AN: Finished! Finally! This is a goodbye fic for Kaiora. (cries) Trying to be supportive. Yes. Kay. (sniff). I started this back on spring break, when we went to Daytona Beach in Florida. Beach equals KH connection equals inspiration. This was started before I discovered Kaiora's plans to leave us, but I doubt I'd have been able to write anything else before she left. I have very little free time anymore. SO, I figured that I would dedicate this one to her. One thing: Learn to celebrate the awkward moment, not avoid it. This fic contains a lot of awkward moments. Sora's mother and Kairi's parents, or at least their reactions to the situation, are based on my mother, and my dad and stepmom, respectively. This one is long, and fluff abounds. Yay!
Kaiora: the girl who got me into Larxel, Roxiri, and pretty much any other pairing it is possible to write. She'll ship and write just about anything (with the exception of slash, and who can blame her. Slash is just wrong) and I truely respect that versatility. She has the sort of writing style I've never quite mastered, but always wished I could do. She is a very talented writer, an insightful individual, and I'm really gonna miss her. And since she loves lower-case letters, the title is not capitalized. Well, it is below... Kairi, you rock! Keep on keeping on rockin'.
Disclaimer: Not mine. At all. Neither is the song "Can you feel it?" by the David Crowder Band, which is minorly referenced at some point. (it was stuck in my head at the time...)
Moonlight Serenade
It's the sound of the crashing waves.
It's the salt in the air.
It's the wind blowing sand in your face.
It's the sand in between your toes and in your shorts and everywhere else and even in places polite manners will not permit you to name in civilized conversation.
It's all the things about home you never knew how much you missed.
Perhaps it's also what woke Sora up. He blinked his eyes open to look up at a dark blue, starry sky.
Another sleepless night…he thought, as he began to doze off.
But something was different. There were waves…why were there waves?
Duh!
The events of the past twenty four hours crashed over Sora, and he jolted awake, sitting up and staring out at the ocean. Home! He was home!
Sora concentrated for a moment. He remembered hugging Kairi (eeeeh!)…and then nothing. Why? He heard whimpers beside him, and looked down beside him to see Kairi laying there, curled up into a little ball in the sand. She yawned and blinked open her eyes, stretching out and looking up at him. She smiled at him, and sat up.
"Hey," she said, stretching her arms as she greeted him.
"Hey," Sora replied, her presence alone making him breathless. "What, what happened?"
Kairi giggled. "You lasted about five minutes before conking out. Still the lazy bum, I see." She poked him in the chest. "You actually fell asleep while you were hugging me. I think I pulled something trying to hold you up." Sora blushed and gave her an apologetic smile.
"Sorry…"
Kairi giggled. "S'okay."
Sora looked around at the dark beach. Riku, Goofy, the king, and Donald were all asleep on the sand nearby. "Why are we still on the island?"
Kairi started laughing. "Riku fell asleep pretty soon after you did. So then Goofy was the only one who would be strong enough to row himself and someone else back to the main island. Problem was, the boat couldn't handle the weight. So, we figured we'd have to stay here until you and Riku woke up." She shrugged as she finished.
"Oh." They sat in silence for a moment.
"Sora?"
"Hm?" Sora turned to look at Kairi, who was positively beaming at him.
"You're home." She stated simply.
Sora grinned at her. "Yeah."
They beamed at each other for a minute, before Kairi tackled him, throwing her arms around his middle and knocking him back onto the sand. Sora grinned and hugged her back, as she buried her head into his chest.
"I really missed you, Sora." She murmured into his shirt. Sora couldn't help but grin wider. She missed him. Sora was about to reply, but he was stopped by a sudden sharp pain running along his side.
"Aah!" he gasped in pain and released Kairi, who promptly let go of her hold around his torso to gasp at him.
"Oh my gosh, Sora, are you okay?" She sat on her knees beside him, watching helplessly as he sat up, holding his side.
"Sora?"
"I, I'm fi-i-aah!" Sora winced as another bolt of pain went shooting along his side. Next thing he knew, Kairi had pulled off his jacket and was yanking his shirt over his arms. Sora couldn't help but blush. Kairi pulled his arm away from his side to get a look at what was causing him pain. She gasped.
Sora looked down at his left side and grimaced. A long, jagged cut ran from his hip to midway along his ribcage. It was caked with blood and bruises, and tinged with green, indicating some sort of nasty infection. "Eew."
