Kairi: Cloud, we should hang out today!
Cloud: Um...
Sora: Wait, huh?!? Kairi and Cloud!?!
dude overdrived: Don't jump to conclusions, Sora.
----------Beginning----------
Chapter 10: The Island of the Paopu Fruit
Saturday morning...
"Come on, Spongebob!"
"Seen this episode."
"Today, on Man vs. Food-"
"Nah."
"Cause Phineas and Ferb are gonna-"
"Man..."
Cloud flipped throught the television channels hopelessly. Nowadays, there weren't very many good Saturday morning channels. Sure, there was Spongbob. But a guy gets bored of that once in a while. With boredom certain, Cloud turned off the television.
Cloud was alone in his house right now. His mother worked on Saturday, from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. It was just a little job at the McDonalds to bring in a little more money for them, as Cloud's father had died when Cloud was only 2. Cloud had pretty much gone his entire life without a father figure. Eventually, Cloud was planning to get a small job so his mom could just relax on weekends.
Cloud went over to the kitchen and made himself a little cereal bowl. As he was munching down on his Captain Crunch, he heard the doorbell ring.
Ring!
Cloud got up and went over to the door. He opened it to find one of his classmates from Destiny Academy. You know, that red headed one. She had a large purse, and wore a pink tank top and short shorts. Maybe too short...
"Hey, Cloud!"
Cloud raised his eyebrow as he looked at Kairi. He looked over her head to see if anyone else was with her. Kairi politely shook her head.
"Nope, it's just me!"
"Um, Kairi? Why are you here at my house? Wait, how did you even find out where I live?" Cloud asked with uncertainty.
"I have my ways," Kairi said mischievously. "Anyway, you're not doing anything today, are you?"
Cloud slowly shook his head, from left to right. Kairi grinned.
"Great! Then you're gonna come with me!"
"Huh? To do what?"
"Just come on!"
Kairi grabbed Cloud's arm and began dragging him out of his house. Cloud yelled at the surprisingly powerful young lady.
"K-Kairi!"
-I-
"I got the high score, the global high score..."
"No you don't!"
"I so do!"
"Eh..."
"Uh..."
"No!!!"
"Yes!!!"
Sora yelled out in anguish. Riku punched the air in victory. He and Sora were just going against each other on a game on Riku's iPod Touch. Riku had just beaten Sora. Well, to make more sense, Riku pwned Sora.
"Unfair! I was totally beasting on you!" Sora complained.
"Not unfair at all, dude! I owned you!" Riku proudly stated.
"Hey, if it weren't for those stupid power ups, you would've totally lost!"
"Hey, you shut up! You yourself used those power ups to catch up to me in the first place!"
Sora and Riku continued barking at each other. They were currently in the park, sitting on a bench. People walking by stared at the two arguing adolescents. A little distance away from Sora and Riku, a certain redhead was dragging a certain blonde by the arm.
"Kairi, where are you taking me?!?"
Sora stopped yelling. He looked behind the bench. Several yards away, he saw Kairi and Cloud. Kairi was dragging Cloud, Cloud was protesting.
"Hey, what's Kairi doing with Cloud?" Sora asked.
Riku took a look at the two of them. "Beats me. Hey, maybe they're going on a date!"
Sora looked at Riku with disgust. "Oh, come on Riku! Kairi and Cloud?!? That's a completely random match up!"
"Ooh, getting jealous?" Riku snickered, poking Sora in the ribs.
Sora swatted Riku's hands away. "Uh, keh, what?!? Y-you don't know what you're talking ab-about!"
"Sora, I know you're lying. You always stutter and sputter when you're lying!" Riku said as he crossed his arms.
"S-so not true!"
"Not true? Sora, when you were lying to your mom so you could go with me to ride rollercoasters, you repeated practically every single word! And you threw up afterwards!"
Sora was not sure if this was true. He tried remembering back to that time...
-
"Mom, can I go ride roller coasters with Riku?" Sora politely asked.
"Did you do what I asked you to do?" Mrs. Keiman replied.
Sora tugged at the collar of his shirt. He gulped. "Uh, wh-what are you talking about?"
"You know what I mean. Did you finish your homework?"
"I, uh, well, I, uh, I finished, um, I finished, the homework, uh, homework, I think I finished it."
