AN: I usually don't write romance/fluff, but this was a gift fic for someone who liked Riku/Kairi. That said, you'll probably only see romance if you squint because actual plot always seems to sneak into whatever I write. Enjoy!
Those Who Understand
Kairi stirred as she woke up and looked out the window. It was dark outside. She looked at her clock and was surprised to see that it was five o'clock in the morning. What am I doing up this early? she asked herself. Yesterday, Sora and Riku had finally come home. The two of them and the Disney Castle group had stayed up long into the night telling her what their adventures had been like. Kairi shook her head to clear it; once she was up, she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, no matter how late she had stayed up the night before.
She got out of bed and walked over to the window. It was open and a cool breeze came through it. The day would be warm. Kairi looked at the full moon that would set when the sun rose and had the unexpected desire to go the the play island. Why not? she thought. She hadn't seen the sunrise from there for a long time, a year to be exact.
Quickly, Kairi changed from her pajamas into a short sky blue skirt and a purple tank top. She brushed out her hair and pulled her boots on before lacing them up. After a quick look in the mirror, she left the house. Not long after, she was rowing her boat out to the play island.
When Kairi arrived at the play island's dock, she was surprised to see another boat tied up there. Wondering who could be on the play island this early, she tied her own boat next to it and followed the beach until she got to the islet the paopu tree was on. There, leaning against the poupu tree, was Riku. He was looking out at the ocean. Kairi smiled. Well, that explains whose boat is at the dock, she thought. At the thought of Riku though, Kairi bit her lip. She had been wanting to tell Riku something ever since he had told his side of the adventures, but between Sora and the Disney Castle group, she had never found the proper time. Now that there's just us though... Kairi gathered her resolve and picked her way across the beach to the shack that lead to the paopu islet. It wasn't often that it was just she and Riku alone and if she didn't talk to Riku now, Kairi didn't know when she would get another chance.
Kairi was a few yards away from Riku when he spoke. "Hey Kairi," he began. "What are you doing here so early in the morning?" He turned back to look at her and smiled.
Kairi smiled back and hurried over to him. "How did you know it was me?" She raised her eyebrows in anticipation of the answer and took in Riku's worn jeans, battered shoes and zippered black vest. It looked like he had gotten dressed as quickly as she did.
At that, Riku looked away from her and out at the ocean. After a moment, he sighed and looked back at her. "You're so full of light, Kairi. It couldn't be anybody else." He looked back at the ocean.
Kairi looked at the ocean as well and bit her lip. This was harder then she thought it would be. "Riku..." She looked over at him nervously.
"Yeah Kairi?" He turned to meet her eyes.
"I just..." She gulped. "I just want to say thank you." She looked away from him and towards the play island. Yet again, she wondered what made this so difficult.
Riku's forehead wrinkled in puzzlement and he crossed his arms. "What for?"
Kairi turned back to look at him again and swallowed. "For sacrificing so much of yourself to save all of us."
Riku stared at her for a moment before turning away from her so all she could see was his back. "Don't thank me Kairi," he said. He looked back at her. "The only reason why any of that had to happen was because I didn't care about anyone else besides myself the first time around." He looked back at the ocean again. "It would have been better if I'd never wanted to leave Destiny Islands in the first place."
"That's not true!"
Riku turned to face her. "What do you mean by that?" he demanded. "It's because of me that the three of us got caught up in this. If I hadn't let the darkness in, Ansem wouldn't have had a body of his own. If I hadn't wanted to see other worlds none of this would have happened."
Kairi shook her head. "You don't know that, Riku. Maleficent was capturing Princesses of Heart long before you showed up and Ansem could have picked anybody to possess."
"But-"
"And you weren't responsible for the worlds disappearing either." Kairi plowed on. She was finally talking to him and she wasn't going to stop now. "It was those Organization XIII people who let the heartless do that. Besides," Kairi looked into Riku's eyes, "if you think about it, if you hadn't let the darkness into the islands, Sora wouldn't have found out he had the keyblade. Donald and Goofy wouldn't have found him in Traverse Town either." She smiled at him. "You saved us Riku."
Riku shook his head. "No I didn't. Sora did."
"But he wouldn't have been able to be a hero if you hadn't done what you did. And hardly anybody understands that."
"What are you talking about?"
Kairi took a deep breath. This always made her a little angry. "Outside of you, Sora, King Micky, Donald and Goofy nobody knows that you're still holding back Ansem, or that it's because of you Sora was even able to wake up ." Kairi sighed. "I just wanted to thank you because nobody else would have done what you did for me."
Riku met Kairi's eyes. "Do you really think that?" he gulped. "Do you really think nobody else would have gone that far for you?"
Kairi nodded yes and was pulled into a hug by Riku. "Thanks," he whispered.
"For what?"
"For understanding why I went over to the darkness." Riku gulped. "Not even Sora really understands why I did it."
Kairi hugged him back. "Riku, I'll always be here for you to come back to. I promise you that."
"Thank you Kairi." Riku hugged her tighter.
Over Riku's shoulder, Kairi saw the first slice of the sun crest the horizon.
End
AN: This is the first story I have written with romance/fluff in mind at all. I enjoyed writing it because the pairings in KH are very fluid and I could see several of them happening without anyone being OOC.
Thanks for reading!