By the Author: I had presented this to my baby sister who is a huge fan of this song as well as Kingdom Hearts. I hope all the Angels out there also enjoy this story.
Disclaimer: This story was created by Mari (or SkylarkAincrad). Please do not copyright this story in any way, shape or form – or I will report you to and have my rights reserved. The inspiration was from the "FULL MV" of Teen Top's song "Crazy." The characters presented are rightfully handed to Tetsuya Nomura-san and Square Enix® where the Kingdom Hearts franchise is owned by both. I just get to modify and control who and what they are involved in by the power of FanFiction. I also claim no rights to Teen Top and their song "Crazy" since TOP Media and Brave Sound are responsible for it. Please do not claim any illegal rights. Thank you.
Xx xX
K-Pop Music Inspired Fanfiction:
Teen Top's "Crazy"
"Stop, stop breaking my heart! I love you girl, stop stop breaking my heart. I need you girl!"
xX Xx
"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" Sora asked, sounding weakened, pathetic and desperate.
Provided that Sora never asked a girl out before; really, it was often him being the one asked out due to the admiration by girls. He wasn't prepared well to do it now. He had been praying that this whole thing would have come out naturally. Unfortunately, all things weren't always the way he hoped. He cursed himself for asking her out here. To make it worse, he sounded like a big fat loser and it made it even more awkward. Of all the ways he could have asked her, he had to make it sound weird.
He exhaled a bit sharply, realizing that his confessional should've been in a more romantic way in a much more romantic environment. He felt stroppy, standing there in the middle of this "desolate" location. He could still hear the nighttime traffic. Eventually his eyes traveled back to the very person he was focused on.
All of a sudden, wind came from behind him and he felt his back go cold. He successfully suppressed the trembles that went down his spine. Sora had grown up in a much warmer environment, and he felt burdened that he took the summery climate he had lived in before for granted. Now that he had moved to the northern parts of the islands where fall weather was more evident, Sora had to hide the fact that he was extremely cold in fear of being called a wuss. And if that wasn't enough, it was getting quite late as well. So late, that night would cast onto this place and it'd be even worse if he didn't get home soon.
He was dressed to the nine in an outfit that his fashionable best friend picked out. With a valiant attempt, Sora really did try to look good this time. Today was quite special after all. He wore grey arm warmers, a black three-quarter sleeve coat, and a white graphic tee-shirt underneath. He wore black jeans, and his trusty black shoes.
While the outfit was stylish in its unique way, it was extremely penetrable and vulnerable to the temperature right now. It also was not the right garments to wear to protect him from the gusts of air that blew around him. Wind blew at his soft chocolate brown spiked hair, and he shivered not just from the cold. He cursed the wind, knowing that it messed his hair just a tad. For this occasion, Sora Skylark also did his best to manage his spiked hair. It was artistically messy still, a bit more tamed than before. He also felt embarrassed since his plastic black ear-piercings were becoming uncomfortable; his ears were going red from the biting cold. Why he decided to get them remained a mystery to him now because he felt utterly ridiculous.
Moments passed by, and she never turned around.
Sora watched the girl in front of him stand still. He began to get incredibly nervous, knowing her answer already. She clutched her bag and closed her eyes. He observed her back form, watching the wind bring up the ends of her adorable cream parka.
"…no…no, I don't."
Her purple arm warmers bristled around. She scurried away in her light brown Uggs.
He knew the answer, and yet it did nothing to make it any better. He exhaled noisily and jaggedly. Sora looked towards the ground, at his black converse. He felt dizzy, like the floor egging him to collapse on it. He was also extremely confused. Sora's whole body had gone numb, most likely because he was standing out here in the cold near the water still like an idiot he was. By the time he realized it, the adorable girl with that auburn short hair had disappeared from his sight completely.
Alarmed, he looked back to see his friends looking sheepishly at him. The albino sighed deeply and looked pityingly at him. The beach-blond, spiked hair almost like his just swayed upwards more, rubbed his neck awkwardly. The pale-blond haired friend placed his hands in his tacky army sweats, looking away. The one with his camera shook his head, almost disapprovingly. The tallest with a black beanie to hide some of his bright red dyed locks and a tattoo on his face, looked exasperated. The orange-haired one with a sweatband on his head looked down away to the city in remorse and his companion with sandy-tannish hair shook his head at the scene.
Sora took a moment to think about what happened. He clutched his hands into fists, wondering what he could have done wrong. He wanted to despise her and never speak to her, thinking that it might have been her leading him on. Most likely, that was the advice that he was going to get when he and his friends were going to leave for home anyways. He'd probably hear things like "she wasn't all that, "girls are lining up for you, she's nothing pretty anyways," or "there are more fish in the sea," "you shouldn't blame yourself," or "sorry man," and especially, "she's not worth it and doesn't deserve you, there are plenty of other women who would love you."
He was ready for all of that.