"Oh, Sora." Kairi ran a finger along the skin, checking to see if it was still bleeding. Sora shivered involuntarily at her touch, the pain momentarily ignored. Kairi looked up at him sternly. "Sora, when did this happen?" She asked, her tone stern but sympathetic.
"Probably during the fight with Xemnas. I thought I healed it. Guess it didn't work…Oh, man! I'm out of potions, too! I used them all during the battle!"
"Oh, Sora!" Kairi hugged his shoulders quickly before standing up. "I'll get the first aid kit out of the clubhouse, don't move!" Her order wasn't necessary. Sora was still too dazed to move.
The gaping scratch didn't really hurt that much, or perhaps it really was quite painful, and Sora was simply comparing the pain in relation to the many other more horrid injuries he'd sustained in the past. He blushed as he thought about Kairi pulling off his shirt. How couldn't he? The only situation in which he'd ever thought she would have any reason to be pulling off his clothes would be…
Sora wouldn't let his mind go there. But still, 'awkward' barely scratched the surface.
He leaned back on his hands and stared up at the stars. No, worlds; he now knew. He wondered when Kairi would get back with the first aid kit.
Kairi…
There was so much to tell her. And she had changed…less giggly, more mature. Still Kairi, though. And she looked so much older. He wondered why it had never occurred to him that she would look different. For some reason, he'd never really given much thought to the fact that it had, after all, been over a year, and since he'd done a lot of growing, surely she would have too.
He shook his head. He hadn't changed that much in the past year; surely she hadn't changed too much either. But then again, she hadn't spent the majority of that year sleeping. Sora sighed and shook his head again to clear it. She was still Kairi; he was just overanalyzing things.
Kairi made her way down the stairs from the tree house with the first aid kit in hand. She stopped in her tracks as she spotted Sora reclining in the sand.
Since when was Sora this…hot? She'd always thought him cute, but now he was…well, hot. He was muscular, but not in a bulky sort of way. He was muscular in a toned, scraggly, gangly sort of way. The moonlight and the shadows it cast accentuated the curves of his muscles. There was no baby fat; just smooth, toned muscle. This was her best friend she was thinking about; her best friend who had down a lot of growing. (AN 1)
Kairi shook her head. She couldn't think about him like this. Not now, especially. She had a job to do; she needed to get that wound patched up. But as she got closer to her injured friend the view only improved.
There was no getting around it. Sora was extremely nice to look at.
Focus, Kairi; focus!
"Alright, I've got the band aids. Would you like hearts and sparkles, or smiley faces and stars?" She asked him as she sat down beside him.
Sora gave her a playful frown. "Now, Kairi, I'm no doctor, but I don't think band-aids are going to cut it."
Everything was still natural. Like nothing had changed.
Kairi smiled at him before opening the box and taking out some disinfectant and bandages. She wet a cloth rag with the disinfectant and gave Sora a hesitant frown. "This might sting a little."
Sora blew a raspberry. "Can't be that-OW!"
Kairi pulled the rag away. "Told you." She put the cloth again to Sora's skin and began cleaning the caked dried blood from the bruised skin.
"Ow, ow, ow, OW! Kairi! 'Ow' means stop!" Sora complained.
Kairi rolled her eyes at Sora's whining. "I've got to get this clean. I warned you it would hurt. But if this doesn't get cleaned out, it's only going to get more infected. So suck it up, Mr. Keyblade master." She told him sternly.
Sora gulped. "Yes ma'am."
Kairi patted his spiky head. "Good boy."
Sora desperately tried to distract himself as Kairi wiped the blood from his injury. This was especially difficult because he not only had to distract himself from the sting of the disinfectant, but he also had to distract himself from the fact that he was sitting there shirtless while Kairi rubbed peroxide on his torso. If that didn't take the cake for awkwardness.
Sora's fingers tapped impatiently against the sand as Kairi finished cleaning his wound. "Now just to bandage it."
"Great." Sora groaned.
He then desperately tried to ignore the awkwardness of the situation as Kairi taped several square bandages to his side. And then for good measure, she wound the bandages around his middle a few times to insure the square bandages would stay in place. This act also knocked the awkward factor up about ten notches. Sora had to keep his gaze fixed on the sky the whole time. Was Kairi aware that leaning over like that provides such a perfect view down her shirt? (AN 2)
"Finished," she proclaimed. Sora breathed a sigh of relief. Finally his insides could stop squirming. "I've bandaged it up as best I can, but you still have to see a doctor when we get back to the main island, got it?" She ordered.
