Here's chapter forty-five. Sorry for the long wait. This took me ages to write, and it's turned out to be one of the story's longest chapters. Hope the length doesn't put you off. :P
"Do you all like the view from up here?" the pilot asked his three passengers in hope, smiling widely all around at them. He had seen the view of the island from where they were floating many times in his life, but he always enjoyed looking down at it. The question he had just asked Sora, Kairi and Nikkou was something anyone he took on board his hot air balloon would have to face. He always wanted to make sure his passengers were enjoying the view from above as much as he was.
Nikkou, who was standing in between Kairi and the pilot, turned towards the man to give him a small nod, smiling back at him. She turned around on the spot to look down at the field they had taken off from, awestruck by how high up they were. "I can't believe how tiny everything looks from up here! Isn't it wonderful, Kairi?"
Kairi had not heard neither the pilot's nor Nikkou's question. The breathtaking sights she was witnessing and taking in were somehow affecting her hearing ability. The sea was in view beyond the tall trees and rooftops of the nearby houses, and she was unable to believe how much of the bright blue, salty water she could see surrounding the entire islands. She gazed out in amazement towards the horizon, unable to see so much as a line between the sea and the sky, both of them sharing the same shade of blue. Only the thousands of ripples in the water that were in view from the flying basket let her know exactly where the horizon was.
"Do you think it's wonderful, Kairi?" Sora asked the girl with a grin. He was standing at the side opposite where Kairi, his mother and the pilot where standing together. He had not taken in much of the view, for he had been happily watching Kairi taking it in the moment they had taken off. Her amazed facial expressions (which he knew he would never forgot) had made the answer to his question a little clear, but he wanted to make sure it was the answer he was hoping for by hearing it from the girl herself.
Managing to hear Sora's question clearly, Kairi was able to look away from the view and turn her head so that she could gaze over her shoulder towards the boy. Grinning softly at him, she turned around, taking a few steps across the floor of the basket to stand in front of Sora. She was now looking happily up at him instead of down at the view. "It's beyond wonderful, Sora! It's like a dream! I can't believe I'm actually getting a view of the islands as beautiful as this. I did not think it would ever be possible for me to experience these fantastic sights from a hot air balloon – and it certainly wouldn't have been possible if not for you."
Feeling very pleased that Kairi had already begun to enjoy both the ride in the basket and the sights that could be seen from it, Sora shot a wide grin down at her. He still had not remembered to start taking in the view he had the chance to experience, for he was too distracted by the soft smile on Kairi's face. He felt it was a much more beautiful sight than green fields and rooftops on houses. The smile told him that she was very happy, although he did not know that the main reason she was smiling was not because of the view. She was thinking of how both the ride and the sights, despite how fantastic she thought they were both were, could not compare to how amazing the boy she loved was and always had been.
"Look, kids!" Nikkou suddenly called excitedly to them. Her left arm was stretched as far as she could, and she was pointing downwards towards several rows of tiled rooftops that were far below them. "We're about to fly over our estate!"
Kairi turned away from Sora to stand next to Nikkou so that she could look down at the houses. She had not realized that while she had been standing in front of Sora and smiling up at him, a brief but strong gust of wind had blown and caused the balloon to stop floating upwards, beginning instead to float east. She took hold of the side of the basket she was standing in front of in both her hands, peering down enthusiastically to see all of the rooftops of the many houses that made up the estate where she and many of her friends lived. The balloon was about to slowly float over them, and she could not wait to be right above them so she could look down directly at her own house and her friends'.
Sora, still standing up against the opposite side to where the other three people in the balloon stood, decided he had to start seeing for himself what the view was like, especially since Kairi was thoroughly enjoying it. He took a few steps along the floor of the basket to stand to the right of the red-haired girl and in front of the wicker side she was gazing at the moving view from. Looking down with his blue eyes, he immediately took in the hundreds of orange tiles that made the roofs of the houses in the estate. He could see that the pointed middles of the roofs, which were at the very tops of the buildings, seemed to look like thin lines from up in the air.
Looking up and to his left to see how Kairi was reacting to the rooftops, Sora gave a small smile when he noticed by her expression how amazed she was, as well as realizing how speechless she had suddenly become. He was very glad that even the sight of something that was always built on top of buildings was able to delight her, just by seeing them from the air. He looked down towards the rooftops again – and was excited to see that they were just about to fly over the street where he and the girl lived. From up in the air, all of the houses in the estate looked very similar. All of their roofs were made of orange tiles, but the way their walls had been built varied. Most of the rows of houses had been built of orange brickwork while the rows that were closest to the beach had been constructed with the use of white limestone. Each house had a small rectangular lawn in front with a path to the main entrance, as well as a square lawn at the back, surrounded by tall, white, wooden fences. All of the lawns seemed to be the same dark shade of green. Only one small object which was sitting in the top left corner of his own back lawn – looking very tiny from several feet up in the air - told Sora which of the many houses in sight was his.
"Look, Sora! There's your trike down there!" Kairi cried out loudly to the boy, pointing down towards his back garden as the balloon began to fly over it. She slowly turned towards him, a teasing grin on her face. "Do you feel like going down there so you can ride on it?"