But, for some reason, the scenes played back in his head. Something began to seem off about it the more he thought about it. Her voice was ineffably different today. Normally, she sounded excited to see him. She was particularly sweet and less unresponsive compared to her demeanor now – to anyone she spoke to really. There was almost this bit of happiness that leaked out every time she spoke. Now, she sounded raw, weakened and vulnerable. She almost sounded like she was fighting back a real answer, but was too upset at something to speak properly. And he realized her answer was pretty brief, almost as if she was extremely hurt by him. Sora sighed.
He honestly wanted to give up. He looked towards the front from his friends, giving him looks of grief, and decided on what he needed to do. Turning to the direction she last headed, he confirmed himself that he was going to go after her. He wanted answers.
So, without speaking a single word, Sora ran.
He ran in the direction of where he thought she was headed off to. He obviously shocked his friends, who were stunned at how fast their best friend with that mop of brown hair was running. The wind was excruciatingly painful since it was almost winter, ending of fall. Sora raced off, and noticed the bridge and crossed it. He kept running, almost knocking into several people.
It took him about ten minutes in his running speed to get to the sidewalk where the downtown subway was. During each step, he had to wonder what he was doing. Where was he going because obviously he had no clue where she'd be off anyways? He wondered what all of this chasing her would accomplish since she already said "no" blatantly and clearly. Despite all of this, Sora just kept running. To those who were looking at him, he wouldn't blame them if they thought he was going insane. This was pretty insane anyways. He ran down the stairs, jumping down the last thirteen or so steps. He held on the railing to straighten himself.
And that's when he saw her again, and he thought maybe this was how it was supposed to end up.
She looked completely out of it for a lack of a better phrase. Her eyes stared at the floor, dazed and absent-like. Her face was pale, almost getting to the color of off-white. She really hadn't moved. Sora noticed her face scrunched up, appearing anguished and nauseous. She was still lovely and gorgeous and all of the synonyms of the adjectives beautiful, smart, funny that he thought still weren't enough to describe her. She wasn't all perfect, but she was just enough of it that was. Despite how she just broke his heart several minutes to half-an-hour ago, she was still entrancing in his eyes. She adorned that parka that made her look like a little princess, and underneath were light denim shorts with purple leggings underneath them. All matched her delicate chiffon blouse embroidered with flecks of beige, cream and a lovely royal purple. His breath caught in his throat as he was running to her and he opened his mouth to call her name out. As he got closer, he cursed.
She had put on her headphones. He remembered from their conversations before. She had a particular love for listening to music on transportation because it let her focus on herself rather than the extremely large mass of people. Right now, it was a distraction to him, because then she really wouldn't hear him call her name out. He gritted his teeth in frustration and try his best to run all the way to her but knew it was futile because they were already boarding.
For some reason, it was at that moment Sora recalled how he met this lovely redheaded female. And it made him go weak in the knees, almost buckling.
"SORA" was written in white blinking letters on the screen. As soon as the menu reverted back to the original screen, he grinned. "That makes all 36 consoles, bros." His friends were astonished; the youngest with the short-span of a temper tantrum cheered wildly his hands in the air at his last win. His friends pat him on his back.
Riku, his best friend and pretty much the mom of the group, stood beside him. Sora took note of how saddened he looked and couldn't help but feel even better at this. Shamelessly, Sora reached over to clasp hands with Hayner, a pale-blonde most recognized because he wore green cargo pants and skull prints almost all the time. Sora just had to gloat and reach over across Riku, now distracted, as he handed Roxas, the youngest temper-tantrum with beach-bleached golden blond with checkered prints and silver bling, several coins. His albino hair swished a bit from his sheepish and now sluggish motions at the loss of his 750 munny bet, and gave a loud sigh.
"I guess you could, right?" he exclaimed weakly.
Sora smirked. The blonde next to him, almost a brother, stood beside him and clapped wildly. "I knew he could." Pretty much everyone laughed at the albino's misfortune in that statement. Roxas looked to Sora and gave him thumbs up. "Well done, Sora. Well done." he said gleefully shoving the 750 munny coins in his pocket. The albino rolled his eyes. Sora grinned. "Sora, let's get a picture!" The one with his camera exclaimed. He nodded and his friends crowded. "Alright on 3!" Sora gave his signature grin and a peace sign, and then the flash went off. "Sweet," the redheaded one, Axel, uttered. "Well, gotta get something for Larxene here." Everyone nodded and with a two finger salute the flame-colored redhead left the arcade and most likely went downstairs from the mall.
Sora sped up to the platform, ran up the steps and literally rammed into the door than she was standing against. He thought of ways to open it, even tried screaming a bit. He cursed his luck since absolutely no one was paying attention to him except for her. He looked at the door for a bit, reaching for emergency hatches, anything that would break that door between them. He palmed the window, and caressed the barrier between them.
