Kingdom Heart One Shots Series
02 - Understand

Pairing: Riku x Kairi

"Kairi! You're going to be late if you don't wake up now!" Her mother yelled from downstairs. "Wha- Oh crap!" She then fumbled for her cell phone and when she looked at the time shown, her face turned pale; she was 15 minutes late!

Kairi got herself prepared with the speed she thought would scare the living daylights out of even the most athletic ones. She practically squeezed a piece of bread into her tiny mouth, grabbed her backpack, and she hurried over to the door to wear her shoes. Kairi didn't even bother to bid her mother farewell. While still chewing on her breakfast, she ran all the way to Destiny High. "Oh my god… I'm so dead if I were caught for being this late!" Her thoughts were in turmoil as well.

After 5 more minutes or so, she was now sneaking stealthily in the currently vacant school hall. "Let's see… I have English now, maybe Miss Aqua wouldn't notice me if I sneaked in as quiet as a mouse," thought Kairi, a tiny smirk playing on her lips. Soon, she arrived at the back door of the classroom. She could hear Miss Aqua's voice reverberating in the halls clearly. Using a finger, she pushed the sliding door softly, without creating any noise. When she decided the door was opened enough to let her slip in, she extended a foot onto the floor and started to tiptoe into the classroom. Miss Aqua didn't notice a certain student was sneaking in, since she was looking at a book on her hand.

James Bond's theme song seemed to be playing in Kairi's mind, she was still about 10 steps away from her "safe house" – her seat next to Selphie. She was almost there, and she thought, "Operation undercover -" "Kairi? What are you doing?" Miss Aqua just happened to look up from her book and she noticed the auburn-haired girl behaving strangely before her, like a ninja.

"- failed epically…" Her thoughts snapped here and her mental background music ended with a noise of a car braking. What could she say? She was caught in the act. Miss Aqua stared at her for a second, and then she brushed it off, saying, "Kairi, stay back in this classroom after this lesson, okay? There's something I want to talk to you about."

Oh, joy…

After 30 minutes, the lesson ended, but the trouble began… "Sit down, please," said Miss Aqua, while smiling invitingly. Kairi put on an awkward smile and pulled out a chair to do so. They sat facing each other. "Miss Aqua, I'm sorry for being late…" Kairi apologized first, "Would you give me a second chance?" Her tone was filled hope, um, I mean, false hope. Miss Aqua sighed softly and said "Kairi, you're late for the past few days. And these records aren't going to help you, you know." Having her head hung low, Kairi mentally blamed the person who brought her this misery: Selphie. Lately, Selphie had asked her to go on shopping sprees together until late at night. Not only this delayed her time to finish her homework, her slumber time was disrupted significantly as well. Moreover, Selphie had a bad habit of talking on the phone from hours to end. And of course, Kairi was the one who suffered firstly, seeing she was her best friend. Or maybe not?

Miss Aqua broke the silence again, "Well, I'd advise you to do something to earn some merit marks to make up for the demerit you would receive later. Or else you would fail to go to the next grade." Destiny High had its disciplinary system, students had 100 conduct marks each for each year, any offense they committed would cause some of their marks deducted from their conduct marks. When their marks couldn't meet the criteria, they couldn't advance to the next grade. "What is it?" asked Kairi, a little bit of anxiety obvious in her voice.

Miss Aqua did a small wink and said with a reassuring smile, "A little something we call… 'charity work'."

"Ugh… Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to stay back after school for a month to do this so-called charity work?! And it's a month! What's worse, this work I have now is to provide counseling to school outcasts!" Kairi wailed in her head while walking down a corridor reluctantly. Right now, she just wished some kind of natural disaster to break out and then all of them would have to go home, and that means goodbye to her "charity work".

But then again, what could happen on this calm, isolated and quiet island anyway?

