The Daylight
A/N: So originally this was going to be part of Chapter 1 but it was getting too long so Chapter 2 takes place straight after the events previously. Thank you to xo-emma-xo and Charise for reviewing and double, triple thank you to FadingButterflyWings for reviewing and signing onto to beta this story.
Act 1 Summer.
Like so many other decisions in Kai's life, he wandered onto Claire's farm on a whim. It was not what he expected. He had expected – well, okay – so the only thing he really knew about the farm was that it was run by a city girl turned farmer, but that had been enough to create the impression of a laidback slacker who was using the ranch as a way to kill time. From that, it hadn't been a stretch to picture what condition the farm would be in.
He had not expected tilled fields that paved way to a paddock filled with young livestock, nor the chicken pen in the corner that was filled with tweeting chicks.
"Enjoying the view?"
Kai spun around to meet the source of the unfamiliar voice – presumably Claire – and was obvious in his appraisal of the woman, inspecting every inch of her like he was sixteen years old. His gaze was drawn to the unusual shade of her eyes, almost mirage-like in the way they flickered between shades of blue. His eyes lingered on the curve of her hips before slowly traipsing down to inspect toned, tan legs. She smoothed out the back of her blonde hair, lips parted and eyebrows raised in what appeared to be curiosity.
"I am now." He winked. Remembering the reason he had come, he added, "I'm Kai, I come to Mineral Town in the summer and run the Snack Shack."
Claire ignored his introduction, her attention falling instead on the object tucked underneath his arm. "Is that coffee?"
"Oh yeah, I bought it for you as a little house warming gift. It's only three months late, but better late than never right?" Kai lied smoothly, placing the coffee in Claire's outstretched hands.
Claire inhaled deeply before taking a sip and smacking her lips together, visibly brightening as she did so. "I'm impressed Kai. The Inn only does the filtered stuff but this," She paused to bring the coffee back to her lips, "almost tastes like it was made with real coffee beans."
"That's the whole reason I bought them, you see. Just to impress you."
Amusement flashed in the depths of her eyes; colouring them a light, twinkling blue, "Would you like to come inside? I just started on breakfast and have a bit to spare."
Kai shrugged. "Lead the way."
It wasn't until Claire placed a plate of rice balls in front of Kai that he realized they had very different definitions of 'starting on breakfast'. For Kai, this meant switching on the oven or stove, grabbing out the recipe book and placing the correct ingredients on the bench in neat little piles. For Claire however, this entailed opening the fridge and grabbing a plastic covered packet of rice balls and a pair of scissors.
Kai gave his food a miserable look, thankful he had eaten earlier, "You know I'd be happy to make you breakfast at the Snack Shack sometime. I make pretty fantastic bacon and eggs."
"It's been awhile since I've had a cooked breakfast. The shock of it might give me a heart attack," Claire admitted between mouthfuls.
Flirtatiously: "Don't worry, I'd be happy to perform CPR if need be."
Claire placed a hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter building in the back of her throat. "That doesn't surprise me considering the things I've heard about you and…" She faltered for a second, placing a finger on a pink tinted lip in thought. "…your reputation. I mean, you must take a lot of girls' breaths away."
Kai was momentarily silenced. "It's a hard life being so irresistible, but someone has to do it." During the lapse in conversation, he had given up any pretense of eating the rice balls, opting instead to tear them up piece by piece until they resembled tiny clumps scattered across the china. "So how do you like Mineral Town?"
"I love it here. It's so constant compared to the city. I know exactly what to expect each day." She took a bite and then continued teasingly, "Although there was an exception this morning when a strange man wandered onto the farm claiming to be a traveller."
Without missing a beat: "And here I was thinking it was a regular occurrence for you."
Claire stared at him in a way that looked awfully suggestive. "Maybe it might be now."
Kai returned her stare, and it took just a sweep of his eyes over her face- her pearly smile, her flushed cheeks- to come to the conclusion that there was no maybe about it.
Kai drew intricate, mindless patterns in the beach's sand while he waited for the townspeople to arrive at his festival. It was a sunny, windy day; the waves frothed over the shore like champagne bubbles, immersed in the yellow haze of sunlight.
Perhaps it was the many years of Popuri dragging her entire family to the festival early having turned into habit, or maybe it was Lillia's social graces driving her to be punctual. Kai wasn't sure, but for whatever reason the first to arrive to Beach Day were the residents of the Poultry Farm.
Kai couldn't help but watch Popuri as the family unpacked their things next to one of the two coveted umbrellas. At first glance (while she unrolled a beach towel) she looked the same as she always did; eyebrows raised just slightly, the creases in her face etched in delight, laughter spilling from her lips. Yet as he looked at her for a second time (she was standing up and adjusting the umbrella so their slightly-taller-than- average figures could stand comfortably under it) he noticed that her laughter didn't dance in the corners of her eyes, their usual blazing ferocity subdued to a dull red.
