"You guys can't be careless like this anymore! She could have gotten seriously hurt!"
"Well, what were we supposed to do, Kairi? Riku said he found her hurt in the Realm of Darkness. When I got to the beach, she was awake—what are you so worked up about, anyway?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Sora! There's something about her—something important, that I can sense. So it would be nice if you both could treat her decently!"
Great. Just what I needed.
After passing out for the SECOND time that day, I wake up to find myself the subject of some ridiculous argument.
Just peachy.
I tried opening my eyes, but my brain wouldn't respond to its command. Next, I tried moving my arms, my hand, anything, but my entire body was sore and stiff, unable to move. My lips parted slightly, and I let out a sigh.
"Sora? Kairi?"
"WHAT?" Both the boy and the girl were agitated at the interruption, and they voiced their opinion loudly.
"She's awake."
The sound of hurried footsteps reached my ears, and a sweet, caring voice spoke to me.
"Aislinn? Can you hear me?"
I turned my head from side to side, only to hear a chuckle. My eyes shot open, my face angry at whoever had just laughed at me.
"Who the hell do you think y--" My eyes widened in alarm as I saw Riku, that damned egotistical boy with the mesmerizing green eyes, was less than six inches away from my face.
Well that was just too close. I reached a hand up, extended my index finger, and touching his chest, pushed him away from me. I rolled my eyes at him, grinning.
"Haven't you ever heard of personal space?"
Riku smirked. "No. I don't believe I have."
I sat up—only to be met with the sight of an entirely pink room. I was sitting on a large full size bed, a pink comforter clutched in my hands.
My breath caught in my throat. "Where am I?"
A girl with violet eyes, red hair and a kind smile reached a hand out towards me. "Just ignore them. They're just stupid guys. I'm Kairi. It's so nice to finally meet you. As to where you are, Riku carried you to my house when you passed out on the beach. You're in my room."
I shook her hand—albeit hesitantly—and laughed at her comment about Riku and the spiky-haired boy, whom I now presumed to be Sora. My eyes flicked over to Riku, a scowl on his face.
"Did she get to your ego this time, Riku?"
He glared at me, and I could only laugh again. Success. I had found his weak spot.
Sora practically bounded up to the bedside, his face optimistic. "Sorry about earlier, Aislinn. Didn't mean to make you—you know, whatever it is that happened. I'm Sora."
I smiled at him and swung my legs over the side of the bed, standing up a little too quickly.
I knew I was falling before I could feel it—with the way my feet stumbled over one another. I reached out a hand to grasp for something, anything that could catch me.
Which is why I was surprised when I landed straight into Riku's arms.
His strong hands wrapped around my forearms, pulling me close to his body. His touch was cold, but warm. Inviting, in a way. His silver hair mixed with my auburn strands, creating a sort of curtain around us. When I raised my eyes to look into his own, I felt like I was staring into my own reflection. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the edges of his eyes had a tint of black around them—the faintest hint of darkness among that never-ending sea of light. I swallowed, wondering when in the hell he was gonna let go of me. But what I thought next was strange.
I didn't want him to let go...
Pushing those thoughts out of my mind, I leaned away from him, and in response, he let go of me. My body instantly grew cold, like someone had smothered the flames in a raging fire.
Damn him and his insanely good looks.
Sora cleared his throat loudly, walked up to his best friend, and patted him on the back. He leaned over to whisper something into Riku's ear—only to find himself on the ground, clutching his stomach in agony seconds later.
Crap. Whatever Sora had said had upset him.
Kairi cast a stern glance in Riku's direction and walked up next to me. She turned to me, that same smile from before still plastered on her face. "Listen, I know you must be REALLY confused right now, and you're wondering what's happening to you....but—since you're staying here for a while, maybe Riku could show you around the islands."
I raised both my eyebrows, my stare disbelieving. "What? You expect me to--"
"Fine. Let's go, Aislinn." Riku walked over to me, grabbed my hand, towing me out of Kairi's room. I struggled against his grasp, thrashing wildly.
"What do you think you're doing? Let go of me!"
