Meteor Showers

Sora leaned his head back against the sand and listened to the sounds of the waves running up against the beach of Destiny Islands. The hypnotic rhythms of the sea had always had a calming effect on him, ever since he was a child. The waters rolled in and out in that same familiar motion they had always used, lulling him further and further into his sense of serenity. This was true and perfect peace, the likes of which he hadn't felt since before he had first received the Keyblade, almost two years ago now.

He opened his eyes without shifting his position, staring up into the night sky of the Islands. The stars looked back down at him, silent watchers in the infinite reaches of the heavens. It was funny, he thought. Even though he had spent so long among them, the stars would always remain something of a mystery to him. He would always keep his sense of childlike wonder when he looked up into the starry skies, just as they would never lose their breathtaking beauty.

As he lay there watching the sky, a white object streaked across the sky and he smiled. A shooting star. He had almost forgotten how beautiful something as simple as that could be. Of course it wasn't an actual star, but that didn't make it any less a thing of beauty.

Shooting star…

What did that remind him of?

He couldn't think of just what it reminded him of, but for some reason the thought of the shooting star gave him the strangest sense of happiness. He wasn't sure why, but there was just something about it.

He relaxed his head once more, closing his eyes and letting the peaceful blackness of sleep overtake him…

*Flashback*

Sora opened his eyes slowly, looking around his darkened room and trying to figure out what had woken him. Nothing seemed out of place in his room, and the small boy simply shrugged, rolling over to go back to sleep. But then, he saw it again. A brief flash of white light, too quick and too small to be lightning, shone in through his window.

In less than a second the child was out of bed, his face pressed against the window as he hunted for the source of the mystery light. For a few moments, there was nothing; just the silence of nighttime and the stillness of the Islands.

And then, there it was!

A quick streak through the sky, and then it was gone. But it had definitely been there.

"A falling star?" Sora whispered to himself.

And then, as he stared out the window in amazement, there was another. And another. And another! As the child watched, more and more of the streaks filled the night, until the sky was ablaze with the lights of the falling stars.

It was a meteor shower!

All speech failed him as he stared out of his window, mouth hanging open in awe of the sight. He had never even seen a single falling star before, let alone a meteor shower! The white streaks continued to fly across the night, each one burning out just as quickly as it had appeared. And yet there was no sound. It was amazing how something so chaotic, something so stunning, could be so completely silent. Sora watched them fall for what seemed like hours…

And then, they were gone.

Just as quickly as they had come, the lights faded from view, and the miraculous display was over.

Sora remained in his spot at the window for a very long time, his eyes shining with the usual wonder of a child at what he had just witnessed. A huge smile was plastered across his face. "Wow." Was all he could think to say as he finally turned around and made his way back to his bed. Crawling back underneath the covers, he couldn't help but think that he wasn't even tired anymore. After all, after seeing something like that, how could anybody sleep? He silently reached into the drawer beside his bed, pulled out his favorite storybook and a flashlight, and clicked the light on as he dove under the covers.

***

The next morning, Sora was excitedly bounding up and down on the kitchen floor as he related the story of last nights' spectacle to his mother. She grinned at the excitement of her son, vainly trying to sit him down at the table as she prepared his waffles.

"And then they were everywhere!" Sora was saying, his voice getting even higher. "There were falling stars all over the place, you should have seen it!!"

His mother laughed, watching as he tried to imitate the way they had been falling with his hands, throwing in a 'whoosh' sound effect just for good measure.

"Well, it sounds like somebody had themselves a full night." She said, finally succeeding in guiding her son to the table and placing his breakfast in front of him once he sat down. "Now eat your breakfast, you'll need the energy if you're going to play with Riku later today. Is that what you want?"

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed, picking up a fork and digging into his waffles.

"Oh, that reminds me." Sora's mother began as she turned and started fixing up a waffle for herself. "I went over to see the mayor early this morning. He says that a little girl is staying with them now. She's about your age, I think. Maybe you and Riku should go and say hi sometime."

