Everything Kairi Wants
Inspired by the song He's Everything You Want by 3 Doors Down. Hope you enjoy!
Kairi looked out at the ocean as she kicked her feet back and forth from her perch on the paupu fruit tree. It was the spot she had sat with Riku and Sora before they had left the island to find her when they were kids with big plans to build a raft to get off the islands and into the greater world.
They had found her and saved her, both of them, together.
Yet, they still weren't here with her where they should be. She was returned to her world as a Princess of Light, she had to stay in the Realm of Light.
She sighed with a sad frown as she stared down at her reflection in the blue waves beneath her gently swinging feet. It had been a while now and they still hadn't returned like they promised.
She was starting to miss them like she never had before when they had been apart. She didn't know just how much she cared about them.
"Sora… Where are you?" she looked out across the distant waves where the horizon of the water merged with the sky. "Riku…"
She felt something in her chest clench and her hand immediately went over her heart. She glanced down with wide azure eyes.
"What is this I'm feeling? Is it my love for them? Is it heartbreak?" she whispered to herself as the voices of the other children drifted on the wind to her. She didn't want Selphie to bother her again with how she was feeling with them gone. She just wanted to be alone.
Wait, no she didn't. She wanted her best friends back.
She stood up and decided to go where Selphie would never go. The secret place she and Sora used to explore before when they were really little. She looked to her left and right before running over to the hidden spot, pushing aside the ferns and tall grass before pushing her way through into the small dark space behind them.
It was cool and quiet here. She sighed with relief and idly looked around the space she hadn't visited in what seemed like forever. The little rock drawings instantly caught her wandering eyes and she giggled to herself at the sight of the crudely drawn faces of her and Sora.
She knelt down in front of it and tilted her head to the side, her now shoulder length red hair sweeping into her eyes. She brushed it behind her ear and looked at the drawing closer, not able to believe what she was seeing. Sora had drawn himself sharing a star shaped paupu fruit with her, their faces smiling.
She rubbed her head. Obviously he wanted their destinies to be intertwined, but did she?
She didn't really know. People had talked about them together, always Sora and Kairi, even their parents would smile that special smile whenever she talked about what she and Sora had done on the island and the other children would give the same look when they saw them together. But did she really feel that way?
She never realized he might feel that way about her. Was that why he was always competing with Riku? Was he trying to impress her? Then what about Riku? Was he also trying to impress her or was he helping Sora get her attention when he won or lost? She didn't get it at all.
Kairi stood up from her crouched position and dusted her knees off and patting the dirt from her pink dress and white lacy dress underneath. As she wiggled free of her childhood hang spot she kicked the dirt with her shoes and remembered all the times they both had taken care of her on their little adventures. Whenever she had a scraped knee or a bad scratch, they had been there for her.
She frowned as she continued on her way back to the beach, tears misting her eyes. She missed them so much. Her eyes scanned the pale sands and remembered when they would run down the beach in races she started knowing she wouldn't finish. She saw the docks where they would talk and laugh at nothing in particular, just to laugh and enjoy each other's company. They had shared so many great times on this island away from the main island. But what was it all? To them? To her?
She sighed and wrapped her slender arms around her middle, afraid she was being brought to tears over her two lost friends who may never come back. She may never see them again. The mere thought of not seeing Sora's goofy grin or Riku's reliable green eyes made the first of the tears fall down her rosy cheeks. She huddled under the dock and watched the small waves lap at the soles of her new sneakers. She couldn't bear not having them here with her like they had been the day she had first come to their world. They had always been there to put her back together when she used to get worried like this about her home world and her family and friends there.
Why hadn't they been brought back on the sands to the Destiny Islands like she was? Why was she ripped away from them again? It was seeming to look like everyone she could have cared about and longed for was ripped out of her grasp. The Greater World just didn't seem to like her that much.
But what if it was because of her? What if she was emotionally pushing them away from her with her own wants and desires? Did that make sense? What if she wanted someone more than anything that she couldn't have them? What if she just couldn't decide so she was forced to move on? If so, then she had been pushed from her old life, from her parents and family, to Sora and Riku. Would she be forced onto someone else now that they were gone too? Why wasn't she just the one to be taken from the Islands, why did they have to leave their birth home?
She wished they had said more to her before they left. If not when they were on the island then when they were being ripped apart. She had poured out her heart to them about their friendship and always being together, no matter how far apart they were.
Was that enough for her?
Was she being too needy with them? They had wanted to get out and see other worlds besides their own after all, she only wished she wasn't bound for the Realm of Light in that department.
