tampered | Log: Incomplete;

Log: Incomplete;

When; August 22 (or as I call it, stuck on you day)
Rating; PG for awkwardness
Characters; Nise (

afleetingshadow)
Summary; Nise and Naminé got stuck like glue to each other, via the hand. Insert a lot of awkward talk, but the two have decided to skip off to the beach for the day. Good times, w00t.
Log;
Naminé couldn't stop looking at their hands, bound together not by choice, but by something else. It felt nice, or she hoped it did, because the silence was getting to be a little too much to bear.

Think, think, she told herself, trying to remember where the beach was. She'd been there before, but it was a little hard to remember.

"I...I think I know the way," she said, quieter than usual, and she felt embarrassed when she had to repeat it, her skin going a little hot. "Follow me...?"

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Naminé cleared her throat, suddenly very absorbed in smoothing out her hem. She wished she had something substantial to say. But her thoughts were coming in bits and pieces, and she was afraid that something stupid would come out.

"Let's go," she said, with a wavering smile, and for the first time she felt that her smile was fake, stretched-out skin that didn't feel right. She blamed the curse, or a lack of sleep, or something equally annoying. Opening the door, her sandals click-clicked on the floor as she went down to the City, Nise in hand.

The entire time, she was trying not to gawk at people who were stuck to...interesting things.

"Right." Oh once more he was speaking in prose, now wasn't he? Nise wasn't really happy to be at such a loss for words but he didn't know what to say to her. Normally he could talk fairly well aroun Namine but they weren't often attached by the hand.

Or never, if one wanted to be entirely accurate. Thus the situation wasn't one he knew how to approach.

But hey soon enough they'd be suitably distracted anyhow. And there were people stuck to things like toast...and various other random things. He was lucky it was Namine, and just their hands. At least that was what he thought as he kept pace with her.

In the lower floors, all the windows were open, and Naminé breathed in warm summer air, a small smile erupting on her lips. Nise's hand had become a steady weight for her now, and she rather liked it...

No...stop. It won't get you to the beach, thinking about that, Naminé told herself, pursing her lips.

"This room," she said, a little hesitantly. The door pushed open and the rest of the world fell away. The City didn't seem so close with the beach there, wide, open, inviting.

A little like home.

Though he remembered beaches he hadn't been to one himself. Riku had. Riku had done so many things that Nise remembered, but had never done himself. It was strange, thinking like that. Still yet it was real.

But seeing a beach with his own eyes, even if it was in this bizarre city, prompted a smile he couldn't check. He'd been trying not to grin like some idiot the whole time he was with Namine, because he truly liked spending time with her, but the idea that he was seeing a beach on his own and not just something from Riku's memory...well, he had to smile.

The sand felt familiar on her feet, the sun bright on the sea and making Naminé feel home, really home, ever since she came here, at the beginning of the summer that was over now.

She turned and saw Nise smiling: a rarity of itself, and she wanted to freeze time and remember it for as long as she lived. He seemed lighter, carefree somehow, and she couldn't tell how he changed. But he was changed and she was too and that was all that mattered.

"It's like home," she said, quietly, sun sinking into her skin, "or...the islands anyway."

She had an idea, and smiling, she turned to Nise.

"Swim with me...?"

Like home...

His thoughts had immediately jumped to the cold white of Castle Oblivion, if only for a fleeting moment, before Namine corrected that. The islands. Yes, it was very like them... Or the memory of them.

It didn't take any thought at all though, when she asked him it immediately prompted a nod. He'd never gone swimming with anyone either, though his borrowed memories told him he knew how. "Sounds fun."

Something flickered in Nise's eyes and Naminé bit her lip, a small gesture of worry. But then she saw that nothing was the matter, that everything was all right.

She nodded, a little blinded by the sun. A breeze picked up at her ankles and she walked, feeling light, for the first time in what felt like forever. The City had been wearing on her, beating her down, but here she was free. Here she was with him...

...and happy.

Nise found himself simply watching Namine for a few moments. She always seemed so worried about so many things, blaming herself, trying to comfort others, never wanting anyone hurt... But she let herself get slighted so often. Yet here for once she seemed happy.

Just happy. It was nice.

Tugging slightly on the hand that was attached to his, he started toward the water. "I'll race you, Namine."

Even though really, they couldn't get further than an arm's length from each other...He jus felt like playing for some reason.

She was light, she was bouyant on the breeze, and all her troubles had melted away, careless in the summer sky. All of a sudden, she felt a tug.

Race you. Like their false memories, like the ones they had in the Castle. They were real now, and she had always wondered what it would be like to make it real.

"Okay, on my count," she said, remembering that people who race say that sort of thing. That Kairi had said that sort of thing. "Ready...set...go!" And off she went, headed for the horizon and a sea full of blue, to making the fake memories...real.

Nise grinned, setting off on the word 'go', though sand made running rather interesting. It was still fun, racing with Namine, even with their hands stuck together. It kept either of them from straying too far ahead.

And still he was enjoying it, doing something merely for fun instead of thinking of the misfortunes the city brought, the strife it caused...

And the eventuality that they might part ways. He didn't have to think of any of those things at all.

At the water's edge, the waves lapped with a common monotone, and Naminé closed her eyes to take it in, the sand sifting beneath her sandals. She moved and tried to win, but the sand shifted and there was no clear-cut winner. Though in Naminé's mind, she knew Nise had come out on top.

