Author's Note:
First of all, yeah, this is a Christmas fic in September. But, more importantly, it's my friend's becksterRES's birthday, soooooo that merits a...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Stupid FFN won't let the underline and all the exclamation points come through, but just pretend okay? XD
It's been so awesome knowing you becky, so for your sweet sixteen I wrote you a SoKai Christmas fic with lots of Riku sprinkled in as well as the Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion gang. And Santa. Of course Santa. :D I really hope you like this and yes, this is what I was editing/scribbling away on. Holy cow, I never expected this to reach 4K, but all the more for you! After all, four squared is sixteen. ;)
I admit, I won't lie, I had to rush the last five hundred words or so because I am a lazy procrastinator and I was searching for the right ending... and school. So I have excuses enough. :P
Anyway, again, have a great rest of your birthday and party and all that jazz. I only wish I'd thought to include Aimless-shipping. (The rest of you people ignore this reference.)
Hasta luego,
Scribbs
Dear Diary:
It never snows on the islands, but it doesn't mean I'm any less excited for the holidays. That goes for Riku and Sora too! Riku went to Radiant Garden yesterday to help Leon with some stuff (annual party with the Restoration Committee - and snow!) but before he left Riku told Sora about something and Sora rushed off... Oh boy. Riku probably pranked Sora into doing something.
Well I'm not worrying about that today. It's Christmas!
Kairi ran through the decidedly un-snowy streets of her hometown, a wrapped box under her arm. The sun beat down on anything and everything, its heat undiminished even though it was winter. Although living on a chain of islands in the summer was a pretty sweet deal, the almost unchanging weather got boring... frequently.
But to one of a lucky three who could take a trip to another world from time to time, Destiny Island's weather patterns never bothered Kairi. After all, pretty soon she'd probably be refereeing a snowball fight between Riku and Sora.
Those two... Kairi smiled wryly as she jogged down the street, headed to a certain brunet's home. Good thing Riku went on ahead or they'd be practicing with their Keyblades already. Kairi slowed to a stop and took a moment to catch her breath, smelling cookies even from where she stood. The redhead grinned as she walked inside, planning on taking one or ten and eating them too.
"Hello," Kairi said brightly to Sora's baking mother.
"Oh hello dear," the older woman said absently, taking a sheet of freshly baked cookies out of the oven. "Sora's upstairs asleep still if you'd go wake him up."
"Yes ma'am," Kairi giggled. She dropped her present on a table and ran upstairs. "Sora!" She opened his unlocked door. The brown-haired lazy bum she was after lay spread-eagled on his bed, half on it, half off it. Kairi made a face as Sora snored. "Sora wake up, you lazy bum." She leaned over him, hands behind her back and a playful smile on her lips.
"Gimme a break, Kai," Sora groaned, opening sky-blue eyes just a crack. "I stayed up all night doing that monster essay..."
Monster essay? What essay? "...Did Riku tell you about that?" Kairi inquired.
"Yeah, and I got all three thousand words done. Funny though how our teacher would pick a topic like paopu fruit..." Sora replied, closing his eyes. Kairi started laughing.
"Oh Sora." She shook her head with a grin as he looked confused. "Riku one-upped you again."
"What?" Sora complained. "Oh you're kidding me..."
Kairi giggled and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear as she leaned down to give him a kiss. "Oh well. Anyway... It's Christmas! You're not allowed to sleep in," Kairi chided, grabbing his hand and tugging. The brown-haired Keyblade wielder groaned again and gave into Kairi's tugging, promptly falling completely onto the floor.
"I'll be downstairs!" she said brightly, heading to the stairs. "I left your present down there too... Oh, and your mom's baking cookies."
"Wait! Present! For me?" Sora yelled after his girlfriend, getting another laugh for an answer as she escaped - probably to go socialize with his mother. The brunet grabbed his clothes with one final groan and tripped into them. "Kai!"
Sora rushed downstairs, just in time to watch one of the most embarrassing events of his lifetime: his mother showing Kairi pictures of Sora's first Christmas. The red-haired teen's head bent over one of a chubby baby Sora with brown fuzz on his head. Sora slapped his forehead and Kairi cooed over the onesie in the picture.
"Mom," Sora complained. He wrapped an arm around Kairi's waist and covered her eyes. "Those are horrible. Not cool, Mom."
His mother laughed and took the photos back. "Whatever you say, sweetheart, I just thought Kairi might like to look at these." She drifted off to put the album away and keep an eye on her baking.