The small object in Sora's back garden which Kairi was pointing to was indeed a very old, worn-out tricycle. The blue spray paint that covered its plastic body was fading away, and its three black wheels had not turned for years. Once a much-loved outdoor toy of Sora's, it used to go around in circles along the square, grassy lawn, ridden by the boy many times during his years of toddlerhood. When he had finally outgrown it, Nikkou had been unable to bring herself to get rid of it, as it only reminded her of when her son would ride it in the garden for endless hours. It had therefore remained in the back garden, no longer being ridden by the boy, but always keeping many happy memories for his mother alive.
Sora looked up from counting the number of rooftops that appeared to be on his right of the house where he lived, having just found out which one was Kairi's. He had heard the girl's cheeky question and he turned his head to face her, grinning softly. "No thanks, Kairi. I don't feel like a ride on that old thing. I much prefer riding in the balloon with you, looking down at everything there is to see on the islands with you – and admiring it all with you. That's much better, and I'm very happy that the two of us are doing that right now. I wouldn't have been able to enjoy any of this without having you here in the air with me."
Moved by what Sora had just told her, Kairi continued to gaze at him with widened, surprised eyes. The grin on her face faded away, quickly replaced by a shade of red that spread across both of her cheeks. Blushing deeply, she gazed down at the rooftops below, fixing her blue eyes on the one above Sora's house, which they were just flying over. She found it very hard to believe that she was the very reason why he was enjoying the balloon ride, rather than the incredible view they were seeing. As difficult as it was for her to believe, what he had said only proceeded to make her feel even happier, almost causing her to forget to look around to see other sights besides the rooftops.
Nikkou was looking down towards the two teenagers, having heard every word of what they had just said to each other. She smiled softly in their direction before turning around and walking across the basket to stand at the opposite end. The balloon had just flown over her house, and she wanted to catch another quick look at it from the air, since she was unlikely to do it again. She managed to spot the old tricycle in her back garden and took a good look at it before it was blocked from view by the roof of her house, due to the balloon floating further away and beginning to leave the estate behind. Her small smile changed to a wide grin as a few memories of Sora as a toddler racing around her back lawn on the tricycle briefly ran through her head. As she looked over her shoulder to look towards her son, now sixteen-years old and doing everything he could to bring happiness to a girl he had been close friends with for a very long time, her grin grew even wider.
A small gust of wind from the south blew at the large, blue envelope. It was just as strong as the breeze that had caused the balloon to start floating east, so with the envelope tilting slightly for a very quick moment, it began to float north. It soon returned to its upright position, proceeding to carry the basket along what was to be a very long route through the air if there was not to be another gust of wind that would alter its path through the air.
"The wind's changed direction, as I knew it would do," the pilot announced loudly, the tone in his voice filled with pride. He wanted his three passengers to learn from what he was telling them that he knew a lot about the wind and how it travelled. He decided not to tell them, however, that he had not had any idea of when exactly the wind was to change. "Looks like we're in for a very good and long flight."
Excited at the thought of the ride through the sky being long, Kairi and Sora glanced at each other, both shooting wide, happy grins, before running to the side of the basket which was facing the direction they were travelling in. They stood beside each other, quickly looking down to see where they were now flying over.
More rooftops made with orange tiles were below them, for they were soaring over another housing estate - which was very different to the one where they lived. Instead of making up several rows of streets, the houses in this estate were all spaced out. The two teenagers were therefore also able to see all of the light green grass that filled up part of the wide area's ground, a few elm trees growing on them. They could also easily see the many paths that went past each house – with some unusual-looking streetlamps standing along each side of them - leading down to the small, sandy beach with very little space at the very end of the estate. The houses looked more posh in comparison to the ones in the estate where Sora and Kairi lived. Their stone walls had been dyed purple, and many of them had more than two levels. A few of the houses had extra bedrooms built above the roofs, so from the outside, they appeared to be small towers sitting in the middle of where the tiles were. Having never been inside any of the houses, Sora and Kairi did not whether any of the occupants owned modern technology or not. They could tell, however, that a few of them did not have electrical fireplaces. They had learnt this by often seeing thick smoke pouring out of the chimneys that had been built on top of most of the smaller houses, as well as one of the larger ones. As the two teenagers gazed down towards to sea, they spotted – much to their excitement - the rear of the smaller island. The green of the many treetops covered the highest points of the rocky, red cliffs. From up in the air, the fairly long distance across the sea between the two islands appeared to seem very short – and the smaller one looked even smaller.
The balloon was just about to leave the scattered houses behind, floating in the very direction where one of the paths led over a small hill. The entire estate could be seen by anyone who stood on top of it, and on each side of the path, bushes that showed off brightly coloured flowers were growing while tall beach trees stood a few metres away. Another of the strangely-built streetlamps stood on what was the teenager's left side of the path. Rather than being modern, like the streetlamps in the streets where they and their friends lived, its body had been made of poles of wood tied secured together by black electric-proof bands to make it look like an upturned L-shape. On the piece of wood that was being held horizontally, three light bulbs were being held upside down. Apart from the people who had built the streetlamps, nobody on the islands knew how the electricity travelled through the wooden poles and into the bulbs.
