Monsoons were a regular thing for the Destiny Islands. The storms rolled in around what would normally be winter, and left before summer. Sora and Riku were lucky enough to come back home right around the time they rolled in.

It was one of those rainy days when Kairi had decided to visit Selphie. She was walking home after a nice few hours with her friend, hair braided in a few places and shoes splashing in a happy beat among the water that was already about an inch deep. Kairi bobbed her head to an unknown tune, and hummed lightly along with it. She then paused a bit "Hmm, I wonder what Sora and Riku would think of a welcome home party..." She trailed off in surprise.

Standing there, head tilted to the sky, was Sora. His eyes were closed in bliss, ignorant to the droplets landing on him and the wet, sticky air of the tropical storm. His hair was less spiked than it usually was, being wet and all, with bits of it plastered to his face. Kairi suddenly realized he seemed to be relishing the storm. His whole figure was limp, unlike the stiff stature he'd constantly had since their adventures, yet he still stood tall. The stiffness was actually still there, just very, very subtle in the way he rigidly held his limbs. Occasionally his fingers twitched, then stilled again.

Kairi scrunched her features in confusion; no, no, this was... It was serenity and Sora's old laid back nature mixed oddly with the other him that had formed over the year. The scared, battered, shaken, and traumatized Sora that was so often skillfully covered. Then again Kairi could always see as plain as day that something had broken inside of Sora, and often spent an afternoon wondering why no one else could see it.

She finally got the nerve to speak "S-Sora?"

Sora's head tilted slightly. His eyebrows raised. He then opened an eye and glanced over, then smiled and resumed his posture "Oh, hey Kairi."

Kairi shook her head and laughed at his candid reply "You realize it's raining, right?"

Sora nodded "Yup." He inhaled the moist, earthy scent in the air "Great, isn't it?"

Kairi shook her head and rolled her eyes "Sora, you're gonna get sick."

Sora shrugged. He then said "Well, I mean, if I do get sick it's well spent, right?" He opened his eyes "You just don't realize what you miss until you don't have it." He held up his hand "Even the little things we hate like rain." His face suddenly screwed up with suppressed laughter "And showers."

"Showers?" Kairi giggled "Oh come on, tell me there was at least a bathtub on all your interstellar adventures."

"Nope." Sora stated simply with a silly but honest grin "We cleaned ourselves and our clothes up in whatever bodies of water we could find and that was it."

"Eww!" Kairi grimaced, but she couldn't help but smile at how Sora said it.

Sora laughed. Genuine and honest laughter that had been absent from his vocabulary recently "Mom said the same thing..." He lowered his gaze to a particularly deep puddle a few feet away, his wet spikes drooping like wilted flowers "Well, actually after I got out of my first shower yesterday-"

"First shower?" Kairi asked him "Hold on back up a bit there what do you mean by FIRST shower?!"

Sora shrugged and folded his arms in defense "Well I dunno about you but swimming and some deodorant was a good enough clean for me."

"No wonder you've had a funny smell recently." Kairi teased. Although she did take a mental note that while Sora didn't have the cleanest habits he at least knew how to mask it very well.

Sora gave her a small glare, then resumed "Okay, yeah, mom wasn't keen on me smelling bad either and told me to take a shower. When I got out about ten minutes later she asked me if I really did anything and I replied 'Well I got water on me and that's enough!' and..." He held a hand to his forehead, laughing again "Oh gosh she just gave me this look and walked over, then ran her hand through my hair and gave me a quick sniff and then began dragging me back into the bathroom!"

"She didn't!" Kairi gasped in mock awe.

"She did!" Sora nodded "She began undressing me and scolding me, saying 'I will not have a stinky hobo son even if it means I have to clean him myself!' Then she turned the shower back on and shoved me back in!"

Kairi let the thought sink in a moment, then began blushing "Oh gosh you were... She really-"

"Yeah she completely stripped me and began cleaning me up like I was a toddler again." Sora said with a small smirk to try and make Kairi's awkwardness a little more bearable. He shook his head and sighed "Gosh you don't know a thing about embarrassing until you experience that." Although from the way he said it he wasn't very embarrassed. More amused than anything, really.

Kairi laughed. She then realized she'd been sitting there without letting Sora seek shelter "Oh! S-Sora do you-"

"I'm good." He waved at her "If I wanted an umbrella I would've brought one out." He resumed his slumped and relaxed posture as he turned his head to the sky once more "I came out just to enjoy the rain."

Kairi walked over "You sure-"

"Yeah." Sora replied, and Kairi stopped her advance. He then looked at her properly for the first time since their encounter began. Kairi didn't like the somber look in his eyes. He then asked "Who did the braids? They look nice on you."

Kairi shrugged "Oh, Selphie did. I was... I was coming back from her house."

Sora shrugged a little back "Eh, to be honest I think she's gotten a bit lost."

