The Fabrication of Death
By: Hiza-chan
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Nor do I own Kairi or Yuffie. I probably don't even own Granny. I do own her description however…
Summary: The Heartless have always caused pain, have always caused intense sorrow in whoever the shadowy creatures touch. But they have never caused me pain this way. Yuffie/Kairi, angsty, shoujo-ai
Warnings: angst, shoujo-ai, character "Death", weirdness, probably a tad AU since I probably have Something wrong, because I'm too damn lazy to play the game until I find the parts I was looking for.
A/N: This is dedicated to my girlfriend because I felt like dedicating my first yuri/shoujo ai fic to her. And also dedicated to Falaphesian because she is absolutely wonderful for converting me to this pairing with "Raspberry Heaven". Heh. She probably wont even ever read it. Eh. Oh well.
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The first time Sora had ever seen me he had called me Kairi. Seeing the girl now, I had to admit that we looked slightly similar. Though not enough alike that any sane man would confuse us. But, of course, I must remind myself that any sentient being that had been knocked around by Squall for a while would be a tad bit loopy when he or she came to.
The girl lying on the bed was beautiful, even in her imperfections. It was obvious that she was sick, her short red hair plastered to a sweaty pale face, eyes twitching fitfully behind her eyelids, her breathing loud and ragged in the quiet of the house, and her simple white sleeping gown saturated with a cold sweat.
I could feel the frown seeping into my features, so unfamiliar to the lines of my face that it actually pained me.
Shutting the door quietly behind me I crept towards the bed as stealthily as a ninja should be.
Now, I can just see Squall accusing me of being the clumsiest ninja in all the worlds. But this is not true. I can be rather stealthy when I want to.
Leaning over the bed I frowned at the girl. She looked even worse up close.
I wondered what type of illness this was, was it one that was unique to Destiny Islands, or did other worlds share the illness? The girl moaned in her fitful sleep, her shoulder twitching. Laying my hand atop her forehead I nearly gasped. I had been, of course, expecting her skin to be fiery hot, yet the skin which my palm rested on nearly numbed my hand to the bone. I shivered and pulled my hand away from the freezing girl.
Now that my body had discovered the temperature of her body it seemed to pick up a certain aura of cold that emanated from her body that it had previously not noticed. My eyes darted about the younger girl's room in search of a blanket and found one lying on a hope chest lying at the foot of the bed. I wasn't surprised that it was pink. Afterall, Sora hadn't only been fighting the whole time he was with us.
There were times of calm in Traverse Town, where we weren't bothered by Heartless or anything of the sort. Where all of us just relaxed.
It had been amusing to speak to Sora, afterall, neither Aerith nor Squall were very good when it came to conversation. Aerith was much too… kind. It was as if she was constantly speaking to a child and had to pronounce the syllables ever so carefully so that they would understand. And Squall… well, Squall was Leon now. And Leon did not know the meaning of conversation.
So Sora had been a nice change, a spark of color in my day to day black and white world. He had interesting views on things. His voice as vibrant and lively as my own. He had spoken of Kairi, and of Riku. Kairi, his best friend and companion, Riku his best friend and companion. Kairi, the girl that he had laughed with and collected seashells with. Riku, the boy who knew him better than anyone anywhere.
He had confessed to me so many of his secrets, told me how he loved Riku. Loved him more than a friend that is. Told me that he would do anything for Riku to come back to the light again, even give up his own life.
But Kairi was something different to him. Some hybrid of a best friend and a sister. He'd said that he'd had a crush on her at first. But after spending time with the female, realized that being with a girl was simply not his thing. He'd also however, told me about Kairi's fascination with the color pink, which was why I was not very surprised as I picked up the heavy pink quilt and draped it over the freezing girl's prone form.
After making sure that every single part of the girl was covered I slumped bonelessly to the hope chest at the foot of her bed looking at her with a kind of tired curiosity.
I could see why the two had fought over her, even if it may or may not have been all one big act. The girl was gorgeous in her unconscious state, she looked so much like a child… Granted a sickly ill child who looked on the verge of death but a child nonetheless. Drawing my knees up beneath me I just stared at her, my mind warring on and on in a silent battle of thought and pictures.
I must have stared at that girl for hours, never moving once. I probably would have kept staring too.
"The doctors don't know what it is." A soft voice spoke up from behind me. Starting so badly that a sharp burning streak of pain shot through my cramping legs I turned towards the voice, brows furrowing at this newcomer.
She was a kindly looking woman, skin wrinkled with time and hair gray and knotty. Her blue eyes were kind, though riddled with sorrow. I assumed that this was what a grandmother looked like. I had never had a grandmother I don't believe. And if I ever did, I certainly didn't remember her.
The old woman hobbled over to the bedside and looked at Kairi with a sadness that seemed to dance throughout the air, the emotion was so strong.
I was on my feet within seconds, an apology already half formed on my lips, ashamed that I had been so distracted by this child.
But the woman waved the apology away before the words could leave my lips.
