Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, the characters, the ideas, or the anime that will show up in this fic. Though… *sigh* It would be nice
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Kairi sat on the edge of the pier thinking. It had been about a year and a half and still no sign of Sora or Riku. A small hand reached out and tapped her shoulder.
"Kairi, are you ok? You've sat here every day since you came back…it's not healthy." Selphie's voice broke into her thoughts.
"Yes, I'm ok… I guess." She responded, still staring out at the water. Then, abruptly she rose; heading back to the other side of the island… the side she hadn't been to since she came back. Selphie followed her, concerned about her friend.
Kairi headed straight for where they had tied the raft the day they'd finished it. Before all the trouble had started. She reached it without event, and was glad to see it was still there, and still intact. She bent to examine some writing on it, reading it aloud.
"'Tidus was here… this raft now claimed by the fearsome one'" She straightened, and looked at Selphie, who was just now walking up. "Selphie… you wanna explain how this got on here?"
"Kairi… it wasn't me! It was Tidus!"
"Well, obviously…" came the semi-biting reply.
"What did you want me to do?"
"Stop him…?" Kairi asked, the tone of her voice sarcastic.
Selphie looked at her old friend, hurt showing in her eyes. "You're not the same since they left…" She watched as Kairi started to walk away. "Hey, where're you going?"
"To get a rag and soap to get that off with." Kairi called back over her shoulder.
"But… Tidus'll get mad, and Riku and Sora aren't here to help you!"
"I don't care! The raft will never be his, not while I'm still on this island! Sora, Riku, and I worked for days on it… they even raced to name it… I still remember Sora's face when Riku said that the winner got to share a paopu with me… and when Riku won… They named it…"
"Highwind." Tidus's voice broke into her memories. She turned and glared at him, and then stalked off. "Oh come on Kairi… it's not like you've been back here since you came back. Besides… No one knew if any of you were ever coming back… and another thing… You sitting out there on the pier staring out over the water is kinda pointless. Riku and Sora aren't coming back. You should count yourself lucky YOU came back alive."
Kairi stopped, momentarily stunned. She slowly turned, looking at Selphie. "Is that what you think too?" The other girl hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly. Kairi looked between them both, tears forming. "You- you're both wrong! Sora'll come back to me! He promised!" She then turned, and ran off, through the door to the other side. She wasn't looking where she was going, and in the process of trying to get to the Secret Place, she ran into Wakka.
He took one look at her face, and knew something was wrong, very very wrong. Taking her by the hand, he led her to the ledge, sat down, and patted the ground next to him. "Kairi… try telling me what's wrong, ya?" he asked, his accent stronger now than it had been a year ago.
Kairi nodded, sniffling. "I miss Sora and Riku so much it's been almost two years since I've seen him and longer for Riku and I just want them to be ok and come back to me and then I find what Tidus wrote on the 'Highwind' and he said that no one knew if we were ever coming back and that me sitting on the pier every day is kinda pointless…" She sobbed, all in one breath.
Wakka patted her shoulder sympathetically. It would take him a minute to decode what she'd said… he'd never gotten used to Selphie's habit of doing this, and Kairi doing it was worse: he'd never seen her cry this much.
"It'll be alrigh'… they'll come back. Sora promised ya, din't he? It's no' healthy to keep this inside like dis… you gotta let it out every now anden…" ((A/N: Need a translation? Anden= and then))
Tidus and Selphie walked up, and seeing her tears, Tidus felt bad for what he'd said earlier. "Kairi… I'm sorry." He started to walk away, but Wakka reached behind Kairi and caught Tidus' pants leg.
"You're gonna scrub dat raft till dere's nothin' left on it, ya hear me?" Guess who instructed Tidus. Tidus just nodded. Wakka'd hit him in the head with a blitzball anyway if he refused.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Later*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Kairi sat on the paopu tree, watching the sunset. She was alone on the little island, and, watching the sunset, it was almost like she could hear Riku and Sora talking to her.
As the sun sank below the horizon, she made up her mind.
"I am going to Traverse Town… I know that's where Sora and Riku will show up… hopefully any way…" She lowered herself to the ground, and headed towards the raft.
Sakura: Well, what did you think? Kinda a sucky intro… huh?
Riku: … *shrugs*
Sakura: What help are you??
Riku: Iowno… I guess not a lot…
Sakura: Oh, never mind… Hey, Riku… do the honors, please?
Riku: Sure… Um… Sakura says that you need to review her story… as her self esteem is pretty low due to her parents… and—
Sakura: *covers Riku's mouth* They DIDN'T need to know that… *glare*
Riku: *muffled* sorry.