.•.Petals.Of.Twilight.•.
by xManaxNoxKumorix
••••
Genres: Romance, Suspense, Angst
Rating: T for language and some heavy stuff later in
About: This story has alot, and I repeat, a lot of triangles, but there are two main shippings, which are as follows: Sora x Kairi and Roxas x Namine. But there are many different love triangles. I think there's a few squares in there too - It's going to be very interesting!
I rated it TEEN just for safety's sake - it might get a little more adult-oriented later. I will NOT have any lemons, just to tell you - however, I will have some pretty heavy stuff further into the story.
Author's Note: I'm dedicating this fic to one of my really good friends, Snakey:) He's a fellow Kingdom Hearts lover, helped me come up with the plot, and I pretty much wrote the fic for him. Happy 16th, Sniki-chan!
Enjoy, and I'd appreciate reviews if you like my fiction, just so I know my work is appreciated. I love constructive criticism - Thanks! Flames will be gracefully accepted.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all the smexin' awesome stuff in it isn't mine... yet.
••••
.•Chapter.One. - .Nostalgia•.
I held my arm up to shade my eyes from the glaring sun, magnified tenfold by its' glitter on the pure cyan water. Sand still clung to my cheeks; I had carelessly fallen asleep here the night before. Here, on our island, our island that might as well be no one's island, seeing how much it was visited. No, it was some kind of no-man's land now, a no-man's land that hadn't been visited by my friends for who-knows-how-long and me for who-knows-how-much-longer.
I hadn't abandoned it - I could never dream of doing that. It was my promise to myself, my promise to remember every last detail of him before I returned. And finally, yesterday, that moment had come, all in one flurry of recognition.
I remembered him. Sora...
Oh, how long had it been since I'd said his name, or even remembered it? Two years, at least. So long since I'd pictured his face, imagined his voice, his intense blue eyes... But then I did. And so, after school, I'd rowed on the barnacle-encrusted, creaky boat that was now too small, paddled down to this island.
The sun was descending below the sparkly blue horizon, and the air was fresh, and the nostalgia was intoxicating. I could remember everything about him - and Riku too. It was a wonderful feeling, yet so sad, so wistful... the happiness of those memories, the sadness they were gone, and the knowledge that they would never return. I fell asleep with tears streaming down my cheeks. But they were tears of comfort, the kind of tears one sheds to ease all the feelings coming at you at once. And they helped my sleep; I slept better than I had in many months.
And so I awoke to my first dawn of the island in years.
For a long time I didn't rise. For a long time I just lay there, drinking in the serenity of my surroundings, drinking in this island of my memory. When I finally did get up, I stripped myself of shoes and socks and walked along the white beach, occasionally dipping my toes into the white foam bordering the sun-stained water. Out by the little hut I saw two old abandoned wooden swords, which brought fresh tears to my eyes. Riku, Tidus and Sora used to play all the time with those old things... and further down the beach was a raft with a splintered mast.
That was too much for me. I found myself silently rowing back to the main island.
••••
"Hey, girlie! Like my new get-up?" Selphie spun around, a red and pink skirt fluttering around her legs, in addition to a matching pink and red spaghetti-strapped shirt, accented by sunflower earrings - an outfit that was very her. The two of us were lazing around in the grass by the sea, surrounded by chattering students. Today was picnic day, the one day we were allowed to dawn something other than our school uniforms, and, of course, go on a picnic - up on that secluded grassy hill by the east beach. Naturally, Selphie saw it as a chance to show off every inch of skin she could manage - that skirt was tiny!