Riku, who was standing next to Sora, groaned and slapped his own head.
Mrs. Keiman looked at Sora fiercely. "Sora, are you lying to me?"
Sora began whimpering. He then turned a little green...
-
"...Oh...yeah..." Sora then turned to face Riku. "But, wait, that only happens when I have to lie to my mom! When it's with other people, I can lie perfectly fine!"
"Well, you do a crappy job of it," Riku grumbled.
"Would you be quiet and come with me to follow those two?" Sora asked, exasperated, as he got up from the bench.
"Ok." Riku also got up from the bench. He flashed Sora a white grin. "If the little green monster starts knocking on your door, don't answer!"
Sora rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, I stopped believing in that when I turned 10!"
-
"High speeds, Kairi!"
The man began his motorboat. Kairi and Cloud were sitting next to him at the wheel.
"Thanks, Mr, um, Tidus's dad!"
"Call me Jecht, young'un!"
Cloud, bored, blew up into his hair. He still did not know why Kairi had dragged him here to this strange man's boat. Sure, he could've fought Kairi, so that he could be at home right now munching on his Captain Crunch. But, you can't hit a girl, right?
"Kairi," Cloud began, "where are we going?"
"Well, spiky hair, we're goin to that there li'l island!" Jecht answered.
Jecht pointed into the horizon. Cloud could see an island that was not too far away. Even from far away, he could see shrubbery, a shack-like structure, and a miniature island connected to the other island by a wooden bridge. Cloud was familiar with the island, but had never been there.
"Island Small? Why are we going to Island Small?" Cloud asked.
Kairi giggled. "You'll see."
-
Riku was angry with the situation. Sora was not much happier with it. Sora and Riku were currently in a canoe, barely making their way to Island Small. A little while ago, the two barely saw, over the horizon, a man dropping Kairi and Cloud off at the island. Naturally, Sora wanted to follow them, which Riku reluctantly went along with.
Riku was paddling the small boat. Sora was doing the same. The two of them were getting very tired with the trip, and it did not seem like they were even halfway through to the island yet.
"Sora, this is really-frickin dangerous! This boat could tip over right now, and no one would notice us!"
"Riku, relax, we'll be fine! I just need to find out what those two are up to!"
"Face it, Sora, they're on a date! They're going to the most secluded island in the entire Destiny Islands!"
"They're not dating!" Sora angrily protested.
Riku suddenly thought of something. Something that was sure to set Sora off. He smiled at Sora. "You know what I think? They're gonna go share a paopu fruit."
Sora's face boiled with anger. He resisted the urge to beat the smile off of Riku's face, as the smallest ruckus could tip the canoe over.
"Shut up! You couldn't be any more wrong in your entire life!"
Riku laughed. "Face it, you're jealous!"
"AM NOT!!!!!!!!!"
-II-
Eventually, Jecht and the kids landed on Island Small. They got off the boat. Jecht gave the kids a toothy grin.
"Now don't get lost, ya hear?"
Kairi nodded. "Don't worry about us, Jecht!"
"Now I'll be in the shack doin some of me business! Holla if you need me!"
Kairi said her farewell as Jecht entered the shack. Cloud roughly grabbed Kairi's arm.
"Alright, now that the geezer's gone, you can tell me why you dragged me here!"
"Well, I had something I wanted to do, and I didn't want to be alone!"
Cloud looked at Kairi in disbelief. "That's it?!? Why didn't you ask another one of your guy friends, or Tifa or Rikku?"
Kairi looked at the ground. Her face was red. "Well, what I want to do is awkward with any of those other people. It had to be you."
Cloud gulped. He was not sure what Kairi meant by those words. However, he did jump to a conclusion involving infatuation...
"Um...what do you mean?"
Kairi looked up at the sky and tapped her cheek. "The thing is, Sora, Riku, Rikku, and Tifa would take things the wrong way if they found out about what I wanted to do. So, I needed someone unbiased to be with me."
"Again, what do you want to do here?"
Kairi smiled. "I want to get a paopu fruit."
Cloud scrunched his forehead. "A paopu fruit?"
Kairi sighed contently. She clasped her hands together and looked up at the sky dreamily. "They say that when two people share a paopu fruit, their destinies will, no matter what, be intertwined. It's so beautiful."
