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Deja Blue

Author: Kintora

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Chapter 11: Home Sick

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A/N: Hey readers. I know there’s been quite a delay, so for those who have come back to read or reread this story, I thank you for your patience. A lot has been going on at my end, and I can’t say that I’ve been feeling well. I’ve been going to the doctor’s quite frequently, but it’s nothing to worry about. Just been a little sick.

I haven’t heard many complaints, and that does wonders for me and the continuation of updating the story. But for those who feel less than satisfied with my work, there are nicer ways to say it. You know who you are.

Please enjoy the long awaited chapter guys. I dedicate this chapter to those who have been very supportive towards me. :)

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Previous Chapter:

She left Selphie with Irvine and quickly headed for the office to sign out of school for the day. After that, she swung by her locker to pick up her skates, marching outside with cool determination.

But by the time she reached the school gates, her fake bravado melted. Feeling a bit stupid for not taking up Selphie’s generous offer, she continued, ignoring her wobbly gait and hazy vision. Stopping at the tall intricate gate, Namine latched a hand onto the fancy black wiring to hold herself up as she caught her breath for moment.

“Namine.”

Without looking at him, Namine asked, “What is it, Roxas?”

There was a moment’s pause before he replied.

“I’ll walk you home.”

Lifting her head up, she squinted, trying to focus on him, “But I thought you were were stuck here…” She smiled glibly at him, “Am I wrong?”

Roxas shook his head, his flaxen hair shimmering before Namine’s fever-bright eyes, “I don’t know, I’ve never felt like leaving school grounds. I guess this would be the first time I wanted to try.”

Namine pressed her burning forehead against the cold gate, feeling the freezing wind tugging at her blue, pleated skirt. She inquired slowly, “Why is that?”

Roxas pressed his lips together, as if he was not willing to answer her. Namine sighed and pushed away from the thick, iron gate before forcing herself sluggishly onto the sidewalk. He was secretive, she knew that much. And right now, she did not have the strength to keep up a conversation with him.

His feet made no sound on the pavement as he followed beside her slow stride. Instead of settling on silence the way he usually did, Roxas said something under his breath, his voice as soft as the cool autumn breeze.

Maybe she heard him wrong, but she thought he had whispered something she had always wanted to hear from someone.

“Because you matter.”

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Normally on skates, the distance between home and school would have been five to ten minutes. Walking would take a little longer than that. But in this case, Namine was taking longer than ‘longer’ to get home. Her feet felt like they were walking on nothing; trailing unsteadily over the sidewalk as if she were walking on clouds. And her head. Oh God, did her head hurt. It hung from her drooping shoulders like a heavy, block of lead. Not to mention, her eyes felt like they were made of fire. If she was not careful, she could find herself face-planting into concrete.

Beside her, Roxas slowed his pace. Though his face was impassive, she believed he was probably thinking about something or other, and not really paying attention to her. Just then, she stumbled on the wobbly stilts that were her legs. His hand snatched her elbow to steady her, even before she realized she had been falling.

“Take it easy, Namine.”

She nodded blearily, “Thanks.”

The silence continued to draw on as neither spoke. Inside, Namine was scrambling for something to talk to him about. It had never been so difficult to speak to him before. Maybe she was too sick to think about something. Or maybe she was just embarrassed about what he said earlier. Nobody had ever told her she mattered before… at least, nobody with such intense and honest eyes.

It flustered her, as well as annoyed her. Suddenly, she wished Roxas was not walking beside her, though she could not quite explain why.

“Hey,” Roxas began, “You’re being quieter than usual.”

Namine shrugged sluggishly, her shoulders drooping lower than before, “I’m sick.”

“I see that,” Roxas sounded a little cross, “But that only explains part of it.”

Namine didn’t have the strength to argue at the moment, “A lot of things are on my mind. Weird things.”

“Does it have something to do with that new bruise?”

“Well,” Namine started uneasily, “Sort of.”

Roxas sighed, tugging at her elbow as he led them towards a bench before the ice cream shoppe. “How’d you get it?”

