Hey guys.

So, this is going to be a series of oneshots, I guess? Or at least, I hope it will be. I have a few ideas floating around, so we'll see what comes up.

This is a future fic; They're about 20-21 at the start, but ages will change as the oneshots come out. I'll try to keep them in chronological order, so.

Anyway, yeah. Enjoy! And don't forget to drop me a line at the end. ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything associated with it. All rights to Kingdom Hearts and affiliated characters belong to Disney and Square Enix.

Summary: Oneshot series: On the Destiny Islands, it is a time-honoured tradition for grooms to build their brides a home before their wedding day. It's also commonly accepted that most significant events in a couple's life will occur within and around these walls. SoKai

Rating: T

Genre: Romance/Family

Within these walls

When she was sixteen, Kairi had attended the wedding of Belle and Prince Adam.

The ceremony had been long, and she could tell that Riku and Sora, who were seated either side of her, had been bored stupid. Sora, ever the fidgeter, had been bouncing his leg up and down and annoying the poor old woman beside him; Kairi could sense his impatience for the long-winded wedding ceremony to be over with, and she couldn't say she had disagreed with him. Riku, on the other hand, hadn't even seemed to be paying attention, staring instead at one of the maids that were lined up to the side to observe the ceremony. Kairi had rolled her eyes at him and shook her head infinitesimally, returning her attention to the front of the church, where Belle—wearing a pretty white dress (which Kairi had thought odd, but apparently it was the fashion of the world) and an even prettier smile—had been saying her vows.

Four years later, it still was the strangest wedding that Kairi had ever attended. She much preferred the customs of the islands on which she grew up—which, technically, took longer to perform, but were paced in such a way that they didn't bore all the participants to death.

In fact, Kairi thought, twirling a piece of her vivid hair around her fingers as she watched six young men working in the warm afternoon, some parts of it were downright entertaining.

She had picked Sora out easily enough amongst the visible workmen; her eyes followed him around the construction site, watching him as he worked. There were few things that Kairi enjoyed more than watching her fiancé—a thrill still shot down her spine at the word—engage in physical labour. When she had mentioned it, Selphie had said something about sweaty men being attractive; Kairi just liked to watch the way the muscles in his arms and back moved when he worked.

He knew she was there, of course. He'd waved to her when he'd noticed her arrive and set up camp under the tree in the far corner of the yard, and had stopped by to chat while he and the others took their lunch break. But as of the current moment, Sora was busy holding a wooden beam in place as Riku hammered a nail into it.

The house looked almost finished, she noted with a smile.

When Kairi had first heard about the tradition of a groom building a house for his bride, she had been six years old, and completely flummoxed. Her main question had been but why, to which her adoptive mother had chuckled and patted Kairi's hair, saying that she'd understand when she grew older. Of course, Kairi had later learned that it was part of a custom dating back to when the ancestors of the islanders had lived in boats in the surrounding ocean, and had needed to build new ones with the addition of children—but Kairi now wondered if they hadn't kept the tradition for the enjoyment of the bride, who got to watch her groom and several of his friends and family as they built the house.

She knew all the cultural significance—that it showed that the groom was devoted to his bride, that he had the capacity to provide for her, and that he was strong enough to protect her and any future children—but it was still quite a sight to see; several sweaty young men hefting heavy wooden planks and tools around in the afternoon sun, joking and laughing, ribbing the 'poor idiot' who was fast-approaching his wedding day. Some of them had even ditched their shirts, and though Kairi's eyes were only for Sora, a few of her girlfriends had also been regularly stopping by to enjoy the show.

She'd been slowly watching the house develop from the ground up over the last five months or so; they'd been fortunate in that Sora and his father were carpenters, so they'd not been not charged for their combined professional efforts; and it had the added bonus of making sure that the house was as well-built as could be. Unlike a lot of younger couples, it was unlikely that they would have to worry about leaks or structural weaknesses in the next few years.

And, between his father and Riku being on-site, Sora hadn't had the opportunity to slack off. "It's bad luck!" His father had scolded him back in the first few weeks. "Do you really want to screw up before you even start?"

Kairi finally managed to tear her eyes away from the tanned muscles in Sora's back, squinting down at the paint samples in front of her. She'd been trying to decide on a colour scheme for days now, since the place was almost ready to be painted—but between her mother and Sora's, she had enough 'helpful' suggestions to make her head spin.

