Ah, here we go. Something different, especially to me. I did a run through of the Kingdom Hearts Series recently, and it triggered the dreaded thing known as story ideas. So, against the protest of my Y chromosome, I wrote a fluffy romantic comfort oneshot... thing. And loved doing it.
This has honestly been the thing I've had the most fun writing, as my inner sap finally got to come out. Now I haven't written very much before this, so no quality guarantees here.
The title I particularly like, as it's a double meaning. See if you can figure it out by the end.
Please enjoy!
Oh yeah, before I forget...
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, it's characters, or anything related to it. Or anything related to those relations. Though technically I do own a copy of Kingdom Hearts.
Darkness. It was a confusing darkness, but the knowledge that he was in darkness triggered something to fill it.
"Darkness is the Heart's true essence." It was Xehanort's heartless.
No it isn't, its light.
Kingdom Hearts burst into light, destroying it. It shifted, becoming a giant shadowy figure.
"The closer you are to light, the greater your shadow becomes."
The voice from the dream…
Images and sounds flew past, from his journey. Heartless, Nobodies, friends, enemies. Black coated figures pleading as they faded away. Enemies defeated, finally giving into the darkness of their hearts.
No, it… it had to be done.
His home, his island, swallowed. The giant shadow took a step closer. He swung his keyblade, causing it to dissipate. The darkness around him faded and reformed. A redheaded girl stood in front of him, facing away.
Kairi.
She turned, looking lost and tired.
"Sora…"
The door behind her exploded into darkness, sending her flying into him. He tried to catch her but she disappeared.
Kairi!
He looked through the darkness, searching for her. The black coated figures returned, attacking him this time. He ignored their blows, which seemed not to cause pain, but the feeling he should be in pain.
Kairi, where are you?
They continued, relentlessly, until a figure with long silver hair came into focus.
Riku!
He held a dark keyblade and was dressed in clothing that looked to be formed out of muscle tissue. He spoke, but his words made no sense, they seemed distorted.
Not Riku.
Next to the figure lay Kairi, her body posed lifelessly in an unnatural looking straightness. Arms at her sides, legs together.
Kairi wake up!
The figure attacked, shifting once again to Xehanort's heartless. He swung in return, sending the figure backwords. It stopped and smiled, as more black coated figures returned. The figure shifted again, its face becoming lifeless as it too sported a black cloak.
Get out of my way!
At the thought, the other black coated figures backed off. But the main one, Xemnas, beckoned one forward. It threw back its hood, revealing blue hair and an unnatural X shaped scar.
Saïx! You took Kairi!
As the thought formed, Saïx pulled Kairi by the armpit. She was different, with longer hair and new clothing. But it was Kairi.
He attacked, but not with his keyblade, but with his claws. He jumped forward, ripping the two figures to shreds before his eyes.
No, stop. Stop!
He continued, the other hooded figures were next, each helpless to stop his onslaught. He turned to Kairi last.
NO! STOP!
"Sora?"
"KAIRI!" he yelled, opening his eyes and lunging forward in bed. He caught a red flash as a head jerked back to avoid getting hit.
Sora blinked a couple times, looking around the dark room, confused. He focused on the blue eyes of his visitor, which were at the moment, filled with concern.
"You were having a nightmare." Kairi told him, placing a hand on his own.
Breathing heavily, Sora looked at the hand to see that he had summoned forth the keyblade, and was still clenching it tightly.
"Oh…" He said simply, cheeks warming, and let it disappear in a flash of light. In the brief flash of light, the rest of the room was illuminated, particularly her face. The shift back to darkness left the image probing, tender eyes burned into his mind. He suddenly became very aware the overbearing presence of the room, and how the dream had left him in a cold, clammy, sweat.
"Are you all right?" She asked, leaning a little closer to him. His breath caught in his throat for a second, and his brain struggled slightly for a response.
"Y-yeah, just a nightmare…" Sora stammered out, unable to keep looking into her eyes as he did.
She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly, studying him for a second.
"Really, I'm fine." He replied, shifting uncomfortably and flashed what was supposed to be a cheesy, reassuring grin. But it just came across as pitiful.