Namine sank into the seat gratefully. He was being too nosy for her liking, yet if their places were switched, she’d be asking too. “It’s a long story that I don’t feel like talking about. But you know you’re not the only weird supernatural thing that’s happened to me since I moved to this town.” Suddenly realizing that she might have sounded offensive, she quickly added, “Not that you’re personally weird or anything. I really didn’t mean that.”

Roxas shrugged uncaringly, the comment rolling off him harmlessly, “Doesn’t matter. What matters is why you were hurt. I thought supernatural things can’t normally harm people.”

“I know,” Namine groaned, leaning her heavy head backwards, “But there’s something about this town that’s making supernatural things so much stronger. I’m not just an observer anymore. It’s like I’m being thrown into the middle of it all, and I’m not ready.”

Roxas kicked some gravel by his foot, but it just passed right through his heel. He was frowning, “When is anybody ready for anything?”

“Never, I guess,” Namine agreed. Instead of continuing with the depressing thoughts, she spoke up again, “Where will you be Halloween night?”

“At school,” Roxas said with a slightly irritated tone, “I’ll have to avoid the gym that night. There’s going to be a lot of people at that dance. You’re going with Riku, aren’t you?”

“Only because he was the only one that asked,” Namine replied defensively.

Roxas looked questioningly at her, “Why are you angry? It’s because Sora’s going with someone else, isn’t it.”

Namine remained silent as a quiet rage built inside her. Who did he think he was, asking her so many dumb questions? Was he trying to make her mad? Roxas was pretty good at that when he wanted to be.

“What do you think about it?” Roxas asked.

Namine’s reply turned snappish, “Nothing! Why should I think about it? It’s their business. Besides, I didn’t know you were into high school gossip. How’d you know about Riku and me in the first place?”

“Even a ghost like me is entitled to hear something. I practically live in the school,” Roxas replied easily, “And it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? You and Riku.”

“So?” Namine refuted, “Just because the school’s going insane, and jumping to conclusions – doesn’t mean everything everyone says is true. It’s not a big deal.”

“Maybe not to you,” Roxas’ blue eyes flashed, “But I think Riku might be serious. You might end up hurting his feelings if you don’t make things clear to him. Anyway, you should take some time to think things over first before acting on them.”

You might need time – to think it over.

But I’m just fine, moving forward…

“Roxas.”

“What?”

“This isn’t going to do,” Namine sighed, putting her clammy forehead into her pale palms, “I really think you should get back your memories soon. Something just doesn’t feel right. Think hard for a second. Didn’t you remember anything just now? Like… the words to a song you sang? Or why you feel so compelled to defend Riku?” Namine looked up at him, her fevered eyes making him look blurry.

Roxas closed his eyes, “I told you. I really can’t recall anything tangible. My memories are always dancing on the edge, but I just can’t reach them. As if…”

“As if what?” Namine prodded, her voice growing genteel.

“When you asked if I remembered the words to a song I sang and about Riku, I can honestly say I don’t remember. But then I feel something familiar, until it all just blanks out on me,” Roxas frowned in frustration, “I can’t really explain what I’m trying to say. I don’t even know what to call it.”

“You could call it déjà vu,” Namine offered.

He looked over at her, his sky blue eyes catching the sunlight and clearing the fog in front of her eyes for a moment. Neither of them said anything for a while. But before long, the tension ceased enough for Roxas to walk Namine the rest of the way home. When she had gotten the front door open and turned to thank him, he had already gone.

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Faintly in the deep recesses of her mind, she thought she heard the house phone ringing. Feeling too cold to get out of bed and grab it, she waited in bed for someone in the house to pick it up. Namine shivered violently in bed. Silently cursing in her head, she struggled to go back to sleep. She had half a mind to pick up the phone and tell whoever it was to crawl back to hell. Sniffing irritably, she cursed her nose too. It felt like someone had stuffed wads of cotton and tissue up her sinuses, and all the way in to her brain. Now it would take forever and a half to fall asleep again.

“Araki residence, Hayner speaking. Who’s calling and what do you want?”

