Obscured by Clouds

The storm had not stopped, so she was still trapped inside the small cave. Her two new friends were sleeping soundly on the cave floor.

Until the storm passed, she could not leave the island. And she had no idea as to what her parents would say when she returned home with these two mysterious boys. And although she did not believe them to be dangerous, she had made sure to place several blunt rocks in arms reach.

Kairi was restless. She had already scoured all the main caverns, the depths of the pool, and had taken a risk to check upon her pram. (Which seemed to be fine, as far as she could tell.)

Thusly, she had done all that was to be done, so she sat waiting for whether the storm to pass or for the two boys to awaken.

His name was Sora. I think, Kairi thought. That is what she thought she heard him say before he fell asleep again, at least. I wonder what the other boy's name is…

As if on cue, she heard a groan. The silver-haired boy was sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Where am I?" he said, his voice groggy. She slowly stood and approached him.

"Uh, hi," she started, catching his attention. She smiled. "I'm Kairi. Who're you?"

He stared at her a second before replying. "Riku," was his answer. "Where am I?"

"You're in a place called the Destiny Islands," Kairi answered. "I found you and your friend in this cave."

"Why are we still here?" He asked, looking around the chamber. He noticed Sora and walked over to him, kneeling to check on him.

"Well, I was exploring this cave when a storm hit," she replied. "I can't get home until it passes."

"Why?"

He's full of questions… observed Kairi. "Well, we're on an island. Why do you think?"

"Right," he conceded. He rose and started searching the chamber, almost anxiously.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why were you here?"

He stopped in his tracks and stared at a wall, a far off look in his eye. "I… don't remember," he answered.

Oh, awkward, Kairi thought. She stood there a moment in silence. Riku finally turned to her.

"Anyway," he said. "How do you get out of here?"

"Over there," Kairi answered, pointing to the pool. He glanced at the pool, considered it, then shot her a questioning look.

"There's a tunnel underwater. I had to swim to this room," she explained. He sighed and nodded. "You can swim, right?"

"I think so," he said. He walked over to his sleeping friend and kicked him in the side. "Come on Sora, get up."

Sora grunted but did not awaken, so Riku kicked him again. The sleeping boy sprang up suddenly. "Cut it out!"

Riku moved away. Sora looked around. He spotted Kairi and smiled sheepishly, then stood up.

"Hi," he greeted. "Umm, Kairi, right?"

Kairi nodded. The room became uncomfortably quiet. Riku was pacing the room, and he kept looking down at his right hand, like he was looking for something. Sora looked nervous and uncomfortable, not knowing what say.

"Umm, I'm going to check to see if the storm has let up," she said. Sora responded with nod and smile, while Riku grunted.

Kairi quickly stepped into the water. The cold water chilled her, but, wanting to get out of the room as quickly as possible, she dove under and headed for the passageway.

Sora watched the red-haired girl disappear under the water and vanish.

Huh, he thought. He heard Riku walk up to him, and Sora spun around to face him.

"Sora," Riku said. "What do you remember?"

Cutting to the chase, like always, thought Sora. He thought about what Riku asked him for a moment. "I don't really remember, Riku. Besides waking up all wet and seeing Kairi, all I remember are a bunch of-"

"Colors and sounds," Riku finished for him. Sora nodded. Riku sighed.

"What if we check out the chamber we woke up in?" Sora offered. Riku contemplated it and then started walking towards the descending tunnel that led to the other room.

Sora followed, and in a few moments they were both standing at the shallow pool of the chamber they woke up in.

While all the crystals on the wall glowed, the two large crystals were a dull gray color. The openings in them were large enough for a body to fit through, and the two boys could easily stand up inside them.

Sora approached one of them and looked around inside it. The walls were damp, but besides that, they held nothing else of note.

Sora glanced over to Riku and saw him partially standing up inside one of them, inspecting the top of the opening.

The taller boy quit what he was doing and stepped down. He leaned against the crystal and a thoughtful look crossed his face.

"I don't remember this place," Sora told his friend. "I don't know where I am at all, really. All I remember is, well, we're friends, and we've been friends for a long time. Probably, anyway."

"Destiny Islands," Riku said after a moment. Sora looked over at him.

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"That girl said were in a place called the Destiny Islands," Riku answered. He stepped forward and headed out of the room. Sora lingered a second before following him.

Kairi was sitting on the edge of the pool when they reentered the chamber.

"Oh, there you guys are," she greeted. "Good news! The storm's letting up."

"Enough to leave?" Sora asked.

"Umm, no. Not in my boat at least," she answered. "But we could probably go to the mouth of the cave, if you guys want."

"I'm up for that," Sora replied. He glanced over to his friend. "What about you, Riku?"

He nodded and walked their way. Kairi smiled. She picked up her pack and reached into it.

"Okay, it's just a short swim. You can both swim, right?" Sora and Riku cautiously nodded. "Good, but you're gonna need this," she pulled out a glow stick from her pouch. "Last one. We don't need to bash our heads against a rock, or anything."

She handed the object to Sora, then waded turned and waded into the pool, then gestured for them to follow. After they both entered the pool, Kairi dived under the water and disappeared. Sora broke the glow stick and followed her, Riku behind him.

What Kairi said was true, the swim was short and none of them had any problems getting through the underwater tunnel. As Sora pulled himself out of the pool, he looked around. The room was plain rock, as opposed to glowing crystal, and it was noisier. But it made for a nice change of scenery.

He stood up and shook the water off of himself. Glancing down, he took his first real look at himself since awakening, and was a bit confused.

What he was wearing was simple, almost unremarkably so. Simply a shirt and pants of the same color, and they had no defining symbols or logos at all. They seemed more like pajamas or clothing one would get at a hospital than everyday clothes.

