Me Too

Story 1

"We-we're back!" He exclaimed with a grin.

She smiled and held out her hand, "You're home." He took her hand with the lucky charm she had given him, the only thing separating his wet hand from hers.

Home. That place that always seemed so far away. He was home. He had been as far away as he possibly could from this beloved island and now he was finally back. A shiver shot up his spine from the excitement and anticipation, or from the fact a gorgeous red head was gripping his hand tightly.

How long has it been? Almost two years. Two years of lost friendships. Two years of blood sweat and tears. Two years of worry and sadness. Two years of new friends. Two years of being homeless.

Two years.

It seemed almost unreal, but he knew it was real from the moment he and Riku crashed into the crystal waters of Destiny Islands. The fact that there was sand in his shoes and he was completely wet only enhanced that belief. He stood up to face Kairi, and she just grinned happily and embraced him. The familiar feeling he got when he was around her, shot through his body again and he embraced her back until a familiar quacking voice interrupted it.

"Don't forget about us!" He shouted.

"How could we?" Riku said genially.

Kairi beamed. "We should go back to the main island, I'm sure your parents are wondering what had happened to you." She hugged Riku who stood there stiffly.

Sora grinned and shook himself like a dog, sending water over everybody. Kairi yelped and giggled when the water hit her. Sora laughed and stepped out of the water, Goofy, Donald and King Mickey close behind him. "Let's go home!" He shouted and threw his arms up in the air.

"Don't forget about me." Riku said placidly.

"Darn, and I was so close too!" Sora retorted, grinning.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"We'll see how easily you forget me when I beat you to the dock!" Riku challenged.

"You're on!" They both stood side-by-side, ready to start running. "On your mark, get se-hey! Cheater!" Sora yelled after Riku who had taken off early.

"Are they usually like this?" Goofy asked Kairi.

"You have no idea."

"They are acting like little kids!" Donald observed.

"I think it's nice to finally see them happy and having fun. Riku is a kid at heart, no matter what face he puts on." Mickey said. The others nodded.

"Cheaters never lose!" Riku yelled over his shoulder at Sora, who was about ten yards behind him.

"Oh yeah! I'll show you!" He shouted, sprinting after him.

"Do you two ever quit?" Kairi yelled.

"Nope!" Came the simultaneous reply.

"Good grief." Kairi slapped her forehead with a dainty hand.

"Thou shalt rue the day thou challengedth me!" Sora shouted.

"I don't think so!" Riku replied, getting too confident and running backwards. He didn't see the large piece of driftwood he was headed straight towards. Sora grinned and kicked on the high speed when Riku tripped and fell, landing on his back. Sore kept running straight to Riku and with a mighty leap, sailed clear over Riku and landed on the other side of him and then ran the few more feet to the dock.

"Nah!" Sora stuck out his tongue. "Cheaters never win!" He yelled at Riku.

"If you want to keep that tongue, you had better out it back in your mouth." Riku said darkly as he slowly approached Sora. Sora immediately put his tongue safely back in his mouth.

"Those two…" Kairi shook her head. "But you gotta love 'em." She waved at Sora who had been motioning her over.

"Let's go!" She said to the others and took off towards the dock. Kairi beat the others easily. "Chalk one up for the red head!" She punched the air.

Sora high-fived her, "Great job!"

"It's not like it was that hard." Riku pointed out.

"Yeah!" Donald panted, "It's hard to run with these feet." He held up a large, webbed foot.

"My point exactly." Riku said placidly.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Donald asked with ferocity

Riku shrugged. "I'm just saying that you are easier to beat because you have big feet."

"Well, it's not like it's his fault." Goofy said.

"Actually it is. Have you seen Sora's feet? And he beat me!" Riku teased.

"My feet aren't that big." Sora whined, looking at his sandy, wet shoes.

"Well! We should get to the main island now shouldn't we?" Mickey changed the subject. Sora mouthed a silent 'thank you' to him.

"Yeah but one problem, there's only two boats." Sora commented.

"So?" Said King Mickey.

"So, there's six of us, and these are two person boats." Riku retorted as if they should have known. Goofy, Mickey and Donald all looked at him like he should say something more.

"Do the math." He mumbled. Goofy started counting on his fingers.

"Two of us will have to stay behind."

"Good observation, Sherlock." Riku grouched. "Sora and Kairi are going to stay behind." He decided with a grin.

"What? Why us?" Kairi protested.

"Actually, I don't mind waiting." Sora said agreeably.

"Well, because Sora wants to stay behind, Goofy will have to row the other boat because Donald can't do it and I will have a boat with King Mickey because I don't get along with Donald." He stepped into one of the boats and untied it. Mickey followed suit. Goofy and Donald got into the other boat.

"Oh." Then she thought for a moment. Couldn't she and King Mickey just switch places? "Hey wait, couldn't-"

Riku rowed as fast as he could and was about twenty yards away now. "What?" He pretended like he couldn't hear her. "I can't hear you!" Then he rowed off Goofy paddling awkwardly after him. Kairi and Sora sat on the dock and watched them leave.