Kairi let out a frustrated sigh and gripped on some papers Miss Aqua gave her. She stopped in her tracks. She looked up to stare at the ceiling muttering, "Looks like I'll have to suck it up, huh? I mean, it's only for a month, maybe it'll gone by soon enough." After some time reassuring herself, she averted her gaze to the front and continued to walk to her destination, which was another classroom.

To entertain herself while having a rather boring walk, Kairi held the papers out for her to read. Miss Aqua gave her these when she was about to head out, saying these were some information which she may find useful for her counseling. She flipped and arranged them according to page numbers. Page one was the basic info of the person she was supposed to counsel. "Riku Miyano… Male. Hmm…" She read out the name a few times quietly to herself. Kairi wasn't familiar to most of the people in this school. She was raised in a normal family and led a normal life, but she was content of that. And due to her contentment, she didn't seem to socialize with people different from her category. She found it kind of hard to deal with them, since they were from various backgrounds which weren't familiar to her. The first problem she faced was the conversation topic. What was she supposed to say when they didn't even have a similarity? She thought that would be awkward.

As she read on, she already had a vague big picture of this boy: Growing up in a divorced family, he somehow stood out distinctively in this neighborhood, where divorce was nearly zero. And this didn't bring him any good. His grades were so-so, but still maintaining them within satisfactory achievement. He had shown some violent tendencies and had had bad friends before. But currently, he seemed to have no friends, as all of them were either suspended, or transferred.

Even so, he was never willing to tell anyone his problems, so he appeared to be somehow quiet among peers. Most of the students thought he was weird, an oddball out at some point. Well, to some people, he appeared to be lonely. Although that being said, Kairi still couldn't picture how this boy would look like. Heck, there wasn't even a picture in the first place! Miss Aqua said the picture was lost a long time ago, and they didn't get to find another one to replace it.

A small frown surfaced between Kairi's two eyebrows, she thought, "Oh geez, I'm going to deal with this person?" The gods above must have been pulling her leg for pure amusement. And then she stopped walking eventually, finally realizing she had come to the right place. This classroom didn't look as new as the others they were using, for the door wasn't made of metal, but wood. The door wasn't a sliding one. The boy she was to meet was here for detention. Kairi gulped nervously, tugged on her school uniform slightly and reached for the doorknob. "Sigh, here goes…" Her right hand twisted the doorknob and then she pushed the door open to enter.

The door made a faint creaking noise and when it was opened halfway, Kairi, though reluctantly, was about to greet whoever this Riku person was. Just then – "Bam!" An eraser just so happened to miss her surprised face by a hair! She was so shocked she couldn't even utter a verbal response to what happened. She only turned her head a little to see the "assaulter" – A tall boy with silver hair that reached somewhere around his scapula at the back. The sea green eyes she met were somehow radiating some anger, and irritation. He had a rather well-built body, the trained muscles were at where they should be. For a moment she couldn't believe what she saw was even human. He looked so… perfect…

"Why did you intrude here?" Riku spoke, with some stifled irritation which seemed to be bubbling in his veins. Why was this girl standing there gawking at him like an idiot? His words shattered Kairi's trance at once. Although she was indeed stunned by the boy, she still managed to regain composure and finally found her thought-to-be-lost voice to speak, "Um, I was assigned to come here and to some… 'charity work'. And that means helping you." And thanks for welcoming me with that flying eraser… She thought bitterly, for some unknown reasons, she felt kind of unnerved. Why was the boy staring at her, as if he was going to analyze her like an experiment?

"Help me? Ha!" scoffed Riku, with a sarcastic smile on his face. But there seemed to be a slight hint of sadness in it. He turned to look at the other side, while saying with sarcasm dripping off his every syllable, "Why would they send someone like you? It's no use anyway." Kairi wasn't able to unleash a smart comeback at him, with her shocked to hear such words. Riku then turned to glare at her, and he said, "Let me guess, you must have been punished to come here, right? No one would want to be here anyway. Why don't you do me a favor and get out of my face via that wonderful thing, which I call 'the door'?"