He noticed her surprised look, and suddenly her cheeks enflamed. She gasped and appeared even more nauseous than earlier.
He took notice of how painfully gorgeous she was, extremely dazed suddenly.
"So man, no what?" his friend with the orange spiked hair in a blue and white sweatband asked. Sora shrugged in reply, and shoved his hands in his pocket. "Let's get out of here?" He suggested, "I'm tired now." He rubbed his eyes."
The one in the army cargo pants grinned, "Well considering how much time you wasted here, I'm not surprised."
Sora shrugged again. "Don't hate. This is going all over Chirper and Facestory. Random dudes just kept taking pictures as if they couldn't believe it," he replied smugly.
Tidus laughed, and Wakka grinned. Riku rolled his eyes, and Roxas was particularly distracted with the prizes on the wall. "Oh dude, they've got some Struggle bats over there!" The blond exclaimed happily. Hayner's eyebrow had rose in a particular way that Sora was a bit jealous for. "Really, where?" Roxas pointed at the wall. Hayner and Roxas made their way over, and the other guys followed. They stopped at the counter and looked at some of the prizes. Sora sighed and said sassily, "Rox, you don't necessarily need to get anymore Struggle bats as much as you also don't need to get more skateboard decks and guitar picks." The blond opened his mouth to complain, and Pence chipped in with "Yeah, and you also aren't getting the large Cola bottle coin bank either." Roxas shut his mouth and pouted. Hayner and Riku were laughing. At the same time, Sora noticed that Wakka and Tidus were also looking at the other merchandise. The two best friends eventually made their way over to machine to cash out their tickets to get the 95,000 ticket limited edition Blitzball on the top rack.
As Roxas was currently being bullied by the four other companions, Sora looked to his left at the entrance. He yawned wildly and almost fell asleep standing up. Embarrassed, he straightened himself out and watched people enter and leave. One particular person caught his interest. This person was petite, carrying a small handbag, and appeared much more womanly than any dude he ever saw come in this place.
Woman…female…
…in an arcade.
He gaped. For the first time in his gaming life, this personal life he held dearest to him, at this very arcade a female was inside. Alone…very alone. He looked around to see if she was with anyone, perhaps looking for a boyfriend or a family male relative. However, it seemed she wasn't with anyone at all. The closer he got, the more he looked curiously at her. She made her way over to the other side of the counter, and looked at the plush on top of the rack. He was able to get a pretty good look at her now that she was within a several steps reach. It seemed that she was too distracted to notice his obvious staring. His heart raced, drinking in her features.
She was painfully and utterly gorgeous.
She had a porcelain skin tone, with large and deep-lashed eyes a shade of purple he'd never seen before. What called his attention was her auburn-magenta colored locks in that cute curled bob. While many girls were starting to grow their hair out and had hair colors like brown, blonde, or brown, there weren't many redheads. She had a short bob, curled adorably and delicately, and tresses of auburn-magenta colored hair framed her porcelain like face. Her hair was a unique shade of red that he never knew existed! Usually, to get her hair color many people had to get them professionally done. She also didn't have much makeup on, perhaps a bit of mascara and a satin light red tint for those oh so kissable shaped lips she had. She had a very lovely heart-shaped face and a button nose to match that. She was wearing an olive anorak and a cute and simple cream-colored oversized knit jumper underneath. She also had long dark skinny jeans, and black boots.
He tilted his head, and looked to her direction. It appeared she was gazing at the largest Minnie Mouse plush, almost wantonly. Suddenly, Sora's hand itched to cash out all of his tickets to get her the entire collection of Minnie Mouse items in this place. His cheeks enflamed at that thought, and he just kept staring.
His eyes widened as she spoke to the female employee. She suddenly looked affronted, and the female employee looked sheepishly – almost apologetic for some reason. The redheaded female huffed, and made turned around. Her face looked like she was going to get revenge on someone. She made her way over to the machine, and removed several quarters out of her handmade coin purse. He gaped. She wasn't going to….was she? He watched her cash out $1.00 in coins in frustration, giving her a total of 10 coins. And she pocked them in her pouch of the olive anorak. She eyed the last game he had played last, and wordlessly made her way over to it. She flipped a coin in midair, and caught it. He watched as she looked to see the high scores list, before putting her coin in. Sora was alarmed now. She held the keybade controller in a stance that was very Kingdom Hearts like. His friends noticed his silence and also looked at her direction. They gasped, and Sora winced. He noticed her pink lips curl into a cute smirk when the high score screen came on, his name on it.
He heard a whisper of, "enjoy the victory now Sora, but prepare to eat my virtual dust. I'll show you a new high score. Beat this!"
And the game started.