Noticing the top of the small hill, Kairi's eyes widened at the sight of it. The last time she had stood on the top of it had been the day school had broken up for the summer. She had attended, but Sora and Riku had not, due to being away for over a year. Kairi thought to herself about when she had been standing on the hill, telling Selphie about how she had – to her guilt – forgotten Sora's name, due to Naminé removing her memories of him by the cruel orders of Organization Thirteen. The hill had also been where Kairi had heard Sora speak to her for the first in a long time, thanks to Roxas communicating with her inside her head when he had mistaken her for Naminé. She could still easily remember Sora's voice (which had broken by that time) speaking to her for the first time in a year – with the boy, despite being unseen by her, not resisting a chance to tease her.
"You don't remember my name? Thanks a lot, Kairi! Okay, I guess I can give you a hint. Starts with an 'S'."
Kairi looked up from the path below to turn towards Sora. Immediately, she saw that he was grinning widely at her, as if he was reading her thoughts. She did not know whether he was or not, but she grinned softly back at him. She knew he had only been harmlessly joking around when he had learnt she had forgotten his name, and he had not taken offence. Despite this, the terrible feeling she had about forgetting his name had never gone away. She had felt beyond happy the moment she had remembered it, due to the little clue he had given her, just as much as she was that very moment to have the boy she had missed so much at her side, riding on board the balloon with her.
Turning away from Sora, Kairi locked her eyes down onto what was far below them. To her delight, she saw that they were about to fly over two well-known sights which the path led its walkers past. She, along with Sora and many of the teenagers who lived on Destiny Islands, saw them every weekday for six weeks, but had never looked down at them from the air before. Although they appeared to be very huge on the ground, they would seem very tiny from the height where the balloon was flying.
The first sight - which had just come into view - was a very long and wide stretch of grass that had been built into a soccer pitch. It was on the two teenagers' left side of the path, and on each of the wide ends, goal posts had been placed. They had been secured firmly into the ground by the bottom ends of the white bars that were vertical and diagonal. String nets were fastened across the back of the goals to prevent the balls from going beyond them once goals were scored. As with any soccer pitch, white lines had been painted along the edges of the field, showing where the ball could only be kicked around straight from player to player, and the centre circle was shown clearly in the centre with a spot in the middle to show where players would kick off from. Not many girls had stepped onto the soccer field, but plenty of boys went there, bringing a ball with them to kick to each other and try to shoot into the goals.
"There's the old soccer pitch!" Nikkou quickly exclaimed as soon as she saw the field with the goal posts at each end below them. She was still standing at the side of the basket she had walked over to when she had wanted to continue to look down at her house as they had been leaving it behind. Her arm was stretched out, pointing down at the pitch. "You haven't been on there for years, Sora!"
Sora glanced over his shoulder to shake his head at his mother before gazing back down at the pitch, a small smile on his face. When he was a toddler, his mother used to regularly take him and Riku there. They would always bring a ball with them, and as soon as they would arrive there, whichever boy was carrying the ball would run straight onto the grass, trying to shoot into the goal that he was nearest before the other boy was even ready to start playing. Sora had not played a game of soccer on the field for years, and although he always walked past it when making his way to the next sight they were about to see from the air, he never actually took any notice of it.
"How come you don't play there anymore?" Nikkou asked her son curiously. She really missed the days of when she would take her son to the old pitch. She did not expect him to want her to join him there anymore, as he was now a teenager, but she had never found out the answer as to why Sora had suddenly lost interest in soccer – a sport which many boys his age happened to love.
Looking over his shoulder to face his puzzled mother, Sora gave her a wide grin. "Because Riku and I found something better to do than trying to keep a soccer ball away from each other, Mom. We prefer to spend time at the beach. Even though we already liked to do that when we were younger, playing soccer was something we did before a certain girl arrived on the islands. We've loved her company ever since we first met her, so we have someone wonderful to join us whenever we go down to the beach and look out at the sea. We don't wanna bore her by having her stand at one side of the soccer pitch and watch as we try to score goals. We've always preferred going to the beach, all three of us enjoying ourselves."
Kairi blushed hard as she gazed up softly towards Sora, having heard everything he had said about why he did not go to the soccer field anymore – and how he always loved it whenever she joined him and Riku at the beach. She would not have minded if they had taken her to the soccer field. It would have probably been fun to watch the two boys trying to tackle each other for the soccer ball and attempt to shoot it into each others' goals. She could have even joined in the matches they played and found out how good her own soccer skills were in comparison to theirs. It did not matter to Kairi where they went – for she had always loved the company of the two boys just as much as they had always loved hers.
Nikkou smiled softly, taking a glance towards Kairi before facing her son again. He had not turned towards the girl he had just been talking about, so the young woman could tell that he was not aware Kairi was looking up at him with a blush. Having noticed how deep the shades of pink on her cheeks were, Nikkou could tell how Kairi was feeling after hearing every word Sora had said about her. She knew her son sincerely meant what he had just said, and she was very happy that her son had formed a wonderful friendship with the girl when he had first met her at the age of five.
Turning away from her son, Nikkou looked down at the ground below them. They were still flying in the same direction which the path was leading, and she saw that there were more stretches of grass going on after the football field. She was just lifting her head up to see if she could see any more housing estates nearby – when she spotted a building that made her eyes green eyes widen with excitement. Although it was difficult to see most of the building, she could clearly see its long roof, which had been built with dark red tiles. She pointed out down towards it, wanting the two teenagers to see it. "Look what I've just spotted!"
