Work Text:
It was a lovely day in Radiant Garden. The sun was shining brightly and basking the castle garden in a warm golden light. The breeze was light and cool, a perfect contrast to the sun’s warm rays. It really was a perfect day, and it was going to be even more so for Naminé.
Today, her friends were coming to the town to visit. She was beyond happy that she would get to see them again. It had been a while since she last saw them, but she didn’t blame them. They had all been busy in maintaining the balance between the light and darkness. Yes, Xehanort was defeated but that didn’t mean that the Heartless and Nobodies ceased in terrorizing worlds. There were much less of the creatures around, but every so often they’d spawn in greater numbers in different worlds.
In the past month or so, one particular world had this problem and so the Destiny Islands Trio plus Roxas and Xion travelled to defeat the evil that had risen there. Now that they were finally finished, they were heading to Radiant Garden to check in with Leon and the gang and to hopefully take a break.
And because she wanted to welcome her friends, Naminé was out in the garden picking flowers that reminded her of each one of them. It may have been silly but every day that she spent in the garden, certain flowers seemed to take on the forms of her friends. It kept her from feeling so lonely and kept her smile from wavering while they were gone for so long.
She had already a good bouquet of flowers in her hands but there was still one more she had to pick: a sunflower.
The sunflower was the flower that kept her smiling the brightest whenever she was in the garden. It always made her blush, for it constantly reminded her of the person that was most important to her. She hoped that it would bring a smile upon his face as well.
She nearly dropped the flowers in her hands when she heard Dilan’s voice call out. “Naminé, Sora and the others have arrived.”
Naminé thanked the man as she ran past him to the castle gates. Once reaching the gates, her heart leapt at the sight of the gummi ship. Her friends were really here. She only hoped that they were all well despite the undoubtedly strenuous journey they had been on.
As if sensing her excitement, Kairi jumped out of the ship and ran up the steps to meet the petite blonde in a hug. It was always so nice to see Kairi. She was someone that Naminé could tell anything to. She was always willing to lend an ear and to offer advice since the blonde girl was still getting used to finally being her own person.
“I missed you. How have you been? Not too bored around here I hope,” Kairi said with a smile.
Naminé shook her head in assurance. “There’s a good amount of things to do around the castle and town but I have to admit, it didn’t stop me from missing you all.”
“Good. Can’t have you forgetting about us.”
Naminé giggled at Kairi’s ironic quip. “Don’t worry. I don’t think that will happen any time soon.”
Kairi looked down at the bundle of flowers in the blonde girl’s hands. “Oooo, what’s with all the flowers?”
Naminé let out an “oh” of slight surprise as she nearly forgot why she had brought the various flowers with her in the first place. She picked out a big bright pink carnation and handed it to the redhead. “I wanted to give everyone flowers that reminded me of them. Yours is the pink carnation.”
Kairi took the flower and raised it to her nose, inhaling its beautiful aroma. “Thank you Naminé. It’s lovely.”
“Naminé!” The next to approach her with a bright smile was Sora who was more than ready to greet her with a hug. “It sucks that we had to be away for so long. I missed this place and talking to you. What have you been up to?”
“I’ve actually been helping with the planting of trees around here. Aerith thought it would be a good idea if there was more greenery in the town itself rather than just the castle garden,” Naminé replied. “Plus, it’s much better for the environment as well.”
“Sounds like fun. I’ve never planted anything before. Maybe I can help out while we’re here. I’d love to learn and contribute to Radiant Garden’s restoration.”
Kairi rolled her eyes in jest. “As if saving the world itself isn’t contributing.”
“That’s just what I do so it almost feels like a normal thing and not like I’m pitching in at this point,” Sora said with a chuckle. “Speaking of pitching in, you need any help carrying those?” he asked referring to the flowers.
Naminé shook her head. “Thank you but I’m actually handing them out right now. This one is for you. You, Sora, are a chrysanthemum.”
“Awesome!” Sora said as he took the big golden flower. “I’m a crescent!”
“Now you’re thinking about the pastry,” Kairi said.
“I’m always thinking about food. Oh, we brought some from the world we were on! You have to try them. We also brought back some shawarma stuff which sounds nasty but is so good!” He told Naminé. “You have to try it. I’ll go get them right now.” As he was about to head back in the ship, he turned around once more and gave Naminé a beaming smile. “Thanks for the flower Naminé. I’m going to press it in Jiminy’s journal so it will always be with me.”
“You’re welcome, Sora,” Naminé said.
