Memo: I got this idea after reading a short story from Writer's Inc. by Loubel Cruz. (don't ask me why I was reading it) but I thought it was a great story—hence, this popped up in my mind. It originally started out as a SoKairi, but I decided to make it a Naminxas since I haven't written many of those yet.

Disclaimer: All characters are property of Square-Enix, Squaresoft, and Disney.

A List of Ten Things

The day had been absolutely horrible. For most of it, Naminé had been acting even quieter than usual and trying to keep her tears from falling. Though she had been avoiding her friends all day, she suspected that her best friend, Roxas, knew something was up, but he was smart enough not to ask what was wrong.

She knew she had to tell him, though. Fiddling nervously with her art pencil, she chewed on her bottom lip before speaking.

"I'm moving."

For a moment, the blond haired boy said nothing.

"Yeah, right," he said, trying to sound offhand.

"Roxas," Naminé said firmly, closing his Algebra II book with a snap, "I'm serious."

Roxas looked straight into her bright blue eyes, as if trying to detect a hint of a joke. But all he saw was the truth.

"Where?"

"Destiny Islands."

"Why?"

She bit her lip, feeling her heart knot. "It wasn't my choice."

Roxas looked down and pretended to be fascinated with the wooden popsicle stick that once held his sea-salt ice cream. Even though he said nothing, she knew exactly how he was feeling at the moment. Finally, without glancing up, he spoke.

"Destiny Islands is cool, I guess. There's the beach and all; you can visit it everyday without any trouble, unlike here how we have to save up so much munny just to go for one day." He picked up the Algebra II book and continued to study.

"God, Roxas, why do you have to sound like that?" said Naminé, getting exasperated. Why are you acting like you don't care?

"Well, Naminé, what do you want me to say," he said suddenly, snapping his head up. "That I'm really glad you're moving so I can hang out with all those other girls?"

She looked at him closely, seeing the confusion and anger in his cerulean eyes. She had never seen him this way before; he was always so cheerful, especially around her.

"Because I can't say what I want. I can't say, 'Don't go', because I know you have to."

The tears were threatening to fall again. "It's not my fault," she whispered.

"Look, I gotta go now." Roxas got up, gathered up his things and, grabbing his skateboard, left without another word.

Naminé didn't cry anymore last night. She was too mad at everybody: at her dad for accepting a job that was a few oceans away, at her mom for agreeing with the idea, at Roxas for being such a lousy friend when she needed him the most, and at herself for being mad.

The next day at school, she tried to find Roxas, but at the same time she wanted to avoid him too. She caught sight of him in English, however, but he didn't look at her at all, so she tried to do the same. Concentrating hard on the board, she read the assignment they were supposed to be working on.

"Write a list of ten things."

Naminé stared, quirking an eyebrow as she reread the sentence.

That's it?

She'd thought it would take no time for her to complete the work, but she ended up being too preoccupied to even think about it. She sneaked another look at Roxas to see if he would give her one of his this-is-such-a-stupid-class kind of looks, but he didn't. He just stared straight at the teacher, listening intently and even ignoring the jokes Hayner was cracking next to him.

He never even talked to her once for the rest of the day.

That evening, Naminé stared and stared at a blank page of her sketchbook, her thoughts keeping her from deciding what to draw. As she tapped her pencil impatiently on the cover, she jumped as the doorbell rang. Walking cautiously towards the door, she opened it and came face to face with Roxas' sheepish grin.

"Could you help me with Algebra?" he said, inviting himself inside. "'Cause I have no clue what's going on."

"R-Roxas!" She felt surprised, relieved and confused at the same time. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." she broke off, feeling too awkward to continue.

"It's okay, Naminé, forget about it," he said gently. "I know it's not your fault, I'm the one who should be sorry. Destiny Islands, huh? No offense, but you're going to melt from that heat up there."

Naminé couldn't help but laugh. This is the way it should be.

"Let's not talk about you moving away anymore, 'k" said Roxas. "Promise?"

Naminé smiled and nodded.

"Promise."

And that was that.

Two months passed, though it felt like three days to Naminé. Like they promised, they never mentioned anything about moving. It went by with their daily routine: him copying her math homework, her attempting to try his skateboard, him flipping eagerly through her sketchbook.

At last it came, moving day. Roxas and Naminé were on the clock tower, watching the sunset, eating sea-salt ice cream, laughing and talking like everything was normal; but they knew their good-bye was drawing nearer.

The sun was almost down before they began walking home, the chill of the night closing in on them. As they approached Naminé's front door, he pulled a small, wrapped box from his pocket, holding it out towards the blond girl.

"Uh, well, Merry Christmas," he joked. Naminé laughed.

"Thank you," she said softly, opening the gift. She gasped as he held out a beautiful golden locket.

"Uh, my mom picked it out because you know how I am with girl presents," he said hastily, though he blushed a little as he said it, "I thought you would like it, though. I didn't put my picture in 'cause you might find a really cute guy there on the Islands. But here's something engraved in it so you won't forget me."

"Thank you..." She immediately put it around her slender neck.

"Oh, and here's another thing." He handed her a small envelope. "This is really from me, but don't open it yet." Naminé nodded obediently.

"Well, I gotta go now. I said I'd be back by nine." He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away, giving her one last look and a smile. "You'll be fine, Naminé. Destiny Islands will be great, I promise."

She could feel hot tears running down her face, her throat to constricted to speak. But he was halfway across the street when she ran after him, calling out his name.

"Roxas! Wait—"

He turned around, staring at her panting form.

"I—" she gasped out, hesitating, but it was now or never.

"I love you, Roxas."

He was smiling at her, his blue eyes were brighter than usual and sparkling with small teardrops.

"I know, Naminé," he said softly; and with that, he walked away into the twilight, the boy she had loved and always would.

She sat down on the floor of her almost empty room, opening the envelope to read through her tears what he had written to her.

TEN THINGS NAMINÉ DESAKI SHOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER:

1. Don't get a sunburn from staying in the sun for too long.

2. In association with #1, don't let her sea-salt ice cream melt before she can eat it.

3. She's beautiful.

4. Even if she can't skateboard on sand, she should still try at least once every day.

5. Never stop wearing those sandals—they're perfect for the beach.

6. No matter what anyone tells her, she's going to be an artist. Her art is amazing.

7. It's not her fault if a certain person flunks Algebra II. Ha, ha.

8. She's not fat, she's not fat, she's not fat.

9. Watch the sunset everyday to remember those good times.

10. And the last thing Naminé Desaki should always remember is that even though he never says it, Roxas Nakamura loves her, too.

Despite her tears, Naminé found herself laughing.

Roxas always knew me so well, she thought, and now I'm leaving him.

But as the golden locket said,

"We'll always be together."

Dedicated to: the ever-so-awesome Raccoon48! Happy late LATE birthday! Her writing ROCKS and so does she! XD

Please review, no flames!