Sora nodded obediently. "Will do, Kairi. Don't worry." He grinned at her. She rolled her eyes at him and began packing the bottle of disinfectant and extra bandages back in the box. Sora looked out at the waves, and felt a strange calling. How long had it been since he had simply stood in the waves? As Kairi muttered that she'd be right back, she was going to put the first aid kit back, (and put on a shirt, will you?) Sora kicked off his shoes and walked down towards the waters' edge. He stood in the shallows and let the waves wash over his feet. He'd forgotten how wonderful it felt; just to stand in the waves and let the water wash over his toes, and then pull the sand away from beneath his feet, leaving indentations in the sand. He looked down and watched as the undertow pulled sand, and with it, scores of tiny mussels in their shells. As the water receded, those that were still alive burrowed back into the sand. But then another wave came and washed them out of place again. Sora couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy towards these displaced persons. He knew how it felt to be torn from a place just as you started getting used to it. He even went so far as to stick his foot in front of one of the little shells as the undertow started to pull it away. He smiled as the tiny purple shell began to wiggle and burrow into the sand. He even found himself egging the miniscule thing on; urging it to hurry and dig in before another wave came. (AN 3)
He turned his sight back to the white cropped waves rushing towards the beach. He smiled as the wind brushed his bangs across his face, tickling his forehead. Meanwhile, Kairi was returning to the beach, and again she was struck by the sight of him. He was just standing there, just like she had done so many times over the last year.
She slipped off her pink sneakers and walked towards him. She wasn't really sure why she did it; perhaps she simply needed to remind herself that this was real; but for whatever reason, she approached him from behind and wrapped her slender arms around his torso, careful not to squeeze his injury, and buried her face in the warm skin of his back. She felt his spine stiffen in surprise as she touched him. What she didn't know was that she had just released a forest of rabid butterflies into his stomach.
Sora felt a shiver go down his back as Kairi pressed her face into it. He turned his head to look over his shoulder at her auburn head. He looked back at the Ocean. He wasn't really sure what to do, so he simply stood there and let her hug him. He could feel her lips resting against the skin between his shoulder blades. Then he felt something even more peculiar-something warm and wet-Kairi was crying. He turned around as she released him, hurriedly wiping at her eyes.
"Kairi, are you okay?" He asked her softly. She nodded.
"Yeah, I, I'm fine," she replied, still not looking at him. Sora hesitantly cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head to look at him.
"You sure?" Kairi gave him a small smile that disappeared soon after.
"I'm just really glad you're back."
Sora smiled. "I've noticed."
She smiled and looked away, out to the ocean, her eyes far away. "It can't have felt like a year to you…You were sleeping most of the time, and half of it you can't remember…" Her brow furrowed, and she frowned, still not looking at him. "You didn't spend a year and a half standing on this beach while everyone told you that you were losing your mind." She said harshly.
Sora tentatively put his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged him off. "Kairi…I'm sorry. I never meant to keep you waiting that long…I'm sorry."
Kairi wouldn't look at him. "You promised you'd come back."
Sora looked at his feet. "I know."
"But you never did."
Sora looked back up. "I'm here now, aren't I?"
Kairi turned to glare sadly at him. "But I had to come find you first. If I hadn't come looking, would you still have come back?"
Sora's eyes widened at her accusation. "Of course!"
Kairi turned away from him. "Hmph."
Sora stood flabbergasted. What did she expect him to do? Turn back time? Girls; he would never understand them.
"Kairi…I'm sorry…" He tried to pull her into his arms, but she pushed him away. Sora sighed. "Kairi…if I could've come back to you sooner, I would have. But I didn't know how to get back, and the Organization wasn't exactly helping. I'm sorry."
Kairi still said nothing. Sora sighed again and began trudging back up the beach. Kairi looked down at her feet. She closed her eyes.
"Sora!"
Sora turned in time for Kairi to fling herself into his chest. He looked down at her as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry…"
"Oh Kairi…" Sora wrapped his arms around her. "You haven't had an easy time of it, have you?"
Kairi shook her head. "No…but neither have you. You've been fighting for so long…It's not your fault you didn't come…"
Sora smiled. "Hey," Kairi looked up at him. "Let's try thinking about something a little less depressing."
Kairi sniffed. "Like what?"
"Like sleep. I'm exhausted."
