In this chapter, we are going to explore a background I have created for Sora and his family. And we will meet his mother for the first time. Well, a mother I created for him, that is.


The orange sky was changing into a dark blue colour as the moon began to rise from the horizon. The shining, clear, white light it was giving off allowed Sora to easily be able to see the enormous beach on the large, dark island he was heading through the sea towards. He was only a few metres away, and the waves that were travelling in the same direction as he was were able to easily carry the boat closer to the shore ahead. They were able to make it flow at a much quicker pace than the oars, which Sora was now lifting out of the water and putting down in front of him onto the wooden deck.

Adult residents of Destiny Islands would often simply walk down to the large beach of the main island while teenagers would prefer to run there just to push the boats they owned into the sea before rowing off to the smaller but more exciting island. For most of each day, the beach of the main island was several metres longer than the smaller one from the shore to the white, wooden, crooked fence at the back. This would only last, however, until the sun would go down and the tide would come in, leaving only a few metres of sand towards the back. The beach was also hundreds of metres wide, allowing its visitors to take long walks along the bright yellow sand during the day and for most of the early evening. A wooden pier - much taller and longer than the one on the smaller island – stood on the right side of the beach. Visitors would often stand on the end of it to look out at the sea and the smaller island (which they mostly did when the sun would start to sink), but the teenagers had all chosen not to keep their boats there when they were not using them. They had all agreed to keep them at the back of the beach where the tide could never make its way up to, meaning they had no need to tie them down. The boats were also kept right in front of the wooden fence, which had a wide gap in the middle that led to a sandy path. Whether walkers were following the path to or from the beach, they would have to go through the grassy ground of one of the main island's many housing estates.

The bottom of Sora's boat slid through the soggy, wet sand as one more wave finally managed to push it onto a part of the beach where the tide had just managed to reach. The water that surrounded the boat was very shallow, but Sora found that he would still have to take a few steps through it before he could stand on dry ground. The bottom of the boat had now stuck in the sand below the water, and the waves were no longer able to push it any further. Sora grabbed hold of each of the boat's wooden sides and pulled himself to his feet with a bit of a struggle, due to how long he had been sitting down. He lifted his feet up and placed them onto the sand under the water, which he found was just up to above the soles of his shoes. Placing his hands onto the side of his boat, Sora took hold of it, lifting it up easily so that the bottom of the dripping wet base was now off the soggy sand and out of the water. He walked slowly towards the small area of dry sand at the back of the beach, where four other wooden boats were sitting in a row. Carrying his own boat above the shallow water was no heavy challenge for Sora, as he had done it many times before and it was not nearly as heavy as it looked.

Sora's wet boots squelched onto the dry sand as he stepped onto where the waves could just stretch towards onto the beach before sinking back into the sea. He placed his boat down onto the sand, keeping hold of it to drag it alongside him towards the row of other boats. Once he had pulled it to the empty space on the right side of the boat at the nearest end of the row, he stood up straight, looking down at all of the other boats. Each one of them was owned by one of his friends, and he knew there was another one that was not in the row, but was most likely still tied to the pier on the smaller island. All of the boats looked very similar to each other, for they had all been built with light brown wood. The boat sitting at the opposite end of the row was much narrower than the others, however, and this made it stand out for Sora (who often had trouble being able to tell which of the other boats was his) as he could tell that it was Kairi's boat. He gazed towards it with disappointment visible in his expression. The girl he loved had obviously taken her boat out of the row earlier, and rowed it across the sea to find him on the smaller island. When she had woken up after falling asleep next to him to find that he had done the same thing, she must have decided to return straight to her boat and row back to the main island. Sora hoped that their plan to spend the upcoming day together would make her forget about what he had done and think only of the huge amount of fun they were to have.

The boy's blue eyes were taken off the narrowest of the boats as he let off another cry of pain. His pressed both his hands to his face, which was starting to burn up horribly again. Unable to understand why, Sora turned towards the sea. He pulled his hands away slowly, frowning in confusing up at the moon that was high up in the night sky. I thought this stinging would stop now that the sun has gone down, he managed to think to himself while still feeling the burning on his face. I hope Mom will be able to help me feel better. I don't wanna have this pain whilst me and Kairi are supposed to be enjoying ourselves.

Turning away from the pitch black sea and the bright white moon, Sora walked towards the gap in the fence that was in front of him. Looking down at his feet as he walked along the sand, he scrunched up his red face tightly. The terrible stinging was just as strong as it had been when he had been on the smaller island and realized he had been sunburnt. Sora tried to ignore the pain as he saw that he feet were now stepping onto the sand that had been used to build that path that would led him away from the beach. He kept looking downwards towards his feet, knowing that he did not really need to look ahead of him. Following the path was one step of finding his way from the beach of the main island.


