Hello, fourth chapter up, and this one is loooong. At least by my standards, anyway. I wrote the beginning of this a couple weeks ago I think, and the second half just finished tonight (6/9/06). I'm sorry if there are a bunch of mistakes in the first part, or something seems to not fit in there, but I kinda just really want to get this chap out there as it's taken me such a long time. Please feel free to tell me if I've messed up on grammar, parts of the story that don't make sense, etc. I know, I am incredibly lazy. Anyway, here's the next chapter, with all 2,352 of those words. Enjoy, or try to.
Disclaimer: I own neither the story nor the characters of KH. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.
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Chapter 4: Will You…
Kairi breathed in deeply as the warm air swept across her face and took her hair with it. Her lips slowly spread into a smile as it gently played with her features. It was spring. And not just 'The end of winter, beginning of spring'; the season was full blown, as they had already approached May.
Kairi had always loved rowing back over to the little island that they played on when they were kids, and actually still took to playing on even now. She breathed another heavy sigh, but held it as she heard light footsteps crunching in the sand behind her. She whipped her head around in surprise.
"R...Riku!" Kairi's eyes went wide as she found just who had walked up behind her.
"Don't tell me I scared you?" Riku's own eyes seemed to dance playfully before Kairi's as he suppressed the urge to let out a laugh.
As Kairi turned back around, Riku took that opportunity to grip her shoulders tightly with his hands at lightning speed, causing the girl to jump right up and hit her head on his chin.
"Oooooowww." Riku grunted exaggeratedly, as he rubbed the bottom of his chin while Kairi did the same with the top of her head. The girl however, did so with much less complaining.
"Hey, it's your fault you scared me." Kairi followed this up with a face; sticking her tongue out at him. The older boy returned the gesture, though looked a bit more ridiculous in doing so.
Kairi lifted herself up with her hands pushing off from Riku's favorite paopu tree and jumped to the ground, not knowing that the boy's eyes were on her the entire time. She traced her black sandals in the sand, just barely using the tips of her toes. "So what brings you here? Other than your pathetic plan to scare me."
Riku turned his glance towards the ground as soon as Kairi turned her head in fear of being caught and answered her in a sort of rushed mumble. "Well, I came to ask you to prom, of course!"
Kairi raised her head at this in a quizzical manner, and Riku switched his approach.
"Oh, I dunno. I just never come out here anymore. I thought it'd be nice, ya know, to see the place again."
"That's right, you haven't been in years, have you?" Kairi's expression changed to one of complete happiness to one of thoughtfulness. "You thought you were to old for it."
Kairi raised her hands to her lips to hide her growing smile that had replaced her doubtful look. "You'll never be too old for this island."
Letting out an extremely charming grin that Kairi didn't fail to miss, Riku brushed his silver locks back with his rough hands. "It's only May, I can't wait till summer. I'm gunna be over your house everyday, it'll be like I'm stalking you."
As Riku's grin increased, Kairi couldn't help but falter at this. She couldn't help feeling stupid for some reason. No matter what he said, Kairi knew that Riku would never come and see her everyday. He always said stuff like this, but that didn't mean he meant it. It also brought up a rather annoying, nagging part of her brain that kept reminding her that she had invited Riku over: Two months in advance. Okay, her feelings of stupidity towards herself were complete.
"Hey Kai, you okay?" Kairi looked up and realized that Riku's humorous grin had changed to a more concerned look at her lack of an answer.
"Yeah, sorry. I think I just zoned out for a minute, there. And stop waving your hand in front of my face!"
"Well, I wasn't sure if you'd gone into shock or something at the thought of me stalking you."
"Please, don't flatter yourself."
The playful banter was accompanied by some swatting of Kairi's hand at Riku's ego (in other words, his head), and Riku holding his own hands up in mock defense.
"Please don't hurt me! I'm sowwy." The laugh that Riku had plastered onto his face was replaced with a very pathetic excuse for puppy dog eyes, and he stuck his lower lip out to try and help his defense. He even got it to quiver a bit, which made Kairi burst into laughter.
"Riku, you really need to work on that. I-" Kairi was cut off as the sound of her phone rang out from her purse lying forgotten beside the two.
