Bored, bored, bored. Kairi stared out her bedroom window and sighed with all the dramatic force her five-year-old lungs could muster. Rainy days were the worst, since she couldn't go out and play. And of course the rain only stopped once it was dark out, leaving her stuck in her room till morning.
"Play with your dolls," Grandma said, but Kairi was bored of dolls. "Do your puzzles, then," but she could do all her puzzles with her eyes closed. "Well then, come watch my show with me." Grandma's hip was acting up again, so she couldn't play with Kairi today, and instead started to nap in front of the TV. The show was really boring too, so Kairi went upstairs hoping to find something to do. Alone in her room, looking over her various toys, she found each one of them lacking for one reason or another.
Kairi knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to go outside, to the field down the road. The smell of the air just after a rainstorm was one of her favorites, especially when the rain came from the sea laced with salt. But Grandma was sleeping, and… and… there was really no reason she couldn't go by herself, was there? It wasn't that dark yet, and if she hurried she might still see some fireflies. After all, she was five whole years old, practically a grown-up! And if she went and came back before Grandma woke up, it would be like she'd never left.
Kairi yanked on her raincoat and puddle-jumpers (what Grandma always called them, Dad just called them 'boots,' but he was no fun), just in case it started to rain again. As quietly as she could, she unlocked the front door and closed it behind her, then hopped down the stairs.
No one was out in the damp evening air, so Kairi had the streets to herself, and she skipped along the sidewalk humming a nameless tune. Puddles in the path were actually bottomless pits, so she had to leap over them or edge around them to escape death. A fallen tree branch blocked the sidewalk and made her pause, remembering all the times her Grandma said not to go into the street. But there were no cars or bicycles she could see, so after another moment she took a deep breath and stepped off the curb. She held her breath until she was back on the sidewalk. Hah! This was easy.
The clouds chose that moment to roll aside and let the full moon shine down, and Kairi gasped at how pretty the puddles looked, sparkling in the light. After watching the moon through a puddle for another minute, Kairi remembered her mission and jumped over it, missing the edge by a few marks and splashing rainwater on her pants. Cold!
Finally, she made it to the field, where tall grass swayed in the breeze and fireflies floated around in lazy circles. Kairi loved fireflies, and held her arms out to twirl around with them, laughing as they quickly changed direction to avoid her. The recent rain brought out the fresh smell of the grass and with her eyes closed she could almost imagine that the field stretched on in all directions forever and ever. She opened her eyes and twirled one more time, but this time caught a glimpse of something strange. The grass tickled her hands as she leaned forward to see what it was.
Turns out it was a boy about her age, with hair as silver as the moonlight and dark skin. He stared at her with wide, yellow eyes, that Kairi thought looked like a cat's with how they almost glowed in the dark. He had firefly eyes! Excited to meet him, for she had never seen him at school or the park before, she stepped forward and held up a hand. He flinched and looked down at the ground, fist clenching around a few blades of grass.
Kairi didn't get bothered by this, stepping forward again and calling out, "Hello!" Now the boy closed his eyes very tightly and seemed to be thinking very hard. Kairi didn't know this, but he was thinking that if he concentrated hard enough, one of them would disappear. "You don't hafta be scared, I'm nice." Kairi said, mistaking his behavior for shyness as she drew closer. "What's your name? Where d'you live?"
Sora, for that was still his name even though the mommy who gave it to him lived far away now, shook his head. "Not s'posed to talk to you." He said, opening his eyes but keeping his head low. "Master Xemnas said."
Kairi pouted. "I don't see anyone. 'Sides, what kinda dumb rule is that?"
Sora looked up despite himself, shocked at this casual disregard for his Master's rules. "Rules are im-por-tant." He recited, remembering Master Ansem on their last mission. He didn't like Master Ansem, but respect was something he understood very well. "Rules keep the order of the un-i-verse in ba-lance." His cadence was a bit off because he was only six years old, but Kairi still blinked at hearing such a smart-sounding thing coming from someone so young. In the typical way of children her age, she disregarded this development entirely and steamed ahead.
"I'm Kairi!" She said, holding out one hand. Sora just looked at it, for long enough that a firefly landed on Kairi's finger. "Oh, look." She breathed, slowly bringing her hand closer to her face. Fireflies were so cute. "You have firefly eyes." She told Sora in a matter-of-fact tone, hoping to draw some response out of him. He didn't react at all. Finally she got tired of the quiet and dropped her hand. "What's your name?"
"'M Sora." He said, after a long pause. Kairi giggled, and Sora's eyes widened. "Are you okay?" He asked, leaning forward and tilting his head to one side.
"Whatcha mean?"
"That noise..."
"I just laughed. You're kinda weird." But Kairi smiled as she said it. "It's okay, there's lotsa kids at school who're weird." She ran her hand over the stems of grass, the raindrops on them tickling her fingers. "Are you new in town? Maybe you'll go to my school then!"
But Sora shook his head. "School?"