Their ears perking up at the sound of Nikkou's voice, Sora and Kairi removed their eyes from the path the balloon seemed to be following. They walked over to the side of the basket where Nikkou was standing, resting their arms out onto the top edge. They gazed down towards where her arm was stretched towards, spotting the red tiles of the building she was getting excited over. Kairi grinned widely at the sight of it. She had already known they were going to pass it when they had been floating past the soccer pitch. She was very overjoyed to look down at it from a hot air balloon.
Sora, however, was not at all pleased to look down at the building that was making Kairi and Nikkou feel excited. He did not care that he had been granted a chance to experience a view of it which none of the other teenagers who went to this building had ever been given. The sight of it – even from high up in the air – made him feel slightly grumpy, as it often did when he saw it while standing on the ground. He severely hated the building - which happened to be Destiny Islands High School.
The building was of a very long length from its left side to its right one, although from up in the air, it appeared to be very short. Its four walls, which had been built with the use of thousands of sandy-coloured bricks, were several metres high, for the school had four storeys, just so that it would have enough classrooms when it was being constructed. Four rows of classroom windows (one row for each storey) ran along each of the walls, and in the centre of the front wall, a pair of glass double doors served as the main entrance to the school. People who often made their way to the school (usually pupils and staff) would reach it by following the path, which split as soon as reached the spot where the school stood on its left. Instead of going straight ahead, the people going to the school would have to turn left and walk towards the enormous building. As they would approach it, they would walk past a large rock on the right of the path. It had been carefully chiselled at so that it would be thin enough to serve as a sign. The name of the school had been engraved onto the smooth side that was facing away from the building.
Sora frowned down hard at the red roof tiles of the school before walking over to the side of the basket he had just stepped away from. He was glad the balloon was still going straight ahead instead of turning left where the path split. "I don't wanna look at school, Mom."
Nikkou and Kairi looked up from the building that was far below them to turn towards the unimpressed boy. They were only half surprised that he was not happy to see his school from up in the air. The sulky way he was behaving was exactly the same as how he would act whenever he would be making his way along the path each morning he had to go to school.
The boy's mother wanted him to feel cheerful about seeing the building he hated from high up in the air instead of miserable. "But, Sora, you get to see the school from a hot air balloon. I bet no one else who goes there has even done that before."
"I really don't care, Mom." Sora's frown softened slightly as he looked over his shoulder to face his mother. He did not want to upset her by glaring at her, but he still wanted her to know he had no interest in looking down at the building. "I really, really don't like school. I'm on summer vacation now, and I don't want to even see school. I wanna look at much better things from this balloon than that horrible place."
Kairi giggled softly at Sora's attitude as she turned to look down again at the school, which they were starting to leave behind. She knew how much Sora hated school – just as much as he hated the class work and homework the teachers constantly tortured him with. She did not mind going there, as it meant seeing her friends. Gazing down at the building from a floating hot air balloon was very amazing for her – and it was definitely a lot more fun than the homework she was often given by the teachers. The worksheets, essays and projects she was ordered to do each week of the school term always took up a lot of her precious hours after she would arrive home, but she would always make sure they would not interfere with spending some time with Sora and Riku.
Sora was still facing down towards the path below them, noticing that they were about to float over another part where it split. The balloon would no longer be following it, as one way led off to the left while the other trailed down to the right, leading its walkers towards another housing estate. As a small grin appeared on Sora's face, his eyes widened as they followed the path along the way that led to the left. It had been built along a small, grassy slope, coming to an end at a brown, wooden gate that had been built as part of an old fence. Sora took in the objects that were behind the gate and far below him, recognising each one of them, despite how difficult they were to see from up in the air. "Look what place I can see, Mom. It's far better to look at than school."
Not knowing what her son was talking about, since she did not walk past the school as often as she used to, Nikkou stepped away from Kairi's side to stand to the right of her son. She peered down towards where on the ground he was looking towards, and spotted the seemingly small objects that were interesting him. At first, she could not make out what they were, due to how high the balloon was above them. It was difficult for Nikkou to recognise them or get a picture in her mind of how they would look if she were standing closely to them – until she noticed they were all surrounded by the wooden fence and could be led to by the path. She glanced towards her son, grinning in remembrance, before looking back down at the objects. She could now tell what they were. "You haven't been there for a while, either. Have you, Sora?"
Kairi gazed in puzzlement towards the mother and son, wondering what place on the island they were looking at. Despite having now lived on Destiny Islands for ten years, there were still many parts she had never seen or heard about. The furthest she had ever walked along the path from the estate where she lived was to the double doors of the school. She had never walked straight ahead whenever she came to the split in the path next to the building she went to for six weeks a school term, so she did not have any idea of what she would find if she ever chose to walk that way. She knew she was now about to find out, so to get a better look, she walked over to the side of the basket where Sora and Nikkou were standing together, looking down happily at the sight they were familiar with. Kairi stood on Sora's left side, lowering her head to see a place on the island the boy had seen many times before while she had not seen it once.
They were looking down at an old, deserted playground, which was on top of the small hill, its equipment for children to play on surrounded by the fence. In the middle of the play area, which had its ground covered by black rubber mulch, Kairi could make out with her eyes a climbing frame. It was made up of three parts which many children would enjoy; they would first have to climb up the flat, wooden board that had been painted green and placed vertically at one end of the climbing frame with small holes cut out of it to allow them to easily put their hands and feet into as they would pull themselves up it, then they would have to walk over the steel bridge, which had hand bars on each side and a coat of canary yellow paint, before doing the final and best part of the climbing frame, which was going down the long, silver slide.