Riku let down his pouting face while he watched in curiosity as Kairi answered her cell.
"Hello?"
Some excited mumbling sounds were heard on the other end, and Riku strained his ears to eavesdrop on Kairi's conversation.
"Really? Oh Nam, that's great!"
The boy couldn't help grinning slightly to himself. He loved watching her smile...
"Sure, I'll be right there. No, tell me the details when I get there. Yes you can wait. See you in a few."
A loud click signaled that Kairi had hung up on her best friend and so Riku took the opportunity to bug her.
Poking the girl lightly, yet annoyingly, Riku asked, "So what'd Naminé have to say?"
Shifting her position slightly, Kairi smiled up at him brightly. She then made a face. "I'm not telling. Girl talk. But hey, do you think you could give me a ride?"
Riku brought his right hand to his hair and smoothed it back. "I dunno, shouldn't I know what the secret is before I drive you there for your 'Girl Talk'?" He shifted and placed both his hands behind his head and stretched.
"I'll tell you on the way."
Another smile, and Kairi sprang to her feet lightly, while Riku got up a bit slower. Jogging over towards the direction of Riku's car, the girl turned and flashed a goofy grin, which urged the older teen to run and catch up to her. God he loved her smile.
Climbing into the passenger's seat and buckling her seatbelt, Kairi proceeded to lock the door.
"What are you locking it for?" Riku opened his own door and slid into his seat, shooting her a quizzical look.
"Cause I'm using my secret to bribe you into driving me to Naminé's." The cheesy grin returned. "I wouldn't put it past you to throw me out." Now the sticking out of the tongue again.
Riku chuckled to himself as he started the ignition. "Well, you're lucky you're so damn cute, or I might've considered it."
Kairi could feel her face heat up at this little 'compliment', and so she turned to look out the window. She was preoccupied with watching the brilliant colors of the leaves fly by her window when her thoughts, or lack there of, were interrupted.
"So what did she say?"
"Why do you wanna know so bad?"
"Cause."
"Roxas finally asked her out." Kairi slowly let this one out, because for some reason she felt like she should talk to Naminé before telling people anything.
"That's it?"
"What d'ya mean 'that's it'?"
Riku took his eyes off the road for a moment to look down at the small girl's face. Man did she look pissed. "I just thought that, uh... there'd be more to it."
He continued to watch her as her frown deepened, and he couldn't help but say to himself 'Why is she so mad at me? Is she just PMSing?'
"What was that Riku?"
Uh oh. Maybe it wasn't so much to himself.
"Did you just say what I think you said?"
'Oh shit.'
"Riku?" Kairi's face had blown to enormous proportions, and Riku was afraid that if he poked at her any more she might pop.
"Uh..." Riku was dumbfounded, and could not find anything to say that would get him out of trouble. He'd really done it now.
But before Riku knew what was happening, Kairi had opened the door and jumped out of the car, slamming the door roughly behind her. He hadn't realized that they had already arrived. 'Well at least it saves me from having to explain-'
"Thanks for the ride." He knew that she didn't mean it, as she looked about ready to kill him with her death glare back towards his window. Her voice was so full of poison and spite, that Riku found himself looking away and towards the ground as she squinted her eyes almost painfully at him. Suddenly the emergency brake looked very interesting.
He watched as she sauntered on through the door without knocking, and started the car. He was mentally hitting himself all the way home, as he tried to keep the image of the girl who's red locks were being tossed by the wind, out of his head.
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"Ahh you shouldn't have let that get to ya."
Naminé crossed her room uneasily as a steamed Kairi sat on her bed. Well, if you could call it sitting, as it was more like a sort of tight, rigamortis seat than anything else.
"I know. I don't even know what happened. Maybe I was just PMSing..."
Kairi trailed off as she thought about what she was saying. 'Nah.'
"You know Kai, I think you just like making him think you're mad at him. You like having him at your mercy. And you know why?"
Kairi didn't really comprehend what Naminé was saying, as she was thinking of other things at the moment. "What?"
"It's because you like him, and you like teasing him and playing hard to get. That's always how you've been."
At this, Kairi shot up from her stiff position on the down comforter and snapped her head in Naminé's direction. "What type of crack did you switch to, hun?"
