Chp 2: Easier to Run

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Easier to Run by Linkin Park

~*~

~*Kairi's POV*~

Three lonely years have past since the day I saw the letter lying in the sand. Three years since the day Riku left and never came back. Three years since my emotions and feelings collapsed. And three years since I began to feel empty and alone. Yes, Sora is here with me but every time I see him guilt and sorrow fills my soul and I think back to the words in that infamous that forever haunts me. I'm not alone on this island but ever since Riku left there's a piece of my heart that feels empty and alone. Would I have felt this way if Riku had left without leaving me the letter? That letter was two things for me: an awakening and a curse. An awakening because it opened my eyes into Riku's feelings, and a curse because those bone-chilling words he spoke hit me like a ton of bricks and scared me. So far I have respected Riku's wishes of not going back for him but it pains me to respect that. Ever since I dropped that letter onto the ground I wanted to grow wings and fly to him and say, "You'll find comfort here". My life as I know it has become a guilty and pathetic existence striving over those haunting words that were written to me those three years ago.

~*~

Later that day

*

Sora and Kairi sat at a table in a table eating their dinner together. Sora devoured his food like he had not a care in the world. Kairi, on the other hand, picked at her food with a fork and out her elbows on the table. Thoughts about Riku raced through her head as they always did. He haunted her mind ever since he left. Her purple eyes started to tear up and she blinked to fight the tears. She wanted to see what it was like to be Riku and hold the tears back for herself. Sora noticed this as he looked up from his plate and spoke up.

"Kairi are you ok?" he asked. Kairi didn't say anything at first and continued to pick at her food but she then straightened up.

"Sora do you miss Riku?" she asked.

"What?" he said in a confused voice.

"Do you miss Riku?" she repeated.

"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?"

"How come you've never tired to bring him home?"

"I did try."

"WHAT? YOU WENT TO FIND RIKU AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" she shouted as she rose up from her desk.

"Well.....no." he said.

"SORA!" she shouted.

"Well sorry, and besides he didn't want me there anyway. In fact right after I said "Hi" his exact words were "Get your ass back home bitch!". He acted as if me coming there was the worse thing in the entire world. He treated me like crap!" Kairi settled down after he said that.

"I'm the reason he's gone in the first place." She said sadly.

"Oh Kairi don't start on that," Sora groaned, "Riku did NOT leave because of you."

"YES HE DID!" she shouted while holding back her tears, "He wrote me a letter saying why he left and it was because of me! He used those exact words: I'm leaving because of you."

"...Really?" Sora asked.

"YES!"

"Oh, you never told me he wrote you a letter." He said quietly.

"Well he did, and it was the most beautiful, darkest, saddest thing I've read in my entire life! I can't concentrate on anything else besides that letter!"

"....When did he write it to you?"

"Three years ago." She replied.

"So you mean to tell me that for three years whenever I was talking to you and I thought you were listening you were thinking about Riku and this....letter?"

"Yes," she said firmly.

"Oh....," he said quietly. And for the first time Sora felt the jealousy that Riku felt all along.

"Sora I'm sorry but I have to go find Riku! I won't feel better about the letter unless I find him and talk to him. It's driving me insane!"

"But Kairi...,"

"What?" she asked.

"It's just that....well.....,"

"Sora I'm not going to leave you," she said gently, "I won't find Riku and stay with him forever or anything. I just have to talk to him, that's all."

"Alright then." He said trustingly.

"Where did you find him?"

"Traverse Town."

"Ok then....wait, how could you? The worlds are closed off."

"Well I brought Riku and I here from the gummi ship and apparently if you use the warp drive it still works. It's hidden in the palm trees behind my house."

"Thank you Sora!" she gave him an affectionate hug. "I will be back, I promise." Sora smiled at her. She smiled back and then ran off. Sora watched the girl run off and then wiped his eyes to keep his tears from falling.

"So this is what it feels like to be alone."

~*~

It was raining in Traverse Town and Kairi walked through the rain with a crème-colored trench coat and a matching hat. She stepped quickly through the puddles getting water and mud all over her white sneakers. She searched around the town abundantly searching for any sign of the boy she had lost for hours. She had circled around the whole town at least five times. She stopped walking when she got in the middle of the town and threw her hands in the air.

"Agh! It's hopeless! He could be anywhere!" then someone tapped her on the shoulder. She let out a small, frightened scream and jumped as the person who tapped her also jumped with shock. She turned around and a boy with blonde hair was standing there.