Smiling softly, since she was sure she would have loved the climbing frame if she had ever seen it when she was younger, Kairi ran her eyes over the rest of the playground equipment. On the left of the climbing frame was a pair of swings, which were hanging by their long metal chains from one of the red bars that made its frame. Behind them was a dark blue see-saw with yellow seats that looked like tiny dots from up in the air. Standing near the bottom left corner of the playground (which happened to be the closest corner to the gate) was a roundabout. It had two black, metal seats opposite each other and green hand bars going across each curved end for children to hold onto so they would avoid falling off while it was rotating very fast. At the right of the playground, which happened to have a lot of empty space on the rubber much, a basketball net was being held to the top of a tall black pole that stood right in front of the fence, towering over the rest of the playground equipment.
Sora noticed the smile on Kairi's face, which told him she was interested in the playground. He grinned towards her, happy she liked the look of the place which he was familiar with. "Mom used to take me to that playground a lot when I was little – before you came to the islands. I used to play on the equipment for ages, but I was never able to throw a ball into that net. I'm pretty sure no kid has managed to do that. I really dunno why they had to put it up so high."
Interested in the playground even more, as she had just learnt it was another place Sora used to often visit during his toddlerhood, Kairi looked up from what was far below them to gaze at the boy. The smile was still on her face, although it had suddenly gotten slightly smaller. "You never told me about this playground, Sora. I would have loved to have gone there with you when we were little."
Sora let off a small chuckle, feeling quite guilty about not taking Kairi to the playground once in their lives. "Sorry, Kairi. I kinda forgot all about the playground when you came to the islands. I always loved going to the beach with you, as we always had fun there. If I had remembered the playground, I would have definitely taken you there. But now that it's back in my memory, I could take you there some time this week. Would you like that?"
The small smile on Kairi's face quickly grew into a wide grin, due to her happiness that had been formed by the sound of Sora's request. Even though she was too old for playgrounds, she really wanted to go with the boy to visit the one he used to play in when he was a toddler. She knew that she would find it very fun if he was there with her. She quickly nodded eagerly at Sora, already feeling as excited as she would have been if he had made the same offer when the two of them were five.
"We're just about to fly over the town now," the pilot said unexpectedly. He had been silent since he had bragged to his three passengers about knowing that the wind would change direction, for he had been admiring the view while keeping the balloon under control. "You'll be able to see how small it looks from up here."
The two teenagers glanced up towards the pilot, slightly surprised at the sound of him speak, before looking down at the ground again. The playground had disappeared from slight, since the balloon had passed over it without stopping, so what they were seeing now was just flat ground with nothing but bright green grass. They raised their heads to see how far away they were from the town – and instantly spotted a row of tall, dark brown multi-storey buildings up ahead. Amazed grins spread across their faces at the same time, both about as wide as the one that had appeared on Nikkou's face when she had spotted the buildings seconds in advance. If they had been standing on the spot on the ground they were now floating over, they would have had to walk two miles to reach the buildings, which would all appear to be at least fifty feet when they would finally arrive at them. From up in a hot air balloon, the buildings only seemed to be a few metres away – which would take them only a few seconds to pass over – and how tiny they appeared to be was unbelievable for Kairi. She did not think anyone else on the islands would have ever imagined the huge buildings to look so small.
A gust of wind blew at the envelope from the south, causing it to continue to float north at a quicker pace than before. Flying over the two miles of grass in a quicker speed than even the pilot had expected, the balloon was soon passing over the multi-storey buildings – which looked like tiny squares to Sora, Kairi and Nikkou. They were gazing down at the brown roofs in shock, as they could not believe how much higher up they were than the buildings. The majority of them happened to be apartments, although the one on the left end (which was much taller than the others, as well as a darker shade of brown) was an indoor market, full of hundreds of small shops that each sold various goods. Sora, Kairi and Nikkou had all visited the indoor market several times in their lives, so they had often walked up and down the long flights of steps that led from one level to another. They had even been to the very top floor once, just to see the view of the town from one of the windows. How tall they had felt by looking out at the town through the window was nowhere as tall as they were now feeling by gazing down in disbelief at the roofs of the buildings from a basket in the air.
Once the balloon had passed over the market and apartments, Kairi, with the wide grin of amazement still on her face, eagerly looked up to find out exactly how much of the town she could see from where they were flying. She was amazed to realize she could see as far as another row of buildings that happened to be at the very end. Excited, she looked down again to take in how the familiar sights of the town looked from up in the air. The taller buildings, like the apartments and indoor market, appeared to be extremely tiny with their rooftops looking like very small squares while the smaller buildings (most of them being shops) were not easy to make out. All of their rooftops seemed to had been built with the very same type of grey tiles. Kairi could only tell which buildings were which by recognising the roads and sidewalks that ran alongside them – and appeared to look like thin, dark grey lines to her. The cars that were gliding along the roads looked like little squares that were even tinier and much more brightly coloured that the buildings' rooftops. The sounds of their engines could not be heard from up in the air as they drove smoothly along the roads, passing the buildings along the way. Kairi turned to look downward to her right, her eyes meeting even more tiny, brightly coloured squares that were all standing still together, for she was gazing out at the car park. Some moving dots, which were almost impossible to see from the air, were making their way towards the parked cars. Kairi could still tell what they were, for she had seen many of them moving along the sidewalks and in and out of the buildings. She knew they were the top of people's heads.