Kairi turned sat on the edge of his bed, leaning sideways to look into his face.. "Sora, you can't fool me. This isn't your first nightmare. I've heard you the last couple of nights."
Right, great. So there is a downside to living with Kairi. Sora thought with a slight frown, leaning backward further in an attempt to avoid her gaze.
Kairi frowned. Sora had been in her house for a couple of weeks now, ever since he had returned. His parents had left, once they forgot about him, and when everyone remembered they didn't return. The look of loss that had come over Sora was truly heartbreaking. To Kairi, sadness just didn't belong on his face. She offered him the guest room in her house and after he confirmed that she wasn't joking, he grinned from ear to ear and hugged her.
Her cheeks warmed just thinking about it. But making him go from sad to happy was something she took great pride in. Seeing him like this, seeing him scared and lost was something she couldn't stand. And frankly it scared her, he was always the cheerful one, the one who made others feel better, his upbeat attitude was something she'd come to rely on.
"I…" Sora started, his eyes gazing off into nothing, looking lost. "I think I'm losing it."
"What? How?" Kairi asked, frowning further. "What happened?"
He sighed, looking at his hands. "In the dream I became this… this thing." He continued, rotating his palms from inwards to outwards. "I was a monster. I was all dark and I had claws and I tore them apart."
"Sora, it was a dream." Kairi said, placing her hands over his, wondering who them could be. Really there were a lot of candidates, he'd made quite a few enemies. "You're not a monster, you could never-"
"But I have!" Sora said, his voice breaking slightly as a rush of emotions came over him, "Sometimes, when I'd try and transform, I'd have this darkness come over me and I'd become this monster. Like a heartless. And I would rip whatever stood in my way to shreds." He pulled his hands away, looking scared.
"Kairi, what if I hurt someone?" He continued, eyes filling with water, "What if I-" he stopped, bringing his hands to eyes to wipe away forming tears.
Kairi placed one arm on across his back and one arm on the back of his head and pulled him into a hug. Sora let his arms drop to his sides and began crying full force into her shoulder.
"Shh, it's okay. Just let it out, come on." Kairi said, calmer than she felt. Sora crying was a rare occurrence, cheerful and upbeat as he was. But she had never seen him cry this hard. He really was scared. "Shh, don't worry. Shh."
After a few minutes of her nonsensical shushing sounds, his crying finally slowed and came to a stop. He pulled back and her arms moved to his shoulders.
"S-sorry." He said, wiping his eyes and glancing down.
"It's okay. We all need a good cry every once in a while." She smiled a little, "I think yours is long past due."
"What do you mean?" He asked, looking up and meeting her eyes.
"After all you've been through? All that fighting and all those people you saved? It had to be taking its toll."
He laughed weakly, "I guess… I just kinda pushed it aside. I had to keep going."
She shook her head, "I don't think I could have done it. I probably would've broken down when it all started."
Sora smiled. "No way. You were there for a lot of it. You would've been fine." He laughed a little. "Thanks Kairi."Sora wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.
"No problem." Kairi said blushing, "You saved me, it was the least I could do." They stayed like that for a while, both enjoying the moment.
And the warmth Kairi thought, it's getting cold in here.
Sora leaned out of the hug, and suddenly becoming very aware of her dress. She was wearing a simple nightgown, much like what Namine always wears, except this one was a light blue and even thinner.
"Jeez, you must be freezing." He said grabbing at his blanket and throwing it around her. "Take this."
"Thanks, but how are you going to stay warm?" Kairi asked, nodding to the too small pajama pants he was wearing. "You don't even have a shirt."
He blushed slightly, becoming self conscious. "I'll be fine."
"C'mon we'll share." Kairi said, holding open the blanket and going red.
"Uh…" Sora managed, before going red himself. "Are you—"
Kairi interrupted by scooting closer and wrapping the blanket around the both of them.
"—Sure?" He finished weakly.
"Yes." She said, looking him in the eyes. "I came here to help you, remember?"
He blushed harder. "Thanks."
