Starfruit Soda
a short story written by greengirlblue, author extraordinaire,
with characters and basic concept stolen from Kingdom Hearts
Kairi holds her arms in front of her, palms out, fingers laced, and stretches them up over her head. She's on the beach, and it's early, so the light isn't so strong yet, and the night chill still clings to the air and makes her shiver a little when she notices. I should do this more often, she thinks. I should come to the beach early in the morning like this.
Kairi has a special heart, but she doesn't know it yet. Even after she finds this out, there are moments when she doubts, and times when she forgets entirely and has to remember again. It's a common enough feeling not exclusive to her alone, and maybe you've felt it before, too.
There are footsteps and the sound of grains of sand rearranging themselves behind her, and Kairi knows before turning that it's Riku. Riku once said to her that he sometimes thought of people as colors, like Sora was pure soft white, the color of big billowing clouds and the bubbles of the sea surf and light on cool windy days, and he was also bright blue, like the expansive sky he was named after. Riku said Kairi was orange and red and violet, the light that comes from an autumn sunrise, the sun itself. Kairi thought about what Riku said for a long time, and later told Riku she thought he was bright cyan-blue, like the ocean. Ever since she thought of it, she imagined she could see this color rolling away from him like waves. She imagines she can feel it now, so when she glances back and sees him, she's not at all surprised. He smiles at her, his lips pressed together in a soft line and eyes bright, and she grins back.
They don't say anything for awhile, because sometimes you don't have to when you're good friends. Kairi watches light reflecting off the ocean water and listens to the surf, and Riku has his eyes set on a distant point on the horizon, as if he were hoping to see past it.
Kairi is the first to turn away and face the island again, her hands clasped behind her back and shoulders hunched.
"You were right," she says sullenly, leaning forwards and scuffing a foot on the sand.
Riku turns partially towards her, his face inquiring.
"What?" he asks.
"Corbin really was working for the other side."
There's a moment of blank silence, and then Riku laughs. She's talking about one of those Saturday morning cartoons, and Riku had guessed correctly that Corbin was the one to betray his friends to the Dark Ring. Riku and Kairi don't normally compete with each other, but sometimes it's fun.
And just as easy as silence was, conversation flows between them. Kairi says she's going shopping for new shoes and school supplies later, and she hates that summer is ending so soon. Riku says he's finished getting everything he needs, and the new slushie shop is open on First Street, and when she's finished, they should all walk there together to see what flavors it has. The invitation includes Sora, and Kairi says of course she'll come. Kairi then asks Riku why he was on the beach so early in the morning, anyway, and he shrugs and says he comes out here a lot.
He says it with evasiveness, his hands fitting inside his pockets, and Kairi knows that there's more to it that he's not saying. She lets it drop and says she should go see if her mom is up yet. It doesn't occur to her to say her foster mom. This island is her home, and her family is here with her.
o8O8o
Kairi's carrying her new shoes when she finds Sora. She doesn't think to hesitate until after she's waved to him and he's crossed the street to say hello. While they're walking together to the next shop that has school supplies, Kairi wishes her heart would stop leaping into her throat at weird intervals, because it's difficult to talk around it. Sora doesn't care and for her benefit, pretends he doesn't notice sudden pauses in their conversation. Or maybe he really doesn't notice; Kairi isn't sure.
Kairi loves that Sora smiles with his entire face, and she doesn't know what it means when she notices that his smile changes in his eyes whenever he looks at her. It's soft and curious, like he's beginning to catch on but doesn't know what it means either. Kairi wants to say she loves him, but she knows this is just kid's stuff, a silly crush and nothing more, and plans to laugh it off with talk about teachers from last year, and she does, and he laughs too.
A few blocks later, when she's in the shop looking at pencils, deciding between .5 mechanical pencils and .7, he leaves to look at other things, then suddenly pops up next to her and grabs her hand. He drags her over to the book section and points out the third book in the series he's been reading, babbling on how it's finally, finally come out. She hardly hears him because her heart has surpassed her throat and is now drumming in her ears, and he doesn't let go of her hand for what feels like such a long time.