Sora mumbled something around his breakfast, and she had the distinct impression that he hadn't heard a word she had said. She sighed to herself, smiling and shaking her head. Boys.

"Alright champ, looks like you're done. Be careful okay?"

"Alrightillbecarefulbyemom!" Sora yelled out as he scampered out the door.

His mother laughed, watching him go. He sure didn't have that much energy on the mornings when he had to go to school.

***

Sora carefully lined up the stone with the oceans horizon, his tongue stuck out in concentration as he tried to find that perfect angle. His arm moved back slowly and deliberately, and the boy stayed completely rooted to the spot.

And………………now!

The stone sailed through the air, flying across the beach and towards the ocean. It hit the water and bounced once, twice, three times!

"Yes!" Sora jumped into the air, giving himself a congratulatory 'whoo!'

"Hey, that was really neat!"

He shut his mouth as a strange voice came from behind him. It sounded like a…girl! At first he thought it was Selphie, and he turned around to tell her to go away and play with her jump rope, but once he had made an about-face he completely froze. It definitely wasn't Selphie that had called out to him.

The girl in front of him now wore a small white shirt, complete with a purple skirt and matching shoes. Bright blue eyes were framed by dark red hair, which stopped just short of reaching her shoulders, and a small gold medallion hung from her neck. She looked to be about his age, and she regarded him with curiosity as he tried not to make it too obvious that he was staring.

"Hi!" she said with a grin.

"Uh…hi." He sheepishly replied.

The girl laughed. "You're funny. What's your name?"

"Er…" he had to think about that for a second, trying to clear his mind. "…I'm Sora." He finally said.

"My name's Kairi." The girl replied. He continued to stare at her. "What are you looking at?"

"What? Oh-uh, nothing. Nothing!" Sora panicked, his face reddening as he tried to change the subject. "Uh, I like your dre-no, I mean I really like blue eyes-no! I mean, uh, I mean…your hair looks pretty." He finished lamely.

Kairi laughed again, this time a little louder. "Thank you, you're really nice." She smiled, and Sora felt his face turn just a little redder.

"So..uh…where are you from?" Sora asked.

"Well, um..." Kairi looked down and studied her toes. "I don't really remember."

"You don't know where you're from?"

"No..." the girl replied. "The last thing I can remember I woke up here, and then the mayor found me."

"Well maybe you'll remember soon." was all Sora said, flashing his usual encouraging smile. For a moment, Kairi didn't know what to say. Usually people would give her strange looks when she said that she didn't remember where she came from. But this boy was different. It didn't seem to bother him...

"So you just got here?" Sora continued, shaking her out of her thoughts.

"Yep!" Kairi answered, brightening up. "I just got here last night."

"Hey, that's the same night as the meteor shower!" Sora exclaimed.

"Oh, you saw it too?" Kairi grinned. "Wasn't it pretty?"

"Yeah, it was great! I've never seen one before."

"Me neither!" Kairi's grin got even bigger as the two of them began talking about the meteor shower. They went on for several minutes, their excitement building as they each took turns telling what it looked like from where they saw it. Sora repeated the same gesture he had used when telling the story to his mother, and Kairi laughed as he tried to imitate the meteor shower. Eventually their excitement died down, and they shared an awkward silence, trying to think of something to talk about next.

"So…" Kairi began. "What were you doing earlier?"

"Oh, that? I was just skipping rocks. It's fun!" Sora replied, getting down on his knees and searching through the sand. Eventually he found a rock that suited his needs. "Here, you try." He said, handing the rock to Kairi.

Kairi stepped past him, and haphazardly flung the rock out to the ocean. It hit the water with a plunk and sank out of sight. Sora stifled a laugh and Kairi crossed her arms, giving a dissatisfied 'humph'.

"Hey," she said, turning back to Sora. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Sure!" Sora grinned, and instantly got to work looking for more good skipping rocks.

The rest of the morning was spent with teaching Kairi the proper way to skip a rock. Sora showed her how to hold her arms, how to throw the rock, and what kind of rocks to throw. At first she didn't think she would ever get the hang of it, but eventually, with Sora's encouragement, she began to catch on. Finally, she managed to skip the rock four times, and she gave a holler of triumph while Sora's jaw dropped. Three had been his record.