"Uhhh, sorry, but are you looking for someone." Kairi examined the boy for a few seconds.

"Yes, an old friend of mine."

"Well, there is a party going on in one of the inns, he might be there."

"Really? Oh thank you! Can you take me there?"

"Sure," he replied.

~*~

Kairi stepped into the inn and she was welcomed with acoustic music and loud chattering from all the people inside. She looked around and then hung her coat and hat on the coat rack nearby. She couldn't see anything because of all the people in her way. Only adults and pints of beer on the tables inherited her vision. Kairi broke her way through the lively crowd and sat on one of the bar stools. She looked around once more hoping to find the boy she longed to see more than anything, but she couldn't find him. She leaned her head on the bar in frustrated hopelessness, then women who had a southern accent spoke to her from the other side of the bar.

"Honey, are you all right?" Kairi leaned her head up to see who it was. It was the bar tender. She was a woman in about her late twenties-early thirties and she wore a green shirt with no sleeves, a brown skirt with a black belt, black boots, and her long, dirty-blonde hair had a red bandana on it. Kairi sat up.

"Yah, I'm just kind of flustered that's all."

"Oh, mind tellin' me about it hun?"

"Well I just came here find a REALLY good friend of mine that I haven't seen in three years and I've been absolutely DIEING to see him ever since he left and I can't find him and I'm just mad and frustrated."

"Oh, you're searching for a young man, I see. By the way, the name's Betsy."

"Kairi," she replied as she held out her hand for Betsy to shake.

"Well darling, I don't know what to tell you, but I reckon he's around here somewhere. What does he look like?"

"He's got gorgeous silver hair and the most BEATIFUL aqua eyes I've ever seen. They make me want to melt!" Betsy smiled at her comment.

"Seems to me like you and this fella' were a bit more than friends."

"Well, we were defiantly more than just friends but we weren't boyfriend and girlfriend. Another boy that we lived with had the same relationship with me too. But one day all of that changed." She said sadly. Betsy thought about the situation for a while.

"Wait a sec...silver hair and aqua eyes?"

"Yes," Kairi said hopefully.

"Oh my deary! You're talking about my baby Riku aren't you?"

"Yes that's him! You know him?"

"Oh baby, he's been like my son ever since he came here! I love that little spitfire! When he came here I gave him a job here and a place to live near me! He's an angel!"

"Wait....Riku works here?" Kairi said excitedly.

"Oh yah, sorry baby, Riku does work here. In fact his shift ended just a few minutes ago! He may still be in here, you can catch him if you hurry!"

"Oh thank you Betsy, thank you!" Then Kairi leaned over the bar and gave her a big hug. Betsy laughed.

"Oh Kairi baby, you're an angel! Now go on, hurry and catch him!" Kairi jumped off of the bar stool and ran around pushing through the crowd of people and jumping up and down to try and spot him. Then she saw the door open and a whisk of silver hair go out.

"RIKU!" she shouted enthusiastically. Then she ran straight for the door. But on her way there someone stepped in her way and she ran smack into them and fell over on the floor. Kairi looked up.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" she shouted, but she had no idea who she was shouting to. Then she heard a girl sniff arrogantly and walk off. She was about Kairi's age and she was very pretty but she had coldness in her eyes.

"Jerk," Kairi said under her breath as she got up and brushed the dust off of her white skirt. Then she ran back for the door and then pushed it open forgetting all about her hat and coat. It wasn't raining anymore anyway. Kairi looked to the left and then to the right quickly. And then she saw the sliver hair once again to the right. She took off running and then she saw his back towards her. Kairi's heart leaped for joy and yet melted at the same time.

"RIKU!" she called out. Riku stopped dead in his tracks.

~*Riku's POV*~

"No, it can't be." I assured myself under my breath. But I'll turn around just to be sure. I turned my head and there she was.

"No...," I said under my breath. That face, those eyes, it can't be. This can't be happening. I shouldn't have turned around I should've took off running when I had the chance. I promised myself I would never see that face again. If I did then those memories would instantly come back. No, this wasn't supposed to happen!

~*~

Memories started to run back to Riku as if they were being released from a cage. Dark memories, sad memories, memories that he had locked in the back of his thoughts. But now those memories were released and ran freely through his head. This all happened from seeing that one face.

