The sun finally broke through the clouds the following morning.  Just like that, the grayness disappeared and was replaced by the pure blue sky and shining yellow sun.

            Just like that.

            "No more thunder…no more rain!" sang Nadia, skipping in circles around her mother as they stood by the open front door.  "No more scary sky-ay-ay!"

            Kairi fuzzed her daughter's red pigtails affectionately.  "That's right."  She exhaled deeply.  At last.  I couldn't have stood being cooped up in this house much longer!

            "What are we going to do today, Mommy?"

            She thought for a moment.  "Mommy has a lot of chores, Nadia.  I need to wash the clothes, and gather more firewood…"  She realized she had a million things to get to, and held her face in one hand.

            "Can't we play, Mommy?" Nadia insisted, grimacing at the list of work.

            "Maybe…  For a bit."  She turned her head and called up the stairs.  "Riku!  Sora!  Are you two coming down?"

            "I want to play with Mommy and Papa," Nadia said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest and writing a big frown over her small face.

            "Can't we all play, honey?"

            Riku appeared at the bottom of the stairs, and the girl lost interest in anything further her mother had to say.  "Papa!" cried Nadia happily, and ran to grab his hand.

            Kairi watched them, noting with some concern the blue-black circles shadowing Riku's eyes.  His hair was wet but uncombed, and his clothes hung limply to a slightly folded form.  He really wasn't feeling very well this morning, was he?

            The woman put her hand on Nadia's shoulder.  "Nadia, honey, maybe you should leave Papa alone today.  He looks a little sick."

            Nadia turned wobbly blue eyes to her father's face.  "Oh, Papa, you can't play today?"

            Riku smiled and touched his daughter's cheek.  "Of course I can play.  Would you like to go to the waterfall today?  Or climb the tower?"

            "Oh, yes, yes!"  Nadia began to jump up and down.  "I get to play with Papa and Mommy!"

            Kairi shot a look of disapproval Riku's way, but he just smiled at her sheepishly.

            He'd never say a word that would make Nadia unhappy, would he?  Not if he could help it.

            "Did someone mention something about playtime?"  It was Sora, bouncing down the stairs.  He looked perky and refreshed.

            "Good morning, Sora, how are you feeling?" Kairi asked, blushing a little when she was the first thing Sora set eyes on.  She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and beamed at him.

            "I feel great.  I slept well without all the thunder," Sora said.  He stood right behind Riku now.

            Nadia took her father's hand and began pulling him towards the door.  "Let's go play!"

            "It's seven in the morning, sweetheart.  Maybe we should eat breakfast first," Kairi said calmly.

            "Hey, no problem.  Let's just grab some fruit on the way and eat at the beach."  Sora was grinning widely.

            I guess this sunny weather really helps everyone's mood, Kairi thought as she nodded at the man.

            Kairi grabbed hats for herself and Nadia, a blanket for sitting on, and a basket for the breakfast they would gather.  The quartet set off.  They went around the beach without encountering anyone else.  Apparently, everyone was still holed up in his house.

            "Guess we have the island to ourselves," Kairi said, making conversation as she pulled one of the wide-brimmed hats over Nadia's head.

            "Why do I have to wear it?"

            Kairi bunched her ponytail under her own straw hat and stared Nadia down her mother's nose.  "I don't want you to get sunburned."

            Nadia held up a tanned wrist as evidence.  "Nobody here gets burned!"

            "The hat makes you look cute," Sora tried.

            Nadia glared at him.

            "He's right," Riku told her.

            Nadia burst into giggles.

            Kairi was worried about Sora's reaction, but the man appeared to shrug it off.

            Why is Nadia acting mean toward Sora?  I guess she's just not used to being around strangers.  Kairi sighed.  She's too young to understand any of this.  She thinks Sora just washed up on the beach two days ago, and that's the end of that.

            "I'll go grab us some breakfast," Sora said when they came to the grove of coconut and fruit trees.

            "I'll help you," Kairi said, handing off the blanket to Riku.

            Riku got the message and walked with Nadia out of sight.

            Kairi went to Sora's side and took his hand, leaning her face against his shoulder.  He stopped for a moment before clasping her fingers in his own.

            "Sora," she whispered.  "I missed you."

            "I missed you, too."  He put his palm against her cheek and turned her face toward him.  "You can't begin to imagine…"

            "I thought you were dead," she said, her voice trembling.

            "I thought so, too."

            Kairi didn't understand, didn't want to think about him feeling dead on the inside.  In a moment she was crying and he was using his finger to extinguish the gathering tears.

           "I couldn't forget you, Kairi…"  He tensed and grabbed her very close to him, almost suffocating the woman.  She gasped from surprise and then for breath, but didn't really mind at all.  The embrace really made her feel like he needed her.

            He released the woman, a little hesitantly.  They walked a little, hand in hand.  Kairi stood against the stone and Sora went about shimmying up trees for the treasures they bore.  Then the woman looped the basket around her elbow and began to climb on the flat-topped trees.

