She decided that she'd rather die than go back to Marluxia. So she stayed under the roof of Axel's apartment, muddy and soaking wet. Thunder and lightning began to rumble and crack and the wind continued to pick up. She didn't know how long she'd been away from Marluxia. Probably two hours, now. Her fingers were already numb, and she looked on drearily as a stop sign was torn from the ground and tossed a few feet away by the strong winds. She was beginning to lose consciousness just as she heard the sound of soft footsteps coming towards her. Then, she sensed something warm lifting her up and carrying her off.

Leon stared at the pale, shivering figure infront of him. The girl was lying just outside a random apartment building door, staring on as signs and bins were blown around like leaves in the wind when he found her. She was all muddy and dirty, and Leon had done his best to wrap her up in a warm blanket and rub his arms around her until she got warm again. He'd contemplated giving her a hot bath, but only for a second. That would've been embarrassing for the both of them. But it might help her feel better. He was just weighing his options in his mind, when the girl began to wake up.

"I'm so cold I can't move." She slurred, putting her hand on his face and patting it. Yeah, she needed a hot bath more than her modesty and his pride.

Slowly, Leon picked her up and brought her into the bathroom. He set her down in his lap as he let the tap water run, and then he began to peel her clothes off. Just after he'd taken her dress off, he stopped, laughing a little bit. She was clutching a beat up plastic bag to herself. As the water ran, he gently nudged it out of her hands and into his, and emptied its contents onto the ground. There was some sort of a lucky charm and a box of oils and pencils. He tried rubbing them on his arm to see if they'd work, but the water had already gotten all over the crayons, and they were beginning to turn into slop in their box. The pencils would probably be okay with some sharpening and a cloth to dry them off. There was also a soiled purse. Leon shook his head sadly, putting all the contents back into the bag.

He looked at the girl again, sighing. "I'm really sorry about this." He said quietly, and he peeled her bra off. 700 munny fell out and smacked onto the floor, they were so soggy. Then, he took off her knickers and hastily put her into the bath, gently setting her down into the water. Immediately she sighed contentedly, and smiled weakly up at him. He felt her forehead. She wasn't coming out in a fever, which was a good sign. Then he looked more closely at her, groaning. She was Namine, one of Sora's friends. How weird.

Namine sat up suddenly in the bath, looking around her. "Where am I?" She said fearfully, gulping back tears. Leon didn't know what to do, so he started to pat her on the head. "Don't worry; I'm Leon, one of Sora's friends. I saw you sitting on your own outside, so I brought you with me because I didn't want you to catch hypothermia. You went unconscious in my arms. I'm sorry I put you in the bath, but I couldn't think of any other way to warm you up…" In truth, Leon could think of a lot of ways to warm Namine up, but he wasn't going to say any of them out loud. Namine turned towards him, eyeing him up and down. Leon could tell that she was still a little bit out of it.

"You know what?" Namine piped up. Leon looked up at her. "I trust you! You seem like the most responsible man alive!" with that, she stuck her head under the water, and straightened out her legs, pointing her toes up into the air. Leon blushed, trying to control himself. She wouldn't trust him at all if she knew what he was thinking. Then, she sat back up and put her arms out to him, leaning into him. Her wet breasts touched his shirt, and he could feel her nipples hardening with the cold from under the soft white fabric of his shirt.

"Wellll…" Leon said, coughing loudly and hoisting Namine up. She almost tripped as he did this, and she fell into his arms. "Sorry." Leon said, blushing madly. Namine didn't say anything, she just picked up a towel and then started to dry herself off. Leon took off his T-shirt and handed it to her. "Here." He said quietly, looking away from her. "You can wear this if you want, I don't want you putting on those dirty old clothes that you have with you." Namine pulled the T-shirt over her head; it reached down just barely below her bum. Leon banged his hand on his head to force himself to think about something else. "You can have that double bed if you want; sorry I only got a single bedroom."

"We're at a hotel?" Namine said nervously. Leon nodded. "I can't get back home until this storm is over, so I guess we're just stuck here." Just as Leon said this, the power went off in the room. He heard Namine fall in the other room, and sighed heavily, going in to help her. A bolt of lightning streaked through the sky, and he could see the outline of Namine's thighs up to the tip of her back; the shirt had slid down to her waist. Leon went to help her up, but she pushed him away. "It's fine, its fine!" she said quickly, pulling her shirt down to her knees. Leon could hear her stretching the fabric. That shirt wouldn't be fit to wear anymore. He'd just give it to her to keep. She walked quickly over to the bed and hid herself under the covers. Leon didn't see any reason to bother her, so he sat in the chair by the door, and drifted off to sleep. He dreamed that he and Namine were in the bath together, then his dreams drifted into nothingness, and he went fast asleep.