h e a r t
Thunder crashed. A flash of lightening lit the night sky.
In her safe, warm bed, Kairi shivered under the covers and hugged her knees to herself fighter. I hate thunderstorms, she thought. What will the conditions be like tomorrow? Will it be nice enough to sail—
The young woman shot up, stumbling out of her bed and pulling on a pair of sandals. The raft!
She dashed from her house, ignoring the questioning cries of her adoptive mother, and onto the beach where the raft floated, wrecked. Defeated, Kairi slumped to her knees. The mast was broken, the planks barely holding together and the sail ripped and torn by wind.
"No!" she shouted. "No, no!"
Angrily, she glared up at the weeping, raging sky that had caused the destruction of the precious raft—and stopped short. Instead of heavy, thundering clouds, there was a swirling sphere of red-purple darkness floating above her like an oversized, pulsing moon. Kairi stumbled in shock, eyes glued to the great orb. Something in the back of her mind tingled, telling her that she'd seen this before…
And, without a word, the young woman fled. She considered going to see Sora, or Riku, but when the darkness crackled above her she just ran, tripping in the cloggy sand. The first thing Kairi was the entrance to the secret place, and she made for it, knowing it would be safe in there.
(In there with the h e a r t of the world.)
She pushed herself through the small hole in the wall, bending double and stumbling in on her knees. She crawled forward, exhausted and scared, along the passage, until she reached the main room. That strange door—it had been there for as long as she could remember—still stood there, and she collapsed against it, chest heaving.
Just as Kairi caught her breath, she felt the door slip away, as if someone was opening it. She stumbled and almost fell, whirling around to see the old entry creak open with a long sigh. "Wh-what?" she gasped. It was familiar, too familiar.
Kairi didn't get the chance to utter another word before darkness swarmed her, and small creatures with glowing yellow eyes leapt out. Their claws were sharp, and they tore at her clothes, her face.
"Kairi!"
The young woman whirled around. Sora stood in the doorway, his face lit up by a huge smile. He ran towards her, and she stretched out an arm towards him as a great dark wind surged from the opened door, blowing her at him. His expression twisted into one of surprise, and he opened his arms wide to catch her as she fell, in a graceful arc, toward him.
The darkness wrapped around Kairi's beating heart, swirling in long blue-black trails behind her violet eyes. "So…ra," she whispered.
And the moment she fell into his arms she was gone. The last of her light, an invisible orb of pinkish light in a place filled with only darkness, fluttered for a moment in the air before drawn into Sora as he gasped her name once more.
"Kairi?!"
But it was far, far too late.this is fun stuff. srsly. far too many people (say, soriku fans, not that I'm not one of them) dislike kairi. sure, she can be a bit, well, y'know. but still. she deserves a mention every five fics, squeezing herself between sora and riku, ya?
anyway, kingdom hearts not mine.
—n a n a