Kairi laughed. "Lazy bum!"
It had been a couple of days since they had returned home, and in that short amount of time, so much had happened. Sora had been to a doctor, gotten stitches (ouch), and had a life-changing visit to the Secret Place.(AN 4)
Unfortunately, in those few days he'd had very few moments to hang out with Kairi. He was currently walking around their small island searching for said Princess of Heart. As dark clothes were by no means suitable for the current island weather, Sora had abandoned them in favor of long dark red swim trunks and a simple white tee shirt. The sun was quickly setting, and Sora was hoping to find her before he would have to go home for the night. The sun finally dipped completely below the horizon, and Sora began to lose hope.
"Sora!" he turned and saw Kairi exiting the tree house. She waved to him and started climbing down the latter towards him. She too had abandoned her normal clothing. She was wearing a white tank top and a crimson-maroon wrap skirt that was only slightly less red than her hair. The light pink straps that tied behind her neck indicated that she was wearing her bathing suit beneath.
"Hey!" She called as she approached him. "I haven't seen you much in a few days. Where've you been?"
Sora shrugged. "Busy."
Kairi smiled. "The beach is beautiful at night, isn't it?" She said, turning to look out at the ocean. Sora followed her gaze. He had to agree. It was a full moon and the beach looked amazing-as did the girl standing next to him.
Deciding to take a walk on the beach, they set off, at first walking-then Kairi started humming. It started low, just sort of to herself, but then the music seemed to take her over, and she started to hum louder, and then she started dancing; twirling and leaping as they walked along. Sora grinned at her as she hummed and danced.
"Got a song stuck in your head, Kairi?" he asked, still smiling.
Kairi smiled. "I heard it earlier o the radio. It's been stuck in my head ever since. And it just makes me want to dance!" She spun again. Sora shook his head at her. She stuck her tongue out at him and kept singing.
"Can you feel it? Can you feel it? The love in this place can you feel it?" She started humming again, and Sora started laughing. (AN 5)
"Is that all of the song that you know?"
Kairi stopped humming to frown at him, but she kept dancing to the music pounding in her mind. "So what if it is?"
Sora laughed at her. "Only you…"
Kairi stopped dancing. "Hey, let's go swimming!"
"What?" But she was already stripping off her maroon skirt and white tank top revealing the pink bikini she was wearing beneath. Sora didn't even have a chance to reply as she took off down towards the nearby dock, and she had dived into the water before Sora's brain even had a chance to register her rather revealing apparel.
"Come on!" She called to him as she surfaced.
Sora shook his head to clear it, before pulling off his tee shirt and diving in after her. As his head broke the surface he shook the water from his hair, and heard her squeal as the droplets hit Kairi. Smirking, he tackled her, and the two both went under. It was dark, but Sora could still make out Kairi's form beneath him. She released air bubbles which floated up to tickle his face. Sora smiled under water and the air bubbles streaming up to tickle him indicated that Kairi too was grinning. Hands grasping her waist, Sora kicked off and pulled them both back up to the surface, giggling and sucking in much-needed air.
"Sora!" Kairi yelled, her tone one of mock-scolding.
Sora grinned at her for a moment, before a rather large wave crashed over them, sending them both closer to shore. They emerged laughing, standing in the shallower water, where it was only waist-deep. Another, smaller wave crashed over the two, and Kairi was sent stumbling into Sora, who caught her. He held her steady; his hands on her bare waist. Kairi gripped his shoulders, and grinned up at him gratefully. Some of the waves were too strong for her to hold her own weight steady. Another such wave came and she stumbled into him again, this time she held to him tighter as they moved to slightly more shallow water.
While Kairi desperately tried to regain her footing and her balance against the swirling ocean, Sora was desperately trying to ignore the fact that he was holding a half-naked Kairi. She nervously looked up at him, becoming for the first time aware of their proximity and the consequential awkwardness of the situation.
Their eyes met slowly, tentatively. The water swirled around them as they stood nervously still in the waves. Sora felt a shiver down his spine as the ends of Kairi's wet hair grazed his collar bone. She was leaning closer. Sora hadn't been aware that this was possible. Her warm, wet skin was already pressed against his own; he was sure his heart would explode from the amount of blood it was pumping. Her chest (her fairly scantily-clad chest) was pressed against his, and it was only by reminding himself constantly that he loved her that he managed to keep his mind off the sensuality of the moment. Her bangs were now touching his forehead, and it occurred to Sora that she was getting even closer. Her wet eyelashes were fluttering closed; Sora followed her lead and let his eyes close, leaning his head down closer to her. Their noses brushed, and their lips came closer…
And then a rather gigantic wave, one neither had noticed due to the moment they were having, crashed over the two of them, knocking them both off their feet and sending them into the shallows in a swirling confusion of bodies and sand. They washed up on the shore spluttering and laughing.