She gasped and gestured to him to snap out of it immediately. Unfortunately, it took the subway train to move forward, Sora almost falling in and he quickly leaned away. She clutched her purse and looked at him sadly and longingly. When the train started to move forward, she gasped and looked towards him. She palmed the window, and he could see her mouthing his name. As the train began to move, she almost walked to the door, but it seemed already too late. He only focused on her that made that blush on her face much redder than before. He ran as fast as he could to catch up, and fell extremely behind when he noticed her unit becoming closer to passing the platform. She palmed the window and watched his figure disappear as the walls closed off her vision of him. As the platform passed over, she was greeted with a new sight – one without the boy chasing her down. She sighed deeply and stepped away from the screen extremely disgruntled and enamored with him more at the knowledge that he was pursuing her.
Sora watched the train take her away from him, and he groaned loudly. Clutching his hands into fists, he took off and ran up the subway stairs. Running up and towards the direction of the next stop of the exact subway tram she was on. He, once again, felt the blistering cold again and it felt like sharp school pencils stabbing him.
The brunette, now a bit sweaty from the stupid outfit he picked out for this stupid occasion, kept running and running stupidly. He was almost convinced that he was hearing his subconscious say over and over "you're absolutely crazy." The fact that he was having a blown conversation to himself, screaming and scolding "you're absolutely crazy" was what made it more convincing.
Normal guys don't have conversations with themselves, running to find a girl and hopefully get them to ask why they said no to them, at this late hour.
He guessed it was about 7 at night now. This was an idea that was absolutely crazy. No self-respecting guy his age would go after a girl this late in the day. This was especially true since it was so popular these days to ask a girl, and move on if she was being difficult. His subliminal mind kept rambling and inserting random thoughts here and there. It was so bad, that Sora almost missed the right turn he had to make and then uphill.
And he cursed his luck when he remembered her face, and a flashback came into his head.
"Aiyahh! Haiiiiie! Chya!"
The character made battle sounds, the Keyblade also making sounds as the player in real slashed each direction. Whoosh. The air seemed to cut and sever cleanly in an upward motion. The fake blade moved up and down, side to side, and then magnificently in all directions. The wielder was even more entrancing. The motions of her body were slow to the eye, unnecessarily harsh like his had been. Her moments….they were almost like water.
Thwak! "Eyaaa!" the character made, as the projector screen showed the character falling backwards and beams of light flashing on him. "Game over! New High Score!" Sora forgot to breathe at the end. Noticing the long ticket train, the girl wordlessly swooped down and removed the tickets. She smiled silently and placed the keyblade back on the rack. "Enter Name for New High Score!" Shaking her head, she pressed three letters: "KAI."
Clicking back to the menu, she stretched and moved to another machine.
Sora's feet pounded on the floor and he raced up the steps, seeing her get out of the tram. Once again, she had those stupid headphones on. Didn't her mother or father ever teach her not to wear those damned things in public? Someone could be easily stalking her, and waiting for an opportune moment to approach her.
He colored red.
Oh right, he's the stalker.
…all the more reason to make sure her headphones was off.
"You play well for a girl."
She looked up and noticed an albino haired kid approaching her. He was followed by other guys. She rolled her eyes. "Well, hello to you too." She said reproachfully. "You want to try again with a much more pleasant greeting?" She asked sarcastically. Riku gaped, and the other guys looked amused. Sora kept quiet as he stared at this girl in amazement. For one, Riku's smooth talking failed to land him a phone number. This girl was his heroine now! The albino opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off uninterestedly. "Lemme guess, you're the guy that gets the girls most often? Well, let me give you a few pointers, if you're interested in a girl that plays video games, you should be first to know that you shouldn't insult her and make sexist remarks when you want to talk to her. It's a huge turn off."
He laughed wildly, "the spunk in you. Wow, well my name is Riku. My friend here," he gestured to Sora and pushed him forwards, "would like to say that you really owned him back there." Her eyebrow rose, "I'm sorry, what?" Sora sighed, and looked at the arcade game. He really didn't want to admit it, but he smiled a bit. "You were amazing. You beat my old high score."
All of a sudden, a bit of silence passed between them. Sora became awkward all of a sudden, and suddenly the girl let out a breath he didn't even know she was holding in. The red-head girl swung her small purse around and straightened herself.
"You're Sora!" She asked.
He nodded, "uhm," he uttered, "yeah? Why?"
She shrieked excitedly, and suddenly took his hand. "Whoa!" he sounded. The other guys were observing with awe on their faces. Riku looked interested as well, and this suddenly made Sora uneasy for some reason. Riku opened his mouth to say something, but she was too fast to speak. She shook his hand happily. "I've been to see you! I've been waiting for my moment to actually meet you in person!" Sora gaped, and the other guys were startled.
"H-Hah?" He uttered, with a weird expression.
She grinned, "my name is Kairi Uchida! I'm Kai for short, and I'm pretty sure you've seen my old scores. I mean," she shook her head and suddenly blushed. "Oh I'm stupid. Of course you've seen them! You beat some of them!" Sora gaped.
So this really was Kai, the bane of his arcade experience.