"We should get going, Leon and the others are expecting us. Riku went there yesterday, remember?" Kairi looked up at Sora.
Sora nodded then grimaced as his mother interrupted them, worry in her voice.
"Who's Leon? You two aren't getting into any trouble, are you? Is Riku alright?"
"Leon's a friend, Riku's perfectly fine, and no, we're safely out of trouble." Kairi sweat dropped.
"Are you sure, now? I don't remember anyone named Leon..." his mother pressed, looking at them from the kitchen. Kairi felt a bit uneasy, fiddling with her fingers a bit.
"He's... a new kid... at school!" Sora fumbled a bit, giving his mom a guilty smile. "Really um... small and scrawny... talks a lot but he mumbles..."
Kairi was having a hard time holding back her giggles. The thought of Leon, always strong and silent, as an undersized, scrawny, talkative kid clashed too much to not be hilarious.
"And Riku... went over to his house and stayed the night to help him set up for this big Christmas party!" Sora finished. "He lives five islands over so it's quite the distance..."
"Oh. That's alright then. Would you like to take some cookies along?" Her worries allayed, Sora's mother turned friendly again.
"Yes," Kairi butted in emphatically. "Yes we would." The redhead accepted a box of cookies and grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "We should get going anyway, it's a loooong trip to Leon's house. After all, he is five islands over." She shot a playful look at Sora as she stood up, picking up his present and stacking it on top of the cookie box. "Bye!"
Sora grinned as he hurriedly grabbed his present and ran out the door, following his girlfriend. "Bye Mom!"
"Sora, sweetie, home before midnight!" his mother called after the teens. With a small sigh and smile the woman returned to her now burning cookies. "...Oh. Oh dear..."
Sora shut the door. Kairi fit the cookie box into her bag, which also held her Radiant Garden weather-appropriate change of clothes, and let Sora's present dangle by the ribbon from her fingers. The brunet grinned and kissed her, then put the redhead on his back and jogged to the play-island. Kairi wrapped her arms around Sora's neck and put her head on his shoulder, wearing a bright smile.
"Excited?" Sora asked with a grin, keeping up a steady pace through the sand.
Kairi nodded, keeping her grip on his present. Sora's sky-blue eyes focused on it, and she knew he was dying on the inside of curiosity. "Curious?" the redhead teased, swinging the box by its ribbon. She laughed as his eyes followed the box's swinging back and forth, back and forth...
"Yeah, what'd you get me?" Sora asked with a coaxing smile, putting her down as they got near to where they stashed the Highwind. Kairi grinned, not answering as she placed her bag and present to the side. The redhead walked towards the large rock sealing the cavern where mushrooms grew and their gummi-ship was stored.
Unfortunately she didn't see Sora sneaking up behind her to tickle her.
Kairi screamed with laughter and tried to get away from Sora's tickling hands. "No, Sora!" she shrieked. "It's a surprise!"
Sora pouted. "Fine..." He stopped tickling her and gave her another kiss. Kairi returned the kiss, panting a bit. Sora pulled away and started to push the rock out of the way, with Kairi's help. The rock thumped to the ground heavily, raising a small cloud of dust, and Sora gallantly opened the door of the gummi-ship for her.
"Thank you," Kairi said with a smile, taking a seat. Sora immediately sat down before the wheel with an excited grin; Kairi suddenly wished hard that Riku were there to drive. Half-expecting her friend to pop out of nowhere she waited for a moment but then sighed. Sora looked back at her with an innocently curious expression.
"Oh boy," Kairi mumbled, buckling her seatbelt and hanging on tightly to the seat.
"Hey!" Sora pouted.
"Just drive, Sora."
Riku's breath created a cloud in the air as he trudged through the snow. Radiant Garden was beautiful even in the winter. The silver-haired boy paused for a minute, and looked around to make sure he was alone. Then, carefully, he stuck his tongue out to catch a snowflake.
It's cold. Riku trudged through the heavy snow that blanketed Radiant Garden. He'd just come from helping Leon cut down a Christmas tree, but then Tifa had asked for help catching someone's runaway dog. Riku had lost his jacket in the process to a tree that was probably as cold as he was.
The silver-haired teen shivered lightly, headed towards the warmth of Merlin's house where the rest of the Restoration Committee was gathered. Thankfully he'd left his coat there. As it was barely noon Sora and Kairi probably wouldn't have gotten to Radiant Garden yet, so he had time to relax or maybe even train with Cloud, Yuffie, Tifa, Leon...
