Obvious

Sometimes Kairi wished her Keyblade wasn't so… so…

Obvious.

The quick pace of battle had kept her secret safe so far, but today was the day her luck ran out.

It all started innocently enough. A small group of Heartless ambushed Sora, and a sneaky one launched itself at him from behind as he was fighting the rest.

"Sora, look out!" She sprang into action, her Keyblade slicing a clean line through the Neoshadow just seconds before it could dig its sharp claws into Sora's back.

They were getting smarter. Either that or they were getting better at working together. Neither alternative was good.

Sora whirled around just in time to see their enemy dissolve into smoke. His eyes met hers, his chest heaving and sweat glistening on his skin.

"Thanks," he said, and when he smiled, her heart lurched and everything else seemed to fade away.

That was her first mistake.

Her second mistake was staring at him for just a little too long. He let his Keyblade disappear so he could wipe his forehead, and her eyes wandered from where the little Mickey Mouse charm dangling off the hilt of it had been just moments before to the muscles in his arms. His jacket had come partly off his shoulder in the scuffle, and he let out this perfect little sigh that just—

Oops. His gaze found hers again as he readjusted his jacket, and she ducked her head. Thank goodness it was warm outside, otherwise he might realize the heat was not to blame for her flushed cheeks. At least not entirely.

His eyes flickered to her Keyblade, and he tilted his head. Before she could react, he reached out and touched it, his fingers running across several of the flowers before resting on the aster.

"The flowers form a heart. Huh. I never noticed that before." His eyes met hers again. "Come to think of it, I haven't really gotten a good look at your Keyblade till now."

Too late to stop him. If she tried to hide it from him, he might realize there was something she wanted to hide. Better to just let him look at it and hope he didn't notice.

He tilted his head again, his lips parting slightly. "Your keychain has a paopu fruit." He moved closer and ran his hand across the red twine that connected it to her Keyblade.

"Y-yeah, it does. Probably symbolizes home."

She swallowed. He was so close and he had this wonderful smell that was like a sea-salt breeze mixed with—

He smiled again. "Yeah. What better to symbolize Destiny Islands than—"

His eyes went wide.

Uh-oh.

"Is that a king chess piece?" His hand rested over hers as he gently moved her fingers out of the way to get a better look. Even that was enough to make her heart pound.

"I didn't know you like chess!" he said, his voice pitching higher the way it always did when he was excited about something.

She laughed, but the sound sort of stuck in her throat. "Oh, is that what it is? I never noticed…"

She cringed. That was a pretty blatant lie.

"Oh, I get it, it's because you're a Princess of Heart, right? Maybe you're gonna be a queen someday!"

He smiled at that, and she let Destiny's Embrace disappear because there was no point anymore, he'd seen everything she didn't want him to already anyway.

"Y-yeah, maybe so…"

Face burning, she lowered her arm and resisted the urge to bolt.

"Greetings, Your Majesty," he said, making his voice carry way too far as he bowed low. When he lifted his head again, there was a playful glint in his eyes, and he laughed at her flustered reaction.

"Sora!"

He just shrugged. "What? 'Queen Kairi' has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Geez, he really didn't realize the kind of effect he had, did he?

She ducked into a nearby alleyway. "You… you really think so?"

It didn't take long for him to catch up with her, his strides a lot longer than hers now.

"Yeah," he said. "Not to mention, you are an actual princess—"

"Princess of Heart," she corrected.

He raised his eyebrow. "Princess all the same. And someday you'll be a queen, I just know it." He crossed his arms and pursued his lips. "Hmmm, I wonder who the king will be."

"No idea," she barely managed.

Sora didn't press the issue after that. He was silent the whole ride home, saying only a few things here and there as necessary. When she was finally alone on the Play Island, safely away from him and that awkward Gummi Ship ride, she summoned Destiny's Embrace again and glared at it and its stupid king chess piece and its stupid paopu fruit and its stupid hearts and its stupid red string.