It made sense: most of the letter counts were limited to just four letters. There were only a few of the games in this arcade that had a five limit count. Not to mention, the name Kairi for a dude's name didn't seem fitting at all.
Sora questioned how these events were turning out. Every time Sora had to beat the score that Kai, now actually Kairi in real life, he was always trumped with a much higher score and it left Sora countless hours wasted to reclaim a high score drop list and his title as the best gamer here. This rivalry continued on like this. It continued so much so, that Sora actually wanted to meet Kai in real life for a challenge.
And here she was: beautiful, and so much more real than he ever imagined. She shouldn't really make him feel so conflicted. He loved and hated this turnout. It was so surprising and delightful to find out his rival was this adorable girl here. This was a type of karma to find out that the player Kai was a guy and not a girl. He really didn't want to think so sexist-like when it came to video games and arcade games, but he just couldn't help it since he didn't know he'd actually meet a girl like her in real life.
"And I'm a huge fan of yours!"
"What?" Sora nearly screamed.
Okay, for her clearly it was different. While he would've thought that the player Kai would be so anxious to beat him and see this relationship as a rivalry, Sora was very mistaken. Yet again did this woman leave him so breathless? The fact that she was a fan and admired him, made this so much easier.
If she asked him out now, he'd say yes in a heartbeat.
He begged all of what was good and just of Kingdom Hearts for her to ask him out. All the other girls that had asked him out in school, all of his ex-girlfriends or his one-day dates disappeared. They all couldn't hold a candle to her. Right now, his mind was exploding with randomness. He'd literally do anything for this girl. She'd own him literally and figuratively.
Her pink lips curved up into a small smirk. "I'd like to challenge you to a battle on Expert Mode for the Gummi Ship!" pointing to the arcade game in the corner.
"What!" he couldn't help but scream again.
"This time for sure, I'll beat your score!" she said. Sora felt his blood rush to his head; dizzily staggering backwards. Sora tried to calm down though. The adrenaline rush she was giving him was not healthy. But he realized moments after that this was his game. She had some pretty decent high scores – given that there were 6 of the listings in consecutive order trailing after his number one slot. But Sora's score of 87000245, compared to her highest score of 78000000 and other scores, was just too high. Sora managed to achieve S-ranks masterfully, while she had only A-ranks and B-ranks. It also helped that she was unable to get past the levels with the major and heavy duty gates that were crawling with Nobodies and Heartless ships. Those were incredibly difficult to target without dying or having the tricks that only he knew from so much experience with this booth.
But, he couldn't help but become worried that they were going to do a two-player battle. Sora would have the top screen and Kairi would get the bottom screen. Sure, it they'd be shooting a co-op, but the player with the most medals would win the round and receive the high score in this menu. It left him a bit unsettled. She grinned, and picked up the
"This sure is exciting!" he could hear the character Goofy say.
Sora sighed mentally, 'This sure will be.'
After a couple of games, Sora was livid. He watched as the girl was literally catching attention from everyone, and he couldn't believe that he was sucking so badly at the game he was supposed to be so good at! "She's beating you!" Roxas whispered astonished. Sora wanted to honestly hit something at this point. Sora didn't move when he was pushed and teased around by his friends. Once the game menu pulled up, her game character began to cheer when she pulled forward and beat him in 4 seconds of firing the Heartless chain.
Sora sighed, and grumbled. This never happened before. He wondered if it was because was a bit charmed by her and distracted in her presence that this was becoming so difficult for him. She obviously didn't know what effect she had on him, only that she was clearly winning. Feeling annoyed, and also a bit amused, he watched the cute girl cheer wildly. She squealed, completely elated. Kairi smiled and punched letters in. She reached down, pulled their ticket train, and began to fold it up. Once the crowd diminished, his friends also dispersing to collect their prizes or grab more sodas, Sora and she were left staring at the arcade machine menu.
She finally spoke, "you know. I find you charming too."
He gaped and turned his head to her. Had he been speaking out loud? She giggled, and looked at him with those doe eyes, short red locks of hair that touched the tips of her shoulders. Her cheeks were a bit red, most likely from his compliment. His face felt like it was burning. Oh dear, were they both blushing? He couldn't help but smile at her, and timidly replied. "You were really good, you finally beat me." He murmured shyly.
Kairi shook her head, "no…it didn't feel like a win. I think you were still in shock and distracted, since you seemed to be out of whack for a bit," Kairi's cheeks enflamed a darker shade of red. "Y-You weren't the only one though…I-I, was distracted by you that I-I wanted to impress you," she whispered.