She tugged Nise's arm a little, and leant a little bit against him to take off her sea-soaked sandals. The sand was cold on her bare feet, but after the initial shock, it felt refreshing, easygoing. Like she could sink into it forever, with Nise by her, without a worry in all the worlds.

"It's...really nice, seeing a beach..." It was true he remembered seeing one, experiencing one, he even remembered being tired of them. But all of that was Riku, and he didn't share the sentiment at all.

When Namine took off her sandals he figured that his cue to kick off his shoes, still watching the water. The closest thing he'd ever seen to a real ocean...

It still had him fascinated somehow.

Naminé smiled and nodded, curling her fingers together on her free hand. "I only ever saw it...with her," she said quietly, remmbering when she had been away, locked up somewhere in Kairi. "It's...strange to see it for yourself, isn't it?"

She started to lean in, to rush into the water, when her skirt blew against her, reminding her of the dress she still wore.

"I...my bathing suit is..."

She couldn't even finish the sentence. Something she knew was a blush was on her cheeks, and she hated herself for it.

Nise was of like situation. Even if he had thought about something to wear while swimming they were already attached by the hand before they decided to go to the beach.

But still, it seemed a shame to go and then realize that. Clearly Namine did want to go into the water, after all.

"...I don't mind wet clothes if you don't."

But they're white, she wanted to say, though Naminé couldn't even think about bringing it up. She'd cross an arm and hope for the best, and if not...

She let her fist rest against her thigh, breathing steady and slow. The middle...just enought to wade, but not too further out...

"Lead the way."

Namine seemed a bit apprehensive, and at first he didn't realize why that was. Then it dawned on him that she was wearing white, and the reason... He wasn't going to let his mind stray there.

"Alright." That said he strode forward, walking into the water, albiet slowly. He'd never felt it before. It was...really different.

The waves lapped at her ankles, foam bright in the sun when the waves faded away. The sand was drifting and Naminé felt a little off-balance, but she continued through, letting a wave climb up to her knees.

"It's nice," she said quietly, as if she was afraid horrible beasts would be in the sea. She brushed her worries away, trusting, faithful that she would be all right.

"Yeah, it is..." Nise looked out over the water, trying to commit everything to memory. The way the air felt and smelled, by coolness of the water, wet sand under his feet...

The feel of Namine's hand against his. Even if that was something ephemeral.

This was one of the better days in his existence. One that wasn't a reminder of what he was or what he lacked. He was simply happy, and Namine seemed happy too. That...somehow made it even better.

Naminé smiled warmly at Nise's agreement, stepping a little bit ahead, his hand still on hers. A wave caught the bottom of her hem, the cloth sticking to her skin.

I wish this would never end, she thought, a little too suddenly. She gasped and blushed, wishing her mind hadn't run away from her like that.

It would end. She knew that. Twenty-four hours had become the standard, the expected. She would be separated from him, and him from her. It wasn't as if it hadn't happened before.

Still...

I wish this would never end.

When Namine smiled at him like that Nise couldn't help but smile in return. She didn't often smile like that, but...

He liked it when she was happy. It seemed as though everything in the world had to be alright if she was happy. Even if they were in some insane city that tormented people routinely.

Nise was glad the day happened, even if only because of a curse. He got to spend time with Namine, and he'd never seen her smile so much.

And when he thought about it...

She had the loveliest smile he could imagine.

Naminé had read about people's hearts skipping a beat. Now she wanted one more than ever, so she could feel that, too. Breathlessness and excitement, coiled up and warm, lay nearby her empty space of a heart. Dhe held her breath and then let it go. Maybe it was the same thing.

His smile...

This one wasn't anything like the others. She helped create it, helped see it born on his face. Just by smiling back at him. How many people had said it?

You should smile more.

...I should, she decided. No. I will.

For a few moments longer Nise stood there, simply enjoying things. He was surprised that he could feel so happy from such simple things. He'd believed that being really happy would demand a lot, but...

Just being there with her seemed enough.

He was fairly lost in thought when a rather large wave came and smacked them both, effectively drenching them. Nise's hair was promptly in his face as he regained his balance and coughed, though ended up laughing a little.

His clothes were just soaked, and his hair probably looked silly now.

One moment everything was calm and clear, like the summer sky. Naminé knew she could get used to it, being light and carefree and...

Saltwater suddenly surrounded her, cutting her thoughts short. Sand settled in her mouth and she spat it out, water running down her skin and...

Her clothes. Ruined now, soaked with salt, gone completely sheer in the sea.

Light...

She crossed an arm over herself, deciding that maybe the ocean hadn't been the best of ideas. Nise was wet too, his hair sticking to his face, but...

Naminé didn't feel any better for it.

After a few moments Nise brushed the hair out of his face, though still wet and persistantly clinging to him. He really didn't care too much about that.

However he realized after a few moments that Namine's dress was white. And when white clothing was wet it was...

Oh dear, his face was getting red. Don't think about that! He told himself, since that was not a good thing to think on.

No, it was rude. So he'd refrain.

"How about...we go dry off? We can come back again sometime if you like..." He wasn't sure if she would like to but Nise would be happy to go again if she did. "We can bring swimsuits then..."

[ooc: I am so VERY sorry for the delay!]

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