Cloud scratched his forehead. "Um...and just who are you planning to share this fruit with?"
Kairi waggled her finger at Cloud. "I'm not telling you!"
Cloud grumbled and crossed his arms. "Good, I didn't want to know anyway!"
Kairi giggled and patted Cloud's head, further angering him. "That's a good boy!"
Cloud grumbled some more incoherent words. Kairi only smiled.
"Well, come on!"
Kairi ran off to the bridge that led to the miniature island. Sighing, Cloud ran after her.
After crossing the bridge, Cloud took a good look at the small island. It was pretty circular and barren, except for a bent tree. Kairi was inspecting the tree, looking frantically.
"Oh, no!"
Cloud ran over to Kairi. "What's wrong?"
Kairi looked at him with distressed eyes. "There aren't any paopu fruits!"
Cloud himself took a look at the bent tree and its branches. Sure enough, there wasn't a single fruit in sight.
"Are there supposed to be paopu fruits on this particular tree?"
"Yes! Man, I just need to find one!"
Cloud sighed and put a hand on Kairi's shoulder. "Well, sorry, but it doesn't look like there are any here. We should tell Jecht to bring us back to Main Island."
Kairi stomped the ground angrily. "Absolutely not! I came all this way!"
Kairi turned around to face Island Small again. She looked carefully at the large trees in the back of the island. "There's gotta be another paopu fruit tree! Maybe I'll find one deeper in the island!"
"Whoa whoa, Kairi! Neither of us know this island very well! We could get lost!"
"Fine! If you want to stay here, be my guest! I'm gonna get that paopu fruit if it's the last thing I do!"
With that said, Kairi ran off to the dense trees. Cloud grasped his head. This girl was seriously going to give him a migraine. With great reluctance, he ran off after her.
-
Gasp! Gasp!
Sora and Riku finally reached Island Small. The minute they landed, the two jumped out of the canoe and onto the dry land. They were extremely tired and worn out.
With contempt, Riku grabbed Sora's neck. He stared at Sora with demonic eyes.
"Never...again."
Sora heard a door open. He looked up to see a man exit the shack. He was the same man that brought Kairi and Cloud to the Island in the first place.
The man took a look at the two kids washed up on the beach, close by a crappy canoe. He recognized both of them.
"Sori and Rika? That you two?"
"Mr. Jecht?"
Jecht laughed heartily and helped the two of them up. "I'll be a son of a gun! What're you two doing here?"
"Um, we noticed that you brought Kairi and Cloud here."
"That's right, young'un! Li'l Kairi wanted to find a little fruit!"
Riku grinned with contempt at Sora. "I told ya. She and Cloud are going to share a paopu fruit."
Sora growled. "We don't know that for sure!" He looked at Jecht, his face bright red. "Jecht, where'd the two of them go?"
"Well, they were on that li'l island there, where Kairi told me that there weren't no more fruits! So, they went off into the Small Forest."
"We'll go there too!" Sora said with determination.
"Goo' luck!" Jecht turned to go back into the shack. "So long, Sori and Rika!"
Riku stared at Jecht as the big man went back into the shack. He then turned to face Sora. "Why does he give us girl names?"
-
Kairi rushed through the forest, with dirt and grime on her clothing. Cloud followed her, with a few scratches on his arms and legs. He was quite fed up with this nonsense.
"Geez, this island is a lot bigger than everyone thinks!" Kairi complained.
"Kairi, let's just get out of here! We'll get lost!" Cloud yelled.
"Don't be a wuss, Cloud!"
"I-AM-NOT-A-WUSS!!!"
Cloud sprinted forward, getting ahead of Kairi. "Come on, you wanna find that paopu fruit or not?!?"
Kairi nodded, and she continued going forward. Suddenly, she felt something grab her leg. She shrieked as she fell to the ground.
Cloud ran back to her. "Kai!"
"Ew, get away from me!"
Kairi screamed as she tried to kick away at the thing that grabbed her. It eventually let go. It was a dark bug-like thing with large yellow eyes.
Cloud examined the specimen. "It's a Shadower. An endangered species of animal indigenous to a few of the Destiny Islands, such as Island Small, Silver Island, and Isla Domingo."