Sora sat up first; Kairi was lying on the sand beside him, still laughing. He considered kissing her then, but he wasn't exactly certain which part of his body was currently controlling him, because it seemed his brain was only occasionally squeaking out suggestions from its place in the corner where it had been told to sit while the current bodily government took over. He therefore decided it was probably best not to place himself in range of such temptation.
He and Kairi, still chuckling, dragged themselves up the beach and collapsed on the sand, thoroughly exhausted. "It's pretty late." Sora said in between his panting. "Maybe we should head back now."
"In just a minute," Kairi replied; she too was panting. "Let's just rest for a minute and dry off. Our parents shouldn't mind if we're just a little past curfew."
"Yeah," Sora agreed, "That'd be much better than going home sopping wet and covered with sand."
"Hm." Kairi hummed in agreement. She shifted slightly and rested her head against Sora's. He smiled. His hand found hers and he intertwined his sandy fingers with hers. He closed his eyes and let Kairi's smell and the hypnotic crashing of the waves sooth him.
...
The next thing Sora was aware of was the cool tickling of water against his toes. He blinked his eyes open. It was just the waves lapping up against his feet. He smiled and closed his eyes again.
Wait a minute.
Sora's eyes snapped open. The waves-they hadn't been that far up a minute ago. He'd fallen asleep! Kairi had too-she was currently nestled against him. It occurred to Sora that they were both dry. How long had they been asleep?
He sat up, consequently waking Kairi, who sleepily grumbled a bit before opening her eyes to look at him. "Sora?"
"Kairi, the waves," he began.
"Hm, just the tide." She mumbled, before closing her eyes again. She then bolted up. "The tide!" They looked at each other. "We fell asleep!" She exclaimed, wide eyed.
"How long have we been sleeping?" Sora wondered out loud.
Kairi looked at the waves which were crashing feet from where they lay. "Oh no, the tide's come in! And look at how high it's gotten! It only comes up this high really late at night!"
Sora contemplated the tide schedule. "That means it's got to be, what, one, two o'clock?" They looked at each other again. "We're so dead."
They sprang up and hurriedly threw on their clothes, and began rushing towards the dock. "Here, you can ride in my boat." Sora commanded, untying the small wooden rowboat. "I can get us back faster."
Kairi didn't argue. "Okay," she replied anxiously, getting into his boat. Sora picked up the oars and pushed off the dock. The current pulled away from the island, making the return trip faster. Nevertheless, it was still a good twenty or so minutes back. Kairi sat silently as he rowed; nervously fiddling with the hem of her crimson skirt.
"Kairi?" Sora asked softly, and she looked up at him. "Calm down. We can't be in that much trouble. We fell asleep; we didn't stay out late on purpose."
Kairi sighed. "Sora, it's not just that," she began slowly, not looking at him. "See," she swallowed hard, "You know what our parents are going to think."
Sora raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" (AN 6)
Kairi looked back at him confusedly, before looking away again. She bit her lip and sighed again, before beginning again, "You know…a guy and a girl out, alone, together, on an island with no one else around, into the late hours of the night…" she said awkwardly, her cheeks turning pink. "You know what they're gonna think." She squirmed in her seat, still determinedly not looking at him.
Sora was still oblivious to her meaning. He cocked his head to the side. "So, what are they gonna think?"
Kairi shook her head in amazement at Sora's oblivion. She squirmed even more, pursing her lips as she tried to think of some way to explain. "Well, they're gonna think that we…" she shifted her weight constantly. "…you know…hooked up."
Sora raised an eyebrow. "So they're gonna think we snuck out on a date or something?" he asked innocently.
Kairi bit her lip and squirmed again. "Well, sort of…but that wasn't exactly the definition of 'hooking up' I was going for. I mean, they're gonna think we hooked up as in we really…hooked up." She finished slowly, her cheeks bright pink.
Sora furrowed his brow, and then-Her implication hit him like a ton of bricks. "Oh!" he said loudly, as his face turned blood red. "That."