"You just couldn't have been a normal key, could you? You just HAD to be extra!"

She threw it into the sea because she didn't want to look at it for another moment. It taunted her as it splashed into the water, reminding her that everything in her heart was on full display every time she tried to fight.

She collapsed against the paopu tree, its rough bark rubbing against her back as she put her face in her hands. As embarrassing as her Keyblade was, it wasn't even the worst part about all this.

No, the worst part was that Sora was completely clueless, no matter how many hints she dropped. Either that or he just wasn't interested anymore. The thought alone made her want to crawl in a hole somewhere and never come out.

So of course he showed up not a moment later, like he had some kind of uncanny ability to know when she was thinking about him.

"Kairi," came his voice, and even that was enough to make her stomach flip-flop. She scrambled to her feet as he walked over.

"You dropped something." Her Keyblade was in his grasp, water droplets dripping off of it into the sand.

"So I did." She moved to take it from him, but he didn't let go.

She dared to meet his eyes, and the look he was giving her sent a jolt all the way from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

"You know, they say a Keyblade reflects the heart of its wielder," he finally said.

"Really?" she asked, feigning nonchalance. "What does mine say about me, then?"

His hand found the paopu charm on the keychain, and he cupped it in his palm, caressing it with his thumb. "The red string of fate… the paopu fruit… it all connects to the king." He moved his hand to his heart, his fingers brushing over his crown necklace. His eyes met hers once more, and the look he gave her was almost shy. "It all connects to me."

She just stared at him for a moment. He wasn't laughing at her. He wasn't teasing her. The pleased little smile on his face, the flush to his cheeks, the look in his eyes, all told her what she needed to know.

He had finally figured it out. Geez, took him long enough. Fighting a smile, she decided it was high time she teased him a little.

"Oh? You really think so?" she asked, giving him her best unimpressed look.

It was cute how flustered her question made him. "I mean… I am the king, aren't I? That's why you have a king on your Keyblade, isn't it? My crown necklace, the teeth on my Keyblade, even the name of my Keyblade. It all makes sense."

She grinned. "I know. I was just teasing you. Who else would it even be, silly?"

From the moment she'd first seen her Keyblade she'd known. There was no other possible answer, really. Her heart had been his for a long time now.

His face flushed, his lips parting. "Kairi, I—"

She put her finger over his lips to silence him. "You were right," she said with a smile. "Keyblades do reflect the hearts of their wielders."

"Yeah," he said, then found her free hand and brought it to his lips. "You are my queen, after all."

Oh geez. Oh geez. Why did he have to do that. She stuttered and reclaimed the affected hand, the warmth from his kiss lingering and spreading up her arm. He looked up and smiled at her, and her heart was thudding so loudly in her chest it was a wonder he couldn't hear it.

"The queen is the most powerful piece in chess, y-you know," she stammered. "Even more powerful than the king."

He just gave her a look that said more than words ever could. "Good thing you've got my back, then."

It was a good thing, indeed. It was a very good thing.

And for that, Kairi could forgive her Keyblade for being so obvious.

I'm so excited to be able to finally share my piece for the Two Sides Fanzine with you all! A big thank you to the organizers, they did an amazing job and I had a wonderful experience working on the zine.

The idea for this piece came from a fun conversation DuskyDancing and I had last year about Sora noticing the different parts of Kairi's Keyblade, based on an analysis post I wrote after Square released HD renders of Kairi's Keyblade for the first time. And lo and behold, the plot bunnies multiplied, and we both wrote fics based on our conversation. A big thank you to DuskyDancing for giving me her blessing to use our conversation for this fic. You can read her take on the concept here on FFN, which is called Symbols. I would highly recommend you do so if you haven't already, because it's pretty great.

A big thank you also to Alja and FlowerLady-Aerith for reading over my fic and giving me feedback. And thank you again to the zine organizers for all their hard work in bringing this project to life. Thank you to the other participants in the zine who were very supportive throughout the process, too!

And, of course, as always, thank you for reading!