Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts
"Sora?"
Sora looked around to the tiny, blond haired girl sitting at his feet, tracing shapes in the sand with her finger.
"Huh?" Sora said. Naminé paused. and bent forward to cover her pictures. Grinning, he asked, "What are you hiding?"
Naminé shook her head, and quickly rushed her hand to wipe out the pictures. She stopped, leaving her hand hovering a few centimetres above the floor, like something was stopping her. Sora ran over to look. As he leaned over to look, Naminé flung herself over it, and yelled, "Don't!"
Sora had stopped grinning. "Naminé?" He said,. She didn't often sound like that, only when she was scared. He'd only heard her use that voice once before. He pulled slightly at a shoulder digging into the sand. "C'mon Naminé. …why can't I look!" He tried to laugh, but it got stuck somewhere in his throat.
Naminé looked around at him, grains of sand stuck to her face and hair. Her eyes had darkened; the whites were reddening, the lashes brown with damp, and the blue… less see-through, more intense.
She blinked, moisture collecting at the edges of her eyelids, and nodded. She pushed her palms to the floor. Sora watched her arms quiver for a moment before he realised that she was trying to push herself up. Gently, he said, "Here," and held a hand out to her. When she didn't take it he took her wrist and pulled her up. She didn't protest, but she didn't try to help.
His hand had slid down into hers as they stood up, and he let out a slight nervous laugh before Naminé's limp hand fell from his. When she didn't move, only stared blankly at the air in front of her, Sora's stomach twisted harshly. This was bad.
"You want to go home?" He asked softy. No response. "Naminé?" Nothing. "What's wrong with you? Is it something at home? You… You can come home with me if you like. I'll always protect you, remember?" He tried for another smile. Her tiny hands shook in his. Throat tight, he squeezed lightly them and softly said her name again. "Naminé?"
"I can't speak to you." Her voice was so very quiet, as far as it could be from the shriek she had let out before.
"What?" Sora half laughed the word, and the sound threw a sharp pain to the base of his stomach. "What do you mean, you can't speak to me? You just did!"
She shook her head violently. With a small, strangled sob, she ran, arms wrapped tightly around herself, over to the main islands.
Sora stared after her. Then he turned back to the sea, where nothing disturbed the still surface of the water. It looked wrong, next to the damp sand that formed in clusters over Naminé's picture.
He had no idea where she had gone, he realised. He could try her house, maybe, or…
Sora ran his hand through his hair and sighed.
Riku should be here by now. Sora was getting bored, he hated being down here on his own. Scooping a pebble in his hand, he stretched his arm back and flung it out to sea. It hit the water and immediately sank, leaving ripples in the surface like when the fish came by in summer. He couldn't skim stones. Riku had tried teaching him before, but his arm would shake and the stone would wobble and it always sank under the sea. Sora wondered what there was down in the deepest parts of the ocean, if civilisations existed as they did up here. Could fish speak once their heads bobbed under the surface? If so, could he learn there language and talk with them himself? He would love to talk to a fish. Riku would know what was down there.
Heavy footsteps clomping behind made Sora look around excitedly. He spoke with mock annoyance as he began to greet his friend. "You've taken forever Ri-"
Sora holds his head in tight, sweaty hands. His head throbs and he groans aloud as Goofy calls over to him, concerned. "Sora?"