KH - Fast Food Madness! V2

Roxas turned his head to look at Namine, his eyes meeting hers. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, but in sadness, not anger. He turned his head away, lowering it to look at the floor in front of him. "Yeah..." he answered softly, knowing the answer was going to be one that she didn't want to hear.

 

Namine's eyebrows went up slightly in surprise. Before he even answered, Namine knew that would be Roxas' response. Still though, it was startling to hear. She quickly regained her composure, shaking her head slightly. "How can you believe that?" She asked softly. "You always protect me from danger."

 

Roxas shook his head. "No...I save you from it. I don't protect you," he said, his voice faintly louder. He hadn't acted as her fierce protector, and it made Roxas upset, because he knew he should be.

 

Namine tilted her head slightly, some of her blond hair coming over her shoulder more. "I don't see much of a difference," Namine stated softly, honestly. She didn't quite get it...what was the difference between being protected and being saved?

 

"There is," Roxas stated, his eyes lifting to the fire. "Namine...I've saved you from Smith, Jeff, and Brian...but after you were already hurt. That's not what protection is." He bit his lip for a moment, trying to find the right words. "I would be protecting you if I were preventing any of that harm, acting as your shield or your guardian angel." Roxas brought his hands to his head, resting his elbows against his knees as he looked down at the floor just in front of his legs. "So far...I'm neither."

 

"What? No, Roxas. No," Namine took in his words, immediatly hearing the sorrow in his voice. "You've always been my guardian angel...coming for me when I need you. Maybe in those recent situations, things escalated pretty quickly...but I still think that you protected me...in all of them." She paused for a moment, thinking of what to say next.

 

Roxas took in a breath at Namine's words, not understanding how she could think of him that way after all that had happened to her because he couldn't be there. He closed his eyes and bit down hard on his lip, knowing that the wetness in his eyes wasn't caused by the heat from the fire this time.

 

"I'll give you an example," Namine started softly, her eyes turning toward the fire. "Back in the alley...Jeff might have hurt me, and Brian too, but you didn't just save me. You protected me from any more pain I could have recieved." She paused for a moment, then continued. "It was the same thing today, you know. I could have gotten hurt...much worse, but I didn't. Because you protected me from that." Namine felt as if she was starting to ramble, so she silenced herself, hoping that Roxas understood what she meant.

 

Roxas heard the confidence in Namine's voice, the confidence she was trying to put in him. He understood what she meant in a way, of how he had gotten home before anything too serious happened. But still, Brian had caused her harm, hadn't he? With her shoulder? Didn't that still prove his point?

 

"You said yourself that it was lucky that you even knew I was in trouble," Namine started, pausing a brief moment before speaking again. "So how can you be so hard on yourself for not being able to protect me fully when you didn't even know until later that Brian was here?"

 

Roxas took in a breath, but kept his eyes closed. "Because the same thing happened with Jeff; I got there a few minutes later, just as he hit you. Brian did the same, but he hurt your shoulder...remember?" He didn't lift his gaze, and didn't gaze at all, his eyelids tightly shut over his piercing blue eyes.

 

Namine shook her head slightly, gazing over at Roxas now. "You're being too hard on yourself," she said gently. "In both of those situations, you shouldn't have even known that I was in danger. But you did...thankfully." She couldn't imagine what would have happened if Roxas hadn't protected and saved her, and it was something she never did want to imagine.

 

Roxas bit down hard on his lip, shutting his eyes even tighter to prevent the wetness from escaping. This was an emotional topic for him...because all he wanted to do was love and protect Namine with all his heart, but it seemed as if he had failed recently, like Brian had said. Namine's words were understandable, and he was understanding her point, but there was something in him telling him the opposite.

 

Namine swallowed hard before continuing, her gentle voice sounding loud in the quiet room. "And as soon as you knew something was wrong, you came and helped me. You protected me from getting hurt worse and you saved me. I don't see that as failing." There was a slight pause. "Do you?"

 

"No," Roxas answered, seeing her point. But he had a point of his own. "I see failing as letting you get hurt," he said. "And that's exactly what happened." His voice wasn't as soft before; it was slightly louder, with a bit of anger in it. But not at Namine, at himself.

 

"Roxas, you didn't let anything happen," Namine stated softly, her gaze staying on the blonde boy. "I may have gotten hurt, but you didn't let it happen. You had no control over any of that, so you shouldn't hold yourself responsible."

 

Roxas let his hands fall from his head as he turned it, finally meeting Namine's eyes. "Namine, I love you. More than anything. And if you get hurt, I can't help but feel responsible." He could feel the wetness in his eyes, having been holding it back behind his eyelids.

 

"And I love you too," Namine responded, finally seeing Roxas' eyes. She could see that he was trying to hold back his emotions, but she didn't really want him to. She just wanted him to get out whatever he had to, and she would be there for him just like he was there for her. "But you have to realize that some things can't be avoided. Everyone get's hurt sometimes," she spoke those two sentences more softly than she had been before, knowing fully well that they were true.

 

Roxas kept his gaze on Namine for a moment, not having any words to counter her statement. Her face started to blur through his vision and he blinked, one tear quickly escaping his eye. Roxas turned his head slightly, bringing up his left arm and wiping it away.

 

"You just have to learn to let go of those things," Namine said softly, her voice almost a whisper. She turned her body to face Roxas, her legs underneath her slightly. Not removing her gentle gaze from Roxas, she brought up her right hand, lightly setting it on Roxas' cheek and gently turning his face towards her.