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oveliagirlhaditright · 2 years

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Tender Loving Care

Summary: When Naminé gets to go shopping at a store in Twilight Town for the first time, to have fun, she's shocked to find Riku working there. It seems he took a part-time job there because he wanted an excuse to run into the Sea Salt Family. Because after looking for Sora for more than a year, and burning the candle at both ends to do so, he finds himself needing a break from it: and someone to tell him it's okay to take a little bit of time off. And Naminé in understanding his situation all too well is more than happy to give him that reprieve. Namiku. Oneshot. Canon compliant. Post-Remind. Pre-Melody of Memory.

Tender Loving Care

Naminé had never been to a store before… a very sad statement, she knew. But she had only been born about two years ago, and had been in confinement for most of that time… and the Organization nor DiZ had exactly been big on the idea about her going to the super market.

She knew what they were like, of course. She had seen a number of them in Sora’s memories; and while Naminé knew it probably should have been the last thing she was worrying about during her imprisonment, a part of her found herself longing to go there, whether it was for clothes, toys, food: you name it.

She had wanted to be silly, too—even knowing she could get kicked out for such shenanigans—and sit in a cart and have Sora, Riku, or Kairi push her around in one of the carts, the way Kairi had once been pushed in one. It just seemed so much fun, and so freeing…

So Naminé was more than a little thrilled when she became her own person—something the former Nobody had never expected her friends would make happen for her: not even when she’d somehow ended up in the journal’s message about the people Sora needed to save—and got to go to her first store ever: somewhere she was right now, in fact.

It was a little dollar store inside Twilight Town’s mall, and it had drawn Naminé’s eye the moment she seen it, with all the colors and plethora of toys begging to be examined. It looked like a child’s dream come true to Naminé. And she had no doubt that whoever had designed the layout of the place, had done so with the utmost cleverness in order to bring kids in—as the children no doubt tugged on their parent’s arm to follow them in… And the space drew in the teenage artist, who had never seen such liveliness—and had never been free before—too.

“This place is lovely. Don’t you agree, Axel? Oh, look! Are those balloons in the back?! We could throw a party, for when we inevitably bring Sora back! And there are little air chairs that way!” Naminé was already on her way to the back of the room in her excitement, that seemed to be more pre-teen and teen oriented (also, with some art supplies leading on up to that section. Was today her lucky day or what?!), but before she could very far, Axel was gently grabbing onto her arm to stop her.

“Naminé, are you sure this is the first store you want to stop at? If you do, all the power to you! Don’t let me be the one to halt you. But if you’re worried about munny, or somethin’, you don’t have ta. Isa and I here have more than enough here, to let your first shopping spree here be whatever you want it to. Got it memorized?” Axel beamed at her, as he pointed an index finger to his head before winking.

Roxas and Xion—who were hanging back outside the store, because they must not have been as entranced by it as Naminé was—laughed at Axel’s antics. And Naminé couldn’t help giggling and smiling herself, as she wondered what she’d done deserve to such a wonderful family and happy lifestyle now. She certainly wasn’t complaining about it.

“But at the same time, if Naminé wants to go here, we mustn’t make her think we’re dissuading her from it, Lea,” Isa corrected his companion with a stern look, just as he came into the store and began heading back towards the area that had drawn the young witch’s eye.

“Yes. Isa’s right. This is the first place I’d like to go… if that’s alright,” Naminé explained. “But I don’t think that you were saying my interests didn’t matter or anything like that, Axel. Quite the opposite, really. You’re both too sweet.”

Okay… she was overdoing it, and Naminé knew it. She sounded too much like she was trying to please both Isa and Axel, as if she were afraid what would happen to her if she didn’t (and Naminé hated the stares she was attracting from a few employees who seemed to realize that she was aiming to please everyone, as if they realized she had been an abuse victim). But after all she had been through, she supposed that some habits would take a while to break. One day at a time…

“Well, if Naminé wants to check this place out, you know what that means. Into this store, we go!” Roxas exclaimed, quite literally skipping into the store to break some of the tension then. And if Naminé were a bit more comfortable with whatever she and Roxas were supposed to be to each other now, she could have thrown herself into his arms then.

Then, before she could blink, both Roxas and Xion were grabbing one of her arms and dragging her back to where she’d clearly wanted to head as the two of them laughed and laughed. And then she couldn’t help but do the same herself.

Eventually, the two of them must have trusted that she was out of her “I must please everyone” mode and would actually have some fun here, because they set her down and began looking at things themselves. And it was okay, for it didn’t take Naminé too long to become enraptured by the paints, glitters, and even streamers before her… so much so that she at first didn’t realize that Riku was working right in front of her, until she heard his familiar baritone saying rather cutely, “So, not even a ‘hi’ to your other favorite jailbird, Naminé? I see I won’t be getting you anything for Christmas this year.” (1)

“Riku! Oh my goodness, what are you doing here?! I thought you were in the Land of Departure with Terra, Ventus, and Aqua!”