"The town looks fantastic from up here," Sora exclaimed happily to the girl. He had been gazing down enthusiastically at all of the rooftops and roads they were all able to see, but he had now turned towards Kairi with a grin. "I never thought I'd be able to see so much of it all at once."
Kairi turned her head slowly to gaze up at Sora. Smiling softly at him, she gave a small nod, agreeing with his opinion on how the town looked from the air. "We can see all of the buildings' rooftops from up here, Sora. I've never been able to see that many of them from the ground. I can even tell which rooftop belongs to which building – just by looking at the roads."
"Then do you know which building that one is, Kairi?" Nikkou asked wonderingly, pointing down towards the ground with her right arm. She had been taking in the many rooftops they were flying over, trying to guess which ones belonged to the shops in the town she liked to visit more than others. Having spotted a rooftop which had immediately taken her surprise, her face was scrunched up in confusion as she gazed down at towards it, feeling extremely puzzled. "I don't think I've ever been to it before."
Giving a quick glance towards Nikkou, Kairi looked down at where in the town the woman was pointing. Instantly, she saw which building was puzzling her – and her blue eyes suddenly widened at the sight of it. She was not able to see the road that ran alongside it, since they were looking out at the back of it (as well as the rear walls of the other buildings it stood in between), but Kairi only had to look at the rooftop to get an idea of which building it was. She could see that the flat, square roof had been made with two sets of tiles that were different colours to each other. They had been set out so that from up in the air, the rooftop looked like a checkerboard – expect the square tiles were red and pink instead of black and white.
Knowing where she had seen the exact shades of the colours on the tiles, Kairi excitedly pointed down towards the coloured rooftop, nudging Sora with her elbow. "Look, Sora! There's Hearts and Kisses!"
"Hearts and Kisses?" Nikkou cried out loudly, her jaw dropping. She was suddenly feeling even more puzzled - as well as shocked - for she did not know why Kairi was shouting the words she had just repeated to her son.
Knowing what Kairi meant, Sora urgently gazed down quickly towards where she was pointing. He spotted the red and pink rooftop and grinned widely, thinking back to the day he had gone with the girl inside the shop that sold gifts for people to give to loved ones.
After a few seconds of gazing down at the colourful rooftop of the newest store in the town, Sora raised his head to look over his shoulder at his confused mother. Having heard her shout out the name of the shop in shock, he shot a small smile towards her. "Hearts and Kisses is a shop Kairi and I went to on the day you took us to town. It was that old building that had been abandoned – but it's now been bought and is looking much better."
"It sells lots of sweet things," Kairi added, now looking towards Nikkou and also smiling at her. "Perfume, chocolates, ornaments, pictures, frames and greetings cards. It's actually the place where I bought Sora's birthday card and the frame I used for my present to him."
Hearing what Kairi had just told her, Nikkou turned away from Sora to look at the girl. What she had heard made her feel surprised again, but a small grin slowly made its way onto her face. "You bought Sora's present and card…from a place that was called…Hearts and Kisses?"
Kairi nodded her head, still smiling towards Nikkou, but feeling quite puzzled. She could not understand why the shop she had chosen to buy her present and card to Sora from was making his mother grin. Since she was facing Nikkou, she did not notice the boy was looking towards her with a surprised expression that perfectly matched the one Nikkou had just given. He had not once guessed that Hearts and Kisses had been the place where Kairi had bought her card for him or the picture frame that the photograph of the two of them on Sunset Hill was kept inside.
Nikkou turned away from the two teenagers to walk over to the south side of the basket. Putting her hands on the top edge, she lowered her head to pretend she was admiring the rooftops and roads they were leaving behind. She was actually trying to hide from Sora and Kairi how wide the grin on her face was quickly growing. The pilot was looking towards her, and although he did not know any of the three passengers he was giving a flight to, he could tell what the woman was thinking. Having seen how well the two teenagers got along with each other during the flight and heard which shop they had visited together, he smiled towards the boy's mother, agreeing with her thoughts.
Sora and Kairi were looking over their shoulders towards Nikkou, confused frowns on their faces. They had not been fooled into thinking she had turned away from them just to look out at the view, but they could not understand what she was thinking or why she was grinning. They glanced towards each other (learning by their expressions that they were both equally puzzled by the way the woman was acting) before peering down at the ground - to realize they were about to enter the countryside of the main island. The envelope was about to carry the basket over the grey rooftops of the smaller buildings that stood at the end of the town. Slowing down slightly as it continued to travel through the air, the balloon passed over the final row of buildings, allowing Sora and Kairi to see the thin tarmac path that ran alongside them. The rooftops of the town's buildings had been replaced by fresh green grass which the teenagers knew stretched across many miles in the direction they were travelling in. While most of the roads had remained within the town, only one went on into the countryside, where white lines had been painted along the middle of it to keep the traffic that travelled at a fast speed along it each day on separate sides.