Once the brunette ran into the gummi ship, a loud crash could be heard and a distinct voice yelling out “Sora!” could be heard from inside.
“Riku you big dummy! Why were you standing in the entrance?” Sora could be heard saying.
“Um, I don’t know. Maybe ‘cause I was getting out?!”
Naminé couldn’t help but laugh at the interaction between the two boys. “Are they always like this?” she asked turning to Kairi.
“Unfortunately,” Kairi said with a shake of her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand the friendships between boys.”
Not a moment later, Riku stepped out of the ship, readjusting his jacket. Kairi let out a mischievous laugh at the sight. “What were you up to in there Riku? Xion didn’t happen to be in there, did she?” she suggested with a wiggle of her brows.
Riku gave her an unamused expression. “Okay, seriously that face is creeping me out and for your information yes she was in there, but nothing happened. Sora was the one that got my clothes all ruffled.”
Kairi burst out in laughter and Riku only shook his head at her perverse way of thinking. “Oh Kairi, what are we going to do with you?” He looked to the blonde girl and gave her a small smile. “Hey Naminé. How’s it going?”
“Much better now that you all are here. How was your trip?” she said.
“It was something alright. Apparently the world we went to had lots of Heartless and Nobodies because some god-”
“He’s not a god!” Sora called out from the ship.
Riku just shook his head. “Don’t listen to him. The guy was totally a god, or at least some form of one. Basically, this guy wanted to take over this world and had a whole army of aliens and whatnot and guess what else?”
“Heartless and Nobodies?” Naminé replied with a small smirk.
“Exactly. I’ve never seen anyone that wasn’t Maleficent or the Organization summon that many Heartless and Nobodies. It wasn’t an easy fight, but we won in the end. I just feel bad that we couldn’t stay around to help them rebuild.”
“How’d they feel about seeing a group of teenagers swinging giant keys around?” Naminé asked with a giggle.
“They were surprisingly fine with it. Apparently we’re not the first bunch of people with extraordinary abilities to appear on their world. I mean, one of the people we fought alongside with came from another realm or something, so I think they’re pretty used to receiving unordinary visitors.”
“Sounds like a very intriguing world.”
“We’ll have to take you some time. It’s very different from anything you’ve ever seen.”
“That’s saying something considering everything we’ve been through, but I would like that.” She held out an Iris Florentina out to Riku with hints of blue, violet, and yellow near the bottoms of the white petals. “This is the flower that reminds me of you the most. I thought you might like to have it.”
“Thanks, Naminé,” Riku said with a small chuckle, taking the flower. “That’s sweet of you. The only stuff we brought back are lots of crescents and shawarma since Sora has an addiction to both things now.” He gently touched the petals with his fingertips, his smile getting a bit wider. “You know, it does kinda look like me.”
“Oh no Naminé. What have you done? Now he’s going to brag about how he’s as pretty as a flower now,” Kairi said.
“Don’t listen to her Naminé.” Riku patted the petite blonde on the head. “She’s just jealous that my flower is prettier than hers.” Kairi burst out into laughter once more and Riku groaned. “I seriously need to work on how I word things.”
“A little help over here?”
Naminé looked toward the ship to see none other than Xion coming out balancing many bags and boxes in her arms. Riku quickly went up to her and relieved her of more than half the items she was carrying. A soft smile came upon her face, and she leaned up and placed a kiss on the boy’s cheek.
“You should’ve seen them back in New York,” Kairi said. “I feared that they were going to elope or something.”
“I think it’s rather cute that they’re so happy together,” Naminé said.
“You and Roxas can be like that too,” the redhead sang.
“Kairi…”
“I’m just saying.” Kairi shrugged. “You two are like me and Sora all over again. It’s painful to watch sometimes.”
Naminé rolled her eyes at the redhead’s dramatic nature. “Then suffer.”
Kairi stuck her tongue out at the girl. “The only reason I’m not hounding you on the matter is because of the flower you gave me. You’re lucky I love you or else I would have locked you and Roxas in a room long ago.”
“Kairi!” Naminé’s cheeks flushed furiously at the insinuation. As Riku and Xion approached them, she tried to calm herself down as much as possible.
“Heya Xion. You okay? You look a little flushed there,” Xion said as she put the boxes down.
Well, damn it.
“She’s probably just wondering where the gremlin is,” Riku said.
“Gremlin?” Naminé asked.
“It’s what Riku calls Roxas. Although, Roxas has way nastier names for Riku such as-”
“Nah ah ah!” Kairi interrupted the raven. “We are not speaking of those names. I didn’t even know you could call a person that until the words came out of his mouth. They will forever haunt me.” She took a quick look around, a confused expression on her face. “Speaking of, where is Roxas?”