            "What are you doing?" Sora asked, watching her hop from treetop to treetop.

            "We used to do this all the time, don't you remember?"  Kairi was a little out of breath.  It had been a while since she'd done this last.  Finally, she reached the golden star and the rock ledge under it.  She sat and looked down at him.

            He was under her, underneath the swirling of her long skirt and her swinging bare feet.  He reached up and touched the arch of one.

            "What are you doing?" she laughed, feigning anger.  "You pervert."

            "I'm no pervert," he said indignantly.  He ran around the coconut trunks and leapt from tree to tree until he was next to her.

            "You're fast," Kairi said, a little surprised by the power in his legs.

            Sora just smiled and soon he had her standing up and had his arms collapsed around her waist.

            "Being up here," Kairi said softly from his chest.  "It's like when we were kids."

            Sora moved his arms a little, as if to draw attention to them.  "We never did stuff like this when we were kids, though."

            She looked up at him with a tilted head.  "Don't you remember…at Hollow Bastion?  When you turned back into a human?"

            "That was the first time we ever hugged, though," he pointed out.  Sora's eyes scanned her face carefully, as if he was reading back into the past.  "That's when you saved me from the darkness.  That's when I really realized that I was in love with you."

            Kairi blushed a little.  Then she grinned and teased him, saying, "It took you that long to figure it out?"

            Sora released her from his arms then, and his happy expression melted, revealing a hint of skepticism.

            "Hmm?  What's the matter?"

            The man, seemingly for lack of anything better to do, touched his ponytail.  "I'm just a little worried.  Your little Nadia doesn't seem to like you very much."

            Kairi hid her own doubts.  "She's not used to strangers.  Give her a little time to adjust, huh?"

            "I guess so…"

            "Hey, don't you remember how small your world was when you were seven?"

            "Seven…so that's how old she is."

            "Hmm?  Why?"

            "Eh, nothing.  Riku told me something about your guys' relationship ending six years ago.  How long did it last?"

            Kairi's eyes widened and her pulse quickened a little.  At that moment, she realized that the air was filling with moisture as all that rain started to evaporate.  The humidity was rising, and it made this even more unpleasant.  It was wet all around her, but her lips felt dry and she licked them nervously.

            "Kairi?"

            Oh, God, don't get impatient with me, she begged.  She didn't think she could stand Sora getting frustrated with her.  C'mon, Kairi.  He just wants to know the truth.  You can tell him…

            "Yes, it ended six years ago.  We were…together for a year and half, maybe."  She thought back, the echoes of the past, both pleasant and not.  "Riku returned two years after I did."

            "Eight years ago, then."

            "Yes, eight years ago," she said a little impatiently.

            "I'm just trying to get this straight, okay?"

            Does he want me to tell him everything?  Sora, what is this?

            Kairi walked to the ledge and looked out at the sea.  The waves looked peaceful now.  They certainly had changed in nature since last night.  "Sora, you have got to believe this…I certainly don't have any romantic interest in Riku."

            "You did at one time," Sora said.  "You two live together even today."

            "Sora—"  She whirled around, expecting to see his face sad with concern.

            The features were set as hard as steel.

            Kairi backed up a little, her foot slipping on the rock.  She recovered and Sora had made no move to catch her.

            "Sora, I was just lonely!  You don't know how sad I was back then!  I missed you two every day—especially you, Sora!"

            "But you were fine when Riku came back?"

            Kairi gulped.  She didn't like that cold steel look of his face at all.  "I was weak, Sora.  He was there to take care of me."

            "I understand…"  Sora turned so the side of his face was toward her.  "Did you love him…?"

            She was panicking.  She felt like she was inside a typhoon and being pushed this way and that by an angry sea.  What was this interrogation?  "Oh, Sora, not in the way I love you.  I thought I loved him but I guess I was wrong—"

            "You had a child with him, didn't you?"

            "Is that what this is about?  Nadia?"

            "I have nothing against the girl, Kairi."  Sora took a deep breath with closed eyes.  "But you did make love to Riku, didn't you?"

            "I told you—I was lonely!"  She felt like she wanted to cry, but she was too upset to do that.  The emotions swirled up inside.  This was a typhoon, all right.  "Sora, it was all over when I realized I couldn't forget you.  Can't you see that?"

            He wasn't saying anything and it scared her.  How could she convince him of her true feelings?

            "Sora, can't you see?  The only one I love is you!  Riku means nothing to me!"

            She was screaming by now.  She started to cry and finally he held her.  They both trembled, both a little scared of what all this meant.  Perhaps they would have been more upset knowing that the man they had been so violently discussing was right below them, knowing that that man had heard every word.

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I did it again.  Same as yesterday…  No concentration for things except those involving doing horrible things to do to my beloved Riku.  X_X  …I was actually planning this little conversation since the very beginning, though.  Oh, and I'd like to just give a quick thanks to all my readers and reviewers before I pack for my trip.   Y'all are very talented when it comes to looking at a nonexistent piece of cyberspace.  Catch you later.