Sunshine and Rain: Prologue

Sora yawned as he stared up into the fluffy clouds that passed overhead in the Destiny Islands. The sun was warming his face as a cool breeze gently rocked the hammock tied between two palm trees. Nothing could get any better than a lazy day here, he thought. His eyes felt heavier, sandbags slowly pulling down his eyelids until *something* set the hammock rocking violently, unceremoniously dumping him into the sandy beaches below. Pppfth…sand…Why did it have to be sand? A wooden sword dropped right in front of his face with a thunk.

"Hey, Sora!" Riku towered over him with his hands on his hips. "Are you going to fight me or are you going to just lie there all afternoon?!"

Sora wiped off the sand from his face and grinned. He rolled onto his back underneath the still rocking hammock. "I dunno, Riku." He yawned lazily as he put his hands beneath his head. "I think today's a great day for a nap, don't you?"

"No, I don't…" Riku rolled his eyes and looked off into the distance. "I've got a bad feeling…"

Sora began to slowly inch his hand toward the wooden sword as Riku was distracted. "You've always gotta bad feeling…"

"Well, *somebody's* got to take care of this island…"He snorted incredulously as he failed to notice Sora's fingers wrapping around the hilt of the sword. "I don't see you doing anything to help…"

Sora grinned as he leapt to his feet. "Then, maybe you should be paying more attention!"

"Pft…" Riku smirked as he blocked Sora's first blow. "You're nothing but a lazy, good for nothing…"

Sora tightened the grip on his sword. "Flattery will get you NOWHERE!" Sora's sword again collided with Riku's as Sora began to advance. Riku began to retreat toward the water. "Ha! You're on the run!" He grinned. I'm going to put all of my strength into one blow. He'll never know what hit'im! " EYAAAAH!" Sora charged, but Riku only smirked as he side-stepped, causing Sora to careen wildly into the water. Great…First sand….now water…Sora thought as he shook his head, flinging water all over Riku.

"HEY!" Riku yelped as Sora climbed out of the water.

And the fight began anew, until a sweet female voice drifted down the beach. "Hey guys!" Kairi waved as the picnic basket wrapped around her arm swung. Sora glanced up, immediately distracted by her lovely voice and the mention of lunch. Unfortunately, Sora didn't see the blow that landed squarely on top of his head. He heard Kairi scream and Riku yelp in surprise and then shout in his own defense. The world started to spin mercilessly until he felt the urge to hurl vomit on Riku's sneakers. He was vaguely aware when Riku ran off to find bandages, but what he was most aware of was Kairi cradling his head in her lap. For all he cared, Riku could stay gone for days! He heard Kairi begin to cry, and he tried to reach for her. Kairi…don't cry…I'm okay, he wanted to say, but his mouth couldn't form the words. The day was beginning to grow darker…It couldn't be dark this early…He could still see the sun. He felt himself getting sleepier as Riku arrived with the bandages, and began to slowly wrap his head. The pain had since turned into a dull ache and his eyes began to slowly close. The last thing that he remembered was the fuzzy image of a familiar woman in his mind. Something made that made his heart long…yet he could not remember who she was.

Sora awoke in the bottom bunk in the bedroom he shared with Riku on the island. When he glanced to the left, he found Riku soundly asleep in the chair in the corner. Sora frowned. He must have felt really guilty to carry me all the way back here. He heard breathing on the top bunk, and realized that Kairi must have stayed as well to make sure he was okay. He slowly turned his head toward the window, awarding him with one of the worst headaches he could remember. He saw the moon was high in the night sky, and exhaled the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. There were a lot of things about this afternoon he didn't remember, he realized, but one thing that was still in the forefront of his mind was the feelings he felt for the strange woman in the fuzzy vision. A warmness fluttered inside his stomach, and his heart leapt with such electricity when he thought about her that it confused him until he began to compare the feelings he was having to love…and especially the love Kairi had for her grandmother. But this lady wasn't old…She had a bright smile, brown hair like mine….He bolted up in bed despite the pain. Could this woman have been my mother?