Namine pulled her pillow over her head and ears. Hayner’s voice was loud and obnoxious as it rattled her in her brain. When she got better, she was going to make him move to the basement.

“Oh! Hey man, what’s up?” Hayner’s voice rose enthusiastically. Damn… Namine thought, maybe he’s forgotten that I live here too.

“Namine? Figures that I’m not loved. You do know that you’re probably the third or fourth person who called to ask how she’s doing.”

A pause.

“Yeah, yeah, I know I’m not the one who’s sick. Hang on a sec. I’ll go see if she’s still sleeping away on her big fat sleeping pill.”

Seconds later, Hayner shuffled into her room as Namine rolled over to face him wearily. He grinned at her through the gloom of her bedroom, “Hey there sunshine. How was that sleep of yours?” Not even waiting for an irritated retort, he picked up the receiver from her desk.

“Yeah, I’m still here. I had to pick up the phone in her room. Unfortunately we don’t have cordless ones.”

Namine shook her head, taking aim at him with a stuffed animal. He dodged her clumsy throw easily as he danced around in circles, tangling himself up in the phone’s cord.

“Yup, she’s a wake now but she’s not in a great mood at the moment… Hey, it’s not my fault!... Okay, maybe it is then,” Hayner laughed, “I know! At least I’ve got your sympathy. This is what we get for having sisters, Sora.”

Sora? Namine dove for the phone, causing Hayner to choke on the cord that he had ensnared himself with. Hayner fought to untangle his arm, but Namine simply sat on his back as she yanked the receiver to her ear. Her knees pressed against the back of his shoulders, forcing him to stare face first into her carpet.

“Um, Sora?” Namine asked timidly, suddenly becoming self-conscious with how nasal her voice sounded.

“Hey, Namine. Wow, you okay?”

Namine felt giddy that he had called to ask about her well being, “Yes, but I’m on some medicine. Irvine said I had to a lay low for a bit, but otherwise I should be better really soon. How about you?”

“I’m all right,” he answered, but added quickly, “But seriously, I heard what happened to you and Selphie on the way to the infirmary. We were all really worried.”

“No, it’s all good. Roxas and Selphie took care of Rai. He’ll probably be suspended.”

Sora remained quiet for a second before speaking again, “Okay then, I’m just making sure. After all that’s happened recently, we can’t help but worry a little. Anyway, I also wanted to ask if you’re still going to the costume dance this Friday.”

“But...” Namine’s heart fluttered nervously, disbelieving her ears, “Wait, I thought you were going to the dance with Kairi.”

“Yeah, I am. I’m just asking for Riku though,” she could almost hear Sora smiling, “He was a little nervous calling you himself. Can you believe it?”

“Heh… not really…” Namine mumbled quietly. She wasn’t even sure if Sora heard her or not.

Sora continued, completely oblivious to her tone, “I’ve never seen him like this before, and that’s saying a lot since Kairi, Riku, and I have known each other forever.” There was a dramatic pause between them before Sora said, “You know, I think he really cares about you. He’s never been so serious before.”

Namine thought back to what Roxas said about hurting Riku’s feelings. She had been hoping that Roxas was wrong; that Riku really didn’t feel anything towards her. But now that Sora was saying it too, it was causing her some concern.

Realizing that he expected her to say something, Namine scrambled for a reply, “Oh yeah. Strange, huh? I… I don’t really know what he sees in me actually.”

“A lot, I’m sure,” Sora assured her, “All of us do. You really are a special someone, Namine.”

“Thanks… It really means a lot coming from you,” But really, Namine felt even more burdened than before.

“Could you hang on a moment?” Sora asked, “I have another call on the other line.”

“Sure,” Namine said, her voice growing scratchier. There was a fuzzy sound before Sora’s line went quiet. As Namine lowered the receiver and stood up, Hayner took his chance to free himself. Patting himself off, he was ready to snap at her when he noticed the look on her face.

Her brother nudged her shoulder, “Hey Namine. What’s wrong? Did Sora say something mean?”