"Say what?!" Kairi finally exploded after taking it all in. Who did he think he was to talk to her like that? Kairi clenched her fists, crushing the papers in her firm grip, but she was too angry to care. She gritted her teeth and then reprimanded, "Do you think I wanted to be here? If it wasn't for you who violated school rules, they wouldn't even need to consider about letting me to come here!" "Hey, get it right, you. It's not entirely my fault for me to end up here!" Riku retaliated, and Kairi swore she could feel the heat of anger radiating from him. Nevertheless, she still continued, "Oh? Then who would be the one that made you come here for detention?"

Surprisingly, Riku couldn't answer that. He just glared at her. Kairi saw her opportunity and used it, "You thought you could get what you want using violence, huh? And now look at this mess you got yourself into! You know what? No one would understand you! At all!" Riku's eyes widened at each of her outburst, and then he finally yelled, "Take that back! You don't understand me!" "Oh sure I don't!" screamed Kairi.

"If you're so disgusted to be here, why don't you just get lost?!"
"OK fine! I so want to get lost right now! Goodbye!"

After that final yell, Kairi stomped off to the door and kicked it open, and when she got out, she slammed the door shut forcefully. Riku flinched at the slam, and even after the redhead's leave, he still stared at the poor door with astonishment written all over his face. He was shocked indeed. "No one had ever yelled at me like that…" thought Riku, finally able to think after such an outburst. And then he finally regained composure, and sat down on a chair. He had his head lowered and his eyes glazed over at the floor. He rested his right hand on a table near the chair and his left on his lap. He let out a quiet pathetic laugh and mumbled, "No one would ever understand me…"

Kairi was sitting on her bed, her eyes slightly puffy. After she returned home, she locked herself up in her room and cried a bit. She was on the verge of slamming her head on the wall. "Why did I have to be stuck with him?" Honestly, she had never got yelled at like this, and after all the screaming, she felt so tired and just wanted to cry to make herself feel better. Well, the crying only made her even more worn out. Suddenly her phone rang, and she grabbed it after letting out a sigh. Once she saw Selphie's name on the screen, she groaned exasperatedly and powered it off. She tossed it onto the table once again. After that, she decided to let sleepiness take over her.

"Sorry, Miss Aqua. Something came up and I had to leave without doing the counseling work," Kairi apologized the next day at school. For odd reasons, she felt it'd be better if she lied. Miss Aqua looked at her tired face briefly and then she said after shaking her head, "It's alright. But you would have to go again today and stay longer to make up for yesterday, OK?" Kairi nodded, with a knot in her stomach.

And the time came again for Kairi to go to face him. This time, Kairi learned her lesson and knocked the door before entering. There was a slight delay from the boy's response. "… Come in." Kairi took that as a cue for safe entry and she opened the door, walking into the classroom. She tried to avoid eye contact with Riku, and walked to the nearest chair to take her seat. She could feel Riku's stare on her. An awkward silence settled in. Both of them shifted at their positions awkwardly, not even know how to strike a normal conversation, or just ignore each other.

"Get a grip, Kairi. You're supposed to talk! You're counseling here! Seriously…" Kairi's thoughts picked that time to cloud her with anxiety. "How helpful… Why don't I see you helping me during Math or something?" But what was she supposed to talk about? She knew nothing of counseling, and she had no suitable topics either. How could you talk about girls' stuff to a boy anyway? That would be weird.

"Sorry." Riku blurted quietly, but loud enough for her to hear. Kairi turned her head to look at him. "Huh?" Riku shrugged, "What? I feel like it." And then silence butted in again. Kairi cleared her dry throat and replied, "It's okay, I was the one to apologize though." And then, nothing more came out. Kairi mentally slapped herself, her subconscious mind yelled, "Think of something!"

