Title: Long Way Down
Rating: K
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Pairing: Sora/Kairi
Summary: (SoraKairi)(Oneshot) My version of how Kairi came to Destiny Islands.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Disney and Square-Enix, and they reserve all rights.
AN: This story was inspired by one over on I figured I'd give the topic my take. This will also be the shortest story I've written to date, and that is intentional. I really don't want to create any more character development than is absolutely needed.
The night sky was black as velvet, the stars mere pinpricks in the fabric. The wind gently blowing through my hair, mussing it worse than it was naturally.
The sounds of the waves lapping gently at the pier pylons a soothing balm to my mind.
"Sora?" Riku's voice called from behind me, turning I find him a few feet away from me, the wood of the pier creaking as he shifted his weight.
"Yeah," I say as turn back to my study of the stars.
"Your mom told me to let you know it is almost time to go in," Riku said as he turned to walk back to the shore.
"Thanks," is all I say.
Turning my attention back to the velvety, sky I wait in anticipation for the meteor shower that was predicted for that night.
After hearing his footsteps fall away, I turn to look back over my shoulder. Sure enough, he went home, just like I hoped he would.
Most of the time I don't mind Riku's company, in fact you could consider him my best friend. But tonight, I just want to be alone with the stars.
Turning from the ocean, I walk back to where the pier meets the sand. Sitting down in the still warm sand, I lean back and watch the sky.
As I lay there, watching the stars, the sound of crunching sand draws my attention. Unlike Riku's heavy tread this one is more light and bubbly, perfectly fitting Selphie, whose face is now obscuring the stars.
"Hey Selph," I say as she smiles at me and sits in the sand.
"Sora, whatcha doing out here?" she asks as she looks into my face.
"Watching the stars," I reply without a pause, hoping that she'll leave me in peace tonight.
It's not that I don't want to be with my friends tonight, I do, but for some reason, something inside me is telling me to be alone when the meteor shower starts.
"Oh, ok," she says as she moves to get up, apparently something in my voice clued her into the fact I want to be alone. "I'll catch ya later then, night."
"Night," I say as she too leaves.
With a sigh, I relax back into the cooling sand, hoping that she will be the last interruption.
As I lie there in the sand I hear another pair of feet approaching me, this one much heavier than the other too, most obviously Wakka. Fortunately for him, he decides to leave me alone and soon his footsteps are retreating back to the main part of the island.
Realizing that all my friends will be checking up on me I stand from the sand and make my way to the Papou Island, the only place where they won't be able to find and bug me.
After a short walk I arrive at the island, deciding that I really don't want to be wet in the night air, I take a running start and grab the bridge and pull myself up.
Grinning at my triumph I make my way to the Papou Tree and settle down against the trunk, leaning back for a clear view of the sky.
Reaching above me I take a Papou fruit from the limb closest to me, tearing a corner off the star shaped fruit. Squeezing the fruit I loosen the juices trapped in the fibrous pulp. Putting the torn corner to my lips I drink from the fruit as you would a juice box.
Now I normally wouldn't do this in front of other people, but by myself, that's another story.
With a sigh I toss the drained fruit into the ocean where it will soon become saturated with sea wear and sink to the black abyss where it will be used by the sea life for whatever they may want it for.
Now, the Papou fruit is viewed with some bit of mysticism by the other islanders. They have a legend that if you share the fruit with a person you love, your destinies will be bound together forever. Now I've never given that story much credence, but then again, I don't have anyone that I truly love. To me the fruit is just that, a fruit, and nothing more. So to prevent the wrath of the others, I eat the fruit in private, you'd be surprised by how well it goes with chicken. A perfect combination.
With a sigh I pull my thoughts back from their ramblings. I tend to do that, let my thoughts wander off on their own. Usually it's at the worst possible times too, like in the middle of a test when I need the answers.
Glancing down at my watch I see that it's almost midnight, the shower should start soon. To the others its just another astronomical event, it happens all the time, just like the sun going down in the west. To them, it's as much a part of life as breathing.
But to me, each and every meteor shower is something special. Something that I can wait for and know that its real.