Riku didn't stop walking—we were out of Kairi's house now—and he merely laughed. "Remember what happened the last time you said that?"
I gave him another Death Glare, and finally relented to Kairi's wishes. I stuck my lower lip out, pouting, and Riku looked at me with an amused expression.
He smiled slightly, and I could have sworn I felt his grip tighten around my hand. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because I don't want to be here."
Riku stopped walking and turned to face me. "Why?"
I scoffed at him. "Why? Because I have a life, Riku. I have a home, a family, and friends. As much as I am freaked out right now about my 'powers', or whatever the hell they are, I want to go home. I want to go home and forget all of this ever happened. I don't want a Keyblade and I don't want to be the freakin' Princess of Eternal Winter or some crap. I want to be me. I want to be Ais--"
One of Riku's hands covered my mouth mid-sentence, and my eyebrows knit together in anger and confusion. "What—did you just say?"
"Mmmmf. Mf. Mmmmmf."
"Oh. Sorry." His hand uncovered my mouth so I was able to speak again.
"Princess of Eternal Winter."
"And where'd you hear that?"
"When I was in the--" What had Sora and Kairi called it? "When I was in the Realm of Darkness. Just as I got there, I heard a voice. The same voice from my dream..."
Now it was Riku's turn to look confused. "Dream?"
Crap. Crap. Crap times infinity.
"Damn it," I muttered. "Might as well tell you." I don't know why, but I looked up shyly at Riku as I spoke my next sentence. "Is there someplace we can talk? A-alone?"
Screw my over-reacting heart. Why the hell did it have to make me freakin' stutter?
Riku seemed taken aback at my question, but in less than a millisecond, he had recovered. "Y-yeah. Sure. Come with me."
He extended a hand to me, his face concerned. Why?
"Riku, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what?"
"N-nothing. Let's just go." I grabbed his hand, my fingers entwining with his. We ran down a cobblestone pathway, only to soon find sand beneath our feet. As I looked around in the light of the setting sun, I remembered this as the beach I had passed out on. As Riku tugged me towards wherever we were going, I realized that we were heading in the direction of the tiny island with the disfigured star-fruit bearing tree.
When we had finally reached our destination, Riku climbed to the top of the tree and soon held out his hand—again--to help me up. I grabbed it reluctantly and sat down beside him.
My eyes traveled to the sight of the setting sun—a mix of the colors red, orange, and pink shining in my green eyes. I took a deep breath, exhaled and faced Riku.
"What do you want to know, Riku?"
"You could start with your dream. That may clear things up a bit."
So I told him. About the stained glass pictures, and the weapons that were given to me. I told him about the beautiful magic staff and how it had completely mesmerized me. I told Riku about my three best friends, and how scary it had been when they hadn't been acting like themselves. When I got to the part about the black creatures with the shining yellow eyes, his muscles tensed, but he nodded at me to keep telling my story.
But when I got to the part about sinking into darkness, when I remembered the way that the element had clung to body like an ever-present disease, Riku looked at me with the most heartbreaking expression. I met his eyes questioningly, and was just about to tell him about the very end of my dream, when my thoughts became a mess and I stopped short in the middle of a sentence.
"Aislinn? Who saved you? Who did you see?"
My face flushed, but soon heated up. Damn those hormones.
"I—I saw..."
Could I say it? Would I say it? "I saw you. You saved me, Riku."
He didn't say anything for a while. Five minutes, forty-two seconds and one breath to be exact. Riku suddenly inhaled, and looked straight into my eyes. True, I was still mad at him, but at the same time, I was grateful to him for saving me. I took his hand and squeezed it lightly.
"Thank you for that, Riku."
He smiled at me and hopped down off the tree. I followed him, and we walked back in the direction of town. Suddenly, Riku laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing. It's just that I know what Kairi's gonna want to do when you get back home. She hasn't had anyone to go shopping with since Selphie moved to the other side of town."
"Shopping...?" I paused, mid-step and cocked my head to the side.
Shopping.
I smiled, showing my teeth. Falling into step with Riku, I grinned at him. "Shopping. I could go for that."
Review please!
khgirl1770 =P