Happening to hear that last bit, his heart skipped a few beats. She coughed awkwardly and looked at the machine, Ice Cream Beat. "I'm going to stay here for a bit, b-but um, y-you're more than welcome to hang out with me." Sora opened his mouth and closed it. He rubbed the back of his neck, "u-uh, s-sure?" He answered. She smiled softly. "Great!" Sora and her walked over to the Ice Cream Beat machine. She sat in the chair equipment glued to the floor and he leaned over it. She placed a coin in the machine, and the adorable duck triplets came on screen. "This is one of my favorite games," she answered as she leaned backwards. Sora nodded, "yeah I figured. It seems fitting," he answered.
She chose the familiar song, "Destiny Islands" and he laughed. "Really?" he just looked at her. She grinned up at him. "What? I love this song. Don't hate!" She said cheekily as she leaned into her chair calmly. He shook his head in amusement. The familiar anthem of the place he was born from came into ploy, and she chose Master mode. Needless to say, she was expert at this. He laughed when she started to get really into it. Sora wasn't oblivious to the staring of his friends. He knew they were watching him over. But, Sora couldn't be too bothered to care. All his attention was on her. He was enjoying this, and it was quite nice to be in her company.
After a couple of ticket trains, she sighed tiredly. "I'm beat," she drawled. Sora smirked, "Ice cream beat." She shook her head at him, at the pun. "Aren't you funny?" She said teasingly. She felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. Pulling it out, he nearly snorted at the purple phone cover, she gasped at the time. "Oh no!" She said. "I-I'm late!" Kairi jumped off the chair, flailing in a fit. Sora watched her, laughing. Kairi pouted, "my mom's gonna kill me! I've been here too long again!"
She rushed, and Sora couldn't keep his heart from racing when she grasped his hand and pulled him with her. They both approached the prize booth. Sora watched her cash in her tickets, and she tapped her foot impatiently when the ticket train took forever to eat up. "Come on, hurry up!" She whined. Literally 9 minutes later, she was fed her receipt and turned her attention over to the girl employee. "Hi, what would you like to get Kairi?" she asked with familiarity.
"Hi, how about that giant Minnie Mouse? My cousin's birthday is tomorrow, and being me…I forgot!" Sora turned to her in confusion, "I thought you were getting it for yourself," he concluded. Kairi smiled weakly, "To be honest, I really want it. I'm a huge Disney fan and I love Kingdom Hearts arcade games and everything. I'd keep it otherwise, but, I need a birthday gift for my cousin who is turning eight tomorrow. I literally just spent all my allowance on buying my friend best friends gifts, my reserved copy of the newest Kingdom Hearts game and I was hanging out with my older cousins Ariel and Belle last night. I just forgot and now I literally had to run over here to get this.
"I just know she is absolutely going to love it. She's been dying to go to Disney Castle for so long, but she can't go this year since her dad hasn't come back from his SOLDIER duties yet."
Sora swooned at her selflessness.
Once she was handed the giant stuffed plush, she handed her receipt and cashed out other smaller prizes to compensate for the remaining tickets. She asked for a purple foil gift bag, and she placed the items in the bag. "Well, I should go…" looking to Sora she smiled and stuck her hand out. "I'm glad I got to meet you Sora," she said shyly. Silence hung over, as he took her hand and grasped it tightly.
She smiled and turned around. Sora watched her leave, and jumped. "Wait," he watched her stop. And she turned, hair moving with her. "You wanna hang out later? Maybe sometime, next weekend or when you're not free?" She smiled. "I'd really like that," she answered, hold her bag strap with a feminine stance. It was entrancing. "Exchange?" she asked. He took his phone out and they handed each other's phones. Once they entered their contact information. She smiled, "See you around, Sora Irino." He laughed, "you too, Kairi Uchida. You too."
Smiling, she walked backward at him, and turned forward with a giant smile on her face. She placed her headphones in her ears, and pressed play on her phone. As he watched her leave the premises, she waved at him and he waved back. Once her being was gone, Sora let out air he didn't even know he was holding in.
"So what's this mean?"
He turned around to see his friends, smirking at him. His face went red, and he looked at the front entrance with a smile on his face. "Means, I met an Angel today," Sora responded. His friends were such idiots about it. He didn't really care if he was pushed, shoved, teased, and etc. afterwards.
Sora couldn't count how many cars he passed by and how many people he almost bumped into. He couldn't count how many steps he ran up and how many malls that stretched high like skyscrapers he avoided. He wasn't much of an athlete like some of his friends, but he was pretty adept at stamina. Sora could run for miles, and to be honest he never felt freer than when he was running. He grimaced, though the entire outfit gimmick was getting on his nerves though.
He could faintly Kairi, walking up to the escalators. Her headphones were still on, and she fixed her bag to drape properly over her shoulder. The time he got there, she was already on her way to the bus stop, and he flooded up the escalator, not bothered to wait for the mobile stairs anymore. Sora grasped the bus stop sign as he saw it took off. Sora wanted to cry.