Kairi yelled 'ew' over and over as she brushed her leg. "That thing is gross and creepy!"
"Relax, it's just a baby one. It's harmless!"
Cloud laughed it off like it was nothing. But then, an even larger animal appeared behind the Shadower. It looked exactly like a normal Shadower, only three times as big.
Cloud stopped laughing. His voice began shaking. "B-but, a M-Mega Sh-Shadower..."
Kairi and Cloud stared in fear at the Mega Shadower. It prepared to lunge at them.
"Eek!"
"Gah! Run for your life!"
With full speed, Kairi and Cloud ran as fast as they could away from the family of Shadowers. The Shadowers stayed in place, staring bug-eyed at the two odd human.
-
"This island is not small at all!"
Riku and Sora were trudging through the Small Forest. Riku had dirt on his shirt and hair, and Sora had some twigs in his crazy gravity-defying hair.
"Sora, we're seriously gonna get lost. We should head back."
"We can't! What if Kairi and Cloud are lost in there? We have to get them back!"
"It doesn't matter if we find them, cause then we'll still be lost!"
Riku mumbled some curses as he continued walking forward. He was worried that Kairi and Cloud may have gotten lost, but he was also worried about his own "lostness".
"Sora, why do you care so much, anyway? Maybe what they're doing is private. We'd be invading their privacy!"
"We're not invading anything! They're just doing something normal, not something that needs privacy at all!"
"Just face it Sora! Kairi's moved on! She doesn't like you anymore, and she's now interested in Cloud!"
Sora smacked the back of Riku's head. "First of all, I don't care about what Kairi thinks about me! Second of all, Cloud likes Aerith, not Kairi!"
"Well, Kairi is pretty cute. You see how hot she looks in her outfit today?"
"She's only wearing that tiny outfit because it's 100 degrees out here!"
Riku stopped walking and pointed a finger at Sora. "You're in denial!"
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
Riku and Sora stood among the shrubs, bickering. As they were arguing, a Shadower crawled over to where they were. Riku stopped yelling.
"Aw, it's a little Shadower!" Riku bent down to look into the Shadower's face. "You lost little guy?"
"Riku, you don't know where that thing's been!"
Suddenly, the Shadower jumped back. Sora and Riku looked to see a Mega Shadower standing behind it. It appeared angry.
"Riku, that Mega Shadow thing is going to kill us!" Sora said fearfully.
"Aw, phooey! I'm not scared of that thing!"
Riku really didn't think things could get worse. The problem with Riku, though, is that he always takes things for granted. And as if on cue, the biggest problem ever appeared right behind the Mega Shadower. It was a Shadower that was three times as large as a Mega Shadower, and six times as big as a regular Shadower.
Riku screamed like a little girl who just saw a spider. "It's a bear!"
Sora grabbed Riku's shirt. "No, you idiot, it's a Giga Shadower!"
"I'm getting the hell out of here!" Riku ran away from the scene, whimpering and crying like a baby.
"Don't leave me here!" Sora ran after Riku. The Shadower family looked at each other and 'shrugged'.
-III-
Eventually, Kairi and Cloud escaped the dense forest. Panting, Cloud fell to the ground in exhaustion. He was hoping that they could find that paopu fruit soon, as he could not take anymore of Island "Small".
"They've seriously got to rename this island!" Cloud blurted out.
"Well, we're this deep in. We might as well keep going."
Kairi looked at the area ahead of them. There was a tiny river of flowing water that could be easily traversed over through a group of large stepping stones. She saw that up ahead, there was more forest. More dense, dangerous, dirty forest.
Kairi groaned. "Come on."
As Kairi took a step forward, she saw the prize that she had searching for all day: the paopu fruit. It was floating in the river, going quickly. Kairi made haste as she ran towards it.
"Paopu! Paopu!" Kairi shouted as she held her arms towards the fruit. The flowing river was making the distance between Kairi and the fruit larger and larger.
"Paopu!" Kairi continued running, failing to see a rock sticking out of the ground. She tripped on it, and began stumbling forward.
"Whoa, whoa!"
"Kairi!" Cloud rushed to catch Kairi, but his own shoe got caught in an indent in the ground. He stumbled forward, grabbing Kairi and making her turn around to face him.
"Yah!"
"Ah!"
