disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, and if I did, you'd know, because it'd be filled with nothing but shameless Kairiku fluff.
Aubade
.poem celebrating the coming of dawn.
They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.
The cyan waves broke upon the damp sand noisily, shooting spray further up the beach, before pulling back into the depths of the sea. Dusk had spread a blanket of navy across the sky, all evidence of the waning afternoon sun long lost in the dark obscurity of late evening. Stars dusted the sky, the tiny shimmering specks reflecting dimly in the choppy oceanic mirror below. Two people sat silently on the smooth, velveteen shoreline, their eyes tracing patterns in the star sprinkled sky above.
One was laying languorously at the waters' edge, the foamy surf lapping gently at his bare feet. Somewhere to his right sat the other, legs pulled up to her chest protectively as the sea breeze whipped around her auburn locks. Sitting up slowly, Riku shook his head vigorously, as small, tan sand particles shot out of his long, silver hair. From behind him, Kairi laughed, a small, tinkling giggle, poorly hidden by her hand.
Giving an innocent smile, she twittered, "You sort of look like a dog, Riku…" Here she trailed off, apparently still amused with her observation.
Her comment eliciting a small scowl from Riku, he turned his head slightly, chancing a glance at the girl behind him. Alight with the glow of the moon, she looked almost angelic, Riku thought, as the sharp words he'd been readying dropped dead on his tongue. Shaking his head lightly, he turned his attention back to the seascape, his eyes staring into the dark vista.
The darkness…somehow, it wasn't so daunting anymore, it was…a part of him (If the world is made of light and darkness... We'll be the darkness). But Kairi…there was no darkness in her heart, just light, light that he'd shunned, and he's sorry, oh so sorry, but he'd hurt her--he'd hurt them--and there was nothing he could do to forget about it. It wouldn't be right to forget about it, because it was all a part of him, a part of them, and nothing he did could ever change that.
And he was tainted, and maybe he really should've stayed in the darkness, because he was really no good, no good for Sora, definitely no good for her, but… And suddenly, he felt her sit down beside him, and the feather-light pressure of her hand resting tentatively on his knee.
"Riku…?" she ventured, the sound of worry in her melodious voice jarring him away from his self-deprecating thoughts.
Dipping his head to the right, Riku hadn't even realized she'd continued speaking, as he was swiftly distracted by her endlessly azure eyes, and the sublime way the stars twinkled in them. Her eyes shone of something else as well…maybe confusion? Kairi rolled her eyes before giving him a short nudge in the side.
"…Are you even listening to me?" she chided, a playful smirk now dominating her features.
Briefly biting his dry bottom lip, Riku shrugged, putting up his usual unaffected front. "Yeah," he recovered coolly, averting his gaze from hers, lest he become preoccupied again…
He could hear her exhale slowly, and felt her gently ball the material from his pants in her hand. "Riku," she half-whispered, voice worried and slightly tired, "please, look at me…"
Riku turned his head to the side obediently, and as soon as he did, he was rendered unable to look away. Initially taken aback by the amount of worry and compassion and…and love in her eyes, currently being directed at him, Riku inwardly scolded himself. It wasn't there for him, merely for his memory, for the Riku she used to know. Nothing was the same between them anymore; their conversations, the time spent together, just the two of them…it was all oddly foreign to them. Now it was just Sora and Kairi, and Riku…he no longer fit into the equation. And he knew he should have seen it coming when that letter in the bottle was addressed to Sora and not the both of them (it was so meaningful, and he just couldn't stop the sorrowful pang of his heart when he saw his name was missing), or back when her pure, unsullied heart had sought refuge with Sora and not himself (that really should've tipped him off). But he'd refused to see the writing--or the drawings--on the Secret Place wall.
A wry smile tugging at her lips, but never reaching her eyes, Kairi continued. "Are you alr- …What're you thinking about, Riku?" she remedied, her emotive eyes still bearing into his aquamarine ones.
Her eyes were still screaming out to him, and even though he knew that he just had to be wrong--he always read into things too much--he still felt the butterflies invading his chest, and the faint heat that unwillingly rushed to his face. Because two years ago, Riku would've given the world to have Kairi look at him with such a passion, and because deep in his heart he was still the boy who believed that the loyal knight could rush in and sweep the princess off her feet, away from her prince, if only because the knight had lived every moment of every day in hopes of saving her,--every beat of his heart was for one her own couldn't manage--and would gladly repeat the whole ordeal again, so long as it would keep her safe.
And try as he might, the tickle of the waves nipping at his toes could only distract him from Kairi's gaze for so long. So he'd answered simply, "The darkness…"
Frowning, Kairi searched for his hand with hers, feeling her way around blindly until she felt his calloused fingers intertwine with her smaller ones. Letting out a contented sigh, she leaned her head against his shoulder, "Riku…" she whispered in a soothing voice, "You know you don't belong in the darkness anymore. You belong right here…"
With her free hand, she motioned toward her chest. "You're always in our hearts, Riku, and we're always in yours, so even if you go away again, you'll never really get away from us…" With this, she gave him a warm smile, her words of comfort clichéd but well intentioned.
Forcing himself to stare out at the ocean once again, Riku gave a strained scoff. "You dork…" he began, lying through his teeth, "I was talking about the…sky. It's pretty dark; I was thinking we should probably head home…" He hoped she didn't feel the gulp he took after saying this, or hear the labored tone of his voice.
Let it stand that he was absolutely terrible at lying to her, whether she was a passionate-eyed angel in the moonlight or a blank-faced princess on a pirate ship.
He heard the indignant click of her tongue,--no doubt it was directed at his blatantly untruthful words--and felt the warmth flee his body when she lifted her head off his shoulder. He'd expected this, after all.
But what he hadn't expected was for her to pounce on him,--which knocked him headfirst into the moist sand--nor had he predicted the cold, salty water that was promptly splashed in his face--which soaked his hair all the way through to his scalp. Kairi's mischievous laughter was all that followed.
"Now you look like a wet dog."
Though he had to admit, he probably deserved it.
But when he sat up, wet sand matted in his messy silver locks, all laughter halted. Because one look in his aquamarine eyes, and his message was clear (...Thank you). After all, as someone said of him once, his eyes couldn't lie.
And all was forgiven, at least on Kairi's part. It would be a while before Riku could forgive himself, but…her forgiveness was as good start as any.
"Come on, Riku," Kairi beckoned softly, pulling him to her side by his upper arm. "Let's wait for the sunrise together…"
Allowing a genuine, albeit small, smile on his face, Riku obliged, begrudgingly embracing the butterflies in his stomach when she snuggled into his side. This was…good. The knight may not have won the fair princess' hand--yet--, and there hadn't been any confessions of everlasting love and acceptance, but her ever-present, spiky-haired prince was nowhere to be found; it was just two friends, their unspoken affection, the night air and a promise of the sunrise.
The dawn would break soon enough, and until it did…this was more than enough.
a/n
This is my first venture into Kingdom Hearts, and I know it must be pretty clichéd--though I've never read any Kairikus--but I'm proud. The poem at the start is "Desert Places," by Robert Frost, which I also don't own; I just thought it fit.
I hope you enjoyed it!