Chapter Twelve: Revelations
Sora and Kairi stood in shock. There they were: caught skinny-dipping and making out by Riku. Fortunately for them, Riku and Yamiko acted like they really didn't see anything. "I guess this is a good time to call it a night, Kai." Sora shrugged. "Besides, we were so close to doing stuff that I am still not a hundred percent sure I am ready for."
"It's okay, Sora. It's you and me, for as long as we can put up with each other!" she giggled as she came closer to him and snaked her arms around his neck. Still in the buff and in the pool she pressed herself teasingly one more time against him and nipped at his lips. They kissed a moment. "Forever," Sora stated. Kairi looked into his eyes and saw the honesty in them.
She smiled and stroked his cheek, but quickly realized how pruned her fingers were. "Let's get back to the tent," she suggested as she climbed out of the water. "Nobody's up. Just use the towel," she handed Sora one of the two towels. She just stared at his body as he did he same to her. They caught each others' stares and blushed. Kairi giggled and he laughed with her. They walked to their tent all toweled up. Nothing but the sound of waves splashing onto the shore tickled their ears.
They curled up together in the tent, not even bothering to find their pajamas. The only smell was each other, slightly salty, sandy; but so sweet and musky. "This is paradise…" Sora murmured in her ear, as they drifted off to sleep to the sound of cresting waves.
"Hey Sora, Kairi…are you even in there?" Riku tapped on the top of their tent. Sora's eyes flew open. He looked over and caught Kairi, still unclothed, stretching from fingers to toes. He grew warm as he recalled the events of the evening. Suddenly certain began to twitch. Down Boy! He mentally scolded himself as he grabbed his boxers. "Yeah, give us a minute, we'll be right out." He leaned over to his beautiful girlfriend and kissed her, "Morning, Kai." She smiled at him as she sat up, suddenly realizing herself that they were both naked. They looked at each other and laughed.
Riku, who was standing close by waiting for them, heard their laughter and raised a brow at Yamiko. Yamiko giggled to herself and shrugged. "What are you, jealous of them?" she whispered. Riku shot her a look. She countered him, "Because you'll get your moment soon enough." Riku cleared his throat in uneasiness as he turned quite red. She realized that he had taken it the wrong way. "What I meant, Riku, is…" she rested a hand on his arm, "…all things in their own time." He relaxed into her touch and sighed, "I know."
Finally, out of the tent came Sora, then Kairi. "Hey, where'd Tidus, Wakka and Selphie go?" Sora asked, noticing their tents were gone. "It's lunchtime, guys." Riku laughed. "That's what you get for staying up so late, Casanova."
Sora was about to sucker punch his friend in the arm, when he noticed what looked like a tattoo of some bizarre symbol he didn't recognize. "What the hell is that?" Sora gawked at the marking, which definitely hadn't been there yesterday at dinner. He grabbed Riku's arm and examined it. Kairi peered over Sora's shoulder to get a look. "It's a long story. But there is a lot to Yamiko that she hasn't gotten to talk about yet." Riku explained, "It concerns all of us. So let's go home and sit down to talk over lunch."
Sora and Riku began packing up the last of the camping gear. Yamiko came up to Kairi and put her hand on her shoulder, in a gesture of caring and friendship. "I admire your strength. I wouldn't have stopped myself," Yamiko smirked. Kairi blushed. "You have something really unique with Sora, though. No need to be secretive about the intense feelings you two share, you know?"
Kairi's look of shock melted away into a knowing smile. "You are clairvoyant aren't you?" Yamiko winked at her. "I knew it. That's so cool."
"Well, it's not as cool as you might think." Yamiko sighed, "It can be a bit of a burden at times. But, you and I are going to be spending a lot of time together for a while, so we'll get to understand each other a little better."
Kairi nodded, though she was unsure of what exactly that meant. She caught a glimpse of Yamiko's heart at that moment. Whether she knew it or not, Kairi could feel the scars that darkness had left on it. She brought her hand to her heart as it panged a moment. She looked up inquisitively at Yamiko. Why do you bear such a painful burden?
