Well, look at this. I think this is a pretty speedy update… for me. It's only been a little over a month. SIGH. I know, I'm horrible… but anyways: here it is!


More Dreams and the Mayor's Brunch

That night, Ayami, Sora, and Kairi sat at the dinner table, eating salad and rolls and having a good time playing 'I Spy' in the kitchen.

Sora ripped off a huge chunk of his roll and chewed on it, gazing around the kitchen for the blue thing his mom could see. Kairi giggled at the concentration on his face.

"Uh… the curtains!"

"No, and don't talk with your mouth full." His mother told him, trying to be stern but holding back a laugh.

As he swallowed, Kairi tried. "The tablecloth."

"Nope."

"The stars on the cabinets?" Sora guessed, sporting a now empty mouth.

"Nope."

"The blue dish in the sink?"

"My cup?"

"The towel draped over the oven handle?"

"No, no, and no." She told them both triumphantly.

"Ooh! One of the blue fish in the tank!" Sora guessed hopefully.

"No siree."

Kairi gazed around, and suddenly smiled, staring at Sora across the table. "It's his eyes!" She said triumphantly, and Ayami nodded.

"Hey that's not fair! I can't even see my eyes!" Sora complained. The two girls watched for a hilarious moment as he tried to see his irises.

"I win!" Kairi announced, getting up to clear her dishes.

"Aww, look at that. Sora look at the miracle before us, someone who actually takes their dishes over!" Ayami teased her son.

"I take my dishes over sometimes." He argued.

"Keyword; sometimes." Ayami and Kairi giggled, as Sora hopped up to place his dishes next to Kairi's in the sink.

He stuck out his tongue. "See?" With that he sprinted away down the hallway towards his bedroom.

"Oh you better get back here young man! You know there is no exposure of your tongue while a lady is present!" Ayami called after the retreating Sora's back. "You better go give him a stern talking to Kairi."

The young girl giggled again as she followed Sora down the hallway. "You're in big trouble now Sora!"

She walked into his bedroom, but he wasn't there. She turned for a moment, glancing around the room, sure that she had just seen him walk in there. She walked a few steps into the room and over next to the bed. Suddenly, something grabbed her ankle and she screamed. Startled, she looked down as she heard muffled laughter from under the bed. Kairi lay down on her belly and came face to face with Sora, who was still chuckling.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"Ha ha, you're so funny." She replied sarcastically, the corners of her mouth twitching.

Sora pulled himself out from under the bed.

"You know, I'm thinking of getting a hammock to sleep in, instead of this."

"Wow, that would be really cool!"

"Yeah, it'll be like when I go exploring the ocean."

Kairi sat down on the bed next to him. "You'll need a boat to do that."

"Don't worry; I'll just get Riku to build me one." Sora joked, smiling brightly.

Kairi laughed with him. "So what, are you going to just sail away from here?"

Sora lay down on the bed on his stomach, his chin resting on the comforter, nodding. "I already told you I was going to be a great hero one day."

"But not just of this world, right?" Kairi poked him.

Sora smiled. "I'm going to be the king of the universe." He rolled over so that he was looking up towards the ceiling, which was covered in millions of plastic glow-in-the-dark stars. "And maybe I can find your world too, and you can see your family again."

Kairi sat still on the edge of his bed for a minute.

"I don't even remember them." She finally said, quietly, as she plucked at one of her bracelets.

"Well," Sora's tone was much more serious. "I don't remember my dad… that doesn't mean I don't want to see him."

They sat in silence for a little bit, feelings of sadness slowly creeping up inside Kairi. She could feel the lump rising in her throat, and before she knew it, a tear rolled down her cheek.

She felt Sora sit up next to her.

"Oh gosh! I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you… I didn't know that…"

She shook her head and wiped away the single tear. She ran her hands through her short red hair, and sighed, shaking her head again.

"It's not you, Sora, it's just… I don't know, I mean… my whole life just started two days ago. I don't remember anything about before, just some odd dreams here and there… I don't know who I am."

"You're Kairi."

"Yeah, I am. But who is Kairi? Where does she come from? Where's her family?"

Sora scratched his head for a second. "Well, I'll be your family… and my mom, and Riku… and, gosh, you haven't even met Tidus or Selphie or Wakka. And anyways, if they love you, they'll be able to find you. That's just how those things work. But for now, we'll be your family."