She tried to stave off a tremble while saying, "So, um… How's your day?" Riku raised an eyebrow at her unexpected question. He seemed taken aback, but answered nonetheless, "Usual as always, I went solo as usual and then I came for detention." Kairi's spontaneity took over and she asked the first thing came into her mind, not realizing it was a taboo to him, "Then, how about your friends?" Riku tensed up just a little bit and then forced himself to relax. A dry laugh escaped his mouth, "Heh, no one wants to be friends with me… Ever since I taught that Seifer a lesson…" Seifer was one of the popular kids in this school and he and his gang pulled pranks and boycotted anyone who went against him. Riku lowered his head to glare at the floor once again, his fists tightly clenched.

This time Kairi disregarded the awkwardness existed between them and pressed on, "Why? What happened?" And the time bomb was detonated.

Riku didn't look at her, instead he averted his intense glare to the wall in front of him instead. He let out a growl, "Seifer said I don't have a family, because my father walked out on us. He discriminated me, saying I'm a useless, worthless thing that deserved nothing…" He shot up abruptly, causing the chair he was sitting on to topple over. His fists were on the table, and his wild eyes glared at the front with hatred. He continued to pour out everything, "Ever since my family broke apart, my friends wouldn't talk to me, not even a consolation! They distanced themselves from me, thinking I'm just an oddball! It's not my fault for everything to turn out like this! And that Seifer just had to go around and humiliate me even more! That despicable being…"

By now, he got away from the table and stomped to the front desk. He still didn't cast a glance at Kairi, who was startled all along. His tone was rising at each outburst. "And no one helped me out! What did they mean when they were creating a loving and caring society?! They don't even understand me! Hell no!" He punched the blackboard with his right fist, which was the nearest thing to him. The poor blackboard creaked under the impact, but was still lucky enough not to fall off. Riku was so agitated he continuously punched the blackboard with all his might to release all the pent up anger in his heart. He had been holding back for so long, and it hurt… After the last punch, he screamed loudly in agony, not tearing up eardrums, but hearts.

Kairi didn't know what to say anymore. She was watching the boy all along, with her crystal blue eyes widened like saucers. She thought all his violent tendencies were only to serve as attention grabbing methods. She thought he was just being a rebel.

She thought she understood him. But she didn't, and it seemed like she never would.

Kairi suddenly felt the compelling urge to blink her eyes, and when she succumbed to it, she felt hot tears started to flow down her cold cheeks, trickling down to her neck. She didn't felt like wiping them away, for she was too shocked. Her lungs were about to burst due to suppressed sobs. Riku finally calmed down, he closed his eyes, breathing heavily and removing his hands from the blackboard. He spun around and leaned against the blackboard, sighing loudly.

It's been too quiet after the emotional explosion, and Riku noticed it. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was Kairi's face, dampened by flowing tears. She was staring back at him, with confusion and a bit of remorse. But other than that, she was practically like a lifeless doll, not even moving an inch. He started to panic, he quickly came over to her and asked, "Hey, are you OK?" He placed his hands on her shoulders awkwardly and shook her gently. Then, Kairi finally snapped out of it, she blinked twice and she shook her head slightly, and stuttered, "Uh, yeah…" She lifted her right hand to wipe the tears away. But they wouldn't stop flowing at the moment.

Riku pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her, mumbling, "Here, wipe your tears." She hesitated, but ended up taking it anyway. She pressed it to her wet face softly. "Thanks…" Silence reigned, again…

Kairi lied on her bed, staring at the white ceiling. Her eyes seemed glazed due to her thoughts running around in her head. She started to understand; she was from a different background, therefore she wouldn't be able to understand some people if she didn't put herself in someone's shoes. Also, she judged people based on her familiarity of her background. She couldn't understand their misery, especially Riku's… Those sea green orbs of sorrow… Kairi slowly sat up on her bed, determination in her eyes. She felt she had to help him, because now she was convinced, she could understand him, at last. "I have to… I got to help… Riku. Yeah, Kairi, you can do it…"

Every day, Kairi would show up at there, where they now call it the usual spot, at the same time, punctual. Each time, Kairi had made a point to tell Riku about some stories of successful people, and those were from divorced families, just like him. The first few days were mostly one-sided conversations. But when time went by, he began to participate in the conversations and some topics. He actually had some interesting insights that intrigued Kairi, and he could be calm and matured when he wanted to. At times, they would argue over some silly stuff to defend their opinions, but thankfully they didn't end up fighting. Kairi was somewhat glad when she saw him opening up slowly, but he was still aloof, and preferred to be left alone sometimes.