Sora turned a corner on the sidewalk he had made his way onto, beginning to walk down the left side of a short street. It had two rows of detached houses that had all been built with many strong orange bricks. In between the two rows, a wide road had been built, allowing cars to drive from one end of the street to the other, joining up with the other roads that went around the estate. Several cars had been parked along the sidewalk, although others were being kept on the driveways that were on the sides of each of the houses - apart from one house, which did not have a car outside it at all. The residents of the street also had small, rectangular front lawns, with short pathways that led them from their front door to the gateways in their garden fences.

Streetlamps stood on each of the sidewalks, clearing away with the darkness of the street with the golden light they were giving off. As Sora was about to pass the second streetlamp on the sidewalk he was walking along, he stopped and turned to smile cheerfully towards the house he was standing in front of. It was the one which did not have a car parked either in front of it or on the driveway - which happened to be the home of Kairi. The girl and her adoptive father lived four doors away from him, and almost every day of being on Destiny Islands, Sora would leave his house to knock the front door of Kairi's. The days of being on the islands when he would not go to Kairi's house would be when he would be sitting at home, expecting her to knock his front door.

A pair of blue curtains were drawn across the front downstairs window of Kairi's house, and the two upstairs windows that Sora could see were covered up, too. No lights could be seen switched on, but since it had not been long since the sun had gone down, Sora did not think Kairi had gone to bed yet. He turned away from the girl's house, still smiling to himself as he walked along the sidewalk again. I bet Kairi's still awake, thinking about the wonderful day the two of us are gonna have tomorrow, he thought joyfully. I'm gonna have to tell Mom when I get in. I'm sure she'll let me go.

Sora had strode past three other houses since stopping in front of Kairi's before turning to his left to walk through the gateway of the forth house. He saw, as he walked along the garden path, that a pair of lime, fabric curtains had been drawn across the large downstairs window. The light of the room they were hiding was turned on, so they were lit up very brightly. Stepping onto the doorstep, Sora felt a small, gentle breeze blow in his direction. It managed to cool him down a bit, but still stung his skin. He winced in pain slightly as he pulled down the handle of his front door before disappearing into of his house.

Standing in front of the door, which he pushed shut behind him, Sora slipped off his large boots and walked into the living room, which had a velvet purple couch, a wooden floor and a television on a small pine table. All of the walls were painted dark blue. On the rear wall, next to the staircase, was a doorway that led to the kitchen.

Sora walked slowly through the living room and sat down on the couch. The velvet felt very nice and soft on his damaged skin, but did not make him feel any better. Although he only wanted to have Kairi on his mind, Sora was finding it hard to ignore the pain, which seemed to be getting worse. His temperature had raised and he was starting to worry.

The boy heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Within seconds, his mother appeared. As soon as she saw Sora, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in horror. "Sora! What happened to you?"

Sora's mother - whose name was Nikkou - was a very young woman in her early thirties. She had pale skin, long brown hair and green eyes, and was dressed in a green, long-sleeved shirt and black trousers, as well as a pair of black, flat shoes. Nikkou was a widowed woman, having lost her husband, who had died of a sudden illness when Sora was four. Nikkou was very loving and protective towards her son. When he had left the islands, she had no idea what he was getting himself into and had organized a search party, along with the other children's parents, trying hard to find him and the others, but to no avail. Now that he had returned, Nikkou was determined to keep both eyes on her son.

At that very moment, both of Nikkou's green eyes were looking at her son in shock.

Sora grinned up at his mother. "Hi, Mom. It's a just a sunburn, that's all."

"Just a sunburn?" Nikkou approached Sora and took hold of his right hand. With her free hand, she ran her fingers along his arm.

"Ow!" Sora instantly pulled away. "Careful, Mom!"

"Did you put suntan lotion on?"

"I..." Sora looked down at his feet. "No I didn't."

"Sora! You should know to put suntan lotion on when going out in the sun!"

"But I-"

"You need to be treated right away! Stay there!" Nikkou pointed warningly at Sora before disappearing into the kitchen. Sora sighed and slumped on the couch. His mother's over-protective nature often annoyed him.

Sora heard the kitchen tap being turned on, followed by the sound of water running from a tap. When the sound stopped, Nikkou returned to the living room, carrying a glass of cold water in one hand and a head thermometer in the other. She sat down next to Sora and handed him the glass of water. "I'm going to have to take your temperature, Sora."