"Lucky." He said, picking up his own rock and giving it a toss. It gave a single, feeble skip across the surface, and was gone. Kairi laughed uncontrollably at Sora's look of utter humiliation, and he shot her a glare in reply. However, as she continued to laugh his glare softened, and pretty soon he was holding back a smile. Before long the two of them were on the ground, laughing so hard that their sides started to ache. Their laughter eventually subsided, and they lay there on the sand, looking up at the clouds.

"That...that was really funny..." Kairi gasped, trying to catch her breath. "I can barely breathe!"

"I know…me neither." Sora's chest heaved up and down, but his smile never faded. "What do you wanna do next?"

"Oh!" Kairi exclaimed, leaping to her feet. "I need to get back to the house! They're probably wondering where I am!"

Sora clambered to his feet. "Do you have to go right now?"

Kairi nodded. "The mayor's wife promised to take me to get some new clothes today. Will I see you later?" She asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'll come by sometime!" Sora said.

"Okay, good." Kairi's face suddenly became extremely red. Sora was about to ask her what was wrong, when she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek. Before he could even say anything, her face flushed bright red and she ran in the opposite direction.

Sora stood there for several minutes, holding a hand up to his face and watching her run off. His face was also bright red, but a small smile was steadily growing. He finally turned and ran back in the direction of his house. He couldn't wait to see Kairi again.

*End Flashback*

Sora's eyes slowly slid open as he awoke from his dream. The night sky was still the exact same. He hadn't been asleep for very long. Funny. He thought. It felt like I was out for a long time. And then he remembered the dream.

That's right… he thought to himself. I'd completely forgotten about that day… Now he remembered why he liked shooting stars and meteor showers so much. They made him happy because they reminded him of her. He slowly made his way to his feet, brushing the sand off of his clothes. He looked up into the sky, closing his eyes and smiling with the rediscovered memory.

"Hey, you." A voice called out from behind him. He turned in surprise and saw Kairi standing there, smiling at him. "Thought I'd find you out here."

"Am I that predictable?" He grinned back. She only laughed in response.

"So, what were you thinking about out here?" She finally asked.

"Do you remember the day we first met?" He asked. Kairi seemed surprised for a moment, but then she nodded.

"You mean the day I beat you at skipping rocks?" She replied with a taunting grin. "Yeah, I remember that. I think it was actually right here…"

"Well actually it was over there." Sora said, pointing a little ways down the beach. "And…" his face turned a little red. "Skipping rocks isn't the only thing I remember about that day."

"Oh…" Kairi started to blush a little bit as well. "Well, um…what else do you remember?"

Suddenly Sora was right in front of her, and she felt his arms embracing her. "I remember meeting one of the best friends I ever had." Sora whispered.

He pulled back just enough to look at Kairi. Both of their faces were turning several shades of red now, but neither of them made any effort to pull away. Sora tried to find something to say, but nothing was coming to mind. Instead, he noticed that their heads were beginning to move closer together.

"Kairi, I…" He faltered, unable to think of anything to say to her. Words just didn't seem like enough. Their faces were dangerously close now…

"I know." Was all Kairi said, and their lips touched. The kiss was electrifying, and yet he felt every muscle in his body go limp from the contact. As quickly as they had come together, their lips pulled apart, the two of them blushing furiously.

"That…I…" Sora really wished it was possible to kick yourself. He just couldn't find any words! He felt a little better when he noticed that Kairi seemed to be in the same position as he was.

A flash of light caught their attention, and the two of them turned just in time to see another shooting star as it flared briefly in the night sky and was gone.

They turned back to face each other again, both of them smiling this time. Their faces drifted together once more, and Sora wrapped his arms around Kairi as their kiss deepened. They remained that way for a very long time, completely oblivious to everything else around them.

For once, no words were necessary.

Thank God for meteor showers. They each thought.

The End