Riku sank into his thoughts as he walked into Merlin's house and retrieved his coat. The Keyblade wielder shrugged it on around his cold shoulders, then barely dodged a familiar falling evergreen.
"That's the third time," a bored voice noted. Riku looked around with a sweat drop and noticed two familiar figures standing by where the tree must have been before it fell. A blue-haired man holding a book; a redhead on top of a ladder holding a string of tinsel.
Isa and Lea.
Lea must have been trying to decorate the tree... but why did it fall over? The silver-haired male's eyes quickly caught sight of an unscrewed tree stand. Riku shook his head. "You guys want some help?" he offered, walking over to the stand and patiently screwing the tree in place. Isa turned a page in his book and Lea looked determined.
"I got this. Got it memorized?" Lea replied, tapping his temple with a grin. The long rope of tinsel caught on one of the legs of Lea's very tall ladder and threw the redhead off balance, making him plummet off into the arms of Leon who was in the right place at the right time with a long-suffering expression.
"Sure you do." Riku grinned, letting the three sort it out, with Leon and Isa keeping an eye on Lea's antics. He went back outside, shielding his eyes from the sudden, blinding whiteness of all the snow, and started walking through the snow again. A sudden shadow passed over the ground, and Riku looked up, summoning his Keyblade out of habit.
A familiar red gummi-ship: the Highwind.
Riku grinned, his eyes following the Highwind until it was out of sight behind a reconstructed tower. He dismissed his winged blade and ran to meet his friends.
A familiar brunet and redhead jumped down from the crimson-colored ship, straight into a snow drift. Kairi stretched, wearing a pink coat that clashed magnificently with Sora's red and black thick jacket. Kairi giggled, making a few ruts in the fluffy white piles.
"This is great!" she exclaimed, holding Sora's hand.
"Hey Riku!" the brunet yelled. He stuck his arm in the air and waved wildly. Riku privately thought his friend looked like an excited idiot, but then again, that was Sora for you.
"Hey." Riku knocked Sora's head playfully. "Put your arm down, you look like an idiot."
Sora's jaw dropped. He let go of Kairi before tackling Riku into the snow. "I did not!" the chocolate-haired male exclaimed. Riku easily flipped Sora and got him in a headlock.
"Guys!" Kairi tugged them apart. Sora shot a look at Riku which was returned with a cool lift of a silver eyebrow. "It's Christmas, play nice," she scolded jokingly.
"...Too bad there isn't a paopu tree here." Riku was suddenly wearing a smirk. Sora turned redder than the setting sun along with Kairi.
"Shut up!"
Riku dropped it with a knowing grin. "Anything happen when you guys flew over?"
"Sora nearly crashed us into meteors. Not once, not twice... Four times."
Sora sweatdropped. "...Where'd you learn to drive a gummi-ship anyway?"
Riku slapped his forehead. "You idiot." He pushed Sora's head again. Sora lost his balance and fell over into a pile of snow. Kairi giggled as she offered him a hand; Riku unmercifully outright laughed at Sora.
"Hey..." Sora whined. "Stop laughing, I'm still learning."
"I'm driving home," Riku replied. He folded his arms, not going to take no for an answer on that.
"Okay, okay." Kairi grinned, holding something behind her back as she walked backwards, away from the two males. "Meanwhile..."
Riku narrowed his eyes, wondering what Kairi had in mind.
"What'cha got there, Kai?" Sora asked, trying to see. He got hit in the face with a cold ball of snow.
"Kairi one, Sora zero," Riku laughed, scooping up some snow and quickly hitting Sora in the back of the head.
"Hey! No teams! That's not fair!" Sora yelled as Riku went over to Kairi. The brunet formed his own snowball and just barely missed Riku, too much of a nice guy to hit Kairi.
"Missed me," Riku taunted, throwing more snowballs with Kairi. Sora batted them away with his Keyblade, causing Riku to summon Way to Dawn as well.
"Oh boy," Kairi giggled, clearing a low wall of snow and sitting down. "Alright... Three! Two! One! Go!"
Riku and Sora jumped at each other, clashing in the middle of their makeshift battlefield with a loud clang. Kairi leaned back, watching the sparks fly as she idly started to form another snowball in her hands. By the time Riku had bested Sora (again) Kairi's snowball was as half as high as she was. Of course, this sparked another competition.
"Hey Riku. I bet I can build a bigger snowball than you!"
"You wish."