Sora smiled at Kairi, and she suddenly flung her arms around him and hugged him tight. He was stunned for a second, but then he hugged her back, his smile growing wider. Kairi whispered her thanks, and then sat back and glanced out the window.

"It's all worse at night though. During the day, it's okay… but when I know I have to go to sleep soon, I feel sick… homesick, but without a home."

"Is it because of the dreams?"

Kairi shrugged. "There not really dreams, really… just, flashes of things. I don't even know if they're real."

"Do you see anything besides the castle?"

"Well, I've seen this garden, with a fountain… it's happy there. I don't know how I know, but it's a happy place."

Kairi pulled herself further back onto the bed so that she could lean against the wall. Sora pulled himself next to her and continued listening, fascinated by her stories.

"And, there's this old lady… telling stories, and talking about things. I can't understand her. I can't tell if I knew her or anything. Sometimes she's in the garden with the fountain, other times she's in this huge library under this staircase. She's happy too. Everything, really, is happy…"

They sat in silence for a little bit, both delving into the mystery in their own minds. After awhile, the late hour started to catch up to them, and their thoughts slowly turned more extravagant, until they had drifted into dreams. They both dreamt of castles, and gardens, and little old ladies, who liked to talk about… light, the origin of light… and the darkness.


Sora woke with a start. He sat up and looked around his quiet room. Funny, he didn't remember ever going to his room last night. The sun was just beginning to peek through his blinds, so he got up and pulled them open, enjoying the view down to the ocean that he could see through the trees in his backyard. Light glistened off of the waves, and he could hear the inviting calls of the seagulls. He knew that it was going to be a good day for their island.

Hearing voices in the kitchen, he left his room and walked down the hallway. Coming through the threshold of the kitchen, he found his mother sitting at the table on the phone. He quietly got himself two pancakes from the stack by the oven and went to join her.

"Well, yes, yes of course… No, that would be fine… Yes, she'll be very excited… I'm happy to hear that… Yes…Alright, at ten?... Okay, she'll be there… Oh, I'm sure you will. Thankyou… Bye."

Sora cocked his head to the side in question as Ayami put the phone down on the table. She laughed, and stole a bite from his pancakes.

"That was just the mayor's wife. Mr. Rayon called me earlier this morning to tell me, but this was just a formal invitation."

"What, what are you invited to?" Sora asked eagerly, repositioning himself in the chair.

"Well, the mayor and his wife have no children of their own, and they wanted to see Kairi, to think about… adopting her."

Sora swallowed his mouthful. "You mean, she's not going to live here anymore?"

"Well, no, that was never the plan… she's just staying here until we find her a better home."

"Oh."

"The mayor isn't sure though, he and his wife are going to decide today."

"So I guess I Kairi can't come to the island." His voice was laced with disappointment.

"No, not this morning."

Kairi came into the kitchen from the hallway and sat down at the table. Ayami got up and fixed her a plate of pancakes.

"Well, Kairi… this morning is very important."

Kairi questioned Sora with a look. He tried to give her his best 'just keep listening, it's not that exciting" look.

"The mayor's wife just called to invite you over to her place for brunch. She and her husband would like to meet you. They're… well, they're thinking of adopting you!" Ayami told Kairi with a large smile on her face.

Kairi's eyebrows rose in surprise, but she quickly composed herself and smiled at Sora's mom.

"It sounds exciting to meet them."

"Oh, yes. I know you'll like them, two of the sweetest people on Destiny Islands. Now, when you're finished with that, you'll need to go get showered and Riama, Riku's mother, is going to come by and drop off a dress for you to wear."

After Kairi had eaten her pancakes, Ayami ushered her down to the hallway, and Sora was left alone at the table. Remembering last night, he smirked as he took his and Kairi's plates over to the sink. He headed down to his own room and occupied himself with video games.

Shortly after Sora finally defeated the boss of the fire temple, the doorbell rang. He knew from experience that his mother would be too busy at a time like this to answer the door. So he saved his game, turned it off, and headed towards the front door. He swung it open to find Riama and Riku standing in the doorway.

"Hey there Sora." Riama greeted.

"Hello… My mom's in Kairi's room." He added as he spied the pink dress in her arms.

She laughed, ruffled his spiky hair, and then moved past him to head down the hallway, calling Ayami's name.