Thud!
The two fell to the ground. Groaning, Cloud used his hands to support himself off the ground. It was then that he noticed the awkward position he and Kairi were in. He was hovering above Kairi, and she was on the ground facing up. The two gulped at the extreme awkwardness.
Cloud felt his heart beating faster. This was the first time in his life that he had been in a situation like this. It felt so uncomfortable, so embarrasing...so warm?
Cloud had never thought anything of the girl. In fact, he didn't quite recall thinking about any girls, other than Tifa and Aerith, which were strictly professional thoughts. But then, Cloud remembered back to when Kairi had once tried to make friends with him. She was so persistent, and was always friendly. He wasn't even sure if Aerith had even been like this with him. But, moving onto Kairi would be wrong. She is Sora's girl, right?
"Um...Cloud?"
"Y-yeah, Kairi?"
"Would you mind...getting off of me?"
Cloud blinked. "Oh, right, sorry."
Cloud got up back standing. He helped Kairi get back up, as well. He drew his gaze away from her as he scratched his head, trying to forget about the situation that just happened.
Kairi, however, did not seem to be thinking much of it. She only stared off into the distance, where the paopu fruit had drifted off to. "Aw, man! I could've had that paopu fruit!"
"Don't worry Kairi. I'm sure we'll find another."
Kairi nodded. "Hey, the fruit came from that direction, right?" Kairi pointed in the direction where the paopu fruit had come from. "Maybe there's more over there!"
Kairi and Cloud set off once again, still unaware of the two friends following them.
-
Sora and Riku finally emerged from the dense forest. Panting, Sora grabbed his chest as he tried catching his breath. "So...tired..."
"Sora...if we ever make it out of here alive...I'll kill you."
"Right back at ya."
Sora scanned the area, searching for any signs of where Cloud and Kairi could have gone to. He was right by a tiny flowing river, on a small trail. He saw footprints on the trail heading off to the east.
"Footprints! I bet that's where Kairi and Cloud went off to!"
Sora began running in the direction of the footprints. Riku chased after him. Sora failed to see a rock sticking out of the ground. He ended up tripping on it, and stumbled forward.
"Whoa, whoa!"
"Sora!" Riku rushed to catch Sora, but his own shoe got caught in an indent in the ground. He stumbled forward, grabbing Sora and and making him turn around to face him.
"Gah!"
"Ah!"
The two fell to the ground. Groaning, Riku used his hands to support himself off the ground. Now, Riku had been in plenty of awkward situations his entire life. That one time when his mom made him wear a girl's outfit around the entire mall. The other time when he had accidentally groped a girl's breasts. However, this situation was definitely one of the worst and most embarassing of all.
Riku looked in horror at the boy laying under him. Sora looked in surprise and shock at the boy hovering above him. The two were in an extremely suggestive situation, and if there were any witnesses, their personal lives would forever be ruined.
Riku lept off of Sora and gagged. Sora crawled over to the river and gagged as well.
"Gross, that's disgusting!" Sora yelled in pure disgust.
"No, no way man, I don't roll that way!" Riku said in an outburst.
Sora got up and ran off in the direction of the footprints once again. "You can just rot there! I'm going!"
-IV-
Cloud and Kairi soon found themselves on the edge of the island. Kairi looked around hopelessly for a paopu fruit tree. She sadly sighed.
"This was a waste of time. We didn't find any paopu fruits."
Cloud looked sympathetically at the girl. He then looked around the area, determined to find that magical tree. Then, he saw it. Maybe a quarter of a mile away, he saw another bent tree. And on that tree's branches, he could see a faint outline of the wonderful paopu fruit. They had made it.
"Kairi, over there! It's the paopu fruit!"
Kairi turned to where Cloud motioned for her to look. Immediately, she was overtaken with joy. "Oh boy oh boy oh boy!"
Kairi and Cloud ran to the tree. Once they got there, Kairi picked off one of the paopu fruits and looked at it lovingly. "We finally meet, little paopu."
Cloud watched with amusement at the girl ogling over the fruit. Kairi then put the fruit in her purse. She looked at Cloud and smiled. "All right, time to go back!"
"Kairi! Cloud!"
Kairi and Cloud turned to the sound of the voice. To their surprise, they saw Sora running to them. Riku was following Sora.