And something even more intriguing was she sometimes caught Riku staring at her. Not in a way as if she had three eyes or something, or course. And he would stutter when she went near him, or he even blushed when she hit him playfully. And to her confusion, she seemed to stare back at him at times too. She would spend hours thinking about these, and even Selphie said she's getting weirder ever since the day she was wanted by Miss Aqua.

And finally, the last day came, for Riku's detention and her counseling. And somehow, she wished this wasn't true. "Today makes the thirtieth day…" Kairi said to herself while strolling down the hall during recess. She thought she was having schizophrenia; a month ago, she wanted nothing to do with him, and now she didn't want to leave. "Was I going mad?" thought Kairi, making fun of herself. She was about to head to the library after reporting to Miss Aqua. And suddenly Seifer and company came out and blocked her way.

Kairi tensed up, she looked back and forth, and still she found no escape route. She mustered up all her courage and asked, "What do you want, Seifer?" Seifer threw her a condescending look and said, "What's wrong with you, Kairi? Why would you want to hang out with Riku, that lamer?" Kairi immediately defended Riku, "What are you talking about? He's not the lamer, you are! And I'm helping him, all thanks to you!" Rai and Fuu said nothing, while Seifer did all the talking, "That lamer came from such a background, and it is belittling the residents here. Say, why don't you hang out with us instead?"

Blood boiled in Kairi's vein and she was going to lose control like last time. She glared back at Seifer and said, "It's a shame you don't know what 'equality' is even though you are in high school. And it's not his fault either! He had suffered so much, and you still wanted to rub salt in the wounds?" Seifer was surprised, but he didn't let that show, instead he said, "Why do you care so much?"

"…" Astonishingly, Kairi couldn't bring herself to answer that. But her face betrayed her; she blushed slightly. Unfortunately, Seifer noticed this, and he laughed. And then he said with a wicked smile, "Oh, so you had fallen for him? Oh no, we cannot let that happen…" He inched closer and closer to Kairi, and instinctively, she backed up. She raised her tone, in hopes of somebody noticing her situation, "S-stop right there! I'm warning you!" "Why not just forget about him and come with me?" He ignored her warnings.

In a swift motion, Seifer caught Kairi's hands. She tried to pry it off, and kept struggling for her life. Futility was the result. She gasped in horror when he proceeded to grab her chin! But she couldn't scream, and he was about to-

"BAM!" Suddenly a shadow flashed before them and Seifer flew to the other side. The shadow hit him in the head sideways and he fell to the floor with a sickening thud. Kairi kept her eyes shut tightly all this while, so she didn't know what was going on. Rai and Fuu were equally dumbfounded. From a distance, they could hear Sora shouting, "Hey, that's my bag!" And then, Kairi felt her hands being pulled away from the grip earlier. And whoever pulled her led her running through the hallways. Everything flashed before her eyes, blurred. But she didn't process what happened, letting the person to drag her along.

After a good three minutes, they stopped running eventually. And then Kairi started to notice her surroundings after recovering from the shock earlier. The place she was in now was void of people, apart from herself. Then she began to recall what happened just now, and when she started to look for her savior, she discovered no one near her at all, as if the person wasn't there in the first place. Her wrist was warm, though, considering her blood ran cold thanks to Seifer. And then her neglected phone rang again, she took it out from her pocket and a message was sent to her. It read, "Meet me at the usual spot, now. Riku."