Kairi looked offended "Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, I think Selphie's lost herself." Sora stated again, his humor gone.

"Selphie is just fine thank you very much!" Kairi snapped at him.

Sora winced. He tensed up, his fists balling and trembling, but then he eased up with a listless sigh. "I'm sorry." He said in a barely audible breath.

"Sorry indeed you just insulted my friend!" Kairi yelled at him "The only friend I had while you and Riku we're running around on all your crazy adventures!" She suddenly felt herself choking up "The only friend I had while you two abandoned me."

Sora winced again. Kairi felt her stomach sink with guilt when he said "I wouldn't exactly put that year in such a positive light..." His fists balled up again and they were so tight they were violently trembling.

Kairi closed her eyes and huddled with her back to the wind as the rain swelled a bit, then said "Oh come on Tidus and Wakka would pay an arm and a leg for what you got-"

"NO THEY WOULDN'T!" Sora suddenly yelled.

His eyes were wide and shattered. His body trembled. His fists were shaking so badly he might as well have been swinging them at Kairi. He then lifted them up to his head. "No, no..." He mumbled. He then began rocking back and forth "Come on, you know what to do... You know what your therapist said. Breathe... Breathe..."

Kairi looked away, guilty "T-that was uncalled for... I'm sorry."

"No, you're fine." Sora sighed "I just... I was uncalled for. I'm the one who should be sorry." He rubbed his temples a bit "Just..."

He sighed and swiped at the air with his hand "Do not glorify what happened to us. Do not glorify nearly succumbing to evil. Do not glorify having to fight for your life daily. Do not glorify days of endless worry for your..." Sora slightly hesitated "friend. Do not glorify running around with the burden of the whole universe and way too many lives to count on your shoulders. Do not glorify the burden of betrayal of the people you were trying to protect."

Kairi bit her lip "I'm sorry."

"Quit saying that." Sora quipped "Don't try and amend a nonexistent crime."

Kairi shuffled her feet in the rainwater. Thunder boomed. Droplets left ripples in her reflection. "You... Mentioned you had a therapist..." She said after awhile.

"...Yeah..." Sora said with hesitation again "Mom 'n dad got worried, and, well, it took a few sessions for them to earn my trust on the matter, but I came out to them about what had gone on." He closed his eyes "I'm glad they believed me."

"A Keyblade is pretty convincing evidence." Kairi agreed.

Sora summoned the blade, holding it out at arms length completely parallel to the ground. He was looking at it with familiarity, contempt, uncertainty "Some days I just look at this thing and wonder if it was just a dream." He dismissed it with a disgusted sigh "What good does it do when you're not adventuring anyways?" He then looked at the water at their feet again for a few moments. He observed all the puddles and ripples, heard all the noises, felt the heartbeat of the world.

"My therapist says I've got something called PTSD..." He whispered after awhile "Says that I've been struggling to readjust to pedestrian life because of it." Kairi felt her heart break in two at his loss finally rearing its ugly head in his expression "Says that it might never leave and I might never adjust and that I might never get back to the way I was before." His expression crumpled and he bowed his head, starting to shake.

Kairi finally walked completely over to him, sharing her umbrella-space with him and wrapping a hand around his shoulders "Oh Sora..."

"I just... I just don't want these memories! I don't want these burdens!" Sora's voice cracked under the pressure being released; it was hard to tell if he was crying "It was great while it was happening, it was great being the hero, it was great while nothing registered, but I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night thinking I'm almost dead or not even bothering to sleep! I don't want to feel like I'm a ghost of what I was here!" He gripped his head "All of it is crashing into me now! I nearly died so many times! I have scars and skills a kid my age shouldn't have! I should be bragging about my skills with a sport or grades in a class, not the amount of blood on my hands!" As he looked up to the sky, he croaked out a laugh "It's all crashing into me and I can't stop it... I can't stop it..."

There was nothing but the rain's spattering on the soaked ground and thunder rumbling and Sora quietly gasping for air for at least a minute.

"You could've told me and Riku about this, Sora." Kairi said as she wrapped herself a little more firmly around him.

Sora shrugged a little as his hands lowered "I dunno this feels like... Like something you shouldn't've been troubled with."

Kairi then started walking, bringing Sora along with her back to her house "You know what, you can tell me everything over a mug of hot coca."

Sora was crying (or maybe the wasn't, it was still hard to tell in the rain when he as already sopping wet) but he smiled meekly "That sounds nice... I guess."

Kairi smiled, then picked up the pace "We can have Riku over. We can sort this all out over hot chocolate." Kairi then grinned wide "In fact I think my mom can make it with white chocolate straws and marshmallows!"

Sora shook his head and laughed "That sounds nice, too."

Kairi then leaned her head against his "Good. It sounds like you need nice."

Oh look another "Sora has some serious PTSD" fic.