"Yeah," Kairi said slowly, still not looking at him.
Sora bit his lip. "They won't jump to that sort of a conclusion, will they?"
Kairi finally looked at him. "Mine will! And how are we supposed to defend ourselves? I mean, come on!" She sighed in exasperation. "We've been out here all night; we're a mess, so we probably look like we've been doing…that." She sighed. "Do you really think they'll believe us if we tell them that nothing happened?"
Sora sighed and looked away. She was right. No one else had been around to confirm their story. The circumstances were sketchy at best. "I don't know. I mean, we aren't dating or anything, so maybe they won't think that."
"But we did almost kiss," Kairi said softly. Sora's face lit on fire. Kairi looked up at him. "Well, we did. There's no use dancing around it forever."
Sora started rowing faster. Kairi reached a hand out and laid it on his arm, motioning for him to stop rowing for a moment. He did so, and slowly brought his eyes up to meet hers. Kairi smiled. "I don't expect you to say it now, you know. I don't expect you to kiss me now either. I'd rather you wait for the opportune moment. Just…make sure the opportune moment comes soon." She smiled at him, her cheeks pink.
Sora smiled back at her, his face too was blazing red.
Kairi sat back. "Now," she ordered, "Get me home. I'm dead as it is."
Sora stopped as Kairi suddenly paused, a few houses down from her own. "Maybe we'd better say goodbye here," she suggested, looking worriedly in the direction of her home. "If my parents see you…" she trailed off, grimacing.
Sora nodded understandingly. "Well, see you tomorrow, then." He gave her hand a tight, reassuring squeeze. Kairi smiled at him, before pulling her hand out of his and taking a few steps back.
"Well, it's been nice knowing you," she said, giving him one last sad smile before turning and ambling down the street to her home.
Sora watched her go for a moment before deciding he was in enough trouble as it was and should probably head home.
Sora sighed with relief as he took in the sight of his house. The lights were off. His mother was already in bed. She may never notice he was late! Feeling optimistic, Sora decided to first try his window. That way he wouldn't have to sneak through the house to his room. However, after climbing the large tree and trying his window, he found the latch securely locked.
Next he tried the back door. Locked. Then the front door. Locked.
Then it hit Sora.
His mother had noticed his tardiness. Kairi's parents had probably called after Kairi failed to return home. And of course his mother wouldn't have waited up for him, ready to pounce when he walked in the door. No. She would have gone to bed, after making sure that every entrance to the house was securely locked and barred. Sora knew she would have latched the chain on the doors and bolted the emergency bolts on all the windows and the storm doors. That way even if he managed to unlock the doors with the keyblade, he'd still be unable to get in. He'd have to call her down to let him in-thereby assuring that she knew exactly when he got home.
Sora sighed and banged on the front door. "Mom!" He shouted, ringing the doorbell. He looked up as he saw a light come on in his mother's room. Sora took a deep breath and steeled himself for the tongue-lashing of the century.
Sora felt terror rise in his heart as he heard the door being un-bolted and un-barred. Living on a tropical island meant that having extensive bolting on your doors and windows was necessary for hurricane season. Apparently these security measures also could be used for keeping out rule-breaking teenage sons, as well as storms.
Finally, the heavy wooden door opened, and Sora cowered as his mother stared up at him grumpily. Even though his mother was shorter than him, and standing before him in a blue bathrobe with her chocolate curls tied into a messy ponytail, she was the most terrifying thing Sora had ever seen.
She stepped aside, out of the doorway.
"Kitchen table. Now."
Sora ambled across the sandy shore of the play island, kicking a rock along. His mother knew him too well, he decided. She was well aware that he was head over heels in love with Kairi, and had started berating him the second he'd sat down. While Sora had eventually managed to convince her that nothing of that nature had occurred, he'd still ended up in trouble for staying out all night.
He was quite surprised that she'd even let him out of the house. After spending all day cleaning the entire house from the attic to the basement, Sora had groveled pitifully at her feet to let him go to the play island for a few hours. She'd finally agreed, and Sora was allowed to go to the island if he promised to be back by 10:00 pm, and to clean the garage tomorrow.
It was sunset, and Sora was searching the island to see if he could find Kairi. He hadn't heard from her, and his mother hadn't allowed him to call her, so he didn't know how much trouble she was in. Finally he spotted her in their usual spot, leaning against the paopu tree and watching the sun's last glows as it slowly slipped below the horizon.