Makes my life sound boring doesn't it? Well, to be honest, life is getting kinda boring. All we do all day is play on the beach or go to school. If we're not doing one than it's the other. Wakka and Tidus usually end up sparring each other, Tidus with his wooden Boken and Wakka with his Blitzball. No matter who wins the other always ends up with bruises which Selphie tends to right away. Riku occasionally spars with Tidus, but not often. He mainly goes to the secret place, or the obstacle course on the other side of the clubhouse.
After all these years, the same routine is just starting to bore me. It's always the same, never changing. I'm getting tired of the monotony of it all, I'd like for there to be a change. Something different to shake up the routine.
Glancing back down at my watch it now says 12:30. See what I mean about my mind wandering?
Well, the shower should start any second now. I thought as I watched the obsidian star field.
As if on cue, small streaks begin to dance across the sky, lighting it in nature's fireworks show.
Smiling to myself I watch the meteorites as they burn and spin across the atmosphere; some burning up as they penetrate it while others heat up as they bounce along it before spinning back out into space.
This is the one thing that I have to ease the routine; the ironically routine meteor shower. Smiling at my small joke, I glance up at a particularly bright flash.
Slightly startled by the uncommon event, I turn my eyes to where the flash occurred, just a little above Papou Island a few meters out above the sea.
My breath catches in my throat as I see an object falling through the sky. Normally this wouldn't be a shock, I am after all watching a meteor shower, which are falling rocks. But this object is different, for one thing it's falling out of the sky, not through the atmosphere. Second it has a definite shape that isn't that of a meteorite. Thirdly, it isn't burning up as it falls, it's merely falling.
Choking as I swallow an air bubble that I inhaled upon realization of what the object was. Following its decent with my eyes I was able to make out a skirt flapping in the wind, and short red hair flying uncontrollably as the person fell.
Realization quickly dawned on me that they would land in the ocean and probably drown for they didn't look conscious.
Watching as they hit the water hard, without thinking I jumped from the island and made my way to where they landed as fast as possible.
Diving under the water where I saw them hit, I began flailing my arms, hoping to come in contact with some part of their body. Propelling myself to the surface I took another lungful of air before I dived again, this time deeper.
Flailing my arms as I did before I brush the fingers of a hand. Diving deeper as I fight the increasing pressure of the water against my lungs, I follow the fingers down to the arm and the rest of the body.
Wrapping my arm around the person I use my free hand to propel us to the surface.
Breaking through the inky water I realize how lucky I was to find them amidst the darkness of the water.
Quickly paddling back to Papou Island I realize that I may have to revive the person. This really isn't a problem, living on the beach as we do, my mother insisted that I take CPR classes in case someone was drowning.
Funny how things like that come in handy when you least expect it, like now, as I pulled the unconscious girl to the island, for now I can clearly see she is a girl. Placing her on the ground I move her red hair from her face.
Moving quickly I begin CPR, thankful that mom insisted I take the class and glad that I listened.
After several minutes, she coughs up the saltwater that she swallowed. Turning her head to the side I let her expel the water, preventing her from choking on it again.
Watching as her chest rises and falls as she begins to breathe on her own. I let out a relieved breath as she breathes in a steady pattern.
Suddenly a gust of wind reminds me that the both of us are wet. Gathering her up in my arms I carry her to the first place I can think of, the Secret Place.
Crouching as I carry her through the low tunnel, I pull her body against mine. I'm surprised to find she's rather warm, despite having just been in 50-degree water.
Placing her in the corner furthest from the entrance, I quickly grab the backpack and sleeping bag that I kept there. Like I said, I spend a lot of time there.
Unrolling the sleeping bag, I unzip it and prepare to put her in it. Pulling a pair of shorts and a shirt from the bag, I glance over at her. With a sigh I head towards her, dreading the task of having to change a girl I don't even know.
Changing her, thankfully, wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be. Yeah sure, I had to remove her skirt and shirt, but she was wearing underwear. And to relieve myself of the embarrassment of seeing a girl in her underwear, I just imagine it was a bathing suit. A white lacy, bathing suit, but a bathing suit none the less.
