Vale: n_n thanks to all who reviewed!!! Well, Hotaru/Riku kicked the arse of Hotaru/Sora… ^^ I would have liked either pairing, but now that it's Hotaru/Riku, you guys want me to do a little Sora/Kairi stuff?
Arnvid: I…don't have anything to say. Is it…the end of the world?
Vale: WOO! Reviews are awesome, thank you to all! Another shout-out list at the end of this chapter! Big thanks goes out to Myst Lady ML-chan! Heehee ^_^
Ages:
Hotaru: 13
Sora: 14
Riku: 15
Selphie: 13
Wakka: 15
Tidus: 13
Leon: 25
Yuffie: 16
Cid: 42
Cloud: 22
Kairi: 14
Hotaru Goes to Destiny Islands
Chapter Three
By:
Vale (Saturn Angels)
~*Last Time*~
"A ship…? So…you came from another world?" Hotaru was a bit skeptical but she could've sworn she heard something akin to melancholy in his voice.
"I guess you could put it that way…" Hotaru said after a while.
"Riku! You and your other worlds ever since Kairi came here you've been obsessed with the idea!" Selphie said rolling her bright green eyes heavenward, "now Hotaru, come this way! You're gonna hafta be sworn into the island! Booyaka! This'll be SO much fun!" and with that Selphie grabbed Hotaru's wrist and ran off to a shack that was close enough to be underneath the wooden bridge she had seen earlier." Kairi ran after her giggling and the guys probably went back to their daily business though she never turned around to see for sure.
~*This Time*~
Once they reached the shack Selphie pulled Hotaru inside and Kairi shut the door behind them.
"Alright. This is the sacred 'Island…Swearing in Ritual'," Selphie said importantly as she pulled out a wooden chair from seemingly out of nowhere; she motioned for Hotaru to be seated and Hotaru did as was instructed.
"Alright! First question…how old are you?" Kairi asked as she stood in front of Hotaru's seat.
"Thirteen."
Selphie grinned, "Me too! But you already knew that. Okay, next question…how happy are you?"
"huh?" Hotaru blinked, she hadn't been expecting that.
"From one to five, five being highest and one being lowest." Kairi explained.
Hotaru stayed silent as she mulled over the choices. Five would be a lie…four isn't exactly the truth…maybe a three? No…I miss Haruka-papa, and Michiru-mama too much for it to be anything more then a two…maybe anything higher then a one would be a lie… "One and a half." Hotaru answered after the long silence.
Selphie and Kairi both stared at her, their faces showing something close to pity…or maybe trying to comfort her.
"A one…?" Selphie asked confused, "here, look straight into my eyes."
Hotaru raised an eyebrow in question and Kairi quickly explained, "Selphie thinks she can see into people's souls." So, Hotaru deciding to play along, looked into Selphie's eyes.
Selphie stayed silent for a while, her face a mask of concentration. What she saw was enough to want her break down and cry, and anyone who knew Selphie more than five minutes would know Selphie never cried. Selphie saw so much pain, and sorrow and so many buried emotions not allowed to be shown. And then there was something …more mysterious, darker.
Selphie blinked and nodded, "Alright…a one and a half it is…"
There was an uncomfortable silence for a while, the two islanders not quite sure how to act.
Hotaru, deciding to lighten the mood a bit, smiled slightly, "Only two questions?"
Selphie shook her head rapidly, "no, no, no, no, no! No way! There's way more questions! Favorite color?"
"Purple."
"Nickname?" Kairi asked.
Hotaru thought for a moment whether to say Saturn or Firefly…or Messiah of Silence, Warrior of Ruin, etc. "Firefly."
"Ummm…which of the boys do you like best?" Selphie asked with a grin.
Hotaru stared at Selphie, "Wha…?"
"Selphie's a bit of the island romanticist." Kairi explained.
Hotaru sweatdropped, "Well, I don't really know them."
"Fair enough…" Selphie said with a pout.
"Do you know what a paopu fruit is?" Kairi and Selphie asked in unison.
"…um. A type of food?" Hotaru guessed.
Kairi snickered and Selphie grinned and said, "That's obvious silly! But do you know what it does?"
Hotaru thought about saying '…gives you something to eat…' but decided it would only make her seem dim-witted so she settled for a brief shake of the head.