Riku raised an eyebrow at that. And Naminé was about to try and puzzle out why, before she was unceremoniously knocked into Riku’s arms by a kid running just behind her. And if it weren’t for Riku’s fast reflexes she would have smashed her chin on the stool Riku’d been sitting on, but fortunately that hadn’t happened and she was very glad for that. She was done with being abused, thank you very much.

And somehow, it was only now—when she realized she’d almost hit her face on said stool, and realized that Riku was sitting on such a thing—that something seemed to really click in Naminé’s head. “You’re working here, Riku?”

Because it seemed that Riku had actually been sitting in said stool blowing up balloons. And Naminé couldn’t see how the store would let him get away with that, unless he was one of their employees. But she couldn’t help being a little confused by it all. Because surely if Riku was doing this, he thought it would help him find Sora in some way, shape, or form… Right? “…And you think this will help Sora somehow?”

To that, Riku simply shrugged. “Everyone needs a break now and then, Naminé. Even me. So, when I saw this store asking for part-time workers to help promote you guys’ upcoming balloon fest, I decided to give it a try. It’s a change of pace, at least. And I was hoping to run into you all… and to maybe have an excuse for the running into you, because maybe I do feel bad about not trying to locate Sora twenty-four-seven, yeah.”

And Naminé instantly felt horrible for almost having have accused him for slacking off in the search a moment ago. Maybe she didn’t feel as badly about that as she did for some of the other things she’d done in the past… but she still felt horrible enough.

And there was a part of Naminé—that she knew was wrong, and was trying to fight back now—that thought she didn’t deserve to have come to the store, after all, if she could still hurt people like this. And she tried to put some of that inflection into her apology here. “Of course, Riku… you do deserve a break and I’m so sorry to have made you think otherwise. You need time from the trauma, and to live your life, too. So, I’m thrilled that you’re here.”

“Thanks,” Riku smiled now, with that trademark smirk of his.

And it was when Naminé’s heart started fluttering at that, and she thought she might have been falling in love of all things, that she decided she ought to ground herself. “But you know, Riku… you really don’t need an excuse to see us. Ever. I’m also thinking that with all of the munny you’ve gotten fighting Heartless, you don’t really need this part-time job, either. Do you? You know what I’m thinking? You should quit! And spend the day shopping with my family and me. And then maybe we can even go to that aforementioned Balloon Fest later.”

Riku’s eyes widened fractionally at everything Naminé had just said. And, yes, his mouth was agape, too. And the former Nobody supposed she couldn’t blame him for being so taken aback that she, of all people, would suggest he quit his job, when she’d been all about getting her work done in the past, no matter how much it hurt her. But that was exactly why she needed to promote better living now, wasn’t it?

Riku didn’t respond right away. As she waited for him to reply, a kid sat on one of the shelves and made it dip down with his weight, and one of the employees came over to try and get the shelf to lift back up and to get rid of the dent… another worker added more yellow green air chairs to the stack of said seats—making Naminé wonder if that color was hot this season—and then the blonde had to panic for a second when she thought that Riku might have forgotten how to breathe, and she might have to give him CPR.

But finally, Riku was smirking once more—and Naminé had to tell her heart to be still once he was—and he sidled up to her and looped her arm with his. “Sounds like a plan, Naminé. I mean, this store alone is nothing like the ones that I know of. Usually, you just stand outside and peek at wares from a distance and tell the seller what you want… So, this here is kind of crazy. If this is just the start of the evening, I can’t wait to see what other opportunities this little vacation can bring me, with you by my side.”

Naminé thought for a moment about what to say to Riku’s comment there—as the two of them, arm-in-arm, began heading up towards the cash register where her family was—and though the little witch definitely looked pensive while she thought about it, it really took her only a second to figure it all out. Because this encompassed so many different things that she was feeling, didn’t it? “Hopefully much more, Riku. Hopefully much more.”

Author's Note: 1. Riku is saying that he and Naminé were both pretty much in DiZ's "jail," together (when they were trying to restore Sora's memories during Days/the start of KHII), so to speak.

Another story idea that I came up with while I was trying to sleep, or while half-asleep, or something.

Though this one I started a LONG time ago. Like, definitely before KHIV was announced.

For whatever reason, I wasn’t sure I’d ever finish this. I think I was lacking inspiration for it (I think because originally, I was going to have Riku and Nami go to the Balloon Fest and stuff, but I didn’t really know what to have them do there. But I’m glad that I cut that all out so I could finally finish/post this story. I don’t really know if that part of it was needed or would have fit in here, anyway, now that I look back at this. -shrugs-)

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