She's back to normal when she pays the cashier for .7 mechanical pencils and notebooks and stickers of sunflowers, and tells Sora sorry, he has to save up for that book on his own because he still owes her for buying the sparklers last week. Sora pouts and says that shouldn't count, but he's smiling again almost a second later and runs up ahead of her when they leave the shop. Riku has apparently been waiting for them under the skimpy shade of an old tree forcing its roots through the sidewalk, and by the time she catches up, Riku has already explained about the new slushies to Sora, and Sora suggests they go get one right now, but then he remembers he doesn't have any money with him.
"We can share one," Kairi says to him, because sharing isn't the same as buying a gift. "I think I have just enough change left over."
The slushie shop has two flavors the three hadn't ever seen before: black raspberry punch and starfruit soda. Riku gets the former and Kairi pays for the latter, and she lets Sora taste it first.
"It's good," he says, and hands it to Kairi, and after she's tasted it, she agrees.
"Let me try," Riku says, and Kairi pretends reluctance as she hands it to him.
o8O8o
The three of them find themselves back on the beach when the sun begins to set and Kairi's colors are blasted across the sky. There are more people now because the beach attracts tourists in the evening. Sora still has a few leftover sparklers, and he and Riku ask around until they find someone who doesn't mind giving them a lighter. When it's completely dark and stars begin to wink into the night sky, marring the otherwise black night sky with pinpricks of light, Sora sets fire to the sparklers. The first one goes to Kairi, the second to Riku, and then one for himself.
Immediately, Sora takes off running, spinning, and writing his name in huge letters with the smoke. Kairi laughs and draws her own name in the air, Kairi, and because she knows no one can really read it, she writes Sora's name, too. Sora. He's the color of sunshine in the afternoon and a burning summer sky. He smiles with every muscle in his expression and runs and spins with every fiber of his being. Sora. Sora.
"I didn't know you wrote a K like an S," Riku says softly, and Kairi realizes she's been caught. But before she can come up with an excuse, she's suddenly in Riku's arms, her sparkler dropped and fizzing to an end in the sand at their feet.
"Wha-?"
She says it muffled in his chest, because it's not fair and he's taller than her and the ground slopes up to where he's standing.
"Hey!" comes Sora's indignant voice, and Kairi's face is definitely not red as she hears Sora stomping towards Riku and her. Riku pulls away, and he's smirking, that sneak, and she's a little confused, and then Sora spins her around, and now he's hugging her. His chin fits right on her shoulder, she's a little taller than him, never mind the slope, and Kairi's glad she's spun around so neither boy can see the expression on her face. She's pretty sure it's a cross between utter confusion, unending embarrassment, and surprised delight.
"I get to hug her, too," Sora says defensively to Riku, and Kairi feels the vibrations of his voice from his chest. Then his chin lifts and his arms loosen, and by this time Kairi's expression is a smile again.
Yeah, maybe it is love, she thinks, and she's not really embarrassed anymore, because she realizes she loves Riku too. She loves both of them, Sora in a way that makes her heart do funny things, and Riku in a way because he's her friend, and always was since the first moment they met. She knows suddenly and without a doubt that they both love her too, in their own way, and it is this knowledge that causes her heart to expand, to become weightless, and to allow Riku and Sora become a part of her and herself to become a part of Riku and Sora.
All three sparklers are burnt out and lying in the sand, and Sora picks them up and Riku says it's getting late. The darkness doesn't belong to them, and they follow a path marked by the light of the rising moon off the beach. Riku parts from the group first because his house is so close.
Sora walks three extra blocks to take Kairi home, and he can't figure out why he still feels irritable that Riku got to hug Kairi first, and why didn't leveling the score one-to-one seem to make that much of a difference? He doesn't realize he's holding Kairi's hand again until they part in front of Kairi's house, and his hand feels suddenly empty. Kairi skips up the path past the gate in front of the house and stops to wave before opening the door, disappearing inside.
Sora walks home, three spent sparklers held loosely in his hand, and he's unconsciously writing Kairi's name in capital letters in the air. He's remembering something Kairi didn't notice, that his lips were so close to her cheek when he pulled away from their embrace.