So if you know anything about me, you know that I've been on a severe Kingdom Hearts high lately. And SoKai is definitely my OTP for this particular fandom. Anyway, the other day I was looking through my messages on Tumblr and I found one from a roleplay group. I had offered to write a second sample for my Kairi audition. (The first one I wrote was really short and I wrote it when I had barely any comp time left (don't ask) and my brain wasn't all there.) Since I have no imagination, I started thinking of canon scenes to write it for. I thought of the race with Riku, and Sora possibly telling Kairi about Riku's joke, but at some point it switched over to Sora's point of view.

And then this happened.

"Sora, don't ever change."

He didn't know what to say, so he just muttered, "Huh?"

She didn't answer. She stood up and looked out at the sea, deep in thought.

"I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great."

He stared up at her, trying to find his voice. He remembered that joke Riku had pulled on him about the paopu fruit. Why had it bothered him so much? Should he tell her? Would she understand? Did it matter? Why was he asking himself all these questions?

"Kairi?"

"Hm?"

She turned back to him, still looking dreamy-eyed. His voice escaped him again. Why was he so nervous now? He stood up, still unable to speak.

Now she seemed to notice. "Sora, what is it?"

"Um," he finally managed. "Kairi, have you ever...I mean...do you know..." He sighed. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he just tell her? "Have you ever heard of a paopu fruit?"

"Of course," she said. "They grow all around the island. Don't they do something about destiny?"

"Yeah," he stuttered. "Riku told me...I mean..." Those nerves just wouldn't let up. "He said...if two people share one..." The rest of it came out in one big stammer. "Their destinies become intertwined and they remain a part of each other's lives no matter what."

"Yeah, I thought it was something like that."

His palms were sweating now. He tried to wipe them on his shorts without her noticing, but of course she did. She blinked, seeming confused.

"Well...remember that race?"

That stupid race. He'd wasted way too much of his energy on a joke. Why had he taken it so seriously?

"Yeah. I've never seen you run so fast before."

"About that. I ran that fast...because...Riku said something..."

She looked away. But why? Oh man, he thought. She knows I'm in love with her.

Whoa. Where had that come from? Was he? Could he really have feelings for one of his best friends?

He shook his head. One thing at a time. He just had to tell her about the joke. She'd understand. Right?

"Look. What I'm trying to say is-"

Suddenly she had his arms around him. He didn't know where that had come from, but he wrapped his arms tight around her, burying his face in her shoulder. He didn't feel nervous anymore. He just felt happy. Kairi made him happy. But not like Riku made him happy. This was a different kind of happy. Something he couldn't define.

"Hey, are you two coming or not?"

Leave it to Riku to ruin the moment. They let go of each other and turned to him.

"You two wanna be alone?"

Sora and Kairi looked at each other. Sora felt his face getting hot and looked away.

"We're coming," Kairi said, and they followed Riku home.

"Sora," Riku said when Kairi was out of earshot. "You're blushing."

"Um," Sora stammered, trying to hide his face. "I..." Not wanting to share anything about his recent realization, he sprinted away. He could feel Riku's gaze on him. He knew. Maybe even better than Sora himself.

I'm just imagining Riku leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, looking up at the sky and grinning triumphantly. Admit it. You're imagining that too now. Don't deny it. And yes, we all love the blushing Sora moment in Port Royal. Hence the parallel with Riku. Oh Goofy. Oh Donald.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little oneshot. I probably won't do many more Kingdom Hearts fics, for the simple reason that I don't have any ideas. If you'd like to send me a prompt, you can follow me on Tumblr. The link can be found on my profile. Oh and just so you know, at this point I've only played KH1 and KH2 up until Axe's sacrifice. (I'm stuck in limbo right now with no way of accessing the game and I'd rather not explain why.) So for the time being, I can only accept prompts pertaining to those two.

Oh and I'd be a horrible person if I didn't acknowledge my beta. So thanks to Fly Away Dreams for looking over it, even though she's more of a SoRiku shipper. Hmmm, what else can I say? I guess that's it.

Peace, love, and Kingdom Hearts!