He noticed she was wearing a light-colored sundress of some sort. Due to the colorful glow of the dying day, he couldn't tell if it was white or just some other light color, but she looked radiant either way.
"Kairi!" Sora called out to her, and then broke into a run. She turned and watched as he sprinted to her, skipping the seaside shack altogether and simply hopping onto its roof.
"Hey!" she greeted, as he vaulted over the trunk of the paopu tree and took a seat beside her. "So, are you in a ton of trouble?"
Sora laughed nervously. "Well, my mom believed me, but I'm still in a lot of trouble. How 'bout you?"
Kairi chuckled darkly. "Oh, they believed me alright. That's why I've been put on birth control until I go to the doctor Tuesday to test my story."
Sora blushed and looked away. "What trusting parents you've got, Kairi."
Kairi laughed cynically. "Tell me about it. I'd stay away from them right now if I were you. My mother has envisioned quite a few ways of removing your head from your body."
Sora shuddered. He faced Kairi. "So what method looks best?"
"Hedge-clippers." Kairi informed him.
Sora frowned nervously.
"Dull ones."
He grimaced. "Well, wouldn't want it to be quick, would she?"
Kairi smiled at him apologetically.
"So," Sora began, trying to smile again. "I'm surprised they even let you out of the house."
Kairi grinned. "They didn't. They reversed my doorknob and locked me in my room while they went to some big function tonight. But they forgot that the keyblade opens any kind of lock, so while they're at their party, I figured I'd come here. After all, if I'm going to be in trouble I might as well deserve it."
Sora smiled and shook his head at her ingenuity and spunk. The sun had now disappeared below the horizon, leaving only the moon and the stars to illuminate the beach. The moon wasn't completely full, but a great deal of it was still visible, and it was a clear, bright night.
"Hey," Kairi piped, leaning forward and turning her head to look at him. "Let's go for a walk. I've been cooped up all day and I'm tired of sitting still."
"Kay." He hopped down from the tree and extended his hand to help her. She took it, and felt a chill down his spine. She giggled as he helped her down.
"Always the gentleman!" She stood on her bare tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek. Sora wasn't even aware of the grin spreading up his face. He distantly heard Kairi's giggle, and felt her hand squeezing his as she pulled him along after her. He was in a daze as he followed her.
What finally brought him crashing back to reality was the cold water splashing against his legs. He blushed immediately. Kairi was still pulling him along as they meandered along the beach, the waves lapping at their ankles.
"So," Kairi began, turning her bright eyes toward him. "What do you like best about being home?"
Her question was a welcome distraction, but it caught Sora off guard. "Oh, well," Sora thought for a moment. "Everything I really missed, I guess." Kairi giggled and rolled her eyes. "Like what, silly?" She bumped into him.
"Well," Sora began nervously, trying to ignore the shivers he felt as Kairi's fingers intertwined with his. "I missed a lot of things. I missed how warm it is. I missed the waves, and the beaches, and the salty air, and you, and-"
"Me?" Sora froze. Had he said that out loud? He gulped and turned to face Kairi, who was staring at him with a curious light in her eyes.
"Y-yeah." Kairi looked down, trying hard to suppress a grin. She started walking again, dragging him along with her. She gave him another smile, her eyes twinkling, and Sora nearly melted right then and there when she gave her eyelashes a subtle flutter. Here he was, the great invincible keyblade master reduced to a pile of dribbling, gooey, romantic, sappy mush; all because of the glorious girl beside him.
Then it hit him: Kairi was flirting with him. She'd been flirting with him all night. The kiss, the hand holding, the smiles and eyelash flutters; she was flirting! He recalled her words from the previous day. "I'd rather you wait for the opportune moment. Just…make sure the opportune moment comes soon." It seemed she'd given up on waiting for him to figure out the opportune moment and decided to set up the opportune moment for him. Kairi had started humming again. It was the same tune from the night before. Sora grinned. This was what it felt like to be home; the sand and the stars and the wind and the waves and most of all Kairi.
"Sora?" He looked down at her, still grinning. She was staring up at him with a puzzled expression as she asked, "What are you smiling about?"
Sora shrugged. "Just…happy to be home. That's all." Kairi smiled again and laid her head on his shoulder, releasing what felt like a stampede of locusts in Sora's stomach-'butterflies' was far too benevolent a word. Kairi smelled so wonderful.
