A/N: Hello again! Don’t worry, I’m not taking a break from Spotlight. I just had this idea and I really wanted to write it, so I hope that you’ll read it and enjoy it! It’s a little different from most of the stories I’ve written, so bear with me.

0o0.0o0

Saving Jane

Chapter One

She never really understood herself. Ever since she was little, she has been very shy. She never had any friends, nor did she want them. She was too afraid to have relationships of any kind. Her parents were barely around. She was always alone.

However, there was one person she kind of liked.

He was a jock all throughout high school. She admired him from afar, daydreaming that one day they just might be together. However, she wasn’t obsessed over him; it was just every time she saw him that she would get those feelings. Once she graduated though, she never saw him again and her feelings sort of faded.

Until about a month ago.

It was him, she was sure of it. He was sitting at a café flirting with the lady behind the counter. One thing led to the next and she saw them exchange small pieces of paper and wave to each other as he left. For some reason, her heart sank and she was overcome by a sudden melancholy state. Being alone all of her life, she had every right to, right? She never became close to anyone, but in her mind, he was the closest person to her, even though they had never even spoken to each other. She followed him around that day, just for the hell of it. Holding her sketchbook close, she tried not to look suspicious. They lived in a big city, so people that went by probably weren’t even paying attention. He was getting lost in the crowd, but she didn’t want him to get away. She hadn’t seen him for five years. Maybe this was their chance…

He walked into a bookstore; one of her favorite places to go to. Her heart lifted; maybe he liked reading as much as she did. Once she got in there, she walked casually over behind a shelf, keeping an eye on him. Sure enough, he was over in the magazines section. Wondering what kind of magazine he would read, she tried to move closer. He wouldn’t recognize her, so it didn’t really matter if he actually saw her, right?

They were in the same row. He put the magazine back and began to walk farther down the isle, scanning for something else. He was getting close to the porno section, something she dreaded. He stopped there and picked up a wrapped up magazine with a naked girl on the cover. She was disgusted, but when he laughed it was so…

Enticing.

He quickly put it back and turned the corner, heading more into a cars section. She decided to meet him on the other side, completely avoiding the porn. She pretended to look at a magazine, but she kept her eye on him. He eagerly leaned down and picked up another one, flipping though it. That was the one he wanted. She didn’t see what it was, but she didn’t care. If they were going to meet, she had to do something…

He started walking towards the cash register. She picked up a random cars magazine and hurried over there, but not too fast. She made sure to get right behind him in line. He was looking at the candy.

Reeses…

Her favorite.

He greeted the cashier and handed his purchases to him. He must’ve looked at her once or twice throughout this entire time, probably not thinking much of it. Was he that dense?

“Excuse me, miss?”

“Huh?” She looked up. He was gone. The cashier was trying to get her attention. She looked down at the magazine she was holding. She was never going to read it, however she gave it to him and bought it. Bowing, she quickly left and searched for him once again.

“Why are you following me?”

She heard something come from the other direction. She froze in her tracks; it was that same, sexy voice she remembered. In the corner of her eye she could see him walking towards her. Oh no, this wasn’t how she wanted them to meet…

He was in front of her now, his hands resting in his trench coat pockets, staring directly at her. The confrontation frightened her; even though he seemed so laid back, she could tell he wasn’t happy.

“Well?” He leaned in towards her, making her extremely nervous. After a moment or two of silence, he moved away and said, “You look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?”

‘What??’

She couldn’t speak.

He became impatient with her and walked off, but she wasn’t going to let him get away this time.

“Riku—w-wait!” She called out. He stopped and turned around, shocked.

“So you do know me… how so?” He asked with interest.

“Uh… we went to high school together. But you were popular… so that’s how I knew your name. You don’t know me.” She admitted.

“Huh,” Riku let out a satisfied laugh. “That’s cute that you’d remember me like that. What’s your name?”

She didn’t want to tell him; not now. However, he was closing in on her and all she could do was give in to his charming personality and good looks.

“N-Namine.”

“Namine?” Riku repeated. She merely nodded.

He tried to think of a girl from high school with that name, but he came up with nothing. Riku shrugged and put his hand out.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, although I’m still wondering why you were following me.”

Namine’s cheeks reddened in embarrassment. She didn’t want to answer that question. His hand was out, waiting for hers. This was it. Finally, after about ten years, they meet.