"Selphie, do the honors." Kairi said, knowing that her friend loved to tell the story of the paopu fruit.
"Alrighty. Here goes! The paopu fruit is a legendary star-shaped fruit that grows only on this island, and only in a really high place on a smaller island connected to this island by the bridge; which you can get to be going up those stairs," she paused to point out the stairs which were easily viewable then continued, "Legend says that if two people share the paopu fruit together, then their fates will be intertwined for all eternity." Selphie sighed over-dramatically and then said wistfully, "Isn't it romantic?"
Hotaru sweatdropped not quite believing such a farfetched tale, but…it seemed plausible. She never knew this place existed until not even an hour ago, so…maybe more things were possible. "Well…who do you want to share the paopu fruit with?"
Kairi looked at Selphie raising her eyebrows up and down, "Yeah Selphie. Who do you want to share the paopu fruit with…?"
Selphie blushed and waved her hands around wildly, "N-No one from this island!"
Kairi giggled and Hotaru smiled slightly.
"Now…" Selphie cleared her throat, "is where we make you officially part of our island."
Kairi nodded suddenly becoming serious, "Hold out your right hand."
Hotaru became more and more confused. EXACTLY WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS!? is what her mind was screaming but she held out her hand nonetheless.
Kairi and Selphie both held out their right hands and placed them on top of hers then without warning Kairi gave the back of her hand a sharp pinch and Selphie pinched Kairi's hand; then Kairi brought her left hand and put it on top of Selphie's right hand, Selphie put her left over Kairi's left and Hotaru put hers on top.
"Now, pinch Selphie's hand." Kairi said.
Hotaru blinked, This has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever done… nonetheless she complied and pinched Selphie's left hand, Selphie pinched Kairi's, Kairi pinched Selphie's right hand, Selphie pinched Kairi's right hand, and Kairi ended by pinching Hotaru's right hand at the bottom.
((The formation of hands (I know it's confusing) looked something like this:
Hotaru - left
Selphie - left
Kairi - left
Selphie - right
Kairi - right
Hotaru - right))
Hotaru, still in confusion over what they had done reacted late, "…itai! (ow!)" She shook her hands around a few times after everyone pulled theirs away as well, "What did you do that for?"
Kairi grinned, "Well…honestly that was pointless…Selphie just did that when I came here and we made a pact that we would do that to every newcomer on the island to see what they're reaction would be."
Selphie nodded fervently then added, "The boys have their own little way of welcoming someone. But it's pretty stupid! All they do is ask pointless questions like 'What scares you most…' or other stuff like that."
Hotaru shook her head missing home even more. How different these people's customs were!! "So…what do I do now?" This question was aimed more at herself then at the other two but they seemed to reply anyway.
"The kids of the island spar a lot," Kairi started and Selphie interrupted,
"As you've probably seen we all have weapons! I have nunchakus!" she said bringing out the jump rope-like object. "Kairi doesn't spar, but she's fairly new so we haven't made a weapon for her yet! Wakka has a beach ball which he calls a 'blitzball'; Tidus, Riku, and Sora all have wooden swords."
"So…do you have a weapon of choice?" Kairi asked looking at Hotaru curiously.
Hotaru fidgeted for a while trying to decided whether or not to make her glaive known. From what she'd seen of all the islanders their weapon couldn't do any real damage to an opponent because they were; for the most part, made of wood; and hers was made of some material found on Saturn a thousand or so years ago. "Actually, I brought a weapon along with me."
Kairi and Selphie both looked at her curiously.
Alright…that was a bad idea… Hotaru thought as she watched the two girls who were watching her intently. She had forgotten she had to be in her senshi form to be able to summon the silence glaive.
But thankfully for our female protagonist inspiration hit her as she remembered her previous lie about being in a shipwreck. She feigned watering eyes as she sniffled, "…but it was lost in the sh-shipwreck…"
Selphie gave her a bear hug, "Don't worry!" she said as she backed away again and began hopping excitedly on one foot, "we're here now! You can count on us!"
Kairi nodded and gave Hotaru a brief hug as well, "I guess you and I will just work on our weapons together!"