Sora turned to Riku.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"We're going to have to postpone our trip to the island until Kairi comes back."

"Why?" Riku turned his head slightly.

"Well, when she comes back, she can just come with us. We'll spend the morning in the forest, and go to the island this afternoon."

Riku shrugged. "If you have to wait for her."

Now Sora looked confused. "I don't have to wait for her, I just want to."

Riku shrugged again and smirked. "Alright, whatever. Let' go."

The two boys ran out of the house and raced down the sidewalk towards the dead-end in Sora's street. They ran away from the shore, towards the center of the island. At the end of the road, they came to a trail that wound into the forest of palm trees. They ran down it, the shade of the trees creating a natural coolness. Bugs buzzed along trail and millions of chirping birds nested above their heads. They finally came to the tree house that they had build years ago. Riku pulled himself up the ladder with Sora right behind him.

Sora pulled himself up through the opening in the floor and went to the window sill of the large window that faced the ocean.

"Look Riku, they're still alive!"

He was referring to the two small caterpillars that were currently living on a green plant Sora had plucked out of the ground and waters in a small plastic container.

Riku laughed. "And they haven't even run away." He put his finger next to the larger green caterpillar and it slowly made its way onto his pointer. Once it was on, the pulled his finger up to his face and let the caterpillar crawl onto his upper lip.

"Look! I have a mustache!"

Sora doubled over in laughter.

"Wow! I want one!" Tidus's voice came from the opening in the floor. The small boy pulled himself up, followed closely by Selphie.

"Eww, gross Riku! Get that thing off your face! What if it bites you?"

"Relax Selph, caterpillars don't bite people." Riku assured her was he pulled the crawler off his face and placed it back on a leaf.

"Hey, where's Wakka?" Sora asked Tidus, because he lived next door to the boy in question.

"He's at the middle school summer orientation thingy." All four of them cringed.

"Well, Sora, where's Kairi?" Selphie asked him, clearly excited to meet the new girl.

Sora made another face. "She's going to brunch at the mayor's house."

"Why?"

"I think they're going to adopt her."

"Eww, isn't he old?"

They all started laughing. The good mood lasted a long time as the friends discussed random things. They finally got around to another exciting topic.

"I think we can finally say goodbye to this old thing." Riku said as he patted the wall of the tree house. "I mean look at us, barely all four of us fit. If Wakka and Kairi came, it'd be a nightmare. And anyways, we have somewhere better now."

"The island?!" Tidus asked excitedly, wanting to hear stories of the grand place he'd dreamed about the last two nights.

Sora and Riku nodded their heads excitedly.

"Yeah, we already have a whole bunch of plans for what we want to do. We're going again this afternoon, once Kairi is done."

"Cool!"

"That's so exciting!"

Riku proceeded to draw a rough map of the island in the dust on the floor and he and Sora began to explain some of the finer points of their ideas for a huge tree house, all of the bridges, the dock, and anything else Tidus or Selphie wanted to add.

In the middle of their eager planning, a loud beating sound began to drum on the roof of the tree house. Sora looked out the window and was dismayed to see large torrents of rain falling down outside. The morning sky had turned gray and he couldn't even see all the way to the ocean.

"Aww man!" He complained.

"Well… maybe it'll stop." Selphie said hopefully.

Riku looked at the watch he had received on his most recent birthday. "It's already twelve. Let's head back to my house and eat lunch. Maybe after that, it'll be clear enough to head out."

They all nodded in agreement and dropped down the ladder to the muddy ground. Putting their hands over their heads, they made to beeline it out of the woods and to Riku's house on the next street down. But as soon as Sora made one step out from under the protection of the tree house, the rain began to rapidly get lighter, and after a few moments, it was completely gone.

"Wow. That was the shortest rain shower ever."

Sora shook what little water there was out of his hair and then straightened up. The sun was breaking through the clouds, and if it weren't for the dripping tree leaves, it might not have rained at all.

"Well, we can still go get lunch."

They all nodded in agreement and then headed off down the trail.


Well, I know nothing really exciting happened in this chapter, but hopefully things will get more interesting next update. I'm thinking that there maybe three chapters left in this, but I'm not exactly sure at the moment. So now I'm going to go and work on the homework I've put off typing this for you all. Please review!