Fueled with a desire to see this to the end, Sora took no moment to catch his breath. He began to compete with the bus, and pulled up to her window. He began to pound on it, and screamed her name a couple of times. She was busy looking at her phone, texting perhaps her mother that she was on her way home. Sora's exhaustion washed over him, sweat on his back and everywhere. He slowed down just enough for the bus to pull forward, Kairi with it. She seemed to put down her phone and looked out the window when he wasn't there.
Sora leaned out in a stance that allowed him to catch his breath. He took large gulps of air like how a thirsty dog would drink water. He panted, and coughed wildly. He grasped his knees, spread out in a bit of a squat, that were starting to burn. He looked up to see the bus disappear before his bleary eyes. He clutched his hands into fists, and screamed in anguish. He noticed an elderly woman sitting. "Excuse me," she had turned to him. "Yes dear?" she answered in a weak voice. He smiled, and politely asked her where the tram bus would have taken the passengers boarding earlier. She smiled and answered to a few blocks from his position. Sora decided to continue and ran again, making sure to thank the sweet old lady.
"You have such a large appetite for someone small," he laughed. She pouted, "hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Sora and Kairi were sitting down in the food court. Sora had ordered something from the Agrabah Bazaar since he was feeling Arabian food. Kairi ordered seafood from Atlantica, and it was quite a large plate. He was surprised she could eat all of that. "For someone that's tall and fit, you eat so little," she said. Sora shrugged, "you must have a fast metabolism." Kairi grinned, "yep, I'm an archer and a runner. I'm pretty sports active." Sora laughed, "I only play a few." He responded.
She shrugged and leaned backwards, finishing her mussels. He had a lengthy talk with Kairi about video games earlier. "What do you plan to do after high school?" he asked. She smiled, "I'd like to be a biochemist. You?"
Sora answered, "I'm planning to go into Physics. Maybe even an Engineering double-major."
She grinned, "Nothing to do with video games?" he huffed, "I'll have you know I do want to fly my own Gummi ship just not in the arcades."
Kairi giggled, "Seems fitting." Sora kept the conversation going, eager to hear her melodic laughing. Sora shrugged and leaned backwards to his chair. He stared at her interestedly, and she returned that look. "Just wanted to know…favorite color?" he asked. "Purple," she answered. Sora nodded, "I figured it would be. You wear a lot of it. It looks good on you. Mine's red." Kairi blushed, and touched the ends of her hair unconsciously. He hid a smile, feeling triumphant at his charming compliments. She asked, "You think so?" He replied, "yeah. Purple's a color fit for royalty. Since your adoptive dad is the mayor, it seems fitting that purple is all you. Plus, it fits your hair."
"You really think so?"
"Yeah," he beamed, "I really do."
"Are you going to ask her out?" Riku asked him.
All of his friends were waiting out in the open. Roxas was pretty much eager to see this through. Hayner was getting annoying also, asking Sora the same thing Riku was. Axel looked cool-headed, almost bored and drowsy. Wakka was on his phone, texting. Tidus was eager to hear Sora's reply. As Sora replied no hesitantly, all of his friends looked at him awkwardly.
"What? Why not?" Riku asked.
"I'm just her friend," the brunette answered. His face was red and shuffled himself awkwardly. "Besides…she might say no. I don't have enough experience to rejection. I reject girls, not the other way around." He answered. All of them shrugged. "And I've never asked the girl out before," he said embarrassed. "What happens if I screw it up? Then she'll never talk to me again."
"We'll go with you," his best friends replied. Sora gaped, "wouldn't that make it worse?"
Roxas nodded his head in agreement, "Sora's right…this sounds like it'd be best without us there. What happens if she thinks he's a wimp?" Riku smirked, "oh contraire. He needs moral support! We have to support him. I know these things, I've asked out countless girls in the past. It'll be full-proof. Call her now!"
Sora sighed, "Those girls aren't Kairi though. What if she takes this the wrong way?"
Riku smiled, "what's the worst that can happen? She rejects you? She seems pretty interested in you."
He saw Kairi walking up the street into a building. Sora exhaled and inhaled deeply. He was calmed down, deeply relieved that she made a reasonable stop. Moments after Sora approached this building, noticing that there is a roof on top. He looked at the building with a tired expression, and entered facility. Sora literally climbed up the steps, feet pounding on each floor. After a total of six floors he reaches the top opens the door.
He walked through, closing the door behind him. Sora realized at that moment, the view of the city on top of an extremely tall building. If Sora wasn't careful, and the wind was going to be brutal, he'd fly off the building and die. And if that didn't happen, he'd die of hypothermia. Sora clutched his scarf when a gust of fall wind hit him like a punch to the face, and he shivered from the freezing cold.
Sora walked to the middle of the roof top, and looked around. Suddenly, a giant wave of exhaustion hit him from how much running he did today. His vision started to get blurry again. Sora watched the city lights twinkle, and looked across the buildings from where he was standing.
