Konnichiwa! Sorry for the lack of updates. I just recently started a new story entitled Run for the Hills and its centered around Axel and Roxas. I started writing that in order to get back into this story. I have this planned out, but this transition has been a little hard to write. So, I hope you all like it!
Special thanks are in order to Namilaa, Miss Pirate of the Caribbean and EliasDaemonwing for reviewing! I'm glad that you guys like what I have so far!
I was amazed to see that there is a total of 789 hits to this story. I'm glad that people are interested! If you have any questions about whats going on, or if I don't make things clear, please tell me! I want to make this a great story for you all to enjoy!
Without further ado!
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The Journey Back to You
Chapter 05 – We're Not Really Friends
Dew drops kissed the grass goodbye before the sun rose completely, showing a peaceful Saturday morning scene with little to no persons up and about except for those who were early risers. Kairi was not one of those persons, and yet, she was up at the crack of dawn packing a duffel bag with clothes and different things she would need to entertain herself for her overnight trip to the small island she used to visit as a child. She would be meeting Aerith and Sora down at the docks at exactly seven in the morning. It was already six-thirty and she was not done. She still needed to shower and apply her makeup for the day.
Aerith had stopped by with Sora yesterday to ask if she was still coming with them this weekend to the islands for old times sake. The scene still played freshly in her mind from yesterday afternoon.
After a her absent-minded nod, she noticed Sora leaning on the door frame behind Aerith, arms across his chest. His expression held little interest to be there as he looked down to the ground. At least, that was Kairi's impression. Soon Aerith's melodic voice interrupted her thoughts, redirecting her attention back to the light haired brunette.
"So I was wondering if you were coming with us this weekend? We're going to the island we used to visit when we were kids. It'll be just like we used to!" Aerith began, a giddy smile adorning her face.
It had taken a few seconds for the information to process through to Kairi's brain. Eyes widening slightly, she took a quick look over to Sora who only looked at her and rolled his eyes as a response. Suddenly, it clicked that telling her that Aerith was coming wasn't the only thing that Sora was trying to tell her that day. She stole a quick glance at Aerith before turning her eyes towards the floor. A faint blush was creeping its way onto her face, embarrassed by her own foolishness and unwillingness to listen to others. Surely she had been taught better? With a sigh, she looked up at Aerith and nodded, a small smile showing.
"I'll have to double check with my parents when they get home, but I'd love to! I mean, we haven't seen each other in almost ten years!" Kairi replied, a grin now breaking out into her features. Surprisingly enough, it was not a forced smile, instead it responded from a dormant feeling that was starting to surface in her heart. Kairi noticed something flicker in Aerith's eyes, almost as if she was surprised, but that faded before it could be determined. If she had bothered to look at Sora, she would have seen the face of complete shock that was on his face. He for one did not think she would so readily agree. Shaking his head slightly, he wiped the look off of his face and replaced it with his usual indifference.
Aerith was positively beaming at the thought that she would be spending time with both of her best friends again. "Great! So meet us at the docks at seven tomorrow morning! We'll take one of the boats from there! Well, we should get going now, Sora promised that he would walk with me around town to see what's changed and what's still the same. See you tomorrow!"
"Great! See you then!" replied Kairi. Aerith turned and started walking down the path that lead back to the street. Before she closed the door, Kairi caught Sora's eye, as he still had yet to move from his spot. They seemed to be having a staring contest if anyone were to see. Sora tore his ocean blue orbs away from Kairi's and turned, but not before whispering a promise of what would come from this weekend.
"This should be entertaining." With that, he began his trudged down the path to meet Aerith at the gates.
"Wait." Sora froze on the spot, his heart beating in his ears. It wasn't her words, but her fingers dancing on his wrist that caused the reaction. He didn't make a move to pull away, instead inclining his head in her direction, his eyes meeting hers indicating that she had his attention. Kairi felt a spark go through her when she saw his eyes. A blush was starting to make its way to her cheeks, but she struggled to continue on.
"Can we talk later tonight? Out back?" Sora knew what she wanted to talk to about. He gave her a slight nod before turning around and pulling out of her grasp, making his way to Aerith once again. Kairi closed the door and slid down the frame, letting out the breath she had been holding. A small smile graced her lips, only to be cut short by the ringing of her cell phone.
Retreating from her thoughts, Kairi looked down to notice that she was indeed all packed for the trip. Musing that she must have finished unconsciously, she padded over to her bathroom to turn on the shower. With a quick shampoo and conditioning, she was lathering her skin in no time to complete her shower in a record of ten minutes, a personal best for her.
Quickly drying and running a brush through her hair, she ambled back to her room to dawn the outfit she would be wearing for the day. It was a strapped pink and white dress, adorned with zippers in some areas as well as a pair of pink shoes to complete her outfit. It was simple and one of her favorite dresses, which she rarely ever wore. Naminé had been to her house one time and had seen the dress hanging in her closet. After the shock of horror wore of that Kairi owned something as "punky" as that, Kairi was vehemently told to get rid of the eye sore. She couldn't bear to throw it away so she hid it in the back of her closet and remembered not to wear it to school where her friends would see her.
Kairi glanced at her clock on her nightstand, jaw dropping. It was already ten of seven and she still had yet to leave the house. She still hadn't put on any makeup, but she was also afraid of being late. If there was one thing Kairi Ishikawa hated was not being punctual. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, she made the executive decision to forgo the makeup for today. With a quick grab for her duffel bag, Kairi was down the stairs and out the door in under a minute.