"Riku!" Sora hissed. "Riku! Wake up!"

Riku snorted and blinked rapidly. "Oh…You're up…" Riku yawned. "Do you need something?"

"Riku! I think I remember my mother!" Sora exclaimed.

Riku rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Sora…Go back to bed. You're going to wake up, Kairi…"

"But I remember my MOTHER!" Sora exclaimed emphatically. Surely, he wasn't the only one who thought this was a big deal. Neither he nor Riku knew what happened to their parents, and now he remembered his mother!

"You got hit on the head, Sora…" Riku leaned back in his chair. "You see strange things when you get cracked on the head…Go to bed."

"But, but…" Sora whined. "She had brown hair like I did… You gotta believe me, Riku! Okay, fine. We'll ask Kairi. She has a Grandma. She'll know if she was my mother…."

Riku sat up again, this time he was visibly angry with his fists balled at his sides. "It wasn't your mother. Don't bother Kairi with this nonsense! Now. Go. To. Bed."

Sora stuck out his tongue at Riku after he had leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Fine. He would just talk to Kairi another time when he wasn't around. It wasn't he like he could say when he could or couldn't talk to Kairi. He slowly lay back down on his own pillow. "I know that was my mother…"He whispered softly.

A cold, bitter wind blew in from the open window, shivering Sora to the core. "What the…?" They never had icy breezes on the Destiny Islands. Sora sat up again and looked out the window, seeing nothing but a gull nesting in a nearby palm. The wind blew again, this time bringing what he thought was the sound of muffled voices with it. Riku was right. He didn't want to wake Kairi up in the middle of the night, and Riku was pissed at him as it was…He slowly swung his feet around to the edge of the bed, and managed to finally stand after a few wobbily tries. He grabbed Riku's wooden sword, and headed out of the straw hut quietly.

The sand crunched softly underneath his bare feet as he walked into the direction of the wind. The light of the full moon made everything seem somewhat surreal and if not a little bit creepy as Sora continued to listen for the mysterious voices.

"He hit his head…" The voices of the wind seemed to whisper. Sora stopped. "They're talking about me?" He tried to listen harder, but the whips of the wind were distorting what they were saying.

"Everything we've worked for will be undone if he's not recalibrated…" Another voice whispered. Sora pivoted on his heel, raising the wooden sword, which now seemed totally inadequate. He could run back and get Riku, he scowled, but Riku would just tell him it was all because he hit his head…that he imagined it all. And he wouldn't put Kairi at risk either.

As Sora rounded a corner, he leapt back into hiding, spotting two military trucks next to a swirling vortex that was creating the bitterly cold winds.

"We have to get him back to the laboratory…" The wind voices continued.

Suddenly, a soldier grabbed Sora from behind, cupping his hand over his mouth. Sora bit the soldier's hand, and tried to scream as the man withdrew his hand. Sora's screams fell on deaf ears as the winds drowned them out.

"Just get him to the truck!" A soldier in blue ordered as he sucked on his bit fingers. Two other soldiers grabbed Sora roughly and slammed an injection needle into his side before he could scream again.

"Riku….Kairi…." Sora managed to whisper weakly. "Stay…stay away from Kairi…" Sora fell limp within the soldier's arms.

"Bring him and come on…." The soldier with the bit hand scowled. "We need to get him back to Shin-Ra Headquarters before something *REALLY* goes wrong…."

Author's Note: Hi, guys! I'm sure you're wondering "Why are you starting this when you haven't finished "The Apple and the Core"?! Well, rest assured that story is still being written as well! This is just something I'll do alongside of it. It was inspired by a dream I had one night, and the idea just wouldn't go away. This is my first time writing Sora, Riku, and Kairi, so I hope I wrote them fairly well. However, once Sora is taken to the "real world", he may find himself paired with an unexpected person. Stay tuned to find out who that unexpected person will be! Thanks for reading! Please review to let me know how I'm doing. I'd appreciate it!