Namine shook her head. She was about to respond when Sora’s line fuzzed again and her friend buzzed in brightly, “Hey, Namine! Kairi just called to make sure I called you like I said I would. Do you want a three way chat?”

While Namine knew that Sora was probably unaware of it, there was a tone of urgency in his voice. Realizing that he might just want to talk to Kairi alone, Namine declined, “Actually Sora, I’m feeling kind of tired right now. Please let her know I said hi. I’ll see you guys when I get back to school.”

“Oh, okay then. Take care of yourself, Namine. Get well soon!”

“I will. Thanks, Sora.” With that, she hung up and dropped the phone on the floor, falling back onto her unkempt bed.

Hayner laid back as well, their heads bumping. There was a comfortable silence until Hayner brought the back of his hand up and knocked Namine’s forehead, “What’s eating you up inside? Your face might stay scrunched up forever if you keep up that frown.”

Namine thought of a way to explain. There was no sense lying to her twin when he could tell instinctively that something was bothering her. She sighed, “Remember when we were eight and I said that love was stupid. And that I would never believe in it?”

“Well, duh,” Hayner laughed, “You used to pretend you were an Amazon all the time.”

“Now you’re just getting off topic,” Namine grumbled, but she smiled remembering her childhood, “Anyway. Now that we’re older, I was wondering what you think about it now. Even when we were little, you never really said anything.”

All traces of humor simmered down when Hayner noticed that his sister was being serious. He brought his arms under his head as they both stared up at the gray ceiling, “That’s because I do believe in it. If I told you all those year ago, you think you’d let me live it down?”

Namine shook her head, feeling sorry all of sudden for never seeing this side of him.

Hayner fiddled with a fraying thread on her quilt. “Well, now you know.”

Namine huddled down into her covers and asked him hesitantly, “How do you know what it is then? Do you feel it?”

“You mean, am I in love?” Hayner inquired boldly. “I suppose I am,” he admitted after a moment.

“Um… With who?” Namine asked very quietly, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to though.”

“You swear to secrecy?” Hayner held up his hand. Namine grabbed it, and hooked her pinky with his in a silent promise. Hayner started slowly, “Oh all right. I love Olette.”

Namine smiled at him, “I knew it.”

“You what?” Hayner shot up, “But I’ve never even told anyone!”

“Silly,” Namine laughed, “Almost everyone knows you care about her. Kairi and Selphie sure talk about it a lot.”

“You mean even Olette knows?” Hayner despaired.

Namine shook her head, “She won’t take it seriously, unless you honestly tell her yourself. After all, Kairi and Selphie both like to exaggerate some things. Besides that, you come off as more of a player when it comes to getting girls.”

Hayner grew defensive, “I flirt, but I don’t play. You know I’ve never even had a girlfriend before.”

“You know I know you better than that. When it comes down to it, I know you’re just trying to look out for yourself and not get hurt. But also, you’re waiting for the special someone, right?”

“Hm,” Hayner agreed absently, as he twiddled with the thread again. “But she must like someone else, you know? She sure talks a lot about some other guys. What’s worse is that she has to talk to me about them.”

Namine pat his hand, “I feel like our mom rather than your sister telling you this, but ever thought it’s because she trusts you more? Sure she’ll mention some things between us girls, but she rarely ever talks about guys with us.”

“You think so?” Hayner asked, sounding more hopeful.

“No false hopes or anything,” Namine said quickly, “but if you want her to know, you’re going to have to tell her yourself sooner or later. Easier said than done, I know.”

Hayner nodded, “I’d like to wait a little longer to see if my feelings are real.”

“Don’t let anyone push you then, Hayner.”

He bobbed his head against the mattress. Feeling truly tired this time, Namine found herself dozing off. But before she could really fall asleep, Hayner’s voice startled her again, “You’re not getting off the hook so easily. What’s with all this serious talk about love and stuff? I doubt you asked for no reason.”

Namine blinked the sleep from her eyes, feeling a little sheepish for forgetting, “It’s the phone call.”

“Sora’s?”