They were alone.

Sora looked over at Kairi and admired her cherry locks and perfect, blue eyes. They had a tint of violet hue if you looked really hard, which was what he was doing. He stared at the perfect form of her body and the way she parted her lips slightly when she was thinking. Kairi turned to him and he looked away quickly but she had saw him staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

"What?" Sora copied.

"Why were you looking at me?"

"I wasn't looking at you. I was…" He started to blush and fumble his words. "Looking at a sea gull." He finished weakly. She looked at him blankly then muttered an okay.

Sora stood up and started to walk away from her. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"To the Secret Place. I want to see how much this place has changed." He said without looking back.

The Secret Place.

For some reason, she felt the urge to scream her love to him but held it back. She felt the urge to tell him to look at her again, to admire her. She was constantly watching him but was better at hiding it. After all this time, he was still the same, goofy boy she had grown up with. Nothing could change that boy, not even the most horrible things. Muscles had formed on his arms and he was much stronger, that wasn't the change she was talking about. The kind of change that turns your life upside down and makes everybody act different. That didn't happen to him, or Riku for that matter. They were exactly the same. She sighed and watched him enter the cave and disappear.

Hopefully, he'll see the paupu fruit drawing. Hopefully, he'll know how see truly feels. Hopefully, he'll feel the same.

Hopefully.

Sora ran a hand over the cool rock of the cave and looked over the many drawings from his child hood. He traced a finger over the giant, blob monster that he and Riku had drawn in an attempt to scare Kairi. Then he examined the Blitz ball drawings made by Tidus and Wakka. Finally, he saw what he was looking for, the drawing of his and Kairi's heads. They had drawn each other when they were little and it was easy to determine who the better artist was. The drawing was different now, someone had drawn an arm extending from the Kairi head to the Sora head holding a star. He kneeled to get a better look.

A paupu fruit.

Just as he had drawn one to Kairi, she had drawn one back. Tears slipped silently down his face and dropped to the ground, leaving small dark dots on the dirt. He ran a hand over the drawing as if to make sure it was real, and it was. He glanced back at the entrance of the cave, half expecting Kairi to be standing there. She wasn't so he started towards the exit and with a final glance back at the drawing, he walked out.

Kairi was still on the dock, swinging her legs off the edge and letting the ocean water slop up her legs. Sora took off at a run, the tears falling freely. He stopped at the dock and stared at her quivering body. She turned and looked up at him, crystalline drops streaming down her face. One looks at his face told her all she needed to know, he had saw the drawing. She jumped up and ran into his arms, sobbing. He cried into her hair and wrapped his arms tightly around her as she buried her face into his chest.

"I missed you so much." She sobbed.

"Shhh. It's alright. I'm here now. I missed you too." He stroked her auburn hair.

"It's finally you. You're finally here with me and it's not a dream. It's real." She hiccupped. "It's real." She whispered and buried her face deeper into his chest.

Sora was half tempted to ask if she had been dreaming about him but banished the thought. A feeling of completeness enveloped his whole body and soul. He wanted to stand here on this dock with her forever. Just holding her and letting the sea breeze blow over them.

Kairi stopped crying and wiped the tears from her face. "Don't ever leave me, alright?"

Sora smiled, "Of course not."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He ensured.

"What if-"

"I won't leave you." He told her. She frowned and Sora leaned his forehead against hers. "I promise. I won't leave you." Tears came to Kairi's eyes again.

"But how do I know that Sora? How do I know that you won't just disapp-" She was cut off by Sora's lips on hers. Startled she almost pushed away but then realized what was going on and kissed him back.

Kairi broke the kiss and smiled at him. Sora slowly opened his eyes and gazed at the deep blue, slightly violet eyes. Then she let out a tiny squeak and held onto Sora tightly. Confused Sora looked down and saw they were about ten feet off the ground. Chuckling he softly landed on the ground and tapped Kairi on the shoulder.

"We're back on the ground."

She pulled away from him and looked at her feet as if to make sure. Then she looked up at him again. "How'd you do that?"

"I didn't mean to. It happened, accidentally." He shrugged. Kairi looked at him in disbelief.

They heard someone clearing their throat and looked around to see Riku floating along side of the dock, a huge smirk plastered on his face. "Are you two finished? There are people waiting to see you on the main island." He laughed.

Sora and Kairi blushed and got in the boat. Riku rowed the other boat her had brought along with him out to the ocean. Sora rowed after him, and they got into a race. Riku won naturally and pumped a fist in the air.

"Not fair! I had Kairi with me in the boat."

"Nope! I won fair and square." Riku ignored Sora's protests of a rematch. Then laughing he walked off.

"Sora." Kairi said quietly.

"Mm-hm?"

"I love you."

"Huh?" He must be going crazy his hearing isn't working right. Did she just say she loved him? "You love me?"

"Yes."

Sora managed to clear his head. "I love you too." He mumbled.

Kairi took his hand. "I have always loved you." She confessed.

Sora smiled and kissed her forehead. "Me too."