Chapter 27: Fireworks!...T.T...
Sora's POV
You and Kira walk back to the celebration, laughing. That was hilarious! Leave it to Kira to think of something like that.
"Looks like they finished without you," Kira says, pointing. You squint a little, then nod.
"Oh well. It's no big deal," you say, shrugging.
You approach the crowd, keeping your eyes open for Aladdin and Jasmine. But before you see them, two large, blue hands cover your eyes.
"Guess who!" the voice says. Holy fudge! You recognize that voice!!
"Genie!" you shout. Genie laughs and removes his hands.
"How ya been, kid?" he asks.
"Good! How about you?"
"Great!! Wonderful!! Fantastic!!"
"Genie! You came!" Aladdin's voice shouts. He runs into the genie's arms, laughing.
"Hey, Al! Congratulations!" he says, hugging Aladdin tightly.
"Thanks!" Aladdin then turns to you and Kira. "Thanks to you, too."
"Sorry we missed the actual wedding," you say.
"No, don't feel bad! We owe you one!...How about...you two take a cruise on the carpet? Sound like a good payment?"
"NO WAY! Can we really?" Kira shouts, jumping up and down.
"Sure!" Aladdin raises an eyebrow at Kira, and you shrug an apology at her insanity.
"Yay!!" Kira grabs your arm and tugs on it repetitively. "Can we go now?"
"Yep! Follow me," Aladdin replies. You and the overly-excited Kira follow him into the palace. "Carpet?"
The magic carpet suddenly appears in front of you.
"You wouldn't mind giving these two a ride, would you?" Aladdin asks.
The carpet zooms around you and Kira a few times.
"Thanks, old buddy!" Aladdin then turns to you and Kira. "Here, let's go outside."
Your POV
You and Sora follow Aladdin and the carpet outside to the balcony.
"Alright, have fun, you guys!" Aladdin says.
"Thank you!" you cry, bowing. This is gonna be suh-weeeeet!!
"Yeah, thanks," Sora says, stepping onto the carpet. He holds out his hand and you grab it, stepping onto the magic carpet. You laugh.
"It feels like I'm standing on a water bed!" you giggle, sitting down. Sora laughs and sits as well. As soon as he's seated, the carpet takes off into the evening air.
"THIS IS SO COOL!" you shout, laughing. You lean forward a bit, then almost lose your balance and fall, but Sora catches you around your still cloaked waist.
"Don't kill yourself," he says, chuckling. You giggle and sit up straight. This is the second time he's held you like this. *squee!* Surprisingly, he's not letting go!
After flying for a while, you notice something half-buried in the sand.
"Hey, look down there!" you say, pointing. The carpet flies down to the object, and you jump down. You give a small pull on the mysterious item, and it suddenly flies into the air, shaking the sand off of it. It's...it's...
"Another magic carpet?!" Sora says. Your eyes widen as the carpet flies down to you, nuzzling against your thigh.
"Hey there, you alright?" you ask it. It nods. "Do you wanna come with us?" It nods again and swoops you off of the ground. "Awesome! Welcome to the club!"
After flying for even longer, you suddenly hear a pop, then a loud boom.
"What was that?" Sora asks nervously. You shrug. You hear the noises again a few more times. It sounds familiar, that's for sure...
A sudden breeze hits you hard, and your face scarf almost suffocates you.
"Alright, I'm taking this stupid thing off now," you say, pulling off the scarf. You pull your hood down and let the breeze tickle the back of your neck. Your hair blows around your face. Ahh...much, much better.
Suddenly the popping noise is heard again, even louder than before.
"Hey, what's that?" Sora asks, pointing at a small light that passes in between your carpets. Higher and higher it goes, until it suddenly explodes.
"FIREWORKS!?" you shout, steering your carpet away from the burning sparks of colored lights. Y'know, you had always loved fireworks, but now, you're not so sure. More sparks are shot up in the air, and you and Sora scream as you try to dodge them.
"Fly lower!" Sora shouts as another firework shoots up by you. You nod, and you both bring your carpets down lower.
"I-I think we're okay now," you say, sighing in relief. Sora nods. He's about to say something when an army's worth of fireworks shoots up all around you. "OKAY! Never mind! We are definitely NOT okay now!" you scream, once again dodging the shower of ember.