She planted her chin on her crossed arms over her pulled up knees. Life just wasn't fair, it didn't give her enough options. She wasn't even sure if she could have gone with them by raft to the other worlds since she was bound in light. She imagined that not all worlds were of pure light.
She could only sit back and wait and watch what happened. All the time. She was left on the sidelines.
She brushed the next wave of tears away and started at the sight of Selphie running up to her along the stretch of sand.
"Kairi! Kairi! It's time to head back, tomorrow we start school again, remember? Our moms wanted us back before dinner. Let's go!" she beckoned her friend over, jumping up and down with a bright smile on her face.
Kairi nodded and pushed herself to her feet, brushing herself free of the clingy grains of sand and tucking her hair back behind her ears.
"Okay, coming!" she called back, breaking into a run, her arms still slightly raised like the way she used to run when she was little. She had gotten faster though, although she wasn't a fast as Riku had been. Nobody was. She smiled fondly as an image of Sora's disappointed face as he came short of Riku every time they raced.
"What's so funny?" Selphie asked as Kairi ran beside her up the ramp and to the dock where their boat was tied.
"Just remembering the look of Sora's face after Riku beat him in their races is all." Kairi answered softly.
"You miss him, don't you?" Selphie said knowingly.
Kairi blushed. She didn't have to ask Selphie which one she meant because it didn't matter. She knew her answer anyway no matter who was addressed in the asked question. She nodded. "I miss them both Selphie."
The next day Kairi looked around the new school doubtfully. She didn't like the idea of starting the next level of schooling without her two best friends. She had Selphie but she didn't want just her girl friend, she wanted her guy friends too, her actual best friends.
She clutched her books tighter to her chest and hung her head low as she forced herself past the entrance into the hallway and towards her locker. She found the combination card and clicked open the lock. As she was placing her new books carefully in the small rectangular space, one of the corners caught and the thin blue book sprawled on the floor, its word filled white pages open to the harsh lights above.
"Let me help you with that." A voice said to her side.
She jerked to see the voices owner, it was a smiling boy about Riku's age or older. He had spiked silver hair to his shoulders.
"Riku…" she stopped as he leaned back up and offered her the book with a warm and friendly smile. It wasn't Riku. This boy had ocean blue eyes like hers. And Sora's.
"Did you say something?" he said as Kairi blushed and retrieved the book from his out stretched hand.
She shook her head and shoved the book inside the locker, closing the metal door and resetting the dial lock. "I didn't say anything." She giggled in embarrassment. She was feeling a mix of emotions and she wasn't sure why. Was it the silver hair, or the blue eyes? Who did she miss more?
"Alright, I guess I'll see ya around." He waved as he continued down the hall.
Kairi hurried to the cafeteria and just stared at the pale gray surface of the round table. Why was she alone? Did she make them made because she disappeared? Was it because she hadn't shared a paupu fruit with them? Did both of them want that with her? What if they didn't but with the talk around the Islands they assumed she did and they were angry for her trying to tear them apart? She couldn't think straight anymore.
Her head jolted up as a thought came across her mind.
It was obvious Sora did, he had sent that message when he had drawn that addition to the cave drawing in their hidden place where she would have clearly seen it. So she must be the one that had shut him out being oblivious to his attraction to her.
She had just never thought of either of them that way and now they weren't coming back because of her.
Or did she?
She thought back to all the times she had been hurt on their adventures. Riku had cared her bridal style back to the boats and straight home to be washed up. He was always there for both of them and always there for her when they weren't on their island. He was her closest best friend. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before and now she felt so stupid for not realizing it sooner.
Riku was always there, he was the one who told them about the legend of the paupu fruit and he was the one who offered the plan for building the raft so they could bring Kairi back to her home world and give them the adventure of their lives.
He was everything she wanted in a guy and more. He was everything she needed and he was always telling her the right thing that would make her smile and laugh like no one else could.
But now he was gone and she didn't know how to get him back into her life. She didn't know why she was suddenly feeling this way, perhaps it was all the drama of them being gone. But the feeling was real.
She placed her hands over her heart and could have sworn she felt two pulses beating there and smiled to herself. It might have just been her imagination but she knew that Riku was her everything and that one day he would return to her. She would wait because she had to. She would just sit tight and watch it all unwind. He was probably living his dream right now and off on some grand adventure discovering the other worlds. She only wanted to ask…
"Please come home to me Riku, you're everything I want."
He was everything she wanted, and she knew she was everything he needed at that moment. She would be his light to come back to and she would always be waiting for him.
I'm not entirely happy with it but I hoped it was good enough. Please review and tell me what you think, I'd greatly appreciate it ^^