She sighed, blowing her hair out of her face as she perused the small envelope of samples the store had given her, mixing and matching them seemingly at random. Her mother had suggested white walls, but knowing Sora and Riku (who she had no doubt would be spending time there, too), they would be scuffed by the end of their first day. Sora's mother had suggested a shale-type grey, but Kairi found the colour too depressing.

She was still tossing up between a warm sort of cream colour and a pale yellow when Sora approached her at around five in the afternoon, slinging a white t-shirt over his shoulder. She quickly picked up her things and stood, laughing as she held him away when he leaned over to kiss her.

"You're all sweaty." She told him. "And you smell."

Sora rolled his eyes, huffing a tired breath. "Nice to know my fiancée appreciates all my hard work." He stuffed his hands into his pockets, watching her as she finished gathering her things.

"I'll appreciate it a lot more after you've had a shower." She told him with a cheeky grin, indiscreetly running her eyes over him. "The view is nice, but I could do without the smell."

Sora frowned, looking over his shoulder, where Riku was pouring a bottle of water over his head to cool off. "I knew you were staring at Riku all afternoon." He sighed plaintively.

"Oh, yeah." Kairi rolled her eyes as she turned away from him and started toward the street. They'd been fortunate that Kairi's father had gifted them with a mid-sized parcel of land near the shore. The breeze was nice in the warm afternoon, bringing with it the salty smell of the ocean. "Couldn't take my eyes off him."

"Well then!" Kairi yelped as Sora picked her up from behind, turning her around and throwing her over his shoulder. She gripped her bag tightly so as not to lose it. "I guess it's time to visit the pier. Hope you're ready to go swimming!"

"Sora!" She all-but shrieked, pushing her face up from the skin of his back as he started walking toward the street. She was glad she was wearing shorts that day; all the workmen on the lot turned to see what was causing all the commotion. "Put me down! You're all sweaty and gross!"

Sora shook his head, fighting laughter. "No way. You're breaking my heart; you gotta pay."

Kairi laughed, beating his back with her spare hand as she tried to twist out of his grip. "Put me down or I'll scream in your ear so loud you'll be deaf for days."

"Or I could just drop you." Sora threatened with a smile, his grip going slack enough to let Kairi slide an inch or two down his back. He tightened his grip around her legs again as she shrieked, wrapping her arms around him to stop herself from falling.

"I'm going to kill you." She laughed, pushing her hair—now sticky with his sweat—out of her face.

"You will not." Sora, chuckling, sat her down on the wooden fence when he reached it, grinning at her slightly disgruntled expression as she tried to wipe his sweat off her face. He pressed a kiss to her cheek before she could protest, hopping up beside her and throwing his arm over her shoulder as he waved goodbye to Riku on the other side of the yard. "Who'd finish the house?"

Kairi sighed, poking him in the side with a fingernail, feeling a smug sort of satisfaction when he yelped and shrank away from her, retracting his arm. "It's looking good." She said honestly, turning her gaze back toward it.

"We'll probably finish the roof the day after tomorrow, and the plumber and electrician are coming next week." Sora hummed. "After that, we just need to paint it and it'll be ready for next month."

"Speaking of," Kairi rummaged through her bag, pulling the envelope of paint samples out and fishing her choices out to show him, "what do you think of these? I can't decide."

Sora took them from her, holding them out in front of him and squinting at them in the fading afternoon light. "I like the yellow, but I guess it depends on what it looks like inside." He handed them back to her. "If you wanna get a small tin of each we can test them inside tomorrow. The living room's finished, so it's safe enough in there."

"I'll swing by the store in the morning, then." Kairi agreed, resting her head against Sora's shoulder. "Getting nervous yet?"

Sora craned his neck down to look at her. "What, about the wedding?" He asked. Kairi hummed in the affirmative. "Nah." He paused a beat. "Ask me again in two and a half weeks."

Kairi grinned, her eyes fixed on the nearly-completed house in front of her. In three weeks, they'd be married and living in it. She felt her stomach clench in anticipation as a giddy little laugh erupted from her lips, and she turned to kiss him on the cheek. "Well, I'm excited."

"Me too." Sora disentangled their bodies and hopped off the fence, shrugging his shirt back on. "Want to look inside? You haven't seen it this week, have you?"

"Not yet, no." Kairi hopped down after him, allowing him to take her hand and tow her toward the structure. He fiddled with the keys at the door, having locked up behind them when the others had left for the day.

He opened the door and led her inside. There was still enough daylight to see comfortably as they wandered around the place, Sora babbling on about where the fixtures would be, and how much Riku had been complaining the last few days. Of course, Kairi knew the layout of the house, having had to give it her approval before construction began, but there was something about seeing it come to life that she couldn't quite put into words.