The grass was a beautiful green, with flowered trees scattered around everywhere, and bright yellow, jolly-faced daisies poking out around them. Down a few yards away the beach began, hence there was a beautiful sea breeze ruffling our hair. We had a checkered blue picnic blanket spread out in front of us, laden with foods of all kinds. The sun glittered in a cloud-strewn, blinding blue sky, and I could have sworn that it was the most beautiful day of my life - of course, now I know much better. The students all around us were a much more colorful display then usual, many of the girls wearing as risqué things as they could come up with without getting suspended. I myself had gone for a more subtle cuteness: a breezy blue knee-length skirt and a lantern-sleeved white top, comfortable, free and pretty all at once; very Kairi. I had debated wearing my, um, "bondage outfit", as Tidus had teasingly called it, but most likely the administration would have shot me endless dirty looks. It's really only a pink dress laden with zippers, but knowing Tidus he would interpret it like that. Besides, it was too hot for something like that on a beautiful spring day like today.
"It's a bit revealing," I told Selphie truthfully, "But it is cute." She stuck out her bottom lip in an absurd pout, a trick that worked on many of the boys in the school but never on me. "Just because YOU don't know the word 'sexy' exists doesn't mean I don't either." I rolled my eyes at her, but laughed all the same. Selphie isn't exactly what one would call a 'slut'. She's more of a cute flirt. Too innocent to be sexy, but her innocence is a naive, blunt kind of innocence, though I love her all the same.
A tanned boy with contrasting flaming red hair plopped down in the grass next to Selphie, to her delight. She threw her arms around him and nuzzled him, squealing, "Wakka-nii!" Wakka grinned and patted her back; I had noticed the two growing closer lately.
"Hey, what's happening?" He asked Selphie with a wink. She grinned. "Nothing muchness! Hey, have you seen Tidus-kun?"
"I was just about to ask the same thing," responded Wakka, rubbing his neck and surveying the other picnic blankets strewn around. "He's probably wolfing food down somewhere around here." He waved around a deck clenched tightly in his right hand. "I brought cards, and wondering if he was up to a ga-" Abruptly he was towed over by a blonde-haired blur yelling,"Did I hear someone challenge me! Let's do it, let's do it!" Wakka promptly tipped over, sending the cards everywhere.
"Tidus-kun, he can't play you with a broken neck and his deck scattered to the four winds," Selphie informed him while Wakka was trying to regain his composure, a hint of very out-of-character sarcasm in her voice that made me laugh.
"Oh, Selphie-chan, you know how he is about his games," I giggled. "Even though it's true..."
"Right, gomen, Tidus-nii," Tidus apologized as he rubbed his neck sheepishly. His coffee-colored eyes lay on us for a second. "Ah, hello, Selphie-chan, Kairi-chan. Now..." They fixed back upon Wakka. "Wakka-nii, my friend-yet-long-lasting-rival-in-go fish, let's PLAY!"
As Wakka shuffled his deck, Tidus made silly little competitive puns and Selphie giggled at them, I shifted my attention to the beauty around me. The day was so beautiful, the grass was startlingly green. I plucked a daisy from the earth, and, wiping the soil from its roots, clasped it in my hand. The east wind carried the apple blossoms from the tree a few yards away all around me, and whisped them away into the heavens, the heavens that were just so blue... blue, almost as blue as those eyes of his... his eyes lived up to his name. 'Sky'...
"Kairi-chan? Earth to Kai, hellooo?" Selphie was waving a bracelet-clad, ring-covered hand in my face. I blinked before realizing what was happening.
"Ah, um, I'm sorry, Selphie-chan, I..." I felt my cheeks grow hot, and knew I must be red as a cherry. Selphie giggled. "What's with you lately, Kairi-chan? Your head has been up in the clouds 24/7!" She covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she giggled. Wakka was also smiling. Tidus looked a little more serious, something that made me puzzled, because he very rarely was sober.
"She's right you know. You've been daydreaming constantly. You don't even snap out of it to take notes, and your grades are suffering because of it. I've never known you not to take school seriously, it's always been your top priority." He looked straight at me with those eyes of his. They had always been so intense, contrary to his laid-back personality, and especially now it looked like he was drilling straight through my soul. "Is there something you need to talk about, Kai? I'm worried." I opened my mouth, but closed it again.