“Yeah,” she sighed heavily, “Everything’s changed since we got here, and it’s as if I can’t tune things out anymore. They just get crazier and crazier. Not only am I friends with Roxas, the school ghost, but I’m also some clairsentient weirdo now. But aside from all the psychic crap, I’ve myself in bigger crap. You know I’ve never had boy problems before.”

Hayner grinned knowingly, “Sora and Riku, right?”

“I guess I’m pretty obvious too.”

“We’re too alike, huh? In some ways at least,” Hayner nudged her arm, “You don’t even have to tell me. Sora’s after Kairi, you’re after Sora, and Riku’s after you. I get it.”

Namine added, “It’s come to the point I can’t ignore the problem.”

“So now what?” Hayner asked her, “Everyone knows Sora and Kairi are inseparable. And Riku… what about him?”

“I’m never going to get in the way between Sora and Kairi, because I won’t hurt my friends. While that’s great and everything, I’d hurt Riku if I told him what I really felt. I’d just be one stupid hypocrite.”

“Hey, knock it off,” Hayner chastised, “Stop it with the self abuse. I get what you’re saying, but it’s inevitable hurting Riku. As friends, you guys have to trust each other enough to be truthful.”

“I know,” Namine answered, “But why did this have to be between friends?”

Hayner scratched his head, sitting up again, “You don’t know. I don’t know. But I don’t think anybody would know either. This is the way things are, so you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Don’t let the problem worry you, just let the problem worry itself.”

“Hayner…” Namine started, “You really do know a lot more than you let on some times. But just for the record, I’ll pretend I understood the last thing you said, even if I don’t.”

“…I’ll take that as a compliment. Anyway, do us all a favor and get your dirty little secret out there before things really get ugly,” he cleared his throat, “Mom’s called saying she’ll be home late. I’ll go fix something up before she gets back. I’ll even make you some soup.”

Namine made a horrified face and pulled the covers up, “Oh no. How will I know you won’t accidentally poison me?”

“Oh shut up. You’re lucky I’m being nice ‘cause you’re sick,” Hayner stuck his tongue out at her before closing the door on his way out.

Without Hayner to keep her up this time, Namine turned over onto her side towards the desk, reaching lazily for her mp3 player. She put her earphones on and fell asleep, the weight on her chest slightly lessened.

………

The next day, Namine was still too sick to go to school. She reminded Hayner to get her homework for her before he left. Hayner, being Hayner, added that he would ask the teachers to give her extra. But just before he had slipped out of her room, Namine had thrown a dirty sock at him. Just as she was snuggling down once more, Hayner crept back to leave a glass of water and an Advil on her dresser before slinking out again.

Noticing he was really late for school now, Namine looked out the window to make sure he skated out of sight. After swallowing her medicine and crawling back into bed, Namine could finally breathe a sigh of relief. At least her brother wouldn’t be home to babysit her.

Adding a sleeping pill to her healthy drug diet, Namine slept blissfully until a little past high noon when a sudden jolt shocked her out of her dreamless rest. Grumbling, Namine sat up, ready to attack the intruder with a nasty, verbal lashing, only to realize that nobody was in her room.

Finding it odd, Namine turned over onto her side, trying to shake the paranoia from her system. She could have sworn someone had shoved her awake. Hayner was at school, and he wouldn’t do something so brusque to her when she was sick. He’d rather paint her face while she slept.

Her mind ran in circles, feeling as if she was trying to think of something but couldn’t quite grasp it. Painted faces? The last time Hayner had painted her face was when they were eleven. She remembered tripping headfirst into the tub after seeing her awful reflection the morning after. Her face had stayed neon green for a day or two.

In retaliation, she had painted his beloved hockey mask baby pink and white. She hated the thing anyway. It was quite possessed and yet Hayner still kept it. Every Halloween since then, weird things had happened in house, like furniture moving by themselves or papers flying around in the air when there was no gust of wind. Heck, the stupid mask itself tried to suffocate Hayner not too long ago. No wonder the dumb thing was only fifty cents at that yard sale.

Namine sat up.