"You guys are doing a great job." Kairi squeezed Sora's hand, looking around. She mentally began sorting where the furniture that they'd been stockpiling over the last few months would go. The kitchen, dining and living area were all in an open space, with a door leading off to the hall that led toward the bathroom and bedrooms. It was only a single floor, and it wasn't extravagantly large like the house she'd grown up in, but it was comfortable; Kairi could see herself living there for a very long time.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck, rolling his head around his shoulders. "Kinda makes me glad I went into the family business after all. At least I know it's getting done right."

"And we wont have the same problems that my parents had, back when they got married." Kairi pointed out, referring to the series of leaks and assorted structural problems her parents had faced with their first home. When her father had made mayor, they'd opted to tear down their original house and pay for professionals to rebuild it for them. The result had been a lovely home, but the more superstitious residents of the island had attributed their recent divorce to the fact that Kairi's father hadn't had anything to do with the construction.

Sora shuddered, pulling a face. "Hopefully we don't have any of the problems your parents had."

"I hope we don't." Kairi sighed. "I mean, you're nothing like my dad, for a start. I really doubt there'll be times you sleep at the office for days on end, or spend so much time buried in paperwork that you forget our anniversary."

Sora squeezed her hand. "Kairi…"

She shook her head, dispelling her gloomy thoughts. She knew that on some level, she blamed her father for the breakdown of her parents' marriage, even though she knew logically that it was a storm of little issues that had been accumulating over the years. It was an honest fear that she had regarding her own future marriage, and she'd shared her concerns with Sora some time ago.

"Don't worry about it." She let go of his hand and ran her other one over the wall, taking delight in the tactile sensation of the moment. "It's like you said. We just have to work at it, that's all."

She felt Sora's arms wrap around her from behind as she focused on the wall, grasping at his arm with one hand while playing with the hem of her shirt with another. "It's never gonna be easy." Sora murmured into her hair. "You and me—we're never gonna be simple. We never have been."

Kairi huffed. "You're not exactly making me feel better." She muttered, entwining her fingers with his at her waist.

"But my point," Sora continued, "is that we're here now. After all the crap we've been through—and I'm not talking about all the relationship drama and the fights and stuff—" Kairi pursed her lips as Sora took his right hand out from under hers, the Keyblade flashing to life in it as he held it out from them. She glared at it, thinking back to the days that they were still fighting, sometimes not seeing each other for weeks, or even months on end. "We're still here now. You and me; we're gonna make it." He dropped a kiss onto her hair as he let the Keyblade disappear. "I promise."

Kairi's lips curved into a gentle smile as she turned around in his arms, resting her chin on his chest as she looked up at him. "How do you always do that?"

He peered down at her. "Do what?"

She stretched up and took his face in her hands, drawing him down to her level. "Say the right thing."

He grinned, his arms tightening their hold on her as he pressed the tip of his nose and his forehead against hers. "I dunno. Years of practice, I guess."

"Lucky me." Kairi chuckled, pressing her lips to his in a chaste kiss. "I love you," she murmured against his mouth. Sora's hum of agreement rumbled through his chest as he chased her lips when she slid back down to the balls of her feet. "Come on, I told my mother we'd be by for dinner, and you still need to shower." She told him, patting his chest in a gentle sign to let her go.

"I don't feel like showering." Sora complained, pulling her back into his arms.

"But you're dirty. And you smell. We can go to my place; I've still got your clothes from the last time you stayed over. They'll be good enough for dinner."

Sora stole another kiss before he reluctantly let her go. "Fine." He complained.

Kairi hugged his arm as they exited the house, Sora locking up behind them. Snickering, she leaned up to breathe in his ear, "If my mom's still at work I might even join you."

She laughed at the look on his face as she all but danced out of his reach—half intrigue, half disbelief. "Oh?" He shoved his hands in his pockets, attempting nonchalance as he started off after her.

"If you're good." Kairi practically sang, winking at him cheekily, catching sight of the glimmer in his eyes a fraction before he pounced. She took off, tearing down the street with a peal of laughter, Sora chasing her close behind.

And, as Sora caught her around the middle and lifted her up, spinning her around, they laughed together; her anxiety melted away with the confidence that they would be just fine. They'd already weathered some of the worst challenges that life could throw their way. And if life tried to screw them over again?

Well, they had each other. They would kick life's ass if it even dared to try.