As she reached her hand towards his, she couldn’t believe how much she was shaking. Riku figured she wasn’t getting anywhere, so he stretched his arm out a little farther and grabbed her hand for her, shook it and then let go. A smile formed on his face.

‘Wow…’

Her blissful moment ended within a split second. Namine heard a loud noise, sounding like a gunshot. She screamed and covered her ears, instinctively ducking for cover. She didn’t want to open her eyes. She heard others rushing by her frantically.

“Oh my God!” A person shrieked near her. “He’s dead!”

This only made her scream again. Her eyes remained shut. If someone had just been killed, she didn’t want to see it.

“Call an ambulance! Somebody!”

‘No… this is… oh my God… please tell me it’s some nightmare I just need to wake up from…’

“HEY!” Someone shook her violently. Namine’s eyes opened. It was the person that was freaking out. She looked over… and what she saw scarred her for life.

Riku was dead.

“AHHH!” Namine had never seen a dead person before, but understandably it would scare anyone out of their wits. There was a puddle of blood beneath him. He wasn’t moving. Unable to believe it, all she could do was run away. She didn’t want to be there any longer.

She ran as fast as she could. Tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision. She ran into a few people, but only pushed past them. Cop cars were racing down the street to the scene. She didn’t want to be any part of this.

Namine busted her apartment door open and locked it. Completely exhausted, she was all wobbly on her way over to the couch. What just happened? Did it really happen? No—she was in denial. Riku was not dead…

Namine curled up on her couch and cried.

0o0.0o0

“Looks like he was shot in the back.”

“A random attack in the middle of a big city like this? Sounds pretty stupid…”

“There’s no way it could be random. Somebody was hunting him down.”

“But why would they…”

Sora and Roxas circled the dead body. He looked strangely familiar to Sora.

“Do we have identification on this man?” Sora asked one of the officers.

“Riku Matsumoto. Age, 23.”

“RIKU?” Sora rushed over to him and turned him over, something he wasn’t supposed to do.

“Sora, are you crazy?! What are you doing?” Roxas yelled after him.

Sora couldn’t believe his eyes. He fell back shaking uncontrollably. “He… He was my best friend back in high school…”

“WHAT?” Roxas tried to help his brother up.

“I… I can’t believe it…”

Sora left the scene, unable to cope with his own despair. Even though he hadn’t seen Riku for the past five years, it still hit home with him. Then Roxas started to remember Riku as well. He and Sora hung out all the time.

“Oh my…”

“Roxas, what do we have here?”

“Oh… dad! Um… shooting… someone… um…” He couldn’t get his words straight.

His father sighed. “Any witnesses?”

“N-not that we know of, Sir.”

“Get on it. I’m assigning you and Sora to this case.”

“Dad, don’t you recognize him?” Roxas asked, surprised at how his father was acting.

“Yes. And that’s why you and Sora are the best ones for it. Where is Sora?”

“He… left, sir.”

“Seriously… he’s got to be able to handle these kinds of things.”

“But dad, he knows this guy. They were—“

“I understand that, but this isn’t the only time Sora has walked away. You need to toughen him up.”

“Yes… sir…”

An ambulance took Riku away, covered in black. Roxas felt terrible for his brother, but he was better at hiding it. Anyway, he knew what he had to do. He began searching the area for any clues while the other police officers closed it off. The bookstore clerk came outside, looking pretty shaken.

“There was a blonde girl with him. She was following him around in the bookstore. I saw them talking out here.”

“A blonde girl?” Roxas said, getting his notebook out to write this down.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure she didn’t shoot him, but she was the last to talk to him, at least.”

“Uh huh… do you know anything else about her?”

“Well, she bought a magazine.”

“So you must have her information…” Roxas followed the cashier into the store. He pulled up recent purchases on the computer and scanned down to the last one.

“Ah, here it is. Namine Himura, purchased Cars Weekly at twelve o’six in the afternoon. The guy, Riku Matsumoto bought something right before she did.”

“That was less than an hour ago…” Roxas said, checking his watch. “Okay, thanks a lot.”

Roxas pulled out a walkie talkie and paged some of the others on the case. “Hey, could I get a location on Namine Himura? It’s urgent.”

It didn’t take long for them to respond. Her address in hand, Roxas headed towards her apartment.

0o0.0o0

A/N: That’s it for the first chapter! Like I said, this is kind of different. But anyway, please review and I will update Spotlight soon! Later!