"Look, there's some sort of body of water down there!" Sora shouts, pointing just a little ahead of you. "If we make it there, we should be okay!"
You nod and lean forward.
"C'mon, carpet-san, we've gotta get out of here!" you whisper. Your carpet, in reply, shoots forward, as well as Sora's.
Soon you reach the quiet lagoon, away from any fireworks.
"Kira!" Sora shouts, pointing at your feet. You look down to see that...HOLY BUTT-MONKEYS!! YOU'RE ON FIRE!!!
"AAAAAAAHH!!" you shriek, dunking that end of your cloak into the water. Suddenly the hooks fastening your cloak together come undone, and before you can catch it, your cloak slides off of you and down into the water. You let out a breath of relief, then stop. Many swear words run through your head. Slowly and hesitantly, you turn to look at Sora.
Sora's POV
Lord. Have. MERCY! So that's why she said she'd stand out!
You blink a couple of times, trying to keep your eyes from widening. Your teeth are clenched to keep your jaw from dropping. Kira looks...words can't even describe it!
Kira stares at you as if to say, "Now you know." You shrug and face forward. If you keep looking at her, you might accidentally say or do something extremely stupid. She honestly outdid Jasmine. No kidding. While Jas was in a simple white princess-type of outfit, Kira is wearing a light-blue mini shirt and matching pants. Sapphire blue-or hey, maybe they're real sapphire!-beads hang from every seam, and gold bracelets are stacked on her arms. You grin in realization of something.
"Kira, I always thought gold and silver were tacky together," you say, laughing. She laughs as well.
"Yeah, I noticed that earlier," she says, tugging on her key necklace. "But I can't take this off."
"Why's that?"
She blushes and replies, "I can't tell you."
"Okay, how many secrets are you keeping from me now?"
"Well, you eventually found out about what I'm wearing, didn't you?"
"I guess..."
"So there."
You chuckle and shake your head. "So there? That was the least of my concerns, Kira," you say, looking over at her. She stares back at you, her bright green eyes sparkling.
"Oh? So then tell me, Sora..." Kira stands up, turning in a circle. "...What do you think?"
"Hm...well...it's a secret. I can't tell you." You smile, thanking the higher power for the coverup.
"Fine. Be that way," she says, crossing her arms.
Suddenly Kira's carpet bumps up, and Kira loses her balance. She yelps as she falls forward.
"Whoa!" you shout, grabbing her arms to catch her. She looks at you, eyes wide. You stare back, trying to not avert your gaze elsewhere. (heh...)
Your POV
Sora holds you arms and stares straight into your eyes. You stare back and try not to avert your gaze elsewhere (heh...again...). His nose is only inches away from yours. Now would probably be a good time to just break free...but you can't. At the same time, though, both of your gazes drop a little lower.
"Thanks," you whisper, looking back up at him. He stares at you for a moment, then nods and lets go of you. You sit back down, your hands shaking.
*You are JUST FRIENDS, Kira,* you remind yourself. *Nothing more! Quit dreaming!*
You turn to look at Sora, and you notice then that your carpet is now closer to his. He looks over at you and smiles a little. You grin and fall forward onto your stomach.
"Comfortable?" Sora asks, smirking.
"Actually, yes," you reply, grinning even brighter. He shrugs and lays himself down as well.
"Hey, you're right."
"Aren't I always?"
Sora chuckles and closes his eyes tightly. You watch him out of the corner of your eye as his eyes open again. His chin sinks down into his arms, covering the bottom half of his eyes. He's...watching you...?
The Next Morning
Still Your POV
You wake up the next morning to find Sora still asleep. You yawn quietly and sit up, adjusting your top. It jingles a little, and you stifle a laugh. Sora jingles because of all of his chains and such...and now you do.
Suddenly Sora's eyes shoot open. He sits up quickly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"You alright?" you ask.
"Y-yeah," he mutters. He lies back down on his back. "Are we almost back?"
"Looks like it."
He sighs through his nose.
"What's wrong?" you ask.
"N-nothing. It's nothing."
"Sora..."
You pout a little, but Sora just shakes his head and closes his eyes tightly.
