Destinies Intertwined

A paopu fruit. Sora glared at the dreaded object, staring at it from every angle as it sat on his kitchen table. The fifteen-year old brunette had been through armies of Heartless and Nobodies, but nothing could prepare him for this. Nothing scared him more than this either. How did Riku expect him to do this, anyway? "Duh, hey Kairi, you wanna share a paopu and get stuck with me your entire life?" Why would she want that, anyway? He wasn't the greatest company, especially with the responsibility he had, what with the Keyblade and all. So then, why had she drawn the rest of that picture in the secret cave?

He closed his eyes and imagined the drawing on the walls. His picture didn't come anywhere close to doing her justice, just a crudely hand-carving of her face, scribbled mainly. She could draw, though. He looked way better on the wall than he did in reality. Sora ran a hand through his messy hair nervously. His hair at least looked better. He remembered when he had drawn himself handing her a paopu fruit. What was I thinking? he asked himself. The answer: he wasn't. He had just acted on impulse, instinct. He sighed. Good going, Sora.

But she had, sometime while he had been on his second adventure, drawn herself giving him another paopu. Did this mean... she agreed? No, no, that couldn't be it. Could it? Maybe she thought it was something else... Nah. What else could it be? Kairi wasn't stupid; she definitely knew what it was and what she had drawn. Now... how to bring up the subject to her.

"Just go right out and say it," Riku's voice echoed in his head. "Ask her, then see what she says. You said she drew the picture, it's obvious she wants to." If only it were that simple... Just because she agreed, didn't mean he could suddenly pop up and shove it in her face at random. "Ugh... Being me is hard..."

"Maybe if you stopped rolling in self-pity and grew some balls, it wouldn't be so tough."

Sora jumped about three feet in the air out of his seat. He turned around to see his best friend leaning against the door frame. "Riku!" He put a hand to his chest. "Don't scare me like that! I almost had a heart attack!"

"Well, that wouldn't be any good, taking into consideration the other hearts inside you. I wonder if it would affect them all..."

"It probably does, meaning you shouldn't go around scaring the life outta me!"

The silver-haired boy ignored him as he sat next on the chair next to him. "Hmm... when did Mickey say he'd help us with that little heart thing, again?"

"In a month or so- Wait! Don't change the subject!"

Riku shrugged. "Okay. Go share a paopu with Kairi."

Sora's glare changed to a jaw drop. "Hey! That's not what I meant!"

The older boy rolled his eyes. "You're avoiding it, now."

"N-No! But-"

"Come on, Sora! It is so damn obvious that she likes you! And it's your job to do something about it."

Sora sighed. "...What do I do?"

"Haven't I answered this question already?"

"Well, yeah, but I mean... How do I act? I'm afraid I'll just stutter, or I'll do something stupid like fall on my face, or she'll say she changed her mind during the year, or-"

Riku rolled his eyes again and smacked Sora in the back of the head. A little too hard, he thought, as the brunette's head slammed against the table. He had to suppress a chuckle, though, as Sora rubbed both the front and back of his head at the same time.

"Oww! What was that for?"

"To get some sense knocked into you. Kairi likes you for the bumbling idiot you already are. No need to change that. You'll be fine."

Sora thought about it for a moment. "...Thanks, Riku. I guess I needed that. But next time, not so hard!"

This time he did laugh. Sora felt a grin on his face too. "Fine. Now I've got to talk to Kairi with a bump on my head."

"Here," Riku said, giving him a potion. "Now get lost, loverboy."

The brunette rubbed the potion on his forehead, wincing at the sting, then sighed as the pain disappeared. "Thanks, again, Riku. Even though you gave me the bruise."

"Anytime. I'll be glad to do it again."

Ignoring him, Sora got up and headed for the door. "Sora!" He turned and quickly caught the paopu fruit flying at him. He looked up and saw Riku grin at him. "Good luck!" He grinned back, nodded, and left.

Kairi sat on the paopu tree, watching the sunset, thinking about a certain gravity-defying, brown-haired boy. Has he seen the drawing yet? What does he think? Have his feelings changed in the past year? I know his body has... Maybe I got the drawing wrong... Maybe I shouldn't have added to it. I probably just ruined our friendship! No, no! That's not true... Sora would still hang out with me... right? She sighed.