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Sora was down at the docks with Aerith and it was exactly 6:58 AM. With a groggy groan, Sora began loading the small dingy that they would use to get over to the island, already anticipating that he would be the one rowing the whole way. As he stifled another yawn, his bleary eyes caught a blur of pink running to their direction.
'Must be Kairi. At least she made it on time.' he thought drearily. It wasn't that he felt his weekend was doomed now with the addition of Kairi on their little trip, moreover he thought it would go very well only to have Monday come and have things be back to the way it was. They hadn't really had a conversation with one another in almost six years, when they started middle school, until last night in their backyards. The conversation wasn't unpleasant, but Sora had wished that such a conversation was not necessary. All in all, he genuinely missed having Kairi to talk to, but would never admit it out loud. His mind began to wander to the previous night's conversation as he loaded the dingy.
When Sora came home after dropping off Aerith at the hotel she was staying at, he grabbed his acoustic guitar and meandered out into his backyard, plopping into the hammock that was tied between two trees. He closed his eyes and strummed on his guitar the tune that had popped into his head. It was a slow tempo and sounded great on his guitar. Soon enough, he was humming along to the sounds that filled his ears.
He had yet to figure out he had an audience with her head resting in her arms on the fence. She had retreated to her yard after she finished speaking with her parents about her outing for the next couple of days. She found that her parents were ecstatic to find that Aerith had come for a visit and encouraged her to go out and do as she pleased. Her eyes started to close as she listened to the melodic humming combined with the guitar, giving her a peaceful feeling. A few minutes later, the sounds of the guitar stopped abruptly followed by a loud thump. She snapped her eyes opened to see a disheveled Sora dropped ceremoniously to the ground as the hammock flipped him over with his sudden jerky movement. Kairi couldn't help but chuckle at the sight before her. She remembered Sora had a habit of being very clumsy when they were younger.
Sora stood up sending a mock glare her way which died quickly after hearing her giggle. Unconsciously, he grinned at her. After propping his guitar at the base of the tree, he walked over to the fence and leaned on it next to where she was.
"So what did you wish to discuss with me?" Sora began, deciding to get it done and over with. The smile on Kairi's face immediately vanished as she looked out across to Sora's yard, struggling with the words she was trying to say. A few minutes went by before she began to speak.
"Look, I know we haven't talked in a while." That statement caused Sora to snort back a sarcastic laugh. Kairi glared at him before continuing. "We haven't talked in a while, but we're going to be spending the weekend together with Aerith. I don't know what you've told Aerith, but it seems as though she thinks we're still really close friends."
Before she said anymore, Sora interjected. "I haven't really said anything to her to be quite honest. I wasn't exactly sure how to tell her that we were no longer on speaking terms with each other. Don't get me wrong though, its not like I haven't thought about it. I honestly didn't expect you to say yes to this little outing we had planned."
"Well its not like there was really much of a choice." Sora rolled his eyes at the comment. "I mean, its either that or let her think that everything has fallen apart. I don't know, but for some reason, I can't bear the thought of Aerith being sad that we're no longer friends. We both know that's how she would react." Sora had to admit that he did agree with Kairi on that. There was just something that Aerith possessed where you couldn't stand seeing her sad. It was the same when they were kids.
"All right, then what do you propose we do about our little situation?" Sora continued on. Kairi shrugged her shoulders before answering.
"We go there as though we're still best friends. I mean it can't be that hard?"
Sora felt a small swell of anger form inside of him, along with a hint of sadness. "A lot of things have changed, not just for you, but for me as well." A look of comprehension dawned on Kairi's face before she muffled a quick apology. Soon an awkward silence engulfed the two teens as they leaned against the fence separating their houses. Deciding that this would get them nowhere, Kairi started to come up with a plan.
"Okay, so how about this. We spend the time now to get to know each other better before we go tomorrow." Sora sent her an odd look before nodding his head in agreement. They soon began talking about school and classes to be on safer subjects at first, but then delved more into a casual conversation as though they were two friends who hadn't seen each other in a long while and were catching up on the happenings in their lives. They ended up talking into the wee hour of one in the morning before they decided to call it a night since they both were getting up early tomorrow.
Sora chuckled a bit at the fact that they held a good conversation for hours on end like good friends would. 'But its all just for Aerith. This doesn't mean that we're really friends again. Besides this will probably be the only time we actually spend together.' Sora chided to himself. It seemed Kairi finally made it to the docks since Aerith was talking with her animatedly. He glanced over to see a stunning Kairi before him. She was walking with Aerith, her duffel bag in hand and a genuinely soft smile gracing her features. To him, she was radiant the way she was with the dress she wore and no cosmetics on her face.
She glanced towards the boat and her eyes landed on Sora while he just stared at her. Quickly shaking his head and looking away, a faint blush appeared on his features. He turned back to Kairi and gave her a grin to indicate his welcome for her. In turn she smiled back brightly while he extended his hand to take her duffel bag from her. In a matter of minutes, everyone was set and ready to go to the island for overnight. With everyone in place in the dingy, Sora untied their boat and pushed away from the dock clambering on at the last minute. The oars were in place and Sora, as he had expected, was the one rowing them to the island about a mile away.
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