Ignoring Popuri's command from earlier, Kai headed over to them. After all – screw it - this was his festival.
"Lillia, you're looking lovely this fine summer day." She wasn't. Purple-black bags weighed down her pale face and her pink hair looked more tangled, more grey than usual.
Lillia drew Kai into her arms briefly. As they pulled apart, he noticed her eyeing him with concern. "Kai, welcome back. Are you staying long?"
"Just for the summer as usual, I would hate to lose this amazing tan." There was a flicker of disappointment in her facial expression before she patted his shoulder gently and stood aside so he could greet the others.
Kai mustered up all the charm he could, tilting his head back in what he hoped looked like confidence. "Popuri, it's a pleasure as always."
Popuri froze before Kai's eyes. The awkwardness was palpable. Seconds ticked by, one after the other. Kai inhaled and then exhaled. From the corner of his eye he saw Lillia nudge Popuri's arm lightly. Like a flint igniting a match, Lillia's touch seemed to spark a response from her daughter.
Finally, finally she replied,"It's nice to see you."
Rick snorted incredulously. "Yeah, right."
"Rick, I know you love your chickens and that's cool. A man with a passion is something I respect, but…" The lethal glint in Kai's eyes sliced through Rick's smug expression. "There's no time when it's respectable to sound like one. You hear me, bro?"
It was a tribute to the power of Lillia's motherly influence that when she muttered an ashamed we're going to go say hello to Mayor Thomas Rick actually followed her, admittedly with a reluctance that suggested he was being dragged by an invisible leash.
"I take it you haven't sorted things out with Popuri yet?"
Gray stood in front of Kai, his shadow casting a dark, gloomy patch on Kai's workbench. Kai had been preparing the pasta for later, kneading and rolling the dough into firm spheres, and hadn't noticed his friend's arrival amongst the colourful array of townspeople filtering in.
He looked up. "What makes you say that?"
"Well if you had she'd be here right now, wouldn't she?"
Kai wiped the floury residue off his hands and onto his trousers. Kai was grateful for Gray's friendship – he was– but occasionally, very occasionally, his blunt and annoyingly perceptive nature grated on Kai's nerves. "We really need to work on this greeting thing. Repeat after me, slowly, 'Hi Kai, how's it going?'"
Gray rolled his eyes. "Fine, if you don't want to talk about that P word, how about this one: pussy."
Kai's fingers drifted to the back of his neck, fingers tugging on the fraying ends of his bandanna. "Honestly? I think perfect suits me much better."
"Nope, definitely pussy." Gray crossed his muscular arms and rested them on the counter Kai was standing behind.
Kai shook his head. "Perfect."
"Pussy."
Kai put a swift halt to their pointless argument. "You know what, for the record I did talk to Popuri. Twice…"
Gray whistled when Kai finished recounting his morning drama, but before he could reply a voice called out to him.
"Gray!" Both men turned their heads simultaneously towards the source. As they did so, Kai was greeted with a flurry of blonde hair and tan skin rushing towards them. Claire.
"You didn't wait for me!" she accused playfully, gently punching the blacksmith's arm. A closer (shameless) inspection allowed Kai to see the galaxy of freckles on her shoulders and taut lines of her stomach. With a melodramatic twang to her voice, Claire continued, "It was such a lonely walk, I practically went insane. I swear I even heard voices."
"How do you know I'm not a hallucination?" Gray asked.
"Would a hallucination ask if they were real or not?" Claire countered before jutting her bottom lip out in a pout. "Now are you going to apologize for standing me up or do I have to get it out of you through force?"
Kai watched the scene in front of him in bemusement; the way Gray leant forward towards the farmer so that their shadows intertwined on the beaches sand, the way their blue eyes collided in a furious stare off. Gray was comfortable around this woman, maybe even friends with her, Kai realized with surprise. What else could explain the rare sight of Gray joking around with someone who wasn't him?
"Considering how intimidating all that muscle you have is, I guess I'll apologize." Gray's tongue was teeming with sarcasm as usual.
Finally acknowledging Kai's presence, Claire turned to face him. "Hey again stranger."
Gray turned to face Kai sharply at the word again, but Kai ignored him, "Hey yourself. You look great; I don't think there's ever been a better example of the phrase 'less is more'".
It was true. Claire's bikini was a sight to behold: black, skimpy, and for a place like Mineral Town, borderline inappropriate.