Nodding, Sora let his mother press the thermometer against his forehead, gritting his teeth in pain. Nikkou held the thermometer against her son's head for a few seconds, then pulled it away to look at it. Her eyes widened in shock. "You're one hundred and sixteen degrees, Sora!"

Sora frowned. "The Sun wasn't that hot."

"Didn't you feel the heat?"

Sora pressed a finger to his chin in thought - then quickly pulled away, for his own touch caused him to sting more. "I...I fell asleep under the Sun."

"You fell asleep under the Sun?" Nikkou glared at her son in anger. "That is a dangerous thing to do if you had no suntan lotion on, Sora!"

"Well...you never told me to put it on! Not once!"

Nikkou's glare faded and she looked sadly down at her feet. Sora clasped a hand to his mouth, ignoring the pain. He felt very bad about yelling at his own mother. He knew that the damage to his skin was his own fault. Sora looked down at his feet, feeling ashamed.

Getting to her feet, Nikkou walked miserably towards the kitchen. Sora watched her walk away, then glumly gulped down some of the water from the glass he was holding. It was icy cold and Sora thought it was nice to have a cold drink, due to his heat. The water managed to cool him down a bit, but it did nothing to stop the stinging.

Nikkou returned to the living room, carrying a bag of ice. She sat down next to her son again and held the bag to his forehead.

"Argh!" Sora let out a cry of discomfort and pulled away. He rubbed his forehead whilst looking at his mother. "Don't do that, Mom."

"I'm sorry, Sora, but I have to try to cool you down."

"But, Mom - Argh!" Sora cried out again as Nikkou pressed the bag against his forehead again. He quickly pulled away again. Despite feeling so hot, he did not like the coldness of the bag against his forehead. "The water is fine, Mom."

"Okay. Stick to the water then." Nikkou stood up and walked into the kitchen to place the bag back in the refrigerator and to make herself a cup of tea. Sora remained on the couch, enjoying his glass of cold water.


Later, Sora walked slowly up the stairs to bed. He wanted to think about the fun he was going to have with Kairi the next day, but now, the stinging was getting worse, making it impossible for him to ignore it.

Sora walked into his bedroom - and was surprised to find Nikkou there, pulling off the blue bed sheets. She had opened the window on the left wall wide wide and had placed an electric fan on the wooden bedside table. It buzzed as its blades rotated quickly, offering a cool breeze.

Nikkou looked up at Sora with concern. You can't sleep with the bedsheets, Sora. They will hurt you badly. And we need to keep you cool during the night. You can sleep in just your trowsers, tonight."

With a sigh, Sora reached down and pulled off his black socks, then quickly removed his black jacket. As he was pulling his shirt over his head, Nikkou let out a scream, startling Sora. "What is it, Mom?"

"Your right arm!" Nikkou replied loudly and worriedly, pointing at Sora with a trembling finger.

Dropping his shirt onto the floor, Sora looked it his right arm. To his horror, he saw that on the upper part of his arm (which had been covered by the short sleeve of the shirt) was what looked like a red lump. Sora looked at it with terror. His raised his left arm and touched the lump with his index finger, then quickly pulled away, as it hurt more than the burns. Sora could not take his blue eyes off the lump. "What's that, Mom?"

"Sora! You..." Nikkou seemed unable to speak and unable to believe what she was seeing. "You're going to see a doctor! First thing tomorrow!"

"What?" Sora looked up from the lump to his mother. "I can't go tomorrow! I promised Kairi I'd be seeing her!"

"YOU'RE GOING TO A DOCTOR'S, SORA!" Nikkou screamed angrily, glaring at her son in fury. Sora was frightened. He had never seen his mother so angry before, although he thought he could hear more fear than anger in her voice. "DO YOU HEAR ME?"

"Yes, Mom."

"NOW GO TO BED!" Nikkou ran past her son and out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Sora pressed his ear to the door and could hear frightened pants among the sound of Nikkou's footsteps racing down the stairs.

Sora walked slowly over to the bed and lay down on it, resting his head on the pillow. He felt the cool breeze that was coming from the buzzing fan.

It was a long time before Sora finally fell asleep, for he had spent a lot of the night lying on his bed, worrying. Worrying about the lump, worrying what illness he had - and worrying he would not be back from the doctor's in time to keep his promise to Kairi.


I sure hope I was okay at creating a mother for Sora. I'd like to hear what you think of her, so please review and say what you think. If the mother character wasn't good, I hope she doesn't put you off the story. The mother will have few notable appearances, but this isn't a mother and son story. It's a romance story. We will soon get lots of moments between Sora and Kairi in this story, as that is what this story is about. ;)