"It doesn't smell the same in other worlds?" Kairi asked, and Sora realized that his thought about the Islands' unique scent hadn't remained in his head.
"Uh…yeah," Sora began nervously, trying to salvage the situation. "It's because of the ocean, mostly. Smells like salt, and palm trees, and strawberries,"
"Strawberries?"
Congratulations, Sora. That's the second time you've made a fool of yourself in front of Kairi in the last ten minutes alone.
Yeah, well, let's see you do better.
Fine, I will.
"Well, you always smell like strawberries. It's just one of the things I always think of when I think of home." Sora was amazed at his own audacity. Since when was he so smooth? It must be Roxas, he decided. That part of him had memories of shamelessly flirting with girls in Twilight Town. But Roxas was a part of him, right? So perhaps he had the potential to be romantic after all. Kairi seemed to be happy, at least; she was grinning widely, despite her best efforts to hide it.
"Although, there were several worlds I visited that had oceans. Port Royal, and Atlantica, for example." Sora said, thinking out loud.
"Hm," Kairi mumbled pensively, "Did they make you feel at home?"
Sora shrugged; lightly, since Kairi's head was still resting on his shoulder. "Sort of. I liked the oceans, and the beaches, and all of that, but they couldn't ever really feel like home, because they were missing the most important thing; the thing I love the most."
Kairi paused and turned to look up at him. She tilted her head to the side curiously. "Really? What's that?"
Sora leaned in close to her, whispering so only she could hear, even though no one else was around, "…you." Kairi's indigo eyes lit up like the star-scattered sky; it was all the answer Sora needed.
She grinned as her slim arms wound their way around his shoulders; he could feel her soft hands though his thin white t-shirt. He too wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close ever so gently. She was looking down, but Sora could see her biting her lip in a vain attempt to stop grinning; which utterly failed since her smile only widened with every glance up at him.
Nervously, hesitantly, painfully slowly, Sora lowered his lips to hers, pressing so softly a kiss to her still-smiling lips. To say that the kiss was passionate or deep would not have done their love justice. The kiss they shared on that moonlit night whilst the waves crashed against their ankles was pure and simple. It was soft, and loving, and innocent, and warm, and pure. It was everything one could ever say to describe what it is to truly be home.
They pulled apart, still as nervous and tentative as new lovers are expected to be, but as perpetually trusting and comfortable as two old friends always will be.
While the waves and the wind, and the sand and the stars and everything else that made up his world certainly served to remind Sora that he was home, nothing could more enforce the notion like Kairi. At its very definition, home is where the heart is, and Kairi had held her grip on Sora's heart since the day they met.
Home is so much more than where you grew up, or where you live. Home is the thing you love the most, but take for granted until you are in jeopardy of losing it. Home is the place you miss the most when you aren't there. It is where love abounds and your heart finds peace and solace-however temporary. It's the place you may temporarily want the leave, but always want to come back to.
For Sora, home could never be anywhere Kairi was not, and nothing affirmed that in his heart like standing in the waves with the love of his life during their moonlight serenade.
FINI
AN 1: So, it sort of seems like I made Sora out to be a god here, but please keep in mind that love will enhance a person's view of another's physical traits...
AN 2: Ladies, how often do we unintentionally give guys such an excellent view down our shirts when we bend over, simply because we haven't noticed just how low cut our shirts become when we bend over? Unfortunatley, it usually isn't until the end of the day that I realize that the tanktop I put on under that low cut shirt doesn't come up quite as high as I would prefer it too...
AN 3: That was me on spring break. I even named the shell Lily. Hey, it looked like a Lily! It was a lovely lilac color!
AN 4: Refering to when Sora saw Kairi's addition to the Paopu fruit drawing...Obvious for a lot of people, perhaps, but I know someone would ask.
AN 5: This was me, the first day of spring break. The song had been stuck in my head, so it made it into the story.
AN 6: Sora's such a hopeless, oblivious dork. But that's why we love him.
I'm so proud of this! The small bit of Roxas-Sora interaction was because people loved it so much in Luck. I'm planning to write more of it in the future. It's so much fun to write.
Most importantly, I hope that the talented Kaiora liked it. I would have written you something like a Roxiri, or Larxel, or something else I wouldn't love unless it had been for your fics. But, my teachers are insane, and I doubt I would have been able to have anything else worthy written before you left...
Reviews are nice. Critique, flames, compliments, I'll take 'em all. Never be afeared to point out typos. I can then go back and fix them.