She flushed. "Between you and me, I wasn't expecting it to be so conservative around here." She flicked her head briefly towards Mary and Ann, both sporting modest one pieces and standing on the cusp of the shore, their feet getting immersed in water each time a wave rolled in. "I guess you can take the girl away from the city, but you can never take the city away from the girl."
"Well I speak on behalf of all the males here when I say we don't mind. At all." Kai reassured before turning to Gray and nudging him, "Isn't that right?"
"Uh yeah. It looks good, I mean, you look good," Gray replied lamely, glaring knives at Kai.
She beamed at him, teeth glinting oh so slightly under the sun's rays. "With the Kai and Gray tick of approval I have nothing to worry about. Not even Manna's gossip!" Out of nowhere something in the distance caught Claire's attention. "I think I just saw Karen, excuse me for a 'sec guys."
She shimmied out of her position between the two men and then added, "Don't ditch me this time, okay Gray? Otherwise you might have to check me into a mental asylum."
Kai watched her skip off, hips shaking as she did. "Sure sounds like she's crazy about you." The casual, joking manner in which Kai delivered his words masked a deeper curiosity, the subtext of his sentence echoing a desire for Gray to elaborate on the nature of his and the farmer's closeness.
Gray prodded a nearby clump of seaweed with his foot. "It's not like that. She doesn't have many friends here. She gets along with everyone okay and the townspeople respect what she's done for the farm but she's… ," He trailed off uncertainly, seemingly unable to find a word to describe the enigmatic woman. "Well as Karen once said, she's Claire."
Kai frowned. "I see."
He tilted his head slightly to the side so he could watch the farmer from a distance. She did look out of place with her too-revealing-bikini, as if she'd been invited to a costume party but had been the only one to dress up. Kai also couldn't help but notice the three meter bubble around her and Karen that was void of any townsfolk. It was because she was different, Kai reasoned, with her overly confident and vivacious nature. If the town was a gentle breeze then Kai got the impression Claire was a tornado and perhaps, perhaps they weren't quite prepared for that.
Kai was surprised to see Claire among the other contestants for the swimming contest. She stood out again – painfully so. This time it was due to the stark contrast between her curvaceous figure and long, lithe legs and that of the bodies of her male competition.
Kai walked over to her. "You're just full of surprises aren't you?" he observed archly, enjoying how pretty the view of the wind caressing her blonde hair was, all tumbling golden ripples as it trailed behind her.
"A woman entering a swimming contest is breaking news. Quickly, call the press and news crew." Claire's words weren't delivered with the sarcasm one would expect, rather a dramatic lightness. All of a sudden she began miming, delivering her reply into a fake microphone she had conjured out of thin air. "No. My name is spelt with an 'I', C-L-A-I-RE."
"It is unusual around here." Kai answered seriously, thrusting his thumb towards the array of woman sitting on the beach. Claire jutted her lip out thoughtfully, as if the thought had never even crossed her mind.
Abruptly, she leaned over and whispered, "I was raised by dolphins; it goes against my nature not to swim." Claire giggled and the sensation of it, warm and breathy against his ear, gave Kai shivers.
"That sounds fishy to me, but I guess we'll have to wait and see."
Claire's exposed skin scraped electrifyingly against Kai's shoulder as she pulled away from him and the thrill her touch had caused, jolting through his veins and bloodstream, alarmed him. Claire was attractive – very much so – but so were a lot of the other woman in Mineral Town. So why exactly had that miniscule touch sent his heart on overdrive then?
Kai shook his head, banishing the line of thought away – the one telling him that he knew exactly why his heart was hammering - before it could properly begin.
The water was everything Kai remembered and more: perfectly clear, perfectly salty, perfectly refreshing.
This was what Kai thought as he swam, limbs darting in and out of the ocean, his whole body fighting against the current.
The race had ended and Kai tucked his dripping hair underneath the bandanna once more. Trying to tie it on however proved to be more difficult, as the loose ends kept flapping in the breeze. By the time he succeeded, Claire's body had emerged from the water.
"Third place, that's not bad at all." Kai had naturally come first, followed closely by the Doctor. Despite this, with the agile way Claire swam she had almost backed up her outrageous statement from earlier about having dolphin heritage.
"You're right, it isn't." Claire agreed as she brushed loose water droplets off her arms. "To be honest, I sort of just swam in the race on a whim so it's a massive relief I didn't make a fool out of myself."
"I think that's the most serious thing I've ever heard you say," Kai said honestly.
"Is it? I would have gone with what I said about my dolphin parents, personally."
During their conversation, Karen and Gray had wandered over. Karen pushed her sunglasses higher up on her nose before congratulating the pair of them, to which Kai brushed off with a cheeky what's new.
"Nice swimming Claire, even Saibara was impressed," Gray complimented her, shyness clinging to the edge of his voice.