After putting her in the dry clothes I pick her up and gently place her in the sleeping bag, zipping it up so that she'll be warm.
Moving quickly, I return to Papou Island and grab a Papou fruit in case she gets thirsty or hungry.
Returning to the cave, I see that she hasn't moved. Sighing I sit down beside her as I watch her sleep.
Unable to control myself I reach put and gently run my hand over her face, my thumb caressing her cheek. A small smile appeared on her face when I did this. I smiled in return, even though I knew she wouldn't see it.
Returning to where I left my backpack, I rummaged through it before realizing that she was wearing my only clothes. Shrugging it off, I merely returned to her side before curling into a ball and falling asleep next to her.
A whimpering caught my attention and pulled me from the mildly unpleasant dream I'd been having. Uncurling I realized it was coming from the girl. Moving to see her face, I noticed that her teeth were chattering, despite the warmth of the sleeping bag. I'll have to admit now, the cave really was rather cold.
With a weary sigh I quietly crawled into the sleeping bag with her, sharing our body heat would keep us both warm.
Lying on my side I pull her body against mine, feeling the combined heat already starting to ease her shivers.
Smiling as I held a beautiful girl in my arms I fell asleep.
The next day I awoke to the call of nature. Moving carefully to not disturb the girl, I left the cave to relieve myself.
Returning I found that she was still asleep. Without knowing why, I say next to her and just studied her in the small bit of light that reached the cave entrance.
She had beautiful red hair, with pale smooth skin. Her face, while not being totally heart shaped, wasn't totally square either. It was a gorgeous face that made my breath catch in my throat. Her lips were a soft pink and her overall features were delicate, almost elfin in appearance.
Smiling to myself again, I reached out and traced her jaw line. I froze when she gave a small moan and her eyes began to flutter open.
As I watched her, unable to move my hand from where it rested on her cheek, she looked at me with eyes so deep a shade of blue that they were almost purple. A small smile forming on her lips when she saw me.
"Hello," she said in a soft, gentle voice.
"Hi," I replied quietly, still entranced by her beauty.
Her smile grew wider as she caught me staring at her. Grinning my big 'cover up' goofy grin, I removed my hand from her cheek and put it behind my head.
"Um, what's you name?" I asked trying to cover my awkwardness.
"Kairi, what's yours?" she asked.
"I'm Sora, are you thirsty or hungry?" I asked when I remember the fruit I got earlier.
At her nod I grabbed the Papou fruit and tore it in half.
"Here," I said as I handed her the larger half, "it's called a Papou fruit, it's really good. It's kinda sweet but it has a tang to it."
"Thanks," she said as she accepted it and quickly began eating the fruit. I smiled as I ate my share. Soon the rather large fruit was gone.
Kairi smiled at me as she licked her fingers to get the last of the juice.
"You're right Sora, that was good."
"Yup," I replied as I sucked the juice from my own fingers, a grin on my face.
"Sora, what happened? Where am I, and where are my clothes?" she asked after a pause, looking down at the t-shirt and shorts she wore.
"You mean you don't know?" I asked, at the shake of her head I answered the best I could.
"Well, last night during a meteor shower you fell from the sky and landed in the ocean. I was watching the meteor shower so I saw you fall and jumped in after you. I pulled you from the water and gave you CPR. When you began breathing I brought you in here and .. um .. changed you into some dry clothes I kept here. I put you in the sleeping bag and fell asleep on the ground beside you."
I answered her, leaving out the part about sleeping with and cuddling her last night.
"I don't remember any of that," she said after she tried to rack her brain for the memory.
"What do you remember?" I asked.
"Waking up and seeing you, anything before that is a blank."
"I see," I told her as I watched her. Realizing that I was staring again, quickly answered the final part of her question.
"You asked where you were," at her nod I went on. Standing up and stretching my arms wide I announced in a quiet voice, my goofy grin once again plastered on my face.
"Welcome to the Destiny Islands, Kairi."
So, that's it. What'd you think? Not bad for a short one shot story, eh? Anyway, comments, reviews, etc. are all welcome.