He literally gave up. She wasn't here. Feeling angry, he almost plummeted to the floor. He kicked his shoes, in frustration. This might have just been a waste of his time, and he sincerely thought he was either dreaming or psychotic. This could've all been his giant imagination that she was actually here this entire time. He decided to head back.
"Idiot."
His eyes widened, and he looked towards the source of the voice, startled.
He blushed a bit. Her face was completely flushed red as well. He felt numbed, and he slowly turned his form to face her. He couldn't move from the stance of clutching his backpack. His toes felt tingling from the locked position as well. She slowly took shy steps towards him, clutching her bag. Up to now, it was still entrancing. He noticed her headphones weren't on her head anymore, probably put neatly away in that purse of her's.
She looked at her feet in sweet Uggs, and kicked the floor timidly. She looked up at him with doe-eyes, hooded by her semi-length red locks he loved. "…don't…," she paused embarrassed. She exhaled annoyed a bit. "Don't…ask me out in front of your friends. Like that…" she said in a low voice, looking at him with a nervous smile and pink cheeks. Sora gasped, and thought back to what happened earlier. He knew it was a bad idea for his friends to join him. His eyes began to widen more, realizing what she was saying. He understood completely, it was a flicker of emotion across her face, knowing why she must have felt the way she did.
She thought it was conquest, and mistook his feelings for her as just a guy who was looking for trouble rather than a genuine relationship. She probably was thinking that he was just like all the other guys today as well.
She was right, he was an idiot.
He paused, wordlessly and bashfully, and looked into her eyes. He exhaled out air almost relieved and laughing pitifully. Sora took strides towards her, now completely in front of her. He stepped towards her, and she turned her form to fully face him. Sora leaned down, and for some reason his body moved with him. He hugged Kairi gently, and managed to compose himself enough. His heart was racing, and he knew she could feel it too. Sora let out another breath of relief, and couldn't stop his stupid face from grinning.
Kairi didn't hug him back, but she welcomed his hug leaning into it. He felt her breathing, inhaling his familiar scent. She closed her eyes, seemed to lull, and with a look of elation clearly written on her face pulled a bit away.
"Idiot," she said again.
Kairi pulled away, and both of them began to sway apart from each other's broken embrace. Sora looked forward, and she did too stealing small glances at each other and stupid toothy lovesick smiles. Sora burst out with a bit of a silent laugh acknowledging his stupidity and his weak abilities of relationships and pitiful attempt at asking a girl out because he needed moral support. It did sound wussy as well. He looked away for a bit, rubbed his head awkwardly.
At the same time, Kairi held her face at bit of an amused smirk forward with a red face, and clutched her bag straps. She looked at him curiously and shyly. The red-haired female fixed her cardigan, fixing her posture. Sora looked at her with longing in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Kairi smiled. "it's fine," she said back.
Daringly, Sora stepped forward. She looked taken aback, standing still. Sora leaned forward, and gently kissed the top of her red head softly. Sora hugged her, and this time she hugged him back fully.
"Really, aww, I'm sorry!"
"It's fine," Sora answered. Kairi was sitting on top of the building. They both sit atop the building, legs hung over the edge of the building. She leaned a bit into him as well. "Yeah, I was running the entire time," he commented. Kairi smiled mischievously. "What a romantic. You looked crazy in public for me." she replied. Sora shoved her shoulder with his gently and playfully. This only fueled her laughter. "You have a pretty laugh," he mentioned. Kairi dazedly looked at him. Sora glanced at her expectantly.
"Do I have to try again?" The red-headed closed her eyes, "you can try again."
He wasted no time, "do you want to be my girlfriend? I really like you, Kairi."
Kairi opened her eyes, and nodded. Sora smiled excitedly, and stood up. He held his hand out to his and they grasped each other. Hand-in-hand they left the building together, and boarded the bus to the block before her house. As they got off, they walked side-by-side. Sora took in her area. Sora walked her up to the house, and once they stopped in front of it, he nodded. "I guess…I'll see you tomorrow then," he said. Kairi nodded, "yeah." After a moment of sweet silence, Sora gave her a grin, "goodnight, Kairi." She stopped him, by grasping his arm. He turned to her, and she pecked his lips lightly. "I've been waiting to do that, in a while," she said with a large blush and smile. His face was red as well, and his stupid grin didn't go down.
He nodded, "I'll see you then, Kairi."
She nodded as he left.
"Alright man, see you later!"
"Bye Kairi! Bye Sora!"
As their friends left the premises, Sora felt arms encircle him from behind. Kairi hugged his form to her. She was swung over to one side. He smiled, feeling her support and revved the hand bars on the R-cycle. Suddenly they began to move to side to side, as the game moved forward.
"New High Score!" Hand-in-hand, Sora and Kairi left the arcade together. Kairi clutched a Minnie plush that Sora got for her from the ticket trains earlier. As the menu rolled in, a drop list of the high scores rolled in.
The highest score read the name: SOKAI