"Riku? Wait a minute, he saved me just now?" pondered Kairi. At the thought of it, a faint blush appeared on her face, heating it up. She shook her head vigorously and kept her phone, sighing, "Oh well, then." Soon, Kairi was standing before the door to the usual spot, her impatience and curiosity compelled her to go straight in. She entered the room, and she raised an arm to block the rays of the setting sun. The golden sunshine penetrated the big windows of the classroom, pouring in and illuminating wherever it reached. When she got used to the interruption of sunlight, she made out a silhouette before her, blotting out the sunlight. It was Riku. He was looking at somewhere else, not focusing on her.

She slowly inched closer to him and asked, "Thank you for saving me, but… why did you do that? I thought you still hated me, thinking of me as annoying?" Well, his aloofness convinced her so. "Who said so?" Riku blurted, now facing her. Kairi found herself lost in his eyes, in those two sea green orbs. They manifested hints of… hurt? Kairi realized what she had just said and she stared down at the floor, didn't dare to look at him in the eyes. A shiver ran in her heart. "Sorry," mumbled Kairi, a frown forming on her forehead. Riku let out a sigh and replied just as silently, "No, I should be the one to apologize."

Kairi shook her head and looked at him, trying to reason, "But, if you were caught for hitting Seifer just now, you sure are going to get detention again." Riku stifled a laugh; he just happened to pass by Sora just now when he saw the commotion Seifer caused. Without even contemplating, he snatched Sora's bulky bag and hauled it towards Seifer. And what a head shot it had been. "And you were having your last detention today, you know-" "And then you could come and counsel me all over again," he interrupted.

… Huh?

Now Kairi was confused, but before she could comprehend, Riku was already dangerously close to her, merely a few centimeters in front of her. Kairi blushed instead, avoiding eye contact with the silver-haired boy. All of a sudden, he leaned in and wrapped his strong arms around her, resting on her back. He whispered at her left ear, "Thank you for understanding and helping me…" Kairi felt a shiver radiating from her ear, which was steaming hot due to Riku's breath. She was as still as a stick, but then she relaxed and returned the hug. Riku continued to murmur, "Nobody had ever acted like you around me. You don't judge me at all…" By now, Kairi swore her heart was about to leap out of her throat. His voice sounded so smooth and magnetic…

And that stupid school bell just had to pick now to scream its victory. "RIIIIIIIIIINNGG!"

The two suddenly broke away, startled by the bell. "Oh… time seemed to pass by quick, huh?" said Kairi, fiddling with the end of her hair awkwardly. It was time for school dismissal. She added later, "Well, I'll be leaving then… Bye Riku…" And then she spun around to head for the door, but before she could move a step, Riku shot out a hand and grabbed her wrist firmly, yet softly and the same time. He pulled her back, holding her by the arms. They both stared at each other in the eyes. Riku admitted, he liked the crystal blue in Kairi's eyes, they seemed to be giving off an aura, which mesmerized him in a way he couldn't quite explain. The sunshine illuminated her face, making her facial features all the more attractive. Kairi was about to say something, but was silenced by Riku, because he pressed his lips onto hers.

Well, the kiss wasn't possessive, but passionate, and Kairi found herself returning it in a matter of seconds. A prominent blush made her face nearly as red as a tomato. Her hands rested on the back of his neck, playing with his hair. Meanwhile, one of Riku's hands held her face, while the other one on her waist. And after some time, they slowly parted away for the need of air. Both of them were breathing heavily, but their hands slid down to each others' waists, stopping there. And they stared into the eyes once again.

Now he understood why he would stare at her like that, why he would always stutter whenever she came close to him, and why he would blush at the slightest physical contact. That's because – "I love you…" Both of them had the same thought in unison. No words were needed anyway, since they finally understood their feelings towards each other. And even the sun was going down the mountains to call it a day, they didn't even felt cold, for they remained in each others' arms, engulfed by the warmth.

The End

A/N: Here's the second Kingdom Hearts one shot! Hope you guys will enjoy it. I don't ship any pairing in particular, so I'll go randomly. Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts, but I own the plot of this one shot.