Today's Song: [Colbie Caillat] - Bubbly
After that, Kairi doubled her efforts. Of course, she failed every time. But while Riku kept her from leaving, he no longer reported her escapades to the keeper.
One day, she came and sat down next to him wearily.
"Hi."
He looked at her, surprised. "Hey."
"Slacking off?"
"Hm?"
"Aren't you supposed to be guarding or anything?"
Riku was sitting with his back against the paopu tree trunk. He had his eyes half closed.
"It's my day off."
She looked startled. "We have days off?"
"Once a month…you probably didn't get yours because you cause too much trouble."
"No fair." she pouted.
Both of them didn't speak. The afternoon breeze felt cool and gentle. The leaves on the tree rustled softly. Riku closed his eyes in contentment.
She spoke first, "Why aren't you telling on me?"
He didn't open his eyes. "You're not exactly escaping right now."
"…You know what I'm talking about."
"Too bothersome. And it's not like telling the keeper will keep you from trying to run away."
She nudged him with her shoulder. "You just don't want to see me getting whipped."
He didn't have the strength to make excuses. He nudged her back. "Whatever floats your boat."
She nudged him again. "Just admit it. You care about me." Her voice was smiling.
He gave a lazy grin, and just nudged her back.
She fell silent. They sat next to each other in the shade of the paopu tree, feeling the wind tickle their face and smelling the sweet scent of paopus in a comfortable silence.
After a long time, Riku opened his eyes. "Hey, you."
Frowning, she retorted, "I'm not a 'you', I have a name, you know."
"Huh, funny that."
She scowled. "We see each other nearly every day, we insult each other every time we see each other, and hell, you seem to know where I am whenever I try to escape, yet you still don't know my name?"
"You don't seem to know mine, either."
She flushed. "I… strongly believe names should be told by the owner of the name and that person alone."
"I'm glad we share the same belief."
Of course, he had tried to learn her name, but it seemed like nobody knew what it was, nor did they seem to care. There was no need to. Servant girls were usually addressed as just 'maid', 'servant', 'lass', or 'wench'.
She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well, I'm Kairi."
"I'm Riku. Nice to meet you."
A faint smile played on Kairi's lips. "You won't believe what a relief it is to finally tell somebody my name… So Riku, what were you about to say?"
"Just wondering what you were doing sitting here next to me and not trying to escape."
"I was going to, but you're in my spot."
He raised an eyebrow. "Am I?" It was more a statement than a question.
Kairi took out something from her bag and tossed it to him. He caught it. It was a lassoed rope.
She pointed to a tall tree just beyond the castle wall to his right. "You see that over there? I was going to lasso the rope to that tree and scale the walls. You caught me on your day off," she said dryly.
Riku shook his head and pointed to her slender arms. "You're crazy. With those? Never would have worked."
Kairi sniffed indignantly and poked him lightly in the chest. "They're stronger than they look."
He rolled his eyes and laughed. "Sure, Kairi."
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