I don't own anything. If I did I wouldn't be here. Please like/reblog/kudos this story as well over on Tumblr and AO3
A/N: For Kairi Week Day 4! The prompt was about Kairi with the other girls. I really like the idea of Aqua training Kairi to fight and help her with her own issues. Kinda a Part 2 to Her Determination, but you don't need to read the former before reading this one.
She was breathing heavily, her knees and hand to the ground, trying to catch her breath. Her whole body ached with pain. Every muscle begged for her to rest and pass-out right there on the ground. She honestly felt that any moment now she would black out from how tired she was, but, through the corner of her eye she saw a glint from underneath her hand that pulled her away from her weariness. That glint was her weapon, the keyblade.
"Kairi? Are you all right? The last attack took quite a lot to perform," came a voice from above her. "Maybe we should take a rest?"
Kairi looked up and saw blue eyes, matching her own eye-color, stare at her with concern. She nodded and lay down on her back for a moment, catching her breath. Aqua as well sat beside her, offering a drink from a nearby water bottle. Kairi smiled and accepted the gesture. The water felt cool as it passed her throat. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was as well. Aqua smiled at her as she continued to rest, to which the red-head returned to lying on the ground. This is only the second week into their training, and she never felt this determined before.
It wasn't so long ago that they had rescued Aqua from the Realm of Darkness. That was a whole other chapter in their never-ending adventure. Though this time, the three of them (plus Lea), had gone together, it was ultimately Sora and Riku who faced the final dangers alone. Kairi wasn't pleased with that fact. She knew that she shouldn't compare herself to them, since they had more experience in fighting than she did. Riku was after all, the only Keyblade Master in the group, but like hell that would stop her from getting up and fighting. She was weak when they needed her to be strong, and that had to change.
So, when they had all returned to the Mysterious Tower, she knew what the next step was.
"Master Aqua, please take me on as your apprentice," Kairi had bowed when the two women were alone. The blue-haired mage was a taken back by the question, surprised at the formality of it all.
"Kairi, please raise your head," she replied, patting her gently. Aqua's face had a slight blush as she was not use to being addressed in a formal matter. The red-headed girl lifted her eyes, and Aqua slightly shuddered at their expression. They were piercing right to her, like she had mission to fulfill no matter what. Aqua knew that with this kind of genuine determination she would not deny her request to train her.
"Please?" she asked once more. "I want to learn more about magic attacks."
"Okay," Aqua had agreed. She wasn't going to deny this girl the chance to grow. It must have taken a lot of courage to ask her. The first step is always the hardest, and Aqua couldn't turn away someone who came at her earnestly. "We can start tomorrow."
Aqua's teaching was strict and precise. Though Riku and Master Yen Sid had trained Kairi in the basics, they were always a bit easier on her than to Lea when fighting. It probably had to do with her gentle nature, not that she could see why that would be a problem. But if they weren't going to go all out with her she needed a second plan, and thankfully Aqua could fill that goal. Master Yen Sid had often told the trio stories of three Keyblade wielders before them. For some reason, when Kairi met Aqua, she knew that she was the one from the stories who had become a Master while specializing in magical based attacks. Kairi also felt that her own power pointed more in the direction of magic attacks rather than the physical attacks Riku had thought her. Magic based attacks took a lot more energy to perform, yet they could be powerful assets on the battlefield, so every shot had to count. She couldn't waste any more time.
"I'm okay now," Kairi stretched out, getting back on her feet. Fixing her ponytail, she steadied her Keyblade for the next set of instructions, ignoring how tired she still was. "Which move should I practice next?"
The blue-haired mage frowned. Clearly her student needed a much longer break. She wasn't weak, but she also wasn't a super human. But, she had seen the look in her eyes. She would practice until she fell. Aqua sighed. It was good to be eager, it wasn't good to be reckless. She raised her own Keyblade against the red-head, and positioned herself into an attack formation.
"No," she stated, which surprised Kairi. "Right now, I want you to come at me with everything you have learned so far. Don't hold back."
Before Kairi even had a chance to respond, Aqua had come at her with the first attack. The Princess of Heart barely dodged the first attack when she felt her teacher coming in with another one. She always knew that when she trained with Riku he was never using his full force on her. If this was the strength of a Master, then she could only imagine what he was capable of doing. The concept of harsh training was foreign, but she relished that she could have this experience. Little by little, as the fight between them went on, Kairi was getting exasperated with her own lack of skill. The weight of her previous exhausted state was catching up to her and affecting her moves. Still, she couldn't back down.