"I love the countryside!" Kairi cried cheerfully, a happy grin reappearing on her face as she looked up to see the long road that was stretched across the miles of grass, disappearing into the middle of the distance ahead of them. She was very glad they were now flying over a part of the island she had always enjoyed travelling in with her adoptive father since she was a toddler. "It's always looked very beautiful – and I think it looks even nicer from up here!"
Turning towards Kairi, Sora read the expression on her face to learn how excited she was at the sight of the countryside from up in the air. A small smile appeared on his face, as he was very pleased she liked the view of the location they were now in. He looked up slightly to see that his mother had now stepped away from the south side of the basket and was now standing behind them, gazing down and around in awe at the mostly-green ground.
Sora looked towards the distance ahead, unable to understand what it was about the countryside that Kairi and Nikkou found interesting to look at. He had travelled though it in the front passenger seat of his mother's car many times in his life, but he never did take much notice of the sights they would pass. Even from up in the air, he could not see anything that he found interesting. All that was in his sight was the long, straight road that the balloon seemed to be following, the miles of plain, flat grass that was on each of its sides and a couple of thick, white clouds that were looming ahead of them in the sky, looking as though they were on the same level as the balloon. Sora turned his head quickly to look to his right, seeing even more of the stretches of grass. He wanted to know if there would be anything that was interesting for him to see while flying over the countryside.
A sudden pair of horrified, feminine gasps that came from the two people on the balloon who he cared about immediately caught his attention.
No longer worried about what they would be flying over, Sora urgently turned in panic towards Kairi and his mother. The two of them had terrified expressions on their faces that were almost identical. Their mouths were both hanging open wide, and while Nikkou's lips were frozen, Kairi's were trembling in fright. They were looking down towards the ground with wide eyes. It barely took Sora any longer than a few seconds to realize that they were looking something below them. The expressions on their faces told him that it was not something they were happy to spot, no matter how fantastic the view was.
Even though he was sure he would not like seeing what was causing them to look so shocked, Sora quickly turned away from Kairi and Nikkou to run his fear-filled eyes over the ground below. He caught sight of what they were looking at almost instantly, and he quickly understood why they were so frightened by the sight of it. It caused him to feel exactly the same way.
Standing on the left side of the road was a very ancient church. It was connected to the road by the gravel car park on its narrow right side. It had been built almost entirely of grey stone that had managed to stay strong throughout its many years of religious services. The main entrance was through a pair of brown, wooden double doors that had been built on the right of its front wall. On its left was the bell tower, which had a clock face near the top of each of its four tall walls, showing the time was twenty-five to five in the afternoon. Along each of the nave's stone walls were several brightly coloured windows, the sunlight bouncing off their blue and yellow glass. In front of the old building, standing in rows along the grass, were objects that appeared to look even more ancient. They were protected by a grey, stone wall that went around the area in front of the church, looking as though it was ready to collapse. The objects were difficult for Sora to see from the height they were at, but he could still tell what they were, and he knew exactly why they were scaring his mother and Kairi. They were none other than old gravestones.
For a few seconds, Sora locked his wide eyes onto the stone objects that were terrifying his mother and the girl he loved. He watched with horror as the gravestones appeared to grow bigger, due to the fact the balloon was floating closer towards the church. He eventually tore his eyes away from them as he turned towards his mother.
She had begun to tremble and – to her son's devastation – there were tears in her eyes.
Already feeling upset that his mother looked like she was about to start crying, Sora quickly turned away from Nikkou to gaze worriedly at Kairi. There were no tears building up inside the girl's blue eyes - for they had already started to run quickly down her cheeks.
Sora placed his left hand on the girl's right shoulder, the shame he was feeling building up by the second. He had correctly guessed that the reason why the gravestones had frightened his mother and Kairi and made them feel like crying was due to the fact there was a chance that in two weeks, they would be travelling to any one of the churches on the island – with him going there in a coffin. Sora felt tears build in his own eyes as he thought about his mother and Kairi, as well as the other people he knew, crying hysterically while lowering the coffin that carried him into a deep, rectangular, freshly-dug hole in front of a gravestone that had just had his name carved into, along with the date he was born and the date his life had been taken from him. It was a heartbreaking thought for Sora. He did not want his mother or Kairi to go through it – and he was growing very angry with himself, as his laziness on the day he had been badly sunburnt had given the thought a chance to soon become reality.
"Mom, are you alright?" Sora asked his mother with concern, turning back towards her. He saw that the tears she had built up had not fallen, but were still visible in her eyes. Sora was doing his best not to let his own tears escape from his eyes, as he did not want to cry himself any more than he wanted the two passengers in the basket who he loved to cry. He turned back towards Kairi, gently squeezing her shoulder. "Kairi…please don't be sad."
Kairi did not answer Sora. She did not even turn to look at him. She had gone completely still, frozen in her fear and heartbreak. Despite having looked up from the graveyard of the church, her thoughts were still filled with the frightening images of burying the only boy she loved. Her tears were flowing down her cheeks much faster. She did not seem to notice the boy who was gazing towards her with deep worry and sadness, nor did she notice the concerned pilot standing behind them, deciding not to ask what was wrong, as he did think they would want to share any of their business with him.