"I do not know why you are here. Nor do I even know your name. But I assume that you have your reasons. So I will not question you on that matter. But I shall ask something of you. Please, tell Sora. Tell Sora that Kairi is dying. The doctors here cannot help her, nor can they even find the reason for her illness. Kairi… she needs Sora. She needs someone here. And I'm sure that Sora would want to know. Riku as well."
I did not know what to say. Sparing a glance at the pale figure twisted in the sheets I nearly lost my composure. I didn't have the heart to tell this old woman that I did not know where Sora was. I didn't know why I was here myself. Curious perhaps to see Sora's home world?
I don't know what I am doing here. Though I believe that I am glad that I came.
So I merely nod at the woman and watch her as she leaves the room, smiling softly as she shuts the door. Taking a deep breath I once again resume my careful inspection of this princess of heart.
What could this sickness be? I think I might already know, but I'm almost too frightened to even acknowledge that possibility.
Some people are sensitive to the darkness. Even being touched by a heartless could make that person so sick that they either died or became a heartless themselves.
I for one had never seen this happen but Squall had. He had watched the person day after day as the person had withered away. That person had not become a heartless. The old man had died a wrinkled thing, already icy cold not a minute after his death.
I hoped that this was not the case with Kairi.
I stayed at that house for what felt like an eternity.
I knew her now. She was not just some sleeping doll child to me anymore, but a figure that was dare I say more important to me than Sora himself. She had been happy to speak to someone who knew of the heartless. She had nearly gone crazy upon realizing that no one on Destiny's Island had remembered what had happened to them, And considered Sora and Riku as merely children running off to sail away to new lands and leaving their friend behind.
Even though I came to know the girl as the weeks passed into months, I also knew that she was getting sicker despite the constant friendship and care I provided her. Squall had come to check up on me, wondering where I had gotten off to and I had introduced Kairi to him. She had been pleased to hear that Sora was fine and still searching for Riku.
Squall had left after seeing that I would be all right until the time came for me to return to Traverse Town.
I had come to know the old woman as "Granny" as that was what she had requested me call her. Everyone else knew her as the mayor's wife, a figure to be respected and that was that. The months passed in comfort. I provided company to both the lonely old woman and Kairi herself.
I should have seen it coming though. I should have seen my feelings for Kairi growing stronger as the months passed steadily and autumn came to the island. I should have known that the time would come when I fell in love with her.
It happened of course. It had seemed a normal enough evening, Kairi and I were just talking as we usually did. Her pale form propped up on a pillow and me sitting cross-legged at the end of her bed, our feet just barely touching. Somehow that talking had led to me kissing her. She had been startled to say the least, her tiny little gasp making my soul cry out in wonder. Yet she had relaxed into the kiss, wrapped her arms around me and even kissed back.
It was heaven for me. I loved the girl with such a passion that I nearly made myself sick with all the love that was bubbling up inside of me. I'm not sure whether it was a good or a bad sickness. It was just so overwhelming this feeling.
After we had broken apart she had stared at me with a little blush staining her cheeks and this tiny smile playing across her lips.
It went on like that for what felt like an eternity but in actuality was much too short.
She got much sicker the seventh month I was there. While I had been there she had almost seemed to improve, though now, now it was as if she was worse than when I had first arrived. She was a frail little thing, paler than death, her skin even icier than its usual temperature, her lips cold and blue. Sometimes I was almost positive that my touch actually burned her. For there were times when I would grasp her hand and she would flinch and draw back.
I'm sure by now you can understand what was happening. I'm sure that you knew the day would come. I'm sure that somewhere buried in the depths of my soul I knew it would come too.
Granny had come to say her good-byes and left, leaving me to comfort my Kairi. Kairi was shivering and her eyes were flickering open and closed, her breath coming in ragged little gasps. When I came in she smiled though, smiled through her pain and motioned for me to come closer.
I'm not sure how I caught her whisper. How I caught that last plea that would ever come from her. How I heard her request for one last kiss.
But I did. And I gave her her last kiss. It was fierce, not the sweet kisses that we had been sharing on and off for the last three months, but fierce and wicked and desperate. When I finally drew away from her she was still, violet eyes staring up at me, and a small smile crossing her lips. Extending one hand, she brushed a tear from my cheek that I hadn't even known was there.
And then she closed her eyes.
When they opened again, they were cold, silent, and golden.
A/N: Weird and angsty-ish. Not what I was aiming for, though I am rather proud of it. First fic that was entirely yuri. Well, technically, shoujo-ai. But whatever. I wanted to write smut just because yuri smut DOES NOT EXIST. But I figured that I'd probably fuck it up if I did that. Originally this was going to be fluff. But I just could not figure out for the life of me how Yuffie and Kairi would have wound up meeting. Ah. Oh well. It's decent. I'm happy.
I may continue this into something else, maybe an arch or a 'two-shot' maybe even a full blown fic, though I personally doubt it. Just keep in mind that if I do continue it it will be much darker and will feature Yuffie/Heartless Kairi. If this interests any of you, please tell me. And if you think it should stay the way it is than inform me of that too. Much thanks. Review!