"Don't worry about it, Kira."
You sigh, stretching out on your back. "Fine."
Sora's POV
*What's this feeling I have that's so...so sudden...and new? I...felt it the moment I laid eyes on you, Kira,* you think. *I've...never felt this way about anybody before.*
You look over at her Kira. She squints up at the sky, a small smile on her face.
*Not even Kairi...*
"Sora, will you teach me how to drive the gummi ship today?" Kira asks. You sigh. "Pleeease?" She pouts a little, her hands clasped together like a beggar.
"I...I guess," you say finally.
"Yay! Thank you!"
"Yeah, yeah..."
"What is your problem?"
"Nothing." *You. You're my problem. The way you're making me feel is my problem.*
"Oh, c'mon. Please tell me!"
"No, Kira, I can't." *There's something really wrong here. I'm not supposed to feel this way about you, am I?*
"Sora..."
"I should be able to have at least one secret for every fifty of yours."
She giggles. "Oh, come on...Sora...?"
You look at her, and she looks at you. Her eyes search your face for emotion of any sort. Suddenly she gasps. You sit upright.
"What?!" you shout.
"Look! My cloak from last night!" she cries, reaching into the water and pulling it out. You breathe a sigh of relief. She giggles and pulls it on. "Ah, it's all cold. This feels good!"
Fast Forward
Your POV
After returning to bid Aladdin and Jasmine goodbye, you and Sora head back to the ship. You're so excited! You're gonna learn how to drive!...Well, pilot. You already know how to drive. But same difference! Either way, you get to drive a gummi ship!
You sit down in the pilot's seat, bouncing up and down.
"Okay, first, stop bouncing," Sora commands, standing behind you. You obediently stop, in case he decides to change his mind. Which would be BAD, because you'd probably get into ANOTHER fight... "Alright, now turn that switch there to start the engine." You turn it and it starts. You giggle in excitement. "Good, now pull out on that lever..."
Sora continues to instruct you until you say, "This reminds me of driving a car!"
"Huh?" he says.
"A car...?"
"Uh..."
"You've never seen a car, have you?"
"Nope."
You laugh. "Well...um...hand me our route map, please, will ya?" He runs over and grabs the map, shoving it into your hands. Then he kneels beside you. "When we go to...Hawaii, I'll show you a car," you say, grinning.
"Sounds good," he says, nodding. "Can I drive one?"
"Maybe. If you're lucky."
Sora frowns a little. "I think I should take it from here."
Sora's POV
You can't stop thinking about the dream you had this past night. It was a memory, something you used to think about all the time. Except...something was way different.
DREAM START
"W-We're back," you said, wiping your eyes. Kairi smiled and held out her hand.
"You're home," she said. You grinned and took her hand, placing in it her good luck charm. She gasped, releasing your hand, sending you back into the water.
"Oh! Sorry, Sora! But...you remembered our promise!"
"Of course I did," you said, laughing. Kairi smiled and held out her hand again, and you grabbed it with your other hand. She pulled you up, but neither of you let go of each other's hand. This was it. You and Kairi. The beginning of an era.
"C'mon you two," Riku said, chuckling, "let's-"
Riku was cut off by a familiar scream of delight. Donald, Goofy, and Mickey whipped their heads around quickly.
"You're BACK!" Selphie shouted, jumping on Kairi's back. You felt Tidus jump on you, and out of the corner of your eye you saw Wakka wrestle with Riku.
"I KNOW!" Kairi said, giggling.
"Awww, they're holding hands," Tidus teased.
"Tidus, have you ever gone toothless?" you asked in a threatening tone.
He and Wakka laughed. Selphie sighed romantically.
"How sweet."
"Shut up," you and Kairi said in unison.
"So what's gonna happen between you two now?" Tidus asked.
"Nothin'," you replied casually.
"Then why're you holding hands?"
"'Cause we can, right?" You turned to Kairi, only Kairi was no longer the girl holding your hand. No, this girl was a bit shorter than Kairi, had dirty blonde hair, and was wearing a light blue shirt and cargo pants. She grinned and squinted her already narrow emerald-green eyes. You gasped quietly and managed to say only the following:
"Kira?"
DREAM END