Reluctantly, Namine willed her aching limbs to shrug off her covers as she climbed out of bed. Pulling on a fuzzy blue robe with yellow star prints, she padded silently from her stronghold and down the hall to Hayner’s messy den. Pushing the door open, Namine kicked a soccer ball out of the way and picked up an old moogle plushy off the hazardous, junk-covered floor.

Namine sensed a presence inside Hayner’s closet. The strong prickly sensation on the back of her neck made her stomach knot up. She flung open the double doors and was only mildly surprised to see a few things lying around. Most of the contents were probably what littered the floor now. She definitely didn’t need to look twice to see the hockey mask hung up on the wall. Its empty eye sockets stared emptily at her like that of a skull’s. Even if she did not have extra senses, she would have had the common sense to toss the useless thing by now.

Frowning, she slammed the doors shut again and tried to pass off the nagging feeling that something was about to happen. There was a rattling sound inside Hayner’s closet, making Namine turn back. If she was younger, she probably would have made a mad dash out of the room, but she was older, sicker, and quite annoyed as of that moment.

Flinging the doors open once more, the rattling stop as if it had never happened before. The mask stared openly back at her.

Namine snapped at it, “What do you want? I’m trying to sleep in the other room!”

The dirty, plastic mask stared back numbly, still offering no answer.

“You were the one that woke me up, so you better tell me what you want before I shove you into the smoothie blender downstairs.”

The mask began to tremble, the clacking and rattling of plastic against the wall made Namine step back. She steeled herself, not sure what it was up to. Whatever it was was normally dormant any other time of the year. The times it did act up, it had never seemed so violent before. Once again, Namine cursed fate for leading her to this one town where everything supernatural was screwed up.

Suddenly, it stopped shaking. But Namine could tell when something was up to no good and ready to wrought havoc.

Grabbing the mask, Namine stomped over to her brother’s window and shoved the glass and screen open. She launched the thing as far as she could until it cleared the lawn and rolled down the sidewalk to a stop right at the edge of the curb.

Sensing no more disturbances inside the house, Namine shoved the screen back in place and slammed the glass down onto the window ledge and locked it. Leaving one last glare at the mask that had been blown onto the road by the gusty, cold wind, Namine left Hayner’s room.

Now that she was fully awake, Namine headed down the stairs and into the kitchen for something to eat. She finished off the leftover noodles that Hayner had made for her the night before, and only paused to concentrate now and then to sense if anything was amiss in the house. When she had satisfied her hunger, Namine kicked back on the couch to watch some TV.

She must have fallen asleep on the couch, because the next thing she knew, the front door was pushed open and Hayner’s sneakers made a loud squeak before he yanked them off and tossed them to the side. Namine sat up and turned around sleepily just in time to see Hayner enter the kitchen. Turning off the buzzing television, Namine dragged herself into the kitchen too.

Hayner seemed a little surprised to see her, but he also looked amused, “I see you’re up.”

“Barely,” Namine grumbled hoarsely. Spotting the quirking grin on his face made her want to draw an upside down smile over it with a fat, black marker. “Were you able to get my stuff?”

Hayner shuffled through the contents of his bag before he pulled out a sheaf of papers, “Relax, Namine. They’re right here,” he added, “I asked them to extend the due date a little since you looked so wretched when you left. But now I don’t know why I bothered. You look ready to face Seifer head on.”

“I love you too, Hayner,” Namine hugged him, taking the papers from his hand.

Her brother pulled a disgusted face, “Don’t rub all your germs on me. Now I’ll probably get sick too. If I have a fever tomorrow and start seeing ghosts, I’ll know where I got it from.”

“Shut up,” Namine said, stabbing his stomach with her finger. But she couldn’t fight away the smile threatening to split her face as he comically danced away from her.

The phone rang suddenly, cutting all the banter momentarily. The two exchanged glances as the same idea flittered through their heads. After all, they used to play phone pranks when they were kids.

Hayner smirked at Namine as he picked up the phone. Putting on a suave voice, Hayner leaned against the counter, “Hello, you’ve reached Starman’s Pharmacy. Sorry we’re not here right now. If you are looking for vitamins, please call back tomorrow. If you’re looking for condoms, please try somewhere else. Now leave a message after the beep. Beeeeep-- Huh? Oh hey, Olette… Uh, it’s nothing. What’s up?”

