Trust the Unseen ( Passion )

#13. sacrifice - (she would look after him)

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, its characters, settings and the like. These words, however, are mine.


She knew something was going to happen when -- what was his name, Saix? -- those eerie amber eyes of his locked onto hers. The blank disdain that filled his eyes turned into an icy cold, mirthless humor and she felt her body tense.

She would have said something, but she hadn't had the chance.

Strong, gushing winds buffeted her and nearly sent her reeling; she couldn't see, couldn't speak loud enough to be heard.

And then it was only rushing past her. Riku!? He was shielding her with his body. She heard a grunt of pain as he was thrown forward hard by something she couldn't see, but, amazingly, they didn't fall and merely slid.

He let her go and she was just able to glimpse a multi-coloured, fading to transparent shield barricade she and Riku from Sora, Donald and Goofy. "Riku, we're not going to be able to help them." Kairi said, approaching the barrier slowly, reaching out to see if she could touch it. Stopping when Riku didn't answer, she turned. "Riku!?" Panic seized her at the sight of Riku on his knees, face fixed in obvious pain, trying to get his cloak off but his movements seemed limited. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head.

"Riku, stop being so masochistic--" She froze in shock when she laid her hand on his back, only to yank it away; her hand was covered in his blood. "Oh my god, Riku, why didn't you say anything!?" The wound looked deep and blood was running in rivulets down the back of his cloak. "Oh, my god..."

"Kairi, relax..."

"Relax, right... This is my fault..." She shuddered, feeling the prick of tears in her eyes following the feeling of helplessness surging through her. Once again she couldn't -- or didn't know how -- to help the boy who'd saved her life more times than she could count.

"Don't cry, you're making me nervous..." He joked weakly and was it just her, or did he look pale? "I'm fine."

"You're not fine." She noticed he'd stopped trying to remove his cloak. "You're cloak, do you need help getting it off?"

He shook his head. "I think it'll just make the bleeding worse."

She nodded and looked over at Sora, Donald and Goofy. They'd be battling for a while yet, it looked like.

Turning back to Riku, she set her jaw, determined. Breathing in deeply, she sighed. "Okay."

"Can you rip off a piece of your cloak or not? It needs to be a fairly large piece."

Swiftly, he tore off a well-sized piece and handed it to her. He was shaking, she saw and pushed down her fear, making sure he wouldn't be able to see it. Keeping one hand on his chest, she held him in place as she used to cloth to try to staunch the flow of blood, unsure of whether it would even help because of the amount that seemed to be flowing. Expelling a breath, she laid her chin on his shoulder. "I'm sorry... I can't do much else. You'll have to wait for Sora."

"Why do I feel like you dislike the idea of Sora helping me? How could you?" He joked.

"I don't." She protested. "Not really."

He shot her one of those looks -- he pulled it off pretty well, even with the face of Ansem.

"You're always taking care of me. I never seem to be able to take care of you." Riku finally fell back off of his knees as she explained. "Especially when you need it the most, like these last two years, now... What if you'd died, Riku?" What if he dies now, she thought, with me here, useless to help him, she thought, overwhelmed.

"Kai, what are you talking about? You always take care of us. All these years, even these last two," he stopped, needing to breathe. "Especially these last two. Knowing you were waiting for us, knowing you would love us no matter what... That's how we made it through everything." He nodded, seeing her skepticism. "At least, you kept me from the darkness; you're the reason I'm alive."

"Riku, I wasn't even... There for you."

"I love you, you know that. I wanted to come back to you, back home... And we're almost there."

"Almost there, so please... Hang on for the whole ride."

"You worry far too much." He said, wincing as he moved to try and find a comfortable spot to rest. He was slowly succumbing to the darkness of sleep, but he smiled widely at her.

"Kairi!" Sora finally cried out from behind her. She turned to face the boy as he ran over, surprise and then fear flashing across his face. "What happened, is he okay!?"

"He'll be alright. You might want to try to heal up his back, though..." She said quietly, pressing her lips to the top of his head.

And when he woke up, she'd still be there for him to wake up to. She would take care of him.

She wouldn't fail.