P A O P U F R U I T
sorax kairi
dedicated to M i t s u k a i i
The redheaded female teenager stepped gingerly into the undersized cave. Along the rigid stone walls were numerous scribblings and meaningless drawings, expressing imagination and the mind of a young child. The Seret Place.The young girl stepped leisurely through the small cave, running her delicate hand across one of the gray, smooth walls, tracing the drawings with her slim finger, remembering how she and her friends had drawn the pictures when they were younger with jagged rocks. She stopped when she had reached the end of the cave and the corners of her mouth turned up in a gentle smile as she sighted a poorly drawn picture of her and her best friend. She knelt in front of it, a few strands of her auburn hair falling from behind her ear and stroking the delicate skin around her deep azure eyes. She traced the features of the drawing which illustrated her and her best friend sharing a star shaped fruit. Oh, how she wished it had come true, for whoever shared one of these magical fruits with someone else, became intertwined with them no matter what. Their destinies would be linked together forever. Even after death.
The girl sighed softly as she stood up slowly. With one last glance at the special drawing, she turned and walked towards the exit of the cavern. She turned slightly, with her right hand resting on the cave wall, her cranberry hair tossing lightly. Her oceanic eyes darted around the cave, scruitinizing it one last time before crawling out into the sunlight, fresh air filling her lungs. Straightening her posture, the redhead dusted her pink and white dress off before turning to see a certain brunette boy standing on the small, round additional island, connected to the larger one in which she stood on by a lone bridge. He was leaning against the curved trunk of the paopu tree.
Brushing her crimson locks away from her face and tucking them behind her ear, she passed the small pond witha waterfall cascading down the side of the island's rocky wall, adding to the crystalline liquid and walked towards the small, wooden shed that was next to it. Using all of her possible strength, she jumped onto the shed's roof, but didn't quite make it completely and she lost her balance as she fell backwards off the edge of the shed's roof. This had happened to her many times before, so she was accustomed to the pain that followed her clumsy fall.
But she didn't descend.
Suddenly, she felt a large, strong, glovedhand grasping her own. It yanked her from the air andback onto the shed, forcing her to meet a pair of dark, sapphire eyes. She pulled away from the brunette's arms relucantly, trying to pretend that she was uncomfortable with their embrace.
"You okay, Kairi?" His soft, concerned voice graced the air, as well as the redhead's ears. She tried to act calm and collected as she had seen Riku, her silver haired male friend, do when he was embarrassed. Actually, he had his act together mostly all of the time. Or, at least, he pretended to.
"Oh, yeah," was Kairi's simple reply, her voice ringing out into his ears pleasantly. She mustered a fake giggle. "Did you think I would've been seriously hurt or something?" In truth, plummeting from the shed's roof and onto the ground wasn't exactly a trip to Disney Castle, and sometimes she would even fall into the pond, but she would never admit that to Sora.
"It could happen." The brunette shrugged as a soft breeze ruffled his black, baggy outfit and his spiked hair swayed lightly. "Just be glad your knight and shining armor was here to save you." He smiled at her teasingly.
"Now you're starting to sound like Riku," Kairi said as she playfully shoved him. The two walked in contented silence towards the bridge that led to the small island with the paopu tree. Climbing onto the shed was the only way to get to the bridge, other than swimming. When they reached the island, Sora bounded over to the other side of the large curved structure of the tree. He leaned back against it as she had seen him done earlier. She rolled her eyes and climbed gingerly over the trunk of the tree and kept her place on top of it, swinging her feet rather absentmindedly. She decided to strike up a conversation with him about the scribblings in the Secret Place. She was determined to learn something from him, but she would do it as subtly as possible.
"Sora..." Her friend looked towards her expectantly. "Do you think," Kairi continued, "that the drawings in the Secret Place that we made when we were young... mean something?"
Sora looked at the redhead confusedly. A mixture of surprise and bewilderment filled his cerulean eyes, but he answered, "It could be a possiblity. A strange one, but still. Why are you asking?"