Hayner glanced at Namine, wincing a bit before he started talking again, “Yeah, I’ll ask her for you. No, she’s not sleeping. We’re just trying to keep her from contaminating all the phones… Yes, it’s absolutely necessary. We’re afraid that the phones will grow mold if she talks into them. OW!”

Namine removed her foot from on top of his as he massaged it. She had a mean step.

“Ugh, no. It’s just that Bigfoot happened to stub my foot just now. Okay, talk to you later, Olette. ‘Night,” Hayner hung up and sighed, sinking into a chair. He put a hand over his face, “Damn it Namine. I just totally embarrassed myself.”

“Don’t worry about it. Olette probably expected something like that coming from you,” Namine shrugged indifferently.

Hayner sat up, frowning as he slouched forward towards her, “What did you mean by that.”

Namine smiled lightly, shaking her head, “Never mind, Hayner. Now tell me what Olette wanted already.”

“She wanted to ask if you could go shopping with her and the girls tomorrow afternoon for costumes. But only if you’re up to it, Namine. We don’t want to send you to the hospital too.”

“Okay, but what about you and the guys?”

“We’re going separately. It’s supposed to be some surprise for both sides – Kairi and Pence’s idea,” Hayner told her in a mock-serious tone.

Namine nodded before suddenly remembering something, “Hayner?”

“Yeah?” he looked over at her as he grimaced at his foot, “Will you take a look at this thing? I’m probably not going to be able to go anywhere for the next couple days. And it’s all your fault too.”

“Hayner.”

“What?” he grumbled back.

Namine wondered if she should tell him about his mask now that she had his attention. Even if he did get mad, his foot would stop him from chasing her around, right?

“You’re not going to like this, but… I tossed you mask out the window today. It fell somewhere out on the road, so it’s probably totaled by now.”

“You what?”

Backing towards the stairs, Namine laughed sheepishly, “Remember when I said it was cursed? It is, and it looked like it was going to hurt me, so I got rid of it. I guess you’re just going to have to find something to replace it. Um… I hope that’s okay with you.”

Namine couldn’t have been more wrong about Hayner’s foot, which seemed to recover in an instant, as he scrambled after her around the house. Slamming the door to her room, Namine called through the wood, “I’ll find a way to make it up to you!”

And just as promptly, she tuned out his onslaught of ‘how could you’s’ to focus on her homework.

………

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A/N: And so this concludes Labor Day weekend. There was going to be more NaminexRoxas in this chapter, but I had to shorten it a bit to make the story flow better. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed what was there.

Thanks to Chapter 10 reviewers: Flower of the Desert , E Muja SN TN and EN , okiegirlforever , CerberAsta , LoveKey , Malcolm Yuy , KhanomAna , Enoxico , Kit-Kat-Wafer , AquaFlameElementalist , maluka , Bean-Sprout , NobodyNParticular , The Stone Bridge , VaniVan , crazed-laff , .Nana Potato. , The Second Sight Alchemist , lebrezie , EpicNamiHikari , LightOne , Magnet for Trouble , timekeeper1824 , estrellaz , Tater Tots , BlueNobody , Ravey101 , Natalis , RoxasxLoverxDarius , eCZi , Insane Hypocrite , crystalclear0o , yasu-yasu , kai lun an , Ojou-chan , Cureffu , LightxxDark , jcola0823 , Annie Mae , Sara , YearOfTheKitty , Akane Naomi , Dece , Crystal Nami , Meep Forever , Uchiha, Nami , Hikoru, Aniki , and DearlyBeloved-13 .

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Question of the Chapter:

Do you believe in Darwinism or do you believe in some other/religious way that life came about?

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My Answer:

Darwinism sounds the most probable to me. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe the universe has its secrets though. Where do miracles come from? Who guides the events that happen in this world? There are too many unanswered questions and circumstances. Maybe it’s a mix? Who knows.

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