"Because, Kairi, like Riku, I am a balancing force between the light and the darkness." Yamiko exposed her arm to Kairi, revealing a matching symbol to that on Riku's arm.
Kairi looked in disbelief. "How…?"
"It's kinda silly, actually…how this happened. But we'll explain it when we get back to town." Yamiko lightly touched her arm on the tattoo-like marking, smiling to herself.
Sora and Riku called them over from the boats, where they'd finished loading up. The girls hustled to the boats and they rowed back to the mainland.
They all walked back to Riku's house. They whipped up a few sandwiches and sat around the kitchen table.
"So…" Sora started, "what is all this urgent stuff that you guys have to tell us about?"
Riku and Yamiko looked at each other. Riku exhaled. "You go first." Yamiko nodded. "Here's the back story: When I was about sixteen, I'm twenty now, I began realizing this gift I have. I would see things before they happened. I would have prophetic dreams and such, and was also able to hear clear thoughts in people's heads. I was open and weak to the power of darkness that began to surround me. I originally lived in Twilight Town, but as soon as the darkness began infiltrating our world, I used it to escape. I stayed in Hollow Bastion for a bit, but I feared the growing strength of the heartless there. I took the risk of escaping one more time. I didn't know where I was going, but the light still left in my heart apparently led me here."
Sora and Kairi were in awe. "Why here?" Sora asked.
"Well, at first I had no clue why. I arrived onto the Isle of Fate and—"
"The Isle of Fate!" Kairi gasped.
Yamiko laughed. "Yes. It's not all scary and haunted like you think. Actually about a dozen people live on the Isle. Few know about them, so keep it to yourselves. Anyway, I've been out there for almost two years now. When I got here my ability to use dark energy disappeared. I didn't understand why at first, until I had a dream the third night I spent there. In my dream the sun rose into the sky over this island. But it wasn't the sun. It was a giant golden heart that emanated a blinding light that lit the whole land. Around that heart was a jeweled crown. The crown rose from the heart and descended and landed upon the head of a young girl with red hair and violet eyes."
All eyes turned to Kairi, who was breathless. "M-me?" she stuttered. Yamiko nodded.
"Flowers began springing up at your feet, it quickly evolved into large gardens, and then a castle appeared. It looked oddly familiar, like I had been there before. On the gates of the castle were two keyblades crossing over a large heart symbol."
"Radiant Garden," Sora stated. "That's the true name of Hollow Bastion, before it was taken over by the Heartless."
Yamiko placed her hand over Kairi's in a calming manner, as Kairi searched her eyes for the answer. "Kairi, you are the lost Princess of Radiant Garden: The Princess of Light."
Sora, Kairi and Riku looked at Yamiko in utter disbelief. Sora smiled as he started making sense of it, "That explains why Maleficent wanted your heart in the first place. That explains your mysterious appearance here when we were really little. You are the heir to the throne of Radiant Garden!" He stopped for a moment, taking in what he had just said. "Holy Crap."
Kairi looked like she was child lost in the woods. Her whole existence had been turned upside down. "So…are my parents here my real parents, or are my real parents…dead?"
"That I don't know, my dear. All I know is that when shit starts going down, we are probably going to end up there and only you and Sora are going to be able to make things right." Yamiko turned to Sora. "That's where you come in, Sora. The keyblade is connected to light. When the Princess of Light takes her rightful place on the throne and becomes Queen, her King will be the Keyblade Master: her warrior and protector. No Paopu fruit could design a couple more destined for each other."
"This is so surreal. I don't know what to think of it." Kairi said airily, lost in her contemplation.
"Well, this is how I figured out that you were on these islands somewhere. It is your light that keeps this world generally safe from the darkness." Yamiko finished with deep breath exhaled.
"Wow. This is heavy," Sora said gravely. "I mean, to know without a doubt that our work isn't finished, and that Kairi and I are destined to rule a kingdom? We're only sixteen! You and Riku are older than us, what about you guys? What's all this with that thing on your arms?"