"No...no, no, no, no, NO!" he shouted. "Kairi what are you doing here! I told you I never wanted to see you again!"

"But Riku I.....,"

"No buts Kairi! I've never asked you for anything in my life and you couldn't do this ONE thing for me?"

"Riku I'm sorry I couldn't fight the urge to see you!"

"Oh, so now after I wrote you that damned letter you suddenly now have the "urge to see me"?" Kairi was silent. She had no idea what she could say back. So she changed the subject slightly.

"Riku you don't just walk out on people like that!"

"Kairi what would you have done, huh? Would you have remained there and lived with the pain? WOULD YOU? Now I know I'm a strong but when it comes to matters like that, that is my only weakness and I couldn't fight it! Kairi, it's easier to run than to face the pain alone!" Tears started coming down Kairi's face.

"Riku I care for you! I want you to come back!"

"You don't care for me Kairi!" he shouted as tears started to form in his eyes, "Don't you realize if I hadn't have written you that letter you wouldn't even be here? You just feel sorry for me! And of you really truly cared for me you wouldn't have treated me like cellophane! What you're doing now is an act of pity, not care! I.....," Riku stopped in the middle of his speech. He was breathing tear-filled breaths and rubbing his forehead in overwhelmance. That's what he was he was overwhelmed by the memories that had escaped into his thoughts and by the mixed feelings he was feeling right. Kairi watched him break down like that and she could tell everything he was feeling in his face and his tear-filled eyes. She had never seen anything more sad or helpless in her entire life. Then guilt started to sink into her for not respecting Riku's wishes. Riku turned his head and looked at her with the most pathetic eyes ever.

"Kairi please go home," he asked her in helplessness and desperation. Kairi started to cry silently and then turned around and walked away from him as tears fell down her cheeks.

"I shouldn't have come here," she told herself under her breath. Riku watched the girl he once loved walk away from him. He was so confused by these different emotions spilling out from him. It made him angry. He didn't want to cry about it he wanted to scream! More than anything, he wanted to scream. Riku wiped his eyes as rage started to build up inside of him. He tried to calm his rage and desire to scream down.

//It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something more

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone

Something has been taken from deep inside of me

The memories I've kept locked away no one can ever see

Wounds so deep they never show, they never go away

Like moving pictures in my head for years and years they've played

It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something more

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone

Sometimes I remember the darkness of my past

Bringing back these memories I wish I didn't have

Sometimes I think of letting go and never looking back

And never moving forward so there'd never be a path

Just watching in the sun

All of my helplessness inside

Pretending I don't feel misplaced

It's so much simpler to change

It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something more

It's so much easier to go

Than face all this pain here all alone

It's easier to run

It's easier to go//

~*~

Kairi stomped through Traverse Town with angry tears.

"I shouldn't have come here!" she said again, but this time loudly. "I drag my ass all the way up here and for what? NOTHING!" As she shouted out "nothing" she kicked a bottle that was lying on the ground. It hit the local mailbox and caused a dent in it. Kairi looked at the mailbox and then remained still as she thought about the situation. Then she reached in her pocket and pulled out a wrinkled envelope containing the infamous letter inside. Both the letter and the envelope were worn-out and wrinkled because she read it so much and took it wherever she went. Then she started to remember the reason why she came here and remembering the things Riku told her.

~*Flash Back*~

"You don't care for me Kairi...."

~*~

Kairi looked at the letter and then lifted her head up in determination.

"You'll know the truth Riku."

~*The Inn*~

Kairi burst through the door. Betsy was wiping the tables and cleaning up after the party.

"Betsy!" she called out. Betsy gave a small jump in shock. She turned around.

"Kairi baby, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Betsy, can I stay with you for a while?" Betsy thought about this for a moment but then she saw the determination in Kairi's eyes and knew what was going on. She smiled.

"Of course you can baby!" Kairi smiled and then walked over to her and gave her another hug.

"Thank you Betsy!"

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That's all! I know Kairi and Riku may seem a tad OOC but we're dealing with complex emotions here! And I know it's a HUGE switch to go from the pretty, mellow Drops of Jupiter to the loud, guitar-driven Linkin Park song but actually it makes perfect sense to me. The song not only shows Riku's desire to scream but it also lets the reader know a lot about what he's thinking. And I'd like some song suggestions from y'all too! I had one suggestion, which I'll use in the future but some more would be helpful. Thank you in advance, That's all Folks!

Peace Out,

Kia Saphia