Hotaru could swear her heart was going to break with homesickness. Just being around Selphie and Kairi made her long to be around Chibiusa once more. Chibiusa, Usagi, Rei, Ami, Makoto, Minako, Mamoru, Luna, Artemis, Diana, Setsuna-mama…Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama she wanted to see them all so badly. Heck she would even settle for speaking to them. It hadn't even been two hours and already she was about to break down and try to go running home.
She had changed, that much was certain. She steeled herself and forced a cheery smile, "Thanks…it means a lot to me."
"I guess now we should find you a place to stay…we only have a few huts at the moment so you're going to have to share with someone. Sora lives with his mom and dad; Riku, Tidus, and Wakka live in this fairly big hut with two rooms and bunk beds, and Selphie and I live in a hut." Kairi explained as the three girls walked out of the shack.
"So, the only place you'll find an extra place is with the boys; if you don't mind, but if you're afraid of cooties or something then we can always get you a blanket and you could sleep on the floor…" Selphie said thoughtfully.
Hotaru shrugged, "I'll just sleep in the boys room. I'd rather get a bad case of cooties and be able to sleep in bed then be on the floor."
Kairi and Selphie smiled, "Then we should go tell the boys of the arrangement! I'm sure they won't mind at all!" Kairi said with a positive smile.
Selphie paused, "Well…they might mind…but don't you worry! If they try to put up a fight I'll fight all of 'em off!" she then brought out her 'nunchakus' and began to attack an invisible enemy.
Hotaru sweatdropped, "That's comforting."
Selphie giggled and Kairi grinned.
"Hey Tidus!!" Selphie called waving to Wakka and Tidus who were busy sparring. Tidus turned around to see who was calling him; Wakka saw this as his chance and was quick in using his 'special' attack. This attack hit Tidus head on and Selphie winced, as Tidus admitted defeat. "Sorry!" she called.
Tidus rubbed his head, "eh. Well…what'dya call me for?"
Kairi pushed Hotaru forward, "Hotaru's gonna room with you guys until the villagers have time to build another hut for her, or until we build another bed so she, Selphie, and I can share a hut together."
"Huh?" Tidus and Wakka asked in unison.
"You heard." Selphie said as she puffed out her cheeks and glared at them.
"But Selphie…" Tidus whined but soon shut up as both Kairi and Selphie began glaring at him.
"oh come on. She's a girl, ya. It's the guys hut, if she comes it can't be called the guy's hut anymore, ya!" Wakka said with a frown.
"What's happening?" a curious voice asked and the group turned to see Sora and Riku approaching, both soaking wet.
"Fell into the water again?" Kairi asked giggling.
Sora grinned and Riku smirked slightly and shook his head releasing the water over most of the people standing close.
"Riku!" Selphie whined as her hair became a bit limp and lost some of its flipped-ness.
He smirked, "So, what's going on?" he repeated Sora's question as he ran his fingers through his hair and amazingly it fell into perfect place.
"Well we're trying to find somewhere where Hotaru can stay, and your hut is the only one with an extra bed since you have two bunk beds, so we figured she could stay with you three." Kairi explained.
"But these two are being meanies!" Selphie said with a childish pout.
Riku seemed to consider the prospect before shrugging, "I don't see why not." He smiled at Hotaru and she smiled back by instinct; then out of the blue he got her in a headlock, "You're part of the island now, kid." He proceeded in giving her a noogie ((I think that's what they're called…)) though she could tell he purposely did it softly whether because he didn't want to mess up her hair, or because he thought it'd hurt. He let her go and put his hands behind his head in a nonchalant manner.
Tidus hit Selphie over the head after a brief moment of silence which made her emit a cute little, 'hey!' she got her nunchakus out and Wakka wasted no time in joining them.
Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Hotaru wandered away from them.
"We're building a raft." Sora said as the four walked on, "we're planning on leaving the island."
Riku shot the younger boy a look that said, 'Why'd you tell her that!?'
Hotaru nodded slightly not quite sure what they thought she would say.
"You can come with us, if you'll help us gather rations…and materials we need." Kairi said as the four continued walking along the beach going under the bridge.
"Riku's already got his rations for today, so you and Sora need to get some. That is if you choose to go."
Hotaru shivered even though there was no breeze and it was a warm, sunny day, "…Sure…I'll go." Maybe this was the journey Setsuna was talking about?
