Kingdom Hearts © Squaresoft 2002. All right's reserved.
01. You Promised
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Dear Sora,
Wherever you are, come back. You promised. Remember?
Kairi slowly lifted her eyes from the paper and gazed at the paopu fruit lying on her bed.
I can still remember your smile and every word you said to me just before you left: "Kairi remember what you said? I'll always be with you, too. I'll come back to you. I promise." Your voice saying that is etched in my mind, and I miss it. You never heard or saw me cry, but I did that day. In my mind I was screaming, "Please don't go!" You didn't hear me say it. But, I did. In my heart.
Sometimes I forget how long it's been. Three years? Four? It's hard to believe I haven't seen you for almost five whole years. I sometimes think to myself that today is the day, I just know he's coming back today. But, you never do. It's very lonely here. Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka are home now, too, but it's not the same. I realized I don't really know them as I knew you and Riku.
I often visit the secret place and look at our drawing. It's the only place I can really remember you. Your smile. Your laugh. Your confusion. Everything. It's all there. Because my heart is a part of you and your's a part of me. I just wish you'd come back soon. I wait for you everyday and I won't stop. I know you'll come back to me. You promised. You never break promises.
Never forget,
Kairi
P.S. I grew out my hair.
Tears clouded her eyes and a tear smeared the ink on the crinkled paper. Kairi folded the paper, forced it into an envelope, and stuffed it into a box labeled SORA on the side. The cardboard box was cluttered to the top with other envelopes, all labeled TO SORA. Directly next to that box was another, the same size, and on the side was a label that read RIKU. Kairi glanced inside the other box and sighed. There was nothing there. She had nothing to say. Or at least, she didn't know how to put it in words. Riku was trapped in some place she didn't understand, and it scared her. Yet, she didn't feel as if she missed him. She only missed his presence, his sense of reality.
Kairi sat in front of the empty box, staring at it, lost in thought, and twiddling the pen in her skinny fingers. Finally, she took another sheet of paper from her desk and wrote the date in the top right corner.
Dear Riku,
She paused a moment, her thoughts a mixed confusion. She stared out her window and watched the waves crawl up the sand and then fade back away.
Where are you?
Kairi focused intently down at the paper and whispered, "I have nothing else to say."
Knock. Knock.
Kairi quickly crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it into her little bamboo garbage can. She stuffed the paopu fruit under her mattress and, while brushing off her faded, violet skirt, called, "Who is it?"
The door calmly swung open and Selphie's cheerful face was smiling behind it. "Oh! Kairi you must come and see!" She clenched her hands together under her chin and sighed, "Tidus and Wakka are building a raft. They're going to leave tonight!" Suddenly Selphie's face looked confused and she looked at Kairi with a puzzled look. "I don't think you should stay inside so much, Kairi. You're so pale."
Kairi faked a smile and laughed inside; she felt as if she was living in the past. Almost everything Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie did together was something she had done with Riku and Sora. But, now she was alone, no matter how much Selphie tried to be her best friend. She nodded and Selphie skipped away humming. As she walked out of the room with her arms gently crossed behind her back, she eyed the box filled with the letters for Sora. Why aren't you here?
As Kairi followed Selphie down the creaky, wooden stairs, she studied the clouds and for the thousandth time regretted her past. I should have run away with you when I have the chance. Why didn't I run away with you? Would things have been different if we had run away together? I should have been serious. If only I had been more serious... Kairi walked right through several stray palm tree branches without noticing, again lost in her thoughts.
Down on the beach, Selphie was running ahead at the edge of the water, calling out Tidus's and Wakka's names. Kairi slowly followed, not sure if she really wanted to go, when she saw something falling from the sky out of the corner of her eye. She smiled and watched the glowing, white meteors fall in the distance. Her shoulder length, reddish hair blew with the breeze and the seagulls squawked as she whispered under her breath, "Is it you?"
Author's note: I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this. Sorry if it takes awhile for me to update, I just have to sort out the story. ^ ^ Oh, yeah. This story is NOT all about Kairi. It's about Kairi, Sora, and Riku. They each get their own chapters. Anyway, please review!