"Oh, just wondering," came Kairi's breezy reply. "It's just that..." She cast her eyes downward, afraid to meet his gaze. "Most people underestimate children's minds these days, but I think the stuff that we drew could signal something. Maybe something like the future." She looked up at the brunette to see his reaction towards her theory.
Sora smiled. "Yeah, that makes sense." He nodded. "Maybe... I guess it's all a matter of opinion. Riku would think it's a crazy thought, though." A few minutes of silence passed as the two friends stared at the ocean, a satisfied smile on Kairi's face and a thoughtful frown on Sora's. Suddenly, a strong wind blew, causing the paopu tree's large leaves to rock. Then...
A certain yellow, star shaped fruit fell into Kairi's lap.
The redhead's eyes widened at the sight of the fruit in her lap, as if just on cue, begging for her to share it with the brunette only a few inches away from her. But... she couldn't bring herself to ask him. After all, they were only friends, right?
"I'm hungry..." She heard Sora mumbled suddenly. A smile formed across her face, an idea popping into her head like a light bulb.
"Here." Kairi turned to her best friend and held the large fruit out to him. "Eat this. It should last you 'til dinner." She smiled innocently at him.
"I've never had one of these before..." Sora took the magical fruit from her hands and examined it. "I hope paopu tastes good..." He shrugged and sunk his teeth into the star. Sour juice filled his mouth. "Yuck!" He tossed the fruit aside, but Kairi reached her hand out and caught it.
"Um... Sora... you do know what a paopu fruit is, right?" Kairi stared at the brunette as he wiped his mouth in disgust. Did he know? Of course he knew! He helped draw that picture in the Secret Place!
"Yeah, it's a horrible fruit!" Sora answered as he spit into the ocean. "That was gross! The juice is horrible!" He winced as he remembered the sour juice pouring into his mouth.
"Sora..." Kairi shook her head at her friend. "When a person shares a paopu fruit with somebody else, their destinies become intertwined, remember?" she asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yeah, I remember." Sora arched an eyebrow at the redhead. "What about it?"
"Well, if you don't like it, then you don't have to eat it," Kairi began to explain slowly as if she were talking to a young child. "But you already took a bite, so you don't want anyone else to come along and eat it, too, right? Your destiny will become intertwined with somebody you probably don't want it to." Sora nodded. "So, I think we should bury it."
"Okay, let's go." Sora was quick to respond as he jumped into the ocean and swam over to the island's shore. Kairi looked at the aquatic liquid skeptically, before finally deciding to jump in as well. It was just water, right?
After all, it was much better than falling off a shed.
Three weeks later...
Kairi ran towards the blitzball that Wakka had thrown to her in an attempt to catch it, but tripped over something in the sand and fell, missing the ball. She pushed herself up onto her knees and looked down to see what she had tripped over. A yellow point stuck out of the sand.
"Kairi, I gotta go home, I'll see ya later, ya?" With that, Wakka dashed off, blitzball in hand. Ignoring him, Kairi smiled gently at the odd object sticking out of the ground, remembering what she and Sora had done a few weeks ago.
When a person shares a paopu fruit with somebody else, their destinies become intertwined, remember?
Yeah, I remember. What about it?
Well, if you don't like it, then you don't have to eat it. But you already took a bit, so you don't want anybody else to come along and eat it, too, right? Your destiny will become intertwined with somebody you probably don't want it to. So, I think we should bury it.
Okay.
Her smile grew wider and she dug through the sand, finally reaching her prize: the paopu fruit. It still looked edible.
Her eyes lit up with delight. And she took a large bite, ignoring the sour taste. It was worth it.
After all, she doubted Sora didn't want his destiny to become intertwined with hers.
Otherwise he wouldn't have drawn that picture in the Secret Place, right?
x f i n x
a/n: yeah, I know it wasn't the best
idea for a story. pretty lame, but it was
just something I thought as sweet, so I
decided to write it. Thanks for reading!
don't forget to review. it'll brighten my day!
m i s h e r r u