Considering he did not like them, he guessed he was not wearing them because he wanted to. Glancing up, he noticed Riku was wearing the same thing.

Shaking himself, he returned to looking over the room. A few small bags lay in one corner, and Kairi stood over them. Near the bags was what looked like a few poles and a cloth.

Kairi's things and a sail, Sora concluded. I wonder how I know that when I don't remember how I got here…

The sound and smell of rain filled the room. He followed he sounds to a small tunnel, then headed for it. He ascended the rock tunnel, where a few puddles of water had formed, and approach the exit of the cave.

He had no point of reference for cardinal directions, but the wind was blowing the rain from his left. He ducked back into the cave. The storm was still going, and Sora could not tell whether or not the storm was really dying, like Kairi said.

Sora exited the tunnel and reentered the main chamber. Kairi was sitting at her bag, while Riku slipped into the tunnel after Sora stepped out. He awkwardly stood in the room.

"So, umm, Kairi," he started. "When the storm stops, what do we do?"

Kairi looked up at him. "Well, we check if my pram is undamaged and then we sail to the main island," Kairi answered.

"And if it isn't undamaged?"

"If there's a hole," Kairi said. "We try to patch it. And if the damage is too much, we try island hopping until we catch a ship. Or wait for a rescue ship."

"Huh," Sora replied, sitting down. "How do you know there'll be a rescue ship?"

"Full of questions, aren't you?" Kairi said, laughing a little. "And it's because my parents know I was out yesterday, so they'll probably send people out for me."

"Sorry," Sora said. "But I… don't really know what's going on."

Kairi shook her head. "No, I understand. You're confused, I bet," Kairi said. She stood up and walked towards him.

"I'm sure this'll all work out," she said, leaning over to look him in the eye. "And I'm sure you'll remember everything, eventually."

Sora smiled up at her, and she smiled back.

"If you two are done," Riku interrupted. "The rain's stopped."

Kairi was first to move. Sora barely had the chance to stand up before she brushed past Riku and ran out the cave.

Sora followed her out. Riku was right. The rain had stopped, and large pockets of sky were visible through the clouds. Kairi was kneeling over her boat, inspecting it for damage, he guessed.

"What's the verdict?" Riku asked, walking up to her.

"It looks okay," Kairi answered. She moved around it, looking for any holes. She stood up, apparently satisfied, and turned to Riku.

"Help me flip it over," she told him. He nodded and she turned to Sora. "Sora, can you run into the cave and get the mast and the wooden box from my things?"

As they worked, he ran to the cave. Carefully picking up the mast and sail, he carried it outside before returning for the box.

Kairi and Riku already had the boat flipped over and were setting the mast up. Kairi looked up at him.

"Thanks," she said. "Can you go get my other bags, please?"

Sora set the box down and ran to do the errand. Besides Kairi's little pouch, there were two bags of small size and he easily carried them out.

By the time he returned, the others were done.

"Thanks a bunch," Kairi said. "Come on, let's move this thing to the water."

The three of them easily carried the boat to the water. When they were in deep enough water, Kairi climbed into it and Riku ran to grab the bags while Sora held the boat.

"So this is good, right?" Sora asked. Kairi hummed in acknowledgment.

"I'd like to leave soon. It might start raining again," she said. Sora nodded.

Riku waded up with packs and started handing them to Kairi. As she started stowing them in their respective places, Riku took a step back.

"Kairi," he said, catching the girl's attention. "Can this boat hold the three of us?"

She paused in her work and studied the boat, looking at them once or twice.

"Probably," she finally answered. "I mean, it'll be a bit cramped, but I've been in worse."

Riku shook his head. "It's too long a ride. Me and Sora will stay here. You head home and get help."

Sora looked at Riku a moment. He was about to agree, before he saw the look on Riku's face. Wait a sec… he thought.

Kairi seemed to realize the same thing he had: "You don't plan to stay here at all, do you?"

"What?" Riku said. "You think you can just go home and tell your family that you found two people sleeping in a hidden cave and expect everything to turn out well?"

Kairi looked indignant. Sora glanced back and forth between the two. Maybe I should say something, he thought, but before he could, Kairi spoke.

"What do you know about these islands?" She asked. "Can you tell me what fruits are edible and which ones aren't? Can you treat snakebites? There are a lot of venomous creatures that live on these islands, y'know."

"Despite that, you can't just tell them about our origins," Riku countered. "What you say about surviving out here makes sense, but if we do go to your island, we have to think of a cover story."

"You don't know anything about my home," Kairi said defensively. "The majority of people live on the main island, and my father is the mayor of one of the towns. You can't pose as an islander, because if he doesn't know you, he'll ask his friends who perhaps would, and they certainly don't! Furthermore," Kairi continued, cutting Riku off. "Posing as a foreigner wouldn't work."

"Why's that?" Sora questioned.

Kairi held up a finger. "First, my father and his friends were all world travelling sailors, so they're familiar with most parts of the world, or they have old friends who are," she answered. "Second, we're the most westward settlement in the known world! The only ships that come in are from the east, northeast or southeast. And you can't claim you two are sailors, because that would have them asking questions you couldn't even answer!"

Riku looked stunned at Kairi's outburst. Sora looked at his friend.

"Riku, she's right," he said. "We can't lie about who we are. We should just go before it starts raining again and worry about what'll happen later, later."

Riku looked between them before sighing in defeat. "Fine," he conceded. "Let's just go." He pulled himself up into the boat.

Kairi smiled at him, then down at Sora. He smiled back, and then pulled himself into the boat.

They were finally on their way.

Fin

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