The Anime Lover's Must Read: One-Shot Collection

Apparently ~Roxas One-Shot~

She swung her legs to hang limp over her bedside. Hesitantly, she placed her feet on the cool wooden floor, shivering slightly. Despite the season being summer outside, it felt like winter inside her home because of all the air conditioning. Ignoring the coolness, she got up from her feathery white sheets of her bed. She walked toward the window, the moonlight reflecting in her pink eyes, making her already pale appearance seem all the lighter. She wrapped her fingers around the handle of the window, eyes drawn by the overview of the city.

As she opened the window, a rush of warm air greeted her, making her white nightgown flap behind her wildly. She inhaled the fresh summer night air deeply, closing her eyes. It felt nice to have some fresh warm air in her system, it calmed her down, cleared her mind. Another small gust of wind tickled her cheeks, and she smiled. But instead of that small breeze coming and going, more tiny gusts hit her cheeks in a rhythmic pattern. Confused by this, she opened her eyes to find the source of this puzzling predicament.

"Hey there."

She squealed and stumbled back on, shocked, tripping over her own two feet to land on her backside. He stood in the windowsill, leaning against it casually with crossed arms. She stared at him with big, wide eyes, which only grew when she recognized him. It was hard not too; his flaming red hair color made it was to pick him out from others. Not to mention that it was done into an elaborate style, which made it even easier to point him out in a crowd. He hopped down from the windowsill, and Mallory tried to crawl backward. He laughed at her reaction, but it didn't sound very crude or dark like she would have expected it to be. It sounded carefree and almost friendly, so much that it puzzled her.

"Apparently you don't like surprises," He laughed, leaning forward and placing his hands on his hips as he bent down to get a better look at her, narrowing his eyes a little bit. "And, apparently, you're wearing light blue underwear."

She squealed and pulled her nightgown down, once again hiding her delicates. "Wh-who are you?!" She demanded of him, her face beet red and voice flustered.

"Shh," He shushed her, putting a finger up to his lips, which were twisted up into a grin. "It's a secret. Got it memorized?" He tapped his temple with one gloved hand, still grinning.

She gawked at him, pink eyes filled with a mixture of awe and terror, among other things. The man only grinned at her expression before turning around and stepping back over to her apartment window. She got up slowly and carefully, as if he would reach out and strike her if she made the wrong move. He hopped up onto the windowsill in one fluid movement, his black cloak flapping behind him as he did so. He gripped the side of the window with one black gloved hand, peering over his shoulder to look back at her with that ever present smirk.

"Tell Roxas," He ordered her. "That I'll be coming back to pick him and you up very soon."

And with that, she watched in mute terror as he jumped from the windowsill. He was nuts! She lived on the eleventh floor! She overcame her petrified state enough to race to the window, leaning out slightly as she looked around for the man who she swore had just committed nothing less than suicide. However, when she looked out the window, she saw nothing of the man falling or anywhere else for that matter as she searched around for him. It was like he vanished into thin air; here one second then gone without a trace. She closed her window, latching and locking it up tightly it hopes of the man not coming back again.

Suddenly dizzy, she wobbled unsteadily as she stumbled back into bed. Her thoughts reeled in her head as her stomach churned with misunderstanding. She didn't get it at all; why was he so interested in her and Roxas? Why was he being so secretive, underlyingly implying that he wasn't going to see Roxas, but instead see her only? The invading thoughts only made her growing anxiety worse, so she shoved them away, burying herself in a world of fluffy, feathery sheets. It was nicer here than that other world, it was safe. There were no strange men and secrets or underlying threats. She could breathe here. But then what would she do if she got lonely, began to miss the old world? She decided she would go back, back to reality, and just pray that things would turn out for the best.

As Mallory closed her eyes, she smiled silently to herself. If she did go back, then she would get to see Roxas. Guess reality really did have it upsides. Curling into a ball underneath the heavy yet soft covers, she let her pink eyes drift close as she braced herself for another rough night of sleep.

~~~ ^.^ ~~~

When the next morning greeted her, she didn't really know what to expect. So, she decided to go on about like she did every other morning this summer vacation: get ready, eat breakfast, and then meet Roxas at Twilight Town Square to play a game or just wander about the town and talk. Mallory had prayed silently that she wouldn't have to talk, in fears that she would tell him about the flaming haired man and then somehow upset Roxas. But there was also something else bugging her.

The feelings she got when she was around him were so strange. It was a mixture of happiness and nervousness that never failed to bring the familiar tint of pink (or red in some cases,) to her cheeks. She knew that she liked Roxas, but why did it feel like it was something more than that? Around him... she felt safe and she always enjoyed things more than usual. The sea salt ice cream always tasted better, the days were usually warmer. Around him, she just felt so much better.

So, was this just a simple crush or so much more? Did she really fall in love or was this how every single crush felt to a girl? She couldn't be certain, unable to really tell the two apart. Blankly, she wondered if Roxas felt anything like this when around her as well. If he felt the same way, did that mean he liked her too? Once again, she couldn't be certain. She would just have to ask him herself, and hopefully not embarrass herself to death while doing so...

~~~ ^.^ ~~~

"Hey, Mallory!" Roxas called to her, waving a stick in the air while the other held the big blue ball they had retrieved yesterday. He was smiling widely, thrilled to see her and get to play the games he loved to play. After all, summer vacation was almost over, so they might as well play what they could and have fun before being put back into school for the majority of the year. "Ready to play?"

Mallory looked over at him, pink rising to her cheeks at the sight of his wide smile. She remembered the flaming-haired man, an image of his smirk coming into mind. She had to tell him; see if he saw the man too last night. But she recalled the way the man was talking, how he told her to make sure that Roxas knew he was going to come back for both of them soon. He had said it in a way that implied that he hadn't seen Roxas that night, or was even going to be seeing him anytime later on either. But that didn't matter, he should know anyway that this guy was coming. It would be wrong it not tell him.

"Roxas," Her concerned filled voice made the smile drop from his lips. "There's something I have to say. We have a problem..."

"A problem? What's wrong?" His eyes widened as he reached out and took her hand. "Are you hurt?!"

She stared into his frightened eyes, trying to figure out why he was all the sudden so concerned about her. Then it finally occurred to her that he really did care, he really did return those strange emotions. Roxas followed her eyes with his own, attempting to get a read on her expression. He sighed in relief when she finally came to her senses and shook her head.

"No, I'm not hurt. It's yesterday... that man I said I saw..." She stuttered over her words as she said them, trying to get ahold of herself. "He visited me last night, told me something about how he's coming soon to get us... Roxas, I'm scared..." She breathed it all out at once, like a gasp or sharp exhale. She looked at Roxas, now her turn to measure his expression, which seemed frozen in evident shock. "Roxas?"

"So, you're alright? You're not hurt or anything?" He repeated, and she nodded slowly. "That's so good to hear... I wouldn't know what to do if you were hurt. Mallory... I guess, now, it's kind of apparent that I really like you."

"Roxas? Do you mean that?"

The next thing she knew, someone had their lips on hers, answering her question. Her pink eyes flew wide with pure shock and surprise, gaping at Roxas for his sudden movement. Roxas paid no attention to her stares, currently preoccupied with wrapping his arms around her waist. Mallory was overcome by the quick and sudden passion, so overcome that she lost her balance when Roxas leaned forward to deepen the kiss, she stumbled back and landed on her backside.

Roxas looked at her, surprised and amused.

"And, apparently, you're wearing light blue underwear."