"Don'tcha go to school? Where you learn stuff." Maybe he was an alien! Kairi disregarded the theory as soon as she thought it. Everyone knew aliens were green and said 'Take me to your leader,' and Sora hadn't said anything like that yet. But still, how could he not know what school was?
"Oh. I learn stuff from my masters."
"Ohh." Kairi nodded because that explained that, then looked up at the sky as a strong gust of wind made her shiver. "Look! The clouds are going away." And they were, swirling away around the moon and revealing a perfectly black sky filled with tiny stars. Sora looked up too, eyes wide and bright in the moonlight. Kairi held her hands out to cup the full moon and said, "It's so pretty."
"Yeah," Sora said quietly, but he was no longer looking at the sky. Kairi was the first girl his own age he could remember meeting, so she was very pretty to him. Especially with those big blue eyes. Sora didn't know why, but something about those eyes made his insides hurt, like they did when he thought about his parents. Master Xemnas always said the same thing when Sora cried, even as he would try to provide comfort in his awkward way. Just one hand on Sora's shoulder or back, never a true hug, but the contact did help. "It'll pass. Take a deep breath."
Sora took a deep breath now, to stop the tears from falling, and hoped Kairi didn't notice. She didn't, her eyes hopping from star to star as she tried to draw pictures with them like in her connect-the-dots playbooks. She was distracted enough that now was probably a good time to get away, but Sora found himself unable to move. "There!" Kairi said, huge grin on her face as she pointed. "I found a dog, do you see it?" Sora looked up and squinted at the sky, trying to find the dog. He couldn't see anything among the millions of tiny sparkling lights. "Right there," Kairi said, running her finger up and around and back again across the stars. "It's just a head and a tail. Above the big cloud."
Now Sora thought he could see it, too. He laughed, just once, then immediately covered his mouth with both hands. That made Kairi giggle again, and soon Sora dropped his hands and let himself laugh. Such a strange feeling, laughter. His masters didn't forbid it, exactly, but none of his masters seemed to be able to laugh. After he could talk again, he pointed out a sword he saw among the stars, then Kairi helped him find a heart. They traded constellations back and forth, the sparse remaining clouds helping them find each other's pictures. Sora's cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
After a while of this fun game, Sora heard something. He ducked down into the grass and pulled Kairi down too, shushing her when she started to speak. "Did you hear that?" Kairi tilted her head, listening. Sora did the same, and heard a faint, "Kairi!" come from the other side of the field. Kairi gasped, eyes wide as she jumped up.
"Uh-oh." She turned around, boots squishing in the mud. "I gotta go, I'm late."
Sora felt his stomach sink with dread. "You're not in trouble, are you?" If she was in trouble it was at least partly his fault for talking to her and making her late.
But she shook her head, smiling. "Nice meeting you!" She said, waving over her shoulder as she started to run back through the field.
"Wait," Sora called out before he even realized it, and she skidded to a stop in the grass, almost falling over. "Will you come back?" He asked, almost breathless with hope.
"Yeah! Grandma and I come here like every day. See you!" And then she was gone, and the field was quiet once again. Sora crossed his arms and stood as still as he could, wishing the fireflies would come back. But it was too late for them now, so the only sound in the field was the rustling of grass and the chirping of crickets.
He remembered what Kairi had said. "You have firefly eyes." He didn't get to see his reflection much at home, but he knew his eyes were yellow because Master Xemnas's eyes were yellow, and everyone said they looked just alike. The memory of the way she'd said it, so serious, made him smile, and he looked up at the sky and kept tracing images in his mind to share with her later.
A little while passed and Master Xemnas returned, the portal into the dark realm opening in a swirl of acrid air. "We're done here." He stated, holding out a hand to Sora. He caught sight of Sora's smile and blinked. "Did something happen?" Sora dropped the smile and Xemnas wished he hadn't mentioned it. Sometimes he thought the boy tried a bit too hard to emulate his new family, and missed the early days when Sora would grin and laugh without restraint. "Never mind."
"I want to come back here." Sora said, craning his neck so he could meet Xemnas's eyes. All the masters were insistent on eye contact, since they said it showed confidence.
"Probably someday. This world is important to us."
"Someday soon?" Sora asked, trying to sound nonchalant but failing. Xemnas shook his head to indicate 'maybe' and wondered again what happened to make the boy so insistent. He was usually as quiet as a shadow on these missions, only speaking when spoken to.
But the research notes he'd acquired from the basement of the castle couldn't wait, so he didn't have time to question Sora more thoroughly. "Let's go."
He took Sora's tiny hand in his and they left Radiant Garden in a vortex of shadow.
Inspired by a piece of art by Chachacharlieco, who can be found on tumbler (deliberately misspelled because fanfiction dot net is annoying). I don't think the Organization would be cruel to baby Soranort, even as they would not make good parents for obvious reasons. Hope Kairi's voice isn't too annoying, I am way out of practice writing small children. Leave a review if you can: they make me feel like I have a heart.