The tide is coming in.
Sora can hear it from his customary spot at the paopu tree; once it had been the backdrop of his every waking moment, normal. Now he drinks in the sound, the taste of it, in the same way he takes in air. Every once in a while he runs a hand through his hair, mussing it impossibly.
He has a lot on his mind today.
When he was younger, he hadn't been used to a whole lot of attention – he'd spent most of his short life looking up to Riku and Wakka like everyone else in his age group. It had been a fact of life, and something that he had never questioned because…frankly it had never really occurred to him to be bothered. Sora had usually been content to go along with whatever Riku suggested because while Riku could be annoying at best and arrogant at worst in the end he was reliable, strong, and always utterly confident.
That had become a little less common in the days leading up to the raft. Their easy friendship had been more strained; Sora had noticed the same thing happen with Wakka before and had sadly thought that maybe Riku was just growing up. It would be just one more thing that Riku did first. Sora is still kicking himself, would probably never stop kicking himself, for not paying a little more attention. A lot of things weren't his fault – he knows that - but he can't help but think a couple of them would have been better but for a simple, "Hey, man, what's up?"
The Riku of old has morphed into a more reserved version of himself. This new Riku likes to stand in the back, head and shoulders taller than everyone else but for the slouch, content to let someone else make all the decisions. It's a little sad, but his friend is still in there somewhere. Baby steps. Soon, Riku might feel comfortable enough to tell them how he likes his sandwich. All he needs is a little time to heal, and Sora is bound and determined to be there with him every step of the way. He owes him that.
What's bothering him today, though, is something he's never had to deal with before. Suddenly, everyone seems to expect Sora to know what to do. He'd been surprised at first, then increasingly more uncomfortable later, the first time Leon of all people had asked for his help. And, he supposed that he had done some pretty amazing things… but he wasn't anyone special.
He was a poor island boy from a ramshackle house by the seaside. Every other week in summer he spent hours a day patching odd holes in a roof that sprouted new ones like magic and perpetually leaked. He caught fish for his family's dinner and smelled like brine on a good day. His clothes were second-hand and his toys hand-made. With help he was a B student.
While Sora was making a mental list of all the things about him that were average (it was a very long list) Kairi had made her way over to the island by boat and tied it off at the ladder. Sora was looking out of it again, but when she made it all the way up to the islet his eyes met hers with a warm smile.
"Hey, Kai."
She brushes her hair back over an ear from where it had fallen into her eyes and hops up onto the tree beside him.
"Hey, Sora. You look like you have something on your mind today." Prodding his shoulder, she grins cheekily at him. "Hungry?"
He looks a bit flabbergasted. "No…Why does everyone ask me that? I think about other things!"
Kairi laughs good-naturedly and flicks him in the ear. "C'mon, I was just kidding. Tell me what's up?" Sora hesitates for a bit, plotting out his thoughts.
"Everyone…its…" He waves a hand uselessly, trying to articulate and failing. "Ugh. It's dumb. Really, it's no big deal. Just some stuff."
Kairi waits patiently. Sora is good at expressing himself, but he hates whining even when he's entitled to it. He was the type of guy to take action about his problems rather than sit around talking about them.
After several minutes of watching the waves move back and forth over the shore, Sora finally speaks up.
"…everyone thinks I'm some kind of hero." He looks deeply perplexed at this thought, and his expression only deepens when she laughs at him again.
"You are, silly!"
"I'm not, not really! Everyone thinks I did all these awesome things but half the time…no, really, all the time I had no idea what I was doing! I just kept stumbling around bumping into clues and stuff. It was all dumb luck!" He ran his hands through his hair again, somehow making it look even more wild than usual. It seemed this had been bothering him for some time. "…and I had all kinds of help from a bunch of different people! People way stronger than me! Most of the time I wasn't even thinking, I was just…reacting and trying…trying to get you guys back. Trying to get home." He breathed hard, through his nose. "I was scared. All the time, Kai." It wasn't hard for him to admit that, at least not to her.
Kairi gazes down at her hands, running thumb over thumb, and finally takes his and holds it firmly.
"That's why it worked, I think. You weren't…you weren't trying to…be a hero or anything. You just followed your heart and did what you thought was right." She blinks, looking like there's more she wants to say, but just then Riku calls their names from the beach shore and the moment passes. Kairi stands and dusts her skirt with the hand not holding Sora's.
Looking into the wide open sky, she opens her mouth, closes it, opens it again. "You really haven't changed." She's smiling, but Sora gets the feeling that that wasn't what she had meant to say. Riku picks this moment to swing up onto the paopu islet, dripping wet. He flicks water at Sora, stares casually at their hands for a long moment, and quips "About time, slowpokes."
This was gentler teasing than Sora remembers, but that doesn't keep him from helping Kairi tip Riku right back over the side. Business as usual, and all that.