"Can you see the stars?"
Sora rolls over onto his stomach, kicking his feet into the air. The cold sand kisses their skin as the waves brush against their bare feet. He looks at Kairi curiously. "Who re you talking to?"
"Nobody," the girl yawns in reply as she stretches. On her other side, Riku snores softly. They will have to wake him before going home. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead." Sora nods as his feet continued to move over his head, just out of the water's reach.
"Do you ever see Roxas?" she looks at the twinkling balls of light overhead rather the boy with whom she is conversing. "Do you still talk to him?"
"Do you mean like in a dream? the boy inquires. Yeah, I still dream about him from time to time. Why, do you see Nanime ?"
She touches her own chest, feeling the thumping of her own heartbeat. No matter how hard she tries Kairi can't even remember what her other self looks like. She can t remember the sound of her voice. "No."
"Okay, then, no need to worry."
Worry? Kairi sits up and asks Sora to clarify what he means.
"It's nothing." The boy waves her off before rising to his feet. "It's getting kind of late. See you tomorrow?
She nods and laughs her confirmation. He rouses their sleeping friend. Riku moans as he too climbs to his feet. They both ask Kairi if she is coming, albeit in different tones, but she tells them both that she s going to hang around the beach a little longer.
Kairi watches the two boys walk away until their visages pass over a hill. Then she hugs herself as a cold wind blows through the night. She crawls over to the dark water. Was this the same water that Riku and Sora saw in the world of darkness? Were they the same stars? Did she see these same stars as well?
Her heart continues to beat. Was it possible for two people to share the same body, the same soul, and not know each other? Would she never see a glimpse of her other self in the mirror? Why wasn t she even allowed the dreams that Sora and Roxas shared?
"Nanime." The word tastes more beautiful on her tongue than the most delicious wine. Does the other girl miss Kairi? Does she feel the same sense of loss than came with completion? Is the sacred union only an eternal separation?
The girl with the magenta hair picks a random star and makes a wish. She closes her eyes and holds one hand with the other, pretending that it belongs to someone she will never see.
A/N: Pardon the shortness. This is just something I thought up on the fly.