"Now," Kairi said, her eyes now glinting, "I believe you owe me a story."
"Hmm?" Sora said, looking confused. "You mean of what happened?"
"Yes," Kairi replied, huddling closer to him in the blanket. "What happened? I've been waiting to hear the whole thing, not bits and pieces. So start from the beginning."
He smiled down at her. He had promised to tell her, and honestly he'd really wanted to. He'd done some pretty amazing stuff and whenever he'd done something cool, he'd always want to share it with her. "Sure." Then he leaned back against the wall and started talking.
Sora wasn't the greatest storyteller. He would often get too enthusiastic and digress from what was happening in the story to talk about some small detail, or forget an important one and have to explain it later. At first, the stories had an edge of familiarity, as Kairi had been inside of him when they'd happened. But when he'd moved into talking about his return trip to Hollow Bastion and on, Kairi suddenly had to pay more attention. His talk of what had happened during his finally battle with Ansem, or Xehanort's heartless as he had to keep correcting himself, made Kairi wonder about just how powerful her friend was.
Then he got to a part about him reaching crossroads and faltered. "I don't know what happened after that. It's just… blank." He frowned and down at her again.
"Why?" Kairi asked, "Did you block it off?"
"No, I don't think I did. I woke up in some pod almost a year later. Apparently my memories had to be restored." He frowned, looking confused. "I feel I should remember it, but it's just empty."
"Maybe that was when everyone couldn't remember you." Kairi suggested, "When I swore that I wouldn't go back to the islands until I remembered everything about you."
"Really?" Sora said quietly, smiling at her, "Thanks…"
"What for?" She asked, looking confused.
"For trying to remember me. Riku said that most people forgot about me completely." He laughed, then continued from what he could remember. As he told of waking up in Twilight Town, Kairi rested her head on his shoulder. By the time he had gotten through him talking about leaving Hollow Bastion for the first time, she was almost asleep.
"Hey Kairi?" Sora whispered, interrupting himself from his story to try and see if she was still awake.
"Mmm?" She grunted softly, without moving.
"Do you want me to carry you to your room?" He asked quietly, brushing some hair out of her face.
"No… keep going… I can stay awake…" She mumbled in return, though in truth she was having trouble following what he'd been talking about.
Sora chuckled in reply. "I don't think so, we can continue tomorrow."
"But you're warm… my bed is cold." She said, almost whining.
"C'mon..." Sora started, blushed slightly at her response, a small part of his brain wondering why they should move in the first place. It's comfortable here.
Kairi weighed the pros and cons of going to her bed, letting the silence settle over both of them. "…Fine." Kairi breathed, sounding almost annoyed.
Sora chuckled, which made Kairi reposition herself from his shoulder to his chest.
"You're not helping." He said lightly.
"Mmhmm..." She acknowledged, yawning.
He yawned in response, and blinked a couple times. "Wow, I am… tired."
Just the thought made him slide down the wall a little bit. "Kairi?"
"Mm?" She grunted as he slid a little farther towards his pillow.
"I don't—" He yawned again, suddenly the distance to her room seemed vast. "I don't think I can make it."
She processed the thought for a second, then realized that meant she didn't have to move. "Thassokay." She mumbled.
Forget the distance to her room, his door seemed too far away. "I—" He yawned again, eyes drooping. "I don't…"
They both hit the bed, Sora trying to finish a thought he had. It concerned the morning. Kairi just repositioned again, putting her head underneath his chin, an arm across his chest, and her right leg through both of his.
"Isn't…" Sora said, seriously struggling now. "Isn't Riku supposed to come over in the morning?"
His only response was a change in her breathing, signaling she had finally fallen asleep.
Oh well. He thought tiredly. I won't be having nightmares now.
Wrapping his unpinned arm across Kairi, he fell asleep.
There you are.
I tried to keep Sora and Kairi in character, but I don't know how successful that was. Your thoughts?
Opinions?
Flames?
Suggestions for SoKai stories (Ooh especially those.)
The double meaning in the title was Sora is have a nightmare about going into Anti-Form, and Kairi is his anti-nightmare. Hope you enjoyed!