Yamiko recounted the vision she had involving Riku, and described how the child had the same symbol on the same spot. She explained the symbols meaning of light and darkness in balance. "So what I have come to understand is that Riku and I are the male and female counterparts who are able to balance the powers of light and darkness. You two are the wielders of light; your enemies are wielders of darkness. We are going to be in between, working to keep both in harmony."
"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain how you suddenly are marked with the Yin-Yang," Kairi pointed out.
Riku blushed and cleared his throat. Yamiko looked at him and smiled. "You can tell them, Riku…"
"We…kissed."
"Aw, no way!" Sora exclaimed with a grin. "That's cool…way to go you two!"
"It was really weird, though," Yamiko said, "we were really close and he was being really comforting and—"
"Riku…comforting?" Sora taunted.
"Yeah, so what?" Riku defended himself.
"That's so sweet!" Kairi smiled.
"And…he kissed me on my forehead. Suddenly this white aura surrounded us."
"Weird." Sora remarked.
"Yeah it was," Riku agreed.
"But then he leaned in and we really kissed. The opening of our hearts to each other caused an incredible light to flash. The pure energy of it knocked us onto the ground!" Yamiko said getting excitable.
"That must have been the lightning we saw, Kai." Sora interjected.
"When we got up," Riku added, "these were on our arms."
"What do we do now, then?" Kairi asked.
"Wait for signs. Go about our time here until we are called upon." Yamiko put simply.
"Hopefully, it won't be before our parents' wedding." Riku commented.
Sora nodded, "Me, too…they'd kill us! I'm more afraid of them being mad, than of a heartless!"
They all laughed heartily. The laughter was interrupted as Aiji and Misa came through the front door. "Hey guys! This is a surprise…everyone's here! Well, good. We can talk about—" Aiji stopped in his tracks as his eyes caught the beautiful young woman sitting next to his son.
"A newcomer!" he exclaimed, unusually jolly. "Who is your lovely friend, Riku?"
Yamiko stood up and gave Aiji a firm handshake, "Hi, I'm Yamiko."
"I'm Riku's father, Aiji. Nice to meet you."
"Now I know where Riku gets his good looks." Yamiko chuckled as she playfully punched Riku in his firm bicep. Aiji laughed. "I like her Riku. Razor sharp wit!"
Misa hastily changed the subject, "Aiji and I wanted to discuss wedding details with you two…but you girls can stay. I'd love some extra female input!"
Kairi and Yamiko looked at each other and smiled. Kairi got up and hugged Misa, "Sounds like fun!"
There was talk of flowers, food, friends, family and festivities as Misa and the girls prepared dinner. The wedding was to take place in two weeks. They were keeping small and simple, seeing as it was their second marriage. After dinner, they discussed the living situation.
"Listen guys," Aiji said to Sora and Riku, "both our homes are too small to house a family of four. So until we have the money to move, you two can live down the way at Misa's on your own."
"Huh?" They uttered in unison.
"Considering you two were off wandering the galaxy for almost three years, we figure you two can handle living in a little island home on your own," Misa explained.
"Of course, that means extra responsibilities, even during the school year." Aiji added. "You will be checked on every so often by Misa or myself."
The boys nodded.
"Since the wedding's so soon, we're working on moving tomorrow. So Riku you can have the other room upstairs at the house," Misa concluded.
"Awesome! Thanks…Mom." Riku hugged Misa. He couldn't remember his mother. Sora's mother had always been like his mom. Misa rubbed his back, just a mother would do to comfort a son. Riku sighed as he released his embrace, and turned to his friends, "Let's go back to our house!"
Sora and the girls followed Riku out the door and headed up the path.
Sora shared a high-five with his soon-to-be brother before taking the hand of his love.
Sora laughed and grinned at his friends.
"Life is Good! Complicated…but good!"
What are you thinking? Good or Bad, let me know! Please R&R! PS: For those who like the Roxas/Namine Dream sequences, and were wondering there is a reason that shall be explained as to why there was none this time around! Keep reading to find out what will happen.