"Oh, loosen up, Tidus-kun," Selphie snickered, obviously not aware of the rarity and importance of Tidus's serious mood. But I was relieved when he rubbed his neck and laughed himself.
"I guess I am being a little uptight. But really, Kai, if you need to talk, I'm right here." He stared at me again, resuming his dead-serious look for only a split second before reverting back to immature, competitive, lovable Tidus mode and cracking a corny pun about Wakka's losing streak.
I couldn't tell Tidus. I didn't know if he, too was aware of Sora's existence, and if I explained to him, he would think me insane, or a liar, despite our closeness. No, this was no ordinary situation; I couldn't confide in him, or in anyone. There was no one here for me.
If only he was...
••••
I awoke to the moon, emerging out of the land of star-spangled night. To my eyes, unadjusted to the light, it was like the sun - too bright to sleep by. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and brought my wrist up to check the time - 1:34 in the morning. I rolled over and attempted falling back into slumber, but for some reason I now felt wide awake. Sliding out of bed, I silently stepped to my closet, indifferently drawing out the nearest thing I could reach and putting it on, which turned out to be a violet shirt and my school uniform skirt. I slipped on my shoes and left the house; I lived alone, in a small 4-room the Mayor had graciously let me use, so I didn't need to worry about anyone stopping me.
The night was clear and cool. A night breeze blew my hair about, and the stars, though dimmed by the brightness of the full moon, were amazing, spilled across the sky like milk. I felt so like reaching up and retrieving one, that's how close they seemed. But I resisted the urge, lightly stepping across the sand.
When I reached the dock I quietly slipped into my rowboat. The island - it was calling to me. The beauty of its solitude, and its silent, inexplicable magic, and something else. Something in my heart just urged me. 'Why am I feeling so strange...?', I thought, paddling in a steady pattern, counting each row in my head. Paddle, paddle. Splish splish, splosh. Paddle, paddle... 'Something is going to happen'... Splish, splish, splosh. Paddle, paddle ...'I can just feel it'...
The rowboat hit bottom. I attached the chain to its bow and emerged. The moon was even brighter, its fierce face scowling down at me. Tonight, something was going to happen. The air was thick with the aura of something otherworldly, something that didn't belong. It scared me, and yet intrigued me. And as the minutes passed, as I sat silently on the sand, that intrigued feeling grew to be excitement anticipation. Something was going to happen. It wasn't scary anymore. Something had to happen, eventually. And I had realized, I was ready for it.
It must have been three o'clock or so, when my wish came true. A quiet sucking noise to my left snapped me out of my thoughts. I lifted my head from my knees to look.
It was a sort of spiral, a vortex of darkness. The sucking sound grew louder; a figure was emerging through it. Despite the adrenaline rush flowing through my veins, my exhilaration, I felt a stab of nervous fear. I knew it would happen. But seeing it was so different...
He had a little smile on his face, that man who emerged from the vortex. I got to my feet, keeping my eyes locked on his.
"Where did you come from?" I asked, my voice surprisingly strong for the mixed emotions I was feeling at that moment. He didn't answer my question. Instead, he asked one of his own.
"Are you Kairi?" He must have seen recognition in my eyes, because his little smile grew wider.
"What do you want?" I asked, my voice still not trembling.
He blinked in a slow, intimidating sort of way, and then I saw his smile in a new light; hardly a smile of compassion.
"One guess." In one swift movement he stepped towards me, the speed causing his black hood to fall; messy red hair was revealed along with malicious green eyes. Another stab of fear plagued me. I began backed away, but I was too slow - he knocked me to the ground, his black hooded cloak rippling behind him.
••••
Author's Note: Woah there Axel! XD Contain your hormones! Don't worry, that's not a coupling, but I thought it was an interesting triangle. Axel liking both Kairi and Roxas... woah! And Kairi was a little OOC in her anger I guess, but I can picture her having quite a temper when she gets P.O.ed (though she seems pretty patient, so that happens rarely).
I hope to have the next chapter up soon - tatties!