"Really?" Claire asked in delight. Gray nodded.
With one hand perched on her hip, Karen turned to Kai. "So slacker, are you cooking for us or what? I'm ten seconds away from foraging for some wild bamboo."
"No, he's going to let you cook." Gray muttered sarcastically under his breath.
Kai ignored Gray. "Yeah yeah, I'll get onto that now I've celebrated my victory."
"Damn! I was looking forward to watching Karen forage," Claire chimed in.
"Next year." Kai promised with a smirk.
Yet as the four of them wandered towards the Snack Shack, clutching their sides in laughter as they – Gray, Kai, and Karen - reminisced about past Beach Days and that one time Duke slipped fully clothed off the pier and into the water, Kai was only thinking about the present, the now…(And, admittedly, how lucky he was that Mineral Town was filled with so many attractive women in such minimal clothing.)
Thoughts of pink hair and sad smiles and ruby eyes haunted his thoughts as Kai laid in bed that night, making sleep next to impossible. How had he let things with Popuri spiral out of control? Her anger, his regret, the awkwardness between them – why did he get on that boat last summer and allow things to become like this?
Cursing, he peered over at the recipe book on his bedside before hoisting himself up, clasping the book and skimming through its pages until he found one he hadn't memorized. It was going to be a late one, Kai resigned. At least if anyone decided to visit the Snack Shack tomorrow he would be able to impress them with something new.
He was halfway through rereading the final step for the seventh time (place in the oven for thirty minutes or until browned) when he was interrupted by frantic knocking. The bed creaked as got up to open the door, revealing the woman responsible for his sleeplessness and bad mood.
"Good, you're here. I wanted to apologize and we doneed to talk. I just…this morning, seeing you, I just wasn't expecting it to hurt so much!" Popuri took a single step into the room. "And you just came out of nowhere!" She had taken a second step now. "I feel so horrible, I do. It felt so silly not seeing you yesterday because I always see you on the first day of summer!" A third step and she was in line with his bed now. "Kai, I'm so sorry!"
From the doorway Kai watched as the woman crumbled, her bottom lip wobbling and unshed tears flashing like neon lights in her eyes. Her knees began to buckle and Kai rushed over to embrace her.
"Oh Poppy," he murmured into her strawberry scented hair before kissing it lightly, platonically.
"Don't get me wrong. I mean you and I are over, our summers are over. I just needed to see you." She was quivering in his arms and Kai waited for reassuring words to come to him, he waited for whispers of comfort to spill from lips. But none came. So he simply tightened his embrace.
"Everything's changing." She was well and truly sobbing but managed to choke out, "I can't keep up! You and I are over, Karen and Rick keep acting like everything is okay but I can hear them arguing non-stop at night, and Mama…" Strangled cries replaced words and Popuri was unable to continue.
Not that she needed to, Kai thought. Her distress said more than words ever could.
"She's getting worse, isn't she?" Popuri nodded against his now tear stained chest. "And Rod… have you heard from him?" She shook her head this time. "God Poppy, you should have told me about Lillia."
She pushed him away, her expression thunderous. "You weren't here!"Her voice was rapidly increasing in octaves, becoming shriller and shriller with each syllable. Popuri got angry the way she was - unpredictable, explosive.
Kai scowled. "You couldn't find the time to mention it in one of the twenty or so letters you sent me?"
They stared at each other, Kai's gaze cool and calm despite the fact that he was terrified by the fire in Popuri's eyes. "And what would you have done?! Come home? Come rushing back to me like some prince? Don't kid yourself Kai."
Kai took five very slow, very deep breaths before replying. "So you thought it was better to just lie to me. To pretend everything was okay? 'Dear Kai, everything's great here'. What a load of shit Popuri, I deserved the chance!"
Popuri backed away, outraged. "You deserved the chance? Every summer you had the chance to stay, to truly be with me but you left every single time. For what though? So you wouldn't get cold."
Kai raised an incredulous eyebrow. "You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to be with me."
"And now I'm getting out of here."
Popuri whirled around, a furious tornado of flying pink hair and once again, just like outside the Poultry Farm earlier, Kai grabbed her wrist. This time however, she didn't pull away.
"Before we were together, we were friends, we are friends. So next time something happens, you come to me. Okay?"
Kai was not blind to the distance that existed between the two of them. Yes, their hands may have been laced together but the distance ran far deeper than that, stretching out like an abyss that isolated the pair from one another.
"It is okay, isn't it?" She whispered, sounding unsure of herself. Her back was turned still, so her words were spoken into the air, "it's okay for us to love each other differently, right?"
"We've been through too much together for it not to be."
Kai let go of her wrist, his heart deserting him as he did so. The night rushed between them, the air colder than it was before.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2!