His concern for the girl growing rapidly, Sora looked away from Kairi while keeping his hand on her shoulder. He was trying to think of something to say in an attempt to cheer her and his mother up and stop them from crying. Nothing comforting came into his mind, but as he looked down towards the ground, his eyes suddenly widened again. He saw that they had passed over the church, and as they were leaving it behind, he could see that they were about to fly over something that he thought would make the tears in Kairi's and his mother's eyes go away. He pointed down towards what he could see, grinning widely in his excitement that had replaced his sadness within seconds. "Mom! Kairi! Look what I can see!"
Still gazing downwards towards the ground (although not taking any more of what was down there), Nikkou immediately heard her son and was surprised by how excited he sounded. She shook her head slightly to get the horrific thought she had just had out of her mind before turning it slightly to look towards where Sora was pointing. Spotting almost straightaway what was making him so joyful, a huge smile spread across her face at the sight of it. Raising her left hand, she pointed in the same direction where Sora was still stretching his arm towards. She wanted Kairi to take in what had quickly cheered her up. "Look, Kairi! Look what's down there!"
Kairi heard Nikkou's voice, and although the tears continued to leak out of her eyes, she frowned slightly in confusion at the woman's cheeriness. She turned towards Sora, growing even more puzzled when she saw the boy grinning in excitement as he continued to point ahead. She hesitantly turned her head to see what he was pointing at – and quickly let off an amazed gasp. The boy and his mother were nowhere near as excited as she was by the sight of what had suddenly made her feel extremely happy. It had caused her tears to stop almost instantly.
Kept inside a fenced-off area of grass on the right side of the road were a herd of American Saddlebred horses. They all had plenty of the wide, rectangular space to walk around within the four sides of the white, wooden fence that surrounded them. Some of the horses were energetically galloping around the space while others were standing still with their heads low, chewing hungrily on the grass inside their pen. They were all a rich chocolate colour, and it was difficult for Kairi to tell if they were all the same size or not. She did not mind this though, for all of the horses looked like wonderful animals to her – and she thought it was amazing to look down from the air to see so many of them together in one field. Raising her right hand as she gazed down towards the animals, she wiped the tears out of her widened eyes – as well as the tear marks on her cheeks – so that she could see them more clearly.
The balloon continued to float slowly above the long, straight road, making its way past the horses' pen. It could still be easily looked down at from the right side of the basket – which was where Kairi rushed straight to from the side that was facing the direction they were travelling in. As she quickly looked down in her fascination towards the ground again to lock her eyes back onto the animals below her, Sora watched her with a soft smile, the tears that had been in his own eyes gone. Nikkou was now standing beside her son, running her fingers gently through his soft, spiky hair. The horses had managed to make her feel much better as well. It had been her son who had pointed them out, and she felt extremely thankful towards him for allowing her to enjoy such a magical ride through the air above the main island.
As the basket was carried away from the horses' pen, starting to leave it behind, Kairi managed to pull her attention away from the animals kept inside so that she could turn it to Sora. Feeling just as grateful for the wonderful balloon ride as his mother was, she shot a wide grin towards the boy. The entire journey through the air had been fantastic for her, and she wanted to let him know that she really appreciated how he had spent so much munny that morning, just so that she could get a view of the main island she had never experienced before. "Sora…thank you so much for taking me onboard this balloon. It really is amazing. The whole journey has been amazing. Everything we've seen…has looked truly amazing. I've really loved every single second of it…and I'm so happy you're here on the balloon with me. It wouldn't have been anywhere near as fun if you were not here."
"I had to be here, Kairi!" Sora replied, letting off a laugh. "I had to make sure you would enjoy the ride. I wouldn't be able to know if I had stayed on the ground and let you fly through the air without me."
"Well…I really have enjoyed it all...but I wouldn't have been able to if it wasn't for you," Kairi whispered softly, her gentle tone quiet yet filled with happiness. "Thank you so much, Sora."
"Yeah, thanks, Sora. I've loved it as well," Nikkou added gratefully, smiling widely down at her son as she continued to stroke his hair. "Thanks for taking me with you and letting me enjoy this wonderful ride. It's the best way I've ever travelled across the island."
Sora gave a huge, delighted grin in the direction of the girl whose happiness he had managed to bring. He felt he had really chosen the right way to thank her for the fantastic birthday party she had given him. Travelling over the main island in a hot air balloon and getting a different perspective of some of the many places they usually saw (as well as looking down at a few sights Kairi had never seen before, but still managed to love gazing at) had been a wonderful activity to do. Seeing how happy it had made the girl he loved feel made Sora very pleased he had chosen it.
He was also very glad that his beloved mother had managed to enjoy it, too.
This chapter was pretty hard for me to write. One thing I had to do before writing it was decide what Sora, Kairi and Nikkou would see from the air as they would travel across Destiny Islands. I only managed to get in a few places that are seen in Kingdom Hearts II, since we don't really see that many parts of the main island. I even went as far as to draw out my own map of the island, just so I could decide the order the sights would be seen in. XD
Now all this talk of the island(s) brings me to the next bit of information I have to tell you about. I've realized that throughout the story, I've been making a major continuity error: I've been writing as though the beach which the characters usually visit is on the same island as the one where they live, and I've had them reach it just by walking to it from their streets – whereas in the games, it's on a completely different island, which they reach by travelling by boat. So before I can write the next chapter, I have to go through the entire story, look for where I've made this error and fix it. I'm not looking forward to doing this, and I have to make sure the edits are not shoddy. I'll try not to take long, and once I've done it, I'll be able to get on with the next chapter.