“He said he had a quick errand he had to run,” Xion explained. “He left before any of us could even get out of our seats.”
Naminé deflated slightly upon hearing that. “Oh, I see.” She quickly put on a false smile. “No matter. What’s in all the boxes and bags?”
“All the crescents and shawarma that Sora was telling you about. I had to put them in here so Sora wouldn’t eat them all. He’s probably still looking for them right now. Well that and he was pressing a flower into Jiminy’s journal. Well, more like trying. I don’t think he calculated the size difference between the two.”
“And speaking of flowers, this one is for you Xion,” Naminé said, giving her a black dahlia. Despite its name, the flower itself was actually a very dark purple with lighter hues near the middle.
“It’s beautiful.” Xion’s eyes lit up in wonder at the sight of the flower.
Riku leaned over, inspecting the flower over Xion’s shoulder. “I say it definitely looks like you. Both are just as beautiful.”
“And that’s my cue to drag Sora out of the ship,” Kairi said as she quickly went down the steps.
A sudden thought popped into Xion’s head upon seeing Naminé’s empty hands. “Oh, does Roxas not have a flower that looks like him?” the raven asked.
Naminé jumped and let out a yelp. “I almost forgot! I still need to pick the perfect one. I was in such a hurry to come see you all that I forgot to get his.”
Xion giggled. “Then what are you waiting for?”
Naminé smiled and promised to meet up with them in a little while. Then, she left to the castle gardens.
Riku raised a brow at Xion. “He’s there, isn’t he?”
Xion winked and lifted the boxes once again. “Maybe…”
After a couple of minutes of staring at the bed of sunflowers, Naminé finally decided on what she believed to be the brightest and yellowest flower. Just as she picked the flower, she heard steps coming up from behind. She turned around, expecting to see Xion or Riku since they were the ones to know she was here, only who she saw instead surprised her.
“Roxas?” She held the golden flower to her chest, unable to move from her spot for some reason.
“Hi Naminé,” Roxas said in that soft gentle tone that he seemed to only use on her.
“Hi. Xion said you were running some sort of errand but yet you’re here.”
Roxas chuckled and ran a hand through his golden locks in a somewhat nervous manner. “Yeah. I uhh… one of the friends I made in New York told me that I could never go wrong with flowers when telling a girl how I feel about her.”
“Oh?” She looked down and noticed that he was indeed holding a small bunch of forget-me-nots.
“That’s why I wasn’t there to see you right away. I couldn’t until I had the perfect flowers to give you when I told you that I… I really like you.”
Naminé’s heart was beating profusely to the point where she feared that the boy would surely hear it. So dumbfounded was she by his words that the only thing she could do was hold out the sunflower to him. “I picked this for you.” Upon hearing how dumb the words sounded, she said, “It reminds me of you because it looks like pure sunshine. It’s warm and full of joy and beauty. If I ever feel down, I just come to the sunflower beds and I think of you.”
Roxas’ eyes crinkled as his gaze on her didn’t waver. “Damn. That’s a way better explanation than my, ‘I got these for you because you’re unforgettable’ spiel.”
Naminé let out a soft laugh. “No, I like yours more. It’s short, sweet, and to the point. Plus, there’s a million meanings behind one word.”
“Oh, definitely.” Roxas as he presented the forget-me-nots to her in a dramatic flourish. “I guess what I’m really trying to say is, will you allow me to take you on a date?” He gave her a charming smile, his eyes full of sincerity and admiration.
Naminé took the flowers, a bubbly laugh escaping her lips. “Your friend was right. You can never go wrong with flowers.”
A beaming smile came upon Roxas’ face, and he took the sunflower from the girl’s hand. A funny thought came across him as he looked at the flower. “So does that mean Ven gets a sunflower too?”
Naminé shook her head, amusement apparent on her features. “Ven would probably get a marigold or something similar to that. But I picked the sunflower for you, and only you.”
Roxas was looking at her with an emotion that was overwhelming and made her feel all warm and tingly. She couldn’t place a name on the emotion yet, but she was sure she knew what it was.
“And I pick you.”
Naminé gasped at Roxas’ words, and he could do nothing but continue to smile that bright smile of his. He entwined his fingers with hers and began to lead them out of the garden. Naminé looked back down at her hands, realizing that in one she held flowers that Roxas saw her in, and in the other she held the most beautiful flower of all – one that had picked her as well.