"Great! So this is what you'll need to get before sunset: 2 mushrooms, 3 coconuts, 2 logs to make the raft have more room, and 4 fish…we're planning on leaving tomorrow." Kairi explained with a rather large grin plastered on her features.
Hotaru nodded slightly and the four parted, Sora bounding off happily to get items, Kairi heading towards the raft to wait for everyone to finish gathering materials, and Riku looking a bit…disappointed? Hotaru shrugged thinking it would be a bit more helpful if Kairi had actually said where these items could be found. However most were obvious…fish in the sea, coconuts in trees, mushrooms loved shade, and logs she had seen when she first glimpsed the island.
In less than an hour or two Hotaru had completed her task and Sora was almost finished with his leaving Riku and Hotaru the only ones off duty.
Hotaru looked down upon her soaking clothes; thoroughly see-through since her fishing attempts. She pulled her shirt away from her body suppressing a giggle as it made the sound Velcro makes when you take two pieces; stick them together and then take them apart again.
She sighed and decided she wanted to go to the miniature island where she had seen Riku and Sora sparring earlier. She knew she should be searching for her communicator but currently she was curious about this island she was on. So she made her way to the island shack and followed the stairs Kairi and Selphie had told her about earlier. And sure enough once the sunlight hit her again she was directly in front of the bridge. She crossed it, all the while looking below at the manila colored sand below with the faintest depressions on the smooth surface a proof that the island's occupants had stepped upon it many a time.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she was quite surprised when the hardwood of the bridge turned into soft ground beneath her feet. She lifted her gaze and found that she was indeed on the small island; it wasn't much though it looked like a good place to just sit down and think. The island was surrounded by the most cerulean waters she'd seen, for some reason the blue of the ocean seemed more …intense at that altitude. There was a tree of to the side, and upon it were golden star-shaped fruits, and by the looks of it they seemed to be the 'paopu fruit of legend' that Selphie had told her about earlier.
Then she noticed that she wasn't alone on the small isle, Riku looked to be seated comfortably on the curving tree nibbling at a paopu fruit.
"How did you really get here?" he asked suddenly not even lifting his gaze to hers.
She dug a hole in the ground with her foot as she avoided answering as long as she could, "…My ship…capsized-"
He lifted his head and stared at her with a burning gaze that seemed to look through her to her very soul. "…Is that the truth?"
Hotaru paused in her hole digging to glance up at him, "I-…um." she looked at him, eye-to-eye and nodded. He didn't need to know the truth, truth. "Yes. It's the truth…ehehe… why would I lie?"
He watched her for a few more seconds before shrugged, "Whatever." He then looked at her, his mood completely changed, as he now seemed to be in a playful- yet still arrogant- mood. "Do you spar?"
Hotaru smiled mischievously up at him and nodded, "Although I lost my weapon on the ride over here…"
He jumped from his place standing atop the tree's base and landed a few feet in front of Hotaru, "Here, use this then," he tossed her a wooden sword that looked identical to his own which he held in his hand, "That is…unless you're afraid I'll beat you?"
"Who? Me afraid? You're the one who should be afraid, buddy."
"Sure, I'm very afraid of a little girl…" he said mocking fear then he added, "I'm shaking."
She giggled seeing as he seemed to enjoy using sarcasm, "Don't worry, little ol' me won't be too hard on you."
"I should hope not." He said before lunging at her his sword poised above him.
He swung downwards aiming somewhere around her shoulder which she easily blocked. They stayed in that position for a while both pushing their weapons hard against the others so that the weapons were grinding against each other, and if they were steel instead of wood Hotaru was almost certain that sparks would be flying.
Without warning her took away his pressure against her weapon and jumped to the side causing Hotaru to fall forward after the loss of balance between the friction of the two swords. Sensing what her opponent was about to do she flipped backwards at the exact time that he swung so he narrowly missed hitting her arm.
He laughed, which sounded more like a slight exhale of breath then he looked up, "You're pretty good, but don't worry I'm just getting warmed up."
"One should hope." Hotaru replied before parrying his next blow. Their swords met once again and they slowly increased the friction between the two 'blades'. Hotaru stepped back as he added more force; however, she misjudged her distance from the edge and ended up losing her stability as her left foot hit air instead of the ground she was used to. Almost immediately she could tell Riku had stopped applying strength to the weapon and he reached for her. Hotaru flailed her arms a few times before falling backwards into the water.
