Wait for It

Kairi honestly didn't know if she was doing the right thing in having left Sora and Riku. The more optimistic part of her wanted to believe that if she had stayed with them, they could have worked out their differences and all of the miles that had stood between them ever since the boys' journeys began… but Kairi wasn't so sure.

No matter how much she told them that she never wanted to be left behind anymore and to believe in her strength, somehow or another Sora and Riku always ended up adventuring without her. And it wasn't just that: Sora and Riku still knew and understood each other, since they had been able to still spend some time together through all the craziness, but Kairi felt as though she could barely touch them anymore and there was no denying that that hurt.

Her two boys—who she would always love no matter what, and who she was hoping to meet up with again someday—had already filled so many books with their stories, but Kairi felt like her own had barely begun. She had to make choices for herself now and that was exactly what she had done.

When she'd gone to Master Yen Sid, spilling her heart out about all of this, he'd spoken of a world amongst the stars that he thought could help her: where some people there had had feelings similar to her own and had lived lives somewhat similar to that of Keyblade wielders. And without having to be told twice, Kairi decided that she would check out this Sunnydale.

She couldn't deny that she was intrigued by the idea of "people like Keyblade wielders," who weren't that: who were surely fighting evil, but without the legendary weapons? She wondered what that would be like? And what kind of enemies would they face?

The moment she reached Sunnydale, Kairi thought she understood right away some of the things that they might fight against. She was attacked right away by some humanoid creature that reminded the redhead of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Though instead of seaweed covering up the entirety of its body, gray tar seemed to be this monster's vice.

It attacked her with a predator's skill, claws trying to rake her body for any purchase it could find. And as such, Kairi was reminded of the Shadows and Neoshadows she'd fought over the years. At once, she summoned Destiny's Embrace to hand and lunged it into the monster's heart—just as she heard help coming her way in the distance; and saw out of the corner of her eye, what looked like fire in the palm of a redhead's hand—and that seemed to be the beast's weakness. Because at once, it crumbled to the ground beneath Kairi took a deep breath.

"Nice," the older girl who Kairi had noticed before chirped, the moment she reached Kairi's side. "That silver weapon of yours was exactly what the doctor ordered against a demon like that. So I didn't have to save you, after all. Awesome work!"

So demons were what they faced in this world, huh? And the way this woman talked as though she was an expert on them… Kairi wondered if she was one of the ones that she was supposed to be looking for: one of the people that Master Yen Sid hinted that she find.

"This is going to sound weird," Kairi said, stepping around the demon and praying that she didn't get any of its disgusting ichor on her icy-pink boots as she did so. "But I think I might have been sent here to find you."

The green-eyed woman lifted an eyebrow at that. And a ton of emotions seemed to go through her, that Kairi couldn't exactly figure out—that almost made the Light wonder if this was actually a good idea—before she finally settled on, "Huh. I wonder if Cordy had a vision and sent you our way. How do you feel about getting a coffee at the Expresso Pump with me and telling me your story?"

…

And so Kairi did. And she could tell that the woman, Willow—that was her name—was definitely blown away by it.

Likewise, Kairi was amazed by a number of the things that she heard from Willow. And the miracles that the witch (for Willow was exactly that, which made Kairi think of Naminé and miss her) and her friends had accomplished numerous times to protect the people here.

"I can definitely understand you not wanting to be in your friends' shadow," Willow confessed. Reaching across the table to put a hand atop Kairi's own. And Kairi smiled at that, definitely feeling like she'd found a kindred spirit here. "I snapped at Buffy that I wasn't her sidekick at a Halloween party once, when I thought she was trying to control everything. It wasn't pretty. Likewise… I recently did some… not so pleasant things and had to be whisked away to England after it. And I don't know if I'm ready to face Buffy and Xander again, the way you're not ready to face your Sora and Riku yet."

Kairi definitely felt sympathy for Willow there. She didn't know what the witch had done, but she could sense that the girl mostly had a heart of light and that she had good intentions. She wondered if it was anything like the things Riku and Terra had done while possessed, that they would always unfairly blame themselves for…

"Do you maybe… want to try and team up and do some things ourselves before we return to our best friends again?" Kairi ventured then, after taking another sip of the espresso that was truly the best drink she'd ever had. She felt like she could take out a million Heartless after this, and conquer the world!

Willow seemed a little uncertain at the question—no doubt what she'd done still weighed heavily on her mind, and she was somewhat self-conscious about things—but she must have seen something in Kairi's expression. Because she squeezed Kairi's hand and beamed at her. "I think that wacky idea might just be the best thing I've ever heard."

Author's Note: Happy birthday, Liz! You said you like my Kairi stories, so I thought I'd try to do something with her for your birthday (and also because you kind of seemed to enjoy the one story I was writing that was a KH and Buffy crossover before I deleted the chapter that made it a Buffy crossover and then abandoned the story). I hope you like it.

Somewhat inspired by Currantlee, who said that out of anyone in the Buffyverse, she thinks that Kairi would be the most like Willow (or something like that. It was when I was writing my one Kairi KHIV story that was largely inspired by BTVS's Faith). Also inspired by the old Tumblr user PaopuMilkshake's one fanfic, that has since been deleted:(