Naminé giggled at her reaction, and took Kairi's now deserted space on her bed. "You are nasty when you're in denial."
Kairi grimaced, as she thought of something to change the subject away from herself. And on to Naminé...
"So, what was it like when he asked you out?"
At this, the blonde girl blushed slightly, though she wasn't going to give that easily. "Nice try, but you should just tell me the truth. I am your best friend after all, right?"
'Ooooh, playing the best friend card. Veeeery sneaky.'
Kairi looked down towards Naminé's bright pink carpet to hide any blush that she knew would make an appearance on her face at any moment. She made a genuine effort to sort through her feelings and really look at them. Did she have a thing for Riku? She was just about to open her mouth to answer, with what she didn't know, but was interrupted when her cell phone once again rang.
Naminé made a face as Kairi pulled her phone out and flipped it open. "Hello?"
There was a slight pause, where Naminé noticed that Kairi's eyes went a little wider.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. Pause. I know. Alright, I'll see you in a few."
Click. Kairi turned towards her friend as she hung up on the caller. "Speak of the devil." Her lips spread as her cheeks rose in a smile. "I've got to go, Nami. I'll call you tomorrow."
"Hey, wait a minute. You never answered me." Naminé felt her own smile grow as she watched Kairi.
Kairi paused in the doorframe as she thought to answer Naminé. She looked to her friend. "Yes, I suppose I do."
Naminé giggled again as she watched her best friend bounce through the door and down the grand stairway. She had known it all along.
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Kairi shivered slightly as she stood outside of Naminé's house. Crossing her arms, she shuffled her feet into the grass as she felt the cool night breeze coming on. The sky had deepened, and the girl felt relieved when she finally saw the headlights graze over her figure for a quick second as Riku's car pulled into the driveway.
With hint of a skip to her step, Kairi strode over to the car and opened the passenger door. She rubbed her hands together and blew into them after she had closed it and faced the other teen.
"So, ready to apologize?"
Riku shifted in his seat uncomfortably as he kept his eyes on the road as they pulled out of the driveway. "Sigh I guess..."
As a playful slap was placed on his shoulder, he found himself chuckling. They both laughed for a while as they approached Kairi's house.
As they pulled up to her garage, Riku looked over at Kairi for the first time since she'd gotten in (he didn't want to be distracted from the road), and realized that she was shivering. He frowned at this and leaned over into the back seat.
"Here, you look like you could use this."
Kairi looked up from blowing into her hands and saw Riku taking a navy blanket and wrapping it around her. She blushed lightly.
"There ya go, snug as a bug in a rug. Or however that thing goes..."
As she grinned, Riku took the opportunity to let his fingers do their thing, and ran them up and down her sides while she sat trapped in her warming device. Giggling madly, Kairi squirmed as she tried to escape from the tangle of the blanket and Riku's hands at the same time.
While trying to do so, she somehow slid under the larger boy next to her and he fell on top of her. They both stayed perfectly still, listening only to each other's breaths and heartbeats. They were both to afraid to move.
Riku was yelling at himself to do something, but he just lay there, feeling her underneath him, though no longer struggling. Kairi looked as though she was in complete shock. And then it came to him, almost out of thin air. He had to make some sort of move sometime, didn't he?
He shifted himself on top of the girl's body, but did not get off. She squirmed again from underneath him, and refused to look him in the eyes.
"Kairi, do you want to go to prom with me?"
The small girl's eyes shifted and she finally locked them with his.
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Okay, I know that that ending was really stupid, but I had been planning it to end that way, and the rest of the chapter to not be so, hopeful. Anyway, I like when they take things relatively slow in relationship, so I'm sorry if this seems like a snail's pace, I'm just writing what the reality that I'm using from my life was, and believe me, it was a lot longer than in the story.
I am actually kind of proud cause this chapter is twice the length of any other chapter I've written, and it didn't really take me that long to write, I just took long breaks in between writings.
Next chapter will hopefully be up maybe the week I get out of school, but you never know, cause I've got finals and I kinda like to do other stuff for my first couple of days off :-P Anyway, R&R please. Constructive criticism welcome flames not. I like to know how I'm doing, and try and put stuff into the story that the readers want.