Kairi sat on her snowball and laughed some more at her friends' competition. Soon enough Riku and Sora were racing down the hill to the Gorge with giant snowballs almost as big as them, Kairi jogging after them to play referee.
The inevitable happened: Sora tripped, plunging headfirst into his snowball, and it rolled of its own accord, getting bigger and bigger. Riku abandoned his snowball and chased Sora.
"Sora!" Kairi shouted, summoning her Keyblade and casting a Fire spell. The snowball seemed to have a will of its own, however, as it soared into the air after a rolling off a small ramp. The Firaga spell missed it by a few feet and splashed harmlessly onto a cliff face. Riku jumped and dug his Keyblade into the snow, only to be sucked into it like Sora had been. Kairi discarded her cumbersome coat, running up to the snowball - and running right past it.
The redhead wheeled around and lifted Destiny's Embrace, holding it in a block position and facing the rolling snowball head-on. It crashed into her, but Kairi managed to hold her stance. The packed snow impacted with the blade and broke apart, causing her silver- and brown-haired friends to fly out of their cold prison. Sora was thrown right into Kairi, knocking her over onto the ground as the flakes of the now broken snowball floated down gently over them.
Kairi turned pink with Sora on top of her and Riku nearby. Said Keyblade wielder was smirking like no tomorrow, and began digging through his pockets for something. The redhead lost all focus on whatever her friend was doing as she felt Sora's surprisingly warm (in this weather anyway) lips cover hers for a moment.
Sora pulled back from kissing Kairi when something light and soft collided with his head, thrown by a still smirking Riku.
Sora's mouth fell open at the yellow star-shaped fruit lying on the snow by them. Riku began laughing, leaning against a nearby tree with a hand over his turquoise eyes. Kairi blushed as red as Lea's hair.
"You said you wanted one, right?" Riku taunted.
Kairi's mouth was open a bit too, unable to speak from her flustered embarrassment. Riku leaned back again, laughing still.
"Riku," a deep voice called. Leon looked at the three with a perfect neutral expression, sharp blue eyes noting Riku laughing, the paopu fruit, coatless Kairi, and Sora on top of Kairi on his hands and knees.
Kairi's face was fiery red by this time. Sora blushed lightly as well and got up, draping his jacket around Kairi's shoulders as he noticed her coat was missing. Riku stopped laughing and stood straight, taking his weight off the tree.
"Yuffie needs help with bringing something in from Cid's garage," Leon said coolly, walking off.
"I'll see you later guys," Riku said, stretching. With his weight off the tree, a load of snow dislodged on him. Sora began laughing at his friend.
"That's what you get!"
Riku brushed snow off himself and rolled his eyes at Sora before walking off.
"Hey Sora..." Kairi looked thoughtful. Sora wrapped an arm around her waist and started walking to go pick up her abandoned coat. The brunet mumbled something that sounded like 'I won anyway'.
"Why did Riku have a paopu fruit with him anyway?"
Sora's mouth fell open. "You don't think...?" he asked as he took his jacket back and put Kairi's coat on her.
Kairi grinned. "I think there's something we need to ask him later."
Sora laughed. "Looks like there's something Riku needs to tell us!" He returned Kairi's grin as he took her hand, intertwining their fingers a bit.
"Alright, alright... but first." Kairi started towards Uncle Scrooge's ice-cream emporium. "I haven't had sea-salt ice-cream in a while."
"It's the middle of winter, Kai..."
"So?"
The setting sun turned the snow a light shade of orangey-red. Sora and Kairi watched the sunset, sharing cuddles, ice-cream and laughs while sitting on a low wall in the Square. It hadn't stopped snowing yet; Kairi was predicting a blizzard that would lock them in later.
"Huey, Dewey and Louie looked good," the redhead commented, head nestled on Sora's shoulder. The brunet had an arm wrapped around her waist, an ice-cream stick stuck in his mouth.
"Yeah," Sora agreed, "They're really happy setting up an item business together. I remember their shop back in Traverse Town."
Kairi smiled. Shadows started to take over the snow as the sun dipped below the horizon, but the two islanders didn't move, completely comfortable there with each other.
"We should probably get to the party," Kairi mumbled, trying to hide a shiver.
"Let's go," Sora replied, standing up. He grinned. "Running'll make you warm up fast."
"Are you challenging me to a race?" Kairi asked with a return grin equally mischievous.
"Maybe," he laughed. Kairi bolted off towards Merlin's house without any warning. "H-hey! Kai!" he yelled, running after her. "Not fair! You're just like Riku today!"