She popped her head out of the surface in a few seconds time looking up at Riku as she treaded water.
"I win!" he yelled down to her as he pulled back his outstretched hand.
"You got lucky!" Hotaru yelled back then thought about how she was acting. She was acting playful. And because of that she felt suddenly guilty. Haruka and Michiru were gone and she was all but flirting with a boy she had only known for less than a day! She shifted her gaze downward as she began swimming to a ladder that was placed conveniently a few feet in front of her.
She began her descent upwards and then climbed onto the mini-island's surface.
"Rematch?" Riku asked as soon as she made it back up.
Hotaru shook her head, "No, thanks." She grabbed her hair and began wringing the water out of it followed by her shirt.
Riku tossed something at her head; which she caught by instinct. It was a half-eaten paopu fruit.
Hotaru raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.
"I'm not hungry anymore, and it's bad to waste things, especially on this island where this fruit grows only once a year."
"Is that so?" Hotaru asked not completely uninterested. She stared at the ripe fruit for a while and it seemed to stare innocently back at her with big pleading eyes yelling 'eat me! Eat me!' and because she was curious about the legend, and how it tasted, she cautiously rose the fruit up to her mouth and took a bite of it.
Her close mouth turned into a smile in a matter of seconds when she tasted the fruit. It wasn't exactly sweet yet not sour either. It was tangy and tasted a bit like an orange…or was it a pineapple? She didn't care, it was one of the few best things she'd ever eaten.
She took another bite unreservedly enjoying herself. She heard Riku's faint laugh and turned her gaze to him.
He smirked, "By the looks of it I'd say you like it."
Hotaru nodded. I should really take some of these back for all the senshi! Usagi and Chibiusa would die for something that tastes so wonderful… her smile faded slightly as she remembered the senshi. Why can't I just be back at home right now? With Haruka watching terebi (tv), Michiru cooking, and Setsuna constantly changing the channel to the Twilight Zone and Haruka fighting over the controller ending up in a game of Paper, Scissors, Rock (that Setsuna almost always won thanks to her ability to see into the future…) Hotaru heaved a sigh as she finished eating the paopu fruit.
She forced a smile at Riku, "Well, shouldn't you have shown me where I'll be sleeping by now?"
He smirked, "Follow me." Was all he said before walking to the edge that over looked the sandy shore below them, he jumped and began walking towards the main part of the village. Hotaru jumped after him and followed him throughout the small pathways and finally climbed up a ladder and followed the swerving wooden path to the boy's hut. She looked inside at the undecorated room consisting of two bunk beds, a rug, a table with three chairs, a bathroom complete with a toilet, shower/bath, and sink.
Hotaru began walking to the center of the room, Riku seated himself comfortably in one of the chairs that were placed around the table, "Wakka and Tidus sleep in that bunk." He said pointing to the bunk on the right. So you'll be in that bunk with me," he said pointing to the one on the left.
Hotaru nodded and began climbing the ladder that led to the top bunk.
Riku cleared his throat, "I get top bunk."
Hotaru pouted slightly as she jumped from the ladder and fell onto the bed on bottom. She became only slightly aware of Riku's presence and the redish-orange glow coming from the window as the sun set. The bed was so comforting after a long hectic day that seemed like a never-ending nightmare. She tried to convince herself to wake up but her body wasn't complying with her wishes. She took a deep breath before she fell to the will of sleep.
Just a bad…dream…
~*~*~End Chapter Three~*~*~
Vale: Yeah, I know that was pretty long and slightly pointless but I'm just trying to get to the main part of the story. Don't worry it'll get better. Thanks for all your reviews! So here's my lil' shout-out list!
Myst Lady ML-chan, Tenshi, Tenshi (double clicked Tenshi? ^_^ makes it seem like I have more reviews though…hehe), In the Light of the Moon, ShadowHawk, kapies, Dark Shaedow
Vale: So n_n thankies! ^_~ Yeah this chapter was pretty bad, and I hate the slight OOCness! I HATE IT! *long sigh* I'm just trying to get to the next chapter (which was originally to be part of this chapter but it was getting LONG so…yeah)
Arnvid: R/R before Vale begins rambling even more and about her going on about not getting enough reviews, etc.