"Why is it you are fighting?" Aqua asked slightly raising her voice and, not backing down with her attacks. Kairi was barely keeping up. For every one hit that she barely managed to get, Aqua came back with five more hits. Aqua was more agile than her, which only increased her chances of dodging any of the attacks she made. She couldn't even formulate a plan of attack, and it was getting Kairi angrier by the second by how weak she must be.
"Why do you want to fight?" Aqua asked again, giving her student much more forceful hits. She can see her frustration, but if Kairi wasn't honest with herself, she would begin to lose. She has seen this before, with Terra, with Ven, with her own Master. Aqua has also seen this with herself. Though, she has tried to never stray from the path of light, she knows just how easily one can fall into the darkness, no matter how good the intentions were. Even if Kairi's heart in incapable of holding darkness, it doesn't mean that she can't cast it. Pushing Kairi to the limit was the only way she can train her to come to terms with herself. It was crude and rough, not at all her usual style, but at this point Aqua would do anything to see that Kairi didn't make the mistakes she and her friends did. "Tell me!"
CLANK!
Both wielders locked blades with each other. Cleary, Aqua was dominating over Kairi. However, she held her own ground, not giving up and probably using the last of her already diminishing strength to hold on.
"I DON'T WANT TO GET LEFT BEHIND AGAIN!," she yelled, the tears she was holding back flooding through her eyes, not stopping no matter how much she wants to. She was breathing heavily again. Kairi didn't want to say anymore, but she felt the words slip out before she even had the chance to think about it. "Always, always Riku and Sora go off to fight, and I'm left waiting for them. They come back hurt each time. I don't want to wait anymore. I need to be stronger to save them."
"Is that your resolve," Aqua asked, lowering her weapon on Kairi, who had her knees to the ground with her head down, Keyblade at the side to her. Aqua's eyes showed a brief sadness to them, as if she was remembering something painful. "To fight for your friends? To prove your strength? Is that the power which you seek in your heart?"
Her resolve? Was that what she was struggling for? Kairi wanted to get stronger, but for whom? She thought about Riku and Sora. She loves them both, yet so much they have suffered and she was only able to sit idly by for most of it. Riku was saved by Sora when he needed them the most. Sora had almost fallen into the darkness and while Riku saved him, Kairi was safe on the beach at Destiny Islands. She can't have that happen anymore. It took a lot of courage for her to sit still and wait, but she didn't have any left. She was scared. Frightened at the thought that her two best friends were going to fight who knows what and have the possibility of them getting hurt while she was waiting. Her lucky charm can only do so much to protect them. If she couldn't defend them, then who would? The thought that Riku and Sora could fall at any time while she was waiting for them to come back terrified her than any other nightmare she had.
That's it. She was scared, a fact she never admitted until now. The reason she is fighting so hard is because she is afraid. She was fighting by herself, when she should be with her friends.
She doesn't need to be stronger than them, or as them. All Kairi wanted, was to be with them. Surely if the three of them were together, good things would come. Their friendship, their bonds, mean everything to her. "No," she whispered, as she got up again, raising her keyblade and looked Aqua directly in the eyes. The anger she felt a moment ago had resided, and replaced with a newfound thought. "I don't want to fight for them. I want to fight with them. I can't be the only one being protected."
"So, what is your final resolution?" Aqua asked once more, accepting her previous answer. She didn't bother raising her own weapon against her this time.
Kairi had once told Sora to never change, but she knew that it was impossible to do so. Maybe it wasn't by choice, but he had change, for the better. Now, it was her turn. She gripped her Keyblade, and in one smooth motion, swung it across her ponytail, cutting her hair till it only reached the top of her ears. Aqua reacted for moment unsure if she should intervene, but smiled when she saw her apprentice let her cut hair go in the wind. Kairi knew that her hair was probably uneven, but she has been meaning to get a pixie cut. She smiled with a renewed energy as she ran her fingers to her now shorter hairstyle.
"My name is Kairi, a Princess of Heart, one of the Seven Guardians of Light, and an apprentice to Master Aqua. My resolve is to fight alongside my friends. Together."