Kairi was shocked to see her friends. "Sora? Riku? What are you two doing here?"
Sora stopped running when he caught up to the two. He panted heavily. "We...were...looking...for you guys..."
Slap!
Sora fell to the ground. Cloud turned to look at Riku, who had roughly slapped Sora to the ground. Riku was very angry. "You're dead, Keiman!"
Sora and Riku prepared for a scuffle, but Cloud went between them. "Whoa, hold on guys! What happened to you two?"
"You don't need to know!" Riku blurted, suddenly getting defensive.
Sora crossed his arms and tapped his foot as he looked at Kairi. "Okay, what's up with this business with you looking for a paopu fruit? With Cloud?"
Kairi held her purse tight to her body. "How-how did you find out?"
"Jecht. Now tell me."
Kairi stared at the ground and ran her foot across it. She was thinking hard. "Um...well, Selphie likes this guy at school. So she asked me to get a paopu fruit for her so she could share it with the guy. I owed her, as I had a major history test, and she helped me study for it and ace it."
Sora was unsure if Kairi's story was true or not. But as he was about to talk again, a man's voice rung out from the water.
"Ho, kids!"
The kids turned to the ocean. They saw Jecht and his motorboat. "You kids need a ride back to Main Island?"
"Oh, yes!" Sora and Riku yelled out in unison. They ran to the motorboat, desperate to get back home. Cloud and Kairi walked over to the motorboat.
"Kairi, is that true? Is the fruit only for Selphie?" Cloud asked.
"Um...sure?"
-V-
Nomura sat at his computer in his fancy bedroom. On the computer screen were lists and pictures of many freshmen from Destiny Academy. All of them wanted to join the World Cultures Club.
"It's time to find the lucky six."
Nomura moved the mouse to a tiny menu. There were two prompts: one asking how many to choose, another being a command button saying "CHOOSE".
Nomura put "6" in the "how many" section. He then hovered his mouse over the "CHOOSE" button.
Nomura grinned. "Now."
Click.
The lists of people began randomizing, and the screen constantly changed. This continued for about 10 seconds. Then, it ended. Now, on the screen, were the pictures, names and ID numbers of six freshmen from Destiny Academy. They were the lucky ones who would be in the Club.
Nomura chuckled. "Welcome to the Club."
-
...Ding!
"It's done!"
Kairi put on her oven mitts. She then opened the oven and took out the item that was cooking in it. She had finally baked it.
After Kairi got back home, she had immediately begun baking a small, yet very special cake. The secret ingredient in the cake was...paopu fruit.
If you had not already guessed, Kairi was lying when she said she was getting the paopu fruit for Selphie. It was for a certain someone else...
Kairi set the cake tray on her counter. The cake was golden and good-smelling. It smelled fruity and delicious. The smell was mouth watering. However, the cake was small. It seemed like enough for only two people.
Kairi stared at the cake lovingly. "Sora...will you share this cake with me?"
----------End----------
Tifa Lockhart: A fifteen year old girl who lives on Main Island of the Destiny Islands. She attends Destiny Academy with Sora Keiman, Kairi Dawson, Riku O'Reilly, Cloud Strife, and Rikku Grayson. She possibly lives in Destino City, but was born on Isla Tierra. Tifa is a mature girl, but still gets caught up in gossip and fashion. She is also very strong, which she claims she inherited as part of the Lockhart Generation. She greatly dislikes perverts, going so far as using her incredible strength to beat them into submission. Tifa is very attracted to Sora. Initially, the two had a bad start, due to a misunderstanding at Magic Kingdom. However, over time, Tifa grew to like Sora, and became attracted to him. She is the most outward of her feelings for Sora, not holding any inhibitions about proclaiming her feelings for him to the world. She attempts to seduce him with her charm, but does not go so far as to attempt seduction into bed (although she has joked about it). She is not yet aware of Kairi's nor Rikku's feelings for Sora.
-Finally got this chapter up. To any of you guys complaining about Jecht, I'm sorry that I forgot to put up a notice talking about
Jecht's EXTREME OOCness.
His characterization in this chapter was intentional. Anyway, in the next chapter, we'll find who are the lucky members of the World Cultures Club, but I'm sure you guys have already guessed it.-