"Thinking about something?" Sora's voice cut through her thoughts, and she turned around a bit, seeing him standing at the end of the wooden bridge. He grinned at her and walked up to the tree, jumping over it and landing on the other side. He put his hands behind his head in his signature pose, leaning against the tree.

"Y-Yeah," Kairi finally responded.

"What about?"

"...You."

Sora lifted an eyebrow, a smirk on his face. "And why, pray tell, were you thinking about me?"

She felt her cheeks heat up. "Umm... ya know... With you saving the worlds and all... I'm just a little worried."

His face fell, but he quickly replaced it with a grin. "Heh, yeah..."

"So where've you been?"

"At my house."

"...Doing what?"

"Having an argument with a paopu fruit."

She blinked, confused. "Wait, what?"

"I mean..." He pulled the paopu out of his back pocket and held it out to her. "You wanna share one?"

"W-With you?" she stuttered.

"Yeah... I figured it'd work better than a picture, anyway."

So he had seen it! And he wanted to share one! With her, of all people! "U-Uh... sure!" I hope I didn't sound too enthusiastic...

"Really? I mean, great!" Sora broke the fruit in half and handed her one.

"At the same time, right?" Kairi asked, the paopu in front of her mouth.

"Right."

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three!" they both cried, then ate up the paopu fruit. Immediately their faces broke into wide grins.

"Mmm..." Sora sighed.

"Yummy," Kairi giggled.

"So now our destinies are intertwined! We're connected forever, Kai!" He jumped up to sit on the tree next to her.

"Yeah, forever..."

He thought over his next words before saying, "Why did you agree to eat it with me, anyway? I mean, there are tons of other guys..." He trailed off, looking down. "Way better than me," he muttered.

Kairi shook her head. "Nah, no one could be better than you, Sora."

He felt his face warm up. "T-Thanks..."

"...And to answer your question, it's because-"

"Kai, before you finish, I want to tell you something."

The girl looked at him expectantly. "Yeah, Sora?"

The sudden burst of courage he had had a second ago disappeared as he stared at her beautiful ocean-blue eyes. "Beautiful..." he mumbled.

"Huh?"

Sora blinked. "Oh, uh, heh, I meant... you're eyes. T-They're beautiful."

"U-Uhm, thanks, Sora. Yours are too."

His face darkened its already red color. "T-Thanks..." They remained in silence for a bit as the sun fell on the water. All of a sudden, Sora turned back to her. "Kairi."

"Hmm?" She looked at him.

Please don't kill me for this! He didn't speak, only rested his hand on her cheek. He felt her lean into his palm and grinned. Sora scooted a bit closer and wrapped his other arm around her waist. Her eyes closed and a small smile was planted on her face. Here goes nothin'. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Woah...

Kairi's eyes shot open as Sora kissed her. Is he really...? Oh mah pah, he is! Finally! She kissed him back, moving her lips against his as her arms moved up to his neck and into his messy locks of hair. Sora moaned a little as she ran her fingers through his hair, indicating he enjoyed it. He pressed closer, letting go of her cheek to wrap both arms around her waist. He wanted her to be closer, so he brought her on his lap. She happily obliged, never breaking the kiss.

Sora was so gentle and kind, seeming a bit tentative to do anything for fear of hurting her. She was so soft and fragile, he didn't want to break her. So he was slow but patient, thoroughly enjoying the kiss to the fullest. When at last the need for air became too great, he pulled back a little. Once they had gotten their breath back, he grinned and rubbed her nose with his, keeping his face only a centimeter away from hers. She shivered as she felt his breath on her lips. Sora held her chin in his hand and turned her head to the side, starting to kiss her cheek down to her neck. Kairi melted into him as he continued down her neck, unable to hold back a whimper when he kissed her weak spot. He smirked and kissed her there again, happy to hear her moan in satisfaction.

"You like that?" he mumbled against her skin. She shivered again and nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I love you, Sora," she whispered, barely audible. He heard every word as clearly as if she had been yelling, though. Sora chuckled and kissed her weak spot, getting another moan in response.

"I love you too, Kai." His mouth found her lips again, and they stayed there in that position for a minute or so, oblivious to the silver-haired boy behind them, taking pictures from every angle.

"Heh, good going you too," he muttered. "But as proud as I am, I'm still getting blackmail."

(A/N: Happy Memorial Day all you people of the wide wide world! ^^ Hope you enjoyed! I'm trying to be more fluffy... How'd I do? R+R!)