Kairi giggled over her shoulder at him, quickly starting to get hot indeed. The redhaired Princess of Light had reached a weak jog by the time she ended up before Merlin's door, panting a bit. Sora arrived right next to her in a matter of seconds, seeming fine.
"...I still beat you here," Kairi claimed, stealing a kiss before she quickly went inside. Sora laughed as he followed.
Merlin's house had been redecorated for the holiday. Lea's pride and joy, the completed evergreen tree, stood tall in the middle of the room. Kairi looked at it in a kind of wonder: the tree sparkled like something straight from Kingdom Hearts with lights and ornaments. She shrugged her coat off and hung it up before she kicked her boots off. Sora brushed the snow out of her hair, having already taken off his winter clothes.
Kairi smiled as she walked toward the tree. Sora, a person easily amazed, started talking to Leon.
"Wow! This is so cool! You guys put a lot of work into this huh?"
Kairi reached out to touch the tree but was stopped by the only other redhead in the room.
"Do not knock that baby over, Princess," Lea warned, leaning on a wall with his arms folded. Kairi smirked, causing Lea to point a finger at her. "Got it memorized?"
"Sure, I got it memorized." Kairi grinned before looking around in a bit of awe. "This is amazing, did you do it all yourself?"
"Yeah I did," Lea replied proudly, thinking she was talking about the tree. After all, it was his tree, and his tree deserved some praise and recognition. Isa snorted from a seat in the corner, still reading a book. Kairi smirked again, holding back her laughter.
"...What?"
"Nothing, Lea." Kairi chuckled. Isa returned to his reading and both redheads parted ways to enjoy the party; Lea to the food, Kairi to chat with Aerith and Tifa.
Riku hung out in the background, a steaming mug of hot cocoa in his hands. The silver-haired Keyblade wielder took sips now and then, preferring to sit and watch until someone drew him into conversation. As the night went on, people began to trickle out - Isa first, apparently needing sleep for something, and Lea following after because of a date he had to style his spikes for. Riku personally thought that Lea's hair was spiky enough, but to each his own.
Riku eyed the slowly diminishing but once large pile of presents. Said presents, in Riku's logical mind, only disproved Santa more. Sora had to be joking or delusional when he said he saw Santa, really. All too clearly, other people buy presents for their friends or family, and just pretend to be some guy in red named Santa Claus. And who had a name like Santa anyway?
Riku shook his head. Some people, he thought.
The Restoration Committee stayed the longest, their chatter with Sora and Kairi dying down to a low buzz of conversation. Riku made idle comments here and there, but when Kairi and Sora began to yawn, he deemed it time to head back to Destiny Islands.
"Thanks guys," Sora said, standing up with Kairi and his signature goofy grin.
Kairi smiled, fighting off another yawn. "Yeah, this was great."
"See you next year," Riku finished casually, walking to the door. His friends followed slowly.
"Bye everyone!"
"See you later."
"Buh-bye!"
"Next year!"
The three islanders waved before Kairi shut the door and they headed towards the Highwind. Sora and Riku glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing: who won the somewhat disastrous snowball competition.
"I won."
"No, I won. You didn't even finish your snowball."
"You lost control of yours and I had to go save you. Again."
"Hey, I saved you-"
"Guys," Kairi interrupted, "I saved the both of you."
Riku blinked. Sora opened his mouth then closed it.
"...Good point," both boys conceded. Sora jumped into the Highwind and made a beeline for the driver's seat. Riku promptly shoved him aside and took his place calmly. Kairi laughed at her friends' antics as Sora sat next to her with a frown.
"Waaaait!" The three looked out the window at a running Tifa, who was waving three boxes wrapped in silvery paper.
"Didn't we get all ours...?" Kairi mumbled, raising an auburn brow. Sora looked dumbfounded but shrugged.
"Well... Maybe we forgot something. Hey Tifa!" Sora greeted with his ever-present smile.
Riku opened the door. "Those for us?" he asked, holding his arms out. More people pretending to be Santa... he grumbled mentally. Tifa nodded, not out of breath at all as she handed a red wrapped box to Sora, a pink box to Kairi, and a box covered in green paper to Riku.
"We found these by the chimney, thought you forgot them," Tifa reported before she quickly went back to Merlin's to get out of the cold night air and snow.
Riku raised a brow at the tag on his present.
To: Riku
Don't dismiss things so easily - especially on Christmas! Ho ho ho!
Santa Claus